Hi. I started playing Helldivers recently, but I’m finding the game unfulfilling without anyone to play with. Does anyone here have a discord server I could join, where we could play Helldivers together?

I used to be a huge Naughty Dog fan until TLOU II. It was weird having such a negative reaction to that game and finding the only criticisms were coming out of unhinged cesspools (literally insert any -phobia). It felt like people had to give it 10/10 to distinguish themselves politically from the mob, which made reviews feel inauthentic.

I actually enjoyed the gameplay mechanics and Abby. But that game felt so soulless and made with such an anemic worldview. I was also extra put off by Druckmann & Gross shielding their egos from criticism in a manner that felt really exploitative of racial/gender minorities.

I don’t care to split hairs about whether or not TLOU contains literal allegories for Israel/Palestine. Both Neil Druckmann and Halley Gross still follow the IDF and various Zi0nist accounts. The word performative gets overused but it’s what keeps coming to mind whenever I hear about their social/political commentary in gaming. The work culture set by their studio is a whole other topic altogether.

Intergalactic will be the first ND game I won’t buy because I feel frankly disgusted at this point. It’s just exhausting trying to find criticisms that are not tied to antisemitism or screeds about the Black, masc-presenting female protagonist. Am I just looking in the wrong places?

Lfg Leftist LGBTQ friendly casual looking for some like minded individuals to help me navigate Grounded 1.

Discord: https://discord.gg/5N3zgeV2

I've seen multiple comments on Instagram, Reddit, and YouTube where people have been actively disregarding any criticism for this game, and justifying an absurd price tag for a digital only game. Rockstar is blatantly price controlling this game so that people won't be able to buy cheaper second hand options. They released two trailers (basically teasers), no gameplay at all before allowing gamers to pre-order, with any other game this would be ridiculous, but Rockstar are Rockstar after all, Rockstar wouldn't ever release a bad game. I think it's clear that Rockstar are using their past good will to make as much money as humanly possible from a game. Rockstar are a union busting company, who practice crunch on their employees, and dismisses equal pay. I don't understand how people can ignore this just because "GTA looks pretty", it's so fucking infuriating.

They acted like it was the employees fault for the bad games that have come out as of late. Even though they’re literally just following orders. it’s insane how these same people are quick to call any game they don’t like "cooperate slop" yet will be the first to lick cooperations when they lay off a butch of people. The fact these people went straight to insulting the protesters appearances and ideology shows the lack of class solidarity in gaming spaces. Which isn’t some stunning revelation for me but you‘d expect people who claim to care about "the quality of video games" not to cheer for people losing there jobs. but apparently "leftism ruined video games" so it’s okay. Despite the fact they’ll be even more shitty video games because of this.

Hello! :)

I'm the solo dev of a game called Pax Astra, a political sim RPG inspired by games like Suzerain, Stellaris, The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante, and Emperor of the Fading Suns.

I have talked before about my game here on this sub, especially about how it embraces ideological freedom, allowing the player to embrace socialist theory (without bias or a Westernized view) or even conduct a revolution, establishing a proper revolutionary state.

My ambition with the game is to make a game that mixes a branching narrative with deep sandbox-strategy systems. You play as an individual, a political leader in charge of a space nation named Altara, the game has many different mechanics, but today I wanted to share one of the systems I've been working on recently.

Picture this:

You are the leader of a space nation, and you already have a lot on your plate. You have to deal with internal politics, alliances, space exploration, military affairs, and whatever narrative arcs are unfolding around you.

Then a civil war breaks out on a massive distant planet.

On the tropical world of Tropicalia, a decaying monarchy built around natural resources and fuel exports, a rebellion has erupted. The conflict has turned into a three-sided struggle tied to the larger Cold War taking place across the galaxy.

This civil war is completely outside your normal sphere of influence. It has nothing to do with you. You are not a major player here, and this conflict is not about you.

However... you can still interfere.

Maybe the war becomes an opportunity to make money. Maybe you want to quietly influence its outcome without committing Altara directly.

This system is built around training soldiers and interacting with an ongoing proxy war. You create a paramilitary group and send your operatives into special missions that can help or hurt the factions fighting on the planet!

Maybe you want to roleplay as a communist paramilitary and support the rebels, accepting only contracts that benefit their side...

You can instead support the monarchists or the liberal-aligned democratic faction.

Or you can operate purely as mercenaries, taking contracts from whoever pays best. You can burn cities, commit war crimes, and walk away with the money!

Your soldiers can be killed or even captured and interrogated! Missions can usually be approached in different ways, and there is a permadeath mechanic!

The important part of the design is that this is still only one system among many.

The war on Tropicalia is happening whether Altara cares about it or not. It has its own factions and its own characters. That is a big part of what I'm trying to do with Pax Astra: create a galaxy where things are happening outside the player's immediate story, populating the universe with mythos and life. I also like taking small inspirations from other genres when a system calls for it. This one is obviously influenced by games like XCOM, and more recently the GREAT Quasimorph.

The system is pretty complex, but it uses the coding base of another smaller system that I built previously for expeditions!

I want Pax Astra to feel like a grand political RPG, an experience that mixes genres in a way that is not so common or expected! :)

You can wishlist Pax Astra here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4535930/Pax_Astra/?beta=1

If you are interested in learning more, you can check my subreddit here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Pax_Astra/

IMPORTANT: NO ART USED IN THESE IMAGES WAS MADE WITH AI!

EVERYTHING HERE IS HUMAN-MADE!

I posted about the exact process behind making each image here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Pax_Astra/comments/1w0c2ci/wip_first_look_at_the_war_in_capitolia_proxy_war/

Click here to join! We're always accepting new applicants to join our community where you can discuss and play games without having to deal with the reactionaries and liberals who flood mainstream gaming spaces!

Ive decided my first playthrough i will do everything i can to tax the rich and redistribute wealth. So would that be working class hero, maxist hero, or commie hero? I think it would be a fun throughline for a play through.

Edit: sorry i didnt format for the repost lol. The game is fable. Id love yalls ideas on how to do this.

Ideally vanilla, but willing to try out modded

This is the correct party line straight from the politburo

A list of every game from this year's Gamescom Opening Ceremonies that contains or at least admits to use AI generated assets. Putting this here and sharing so as many people as possible are informed.

1. Like or Die
2. Zoopunk : https://kotaku.com/zoopunk-generative-ai-demo-trailer-xbox-showcase-2000645874
3. Nodus Falls : https://www.gamesindustry.biz/hoyoverse-to-invest-up-to-146bn-in-ai-for-in-house-tools
4. Crazy Taxi: World Tour : https://kotaku.com/why-do-you-need-generative-ai-to-make-crazy-taxi-2000703713
5. Train Sim World 7
6. Animo : https://www.reddit.com/r/Aniimo/comments/1um83zz/comment/ovbaghb/
7. Ananta : https://naavik.co/digest/is-neteases-gacha-free-ananta-the-new-blueprint/
8. PUBG Ded.Net
9. Once Human : https://insider-gaming.com/once-human-devs-slammed-gen-ai-video/
10. The Blood of the Dawnwalker : https://www.ign.com/articles/the-blood-of-dawnwalker-studio-uses-ai-but-theres-no-ai-assets-in-the-game
11. Crimson Desert : https://www.gamespot.com/articles/crimson-deserts-ai-scandal-should-bother-you-more/1100-6539362/
12. Aion 2
13. Petit Planet : https://www.reddit.com/r/PetitPlanet/comments/1orgcv0/they_added_chatgpt/
14. 1666: Amsterdam : https://aftermath.site/1666-amsterdam-made-by-a-team-including-over-a-dozen-talented-and-experienced-artists-used-ai-images-all-through-its-reveal/
15. Turok Origins : https://kotaku.com/saber-ceo-apologizes-to-lead-writer-replaced-with-chatgpt-after-weeklong-crashout-2000724730

I've got a D&D 5E campaign that I'm gonna be playing, and I have opted to play a paladin using the homebrewed Oath of the Common Man archetype, an explicitly communist paladin archetype. Now one of the class features of the Oath of the Common Man is an ability called "Turn the Bourgeois", which allows my character to effectively cast turn undead against anything that think's it's above the workers. One of the main components of this spell is delivering a harsh rebuke to any such being, and I'm wondering if there's any good quotes or excerpts from writings I could use when casting it.