Tag: Software

Dakota is in trouble, the kind that arrives at night from behind a red door. To be fair, I decide to press E and go through that door, so part of the responsibility for the torment lies with me, the player. Now I need to move around carefully, avoiding the light and making sure I don’t make noise. The monster might be weirdly made out of bark, but I wasn’t able to chop it down with my trusty ax. It takes five minutes to get past the creature while navigating the desk maze, but I have a fuse, and I proceed to light the place up. I also have a picture that, apparently, serves as a sacrifice. And electricity means that more are probably hidden an elevator ride away. Dream logic, even when tinged with horror, is weirdly consistent. I hope to make Dakota wake up soon. A new day will mean another set of records to listen to. And, with a bit of luck, an easy puzzle and then a chance to work on some new music, layering instrumental tracks and maybe a few environmental recor...

The Mongols are having a great year. Their big armies are trampling over opponents, the Europeans seem unready once we swing over their way, and we’re bringing in a ton of gold. Sure, the empire will break up once Chinggis dies, but investing in the lands of the future Golden Horde will surely set it up for success. But fast conquest, even with plenty of aid from unique buildings, will make it hard to keep the lands together later. In an alternate version of history, Poland is barely holding on, struggling to gain authority while remaining peaceful. We might get Mazovia as a vassal soon, but Silesia is playing hard to get. Burghers are powering a booming economy, but I struggle to get my equipment and metal production to keep pace. Field of Glory: Kingdoms - Burghers and Bombards is developed by AGEOD and published by Slitherine Ltd. This second downloadable content pack is, as the name makes clear, set to introduce more mechanics and campaigns. Players can now cho...

Capcom’s focus on bringing Mega Man games to every platform continues, and with the Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection, we finally have the great series on PC, along with some other modern platforms. Here you get 7 games in total, although it’s basically just 3 distinct Star Force games and a few variants. Regardless, there’s a lot of content here, and if you love the series, you’ll find yourself playing for many hours on end. Not having played any Mega Man Star Force game, I was not sure what I was getting myself into. But the overall experience and story was pleasant, although you feel that these games were made for the DS platform. Yet despite that, the games are very playable on PC, they look great for their age, and I didn’t encounter any crashes or performance problems, either. We follow Geo Stelar, a young child from the 23rd century. It’s a strange place because aliens exist and the world has electromagnetic waves connecting our planet with another dimen...

Gia is ruthless when she has to, consequences be damned. A former partner tried to pull a fast one, using her skills to complete a tough job, only to then abandon her. I was more than happy to allow her to turn the tables and leave him to his fate, choosing to focus on future challenges and new relationships rather than dwell on the past. Rolling the dice just right during conversations helped. Now, she’s unafraid to trade shogun and machine gun fire with the enforcers of a local baron, while driving at speed through the islands of New York. Companion Cress is providing healing, while dealing damage by bumping into all enemies that get close. I’ve aced previous car battles, using a mix of aggression and avoidance, but this one is giving me trouble. When five or six enemy cards gang up on Gia during one turn, it’s easy for her light speeder to be destroyed in one turn. The key seems to be using environmental hazards and area-of-effect attacks to nullify numerical ad...

The Legacy of Kain series is coveted for its great story and revolutionary gameplay. And while we had remasters over the past few years, we didn’t get any new entries for over 20 years now. But right after the successful Defiance remaster, we are getting Legacy of Kain: Ascendance, a 2D action platformer that tries to fill in some lore gaps, while also offering some new story tidbits for the existing fans. Legacy of Kain: Ascendance features 12 levels, which vary quite a bit in length and style. One of the things I liked the most about this game is that it never tries to stick with a single formula for each level. Sure, some of them will have the platforming sections and a boss at the end. Others will focus more on lore sections with very little platforming. Despite that, it all feels very cohesive and during the 2-3 hours of play, it ends up being very satisfying, especially towards the end. The game’s story is also interesting, because it focuses a lot on Raziel’...

The villagers need more health, but I’m better equipped to purify their spirit. The cosmic demon we’re up against is using disease to try to kill them, and distrust to make it harder to actually help them. I might have to abandon one of them, which feels pretty bad. But it might be the only way to extract all bloodstones and banish this creature. I use an upgraded card to boost both health and purity for the seamstress, whose trust I already have. I will use her ability this evening to improve my deck, while also gaining a new card. She still has two levels of disease but should be OK for a few turns. I also help the butcher as much as possible, even if I lack the cards to make him trust me. Unfortunately, the herbalist might be doomed, unless I get someone’s health to 100 and get the right blessing. BLOODLETTER is developed and published by ALDAMAMI GAMES. I played it on Steam, where the title is in Early Access. The video game combines card-driven action and a ru...

When the first GreedFall launched, it was very promising for an AA action RPG, and it delivered on most fronts. People were expecting a sequel, but instead of having something that would continue the story, we got a prequel in the form of GreedFall: The Dying World. However, even if The Dying World starts 3 years before the first game’s events, it catches up to them since the story is running in parallel. Right off the bat, the idea of controlling a native of the Teer Fradee that’s captured and taken to the old continent of Gacane felt refreshing. Since last time we played as the colonizers, having a different perspective was quite interesting here. The main character’s name is Vriden Gerr, or Rootless, as he is known within his circle. Firstly, you must graduate to sage, and that means solving all kinds of issues happening inside the village. Unlike the first game where you controlled a single character alongside AI companions, here you can switch between companio...

My hero is a skeleton destroyer with very bad luck. His magic attack is demolishing enemies, especially when paired with the extra batarangs I recently picked up. I’ve managed to keep his health high and have picked up quite a few shards and extra upgrade cards while exploring the level. But my attempts to get a ton of treasure were stymied by an inability to pick the right card when playing four-card monte. The bad luck also led to some hit point loss that required a detour and some extra fighting. Now I’m close to taking down the level boss and already evaluating when upgrades I need to deal more damage faster. Hordes of Fate: A Hand of Fate Adventure is developed by Spitfire Interactive and published by Spicy Koala. I played a demo of the title on Steam. The video game combines card mechanics with core mechanics inspired by Vampire Survivors. The world is similar to that of classic Hand of Fate, a high-fantasy one where an arch narrator challenges players to ba...

My teenagers have either very short memories or bad cases of amnesia. They are willing to explore this haunted hotel even after dying gruesomely at the hands of weird carousel horses, angry mirrors, and grass-covered vampires. Right now, my trio of heroes is fighting against some trippy, shattered mirrors. I’m running a team focused on dodging, healing, and reflecting damage. The last one tends to be high risk but can quickly deal with capable enemies. Sako is contributing plenty of dodging, as well as hitting multiple enemies with her racket card. Quintin never deals too much damage, but his Flash Camera both stuns and curses enemies. Maria has an upgraded Compact Mirror, with a 50% chance to reflect damage. Getting the card in hand and playing it at the right moment is the tricky part. Fortunately, I don’t need it to deal with the mirrors.  Damage over time from curses and direct physical attacks, including a broken bottle, takes them out. Let’s hope that the min...

Let’s say you have a bunch of audio devices connected to your Mac. Maybe some wired headphones, some Bluetooth speakers or earbuds, and the Mac’s built-in speakers. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to send audio from certain apps to specific audio devices, and control their volume independently? Surprisingly, these are two features macOS still does not offer. FineTune is an open-source app that handles both of these use cases, adding much-needed functionality that’s already available on Windows. It allows you to route app audio to selected output devices, manage audio device priority, and control app volume independently, even if the app in question lacks a volume slider. It also comes with an equalizer, volume boosting, and some other cool features. Send app audio to specific output devices This is the feature I got the app for, and it’s so incredibly useful. Any app playing audio will show up in the FineTune window, and you can select which output...