Duskers on GOG - gog.la/deathroombas THE LIST - docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_K3ziSxT9zcUUGCddS4sF1uNJTWHSbOwB1CQX2Rx4Uo Figured it'd be a good time to finally talk about this game before the Halloween games got roaring!
Hey man. Can you please cover a game named ZeroRanger? It's not your style, being a shmup. But it has an extremely interesting story and gameplay that really fits with your style with editing. I would put a patreon submission but I haven't got the money.
hey Mandy, a while back you commented that you would be doing a Death Stranding review. Now that the game has gotten a lot of attention and time to stew, do you think you will still be approaching it? Im not sure if you saw Dunkeys three part review of it, but he went from absolutely hating it to playing 3 or 4 times through. I would love to hear what you think, even if its not in a video.
"You can fly to a different solar system, but your PC won't have a taskbar." Never has someone so perfectly summed up the aesthetic of every Ridley Scott movie.
You nailed it. I got duskers a few years ago and immediately got sucked into a 12-hour play session, got bored, came back a year later and within an hour remembered why I got bored. There is so much to iterate on here, if the devs make a sequel it could easily turn into an indie darling.
I stumbled across a video of another indie game that you may or may not already know about at this time. It's called Scavenger SV-4. It seems to be a bit lacking ( _very repetitive_ ) but also very fun and interesting in the same way Duskers is.
@@Zeithri I love Scavenger SV-4, even talked with the developer directly a few times, so I can highly recommend it while also saying yes, it's extremely repetitive.
The DUSKERS universe is the one in which Mandy joined evil one too many times in a row, causing the mold that used to be in Ross Scott's appartment to become sentient and consume all life in the universe.
I love this game and totally agree that the one problem I have with this game is the lack of progression. I would love if one of the many scenarios you investigate was actually a main mission (random for each run). So you can still have inconclusive investigations to have the feeling of the unknown. The game can end with finishing the main mission. Examples being: killing the [REDACTED], traveling to the coordinates of the [REDACTED], or finding a cure for the [REDACTED].
@@peterclarke7240I don't know what would be funnier Ending it with "He answers it, and returns himself to being the last man on earth" Or just saying the JW wasn't human lmao
Aw fuck, I didn't realise it was going to be Arcanum. It's funny, because there are only about 3 places in the game you can talk to the dead meaningfully, beyond that they just scream. I just hope he tries to play through it with a female character. It is a very different experience.
don't get your hopes up. It could be that other game which Ross Game Dungeon covered where you could speak to the dead and was part of the main plot. Daemonica was its name
My mind went straight to pillars of eternity but then i remembered you dont speak with dead people all that much... i guess that first scene in gilded vale just stuck with me
@@Antinumeric That's a screenshot of Marathon, to illustrate what he's saying about "It's not just because it's all in computer terminals, because I can put up with that."
"This game looks like the system I used to order tile in back in retail" I work retail now and use a system that looks.....suspiciously like that. I was informed it was literally built in DOS in 1993 by one guy to make the old mail ordering more automated and easier for him and the company went ".....yeah, everyone use that now" and then fired that guy so they didn't have to pay him. It's so old it can't handle the concept of a mouse. If you click on the screen while in it you crash the program for 15+ minutes. I fucking hate it with all my soul....I'm terrified of what even worse program they'll eventually replace it with. I wasn't ready for this level of horror in a Halloween video
Big fan of the audio and visuals to create an eery sci-fi atmosphere. The real time strategy console management also looks very interesting, yet simple enough to keep you interested & engaged rather than annoyed. I'd gladly try this out purely for the atmosphere. Also excited for the upcoming Halloween specials!
Duskers is one of those games I absolutely love, and would kill to see more added to it or another game similar to it. I really feel like it has a lot of untapped potential.
Stopping in the middle of the video to say this. Whenever I get a yellow room I find a green room next to it, make sure to vacate any drones from there, open the door between the two rooms and just wait for a minute (or more, depending on room size) If the green room remains green, it means the yellow room is safe. If it suddenly changes into red, then obviously... Literally only failed me twice in the 50 or so times I've done this Another way I've found, is to repeatedly open and close the door of an unsure room, and see if something makes the door stuck, but that's only if I've run out of options.
You can string commands to run sequentially, including triggering the same door. It's very quick, but you can get a glimpse into rooms by putting a drone near the door and triggering it twice in one command. If it looks clear, butt your drone so close to the door that it can't close again and take a longer peek - you can back out and the old 'close' command will trigger. A little more dangerous in the moment than the open door motion sensor technique, but quicker, which is possibly safer in the long run.
Imagine a mix of Duskers and Starsector! It'd be world's first (ok, second after Cataclysm) horror RTS. There are SOME people, but so sparse that it'd be like a player encounter in dayz.
I've been playing Duskers on and off since I was like 12, Mostly off though. The game is the reason I can type the word navigate so fast, but you're right. The story is lacking and the gameplay is repetetive. It holds a special place in my heart though, nearly 50 hours on steam, which doesn't count the probably hundreds of offline hours. Years of popping open my shitty little laptop on the hour long bus ride to school and exploring derelicts. I've never completed the story, or even really tried to do any of the objectives. I just play the game over and over. I don't know where I'm going with this. Thanks for showing more people this game. Maybe something will come of it. maybe I'll get more people to talk to about it.
if you are talking about turgor that's the lead trying to put into game how he was devastated and emptied by the success of his first game for which he set an extremely high bar and somehow cleared it from the first try by hiring for nothing a near genius coder
Insta-like, I love Duskers. If the ruskies had smoothed the quest progression and random rooms generation on older vessels a bit it would be pretty damn close to perfect in my mind.
The Void was my intro to icepick lodge and more people need to experience it. I love the engine mechanics (the different organs processing color and managing how much to put where when) and the general vibe. I love how the brothers look like nightmare monsters but are (mostly) neutral to you and you can actually join their side. I just wish some of the magic sigils were easier to draw and it wasn't so easy to waste mana.
It really needs more tbh, I've started force saving after every ship and (Just to have some feeling of progression) I have vent and random radiation turned off and it's still fucking hard as fuck.
I found this game when I was in grade 8 and became absolutely enamoured by it. Controlling the drones by command line and the sheer horror and atmosphere is amazing. It's truly a shame the dev stopped working on it, if not for updates then for more lore
One of the games I’ve always kept coming back to over the years. But I’ve never been able to play it for long durations in a row, because IT SCARED THE CRAP out of me! The sounds, the limited vision, the not knowing what the monsters are. Loosing a drone shouldn’t matter, but it’s so immersive the presence of a monster actually makes me scared it might make it through all the doors, somehow past the airlock, and into the ship where I’m sitting. Probably the most immersive game I’ve ever played.
I very much agree on the scary aspect, one time I was warned of a fuckton of ASTROIDS heading towards the ship I was looting so I had to get out of the rooms that were going to most likely get CLAPPED via a chance percentage, funniest part was that a patrol bot was in one of the rooms and it got PANCAKED HARD, too bad I'm unable to get whatever it had in it cause the doors were BROKEN
Just wanted to post that your video's always make my week, any time i see that a new one is uploaded, I get super excited to be able to watch it at some point. And re-watching your old video game reviews is always fun to do as well. Please don't stop what you do here on youtube, you make a ton of people very happy and entertained with each new video, and each old one.
Duskers is free on Epic Games this week, until March 2nd. I don't know if anyone will see this comment but this was one of those games that I saw in this review and thought "I'd like that, but I don't really want to pay full price for it." So I figured it was my duty to report this in case anyone else felt the same and happened to see this comment before the week was up.
Im so happy to see Duskers being covered I feel like this is a game similar to Sunless Sea and System Shock and is perfect for this channel, Im also thrilled because I have been looking for the name of this game for several months after seeing a review of it last year, and since getting a gaming laptop Ive wanted to play it but couldn't find the name.
As someone not so much with "high anxiety" but merely anxious tendancies, I've loved this game. I've also only played something like 4 hours total over multiple sessions. The atmosphere never lets up and really pulls the right strings for me. I have to stop before too long and go outside where the walls can't kill me. I was excited to see you reviewing this game :)
I always save Mandalores videos for late at night, i always enjoy falling asleep after watching his videos even seeing the same ones for the 10th time, theres something about his voice, humor and games he reviews. Definitely my favorite game reviewer.
Was so happy when they updated this game after so long. The old version of the game was nearly impossible since you would never get the interface drone module.
If you like Duskers, you'll probably be into Cogmind as well. Both have great sound and atmosphere. Not quite the same type of game, but they are both robot themed roguelite/likes and really good at what they do, especially Cogmind. Genuinely shocking how incredibly well that game is made and how accessible it is despite being ASCII. Both of these games deserve more attention.
If you want a game like this, try Scavenger SV-4. The presentation is top tier imo. You're on a spaceship above a planet, you can't get any closer because the radiation is already frying you (it's actually killing you). But you wanna find some sick alien artefacts, so you send your janky drone down to the planet instead -- and this is the best part -- you float over to your spaceship's dashboard and seamlessly activate the drone camera and control it around the planet, after launching it to the planet of course. You find artefacts and bring them back on the drone to the spaceship, meanwhile you visit the medbay in an attempt to relieve your radiation sickness. Then take the artefacts you just found, research them, find new parts that maybe be useable on the drone, repeat until your insides are turning into hot soup. It's not exactly like Duskers, but you do man a drone in an inhospitable/dangerous environment. Worth checking out for sure.
You know, that plot about humanity disappearing completely without explanation while leaving tech and such behind reminds me pretty much of an indie game for Windows XP from around the late 2000's to early 2010's by Nifflas, titled Saira. It had pretty much that exact same plot but played it for a sort of a-la-Lost kind of mystery instead of for horror. It was a beautiful and melancholic platformer, and kind of a prototype for Nifflas' next games Night Sky and Knytt Underground. I used to love that game as a teen.
*[Sees a drone named Durandal]* *Durandal:* "So Let me get this straight, I'm some kind of goddam roomba who's only sole function is to pick up scrap and babysit the last human because reasons. Yeah, that's a thing I do now.....great......how FANTASTIC/s!"
A few minutes in, I was making a mental note to not watch the spoiler section cuz this looks like a game I’d adore for the story! Like, I was already thinking of Cursed Ships, or an Alien Threat, or- Oh. There’s nothing like that? Damn. I think I’m still gonna pick it up cuz it looks like something I’d be into!! But I appreciate your letting me know to temper my expectations regarding the story.
I love this game, it always reminded me of the concept for dead space 4, where the player character has to scavage necromorph infested ships and fix their own
i think what duskers needs isn't more content, it's closure. some sort of haunting revelation makes the player realize, with no ambiguity, that /there is no hope/. if it was timed right, then at least the feeling of giving up at the end would be shared between the player and protagonist, and that would be an emotionally compelling conclusion!!
I was not expecting a Duskers review lmao. I remember when it first came out, cult classic, one of the better indie horror games I've played. Genuinely terrifying
I did a review for Duskers when it came out, at an indie site I was working on. The atmosphere and immersion of this game is fantastic, also from the few times that I think the lack of music works. Great pick Mandalore!
I was ready to come in and talk about how much I love this game, but honestly you hit it perfectly. This game is one that I love playing for a few hours a couple of times a year. Actually sitting down and playing it consistently drags on, but when it's fresh it's so good.
This game is one of the most effective horror games for me. I am a little high anxiety but i am good with gore, and combat in horror games. This has neither gore, nor action combat, so it is just me and the ambience, and my anxiety. I also am aweful at typing, and typing is how you survive in this game. Even when you, and your character is safe from the danger, you never feel at ease, always vigellent. this can be so effective that i have to stop playing because the Ambience is so tuned to be effective.
I like how mandy often references his own older videos in these newer videos with random easter eggs and just small stuff you'd normally miss, also, immortal empires when?
About damn time. This game is the perfect mix of intrigue, terror, and game play that keeps me coming back and makes me break out in sweat every time I get an alert.
That was my immediate thought. I saw many people in Hololive were making the rounds, having a playthrough of Iron Lung. Ended up catching a playthrough and thought the concept had a lot of potential. Duskers does feel like it is magnitudes above it, but it is disappointing hearing that it doesn't pan out fully in the end. Still have to give credit where credit is due, building an atmosphere that has you craving for more is no easy feat, and this seems to pull it off. I have to check it out.
Oh wow! You finally reviewed Duskers! What a lovely game, and is exactly the kind of niche indie game I would expect you to be interested in. I love seeing when you review games that I found on my own, because it re-affirms that your taste in games is quite similar to mine and your reviews continue to be a great source of discovery for me. Thanks for getting me into Darkwood, Sunless Seas/Skies, Cultist Sim, etc.
I hope we get a duskers 2 or an expansion with new enemies and obstacles to overcome. All it really needs is more content, the core loop is perfect. It's had a lot of youtubers attract attention to it over the years, hopefully its made enough money to justify that.
The Roomba with the shotgun duct taped to it was pretty funny, good review as well. I love that you can make a very entertaining video out of games I'll probably never play.
Even if this game isn't my style, I love the devs vision for it and I'm glad other folks can enjoy! Also I enjoy seeing folks play/explain games I wouldn't have the patience for
I'm never sure if I'll hear that Goosebumps theme in September but it's always a pleasure when I do. Fingers crossed that we get a Harvester video or something come October.
The atmosphere reminds me of Scavenger SV-4. The gameplay is different but it also has drones, camera feeds and is set in space. And it's quite creepy.
It would have been interesting of there was one answer to it and they left you to piece it together with all the Evidence you find but instead they gave you contradicting endings that boil down to "I don't know, maybe" But IMO its either the Rouge A.I or the Super Predator as those explain the contradictory evidence as both can use multiple weapons to destroy an entire Universe (Biological and Technological Warfare are the likeliest including the use of WMDs), the Diesase makes nosense as the Planets are missing, and if its an unknowable cosmic event it should have destroyed the Player and ships too.
@@forickgrimaldus8301 for franchises in which I'm really invested I would have enjoyed going to forums, back in the days when I had time to waste, and discuss the evidence with other players and theorycraft. instead if you just want to play the game and be done with it it's just annoying
Fucking love this game, I'm a big horror buff and this is genuinely one of the most tense games I've ever played, wouldn't say it's necessarily one of the SCARIEST, it does have some frightening moments, but the tension is friggin palpable. The gameplay loop is dope too, one of the few where it doesn't really get repetitive imo because there's so much variety in what could happen
It’s not First but 48 on trending that’s actually pretty good man I’ve never seen you on trending before good for you I love your channel for years and you do so much for the UA-cam Community keep up the great work!
Was not expecting Risk Legacy to be mentioned. I just finished a campaign with my sisters family. It took a while, but he is right, it can be a blast. Wrecking up the map in permanent ways over 15 games is great. I dislike regular risk, but greatly enjoy risk legacy, if you're considering it, go for it!
This is honestly such an interesting concept. Sort of hands off but still keeping the feeling of fear in there. I hope the devs follow up on this and make a sequel. Also speaking of Hades, I don't know if you'd ever do a review on it, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on it anyways someday.
I had to know, so I researched it and that game shown at the mention of scariest game Mandalore has played is The Last DeadEnd. It's got pretty mixed reviews and I dunno if Mandalore is mememing on us or not. I'd like an episode on that now, as its the first I've ever heard of it.
Ooh, I played this game years ago, but forgot about it. I can't remember playing it long - I probably became impatient or distracted - but I think I'll give it another shot. Thanks for the reminder!
Amazing little gem of a game, the atmosphere of tension it creates (unless you cheese through it all with stealth lmao) is amazing. Clicked instantly when I saw you reviewed it
Re: Betrayal at House on the Hill. I think you'd love "Betrayal Legacy", which adds roguelike permanency to the experience. Throw the dynamite card? You have to cut it up! It's like going on a Betrayal Themed holiday to Disneyworld.
Hey Mandy, do you have any plans for INFRA review in the near future? In short, it is a story of (*definitely not Finnish*) structural engineer Mark, who was tasked with doing a routine check on the city's infrastructure after a corruption scandal; only to find it in terribly deteriorated state, and then proceeding to uncover the conspiracy that has led the city to this point of near collapse. Using your term from the Paratopic video, it is very much an "anti-walking simulator", employing some ingredients typical for the walking simulator genre (focus on narrative, pretty visuals and obviously... walking), but throwing more into the mix, such as *actual gameplay* (revolving mostly around solving practical puzzles, considering you play as a structural engineer) and a story that doesn't hold you by the hand and forces the player to really pay attention to the world around them in order to piece the underlying story together(oftentimes requiring them to search for secrets, which the game has PLENTY of). You can finish the game satisfied and thinking you fully understand the story and the reasons why everything happened the way it did, but in reality being tricked by the game's narrative and missing what actually happened, just like in Paratopic or Marathon. One thing that sets it apart from other games is definitely the length, because it can take around 25-30h to complete, and that time is spent doing constantly something new - it's pure content and not large stretches of nothing. You don't see that much in games anymore; so many things to do. There's even an achievement for re-creating the Demon Core Accident - it's fantastic... It's still really hard to describe the game, because even if it feels familiar, there's nothing like it out there. The developers took on the task of building a believable and complex world and went all the way in, and I really mean all the way in - There's games that are incredibly fun for few hours or so, but then slowly become boring as the content repeats without new ideas. Here, the game just keeps going and going and doesn't lose its breath at all, constantly surprising you until the very end. I'd be really happy if you gave the game a shot, because it's exactly the type of hidden gem that I just know you and this community will love. And if anyone else is reading this, try it yourself, I can't put into words how much it's worth it.
@@Tony_Cardoza I wanted to stress that it isn't "just another walking sim", because at a first glance that is exactly how the game appears and that might discourage some people. The game does carry some typical signs of a walking simulator (especially the amount of environment exploration), but unlike games from that genre it requires much more player involvement and has so much more content than what is usual.
It's a shame there's no big final mission. It seems like it would've fit well to have a cursed ship where there is a larger, potentially sentient monster stalking you and maybe messing with your terminal and taking over your drones.
This combined with the idea that someone else mentioned where one of the plot threads at random actually resolves. One last big mission to resolve the plot. That way the game would be remembered as a gem with a bit wonky of a progression curve, rather than forcing everyone to get tired of it.
Not sure how I missed this but I've only seen one other video talking about this game and I'm so glad you're covering it. It's a pretty Niche game but it appeals to that niche in an absolutely pristine manner, similar to how Hollow Knight was such a well made Metroidvania.
awesome as always Mandalore. Keeo it up. Also i can relate to making sounds of tension when getting surprised when ya saw the enemy and backed out and door wouldnt close. Get that feeling in CDDA all the time. Climb down stairs and suddenly Hulk xD Take care man
The fact that every sound means something is really nice, I’m way into ambients sounds that are important to pay attention too, like in the real world in a forest hearing birds means there are birds kinda thing.
You should DEFINITELY check out Betrayal Legacy! It really feels like the way the game was supposed to be played. There's a ton of variety and it's really cool to see how the games impact future events as the house becomes more and more haunted.
@@MandaloreGaming It's my preferred way to play it. The Legacy elements remove a lot of the "huh, that ended too quickly" moments that can happen. And there are a lot of fun surprises.
Duskers on GOG - gog.la/deathroombas
THE LIST - docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_K3ziSxT9zcUUGCddS4sF1uNJTWHSbOwB1CQX2Rx4Uo
Figured it'd be a good time to finally talk about this game before the Halloween games got roaring!
Hey man. Can you please cover a game named ZeroRanger?
It's not your style, being a shmup. But it has an extremely interesting story and gameplay that really fits with your style with editing.
I would put a patreon submission but I haven't got the money.
What was the game at 2:53 ?
hey Mandy, a while back you commented that you would be doing a Death Stranding review. Now that the game has gotten a lot of attention and time to stew, do you think you will still be approaching it? Im not sure if you saw Dunkeys three part review of it, but he went from absolutely hating it to playing 3 or 4 times through. I would love to hear what you think, even if its not in a video.
H O W M A N Y R A I N D R O P S ?
@@YOUMADSTAYMAD The game Mandy lost his soul to join the Evil 3 times in a row.
"Halloween right around the corner"
Man, Marathon really fucked Mandy's concept of time.
Christmas decorations are already on the Costco shelves.
Came here to write that remark
Halloween is always right around the corner in Mandyland.
Well he said it's just around the corner, he didn't say how long until we get to said corner.
To be fair I've noticed we're all just rushing to Halloween this year so.
"You can fly to a different solar system, but your PC won't have a taskbar."
Never has someone so perfectly summed up the aesthetic of every Ridley Scott movie.
Its a great aesthetic conveniency takes a lot of the heroics out.
Imagine if every horror movie was solved with a phone call to the police.
"You can fly to a different solar system and you don't use Windows anymore". I don't see any inconsistency.
yeah it's just like gladiator genius observation
The way I saw this on TV tropes first
@@scutumfidelis1436 Okay but it would be really funny to call the cops on Jason Voorhees
You nailed it. I got duskers a few years ago and immediately got sucked into a 12-hour play session, got bored, came back a year later and within an hour remembered why I got bored. There is so much to iterate on here, if the devs make a sequel it could easily turn into an indie darling.
I stumbled across a video of another indie game that you may or may not already know about at this time.
It's called Scavenger SV-4. It seems to be a bit lacking ( _very repetitive_ ) but also very fun and interesting in the same way Duskers is.
@@Zeithri I love Scavenger SV-4, even talked with the developer directly a few times, so I can highly recommend it while also saying yes, it's extremely repetitive.
The DUSKERS universe is the one in which Mandy joined evil one too many times in a row, causing the mold that used to be in Ross Scott's appartment to become sentient and consume all life in the universe.
That's a metaverse I'd subscribe to.
Literally. Subscribed to both.
He really has become the last dead end
What game is the "join evil" part from?
EVIL IS JOINED TONIGHT
@@Blundabus1337 The last DeadEnd. He played it on twitch just a few days ago.
Mandy is just prototyping battle roomba's for his continued conflict with the witches.
They've been defeated...for now.
Witches vs. Droods?
Glory through metal. Blessed are the machines.
"Witchcraft can't beat technology!"
@@Yahuaa Are romba's servitors?
I love this game and totally agree that the one problem I have with this game is the lack of progression. I would love if one of the many scenarios you investigate was actually a main mission (random for each run). So you can still have inconclusive investigations to have the feeling of the unknown. The game can end with finishing the main mission.
Examples being: killing the [REDACTED], traveling to the coordinates of the [REDACTED], or finding a cure for the [REDACTED].
@Hot dating here [LInk in Bio] is this a bot or an insult?
Probably the first, but damn was that an awesome unintentional own.
@@grapesoder1301 a bot lmao
You actually named your drones "Haze" and "Briggs". I am 1 minute in and i am waiting for Halligan to appear.
Well, "Lowry" was there, also "Durendal"!
0:43 theres a "Hal"
But also Orlando. That could that mean... i know only one game with Orlando in it and no way Mandalore teasing it
@@sporepda What is it?
@@joaquinnievas9079 More likely to be HAL 9000
This game really reminds me of that short horror story: The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. He heard a knock.
It's his wife
It was the bloody Jehovah's Witnesses again.
@@peterclarke7240I don't know what would be funnier
Ending it with "He answers it, and returns himself to being the last man on earth"
Or just saying the JW wasn't human lmao
Baby shoes, half off
and then a skeleton popped out
I really do love how authentic the presentation of game feels. It’s cool but also worryingly panic inducing.
"The next game is an RPG where you can talk to the dead."
Ah hell yeah Arcanum time.
Great video as always Mandalore, really excited about Arcanum
But his other personality already did it. Must be going to go DEEP into the story and mechanics.
Aw fuck, I didn't realise it was going to be Arcanum. It's funny, because there are only about 3 places in the game you can talk to the dead meaningfully, beyond that they just scream.
I just hope he tries to play through it with a female character. It is a very different experience.
don't get your hopes up. It could be that other game which Ross Game Dungeon covered where you could speak to the dead and was part of the main plot. Daemonica was its name
could be dos2
My mind went straight to pillars of eternity but then i remembered you dont speak with dead people all that much... i guess that first scene in gilded vale just stuck with me
I'm gonna be 100% honest. I'm half expecting this to have secret Marathon lore in it.
From this point on I'm expecting all sci-fi games to have that, especially ones that are slightly janky in the good way.
This is now a marathon channel whether we like it or not
There's a terminal in the video that mentions rampancy at 12:25?
@@Antinumeric That's a screenshot of Marathon, to illustrate what he's saying about "It's not just because it's all in computer terminals, because I can put up with that."
You beat me to it
"This game looks like the system I used to order tile in back in retail"
I work retail now and use a system that looks.....suspiciously like that. I was informed it was literally built in DOS in 1993 by one guy to make the old mail ordering more automated and easier for him and the company went ".....yeah, everyone use that now" and then fired that guy so they didn't have to pay him.
It's so old it can't handle the concept of a mouse. If you click on the screen while in it you crash the program for 15+ minutes. I fucking hate it with all my soul....I'm terrified of what even worse program they'll eventually replace it with. I wasn't ready for this level of horror in a Halloween video
Big fan of the audio and visuals to create an eery sci-fi atmosphere.
The real time strategy console management also looks very interesting, yet simple enough to keep you interested & engaged rather than annoyed.
I'd gladly try this out purely for the atmosphere.
Also excited for the upcoming Halloween specials!
I keep saying this to the few gamedevs I know. Audio, especially Foley, can really add to a game
@@JohnDoe-vm5rb Yes sound effects are more important than a good story as this game demonstrates.
Duskers is one of those games I absolutely love, and would kill to see more added to it or another game similar to it. I really feel like it has a lot of untapped potential.
Stopping in the middle of the video to say this. Whenever I get a yellow room I find a green room next to it, make sure to vacate any drones from there, open the door between the two rooms and just
wait for a minute (or more, depending on room size)
If the green room remains green, it means the yellow room is safe. If it suddenly changes into red, then obviously...
Literally only failed me twice in the 50 or so times I've done this
Another way I've found, is to repeatedly open and close the door of an unsure room, and see if something makes the door stuck, but that's only if I've run out of options.
Stealthing into is easier if you can.
You can string commands to run sequentially, including triggering the same door. It's very quick, but you can get a glimpse into rooms by putting a drone near the door and triggering it twice in one command. If it looks clear, butt your drone so close to the door that it can't close again and take a longer peek - you can back out and the old 'close' command will trigger.
A little more dangerous in the moment than the open door motion sensor technique, but quicker, which is possibly safer in the long run.
@@seanfager8063just make sure your drone has above 90 health learned this the hard way checking a long hallway room
Imagine a mix of Duskers and Starsector! It'd be world's first (ok, second after Cataclysm) horror RTS. There are SOME people, but so sparse that it'd be like a player encounter in dayz.
I've been playing Duskers on and off since I was like 12, Mostly off though. The game is the reason I can type the word navigate so fast, but you're right. The story is lacking and the gameplay is repetetive. It holds a special place in my heart though, nearly 50 hours on steam, which doesn't count the probably hundreds of offline hours. Years of popping open my shitty little laptop on the hour long bus ride to school and exploring derelicts. I've never completed the story, or even really tried to do any of the objectives. I just play the game over and over.
I don't know where I'm going with this. Thanks for showing more people this game. Maybe something will come of it. maybe I'll get more people to talk to about it.
>Since I was like 12
And with that, you turned half of mandalore's audience to dust.
When you said "The Void" I got pretty excited. That game is ballbreakingly hard and confusing, but damn is it worth it.
Filling naked babes with my color is my favourite timewaster for the longest time.
:)
if you are talking about turgor that's the lead trying to put into game how he was devastated and emptied by the success of his first game for which he set an extremely high bar and somehow cleared it from the first try by hiring for nothing a near genius coder
@@tsartomato what are you talking about? that sound like a interesting game if it is one
@@Rise65487 The game is called "The Void" in the west and is made by the Pathologic devs.
@@amcname8789 OH, the guys from pathologic huh... is it painful and mindnumbing as Pathologic's gameplay is?
"They got the original and Cataclysm writer, so it could be very good" man that aged like a corpse.
=(
@@Jack-wy4cg =( indeed.
Homeworld 3 was not a title I expected to be THAT level of train wreck, let alone after Deserts of Kharak AND Shipbreakers.
Insta-like, I love Duskers. If the ruskies had smoothed the quest progression and random rooms generation on older vessels a bit it would be pretty damn close to perfect in my mind.
yes!
There we goo Spooktober!!! Nothing is more scary nowadays than a game that looks like they are going to steal your private information
Spooktember and then Spooktober!
This sounds like a transition into a nordVPN sponsorship
@@jarrahkron9 It was the Idea
It's September
@@marvelousball Early Spooktober
The Void was my intro to icepick lodge and more people need to experience it. I love the engine mechanics (the different organs processing color and managing how much to put where when) and the general vibe. I love how the brothers look like nightmare monsters but are (mostly) neutral to you and you can actually join their side. I just wish some of the magic sigils were easier to draw and it wasn't so easy to waste mana.
where can I find it? the intro music I mean
I love Duskers for so many reasons, but I feel better now that the "I've played my fill" feeling wasn't just me. Thanks for another review.
It really needs more tbh, I've started force saving after every ship and (Just to have some feeling of progression) I have vent and random radiation turned off and it's still fucking hard as fuck.
I found this game when I was in grade 8 and became absolutely enamoured by it.
Controlling the drones by command line and the sheer horror and atmosphere is amazing.
It's truly a shame the dev stopped working on it, if not for updates then for more lore
Not even two minutes in and there's a machine named Durandal opening doors.
I don't know which timeline we are in anymore.
Heh...
I've got a bone to pick with you 🤡
top tier comment
One of the games I’ve always kept coming back to over the years. But I’ve never been able to play it for long durations in a row, because IT SCARED THE CRAP out of me!
The sounds, the limited vision, the not knowing what the monsters are. Loosing a drone shouldn’t matter, but it’s so immersive the presence of a monster actually makes me scared it might make it through all the doors, somehow past the airlock, and into the ship where I’m sitting.
Probably the most immersive game I’ve ever played.
ive said it before and ill say it again, in another life duskers would have the most baller multiplayer.
@@quantum5661 Absolutely. This game would’ve been amazing in Multiplayer! Hopefully we’ll get something like it some day…
I very much agree on the scary aspect, one time I was warned of a fuckton of ASTROIDS heading towards the ship I was looting so I had to get out of the rooms that were going to most likely get CLAPPED via a chance percentage, funniest part was that a patrol bot was in one of the rooms and it got PANCAKED HARD, too bad I'm unable to get whatever it had in it cause the doors were BROKEN
@@quantum5661 Yeah like if you combined Duskers and Among Us. That would be amazing.
@@quantum5661 Lethal Company is kinda simillar to Duskers, except the drones are you and your buddies lol
This is the kind of game you actually have to play with the lights off at night for the full space immersion
Just wanted to post that your video's always make my week, any time i see that a new one is uploaded, I get super excited to be able to watch it at some point. And re-watching your old video game reviews is always fun to do as well.
Please don't stop what you do here on youtube, you make a ton of people very happy and entertained with each new video, and each old one.
Duskers is free on Epic Games this week, until March 2nd. I don't know if anyone will see this comment but this was one of those games that I saw in this review and thought "I'd like that, but I don't really want to pay full price for it."
So I figured it was my duty to report this in case anyone else felt the same and happened to see this comment before the week was up.
I'll comment just to bump it :)
Dang bit to late :(
Im so happy to see Duskers being covered I feel like this is a game similar to Sunless Sea and System Shock and is perfect for this channel, Im also thrilled because I have been looking for the name of this game for several months after seeing a review of it last year, and since getting a gaming laptop Ive wanted to play it but couldn't find the name.
Love Duskers, really cool gameplay. But I get easily scared of losing the drones 😭😭😂
As someone not so much with "high anxiety" but merely anxious tendancies, I've loved this game. I've also only played something like 4 hours total over multiple sessions. The atmosphere never lets up and really pulls the right strings for me. I have to stop before too long and go outside where the walls can't kill me.
I was excited to see you reviewing this game :)
I always save Mandalores videos for late at night, i always enjoy falling asleep after watching his videos even seeing the same ones for the 10th time, theres something about his voice, humor and games he reviews. Definitely my favorite game reviewer.
Was so happy when they updated this game after so long. The old version of the game was nearly impossible since you would never get the interface drone module.
If you like Duskers, you'll probably be into Cogmind as well. Both have great sound and atmosphere. Not quite the same type of game, but they are both robot themed roguelite/likes and really good at what they do, especially Cogmind. Genuinely shocking how incredibly well that game is made and how accessible it is despite being ASCII.
Both of these games deserve more attention.
If you want a game like this, try Scavenger SV-4. The presentation is top tier imo. You're on a spaceship above a planet, you can't get any closer because the radiation is already frying you (it's actually killing you). But you wanna find some sick alien artefacts, so you send your janky drone down to the planet instead -- and this is the best part -- you float over to your spaceship's dashboard and seamlessly activate the drone camera and control it around the planet, after launching it to the planet of course. You find artefacts and bring them back on the drone to the spaceship, meanwhile you visit the medbay in an attempt to relieve your radiation sickness. Then take the artefacts you just found, research them, find new parts that maybe be useable on the drone, repeat until your insides are turning into hot soup. It's not exactly like Duskers, but you do man a drone in an inhospitable/dangerous environment. Worth checking out for sure.
You know, that plot about humanity disappearing completely without explanation while leaving tech and such behind reminds me pretty much of an indie game for Windows XP from around the late 2000's to early 2010's by Nifflas, titled Saira. It had pretty much that exact same plot but played it for a sort of a-la-Lost kind of mystery instead of for horror. It was a beautiful and melancholic platformer, and kind of a prototype for Nifflas' next games Night Sky and Knytt Underground. I used to love that game as a teen.
Also reminds me of Iron Lung.
@@shoukokomi6419 Here at least the stars still shine, even if the Human Race is MIA... Also there's at least no moons with Oceans of Blood.
*[Sees a drone named Durandal]*
*Durandal:* "So Let me get this straight, I'm some kind of goddam roomba who's only sole function is to pick up scrap and babysit the last human because reasons. Yeah, that's a thing I do now.....great......how FANTASTIC/s!"
"I should've just let Tycho turn me into a crypto miner." -- Durandal, probably.
@@wallyhackenslacker He's going to turn me into a Roomba, KILL HIM!
"For the last time human, I WILL NOT MAKE NFTS FOR YOU!"
Don't forgot said Roomba frame is very much... well... degrading over time and needs constant repairs
@@xendakakorva3267 I think Durandal would have preferred to be a Primal Pattern inside someone's head...
I've been playing this game on my school laptop since years, it's absolutely amazing and the atmosphere is very immersive, I'm so glad you covered it
A few minutes in, I was making a mental note to not watch the spoiler section cuz this looks like a game I’d adore for the story! Like, I was already thinking of Cursed Ships, or an Alien Threat, or-
Oh. There’s nothing like that? Damn.
I think I’m still gonna pick it up cuz it looks like something I’d be into!! But I appreciate your letting me know to temper my expectations regarding the story.
I love this game, it always reminded me of the concept for dead space 4, where the player character has to scavage necromorph infested ships and fix their own
i think what duskers needs isn't more content, it's closure. some sort of haunting revelation makes the player realize, with no ambiguity, that /there is no hope/. if it was timed right, then at least the feeling of giving up at the end would be shared between the player and protagonist, and that would be an emotionally compelling conclusion!!
I was not expecting a Duskers review lmao. I remember when it first came out, cult classic, one of the better indie horror games I've played. Genuinely terrifying
I did a review for Duskers when it came out, at an indie site I was working on. The atmosphere and immersion of this game is fantastic, also from the few times that I think the lack of music works. Great pick Mandalore!
God, I love this game. So atmospheric. Glad to see this review by you.
I was ready to come in and talk about how much I love this game, but honestly you hit it perfectly. This game is one that I love playing for a few hours a couple of times a year. Actually sitting down and playing it consistently drags on, but when it's fresh it's so good.
Been waiting for you to cover this game for a long time. An underrated gem
What was that game that flashed up when Mandy was talking about the scariest game he'd ever played?
I don't know but I'm joining this thread to find out.
I also didn't recognize that game.
Same. Even searching on Google or UA-cam didn't help.
The Last DeadEnd
(google is your friend)
I would also like to know
The horror elements of this game are really well done in Iron Lung, which I highly recommend and would love to see your thoughts on.
Watching this it hit me I've been watching Mandi for FIVE YEARS. Wow time flies. I love the channel, love the content. Thanks Mandalore!
This game is one of the most effective horror games for me. I am a little high anxiety but i am good with gore, and combat in horror games. This has neither gore, nor action combat, so it is just me and the ambience, and my anxiety. I also am aweful at typing, and typing is how you survive in this game. Even when you, and your character is safe from the danger, you never feel at ease, always vigellent. this can be so effective that i have to stop playing because the Ambience is so tuned to be effective.
Let's goooo, Duskers has been one of my favorite indie games for a few years, super excited to see it get the mandalore bump
I like how mandy often references his own older videos in these newer videos with random easter eggs and just small stuff you'd normally miss, also, immortal empires when?
Free on the Epic store 2023-Feb-23 to next week
About damn time. This game is the perfect mix of intrigue, terror, and game play that keeps me coming back and makes me break out in sweat every time I get an alert.
I don't think I've ever seen anyone make a Dark Star reference before. Love that movie.
I remember emailing this game recommendation to you! I'm happy you played it and enjoyed it as well.
This is like a fully fleshed out and well executed version of that Iron Lung game everyone was freaking out about.
That was my immediate thought. I saw many people in Hololive were making the rounds, having a playthrough of Iron Lung. Ended up catching a playthrough and thought the concept had a lot of potential. Duskers does feel like it is magnitudes above it, but it is disappointing hearing that it doesn't pan out fully in the end. Still have to give credit where credit is due, building an atmosphere that has you craving for more is no easy feat, and this seems to pull it off. I have to check it out.
@@SomeIdiota Scavenger SV-4 is probably closer to a "fully fleshed out" version of Iron Lung.
Oh wow! You finally reviewed Duskers! What a lovely game, and is exactly the kind of niche indie game I would expect you to be interested in. I love seeing when you review games that I found on my own, because it re-affirms that your taste in games is quite similar to mine and your reviews continue to be a great source of discovery for me. Thanks for getting me into Darkwood, Sunless Seas/Skies, Cultist Sim, etc.
I hope we get a duskers 2 or an expansion with new enemies and obstacles to overcome. All it really needs is more content, the core loop is perfect. It's had a lot of youtubers attract attention to it over the years, hopefully its made enough money to justify that.
The Roomba with the shotgun duct taped to it was pretty funny, good review as well.
I love that you can make a very entertaining video out of games I'll probably never play.
Even if this game isn't my style, I love the devs vision for it and I'm glad other folks can enjoy! Also I enjoy seeing folks play/explain games I wouldn't have the patience for
"I still have to deal with the void"
My prayers had been answered!
Great video as always :)
Pandemic Legacy is a great alternative to the Risk variant if you want to play something co-operatively instead of competitively just FYI.
I'm never sure if I'll hear that Goosebumps theme in September but it's always a pleasure when I do.
Fingers crossed that we get a Harvester video or something come October.
The atmosphere reminds me of Scavenger SV-4. The gameplay is different but it also has drones, camera feeds and is set in space. And it's quite creepy.
Mandy so anticipated being late with the Halloween video that he ended up finishing it way in advance.
13:35
I remember "Chasing the story" for hours and being very frustrated the whole time
It would have been interesting of there was one answer to it and they left you to piece it together with all the Evidence you find but instead they gave you contradicting endings that boil down to "I don't know, maybe"
But IMO its either the Rouge A.I or the Super Predator as those explain the contradictory evidence as both can use multiple weapons to destroy an entire Universe (Biological and Technological Warfare are the likeliest including the use of WMDs), the Diesase makes nosense as the Planets are missing, and if its an unknowable cosmic event it should have destroyed the Player and ships too.
@@forickgrimaldus8301 for franchises in which I'm really invested I would have enjoyed going to forums, back in the days when I had time to waste, and discuss the evidence with other players and theorycraft. instead if you just want to play the game and be done with it it's just annoying
It seems intriguing, would you share what those answer were (in more detail)?
@@IpolsUA-cam yup, they could have just Dark Souls the Game's lore with a clear ending but just leave the player guessing on what ending is "true"
Fucking love this game, I'm a big horror buff and this is genuinely one of the most tense games I've ever played, wouldn't say it's necessarily one of the SCARIEST, it does have some frightening moments, but the tension is friggin palpable. The gameplay loop is dope too, one of the few where it doesn't really get repetitive imo because there's so much variety in what could happen
Wasn't expecting you to be back so soon after that "Marathon" you just did
It’s not First but 48 on trending that’s actually pretty good man I’ve never seen you on trending before good for you I love your channel for years and you do so much for the UA-cam Community keep up the great work!
Was not expecting Risk Legacy to be mentioned. I just finished a campaign with my sisters family.
It took a while, but he is right, it can be a blast. Wrecking up the map in permanent ways over 15 games is great.
I dislike regular risk, but greatly enjoy risk legacy, if you're considering it, go for it!
Hell yeah, this is a hidden horror gem, really glad you're covering it.
This is honestly such an interesting concept. Sort of hands off but still keeping the feeling of fear in there. I hope the devs follow up on this and make a sequel.
Also speaking of Hades, I don't know if you'd ever do a review on it, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on it anyways someday.
Doormonster did a hilarious skit called Accidental Pirate about the REAL story of Duskers...
Duskers will be free next week on epic games store
Very glad to hear you're planning on tackling the Void, as it's a game near and dear to my heart.
I had to know, so I researched it and that game shown at the mention of scariest game Mandalore has played is The Last DeadEnd. It's got pretty mixed reviews and I dunno if Mandalore is mememing on us or not. I'd like an episode on that now, as its the first I've ever heard of it.
Ooh, I played this game years ago, but forgot about it. I can't remember playing it long - I probably became impatient or distracted - but I think I'll give it another shot. Thanks for the reminder!
2:46 YO, did you also used to work in flooring at LOWES? I remember using that system to custom order stuff for people all the time.
Amazing little gem of a game, the atmosphere of tension it creates (unless you cheese through it all with stealth lmao) is amazing. Clicked instantly when I saw you reviewed it
I hope you're taking good care of yourself Mandy
Re: Betrayal at House on the Hill. I think you'd love "Betrayal Legacy", which adds roguelike permanency to the experience. Throw the dynamite card? You have to cut it up! It's like going on a Betrayal Themed holiday to Disneyworld.
Duskers looks like a game that I'd really enjoy watching a master play trough on UA-cam or Twitch but wouldn't dare to ever play myself. :D
Well I was going to bed, but it can wait.
Me too
Going to sleep at the crack of dawn? Same.
Same
Same. Played the shit out of duskers, was fun
Australians represent
Congrats on the 100th video Mandy🎉🎉
Hey Mandy, do you have any plans for INFRA review in the near future?
In short, it is a story of (*definitely not Finnish*) structural engineer Mark, who was tasked with doing a routine check on the city's infrastructure after a corruption scandal; only to find it in terribly deteriorated state, and then proceeding to uncover the conspiracy that has led the city to this point of near collapse.
Using your term from the Paratopic video, it is very much an "anti-walking simulator", employing some ingredients typical for the walking simulator genre (focus on narrative, pretty visuals and obviously... walking), but throwing more into the mix, such as *actual gameplay* (revolving mostly around solving practical puzzles, considering you play as a structural engineer) and a story that doesn't hold you by the hand and forces the player to really pay attention to the world around them in order to piece the underlying story together(oftentimes requiring them to search for secrets, which the game has PLENTY of). You can finish the game satisfied and thinking you fully understand the story and the reasons why everything happened the way it did, but in reality being tricked by the game's narrative and missing what actually happened, just like in Paratopic or Marathon.
One thing that sets it apart from other games is definitely the length, because it can take around 25-30h to complete, and that time is spent doing constantly something new - it's pure content and not large stretches of nothing. You don't see that much in games anymore; so many things to do. There's even an achievement for re-creating the Demon Core Accident - it's fantastic...
It's still really hard to describe the game, because even if it feels familiar, there's nothing like it out there. The developers took on the task of building a believable and complex world and went all the way in, and I really mean all the way in - There's games that are incredibly fun for few hours or so, but then slowly become boring as the content repeats without new ideas. Here, the game just keeps going and going and doesn't lose its breath at all, constantly surprising you until the very end.
I'd be really happy if you gave the game a shot, because it's exactly the type of hidden gem that I just know you and this community will love. And if anyone else is reading this, try it yourself, I can't put into words how much it's worth it.
There's already a term for games like that. It's a pretty ancient term. We call it "an adventure game".
Damn, it looks really nice. I love games with a good story. And it's made in the homeland too.
@@jerryjantola Gotta support the homeland!
@@Tony_Cardoza I wanted to stress that it isn't "just another walking sim", because at a first glance that is exactly how the game appears and that might discourage some people. The game does carry some typical signs of a walking simulator (especially the amount of environment exploration), but unlike games from that genre it requires much more player involvement and has so much more content than what is usual.
@@cementshowcase514 Fair enough sir
I’ve been wanting to play this for years, and now you’ve made a review of it? You’re awesome man
It's a shame there's no big final mission. It seems like it would've fit well to have a cursed ship where there is a larger, potentially sentient monster stalking you and maybe messing with your terminal and taking over your drones.
This combined with the idea that someone else mentioned where one of the plot threads at random actually resolves. One last big mission to resolve the plot.
That way the game would be remembered as a gem with a bit wonky of a progression curve, rather than forcing everyone to get tired of it.
Happy 100 videos, Mandalore
This game brought me to MetalCanyon, which got me FTL, and NEO Scavenger. I wouldn't be me without it. A classic
MetalCanyon fans represent!
@@WerewolfEmerson Sadly an Ex-fan on my end. I haven't watched anything he did after the desert airship game. Ran outta time
Couldn't have asked for a better game for a Mandalore review, perfect stuff.
Betrayal is my favorite board game at the moment, but the scenarios are sometimes confusingly written with balancing having a fair amount of issues
Not sure how I missed this but I've only seen one other video talking about this game and I'm so glad you're covering it.
It's a pretty Niche game but it appeals to that niche in an absolutely pristine manner, similar to how Hollow Knight was such a well made Metroidvania.
And its free till march right now.
awesome as always Mandalore. Keeo it up.
Also i can relate to making sounds of tension when getting surprised when ya saw the enemy and backed out and door wouldnt close. Get that feeling in CDDA all the time. Climb down stairs and suddenly Hulk xD Take care man
The fact that every sound means something is really nice, I’m way into ambients sounds that are important to pay attention too, like in the real world in a forest hearing birds means there are birds kinda thing.
That Genesis screenshot actually made me flinch, thanks. Truly the most effective horror.
You should DEFINITELY check out Betrayal Legacy! It really feels like the way the game was supposed to be played. There's a ton of variety and it's really cool to see how the games impact future events as the house becomes more and more haunted.
I can second this. I have the game and it is unbelievably hilarious. Sometimes it can get a tad scary, but it is mostly funny.
I can't believe Betrayal of all things got a Legacy version when I mentioned it so closely. Now I have to.
@@MandaloreGaming It's my preferred way to play it. The Legacy elements remove a lot of the "huh, that ended too quickly" moments that can happen. And there are a lot of fun surprises.
@@MandaloreGaming Oh yeah it's good fun. Some fellas I knew invited me to play with them in Tabletop Sim and we had some wild moments.