Been a minute since I posted! Lots of exciting things coming down the pipe for Chats with Rad, though– I’m adding a custom logo and avatar to my social media channels, and plan on streaming some video games in the near future! Hopefully, it’ll be in time for the World of Warcraft expansion: Battle for Azeroth. I’ll keep everyone posted!

Moonlighter

Oh, Moonlighter.  You filled up an entire weekend where I binged thee! I was chomping at the bit for this one and bought it at release, then subsequently beat it the same weekend. While the game is pretty short, I had a blast with it. It really reminded me of Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale, a game I adored.

In Moonlighter, you’re a shop owner that runs a shop by day, and raids the local dungeon by night to stock your shop with more loot to sell. You use your money to improve the town’s amenities (to benefit you, of course), and create upgraded weapons and armor with the supplies you find.

The development team is still working on features for Moonlighter, so I’ll probably play it again in the future. Find all the features they are adding, here.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

I’d been meaning to get to Deus Ex: Mankind Divided for a long time, and finally got around to it last month. I played Human Revolution (the previous game) a ways back, and loved the RPG, first-person action, and was hooked on Jenson’s story and struggle. This new iteration hits you hard with the “Naturals” vs “Augmented” conflict, and the racism and bigotry that go with it.  It’s a thought-provoking storyline that gives you a glimpse into what our dark future may hold for us.

Fallout Shelter

I played Fallout Shelter a few years back when it first came out, prior to the release of Fallout 4 (find that write-up here), but have since picked this game back up since its release on the Switch. The developers have added a ton of new things since I last played, such as quests and new rooms that let you customize your dwellers and craft your own weapons and armor. It’s also free to play, so giving it a try on your Switch won’t cost you anything! (except all the time you’ll be spending playing it)

Conan Exiles

In the most recent edition of my dedicated server addiction, I made a server for me and my friends to play Conan Exiles. I have to say, this is one of the best survival games I’ve played in the genre, and I’ve played many! The combat is engaging, the building is intuitive, and the breadth of content is impressive! Everytime we thought we’d discovered everything or figured something out, we’d find more to explore and experience. Eventually (like all games), it got stale, but it took many, many hours for that to happen, and we plan on diving back in once more content gets added by Funcom. If you want to hop on our server, let me know, and I’ll send you the details.

Mario+Rabbids: Kingdom Battle

A dash of Mario charm, a deluge of Rabbid antics, and a meaty XCOM steak is what you get when you dive into Mario+Rabbids: Kingdom Battle. This is Nintendo’s take on the tried and true XCOM gameplay system, mixed in with classic Mario exploration and Metroidvanian backtrack elements.

Nintendo brought in some innovative ideas to the combat (like they always do), such as meleeing and shooting in the same turn, and hopping onto both allies and enemies for increased maneuverability and damage. There’s a surprising amount of strategy to take into account when you make your moves, and the game becomes delightfully difficult sometimes, both in and out of the combat.

Octopath Traveler

I played the three-hour Octopath demo and told myself it wasn’t my cup of tea. The character interaction for a party-based game was disappointingly shallow and weak. But, the gameplay was just SO. GOOD. that it became easier and easier to overlook that your party of misfits just ran into each other and decided to party up for no discernible reason. So, I bought the game and I’m well into it. Even though the game is grind-y and lacks important character interaction, the combat and job system are an amazing callback to the old days, along with fun twists to the combat that we saw in “Bravely Default.”

Under Rail

I picked up a game on the most recent Steam sale called “Under Rail,” which is a callback to the old Fallout games. It has an old school isometric view with hardcore RPG elements, but I can’t decide if I like it yet.  The game is brutally difficult, the RPG and combat is mildly complicated, and don’t get me started on the crafting system! But, I find myself continuing to play it and think about it. I’ll report more impressions on it soon! If this unique title has piqued your interest, you can find it here. You can find my old original Fallout write up here as well, to get a better idea of the type of game is is.