Dysmantle, part one

Head over to Steam, or wherever you get your pc games from, and buy a copy of Dysmantle. It’s a Strategy/Open World/Crafting thing.

You leave your underground shelter and find the Island, belonging to some fictional nation, swarming with various types of undead. What follows is you trying to figure out what went wrong.

The big mechanic of the game is that, with the right weapon, you can break down nearly everything you find. Road signs, fire hydrants, bins, the contents of houses, houses, fences, trees, rocks, and anything else you find. All depends on the strength of the weapon you use, and you discover and can upgrade these as you go.

I’ve had it for less than a week and, to be honest, it appeals to the obsessive-compulsive part of my personality. And it’s not TOO difficult, which for this ageing gamer is a benefit.

Links:
Dysmantle
Dysmantle on Steam
Dysmantle on GoG

The Adventures of Inquisitor Smashface

There’s a game available on Steam (and, presumably, most modern consoles) called Warhammer 40K: Inquisitor – Martyr. As you can guess it’s linked to the ever popular tabletop wargame, Warhammer 40K, a game where you move little soldiers about your friends Mum’s dining table, rolling dice and listening to W.A.S.P., while casually keeping an eye on his mum and her friend who are obviously trying to pretend that they can’t make out the lyrics to the live version of Animal (Fuck Like A Beast), which starts with a rising chant of “Fuck like a beast, fuck like a beast”.

Allen Johnston, I’m looking at your here. I’m still amazed that you never got pulled up for that.

Anyway, Warhammer has come a long way since the heady days of my teens. And while I have a reborn love of moving expensive tokens about a make-believe battlefield, the electronic gaming part of the hobby is yet another channel to pour the precious seconds of my life into.

I’ve played Inquisitor – Martyr before, initially on the Playstation, but I could never get into it. An almost perfect storm has caused me to get into it again now.

  1. My daughter has all but commandeered the Playstation. It was inevitable.
  2. I got a new pc at the start of the year, a shiny laptop to replace the aging Frankencomputer I had before.
  3. The game was really cheap on Steam.

A. Perfect. Storm.

It’s a game in the style of Diablo. You play as one of four character types, each with their own playstyle, you gain experience points for killing baddies and completing missions. All the usual stuff.

So, Inquisitor Smashface. He runs about with a heavy flamer (a bigger than big flamethrower) and a thunder hammer (a two-handed hammer that has electricity running through it). And it’s great fun. Smashface has reached level 20 now, which means I can take the hammer. Before this, using the flamer was like running the game in easy mode. But now that i’ve unlocked the Thunder Hammer? Bloody hell, it’s fun.

As long as I keep moving, and don’t get tied up in fighting mobs, i bash the heads of heretics in. It’s great fun. As I unlock more skills, i’ll try other weapon combinations but, for now, it’s all about burning the enemy and flattening them with a big hammer.

J.U.L.I.A.: Among the Stars

I bought the game yesterday because it was both on sale on Steam and had been on my wish list for a few years now.

And also because I fancied playing a point and click adventure, and J.U.L.I.A. was well reviewed.

I bought the game yesterday, played it on and off all day and finished it about 10 minutes ago. Perhaps that’s the review / recommendation all there, in a nutshell. I just couldn’t let it go.

The backgrounds are beautiful, the puzzles are tricky without being hair-pulling and the story is really good. When I look back at it, the story fits together nicely.

Only things that are a bother are, the sassy ship AI gets annoying sometimes and I’m sure I’ve missed the complete explanation why the protagonist is alone on the ship to begin with.

I did rattle through it at some pace though, so there’s a chance that a few details have slipped through the net.

So, 9 out of 10? Much fun, Steam sale price-point, well crafted. A good way to spend a day in Covid-19 lock down.

Oh, and I might have missed something but what does J.U.L.I.A. stand for?

(also posted as a review on Steam)