Totally get it - it’s a rare day nowadays where I’ll pick up anything on Steam for full price.

I actually have had this one on my Steam wishlist for a while, and I’m so excited for it as well! That crisp PS2 graphics vibe with such an in-depth world and systems has me really excited to get my hands on it when it comes out. This is one of those ones that I agree, even though I’ve been burnt by EA and preordering in the past, I’ve gotta be there for this one!

Oh man, this looks SICK! Going to have to check these out!

I honestly do wonder who their main market is – I assume handheld gamers would sooner opt for the cheapest option that gets the job done, which is by all accounts the Steam Deck just for sheer ease of use and decent price point for hardware.

It has an update slated for this year? Intriguing.

I’ve not seen much of the new 007 game for a while, but is almost like a mix of Hitman x Tomb Raider x GTA in terms of gameplay? I’d love to check it out maybe once it’s on sale.

From what I can gather, I think the Stoat team is likely experiencing insanely heavy and unexpected traffic to their platform, and their server is still trying to catch up - I am also running into the same problem, but I assume the team is working hard behind the scenes to get everyone in and stabilize the platform as soon as they can!

It’s a shame Bungie dropped the ball on Destiny - though I’ve been seeing some good things coming from their new game Marathon, so might give it a shot on a free weekend to see how it is.

I would say if you enjoy fun little 2D Souls-like games and you have them in your backlog, Tails of Iron and its sequel, Tails of Iron 2 are both really enjoyable games that don’t take too long to finish. Not as difficult as Blasphemous or the other 2D souls-likes either, really just enjoyable games with well-written stories.

I will admit, I’ve never seen Agefield High but it looks like a great spiritual successor to Bully – might actually add this to my wishlist!

How’d you like the first Slay the Spire? I’ve never played it but I’ve heard good things.

I’m with you though - the list of games I want to play is so long, it’s going to be a major time investment to get to them! I’ve been actually finishing up Oblivion Remastered (trying to 100% all the achievements) and that’s already taken a good chunk of my time 😅

Major respect for your group eyeing up the new Forza game as a potential group game. I’m also somewhat in that boat - our group used to all be Destiny 2, but since we moved on we haven’t found anything that really fits for us. Good luck, hoping it’s a solid game 🫡

Honestly, I’ve switched up my habits on that front myself - I’ve started clearing out my backlog of things that I think are cool but I know I’m just not going to play.

Mouse P.I though is an incredible one, I haven’t been following the progress but the rubber hose animation and the attention to detail on their art direction is top notch - I’m hoping it launches as a fun to play game.

Terraria 1.4.5 has been incredible! Me and my buddy just hopped into it, as it’s my first time playing through the full game and I’ve been having a blast. Excited for the tmodloader update as I want to get the chance to experience the Calamity mod next.

I haven’t heard of either Dyson Sphere Program or Two Tired to Mountain, so I’ll have to check those out!

Me, personally, I have slowly started to shift towards “bones-only” storytelling for my campaign settings – I build a loose plot, some NPCs tied to it, locations and a few bigger encounters. Beyond that, I want my players to not feel railroaded to encourage them to think creatively in each session, as it helps me as a GM enjoy the session more when players aren’t always looking to me to tell them what they should do next. I also usually stockpile a bunch of pre-baked generic encounters, NPCs, shops and such so that I can keep up with their story and choices.

Oh, for real? Thanks, I’ll check it out - appreciate it buddy!

Edit: Just check it out, and it’s honestly got a alot (almost all) of the features I’m looking for, including a Canadian English language option. It sucks that it doesn’t seem to have custom roles/tags or custom emojis, but aside from that it being able to pin messages, have separate channels and voice rooms and being E2E encrypted are ticking the right boxes for me.

Trying to get my friend group to switch over to Stoat (formerly Revolt) as soon as possible – I think Matrix is a harder sell for people not already in the federated spaces, or non-tech savvy people, but I’m hoping it fits the need.