Quoting: BielFPsThey can thank the success of the sales because of two main factors: Multi-platform crossplay and the easy way to host dedicated servers.

Even I bought the game, and I'm personally not very found of "survivor games" genre.

So only kudos for the team, and I hope they can still improve a lot this success game.

Don't forget the price. Fresh release, popular genre, price is bit less than older releases roughly in same genre.

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Quoting: DrakkerYeah, I have a level 3 axe, a level 2 pick axe and a level 3 helmet and that's it, I'm done with bronze. I wish I didn't upgrade them except for the axe, the increased durability comes in handy. Oh, I made a few nails too. Troll hide armor should get me through to the iron age and is much much easier acquire and craft than bronze.

I actually already have extra troll hide that I don't know what to use for (I don't have high enough level workbench yet). Bronze is still somewhat short supply, but I have been doing upgrades to weapons and shields. I guess I'm more than adequately equipped for swamp once I find it.

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Quoting: DrakkerPlayed it quite a bit now, coming from Vintage Story. My overall impression is positive.... But... In single player it has some really rough edges. Battles are a chore if you are not well rested, you will always be out of stamina and be at a great disadvantage because monsters don't have limited stamina like you do, and there's no one else to help you. When well rested and fed though, combat is really, really fun.

The main problem I see right now is the amount of grinding required to craft stuff past the stone age. I'm used to things taking a long time, as I said earlier, coming from Vintage Story, but mining in Valheim is just not fun at all. It's a huge hassle, and you will spend hours doing it. It takes way too much material to upgrade your items and armors. I'm pretty sure that they will change that before the release, as the feedback from everyone seems to be the same.

If you are not in a hurry to try the game, and don't plan to do multiplayer, I would recommend waiting until the game is closer to release and the game balance is improved.

I think for the stamina there's several things that help. First is that most common enemies in the beginning run around bit aimlessly which gives some time to recover stamina, especially if you get bit more distance by walking away. Bigger groups are a problem though. Tactic is to try to reserve some stamina as you might need it,

Spoiler, click me

especially when trying to avoid being hit by a troll.

Shield helps a lot too as if enemies don't come in too overwhelming numbers, you can actually recover stamina just by keep blocking the hits with the shield. Some of the harder enemies hit so hard and often that staying behind the shield is not viable as the only tactic.

Food is important stamina source, especially once you are able to farm carrots, carrot soup gives you lot of stamina. If you are able to cook some meat on top of that, you'll get lot of health and some stamina even on top of that. Just remember to keep stack of it with you. It helps to save good stuff just for the time when you actually need it.

As for mining, cart helps a lot if able to find route to the ore that you're able to drag the cart through (you can clear the route for the cart, but that can be also lot of work). You can always clean the route, though that's lot of work. If you are are able to get the cart next to the ore, it will double your inventory and doesn't count towards maximum weight. With the cart I might be able to empty one copper source totally if I throw all the rocks away.

I haven't utilized ships for mining, but anything bigger than raft has cargo hold, so you can transfer stuff with that. Should be even more helpful if you have your base next to place that you can access with the ship. You can create rivers by just digging with pickaxe from closest shore. Sometimes might be easier though just to move your base.

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I agree that there is more work to be done if you play single player. Good thing is while you get somewhat punished for not doing some menial tasks. If you don't like chopping wood, build only essentials. If you don't like farming, you can try to survive with less available stamina and health (there's plenty of unprocessed food available in the wild, some of it just might be hard to catch). If you don't like mining, build only essential weapons and tools.

It's up to you when to go explore and how much you want to prepare for that. Starting biome meadows is quite safe, especially during the day, so you can explore it whenever you want, just remember to get back before night falls. Though if you don't home early enough, you can be careful and sneak quietly around the enemies.

With some experience you start to figure out where to find the resource that seemed to be ultra rare at first. Just remember to mark spots with resources (double click on map and write something descriptive), so you can later run around and gather quite lot of the resource you need for something. Quite lot of them respawn at same places, it might just take few days.

In short I guess I wanted to say that it's still fun as single player. Doing multiplayer now and then should feel like fresh experience as nothing is in same place, so can have fun of exploring all over again. Also you might be able to find some biome that you haven't been able to yet find on your own map and get some resources back to your single player game that might help you progress bit faster.I haven't played the multiplayer myself so I can't tell much more about it.

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Soon they have sold more copies that there are people in Finland...

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Both Portal and Portal 2 have their shortcomings.

First Portal especially when played first time around, ending overstayed its welcome. It might be that there's stark contrast between the first half with small puzzles and vibrant colors. Second half is grim and gray with less definite goals. I appreciated the latter half more when second time around as I knew that between the grim and gray there are few nice parts that make it worthwhile.

With Portal 2 the boring parts are smaller and more spaced out. Although even in those sections crazy architecture is intriguing.

I guess it's bit of Valves thing that it's obsessed with long sewer and factory sections, there has just been more and more restraint over the years.

Both games are worth playing though. Personally I guess Portal wins though. I have replayed it as playing it through it's not as big effort. Portal 2 falls in category where it was fun for the first time around, but second time around, time commitment feels bit daunting.

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I'm on the fence actually buying it. I haven't bought it immediately only because I'm trying to finish some other games first.

I have felt bit that on Linux side there's bit of void in survival games, especially ones with also base building. Put 3D on top of that and then it's pretty much ARK (quite buggy) and Rust (which might not be the friendliest multiplayer game). Rest are missing the positive buzz or are lacking in some other ways like they don't have much visual appeal (which is not everything, but still...).

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Good that it gets more complicated, demo levels are quite easy once you figure out the user interface (tutorial could be bit better).

I got more Mini Metro vibe, Mini Countries is not just as abstract. How Mini Countries offers choice of two different advanced structures (like warehouse in the demo) is lifted straight out of Mini Metro.

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Next batch. There might be few visual novels that I haven't downloaded, but otherwise I think I have tried all the demos that that Linux support.

Good

• Copy Editor: A RegEx Puzzle
Game for a niche, but quite promising. Might be quite hard for people who are not familiar with regular expressions, at least in its current form. Meant to be educational game and source should be available on GitHub (link is broken though, so ask from developers where it is, if you're interested).


• Dwerve
Sort of tower defense JRPG mashup. Tower defense parts happen when enemies approach and quite often all escapes are blocked until enemies are defeated. Takes a while to get used to how to place the towers (moving them can be crucial too).


• Kathy Rain: Director's Cut
Retro adventure game. Retro part is that pixels are clearly visible, but art is still very nice. Plot has just right amount of mystery. I think I like this one bit more than Whispers of a Machine, which is from the same developer.

OK

• Zombie Soup
Very short demo. Game seems to be twin stick shooter, with some emphasis on story.


• Mini Countries
Mini Metro clone. Basically you build factories, farms etc. and transfer resources to cities that request the resources. Could be worth a try if you have itch for easier Mini Metro.


• Pawnbarian
Roguelite version of chess with reduced number of pieces. Can be fun diversion for a while. Nothing clearly wrong, but I didn't feel like finishing the demo dungeon.


• Catty & Batty: The Spirit Guide
Cute puzzle game. Kind of cat and bat version of Lemmings with spirits. Spirits can't die at least demo, so finishing level just requires little bit of patience. Might be great for kids who are not ready yet for the more challenging puzzle games.


• Viscerafest
I mildly disagree with ageres. I would think it's kind of between OK and bad as there are clear faults.

Quick saves get introduced later in the demo, but you have to collect them before you can use them and there's only one found in each level.

Graphics are very much retro, but at least aesthetics are somewhat nice. Game has gotten some inspiration from DOOM (the 2016 version), as music is bit similar style and gibs give health. You can gib dead enemies, which helps as that way there's bit more health available.

Gunplay is fun once you find something else than the default pistol. What kills it for me is the platforming sequences. It gets even worse as action sequence with platforming with time pressure.

I recommend also starting with easiest difficulty. Doesn't not help at all with platforming, but at least you feel bit more like badass as you don't get killed right away.


• Rainbow Laser Disco Dungeon
Mashup between Robotron and Berzerk mixed in with rhythm game and roguelite (rooms are randomized). Nice diversion for a while, but difficulty is pretty high, so only in short sessions.


• Haiki
Super Meatboy inspired platformer. So Haiki is a platformer with relatively short levels with deadly spikes and mechanic where changing background colors will hide same colored platforms. I don't know how inventive the game gets with the gameplay as I didn't finish the demo. But can be nice for somebody who likes hard platformers.

Bad

• Alisa
I didn't play the games that this gets inspiration from. But by todays standards, the interface is quite horrific. OK, fine, tank controls make sense if you want induce fear by making walking and aiming hard. I don't remember though modern game needing a button for descending stairs, so that's something. I guess it's good game to make yourself appreciate how far games have progresses since from 90s in some ways.


• Enemy Remains
Gory twin stick shooter. There's barely any reason to go anywhere, but arrows at least try to hint how to get into dead end of maybe even forward. Some of the guns can be fun while ammo lasts. Shadowground games are closest in style that I have played and are much better, Linux ports are not available on Steam though.


• EVERGLORY
Practically RTS engine demo. Store page promises much, but at the moment it seems to be best for people who want to get their hands dirty in developing. Engine is open source.


• The Parrot That Summons Demons
FMV horror game. Everything is computer graphics though. Main character is looking side to side almost all the time, which might help seeing bit more of the area, but end result is just annoying.

If you like bad horror games, this one might be quite funny and hopefully that was what developers intended.

Broken

• Loveland
I only get black screen when starting the game. That's bit of same thing what happens if buggy version of Unity made game resolution 1x1. I found the configuration file for the game and that didn't seem to be the case, go figure. End result anyway that game is unplayable.


• Medievalien
Supposed to be some kind of medieval RTS with aliens. Couldn't play it though as shiny things shine way too much. After travelling through the first portal screen goes largely white and there might be menu. Couldn't proceed after that as I didn't see what I was doing.


• Lion Quest Infinity

For this one I'm not 100% sure if it's broken as game is quite weird. It's some kind of puzzle platformer where you also play as developer of the game (I think). At one point I lost ability to traverse between rooms and just went to empty space outside the room. I couldn't figure out what I was supposed to do, so I quit.

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I played bunch of demos too. I think I downloaded most of that have Linux demo.

• Lunas Fishing Garden
Kind of mashup between fishing and gardening game. Lot simpler than Star Dew Valley. If you're bored and can't think of more interesting games, it's worth giving a go.


• Jupiter Moons Mecha
Mecha themed card battler. Seems just little bit too simple, but that might be because I mecha was destroyed after few battles and I gave up.


• Load Roll Die
Kind of dice battle game. There seems some potential for bit more deeper tactical gameplay, but user interface is bit too confusing. I didn't feel like completing it.


• Rain On Your Parade
This one was positive surprise. Basic gameplay as simple as pouring water on people, but general mayhem you can cause makes it lot more fun it sounds. Levels get bit more complex during the demo so you get to blow and burn stuff up for example before demo is finished.


• Loop Hero
Liam did already article about this one. Worth giving ago, it's great retro RPG, card game and tile laying game mashup in short.


• Endline
I wasn't sure if I like this or not. It's abstract shoot'em up with small bit of rhythm game. There's some potential, but I have feeling that there must be better games in same genre out there.

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