Well, okay... I've been bitchin' about Epic's offering these past few
months... but not this week. THIS week is worth checking out.

This week:

1) Prey
https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/prey

2) Jotun: Valhalla Edition
https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/jotun

3) Redout: Enhanced Edition
https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/redout-enhanced-edition

Let's start with the big one: Prey. Now, I'm not the biggest fan of
Arkane's games - "Prey", the "Dishonored" series, "Arx Fatalis", etc.
- but that's a matter of taste and not a comment on the game's
quality. "Prey" is an excellent game, with solid mechanics, an
interesting story, great visuals and generally an all-around
well-polished game. Even if this isn't the sort of game you enjoy,
it's a game you should at least try and play for a while, just to see
what it's like.

"Jotun" is an action-adventure game, vaguely similar in gameplay to
games like "Diablo", except with less emphasis on loot and leveling
up, and more on puzzles (and puzzle-bosses) and atmosphere. It is
slower and less combat-intensive, and has more stylized graphics. It's
not to everybody's taste, and - being an Indie title - has less
content and polish, but it's still a good way to while away a few
hours.

"Redout" is an action-racer, essentially a modernized take on the old
"WipEout" games of yore. Game mechanics and variety play second fiddle
to over-the-top graphic effects and a sense of speed. It's
hyper-frenetic in its visuals and - quite honestly - not that much fun
to play for long periods of time, but played briefly it provides an of
intense adrenaline rush. It's a limited (well, let's say 'extremely
focused') experience but so long as you don't expect more from it than
"fast and blurry", you'll have fun.

So... three games actually worth playing. Well, I think so anyway.
You have a week to grab the games for free and decide for yourself.

Darn it. You beat me. [grin]

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

> Well, okay... I've been bitchin' about Epic's offering these past few
> months... but not this week. THIS week is worth checking out.

> This week:

> 1) Prey
> https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/prey

Already have it the web site says.

> 2) Jotun: Valhalla Edition
> https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/jotun

Took it to try it.

> 3) Redout: Enhanced Edition
> https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/redout-enhanced-edition

Took it too.

Thanks. :)
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On Thu, 12 May 2022 13:18:39 -0500, ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote:

>Darn it. You beat me. [grin]

Muahahaha! You have to get up pretty early on a Thursday if ya wanna
out-post me!

Or, you know, just wait for me to forget, as I often do. So maybe you
don't have to get up that early, sometimes. Who can say? Not me!

Note:

Both "Prey" and "Jotun" were offered on Epic as free games back in
December 2021, which makes this week's offering a lot weaker than it
initially appeared. Odds are high that many people here already have
two outta three of these games. Only "Redout" is new to Epic.

Well, free is free and you take what you can get, I s'pose. Don't look
a gift horse in the mouth and don't count your chickens before they
hatch, as the sayings go. Feel free to insert aby other folksy
homilies that may be appropriate.

>So... three games actually worth playing. Well, I think so anyway.

yeah, this is a good selection for sure. I loved Prey and reviewed it
here when it came out. The others look like quality smaller games

rms

On Thu, 12 May 2022 12:45:15 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson
<spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

>Muahahaha! You have to get up pretty early on a Thursday if ya wanna
>out-post me!

I don't think anyone can out-post you Spalls.

>Both "Prey" and "Jotun" were offered on Epic as free games back in
>December 2021, which makes this week's offering a lot weaker than it
>initially appeared. Odds are high that many people here already have
>two outta three of these games. Only "Redout" is new to Epic.

Yes, I already had the first two. But that second one, the Diablo
Puzzler, looks interesting to me so you reminded me that I already
have it at least. I am in-between games at the moment so maybe I will
try that next.

>Well, free is free and you take what you can get, I s'pose. Don't look
>a gift horse in the mouth and don't count your chickens before they
>hatch, as the sayings go. Feel free to insert aby other folksy
>homilies that may be appropriate.

I'll just say thank you.

I took this "Redout is a tribute to the classic racing monsters"
whatever that means. Never heard of it.

And I have Prey installed and I remember it being very good. I just
put it on my "need to get back to it" list.

-pw

On Fri, 13 May 2022 11:45:19 -0600, PW
<iamnotusingonewithAgent@notinuse.com> wrote:

>I took this "Redout is a tribute to the classic racing monsters"
>whatever that means. Never heard of it.

Don't look at me. I didn't use the word monsters (wait... did I? No.
No I didn't).

Oh, I see... it's in Epic's marketing copy. Presumably they mean
"monster hits". Which, I suppose is a fair description of "WipEout",
which was a fairly popular racer in the mid-90s; it was one of the
earlier games to really leverage the abilities of the Playstation and
3DFX accelerators (I remember it had lots of lens flare). Some of the
other games its been compared to - Rollcage, and POD - didn't have
quite the same impact outside their genre, but WipeOut was one of the
system-sellers for the PS1. It may not have been all there on the
gameplay, but it looked really good for the time.

The genre is, admittedly, simplistic; it makes the "Need for Speed"
series look like sophisticated simulators in comparison. Beyond its
visuals, there's not really much to the games. Still, it's the sort of
game that's good for a quick fix. You play a few races to get the
heart pumping, then move on to something more engaging.

It's why I find Redout's method of locking so much of its game behind
DLC paywalls laughable. Sure you can buy dozens of new levels, but -
except for the truly dedicated - there's little need. The game isn't
so enticing that you'll want to play more than the handful of tracks
provided.

Well, IMHO and YMMV, obviously. They're making (already made?) a
sequel, so obviously enough people bought the game and DLC to keep the
developer in the black. Me, I'm satisfied with the freebie.

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> writes:

> Both "Prey" and "Jotun" were offered on Epic as free games back in
> December 2021, which makes this week's offering a lot weaker than it
> initially appeared. Odds are high that many people here already have
> two outta three of these games. Only "Redout" is new to Epic.

Interesting, I guess I missed free Prey back in December. I've kinda
meant to play it ever since it came out in 2017 but was a little
ambivalent. Free makes all the difference :)

On Mon, 16 May 2022 11:16:30 +0300, Anssi Saari <as@sci.fi> wrote:

>Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> Both "Prey" and "Jotun" were offered on Epic as free games back in
>> December 2021, which makes this week's offering a lot weaker than it
>> initially appeared. Odds are high that many people here already have
>> two outta three of these games. Only "Redout" is new to Epic.
>
>Interesting, I guess I missed free Prey back in December. I've kinda
>meant to play it ever since it came out in 2017 but was a little
>ambivalent. Free makes all the difference :)

It's a well-made game, but one that definitely suits only a certain
style of gamer. Arkane's style - in terms of characters,
world-building and writing - never really appealed to me. I'm also
bored-to-tears with games that depend on hidden audio-logs to progress
the story. The gameplay itself is rather slow and methodical. It's
often compared to the "System Shock" games, but those titles were far
more action-packed.

Still, it's a game I think everyone should give a try, just because it
*is* a quality title. The only area I think could use improvement
would be the soundtrack, which was fairly forgettable. But otherwise,
it's solid, with strong visuals, excellent mechanics and
well-developed world-building. While so many publisheres play it safe
by rehashing the same pabulum, it's nice to play a game like "Prey",
even if stylistically it doesn't appeal to me that much.