I really enjoyed the first one. The puzzles were not just heavily inspired by Zelda dungeons, they also PLAYED like them in that they were really clever and well-designed. The kind of puzzles that keep you motivated the finish them. So I have high hopes for the sequel.

Personally, I'm hoping for a little more story to flesh things out this time around. The first game's focus was always on the puzzles, but brief dialogue sections now and then really made the game feel more alive to me. I really like Ludosity's characters and dialogue. They have a great humorous style and I did find myself wanting more of it in the first game. Either way, I'll definitely check it out sometime.

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Maybe it's old news now, but I know I'm not the only one still depressed about things here in my home (USA). But people coming together and doing nice things like this really does make me feel better!

It might be tempting to write it off as just another marketing scheme, since Itch and the game developers will benefit at least from the increased exposure, but that kind of cynicism can ruin literally anything. You can only be so cynical about 100% proceeds to charity.

Sometimes people, even people running companies, do actually want to do something good for other people! I really need more examples of that like this right now.

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Quoting: EndeavourAccuracyDon't Starve Together is more up-to-date than Don't Starve.
Even if you are alone or off-line, I suggest you choose Don't Starve Together.
Click "Play" and then (quickly, if you are on-line) "Play Offline".
Then choose "Host Game" to launch your own world, or "Browse Games" to use a LAN.

Thanks EndeavourAccuracy! I had no evidence that Together was more up-to-date than the original, but that was what I was suspecting when I asked about a DRM-free version. They also stated during development that some parts of the game were being re-tooled to suit co-op, so I wanted to play single-player with those changed elements in place.

I'll probably still pick it up for Steam, especially because I just noticed that they give you a 2nd Steam key for the $15. It's one of the only games my sister likes so I could give it to her. I won't be putting it on the netbook though. Steam's offline play mode is so unreliable it's not worth it, and the dreaded error: SteamUpdateUI: An X Error occurred
X Error of failed request:  BadValue (integer parameter out of range for operation) has been preventing Steam from running on the netbook ever since I upgraded to Ubuntu 16.04 anyway.

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So no DRM-free version is available yet? I was hoping we'd see a GOG release after it left early access. The original ran great on my little underpowered Asus netbook, which is frequently away from a WiFi source. I'd like to be able to play it single player when I can't play co-op.

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I'm still a big fan of retro graphics when they're used well. I'm not referring to the Butcher specifically; I'd have to play it to find out if I thought the graphics were appropriate. But it's really not as simple as saying "retro = ugly" and "AAA = pretty." The style of graphics used is often an artistic choice meant to evoke a certain tone or ambiance in a game. The Witcher 3 would not work with retro graphics, and Stardew Valley would not work with modern "AAA" graphics. Different styles are appropriate for different games.

It's easy to say that "retro is easier so developers are lazy" and maybe that is true sometimes, but you can't just ignore games like Starbound, Terraria, and Fez where I believe the graphics were a deliberate artistic choice; whether it was an easier choice is irrelevant.

There are also many examples of retro graphical styles being able to age much better than others. Look at how terrible Heavy Rain looks now even though it was state-of-the-art at the time, then look at Chrono Trigger, a much older game that still looks good today.

Also, maybe I shouldn't bring my old grievances to this conversation, but I am not okay with holding "AAA" studios up as the end-all-be-all pinnacle of perfection that all developers should aspire to when they are pulling so much sh** on consumers lately with pre-order, microtransaction, DRM bullsh**. Remember The Order 1886? Sold completely on graphics, even though it was generic, lazy, CoD style shooter. It's true! "AAA" games with great graphics can be LAZY too! Not to mention that it was gutted to stretch out the franchise they wanted it to be, and crammed full of microtransactions on top of that. Not something to aspire to!

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Yay! I bought this maybe 2 years ago back before I was disillusioned by Early Access, but never really played it after starting it on my primary (old) desktop and finding out it was a slide show without better hardware. By the time I was able to build a new machine I had found out about the frequent issues the Linux version had, so in the tradition of Starbound for me (buying it in very early stages, then never playing it again until it's polished) I never played it again. Maybe it's time to try it out again! :D

I really don't feel well-informed on the topic of Liam's issues with the devs, so I won't comment on those at all, and I'll just say:

Thank you Fun Pimps for continuing to work on the Linux version! I know it isn't always easy.

Thank you Liam for keeping up coverage of the Linux version! I wouldn't know how it's doing without it.

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I've sunk 72 hours into Stardew Valley in the past month. Waaaaaay more than I've put into any video game in a very long time. I can't believe how polished and... (I apologize in advance) soulful it is! Yeah, I'm sorry for the cheese in saying that, but you know how old SNES games like Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy 6(3) felt like they had a ton more soul and life in them then anything released in the past few generations? Stardew Valley has a ton of that soul. And it's definitely NOT just the pixel art doing it; it's in the gameplay, and the incredible polish put into everything. The amount of polish is really kind of stunning, and makes it feel like the antithesis of an Early Access game. Really stellar game, and I'm super excited to see that the developer is continuing to expand it!

Sadly my Internet situation is frequently in flux, so I'm running the DRM-free GOG version. I guess I'll have to wait a while for the update.

Edit: Not much of "a while" at all! :D Thanks for letting us know the GOG update is live Liam! And kudos to ConcernedApe for not wasting any time getting all the storefronts updated.

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I just yesterday watched the Jim Sterling video where he plays this on Itch.io. Looked fun!

I'm an American* so the British political angle of it goes over my head though. I hope no one takes offense.

View video on youtube.com

*Meaning place of birth. I'm not a nationalistic prick like some Americans. It's sad that I feel I have to make that distinction. :(

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Yay! I really enjoyed the first one! The original was one of the first games that I played on my SteamOS install with the steam controller, and it's already kind of nostalgic remembering how cool it was to get quality mouse-like controls from a controller. Some quality, fast-paced tower-defense action is a great demonstration of that!

I might have to wait for a sale, but I will definitely pick it up. So anyway, how sad is it that I'm feeling a little nostalgic for something that happened less than a year ago?

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Come on people. Let's not let the comments here turn into another Wine-hate bandwagon.

This is a 2D fighter that's not going to be taxing any systems, and it's an older game so we likely were never going to get it on Linux at all without a wrapper. This is just not a situation in which we can reasonably bitch about not getting a native port.

But hey! It's a 2D fighter with a well-done anime art style! Those are not common on Linux! Even if it's not your cup of tea, it strengthens the variety of games on our platform! Can we just be happy about the gift instead of moaning about how the wrapping paper isn't perfect?

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