December 31, 2023 - Day 365 - NewPlay Bonus Review
Total NewPlays: **400**

Game: Dave The Diver

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Jun 28, 2023 (PC)
Installation Date: Dec 31, 2023
Unplayed: 0d
Playtime: 43m

Dave The Diver is a 2D sideways-scrolling pixel-art* game that's part management sim, part fishing sim, part restaurant game, and part action-adventure RPG.

When Dave the Diver first showed up on Steam a few months ago, I was still very much of the "pixel-art-no-thank-you" mindset, so it was a pass.

Then I saw some folks raving about how good it is, and then the free Dredge DLC was announced, and I went back and added it to my wishlist.

As they're currently offering a "Dredging & Diving Bundle" on Steam which meant the game was cheaper than the sale price (by a couple of bucks), I decided to add one more game to my pile of shame, and then take it off again, and what a way to finish this project out.

It is REALLY hard to categorise, because it pulls gameplay aspects from multiple different genres, and it's probably best if I lay it out.

Firstly, to address that asterisk against pixel-art, the game uses pixel-art for the gameplay, but uses vector art for the UI, which is a great way to make the game feel up-to-date.

The game opens with Dave relaxing on a beach, drinking a beer, when his phone rings, and he gets a job offer. Queue plane & map intro cut-scene.

A guy named Cobra has offered Dave a job diving in "the Blue Hole", which is a procedurally generated environment that is different on each dive.

After a tutorial sequence, where you learn to catch fish with a harpoon (fishing sim!), you learn that you've been roped into managing a sushi bar as well (management sim!).

Dive twice during the day to complete quests (RPG gameplay!) and catch the fish that you then use at night to set the nightly sushi bar menu.

Oh, and you're also the sushi bar waiter; this takes partial gameplay ideas from cooking sims like "Cook, Serve, Delicious!" in that the various customers will order the things that you've added to the menu, and the cook (thank goodness!) prepares each meal, as you run back and forth serving them, and cleaning up after some detty pigs, as well as another mini-game where you need to pour green tea and fill the cup perfectly.

Some of the RPG gameplay elements like equipment upgrades and weapon upgrades are handled through unlockable "apps" on an in-game "smartphone", and given that there are a number of preloaded apps on the phone with locks on them, looks like there are more mini-games as well.

Somehow, though, the devs managed to pull this off in such a way that it all fits together seamlessly, and is a lot of fun as well.

So, there you have it; for my final game review of 2023, Dave the Diver is:

5: Excellent

#DaveTheDiver #2D #SidewaysScroller #FishingSim #ManagementSim #CookingSim #ActionAdventure #RPG #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

December 7, 2023 - Day 341 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 360

Game: Wandersong

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Sep 28, 2018
Installation Date: May 14, 2019
Unplayed: 1668d (4y6m23d)
Playtime: 29m

Wandersong is a 2D music-themed rhythm adventure platformer.

As with so many other platformers, the game opens with your character standing defenceless on the left hand side of the screen, and setting out on their adventure.

The game world is rendered in a brightly-coloured papercut stop-motion animation style. It was here that I ran into my first problems with the game.

It's definitely a controller-based game, but the UI for menus is so frustrating that I resorted to keyboard and mouse - and STILL had problems.

I lost close to ten minutes (which I subtracted from the playtime to get the total above) just wrestling with the options UI and trying to get it to commit the resolution I'd chosen.

With game actually running at a reasonable resolution, I set off to the right, to embrace my destiny. A sword! Every adventurer needs a sword!

This is when I encountered what felt like the weirdest weapon interaction I've ever encountered: to use the sword you select a direction for the sword to point with the D-Pad (or left stick, but I recommend D-pad) and then move towards the target.

Enter battle... and immediately lose your sword forever as it flies out of your hands and plummets offscreen.

As it turns out, this is not a fighting platformer, it's a musical platformer.

After some further scene setting, you're into the game proper.

Fights in the game are effectively a complicated version of the memory game "Simon", with a C major scale's 8 notes instead of Simon's 4.

As an example, an early fight with a ghost involves replicating the notes and patterns that the non-vocal ghost is making. This is where using the d-pad is more effective than trying to use the left stick. You need to hit the right notes in the right order, and it's too easy to slide through a wrong note with the analog stick, meaning you need to start the pattern again.

For the most part, it's effective, and the music is quite lovely, but it's definitely a game I'm going to need to be in the mood for.

Part of the reason for that is that the bugginess of the UI extends into the game itself, with the game intermittently pixelating as if dropping to low resolution, and intermittent visual glitches.

During the battles with a ghost, the screen colours invert, and the soundtrack changes accordingly, and usually switches back after winning the battle.

However, after one battle, the colours and soundtrack started inverting and reverting non-stop, making the game virtually unplayable.

Unfortunately, the general bugginess took the edge off a game I quite enjoy otherwise, leaving Wandersong at:

3: OK

#Wandersong #2D #SidewaysScroller #Platformer #Rhythm #Adventure #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

December 6, 2023 - Day 340 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 359

Game: 3000th Duel

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Dec 13, 2019
Installation Date: Jan 17, 2022
Unplayed: 688d (1y10m19d)
Playtime: 22m

3000th Duel is a 2.5D sideways scrolling Soulsvania platformer. Controllers on, let's go.

As the unnamed masked character, you find yourself resurrected, with a voiceover telling them you need to fight to find out who you are.

Armoured, and armed with a claymore, you set out to kill everything in sight. Of course.

I found myself getting a little frustrated with 3000th Duel very early. Early on, the game told me to use dash (RT) during fights, and I started using it and getting my ass kicked, because it was a little premature.

Then mid-fight, I was suddenly weaponless. Then dead.

The RT is the dash trigger. RB (the bumper trigger) puts your weapon away, and I'd clipped RB with my finger.

Weirdly, LT is the map button, which found me frequently staring at a map, mid-fight.

Visually, it's OK, with more than a hint of Hollow Knight (which pre-dates 3000th Duel by a couple of years).

However, it does have an inventory & stats system which I don't recall seeing in another Soulsvania (but ADHD Swiss cheese memory, so... could be wrong...)

Overall though, it's another Soulsvania in a year where I've played several very good ones, and in learning to appreciate this particular game style, it means that my expectations have become somewhat higher.

As such, 3000th Duel is a passable Soulsvania, but not one I'm likely to return to in a hurry; it's:

3: OK

#3000thDuel #SidewaysScroller #Platformer #Soulsvania #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

December 5, 2023 - Day 339 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 358

Game: Liberated

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Jul 31, 2020
Installation Date: Dec 25, 2022
Unplayed: 345d (11m10d)
Playtime: 23m

Liberated is a side-scrolling 2.5D platformer set in a vaguely-cyberpunk dystopian society built around a Black Mirror-ish social credit score called "CCS". The game is -quite literally- framed within a noir-styled graphic novel.

It definitely feels unique among the games I've played this year, with the only other black and white game that springs to mind being Shady Part of Me

The skeuomorphism of the graphic novel itself is very well done, with page turning animations and moving from panel to panel through the narrative being very effective; at one point, the page was illuminated with a vague reflection of the light source showing up the grain of the matt gloss paper, at which point I did a double-take, because it's a computer game!

Unfortunately, the downside of the framing is that even though the "active" landscape frames take up a large chunk of the screen during actual gameplay, the character still feels very small onscreen, relative to the scenery, which is framed by the graphic novel and the tabletop it appears to be lying on.

The game appears to be oriented towards controller-based play, with my initial attempt to play with keyboard and mouse feeling very hit-and miss. I'm not sure if my mouse pointed disappeared because I alt-tabbed out to close some windows on another, or if the game disabled it; this meant at one point I was using a gun with my least favourite targeting device, the right thumbstick.

Once a mouse & keyboard girl, always a mouse & keyboard girl.

I'm also not a fan of QTEs, which so far have featured in the game a couple of times. The game does a better job than some, by clearly showing which button needs to be pressed, but even so, I struggled to mentally map A, B, X, Y to the buttons under my thumb, and blew one run pretty much at the last QTE in the series as I mashed the X button while the A appeared on screen.

The thing that's stuck with me though, is a vague sense of unease that I can't actually place, or settle. There's something about the game I find disquieting, and I think I might need to sit with that awhile to see if the answer reveals itself.

With that said, the narrative pull may draw me back in, so at this point, I'm willing to say Liberated is:

3: OK

#Liberated #SidewaysScroller #Noir #Dystopia #Cyberpunk #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

October 24, 2023 - Day 297 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 316

Game: A Juggler's Tale

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Sep 30, 2021
Installation Date: Oct 24, 2023
Unplayed: 0d
Playtime: 46m

Game number seven in the October Humble Choice Bundle is "A Juggler's Tale"; a 2.5D sideways scrolling puzzle adventure game.

I have incredibly mixed emotions about this game.

You play as Abby, a young girl, who is both a juggler, and a marionette. Abby is trapped in a circus and forced to perform, and A Juggler's Tale is the story of her escape, narrated by the puppeteer.

The graphics are gorgeous, the sound design is good. The puzzles are not too challenging, although the controls (on controller) can be a little bit fiddly.

The narrator is an older man with an English accent, and is in turns condescending, and patronising in the way he talks to (and about) Abby, frequently belittling her (and technically *my*) failures when attempting to solve puzzles - and I utterly despise him.

I'm not sure whether the intent of the devs was to make me feel like that towards him, but his manner and commentary triggers emotional responses within me that I don't think were intended.

I'm tempted to just Google the game to find out how it ends, and if there's any kind of catharsis, because the idea of spending the entire game with this horrible person, fills me with dread.

A Juggler's Tale is:

4: Good*

#AJugglersTale #SidewaysScroller #Adventure #Puzzle #HumbleChoice #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

*Trigger Warning, mention of abuse.

I suspect that my reaction is partly a trauma response, from the abuse I experienced growing up. So, while I think this game is good, if you have that kind of trauma it may actually be triggering, which is a weird thing to have to say about a game like this.

June 20, 2023 - Day 171 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 189

Game: Funk of Titans

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Jul 25, 2015
Library Date: Aug 4, 2022
Unplayed: 320d (10m16d)
Playtime: 20m

Funk of Titans is a sideways scrolling endless runner, and it's every bit as bad as it sounds.

For some reason, the ancient Greek Gods have been rendered as African Americans. Zeus seems to fall somewhere between Samuel L. Jackson and Morpheus.

You, as Perseus, appear to be an extra from a blaxploitation movie, in a yellow jacket and afro, yelling "shaka laka" and "oh yeah" over and over, giving the whole game a slightly racist tinge.

Then there's the "funk" of the soundtrack. The less said, the better. P-Funk, this is not.

This is a game that could make me hate platformers again. A sideways-scrolling-endless-runner-platformer where the only controls are jump or whack-with-sword.

You better time EVERYTHING just right, because three hits and you're dead.

Did I mention that each hit removes an item of Perseus' clothing, because... yeah, that's a thing.

However, if you're really lucky, you can find a Pegasus in each level, to get a bonus level where Pegasus is a rocket powered horsehead in some horrifying Flappy Bird mashup.

However, sometimes, you just need something to focus all your rage and anger onto, just to let it out and move past it.

Funk of Titans isn't even good for that. I have no idea how I ended up with this game, I only hope it was free with something else.

There is nothing redeeming about this game at all. While this is not the worst game I've played this year, it's really putting in the work.

Run away, as fast and as far as you can. Avoid Funk of Titans like an anti-vaxxer, because it's just:

1: Nope

#FunkOfTitans #EndlessRunner #SidewaysScroller #WhoAmIKiddingNoOneReadsTheHashtags #ThisGameSucks #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

June 16, 2023 - Day 167 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 185

Game: Bleed 2

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Feb 19, 2017
Library Date: Feb 2, 2019
Unplayed: 1595d (4y4m14d)
Playtime: 19m

Bleed 2 is a 2D twin-stick sideways scrolling pixel-art arcade shoot-em-up.

It feels very much like a 80's arcade game, both sonically and visually.

Lots of frantic button mashing, which would be great if I could mash the right buttons in the right order, but as I can't, I spent a lot of time dying.

The most frustrating thing is that every platformer / sideways scroller I've played uses the A button on the controller to jump, while Bleed 2 uses the right trigger, and uses A to taunt.

As the right thumbstick is used for shooting, it makes sense, but I found myself taunting instead of jumping far too many times (and then, of course, dying).

It's not that Bleed 2 isn't a good game, it's just that I'm not good at it.

Bleed 2 is just:

2: Meh

#Bleed2 #SidewaysScroller #PixelArt #TwinStick #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Apr 10, 2023 - Day 100 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 107

Game: Kingdom

Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Oct 22, 2015
Library Date: Mar 22, 2018
Unplayed: 1845d (5y19d)
Playtime: 68m

Kingdom is a pixel-art based, sideways-scrolling strategy/resource management game. Pretty much everything I dislike, in a single package.

As soon as I saw it load in, I was sure I'd be clock-watching, just itching for my 15 minutes to be up.

An hour later I was still playing.

Sometimes the gameplay is so good, the art disappears, and this turns out to be a great game, but you have to work for it.

It does very little to hold your hand; the first ten minutes were spent trying to intuit what was going on.

You're a king or queen, mounted on a horse. You can ride in either direction, and pick up and spend gold coins, and... that's about it. You cannot attack or fight back if attacked.

You use your initial few gold coins to hire a couple of beggars, and build a tiny village.

The tiny village allows you to provide each person you hire with a tool (hammer) or a weapon (bow & arrow).

During the day, the armed villagers kill rabbits and earn gold coins for you, while the working villagers can build defenses. At night, the armed villagers defend you. Each new day, you earn more gold coins, and the cycle continues, for just one more day.

My initial impressions of Kingdom were wrong; it's:

4: Good.

#Kingdom #Strategy #2D #SidewaysScroller #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Feb 26, 2023 - Day 57 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 63

Game: Steamworld Heist
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Jun 7, 2016
Library Date: Jan 24, 2023
Unplayed: 33 days
Playtime: 16m

Well, I think this is the first time I've ever encountered a sideways scrolling turn-based strategy game.

A couple of days ago, I set up a new dynamic collection in Steam that collected all of the unplayed games in my Pile Of Shame, excluded all of the unplayed VR games, and then I just hit free-scroll on my mouse, close my eyes, move the mouse around, and click on whatever comes up.

Even though this is a seven year old game, when I checked the details, I remembered that I'd bought it on sale last month as part of a deal.

It was worth it. It's a fun little game, that does not feel seven years old. The missions so far are pretty quick, so I could see myself firing it up for 10 or 15 minutes just to kill some time.

Steamworld Heist is:

4: Good

#SteamworldHeist #TurnBased #Strategy #SidewaysScroller #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Feb 3, 2023 - Day 34 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 41

Game: Regions of Ruin
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Feb 5, 2018
Library Date: Jan 6, 2019
Unplayed: 1489 days (4y28d)
Playtime: 21m

Sometimes i'll open a game, & can see that the developers put a lot of love into it. It makes me want to like the game.

It makes me feel worse when I don't; I do not like this game.

It's a mashup of different styles of games: a pixel-art 2D sideways-scrolling RPG. I've not encountered this particular combination before.

As I've said before, I lived through pixel art the first time around, so I don't miss it; sideways scrolling games need to grab me, but I like RPGs.

The problem for me is that the 2D sideways scrolling nature of the game makes it quite difficult to manage the RPG elements of the game. I ended up mashing everything with my weapon, unclear what was background art, and what I could smash to open.

Then there's the map. I literally spent five minutes trying to figure it out, before working out that the apples you collect throughout the game are tokens to spend opening up the map.

My apologies to the developers of Regions of Ruin, but this is now just trading card fodder; it's a:

1: Nope.

#RegionsOfRuin #SidewaysScroller #RPG #PixelArt #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay