Andre's Gaming Odds & Ends: 2024 Updates/DREsRealm, Palworld Shocks Gamers, January 2024 Game Hype Rankings
Now Streaming: DREsRealm, Palworld Thoughts, January Game Hype Rankings
Andre’s Gaming Odds & Ends
2024 Updates
Good Riddance 2023, Happy 2024
It’s been many months since the last newsletter because unfortunately my last five months of 2023 were marred by both tragedy and sickness. This made it difficult for me to concentrate on writing this newsletter and keeping it going at a steady pace. I decided it was best for me to just wait until the new year to get the newsletter going with confidence in being able to keep it on schedule week after week instead of uncertainty. I always find it easier to write when I know I can keep something going with few distractions.
Introducing DREsRealm
I decided to start streaming regularly on Twitch because I feel like I needed something more consistent publicly to help bolster the newsletter, as well as add a consistent video component that fits in my workflow. It will also help me slack a lot less by trying to keep a steady schedule.
Why Am I Streaming using DREsRealm instead of GameReviewPad?
I want a more personal branding of my streaming that isn’t confined to just video games. I expect it will still mostly be video games, although I did write some of this newsletter live on stream last week.
http://www.twitch.tv/DREsRealm
Current Schedule:
Monday - Friday:
Late Afternoon 3:00-4:30pm EST until 6-7:30pm EST (roughly 3 hours)
Starting time window will be tightened and more precise as the year progresses and I get used to streaming.
Plus additional streaming sometimes at random times later in the evening/late night.
Saturday/Sunday:
Random Times
The best way to know when I’m live is to follow me or just tune into the channel in that timeframe. Following is completely free.
The best way to support me on Twitch right now is watching live (and following). You don’t have to chat. Just watching is good enough.
The other positive of doing this is I can get footage for the YouTube channel at the same time. Right now I’m streaming in 720p, which makes it easier for many people to watch. At the same time, I’m also local recording in 1080p for the YouTube channel.
All of my gaming playthrough stream footage will be put on the YouTube channel unedited.
A Mix of Video/Writing/Audio
It took me a while to figure out the most efficient workflow and content flow that includes different mediums, but I think I finally nailed it down. It will be the following:
Twitch Stream Game Playthroughs (LIVE) > YouTube (VOD)
Twitch Stream Game DEMOS (LIVE) > YouTube (VOD) > Embedded in Newsletter + (WRITING)
Twitch Commentary of Gaming Events/Showcases (LIVE) > YouTube (VOD) > Embedded in Newsletter (sometimes) + (WRITING)
Reviews and other written content: (Same as previously)
GameReviewPad.com for PR Provided Content > EXCERPT and Link in Newsletter
Newsletter exclusive for everything else.
More From Andre Shortcast will also continue sporadically.
I’m also dabbling in short-form video content using clips from my gaming sessions and publishing them on YouTube Shorts. (In the next section below I embedded my first one.)
Palworld Shocks The Gaming World
If you would have asked me about Palworld last year or even a month ago I would have laughed and dismissed Palworld as some joke of a game that I might eventually try out on Xbox Game Pass just for the fun of it. Everyone thought it was just “Pokémon with guns” and the trailers didn’t look all that appealing. That sentiment existed for most of us gamers until a week before Palworld was set to launch on Steam(Early Access) and Xbox/Xbox GamePass on January 19th. Many content creators were given early previews before launch to stream and show off the game. It was pretty clear at this point that Palworld is so much more than “Pokémon with guns.” I was now set on buying Palworld, something that was not already scheduled in my mental gaming calendar.
Palworld is the perfect blend of creature catching, survival, crafting, base-building, exploration, and multiplayer (if you choose). As someone who hasn’t played a mainline Pokémon game in over two decades (excluding Pokémon Go), Palworld really scratches that itch. You explore and catch Pals with spheres(Like Poké Balls), and once you’ve caught a Pal you have choices. You can either use that Pal in one of your five slots to carry with you and use for exploration/combat, or you can assign that Pal to work in your base to help craft and gather resources. Pals not being used will be in storage.
The gameplay loop is that you have a character level, a base level, and every level for your character up to 50 unlocks new technologies that you can craft to upgrade your base or an item that can be utilized with a particular Pal. You and your Pals currently being used can gain experience to level up by killing other Pals in the wild, catching Pals, and crafting. In order to upgrade your base level you just have to build what it says. The great thing about Palworld is everyone’s base will be different and can be located anywhere, as each base serves as a quick travel teleport post to make exploration efficient. Each base level increases the amount of Pals you can assign to work on your base. As I mentioned earlier, Palworld is also a survival game. Your base will be raided by evil Pal hunting humans and other creatures forcing you to have to defend your base. You do have to take care of your pals. Your active Pals need to be fed and have a bed to sleep at night. Your Pals can also get injuries and ailments like fractures, depression, and even ulcers that can be treated. The harshest critique of the gameplay is about the forced work labor of your Pals, but I don’t agree. You do provide the Pals with a hot tub, plus they take random short breaks that can annoy you.
Everyone is hooked because Palworld takes that ‘Pokémon experience’ to new heights. Every Pal has special abilities and the player can utilize them both in and outside combat depending on the Pal. For example, most flying Pals can be used as a flying mount to ride around and explore as long as you craft the saddle for that particular pal. You can also ride certain Pals on land and water. Each Pal is also unique with randomly generated passive traits that can be both positive and negative, so it incentivizes you to catch more than one of each Pal. In fact, the game wants you to catch ten of each Pal to get maximum experience bonuses. What can you do with lots of Pals? Breed them! This includes crossbreeding. A lot of the current endgame of Palworld is trying to breed the best version of a Pal stacked with the best four passive bonuses. Pals don’t evolve, but they can be ranked up by fusing other copies of the same into it. Ideally, you breed a certain Pal until you get the best version, then fuse the failed breeds into it to rank it up.
The crazy part about Palworld gaining this much popularity is the game isn’t even finished yet. It’s in Steam Early Access/Xbox Game Preview, meaning the game is in a paid beta phase with more content to be added and things to be fixed. The game already has a ton of content to fill many hours of play, like fighting and catching Alpha Pals, defeating story bosses, and exploring dungeons around the world. You can play solo or multiplayer with up to 32 players using an official server or dedicated server (Steam version only so far). One of the few negatives is the Xbox version being slightly behind in updates because each patch takes time to be approved with Microsoft and pushed through.
Palworld may not be for everyone, but clearly there’s a big demand for a game like this when it’s breaking Steam sales records and now holds the second best record on Steam for most concurrent players with a little over 2.1 million players. Yes, guns are in the game, but they are not as prominent overall and don’t get unlocked for your character until over halfway through leveling because you start with weapons like clubs, spears, bows, and crossbows. Some Pals do use guns as a special ability but not that many of them. It’s also not really a game for kids when you have Pals named things like Depresso and Hangyu,
I’ve played many hours of Palworld already and plan to keep on playing periodically as it develops to version 1.0 by PocketPair.
Check out Palworld on Steam
Click Here for my Palworld Playthrough Playlist (YouTube)
My Game Hype Rankings:
Below are my January 2024 Hype Rankings and it features a lot of games that were bumped from 2023 to 2024. I will share my rankings from the end of 2023 that never got published in a future newsletter just to have them on record.
I also decided that this year I’m going to include a bunch of games on my radar that landed just below my top 10 for various reasons. They represent games that I might also play in the future and games that I might not able to fit in future newsletter issues but still deserve some spotlight.
January 2024
Other Games on My Radar (no particular order):
Stormgate, Nivalis, Replaced, 33 Immortals, Defender’s Quest 2: Mists of Ruin, Ultros, Beastieball, Legendary Hoplite, ZeroSpace, The Spirit of the Samurai, The Plucky Squire, Islands of Insight, Creature Keeper, Infest, Baby Steps, No Rest for the Wicked,
GAMES ADDED
#1. Path of Exile 2 (2024)
Path of Exile 2 is my most anticipated game of 2024 because it’s the sequel to my favorite Action-RPG, Path of Exile. There’s no guarantee it will be officially launched in 2024, but the beta launches on June 7, which could potentially still give it enough time to launch within the year. Path of Exile has a reputation of being hard and complex in the genre, but Path of Exile 2 is going to attempt to make it a bit more accessible and improved. Graphically, the sequel is a major visual upgrade from the first game. The major difference between the two games is Path of Exile 2 scraps the gem skill linking from the items and is replaced with gem skill linking in a separate menu. This will make it easier for players to swap items on and off their characters without much concern for breaking their gem skill links.
Character movement in battle will be different because the game is adding a dodge roll with no cooldown that also has the ability to cancel out of moves that could potentially lock you in position to take damage. On that same note, the sequel has some amazing bosses that were shown last year at Exilecon. They showed a giant ogre boss where the player was dodge rolling between the ogre’s legs to avoid getting it This was a good demonstration of what the new Path of Exile 2 game engine can do. Another major addition to the game is making weapon swapping much more worth it by allowing a secondary set of passives to be assigned to your second weapon set. This will certainly add more complexity, but also allow more creative character builds.
Path of Exile 2 will also have twelve classes total. The new druid, huntress, mercenary, warrior, sorceress, and monk classes will add many more character build possibilities. One thing that the sequel is clearly aiming to do is to create skills that synergize together to force the player to be a bit more tactical. I decided to embed the druid gameplay walkthrough below because this is a good demonstration of that.
I can go on and on about my hype for this game. One thing I can’t forget to include…It will be free-to-play.
#2 Last Epoch (February 21, 2024)
Back-to-back of the same genre. Last Epoch is a game I’ve been following in Steam Early Access for the past several years, but I felt like I wanted to wait until it was completely finished to jump in. That date is almost here. Last Epoch is getting praise because it’s not as complex as Path of Exile, but also not as simple as Diablo III/Diablo IV. It’s a nice middle ground for action-RPG players. Where the game currently shines the most is its crafting system because it’s not complex, the user interface is good, and it allows the player to have a lot of control of the result. I’ve seen demonstrations of this and I’m incredibly impressed. One of the newest announcements not yet tested publicly in the game is an innovative public item trading system that tags items and forces the player to choose between solo self-found or public trading. Each choice is made by joining a specific faction that has rewards and bonuses. This is actually what I’m excited for the most because handling item trading has been a major sore spot in the genre. In theory, this system sounds great but we’ll see. I embedded the video below of the developer explaining it. Besides the above features I mentioned, Last Epoch also has its own version of an endgame map system, plus character skills have their own skill trees to allow deep character customization.
I can’t wait for the final version 1.0 release of Last Epoch. I’ll definitely be streaming this on February 21.
#4 Persona 3 Reload (February 2, 2024)
Persona 3 Reload is a remake of Persona 3, a Shin Megami Tensei JRPG originally released in 2006 for Playstation 2. I’ve always wanted to play a Persona game but never really started because they take many hours to complete. This will be the year that I do, and in fact, I’ve already started my playthrough live on twitch. Lucky for me, Persona 3 Reload released on Xbox Game Pass, so I’m playing and enjoying it. I will continue to play and stream more of it soon.
Click Here for my Persona 3 Reload Playthrough Playlist (YouTube)
#6 Dragon’s Dogma 2 (March 21, 2024)
Dragon’s Dogma 2 is the sequel to Dragon’s Dogma, another RPG I have not played, but want to before I play the second one. When it was originally released it got mixed reviews, but was also praised for its story. Now the PC version is supported by third-party mods to update the graphics and fix other things within the game. The Dragon’s Dogma 2 gameplay looks good, plus the exploration and questing system is a bit different than other games in the genre to encourage more interactions with NPCs. I’m not falling over my chair for this game like others are, but it does look like a very cool RPG experience that I want to play in sequential order once I have the time.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 Trailer (Age-restricted, can’t embed)
#8 Prince of Persia The Lost Crown (January 15, 2024)
Prince of Persia The Lost Crown is a game that was announced out of nowhere in 2024. The most modern games of the franchise are 3D, but this is a 2D side scroller metroidvania that actually looks pretty with decent storytelling. It doesn’t look innovative, but it still seems fun, which is why I have it ranked lower. Later in the year I might try this once the price has dipped.
NEXT ISSUE
Andre’s Gaming Odds & Ends: February 2024 Steam Next Fest Demos Special
This newsletter issue will be sent later this week featuring thoughts on the demos I played.
COMING SOON
More From Andre Shortcast #03
Discussing My New Workflow More
Thanks for reading this issue of Andre’s Gaming Odds & Ends.
Don’t forget to subscribe below if you haven’t already.!!