games

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Sunday is Gaming Day: What Are You Playing Weekly Thread (hexbear.net)

submitted 1 week ago by GuyWTriangle@hexbear.net to c/games@hexbear.net

38 comments fedilink

Hello everyone. This week I've been playing more Balatro and Nightreign. I've now completed 50% of all decks in Balatro, and just need to find one more joker for 100% collection. Hope everyone has a good week ahead

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2025 demo of Guardian Cry (my 2d retro Zelda clone) is OUT! (beambrain.itch.io)

submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by BeamBrain@hexbear.net to c/games@hexbear.net

29 comments fedilink

This demo includes a playable overworld, a new dungeon (the Minotaur Temple), some updated graphics, and general improvements to make the game play more smoothly. Check it out!

@Nakoichi@hexbear.net Pin please? powercry-1

EDIT: Thanks for pin heart-sickle

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Emulation Information Megathread (hexbear.net)

submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by riseuppikmin@hexbear.net to c/games@hexbear.net

5 comments fedilink

Here are some educational resources/explanations for the games community about emulation and other game-related tools.

Note: Check my top-level replies in this thread as I ran out of text in the post

[Informational Resources]

Reddit's ROM Megathread - Unaffiliated with this site

Emulation Wiki

[Emulation as a field]

Emulation is the process of re-implementing the functionality of something (hardware and/or software) in a separate software environment. You're probably most most familiar in the term as it relates to game system emulation- like the Dolphin Wii and Gamecube emulator, but it's actually much broader than that.

While emulation does cover physical systems, it can also cover things that strictly exist as software. If you've ever played on WoW or any other MMO private servers, the actual underlying software that was being run was likely a server emulator (or in rare cases the actual official server software itself may have leaked or released).

These server emulators are created by analyzing the network information exchange (packets) sent from the game client to the server and those received by the client from the server. A painstaking and brutal process of analyzing these packets allows server reverse-engineering projects to then re-implement the functionality of the official servers, and then we can point the game client towards our reverse-engineered private server (that speaks the exact same "language" as the official servers). This then allows the private servers to provide additional or changed functionality (for example, more exp per quest) which allows a much more customizable experience.

Emulation can also be used to re-implement vendor solutions like the Steam API which provides various utilities like DRM (which the emulator could choose to ignore). A great example of an emulator in this regard is the Goldberg Emulator.

Let's say you've acquired (through legal purchase only of course) the clean steam files for a game and want to run it offline. Normally you wouldn't be able to because the steamworks DRM check wouldn't be able to authenticate against the official steam servers. If we instead replace the steam_api.dll (this could also be named steam_api64.dll depending on the game) with the one provided by the Goldberg Emulator, when the game makes the check for the steamworks drm authentication status, the Goldberg Emulator's implementation of steam_api.dll will simply return true and let us play our game offline. The game itself just knows that it asked for a DRM verification check to a service, and the Goldberg variant of steam_api.dll looks (to the game) exactly like the "real" version, except that it always returns that the steamworks DRM has been verified.

Refer to the readme within the Goldberg project for more information about what to do with specific games. Also take note that this only works with games that only use steamworks drm (most of them) and games using other/multiple DRM solutions won't work with this method only for offline play.

[Console Emulators]

All of the emulators listed below are my personal per-console pick. Each is at least in the recommended section of a great general emulation resource, the Emulation Wiki

Game Platform | Emulator Name | Emulation Platform | Comments

Nintendo Consoles

NES | Ares | Windows/Linux/Mac

SNES | Ares | Windows/Linux/Mac

SNES | bsnes-hd | Windows/Linux/Mac | Widescreen modifications for some SNES games

N64 | Simple64 | Windows/Linux | Soon to be replaced by Gopher64 by the same developer (26/3/2025) N64 emulation has a lot of viable candidate emulators, check the page here

GC | Dolphin | Windows/Linux/Mac/Android

Wii | Dolphin | Windows/Linux/Mac/Android

Wii U | Cemu | Windows/Linux

Switch | Ryubing Ryujinx Fork | Windows/Linux/Mac/ Android/iOS | Continuation of the Ryujinx project by some of the original contributors

Switch | Yuzu | Windows/Linux/Android | Killed by Nintendo 3/4/2024

Nintendo Handhelds

GB/C | mGBA | Windows/Linux/Mac

GBA | mGBA | Windows/Linux/Mac

DS | MelonDS | Windows/Linux/Mac/Android

3DS | Azahar | Windows/Linux/Mac/Android | UPDATE 2/28/2025 Pablomk7 and Lime3DS forks have joined to work on Azahar

Sony Consoles

Playstation | DuckStation | Windows/Linux/Mac/Android

Playstation 2 | PCSX2 | Windows/Linux/Mac

Playstation 3 | RPCS3 | Windows/Linux/Mac

Playstation 4 | ShadPS4 | Windows/Linux/Mac | Heavily experimental and not for casual use yet

Sony Handhelds

PSP | PPSSPP | Windows/Linux/Mac/Android

PSVita | Vita3K | Windows/Linux/Mac

Sega Consoles

Sega Master System | Ares | Windows/Linux/Mac

Genesis | Ares | Windows/Linux/Mac

Saturn | Mednafen | Windows/Linux

Dreamcast | Flycast | Windows/Linux/Mac/Android

Microsoft Consoles

Xbox | Xemu | Windows/Linux/Mac

Xbox 360 | Xenia | Windows

Apple Phones

iOS 2.x | TouchHLE | Windows/Mac/Android

[Graphics Packs]

A lot of emulators have texture replacement capabilities built into them. What this means is that users can manually and/or AI upscale textures from the game into higher resolution or outright replace them with other textures. There aren't currently (that I'm aware of) area that have consolidated links to these things, so you'll unfortunately have to search individual project forums and look for texture or graphic packs links.

Some known graphics packs repositories:

Dolphin Forums

Citra Forums Killed by Nintendo 3/4/2024; waiting for the dust to settle for recommendations

[Graphics API Translation Layers]

Sometimes there are scenarios where a game may only use DirectX to draw it's rendered graphics to screen and we may not want this. This could be for performance reasons (maybe the Vulkan graphics api has better performance, maybe DirectX isn't available on our OS, or maybe the DirectX version is really old and not properly supported by our OS/GPU/Driver combination). In these instances we can use translations layers to translate DirectX graphics api calls into Vulkan calls using utilities like DXVK . Explaining which files to copy over depends on a per-DirectX version basis, so you'll have to use a combination of the PCGamingWiki and DXVK documentation to figure out which files to replace.

[Graphics Post-Processing]

With a utility called ReShade we're able to inject various post-processing effects into the final stage of the graphic rendering pipelines of games. This allows you to adjust color curves, inject path-traced global illumination (a method like ray-tracing), and add a bunch of other effects to DirectX9/11/12/Vulkan games.

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When Handhelds Became Hard To Hold In Your Hands (vitaparadisa.wordpress.com)

submitted 21 hours ago by BanSwitch2Buyers@hexbear.net to c/games@hexbear.net

47 comments fedilink

Last year I travelled alone on a flight from London to New York. The flight officially takes around eight hours, but from the time you get on the plane to the time you leave it’s probably more like nine or ten. As soon as I sat down in my assigned seat I took out my fully charged PlayStation Vita. I was playing the visual novel Norn9. I recommend it. Once I started to play, the man next to me decided to grab his Steam Deck, Valve’s ostensibly handheld console, before the flight.

He was storing his Steam Deck in his backpack that was sensibly stowed away in the overhead locker. As people were still shuffling down the aisle, there was a little hubbub getting the portable console to his seat, but with a few minutes of struggle it was secured. He sat down and turned it on. I noted that he also had a full battery. After some browsing through his library he settled on Hogwarts Legacy. After this I remained absorbed in my story until I heard a sigh.

I turned to the noise to see that his Steam Deck was dead. The sigh was not only because his Steam Deck was dead, not only because it can’t be charged from the weak plane USB chargers, but because we were still mid-take off and he couldn’t put the handheld away until the seatbelt sign was turned off. He wrestled a little to grab his headphones from the seat pocket in front of him with the Steam Deck teetered awkwardly on his lap. It was impeding him from doing anything else. Eventually the sign turned off, he put the Steam Deck back into the overhead locker and I never saw it again.

lol. The stupid fucking behemoths we get now instead of something actually usable.

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Culling of Stratholme but everyone break the 4th wall (www.youtube.com)

submitted 15 hours ago by Tervell@hexbear.net to c/games@hexbear.net

1 comments fedilink

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The TSA made fun of my Steam Deck | Digitaltrends (www.digitaltrends.com)

submitted 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) by BanSwitch2Buyers@hexbear.net to c/games@hexbear.net

12 comments fedilink

I dread flying. But as I was preparing to travel to San Francisco for this year’s Game Developers Conference, I had one reason to be excited: It would be my first flight with the Steam Deck. I downloaded several games onto the handheld and gleefully stowed it in my carry-on, right next to my Switch OLED.

That excitement quickly turned to embarrassment thanks to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

As I reached the front of the airport security line, I pulled my laptop out of my bag as I normally would. I asked the TSA agent standing by if I had to remove any game consoles as well. She asked if I meant the Switch, and looking to avoid a needlessly complicated explanation, I said yes. She told me to remove any systems, so I did. First, I pulled my Switch out of its soft slip case. Then, I pulled out the Steam Deck’s comparatively hulking carrier and flopped the beastly device right next to the Switch. That’s when I noticed a strange, almost suspicious look on the TSA agent’s face.

“That’s a Switch?”
“No, no, this is a new thing.”
“… That’s too big.”

That last line, delivered with an incredulous laugh, has stuck with me long since my flight, mostly because she’s right. I couldn’t help but feel a little self-conscious about booting up the device on the plane, the same as I would if I were to take my shoes off during a flight. Sometimes it takes an outside perspective to realize how truly ridiculous gaming hardware is.

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Coming to Terms with Clair Obscur's Ending (www.youtube.com)

submitted 22 hours ago by Yuritopiaposadism@hexbear.net to c/games@hexbear.net

1 comments fedilink

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Sunday is Gaming Day: What Are You Playing Weekly Thread (hexbear.net)

submitted 1 day ago by GuyWTriangle@hexbear.net to c/games@hexbear.net

14 comments fedilink

Hello everyone. I am posting this late because I've been playing Nightreign all day. I've beaten 3 night lords now and have unlocked all the characters. I've also been playing some Rome Total War on the side. Hope everyone has had a good weekend!

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good minecraft servers? (hexbear.net)

submitted 1 day ago by godlessworm@hexbear.net to c/games@hexbear.net

3 comments fedilink

anyone know of any good friendly minecraft servers? i remember there used to be a hexbear one but it seems it's gone

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Picked up Brigador on sale for $7.50, Can't Stop Playing It (europe.pub)

submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by came_apart_at_Kmart@hexbear.net to c/games@hexbear.net

20 comments fedilink

Trailer: https://youtu.be/JZEjlBCwap0

this is totally not my typical type of game. i'm not a shooter guy, but this is so addictive. there are probably 40 different types of vehicles. massive slow walkers, hover tanks, flying crafts, and small vehicles mini mechs. like probably a dozen of each with their own stats for movement, turning, visibility, strength, etc. they each have 2 weapon slots, and there are probably 50 different types of weapons, plus special abilities. so you can seriously bespoke your guy to fit your play strategy. are you a little run and gun creep ninja? do you want to long bomb mortars and then flee the scene when the patroling units come to investigate? or do you like to appear massive on the horizon, move slow and straight toward your objective and obliterate everything that does not run from your judgement?

also, the environment is top notch. it's all destructable. the world is grim vision of the future where capitalism has gripped the galaxy, so you see corporate mega farms, lonely highways, core district suburban mcmansion neighborhoods, decayed industrial worlds, neon cities of endless distraction, massive slums, spaceports, extractive utilicorridors. lots of detail. and your vehicle's weapons can fire right through some wretched mansion to obliterate the units behind it, chewing it to bits. you can also crash through just about anything. or make noise and get a bunch of units to chase you through a gas station or other explosive depot and then shoot it up after you're outside of the blast radius.

the music is really strong too... heavy, driving synthwave beats really take you there and get stuck in your head.

the story campaign of the build world is interesting and ultimately the game is about being a mercenary pilot during a politically unstable time, doing missions for whoever is paying and making phat stacks to buy more vehicles, buying weapons / testing configurations, and accessing more of the in-game lore.

i find myself trying different missions (tons to chose from) and making money, then i get rolled a few times and quit. only to come back like 30 minutes later because i thought of an idea for a vehicle/loadout combo.

anyway, for under $10, it's a no brainer. and yes, i do feel bad when innocent civilians get chewed up as collateral damage, but my pay isn't docked. basically, all carnage increases the pay, so there are some twisted incentives baked in. it's like john carpenter's mech warrior.

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"𝙰𝙿𝙿𝚁𝙾𝚅𝙴𝙳? ✅️ | 𝙳𝙴𝙽𝙸𝙴𝙳? ❎️" (europe.pub)

submitted 2 days ago by Yuritopiaposadism@hexbear.net to c/games@hexbear.net

0 comments fedilink

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Places in Cyberpunk 2077 You Weren't Meant To Go (www.youtube.com)

submitted 2 days ago by Yuritopiaposadism@hexbear.net to c/games@hexbear.net

2 comments fedilink

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