October 3, 2023 - Day 276 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 296

Game: Yoku's Island Express

Platform: Steam
Release Date: May 30, 2018
Installation Date: Sep 7, 2019
Unplayed: 1487d (4y26d)
Playtime: 15m

Yoku's Island Express is a sideways-scrolling Metroidvania... pinball mash-up?

I've been playing a LOT of Cyberpunk 2077. Sorry, Bethesda, CD Projekt Red is my master now. I quit out of CP2077 at 11:55pm last night, and was like "oh no!", and randomly grabbed an unplayed game.

The thing about this project is stumbling across a game that blows my mind with just how bad it is... or how good.

Firstly, if you've known me for any period of time, I have a bit of a thing for pinball; there's one specific pinball machine that if I see it in an arcade, I WILL play it until I'm dragged away.

As usual, I opened Yoku's Island Express without any idea of what I was getting myself into. I assumed it was some kind of cutesy 3D platformer, which is why it had sat unplayed for so long.

I have regrets. Four years of missed opportunity.

You play as a bug rolling a ball (a la dung beetles, but it's a *white* ball) around a tropical island, in which you've just taken over the role of postmaster. You're given a delivery quest to a part of the island obscured by clouds.

You need to traverse the island by rolling your ball, collecting fruit bubbles, completing quests, and navigating via flippers and bumpers.

Honestly, I'm not sure I can really do it justice with words. The idea of a Metroidvania using pinball mechanics seems too wild to work, but it does. It's so damn fun.

Note: You absolutely want a controller for this game.

For reasons that are not entirely clear, it's recently jumped up to AUD$29, but accordingly to gg.deals, it normally sits around AUD$5. The demo is available on Steam for free, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Yoku's Island Express may be one of my favourite games this year. It's:

5: Excellent

#YokusIslandExpress #Platformer #Metroidvania #Pinball #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

October 3, 2023 - Day 276 - RePlay Review
Total RePlays: 9

Game: Cyberpunk 2077 + Phantom Liberty DLC

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Dec 10, 2020
Library Date: Dec 25, 2021

Playtime: 94.3h. It's complicated? (CP2077 has a launcher, which I sometimes launched, but didn't play, and Steam counts the launcher being open as playtime, which is why I have 1750+ hours in Warframe).

For anyone who's been living under a rock for the past three years, Cyberpunk 2077 is CD Projekt Red's follow-up to The Witcher 3, and is based on the Cyberpunk series of TTRPGs, of which I've played... none.

Truth be told, I've never played any TTRPG. I grew up in the era of the Satanic Panic, and I was the fundie Christian trying to save my friend's soul by getting him to quit D&D.

Same friend who decades later was one of the first people I came out to as trans, and the first person to ever see me dressing as myself.

This isn't really a digression, given the themes of identity and body modification in CP2077; the game touches some very sensitive parts.

In CP2077 you play as a mercenary, "V". (You choose gender/sex at the start of the game). I'm not going to go into the plotline, because there be spoilers.

CP2077 was released in a blaze of glory, followed by a million screams of "WTF is this, CDPR?"

It was an utterly gorgeous disaster. It had multiple systems that had been stripped out of the game compared to the demos, and it was delightfully buggy.

It was released two months into my breakdown, and I had a VERY bad Christmas in 2020. I had no desire to game at all, or do much of anything. By Christmas 2021, I was myself again (thanks chems!) and got CP2077 for Christmas.

While CDPR had ironed out some bugs, I found it somewhat of a chore to play. It just felt... frustrating? I didn't have a lot of fun. I opened it up every few months and played for an hour here and there, getting about 16 hours into the game between Dec 21, and Sept 2, this year.

Then the free update 2.0 dropped a few days ahead of the Phantom Liberty DLC, and I thought I'd give it another shot. Reviews suggested starting a fresh playthrough, and so I did, and it's a whole different ballgame.

The gameplay feels completely overhauled, and it now feels like it supports the narrative instead of fighting it. I'm hooked (sorry, Bethesda).

Per other reviews, the Phantom Liberty DLC isn't a post-game add-on, but more of a mid-game add-in. It kind-of weaves into the existing narrative timeframe, that opens up a new set of missions mid-game, and being several hours deep into the initial DLC missions, I'm glad I decided to buy it.

It's obvious that they took advantage of 2.0's systems in the gameplay design, and it feels far better developed thematically than even post-2.0 CP2077.

If you tried CP2077 pre-2.0, it's worth updating and jacking in, chooms.

Cyberpunk 2077 (+ Phantom Liberty) is:

5: Excellent

#Cyberpunk2077 #RPG #ActionAdventure #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #RePlay

October 4, 2023 - Day 277 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 297

Game: Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed Collection

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Feb 1, 2013
Installation Date: Dec 24, 2013
Unplayed: 3571d (9y9m10d)
Playtime: 17m

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed Collection is a kart racing game themed around Sonic the Hedgehog and multiple other Sega properties.

The biggest surprise for me is that I've owned this game for almost 10 years, and somehow just not noticed it was installed?

In any case, it's a pretty average kart-racing game, although unlike other kart racing games, part way through each lap, your car may transform into a boat or a plane.

For a 10 year old game, it plays like it's a lot more recent, or maybe kart-racing games have just reached an evolutionary plateau.

It's a DirectX9 game, and very much does not like ultra-wide monitors, but running it at 2560x1440 renders it in letterbox mode and totally playable.

The "Collection" part is that this comes with all the separate DLC content included.

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed Collection is:

3: OK

#SonicAndAllStarsRacingTransformedCollection #KartRacing #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

October 5, 2023 - Day 278 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 298

Game: Just Cause 4

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Dec 5, 2018
Installation Date: Jul 15, 2019
Unplayed: 1543d (4y2m20d)
Playtime: 45m

Just Cause 4 is a third-person action-adventure open-world-ish game.

You play as the ongoing lead character from the Just Cause series, Rico Rodriguez; previously a mercenary working with "The Agency"; Rico has apparently parted ways with them prior to the events of Just Cause 4.

In each instalment, Rico has been tasked with taking down a dictator in small "South American" countries.

Playing as Rico, you're required to intricately gather intelligence while designing a mission to quietly take down the dictator... but seriously, no.

The storyline of each game is basically a fig leaf for creatively blowing up as much stuff as possible.

Rico's primary interaction with the environment is a wrist mounted grappling hook, that allows you to come up with all sorts of creative ways to navigate the open-world.

You can use the grapple to quickly jump from point to point, or use it to get airborne, then switch to a parachute or wingsuit depending on your goal. You can also grapple onto moving vehicles, and then hijack them for high-speed hijinks.

Then there are the guns. You can only carry two at a time, but each gun generally has an alternate firing mode, giving you up to four options for creative mayhem with the highlighted targets; destructible environmental objects are helpfully painted red or marked with obvious red highlights.

This is not an RPG where you carefully assess which weapon has better DPS. Pick up gun, shoot stuff until you're out of ammo, pick up another gun. These small dictatorships sure like to leave weapons lying around all over the place.

One of the reasons I put off playing JC4, even though I enjoyed the mayhem of JC3, was that reviews essentially made it out to be "Rico vs the weather", and made it sound like something I wouldn't enjoy.

Anyway, they were pretty much wrong. As per the previous games, it's grapple around and blow things up. It's not exactly Shakespeare, but sometimes it's just fun to blow things up.

Just Cause 4 seems:

4: Good

#JustCause4 #ThirdPerson #OpenWorld #ActionAdventure #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

October 6, 2023 - Day 279 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 298

Game: Lumote: The Mastermote Chronicles

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Feb 20, 2020
Installation Date: Oct 7, 2022
Unplayed: 364d (11m29d)
Playtime: 15m

Lumote: The Mastermote Chronicles is 3D puzzle platformer.

You play as a squishy bioluminescent creature who has to bounce around and solve puzzles.

The lighting and music in this game is absolutely gorgeous,

Lumote: The Mastermote Chronicles is:

4: Good

#LumoteTheMastermoteChronicles #3D #Platform #Puzzle #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

October 7, 2023 - Day 280 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 299

Game: Morbid: The Seven Acolytes

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Dec 4, 2020
Installation Date: Aug 4, 2022
Unplayed: 429d (1y2m3d)
Playtime: 15m

Morbid: The Seven Acolytes is a top-down pixel-art Soulslike.

The gameplay didn't get me past the pixel-art.

Morbid: The Seven Acolytes is:

2: Meh

#MorbidTheSevenAcolytes #TopDown #Soulslike #PixelArt #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

October 8, 2023 - Day 281 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 300

Game: My Time At Portia

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Jan 15, 2019
Installation Date: Jan 5, 2020
Unplayed: 1372d (3y9m3d)
Playtime: 35m

My Time At Portia is a cozy third-person post-apocalyptic crafting RPG.

Customise your avatar, and then the ferry docks at Portia where you alight to take over your father's old workshop, and become one of the town's builders.

Chop down trees, break rocks, make tools, I've done it all before in so many games, and while it's nice to have a post apocalyptic game where society has actually been rebuilt, it's a bit too cutesy for me.

My Time At Portia is:

3: OK

#MyTimeAtPortia #ThirdPerson #Crafting #RPG #PixelArt #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

October 9, 2023 - Day 282 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 301

Game: NiGHTS Into Dreams

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Dec 18, 2012
Installation Date: Oct 15, 2020
Unplayed: 1089d (2y11m24d)
Playtime: 15m

NiGHTS Into Dreams is a remaster of a Sega Saturn game from 1996. I genuinely have no idea how to characterise this game.

You're dropped almost straight into this bizarre game after choosing an avatar without any explanation whatsoever about what you need to do or why.

Apparently it was really popular, and I honestly don't understand why.

It's kind of 2.5D-ish. Your avatar merges with this weird-looking character, and you fly around the level collecting bubbles which somehow enable you to kill the level boss when you collect 20 of them, after which you get bonus time to collect more bubbles.

After the first time I died in-game, I then got semi-helpful instructions on what was happening in the levels.

The boss level? No such luck. It's almost completely different, no bubbles to collect, and somehow you need to attack the boss, but I couldn't for the life of me work out how, and eventually ran out of time.

NiGHTS Into Dreams is a big old:

1: Nope

#NiGHTSIntoDreams #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

October 10, 2023 - Day 283 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 302

Game: We Are The Dwarves

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Feb 26, 2016
Installation Date: Sep 11, 2020
Unplayed: 1124d (3y29d)
Playtime: 20m

We Are The Dwarves is, apparently, a real-time tactics strategy game, about space-faring dwarves.

The game provides an intro, which is... confusing. It seems that this particular universe is made of stone instead of dark matter.

Our trio of stonefaring dwarves get into an accident, and then you have to... I don't know, and I don't really care to be honest.

Firstly, this is another game that uses a version of Unreal Engine 4 that uses a known buggy implementation of OpenSSL; the bug is only triggered on >10th Gen Intel CPUs. There's a workaround for it, but without the workaround, it will crash right after starting. It's the third game I've encountered with this bug since upgrading my PC, but it's a bad start to a game experience.

The game gives you a Steam achievement called "We all hate tutorials", and I don't, particularly when your odd game is so frustrating to try and play. I'm not even going to get into the voice acting.

I finally worked out where I was going wrong after wandering around a level over and over for ten minutes, but that pretty much meant that I'm just not interested in fighting with the game further.

We Are The Dwarves is a:

1: Nope

#WeAreTheDwarves #Tactics #Strategy #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

October 11, 2023 - Day 284 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 303

Game: Forza Motorsport

Platform: Xbox Game Pass PC
Release Date: Oct 10, 2023
Installation Date: Oct 10, 2023
Unplayed: 1d
Playtime: 36m

Forza Motorsport is a racing sim, and the latest release in the Forza Motorsport series, which is... a little confusing?

The previous Forza Motorsport was Forza Motorsport 7, not to be confused with Forza Horizon (1-5), which is a more arcade focused racing game.

It seems that Forza Motorsport is intended to be a reboot; however, I do not have enough experience with any Forza Motorsport games to provide any comparison.

I do, however, have a lot of experience with Forza Horizon because FH4 was the racing game that finally "clicked" with me.

My history with racing games goes back to the original Test Drive in 1987. For years I attempted to play racing games with keyboard and mouse, and steering with a keyboard and mouse sucks.

I never completed Test Drive.

I tried racing several more times over the years, nearly throwing a PS2 controller in frustration with Gran Turismo 4. I just never clicked with racing games.

Until Forza Horizon 4. Maybe it was the timing, the Xbox One S controller, maybe it was the arcade nature of the Horizon series, and the tunes, and the fact that most races weren't endurance events.

However, I suspect it was mostly that I could rewind when I screwed up and could finally finish a race "on the podium" instead of losing control most of the way through a race and having to do the whole thing over.

...and using an Xbox controller.

That lead to more practicing, which lead to better driving, which lead to more winning, and more fun.

However, sim & track racing still weren't my cup of tea. Rally racing was worse [scowls at Dirt & Dirt 2.0], an exercise in frustration.

When @triana suggested to me that Motorsport may have brought some of that Horizon magic to track racing, I said I'd give it a try.

She was correct. Just the "simple" addition of rating my driving in each track section, suddenly has me focusing on how better to improve to beat my previous ratings.

Adding driver assists AND talking me through the reasoning behind them (at least in the tutorial) helped me better understand how and when to brake and accelerate.

Also, it's REALLY pretty. If you love cars, Forza Motorsport renders them, and the tracks, and the environment gorgeously.

I still don't think I'm going to end up as a huge driving sim nerd, but Forza Motorsport may have hooked me. It's pretty:

4: Good

#ForzaMotorsport #ForzaMotorsport2023 #Racing #Sim #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

October 12, 2023 - Day 285 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 304

Game: Lineage II

Platform: NCSoft Launcher
Release Date: Apr 27, 2004
Installation Date: Mar 31, 2022
Unplayed: 560d (1y6m12d)
Playtime: 20m

Lineage II is a third-person MMORPG.

Originally released in 2003 in Korea, an English edition was released in 2004.

I knew I'd installed it at some stage, and had to dig through my backup drives to work out when. I got an Amazon Prime gaming code for in-game gear, and thought I might finally take a look.

It was definitely an exercise in clock-watching. The MMORPG I've played most recently was Final Fantasy XIV, and comparing the two is like chalk and cheese.

Lineage II is built in Unreal Engine 2.5 and it feels ancient. After a couple of grinding quests, I was glad to log out and uninstall it.

Lineage II?:

1: Nope

#LineageII #MMORPG #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

October 13, 2023 - Day 286 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 305

Game: I Am Not A Monster: First Contact

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Sep 27, 2018
Installation Date: May 14, 2019
Unplayed: 1613d (4y4m29d)
Playtime: 18m

I Am Not A Monster: First Contact is billed as a "retro sci-fi tactical turn-based strategy" game.

By retro sci-fi, they mean early-mid 20th century pulp sci-fi.

If you like that kind of sci-fi, this might be right up your alley. Unfortunately, it's not really my cup of tea, and I couldn't really get past that to lock into the game.

Graphically, it's a weird combination of pulp sci-fi stationary graphics for menus, full-screen pixel-art animated transitions, and high-res gameplay, and it feels kind of jarring switching between them. It just feels a little incoherent.

There was almost something there with the gameplay, but when the game was making me feel like I wished I was playing a completely different tactics strategy game, that pretty much sealed the deal.

I Am Not A Monster: First Contact is just:

2: Meh

#IAmNotAMonsterFirstContact #Tactics #TurnBased #Strategy #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

October 14, 2023 - Day 287 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 306

Game: Blade & Soul

Platform: NCSoft Launcher
Release Date: Jan 19, 2016
Installation Date: Mar 17, 2022
Unplayed: 576d (1y6m27d)
Playtime: 15m

Blade & Soul is a third-person martial-arts oriented MMORPG.

Originally released in 2012 in Korea, an English edition was released in 2016.

Because I'd opened the NCSoft launcher a couple of days ago for the Lineage II review, I thought I'd knock this one off as well.

It looks OK, but it's an MMORPG, which means that graphics and gameplay are pretty much just a starting point.

Graphically, it's built in Unreal Engine 4, but it doesn't have that "Fortnite" vibe that so many recent UE4 games seem to have. Gameplay seems OK.

However, to justify whether or not to start a new MMORPG becomes about more than "how does it look & play", but:

- does it have a sizeable enough playerbase that you'll be able to play through zones with other people?
- is it P2W (ie. "Pay To Win" - or spending more money on the game means you can buy your way into in-game Godhood over lower-levelled players, and gank them mercilessly)
- how many other MMORPGs are you also playing?

And:
- no
- yes
- umm, too many.

Ultimately, it doesn't offer me something different that I can't find in one of the other half-dozen MMOs that I've already started playing and lost interest in.

On top of that, I played World of Warcraft for over a decade, and burned out on both WoW and MMPRPGs.

I realised a few weeks ago that what I really missed from my WoW days wasn't the gameplay so much as the shared experience of running end-level content raids with friends, all meeting up on one night, and fighting our way through a dungeon together (specifically, Molten Core, Karazhan, Naxxramas, and Icecrown Citadel all hold dear places in my memory.

Starting a new MMO where I don't know anyone, and the only people I could raid with would be PUGs and randoms? Just not for me.

All of this together puts Blade & Soul into:

2: Meh

#BladeAndSoul #MMORPG #ThirdPerson #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

October 15, 2023 - Day 288 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 307

Game: 7 Billion Humans

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Aug 24, 2018
Installation Date: Sep 11, 2022
Unplayed: 399d (1y1m4d)
Playtime: 24m

7 Billion Humans is a top-down puzzle programming game.

Really not sure which order to stick those adjectives, because the fundamental gameplay loop is solving puzzles by using simple programming logic.

In playing it, I thought it felt a lot like World of Goo, (both stylistically and audibly) and it turns out that the reason it feels a lot like World of Goo is that one of the three devs who make up Tomorrow Corporation, is the dev who created World of Goo.

As far as programming/puzzle games go, this one is pretty good, but I realised that I run into the same problem I run into with every programming/puzzle game:

I'm not a very good programmer. I'm not quite sure why. I feel like I should be good at it. I first started trying to learn to program over 40 years ago. I've written programs in multiple varieties of BASIC, C, COBOL, and TurboPascal, as well as doing years of HTML & PHP work.

But while I can look at someone else's code and kind-of work out what's going on (at least to a middling degree), I don't seem to be able to get past a point with my own attempts at coding where everything just kind of goes blank. It's like there's too many things to keep track of, and that part of my brain shuts off.

Anyway, that's where I got to with 7 Billion Humans. It's:

3: OK

#7BillionHumans #TopDown #Programming #Puzzle #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

October 16, 2023 - Day 289 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 308

Game: Arietta of Spirits

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Aug 20, 2021
Installation Date: Apr 17, 2023
Unplayed: 182d (5m29d)
Playtime: 19m

Arietta of Spirits is a pixel-art based retro action adventure game, about dealing with grief and monsters. You play as 13-year old Arietta, who is staying with her parents at her recently deceased grandmother's holiday cottage.

When I looked up the activation history, I couldn't initially make sense of why this game would be in my library. It wasn't part of a bundle, it looked like I'd bought it. Digging deeper, I found that it was a bonus game that came with the other game I'd ordered from Fanatical that day.

Unfortunately, while I like the idea of games that deal with grief, because sometimes I find them cathartic, Arietta of Spirits is SO retro that I spent much of my time glancing at the clock.

Firstly, the game includes a mechanic that I'm not terribly fond of: character graphic with a text box full of text to tell the backstory. Click, different talking head. Entire conversations like this. At least you can click through them.

Then there's the sound effects. They're /really/ retro, like C64 retro. The death noises of the mobs (see below) was really jarring and set my teeth on edge.

Start off on the adventure to... pick apples. Get stopped by dad, get given a wooden sword, to defend against wasps.

Encounter wasps. Discover that mob hitboxes aren't terribly consistent. Gets worse in the boss fight at the end of the level, when fighting a big wasp, and some little wasps.

I know from reading up after quitting out that I didn't quite reach the core gameplay about dealing with unhappy spirits, it's just... there was just nothing that made me want to keep playing.

For gamers with a deep love of retro gaming, this might be something that would appeal to them, but I'm not part of that group, which is why Arietta of Spirits is, unfortunately, a:

1: Nope

#AriettaOfSpirits #Retro #PixelArt #ActionAdventure #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

October 17, 2023 - Day 290 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 309

Game: Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig - Digital Edition

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Nov 16, 2019
Installation Date: Mar 28, 2020
Unplayed: 1298d (3y6m19d)
Playtime: 22m

Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig - Digital Edition is quite literally a digital edition of the board game.

Based on my experience with the digital edition, I have no desire to experience the tabletop version.

I played through the tutorial with the AI, and lost, then through a level against AI, and lost, and I felt like I was basically trying to work out the rules as I went.

There's little to explain what the icons on the cards mean, and most of them were hard to read anyway.

Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig - Digital Edition is an easy:

1: Nope

#BetweenTwoCastles #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

October 18, 2023 - Day 291 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 310

Game: The Quarry

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Jun 10, 2022
Installation Date: Oct 18, 2023
Unplayed: 0d
Playtime: 30m

The Quarry is a third-person interactive horror adventure game.

I've made no secret of my dislike of horror games, and I feel much the same about straight horror movies. I'm OK with horror comedy, and there are a handful of horror movies (the original "Last Summer" movies, most of the "Scream" franchise), but as a rule, if a horror movie is on, I'm somewhere else.

When October's Humble Choice Bundle dropped earlier this month, I opened up the email to see the AAA game for this month was a horror game I'd already looked at briefly before, and added to my Steam "ignore" list.

So here we are.

The first surprise was the cast list: there are a number of well-known names in the cast, including horror staples, David Arquette, and Ted Raimi, as well Ehtan Suplee, and Lance Henrikson - which was an even bigger surprise, because for some reason I thought he'd passed away recently. Nope. Still alive and well, and doing the voiceovers for the game tutorials.

The second surprise was that while this time I wasn't going in completely blank, as I knew this was a horror game, I didn't realise it was effectively a playable movie.

Which meant it actually combines two of my least favourite things, horror games AND horror movies.

The graphics are good, with a couple of caveats.

They've used the likeness of the actors, and in the prologue you encounter a couple of recognisable faces.

Unfortunately, it feels a bit Polar Express; the uncanny valley is strong with this one.

The other thing, is that one of the characters is played by Skyler Gisondo (you may know him from The Righteous Gemstones, or Santa Clarita Diet).

He doesn't seem to blink; it becomes really unnerving, because the intro doesn't appear to be setting him up as a bad guy, it's just REALLY disconcerting.

The navigation controls are a little frustrating, with the camera swinging around wildly, occasionally leaving me wondering which direction key I needed to use. In the TellTale games of this style, the QTE key is clearly defined. Here it's a black keyboard key icon, with a small white triangle that appears at the last second to indicate which direction to go. More than once I hit the wrong key at the right time.

On the other hand, the environmental design and sound design are very well done, leading to exactly the kind of extremely heightened dread and anxiety that is the *exact* reason I don't play horror games.

If you enjoy that overwhelming tension that doesn't seem to have any catharsis, this might be the game for you. Me?

1: Nope

#TheQuarry #ThirdPerson #Horror #HumbleChoice #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

October 19, 2023 - Day 292 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 311

Game: Metal: Hellsinger

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Sep 15, 2022
Installation Date: Oct 19, 2023
Unplayed: 0d
Playtime: 25m

Metal: Hellsinger is a rhythm-based FPS. The rhythm in question is heavy metal. Very heavy metal.

This is the second of the October Humble Choice Bundle games, and the second game that I'd looked at before and decided "Ah... no."

It's nothing to do with being an FPS, or a fundie* aversion to the setting, or being a rhythm game.

It was the soundtrack, which seemed to me more like death metal than heavy metal, but I'm old.

In any case, you're more likely to find me listening to Sara Bareilles than Slayer. Dire Straits rather than Dio. Counting Crows, not Cannibal Corpse.

You get the idea.

The idea of a game with a soundtrack featuring the lead singers from bands like System of a Down, Dark Tranquillity, Trivium, and Lamb of God is not my idea of a good time.

I found Nine Inch Nails in Quake was a lot to deal with.

So... I was wrong. Killing mobs in hell, slashing or firing on the beat of screaming thrashing metal is an intense but incredibly fun time.

It's not a game I'm going to play to unwind, by any means, and I can't understand a single word they're singing (which is probably for the best), but Metal: Hellsinger is:

4: Good

#MetalHellsinger #FirstPerson #FPS #Rhythm #HeavyMetal #HumbleChoice #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

*actually, the whole hell theme does still make me feel a little uneasy. Not sure I'll ever shake that.

October 20, 2023 - Day 293 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 312

Game: The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Oct 22, 2021
Installation Date: Oct 20, 2023
Unplayed: 0d
Playtime: 26m

The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes is a third-person interactive survival horror game.

This is the third of this month's Humble Choice Bundle games, and by the same developer as The Quarry, Supermassive Games.

Unfortunately, like The Quarry, this is another playable horror movie, and like The Quarry, I have no desire to play it.

In one sense, I'm disappointed. It's not like this is a bad game. The design quality and atmosphere are great, the sound design is excellent.

This is very much a me problem, rather than a gameplay issue.

If interactive survival horror movies are your thing, you'll probably get a kick out of it.

On the other hand, I'm going to have to play *something* else to be able to relax enough to sleep.

The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes is:

1: Nope

#DarkPicturesAnthology #HouseOfAshes #ThirdPerson #Survival #Horror #HumbleChoice #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

October 21, 2023 - Day 294 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 313

Game: Rebel Inc: Escalation

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Oct 14, 2021
Installation Date: Oct 21, 2023
Unplayed: 0d
Playtime: 29m

Rebel Inc: Escalation is a top-down political/military strategy sim.

It's the fourth game in the October Humble Choice Bundle, and is by the same developers as Plague Inc: Evolved.

Plague Inc is a game about pandemics, released in 2016, and it's game that, while it wasn't "fun" in the traditional sense, it's even less so now.

Rebel Inc: Escalation brings that same sensibility to taking control of a war-torn country to "stabilise" it, and needing to "deal with a deadly insurgency".

The game doesn't really hold your hand, but it's fairly easy to work out. You have a budget that's provided by... the UN, and you need to spend the money on local initiatives to improve support, and remove support from the insurgents. You also need to create government and military strategies to build towards a win-state, which appears to be finding a way to remove the insurgents while maintaining your own popularity.

While I "won" the first level, it vas vaguely disquieting to play a game about war and "insurgents", and would probably feel a bit on-the-nose at the best of times, but even more so at the moment.

Rebel Inc: Escalation is (only just):

3: OK

#RebelIncEscalation #Political #Military #Strategy #Simulation #HumbleChoice #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

October 22, 2023 - Day 295 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 314

Game: Spirit of the Island

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Aug 18, 2022
Installation Date: Oct 22, 2023
Unplayed: 0d
Playtime: 72m

Spirit of the Island is a third-person farming sim and is the fifth game in the October Humble Choice Bundle

It's a cutesy game that feels like a mash-up of Minecraft, Stardew Valley, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons, with a hint of Disney Dreamlight Valley.

It scratched the go-here-do-this-make-stuff itch, but not real well.

Unfortunately, it has a lot of rough user interfaces edges that still need to sanded off. Inventory management is a multi-click nightmare, and in a game like this, inventory management is everything.

The game also uses a fixed camera position, and tells you this up-front, but it doesn't make it any less annoying.

I want to enjoy Spirit of the Island, but if I want a chilled out experience like that, I'm probably going to look at something else like the games above first.

Spirit of the Island is:

3: OK

#SpiritOfTheIsland #ThirdPerson #FarmingSim #HumbleChoice #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

October 23, 2023 - Day 296 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 315

Game: Lords & Villeins

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Nov 11, 2022
Installation Date: Oct 23, 2023
Unplayed: 0d
Playtime: 15m

Lords & Villeins is a top-down pixel-art medieval city-building sim. Number six in the October Humble Choice Bundle.

I generally try to find something good to say about a game, but I genuinely can't find anything to like about this game.

Top-down & pixel-art was a hard sell to begin with, but Stardew Valley is top-down pixel-art and that worked for me.

This just didn't click. It's not so much of a city-building management sim, as a micro-management sim based on city-building.

The systems in the game seem disconnected from one another.

You assign land to a family. A 10 block x 10 block area of land is "10 acres". Each person takes up 1 block, so I guess each person is 10% of an acre in size?

But then you turn that area into a house, and now it's a 10 acre house?

I have to give the villeins everything single thing they need from my "warehouse". There are things in my warehouse. How did they get there? I do not know.

For instance, I had to give them X amount of straw.

Then they need walls on the land I zoned for them, and I can build the walls out of straw or wood. Do the walls come out of my warehouse pile of straw or the straw I just gave to the villeins?

The game does not tell me, and at this point, I do not care. I just want it to be over.

I attempt to build walls. You place the icon and drag out the wall. I dragged it in the wrong place. I can't cancel it. I need to delete it. I can't delete it with a drag. I have to click on and delete every single piece of wall individually.

The systems in this game are opaque and frustrating and when my 15 minutes were up, I gave a sigh of relief.

There is probably an audience for this game, but wherever that may be, I assume they have a tolerance for pain that I lack.

Lords & Villeins:

1: Nope

#LordsAndVilleins #TopDown #PixelArt #Medieval #CityBuilder #HumbleChoice #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

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

Game: A Juggler's Tale

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

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

I have incredibly mixed emotions about this game.

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

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

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

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

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

A Juggler's Tale is:

4: Good*

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

*Trigger Warning, mention of abuse.

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

October 25, 2023 - Day 298 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 317

Game: Mr. Prepper

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Mar 19, 2021
Installation Date: Oct 25, 2023
Unplayed: 0d
Playtime: 32m

Mr. Prepper is the final game in the October Humble Choice. It's 2.5D cooker-themed... sorry, "prepper"-themed survival sim.

It basically feels like Fallout Shelter if it were about SovCits. And written by SovCits.

You play as the titular "Mr. Prepper" who literally goes by that name in-game, introducing himself as that to other NPCs.

The US government has been taken over by some kind of fascist organisation that stopped Mr. Prepper from escaping from his home town in the midwest, and is now monitoring him for subversive behaviour.

You need to build a bunker for him, and build a whole lot of stuff for the bunker, all while hiding it from the regular government inspections.

This is another game where if the theme of the game were different I might enjoy it more, but the whole real-world prepper/conspiracy theorist Venn diagram takes the shine off it, and just gives me a case of the icks.

Mr. Prepper is:

2: Meh

#MrPrepper #Survival #Sim #HumbleChoice #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

October 26, 2023 - Day 299 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 318

Game: Dub Dash

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Feb 17, 2016
Installation Date: Oct 21, 2023
Unplayed: 5d
Playtime: 27m

Dub Dash is a dubstep-themed rhythm arcade game.

Using a couple of buttons, you need to time your button-presses just right to dodge the obstacles that pop up in front of you, in time with the dubstep soundtrack.

I have a bit of a thing for rhythm games, but I struggle a bit with games where I need to memorise an exact set of moves and repeat them perfectly. This is a combination of both.

The first level is a top-down level where you're a rolling wheel in a trench dodging the obstacles popping out of the side-walls of the trench. Kind of like the Star Wars trench run meets Skrillex.

The thing I found mildly irritating is that most of the required moves are on the beat, and then suddenly one that's off-beat, and not necessarily in a way that makes sense.

I'd feel like I was in the groove, and suddenly I'd smash into an obstacle that was on the third beat. I eventually beat the first level, but this is definitely one of those "I might play it again if the mood strikes me" games.

Dub Dash is:

3: OK

#DubDash #Rhythm #Arcade #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

October 27, 2023 - Day 300 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 319

Game: Not Tonight

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Aug 17, 2018
Installation Date: Oct 21, 2023
Unplayed: 6d
Playtime: 36m

Not Tonight is a pixel-art work simulator based in a post-Brexit Britain, where a fascist government has taken over, and as a "Euro" with part European heritage and the right papers, you have to fight with an authoritarian bureaucracy in an attempt to remain in a country that wants you out.

To do this you work as a gig-economy bouncer at a pub.

I played for 36 minutes, doing the same job over and over, and if the gameplay loop extends beyond this, I don't feel like playing any longer to

Not Tonight is:

2: Meh

#NotTonight #PixelArt #WorkSimulator #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

October 28, 2023 - Day 301 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 320

Game: Vampire: The Masquerade - Shadows of New York

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Sep 11, 2020
Installation Date: Oct 21, 2023
Unplayed: 7d
Playtime: 52m

My sole exposure to Vampire: The Masquerade prior to playing Vampire: The Masquerade - Shadows of New York was playing Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt is a third-person battle-royale with vampires.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Shadows of New York is... not.

I thought all of the early reading was setting up for the gameplay, but it was taking quite a long time, and then I was faced with a decision, which was - apparently - the wrong decision, because immediately afterwards I was met with a Game Over.

So I started over, discovered that seemingly all of the narrative "choices" in the initial setup lead to exactly the same point of decision, made the opposite decision and... more story.

After a while, because I'd hit the wee hours of this morning, I decided to pull the pin, and looked up the game, and... oh. Right.

It's actually a visual novel, something of a "Choose Your Own Adventure" based on the Vampire: The Masquerade TTRPG, which I also learned of last night.

So, if you're a fan of visual novels, and Choose Your Own Adventure (TM), and the Vampire: The Masquerade TTRPG, this might be right up your alley.

Admittedly, the story did end up being kind of interesting, but this is actually a sequel to an earlier visual novel (Coteries of New York) for which I have an unused key, so might read that first.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Shadows of New York is:

3: OK

#VampireTheMasquerade #ShadowsOfNewYork #VisualNovel #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

October 29, 2023 - Day 302 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 321

Game: Youropa

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Jun 27, 2018
Installation Date: Oct 21, 2023
Unplayed: 8d
Playtime: 29m

Youropa is a third-person 3D platform puzzle game, in which pieces of a stylized Paris have been ripped from the ground and suspended in mid-air as a series of platforms.

Each platform has one of more puzzles that need to be solved to open the door to transport you to the next platform, and gravity is non-committal about the whole thing.

At times you can walk along a platform that wraps around itself and find yourself walking on what was previously the underside of the platform. At other times you can take a step towards the edge of the platform and find yourself suddenly on the next surface and rotated through 90 degrees, or alternatively, plunging towards Paris below, because gravity, much like the controls for this game, can be finicky.

Unfortunately, while the graphics and lighting are quite pretty, giving the game a certain charm, and the conceit of the game is something out of the ordinary, the wildly inconsistent controls make it equal parts fun and frustrating, and not in a "enjoyable challenge" way, but more in a "Why am I doing this to myself?" way.

Ultimately, I don't think the uniqueness is enough to make me want to come back to Youropa, making it a bit:

2: Meh

#Youropa #ThirdPerson #3D #Platform #Puzzles #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

October 30, 2023 - Day 303 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 322

Game: Tales of the Neon Sea

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Apr 30, 2019
Installation Date: Oct 21, 2023
Unplayed: 9d
Playtime: 43m

Tales of the Neon Sea is a cyberpunk-themed 2D pixel art adventure.

I'm a sucker for cyberpunk-themed games, and this is a game that makes pixel art look gorgeous. It's just a shame that the artwork is the best part of the game.

You play as Rex, a partly cybernetic ex-cop-turned-detective, who awakens in a sewer, only to suddenly find himself being chased by a grim-reaper-esque character wearing a plague doctor mask. Who can teleport.

After slowly escaping (because Rex is injured and moves really slowly), it's eventually revealed that this is a flash-forward.

"Three days earlier...", sees Rex getting out of bed in a gigantic house, and beginning his adventure.

The thing is, Rex moves slowly even when uninjured. The longer I played, the more it became obvious why. This is a game that has been made longer by slowing you down.

The length has then been increased by putting each of the MacGuffins you require to solve each puzzle as far away from you as possible, forcing you to walk slowly from one end of Rex's gigantic house to the other and back. Over, and over. There's no run. Only walk.

You also can't pick up stuff along the way that might be helpful later; things only become available to you when you need them for a puzzle.

While the storyline and setting grabbed me, the constant trudging backwards and forwards in Tales of the Neon Sea made it all a bit:

2: Meh

#TalesOfTheNeonSea #2D #PixelArt #Puzzle #Adventure #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

October 31, 2023 - Day 304 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 323

Game: TSIOQUE

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Nov 8, 2018
Installation Date: Oct 21, 2023
Unplayed: 10d
Playtime: 17m

TSIOQUE is a 2.5D hand drawn point and click adventure.

You play as young princess Tsioque, who has been left behind in the castle by her mother, the Queen, who has ridden off to fight an existential threat to her kingdom (queendom?)

While the Queen is away, the wizard will play. He's evil, takes over the castle, imprisons the princess, she has to escape, yada yada yada.

There are point-and-click adventures where the puzzles are creative brainteasers, and obvious in hindsight.

There are others where you just randomly click on crap until something happens.

Given the complete lack of tutorial, and the single-pocket inventory, IF you actually have one item, it may not be entirely obvious how to use it.

By "may not be", it's actually "good luck working out the UI!"

A later puzzle presented me with an "invisibility blanket". Often a point-and-click will say "you can't use that now" when you try to use something at the wrong time.

TSIOQUE doesn't. Nothing happens. There's no feedback whatsoever.

Turns out that on the next screen, you need to use it to evade some enemies. How? No idea. I tried to run back to the previous room and use the blanket?

Nope.

Click in the wrong place, the item is returned to the pocket.

Turns out that when you can use it, you kind of drag it towards Tsioque and *it's removed from the pocket*, and she can use it.

How do you put it away afterwards?

You can't.

Tsioque finds herself standing in the dark. Clicking does nothing. The invisibility blanket is back in the pocket. She's also wearing it, and it cannot be removed.

Take one step forward, she trips, the guards throw the lights on, the wind blows the blanket away and she gets captured.

Over and over.

I gave up in frustration - I'm ten minutes into the game at this point, with a further five minutes of being stuck on this "puzzle", and search for a walkthrough.

Turns out that above the light switch is a spider. I'd seen the spider in previous scenes, but there was nothing you could do with him.

However, NOW he's clickable (not that there's anything to indicate this); his relative size is that of a tap-target on a full-screen mobile ad, and clicking on him will turn the lights off, and all the guards plummet to their death.

Obviously.

Unlike last night with Tales of the Neon Sea's artwork to draw me in, TSIOQUE doesn't even offer that. Do I want to keep playing?:

1: Nope

#TSIOQUE #HandDrawn #PointAndClick #Adventure #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

November 1, 2023 - Day 305 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 324

Game: Cryptark

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Jun 21, 2017
Installation Date: Oct 21, 2023
Unplayed: 11d
Playtime: 21m

Cryptark is a 2D pixel-art roguelike sci-fi shooter.

You're the away team in a salvage crew, in which you enter procedurally generated ships, destroy armed defences to make your way to the AI brain controlling each ship, within a time limit.

Your attack-suit-mech is heavily armed, and you'll pick up various upgrades along the way.

It's apparently a twin-stick as well, but I played with mouse and keyboard.

I'm pretty wiped out, but even so, it's another of those games that if I was in the right mood I might take another shot at it.

Cryptark is:

3: OK

#Cryptark #2D #PixelArt #Roguelike #Shooter #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

November 2, 2023 - Day 306 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 325

Game: Warhammer: Chaosbane

Platform: Steam
Release Date: May 31, 2019
Installation Date: Oct 21, 2023
Unplayed: 12d
Playtime: 24m

Warhammer: Chaosbane is an isometric fantasy hack-and-slash ARPG set in the Warhammer universe.

It answers the question "What if Wish.com Diablo III was given a Warhammer paint job?"

It seems perfectly serviceable, but unless you're a big Warhammer fan, if you already own Diablo III (or Diablo IV), may as well just play them.

Warhammer: Chaosbane is:

3: OK

#WarhammerChaosbane #Isometric #Fantasy #ARPG #HackAndSlash #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

November 3, 2023 - Day 307 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 326

Game: Disney Speedstorm

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Sep 29, 2023 (F2P)
Installation Date: Sep 30, 2023
Unplayed: 34d (1m4d)
Playtime: 16m

Mickey Kart ... oops; of course, I mean Disney Speedstorm, is a free-to-play Disney Pixar themed kart-racing game.

The tracks in the game are themed on various Disney & Pixar properties, with the ability to play as various Disney Pixar characters.

The karts handle fine, it basically feels like a Disney version of Mario Kart, with added lootboxes, and microtransactions.

If you're a Disney fan looking for a F2P kart racer, this is:

3: OK

#DisneySpeedstorm #KartRacing #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

November 4, 2023 - Day 308 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 327

Game: Little Man Has a Day

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Aug 17, 2023
Installation Date: Aug 21, 2023
Unplayed: 75d (2m14d)
Playtime: 30m

Little Man Has a Day is a 2.5D walking simulator about a little man having a day.

With hand drawn graphics, this game is a deeply complex and cerebral exploration of what it means to be human.

Well, as deeply complex as one can get in 13 minutes. Because that's how long it took me to finish the game. The only reason I have 30 minutes above is that I went back to get the rest of the achievements.

As "Little Man" you wake up and you're having an "eh" day. You explore the map, and meet a handful of characters, and write about it in your journal.

Little Man Has a Day is free on Steam and it's:

3: OK

#LittleManHasADay #WalkingSimulator #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

November 5, 2023 - Day 309 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 328

Game: Minoria

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Aug 27, 2019
Installation Date: Oct 21, 2023
Unplayed: 15d
Playtime: 19m

Minoria is 2D Metroidvania about nuns vs witches.

The game is set in the middle ages, with the character designs being vaguely anime-styled.

Attacks are telegraphed by a glowing circle that appears around mobs, yet I still managed to die a lot.

Unfortunately for this game, I've played some excellent Metroidvanias this year which resulted in Minoria just feeling pretty:

2: Meh

#Minoria #2D #Metroidvania #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

November 6, 2023 - Day 310 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 329

Game: Anno 1800

Platform: Ubisoft Connect
Release Date: Apr 17, 2019
Installation Date: Nov 6, 2023
Unplayed: 0d
Playtime: 2h20m

Anno 1800 is a 3D real-time strategy city-builder, set in the 19th Century.

I bought it today.

"But Allie, you have too many games. You have new ones coming on Wednesday morning in the November Humble Bundle! Why would you buy a new game?"

Ubisoft had a free weekend, and I made the mistake of installing it. Then playing it. Had I not played it (wouldn't be the first time I installed a game on a free weekend and forgot to play it), I wouldn't have encountered an antagonist so eminently punchable (Edvard Goode) that I wanted to keep playing solely to grind his company into dust.

With a 20% discount on top of the already discounted price through Ubisoft taking it to a historical low of AUD$17.99, it was almost impossible to say "no".

In terms of actual gameplay, it hooked me early, and I was suddenly staring at an in-game popup that said "It's been two hours, how about a cup of coffee."

Anno 1800 is:

4: Good

#Anno1800 #CityBuilder #RealTimeStrategy #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

November 7, 2023 - Day 311 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 330

Game: Townsmen - A Kingdom Rebuilt

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Feb 27, 2019
Installation Date: Oct 21, 2023
Unplayed: 17d
Playtime: 25m

Townsmen - A Kingdom Rebuilt is an isometric real-time strategy city-builder, with a medieval setting.

I got a whole bunch of games on the 21st of October. I was talking with my son about how I'd skipped a couple of months of Humble Choice in the past few years, and he gave me most of the games I was missing (because he didn't want them).

Included in those games was Townsmen - A Kingdom Rebuilt; this review could also be "A tale of two city-builders".

The graphics in Townsmen are quite cute, and it makes Townsmen look like it could be a lot of fun.

Unfortunately, that's the best part of this game, because the actual gameplay is incredibly frustrating.

As an aside, in-game grammar and spelling mistakes immediately break my concentration. One typo is an oversight. Multiple typos and grammar errors sets my teeth on edge. This was not a good start for Townsmen.

The biggest issue I had with Townsmen is that it's less a city-building sim, and more of a city-micromanagement sim. I want to build buildings. I don't want to have to go to each building independently and assign and unassign workers (particularly in early game).

Buildings also degrade over time, and can catch on fire if they degrade too much. How do you know? Apparently they start to change colour. So now I have to remember to look at each building individually to see if it's changed colour and might need repairs. To repair a building, click on it to bring up the building interface. Click on a drop-down menu, and choose "Repair Building". Actually, this building is normally that colour, and doesn't need repairs. Like I said, micromanagement.

The tutorial levels give tasks, and give optional tasks, and would intermittently stop everything to remind me to complete the task I was *working* on.

"You need more wood, build another sawmill. You need another worker to build the sawmill. Build a new townhouse. You need more wood for the townhouse."

So I'm going around pulling workers from other jobs to put them on different jobs so I can complete the jobs to complete the tasks, which you've just paused the entire game to remind me to complete.

Anno 1800 hooked me so deeply that it was a case of "two hours already?", where this had me checking the clock repeatedly.

It's not just that it suffers in comparison to Anno 1800, compared to all of the other citybuilders I've played this year, Townsmen - A Kingdom Rebuilt is:

2: Meh

#TownsmenAKingdomRebuilt #CityBuilder #RealTimeStrategy #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

November 8, 2023 - Day 312 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 331

Game: Almost There: The Platformer

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Feb 19, 2019
Installation Date: Sep 7, 2019
Unplayed: 1523d (4y2m1d)
Playtime: 15m

Almost There: The Platformer is a minimalist 2D platformer.

This game takes everything I hate about platforming games and distils it down into a pure essence: Eau de Platform.

This game makes Celeste feel like a relaxing walk in the hills. Celeste made me want to at least keep trying before giving up in frustration. This made me look up at the clock every thirty seconds wishing for sweet release from my self-imposed straitjacket.

"Almost There" was what I whispered to myself as the clock slowly, painfully ground towards the 15 minute mark.

Almost There requires pinpoint precision to do... well, everything. Beat the timers on each level to get three stars. Land on the tiny platforms. Beat the pointy insta-kill moving spikes. Wall jump to avoid the lasers. Avoid the moving lasers.

The dev describes it as being "designed specifically for fans of the hardcore platforming genre" and playing this made me wish WWE 2K23 *had* finished downloading tonight.

To be clear, this game is not a bad game. This is a game that exists to mock me; a game that exists to remind me that it doesn't matter how hard I try, there are some games that will never be "for" me. That's OK with me.

I hate this game. This is a game that does exactly what it says on the tin, but a game that I will never be able to enjoy.

For lovers of hand-eye co-ordination, this may be the peak of platforming experience, but for me, Almost There: The Platformer is a solid:

1: Nope

#AlmostThereThePlatformer #2D #Minimalist #Platformer #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

November 9, 2023 - Day 313 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 332

Game: WWE 2K23

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Mar 17, 2023
Installation Date: Nov 9, 2023
Unplayed: 0d
Playtime: 51m

WWE 2K23 is a pro wrestling sports sim. It's game #2 in the November Humble Choice bundle.

I am not a sports fan; my wife passionately fills that role in our relationship. I'll occasionally watch a game with her, but sports just don't do anything for me.

Then there's professional wrestling. Not only do I not see the appeal, I find it actively repellent. The showboating aggressive and sweaty men give off the same vibe as the boys who used to bully me aggressively and incessantly at school.

There are few sports I want to know less about than pro wrestling, which puts playing a game like WWE 2K23 somewhere south of playing an F1 game, and almost at survival/escape horror levels.

Although, to be honest, I once went on a hyperfocus bender on the performance side of pro-wrestling, so I know what a heel turn and face turn are, but the sports side? I was even LESS interested in knowing more.

I was fully prepared to dislike this game. I WANTED to dislike this game. I figured I'd get in, play 15 minutes and get out, have a little rant about it, and free up 80 gigs of precious SSD space.

I loaded it up. The game aggressively loading up on the wrong monitor helped. Forcing me straight into a tutorial without first letting me adjust the settings? Pump it into my veins. Hiding the settings menu somewhere other than the options menu? Just trying to get it working has eaten up a good chunk of my 15 minutes. I'm ready to rant.

However, it's not a fair review of *the game*, so into the tutorial with some guy named Xavier Woods, who's part of "The New Day". Already learning things I don't want to know.

Xavier tells me that I need to train so that one day I can face off against John Cena. The tutorial walks me through the various moves, and combos, and it takes me a bit over 15 minutes to complete.

There are a LOT of moves to remember. At least now I can give it a fair review... except it's straight into a Wrestlemania ring. Xavier is now dressed in pink and yellow spandex, and is going up against his first opponent...

John Cena. Apparently. I can't see him, but I know he's there (sorry, not sorry).

"One day" is today. I'm wrestling John Cena. I can remember *some* of the moves from the tutorial. I'm... oh no...

...I'm enjoying this.

I'm playing WWE 2K23, and I'm having fun. I beat John Cena.

I BEAT JOHN CENA.

I put down the controller. My hands are aching.

I just had fun.

Playing a pro-wrestling sim.

Who even am I now?

I'm not about to sit down and watch WWE any time soon, but I'm not getting that 80Gb of SSD space back, either.

For a game that I was prepared to dislike SO much, I can't quite believe the words I'm about to write: WWE 2K23 is actually really:

4: Good

#WWE2K23 #ProWrestling #Sports #Sim #HumbleChoice #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay

November 10, 2023 - Day 314 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 333

Game: Friends vs Friends

Platform: Steam
Release Date: May 30, 2023
Installation Date: Nov 10, 2023
Unplayed: 0d
Playtime: 16m

Friends vs Friends is a combination multiplayer PVP FPS and deckbuilder.

Those two things go together like chocolate ice cream and nachos; I like both of those things, but not in the same bowl.

It's the fourth game in this month's Humble Choice bundle, and is reinforcing my theory that some devs are trying use the bundle to juice their player base to try and reach critical mass.

The opening of this game took me by surprise. I do not remember another game that has a fully animated theme song intro.

For a moment I was genuinely wondering whether this was a cartoon of some kind, because it feels just like the opening to a 90's Saturday morning cartoon.

The theme song alerted me to the fact it was a deckbuilder, but not that it was also a FPS, so when I found myself staring at a cel-shaded 3D environment, and while the environmental design and character designs were well done, I was at a loss as to what to do next.

I wandered around hoping that I'd trigger some kind of tutorial, some idea of how to play the game... nothing.

I found a shop, and guns I could try out, but no idea how to obtain them. I couldn't work out how to start a match, and I didn't want to start a match without knowing how to play.

Eventually I gave up, and started a 1v1 quickmatch; I muddled my way through, winning 1 out of 5 matches. I tried a 2v2 match with bots, in which my "team" lost both times.

Turns out, the guns are cards in your deck, you win matches, get cash, use the cash to buy new cards, build a new deck (or upgrade the old one).

After the 2v2 match, I spotted a question mark icon tucked away in the bottom right hand corner of the screen, which on a 3440x1440 screen wasn't exactly obvious, and it contained a set of instructions for how to play the game.

For me there are few issues with the game; the first one is in the title. It's a game that would probably work best with 1 or 3 friends (multiplayer options are 1v1 or 2v2).

With everyone either in the same room in a LAN game, or all on voicechat together, this could be amusing, because some of the card effects were amusing. Playing against randoms? No-one to laugh with.

Some cards were confusing "If I play this, does it affect me or the opponent?" No idea, even after playing it...

...because it's a PVP FPS. The pace of the game means it either feels like nothing is happening, or feels like everything is happening, as I'm trying to shoot, and look at my deck, and not get shot, and pick out a card, and I'm dead.

Unfortunately, Friends vs Friends feels like it had potential, but it all ended up just a bit:

2: Meh

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