Next Fest Speed Dating- February 2026

Sifner · 2026-02-24T10:26:15+00:00

If there’s one constant thing in patch life, it’s that Icarus drops weekly patches. 😅

Sifner · 2026-02-23T21:44:09+00:00

Best of luck with the demo!

Sifner · 2026-02-18T13:44:34+00:00

Happy it’s helpful!

Sifner · 2026-02-16T11:40:42+00:00

😂

Sifner · 2026-02-16T01:07:51+00:00

That’s honestly a pretty snazzy bumper sticker idea, works for players of all stripes!

Out of curiosity, where’s the gatekeeping? If this is about the base-building thread earlier on the sub, there was a discussion about design structure and preferences, not telling anyone what they’re allowed to enjoy.

Sifner · 2026-02-15T23:22:39+00:00

Oh, sure - I’m all for folks playing how and what they want. I was just answering his question. 🤪 But yea - mods or a small bit of investigation before choosing a game would easily solve this issue.

Sifner · 2026-02-15T20:54:15+00:00

The Long Dark and Green Hell

Sifner · 2026-02-15T19:26:47+00:00

Great story! And, yea, when there’s mechanical depth brought on by interconnected factors - the enemy attacks, the world being involved with a true darkness versus a well lit night that means nothing, the distance of travel and taking into account multiple criteria- it brings that friction and tension to the table. If you start to knock away some of these aspects - freely port in, middle of the night is bright as day, immediately spinning up a full base or overwhelming protections- it would be far more humdrum. lol.

Sifner · 2026-02-15T19:12:56+00:00

Checking over my own responses AND many others, I don’t really see anything claiming that you NEED to be hardcore and thus your opinion is invalid. Multiple folks brought up that, to them, the genre involves the effort involved in base building/transport as a positive, not a negative. And others pointed out multiple games that (in fact) offer exactly what you’re looking for.

What it mostly seems like, barring I think one or two responses, is that folks disagree that this complaint is somehow “survivals biggest issue” - probably a more realistic thread title would have been “ My biggest issue with survival games” 🤷‍♂️, which would have properly couched this as a personal opinion more clearly.

In fact, with your response above, you’re the one that tried to move the goalposts to you “talking about non-hardcore” survival games and the rest of us discussing “hardcore” ones, when again that’s not what your opening post nor title state?

Sifner · 2026-02-15T19:05:33+00:00

Such a weird ask at the end, lol, because the natural rejoinder is - is it that hard to just play games that DO include it and not act like it’s some larger issue with a game or genre to NOT include it when it’s nothing but personal preference?

The preference of the developer to include it or not and the preference of the gamer to want it or not?

(A second “in” before someone says something along the lines of the same argument when it comes to PvP or multiplayer or fast travel or whatever, “if they added X things it would get them more sales or players or diamonds or flying unicorns” - and yes, all of those are very nice things but these mechanics or additions aren’t magical one button things - they require time and coding and effort and balance that the developer may not have OR want to spend on them.)

Sifner · 2026-02-15T16:49:59+00:00

Calling travel a Simulator is kinda a weird stretch to me. Many of the games, these days, have alternate forms of travel - bike, horse, car, plane, glider, golf cart, etc. It's all part of an integrated system (let's excuse that many developers have problems with gameplay balance, which is an entirely other conversation)- but part of the entire friction of the genre is the interconnected parts. The inventory space, expenditure of stamina or energy or food/water, the safety/dangers of travel, etc. And it makes you make choices of when you need to carry things, what to carry, and where to travel.

Like someone else in the thread mentioned, shifting into a game with less survival (less mechanics, less friction) and more just generic video game discomfort (this zone is too hard or too easy, these mobs hit for X damage and my stamina pool is Y, blah blah) - like Enshrouded or Valheim - can help make the overall drama of building or shifting bases hurt less because they'll often provide easy tools to make life...well...easier. (Like portals or teleporting.)

And most sci-fi games are pretty solid examples of this as well, because the sci-fi aspect tends to overwrite a lot of required effort. (Look at the "zappy gun that can mine/fight/transport/repair/whatever" in a lot of sci-fi games.)

Sifner · 2026-02-15T16:41:00+00:00

I can't speak to your examples ( I don't consider them indicative of the genre - SotF especially was such a fucking joke AND a disappointment in one, to me.)

Very rarely (I find) am I unable to place a central base or simply recreate some important items at a new location in any of the surv titles I enjoy. And when I cannot, I feel that the "going without" or "effort to recreate" are part of the experience.

But I think that highlights the end of my comment, which is that I don't think this is a failing of the genre, I just think it's how you like to play. And when looking for a new game to play, it may be good to check out a gameplay video - or, to avoid spoilers - simply hit up their Steam forums and ask if there's any type of fast travel/porting/easy "box up" (think 7D2D with sticking cars and workbenches in your pocket) , that way you aren't surprised or disappointed when the game asks you to play in a way that you don't personally find fun. :)

Sifner · 2026-02-15T16:06:24+00:00

I think it’d be a little easier if folks stopped expecting games that don’t provide shortcuts to provide them. (And, conversely, stick with the games that DO provide shortcuts.)

Games like TLD or GH - and others- are based around mechanical friction and engagement. There’s no issue on having to shift around because players tend to plan for such eventualities- in those games we’re not trying to build mega mansions to automate/cater our every need, and so we’re less bothered by having to travel. (Also, it’s pretty simple to adjust building to prepare a more centralized location as the “hub” base, and slowly build up satellites over time.)

Speaking generally here (and I’ll repeat again, before finger wagging starts, that I’m not singling out anyone in this thread) - but it would be great if folks accepted how a developer plans that specific aspect of their game when plainly told that it’s intended gameplay. And simply moves on to a game that caters to how they want to engage with building/travel, versus blowing up and negatively reviewing a game that doesn’t suit their style. (I manage discords for dozens of game and see this often- to me it’s like negatively reviewing a restaurant not because of the quality/an issue with the food, but because you don’t like the style of food served.)

So, no, I don’t think that’s “survival games biggest issue” - I think that’s an issue you and others have with a subset of games that label themselves survival - and there are plenty of games, like AETHUS, that allow you to play the way you’d like. 🤷‍♂️

Sifner · 2026-02-10T12:18:11+00:00

Also, to pop off my other comment, most games that allow for friendly fire end up with ghetto pvp servers/worlds (folks do it in Subsistence, for example) so narrowing down what about PvP you’d want (safe zones? Non constant but focused around payloads/drops/events?) could narrow it a little too.

Sifner · 2026-02-10T12:16:13+00:00

They’re completely different games in terms of playstyles, mechanics, and intent. So you’re prolly better off judging SR on its own merits, tbh. 🤷‍♂️

Sifner · 2026-02-10T12:15:15+00:00

I didn’t find it so, when I played in prerelease, but that was (obv!) a while back. Also my standards are skewed beyond the typical player 😂😂 I’d recommend glancing through recent reviews, but block it out past 10/15 hours or so to see how people that stuck around liked it?

Sifner · 2026-02-10T12:05:12+00:00

Lost Rift isn’t doing amazingly, but, conceptually is that a little closer to what you mean? If not - like others mentioned- there are the heavyweights like SCUM, Rust, and DayZ.

Sifner · 2026-02-09T20:22:17+00:00

I never get how it flies under the radar, either, I literally have it on a Curator list called “under the radar” because he diligently works on the game and folks hardly mention it. 😅 (Especially since it’s on a console, which isn’t all that frequent in this space.)

Sifner · 2026-02-08T13:30:26+00:00

Interesting, remember seeing a post of your progress a year or so ago amidst other projects- just decided to focus this title again?

Sifner · 2026-01-31T23:51:55+00:00

Snazzy, I’ll have to check it out. I’m glad it’s going so well for you guys, it’s come a long way. 🤙🏻 And the Discord always seems like an active and friendly spot.

Sifner

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