Kotaku Saturday, July 20, 2024 12:00 PM  This week, a Pokémon GO event accidentally reminded us of how much better the game used to be. Also, PSP tactical RPG classic Jeanne d'Arc hit PlayStation Plus and we just had to sing its praises. We also vented about how frustrating trying to become a PC gamer can be, and oohed and ahhed at the wonder of video game… |
Kotaku Saturday, July 20, 2024 9:00 AM  This week saw No Man's Sky, a game that has repeatedly reinvented itself in the years since its release, get one of its biggest overhauls ever. Not to be outdone, Baldur's Gate 3 also got a patch that rounds out the game nicely. Also, the FTC responded to Microsoft's latest Xbox Live price hike, calling it "exactly… |
PCGamesN Saturday, July 20, 2024 10:44 AM  For as much as I love Stardew Valley, I've always wanted to take the next step in the process and turn my produce into a bustling eatery. Fortunately, indie management sim Travellers Rest is all about just that, and it's just become a lot larger. The Travellers Rest 0.6.5 update is the game's biggest yet, and packs in a whole new city full of characters, shops, and other things to do. Even better, you can snag the game cheaply right now on Steam. MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best farming games, Best management games, Best indie games |
PCGamesN Saturday, July 20, 2024 10:31 AM  Nexon appears to have walked back a promise to not nerf a popular The First Descendant gold farm loot cave, an hour after telling players it did not wish to remove the grinding method. The free-to-play looter shooter is currently exploding on Steam, and while players were bound to find exploits in the cracks and abuse them, Nexon has just issued a statement saying it has "no plan to respond by simply nerfing certain content," only to then seemingly do just that. Continue reading Nexon changes The First Descendant gold farm promise after one hour MORE FROM PCGAMESN: The First Descendant system requirements, The First Descendant characters, The First Descendant crossplay |
PCGamesN Saturday, July 20, 2024 8:00 AM  There's XCOM, and then there's X-COM. The former refers to the modern strategy games from Civilization developer Firaxis, which are easily some of the best in the genre you can play today. The latter, meanwhile, is the original series as started by MicroProse, and they're a subset of games entirely worth your time, despite their age. If you'd rather not take a trip back to the videogames of the '90s, however, Xenonauts 2 is the perfect modern X-COM substitute. You're tasked with taking on aliens amid a neverending Cold War, and need to close the technological gap between you and your foe as fast as possible, and you can get it cheap on Steam for a limited time. Continue reading XCOM rival Xenonauts 2 is 30% off right now, and equally as tense MORE FROM PCGAMESN: The best strategy games on PC, The best turn-based strategy games, The best space games on PC |
PCGamesN Saturday, July 20, 2024 7:57 AM  A haunting blend of the tense gunfights of Escape from Tarkov, the industrial post-apocalypse setting of the Metro games, and giant mechs that land somewhere between Armored Core and Attack On Titan, The Forever Winter is shaping up to be a particularly pulse-quickening addition to the best survival games on PC. If you're eager to give it a try, you're in luck, as a closed beta is on the way very soon - so make sure you're in the running to take part. Continue reading Disturbing horror survival game The Forever Winter dates closed beta MORE FROM PCGAMESN: The best horror games on PC, The best co-op games, The best games like Borderlands |
PCGamesN Saturday, July 20, 2024 6:47 AM  Microsoft's announcement that Game Pass prices are going up soon has caused no shortage of discussion, and most recently this has resulted in the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) submitting a filing to the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. This letter claims the new offering includes "a degraded product" compared to the previous pricing tiers, and that the proposed changes cause "exactly the sort of consumer harm" the FTC warned might come about as a result of the Microsoft merger with Activision-Blizzard. MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Black Ops 6 release date, Best FPS games, New Warzone season |
PCGamesN Saturday, July 20, 2024 6:43 AM  Mithril Interactive is changing how you access its auction house trade system in Dungeonborne, making it a one-time purchase instead of a seasonal one. Now that the free-to-play Dark and Darker rival has hit Steam, players need to pay to use the auction system with premium currency, and Mithril admits that it wasn't clear how this would work before launch, so has changed it from a seasonal purchase to a singular one. MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best RPGs, Best survival games, Best multiplayer games |
PCGamesN Saturday, July 20, 2024 5:03 AM  July 20, 2024: We've added two new Monopoly Go dice links for free dice rolls. How can I get Monopoly Go free dice links? The household favorite board game has been reimagined as a free-to-play app on smartphones, allowing everyone to experience the thrills of Monopoly on practically any device. Everything that makes the board game special is here in Monopoly Go, so you'll be collecting properties and building hotels as you go around the board, and there are a variety of multiplayer minigames to get through along the way. You're going to need to get your hands on Monopoly dice rolls, but they are difficult to come by no matter how far you are into the board game. There are ways to earn additional dice rolls, including logging into the game every day to collect daily bonuses, progressing further in the game, and inviting friends to try Monopoly Go. While you can also spend real money to unlock more dice rolls, you may want to give our list of Monopoly Go dice links a try instead, especially if you're waiting for the next Monopoly Go Golden Blitz event. Take a look at all the currently active Monopoly Go free dice links for today. Continue reading Free Monopoly Go dice links July 2024 MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best board games, Monopoly Go events, Monopoly Go dice |
Siliconera Saturday, July 20, 2024 9:00 AM
When you have a free-to-play game, you also have to figure there are systems to get you to keep playing and perhaps spend real money on it. That definitely happens in Hamster Playground, a game about raising and caring for pet hamsters, but the bonus here is that it really only feels like you have to spend about $12 to get the most out of it.
Like most animal or pet raising games, Hamster Playground starts by adopting a hamster. You can only have one at the start, but leveling up by completing missions allows the option to bring more home. Speaking of which, the home is a dilapidated mess to start. You also start out with no additional minigame modes and no clothing for them. So your goal is to eventually send them to the work space or complete missions to earn currency, complete missions that can be tied to tasks or purchases to upgrade and improve the home, and go through minigames (if you buy them). As hamsters grow stronger in areas, they'll be better at certain minigame tasks. Also, you'll get enough spending money for costumes (though some you need to buy with real cash before buying with in-game currency) and other customization options.
The thing about Hamster Playground is that for much of it, it's a wait and watch game. You'll need things like screws to repair necessary resource centers for hamsters after a while. Those are, say, your bed, shower, toilet, trampoline, water dispenser, and food dispenser. For the environment, you will use things like blue stars. Coins can go toward the clothing. Plus you'll need sunflower seeds for bolstering things like dexterity and intelligence. Which means you'll likely be sending the hamster to the workspace location to have your pet "work" to earn them, while stepping away from the game until the critter needs to eat, drink, wash, use the potty, play, or sleep. At which point you may be sending them back over again.
Which means if you don't pay the about $12, Hamster Playground can feel like a repetitive grind. You'll be going through the same routine to buy the items you want or need. When you aren't doing that shopping or decorating, you'll be tending to the basic needs of your hamster in the game or having them work so you can do those things. The animations are fun and lean into the silliness of the situation, rather than more serious or realistic ones. Likewise, the hamsters themselves have more human-like expressions. (I'm actually not a fan of that. I think they look a little creepy!) The details going into it are good, and it looks and runs well on the Switch.
If you do pay the additional about $12 for Hamster Playground, then you get more "game" for the pet-raising sim. This is because brief Beward the Cat, Eating Contest, Skateboard, and Vehicle Pull minigames you can play alone against the CPU or against other players are locked behind DLC. The only minigame in the free version is a Maze. That involves going through timed QTEs at certain points to help the hamster get through it faster, with the sunflower-seed-based training sections improving stats for those. The other minigames, though having different elements like racing down a track on a skateboard, eating food, pulling a toy vehicle, or playing red-light-green-light with a Squid Games like cat toy, also feature the same sort of QTEs to proceed. None last more than a minute or two.
These are means of getting currency and interacting with the hamsters more. They're fine for what they are, but I feel like you don't really have to spend $12 for each $2.99 minigame unless you really want all gameplay elements. The Maze itself is fine, and I feel like the Beware the Cat and Eating Contest ones were the only two that felt distinct or special enough for an extra purpose. Though I'd say the Skateboard minigame is a close third. Unless you really are into dressing up hamsters and feel like paying for the other cosmetics, those are really the only paid purchases I feel like you'd have to make.
Hamster Playground is a pet raising game where it can feel like you're there to complete missions and earn enough currency for the cosmetics you want. It looks fine and has a silliness to it that I appreciate. I also like that the only essential purchases connected to it involve some affordable minigames, and like you could even just go for the one or two you like instead of all four. It's pleasant enough, even though I can see it getting tedious as you grind to complete your personal or game-mandated objectives. Considering the base game is free though, the design quality is higher than I expected and it is an entertaining diversion.
Hamster Playground is available on the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC.
The post Review: Raising Pets in Hamster Playground Gets to Be a Grind appeared first on Siliconera. |
