July 7, 2023 - Day 188 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 207

Game: Neon White

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Jun 17, 2022
Library Date: May 13, 2023
Unplayed: 55d (1m24d)
Playtime: 19m

Neon White is... um.

OK, let me try this a different way.

Neon White answers the question... nope. Got nothing. I'm unable to imagine the question to which Neon White would be the answer.

I played this at 11:45pm last night, after a long work day, and then a concert.

I spent most of today trying to work out how to review the game, because it's not really like anything I've played before.

It's part-FPS, part-puzzle game, part-3D-platformer, part-parkour, part-card battler, part-manga-visual-novel?

This is genuinely the hardest time I've had reviewing a game.

You enter the game as a character that has just died; with no memory of your past, you find yourself in ... heaven?

As a visitor, or a "Neon". You've been put into a competition; while you should be in hell, you've been tasked with earning a spot in heaven by killing the most demons who are trying to invade heaven.

You do this through the power of parkour... and guns. Lots of... cards?

Instead of guns, as you parkour around the place (thus the platforming part), you find cards. Each card represents a different weapon, and discarding the card has a secondary effect.

One card, for instance, is a handgun with thirty bullets. Run towards a demon, shoot it in the face, run past where it was, around the corner, jump and discard the card mid-jump for double-jump to allow you to reach the next platform.

Time it wrong, and you're stuck, and have to restart the level. Restarting is quick, which is good, because you'll be doing it a lot; you need to chain all of these different moves together, because traversing the level is timed, and the faster you complete it, the better the rewards.

The better the rewards, the better the chance that you'll win first place, and the place in heaven.

Neon White is weird and frantic and challenging and...

4: Good...?

#NeonWhite #Parkour #FPS #Platformer #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

July 8, 2023 - Day 189 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 208

Game: Brink

Platform: Steam
Release Date: May 10, 2011
Library Date: Apr 28, 2023
Unplayed: 71d (2m10d)
Playtime: 33m

Brink was an online multiplayer squad-based FPS. It's still most of that, but the online aspect is all but dead.

I saw this game in April; IIRC, it was "Oh! A Bethesda game I don't own. Why have I never heard of this? It's free?"

You get what you pay for, I guess.

Brink was developed by Splash Damage and published by Bethesda.

Splash Damage? Now there's a name I haven't heard in a long time. A long time.

After developing some third-party maps for Return to Castle Wolfenstein in the early aughts, Splash Damaged released a free standalone multiplayer-only expansion for RtCW called "Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory".

I sank dozens, if not hundreds of hours into ET. It was the first online multiplayer game that really hooked me. I knew the maps like the back of my hand.

In Brink, I can feel the echoes of ET, but with none of the hook. Apart from the near-dead multiplayer experience, the single player campaign is just drudgery.

The first, and absolute killer, is that all of the avatars are male. All of the in-game characters are male. All of the characters in the cut-scenes are male, even in the crowds.

This post-global-warming-sea-rise-ecological-disaster world apparently has no women. You can customise the hell out of your avatar, Henry Ford style. Anything you want, as long as it's a dude.

This is not a critique, so much as a statement about where I am in life. Playing as a male avatar is discomforting, because of the decades of having to exist in the real world feeling like I was desperately trying to play the role of a man.

It just totals my inability to form a connection to the game world.

It doesn't mean I can't play a game where the avatar is male, it's just that the game has to excel in enough other areas that I can lose myself.

Brink is 12 years old, and exists in a world of games with better single-player campaigns, better gameplay, and with actual humans to play with (or against) in multiplayer.

The only thing that Brink can contribute moving forwards is freeing up 5Gb of space on my PC's hard drive.

Brink is:

2: Meh

#FPS #Platformer #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

July 9, 2023 - Day 190 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 209

Game: Hard Reset Redux

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Jun 3, 2016
Library Date: Dec 4, 2018
Unplayed: 1678d (4y7m5d)
Playtime: 27m

Hard Reset Redux is something unexpected: a cyberpunk-themed pure FPS.

I've encountered so many genre-mashing games over the past few weeks, that it broke my brain a little trying to categorise this game, until it clicked that it's simply a classic FPS, with hidden areas, linear staged levels, and almost all.

The game is titled "Redux" because it's effectively a remaster of the original Hard Reset released in 2012 (which I also own, but haven't ever played).

I say "almost all" because unlike something like Doom or Quake, there aren't scads of different types of weapons strewn about. You get two weapons, and in-game credit caches, which allow you to purchase upgrades for those weapons along the way.

There was... something... about the gameplay that I couldn't quite put my finger on. The developer (Flying Hog Games) rang a bell.

Back in March I played another linear FPS -Evil West- for the first time. When I looked up Flying Hog Games after playing, I found that they were the dev team behind Evil West as well.

Much like yesterday's game, it feels like the dev team's DNA is comes through in the gameplay.

Unfortunately, much like Brink, Hard Reset is a 7 year old game (which is a remaster of a 12 year old game), and suffers in comparison to newer games.

However, it feels much less grindy than Brink, and being a single-player FPS rather than a multi-player FPS with a single-player campaign with bots shoehorned into the game, gives it just enough juice that it becomes one of those "I'll play this if I'm in the mood for something cyberpunk and shooty that's not Cyberpunk 2077."

Hard Reset Redux is (only just):

3: OK

#FPS #Cyberpunk #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

July 9, 2023 - Day 190 - NewPlay Bonus Review
Total NewPlays: 210

Game: The Surge 2

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Sep 24, 2019
Library Date: Apr 30, 2023
Unplayed: 70d (2m9d)
Playtime: 79m

The Surge was one of the earliest reviews I did in this project, and the game that gave me an understanding of the mechanics of Soulslike gameplay.

In April I found that I had a Steam Key for The Surge 2, from the Humble Choice July 2021 bundle, and so I loaded it up.

For the last few days, it's been bugging me that the gap between play days and new plays was 19 days. It feels... unordered. Threw in a bonus newplay to round it up to 20.

The Surge 2, like its predecessor, is a sci-fi themed third-person Soulslike action-RPG.

It's also the game I've sworn more at than any other since January 1.

I've gotten frustrated with some games, but my frustration with The Surge 2 was on a whole different level.

After a cut-scene intro, followed by a character creator, you wake up on a hospital table in a prison.

Unlike the first game, you don't have an exo-suit, just a couple of defibrillator gauntlets. Yeah, I have no idea why.

The game does the same thing as the first one, too. Throws you up against larger enemies to teach you the movesets, and then suddenly throws you up against an armored boss.

Clad only in a hospital gownsuit (no bare bums here), and a pair of defibrillator gauntlets.

I died.
And died.
And died, and died, and died some more.

For the first 45 minutes I couldn't even land a single hit on him before he took me out.

The swearing became increasingly copious, eventually quitting out in frustration, and looking up a Google video on how to kill the boss.

It didn't help.

I went back in, and locked on, targeting the one exposed part of his body (his head).

Died.

Died some more.

Eventually I got a single hit in.

Died a few more times, ragequit and went grocery shopping.

Came back from the shopping, sat down at the PC and tried again.

I died.

I honestly don't understand what people see in Soulslikes. The sheer frustration of dying over and over again.

Eventually, I was managing to avoid him, so I was still dying, just slower.

Then I noticed he was telegraphing his attacks, and there were... gaps. I might be able to land a punch and retreat.

I did.

Then two attacks in a row.

I started to feel the pattern. I still died, but I was doing increasing damage.

Then suddenly... I didn't die. He did.

I won the fight.

It was then, that I understood what it is that people see in Soulslikes. Breaking through that frustration to clarity.

The satisfaction of taking down a boss that seemed impossible to kill, or even hit. Not by coming back with bigger guns, but by recognising the patterns, and countering them.

The Surge 2 is the Soulslike that gave me an understanding of the satisfaction to be found in Soulslikes, and is:

4: Good

#ThirdPerson #SciFi #ActionRPG #Soulslike #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

July 10, 2023 - Day 191 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 211

Game: Neon Abyss

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Jul 15, 2020
Library Date: Jan 28, 2022
Unplayed: 528d (1y5m12d)
Playtime: 19m

Neon Abyss is a bright pixel-art-based twin-stick roguelite platformer. This is another (technically) unplayed game. I actually took a couple of shots at it in 2022, totalling less than ten minutes of playtime (less than 15m = unplayed).

I figured that with my improved controller skills, it might make more sense, and I was correct.

To describe it as "bright" is kind of an understatement. It really does lean into the titular "neon". The lighting effects are wonderful, and the EDM soundtrack really fits the feel of the game.

Rooms are procedurally generated, so you're not getting the same experience twice, which is interesting.

However, the controls feel a little bit counter-intuitive, as using the right stick for shooting means that a non-thumb button needs to be assigned to jumping, which is the left trigger on the controller.

While the buttons can be remapped (yay!), there's no sensible button to map it to. I keep instinctively going for the A button when I'm not shooting. I think I'll get used to it, though.

The more games I play, the more I find myself comparing a given game to others that are similar, which is becoming increasingly complicated, but also helps clarify which games really stick out to me.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps, and Grime, both stick out as comparisons, but also that make me feel like jumping back into one of them.

What it comes down to seems like "Is this a game that feels different enough to draw me back again?" I think that maybe the answer is "yes".

Neon Abyss is a brightly lit:

3: OK

#2D #PixelArt #Platformer #TwinStick #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

July 11, 2023 - Day 192 - PlayOn Bonus Review

Game: Insurmountable

Platform: Epic/Steam
Release Date: Apr 29, 2021
Library Date: Apr 14, 2022/Nov 22, 2022

Playtime: 8h43m (7h19m/34m)

Decided to throw in a little something for the games I've played a lot, and come back to. Welcome to "PlayOn".

Insurmountable is a hextile-based roguelike adventure about climbing mountains. This is not a game, in any way, that interested me. I hadn't even heard of it when Epic gave it away for free. On one particularly down day, I was looking for something laid back to play, and was sorting through the games I'd gotten free on Epic and I installed it just for the hell of it.

The reason for the split scores in the summary, is that despite my antipathy towards the Epic Games Store, Insurmountable kept me coming back.

When it came up on special on Steam in November, it was an instant buy. It then sat unplayed because I started this whole thing.

The game's storyline is that of a mountain climber who comes to a remote island for a bit of climbing, and find themselves caught in a time loop, with a stranger.

As you go on, you can unlock two other characters, a scientist, and a journalist.

There are three mountains to be scaled, with each mountain having a number of quests on procedurally generated maps.

Some of the quests are suited more to one specific character, with extra rewards if completed with that character.

As you go on, you level each of the characters, and pick up gear that can be used by all three characters.

Each map presents a number of challenges and terrains; with a limited carrying capacity, you must decide which gear to take with you.

All characters have a set of five stats: Sanity, Temperature, Energy, Oxygen, and Health.

Events on the mountain will affect each of these stats. Get caught in a crevasse? Might affect your sanity & health. The further you move without resting, the more energy you use.

Climbing during a blizzard, down goes your temperature. When you hit the "Death Zone", your energy & oxygen use increase.

Unexpected events can suddenly wipe out your energy, which means that while you can continue moving, the risk of further events shoots up exponentially.

When you run out of energy, if you have food in your pack, that might save you, but otherwise you need to rest.

Sleeping where you are can recover some energy, but out in the open? Temperature drop. You can carry a tent in your pack that takes up a lot of room, but gives you three safe sleeps before it crumbles to dust. Or you can hightail it towards a cave.

Make it to the summit, then to your destination, or fail and die; each time you're returned to the bunker, and "the stranger" to start another loop.

For a game I didn't think I'd like, Insurmountable is:

5: Excellent

#Insurmountable #Roguelike #Adventure #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #PlayOn

July 11, 2023 - Day 192 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 212

Game: Dark Future: Blood Red States

Platform: Steam
Release Date: May 17, 2019
Library Date: Jan 5, 2020
Unplayed: 1283d (3y6m6d)
Playtime: 15m

Dark Future: Blood Red States is a car-combat RTS based on a TTRPG. Set in an alt-history post-apocalyptic wasteland thanks to the corporations that took over the United States when Nixon beat Kennedy, you are a road warrior, tasked with...

Yeah, honestly, I just kind of gave up trying to follow everything after a while.

You're a brain in jar, controlling a car that has to fight other cars until a boss car shows up, and if you win, you get cash to upgrade your car and run another mission.

Except you do not actually "control" the car. Your brain-in-a-jar tells the AI what to do, and the AI changes lanes, and fires the guns.

I did not win the first mission. I did not feel any desire to give it another try. I just found it frustrating to try and manage all the moving parts, before being overwhelmed by other cars while trying to kill the "boss" car.

I did not care for it, and it was the first game in a while that I was thankful when I hit the 15 minute mark.

Dark Future: Blood Red States is a:

1: Nope

#RTS #CarCombat #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

July 12, 2023 - Day 193 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 213

Game: Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Aug 22, 2014
Library Date: May 17, 2019
Unplayed: 1517d (4y1m25d)
Playtime: 20m

Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition (yeah, I'm not retyping that constantly) is not what I expected. It's one of those games I repeatedly skipped over, because I assumed it was a luchador-themed beat-em-up.

Turns out it's actually a 2D Día de los Muertos/luchador-themed Metroidvania brawler mashup.

For a game that's 9 years old, it doesn't play like a game that old. It feels like it could have been released in the last couple of years, and I think that's largely down to the art-style.

It's also multiplayer co-op playable, but I've not had the chance to test that yet.

Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition is:

4: Good

#Guacamelee! #Metroidvania #2D #Platformer #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

July 13, 2023 - Day 194 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 214

Game: Ghostrunner

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Oct 28, 2020
Library Date: Jul 18, 2022
Unplayed: 360d (11m25d)
Playtime: 15m

Ghostrunner is a first-person sword-slasher game. It is deeply, frustratingly fast.

I am deeply, frustratingly, exhausted. I spent most of the evening trying to troubleshoot my PC to find out why it had suddenly turned into a snail. It appears that one of my usual running apps has been "updated" in a way that means I now get 8-10 FPS in-game.

This was after the discovery that at some stage recently, Riot games started forcing their POS launcher to automatically run "in the background" if the Xbox app was running.

Except it appeared to somehow be triggering a subset of the Xbox app to run, even if the Xbox app wasn't actually running, meaning it was unkillable.

Long story short, what Riot began with Valorant's shitty DRM, they finished with this stunt. I still had LoL installed on my machine from when my son tried to convince me to start playing it, so every trace of every piece of Riot's garbage has been wiped off my system.

After two hours of this collective bullshit, I barely had enough time to actually play Ghostrunner before midnight.

I suspect that I'm just too exhausted at this point to coordinate my hands well enough to not die repeatedly (somewhere close to 60 deaths within 15 minutes). The game helpfully keeps count.

I'm going to give Ghostrunner the benefit of the doubt, mark it down for a RePlay, and rate it:

3: OK

#GhostRunner #FirstPersonSlasher #Parkour #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

July 14, 2023 - Day 195 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 215

Game: Going Under

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Sep 24, 2020
Library Date: Dec 25, 2022
Unplayed: 201d (6m19d)
Playtime: 82m

Going Under is a roguelite dungeon crawler set in a late-stage capitalist hellscape and I am absolutely here for it.

I got almost 4 hours sleep on Thursday night, and woke up feeling pretty ragged.

When I got home from work I was down to one cylinder, and went grocery shopping, then came home ready to crash.

I figured I could knock 15 minutes of a game out and then write the review today.

Almost an hour and a half later I dragged myself to bed.

Dungeon crawlers are traditionally darkly-lit demon-infested horror-crawls, not brightly-lit, cartoonish, horror-crawls. The horror in Going Under comes from the biting satire of late-stage tech-startup capitalism in a VC-funded world, with nods to anyone who's worked in a knowledge worker / IT-related role.

The game starts with your first day as an -unpaid- intern (because of course it does), watching an introductory video about your new workplace, a recently acquired subsidiary ("Fizzer") of a multi-national conglomerate ("Cubicle").

You've been assigned to Fizzer by the company's AI (of course), and just as the video gets to the explanation of why no Cubicle employee should never enter the dungeons underneath the Fizzer office, your Project Manager boss assigns you to enter the dungeons underneath the Fizzer office to kill the "monsters" that are invading.

The dungeons themselves, and the monsters, are previously acquired start-ups, with names like "Joblin" (a gig worker app), and "Winkydink" (a dating app).

Between the roguelite elements and the quests to build up rep with your "mentors", Going Under really nails that "just one more run" feel.

Going Under is:

5: Excellent

#GoingUnder #Roguelite #DungeonCrawler #StartUp #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

July 15, 2023 - Day 196 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 216

Game: Vampyr

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Jun 5, 2018
Library Date: Sep 25, 2022
Unplayed: 293d (9m20d)
Playtime: 27m

Vampyr (or "I don't vant to suck your blood, but I might have to), is an open-world third-person ARPG, set in London during the 1918 Spanish Flu.

Yesterday's "I feel like hot garbage due to lack of sleep" turned out to be "Actually, sick. Again." so a game set during the Spanish flu feels vaguely appropriate.

The setup of the game is interesting, but gameplay turned out to be a little more frustrating than expected. You're a doctor who wakes up in a mass grave to find he's been turned into a vampire.

However, for some reason that I would dig around and find if I was feeling a little less half-dead, any time I turned in game, the experience would make a whip-pan seem positively leisurely in comparison.

More than once while I was trying to escape the men pursuing me, and seeking to kill me... again?... in attempting to turn a corner, I'd find myself having turned so fast I was disoriented, or worse still, running TOWARD my pursuers.

It hasn't really grabbed me at this point; if I'm in the mood for a supernaturally themed ARPG, I'm more likely to load up Ghostwire: Tokyo than Vampyr, or for vampire-on-vampire violence, probably Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt (at least as long as the servers are live).

I'll probably give Vampyr another shot when my hearing isn't going wild, but for now it's:

3: OK

#Vampyr #ThirdPerson #ARPG #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

July 16, 2023 - Day 197 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 217

Game: Violations Will Be Punished

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Mar 4, 2023
Library Date: Apr 28, 2023
Unplayed: 80d (2m19d)
Playtime: 40m

Violations Will Be Punished is a dystopian-cyberpunk-themed top-down turn-based strategy game that was free until May, and then became paid.

I've been watching Marvel's Secret Invasion in fits and starts, and other than feeling pretty much burned out on cinematic universes, the most disturbing thing about it is the AI-generated content used in the opening credits.

It just feels... wrong. Much like doing a search for a technical issue on Google, and hitting a result that initially seems reasonable, and then quickly becomes obvious that the "article" is a vaguely coherent remix of something else, and resulting in frustration.

Which brings me back to Violations Will Be Punished, which feels like a dev had some great technical ideas, some great story ideas, and no idea what to do about the graphics, so hit up an off-brand Midjourney clone to generate a bunch of graphics to touch up and drop into their game.

The gameplay feels a bit like "what if you took Command and Conquer, stripped it down and turned it into a turn-based-strategy game, and wrapped it in a thick layer of anti-corporate irony. There's some dark humour in the game that I can appreciate, and the gameplay is OK, but the dead-eyed thousand-foot stare of the characters in the cover art and the in-game avatars, and the design inconsistency, definitely gives the impression that all of the characters were spat out by a GAN, and gives the whole thing a slightly unsettling vibe.

At the core of this game, it feels like there's something there that could be good, but the execution just makes it all feel a bit:

2: Meh

#ViolationsWillBePunished #TurnBasedStrategy #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

July 17, 2023 - Day 198 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 218

Game: The Outer Worlds: Spacer's Choice Edition

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Mar 8, 2023
Library Date: Jul 16, 2023
Unplayed: 1d
Playtime: 39m

Well, I'm back on my Humble Choice arc again.

First cab off the rank, is The Outer Worlds "Spacer's Choice Edition". The Outer Worlds is a first-person ARPG that answers the question "What would the love child of Fallout: New Vegas and Firefly look like?"

The "Spacer's Choice Edition" includes all of the DLCs and some graphical spit-and-polish to the original release from October 2019.

As it turns out, after turning to Google, I suspect the main reason it feels like that is because it was developed by Obsidian who also developed... Fallout: New Vegas.

Once I reached the ship ("The Unreliable") that apparently serves as the main hub of the game, and completed the first quest onboard, I turned around and started exploring the ship.

Entering the hold, was an immediate raised-eyebrow moment, as it could have all but been the Serenity. Up the stairs, and further exploring lead me into the galley/dining area, which - once again - could have been lifted straight from Firefly.

There are differences, of course; it's obviously a homage, rather than a straight-up lift. With Disney owning Fox, I'm sure the Microsoft-owned Obsidian wasn't looking for a lawsuit.

Still, it provides some nice sans-Whedon warm-and-fuzzies.

So far -and in 39 minutes, I really didn't get very far, what with the character conversations and all, it seems like a capable ARPG that want to give a bit more time to.

It's very polished, and is gently tugging at me to come back and play a bit more, but... alas, the incessant coughing means I really need to try and sleep.

The Outer Worlds: Spacer's Choice Edition pretty much justifies the cost of this month's Humble Bundle; it's:

4: Good

#TheOuterWorlds #FirstPerson #ARPG #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

July 18, 2023 - Day 199 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 219

Game: Shotgun King: The Final Checkmate

Platform: Steam
Release Date: May 12, 2022
Library Date: Jul 18, 2023
Unplayed: 0d
Playtime: 18m

The second review for this month's Humble Choice bundle is, a little confusingly, the eighth game in the list. Every month there are eight games, and the AAA game is the first, and the eighth game is, often, pretty much the bundleware of the game.

I figured I'd get Shotgun King: The Final Checkmate out of the way early. The download clocking in at a storage-crushing 63Mb didn't improve my opinion at all.

Then I started the game. Low-res. Pixel art. It even has a "CRT effect" with levels of curvature and scanlines. If only the developers had put as much work into the gameplay.

Once again, these kind of effects have no attraction to me. I don't look at indie games like this with affection. If you want to pull the nostalgia strings, it has to be worth it.

Then I start the game. There's a series of static screens telling the story of the game, and I realise that it feels a lot like a Cinemaware game (ask your grandparent).

The evil Black King has lost all of his pawns, bishops, knights, rooks, and even his queen, to the White King (who's offered better job conditions), and now the Black King is out for vengeance, armed with his trusty shotgun.

...then up comes a chessboard.

It's chess, if chess was... a roguelike‽

Your king appears on the board, armed with said shotgun, facing a collection of pieces. Each piece moves as their traditional chess counterpart, which means a basic knowledge of chess, while not necessarily required, is certainly going to help.

Initially, you can move one square or fire. As you're on the back row, and the shotgun has a firing arc, you want to get closer; getting closer decreases your firing arc, which equals more damage.

Then white moves. After you've emptied both barrels, you need to move once to reload, then you can fire again.

If you clear the board, or kill the white king, as per chess, it's round over. At the end of each round, you get a choice between two cards, but for each card, there's a card that boosts the white side.

Which is where the roguelike strategy comes in.

As it turns out, the developers ABSOLUTELY did the work. There are (apparently) 12 rounds to win. I've made it to round 5 twice, and round 4 once. The game will allow you to move into check, and there's a certain level of shame in walking straight into the diagonal path of a pawn, given I've been playing chess for over 40 years.

It is with genuine surprise that the eight game in this month's bundle, Shotgun King: The Final Checkmate is actually:

4: Good

#ShotgunKing #Chess #Roguelike #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

July 19, 2023 - Day 200 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 220

Game: Roadwarden

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Sep 12, 2022
Library Date: Jul 18, 2023
Unplayed: 1d
Playtime: 23m

The third review for this month's Humble Choice bundle is the fourth game in the bundle, because I wanted something low impact, and Roadwarden looked like it might fit the bill.

Another pixel-art based game, but also a mash-up between an RPG, and adventure game, and interactive fiction?

Roadwarden is set in a fantasy kingdom of some kind, where you find yourself as the newly appointed "roadwarden". Shocking twist, right there.

As far as I can tell, a roadwarden is kind of a jack-of-all-trades who travels between locations in the peninsula, carrying communications, doing odd jobs, killing monsters, and completing the quests the game hands you.

It's all rendered in pixel-art shades of brown, but (thankfully) the pages of text you need to read through a rendered in a clean serif typeface (although you can choose a pixel-font if that suits you).

It hasn't really grabbed me. It was definitely low-impact, but I'm a bit too tired to read through pages and pages of text.

I'll let it sit for a few days, see if it tickles my brain (as some games do), or if I forget about it.

Roadwarden is:

3: OK

#Roadwarden #PixelArt #RPG #TextAdventure #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay #HappyBirthdayDad

July 20, 2023 - Day 201 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 221

Game: Temtem

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Sep 7, 2022
Library Date: Jul 18, 2023
Unplayed: 2d
Playtime: 29m

The fourth review for this month's Humble Choice bundle is the second game in the bundle, "Temtem".

It's a cutesy MMO... Pokémon clone. Pokémon are Temtem, Pokéballs are Temcards, the Pokédex is now a Tempedia, etc etc. Not sure how Nintendo didn't sue (cf. Dinkum & ACNH).

The closest I ever got to a Nintendo handheld of my own is a dual-screen Donkey Kong, so I never really got into the Pokémon thing.

The closest I got was Pokémon Go, which was OK for a while, but the fun wore off relatively quickly.

The thing that worked for me was the real-world aspect of Pokémon Go.

Put that into a setting where I have to wander around in a game-world and capture creatures to make them fight other creatures, and it's just really not my thing. I didn't really enjoy it when WoW added it, it's worse when it's the point of the game.

Honestly, I'm surprised I even managed to write this much about the game, because I found Temtem to be:

2: Meh

#Temtem #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

July 21, 2023 - Day 202 - No NewPlay Review

This review unintentionally left blank due to hyperfocus on upgrading my PC and not even noticing the time until well after midnight, and then suddenly it was 3am.

July 22, 2023 - Day 203 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 222

Game: Kraken Academy!!

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Sep 11, 2021
Library Date: Jul 18, 2023
Unplayed: 4d
Playtime: 24m

The fifth review for this month's Humble Choice bundle is the fifth game in the bundle; this was unintentional, but I'm not making this mistake again. I'll come back to the third game at the end of the bundle, because I'm still trying to decide what to do about it.

Kraken Academy is a... oh no, yet another retro pixel-art top-down adventure game.

I'm not going to fill up another review complaining about how retro games don't do anything for me, unless the gameplay hooks me and gets me past the visual design.

I did not get past the visual design.

The game has a lot of high-res well designed characters. They pop up in voiceover scenes to move the "action" along, but then the gameplay is back to a pixel sprites.

Kraken Academy!! is set in the titular private school, which is so run-down, it justs feels like it's missing Rick yelling at Carl about walkers.

You and your sister have been sent there, she hates you, you're there for music, one of the other students is a girl made of broccoli, named Broccoli Girl.

Smash bins to collect plastic bottles to trade in for in-game currency. Pick up quests, complete quests, which just feels like a grind to fill up the time. Apparently there's a magical kraken a little bit further into the game, but it was pretty much an exercise in clock-watching.

Kraken Academy!! feels like the filler for this month's bundle; for me it's a:

1: Nope

#KrakenAcademy #PixelArt #Adventure #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

July 23, 2023 - Day 204 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 223

Game: Merchant of the Skies

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Apr 17, 2020
Library Date: Jul 18, 2023
Unplayed: 5d
Playtime: 48m

I played yesterday, but due to some unexpected surprises, the review is super-late today.

The sixth review for this month's Humble Choice bundle is Merchant of the Skies. It has airships! It has floating sky islands! It has trading! It has pixel-art... again?

This time, your in-game avatar is literally Lemming-sized pixels (ask your great-grandparent).

I was initially frustrated by encountering another pixel-art game, but Merchant of the Skies had other frustrations in store.

This is not a game that teaches you how to play it; when I was as exhausted as I was feeling last night, poking around at things trying to understand what it was I was supposed to do did not spark joy.

Oddly enough, as I kept poking away at it, trying to run down the clock, the underlying gameplay mechanics began to reveal themselves, and the gameplay was enough to keep me playing for 45 minutes.

This is the kind of thing I was talking about in my Kraken Academy!! review. Pixel art isn't a bad thing, per se, if the gameplay supports it, and in the case of Merchant of the Skies, it works.

To the game itself. You have inherited an airship, and your job is to fly from island to island, on a top-down map, buying and selling things, and trading your way to untold riches.

It's basically a capitalism/work simulator. At first, unlocking the map and finding different islands felt interesting, but it became monotonous fairly quickly.

There are no enemies to attack you in the air, no air piracy. The only real challenges are trying not to run out of gold, and trying to make it to the nearest island without running out of energy, because if your airship runs out of energy, you're doomed!

Actually, you're not. You just get towed to the nearest energy station to buy a refill.

Unfortunately for Merchant of the Skies, there are other capitalism simulators that are more fun.

But kudos for rising above the pixel art, in any case.

Merchant of the Skies was ultimately a bit:

2: Meh

#MerchantOfTheSkies #PixelArt #Trading #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

July 24, 2023 - Day 205 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 224

Game: Ozymandias

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Apr 17, 2020
Library Date: Jul 18, 2023
Unplayed: 6d
Playtime: 74m

Another day, another late review.

I'm on call this week, which means that it's a little bit trickier to fit in a game and a review, and I had to write yesterday's review. I had enough time to squeeze in 15mins of the second last game in the Humble Bundle.

74 minutes later, yeah...

After the last two games, I didn't have a lot of hope for Ozymandias. At least it wasn't pixel art?

Turns out that Ozymandias is a "stripped down 4X". The first 4X game I tried to play (and failed at) was Reach for the Stars, and I just haven't had a lot of luck since then.

Generally, I find there are too many moving parts to keep track of, and I end up stressed out instead of relaxing. Not the good kind of stressed out where I get to through the stress to a win state.

The bad kind where I hate every minute of it.

Herein lies the surprise with Ozymandias: I had no idea it was a 4X until after I finished playing it, and read the precis for the game on Steam.

They've stripped out the bit I dislike, and left me with something that got me hooked and kept me playing *far* later than I should have.

The framing is an early 20th century expedition, where you're introduced to the "world" of Ozymandias. The game introduces you to each piece of the gameplay in a single level, and it all comes together into something very playable.

It's a top-down strategy game, and the graphics work for the playstyle. Not too simplistic, not overly complex.

I just have to make sure I don't start playing again now, because I have somewhere I need to be for dinner.

Ozymandias is:

4: Good

#Ozymandias #4X #Strategy #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

July 25, 2023 - Day 206 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 225

Game: Yakuza 4 Remastered

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Jan 29, 2021
Library Date: Jul 18, 2023
Unplayed: 7d
Playtime: 44m

This is how July's Humble Choice Bundle ends, not with a bang, but a deep sigh.

Yakuza 4 Remastered, is the ... fourth... game in the Yakuza/Like A Dragon franchise. Yakuza has a complicated history. There's a release order, and a chronological order, and this was kind of what I was worried when trying to decide whether to play Yakuza 4.

Apparently, the generally agreed-upon "best" way to play the Yakuza games is according to the chronological story starting with Yakuza 0, and being dropped straight into Yakuza 4 without the backstory did make it a bit... "Huh?"

I have trouble categorising this game, due to a lack of experience to this style of game. Even though my playtime was 44 minutes, I feel like most of that was cutscenes telling the story. It feels a lot like a playable movie, although it seems like technically it's a third-person action-adventure.

Seeing that I have Yakuza 0, looks like I might need to head back to the start.

So far, Yakuza 4 Remastered is:

3: OK

#Yakuza4 #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

July 26, 2023 - Day 207 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 226

Game: Samudra

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Sep 29, 2021
Library Date: Mar 14, 2023
Unplayed: 134d (4m12d)
Playtime: 21m

Samudra is a sideways scrolling platformer-puzzler set in an underwater world that's riven by pollution.

As the game opens, a young child dressed in a Kruegeresque oversized jumper, shorts, sneakers, and... a diving bell... is sinking to the bottom of the ocean. The further they fall, the worse the pollution becomes, until they finally hit the seabed.

This is a gorgeous game. The graphics look hand-drawn. The lighting effects are wonderful.

Unfortunately, Samudra is beautifully boring with a side-order of frustrating.

The controls are simple: WASD (or controller thumbstick), and space (or button A) for actions.

As you slowly run across the ocean floor -because you're underwater, wearing a diving bell, without any oxygen hose- you will encounter things that trigger a speech bubble containing an icon above your head. There are literally no instructions. Even the "Controls" in the menu says "You have one button. This action button."

Your job is to work out exactly what the hell you're supposed to do, and how... because most of the time, the action button does *nothing*. Until it does. There's no real indication that it's become usable, so I spent a lot of time just mashing it hoping it might suddenly do something.

You can't jump... unless you can. You can't interact with things... unless you can. The game is rendered in a lot of dark, underseas tones, with much of the junk littering the ocean floor rendered in various shades of white.

It turns out there are indicators built into the environment for when actions are available... and they're also white.

Unless they're not available yet, in which case they're a slightly different shade of white.

But it's a 2D sideways-scrolling platformer, so at least that's not confusing. Except when it is.

I found myself standing on top of a crate; jumping down from the crate triggers a quick time event. You have to jump down. There's nowhere else to go. As you land on top of the slope built out of shipping containers, one hurtles down the slope towards you from the right of the screen.

You can't outrun it. You can't jump out of the way. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. I couldn't find any way to avoid it. In frustration I alt-tabbed out to find a walkthrough.

It turns out that you need to run *towards* the shipping container, and then use the action button to step into a shadowed nook... in the Z axis.

I have no idea what I'm meant to be doing, but worse still, no idea why. Unfortunately, the beautiful atmosphere and look of this game does not compensate for the lack of fun.

Samudra is:

2: Meh

#Samudra #2D #Platformer #Puzzler #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

July 27, 2023 - Day 208 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 227

Game: The Eternal Cylinder

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Oct 14, 2022
Library Date: Mar 14, 2023
Unplayed: 135d (4m13d)
Playtime: 22m

The Eternal Cylinder is a weird game. It's a weird open-world-ish adventure-slash-survival-slash-puzzle game where you play as a little creature called a Trebhum, and you can consume stuff around you in the environment in order to evolve.

Which you need to do, to try and stay ahead of the giant unavoidable titular "Eternal Cylinder", which literally crushes everything in it's path.

Including you, if you can't get ahead of it, and to one of the towers dotted around the landscape that stop the cylinder. Temporarily.

The alien landscape reminds me of the planets in No Man's Sky, but the weirdest thing on the planet's surface might be the Trebhum. These little spehroidal* creatures start out with two eyes and a snout, which which they consume (left mouse button) and expel (right mouse button) things they find around the environment.

Some of these things help the little Trebhum evolve new abilities. Like suddenly growing legs with which to jump and run away from the giant, world-crushing cylinder.

Fortunately the game autosaves a lot because, y'all gonna need it.

All the while, the game is narrated by a friendly & gentle Englishman (who's actually a New Zealand actor, Peter Hadyen), guiding you through the things you need to do to survive.

The only reason I stopped playing was because I had my late work shift and a co-worker waiting on me to make the actual phone calls due to my lack of actual voice, otherwise I would have continued playing.

The Eternal Cylinder is crushingly:

4: Good

#TheEternalCylinder #OpenWorld #Survival #Adevnture #Puzzler #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

July 28, 2023 - Day 209 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 228

Game: Call of the Sea

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Dec 9, 2020
Library Date: Mar 10, 2023
Unplayed: 140d (4m18d)
Playtime: 5h48m

Call of the Sea is a first-person 3D puzzle game, set on an island near Tahiti, in 1934.

You play as Norah Everhart, a woman trying to unlock the mystery of the disappearance of her husband on an expedition to this remote island.

I bought this game as part of an "International Women's Day" bundle, where all the games have female protagonists. Capitalism will find any excuse for a sale, but in this case, part of the money was going to charity, and I wanted more games with female protagonists, so it felt like a win/win.

This is a wonderful game. The graphics are lush and gorgeous, and the puzzles are mostly of the kind that pushed me just enough that I enjoyed them, but not so much that you need to keep a walkthrough open in a web browser. The kind that are satisfying to solve.

The kind that kept me playing non-stop until I'd completed the game. The last game that hooked me into playing through in a single session was Firewatch, which is one of my all-time favourite games, and Call of the Sea comes close.

The game opens with Norah waking up from an odd dream, in a cabin on a ship, which has just reached its destination.

As Norah looks down at her hands, they're covered in small brown blotches, and her voiceover starts talking about her illness. These blotches are symptoms of her illness, and her husband's expedition to this remote -and possibly cursed- island was an attempt to find a cure.

It's Norah's illness that is at the core of this game. While to say more would involve spoilers, I think if this were just a puzzle game, I'm not sure it would have hooked me. But Norah's story, the mystery of her illness, but a smart & capable woman who refuses to let her illness define her, and whose relationship with her husband appears to be one of equals, drew me in, and as each puzzle solution revealed a little bit more of the story, I just wanted to solve one more puzzle.

The call on Call of the Sea is:

5: Excellent* (see next toot - spoilers)

#CallOfTheSea #FirstPerson #Adventure #Puzzle #Mystery #FemaleProtagonist #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

These are fundamentally game-breaking spoilers, the whole game rests on not knowing what I'm about to say.

Don't read on if you want to play (and I really recommend playing it).

So while I think Call of the Sea is excellent, the endings of the game left a slightly bitter taste in my mouth.

There's a point at the end of the game that you need to make a choice between the two endings. Excellent point to save the game so you can experience both of them.

If you play the game, there will be a song at the end of the game. It's worth listening to, as a reprise of the song earlier in the game, but as the screen fades to back, *QUIT THE GAME*. Don't let the final "after the credits" scene play out. Or mute your speakers, and minimise the screen to get the "completion" achievement, but even that is a bitter reminder.

***Here Be Huge Spoilers***

Norah's husband Harry is alive. The final after credits scene is an epilogue by Harry.

After playing as Norah, living Norah's story for almost six hours, Harry's epilogue suddenly makes the game about Harry, and how Norah's departure/death affected Harry's life, and how awful Harry's life is without Norah, and now he only has his work.

The epilogue was COMPLETELY unnecessary. Call of the Sea absolutely did not need a "Poor Harry! What about the mens?!" button on it.

Anyway, rant over. Otherwise, an excellent game.

July 29, 2023 - Day 210 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 229

Game: Othercide

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Jul 8, 2020
Library Date: Apr 30, 2023
Unplayed: 90d (2m29d)
Playtime: 29m

What's black and white and red all over? Tankies on social media. Also, Othercide.

Othercide is a roguelike tactics strategy game with an extremely limited palette. The entire game is in black and white, with shades of red.

The game initially starts out in a instructional level set in a gothic-almost-Victorian-London-by-way-of-Lovecraft 1897 where you play as "Mother", the "protector of the veil" -a warrior with Barbie feet (more on that later)- in a tactics battle with a number of supernatural monsters.

Towards the end of the battle, Mother sacrifices herself, for reasons that are not entirely clear, other than to set up the rest of the game, but she appears to be trying to stop some greater supernatural evil, called "the other" and represented by "the child"; as the child is obviously not Grogu, I have the assumption that it may, in fact, be her child? In any case, kiddo is a bad seed, and he wants to destroy... everything. Destroying the city in the first battle wasn't quite enough.

Then Mother is... kind of... resurrected. Not exactly alive, but... alive-ish? She reforms among innumerable dead bodies piled everywhere, like a naked red Barbie with just as much physical definition, but alarmingly lifelike bare buttocks, and inexplicably, "Barbie" feet that are positioned as if our shoeless Mother is wearing high heels. It's definitely a choice.

From here, you find out that through Mother's sacrifice, you are now in some kind on aethereal interstitial plane where you can spawn "daughters", in one of three roles - ranged, melee, or tank.

The thing is, in the original version of the game, there was only "Nightmare" mode. There is no healing class, because there is no healing... except for sacrificing another daughter after the battle. The game has since introduced a second mode called "Dream", where as each day passes, each daughter regains 50% of her HP back.

Maybe I won't have to sacrifice any daughters. Based on what the game told me, though, that's unlikely. It tells you upfront that dying is part of the game, and you should expect to die. A lot.

Red-Barbie-Mother aside, it's quite an interesting game. It doesn't grab me quite as much as some of the other tactics-style games I've played this year, but I can definitely see myself spending some more time with the game when I'm in the mood for something dark and angry.

Othercide is pretty:

4: Good

#Othercide #Tactics #Strategy #Roguelike #FemaleProtagonist #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

July 30, 2023 - Day 211 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 230

Game: Opus Magnum

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Dec 8, 2017
Library Date: May 3, 2020
Unplayed: 1184d (3y2m28d)
Playtime: 23m

Opus Magnum is a programming-puzzle game from Zachtronics. If you've encountered a Zachtronics game before, they're pretty much all along these lines. Well, they were along these lines, because in collecting some details about Opus Magnum, I learned that Zachtronics is no longer making games.

There are only a handful of Zachtronics games I don't own at this point. Infinifactory is on my wishlist, and Last Call BBS is available on Xbox Game Pass.

Opus Magnum is a puzzle game about programming and... alchemy?

Indeed, in Opus Magnum you build and program small machines to make increasingly complex alchemical formulae.

It's also a dangerous game for me, because it features my Kryptonite: systemisation & optimisation.

I've lost countless hours in these types of games just trying to systemise my processes.

But, as I discovered, Opus Magnum has a slightly keener edge. It has leaderboards. Not only am I trying to optimise my designs, but I can see that @tomcat is beating me.

It's a good thing I'm in a shooty shooty mood today instead of an optimisation mood, or I could see the rest of my day disappearing in this quirky little puzzle game.

The UX is a *little* bit confusing at first. It's not entirely clear how to start the first project. I clicked around on screen for a couple of minutes before unintentionally double-clicking on something I'd clicked on several times, but other than that, it seems pretty straightforward.

Opus Magnum seems:

4: Good

#OpusMagnum #Puzzle #Programming #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

July 31, 2023 - Day 212 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 231

Game: Möbius Front '83

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Nov 6, 2020
Library Date: July 31, 2022
Unplayed: 0d
Playtime: 30m

As I mentioned in my Opus Magnum review, I own most of the Zachtronics games. I went through the list, and there were four I don't own, and I recognised Möbius Front '83 as a key I had in my spreadsheet, so I installed it.

I read an interview with Zach Barth (not to be confused with Zach Braff) about ending Scrubs.

Oops... I mean ending Zachtronics. In it he mentioned that Zachtronics was known for a particular kind of game (correct), and that if he were to go back to development again, he'd want to explore a different genre of game.

Ah, there's the rub. I wish him all the best in his future endeavours, but everything about Opus Magnum that endeared the game to me is missing from Möbius Front '83.

It took me half an hour to complete the tutorial. I probably could have completed it faster had I not been exhausted, but it just felt like a grind.

Möbius Front '83 is a hextile turn-based strategy wargame. You've got infantry squads that can move only move one tile at a time, or shoot, but can move through forests and hide in them to ambush others, and can also load into a troop carrier to go further. In addition, when hiding, they can only be shot at by units in the next tile. Also, they have rocket launchers as well as rifles.

The troop carriers can go further, but appear to carry the a single rifle's worth of damage, and you lose a turn when it deploys the troops.

Tanks have guns and missiles (?), can move multiple tiles in a single turn, and then shoot in the same turn.

That about seems to kind of be it. I was just bored by the end of the tutorial.

After finishing a NewPlay, but before writing a review, I'll read one or two other reviews about the game. Not to crib from them, but to see if there's something I missed, some aspect to the game that I would have seen if I'd played longer.

It's disappointing how often a game turns out to be more of the same.

As such, with Möbius Front '83, it's interesting to note that apparently the game introduces some more interesting sci-fi stuff later in the game; the title isn't just something that sounds vaguely cool, but is actually relevant.

Unfortunately, it turns out that my initial feelings aren't that far off the mark. There is quite a bit of a grinding involved to get to that point.

Grinding in service of a storyline isn't a bad thing, per se. I played WoW for a very long time, and that's just par for the course. The key is to hook the player with the storyline first. Not just force them to grind.

In any case, Möbius Front '83 was a bit of a disappointment as a Zachtronics game. As a turn-based strategy game, it's just:

2: Meh

#MöbiusFront83 #TurnBased #HexTile #Strategy #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

August 1, 2023 - Day 213 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 232

Game: Shadows of Doubt

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Apr 25, 2023
Library Date: Aug 1, 2023
Unplayed: 0d
Playtime: 2h

When I read a review of Shadows of Doubt a few months ago it absolutely fascinated me. You're a private-investigator in a first-person voxel-based fully-simulated city sandbox, solving crimes, and through that, hunting for a serial killer.

I added it to my wishlist, and it came up as a flash-special on one of the sales websites, which in turn I had a voucher than gave me a further 10% off, which meant it was almost half-price.

I want to say I love it, but I don't know if I do. It looks wonderful. I fell in love with voxel-based games thanks to Cloudpunk, and Shadows of Doubt has a similar kind of cyberpunk visual flair.

By fully simulated, they mean that the area of the city you're in contains NPCs and critical characters that are actively going on with a life, irrelevant of your presence. It felt strangely realistic.

Unfortunately it's not an easy game to make headway in, and I don't know if that's a "game" think or a "me" thing.

You collect evidence, and you can pin it together Pepe Silvia style, but by the time I decided to quite out, I was feeling like Charlie. I'd collected so much evidence, I felt overwhelmed, and I didn't know what to throw away.

However, I was incredibly exhausted, and that probably didn't help at all. It's definitely a game I'm going to go back to, as it's in Early Access and is still being developed.

Shadows of Doubt is:

3: OK

#ShadowsOfDoubt #Voxel #FirstPerson #Mystery #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

August 2, 2023 - Day 214 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 233

Game: The Artful Escape

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Sep 10, 2021
Library Date: Oct 1, 2022
Unplayed: 306d (10m2d)
Playtime: 48m

Do you wanna rock?

I SAID DO YOU WANNA ROCK?!?

The Artful Escape is a game about the distance between who you are, and who you want to be.

Francis Vendetti is the nephew of a Dylanesque folk singer, and feels trapped in the shadow cast by his long-departed uncle.

Living in a small town, where his uncle was the primary export, the town is looking to him to bring back the glory days during the 20th anniversary celebration of his uncle's album.

The Artful Escape is essentially a (musical?) platformer, but not in a traditional platformer sense. There are no hit-the-button-at-the-right-time-or-die sequences (at least so far).

Once the story gets going, you're required to do some Simon-style pattern matching with the controller buttons, and you do, indeed, get to rock.

Graphically, this game is utterly gorgeous, and for a game that is about music, the sound is excellent.

The Artful Escape is:

4: Good

#TheArtfulEscape #Platformer #Music #Adventure #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

August 3, 2023 - Day 215 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 234

Game: Dandara: Trials of Fear Edition

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Feb 7, 2018
Library Date: Apr 7, 2019
Unplayed: 1579d (4y3m27d)
Playtime: 15m

Dandara: Trials of Fear Edition is a 2D pixel-art Metroidvania platformer.

It's not like any other platformer I've played. Instead of running and jumping, as Dandara, you fire yourself from surface to surface, but only the surfaces that are covered in salt.

As you move around the map, the map is moving relative to you as well, sometimes rotating through 90 or 180 degrees.

After the first couple of levels familiarising you with the controls, the Metroidvania aspect of the game starts to reveal itself, as you make your way back and forth through multiple areas to activate switches to raise and lower platforms covered in salt so you can traverse to the end of the level.

You also find yourself armed, to shoot environmental threats and mobs.

Unfortunately, it just didn't grab me. I found myself watching the timer waiting for the 15 minutes to be up.

Dandara is a:

1: Nope

#Dandara #Platformer #Metroidvania #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

August 4, 2023 - Day 216 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 235

Game: My Friend Pedro

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Jun 7, 2019
Library Date: Dec 16, 2022
Unplayed: 231d (7m19d)
Playtime: 20m

You're on your own kid, just you and the psychotic banana.

My Friend Pedro is a hyperkinetic shoot-em-up platformer.

You're woken up in a mob basement. unarmed, by a talking, floating... banana; I guess the banana is Pedro.

Pedro instructs you on how to navigate the levels, with walljumping, crouch-rolling, bullet-time, split shooting.

A bit like John Wick, with less coordination, a ridiculous outfit, and a talking banana.

You navigate each level via a series of different obstacles, with the ultimate goal (at least at first?) of killing "Mitch the Butcher", mob boss, restauranteur, and cannibal?

Apparently you're meant to be the meat.

The game is a frenetic ballet of trying to press a whole lot of controller buttons at the right time, and even if you don't checkpoints seem to be plentiful, so it's possible to suck and still make it through the levels on normal mode.

At the end of the level you're given a rating; C, C, B, so far, so I guess I'm improving?

In any case, this year has improved my controller mastery by far.

My Friend Pedro is chaotic:

4: Good

#MyFriendPedro #Platformer #ShootEmUp #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

August 4, 2023 - Day 216 - NewPlay Bonus Review
Total NewPlays: 236

Game: Blasphemous

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Sep 10, 2019
Library Date: Aug 4, 2022
Unplayed: 365d (1y)
Playtime: 17m

Happy Birthday to Blasphemous. I didn't realise that I activated it one year ago today. I know that at the time, I took one look at it, didn't even open it. To be honest, I'm glad I didn't.

It's another game I wouldn't have been able to appreciate had I not spent all this time working my way through my pile of shame.

Blasphemous is a 2D pixel-art soulsvania action-platformer.

It is not a pleasant game. Laced in heavy religious themes, you are the "Penitent One" travelling through the land of Cvstodia (not a typo), with your sword "Mea Culpa".

There are locations where you can save, which cause your enemies to respawn, and when you die, you need to go back to collect your stuff. So... soulsvania, I guess?

After killing the first boss, you take off your giant pointy eyeless helmet, and fill it with the blood pouring out of him.

Then you put it on.

This is actually a game I could see myself playing, in the right mood. Just a kind-of specific one.

Blasphemous is:

3: OK

#Blasphemous #Platformer #Soulsvania #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

August 5, 2023 - Day 217 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 237

Game: Titanfall 2

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Oct 28, 2016
Library Date: Nov 25, 2022
Unplayed: 253d (8m11d)
Playtime: 78m

Titanfall 2 is a first person shooter with mechs. While it has a multiplayer mode, I was focused on trying the campaign.

Technically, this is not the first time I've played Titanfall 2. I attempted to play it via Gamepass on the Xbox a few years ago, and try as I might, I just couldn't coordinate on the controller in any way that felt playable.

It was one of those games that I'd heard people rave about, and when it came up on deep sale late last year, I took the bait.

A seven year old game, with mouse and keyboard?

Yeah, that's the good stuff. Wall-running, which is a critical part of this Titanfall 2, went from making me want to throw the controller in frustration to something fluid and fun.

The gunplay while in pilot mode is incredibly satisfying. The guns feel weighty, and the sniper rifle in particular has a wonderful heft to it; putting a sniper round into a drone is particularly enjoyable.

By the end of my 78 minutes, I'd just loaded into the mech and completed the first mission, with the mech's abilities being a lot of fun, particularly the "catch all the projectiles and return-to-sender" ability.

Titanfall 2 seems:

4: Good

#Titanfall2 #FirstPerson #FPS #Mechs #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

August 6, 2023 - Day 218 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 238

Game: Builder Simulator

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Jun 10, 2022
Library Date: Jun 4, 2023
Unplayed: 63d (2m2d)
Playtime: 16m

Builder Simulator is a first-person work simulator, and most work simulators suck.

In my experience there are two kinds of games I describe as work simulators.

The first involves cleaning. I'm not sure why, but when I was experiencing quite a dark time in my mental health, I discovered House Flipper. Leaving aside the real-world ethics of house-flipping, the game is essentially a cleaning & decorating sim.

Power Wash Simulator is another oddly satisfying work sim.

Building Simulator... is not.

Building Simulator opens with your new assistant, Bill Derr. Mmm, I love the smell of bad puns in the morning (I do not.).

Bill Derr is Claptrap from Borderlands mashed up with a cement mixer, and the annoying dialed up to ten.

Bill's role is -apparently- to tell you how to play the game. I found myself in the middle of nowhere, with an outline on the ground that I had to turn into a foundation.

A cement mixer, a wheelbarrow, a couple of piles of sand, and gravel, and... "OK, now build".

I spent the next few minutes poking around trying to work out exactly what I had to do. Eventually I dug into the options menu to find the controls to see if there was something I was missing, and it turns out that the tools menu is accessible through the middle mouse button.

If only there was some kind of in-game character to provide that sort of instruction.

Once I had access to the tools, grab shovel, dig out the marked outline, buy formwork through your handy tablet computer.

How much? Who knows. Not enough, not enough, too much. Install formwork. Sell overpurchased formwork back to story. Buy reinforcement. Rinse and repeat.

Now make concrete. Fill wheelbarrow with concrete. Lay foundation.

Look, there's probably someone out there who finds deep levels of satisfaction in this. It's just not me.

There's something soothing about cleaning work sims that I don't experience in this kind of work sim.

I got to play the beta of PC Building Simulator 2, and having actually run my own real-world computer store for several years, I found it teeth-grindingly frustrating.

The biggest problem with Building Simulator is that it's just like starting a new job, where no-one will tell you anything, and you just need to poke at things until you get what's going on.

I have a job, I don't need to simulate having a second one.

Building Simulator?:

1: Nope

#BuildingSimulator #FirstPerson #Simulator #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

August 6, 2023 - Day 218 - RePlay Review
Total RePlays: 6

Game: Disco Elysium - The Final Cut

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Oct 16, 2019
Library Date: Nov 9, 2021
Playtime: 1h12m (Total: 3h)

Disco Elysium - The Final Cut is an upgraded version of the original Disco Elysium, a detective RPG. It's one of those games that seemingly everyone raves about. Reviews all give it a 9 or 10 out of 10.

It's the first game in the August Humble Choice bundle, and a curious choice for a AAA game, as most people who would be interested in it would already own it.

I've tried to get into it twice previously, and it just didn't click for me. I'd racked up 108 minutes of playtime, and just sat there in my library, taking up space.

The necessity to review it meant starting over again, and turns out to be third-time lucky. This time it clicked. Not sure what the difference is, but I "get" it now.

It's a largely text-driven affair, and I now understand that the dice-role checks are taken from tabletop RPGs, which makes a little more sense of what's going on.

You play a cop who wakes up drunk and with amnesia in a wrecked apartment. You, the as-yet nameless cop are in a pretty bad way, and your mission is to find out who murdered the man hanging in the tree behind the hotel where you woke up, and who you are.

It seems like you're not a very nice guy.

I paid more attention to the dialogue choices this time around, and nobody (including yourself) respects you, and as it turns out, you're on the verge of resigning.

Thank goodness for autosaves, because I've twice triggered an unintentional resignation from the police force, and ended the game unexpectedly.

Disco Elysium - The Final Cut is:

4: Good

#DiscoElysium #ThirdPerson #RPG #Detective #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #RePlay

August 7, 2023 - Day 219 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 239

Game: Chivalry II

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Jun 12, 2022
Library Date: Aug 4, 2023
Unplayed: 3d
Playtime: 28m

Sometimes the reveal of the Humble Bundle on the first Tuesday of the month is a pleasant surprise. Sometimes, it's a case of finding I already have the AAA game in the bundle.

Then there's months like this, where I was overjoyed* to see the second game in the bundle.

Chivalry II.

On December 28th last year, in what was the predecessor to this project, my personal rating on the predecessor, Chivalry: Medieval Warfare was "Meh".

It was DirectX 9, laggy as hell, and I didn't even complete the tutorial.

Does Chivalry II turn me into a fan?

First up, like Temtem last month, Chivalry II is primarily a multiplayer game. If I were a cynical woman, I might infer that there are some devs looking to the Humble Bundle there trying to goose the player base on their games.

Chivalry II is a first-person OR third-person medieval battle simulator.

There's no single-player campaign, just a somewhat frustrating tutorial to go through before being thrust onto a multiplayer battlefield.

It's said that trying to create art with a mouse is like trying to draw with a bar of soap, and trying to swing a sword with a bar of soap is worse.

On the off hand that it worked better with a controller, I tried the tutorial with a controller instead.

It was not better.

There were points during the tutorial where I was doing exactly as instructed, and not succeeding.

At one point, I had to block two opponents, and then move the mouse to the left to slash left.

The sword slashed right. I tried repeatedly, eventually figuring I was moving the mouse to the wrong left. I moved it to my other left.

The sword slashed right.

Eventually, mercifully, I made it through the tutorial, and onto the battlefield. At least I could show my mettle, and my metal, against a field full of human opponents.

Ah, no.

That would be a field full of bots. 63 bots and me.

But it was fun, right?

Nope. It was not even that.

Frantically trying to remember all the different ways to block and riposte, and heavy attack and light attack, and it was a lot easier to die than to fight.

I dropped my weapon, and walked away from the battlefield, with no desire to return. I'll cash in the trading cards, and then get 25Gb of NVMe space back.

Chivalry II is a:

1: Nope

#ChivalryII #MultiPlayer #MeleeCombat #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

August 7, 2023 - Day 219 - RePlay Review
Total RePlays: 7

Game: Road 96

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Aug 16, 2021
Library Date: Nov 16, 2021
Playtime: 40m (Total: 3h)

Road 96 is a cel-shaded procedurally generated first-person adventure RPG set in a vaguely midwest alt-American quasi-dictatorship in the summer of 1996.

It is the third game in the August Humble Choice bundle, and the second of the games that I already owned, having bought it three months after it came out.

You play a succession of teenaged runaways attempting to escape cross-country by whatever means possible to reach the titular Road 96, the one route out of the country.

As you make each journey, you encounter a cast of characters, slowly piecing together their backstories as you make each journey.

Each journey can end in arrest, or (apparently) death, or escape.

So far, my first two chapters have resulted in being arrested each time, so at least I'm not dead?

The soundtrack is quite wonderful, and I find the storyline quite moving.

Between this and Disco Elysium, I think either game justifies this month's bundle, but if you don't have either, it's a definite buy. Even if you do end up with Chivalry II as well.

Road 96 is:

5: Excellent

#Road96 #FirstPerson #Adventure #RPG #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #RePlay

August 8, 2023 - Day 220 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 240

Game: Trek to Yomi

Platform: Steam
Release Date: May 5, 2022
Library Date: Aug 4, 2023
Unplayed: 4d
Playtime: 29m

Trek to Yomi is a side-scrolling action game, where you play as a samurai set on vengeance.

Two days in a row, two sword-based action games, and they could not be more different.

There is an elegance to a katana that's just not there with a broadsword, and comparing these two games side by side is eye-opening.

The look of Trek to Yomi took me by surprise. It's set in black and white, as if it was a Kurosawa film (with film effects and everything). While it's technically side-scrolling, the opening tutorial of the game has you walking towards and away from the camera in the Z-axis as well, giving the game a beautiful sense of three dimensions.

The sound is lush and gorgeous, and the controls are intuitive. There aren't a dozen different combinations to remember, just a few, which makes the swordplay come to life. I very quickly found myself instinctively weaving and blocking, rotating to face another enemy and seeing him off.

I'd seen Trek to Yomi mentioned a few times since it was released, but the idea of playing a game in black and white as an Edo period samurai didn't grab me at all.

Yet as soon as I'm finished writing this review, I'm going back to play some more.

Trek to Yomi is:

5: Excellent

#TrekToYomi #SideScroller #Samurai #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

August 9, 2023 - Day 221 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 241

Game: Arcade Paradise

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Aug 11, 2022
Library Date: Aug 4, 2023
Unplayed: 5d
Playtime: 54m

There comes a time in every monthly Humble Bundle where you hit the cruft. The games they chose to pad out the bundle to eight games.

...and so we come to Arcade Paradise, game number five.

This is not that game.

I really didn't expect much of this from the title. The apparent love of retro games by indie devs is lost on me, and going on the name and the artwork, I made the assumption that this was going to be something a la Capcom's "Arcade Stadium" with a bunch of retro-styled games, and maybe some vague narrative thread to string them together.

Having just finished re-assembling my PC at 11:45pm, I figured I'd put in my 15 minutes and write the review later.

The game intro didn't do much to assuage my fears. A bunch of hand-drawn animated graphics. Not *badly* done, but I've been burned before.

The intro ends, and the screen morphs into... full first-person high resolution 3D.

*blink* wut.

This is a pleasant surprise.

As it turns out, Arcade Paradise is a love letter to retro arcade games, wrapped in a business sim.

As 19yo college dropout Ashley, you've been handed the keys to one of your father's run-down laundromats, in the hope that you'll "make something" of yourself.

The game opens with you dropped off by the bus in front of said laundromat, with a series of answering machine messages from your father telling you each step of managing the laundromat.

Hope you don't mind doing laundry, kid. There's a lot of it to do. There's also cleaning, garbage collection, maintenance, and emptying coin hoppers.

Oh, and there are a couple of arcade machines in the back room.

This is the heart of the narrative. Yes, you need to do all that stuff in the laundromat, working long days, to earn money... so that you can afford to buy more arcade machines, and prove to dad that there's more to life than just the grind of doing laundry.

I was hooked, and am tired this morning as a result.

There are some things that frustrate me about the gameplay. The "opening the safe" process gets old *very* quickly. The inability to interact with the garbage piled outside the laundromat just annoys me.

I WANT TO CLEAN IT UP. There are empty vending machines that I want to fill, and cannot interact with. I don't just want to build the arcade, I also want to clean up and renovate the laundromat, but that's a "me" thing.

Ironically, you can also play the arcade games themselves, something that just doesn't grab me at all, but that's OK by me.

In a completely unexpected twist, Arcade Paradise is:

4: Good

#ArcadeParadise #FirstPerson #Simulation #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay