games – asty.org

Malware is a Humorous Game About 90’s Windows Software Installer Add-Ons

Posted on September 20, 2024September 20, 2024 by chrisa

The question is how much fun can you extract from defeating evil software bundles?

When I saw the trailer for Malware, I was immediately transported back to the late 90s, when you just wanted to install a piece of Windows software, but had to navigate a hellscape of tiny additional checkboxes, each offering very vague but often ultimately useless or outright malicious ‘add on’ programs.

Virtual RAM ‘expanders’, download ‘optimizers’, offers to set your homepage to some website you’d never visit intentionally, ad ‘blockers’, which in many cases added more ads to your browsing experience, these were the inevitable add-ons (today we’d call them opt-out options) shoved into Windows software installers in that era. This originally started harmlessly of …

Games I almost completely love: SpellRogue (on sale to boot)

Posted on June 3, 2024June 1, 2024 by chrisa

A new series

I’ve actually been trying to write this review for some time. I originally wanted to contrast it with Balatro, which is one of those games which seems to have taken over the indie and deckbuilder communities, and seems to be loved by virtually anyone, myself included. But I think that’s a bit pointless, especially at this point. After all, SpellRogue hews closer to Slay The Spire after all, so let’s talk about it from that perspective.

To be clear up front (aka tl;dr): I like this game quite a bit. I’ll discuss what I think are minor flaws or drawbacks with it, but in general it’s very good and worth a try.

The good news about…

Rogue Heroes: Ruins of Tasos Review

Posted on April 5, 2021April 5, 2021 by chrisa

A flawed but very fun co-op Zelda-em-up that’s worth your time

Platform reviewed: Steam. Also available on Nintendo Switch.

Introduction

Like many folks I have certainly been having my share of run playing around in the forest in Valheim. It’s fun to get your survival game on when there is good atmosphere and quality of life in a multiplayer indie game. But sometimes you don’t want to push your luck and hunt for more Trolls, or find the next Burial Chamber for upgrade materials, or your usual Viking crew just isn’t around.

Around the same time I started playing Valheim, I found another game on Steam which really piqued my interest the moment I heard about it. It’s …

Rekt! Is An Adorable Multiplayer Party Racer For Nintendo Switch and You Should Buy It Right Now

Posted on November 17, 2019November 19, 2019 by chrisa

It’s currently on sale for $3, but well worth its normal asking price of $6

I have to admit, I had recently gotten leery of sticking my neck out to buy what looked to be decent, non-AAA games on the Switch from a developer I’d never heard of for a few bucks. When I saw Rekt! in the Switch eShop I was intrigued but still hesitant, especially when it was selling for a meager $3. A lot of questionable stuff makes it to the Sale page of the eShop, but I decided to give the game a buy and I’m so glad I did! Apparently the full title of the game is Rekt!: High Octane Stunts, but I’ll be …

Apex Legends’ ShadowFall Shows How Great Battle Royale Can Be with a few Tweaks

Posted on October 30, 2019October 30, 2019 by chrisa

But why no Team Deathmatch mode?

I adored Apex Legends when it first came out, and I even frequently defended a lot of Respawn’s intentional but controversial choices, like not having a solo queue in favor of getting folks to team up with strangers. Unfortunately after many matches with mic-less team members who immediately dove into the water, others who repeatedly tried to shoot me and gave away our position, and more than one terrible dad who had set up a separate account for their child who was too young to speak poly-syllabic words let alone effectively play an FPS, I’d had my fill. The Shadowfall event has really shown how to do a Hallowen-themed event in a multiplayer game, …

Remnant: From the Ashes is on sale!

Posted on October 28, 2019October 28, 2019 by chrisa

That’s right, my favorite game of the last 3 years is on sale right now! This amazing game will run you only $32 on Xbox and $28 on Steam. I will not link to the PS4 version as unfortunately I had not tried it, before posting my original review. I have since tried it and have had some extreme slowdown issues with the game, so I can no longer recommend it for that platform.

I’ll throw out some more tips for new players since I’ve been playing it a lot recently:

If you’re rolling a male character, select Voice 1. Do NOT select Voice 4, no matter how good the preview sounds.
Disable Camera Bob. Your stomach will thank

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