Hello everybody. Since I am waiting now for the full release of the game Necesse before I continue with a new season on that, I decided to play a game that is often listed side-by-side. That game is Core Keeper.
Core Keeper Playthrough Videos
More videos will be released, over time, so stay tuned for more (Subscribe!).
An Urgent and Shameless Request!
I am trying to build the channel and am having serious problems with visibility. If you wish to help, please go watch the videos, like, comment (with anything!) and subscribe. This will make it rank higher in the famous “algorithm”. Thanks to you all!
The Game
Awaken as an explorer in a long-forgotten cavern teeming with untold secrets. In this award-winning, 1-8 player mining sandbox adventure, your choices shape an epic journey. Harvest relics and resources, craft advanced tools, build your base, and explore a dynamically evolving world waiting to be unearthed.
Level up your skills, defeat legendary Titans, and unveil the power of the Core. Grow your garden, fish in mysterious waters, master a vast array of recipes, raise and care for animals, encounter the Cavelings, and carve out your own unique world in an enchanting underground adventure.
MINE RESOURCES
Delve deep to harvest precious resources and unearth hidden gems. Craft tools to help you survive, from pickaxes, fishing rods, and shovels to traps, bombs, and mortars. Upgrade your arsenal and equipment with advanced tools like the mighty Obliteration Ray, and automated machinery to streamline mining, smelting, storage, and more. Level up your skills and unlock powerful weapons to conquer the depths.
DISCOVER AN ANCIENT WORLD
Explore diverse biomes with unique ecosystems and long-forgotten lore. From the living walls of the Clay Caves to the crystal caverns of the Shimmering Frontier, discover more about this mysterious world as you uncover the secrets of the Cavelings. Build a boat to set sail across the Sunken Sea, race across the Desert of Beginnings, and encounter the remnants of ancient civilizations.
BUILD, CRAFT & GET CREATIVE
Create a totally unique base using a variety of different materials and customisations. From the ultimate adventurer’s lair to a cozy underground cottage, shape the underground your way. Customize your character’s appearance and choose from an array of powerful armor and unique outfits to suit the moment.
BATTLE TITANS
Face legendary Titans that hold the secret to this long-forgotten world. Sharpen your combat skills against a variety of monsters and mini-bosses, spend talent points to level up your abilities, and plan your strategy to conquer these colossal creatures of the underground. Discover rare and powerful loot to help you on your journey and power up the Core.
EXPLORE WITH FRIENDS
Enjoy the adventure solo or team up in 2-8 player drop-in/drop-out online co-op. Play your way and explore at your own pace — celebrate the seasons, trade with merchants, hatch your new best friends, design the ultimate base, automate resource gathering, host your own dedicated server, create music on playable instruments and discover an unforgettable sandbox adventure.
Join the Doom Slayer, Fighting Against the Forces of Hell, Again!
Last week saw the release of Doom: The Dark Ages, the eighth installment of the classic franchise, and prequel to the Doom of 2016.
I was just about 10 years old when ID Software released the original Doom game and, back then, the way we interacted with the gaming world was very different. There wasn’t an accessible internet, nor thousands of titles and a massive indie market, there was just a niche little market for people who had a computer or console to mess around in their bedrooms. In fact, I’m not even sure the game had an age rating, but instead a warning of blood, gore and violence… a LOT of violence in the case of Doom!
Unfortunately, today, my aging laptop would likely struggle too much to support the amazing graphics of this new installment, but from the pictures and videos I’ve seen so far, I will definately be trying this out if/when I get the chance.
The reason I am making this post is more because of the nostalgia ride I went on, looking back at the Doom franchise’s history, and also of other games that were linked to this period of time. For example, I came across the Wiki entry for Commander Keen (1990-91; excluding the 2001 game for Game Boy Colour). I remember playing this off the floppy disk, back when I was a kid spending the summer holidays with my aunt, on their ancient PC! This was a side-scrolling platformer by the ID too.
New EU Regulations Could Change the Face of Gaming Forever!
YouTube channel @BellularNews has just released a video explaining the European Union’s new legislation, which, if enforced correctly, will stop the overwhelmingly corrupt and manipulative commercial practices which have taken over the world of gaming today.
These new laws, which are primarily designed to protect younger and more vulnerable audiences, will target exploititive selling tactics and curb how “bundles” and “premium currencies” are marketed and sold to the consumer (gamers!).
I don’t wish to spoil the details, so please watch the original video below, or go straight to YouTube to view here.
Hi all. I’ve decided to make a go of it on YouTube now, as I need major upgrades to be able to stream on Twitch again. My poor little laptop just isn’t cut out for the streaming life. I’m not sure when this upgrade can happen so I thought I would do something I can do…. YouTube gaming content.
First off, I am making a series on the game Necesse, a sandbox action-adventure exploration game in which you progress your character and settlement through fighting, mining, exploring, crafting, fishing, trading and more. The world is procedurally generated, taking place on smaller islands each with a different biome, cave system, enemies and loot.
At the time of this post, I have just released the fifth episode of my adventure! If you’re interested, please come and watch on YouTube, and help the LoxTech Gaming channel grow by liking the videos and subscribing for more content. Below is the link to ‘Episode 1: What A Frickin’ Noob!’. Enjoy!
I’m only available in-game on Mecha Domination, Evony: The King’s Return and Whiteout Survival, or you can come to Reddit, or direct e-mail for a quicker response.
I’ve been playing this nice little free-to-play, city builder since around August of 2024. Today, I logged in to be greeted by a welcome video. I saw there was a gift of free gems for clicking the “play” button so decided why not?
So, Why l Are You Telling Us?
I play a lot of different games and, as with most city-builders, these take time and daily input to grow and keep safe through regular player-versus-play events. Whiteout Survival makes up my triumverate, alongside Evony: The King’s Return, and Mecha Domination: Rampage, and a lot of my free time is taken up by these bad boys!
Due to time restraints, a few months ago, I very nearly had to quit one of these games. Unfortunately, it was WoS that was “on the chopping block” as it was the newest for me, and with the least developed city of the three. I took a trip to the main alliance’s academy and discovered that, with less pressure to participate in every event and be active all the time, I had the breathing room to log in if and when I had the time.
However, this morning – coinciding with the release of this birthday video – I discovered that I had in fact logged in for 31 days straight, meaning I had finally got the balance right. I am so glad I didn’t quit it as the people I play alongside are so friendly and knowedgeable, and the game itself is really fun. There have been many updates over the past six months that have added so many new events, heroes and some cool and addictive mini-games.
Happy second birthday Whiteout Survival, I’ll see you on your 3rd!
I deeply apologise to anyone who was following me on Twitch, but I have had to suspend my streaming until such time as I can get a major hardware upgrade.
My Factorio: Space Age run will be restarted, if and when I can sort myself out, and I am learning more stuff in the background to improve upon my spaghetti mess!
Rogue Frontierarrives February 3, calling bold adventurers to Albion’s rugged wilds. This update brings further improvements to the Outlands experience, offering fresh gameplay for solo explorers and small groups, alongside an array of new challenges and ways for you to master Albion’s evolving wilderness and claim your place in its ever-changing world.
The Smugglers, a shadowy network of outcasts and misfits disillusioned by the rigid rules of the Royal Continent, have ventured into Albion’s lawless Outlands to carve out a presence in this unforgiving place. The Smugglers have established secretive havens called Smuggler’s Dens, where you can set your home in this uncharted expanse. Within these dens, the newly unveiled Smuggler’s Network connects distant marketplaces, enabling alternative trading routes across the Outlands.
The Smugglers themselves have formed a new Faction and its members are in need of your support to resist the Royal forces. Recover Smuggler Crates from ambushed wagons, rescue Captured Smugglers from Royal Guards, or deliver Smuggler’s Coins to gain Faction Standing. Through these actions, adventurers can earn rewards and climb the ranks in the Smugglers’ intricate web of influence and trade.
The new Bank Overview lets you view items stored in your bank tabs anywhere in Albion, Kill Trophies allow you to immortalize PvP victories, and more Dynamic Resource Templates offer greater variety and new opportunities for resourceful adventurers. Meanwhile, the new Creatures category for the Albion Journal challenges players to document and hunt Albion’s diverse beasts. Whether exploring, fighting, or trading, Rogue Frontier invites you to uncover new depths in Albion’s untamed lands.
SMUGGLER’S DENS
Smuggler’s Dens serve as new bases of operations in Albion’s most challenging regions. Spread across the Outlands, these underground sanctuaries, established by the roguish Smuggler Faction, play host to conveniences like banks, Repair Stations, and Travel Planners.
For solo players, these dens offer a safe retreat from danger while navigating the Outlands. They also provide a travel option deep within Albion’s wild reaches, giving small-scale players the option to base themselves far from the Royal Continent. And while you’re down there, you’ll encounter some shady characters who run a lucrative smuggling operation…
SMUGGLER’S NETWORK
The Smuggler’s Network operates as a system of interconnected marketplaces across the Outlands, managed by the Smuggler Faction. Each Smuggler’s Den features a Smuggler’s Market from this network, allowing adventurers to buy and sell items to every Den and Rest within the Outlands, independent of the Marketplaces of the Royal Continent.
This comes at a cost, however, depending on the distance an item has traveled across the Outlands. So will you make your purchases nearby, venture to a distant Smuggler’s Den for the best deals, or risk the journey back to the Royal Continent to save some Silver? A whole range of new choices has opened up – decide how you want to play the market!
SMUGGLER ACTIVITIES
The Smugglers have established a new Faction within the Outlands, where their daring operations unfold under constant threat from the royal forces. Help their cause, and your loyalty will be rewarded:
• Smuggler Crates: Recover contraband from ambushed Smuggler’s Wagons and deliver it to hidden stashes throughout the Outlands • Captured Smugglers: Find Smugglers captured by Royal Guards and defeat their captors to set them free • Smuggler’s Coins: Find the currency used by the Smugglers hidden in Caches and Coffers, and buy your way up the ranks. In the Smuggler’s world, money is power!
SMUGGLER’S REWARDS
Increasing your Standing with the Smuggler Faction will prove to Maggy Slade that you’re a trustworthy ally. Find this suspicious trader in a Smuggler’s Den to purchase unique new items:
• Smuggler’s Vanity Set: A brand-new, non-tradable wardrobe set that boldly proclaims your allegiance to this shady gang • Smuggler’s Cape: A powerful item with the Hidden Vial ability, reducing your potion slot cooldown • Smuggler’s Ring and Avatar: Exclusive, themed rewards to make your enemies think twice about crossing paths with you
KILL TROPHIES
There’s now a new way to show off your most prized PvP kills to the world with Kill Trophies. These furniture items have a chance to drop any time you vanquish another player – and the more valuable the kill, the greater the likelihood you receive a trophy.
Kill Trophies can be displayed in the open world and on islands, meaning you can brag about your prowess to passersby, or simply stand and contemplate your own triumph. So get killing and earn these trophies – soon your rivals will be shaking in their boots!
NEW CRYSTAL WEAPONS
Three deadly new Crystal Weapons are unleashed with this update:
• Rotcaller Staff (Cursed Staff): Summons an accursed form which knocks back your foes while spewing a deadly mist • Skystrider Bow (Bow): Allows you to levitate and cast powerful bolts down upon your enemies from above • Forcepulse Bracers (War Gloves): Lets you dash towards your opponents while unleashing devastating pulses of raw energy
BANK OVERVIEW
This update brings a long-awaited UI addition: the Bank Overview. This allows players to view all their items stored in any bank across Albion in a single window. Bank contents can be navigated by location and tab, and a search function lets you easily find exactly where in the world you left an item.
With the new opportunities created by the Smugglers, players now have a convenient way to keep track of everything they have stashed away, allowing them to manage trading, transporting, and re-gearing with ease.
ADDITIONAL IMPROVEMENTS
• A new Albion Journal category, Creatures, challenges players to hunt down all of Albion’s beasts, with more unique rewards on offer • New varieties of Dynamic Resource Hotspots bring lucrative gathering possibilities • Further quality-of-life improvements offer a smoother gameplay experience • A wide range of combat balance changes keep the battlefield fresh and competitive • And much more!
Source Material
Visit The Official Site for the source material, and other Albion Online news!
It has been a few years since I made the first resource calculator for Evony: The King’s Return, so it was time it had an overhaul to include new features. These include:
Total up your Food, Lumber, Stone, Ore & Gold so you know exactly how much you have combined, from your Resource Bar, Alliance Warehouse and Items. This now includes columns for “Safe Resources” (NEW).
Input any building projects you have planned so you can see if you can afford it, what you need to gather, and see what is left over (surplus).
Troop calculator – Input the troop type and the cost of a single unit, and this will tell you how many of that unit you can afford to train, based on the surplus figure (adjusted for any build projects you have added).
Speed Up calculator (NEW) – A second sheet has been added for you to input all your speed up items, and it will calculate the total amount. This covers all speed up types and shows a total for each type, and a grand total figure, in Minutes, Hours, Days and Years! This also includes a small calculator to add together the annoying smaller stack sizes, such as the 30 Minute Speed Ups, which only stack to 9,999!
See pictures below for more detail.
Download
My last calculator was a permission-based, Google Sheet version, which was awkward and a nightmare to manage. This new version is available as a download, which can be found here:
* the downloadable Zip file contains two versions of the calculator spreadsheet; one is a .xlsx file (for Microsoft Excel**), and the second is a .odp file (For other Open Source programs).
**Excel did give me a strange formula warning when I opened it but, after checking, they do work fine, so not sure what that’s all about.
Quick Pics
Sheet 1: The main resource, building and troop calculator.Sheet 2: The new Speed Up calculator.
Additional
If there are any problems or bugs which affect the sheet, please let me know ASAP. I don’t want to disseminate a faulty product.
Obviously, you can do whatever you like with this file, but I do ask that if you re-post it somewhere else, I am given the credit for this version.
If anyone makes adjustments and/or improvements, please let me know and I can review it and possibly update the download – with your credit, of course!
A cheeky little bit here: If you like my work and want to help support future projects (such as a “Personal General Tracker” I have planned, please feel free to donate: https://loxtech-gaming.co.uk/donate/
Currently, all I have is time and, apart from working on a couple of new, secret projects, I have been downloading and playing some games on my BlueStacks (PC client). I thought I would share these with you guys, as I found them to be entertaining, albeit distracting!
It is important to note that most games now are free-to-play, but contain in-app purchases, which could include the dreaded “loot boxes” (See this Wikipedia Article for definition). We here at Loxtech Gaming want to stress that, although making purchases within these games has been made so easy, it is vital you stop and think about whether you really need these extra items, or if you can realistically afford to do so. Another useful Wikipedia Article covers “Gacha” games, which is the umbrella term that includes loot boxes.
If anyone wants me to try a game out and review it, mail me.
Evony: The King’s Return
Developer: TopGames Inc. (Visit Home) Platform: Mobile and PC (PC link) Price: Free-to Play In-App Purchases: Yes Social: Multiplayer Only Lox’s Ranking: Good / Very Enjoyable / Awesome!
My Take?
This is an insanely addictive game that is so broad in its complexity that I got hooked a few years ago and still play it on a daily basis. Once you start gaining power and get involved with alliances, it is almost impossible to stop. This is a hard one to describe in a few paragraphs, but I’ll give it a go.
You are a Monarch. You have your own city (Keep). You are one of a few hundred people in a server, on one big map. There are thousands of other servers around you. You build up your city, you train troops, recruit generals, battle, against monsters, barbarian keeps, other players’ keeps, or the main city in the centre. You become more and more powerful over time, until – if you are good enough – you can become the server’s ruler. Okay, so not too complicated, right?
You obviously start off small, with a tiny keep with a few buildings inside. You have to build up your strength by building new structures and then training troops. Farms inside your city automatically collect resources for your endeavours and troop training facilities can work non-stop pumping out units for you to use as defence, offence or gathering resources from resource spots in the world (known as “tiles” or “RSS spots” to many.
As you gather resources and items from gathering, or attacking NPC mobs (or players if you’re brave enough at this point), you can upgrade your buildings to unlock higher tier troops and equipment. Your main city administrative building is your Keep. This needs to be levelled up to open up more building types and upgrade options. Building, training, research technologies, crafting eqipment and healing et cetera, all costs resources and time.
The game does provide you with a few basic generals (troop leaders) to play with at the start, but you can recruit new, more powerful, or better suited generals, from various sources as the game progresses. Generals are fully cutomisable in terms of the equipment (armour) they wear, and the additional refinements placed on them. This is a fairly easy principle to pick up at the start, but as you get more experienced, you will see how much more focus you need to spend on this aspect to maximise your power and abilities later on.
I’ve mentioned researching technologies, which is done through the Academy building. Each technology researched grants additional percentages on various things in the game, from power, defence, time reductions, and lots of other aspects in the game. Research starts off fairly quick but later on, you could have to wait for weeks, or even months to research 1 technology. Don’t panic though…
This game provides so much in the way of collectible resources… not just your basic building or training materials, but also “speedups”, which can help reduce build/research/training timers, so once you get to a technology which may take 2 days to finish, for example, you will likely have items such as 48 x 1 hour speedups to use. I’m crap at explaining so check it out for yourself.
I could go on, but I’ve just scratched the surface of what’s in this game. You really can play it all day and still have things to do somewhere. It is likely that in the beginning you may not be able to go as far as you want before having to leave the game to idle a bit, but you will see that the developers have thought about this and provided many different activities to do.
This game is what I would call pay-to-win BUT it isn’t oppressive with it… what I mean is, with time, anyone can build their power and skill to the same level. There are so many packages you can buy and it can be tempting when you need just a little bit more, so be careful with that. Recently, the rewards for general gameplay have increased with the new level cap of 45, so if you are new, join an alliance and reap the massive rewards for others killing the big stuff!
I gave this my top ranking of Awesome! for this game as I’ve been playing it for a few years and am not bored. I do go through periods of burnout, and then login to do my dailies and not much else, but this always subsides – especially if you’re in a good alliance, with amazing people around you.
Get this game and give it a good go. You will need to get past an introduction period before the real game starts… don’t be put off by it, just follow it and eventually you can play normally.
Side note: I am on server 1191 if anyone comes looking!
Gold & Goblins: Idle Games
Developer: AppQuantum (Visit Home) Platform: Google Play (Direct link) Price: Free-to Play In-App Purchases: Yes Social: Single Player (Though there is a leaderboard in events) Lox’s Ranking: Good / Very Enjoyable / Awesome!
My Take?
I don’t know quite why I like this game. I think it’s because I have a thing for mining. Whether it’s EVE Online, World of Warcraft, MineCraft, or any other game where you have to actively mine to get resources, I just get right into them. This is a little different though, as you don’t really collect anything, but coins, gems, Elixir bottles, chests, upgrade cards and keys (in events) – well that is a few things lol.
You mission is simple: enter a mine, buy low-level goblins and start mining out the rocks. As you progress you get money from unearthing and repairing sub-mines along the way, which you use to buy new goblins. Merging goblins raises their level and making them better miners (quicker). The rocks themselves have levels too, making it harder, or longer, to mine, unless you develop goblins to match or surpass their level. The sub-mines themselves can be upgraded and automated, depending on whether you have collected enough cards and Elixir bottles, and this money is used solely to buy more goblins to mine.
Once you finish a mine, you move on to the next. Between each level there is now a mini-game where you drive a massive truck through rocks to collect extra goodies, which is very fun but only lasts 30 seconds or so. All your goblins and mine development resets to zero with each mine, but you keep all the cards and their upgrades for the next mine
Gems are the valuable resource in this game and they are hard to collect, so use them very wisely. They are used to buy extra Elixir bottles, missing upgrade cards and time bonuses. Of course this means that if you run out, the game will want real-life money to buy more. I have avoided this so far. It is not a problem – you just need more patience.
Every few days there are themed events. When I wrote this, there was a Halloween-themed event. These are just extra mines that are separate from your main mines, where you can mine out rocks for keys. These are used to unlock bonus items for your main game. With events, all the cards, upgrades and bottles are event specific and will all disappear when it ends, but the event rewards go to your main mine.
This is an idle game, meaning that you can play whenever you want and if you go make a cup of tea or close the app, the goblins will still keep mining (they don’t get a break!).
Overall this is a bit of fun as a side game. I rated it “Good” as it is fairly simple and you don’t really play along with anyone else so purely a distraction when bored. Worth checking it out. I think you will either like it or not!
Other Games
I will be writing another post soon with a few more games… I play a lot!
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