James Cunningham

@jamesac68.bsky.social

332

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I've been writing for Hardcore Gamer since its first issue in 2005, which may be a long time to do anything but it hasn't gotten boring yet. james (at) hardcoregamer (dot) com

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Ok, points to -redacted- for the best embargoed-game Steam activation ever. It shows in my library correctly but I was highly confused for a second there.

The Early Access release of Galactic Glitch is finally here and it's a fantastic action-roguelike. Lots of enemies with well thought-out attacks and a combat system where it's always a choice whether to shoot or throw enemies around. hardcoregamer.com/galactic-gli...

Galactic Glitch Throws Down an Early Access Releasehardcoregamer.com Galactic Glitch is an action-roguelike where bullets may be a choice but it's hard to go wrong with throwing something real big, real hard.

I woke up this morning to a nearly empty feed, as if all the people I follow had something to say and decided that posting it to the internet was maybe not the best idea.

Meanwhile, in more important news, I finally got to ride a roller coaster with a loop in it today.

Deleted my “Trump shot at/shot” post, mild as it was. Seems like all reactions to that are best kept offline.

Not just a console release but one that comes with VR included. Spin Rhythm XD hits the Sony consoles today while adding VR to the PC version as well. It's a new way to play a game that already has plenty of control variations available. hardcoregamer.com/spin-rhythm-...

Spin Rhythm XD Twists Onto Playstation 4 and 5 While Adding VR Mode to PChardcoregamer.com The notes come down the lane and the object is to knock them away to the beat, but the red and blue notes need to be lined up to a giant dial.

Birthday paid off this year, I've been wanting this telescope for years. Next up, pointing it directly at the sun to see all those features that Big Astronomy tries to keep for themselves. (Bird bath was a gift too.)

It only looks like one big toilet joke but the new trailer for Satisfactory's 1.0 release has a good number of fun reveals tucked into the background. I can tell I'll be building a whole new automated world again come September. hardcoregamer.com/10-update-fo...

1.0 Update for Satisfactory Finally Completing Assemblyhardcoregamer.com Satisfactory has been in development for just about forever, starting in 2019 and getting more polished and intricate with every major update.

I know that there are no hard and fast rules in game design and that everything is open to interpretation for valid reasons depending on the game's needs. However! If a single-player mode doesn't have a true pause feature, that's bad and the developer is bad for having done it.

Zero hope, 100% support. It's not a great ratio but it's the only one I've got.

A new life on a new planet sounds nice, even if it's in service to making shipments to feed the corporate needs. Prospector is getting a prologue version soon, letting you harvest, automate, and explore your own alien world. hardcoregamer.com/harvesting-a...

Harvesting a New World with Prospector: The First Contact Reveal Trailerhardcoregamer.com Prospector is a base-building automation adventure on an uninhabited planet in the far reaches of space, and it's your job to ship all the resources

Well, that's the Steam Summer Sale off to its traditional start.

Just saw a game on Steam with the line in its short description box "The game’s appeal lies in its interactive gameplay mechanics" and I don't know, I'm lazy so noninteractive gameplay mechanics might more strongly appeal to my desire to do absolutely nothing.

I'd missed Maestro's App Lab release but it's got a new trailer and pending full-game version. Directing an orchestra is both a fantastic basis for music gaming and an incredible use of hand-tracking in VR. hardcoregamer.com/maestro-cond...

Maestro Conducting a Full-Scale VR Release After Masterclass Successhardcoregamer.com There's more ways to interact with music than riding a note line, and in Maestro you're given an orchestra to direct to musical glory.

Just because you can do everything yourself doesn't mean it's a good idea, especially with winter on the way. Aska is viking village management that plays like a survival game, but the villagers are there to shoulder the workload. hardcoregamer.com/it-takes-a-v...

It Takes a Village to Raise a Village In the Viking Lands of Askahardcoregamer.com hen things work as they should, though, Aska becomes a combination village-sim and action-adventure.

While Kong Dong will always be hilarious and feel like a lost opportunity, I'm kind of hung up on the idea of Bill and Jack Kong, the middle-managers of the Kong world. I'll need you to fill out the B-43 form for all these barrels, and don't forget the HR meeting at 11.

It's a card/board game played with explosive trains against set in a game show with animated and voice-acted guests, and the latest from Terrible Posture Games. Battle Train will be doing a lot when it comes out early next year, all of it full-on chaotic weird. hardcoregamer.com/multi-ton-de...

Multi-Ton Death Locomotive, Come On Down! Game Show Deck-Builder Battle Train Announcedhardcoregamer.com Battle Train is a train-based game show card battling animated adventure, which is a perfectly sane and normal thing for any game to be

I've been lightly obsessing over improving my times on Phantom Spark demo all afternoon. Small courses with huge room for optimization make it a perfect time-trial racer. The full game is going to be a beast! hardcoregamer.com/three-tracks...

Three Tracks of Time Trial Bliss in Phantom Spark Demohardcoregamer.com Phantom Spark is a time-trial racer featuring hover-vehicles like in Wipeout but a racing challenge more similar to Trackmania.

This one gets filed under Need- The not-sequel to Thumper has a release date, with Thrasher landing on July 25. VR-only for the space eel's journey for the moment, but flatscreen versions will follow along. hardcoregamer.com/a-new-drop-o...

A New Drop of the Hard Stuff with Thrasher Release Date Trailerhardcoregamer.com In Thrasher you direct a spiky-furry space eel as it twists through the sky, plowing through targets to rack up the biggest combo possible

Froggy friend!

Just because there's a goal doesn't mean you have to chase it in Streets of Rogue 2. The first game was about doing anything, and now the map is big enough that however you want to engage with it, there's probably an option. hardcoregamer.com/going-everyw...

Going Everywhere, Doing Everything With Streets of Rogue 2 Release Date Trailerhardcoregamer.com Just because you can live normally in the Streets of Rogue 2 world doesn't mean the options to break into pure chaos are limited.

Whole pile of gaming news from the weekend and I’ll get to some of it later, but right now is rainbow time.

Only a bit over a week to the base-building adventure First Dwarf. In mech, on foot, or as a small dragon, it's off to explore the Driftlands and set up dwarven outposts on floating sky islands. hardcoregamer.com/first-dwarf-...

First Dwarf Reporting for Duty With Release Date Trailerhardcoregamer.com While the point of First Dwarf is to build a new settlement, its more difficult than just dumping a few houses and hooking them up to the mana wells.

The demo for the sequel to Grapple Dog is out! Grapple Dogs: Cosmic Canines introduces a second playable character with new abilities, and both Pablo and Luna swing through two incredibly fun platforming levels apiece. hardcoregamer.com/swinging-bac...

Swinging Back Into Action in Grapple Dogs: Cosmic Canines Demohardcoregamer.com The original Grapple Dog was hugely entertaining and Cosmic Canines is shaping up to be a sequel that plays to its strengths and expands on them.

It's a little rough around the edges as an automation game but I'm always a sucker for terraforming and conveyor belts. Eden Crafters demo has a lot of potential and is hard to put down even in its early state. hardcoregamer.com/automating-a...

Automating a Better Planet with the Eden Crafters Demohardcoregamer.com In Eden Crafters, the player is out to terraform hostile worlds into friendly green planetary oases, although not without the planet fighting back.

A little survival, a little adventure, and a whole lot of crafting my way up the tech-tree in Astrometica: Prologue. Full 3D gravity-free space survival (although not 6DoF) in a mineral-rich asteroid field. hardcoregamer.com/floating-aro...

Floating Around the Interplanetary Debris Field of Astrometica Prologuehardcoregamer.com Astrometica: Prologue is the first two missions and a good-sized chunk of explorable space for the forthcoming survival/crafting game Astrometica.

Big huge recommend on the Lightfall series. I picked up book 1 on a whim because I liked the art and was looking for a fun read, then promptly ordered v.1 and v.2 in hardcover. Now a couple years later I’ve found out it is not, in fact, a trilogy. I’m ok with that.

Warm day, happy kitty.

So this was a really nice surprise- Cyberpulse, a shiny neon arcade game that would have felt right at home on XBLA. Use the force-circle on the ship's nose to fling enemies every which way, no actual shooting, and the rules change every level. hardcoregamer.com/neon-arcade-...

Neon Arcade Not-Actually-A-Shooter Cyberpulse Shoves Its Way to Steam Releasehardcoregamer.com Cyberpulse looks like your standard all-purpose neon-drenched arcade shooter on first glance, but what it actually is about is shoving enemies around.

You know what would be nice? Being able to enjoy all the fantastic, incredible stuff being created in gaming for more than 10 minutes at a time without some other stupid new disaster rolling through the industry. IGN buys sites to fire everyone! Studio closures! AI in everything!