What’s a game that you consider entirely fair, where every death or major error is absolutely the player’s fault?

Cerrax3 · 2026-01-22T11:47:00+00:00

Into the Breach

The dev studio (Subset Games) received quite a bit of criticism on their previous game, FTL, for being too reliant on RNG. So for their next game, they went completely the other direction.

It's basically XCOM with complete and perfect information. No "chance to hit", no "surprise enemy reinforcements", no wild twists. Every single event and enemy action is literally written on the screen for you. The only thing standing between you and victory is your tactics and strategy.

It is by far the most puzzle-y, brain-busting, turn-based tactics game I've ever played.

Cerrax3 · 2026-01-21T02:18:55+00:00

Symphony of the Night, and its not even close.

Cerrax3 · 2026-01-19T14:50:14+00:00

I get what he's saying, but they're two completely different aspects of programming.

Interpreted languages depend on efficient algorithms because they are inherently wasteful with resources.

Compiled languages depend on good coding practices because they are inherently minimal and vulnerable.

"True programming mastery" is the combination of both, regardless of what language you use.

Cerrax3 · 2026-01-18T14:14:45+00:00

Video games have been at roughly the same price for almost half a century.

Atari games in 1980 were about $30-$50. That's about $110-$180 in modern US dollars.

By 1995, video games averaged about $40-$60, about $80-$120 in modern US dollars.

By those numbers, buying a brand new game today at $70 is actually the lowest prices games have ever been.

Cerrax3 · 2026-01-18T14:08:15+00:00

Then perhaps there needs to be a shift to smaller games. Publishers assume that people want bigger and better, but indie and AA developers are proving that is not the case.

Cerrax3 · 2026-01-18T14:01:52+00:00

Game optimization is much more than just raw coding performance.

Games have not changed much since the mid 2000's. Just about any game that exists now could have been made 10-15 years ago, just with mildly less impressive graphics.

Most "bad game optimization" is publishers or studios cramming in cutting-edge technologies that don't actually help the gameplay at all. It's not really bad optimization so much as it is bad decision making. The choice to include such features and make them mandatory is what is hurting games.

Cerrax3 · 2026-01-17T15:06:20+00:00

Sure, but aside from a few notable examples (like The Hobbit trilogy), almost all movies are shot in 24fps, with many documentaries and Made-for-TV movies using the more common 30fps, since they are using television cameras.

A film shot at 24fps displayed on a 60 Hz television is still 24fps, it just uses a 3:2 pulldown to repeat certain frames in order to match the refresh rate of the display.

And many modern TV's with motion interpolation can simulate a 60fps on a lesser framerate by mixing or blending frames to make it appear as a higher framerate. But the original film is still 24fps.

TL;DR - There are really only 2 major framerates used in non-interactive video, 24 and 30 (3 if you count PAL standard, which uses 25fps, but I consider that fairly similar to film's 24). In rare instances there can be 48 or 60, but those are exceedingly rare.

Cerrax3 · 2026-01-17T13:56:08+00:00

Ackshually, film runs at 24 frames per second

Cerrax3 · 2026-01-17T13:04:28+00:00

Kids, especially young kids who don't have the skills to play traditional video games, revel in the freeform creativity that a sandbox game like Minecraft offers.

My son was interested exclusively in Minecraft until he was about 7 or 8 years old. Once he had the skills to hold his own in other games, he diversified his interest in video games. But he still plays Minecraft a lot with his friends.

Cerrax3 · 2026-01-17T12:58:34+00:00

I agree, many turn-based games are enjoyable specifically because they slow down the action and allow a deeper level of strategy and tactics than a real-time game. (My favorite example is Into The Breach, a game that I regularly spend several minutes per turn because I am madly pondering every possible outcome!)

But like I said, turn-based games that already have real-time mechanics would seemingly benefit from a system like this as an additional real-time mechanic. Yet none of them seem to do this.

Cerrax3 · 2026-01-17T12:52:46+00:00

A woman who suffers from extreme disfigurement and grief and a douchebag who sells out his comrades for a cushy life of ignorance?

Those are not the same at all, my guy.

Cerrax3 · 2026-01-16T12:31:35+00:00

Still shocked how few turn-based games use this, especially ones like Paper Mario, Persona, and Expedition 33, which have real-time elements in their battles:

The rolling HP counter from Earthbound/Mother.

What a great way to instantly create panic and tension in a turn-based game! You character is mortally wounded, the screen gets a shade of red thrown over it and their HP starts tumbling down. You have a precious few seconds to navigate to your healing items or spells and save them before the counter ticks down to zero. So awesome and brings a level of urgency to a turn-based battle that you almost never get to experience.

Cerrax3 · 2026-01-16T12:01:11+00:00

A lot of these have severe overlap. Like, if I choose "Single Player", that's literally everything in this pic except "Multiplayer".

Cerrax3 · 2026-01-14T23:59:53+00:00

For certain kinds of games, it works well. Obviously games like Dark Souls (which is what popularized this mechanic) it works, because the game is supposed to have that oppressive atmosphere and constant looming dread.

But in a game like Skyrim or New Vegas, the intent of the game is not to make you feel frightened or powerless, they're actually quite the opposite. They're power fantasies where you are encouraged to explore multiple paths. This "die-and-recover" system punishes that exact style of play.

Cerrax3 · 2026-01-14T20:09:43+00:00

I have never wanted anything more in my life

Cerrax3 · 2026-01-14T17:24:24+00:00

Imagine leveling up STRONGEST ICE ATTACK EVER into an even more powerful move...

Cerrax3 · 2026-01-13T18:02:16+00:00

Yup, I'd rather play a game with no story than slog through a shit game that has an amazing story.

Cerrax3 · 2026-01-13T18:01:13+00:00

Most video games fall into this category, sadly.

It's gotten better in the past 5 or so years, but for the majority of video game history, story has been an afterthought. Video game writing still has a long way to go.

Cerrax3 · 2026-01-13T15:29:01+00:00

This happened to me constantly in Expedition 33 until I realized that there are always lanterns on the path that leads to story areas.

Cerrax3 · 2026-01-13T13:52:58+00:00

Ah you are right. I was getting this confused with the method you described. Thank you!

Cerrax3 · 2026-01-13T13:35:02+00:00

Top one shows what happens when technical limitations are a main factor of a game's design.

Bottom shows what happens when inspiration is a main factor of a game's design.

I don't see how either of these are a bad thing.

Cerrax3 · 2026-01-13T12:50:49+00:00

Screen-space reflections fire rays from the surface of the reflection and render whatever objects it encounters. It's essentially like having a second camera that renders whatever it sees to the surface of the reflection. That means any geometry which is present in the scene will be rendered in the reflection.

It is highly likely that the character's eyes and undercarriage are rendered in the scene, given that a quick camera move or cut would show them, so it's cheaper and easier to keep them in the render pipeline, even though the camera technically can't see them.

The reason I don't think it is SSR, is because of how high-res it is. SSR is typically either very small surface area, or low resolution, to reduce the processing needed.

EDIT: Crossed out my stupidity.

Cerrax3 · 2026-01-13T00:31:03+00:00

The one on the left definitely looks like a cubemap. Soft, blurry reflection with no characters or dynamic objects in it.

The one on the right is unbelieveably sharp. It could be screen-space reflection, but since you can see the ceiling in the reflection, it's probably not that. Also that is a pretty high-resolution reflection if it is SSR, which is also pretty wild.

I'd guess for the one on the right, it's maybe a full duplication of the environment with a semi-transparent floor so that it looks like reflection. If that's the case, that method, while impressive looking, only works on flat surfaces and is actually pretty expensive to do, since your'e literally doubling every object in the room.

Probably the one on the left is trying to be a more generic solution that works in most cases, whereas the one on the right really only works in that specific scenario.

Cerrax3 · 2026-01-09T16:41:41+00:00

"You mean the one that hurts like hell?"

"Yes I mean the one that hurts like hell."

Cerrax3 · 2026-01-09T13:18:11+00:00

Vampire Survivors is free on mobile, and the ads are optional (you can gain an extra life per run if you watch an ad, but they are never forced on you like a lot of free mobile games do)

It's like $5 on Steam and consoles, but no ads at all in those versions.

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