#techtonica — Public Fediverse posts

Yesterday's discovery: How important the text behind a steam review is compared to the simple thumbs-up/thumbs-down.

There are of course certain lists where what's meant as a scathing damnation sounds like the highest praise to me (oh no, there are queer people in this and the main character is not a white man!), but even reviews by more well-adjusted people can have completely different value axes than me.

#Techtonica was recommended to me by friends as an automation game with an interesting story that steers clear of Factorio's uncomfortable colonialist undertones and it was on sale right now. I looked it up and found the reviews as Mixed, recent reviews Mostly Negative. So I hesitated, but looked into what the reviews were actually criticizing - turns out most problems only appear in the late game, late meaning 100+ hours into the game, while the early game gets praised.

As someone who isn't planning to actually sink that much time into the game (I'll probably drop out once the production chains grow beyond a certain complexity), it sounds to me like I'll definitely get more than ten bucks worth of entertainment out of this, so I grabbed it and I'm having fun so far.

I wonder what might be a good method of aggregating reviews that's not as binary and actually takes different preferences into account.

#CiferRecommends #videogames #steam

Poimintoja tämän viikon (45/2024) uutuuspelien tarjonnasta.

#MarioAndLuigi #Brothership #EmpireofAnts #PlanetCoaster2 #DeathNote #MetalSlug #MetalSlugTactics #Slitterhead #Techtonica #Turtles #Metro #Unrailed #suomi #Steam #playstation #xbox #nintendo #uutuuspelit #pelit #peliuutiset

Poimintoja tämän viikon (45/2024) uutuuspelien tarjonnasta.

#MarioAndLuigi #Brothership #EmpireofAnts #PlanetCoaster2 #DeathNote #MetalSlug #MetalSlugTactics #Slitterhead #Techtonica #Turtles #Metro #Unrailed #suomi #Steam #playstation #xbox #nintendo #uutuuspelit #pelit #peliuutiset

Poimintoja tämän viikon (45/2024) uutuuspelien tarjonnasta.

#MarioAndLuigi #Brothership #EmpireofAnts #PlanetCoaster2 #DeathNote #MetalSlug #MetalSlugTactics #Slitterhead #Techtonica #Turtles #Metro #Unrailed #suomi #Steam #playstation #xbox #nintendo #uutuuspelit #pelit #peliuutiset

Poimintoja tämän viikon (45/2024) uutuuspelien tarjonnasta.

#MarioAndLuigi #Brothership #EmpireofAnts #PlanetCoaster2 #DeathNote #MetalSlug #MetalSlugTactics #Slitterhead #Techtonica #Turtles #Metro #Unrailed #suomi #Steam #playstation #xbox #nintendo #uutuuspelit #pelit #peliuutiset

Poimintoja tämän viikon (45/2024) uutuuspelien tarjonnasta.

#MarioAndLuigi #Brothership #EmpireofAnts #PlanetCoaster2 #DeathNote #MetalSlug #MetalSlugTactics #Slitterhead #Techtonica #Turtles #Metro #Unrailed #suomi #Steam #playstation #xbox #nintendo #uutuuspelit #pelit #peliuutiset

April 7, 2024 - Day 463 - NewPlay Bonus Review
Total NewPlays: 491

Game: Techtonica

Platform: XBox Game Pass UItimate
Released: Aug 16, 2023
Installed: Apr 7, 2024
Unplayed: 0d
Playtime: 11h6m

Techtonica is not in the Humble Bundle. If it was, I'd be torn between yelling "BUY IT IMMEDIATELY", and "RUN AWAY, SAVE YOURSELF!"

It's a first person factory automation adventure game set on an alien planet. It's not Factorio, because it's first-person, and it's got an actual narrative built into the game, instead of tacked on as an afterthought.

You're a "breaker", who's been woken up from artificial hibernation, because something has gone in this mission to colonise an alien planet.

The design and lighting and music are all utterly gorgeous, and I wish I'd never met it.

GG.deals had a link to Pacific Drive on special (that I can't afford), and when I clicked through to look at the pricing, I saw Techtonica in a bundle with Pacific Drive (that I also couldn't afford), and I went back to GG.deals, to discover it's included in XBGU (oh no).

I lovehate factory automation games. I own several of them, and I shouldn't play them.

My theory is that they scratch that DEEP itch for systemisation that my autistic brain loves so much. I have lost entire days of my life in this kind of game.

What Techtonica does, however, is that it ties the narrative progression to the in-game tech-tree progression, and producing enough widgets to open the next level of the tech tree and find out more of the story.

I barely moved all day. I barely ate. I managed to drink a little bit of water here and there, but I was fundamentally staring at the screen for 11 hours straight.

They built a damn Skinner box that was specifically tuned for my brain, and I locked *myself* inside.

This game is a dopamine-hit nightmare, and I love it, but I'm not sure if it's healthy for me to keep playing it, because it verges on "addictive" territory for me.

I hate to say it, but I must; escape while you still can, don't do what I did, because Techtonica is:

5: Excellent

#Techtonica #FirstPerson #FactoryAutomation #Adventure #Gaming #ProjectONG