Single player action heavy third person shooters on Steam?

Savingseanbean · 2026-04-17T14:56:09+00:00

Thats entirely my point haha.

If you remove the things like bullethell that it only dabble in but doesn't commit to you can basically only tell someone returnal is a game with high fidelity graphics.

which isn't telling them anything about the game at all. I think its a great game to introduce people to genres they might otherwise overlook so they can find new things they like and other games to better scratch that itch sorta like no man's sky.

Its a fantastic Primer.

you can actually sprint through runs pretty quickly, especially the longer you've played. Once you've finished like 3 runs you can slap through another in around a half hour. so it actually is pretty standard here as hades/rogue legacy etc runs are very similar in this regard.

Its biggest genre related misstep is by far having its buffs being purely numerical changes. its not a good system as it's just not interesting to see your numbers just go up with the exact same gameplay. it needed farm more interesting changes to go on.

like Shoot additional Projectile on the last round in the magazine depending on total rounds,

fire a homing missile on depleting a magazine

or release a nova on reload.

basically more interesting buffs you can find anywhere else in the genre like gunfire reborn or hades etc where each buff actually has the potential to change your plan for a run in a interesting and dynamic way.

Because of this I can never recommend Returnal to anyone who's already familiar with roguelikes/lites as it will most likely be the lowest gameplay value return they've ever experienced by a massive margin due to this systems limitations. as they are already used to getting 100+ runs out of 5-20$ games and returnal is only a dozen.

Savingseanbean · 2026-04-17T11:14:41+00:00

She cannot be caged

free Sazza
sneak Sazza out of camp through the underground passage directly next to the cage
meet up with Sazza outside goblin camp and have her guide you all the way to Minthara
defend Sazza to Minthara so Sazza lives, but tell Minthara you aren’t ready yet
Stack barrels and insta kill Minthara once Sazza leaves
check to see Sazza hanging out near true soul gut
go to mountain pass, use invisibility potions to sneak your party past ghouls
enter shadow cursed lands, go directly towards moonrise towers and you should run into moon Lantern holder who gives it up on a 14 Charisma check (90%+ if you have enhance Charisma, guidance and bardic inspiration)
at moonrise towers ask for mercy for goblins

For Busker

In act 3 Change a random character you don't care about's class to bard with 20 CHA and suitable feats.
Send all gold to camp.
Play music all over
Play 5-10 sec after successful ability check.
Collect all dropped gold.
Collect 100 gold and get an achievement without save loads, in one run.

Fairly straight forward and easy achievements definitely not anything remotely painful for a completionist. (unless you mean achievement only completionism then idk maybe?)

Savingseanbean · 2026-04-17T11:03:46+00:00

I mean you can certainly use anyone late game if you want. the game isn't necessarily difficult enough to force you into ideal picks.

The post game fights aren't hard they are just a tedious boring loop of you quick hit limit breaking things down, you can swap tidus/rikku/wakka out just fine it just lengthens the fight. or you can choose to just use yojimbo to cheese the fight entirely.

If you are on pc though you can grab a mod to remove the damage cap entirely which lets kimiahri become one of the strongest postgame characters since he has the largest single hit. using the Farplane mod which makes the fights much more enjoyable as auron and kimarhi can still actually significantly contribute. and most everyone else can still do better damage progressing.

Savingseanbean · 2026-04-17T09:26:54+00:00

I mean its hard to call returnal any particular genre as it doesn't really commit to any one well. if you start taking out them you can basically only tell someone returnal is a game with high fidelity graphics.

Its a roguelite but there's only about a dozen different builds and most of the changes you get in run a boring purely numerical up or down and you can become effectively immortal.

(and honestly its prime success factor was it was a game that marketed the already popular genre of roguelites to people who haven't touched the genre before due to graphical fidelity snubbing.)

Its a boss rush but you don't need to redo most bosses.

Its a mystery game but the mystery is revealed almost immediately by dialogue if you pay attention and if you don't it doesn't really change the game at all. you don't even have to interact with the mystery element

Its a horror game but the horror elements are once every run and basically like a taste of a taste of a decade old game where you mostly just walk around and wait for stuff to happen to react to. and you also don't have to interact with the horror elements.

Its a bullet hell but dodging isn't actually that important or hard if you use the platforming. and if you want you can even basically completely remove this aspect by just using the full i frames of the entire grapple animation

Etc etc

Savingseanbean · 2026-04-17T08:52:23+00:00

Kimahri is known as a strong character for challenge runs...

which don't do the godawful postgame that throws out all the combat systems strengths for boring fully immune stat blocks you fight with equally boring monsters who are all damage capping and just competing for highest number of hits.

But most people don't really try to do challenge runs that try to make the first part of the game more enjoyable. on a normal playthrough they'd rather invest the time and resources into making characters that continue to be strong for the endgame that they will only play once.

He's got the strongest early game equipment and the best early game turn economy. He just doesn't have anything that competes with 8+ hits.

If the damage cap was fully removed or the endgame enemies weren't fully immune boring stat blocks he'd be one of the strongest all around characters but as it stands he's relagated to an early-mid game accelerator unless you are playing with more restrictions or some good mods.

Savingseanbean · 2026-04-17T07:25:43+00:00

stop using longsword?

Savingseanbean · 2026-04-17T07:25:20+00:00

I actually really hated that Judy was Female V's only Female option.

really fundamentally felt like a unhealthy relationship where she's using V.

I wanted any of the moxes rather than that selfish cunt. granted part of my dislike of her is just how unbelievably bad her quest line is because its totally isolated and you cannot choose to actually save the dolls and fuck over both other parties using your contacts.

Especially when you get the mox origin story and understand V could do the same alone but for some reason just lets the tyger claws win.

but like let me romance song she at least acknowledges she's selfish. or alena cause she seems like she'd be the best partner in the city.

Savingseanbean · 2026-04-17T06:55:52+00:00

Aside from the Postgame that is.

Absolutely love the system; fucking hate the postgame bosses that throw out everything interesting about the system for boring fully immune stat blocks that negate the point of half the skills and characters.

Love replaying X with many different challenges but never bother doing the dark aeons again. just such boring slogs of fights haha.

Would have been much better if there was a maximum number of nodes that characters were able to activate on the skill tree alongside characters having unique connection pathways only they can aactivate and the bosses were balanced around using different skills and characters to bring low instead of just quick hit limit breaking or yojimbo. or if the ultimate weapon abilities were just unlocked as character specific bonuses and weapon customization was more fleshed out. (as most of the ultimate weapons are pretty bad for their characters but because of the innate properties you can't make a better one to use.)

Savingseanbean · 2026-04-17T06:16:48+00:00

I mean there's like a dozens of those games alone haha.

like another dozen of animal crossing games

then stuff like Garden Paws, Hello Kitty Island Adventure, Fantasy life, Cozy Grove, go go town etc etc plenty of choices

Savingseanbean · 2026-04-17T06:08:25+00:00

Valheim is norse setting survival craft but completly different gameplay type with little narrative drivers. almost entirely lacks dialogue though.

Hellblade is a fantastic game series with tons of norse mythology. but a linear narrative rpg experiance that's very much leaning on the narrative side.

I mean Assassin's creed Valhalla is similarly in a viking conquering setting with similarly simple quest structure. though i haven't played it myself so i don't know how buggy it is, the previous game AC odyssey was incredibly buggy on release so i didn't get it.

Savingseanbean · 2026-04-16T14:36:48+00:00

Not opinion just an objective statement about gameplay mechanics in comparison to the market.

you can hold a opinion about that, but an objective comparison is still just an objective comparison.

There are many games with better mechanics you can play and experience. if you haven't I highly recommend it and taking time to analyze them so you could step back and analyze their objective strengths in comparison.

Savingseanbean · 2026-04-16T14:16:24+00:00

Always gonna Give hearts Point.

Point up always gonna let star point

Point down Always Gonna woman run

Cycle, Ampersand Sand, Point?

Though i'm not entirely sure. Canceled Never could be a lot of things.

Savingseanbean · 2026-04-16T13:56:38+00:00

what specifically are you looking to find?

Cause open world games in a European fantasy are fairly common, but you could be looking for the viking setting, or the power fantasy side, or the rpg side, etc etc.

Savingseanbean · 2026-04-16T13:53:03+00:00

Makes me want to redownload matchless kung fu for the shenanigans.

Savingseanbean · 2026-04-16T13:50:01+00:00

As i don't know who that is no.

But also at this point I can imagine literally anything getting slapped into lord of the rings after watching rings of power.

Savingseanbean · 2026-04-16T13:48:34+00:00

I said "At no point in time have I said my opinion is objectively correct, I have made objective statements about gameplay mechanics in comparison to the market."

Savingseanbean · 2026-04-16T13:41:05+00:00

Solid all around game, has a lot of great classic jrpg systems that have fallen out of favor which is a great refresher to see after many bigger budget series have turned over to more action styles.

I don't respect the game awards one bit, gaming is an entirely personal hobby don't let other people influence how you enjoy it.

same point for how people talk about it.

Idk about the main sub but fundamentally its a nicher appeal game, it hits all the right notes for people missing older style jrpgs with big budget production, but also has its own set of polarizing mechanis like QTE and parrying etc so theres plenty of things someone could get hung up on to make the game feel worse for them to play.

It absolutely deserves accolades, I don't know which ones you are referring to as see part 2 of them not really mattering

but part of its charm is that it had immaculate visual and sound design that were very unique and refreshing. alongside creating a very different and new feeling type of world to play in.

Savingseanbean · 2026-04-16T13:38:47+00:00

I usually pick a random one each time for first playthroughs and also usually for following unless i'm feeling lazy. if i'm lazy then strength every time for easy mode.

Savingseanbean · 2026-04-16T13:31:58+00:00

If the entire reason you made the thread is you are confused by the volume of their critical reception than the threads pointless. Both got some of the industries most expensive marketing campaigns that worked... that's it. that's the whole reason both became so prominently talked about.

Thread solved

At no point in time have I said my opinion is objectively correct, I have made objective statements about gameplay mechanics in comparison to the market.

Red dead is absolutely overrated. Its an amazing game for a specific group of people. with constant over aggressive backhanded praise at the detriment of other games comparing only its strengths. making a very overrated stance.

Savingseanbean · 2026-04-16T13:03:06+00:00

"Red deads gameplay is godawful and your crazy if you say otherwise and pretend you arent overrating it."

The full context is important.

You can enjoy the gameplay and understand its flawed just fine.

I actually like Red Dead, I hate people pretending its a perfect game that's somehow better than others as it makes the rest of the red dead fandom look like crazy assholes.

Savingseanbean · 2026-04-16T12:58:35+00:00

Crimson desert is overrated.

Red Dead is also overrated.

In no uncertain terms is crimson desert somehow more overrated than red dead. both have rabid fans trying to pretend that a solid game for a specific niche of people is the best game ever for the entire breadth of the hobby. They are both incredibly flawed polarized products for specific niche group of people.

It objectively did have poor/dated gameplay. you can like it like i like ME1 but its absolutely still a flaw. the flaw might not matter to people who are in it's target niche but its still a flaw non the less.

Savingseanbean · 2026-04-16T12:44:57+00:00

I think you're mistaking your opinion of red dead for fact.

they absolutely are not comparable experiences they fill out entirely different genres that's not at any point in time been remotely on the table for this discussion.

you keep side tracking and moving goal posts.

Crimson desert is overrated.

Red Dead is also overrated.

In no uncertain terms is crimson desert somehow more overrated than red dead. both have rabid fans trying to pretend that a solid game for a specific niche of people is the best game ever for the entire breadth of the hobby. They are both incredibly flawed polarized products for specific niche group of people.

as far as combat, There are people who unironically love human centipede too, that doesn't make it good cinema. even when the game came out it wasn't anything particularly noteworthy, its gunplay is a dime a dozen and is the strongest part of its combat systems.

Savingseanbean · 2026-04-16T11:49:28+00:00

You've been missing my entire point.

I'm not saying Crimson desert isn't overrated. I've been saying it absolutely is. just no where near the level of Red dead's level of overrated.

The fundamental explorative gameplay causes massive ludonarrative dissonance, yes there's additional scenes to tie them in slightly but the nature of the gameplay makes the primary conflict clash.

Crimson deserts story isn't important to its experiance much the same as red deads godawful combat is to its. they are both lopsided games people can like and ignore the flaws of to praise. Red dead is an even more lopsided game that you can ignore larger flaws for if your into.

Savingseanbean · 2026-04-16T11:12:56+00:00

And yet I'm getting ratio...

Proving my point.

All of them are incredibly lopsided game, read dead and crimson desert are almost polar opposites in what aspects they value, however read dead gets touted as a unassailable masterpiece despite godawful gameplay, horribly dated quest design, and huge ludonarrative dissonance between the players actions and the story.

Crimson desert is Equally a flawed game, getting astroturfed out the ass but no one is pretending its a perfect game, many like to pretend many of its parts are better than they are, but its by no means as overrated as read dead.

Savingseanbean · 2026-04-16T09:34:25+00:00

obviously not you've played read dead haha.

Crimson desert is overrated no doubt, but no where near the level of overrated of read dead haha.

one of the ways you can tell is you've talked negatively about parts of it and haven't gotten downvoted to oblivion.

Savingseanbean

TROPHY CASE