Ah another one - Forced stealth sections where you can't be detected at all. Especially in a game where stealth is optional or not even a thing you can really do normally.
I don't like durability mechanics when its clearly there just to waste your time or money or whatever. Any game that makes you do more hiking to repair benches than fighting is either getting a thumbs down or I'm going to download a mod.
I've seen prototypes of RPGs where you could freeform talk to NPCs and I pretty quickly lost enthusiasm for the idea after seeing it in action.
It didn't feel like a DnD game where you're maneuvering a social conflict with the DM or other players, it felt more like the social equivalent of jumping up on a table where an NPC couldn't get to you and stabbing them in the face.
This is a weirdo complaint but one thing I don't like that some modern games keep doing is adding a lot of visual/texture noise by having a lot of details.
Sometimes its OK, but sometimes it gets difficult to tell what's going on in the chaos of a fight. Combined with particle effects, reflections, and the DLSS or FSR or whatever and it gets to be a bit of an eye strainer.
Halos usually pretty good about strong enemy colors and easy to read room layouts but a few glimpses of this have me raising an eyebrow.
For some reason any time I have ever brought up playing a centaur, every DM always shoots it down either saying its a serious campaign or it doesn't fit the vibe.
I'm not sure what everyone has against them so I've assumed they're either broken somehow or that someone will attempt the centaur stacking shenanigans.
This one is starting to sway one direction more than the other but: Using AI for indie game development. (For music, voice work, art, code, writing, gameplay, etc)
You've probably seen many arguments for and against AI at this point so I won't harp on that too much. It is interesting/frustrating to see where some devs focuses are, and why this has contributed to an insane amount of AI art in games lately.
Depending on what you're looking for in critique, Steam may not be a great place to get feedback. If you're looking for just a handful of focus users, you're better off uploading a game to itch.io and then asking people to try it via whatever relevant channels you're looking at.
Steam is better for reviews. Though reviews are not aimed at the dev but aimed at potential buyers which is very different looking.
Most franchise titles are wishlisted because you want to probably buy it when it comes out. (Unless it had horrible launch issues)
Indie games get wishlisted because you're interested in the title but are going to wait for reviews or sales or some other factor. Its probably not an immediate day 1 buy unless its something you're just really looking forward to.
I got several, I've found that some people really think about what I like in a game and nail a recommendation and some people just recommend things they liked, regardless how I feel on them.
The big ones would be Breath of the Wild and Helldivers 2.
That sucks. It sounds like a dodged bullet and I wouldn't take it personally.
I've seen this happen from different angles where a manager or c-suite has them hanging people out to dry so they can protect their own ego. Even if you managed to get through that situation, you'll feel like you're walking on glass for every project and that's just not a way you want to live.
Get a whatever job and go to training, get the uniform, they tell me they'll let me know what day I start when they get the schedule.
Two weeks pass and I ask about it again. They get bothered but insist they'll reach out to me when I get scheduled.
A monthish goes by and I run into a co-worker I saw at training. I chuckled and said they still haven't reached out to me. She says what are you talking about, I've been scheduled every week for the past month, and that I should have checked the schedule book in the managers office.
At that point I was already looking at other work so I didn't ever follow up again. I'd assume they fired me at some point.
Overcooked is sort of a funky one because the levels are designed to have you tripping over other players. Depending on the other players, this can be a hilarious or infuriating experience.
It takes two has a huge variety of stuff like platforming and 3rd person shooting, so if you can handle that you can probably handle most of these.
Depends how bad terrible is, but here are a few that are less intensive and should be pretty easy to pick up and ones I've generally liked (All on PC):
Baldur's Gate 3/Divinity Original Sin 1+2 (These are 'serious' games but they are turn based strategy so they're more thinking than reflex)
BattleBlock Theater
Castle Crashers
Cassette Beasts
Crypt of the NecroDancer (If you don't got rhythm then this ones hard)
Guacamelee
Human Fall Flat
ibb & obb
KeyWe
Kingdom Two Crowns
Pretty much any Lego game (They are forgiving if you make mistakes but also have more difficult collection hunting if you play it more seriously. They are all very similar though so I'd really only get one or two as you'll get burned out on them quick)
Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime
Magicka (Is sometimes difficult but also hilarious)
Octodad: Dadliest Catch
Overcooked 1/2
Resident Evil 5/6 (These can have difficult patches but they're generally not very hard)
Spiritfarer
Trine series (I've generally liked them all)
There are probably more but I'm not looking at my whole collection right now.
Ah another one - Forced stealth sections where you can't be detected at all. Especially in a game where stealth is optional or not even a thing you can really do normally.