Oh, wait, now that you mention that it’s bringing back some memories. Yes, I think we have run into issues like that, but it wasn’t so much that we stopped playing because of it. It’s been a little while, but we’ll get back to it eventually. I just love the environments on that game.

Sorry to hear. I’m not sure what you mean by desync? Do you mean that the remote players lose track of what’s happening on the server? I don’t recall having major issues with that. I think our game is always hosted by the same person, so maybe it could be dependent on host?

Sweet! I have to look more into Fanatical. Thanks!

The Ascent

Oooh, let me second this recommendation! I play this fairly regularly in online co-op with my remote gaming group. It’s an isometric perspective cyberpunk-themed action game with gorgeous, detailed environments.

What exactly do you mean by bargain bin though? I just checked and The Ascent seems to be going for almost $30 at the moment. I think I bought it on sale for quite a bit less, but I still wondered what you meant.

If I could throw out my own recommendation that’s even cheaper than that, I’m always trying to get more people to know about Project Zomboid. Another isometric perspective game, this time it’s an open-world survival game with incredible gameplay depth and also online co-op (or PvP). The graphics look somewhat antiquated, but it more than makes up for it in almost every other area. Some people have played this for hundreds or even thousands of hours, so the return on investment tends to be through the roof.

This is amazing, thank you for writing it!

Yikes, good point! I do have the original Dirt Rally and don’t want to miss out on 2.0.

Will do, thanks!

Yikes! Good to know, thanks! I’m doubly glad I didn’t buy it now. I still have to buy DR2 anyway.

Interesting about the stages and mechanics. I love long/realistic stages, but that’s not enough to overcome the other issues.

Cool, no worries. I keep meaning to buy DR2 on sale too. I will, eventually.

Bleargh, I’m glad I didn’t buy it. I’m making preparations to move to Linux.

How was the EA/Codemasters WRC title compared to the Dirt Rally titles? I didn’t buy it because it has Denuvo DRM, even on Steam.

That’s actually kind of a brilliant concept that should serve as an example for other video game publishers then: open-source the program so that it can be maintained by the community, but require a license to use the artwork. The community could eventually recreate and even improve the artwork anyway.

That would be a completely legendary move if the dev hired by EA just said “fuck it, I’m open-sourcing this shit!”

Sure, that’s definitely an option, I suppose with GPU passthrough (I’m not sure how well this works). My idea when I switch to Linux is to have Windows 11 and macOS VMs.

This, to me, is the worst sin of Windows 11. One of the greatest benefits Windows had compared to macOS was that it used to be backward compatible with really old hardware. Real pro move to get rid of that.

Edit: I bought a cheap micro form factor PC that I thought would support Windows 11 natively. Haha, no, the 6 year old CPU on that was not supported.

Affinity

Unfortunately, I seem to recall that Affinity doesn’t run well under wine. If only they would officially port it to Linux, that would be a major move for them and for Linux. Follow DaVinci Resolve’s and BitWig’s examples.

Haha, true. Infinite paths to reach the one ending, but still one ending. ;)

Project Zomboid, even though I’m not into zombie lore.

• Isometric perspective graphics, one of my favorite game perspectives
• Open world, open-ended, sandbox play with enough of a game objective to not be boring
• Hardcore survival with deep, often surprising mechanics
• Amazing multiplayer experiences
• Loads of suspense and tension
• Constant development from a small, totally independent team
• Incredible array of community mods

I would love to see other games in the same vein using other scenarios besides zombies, like maybe warzone survival, etc.

Even better, “buy non-transferable license”, because that’s technically what it is.

Not trying to argue, but I don’t believe I can re-sell my copy of a game I “bought” on GOG, so in my view that’s not full ownership as most people understand it. If you’re a full, legal owner of some property, you can sell that property anywhere you like.