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

Feb 17, 2023 - Day 48 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 54

Game: Republique
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Feb 26, 2015
Library Date: Apr 2, 2022
Unplayed: 320 days (10m15d)
Playtime: 35m

I picked up Republique when I went on a VR game bundle spree, and bought a ton of VR games I've not even played.

The VR version of this game came with the non-VR version bundled.

Republique is a stealth game, where you assist a young woman attempting to escape from inside a facility where she is due to undergo reprogramming.

Or something. I'm not a big fan of stealth games, as I feel like I invariably miss something important, and end up frustrated.

You bounce from camera to camera, while trying to find things in the environment to protect her, and keep her phone charged.

In the right mood, I'd probably spend another couple of hours with Republique, because it's:

3: OK

#Republique #Steaslth #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Feb 18, 2023 - Day 49 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 55

Game: Superflight
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Nov 9, 2017
Library Date: Nov 2, 2020
Unplayed: 838 days (2y3m16d)
Playtime: 18m

Superflight is a voxel-based game in which you control a person in a wingsuit, and attempt to fly as close to obstacles and through gaps, and rack up as many points as possible.

That's it. That's the game. This is a simple, yet slightly frustrating game, and I'm not sure whether it's because I need to adjust the controller sensitivity more, or whether I just lack the necessary coordination.

There's no soundtrack, just the sound of the wind as you swoop and dodge, and it works.

Superflight is:

3: OK

#Superflight #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Feb 19, 2023 - Day 50 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 56

Game: GRIP: Combat Racing
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Nov 6, 2018
Library Date: May 3, 2020
Unplayed: 1022 days (2y9m16d)
Playtime: 21m

I have a surprising number of platformers, and point-and-click adventures for someone who's not a huge fan of either genre.

Finally managed to pick out a game that wasn't either. This one is a racing game (I mean, it's right there in the name!).

In GRIP you race vehicles which will can flip over and drive in either orientation, as well as on the walls and ceilings of the track. You can also pick up power-ups, to attack the people you're racing against and... it's basically post-apocalyptic Mario Kart.

GRIP, just like almost every game in the past week is:

3: OK

#GRIP #Racing #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Feb 20, 2023 - Day 51 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 57

Game: Little Nightmares
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Apr 28, 2017
Library Date: Dec 4, 2018
Unplayed: 1539 days (4y2m16d)
Playtime: 29m

Speaking of platformers as I did yesterday... another one.

Little Nightmares is a supremely creepy 3D-ish platformer in which you play a small child, trying to escape from a vessel, possibly a ship, with only a lighter to guide your way.

The atmosphere sends shivers down my spine, the soundscape is perfect. A couple of the visuals could almost have used a content warning, not gory, but traumatic for some people.

Little Nightmares is:

4: Good

#LittleNightmares #Platformer #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Feb 21, 2023 - Day 52 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 58

Game: The Dwarves
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Dec 2, 2016
Library Date: Dec 4, 2018
Unplayed: 1541 days (4y2m18d)
Playtime: 32m

The review is late, but I played this game last night. Yesterday was pretty heavy emotionally, and I wasn't really up to staying past midnight to review The Dwarves as well.

Today was pretty hectic, and I wondered whether it might be useful to let my feelings on The Dwarves steep for a bit, to see if I could review it better.

It didn't help. The Dwarves is quite nice graphically, the voiceovers are well done, the gameplay is... really hard to put my finger on.

The Dwarves is a fully 3D isometric RPG. I generally play 15-30 minutes of a game to get a feel for it. Even after 32 minutes, I couldn't get a feel for this game.

The pieces are all there, but it is feeling its age a bit. It didn't drag me in to keep playing, but it didn't make me want to quit and play something else. It just... is.

I think I'll come back to it, and see if it it clicks if I get a bit further into the game.

For now, The Dwarves is barely:

3: OK

#TheDwarves #RPG #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Feb 22, 2023 - Day 53 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 59

Game: Purrfect Date
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Dec 15, 2017
Library Date: Jan 30, 2019
Unplayed: 1484 days (4y23d)
Playtime: 17m

Oh my word, did the "don't read about the game beforehand" bite me today.

About 10 minutes into Purrfect Date, I was wondering when the scene-setting for the game would finish, and the game would start.

Yeah, turns out that Purrfect Date (which came in yet another Humble Bundle) is a visual novel (and, apparently dating sim?)

It's about cats, and it may turn out to be a wonderful visual novel slash dating sim, but as a game, for me?

Purrfect Date is a big old:

1: Nope

#PurrfectDate #VisualNovel #DatingSim #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Feb 23, 2023 - Day 54 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 60

Game: Driftland: The Magic Revival
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Apr 19, 2019
Library Date: May 3, 2020
Unplayed: 1026 days (2y9m20d)
Playtime: 15m

While I don't look at the info about the game beforehand, I usually look at it after.

Particularly in the case of Driftland: The Magic Revival, because I wasn't exactly sure what kind of game I'd just played.

Apparently, it's meant to be an "old-school RTS", but I played old-school RTS games; I cut my teeth on Dune II, Warcraft II (the first RTS I ever bought), and Starcraft.

This just doesn't gel in the same way. I found it somewhat confusing, with a quirky interface that felt overloaded, but with instructions that felt like they'd been written in another language and then run through Google Translate.

But when I check the reviews on Steam, it's "Mostly Positive".

Am I the problem? At least there's someone out there who enjoys it.

Driftland: The Magic Revival won't be revived any time soon. It's a bit:

2: Meh

#Driftland #RTS #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Feb 24, 2023 - Day 55 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 61

Game: Valfaris
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Oct 11, 2019
Library Date: Aug 4, 2022
Unplayed: 204 days (6m20d)
Playtime: 16m

Valfaris is an old-school pixel-art platformer, with a heavy metal soundtrack. Two out of three of these things I dislike, one I can tolerate. They all come together like a delicious meal of liver, peas, and beans.

I hate this game. Not ironically. I genuinely hate it. I spent the last few frustrating minutes trying not to watch the clock.

Some platformers are forgiving if you don't get the timing quite right on your moves.

This is not one of those. It requires a level of timing and coordination that my brain is not, and never has been, wired for.

Some folks can play this kind of game, and just flow through the game like water. I flow like bricks, and wanted to throw one at the screen.

If this kind of platformer is your bag, more power to you, but for me Valfaris is a straight-up:

1: Nope

#Valfaris #PixelArt #Platformer #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Feb 25, 2023 - Day 56 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 62

Game: Do Not Feed The Monkeys
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Oct 24, 2018
Library Date: May 14, 2019
Unplayed: 1383 days (3y9m11d)
Playtime: 91m

And now for something completely different...

Don't Feed The Monkeys is a pixel-art based surveillance sim. At least I think that's the best way of describing it.

If you'd asked me how long I'd been playing it for, I would have said 30 minutes, maybe 45 minutes.

It was an hour and a half.

Which is strange for a game that, quite honestly, I wasn't really enjoying that much. I just couldn't quite get my head into the right space for it.

I'm not sure if that's the way the game works, or the lack of instructions, and just having to find your way through, or just the realisation that it IS a surveillance game, and I'm deeply uncomfortable with the implications, and cannot just set them aside.

In any case, the game isn't bad on a technical level, but I can't see myself playing it again, so Don't Feed the Monkeys is:

2: Meh

#DontFeedTheMonkeys #PixelArt #Surveillance #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 27, 2023 - Day 58 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 64

Game: Gas Guzzlers Extreme
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Oct 9, 2013
Library Date: Jul 18, 2019
Unplayed: 1320 days (3y7m9d)
Playtime: 17m

Gas Guzzlers Extreme (GGE) is EXTREME, and you know it's EXTREME because everything is distressed metal capital letters, but the X in EXTREME is bigger and on fire and EVEN MORE EXTREME.

What we've got here is a fairly middling racing game from 2013, with guns mounted on the cars enabling you to shoot cars in front and behind you, and you can pick up power-ups around the track.

Basically Mario Kart with more realistic cars and guns.

The problem for GGE, is that I'm playing it for the first time in a world where Forza Horizon exists. Forza has spoiled me for other arcade racing games.

Unfortunately for Gas Guzzlers Extreme, the intervening 10 years between release and now has not been kind.

Sure, I can shoot the other cars, but I can have a lot more fun in any of the *four* Forza Horizon games released since 2013, and having fun driving is kind of the point for an arcade racing game.

In 2013, Gas Guzzlers Extreme was probably a lot of fun, but now it's just kind of:

2: Meh

#GasGuzzlersExtreme #Racing #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Feb 28, 2023 - Day 59 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 65

Game: A Story About My Uncle
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: May 28, 2014
Library Date: Jan 11, 2019
Unplayed: 1509 days (4y1m17d)
Playtime: 20m

I'm on call this week, and it's kind of messed up my ability to play AND review games, so I played this on Tuesday, but am now getting the review done.

A Story About My Uncle is a first-person 3D platformer. It has something of a push-pull effect on me.

On one hand, the story (as it is), keeps pulling me forward, but the control scheme keeps pushing me away.

Unfortunately for ASAMU, the pull isn't enough to overcome the push.

In terms of design and sound, it's an atmospheric game, that really reinforces the story, but unfortunately, I just found myself repeatedly getting frustrated with the controls.

I'm not ready to delete it, but I'm unsure as to whether I'll be drawn to play it again.

For now, I'll give A Story About My Father a rating of:

3: OK

#AStoryAboutMyFather #FirstPerson #Platformer #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Mar 1, 2023 - Day 60 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 66

Game: X-Morph: Defense
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Aug 30, 2017
Library Date: Jan 10, 2020
Unplayed: 1146 days (3y1m19d)
Playtime: 28m

Remember when tower defense games were the flavour of the month, and everyone seemed to be making one?

X-Morph: Defense is an isometric, sci-fi, tower defense/top-down shooter mash-up... in which you play the bad guys.

As part of an alien fleet invading Earth, you control a ship that can attack the ground & airborne defenders, while also building towers, and creating blockages to increase the path lengths of the attackers.

There are five waves per level, and in the last wave, you face off against a single boss.

Loading up, I was a bit "Oh, a tower defense game." By the time I finished the level, it was after midnight, and I was "more, please".

Except, I'm on call, and I really do need to go to bed.

Load up X-Morph: Defense and lay the smackdown on those xenophobic humans, because it's:

4: Good

#XMorphDefense #TowerDefense #Shooter #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Mar 2, 2023 - Day 61 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 67

Game: Immortal Redneck
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Apr 26, 2017
Library Date: Jan 30, 2019
Unplayed: 1492 days (4y1m2d)
Playtime: 17m

One day, someone asked the question "What if a redneck on holidays in Egypt was turned into an immortal mummy?"

Unfortunately, Immortal Redneck is the answer.

The best way to put it would be "What if Serious Sam, but a redneck & less fun?"

It does throw in some roguelite elements, and a skill tree, so those are definitely things that are in the game, but it just feels so pointless.

After the first few minutes of killing mobs, I was looking at the clock, wanting my fifteen minutes to be up, and then finally, blessedly, it was.

If you're looking for a fun FPS with some roguelite elements, keep looking.

Immortal Redneck is:

2: Meh

#ImmortalRedneck #FPS #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Mar 3, 2023 - Day 62 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 68

Game: What Remains of Edith Finch
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Apr 25, 2017
Library Date: Dec 26, 2022
Unplayed: 67 days (2m5d)
Playtime: 24m

I'm not quite sure what kind of game What Remains of Edith Finch is. I think it's an exploration game?

What I do know is that it hooked me pretty quickly; the story was fascinating from the get-go.

I've slowly worked my way through the story to the point I feel like I'm on the verge of something, and it's a game I'm going to need to come back to when I'm not utterly exhausted.

What Remains of Edith Finch has grabbed me in that short time, and I'm rating it:

4: Good

#WhatRemainsOfEdithFinch #Exploration #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Mar 4, 2023 - Day 63 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 69. Nice.

Game: Tomb Raider
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Mar 5, 2013
Library Date: Jan 8, 2018
Unplayed: 1881 days (5y1m24d)
Playtime: 29m

No, not that Tomb Raider. Not that one either. The other one. The 2013 reboot. In terms of franchises I've never played, Tomb Raider might be at the top of the list.

The closest I've come in all the time since the first Tomb Raider in 1996 to playing anything in the series is Tomb Raider GO several weeks ago.

Not exactly representative of the series. If you've been living under a rock for the last 27 years, Tomb Raider is a series of action-adventure games centred on the character of Lara Croft, an archaeologist.

The biggest surprise to me about this game is that it does not feel like a 10-year-old game. It plays like something far more recent.

I'm already hooked; the only reason I didn't keep playing is that it was time for our evening walk.

Yeah, I think Tomb Raider is:

4: Good

#TombRaider #ThirdPerson #ActionAdventure #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Mar 5, 2023 - Day 64 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 70

Game: Bright Memory: Infinite
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Nov 12, 2021
Library Date: Nov 12, 2021
Unplayed: 478 days (1y3m21d)
Playtime: 33m

This was a weird game to calculate how long I owned it, because technically I owned it about 18 months before it was released.

It's ostensibly a sequel to Bright Memory, but is actually a remake and expansion of Bright Memory. Bright Memory: Infinite was given to everyone who'd bought Bright Memory on Steam.

The thing is, I tried playing Bright Memory after bought it; after 9 minutes, went "Nope, wasted my money", and haven't touched it since.

Bright Memory: Infinite dropped at the end of 2021, and I brushed it off. Which is a shame, in hindsight.

I'll have to go back and take another look at Bright Memory, I think, to see if I was having a bad day, or if BM:I "fixed" what I didn't like about it.

As it turns out, BM:I is quite a lot of fun. BM:I is a sci-fi FPS with melee elements, but in spite of being built on Unreal Engine 4, it doesn't feel like other FPS games.

I'm not sure if it's because the developer is Chinese and brings a different aesthetic to the design of the game, or if it's because the gameplay implements this unusual sword and gunplay combo playstyle, but I'm really enjoying it.

In keeping with the last few days, Bright Memory: Infinite is:

4: Good

#BrightMemoryInfinite #FPS #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Mar 6, 2023 - Day 65 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 71

Game: Black Mesa
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Mar 6, 2020
Library Date: Sep 18, 2021
Unplayed: 534 days (1y5m16d)
Playtime: 54m

Today's game is weird for a whole different reason to yesterday's game.

Black Mesa started out as a mod, and then was turned into a full remake of Half-Life with the blessing of Valve.

In one way, it's a replay, but in another, it's a whole new game.

Half-Life was amazing for its time. I played it, and completed it, before Half-Life: Source was released. I bought Half-Life: Source, but it felt like I was just replaying it; I just couldn't connect with it.

Unfortunately, therein lies the problem. While Black Mesa is a remake, and adds some new stuff to the game, I can't connect with it. It's very well made, but it's just not doing anything for me.

If you're a Half-Life fan, Black Mesa might be right up your alley, but for me it's just:

3: OK

#BlackMesa #HalfLife #FPS #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Mar 7, 2023 - Day 66 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 72

Game: Norco
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Mar 25, 2022
Library Date: Aug 8, 2022
Unplayed: 211 days (6m27d)
Playtime: 41m

I am, quite vocally, not a fan of pixel art games. As I'm reasonably certain I've said before, I lived through pixel art when it was a necessity, and I have no nostalgic sentimentality towards that era that makes me look back wistfully to a more "simple" time.

Which is why, upon starting Norco, I sighed. It was immediately obvious that I'd overlooked the fact it was a pixel art game when I bought it, and I figured I'd just suffer through it for 15 minutes and get it out of the way.

I was wrong.

Norco is a point-and-click adventure, set in and around a suburb of New Orleans, some time in a run-down future.

The soundtrack is moody & evocative, and the storyline drew me in. The only reason I didn't keep playing is that I'm somewhere south of exhausted and desperately need some sleep.

Far from my initial impression, Norco is:

4: Good

#Norco #PointAndClick #Adventure #PixelArt #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

Mar 8, 2023 - Day 67 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 73

Game: Figment
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Sep 22, 2017
Library Date: Dec 4, 2018
Unplayed: 1555 days (4y3m4d)
Playtime: 18m

Figment is a isometric action-adventure-puzzle game, that opens up with a voiceover indicating a car accident.

The voiceover does not prepare you for what you will encounter; a whimsical environment with a grumpy character named Dusty, who is being harassed by a chipper & chirpy bird named Piper.

It only gets weirder from there.

You are in... somebody's... brain (I have no idea who), and you control Dusty who is unhappy about having to track his way across this surreal landscape to retrieve his scrapbook.

The soundtrack is comes out of nowhere and thumps you with wailing guitars, and somehow it all comes together in a way that made me want to keep playing.

Figment is interesting, and thus:

4: Good

(It's also free on GOG and Steam until the 9th of March, links to follow!)

#Figment #Isometric #Adventure #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay