centurydog
it almost seems like a cursed artifact. there is something about the way the systems interact, the designed-to-be-infinitely-repeatable radiant material and vast amount of mods that gives this game a meandering dreamy aura.
not even necessarily bad but it's so much stuff built on this skeleton of jank and superfluous feeling gameplay, like the mills that don't do anything or the disconnected feeling crafting features or hacked-in house building and the wooden bethsoft npcs that act like space aliens. the combat really feels like a weightless, floaty afterthought in the most appropriate way. it's so strange.
people use theme park as an mmo smear word but this does feel like a single-player theme park designed to let me stay there forever with these half-broken animatronic viking guys and dragons and skeletons. infinitely cobble together new adventures from prefab pieces. become the leader of every faction or steal stuff from random people's houses for radiant quests. eventually i get bored and just start walking around and it makes canned encounter zone wolf bandit attack stuff happen in front of me.
there isn't a designed "end", it ends when i stop playing. probably when the game crashes and i don't feel like booting it up again. like when a TV show that's run for 12 seasons and started repeating episode plots over and over gets cancelled and abruptly stops airing. soon it will be rebooted and get canned within 1-4.
the arc was "wow cool" -> "this is an infinite mediocre buffet with very nice decor" -> "this goes beyond being gratuitous and kind of broken to being really fascinating despite itself" over several years and for me this was really a unique strain of brainworm. still not satisfied but it doesn't even feel designed for that. one day i'll be back.
not even necessarily bad but it's so much stuff built on this skeleton of jank and superfluous feeling gameplay, like the mills that don't do anything or the disconnected feeling crafting features or hacked-in house building and the wooden bethsoft npcs that act like space aliens. the combat really feels like a weightless, floaty afterthought in the most appropriate way. it's so strange.
people use theme park as an mmo smear word but this does feel like a single-player theme park designed to let me stay there forever with these half-broken animatronic viking guys and dragons and skeletons. infinitely cobble together new adventures from prefab pieces. become the leader of every faction or steal stuff from random people's houses for radiant quests. eventually i get bored and just start walking around and it makes canned encounter zone wolf bandit attack stuff happen in front of me.
there isn't a designed "end", it ends when i stop playing. probably when the game crashes and i don't feel like booting it up again. like when a TV show that's run for 12 seasons and started repeating episode plots over and over gets cancelled and abruptly stops airing. soon it will be rebooted and get canned within 1-4.
the arc was "wow cool" -> "this is an infinite mediocre buffet with very nice decor" -> "this goes beyond being gratuitous and kind of broken to being really fascinating despite itself" over several years and for me this was really a unique strain of brainworm. still not satisfied but it doesn't even feel designed for that. one day i'll be back.
2023
harmonious blend of survival horror design and roguetype loop-mastery-gaming this is really like chocolate and peanut butter
constant knife's edge weighing of risk vs. reward with limited resources that drain every turn & the gradually unfolding item/event/etc unlock structure to inject fresh ambiguities with every run -- it's great. that's sort of normal roguetype loopgame fare but the horror theming, wrinkly choices and excellent presentation make it especially delightful/dreadful
sometimes you get super lucky and steamroll a run but that's rare enough to be whatever. point being that the parts where you're limping along and barely alive are sublime
just a treat
constant knife's edge weighing of risk vs. reward with limited resources that drain every turn & the gradually unfolding item/event/etc unlock structure to inject fresh ambiguities with every run -- it's great. that's sort of normal roguetype loopgame fare but the horror theming, wrinkly choices and excellent presentation make it especially delightful/dreadful
sometimes you get super lucky and steamroll a run but that's rare enough to be whatever. point being that the parts where you're limping along and barely alive are sublime
just a treat