Re: What Have You Been Playing... IN JANUARY 2025?

On 03/02/2025 05:00, rms wrote:

* Fort Solis

Oof, I always like the idea of games set on Mars... but man, I've never read you lambast something this hard.

   Then you haven't been paying attention as 3/4ths of Spalls' reviews are negative!  Here is my -- positive -- review from some months back:
 To my mind Fort Solis and Still Wakes the Deep share very positive qualities.  Both have excellent graphics, sound, and voice-acting, along with unique and detailed locations -- a Mars base in FT, and a drilling platform in SWTD) that provide an atmosphere and sense of immersion that really pull you in, all in service of a story-based, horror thriller. But how the two games achieve this couldn't be more different.
 SWTD is more active and energetic, both in the pacing, the freewheeling english isle language usage, and the physical puzzle solving, well- integrated with the first-person perspective, in an exhilarating, more- or-less never seen before setting -- most players would probably pick it first. But that is not a knock on Fort Solis, where the devs were going for a completely different vibe: A moody, oppressive, human drama, in a highly controlled environment with a closely-knit cast of characters. I very much wanted to see everything these characters -- and actors -- did, and explored everywhere to get 100% with all achievements (missed quite a few with SWTD). In any case, both great games, and both fairly short, ~5 hours for SWTD and ~11 hours for Fort Solis, and both highly recommended!

I was going to add Still Wakes the Deep until I read the minimum specs and my little old 1050 OC isn't really up to the job!