[DoctorEldritch]

@DracoTarot You're welcome! Maybe there would be some demos you'd like. There are some horror games out there, for example 😊

[ChristianRasmussen]

@DoctorEldritch Just hope we all do not succumb to what Fest speaker had.

[DoctorEldritch]

@ChristianRasmussen To be honest, I did not really like their humorous take on that. In general, I do not particularly enjoy the "Steam fest video humour" that they do in their videos, but I suppose, in view of the alternatives, it is not a bad way to narrate the assortment of games in each fest. But with this one, it was a bit...I'd rather they saved this approach to something thematic, like a fest about plagues and pandemics.

That aside, speaking of games, I recently stumbled on one in the previous TurnBasedThursdayFest called Void War, it was released at the end of last month. Have you heard about it?

The gameplay mechanic is almost fully taken from FTL, but what sets it apart is that it is set in a universe that is very Warhammer 40K-like (but with enough changes in names and terminology so it could not be legally called that, as some Steam members pointed out 😅), with Chaos Gods and Void travel and all that.

I gave it a go when it came out, and I thought it was ok (it is Very Positive on Steam, too), but had 2 slight flaws

The first one is that they overcomplicated things a notch. Same as FTL, these games are rougelike and designed for replayability, so a minimalistic approach can pay off: FTL was very good in its limited options simplicity. Void Wars, for example, gives you an option to outfit the crew with equipment, and the crew have different abilities, too. It is good if you like to micromanage, but it can be tedious as the runs are so short: you end up having to sort the equipment often.

The second one is more with the style: I can see that it is "trying to be Warhammer 40K without actually being Warhammer 40K", and many people on Steam like that (and if you look at it as a fan homage, it works), but when I was playing it, I could not shake that feeling of missed opportunity: how cool the game could be if it could combine FTL mechanice and actual Warhammer 40K IP, like Gothic Armada. Sigh. Maybe someday.

Anyway, as I know you like Warhammer, I thought I'd mention this game to you in case you have not heard about it. If you like FTL-type gameplay, chances are you may enjoy this game 😊

[ChristianRasmussen]

I have not tried as I am not a big fan of FTL, but it is a nice pusle to win, it is just over way to fast in my mind.

[DoctorEldritch]

@ChristianRasmussen I liked FTL when it came out, but you're right, it is fast and got repetitive after a while. My biggest issue with it, though, is that there is no set macro-goal. Which, I admit, is often the case with roguelike games. But some of them, like Dead Cells or Hades, have this big overarching goal that you slowly chip away at.

FTL or the recent Drop Duchy, for example, do not. Every run has a "boss" to beat, but there is no overarching narrative. The incentive to play again is to unlock all achievements or unlockables, like cards in Drop Duchy or ships in FTL. That does add some incentive to play again; I stopped playing FTL after I managed to unlock all the ships narratively (as opposed to doing it using that in-game currency you get for winning rounds). But after that, I had no more incentive to play just for the sake of playing, and I moved on.

Void War is the same, only set apart by small changes in mechanics and the overall Warhammer 40K-esque style. And, I managed to beat the final boss during my first run. Which is, you know, cool and all, but roguelikes should probably be a bit harder?

Either way, if you do not like FTL, I am not sure Void War is worth your time for the style alone. I could advocate for it if it were actual Warhammer 40K, not "poor man's version of it", but as it is, you can probably skip it.

[DoctorEldritch]

@Telomina I was looking through some of the Next Fest there on offers, and I came accross one more that I thought you may find interesting, it's called Abra-Cooking-Dabra:

It's a cooking card game with a solitaire twist. Not sure if you like solitaire, but the overall premise looked interesting to me, so I thought I'd mention it. And the demo is out if you want to take a closer look. If nothing else, your boss is a sarcastic monocle-wearing cat 😅

[DracoTarot]

@DoctorEldritch Some of those games are sweet. I'll grab a few. 🙂

[DoctorEldritch]

@DracoTarot Bit of a shame that those are just demos, but it is still good 😉

[DracoTarot]

@DoctorEldritch Those demos may be full releases soon if there's a lot of interest. 🙂

[DoctorEldritch]

@DracoTarot I am sure they will, but that's when we'll need to fork out our hard-earned dough to play them. Then again, a good game deserves that, and demos help us to tell if the game is worth our business, so I am all for them.