So, I identify as a gamer. Gaming prevails as my primary hobby. I do not consider it weird or irresponsible to spend all day, oftentimes most every day, gaming (aside from obvious adulting requirements of course). I met my husband of 21 years (26 years of friendship) because of gaming. We still game together all the time. I can also be content just to watch someone else game for hours (as people well know now with Twitch being so popular (I do not watch any Twitch streams myself though)). I am almost exclusively a PC gamer, but not prejudiced against other gaming styles. Don’t yuck someone else’s yum and all.
I come by my propensity for gaming honestly. When I was in first grade, my dad picked me up from school and said he had a surprise. He acted like it was a surprise for me, but really it was a surprise for him (an annoying quality in many parents, for sure). When we got home, he pieced together the parts of our first home computer: an Apple //c !!!
But truly, I had no idea what to think. We used computers in school in the media center attached to the library, but I didn’t think much of it either way. Dad sure seemed excited. Soon I was creating masterpieces in Paint, and my dad was making regular trips to the computer game store, which didn’t look quite the way we picture such a store now.
Later, when we got our badass COLOR monitor, I remember playing King’s Quest, while dad had me staying up all night as his gaming buddy to watch him play through the Ultima series. I would always be one to notice small details that identified secret doors, and other tiny nuances he would miss. True father/daughter bonding.
Then for many years, I did not have access to any computer, which was normal for lots of people back then. I went though middle school and high school without one, and in fact was given a semi-word processing typewriter in 1994 so I could type my high school English papers. It had little screen with space for about 25 characters, and would hold files, but you had to scroll through it one line at a time.
I was (I thought) super late to the internet party in 1996. That was when my dad, once again, guided me toward a technological future, and consequently changed the course of my life forever. By 1997, I was making some of the best friends of my life through gaming on the internet, as was my dad. He became a VIP in his gaming world, Britannia, in Ultima Online, and he changed that game for the better, making friends that lasted the rest of his life. I just befriended anyone who could tolerate my neo-adult angst and melodrama. Luckily there is little record of these embarrassments.
I feel for the kids nowadays who have lived their whole lives with social media! If there were a record of 13-year-old T.C. on the internet, oooh whee boy howdy, that would be a mighty shame to 20-something T.C. …and to 30-something T.C, and 40-something. By the time I’m 50-something, I expect to give no fucks though.
So anyway, my whole point is, sometimes I will post about games that I like. No hidden agenda on these games, and I feel like I would never be a schill for something, unless it was something really worth schilling for. I like what I like, and I’m posting about it cause it’s fun to talk about stuff that you like.
So for my first review, we have the game I currently have on pause and am waiting to get back to as soon as I finish typing up this post:
Against the Storm
Against the Storm is a single-player, Base-Building, Strategy game. I’ve never played another game quite like it. I’ve got more than a 100 hours into it for sure, so we know we got our money’s worth. The developers are super receptive to player feedback, and are constantly improving the game, even though it could have been considered “complete” a long time ago. Also, they make sure everything they add actually adds to the enjoyment of the game (something that can’t be said for everyone).
So you start the game with a Hearth and a Warehouse, and your own little group of settlers and meager supplies. You can only build some basic buildings in the beginning, camps for harvesting, basic houses, basic manufacturing. You place your settlers in the buildings to do jobs for the colony. Then you chop woods to explore the map, revealing new glades which contain more resources. Keep your people happy by getting them the food, and goods and services that they like. Your Hearth Fire must never burn out! Over time, you unlock new buildings, growing your colony with new peoples, and gaining cornerstone perks that boost your settlement. By completing new missions and orders, one achieves points toward victory, keeping the Queen from getting too pissed and failing your settlement. :(
Never fret if your colony goes kaput. That’s all part of the grand plan! You’ll earn some dough at least to unlock bonuses that will help you forever more. Then you get to start another colony all over again. Each time you’ll take a different team of settlers who all have their own ideas about what constitutes happiness. Maybe try your next colony in one of the other biomes (Royal Woodlands, Marshlands, Coral Forest, Scarlet Orchard, and the new Sealed Forest), all of which have varying resources and perks. Sometimes meat falls from trees. Don’t question it!
The tutorial explains the game concepts well, and there is so much replayability. The different options are interesting and make for very unique strategies based somewhat on luck of the draw, as well as synergizing choices. Difficulty builds appropriately, and is completely adjustable. Husband and I are both loving it right now, and we marvel at the brilliance of the game design from every angle.
There’s a free demo available if you want to give it a try and see if it's something you’d enjoy!
Overheard at my house cause of this game:
Beavers are MADE for wood!
I’ve been tool fucked before :(
There’s no downside to cannibalism!