"aliens aren't actually my favorite thing in the world, i mean they're ok, but its more like i just keep running into them" ross and freeman are melding together again

For some context, this came out two years after Command and Conquer and Warcraft 2.

Two YEARS after both.

You can see it tried to crib elements from both games and yet somehow managed to brilliantly avoid copying any of the actual good parts of both.

Truly a masterclass in how to not make a video game.

I always thought that the "dungeon" part of the Game Dungeon title referred to us, the audience, being in a dungeon displaying twisted horrors. But ever since the Veil Of Darkness episode I've slowly come to realize that we are in fact the dungeon masters, and Ross is the poor soul forced through the torture.

Look at that subtle off-color commentary, the tasteful editing of it. My god, it even has an end credits

You know a game has to be special when most of it's publisher's back catalog has been on Steam and GoG for over a decade, but for some reason they skipped over it. Real, real special.

I too played this game back in the day when I was a kid on our first PC and it was the most awkward RTS id ever played.
Humans had no means of mining resources so what money you had, you needed to spend it wisely

And playing it on easy mode meant you got so far then the game turns round and says "To get the rest of the missions play it on hard mode"

I was really pissed

"It's just a guy getting shot in the face, but I appreciate that."
-Ross, 2022

It's like an RTS designed by someone who has never seen an RTS but had one vaguely described to them.

The idea that the aliens see a different spectrum of light, and their gas (sulphur dioxide?) is transparent to them, but our normal air is opaque, is kinda neat. But if it gets in the way of gameplay fun to this level... scrapping it would have been better.

"Yellow clouds of sulphur covering everything" isn't really a future phenomenon. It was a regular occurance in England until around 1956.

Hot damn, only Ross Scott could make a bad game with a disappointing ending into an hour of pure entertainment.

For those people wondering, this is the same Data Design Interactive that would go on to make some of the worst shovelware for the WII. Good to know they started as they meant to move on.

I like to imagine the briefing around 33:05 with that moonshine shack.

"We need you to go through heavily infested snowy mountains, risk frostbite, destroy an alien generator, kill various aliens along the way, and once you've killed all the aliens, if you could, cleetus is up there distilling untaxed moonshine. Make sure he learns his lesson once and for all"

Poor cleetus.

"Aliens aren't actually my favorite thing in the world. I mean, they're okay, but it's more like I just keep running into them."
-Gordon Freeman

This game looks like what would happen if the recycle bins from the developers for Command & Conquer and XCOM reluctantly got together and made a baby.

There will never be "WIld West" of gameing like PC gaming in the 90's. Everyone had a different pc specifications, developers where making literally whatever they wanted, dev teams could consist of 5 guys in a basement. You'd get a big box with some gameplay snap shots, a brief list of features, and some crazy art on the front. A lot of people didn't internet to discuss games, gaming mags varied so wildly in content  and quality, some times you just rolled in with a hope and a prayer.

I do kind of love the idea that the alien side is overpowered in one of these Xcom-like games, but then you can play as the aliens and get access to that same OPness.

"I have seen the future, and I can not see much" is such a good line.

11:25 I thought Ross said that RTSes could trace their gameplay back to Doom 2. I didn't understand how that could work, but I was completely willing to accept it.

I miss the awards that Ross used to give, to me they felt like sort of a funny and ironic steam achievement haha. And whats more, for someone who usually listens to most of the video while doing something else, I found they were a nice summary of Ross's feelings toward the game!