Jan 10, 2023 - Day 10 - NewPlay Bonus Review
Total NewPlays: 14

Game: The Surge

Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: May 16, 2017
Library Date: Aug 27, 2018
Unplayed: 1597 days (4y4m14d)
Playtime: 2h20m

I'm picking through games at random that I haven't played. Again, with no idea what I'm getting myself into.

"OK, sci-fi. Cool... WHOA!"

The whole vibe of the intro was that things were going to go sideways, I just didn't expect it to happen in quite such a visual way.

Apparently, this is a "soulslike" sci-fi game. My last "soulslike" was Elden Ring. That went so badly, I got a refund.

It could be that I didn't really grasp the gameplay loop. I did here, though, because it was making me quite cross at first.

I think I've got enough of a handle on it that I might even given Elden Ring another shot, at some stage.

Anyway, the plan was to play for 15-30 minutes, and almost 2.5 hours later, The Surge is good.

For bonus points, I was looking in my email to see when I got it, and discovered I also got The Surge 2 in a bundle that I haven't even activated. Yet.

My initial rating for The Surge is:

4: Good

#TheSurge #Soulslike #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365

Jan 11, 2023 - Day 11 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 15

Game: Loot Rascals

Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Mar 8, 2017
Library Date: Oct 28, 2017
Unplayed: 1901 days (5y2m14d)
Playtime: 24m

As soon as I started this game, I thought "I'm going to hate this." I was wrong.

I don't love it but I don't hate it. It drew me in, but then crashed and kicked me out.

It's a hex-turn-based-roguelike-deckbuilder, and has quite an odd design style to it.

It did intrigue me, but crashing out at random threw me off. I'll probably poke at it again at some stage.

Loot Rascals gets a rating of:

3: OK

#LootRascals #Roguelike #TurnBased #DeckBuilder #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365

Jan 12, 2023 - Day 12 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 16

Game: Breathedge

Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Feb 26, 2021
Library Date: Dec 12, 2022
Unplayed: 31 days (31d)
Playtime: 3.5h

I have a love-hate relationship with survival games, and a big chunk of that is probably down to "is it multiplayer PvP?" (ugh), and is "there some kind of objective beyond build random stuff?"

Rust, and V Rising: Meh.
Subnautica: Excellent.

I'd seen Breathedge described as "Subnautica in space", which is kind-of true, but it has its own wild humour that you'll either love or hate.

So far, I love it. At 10pm last night, I thought I'd play it for half an hour. I logged out at 1:30am.

If a game can get me hooked like that so deeply that I lose track of time, that's an excellent game.

So Breathedge gets rated:

5: Excellent

#Breathedge #Survival #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365

Jan 12, 2023 - Day 12 - NewPlay Bonus Review
Total NewPlays: 17

Game: The Wolf Among Us

Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Oct 11, 2013
Library Date: Aug 1, 2017
Unplayed: 1990 days (5y5m11d)
Playtime: 68m

Telltale Games seem to pretty much do one thing, and they do it well; however, a lot of that depends on the source material.

I have a LOT of Telltale games that I've racked up over the years (thanks, bundles!), and every time I played them they frustrated me.

Turns out that playing a game that is designed for a controller, with a mouse and keyboard, will do that to you.

My previous hyperfixation on trying to play every game with mouse/keyboard may have cost me some great gaming experiences over the years.

Playing TTG's games with a controller has been a revelation, and I've finally been able to get through enough of a game without have to think about the controls to realise that they're basically just playable movies.

The Wolf Among Us is based on a DC comic of the same name. The storytelling is excellent, but it's very much going to be based on whether I'm in the mood or not.

The Wolf Among Us is rated:

4: Good

#TheWolfAmongUs #TelltaleGames #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365

Jan 12, 2023 - Day 12 - NewPlay Bonus Review
Total NewPlays: 18

Game: Wings! Remastered Edition

Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Oct 18, 2014
Library Date: Sept 23, 2017
Unplayed: 1937 days (5y3m20d)
Playtime: 19m

In 1990, my best friend from school moved into the small village I lived in, in the NSW Southern Highlands.

As Commodore computers were banned in our house, this was the first time I encountered a Commodore Amiga. What a glorious machine.

I was at his place frequently, just so we could play games together. One of the games I was obsessed with, was Cinemaware's "Wings!"

This was also the first time I encountered an arcade flight game, and nothing ever quite scratched that itch the same way.

So when Wings! Remastered Edition went on sale, in September 2017, I snapped it up... and then promptly forgot about it.

The question for me was: "After all these years, having played countless flight games, both arcade and simulation, would the gameplay hold up?"

Yes. Yes it does. It's not going to win any awards, and it doesn't really compare to modern flight battles, but it's just some nice, arcade-style, World War I shooting and flying.

I suspect that it might get very samey, playing all the way through, but it's an OK way to scratch that particular itch.

I'm giving Wings! Remastered Edition a rating of:

3: OK

#WingsRemastered #Flying #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365

Jan 13, 2023 - Day 13 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 19

Game: Dead Pixels

Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Dec 8, 2012
Library Date: Dec 6, 2013
Unplayed: 3325 days (9y1m7d)
Playtime: 23m

This is quite possibly one of the oldest unplayed games in my Steam library. At some stage in early 2019 I opened it, but never played it.

Given the kind of game, I'm not surprised that past me took one look and went "no, thank you".

It's most of the things I dislike in a game. It's a retro/8-bit sideways-scrolling-zombie-shooter.

I'm not really a fan of sideways scrollers. Zombie games are a bit take-it-or-leave-it.

8-bit "retro" games, though? As I've said before, I was there the first time around, and I have few warm memories.

Shoot zombies, collect coins, buy upgrades, rinse & repeat. I got somewhere into the third level and just got sick of it.

For me, Dead Pixels was:

2: Meh.

#DeadPixels #SidewaysScroller #Zombies #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365

Jan 14, 2023 - Day 14 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 20

Game: Half-Life: Opposing Force

Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Nov 19, 1999
Library Date: Apr 10, 2004
Unplayed: 6853 days (18y9m4d)
Playtime: 45m

I was wrong yesterday when I said that was the oldest unplayed game in my Steam library.

There is another.

On the 10th of April 2004, I installed Steam for the first time, and activated my first Steam key, for the "Platinum Pack".

I went on to just play Half-Life.

I didn't play Opposing Force or Blue Shift.

This game sat for almost 19 years, unplayed. I did open it once in 2019, but apparently closed it again without playing.

(Technically, it's even longer, because I owned it on CD before that, and hadn't played it there, either.)

So much for playing for "15-30min"; at the 45 minute mark, I had to leave to drop my daughter to work, otherwise I might still be playing.

Here we are in 2023; 23 years, 1 month, 26 days after Opposing Force was released, it still absolutely bangs. Here I am playing it natively at 1440p. It runs at normal speed. The head crabs STILL send chills up my spine. There's still a bug in the game that will permanently break the Desert Eagle if you try and fire it underwater (guess what I did!).

I've got games from the mid 00's that are unplayable.

Half-Life: Opposing Force is:

4: Good

#HalfLifeOpposingForce #FPS #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365

Jan 15, 2023 - Day 15 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 21

Game: Silence

Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Nov 15, 2016
Library Date: Nov 4, 2017
Unplayed: 1898 days (5y2m11d)
Playtime: 36m

The process of going into a game with no idea what it's going to be can lead to some terrible experiences, or some wonderful ones.

Silence is both. This is an excellent game (no waiting until the end of the review).

It opens on a stunningly rendered tableau of children in the early evening in a snowy village, building a snowman.

It then proceeded to break my heart with the intro. I'm not going to spoil it, but it was unexpectedly heart-rending. The only game that's affected me more than this recently was Stray, and I still haven't been able to bring myself back and continue beyond the intro level with that little cat.

Silence is a point-and-click adventure, that's unlike any I've played previously. The art is slightly surreal, and utterly gorgeous, and I will definitely go back to play more.

As of 10pm AEDT, Silence is on sale on Steam until January 27th for A$2.99 (90% off), AND there's a free demo available (the below is not a sponsored link).

https://store.steampowered.com/app/314790/Silence/

Silence is:

5: Excellent

#Silence #PointAndClick #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Jan 16, 2023 - Day 16 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 22

Game: Nex Machina

Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Jun 20, 2017
Library Date: Dec 3, 2017
Unplayed: 1870 days (5y1m13d)
Playtime: 23m

Nex Machina nearly got three different ratings. You'll have to wait until the end for this one.

It's a top-down twin-stick bullet-hell shooter; it's gorgeously rendered. Shoot a mob and it explodes in a shower of voxels in a deeply satisfying way. The lighting of the jungle-ish alien planet I'm fighting my way through is glorious.

The first 7 minutes were spent with hands on G13 & mouse, and I could not get past level 4. I was ready to throw my mouse at the wall, and quit. It's right there in the paragraph above: 'twin-stick shooter'. "Maybe I should at least give it a try with a controller".

With a controller I now kept dying on level 3. I'm ready to throw the controller at the wall, and there's no cable to restrain it.

All of the gorgeous lighting & explosions of mobs made it almost impossible for me to follow the action. Mobs would spawn right on top of me.

Then a weapon power-up drops. Suddenly my triple-shot is making me effective, and now I realise that it's not that the game sucks; it's just difficult, but rewarding.

If you're a fan of bullet-hell or twin-sticks, this might be your game.

First Nope, then Meh; now my Nex Machina rating is:

4: Good

#NexMachina #TwinStick #BulletHell #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Jan 17, 2023 - Day 17 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 23

Game: Killer is Dead

Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: May 23, 2014
Library Date: Nov 18, 2017
Unplayed: 1886 days (5y1m30d)
Playtime: 18m

I nearly didn't write up a review on Killer is Dead. I'm still not quite sure how to.

The game is a hack-and-slash beat-em-up. At least I think it is.
You play an executioner with a super-powered katana who kills killers.

The idea for these reviews grew out of my initial project to play all of my games for at least long enough once to work out if I want to play them again, or delete them. I've been keeping a spreadsheet of all of the games I've played since December 1st.

Killer is Dead is the 326th unique Steam game I've played. It might be the first one I don't know how to rate.

It's very stylish, but runs at a low resolution, and doesn't appear to have any kind of menu to adjust anything, or even see the keybindings.

The storyline is interesting, but the misogyny comes in early, and apparently becomes part of the gameplay later in the game.

The storyline & visual style makes me want to play it again. The misogyny and complete lack of adjustments make me want to uninstall it.

I guess Killer is Dead is:

2: Meh

#KillerIsDead #BeatEmUp #HackAndSlash #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Jan 18, 2023 - Day 18 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 24

Game: Passpartout: The Starving Artist

Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Jun 16, 2017
Library Date: Dec 3, 2017
Unplayed: 1872 days (5y1m15d)
Playtime: 40m

Once again, I find myself confounded by trying to categorise a game. I've genuinely never played a game like Passpartout: The Starving Artist before.

I suppose you could call it a "French artist simulator", but that's selling it short.

Passpartout is a whimsical & charming indie game in which you play a French painter, trying to sell your art to rude passers-by from your Parisian garage (while managing your baguette & wine budget).

The hook is that YOU create the paintings that you're trying to sell. You're presented with a blank canvas, a palette of 24 paint colours, and a single round brush (adjustable size), with which to create your artworks.

Looking at some of the things people have painted in-game, some of them are truly works of art. As a designer, my major weakness was always blank page design, whereas I was better at fixing design issues.

The game makes me wonder if I can use my dusty old graphics tablet as a games controller.

I believe I've levelled up at least once in-game, having unlocked a spray-can brush, but I'm going to come back to Passpartout: The Starving Artist

Edit: After losing another 2+ hours, Passpartout: The Starving Artist is now rated:

5: Excellent

#Passpartout #Painting #Indiegame #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Jan 19, 2023 - Day 19 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 25

Game: Dead Effect

Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Dec 18, 2014
Library Date: Nov 24, 2017
Unplayed: 1882 days (5y1m26d)
Playtime: 20m

Dead Effect is billed as an "Indie sci-fi zombie shooter".

It is all of these things.

This was probably an impressive indie game for 2014, but 9 years later, it has a lot to compete with.

It started out OK; you can choose the gender of the protagonist, and so Jane Frey punched her way out of stasis. Unfortunately, this was where the game peaked.

I'm not big on zombie games. The odds are stacked against you, as you fight off hordes of various types of undead; this is OK, if you feel like you've got a chance. This did not feel like I had a chance, even on "easy" mode.

I fought my way through the barrage of zombies on the first level, but surviving the dreadful voice acting feels like the true achievement. To call the protagonist wooden would be an insult to wood.

There are datapads hidden throughout the levels to collect, and the third datapad provides Frey's backstory, even mentioning that her breasts are real. I love the smell of casual misogyny in the morning.

At level's end, you get a Doom-like level status screen, and on to level two.

The voice acting in the second level was somehow worse; by the time I got mobbed, I was happy to die. RIP, Jane Frey.

My rating for Dead Effect is a big old:

1: Nope

#DeadEffect #FPS #IndieGame #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Jan 20, 2023 - Day 20 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 26

Game: Gamedec - Definitive Edition

Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Sept 17, 2021
Library Date: Jul 18, 2022
Unplayed: 186 days (6m2d)
Playtime: 1h45m

Last week @britt mentioned Gamedec in passing, and I said I might move it up my #NewPlay list.

"I'll just play for 15min." Almost 2 hrs later I logged out, late to start work.

Gamedec feels part-RPG, part point-and-click adventure. A gorgeous isometric cyberpunk game, you play a game detective (thus "Gamedec"), investigating crimes inside games.

Much like yesterday's NewPlay, you can choose the gender of the protagonist, as well as a thumbnail history, and an initial skillset.

The game utilises a branching path narrative that closes off particular pathways, based on other choices, which increases its RePlayability (yeah, couldn't resist).

I think the closest I've played to it recently would be Disco Elysium, but I've not progressed as far through DE, so this might be an unfair comparison.

There are a couple of rough edges in-game. In spite of choosing your gender at the start of the game, the NPCs will occasionally misgender you, which can really break your concentration.

There's one NPC in-game that you can team up with, but his auto-follow pathing means he'll sometimes stand on top of the objective.

This just took a bit of the shine off, nevertheless I still rate Gamedec as:

4: Good

#Gamedec #RPG #PointAndClick #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Jan 21, 2023 - Day 21 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 27

Game: Quantum Break

Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Sept 30, 2016
Library Date: Jan 1, 2018
Unplayed: 1846 days (5y20d)
Playtime: 40m

I'm in two minds about games that use the likeness of the actor they mocapped as the in-game character.

Having actors performing the lines and playing the part generally brings something extra to a game that's missing when it's the devs and their friends doing the voices.

However, if you already associate the actor with something else, it can be somewhat distracting. It's a fine balance.

I went into Quantum Break almost completely blank. Two things occurred:

1: "Oh, it's that guy, from the thing, and the other thing!" (Shawn Ashmore, X-Men, The Boys)

2: "This feels a bit like Control."

With good reason; turns out that Quantum Break was the game Remedy released before Control.

I'm a big time travel nerd. If it involves time travel, I'll get into it, and can get lost thinking about implications and causality.

This is a third-person action/adventure-kind-of-shooter, by Remedy, involving time travel. So far, I'm really enjoying it, and just wish I hadn't waited so long to play it.

...and apparently there are TV episodes involved somehow? I guess I have to keep playing.

Right now, I'm giving Quantum Break a rating of:

4: Good

#QuantumBreak #Action #Adventure #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Jan 22, 2023 - Day 22 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 28

Game: Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition

Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Oct 9, 2014
Library Date: Jan 8, 2018
Unplayed: 1840 days (5y14d)
Playtime: 36m

Oddly enough, this is a game I've wanted to play for quite a while, but it's one I kept forgetting I owned.

One of the problems of game bundles and ADHD, and the related poor impulse control, is that I tend to collect things with the full intent of playing them, but completely overestimating my ability (and time) to do so.

Sleeping Dogs is one of those games that I've only heard mentioned in glowing terms, yet I knew nothing about the game itself.

The game's opening is cinematic, and you're thrust straight into the action of a drug deal gone wrong, and consequently attempting to escape from the Hong Kong police.

Without spoilers, you're a Chinese-American who finds themselves in the middle of a triad turf war, and as a skilled martial artist, you can hold your own.

The almost-intuitive hand-to-hand combat to me feels most like the Batman Arkham games, and the game environment itself feels like what I imagine Hong Kong at night would feel like.

I'm not letting this Sleeping Dog(s) lie, because it's:

4: Good

#SleepingDogs #Action #Adventure #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Jan 22, 2023 - Day 22 - NewPlay Bonus Review
Total NewPlays: 29

Game: Deus Ex - Human Revolution - Director's Cut
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Oct 26, 2013
Library Date: May 30, 2018
Unplayed: 1698 days (4y7m23d)
Playtime: 77m

Deus Ex & I have a history. That history is: owning the original Deus Ex, trying to play it, sucking at playing it, never playing it again. I even bought the Deus Ex pack on Steam, only to find a couple of months ago, that it doesn't want to play on Windows 10 without a lot of effort.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution (& the sequels), are effectively a reboot/sequel (rebooquel?) of the original Deus Ex games, set in the same universe, but in the future.

Being #AuDHD, it feels like there's a competition in my brain between my less-than-average hand-eye coordination & fine motor skills (thanks, ASD!), and my "lots going on to pay attention to" ADHD. I can generally get by in single player FPS games, but stealth games generally leave me frustrated.

Deus Ex is a stealth game wrapped in the skin of an FPS. You can play it like an FPS, but that's not necessarily the best way to do so.

A good storyline can be the difference between me uninstalling the game, or working at making slow progress.

It's a good looking game, but so far for me, it's equal parts "keep going", & "frustrating, give up". The storyline will probably keep me going.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is:

3: OK

#DeusExHumanRevolution #Stealth #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Jan 23, 2023 - Day 23 - NewPlay Bonus Review
Total NewPlays: 30

Game: Mr. Shifty
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Apr 14, 2017
Library Date: Jan 8, 2018
Unplayed: 1841 days (5y15d)
Playtime: 26m

Mr. Shifty is a game that, had it not come in a bundle, I definitely would not have bought it; were I not working my way through this little project, I'd probably have never played it.

Going in dark, based on the name, I didn't really want to play it, and then it turned out to be a controller-based, top-down, (theoretically) twin-stick "shooter", action game.

That would have been my loss.

The right stick is rarely used, and the titular character cannot (as yet?) shoot.

What he can do is teleport, and punch things, and so I found myself navigating a level working out how best to teleport to a point that I can punch the enemies, without them one-shotting me.

Initially frustrating, at the 5 minute mark, I was "15 minutes will never end", but as I started to get the hang of it, it turns out to be wildly entertaining, even if there is some frantic button mashing involved.

At the 26 minute mark, I logged out with level 2 completed.

While deaths are frequent, each level has mini-stages, so you're returned to the start of that mini-stage, to try and teleport and punch your way through; sometimes the best strategy is letting the environment take care of the enemies.

Turns out, Mr. Shifty is kinda:

4: Good

#MrShifty #TopDown #TwinStick #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Jan 24, 2023 - Day 24 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 31

Game: Black The Fall
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Jul 11, 2017
Library Date: Feb 3, 2018
Unplayed: 1816 days (4y11m21d)
Playtime: 35m

Black The Fall is a stressful game. It's very minimalist, both in terms of colour palette, and control scheme.

Part sideways scroller, part puzzle, part stealth game. You are unarmed, and you will die. A lot. Timing is everything, but it's not in a frenetic, bullet-hell kind of way, but in a tense, and drawn-out fashion.

A couple of levels in, you get the one device you can use in the game. It is not a weapon. Even that device leaves me feeling uneasy.

I am genuinely unsure of how I feel about this game. It's challenging. Spotting the solution to a puzzle, even if it's obvious, is satisfying. On the other hand, it's also quite stressful.

The stylised graphics, and the audio design are very well done

I'm not sure this game is fun, but Black The Fall is:

4: Good

#BlackTheFall #SidewaysScroller #Platformer #Puzzle #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Jan 25, 2023 - Day 25 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 32

Game: The Norwood Suite
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Oct 2, 2017
Library Date: Feb 3, 2018
Unplayed: 1817 days (4y11m22d)
Playtime: 23m

Today was quite an odd day. I woke up after 6 hours sleep. Which feels quite offputting after sleeping 4.5 hours per day on average for over a year.

Made myself some breakfast, sat down to play this game, and... things got weirder.

The Norwood Suite is a first-person point-and-click adventure game, set in the Hotel Norwood.

It is quite a surreal game. It's unclear why the driver of the car who's dumped you outside the Hotel Norwood has done so, but you've been given a voucher for one free night, at this hotel, and thus your musical adventure begins.

Apparently, the Norwood was built by a once-famous musician, and the interleaving musical cues are great, but slightly unnerving, which is kind of the way I feel about the game.

After 20-odd minutes in-game, I was still just scratching the surface, and I feel like the game may be good, or may turn out to be a disappointment. This may well end up as a RePlay.

For now, The Norwood Suite is:

3: OK

#TheNorwoodSuite #FirstPerson #Adventure #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Jan 26, 2023 - Day 26 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 33

Game: Overgrowth
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Oct 17, 2017
Library Date: Mar 12, 2018
Unplayed: 1781 days (4y10m14d)
Playtime: 19m

In the mid-2000's, I bought my first Mac. I picked up some games along the way, and one of them was called Lugaru.

Lugaru was an indie third-person game in which you were an anthropomorphic giant fighting rabbit. I did not care for it.

I opened Overgrowth, and saw "Lugaru" listed as a game campaign option, but bypassed it and went for the main Overgrowth campaign, and... once again, I am a giant running, jumping, and fighting rabbit.

The graphics are middling, the controls feel sloppy, the character movement ungainly. The ragdoll physics are OK, but the actual fighting is frustrating.

The storyline is... there, but holds little interest for me. I do not feel any care for the generic rabbits or their plight, and forced myself to keep going to hit fifteen minutes.

I got to 19 minutes, because I literally got distracted by a different game on my iPad for a few minutes.

Overgrowth feels like a sandbox game, with a storyline awkwardly shoehorned in, and as it turns out, is a sequel to Lugaru. Almost 20 years later, I still do not care for it.

A lot of people seem to love Overgrowth, but for me it's just:

2: Meh

#Overgrowth #ThirdPerson #Action #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Jan 27, 2023 - Day 27 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 34

Game: Car Mechanic Simulator 2021
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Aug 11, 2021
Library Date: Jan 27, 2023
Unplayed: 0 days
Playtime: 83m

I've largely avoided any sequels as NewPlay reviews. I feel driven to have played and completed the first game in the series before I can adequately review the sequels, and I've finished so few games I'm a little bit ashamed.

Which brings me to Car Mechanic Simulator 2021. It follows CMS 2015, and CMS 2018, (and CMS VR), but it's not really a sequel. It's basically a more refined version of the same concept.

I've played both of the predecessors, but after the watching the CMS 2021 demo, I put a "lowest historical price" alert on it, and forgot about it.

This morning I got an email, and half an hour later, I had coffee and CMS 2021.

I go back to the original SimCity, on the Amiga; most of the modern generation of "simulation games" leave me cold. They feel like little more than work simulators.

I have a job, I don't want to play one in my off time (I'm scowling at you, PC Building Simulator 1 & 2). On the other hand, I do like cars, but I really dislike getting my hands literally dirty and scraped.

CMS 2021 scratches that particular itch just nicely, filling in the car-shaped gaps between Forza Horizon, and CSR2 on iOS.

Car Mechanic Simulator 2021 is:

4: Good

#CarMechanicSimulator2021 #Simulation #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Jan 28, 2023 - Day 28 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 35

Game: The Cycle: Frontier
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Jun 8, 2022
Library Date: Jun 8, 2022
Unplayed: 234 days (7m20d)
Playtime: 69m

It feels like everyone wants to have a live service game with a battle pass now.

I have battle pass fatigue. The only battle pass I've (technically kind-of) paid for was for Destiny 2 (because my kids bought me the Digital Deluxe edition of The Witch Queen).

The thing about a battle pass is that the game needs to be enjoyable enough without the battle pass, to make me want to come back and be willing to pay for a battle pass, and you need to have enough of a player base to make the game enjoyable.

The number of battle passes I'm currently paying for: 0.

The Cycle: Frontier fails on both of those fronts. It's a PvPvE "extraction" game, apparently similar to Escape from Tarkov (which I haven't played).

In TC:F you drop to a planet, try and collect a bunch of stuff, and then get-off planet before dying or being killed. You die? You lose EVERYTHING you were carrying.

However, it appears that TC:F has significant PvP balance issues (low playerbase?), meaning you're just as likely to get headshot on the evac ship by a high-level player. In the 69 mins I played, I didn't see another human player on the planet.

The Cycle: Frontier is just:

2: Meh

#TheCycleFrontier #PvPvE #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Jan 29, 2023 - Day 29 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 36

Game: The Descendant: Episode 1
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Mar 24, 2016
Library Date: May 24, 2018
Unplayed: 1711 days (4y8m5d)
Playtime: 62m

[Griss, in movie trailer VO]: "Centuries after environmental catastrophe, one man..."

You know the drill. This game opens up like Fallout, except with nukes swapped out for environmental disasters.

However, it's not an RPG. Turns out to be a point-and-click, Telltale-like interactive movie.

It feels slow, with just enough plot to keep me searching the environment to find the thing I need to make the other thing work, to solve the problem.

It's a mouse-and-single-key (E) game. Character movement feels slow, but the quick-time events are "how fast can you mash the key?"; the musical cues can be a little overbearing.

There's some flashing forward and back in time, playing two separate characters in two different time periods, which adds a layer of interest, but it's let down by the general sluggishness of the interface.

In following with the Telltale Games model, episode 1 was released free, episodes 2-5 are $21.50 for the complete set.

I didn't feel like it was worth paying that, but I want to know how the story ends; try as I might, can't find a plot summary.

Deals sites showed I could buy the entire set for A$2, so I guess I'll be playing the rest of the story.

The Descendant: Episode 1 is:

3: OK

#TheDescendant #Adventure #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Jan 30, 2023 - Day 30 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 37

Game: Running with Rifles
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Apr 3, 2015
Library Date: May 11, 2018
Unplayed: 1725 days (4y8m19d)
Playtime: 20m

Running with Rifles is a cartoonish top-down shooter with cover shooter elements.

I pretty much didn't like it straight off the bat. I just kept dying. By the time I logged out, I was staying alive longer, but not much.

The thing is, if I hadn't been playing it as a NewPlay, I probably would have quit after five minutes and used it as trading card fodder.

I'd love to say that after 15 minutes of the frenetic gameplay the game had revealed itself to me, but I can't. There's something there that made me keep trying, and I can see why it appeals to people.

I've got other top-down shooters I'd prefer to play, and other frenetic first-person or third-person cover shooters I'd prefer to play.

Running with Rifles is:

3: OK

#RunningWithRifles #TopDownShooter #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Jan 31, 2023 - Day 31 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 38

Game: Lara Croft GO
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Dec 4, 2016
Library Date: Apr 9, 2018
Unplayed: 1758 days (4y9m22d)
Playtime: 55m

I was never a big fan of the Lara Croft games. I own many of them (not the originals), and most of them are unplayed.

The whole "tomb raider" conceit hasn't exactly aged well for Ms Croft (or Mr Jones, for that matter), but here, Lara Croft is in a turn-based puzzle environment, where the cultural artifacts she's stealing seem to belong to a lot of angry snakes & lizards.

As for gameplay, it's a lot like a turn-based strategy game was mashed up with (the excellent) Monument Valley, and then given a Lara Croft makeover.

...and it works. Intending to only play for 15 minutes, I logged out after completing the second level... 55 minutes later. Each level is broken into stages, and while you're solving puzzles and avoiding critters, you're also trying to keep your eyes open for the collectibles stashed on each level.

For A$13.95, if you like relatively laid back environmental puzzles, it's definitely good value for money (more so if you got it in a bundle like I did), and will scratch that puzzle itch nicely.

Lara Croft GO is unexpectedly:

4: Good

#LaraCroftGO #Strategy #Puzzle #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Feb 1, 2023 - Day 32 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 39

Game: Whispers of a Machine
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Apr 17, 2019
Library Date: Jan 10, 2020
Unplayed: 1118 days (3y22d)
Playtime: 31m

Whispers of a Machine is a point-and-click adventure billed as a "Sci-Fi Nordic Noir".

Apparently, part of the unique spin that WoaM puts on the point-and-click genre, is that conversations come with multiple responses, with each response altering the way the game plays and NPCs interact with you, in one of three directions.

You play as Vera, a "cybernetically augmented" Swedish detective, investigating a murder, "in a post-AI world".

I need to be in the mood for a point-and-click, and at the moment, I'm not. So far, it hasn't grabbed me enough to keep me playing beyond the 30 minutes, or make me want to jump back in, but when I'm in the mood, I'll give it another shot.

Right now, I'm giving Whispers of a Machine a rating of:

3: OK

#WhispersOfAMachine #PointAndClick #Adventure #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Feb 2, 2023 - Day 33 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 40

Game: Agents of Mayhem
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Aug 16, 2017
Library Date: May 26, 2020
Unplayed: 982 days (2y8m7d)
Playtime: 41m

From the developers who brought you Saints Row, Saints Row 2, Saints Row The Third, the over-the-top Saints Row IV: Re-Elected, Saints Row: Gat out of Hell, and Saints Row (a reboot of Saints Row that shares a name and little else) comes a repetitive "open-world" action-adventure game vaguely connected to Saints Row (but not the reboot) that is to action-adventure games what Hush Puppies are to high fashion.

You play as a squad of three characters, that you can switch between mid-fight. Like Trine, but somehow less fun.

The game is set in a largely deserted, but very pretty, representation of a futuristic version of Seoul. The gameplay is smooth, the mechanics proficient, the characterisation and voiceovers are well done.

I played through two missions; all the pieces of something entertaining are there, yet somehow fail to mesh into something I want to keep playing.

I can't put my finger on what's missing, just that it is. A little less polish, and this would be "meh", but for me Agents of Mayhem just scrapes across the line to:

3: OK

#AgentsOfMayhem #ThirdPersonShooter #OpenWorld #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

Feb 4, 2023 - Day 35 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 42

Game: Hi-Fi RUSH
Platform: Xbox Game Pass PC
Release Date: Jan 25, 2023
Library Date: Jan 28, 2023
Unplayed: 7 days
Playtime: 55m

Hi-Fi RUSH was announced unexpectedly by Bethesda during the Xbox Developer Day on January 25th.

Apparently developed in parallel with Ghostwire: Tokyo (which I love, (5: Excellent)), and given my history with Bethesda games, given it was immediately available with Game Pass, installing it was a no-brainer.

I got stuck into it this morning, and it was every bit as fun as the rumours suggested. It's a third-person rhythm action game, in which your attacks are performed in sync with the music, and if you land the attack on the beat, you do bonus damage.

However, playing for more than 30 minutes, I suddenly encountered an unexpected 2D platform level, which yanked me out of the zone, and left me trying to time jumps just right, with the unexpected context switch.

I like the storyline so far, loving the music, and without that jarring context change, this would have been excellent. Time will tell if I can adjust to the platform levels, or if I need to play with a controller, but it's still a great game, and free if you have a Xbox Game Pass subscription.

Hi-Fi RUSH is:

4: Good

#HiFiRUSH #ThirdPerson #Rhythm #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Feb 5, 2023 - Day 36 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 43

Game: Trailmakers
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Sep 18, 2019
Library Date: Jun 7, 2020
Unplayed: 973 days
Playtime: 21m

Looking at some of the reviews after playing this, where it was glowingly compared with Minecraft (no), and Kerbal Space Program (I don't know), I was really left wondering whether I'd played the same game.

I'm not great with blank-page games, and I think it's a lot to do with my AuDHD.

As a kid, LEGO never really fired my imagination. I would build the same chunky square buildings, over and over, but felt frustrated by my inability to envision the kind of grand designs other kids could create.

I might try and copy something I'd seen on TV (I once tried to build the Pheonix from G-Force (aka Battle of the Planets / aka Science Ninja Team Gatchaman)), but I'd then get frustrated about the lack of fidelity, or my brother taking the pieces I wanted.

Fundamentally, I don't appear to be wired for blank stage "design something with these bits" stuff.

Trailmakers is a kind of digital LEGO kit. It feels like they slapped a campaign in to familiarise you with the game, but I just found it incredibly boring and slow, and was thankful to quit the game.

For someone who IS inclined to that kind of "design your own stuff" gameplay, it might click, but for me Trailmakers is:

2: Meh

#Trailmakers #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Feb 6, 2023 - Day 37 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 44

Game: Serial Cleaner
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Jul 15, 2017
Library Date: Nov 22, 2019
Unplayed: 1172 days
Playtime: 40m

I've updated my NewPlay definition to include games that I've played a few minutes of previously, due to the context of this game.

Serial Cleaner is one of the games I attempted to play in the midst of trying to recover from a mental health breakdown. It's a stressful game, and I dumped it after a few minutes.

Having played it then and again now, it provided an interesting perspective on details of the gameplay that I couldn't really grasp then. Unchecked anxiety and gaming don't really mix.

Serial Cleaner is a stylised 2D action-stealth game. You play a "cleaner", given jobs to clean up after murders, and not in a "working with the police way".

It's another game that plays much better with a controller than keyboard/mouse, and there's a huge buzz for suddenly hiding from a cop who had you in plain view.

While the subject matter is a somewhat tasteless, the gameplay just nails it.

I'm glad I gave Serial Cleaner another go, because it's:

4: Good

#SerialCleaner #Stealth #Action #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Feb 7, 2023 - Day 38 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 45

Game: Bomber Crew
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Oct 20, 2017
Library Date: Jan 16, 2021
Unplayed: 752 days
Playtime: 22m

I had to do some digging around for this one, because when I looked it up in my activations list on Steam, it appeared that I'd bought the retail version, and I couldn't understand why I would have done that.

Turns out that I received it as a freebie, which made me feel better. Slightly.

Bomber Crew, is a cartoonish strategy sim in which you manage the crew of a World War 2 Lancaster bomber, including shooting down enemy planes, aerial reconnaissance, and in an unexpected twist, dropping bombs.

I played the first two tutorial missions, and found the controls incredibly frustrating. I only played the second tutorial mission because it increased the crew size, and I needed to cross the 15 minute mark, and I was just... bored.

I just didn't connect with the game at all. I can see how the difficulty could ramp up, but I feel like my frustration would ramp up as well, with the "zoom into the plane to manage the crew" mechanic.

I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt, and try it again when I'm not quite as please-don't-let-these-symptoms-be-COVID.

Right now, Bomber Crew is a tentative:

2: Meh

#BomberCrew #Strategy #Simulation #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Feb 8, 2023 - Day 39 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 46

Game: Fractured Minds
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Nov 14, 2019
Library Date: Oct 25, 2020
Unplayed: 936 days
Playtime: 31m

Fractured Minds is a difficult game to review; the 31 minutes playtime is playing it to completion.

I have 6 out of 9 achievements in the game, already.

It's an evocative experience, that speaks to experiencing & living with mental health issues, and does a wonderful job of eliciting an experience of those feelings, without triggering them.

The musical score is fitting, and the gameplay challenges, insofar as they exist, are not overwhelming.

It's not going to win any beauty pageants, but it's not meant to.

Fractured Minds is less a game, and more of an experience, and it's:

4: Good

#FracturedMinds #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Feb 10, 2023 - Day 41 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 47

Game: Shady Part of Me
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Dec 11, 2020
Library Date: Feb 10, 2023
Unplayed: 0 days
Playtime: 18m

It finally happened. I missed a day. On-call, and yesterday was a hugely eventful day in my personal life. Woke up this morning, and realised that I'd missed my NewPlay (and that's why I built a buffer!)

Shady Part of Me is a perfect example of why I still subscribe to Humble Choice, AND why this project is worth my time. When this month's games showed up, I decided I'd play one of them as a NewPlay.

Shady Part of Me is a platformer. It is visually exquisite, a mix of 2D and 3D animation, a limited palette, with watercolour washes everywhere. The audio is sublime. The storyline is, thus far, intriguing.

I've said before that I'm not a big fan of platformers, but this is one I want to come back to.

If it wasn't so late, and I wasn't so tired, I'd have kept playing.

Shady Part of Me is beautiful, and may be the first time I've given a platformer a review of:

5: Excellent

#ShadyPartOfMe #Platformer #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Feb 11, 2023 - Day 42 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 48

Game: Last Inua
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Dec 11, 2014
Library Date: Jul 26, 2021
Unplayed: 565 days
Playtime: 19m

I didn't intend to play two platformers in row, but it's the downside of going in without warning.

Yesterday and today were chalk and cheese, and unfortunately for Last Inua, it suffers greatly in comparison to The Shady Part of Me.

Last Inua is moody and atmospheric, but in a way I find unsettling. It's the story of an Inuit father and son, fighting to survive in the Arctic.

Unfortunately, both the controls and the gameplay are frustratingly opaque. There were several sections where timing was required to pass a series of hazards, yet the timing of the hazards appeared to be random, meaning you might get past two, only to be unexpectedly killed on the third one, and next time around you die almost immediately.

Whereas last night I was eager to keep going, and only stopped because I needed sleep, tonight I kept looking at the clock, hoping I was close to fifteen minutes.

I don't know if there's a happy ending to the story for this father and son, and it's unlikely I'll ever find out, because Last Inua is:

2: Meh

#LastInua #Platformer #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Feb 12, 2023 - Day 43 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 49

Game: Serena
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Jan 31, 2014
Library Date: Oct 6, 2021
Unplayed: 494 days
Playtime: 41m

Managed to avoid a platformer hat-trick, but I might have preferred a platformer.

This point-and-click whodunit was completed in a single 41 minute playthrough. It was apparently some kind of collaborative effort, and was given away free.

I was marginally invested in trying to unravel the who, but the limited gameplay was quite frustrating. Click on things repeatedly until you get all the dialogue variations, then move onto the next thing. When the clock chimes start over, with the clicking and the dialogue, and there's 41 minutes of my life I won't get back.

I give Serena a rating of:

2: Meh

#Serena #PointAndClick #Whodunit #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Feb 13, 2023 - Day 44 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 50

Game: Steamworld Dig 2
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Sep 22, 2017
Library Date: Nov 11, 2021
Unplayed: 459 days
Playtime: 21m

Another platformer... ish.

Broke my rule for game #50, because it was getting late and it was the first unplayed game I hit in the list.

Way back in the dark ages of iOS (2009), there was a game that I became obsessed called "I Dig It". You control a mining vehicle, and you dig things up, and you bring them to the surface, upgrade the vehicle, and go back down to mine some more. Rinse & repeat.

SteamWorld Dig was fundamentally the same model, and I didn't mind that in the slightest. I played for a couple of hours, and then haven't played since.

SteamWorld Dig 2 adds platforming, before I got anywhere near digging things up. It required a frustrating timing combo of button presses to work my way through the game, and I was ready to give up, thinking that they'd completely redesigned the game concept.

Nope, you just have to get through that frustrating level to get to the digging. Once into the digging, it feels more like its predecessor.

Unfortunately, it feels a bit like in trying to make SteamWorld Dig better, they made it a bit worse. I'm willing to give it another shot, though.

SteamWorld Dig 2 is:

3: OK

#SteamWorldDig2 #Platformer #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Feb 14, 2023 - Day 45 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 51

Game: The Uncertain: Light at the End
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Oct 9, 2020
Library Date: Jul 23, 2021
Unplayed: 571 days
Playtime: 38m

The Uncertain: Light at the End is a point-and-click adventure set in a post-robot-uprising society where the remaining humans are being hunted by the robots, as robots build a new society.

The narrative is interesting, the graphics are great (apart from the way the human characters move, which is... odd).

Find things, click on things, the occasional QTE.

The Uncertain: Light at the End is:

3: OK

#TheUncertain #Adventure #PointAndClick #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Feb 15, 2023 - Day 46 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 52

Game: Robocraft
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Aug 14, 2021
Library Date: Jul 24, 2021
Unplayed: 571 days
Playtime: 24m

Robocraft: Build robots out of components, destroy other robots in third person perspective, upgrade your robot, rinse and repeat.

I hope you like loading screens, because they're everywhere.

It feels like there's something under the skin of this game that could have been something fun, it's just... not.

Robocraft:

2: Meh

#Robocraft #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Feb 16, 2023 - Day 47 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 53

Game: State of Mind
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Aug 16, 2018
Library Date: Sep 7, 2019
Unplayed: 1259 days (3y5m10d)
Playtime: 40m

State of Mind is a point-and-click adventure (apparently a thriller), set in a futuristic Berlin.

I'd like to write something more complicated about it, but after 40mins, I'm still not quite sure what's happening. It's piqued my curiosity, though, so I'm interested in continuing for a while.

State of Mind is:

3: OK

#StateOfMind #PointAndClick #Adventure #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay