Comic for Wednesday 7/13 (Early High Res) (Patreon)

I play and love a lot of games that might be described as "hard" or "punishing." Obviously everyone has their own definition of what games warrant those terms, but the point is, I like a game that pushes back. I don't mind losing a fight, because it feels all the better when I eventually conquer that challenge. I welcome the chance to improve. I'm on board with games that make me work for it.

GTFO might be towards the top of my 'most brutally punishing games' list, though.

I haven't played a lot of it (26 hours currently), some of it during a Rundown in Early Access, some of it in Rundown 7 now that the game is officially released, but the brutality of it has routinely raised my eyebrows. I love it. It 100% scratches that "when I beat a level, I feel like a god" itch, because actually managing to get through a level rarely feels like a foregone conclusion.

At the same time, while I might spend three hours attempting a level with friends and we still don't walk away with a win, we do at least walk away with some useful experience and knowledge, which is what I want in a game that ramps up the difficulty. Make it punishing, sure, but do so in a way where I feel like even defeat is teaching me to get better.

No doubt some of you will comment "That sounds awful," or "I don't have time for that, when I sit down to play a game I just want to casually breeze through it" and yeah, I get it. This is a weird thing to enjoy, and sometimes I wonder if I'm just a gaming masochist. I won't be able to convince you that it's fun to spend all night trudging through a dark space station filled with creepy monsters and scarce resources, losing over and over.

But for those of you like me that love the thrill when you finally get past a challenge like that, look into GTFO for your next fix.

(It's best played with friends, but if you don't have 3 of them willing to jump on board, I've had a lot of great luck getting groups in the game's official Discord.)