...I think I just experienced a conspiracy moment.
First I saw the comment here vaguely asking for a game where "you and a bunch of misfits form a band and fight and explore stuff" (not turn-based), and then very shortly thereafter Facebook kicked up a link in my feed to an IGN (which I never read) article about how this new game Valheim was "taking over Steam and Twitch" despite still being in early access.
Looking at the Steam page, it's a game where you and a bunch of misfits form a band and fight and explore stuff. Not turn-based.
You're all shadow-members of the great corporate marketing machine, aren't you? I fuckin' knew it...
Who reads your mail and makes you buy new games? We do! We do!
I'm actually playing Valheim currently - picked it up Saturday, have about... 40 hours into it now.
I never played Ark, or wanted to, but I'd recommend looking at some gameplay videos of this one. It can be multiplayer - 1-10 players on a server game, and PVP damage can be toggled off. I think the game difficulty increases as you add players.
A friend asked me what it was like (when I had about 12 hours in) - and my first reply was "Kind of like Minecraft, only more grindy". I think that first impression stands. It is, first of all, a very gorgeous game (even with the pixelated graphics), with fantastic music. Standing on the shore during a storm, watching the waves roll? Don't think I've ever seen any game act like that.
It is a sandbox, with a very limited goal - hunt boss monsters, hang their heads in a standing-stone circle. A lot of roaming around, just enjoying the view. I have not quite yet built a sailboat (karve), but did toddle around on a raft a bit. Base building is also a thing, and every so often the wildlife will attack your base.
They did some really interesting things, I think. You only have 25 hit points - but food can buff you with temporary hp, as well as health/stamina regen. And the "higher level" foods give better buffs. So as you go into more dangerous areas, you get better foods, and thus more hp. Gear is a bit gated - you have to kill the first boss to get a pick recipe, and only then start mining tin & copper to make bronze stuff (found in the second "zone"). Iron is found in the next higher difficult area from there, although I'm not in it. You also get skill levels by doing things - running, jumping, swimming, weapon skills... an they stay with your character, no matter what game world/server you jump into.
EDIT:
This video shows some of the wave action at the end, that I found visually impressive.
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Topic: The "Recommend me a game" thread (Read 337377 times)