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برچسب: better

  • Star Valor is one of Steam’s most overlooked space RPGs, and it’s getting better

    Star Valor is one of Steam’s most overlooked space RPGs, and it’s getting better


    The very best space RPGs can inspire a sense of wonder and scale unlike anything else. Games like No Man’s Sky and Starfield, when they are at their best, offer a magnificent sense of smallness and an equal embracing of freedom. That feeling goes to back to some of the best retro RPGs like Wing Commander: Privateer. Continuing in this legacy, Star Valor is a overlooked throwback. An upcoming DLC centered around base building looks to make it even better.

    In Star Valor – Base Building, you can do exactly what it says on the tin: manage and construct your own bases. The DLC adds multiple station types, like mining stations for extracting minerals from gigantic asteroids or production facilities to boost your economic power. You can even start with a base instead of a space ship in a new mode, battling waves of enemies to preserve the center of power. Like the best space games, Star Valor offers multiple approaches to play, letting you become an intergalactic trader, a pirate warlord, and much else besides.

    For the unfamiliar, Star Valor is a space-based RPG in a procedurally generated galaxy. No two games of Star Valor are alike; the game redraws the map every time you start a new game. You’ll start on your own, but as you level up and get cash, you can hire crew members to pilot bigger ships or entire fleets. You’ll barter, argue, fight, and ally with seven different factions.

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    The Base Building DLC for Star Valor will launch on July 27, 2025. The price has not yet been announced.

    If you are looking for more richly defined, speculative worlds, take a look at our list of the best RPG games. If you want to wander through endless possibilities, check out the best open-world games.

    You can follow us on Google News for daily PC games news, reviews, and guides. We’ve also got a vibrant community Discord server, where you can chat about this story with members of the team and fellow readers.



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  • Resistance Avalon – any strategy better than staying silent?

    Resistance Avalon – any strategy better than staying silent?


    I am looking for any game theoretical insights for the most basic form of The Resistance: Avalon. Specifically I am looking at a 5 player game, with just two added roles: Merlin and the Assassin. I am looking at strategies that can be executed without using psychology, tells, hidden messages (including but not limited to cryptography and signing) etc.

    Without the additional roles – ie the vanilla version of the original Resistance game – it is quite easy to calculate the winning chances for the rebels if both sides play optimally – for it is 30% (assuming the traitors can avoid double-failing missions with two spies). The good team basically has three chances to identify the spies (or the good team). And they have nothing better than chance to rely on, so they will choose each of the 10 possible teams with equal probability, for a total of 3/10 winning chance.

    When adding Merlin, things seem to be worse for the good guys! If he takes no action to help the good team, he just reduces their winning chances to 20% (since he has a 1/3 chance of being killed). If he does help the good team, he increases their winning chances – but he also increases his chances of being killed. Any action he takes, or statement he makes, which sways the other players to choose the right team, will also be visible by the bad guys. Assuming no hidden communication, they will see each of the statements made, and know who encouraged the winning team, or discouraged the losing ones.

    So is there any strategy for the good team which does better than 20% in this setup? The strategy must be known to all players ahead of time. Just to make it absolutely clear: I am not asking for ways to “hint” to your team-mates which team to pick, without the bad guys noticing or understanding what is going on.



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  • If you’ve avoided Commandos Origins until now, the WW2 RTS just got a lot better

    If you’ve avoided Commandos Origins until now, the WW2 RTS just got a lot better


    Between Civilization 7, Kaiserpunk, Stellaris, and Commandos Origins itself, I’m still torn between which type of strategy game I like most. 4X is the biggest and bulkiest, but the longer a playthrough goes on, the more you can get lost in the micromanagement. City builders are more focused, and I’m a sucker for good road-building tools, but, by their nature, these games are limited to one type of strategy. So maybe it’s the RTS – challenging but accessible, tactical but faster-paced, the return of Commandos also marks a comeback for one of the genre’s best. Origins may have struggled a little so far, but if you’ve stayed away, the big new update could be enough to win you over.

    Tough, intense, and an occasional test of your patience, our own Commandos Origins review explains precisely where the new RTS game shines and where it could use some improvement. Behind Enemy Lines, Commandos 2, and Destination Berlin are all legitimate PC classics – Commandos Origins naturally has a lot of expectation on its shoulders. But alongside our 7/10 rating, the response from players has so far been solid, and the WW2 game has a reputable ‘mostly positive’ rating on Steam.

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    However, a few key performance issues and problems with crashing have held Origins back. Released on April 9, if you’ve been cautious about playing the strategy game up until now, the new update could assuage your concerns. There are 29 general fixes, alongside 18 fixes that target issues specific to Commandos Origins’ campaign missions. Until now, some of the game’s foliage was inexplicably causing sharp drops in performance and there were cases where the framerate could slow to a crawl.

    Those have both been remedied, alongside other “rare” crashes, and a significant problem where using the Marine’s abilities could also send you back to the desktop. The user interface has been tweaked and improved, and there is no longer a problem with broken achievements. It’s a big fix and it arrives just over a week since launch – hopefully, any other issues with Commandos Origins will also be promptly addressed. If you want to give the game a shot, you can get it here.

    Otherwise, try some of the best 4X games, or maybe the best grand strategy games out now on PC.

    You can follow us on Google News for daily PC games news, reviews, and guides. We’ve also got a vibrant community Discord server, where you can chat about this story with members of the team and fellow readers.



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