February 3, 2024 - Day 399 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 435

Game: Hammerting

Platform: Steam
Released: Nov 17, 2021
Installed: Feb 2, 2024
Unplayed: 1d
Playtime: 25m

Rating: 1 - Nope

Hammerting is a 2.5D Dwarven mining colony sim.

I know this, because after 25 minutes of playing, I quit, and searched the web to find out what it was I was trying to play.

It feels like there's actually a reasonable game in there somewhere, but it didn't click with me, because of the way it introduced the game mechanics.

Hammerting starts by pausing the game during the "tutorial", and lighting up a bit of the screen with a popup that says "This does [x]". You then hit Next, and it repeats until it runs out of things to tell you. Sometimes it tells you quite a lot of things one after the other.

Presented like this, these things are abstracted away from their purpose, and with ADHD and not taking my meds on a weekend, it was a lot to try and fail to take in.

Even when I did manage to take something in, the UX was frequently inscrutable, with no system to give me any idea what I was looking at.

You start the game with three dwarves, and you can click on a button, and click on an item in the environment to get them to do something.

Click the mining button. Click on the copper ore. The dwarves mine the ore. The ore falls out of the wall.

The ore sits on the ground. The dwarves do nothing with it. It has a right click menu, but none of the options have anything to do with picking up the ore.

Then my hardy band of dwarves got attacked by a rampaging slime. They killed it in short order. Pieces of slime on the ground. They apparently have value, based on the tooltip.

No idea how to collect them.

The final straw was about 10 minutes later, when I thought I might be starting to get the hang of something, maybe, and the dwarves were attacked again by slimes.

The dwarves stood there, resolutely, being attacked.

I clicked on the attack button, and clicked the slimes.

The dwarves stood there, resolutely, being attacked.

I clicked to move the dwarves, they moved out of range of the slimes.

The slimes followed until they reached the dwarves.

The dwarves stood there, resolutely, being attacked.

One was knocked unconscious.

I quit the game in frustration.

Hammerting?

1: Nope

#Hammerting #Mining #ColonySim #Gaming #ProjectONG

February 4, 2024 - Day 400 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 436

Game: S.W.I.N.E. HD Remaster

Platform: Steam
Released: May 23, 2019
Installed: Feb 2, 2024
Unplayed: 2d
Playtime: 32m

Rating: 3 - OK

S.W.I.N.E. HD Remaster is an isometric real-time tactics (RTT) strategy game, about a war between armies of rabbits, and pigs.

It seems the universe has a sense of humour, because my complaints about the lack of tutorial in yesterday's game were met with a 16 minute tutorial in S.W.I.N.E. HD Remaster.

S.W.I.N.E. was originally released in 2001, and the remaster involved some of the original devs. It's a reasonably solid game (if somewhat basic), but it scratches a bit of an itch I wasn't aware of.

With that said, there are some rough edges to the game. Having never played the original, I'm unsure as to whether they've been left that way to maintain fidelity for fans of the original game, or if it's just some stylistic choices.

The most grating, though, is the voiceover work. Within the universe of the game (by way of spoken accents), the Rabbit army are presented as French, and the Pig army are presented as German.

The accents seem very much like someone trying to imitate the respective accents, rather than a native of those countries speaking English, and while not a gamebreaker, it does grate a little.

Overall, S.W.I.N.E. HD Remaster is just:

3: OK

#SWINEHDRemaster #Isometric #RTT #Strategy #Gaming #ProjectONG

February 5, 2024 - Day 401 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 437

Game: Kill It With Fire

Platform: Steam
Released: Aug 14, 2020
Installed: Feb 2, 2024
Unplayed: 3d
Playtime: 23m

Rating: 3 - OK

Kill It With Fire is a first-person action game about about killing spiders with as much collateral damage as possible.

I'm mildly arachnophobic, and it grew on me. It also has a VR mode, and I'm not entirely sure I'm ready for, or could cope with that.

Kill It With Fire is:

3: OK

#KillItWithFire #FirstPerson #Action #Gaming #ProjectONG

February 6, 2024 - Day 402 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 438

Game: Paradise Killer

Platform: Steam
Released: Sep 5, 2020
Installed: Feb 2, 2024
Unplayed: 4d
Playtime: 21m

Rating: 4 - Good?

Paradise Killer is a first person open world detective mystery visual novel... thing?

It's really quite unique, with a kind-of vaporwave-ish aesthetic and in the 20 minutes I spent with it, it left me intrigued.

Paraduse Killer is so out of the box that I'm not entirely sure, but I think it's:

4: Good?

#ParadiseKiller #FirstPerson #OpenWorld#Adventure #VisualNovel #Mystery #Detective #Gaming #ProjectONG

February 7, 2024 - Day 403 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 439

Game: Life Is Strange: True Colors

Platform: Steam
Released: Sep 10, 2021
Installed: Feb 7, 2024
Unplayed: 0d
Playtime: 35m

Rating: 4 - Good

Life Is Strange: True Colors is a third person adventure game, and is the first game in February's Humble Choice bundle. I actually owned it already; in my head, I pictured it as a sequel, so I hadn't actually played it.

You play as 18yo Alex Chen, who has a psychic ability and can see the emotions of others as coloured auras, and hear their thoughts.

Beyond that, I'm not sure, as the pacing of the game means that even after 35 minutes, I'm not terribly far into the storyline.

However, based on the previous games, and my experience so far, Life Is Strange: True Colors seems to be:

4: Good

#LifeIsStrangeTrueColors #ThirdPerson #Adventure #HumbleChoice #Gaming #ProjectONG

February 8, 2024 - Day 404 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 440

Game: Scorn

Platform: Steam
Released: Nov 4, 2021
Installed: Feb 8, 2024
Unplayed: 0d
Playtime: 17m

Rating: 1 - Nope

Scorn is a first person horror survival adventure puzzle game. It's the second game in February's Humble Choice bundle.

This was in my "never playing that" list, and seeing it show up in the bundle was a moment of "suck it up, princess."

However, for day 404, it was definitely a case of fun not found.

The game is viscerally disturbing, with the environment being all flesh, bone, and metal; a Gigeresque fusion that just had my brain screaming "GET OUT, QUIT, NOW!"

After exploring the tunnels of the first level, and sticking my avatar's hand into far too many squelching control interfaces, I was glad when my 15 minutes were up.

Scorn is an absolute:

1: Nope

#Scorn #FirstPerson #Horror #Survival #Adventure #Puzzle #HumbleChoice #Gaming #ProjectONG

February 9, 2024 - Day 405 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 441

Game: Destroy All Humans! 2 - Reprobed

Platform: Steam
Released: Aug 31, 2022
Installed: Feb 9, 2024
Unplayed: 0d
Playtime: 24m

Rating: 3 - OK

Destroy All Humans! 2 - Reprobed is a third person open world adventure game. It's the third game in February's Humble Choice bundle.

Unlike Scorn, I actually had DAH!2-R on my wishlist. However, what I didn't know is that while it's a sequel to 2020's Destroy All Humans!, it turns out that Destroy All Humans! was a remake of Destroy All Humans! released in 2005, and DAH!2-R is a remake of the sequel Destroy All Humans! 2.

DAH!2-R is set in 1969, and you're playing as a clone of the original Furon invader, Cryptosporidium-137.

As the now-President of The United States, you find yourself under attack by the KGB, having simultaneously destroyed your mothership in orbit, and waves of KGB agents launching a direct ground assault on you, while you're attending a music festival in San Francisco. Of course.

It's feels much like a pastiche of alien invasion movies of the 1950's & 1960's, and it's kind of goofy fun.

Destroy All Humans! 2 - Reprobed is:

3: OK

#DestroyAllHumans2Reprobed #ThirdPerson #OpenWorld #Adventure #HumbleChoice #Gaming #ProjectONG

February 10, 2024 - Day 406 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 442

Game: Beacon Pines

Platform: Steam
Released: Aug 31, 2022
Installed: Feb 10, 2024
Unplayed: 0d
Playtime: 20m

Rating: 4 - Good

Beacon Pines is an isometric narrative adventure, in which you can go back and change the choices you've, and thus the outcomes that ensue. It's game number 4 in the February Humble Bundle.

Framed as a storybook, in which you're participating in creating the story, the story is about a anthropomorphic young deer, whose father died when he was six, and whose mother has now disappeared.

Luka and his best friend find themselves in the middle of investigating goings-on in their small town of Beacon Pines.

The game is bittersweet, and I'm interested to see where it goes from here.

Beacon Pines seems to be:

4: Good

#BeaconPines #Isometric #Narrative #Adventure #HumbleChoice #Gaming #ProjectONG

February 11, 2024 - Day 407 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 443

Game: There Is No Light: Enhanced Edition

Platform: Steam
Released: Sep 20, 2022
Installed: Feb 11, 2024
Unplayed: 0d
Playtime: 21m

Rating: 1 - Nope

Game number 5 is the February Humble Bundle is There Is No Light: Enhanced Edition. It is a top-down, pixel-art hack-and-slash action-RPG (ARPG).

It's set in a brutal, seemingly post-apocalyptic world, and opens with your wife being stolen away during childbirth, so that your newborn child can be sacrificed for the sake of the community.

This threw me off from the get-go, and it didn't improve from here on in.

Here's the thing: I'm on call this week. It's Wednesday morning. I'm three reviews down (have played, though) - four, if I pre-emptive count today's review. I'm running on three hours sleep, and today is going to be another long day.

The reviews this week are going to be perfunctory, but I've remembered the point of this whole thing: whether or not I enjoy a game, and want to play it again.

The answer to that question in regards to There Is No Light: Enhanced Edition is:

1: Nope

#ThereIsNoLightEnhancedEdition #TopDown #PixelArt #HackAndSlash #ARPG #HumbleChoice #Gaming #ProjectONG

February 12, 2024 - Day 408 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 444

Game: Children of Silentown

Platform: Steam
Released: Jan 12, 2023
Installed: Feb 12, 2024
Unplayed: 0d
Playtime: 21m

Rating: 3 - OK

Children of Silentown is an isometric point-and-click adventure with a beautiful but haunting art style. It's game 6 in this month's Humble Choice Bundle.

Lucy is a 12 year old girl living in a town deep inside a forest, that's haunted by monsters, in which children have repeatedly gone missing.

The game is very atmospheric, and just a little creepy.

I think I might keep playing to find out what's happening in Children of Silentown, because it's:

3: OK

#ChildrenOfSilentown #Isometric #PointAndClick #Adventure #HumbleChoice #Gaming #ProjectONG

February 13, 2024 - Day 409 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 445

Game: Oaken

Platform: Steam
Released: Jul 21, 2023
Installed: Feb 13, 2024
Unplayed: 0d
Playtime: 17m

Rating: 3 - OK

Oaken is an isometric hex-based tactical roguelike deck-building strategy game. It's game 7 in this month's Humble Choice Bundle.

Oaken is very pretty, but I'm not sure I could explain the storyline, even if I tried. You're some kind of spirit making your way down an oak tree, through various battles, and building out your deck in the process.

If you're a roguelike fan, Oaken is:

3: OK

#Oaken #HexBased #Isometric #Roguelike #DeckBuilder #HumbleChoice #Gaming #ProjectONG

February 14, 2024 - Day 410 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 446

Game: Snowtopia

Platform: Steam
Released: Dec 15, 2022
Installed: Feb 14, 2024
Unplayed: 0d
Playtime: 27m

Rating: 1 - Nope

Snowtopia is a top-down/third-person snow resort management sim. It's the last game in this month's Humble Choice Bundle.

You start out in the middle of nowhere in a snow-covered valley with the main buildings of a snow-resort in the centre, begging for you to build it out into a functional skiing paradise.

There's potential here for something interesting, but it's let down painfully by a tutorial that explains things in a way that still leaves you unsure of exactly what you're supposed to do.

However, the game's biggest failing is that it tells you to build ski runs on the vector-graphics hills, and then when you try to, it gives the cryptic error "Impossible to build on uphill slope."

It feels like it was designed by someone who understands exactly what that is supposed to mean, and since it's obvious to them, it should be obvious to everyone else.

However, having lived just south of the NSW snowfields for over a decade, one of the most important things required for ski runs is the uphill slope, so you have something to ski down.

Don't let the time played fool you; I became determined to *at least* complete the tutorial. I did not. I gave up in frustration.

Snowtopia? Snownopia. It's a:

1: Nope

#Snowtopia #ThirdPerson #Sim #HumbleChoice #Gaming #ProjectONG

February 15, 2024 - Day 411 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 447

Game: Fantasy Blacksmith

Platform: Steam
Released: Nov 16, 2019
Installed: Feb 1, 2024
Unplayed: 14d
Playtime: 33m

Rating: 1 - Nope

Fantasy Blacksmith is a first-person work simulator, where you get to play as a blacksmith in a fantasy setting, making swords for adventurers.

If it sounds like an interesting idea, that is correct. It's an interesting idea.

The execution, on the other hand, will push you to build your first sword so that you can immediately fall on it, and put yourself out of your misery.

It's like the devs on this game thought of the worst possible way they could do every single thing in this game, and then found a way to make it buggy as well.

Some games are so bad, they cycle through to being some kind of perverse pleasure.

This is not one of those games. This is a game that makes Snowtopia look like a masterpiece of UX design and user-friendliness.

This is a game that will have you longing for pixel art, just so the game is actually bright enough to see what you're doing.

It feels like something that was coded by a repurposed Nutrimatic Drinks Dispenser, producing something which is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike a game.

Every single game element seems to be a psychological challenge to see how hard you can push a user before they break and throw their mouse across the room.

While it doesn't reach the nadir of Edge of Twilight - Return to Glory, it does put in one hell of an effort.

You do not play Fantasy Blacksmith. You suffer through Fantasy Blacksmith. It's a painfully obvious:

1: Nope

#FantasyBlacksmith #FirstPerson #Sim #Gaming #ProjectONG

February 16, 2024 - Day 412 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 448

Game: Bee Simulator

Platform: Steam
Released: Nov 17, 2020
Installed: Feb 1, 2024
Unplayed: 15d
Playtime: 15m

Bee Simulator is a third-insect bee simulator. It's right there on the tin.

Back in 1991, Will Wright (creator of SimCity and The Sims) released SimAnt; unsurprisingly, this was an ant simulator.

This was among the first games I purchased, and I was very disappointed. While I learned a lot of information about ants (some of which still comes in useful), I didn't actually enjoy the game in the same way that I'd enjoyed SimCity.

Unlike the top-down nature of SimAnt, Bee Simulator is a fully 3D environment. It's a little more game-oriented compared to the po-faced SimAnt, but basically: if you're interested in bees, and/or want to experience life as a bee, Bee Simulator will be right up your alley.

It's not a bad game, just not that interesting to me. For me, Bee Simulator is just a bit:

2: Meh

#BeeSimulator #ThirdPerson #Bees #Simulator #Gaming #ProjectONG

February 17, 2024 - Day 413 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 449

Game: Edengate: The Edge of Life

Platform: Steam
Released: Nov 16, 2022
Installed: Feb 10, 2024
Unplayed: 7d
Playtime: 31m

Edengate: The Edge of Life is a third-person post-apocalyptic walking simulator.

You play as Mia Lorenson, who wakes up alone in a deserted hospital. It starts out feeling a little bit like the opening scenes of The Walking Dead, then goes in a different direction.

"Walking simulator" is often considered to be a bit of an insult to a game, but one of my favourite games of all time (Firewatch) is a walking sim.

It's got my interest piqued, but it's not quite as "keep-going" as I found Firewatch. I'm still interested in seeing where it takes me, and finding out what Mia has to do with the apocalypse that unfolded while she was unconscious.

I *have* a theory, but if it turns out to be correct, it will be so on the nose I'd probably come back and lower the rating; at this point, Edengate: The Edge of Life is:

4: Good

#EdengateTheEdgeOfLife #ThirdPerson #WalkingSimulator #Gaming #ProjectONG

February 18, 2024 - Day 414 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 450

Game: Iris and The Giant

Platform: Steam
Released: Feb 28, 2020
Installed: Feb 2, 2024
Unplayed: 16d
Playtime: 27m

Iris and The Giant is 2.5D RPG/roguelike/deckbuilder. It's kind of hard to pigeonhole.

You play as Iris, and the game is an exploration of her mental health and struggles with anxiety. Cut-scenes that start to flesh out the backstory can be triggered during battles.

As deckbuilders go, it's quite unique, and the game has a certain melancholy air to it.

Iris and The Giant is:

4: Good

#IrisAndTheGiant #RPG #DeckBuilder #Roguelike #Gaming #ProjectONG

February 19, 2024 - Day 415 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 451

Game: Sheepy: A Short Adventure

Platform: Steam
Released: Feb 7, 2024
Installed: Feb 19, 2024
Unplayed: 0d
Playtime: 42m

(The next few reviews will be very short, because I played each game on the day while I was sick, but I didn't have the energy to write the reviews.)

Sheepy: A Short Adventure is a 2D pixel-art platformer.

You play as an abandoned plush toy ("Sheepy"), who's brought to life inside an abandoned factory.

A pixel-art platformer is exactly the kind of game I would have avoided at the start of this ridiculous project, and it would have been my loss.

Both the soundtrack and the visuals of this game are gorgeous, and it's got the gameplay just right to match. This game is utterly glorious - and it's free! (link below)

Sheepy: A Short Adventure is:

5: Excellent

#SheepyAShortAdventure #PixelArt #Platformer #Gaming #ProjectONG

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1568400/Sheepy_A_Short_Adventure/

February 20, 2024 - Day 416 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 452

Game: Niche - a genetics survival game

Platform: Steam
Released: Sep 15, 2016
Installed: Feb 1, 2024
Unplayed: 19d
Playtime: 18m

Niche - a genetics survival game is a top-down hex-tile turn-based strategy game with roguelike elements.

The single player game opens with a cutscene of a kitten-like animal being stolen from its family by a bird of prey. In mid-air, the kitten scratches the bird, and is dropped, where it wakes up alone on an island.

Your goal is to get back to your family... in a manner of speaking. "Adam" will only survive 14 days (unless injured), and so needs to find a partner, and mate, with Adam's descendants eventually finding their way "home".

At this point I was already on the verge of tears, and learning of the gameplay pushed me over the edge.

It might have been recoverable if the gameplay had been better, but it's just clunky. Adam died within a few days on my first run, because of how clunky the UI is, and in trying to climb onto a rock in the water, it was unclear that would, in fact, leave Adam in deeper water, taking damage.

On the second run I did a bit better, but found the whole thing just a little bit too clunky and complicated.

Niche - a genetics survival game is just a bit:

2: Meh

#NicheAGeneticsSurvivalGame #HexTile #Strategy #Roguelike #Gaming #ProjectONG

February 21, 2024 - Day 417 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 453

Game: Basement

Platform: Steam
Released: Nov 11, 2016
Installed: Feb 1, 2024
Unplayed: 20d
Playtime: 19m

Basement is a 2D side-view pixel-art business simulation strategy game about coming up with the money to fund the development of a new video game, in much the same way that Breaking Bad is a drama about a high-school teacher's struggles with the American healthcare system.

In both cases, the protagonist turns to drugs as a way to make money; in Basement, it's weed instead of meth, by way of Fallout Shelter or Mr. Prepper.

Much like Mr. Prepper, Basement is not really my thing; I just found it:

2: Meh

#Basement #Strategy #2D #PixelArt #Gaming #ProjectONG

February 22, 2024 - Day 418 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 454

Game: Deadly Days

Platform: Steam
Released: Sep 19, 2019
Installed: Feb 2, 2024
Unplayed: 20d
Playtime: 15m

Deadly Days is a top down pixel-art strategy roguelite set in the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse caused by chemically tainted hamburgers.

Your goal is to eventually locate and destroy the source of the hamburgers, and honestly it just didn't grab me at all.

Deadly Days is also:

2: Meh

#DeadlyDays #TopDown #PixelArt #Strategy #Roguelite #Gaming #ProjectONG

February 23, 2024 - Day 419 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 455

Game: Pink - Summer Carnival 2023/2024

Platform: Marvel Stadium
Released: Jun 7, 2023
Installed: Feb 23, 2024
Unplayed: 0d
Playtime: 2h

OK, so this obviously isn't a game, but it is the reason there's not an actual game review for yesterday.

I've never seen Pink in concert before. This is my second live concert in three months, and with all due respect to Dave Grohl and Foo Fighters, my experience at Pink's Summer Carnival 2024 last night set a new bar that I can't imagine being topped.

I found the Foo Fighters almost unbearably loud; I spent the whole night with my watch alarming for sound levels of between 103 & 109dB, and wearing ear plugs.

Comparatively, my watch went off twice last night when the volume momentarily exceeded 100dB.

The downside was that compared to AAMI Park's seating, the Marvel Stadium seats are more flexible, and the rows are closer together. I'm 6'3" with legs that go all the way up, and while the seating at AAMI Park wasn't comfortable, at Marvel Stadium it was excruciating, with flexible plastic seats meaning the punter in front crushed my already-twisted legs on more than one occasion.

Because the two concerts were so close together (Dec 6, 2023 & Feb 24, 2024), while they're stylistically different, I can't help but compare them.

Firstly, although stylistically different, both Dave Grohl & Pink can hold their own, both as musicians, and lyricists. They can both tell incredible stories with their songwriting, and both have an ear for a hook.

They also both have an incredible stage presence and charisma.

However, whereas the Foo Fighters concert was just sheer motherf***ing rib-shattering wall-of-sound territory (Dave said "motherf***er" so many times within two hours it would make Samuel L. Jackson blush), Pink's performance was a (literally) jaw-dropping spectacular.

The integration of the staging and live video made the Foo Fighters video choreography look laid-back by comparison.

I was aware that Pink's shows involve acrobatics, but before the concert started, I said to my wife that I couldn't see where she'd be able to do it.

From the opening moments I discovered that my imagination is not big enough. From the moment she opened the show with "Get the Party Started" while dropping on a swing from a concealed location 50 metres above the stage, to closing out the show with "So What" while literally flying & tumbling on a harness above 2/3 of the general admission audience on the floor of Marvel Stadium, and right out to the edges of the level 2 seating, the show was mesmerising.

To see two amazing performances within 3 months is an incredible privilege; last night, however, was quite literally the most incredible live music experience of my entire life.

Pink - Summer Carnival Melbourne 2024 was:

5: Excellent

#Pink #SummerCarnival2024 #Concert #Music #ProjectONG

February 24, 2024 - Day 420 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 456

Game: Neoverse

Platform: Steam
Released: Feb 19, 2020
Installed: Feb 1, 2024
Unplayed: 23d
Playtime: 34m

Neoverse is a 3D-ish rogue-lite deckbuilder.

It didn't get off to a good start. There are three main characters, all women. The opening cutscene seemed to be entirely about them engaging in various battles aimed at the male gaze.

One of the main characters featuring in the game art is a character wearing a skintight silver bodysuit, viewed from behind and below the waistline, with her butt being the focal point.

As for the game itself? Nowhere near that. It's set in a multiverse, where you and two other characters need to enter universes to fight a series of staged battles to unlock more cards and save the universe(s) through card battles.

As rogue-lite card battlers go, Neoverse is (just barely):

3: OK

#Neoverse #3D #DeckBuilder #CardBattler #Strategy #Roguelite #Gaming #ProjectONG

February 25, 2024 - Day 421 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 457

Game: Black Book

Platform: Steam
Released: Aug 11, 2021
Installed: Feb 2, 2024
Unplayed: 23d
Playtime: 43m

Black Book is a rogue-lite deckbuilder RPG.

Black Book is set in 19th century Russia, and is a card-battler/RPG built around Slavic folklore.

You play a woman who lives with her uncle, whose betrothed husband-to-be seemingly unalived himself.

Not willing to accept this, she seeks out and makes a deal with the devil to become a witch, and seeks to break the seven seals on a tome given to her by her uncle, which may contain the power of something which can save him from Hell.

The "cards" in this case are spells within a spellbook; it feels much like a very dark Slay the Spire, with an RPG layered over the top.

However, the devs have layered an incredible amount of Slavic folklore into the RPG side, which (due to my upbringing) left me feeling a little bit uncomfortable.

Black Book is a slightly creepy:

3: OK

#BlackBook #RPG #DeckBuilder #CardBattler #Strategy #Roguelite #Gaming #ProjectONG

February 26, 2024 - Day 422 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 458

Game: Undying

Platform: Steam
Released: Dec 7, 2023
Installed: Dec 20, 2023
Unplayed: 68d (2m6d)
Playtime: 30m

Undying is an isometric zombie survival game, with a twist.

Undying is set in the immediate aftermath of a zombie outbreak. With survivors having been shepherded into safe zones, the survivors are being extracted, one safe zone at a time.

Anling and her son, Cody, are in one of these safe zones, which is overrun by zombies during the extraction. The extraction fails, and Anling and Cody make a run for their lives, finding a car, and returning to their home.

Their home becomes their survival base, with all of the standard trappings of any number of other survival games, just with extra zombies.

With one catch - Anling was bitten by a zombie while escaping, and needs to teach Cody how to survive before she turns.

This adds a somewhat melancholic layer to the game, knowing that (playing as Anling), you're on borrowed time, and as a parent, this affected me quite deeply.

As you go through each step of building and repairing items, you encourage Cody to observe, which levels *him* up, allowing him to do more of these things himself.

Undying is:

4: Good

#Undying #Isometric #Survival #Zombies #Gaming #ProjectONG

February 27, 2024 - Day 423 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 459

Game: Paradise Lost

Platform: Steam
Released: Mar 25, 2021
Installed: Feb 2, 2024
Unplayed: 25d
Playtime: 23m

Paradise Lost is a first-person walking simulator set in an alt-history 1980 where World War II did not end in 1945, and the Nazis managed to survive until (at least) the 1960's, before setting off nuclear weapons and retreating underground.

A lot of folks aren't big on walking simulators, but one of my favourite (ever) games is a walking simulator - Firewatch.

A walking sim needs to have a good pace, and a good story.

Therein lies my biggest issue with Paradise Lost; the walking pace is so agonisingly slow, that 20 minutes into the game, I was only just starting to scratch the surface of a game that seems to have an incredible atmosphere, and design aesthetic... and Nazis.

It is the story of a boy named Szymon who, after his mother's death, seeks to find the answers as to who she really was, and who the unknown man in a photo is (or was).

This leads Szymon to this abandoned underground world built by the Nazis to escape the consequences of their bombs.

Unfortunately, Nazis just feels too on the nose in 2024, and combined with the excruciatingly slow pace, Paradise Lost is an unfortunate:

2: Meh

#ParadiseLost #FirstPerson #WalkingSimulator #Gaming #ProjectONG

February 28, 2024 - Day 424 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 460

Game: Earthlock

Platform: Steam
Released: Mar 8, 2018
Installed: Feb 1, 2024
Unplayed: 27d
Playtime: 20m

Earthlock is a third-person turn-based ARPG, that claims inspiration from JRPG's from the 90's, and really leans into the nostalgia for those games.

I lack the prerequisite nostalgia for 90's JRPGs, and as I did not enjoy this game, I cannot imagine any kind of context in which I'd choose this over Baldur's Gate 3.

For me, Earthlock is a:

1: Nope

#Earthlock #ThirdPerson #TurnBased #ARPG #Gaming #ProjectONG

February 29, 2024 - Day 425 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 461

Game: House Builder

Platform: Steam
Released: Jan 16, 2024
Installed: Jun 21, 2023
Unplayed: 27d
Playtime: 21m

House Builder is a first person building simulator. While being fundamentally the same theme as Builder Simulator that I reviewed last year, the thing that it manages to do is be more fun.

Developed by the same team that designed the Car Mechanic Simulator series (which I own, and enjoy), House Builder brings those dev skills to bear on building houses instead of fixing cars.

They acquit themselves reasonably well, for what it is. While it's not quite as boring & frustrating, Builder Simulator, at its core it's still a work simulator, just about building houses.

If you like building houses, maybe this will work for you. It's the kind of game I would absolutely need to be in the mood for, which shares mental space with Car Mechanic Simulator, Power Wash Simulator, or House Flipper, but all of them feel more rewarding.

Still, House Builder is:

3: OK

#HouseBuilder #FirstPerson #WorkSimulator #Gaming #ProjectONG

March 1, 2024 - Day 426 - No NewPlay Review

This post unintentionally left blank, as I crashed hard due to lack of sleep and illness. Dang it.

March 2, 2024 - Day 427 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 462

Game: The Beast Inside

Platform: Steam
Released: Oct 18, 2019
Installed: Aug 13, 2022
Unplayed: 567d (1y6m18d)
Playtime: 38m

The Beast Inside is a first person horror survival game.

There's a particular kind of horror movie referred to as "torture porn". I know people watch movies like the Saw series, and Hostel series, and I genuinely cannot understand why. I'm already put off by horror movies, but the idea of that kind of movie comes close to triggering an anxiety attack.

As if the cover graphics weren't a giveaway, this game's opening cutscene movie (no pun intended), feels like it verges on torture porn.

I'm not even going to describe it beyond "VAW", because it would require trigger warnings. The scene ends with something like "One week ago...", meaning that your entire gaming experience is building towards that horrifying moment.

It did not put me in a good mental space for enjoying the game. The game is set in the 1980's, and the story and puzzles that followed were OK; the game is broken into chapters, with an interesting time-shift into the 19th century, in the same house, but I have absolutely no desire to see how the game plays out.

The Beast Inside is an absolute:

1: (HELL) NOPE

#TheBeastInside #FirstPerson #Horror #Survival #Gaming #ProjectONG

March 3, 2024 - Day 428 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 463

Game: Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts

Platform: Steam
Released: Nov 23, 2019
Installed: Dec 1, 2022
Unplayed: 458d (1y3m2d)
Playtime: 15m

Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts is, by definition, a first-person shooter.

However, describing something as an FPS generally involves a particular set of expectations, whereas this game is about being a long way from the target, setting up the perfect shot, and then executing.

Truth be told, in FPS PvP games, I like playing the sniper role. I like playing the Sniper Elite games, in which putting bullets in the heads of Nazis feels a little bit too good.

Just randomly killing people for the sake of killing people with the perfect shot? It doesn't do much for me.

Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts feels pretty:

2: Meh

#SniperGhostWarriorContract #FirstPerson #Shooter #Gaming #ProjectONG

March 4, 2024 - Day 429 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 464

Game: Aven Colony

Platform: Steam
Released: Jul 26, 2017
Installed: Sep 25, 2022
Unplayed: 526d (1y5m8d)
Playtime: 41m

Aven Colony is an isometric city-builder strategy game set in the future, colonising an alien planet.

When I first opened it, it felt a bit overwhelming, and I figured I'd give it 15 minutes. 40 minutes later...

As city-builders go, Aven Colony is:

3: OK

#AvenColony #Isometric #CityBuilder #Strategy #Gaming #ProjectONG

March 5, 2024 - Day 430 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 465

Game: Embr

Platform: Steam
Released: Sep 24, 2021
Installed: Jul 27, 2022
Unplayed: 587d (1y7m7d)
Playtime: 19m

Embr is a first-person firefighting game, where you play the role of a firefighter working for a subscription-based for-profit fire-fighting company.

Ha. Ha ha. No, seriously. The whole vibe of the game is gig-economy-meets-fire-services.

I just found the game kind of frustrating to begin with, but in 2024 the whole theme just feels a bit on-the-nose.

Embr is:

2: Meh

#Embr #FirstPerson #FireFighting #Gaming #ProjectONG

March 6, 2024 - Day 431 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 466

Game: Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun

Platform: Xbox Game Pass PC
Released: May 23, 2023
Installed: Mar 6, 2024
Unplayed: 0d
Playtime: 33m

Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun is a retro FPS set in the Warhammer 40k universe. It feels like Doom-meets-Warhammer-with-mouseaim. It was added to XBGP this month, and so I decided to give it a shot.

Pun intended.

I think for someone who loves Warhammer, it would be awesome. However, I'm not a Warhammer girl, so clanking around in the armor, and killing everyone for Warhammer reasons just doesn't resonate with me.

In terms of gameplay, it's an OK retro FPS. The titular boltgun IS kind of fun, dealing high-speed accurate death to mobs half a map away, but it doesn't feel like enough to carry me through the whole game.

Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun is:

3: OK

#Warhammer40k #Boltgun #Retro #FPS #Gaming #ProjectONG

March 7, 2024 - Day 432 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 467

Game: Conglomerate 451

Platform: Steam
Released: Feb 20, 2020
Installed: Aug 17, 2022
Unplayed: 568d (1y6m19d)
Playtime: 18m

The store page for Conglomerate 451 describes it like this: "... a grid-based, dungeon crawling first-person RPG with roguelike elements set in a cyberpunk world."

Grid-based, dungeon-crawler RPG with a cyberpunk aesthetic, and roguelike elements... sure.

It's technically first-person, but most first-person games don't have a fixed camera and snap turns, leading into turn-based combat encounters.

It cribs from a whole lot of different game genres, and then kind of mashes them up in a way that feels like it's less than the sum of its parts.

Unfortunately, it feels like it's not quite sure what kind of game it wants to be, so tries to be all of them, and fails to achieve any of them.

Don't even get me started on the giant twin ventilation fans on the sides of buildings that look almost exactly like a graphics card twin-fan cooler.

Conglomerate 451 is a:

1: Nope

#Conglomerate451 #RPG #Roguelike #DungeonCrawler #Gaming #ProjectONG

March 8, 2024 - Day 433 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 468

Game: Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin

Platform: Steam
Released: Nov 18, 2023
Installed: Mar 8, 2024
Unplayed: 0d
Playtime: 24m

Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin is an isometric real-time strategy game, and it's first game off the rank in this month's Humble Bundle.

It's also got to be the quickest release-date-to-bundle-date I've seen.

It's good looking, but boring. There's some kind of storyline here, but it feels a lot like it relies on pre-existing knowledge of Warhammer, and much like Boltgun a few days ago, I suspect if you're a Warhammer fan you might get more out of this that I did.

Not a great start for the March Humble Choice bundle, Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin is just:

2: Meh

#WarhammerAgeOfSigmar #RealmsOfRuin
#Isometric #RTS #HumbleChoice #Gaming #ProjectONG

March 9, 2024 - Day 434 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 469

Game: Nioh 2

Platform: Steam
Released: Feb 5, 2021
Installed: Mar 9, 2024
Unplayed: 0d
Playtime: 32m

The second game in the March Humble Choice Bundle is Nioh 2; it's a third-person ARPG, which is described by the developers as "masocore".

It's set in a fictionalised supernatural era of Japan in the 16th century, and I hope you like sharp weapons, because there are a lot of them to choose from.

Not that they did me much good, because I died pretty much straight away, and repeatedly.

Turns out that "masocore" is a portmanteau of "masochism" and "hardcore", and Nioh 2 is aimed at a subset of players for whom I guess soulslikes aren't frustrating enough?

It's a gorgeous-looking game, but I have low frustration levels to begin with, and this just didn't click with me.

I still want to give it another try though? So I'm going give it a (just barely):

3: OK

#Nioh2 #ThirdPerson #ARPG #Masocore #HumbleChoice #Gaming #ProjectONG

March 10, 2024 - Day 435 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 470

Game: Black Skylands

Platform: Steam
Released: Aug 16, 2023
Installed: Mar 10, 2024
Unplayed: 0d
Playtime: 19m

Black Skylands is game number five in the March Humble Choice Bundle; it's a top-down pixel-art steampunk-themed... game. It's a category mash-up that's part-twin-stick shooter, part-open-world-action-adventure, part crafting-sandbox.

Within that mix of genres, I had trouble situating myself within the gameplay that I connected with it.

It's another game that I'm going to give another shot and see how I feel about it once I get a bit further into the game.

For now, I'll say that Black Skylands is:

3: OK

#BlackSkylands #TopDown #PixelArt #TwinStick #Shooter #ActionAdventure #HumbleChoice #Gaming #ProjectONG

March 11, 2024 - Day 436 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 471

Game: Soulstice

Platform: Steam
Released: Sep 20, 2022
Installed: Mar 11, 2024
Unplayed: 0d
Playtime: 28m

Soulstice is game six in the March Humble Choice Bundle.
It's a third-person fixed-path hack-and-slash adventure game, with a design aesthetic that I really like, a night-time post-apocalyptic fantasy steampunk mashup.

However, the biggest letdown is the semi-fixed camera, which makes this gorgeous game deeply frustrating to try and navigate.

What's worse is that the game allows you to unlock the camera during the intermittent NPC battles, which makes the design choice to leave it locked at other times all the more mystifying.

With four out of eight games in the bundle out of the way, this bundle isn't batting well.

The teeth-grindingly frustrating camera drags Soulstice down from what was potentially "good" to:

3: OK

#Soulstice #ThirdPerson #HackAndSlash #Adventure #HumbleChoice #Gaming #ProjectONG

March 12, 2024 - Day 437 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 472

Game: Afterimage

Platform: Steam
Released: Apr 25, 2023
Installed: Mar 12, 2024
Unplayed: 0d
Playtime: 24m

Afterimage is the seventh game six in the March Humble Choice Bundle; it's a 2D sideways-scrolling Metroidvania, with some Soulslike influences.

You play as a girl named Renee who wakes up with amnesia, and finds that her village has been destroyed. You set out to recover her memories and find out what happened.

I had to Google the details of the game, because writing this review four days later, it strikes me as not particularly memorable. Not bad, just... average.

As such, Afterimage is:

3: OK

#Afterimage #2D #SidewaysScrolling #Metroidvania #Soulslike #HumbleChoice #Gaming #ProjectONG

March 13, 2024 - Day 438 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 473

Game: Destroyer: The U-Boat Hunter

Platform: Steam
Released: Dec 7, 2023
Installed: Mar 13, 2024
Unplayed: 0d
Playtime: 22m

Destroyer: The U-Boat Hunter is the eighth game in the March Humble Choice Bundle. It's a first-person simulation of a WWII U-Boat destroyer.

It started out with a series of cutscenes with some of the most wooden voice acting I've experienced since I started the project.

I then ended up in the campaign, and managed to skip the tutorial option completely.

After several minutes of frustration, I quit out of the campaign, found the tutorial, which was just a series of tutorial videos, and after the series of tutorial videos I experienced a profound sense of loss at the 22 minutes of my life I'd spent on this game.

There's absolutely nothing that could have gotten me to start over on the campaign with the fresh knowledge I'd managed barely managed scrape out of the tutorial videos.

For a WWII wargame fan, Destroyer: The U-Boat Hunter might scratch a very specific itch. Do I have that itch?

1: Nope

#DestroyerTheUBoatHunter #FirstPerson #WW2 #Simulator #HumbleChoice #Gaming #ProjectONG