Tag: Software

Surviving in a world that’s damaged by various cataclysms can be inherently dangerous and tough to do. But in StarRupture, that’s our main goal, along with building a massive industrial complex that allows you to extract resources and produce goods. Exploring and colonizing a dangerous planet is never easy, but that’s where a game like StarRupture manages to shine. Built by the excellent minds behind Green Hell, the game is a unique take on a very popular genre, established by Satisfactory. However, it also adds unique survival elements into the mix, which actually make the gameplay feel a lot more interesting. Not only are you continually trying to find resources, but you also need to fight all kinds of monsters while protecting your base. Thankfully, the core gameplay is easy to understand, even if the title becomes quite overwhelming as you play, with new types of machinery and resources being something you have to deal with. I also like the fact that you’re con...

There are so many roguelike games these days that it can be hard to pinpoint one which is immersive, engaging, but also a whole lot of fun to replay over and over. Aris Arcanum strives to be such a project, since it brings us a Victorian Gothic-inspired world, which is both very beautiful and haunting at the same time. We play the role of Clyde Colgrave, a scholar which has a degenerative disease, and he uses a cane to walk around. However, he’s the only person that can protect the Aris Library from the various attackers. And the interesting thing is that despite this mishap, you’re still a very powerful mage, not to mention you can increase your skillset and improve even further, which is super exciting. The art design is definitely a standout in this game. We have a very beautifully made game world, with lots of detail, and the cool thing is that rooms all have their own innate details. It truly feels like a library, but a very strange one, filled with monsters t...

I should have paid more attention to the forest. A well-positioned anti-tank Soviet unit managed to slam a few missiles into my Canadian Leopards, just as they were trying hard to deal with an incoming stream of Russian tanks. My plan was to get these tanks into a better position, but I failed to provide adequate reconnaissance assets, which led to the ambush. Worse, this happens with another 10 minutes to go before I can issue orders. This means four tanks continue to move forward, still taking fire from two directions, while another group is falling back after reaching their acceptable losses threshold. My recon mistake might lead to more deaths among my Canadian force. Fortunately, my own AT teams and a block of mechanized infantry are delivering highly effective fire from good defensive positions and keeping another group of Commie tanks and a big stream of APCs at bay. Some solid defensive artillery fire will soon make it almost impossible for the enemy force ...

The idea of creating your own kingdom and living your own medieval fantasy is something we’ve all had in mind, especially if we enjoy medieval life simulators or city builders. Dungeons & Kingdoms is a game that tries to add a unique perspective, since it combines the kingdom building aspect with survival elements, infrastructure building and so on. Combining so many elements feels refreshing, but also challenging, since not everything works great, at least for the time being. In Dungeons & Kingdoms, you get stranded and you need to figure out how to survive in this new place. You get to create your own shelter, and then along with the other people near you, it’s time to start gathering more stuff and creating a village. The location is not that friendly, either, it’s filled with monsters, and you really have to figure out how to access the best resources, while also staying safe and not dying. Like any survival game, Dungeons & Kingdoms brings you very humble begi.

I lasted almost four minutes in endless mode. A fully upgraded Sanguine Pool, backed up by fire mice swarms and soul chakrams, is destroying tons of enemies every few seconds. They are boosted by a passive ability that reduces the time between attacks and another that boosts criticals. My problem is that I also picked Infernal Breath as a core attack, and I’m failing to use it effectively. And I also hit plenty of randomized totems that failed to deliver high-quality upgrades. Only two of my attacks are over level seven, and I was forced to get some sub-optimal passives. Kitting, the classic strategy for the genre, is hard in endless mode because there are just so many enemies. The dash helps, but I haven’t reduced its cooldown. I focus on avoiding any incoming projectiles and all enemies, but I still get hit from time to time, and my health regen is not powerful enough to compensate. When my vampire dies, I will have the essence to get a solid permanent upgrade fo...

If there’s something that grinds my gears on macOS, it’s app switching with Cmd+Tab. If we compare it to Alt+Tab on Windows, it’s inferior in almost every way. It’s strictly app-based, so you can’t switch between an app’s windows, you can’t bring up minimized windows, there are no thumbnails, no window controls, and the list goes on. AltTab was created to emulate the functionality available in Microsoft’s OS, but it has now far exceeded those capabilities. Aside from providing a far better window switching experience, every hotkey, behavior, and UI element is customizable; if there’s anything you don’t like, you can almost certainly change it. It’s also open source, which is always nice. Windows-style Alt-tabbing on macOS If you’re switching over from Windows, this app is exactly what you need. It’s window-based, so you will see every app window, not just the applications themselves. What would require two separate shortcuts on macOS (Cmd+...

Even by Apple's standards, Archive Utility is a simplistic tool. It can only extract the contents of a few common archive formats and compress files into ZIP archives, with absolutely no other features or customization. The good news is that we have an amazing third-party alternative—Keka. It’s everything Archive Utility should have been. It integrates seamlessly into the OS and offers a ton of additional features, extended format support, customization, and more, while being just as easy to use as the built-in utility, and free to boot. It can work just like Archive Utility, when you need it to The problem with many third-party apps is that they’re just not as seamless as the built-in archiver. You have to launch them, drop files in a window, maybe even specify where the output should be saved, etc. A lot of work just for extracting or creating an archive. Keka, on the other hand, can be configured to emulate the standard macOS workflow. You ope...

If there's one thing I missed when switching over from Windows, it was the simplicity and convenience of Notepad. TextEdit just tries to do too much for my taste, and macOS doesn't really have a good option for quick notes without complications. Plain Text Editor is exactly what I always wanted TextEdit to be. Plain text, no formatting, a bare-bones UI, and just a few quality-of-life features that help with your writing without becoming distractions themselves. Elegant user interface At first glance, there’s not much there. A basic window, title bar, word and character count, plus a bank page for writing. The title bar and statistics can even be disabled, leaving only a massive void for you to fill in. If you’re not a fan of the translucent background, you can make it opaque, which is my preference as well. This setting, along with almost everything else, is handled either from the app’s preferences or app menu, leaving the editor itself free of ...

It’s surprisingly difficult to get your hands on a macOS installer, especially if you need a specific format, or even worse, want to configure an older Mac. Firmware files are easier to get, but it’s still a bit of a hassle. Mist has become a valuable tool in the arsenal of IT departments, administrators, or even just regular users who need to install older macOS versions, create bootable USBs, set up virtual machines, or restore an Apple Silicon Mac. It’s an open-source app that provides direct download links to IPSW firmware files and can create installers for macOS editions going all the way back to Lion. It can also help you set up bootable USB installers, though some limitations apply if you’re running it on an Apple Silicon Mac. Get macOS installers in multiple formats Most people will get the app for its ability to build installers. It can generate a regular app bundle, .dmg disk image, .iso file, and .pkg installer. Various use cases bene...

Sometimes, nuclear bombs cannot solve a strategic problem. Strategic bombers have been dropping nukes on Soviet divisions for a while, but they have enough industry to keep pumping replacements out. Dropping more nuclear bombs on their cities helps, but to actually destroy the U.S.S.R., some conventional armor thrusts are needed. That means that I need to first ensure air superiority, so I need more bases and fighters, while backing my armor with anti-air assets. All this stuff is competing in the industry queue with the nukes I need to make sure a Soviet counterattack is contained. Thankfully, the Russian far east has limited defenses, allowing for a second front that should make it easier to push into Eastern Europe. ICBM: Escalation - United States of Annihilation is developed by SoftWarWare and published by Slitherine Ltd. This is the second major downloadable content pack for the strategy game, which delivers an alternate history campaign focused on the United...