Darkest Dungeon Clones

Iratus: Lords of the Dead

Warsaw

Vambrace: Cold Soul

Deep Sky Derelicts

Legend of Keepers: Career of a Dungeon Master

Spinning Muddy Tires in the Snow

Years and years ago, I talked about a rather obscure game called Spintires and how it represented a very different take on the driving simulator genre.  Specifically, it's not a racing game in the traditional sense.  The competition doesn't come from other vehicles on the road, but rather from nature itself.  Being set in the vast undeveloped wilderness of Siberian Russia provides a surprising amount of challenge, even when the goal is simply to get from one place to another.  All that said, this blog post isn't really about Spintires, but rather two very similar games that came after it.

Through some Eastern European legal gymnastics that I won't pretend to understand, the original developers of Spintires lost the rights to that game, but were able to move on to making another game called Mudrunner...which is almost the exact same game in terms of goals and assets.  Generally, it is thought of as the superior product, due to minor improvements to performance and graphics.  Several free DLC products were released for the game (maps and a few "classic" Russian vehicles), as well as one paid product called American Wilds.  As one might guess the paid DLC introduced a bunch of new vehicles and locations based in the USA.  Personally, I don't like this design direction because I think it takes away from what made both Spintires and Mudrunner so unique.  In particular, there is no American equivalent to some of the monsters that the Minsk Automobile Plant produced during the Cold War era.  Regardless, it sounds like the developers of Mudrunner are pleased with their American-themed expansion pack, because the newest game in this soon to be quasi-trilogy is Snowrunner.

Unlike the couple of dozen relatively small maps and challenge zones found in Spintires or Mudrunner, Snowrunner boasts three massive areas that each have a unique geographical theme.  The first is in the snow-covered Alaskan mountains, the second is in an Autumn-colored Michigan and the third is a more traditional location in the Taymyr Peninsula.  Objective variety has been expanded on somewhat as well.  Instead of just delivering logs to lumber mills, it looks like the player will be building, repairing, supplying and rescuing for cash.  Said money can then be spent on new vehicles, upgrades and cosmetics.  Speaking of vehicles, it appears that there will be at least; if not more than the number available to choose from in Mudrunner.  Additionally, each of the licenced vehicles in the game has fully (and accurately) rendered dimensions and interiors.  Dynamic weather will also play a part in the game on top of the pre-existing day/night cycle.

Overall, it sound like an improvement over the previous two games in almost every way.  A small part of me worries the game might be a bit generic though.  One of the neat things about Mudrunner is the fact that road conditions deteriorate from use.  Hence, the player had to consider routes carefully in order to complete a map before it became a replica of the Battle of Passchendaele.  Lumber yards and outposts can very easily turn into mud pits due to heavy traffic.  It is a cool mechanic, but could it work in the new game?...especially in the case of perpetual content generation akin to Euro Truck Simulator?  I don't know...perhaps the developers have figured out a way to make it work.  Regardless, I hope Snowrunner isn't just bigger, but also objectively better without sacrificing what made it stand out to begin with.

E3 No More!

What's the r0 on that queuetainment?

Ding-dong, the witch is dead.
Which old witch?
The wicked witch.
Ding-dong the wicked witch is dead.

COVID-19 might have been what technically did it in, but I think it's safe to say the Electronic Entertainment Expo had some serious life-threatening conditions beforehand.  Aside from people only really remembering a surprise guest appearance by Keanu Reeves at the 2019 event, there was the simple fact that game developers were dropping out left and right:  Sony wasn't going to be there, Nintendo wasn't planning on showing up...heck, even Geoff Keighley (the face of gaming and host of the Game Award Show) declined to attend.  Then, there is the organizers of E3 that need to be considered.

The Entertainment Software Association (or ESA for short) has rightfully earned themselves a lot of consumer ire with regards to their handling of the loot box controversy.  Before the official cancellation was announced, the creative director of the event had just recently resigned for unclear reasons, although I have a feeling it had to do with the changes planed.  Namely, E3 was supposed to become, for the first time ever, an event open to the public.  Supposedly, the idea was to have lots of "influencers" show up (instead of the traditional mix of journalists, developers and publishers).  Then, after paying an exorbitant entry fee, bombard said individuals with advertisements pitched by B-list celebrities while waiting in line for hours to play some short game demo (or maybe even just watch someone more famous play it for them).  It sounded dull when it was first announced months ago, but now with nCoV on the rise it might well be outright deadly.  Of course, all this could be forgiven or overlooked if it weren't for the data leak.

Spilling the contact info for over 2,000 of last years attendees through gross negligence might sound like the kind of thing one should make amends for, but the ESA seems to think a token apology is all that is necessary.  They claim that the matter won't happen again, but the genie is out of the bottle...or maybe I should say the virus is out of the containment zone...

Return to The Darkest Dungeon

2020 is proving to be a bit of a slow start for video games.  I've been dabbling with World of Horror and a bit more of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order but, until the Resident Evil 3 remake comes out at the beginning of April, there isn't a whole lot grabbing my interest as of late.  Because of that, I've gone back to a game I have not played in several years - Darkest Dungeon.

The last time I played this game was before either the Crimson Court or Color of Madness DLC had come out.  As I recall, I was discouraged by the difficult of the final (or "darkest," as it is confusingly named) dungeon.  Of course, now, there is a "radiant mode" which reduces how hard the game is overall.  I also went in and tweaked a bunch of the gameplay options to remove (or add) mechanics that I prefer to the default experience.  In addition to all that, I also installed a couple of dozen mods through the Steam workshop.  Many of them are cosmetic, but some revise the character classes or even introduce new ones.  As far as new classes go, I really like the Conquistador, Falconer, Lamia and Dragonslayer...but my favorite unofficial class has to be the Cataphract.  This new class is especially cool in that all but one of his abilities either moves him forward or back a number of spaces in the formation.  Some might argue this is a problem, but I really like the sense of mobility I get with him.  Even in the case of purely cosmetic mods though, I'm finding that they enhance the game quite a bit (...and no...I'm not talking about those mods that make all the characters look like they're from a Japanese anime...).

One of the things I never really liked about Darkest Dungeon was how each class felt more like an single individual character rather than...well...a collection of characters with similar skill sets.  Mechanics-wise, yes, it's possible to have two Crusaders who play very different to each other based on abilities and quirks, but visually they look pretty much the same (aside from the option to change their name and color pallet a little bit).  Thanks to all these re-skinning mods though, I can have four Crusaders who all look noticeably different (one that is the default, one that appears distinctly female, one with an especially grim suit of armor, and one with a Knights Hospitaller look).  Similarly, I now have male and female variants of the Arbalester as well as young and old version of the Occultist and Houndmaster.  I even have two versions of the Abomination - the default version, plus the "raven fiend" type.  In this way, it's easy for me to make characters who are distinctly different in appearance and abilities yet still fulfill a similar role.  From a roleplaying standpoint it has made the game a lot more interesting.

Aside from those mods, I also installed a few quality-of-life things which help reduce aspects of the game that tended to annoy me.  Increased (but not unlimited) stacking limits for every item is one such example.  Another is the ability to recruit much higher level characters from the stagecoach (thus reducing the mid-game grind).  Lastly, I have a mod that removes all the negative effects from trinkets.  Some might think gives an unfair advantage, but to me the game is plenty hard even with all the mods.  Oh...and the Shrieker is still around...don't even get me started on that damn bird...       

Storytellers

After a great deal of time and effort, I think I've managed to get the hang of playing Dwarf Fortress.  That said, I can see now why a lot of people are curious about the game, but have no interest in playing it themselves.  The UI is bad, the mechanics are complex, and there's some annoying bugs that have yet to be fixed.  No worries though, there are some excellent storytellers who weave exciting tales based on their own experiences with the game.  What's more, a few even go so far as to turn their epics into videos on Youtube.  Here are three such individuals:

Kruggsmash

I've mentioned him before on this blog.  By far, he is the most prolific and talented Dwarf Fortress storyteller around.  With over 100 videos uploaded, one could spend several days straight viewing just his content.  In particular, he has three long sagas entailed "Honeystoker," "Monsterkiller" and "Steelclutches."  I'd recommend starting with the middle of those three first.  Honeystoker has a few prequel videos which are needed to grasp the entirety of what is going on, and Steelclutches (while interesting from part 2 onward) was his first series.  Hence, it had a bit of a rough start.

Mort Strudel

While not as impressive as the previously mentioned Youtuber, I feel like this guy is a rising star...a bard who has yet to realize his full potential.  The artwork is a bit rough...simple pencil sketches with a bit of black and white shading.  The narration is a little crude...he just got a new mic.  However, he's definitely refining his craft and he's got lot of heart. His six video series entitled "Northhold" does a good job of subvert expectations.  Provided he continues to make Dwarf Fortress content, I'm sure he will rise to the top as far as Dwarf Fortress story weaving goes.

Toen

Are you at least semi-fluent in Spanish?  Do you like, or have an interest in, Dwarf Fortress?...If yes then this the Youtuber for you.  Even if you don't have an ear for español, I'd still recommend giving his "Mooncanyon" series a look-see; English subtitles are available in the options menu.  While there a lot to like, the artwork in particular is truly impressive.  Unlike either of the previously mentioned individuals (who use traditional approaches to their drawings), Toen has some wonderful pixel art that I frankly wish was part of the vanilla game.