Still-Alive on gaming.rip

Starminer Begins a Promising Early Excavation

Wed, 27 May 2026 14:05:00 -0600

Starminer enters Early Access with an ambitious combination of modular ship construction, station building, real-space flight physics, and large-scale asteroid mining. Even within its earliest hours, the scope of the project is immediately apparent.

Town to City Quietly Expands Into Something Special

Tue, 26 May 2026 20:15:00 -0600

Town to City emerges from Early Access as a standout entry in a genre increasingly crowded by formulaic systems and unnecessary combat mechanics. Instead of conflict, the game focuses entirely on the quiet satisfaction of building and expanding a city at a deliberate pace.

Despite its pixel-based presentation, the game delivers an impressive amount of visual flexibility through decorative tools and customization options that many larger city builders fail to provide. The result is a city that feels personal rather than merely efficient.

Mechanicus II Successfully Reawakens the Machine Spirit

Sun, 24 May 2026 20:15:00 -0600

Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus II proves itself to be a worthy continuation of its predecessor, preserving much of what made the original memorable while introducing enough structural changes to justify its existence as a sequel rather than a repetition.

The core tactical gameplay remains familiar, with some returning heroes and similar overall combat. At the same time, the sequel adjusts several systems, most notably the overall campaign structure, alongside a variety of smaller refinements and mechanical changes that help differentiate the experience. Picking up the pace of combat a little is a stand out change.

Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes Keeps the Fleet Alive

Mon, 11 May 2026 19:25:00 -0600

Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes arrives from Alt Shift, the developers behind Crying Suns, and immediately carries traces of that studio’s earlier work into the Battlestar Galactica universe.

Nova Patria Expands the Empire Across New Shores

Tue, 05 May 2026 18:20:00 -0600

Nova Patria presents an alternate history in which the Roman Empire never collapsed, instead advancing into an age of steam and overseas colonization. The result is a city-building and logistics experience with a distinctive identity and a striking visual style that often resembles hand-drawn artwork brought to life.

Windrose Releases at Full Sail

Wed, 15 Apr 2026 16:00:00 -0600

Windrose enters Early Access as a crafting-survival experience that blends familiar elements from the genre with a pirate-focused setting. Drawing comparisons to titles such as Valheim and Enshrouded, the game incorporates the typical exploration, resource gathering, and combat into a solid game loop.

Oceaneers Charts Its Own Waters

Mon, 13 Apr 2026 13:40:00 -0600

Oceaneers arrives in Early Access with immediate comparisons to Oxygen Not Included, and while those similarities exist, the game quickly establishes its own identity within a water-world setting.

Aether & Iron Gains Momentum After a Slow Start

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 16:10:00 -0600

Aether & Iron begins its journey at a measured pace, initially guiding players along a structured and linear path. Early moments feel controlled and deliberate, with limited freedom to diverge from the intended route.

Crimson Desert Opens a Vast Frontier

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 21:10:00 -0600

Crimson Desert arrives as a rare departure into large-scale AAA territory, offering an expansive open world that immediately invites exploration. Across three days of play, the experience was defined less by structured storyline and more by simply wandering through its massive landscape.

The King is Watching Finally Gets Seen

Thu, 19 Mar 2026 15:10:00 -0600

The King is Watching has been around since its release last year but had gone largely unexamined until now. With a new DLC release drawing attention to the game, it was finally given a proper look-over.

Heroes of Science and Fiction Charts a New Campaign

Tue, 17 Mar 2026 13:15:00 -0600

Heroes of Science and Fiction takes clear inspiration from the classic Heroes of Might & Magic formula, even in it’s name of course, transporting its turn-based exploration and army management into a science fiction setting.

Bloodgrounds Opens Its Gates

Sun, 15 Mar 2026 14:20:00 -0600

Bloodgrounds left early access last week and received its first formal inspection during today’s session. Expectations initially leaned toward teh game being more like an RPG experience, but the reality proved somewhat different.

Blossom Begins Terraforming Operations

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 10:45:00 -0600

Blossom: The Seed of Life tasks the player with the ambitious project of transforming Mars into a lush and green world. Developed by a single creator, the game carries that forgiveable indie feel of being solid and fun yet having imperfect gameplay.

Docked Arrived in Port Today

Thu, 05 Mar 2026 13:30:00 -0600

Docked arrives from Saber Interactive carrying familiar logistical DNA. Much like its distant cousins SnowRunner and RoadCraft, the game focuses on the satisfaction of moving heavy things from one place to another and takes place in a post disaster world.

Railroad Corporation 2 Arrives at Full Release

Fri, 27 Feb 2026 13:30:00 -0600

Railroad Corporation 2 has departed early access and entered full release, arriving with familiar cargo but also some unexpected surprises. Though I did not check out the game during it’s early access phase, the 1.0 build called for formal inspection.

TCG Card Shop Simulator

Thu, 26 Feb 2026 22:45:00 -0600

TCG Card Shop Simulator turns the world of collectible card games into a satisfying management hack — from trying for rare pulls to selling cards at a marked up price for a nice profit.

Star Trek: Voyager - Across the Unknown

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 16:00:00 -0600

Star Trek nerd-out time arrived with Star Trek: Voyager - Across the Unknown today and the fate of Captain Janeway and her hsmirk, I mean the crew of Voyager, are in your hands. Managing the resources, the repairs and the decisions as you go through the story of the T.V. show and possibly change what happened.

House of Legacy

Tue, 17 Feb 2026 16:00:00 -0600

House of Legacy presents itself as a management and city builder on the surface, but once you make a little money it quickly reveals itself to be all about crating and spreading a dynasty to rival the other clans spread across the cities and countryside.

Crazy Cat Lady Was Here

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 16:00:00 -0600

Mewgenics finally released today, and it wasted absolutely no time making it clear it was from the people behind The Binding of Isaac and because of that I bet there are a lot first time turn-based tactical gamers now.

Repair & Rescue Me Please, I Rolled Again

Mon, 09 Feb 2026 18:00:00 -0600

SnowRunner has been around for years now and I don’t expect anything major from their DLCs at this point. More maps and more trucks, maybe a new mechanic or two. Season 17: Repair & Rescue is that.

A Civilization in my Hand

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 15:45:00 -0600

Civilization VII launched its Apple Arcade edition recently, and going in, expectations were kind of cautious. Strategy games on mobile aren’t exactly something I think can come close to matching something like Civilization.

This version surprised me.

To The Moon & Beyond

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 21:30:00 -0600

Solargene reached version 1.0 shortly before this filing, and my first exposure to it came post–early access. Somehow I missed this while in development. Over the course of roughly fifteen hours across three streams, the systems revealed themselves gradually.