52 Games. 1 Year. 2019.

Rhaknar · Apr 9, 2019

Game #43 - Elder Scrolls Online
Time: 30 hours for now

I'm a big fan of ESO and a huge pet fanboy, so when they announced Elswyr with the Necromancer class I knew I was going to jump back in, I just didnt expect to jump back in so soon. Bought the Summerset expansion on sale and 100%'ed it with a new Warden character, and I had a blast. Still one of my favorite mmos, and easily the one you can most easily play as a single player rpg imo, the summerset story was cool and the zone looks gorgeous. Lot's of quality of life improvements to the game these days too since the last time I played, and the community is as healthy as ever. Will update more throughout the year when I play Morrowind which I bought at launch and never really play much, and of course, when Elswyr comes out and I fully dive in for the Necromancer.

Game #44 - Slay the Spire
Time: No idea, a lot

One of my favorite games from last year (which ironically was one of my least favorites for the first 20 hours or so) slipped back into my daily routine when I decided to try the steam workshop mods and oh boy... people are going crazy with mods. Basically Slay the spire 1.5 these days, between entire new zones to explore, new items, cards and bosses in the existing zones, new events and most importantly, a bunch of new classes / decks that range from ok to "wow these seem done by professionals", the modding scene has completely revitalized the game for me and I look forward to lose countless more hours just trying out all these new decks people are doing. One of the biggest examples of why sometimes PC gaming is really really cool.

Game #45 - Operencia the Golden Sun
Time: 20 hours

My very first dungeon crawler and much like visual novels last year, this might have opened up a whole new genre for me, because I had a blast. I love how colorful the game is, it has great level and enemy variety, and for me most importantly, lots of cool looking skills and abilities (one of my biggest problems with these games at first glance was always how drab and static they look). the story is your standard fantasy fare, but I give them points for trying to create their own lore and universe. The levels are big, with lots of secrets to discover, including using various abilities that you aquire a long the way to backtrack to previous levels and discover new secrets, which was really cool. It's not the hardest game (even tho it has a bit of a difficulty spike later on) but I had a lot of fun and am now looking forward to trying out other games in the genre.

Main Post

LonestarZues · Apr 9, 2019

Rhaknar said:
Game #43 - Elder Scrolls Online
Time: 30 hours for now

I'm a big fan of ESO and a huge pet fanboy, so when they announced Elswyr with the Necromancer class I knew I was going to jump back in, I just didnt expect to jump back in so soon. Bought the Summerset expansion on sale and 100%'ed it with a new Warden character, and I had a blast. Still one of my favorite mmos, and easily the one you can most easily play as a single player rpg imo, the summerset story was cool and the zone looks gorgeous. Lot's of quality of life improvements to the game these days too since the last time I played, and the community is as healthy as ever. Will update more throughout the year when I play Morrowind which I bought at launch and never really play much, and of course, when Elswyr comes out and I fully dive in for the Necromancer.

Game #44 - Slay the Spire
Time: No idea, a lot

One of my favorite games from last year (which ironically was one of my least favorites for the first 20 hours or so) slipped back into my daily routine when I decided to try the steam workshop mods and oh boy... people are going crazy with mods. Basically Slay the spire 1.5 these days, between entire new zones to explore, new items, cards and bosses in the existing zones, new events and most importantly, a bunch of new classes / decks that range from ok to "wow these seem done by professionals", the modding scene has completely revitalized the game for me and I look forward to lose countless more hours just trying out all these new decks people are doing. One of the biggest examples of why sometimes PC gaming is really really cool.

Game #45 - Operencia the Golden Sun
Time: 20 hours

My very first dungeon crawler and much like visual novels last year, this might have opened up a whole new genre for me, because I had a blast. I love how colorful the game is, it has great level and enemy variety, and for me most importantly, lots of cool looking skills and abilities (one of my biggest problems with these games at first glance was always how drab and static they look). the story is your standard fantasy fare, but I give them points for trying to create their own lore and universe. The levels are big, with lots of secrets to discover, including using various abilities that you aquire a long the way to backtrack to previous levels and discover new secrets, which was really cool. It's not the hardest game (even tho it has a bit of a difficulty spike later on) but I had a lot of fun and am now looking forward to trying out other games in the genre.

Main Post

Were you waiting for the top of the page again? Lol

I have Operencia downloaded and I'm going to jump in sometime over the weekend. Hoping it's the game that introduces me to a new genre as well. Also have to get back into ESO. Maybe over the summer.

FlowersisBritish · Apr 9, 2019

#12 Sekiro Shadows Die Twice: Not my favorite from software game but it's still pretty cool. Great gameplay and fun bosses. I think most of the minibosses are kinda cheap though with some pretty bullshit grabs. While I don't want these games to have an easy mode, I do think the constant push from fans to make it harder and harder with each new game might be a mistake. Like Sekiro is hard, but it's also kinda cheap in some regards. Specifically with the minibosses and their insane grab moves. Looking at you snake eyes

#13 Resistance 3: I'll stan the resistance series any day. The first one is an under appreciated gem and the third one is pretty fun too. Been a minute since I replayed this and the weapons are still really fun. I think the Mutator is probably the best gun. It makes the enemies sick and turns them into disease bombs. But more important than that, it's a problem solver. Too many enemies? Just put it's alt fire where they spawn and bam you're done.

#14 Inside: What a fun minimalistic platformer! Way more fucked up than Limbo. Some really cool visuals and puzzles. But more important than anything, this game ends damn strong.

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Rhaknar · Apr 9, 2019

LonestarZues said:
Were you waiting for the top of the page again? Lol

I have Operencia downloaded and I'm going to jump in sometime over the weekend. Hoping it's the game that introduces me to a new genre as well. Also have to get back into ESO. Maybe over the summer.

not this time, just have been lazy with updating lately

TheIlliterati · Apr 10, 2019

https://www.resetera.com/threads/52-games-1-year-2019.90649/post-16458909

I haven't updated yet this year since Jan1...so here goes..most are due to Gamepass/Gamefly. Gaming on a budget has never been so easy.

2. Metro 2033 Redux (XB1) | 20th Jan - 10 hrs
Atmosphere and stealth were great.

3. Metro Last Light Redux (XB1) | 24th Jan - 10 hrs

Ditto. Hope to play Exodus soon as I have it from Gamefly.

4. Hyper Light Drifter (PC) | 26th Jan - 12 hrs

Loved this. got every secret. This was far easier than I heard. Free from Twitch.

5. Pikuniku (PC) | 27th Jan - 3 hrs

Meh, also Twitch.

6. Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom (PS4) | 21st Feb - 20 hrs

Really great Metroidvania.

7. Crackdown 3 (XB1) | 26th Feb - 10 hrs

Exactly what I expected, fine for Gamepass playthrough.

8. de Blob (XB1) | 5th Mar - 12 hrs

Loved this.

9. Epic Mickey 2 (360) | 10th Mar - 10 hrs

So close, and yet so far from being a good game. I wish this series continued and a good game had come of it.

10. Darksiders III (PS4) | 16th Mar - 16 hrs

Loved this. Can't wait for more.

11. Tametsi (PC) | 16th Mar - 100 hrs

THis is a mindblowing sleeper hit, just pure brilliance if you like difficult Hexcells style puzzles.

12. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (XB1) | 18th Mar - 8 hrs

I loved the experience, wish the combat wasn't so irritating.

13. Alice's Patchwork (PC) | 29th Mar - 20 hrs
14. Alice's Patchwork 2 (PC) | 3rd Apr - 10 hrs
15. Glass Masquerade (PC) | 8th Apr - 10 hrs

Mindless podcast and relaxation games for in between an unfinished Sekiro.

16. Supraland (PC) | 9th Apr - 20 hrs

A true surprise 3D Metroidvania, tons of fun to explore. I beat it with 60%. I will definitely play more.

PC90 · Apr 10, 2019

Puh, haven't updated in a while due to personal reasons. I did finish some games though! Turns out video games are a great distraction when real life turns to shit

Original Post

10) Super Mario Land (3DS VC - March 9th - 1 hour - 2/5)
Yeah this game isn't particulary great, but I have huge amounts of nostalgia for it. I just love how..different it is compared to other Mario games.

11) Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (3DS VC - March 10th - 2 hours - 3/5)
Certainly a more conservative take on Mario than SML1. As such it's better to play, but it doesn't quite have the personality of SML1. Or maybe that's just my nostalgia speaking.

12) Yakuza: Dead Souls (PS3 - March 11th - 24 hours - 3/5)
Wow this game is weird. Not really fun to play and the story isn't that good either. It does have its moments, but it's probably my least favorite Yakuza game.

13) Earth Defense Force 2017 Portable (Vita - March 24th - 13 hours - 3/5)
My first EDF. Good game to play while listening to podcasts or watching TV, but not much more.

14) Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth: Hacker's Memory (PS4 - April 1st - 61 hours - 4/5)
Maybe not quite as good as the first Cyber Sleuth, but still very enjoyable.

15) Minit (Steam - April 3rd - 2 hours - 3/5)
Short and sweet, a pleasant little experience.

16) Wario Land II (3DS VC - April 9th - 4 hours - 3/5)
Pretty fun, but some levels are a bit annoying.

Currently playing:
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army

FRANKEINSTEIN · Apr 10, 2019

36. Metal Gear Solid (PS1 on Vita) | 10th Apr - 9hrs | 5/5
Couldn't replay these in order because the L2R2 on the back touchscreen suck. Had to get one of those grips that add those buttons. Doesn't get nearly as crazy as MGS2 does but the breaking the 4th wall and Psychomantis reading your save file were much bigger gaming moments for me as a youth. Just mind blowing. I forgot not killing isn't really an option in this one. Definitely cool additions to the sequels. Still though, a masterful game series that I am loving going through again.

LonestarZues · Apr 10, 2019

Master Post

27. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Finally finished a replay I started back when it was announced as BC on Xbox 1. 1st time playing the dlc's and the Knights of the Nine was ok, but the Shivering Isles was amazing. Still loved the game as much as I did back at launch and enjoyed the OST more then I remember.

28. Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite - Came in with low expectations and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Sure the voice acting was bad and some of the character designs were atrocious, but the controls were easy enough to learn. The story was batshit insane, but most fighting game stories are and I enjoy them for the craziness.

29. Falcon Age - Enjoyed the narrative of the game. Overall I enjoyed the game although by the end I was ready for it to end as the combat didn't evolve much and the world was to empty. Although it fits the world the game is set in.

30. Ghost Giant - Short, but fun VR game. Easy to solve puzzles with a great narrative and surprisingly good voice acting. Reminded me of Moss minus the combat.

31. Rage - Enjoyed it more then I thought I would. Hyped me up even more for the sequel as it looks better in every sense. The guns in the game were fun to mess around with and the crafting system was a pleasant surprise as well.

32. Halo 2 - I remember hating all the forced vehicle sections and while I could still do without them, they're not as bad as I remembered. The gunplay is near flawless and forgot how good the lore/story was for it's time. Music as always in Halo is top tier.

33. Frost - Really fun survival card building game. Finished it on easy and normal. Each complete playthrough is about 20-30 minutes. Just unlocked 1 scenario so will be playing that next and trying to unlock the rest of the scenarios.

34. Shadow of the Tomb Raider - Was the weakest of the trilogy, but still enjoyed my time with it. Really enjoyed Lara and Jonah's interactions thru the game and how their friendship blossomed thru the trilogy. Was to light on combat for my liking, but did enjoy the exploring and tombs throughout the game.

LazyLain · Apr 11, 2019

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#13. Turok 2: Seeds of Evil
Still had the Turok itch after replaying Dinosaur Hunter on Switch, so I played through the PC remaster of Turok 2 a second time. Fantastic game, and the added ability to warp between checkpoint stations goes a long way to alleviate the backtracking issue that the poorly implemented Metroidvania-esque design causes... almost entirely in fact, provided you already know where the Primagen keys are located in each level. Overall it's a phenomenal game that improves on the original in a lot of ways. Better music, better arsenal, better level design (fuck level 4 though), better enemy design... Though I can appreciate the charm of Turok 1's more straightforward simplicity, Turok 2 is peak Turok.
5/5 - "Great"

Psychotic_Mantis · Apr 11, 2019

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18. Enslaved: Odyssey to the West - PS3
Completed 4/6/19
Score - 8/10

A fun little gem of a game. I thought the story was interesting but you barely got a sense of what your goal was until the end. I think the ending was rushed but still worked. Would love to have seen that a little more fleshed out. I really liked the characters. I went in thinking it was more of a brawler instead of the platforming puzzle mix that it really was. I initially was annoyed by the main character but he won me over. Piggsly was a really interesting side character to come across. I felt his writing was handled pretty well and while he was odd/weird they didn't make him annoying and over the top. It just worked. Good game!

19. Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge - Gameboy
Completed 4/7/19
Score - 7/10

I had a lot of trouble with this one. I found the levels to be much easier than the boss fights which is not typical for Mega Man games and me. I usually can beat the bosses on the first go but the levels give me trouble. This was the other way around. It's really short and the only real unique part is the Enker fight and weapon. It's still fun and is old school Mega Man. Worth a short trip if you're a fan of the series.

20. Sonic the Hedgehog -Master System
Completed 4/9/19
Score - 7/10

Weird game. It reminded me more of Mario than Sonic. I actually really enjoyed the final levels of the game. Some neat graphical touches that were unique for back in the day. I found the boss fights tougher than usual for Sonic. Once you learned the pattern they were easy...but most of the fights you don't have 1 ring so you can die quickly. I have the GameGear version on my list to play as well. I hear that it is different enough - is it worth tracking both?

21. Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice -3DS
Completed 4/11/19
Score - 7/10

SOOOOO much better than either Rise of Lyric or Shattered Crystal. It's not perfect but I found it to be a lot of fun. Biggest issue...it just kind of ends. This game is so short and it really hurts it. Overall the level variety, and length were fantastic. I wanted more yet it wasn't there. The boss fights were a welcome addition even though they all kind of felt the same and fairly easy. This is like other Boom games where you never really die. After completing all of the Boom games I can say they definitely got better but the only one really worth playing was this. I think my playtime was 4 hours...max. I played almost every available level too.

Rhaknar · Apr 11, 2019

Game #46 - Gears of War 2
Time: 10 hours

Wow, not only does this completely hold up, but I think I liked it more this time than I did back on release on the 360. A fantastic sequel up there with Uncharted 2 when it comes to sequel improvements, the COGs are back with a much better paced, better looking, just better overall story compared to the somewhat simple Gears 1. Great level variety, actual colors besides gray (lol), the same fun cover based gameplay and some neat story beats that are still unresolved to this day (as far as I know, the whole Queen stuff) make this a overall near perfect package (for what it is of course). The only bad thing against it is some god awful vehicle levels that really kill all momentum and are super frustrating. Still, well worth revisiting (or playing it for the first time) especially when its native 4k on the XB1 and it's on gamepass (as is the entire series).

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Deleted member 401 · Apr 11, 2019

28. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (15 hours)
This game is impossible to put down. The drama, the comedy, the mystery, the characters, the music, it's firing on all relevant cylinders.

Full list to date

Blindy · Apr 12, 2019

8) Devil May Cry 2(PS4)
So heading into this series, I finished the first game in September but miserably slacked off a few months up until the very end near DMC5 that I needed to at least play the remaining three games of the franchise. I knew heading in how bad DMC2 was considered so I may have necessarily taken all of that into account playing both Dante and Lucia's campaigns but I must say..................the game is NOT THAT BAD. At least not to the hyperbole extent make it out to be.

Don't get me wrong, the game isn't great....it is really easy as it becomes a game that allows your projectiles to break the game completely open, some lackluster stage environments and bosses(Infested Chopper and Tanks...yeah) and a storyline that made little to no sense in the overall series, so much that DMCV barely acknowledges this game in it's offered recap. And yes gone was the cocky Dante from DMC1 to a stoic and robotic version of Dante for DMC2 which was pretty suspect. But besides all of that, the game really wasn't all too bad. The choice of getting to customize the V Trigger for Dante was clever that it allowed a multitude of options if you allowed yourself to not spam projectiles for the win. I felt there was a fair level of challenge for some bosses such as the final boss of Dante's campaign unless you utilize your devil trigger or health powerups by this point.

I feel Lucia had the better playthrough than Dante which seems sort of a shock given Dante is Devil May Cry but I feel she had better pacing better final boss and she didn't have to face those dumb infected vehicles. Man I heard about those before but geez they were bad and the plane boss was brutal and borderline tedious with navigating upward to even face it and then shoot it to death.

Don't get it wrong it is the worst entry of the series but it's not THAT BAD as a standalone game. The problem for it was it didn't have Kamiya navigate this game after he was responsible for some of DMC1's success but the fact that DMC1 was very much well received that DMC2 naturally had alot on his plate and it just didn't expand upon what DMC1 brought forth. Admittedly, I came into this game knowing it'd suck so naturally my level of expectation was somewhat pampered as opposed to those who player this back in the day but as a non DMC game..... It's not awful. It's just completely unremarkable.

Deleted member 9305 · Apr 12, 2019

09. Thimbleweed Park (Steam, 2019/03/22, 14 hrs)

I'm a big fan of LucasArts point'n'click adventures and especially fond of the Maniac Mansion, Zak McKracken, Monkey Island era. Thimbleweed Park was made for me. It sports the same quirky humor, characters and situations. The whole game feels very 90s, down to its references and tone. The puzzles not too outlandish, a good balance of hints, difficulty and dialog context. Presentation, sprite work, animation, voice acting, story revelations, everything is peak LucasArts in terms of quality. Thimbleweed is another classic, case closed.

10. BYTEPATH (Steam, 2019/03/25, 3 hrs)

Hidden gem alert! This looks like a regular 80s arcade shooter, but everything about this game escalates quickly and in the most beautiful way. You start off and everything looks normal, sorta Z80 based, hooked up to a glitchy CRT. The difficulty slowly ramps up, you collect xp pick ups, you die, you unlock new specialized ships, you die, you spend xp on permanent perks, eventually the screen is filled with mayhem no Z80 could ever process. Its party piece is a big modifier tool kit and this game is for people who enjoy creating game breaking situations. The torrent of destruction one can build is marvelous. Players prone to epilepsy triggers should steer clear though, some of the visual fx escalate as much as the action. The whole presentation deserves some props too. BYTEPATH doesn't pretend to be an arcade machine. Its menu is a command line prompt from a flickering Unix terminal. There's even a small story about the player being a program/AI to train, adopt and escape the simulation. BYTEPATH is a fantastic game and a steal for just two coins.

11. Valiant Hearts: The Great War (PS4, 2019/03/26, ~6 hrs)

History can be dry and boring, remembering the dark times of passed decades an unpleasant necessity. Valiant Hearts manages to present the horrors of Word War 1 with an heartfelt story and engaging gameplay. The adventure is mostly 2D puzzle solving with a few action sequences peppered in. The visuals look like a European comic book in motion. The edutainment aspect is covered with collectables, which show the player info screens, photos of real life items and background details from the WW1 era.

12. Sunset Overdrive (Steam, 2019/04/12, 24 hrs)

Most zombie apocalypse games are dismal and bleak. Well and then there is Sunset Overdrive, which is all colors, attitude and triumphant radness. The open world third person shooter is a wild fusion of Ratchet&Clank level arsenal, 90s Sega hyper agility, think Jet Set Radio and millennial zeitgeist. I've cleared every mission, side quest, the included DLC and had such a good time. The writing, humor, relentless action, super responsive gameplay, just clicked with me. The PC port is close to perfect and runs like greased lightning. 60fps with flawless frame timing really elevates the fast paced mayhem. My only nitpick is the lack of anti-aliasing, which is luckily fixable with ReShade.

[index]

Deleted member 1265 · Apr 13, 2019

S.T.A.R.S Beret - 24/52 Games (13 first playthroughs, 11 replays)

Game 21 – Resident Evil (2002) (PC) – 3 hours, 20 minutes – 5/5

Just replaying my fave game of all time for the seventeenth time, don't mind me.

Game 22 – Resident Evil: Director's Cut (PS1) – 2 hours, 21 minutes – 4/5

Did a run on Arranged difficulty with Jill. Played with no saves going as fast as I possibly could. What a rush that was.

Game 23 – Spyro: Year of the Dragon (PS4) – 10 hours, 51 minutes – 2.5/5

A marginal improvement over Ripto's Rage when it comes to level design and platforming but god did the mini-games suck. There were so many of them too...

Game 24 – Tomb Raider: Anniversary (PC) – 6 hours, 44 minutes – 2.5/5

More of the same from Legend problems and all. This benefits from a better atmosphere and level design due to it following the original game, obviously. Having said that a lot of levels are condensed or flat out gutted and things are watered down heavily.

The platforming is not solid enough (glitches galore when grabbing ledges or poles) for how much precise stuff they want you to do later on consistently.

hersheyfan · Apr 13, 2019

Link to master post

Post 4: Games 31 to 40

31. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (NSW) | 27th March - 31 hours | 4/5
Finally cleared World of Light and unlocked all the characters! Been playing this on and off since launch, really enjoying myself each time, but stopping whenever things started to get samey. As a core Street Fighter player, Smash online really isn't my thing, but SSBU is still a landmark achievement purely as a celebration of gaming history, and the love for all the franchises and gaming oddities represented is palpable. I thought the world had seen the last of Soma Cruz - I was wrong!

32. Velocity 2X (PC) | 31st March - 4 hours 20 minutes | 3.5/5
I saw Tizoc playing Velocity 2X on Steam and decided to go on another run (I've beaten it on Vita, but only played it for the first time on PC this year). Still a blast, and when you're in motion the momentum is extremely enjoyable. However, V2X betrays its origins as a Vita game, as the speedrun aspects of the game basically demand that you have access to a touchscreen for instant teleportation. I'm assuming the Switch version has some problems as well due to how much bigger the screen is vs. a PSV). Still, a great time was had, still a top tier shooter/platformer hybrid.

33. The Haunted Island, a Frog Detective Game (PC) | 31st March - 1 hour | 1.5/5
I got baited into this by a preview I saw on the web - from RPS, I think? - and gave it a shot. It only lasted an hour, but it was still a waste of time. A simple-minded mini adventure game that, while slightly charming, is too simplistic to really entertain.

34. Message Quest (PC) | 1st April - 84 minutes | 2.5/5
A short adventure game with a unique stained glass look, Message Quest has some interesting ideas (which I wont spoil here), but much of the game is too repetitive for its own good. The writing is also pretty damn schmaltzy.

35. Nekopara Vol. 1 (PC) | 2nd April - 6 hours | 2.5/5
Yeah, let's not talk about this game on Era. Next!

36. One Night Stand (PC) | 9th April - 47 minutes | 2.5/5
A fun enough, if super short, game about waking up after a one night stand and navigating your way through the morning after. It's very choose your own adventure, and some of the endings require super specific actions to unlock which is pretty tedious. But overall I had fun.
Note: There is no nudity in this game, it's purely conversational and dialogue based.

37. Costume Quest (PC) | 9th April - 6 hours | 3/5
Finally finished Costume Quest on some platform, I got around halfway back on the PS3 but gave up. Not the greatest RPG in the world, but a nice effort for Double Fine's first stab at the genre, with some funny dialogue.

38. Cinders (PC) | 9th April - 3.7 hours | 3/5
A modern, visual novel reimagining of Cinderella, with 200% more snark. Once I got past the strange doll like look of the characters (strongly suggesting mobile game in terms of look), I found myself having a lot of fun and was pretty invested in what happened next. Lots of possibilities here in terms of choice.

39. Resident Evil 2 Remake (PC) | 13th April - 23 hours | 5/5
Clearly, CLEARLY, the game of the year thus far. It's been so long since a Resident Evil has found the right balance between feeling threatened and enabling you to fight back, and RE2R handles that delicate balance with aplomb. Great graphics, and the original RE2 soundtrack (paid DLC) still had me on edge the same way it did all those years ago.

40. Bladed Fury (PC) | 9th April - 4.3 hours | 3.5/5
These Chinese developers are really coming along! Initially coming across as a cutrate Muramasa, Bladed Fury reveals itself to be its own entertaining beast. The platforming elements are pretty simplistic, but the combat is top-tier brawling, like a 2D Devil May Cry. Most of the bosses are very imaginative and well made, particularly the later ones. The balancing could use some work (sometimes you feel OP, and sometimes the game feels cheap as hell), but overall this is an outstanding effort.

InquisitorAles · Apr 13, 2019

Main Post part 1

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12. Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People: Episode 1 - Homestar Ruiner - 3 hours
I confess I wasn't familiar with the source material (btw available on official youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMkbjxvwur30YrFWw8kpSaw ) of this game until I played it. But even without it, I immediately fell in love with this game and its universe - colourful characters, stylized graphics and cynical humour feels surprisingly fresh even now, 10 years after this game release.
You play as a Strong Bad, the "coolest dude" in Free Country USA who always wears luchador mask, never miss the opportunity to mess with folks around and loves to answer on e-mails from his fans. He always has an edgy commentary for any situation, so you explore locations and click on everything just to hear what he has to say this time. The first episode is obviously more like an introduction to the game universe and characters and doesn't have an amazing storyline, but it's well paced and fun to watch.
Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People plays like typical pre-TWD Telltale game - it's a classic point'n'click adventure where you walk around the locations, collecting garbage and looking for adventures on your ass. Surprisingly, there is actually more stuff to do than in other Telltale games that I've played, it has 2 proper minigames and tons of in-game challenges, so there's an actual sense in continue playing this episode after finishing the main storyline. So, instead of the usual 1-2 hours max to complete the episode, it's actually can take 3-4 hours if you are aiming to complete everything it offers.
Overall, the first episode was a very nice and unexpected surprise for me, as someone who loves good comedy games, I totally recommend to play it even if you never heard about the original Homestar Ruiner series. It works without any problem on modern systems and supports up to a 4K resolution without additional fixes. Looking forward to playing the next episodes soon.

LazyLain · Apr 13, 2019

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#14. Timberman Vs.
This being an arcade game without a campaign to "beat", I've defined my goalpost as simply getting my money's worth. And considering its very low price, which I paid for entirely with Gold Coins... t'was a very low bar indeed. I had previously played the original iOS incarnation of this game, which was an amusing little time waster. And Timberman Vs is pretty much the same thing, just with more modes... though it's entirely possible that these modes have also been added to the mobile version, haven't played it in about 4 years. It's a simple dumb concept akin to something like Flappy Bird, but it's quite fun and addictive.
4/5 - "Good"

#15. OPUS: Rocket of Whispers
Sad to say I'm throwing in the towel on this one. In a lot of ways, Rocket of Whispers is an improvement on its predecessor... it's got notably more involved gameplay, nicer graphics and a more fleshed out world & characters. However, the gameplay ultimately boils down to being just as tedious and uninteresting as it was in The Day We Found Earth... except it's exacerbated by the fact that the game is significantly longer this time around. Couple that with the fact that the story generally isn't all that gripping, and the main character is quite annoying... and well, I just can't bring myself to finish this game, despite the fact that it's still relatively short compared to most other games.
2/5 - "Bad"

YaBish · Apr 13, 2019

7. Tacoma (PS4) | 3/1/19 - 4.5hr | 8/10

All meat, no filler. Tacoma felt like the closest thing to an immersive sim without any of the lackluster combat that usually accompanies that genre. I slowly fell in love with the characters, and the game managed to make ASL look cool as hell. 8/10.

8. Civilization VI (Switch) | 3/6/19 - 52hr | 7/10

This game is so addicting. As someone who had never been a fan of strategy games in general, this one hooked me early and easily. The in-game tutorials are well-done, and I felt that the custom gameplay difficulty options are something that could really benefit those who want to get into the game but don't want a crazy time investment. Some downsides include the load times (especially late game) and some auto-camera options that are a little finnicky. Honestly it's mainly the load times which get downright terrible late in the game. But nevertheless, I would recommend this game to everyone. 7/10.

9. Divinity Original Sin II (PS4) | 4/1/19 - 70hr | 9/10

This game ate up a TON of my gaming time, but I absolutely adored it. Long load times aside, there's a lot of remarkable things that this game does. The absolute breadth of content available is staggering, and the dialogue all being voiced puts other games to shame (namely it reminded me of Persona with how much dialogue there was, but ALL of it was voiced). I can only marvel at how much work went into this game, and how much it allows you to actually roleplay. 9/10.

Tizoc · Apr 14, 2019

30. We. The Revolution

This a strategy+adventure game set during the French Revolution. You play as a judge who will play a major role in the country's coming days as you decide the fate of defendants and get entangled in political plays for power.
This is the kind of game where your choices affect the later events in the game, and you must accept that you'd be doing the wrong choice or action, as you progress through the game. It was pretty exhausting experience in a way, but the game has potential.
My one issue with it is that the game's voice acting is all American accents, which can relly take you out of the immersion in the game's setting XP

31. (Konami) Pixel Puzzle Collection

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All main puzzles cleared. I only have Boss puzzles left but they unlock after 3 hours and are pretty easy.
This was a really nice game and a must play for fans of Picross/Nonagrams and/or Konami.

Tizoc · Apr 14, 2019

Psychotic_Mantis Sonic Boom Fire and Ice on 3DS is a decent 2d platformer and characters move much faster in it. Stages aren't too long and there's some decent challenge in certain hidden paths.

Psychotic_Mantis · Apr 14, 2019

Tizoc said:
Psychotic_Mantis Sonic Boom Fire and Ice on 3DS is a decent 2d platformer and characters move much faster in it. Stages aren't too long and there's some decent challenge in certain hidden paths.

Completely agree! I really enjoyed playing it and it finally felt fast. I just wish the game was longer.

Tizoc · Apr 14, 2019

Psychotic_Mantis said:
Completely agree! I really enjoyed playing it and it finally felt fast. I just wish the game was longer.

IMO the game's length was fine, but I get what you mean =3

saenima · Apr 14, 2019

I have been playing some stuff but for the longest time couldn't find the will to sit down and write down anything here. Gonna just write some short blurbs in order to get in the groove again, otherwise it's gonna become a very daunting task the more i let it slide.

Main post

18. Halo 2 Anniversary - 11h10 - 06.02

A fantastic campaign, much better than the first game. Less samey corridors, more variety and the Arbiter is a pretty cool character. And a most beautiful game. The cutscenes are quite stunning as well. The story is interesting but nothing groundbreaking. A definitive step forward to the series.

19. Halo 3 - 7h50 - 24.02

Coming straight from Halo 2, this was extremely disappointing. A very short and disjointed campaign that feels unfinished. It was also a bit jarring on the visual side, though that can't be blamed on this entry but rather on the magnificent work put into the Anniversary games.

20. Headlander - 8h - 19.03

As much as i like metroidvanias as a concept, a lot of them tend to bore me due to being too repetitious and similar to each other. Headlander completely stole my heart though. I fell in love with it as soon as i started and i couldn't put it down until i 100% it. From the audiovisuals to the gameplay, everything feels incredibly fresh here. Just lovely in every way.

21. Splinter Cell: Conviction - 6h50 - 10.04

Apart from Blacklist, i've played every other Splinter Cell, and Conviction is by far the worst in the series. I'd go as far as saying that this is a truly bad game even. From the mediocre stealth system to the semi broken shooting system to the dysmal checkpoint system to the unfulfilling level design, this game was a pain to play through and i considered just quitting, several times. Which for a game that last less than 7 hours, is really saying something. On top of what i mentioned before, the story is dumb, the interrogation scenes very questionable, the visuals are muddy and ugly and the soundtrack completely forgettable.

This game is a complete mess and a low point in the series.

Weiss · Apr 14, 2019

16. Mother 3 - 14/04/2019

My roundtrip to Mother 3 was something of a rocky road, with me giving up several months ago on account of the slow pace and punishing difficulty in the first chunk of the game, but as I soldiered through I rediscovered everything there is to love about Mother 3, and I'm glad I went through Shigesato Itoi's strange, funny and heartrending story one more time. What stood out to me most was that it was a surprisingly difficult game at times; bosses can never really be steamrolled like in Final Fantasy, and you need the right strategy, skills and some luck to make it through, and things that are usually rendered unnecessary like healing items and buffs are vital all the way through to the end. It felt antithetical to homogenized and toothless RPGs that fear ever challenging the player.

saenima · Apr 14, 2019

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22. What Remains of Edith Finch - 2h20 - 11.04

I enjoyed this, but was expecting more after some of the praise i've read. There are a couple of very strong segments, Barbara and Lewis' vignettes in particular, but most of the individual sequences go by without much fanfare. The visuals are very appealing, but i wish there was more to the narrative side.

23. Shadow of the Tomb Raider - 31h10 - 12.04

I found this to be the weakest of the reboot trilogy. Despite being tilted heavily into the exploration side, which i do prefer, i found the setting to be extremely boring in comparison to the last two entries. We are delving through the exact same scenery from start to finish. The tombs are the definite high point of the game, while the inane, amorphous thing they call a story is the low point. Boring is the most apt adjective to describe Shadow. There is literally nothing exciting in this game, from the rote 'setpieces', to the completely disposable upgrade system. At one point, they steal that Apocalypse Now shot. Again. And my soul left my body, never to return.

This is what a made-by-committee commercial product born out of pure inertia and nothing else looks like.

Spyware · Apr 15, 2019

Weekly update 15!

31. Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines (PC) | 8th Apr - 65hrs | 5/5

This was my "favorite game I never finished" and I have been thinking that I need to pick it back up "soon" for years. I got stuck at a late game boss with my Malkavian and that killed all my momentum. I tried to replay it from the start right after but I was a bit deflated and it didn't work. Flash forward a whole bunch of years, the sequel announcement happened and here I am, having beaten the game twice. I started with a Ventrue who was all seductive and persuasive. She absolutely mesmerized everyone in her path and finished most quests by talking her way through. Since the game is how it is, that doesn't really work late game so she also had to get some combat skills. It worked out well and the boss that halted my progress during my first try melted in seconds with my favorite weapon. Oops. After finishing the game with my Ventrue I wanted to play the exact opposite, a Nosferatu. That was absolutely hilarious. I kept sending screenshots to people of the reactions and what I could respond with. I didn't actually use the sewers much since I quickly noticed I could swoop past most people on the streets and get away before they had time to react to my horrible looks. So I definitely recommend people try out a Nossie playthrough. While I have marked it as completed I'm still gonna come back and play it at least one more time, with my beloved Malkavian.

32. The Bunker (PC) | 10th Apr - 2hrs | 4/5

The Bunker is an interesting kind of "game". It's actually not really a game at all, but a movie that pauses so that the viewer can push it forward by doing some simple pointing and clicking. It doesn't have puzzles, choices or different paths to take. It simply lets the viewer feel a little more involved by getting them to point the protagonist to the next objective. There are optional computer logs and papers to read tho, which is very nice. The movie is great with good acting and a good atmosphere, exactly my kind of thing. Recommended for people that like odd little suspense movies.

33. Late Shift (PC) | 11th Apr - 6hrs | 4/5

Another film, but the exact opposite of The Bunker. This is all about choices and consequences. No pauses, just quick decisions from a couple of options and then it's on to the next scene. This is also a good movie with great acting, especially if you just wanna go through it a couple of times and pick wildly different choices. There is an impressive amount of scenes in there! But when you keep playing to get all the seven endings it starts to get quite repetitive, especially since you cannot skip any scenes at all. While the story wasn't really my cup of tea most of the time, it didn't matter too much since I loved the main character. All in all a great experience.

34. Trüberbrook (PC) | 13th Apr - 4hrs | 4/5

I can't get over how good looking this game is. It's absolutely gorgeous. The charming look is very fitting since the characters are also adorably charming. The protagonist arrives at a remote place and records his thoughts on a dictaphone, addressed to a woman. Does it sound familiar? The whole game is basically just a love letter to Twin Peaks and various sci-fi stuff. I loved it but I can see it being a little too much for some. Gameplay wise it's a very nice point and click adventure game. It has a button that shows all interactable points so there is no pixel hunting required. There is no inventory to check, things simply appear in the interaction wheel when you click something that seems compatible so no need to go try everything with everything. Very straightforward and sort of simple, but in a good way. A playthrough takes about 4 hours which felt like a good length. The game isn't perfect but I only have minor nitpicks that I don't really feel are worth mentioning. The story is a bit all over the place, which is why it doesn't get a 5/5.

_____________

Master Post!

Deleted member 401 · Apr 15, 2019

29. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice For All (14 hours)
Overall a step down from the first game in terms of narrative cohesion and trial design, but the Psyche-Locke system is welcome, and the final trial is killer.

Full list to date

FRANKEINSTEIN · Apr 17, 2019

37. Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (PS4) | 16th Apr - 5hrs | 5/5
Sure you can rush through this game in less than a couple hours but there's a lot of fun to be had in fucking around with the new Metal Gear mechanics. And this leads to the only numbered Metal Gear Solid I haven't played yet. Still have 4 and Peace Walker to do. Currently playing Portable Ops.

Rhaknar · Apr 17, 2019

Game #47 - Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Time: 25 hours

Very mixed feelings on this one, as I'm actually a fan of the TR reboot series, at least for what it is (as opposed to what it's not, a "proper" Tomb Raider game), and this one does a lot of things well but also falls flat on just as many things. I have to start with how gorgeous it looks, because my god, it's easily one of the best looking games I've ever played. It actually made me use the photo mode for the first time, it just looks absolutely fantastic. Gameplay is still great, with a few new moves compared to the previous games, a bunch of new weapons (but let's be real, all you use is the bow anyway) and some great big semi-open world zones to explore and fuck around with. Unfortunately, the story is awful, and most of the good content is completely optional, like the various challenge tombs which are quite well made and should be part of the main game (it's also by far the closest the reboot has been to the classic games), it's no wonder the DLC is mostly new challenge tombs. There is a huge skill tree but most of the skills you get feel inconsequential, you can upgrade all the weapons but they barely feel diferent, there are suits to craft but the abilities you get from them are barely noticiable, it basically has a bunch of systems that feel utterly pointless in the end. Still, its a big game, its fun to play and gorgeous to look at, so I would still recomend if youre a fan of the reboot.

Main Post

Weiss · Apr 17, 2019

17. Unravel Two - 17/04/2019

The sequel to the most wholesome game in the universe comes back for another dose of absolutely saccharine cuteness.

I loved the original Unravel and feel kind of guilty waiting for a sale on Unravel Two (blame Canadian game prices). Two is very much the good kind of sequel, taking everything from the original game and polishing it to a mirror shine with a two-player Ico style that encourages some genuinely tricky and rewarding puzzles while also managing to sneak in some fun platforming sections overlayed on top of gorgeous picturesque small town scenery.

The game's only real flaw is that I can't have my Yarnies hold hands while running. Seems like a real glaring oversight.

Deleted member 401 · Apr 18, 2019

30. Nemesis (2 hours)
Gradius, or at least the US arcade version thereof, is not a very forgiving game. You need power-ups just to get by, but once you start to get them, the game ceases to pull any punches, with dozens of insta-death hazards on screen at a given time. Thankfully, I was able to save scum, and the game itself is rather forgiving with checkpoints, even on a new credit.

Full list to date

Deleted member 401 · Apr 19, 2019

31. Quarantine Circular (1 hour)
Although the narrative is mostly compelling, the shifting perspectives do it more harm than good and lead to some unclear choices.

Full list to date

UnexpectedEnemy · Apr 19, 2019

Here's an update for the first quarter of 2019 (from January through March). You can also read what I've posted here on my personal game blog https://mattyjohn.blog/!

New Year, Same Old Routine: January Summary

The new year is a time for reflection, better choices, new year's resolutions and all that jazz. For me, it's a time of mental fortitude and a willingness to power-through life's immortal enemy; work. From January through March, my personal/gaming time is severely limited due to my profession, however, this isn't my first rodeo. As I enter my 7th season/year in the financial services/hedge fund industry, I've grown to make better use of my time, yet there's always something that falls by the wayside. On the gaming-front, a fresh new year is an opportunity to start brand new games, close-out ones that have been in-progress and restart my annual goal of "52 games completed".

#1. GRIS, developed by Nomada Studio, is a short & sweet puzzle-platformer with a beautiful hand-drawn aesthetic. Games like Braid, Limbo and INSIDE have popularized and reignited the 2D "art-formers" of yesterday and classics like Another World, Prince of Persia, Heart of Darkness and even Abe's Odyssey/Exodus paved the way for what a lot of indie studios are achieving today, GRIS included. Despite its strong emphasis on narrative and storytelling through art and minimalism, GRIS is a lot more game-y than I was expecting it to be. GRIS is an abstract journey which depicts a female character who's lost her voice and the trials & tribulations one must go through to find one's self-worth (or that's what I've gathered at least as the game has virtually zero dialogue).

In a Metroid-like fashion, the game is centered around an interconnected hub, which evolves as the player unlocks new abilities and completes each of the areas that branches from it. Every level is thematically unique, both in its visual presentation and gameplay mechanics. In one world, for example, the player obtains the ability to become a block, which allows one to break through certain environmental pieces or solve puzzles. The game doesn't overstay its welcome, either. Each world is relatively linear, but some levels do allow certain objectives to be tackled in a non-linear fashion. My biggest disappointment with the game, however, is that you cannot backtrack to older areas, but there is a chapter select which gives the player an opportunity to discover any missed secrets (which there are a handful to be discovered).

I completed the game in two or three sessions on my Nintendo Switch, but I've yet to find all the hidden items or unlock the secret challenges. I will likely go back and complete the game at 100%, but I'm in no rush to return to the experience anytime soon. Although GRIS is a beautifully animated journey, it didn't quite deliver the hard & heavy emotional gut-punch I was hoping it would. I would certainly recommend it to those who enjoy a lot of the aforementioned 2D puzzle-platformers, but it didn't have the same impact on me as games like INSIDE or The Missing: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories.

#2. Black Bird, developed by Onion Games, and from the visionary mind behind such titles as Chulip, Little King's Story (a personal favorite of mine) and Rule of Rose, comes a side-scrolling shooter that pays homage to the classic arcade shooter, Fantasy Zone. Onion Games is a Japanese independent studio consisted of a handful of industry veterans, including Yoshiro Kimura, Kazuyuki Kurashima and Tom Ikeda. While their previous games have been exclusive to mobile devices, Black Bird is Onion Game's first console/PC debut and boy is it one weird game! One could say that Black Bird's presentation evokes a silent film from the 1920s, complete with the film graininess and strange vignettes between stages that one would expect. There's no spoken dialogue, but the game appears to portray the life of an orphaned girl whose parents were killed in gruesome accidents (or even murdered?).

After the girl appears to be shied away from an orphanage, the little one collapses and a man with a cane turns her into an egg, which ultimately hatches and becomes a disembodied crow-like head that wrecks havoc on the inhabitants of what appears to be a European-styled town. It's dark and disturbing yet nonetheless charming due to its cute sprites, strange denizens and enemies that animate, dance and march throughout the city streets. The player can fly left or right and the stage will loop until all target enemies (towers) are eliminated. Each level culminates in bizarre boss battles, which are supposed to resemble the things/people who have scarred/harmed the girl from her past. The game is also relatively short, but it is meant to be replayed as there are multiple endings based on certain max/total score thresholds. In each level, there are hidden characters to shoot for bonus points and opportunities to earn more health, screen-clearing bombs and speed power-ups (which make the player move faster).

Black Bird's got traditional "shmup/STG" mechanics at its core, but everything melds together rather nicely. It seems like completing each stage quickly while using bombs at max score multiplier is the intended way to play, as the "True Ending" is quite difficult to achieve if you don't know the game/enemy patterns by heart. It's not the easiest shooter, either. There are no lives/continues, however, the crow's hit-box is rather small and there are plenty of opportunities to stock extra health, bombs and the like. There's a nice risk/reward system at play here, too. Play defensively and hoard bombs/health to survive or play aggressively (yet smart) in order to climb the leader-boards and earn the coveted best ending. Good stuff! I completed the game a few times (including its True Mode), but have yet to earn the best ending (which I believe requires 25,000,000 points). Practice! Practice! Practice!

#3. Florence, developed by Australian studio, Mountains, and published by Annapurna Interactive (a company that is slowly becoming the de-facto house for quality indie titles), is an extremely breezy short-story/visual novel for mobile devices. The game centers around a woman's day-to-day life and the personal struggles she experiences as one enters adulthood. Florence depicts the life of two individuals whose hopes and dreams become sidelined as life and love "get in the way", so to speak. What's interesting about Florence (similar to Black Bird and GRIS) is that there's no spoken dialogue. Everything is communicated to the player visually and the conversations between the two main characters are presented by puzzle-pieces.

It's a clever mechanism to deliver a narrative, as communication is often confusing and sometimes words don't quite connect the way they are supposed to, especially when emotions are involved. The game itself utilizes basic touch-screen maneuvers/controls (such as tapping and swiping), yet it's all rather intuitive. In some chapters, the player will have to brush their teeth by swiping a digital toothbrush from left to right, tap on colors/prints to customize a butterfly or unpacking their significant other's belongings by dragging and dropping certain items into a storage box. It sounds simple and boring, quite like life, right? The game elevates these mundane tasks and life moments through its beautiful visual presentation and music, however. I completed the game in about an hour on a 4-hour flight and had plenty of time to fart around on my phone or play something else afterwards.

Mobile Musings: February Summary

While February is a short month, it's also an extremely busy time of the year for me. As I mentioned in my January post, due to my field of work, the first quarter of the year severely hampers my ability to play games. February is when my season hits its stride, so it's probably the one month out of the year where I barely accomplish anything gaming-related (next to March). With that said, despite my reservations and general resistance to mobile gaming, I've found that playing certain games on my phone during my downtime at work is the only opportunity I have to even attempt to finish a game from my backlog. I'm also going to rate each mobile game based on how well suited they are for discreet work-play (please don't tell my boss!).

#4. Monument Valley, developed by Ustwo Games, is an isometric, minimalist puzzle game for mobile devices. Players must guide a nondescript figure through a series of monuments in order to reach their goal. To accomplish this, one must manipulate each object by twisting and turning certain pieces in order to solve perception-based puzzles. At times, Monument Valley feels like an interactive, abstract painting due to its colorful palate and mysterious undertones. There's a light story being told here as well, but it's delivered in cryptic messages between levels, which drives the little narrative that's there forward. While I completed the game a year or two ago, I never did finish its DLC, the Forgotten Shores and IDA's Dream. I decided to replay the original content in addition to the DLC and after a few short sessions at work, I completed everything there was to do and unlocked all of the achievements, too.

#5. Its sequel, Monument Valley 2 (MV2), feels like more of the same, yet it presents a much stronger narrative this time around. MV2 appears to be telling the story of a parental figure and a child as they explore the monuments that lie before them. There's a more cinematic approach to the stage design, as well as a few dramatic set-pieces sprinkled throughout the levels. In general, both MV titles have been the perfect games to play at work. In-between my work responsibilities, I would find myself looking down at my phone, studying the landscape, making a few moves and pondering the next solution to the stage, all the while listening to its relaxing, ambient music (composed by the wonderful Todd Baker). Both MV titles have quickly become some of my favorite mobile games and I'd pick-up ports of these two classics on the Nintendo Switch in a heartbeat!

Monument Valley 1 & 2 / On-the-Job \ Recommended!

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Both Monument Valley 1 & 2 are the perfect games to play at work, especially if you have an office/desk job (like me!). Put some headphones on (if you're allowed) and drown at the noise of your co-workers while you listen to relaxing, ambient music. I was able to manage my daily responsibilities while occasionally looking down at my phone to make my next move. Whether it was a simple rotation to change the perspective of the monument or a tap of the screen to move the little-guy towards its next destination, MV 1 & 2 are quintessential at-work games!

#6. The Room, developed by Fireproof Games, is a single-screen, point & tap puzzle game where the goal is to unlock the secrets to a Jigsaw-like box. The game takes place in an undisclosed location and the box you're trying to unlock sits suspiciously in the attic of what appears to be an abandoned house. Who you are playing as is unclear at first, however, the game slowly unfolds its story as the player progresses. While there's an extremely light narrative told through the usage of notes scattered about the box, the core of the game is that of an extremely dense puzzle-simulator. Players can swipe the screen to rotate their perspective while zooming in/out of the box in order to solve the various puzzles that lie before them. I liken the whole experience to one big Resident Evil (RE) puzzle. Similar to the classic RE games, the player can examine, inspect and rotate keys and other objects to solve riddles. I've completed the main game with no hints/walkthroughs (which I feel relatively proud about), but there's an epilogue mode I'll tackle next.

The Room / On-the-Job \ Recommended!

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Not to be mistaken by the best/worst movie of all time (The Room), The Room is well-suited for the day-to-day office-life doldrums. Similar to both Monument Valley games, The Room is also a low-key, idle-at-my-desk phone application. I found myself looking down at my phone, studying the box and its contraptions (while listening to the ambient sounds and creepy floor squeaks) only to find myself becoming lost in my work while thinking of the next solution. Highly recommended if you consider yourself an expert ponderer of things!

Having finally played through and enjoyed Onion Game's Black Bird last month, I immediately looked-up their prior releases to see what they may have worked on before. Little did I know that they were responsible for two of the most quirky, yet irresistibly charming mobile games I've ever played. Both Dandy Dungeon: Legend of Brave Yamada & Million Onion Hotel (along with Black Bird) appear to be a part of some strange unofficial onion-verse (a term I have coined, thank you), as reoccurring characters, sprites and strange undertones appear and are present throughout all three games.

In-progress: Dandy Dungeon is one-half game-dev simulator, another half dungeon crawler and one big existential crisis! The game portrays the life of an up & coming programmer who, in his spare time, codes his very own indie game (alone in his apartment dressed in nothing but a pair of boxers mind you) in order to win the affection of his neighbor. It's quirky, weird, yet extremely charming. The game itself is a pseudo rouge-like RPG in the same vein as say Spike Chunsoft's Shiren the Wanderer or Namco's Tower of Druaga. Based on the experiences Yamada has with his friends, neighbors and co-workers, he will implement new ideas into his game, which bring about new gameplay mechanics when venturing into the game's numerous dungeons. There are also extremely funny, well-written scenes between each stage that pushes the charming, yet sometimes creepy story forward.

The dungeons are comprised of single-screen floors, which must be navigated by tracing a line and creating a path across the tiles with your finger. If the player manages to route a path through the floor in one-fell swoop, they'll receive a bonus at the end of the dungeon, too. Combat is also turn-based and the player can arm themselves with equipment (of which can be upgraded with materials) and items they procure from each level. For a simple mobile game, there's a surprising amount of depth and given that its online functionalities have been disabled at the time of writing this, the game's kind of beginning to be ported to a new platform. Well, we're in luck! Dandy Dungeon is coming to the Nintendo Switch (presumably with all of its online functionality in tact), so there's no excuse not to support Yamada and his humble journey for love, recognition and fortune.

In-progress: Onion Hotel, on the other hand, is a very hard game to describe. Although I'm relatively unfamiliar with the sub-genre, glorified tapper-games (or what are commonly known as "clickers"), have been prevalent on the mobile scene for quite some time. Onion Hotel is another point & tap game where the goal is to clear screens in a timely manner while maximizing your score. It sounds simple at first, but there's actually a ton of nuance and depth available for those who choose to play the game beyond a few quick sessions. Each stage is comprised of a series of increasingly difficult levels played on a 5x5 grid. Players must tap onions and other strange creatures that pop-up to earn points. When a square on the grid is tapped, it turns red and when a line is formed, the player earns a time bonus. Clear two lines at once and yell "BINGO!" Actually, that's not the case. Instead, the player enters a special state and the opportunity to earn even more time, points and special onion knights (which are used during the boss phase) presents itself.

Onion Hotel, at times, feels like some strange variant of whack-a-mole. As bosses are defeated, new enemies are introduced (which take additional taps to remove) and other traps and oddities spring-up from the grid. These obstacles prevent the player from creating those much sought-after single/double line-clears, too. In addition to these new variables, there's also a handful of silent vignettes sprinkled between the stages. There's an attempt at a story here, but it's weird, mature and surprisingly graphic. One minute a man and a woman are having dinner at a classy joint (presumably the hotel), the next minute they're sleeping together only to be interrupted by some turf-war between the military and FBI. Shots are fired, there's blood and failing heart-beats trigger remote rocket ships that destroy the very same hotel you're presumably managing. Need I remind you this is a mobile game? I've nearly completed the game (I think...), but the final boss is extremely difficult and I've only managed to reach him once so far!

Dandy Dungeon On-the-Job: Recommended!
Million Onion Hotel On-the-Job: Not Recommended!
Dandy Dungeon is another perfect game to play at the office. Similar to the aforementioned titles, Dandy lends itself to idle busy-work. You can easily enter a dungeon, plan a path in your head and take things at your own pace without risking getting caught by your peers. Onion Hotel, however, is NOT a good game to play at work. As you reach the higher levels of the hotel, the game becomes a frantic double-tapping mess of an experience that will surely raise some eye-brows from your fellow co-workers. If you need to play the game at work (as I completely understand its appeal), take it to the bathroom/break-room if you must!

UnexpectedEnemy · Apr 19, 2019

You can read my original post here on my personal gaming blog: https://mattyjohn.blog/

March Madness: March Summary

March is usually the most difficult time of the year for me to complete a game. In my field of work, it's the final push before my busy season is technically "over". While I was fortunate to have a Saturday or two off during the last few weeks of the month, my obligation towards Destiny 2 (compounded by the little time I had to dedicate towards gaming), once again, prohibited me from making any sort of significant progress in any other game. Due to my schedule, however, I've been able to focus/prioritize a few chapters, stages or missions from a handful of games on my weekends. It's been a slow & steady race to finish some of the games I've started in 2019, but satisfying nonetheless.

#7. It blows my mind that the original The Shadow of the Colossus released back in 2005. It was such an ambitious game for its time and it still holds up remarkably today. The 2018 remaster is a sight to behold, too. The animators at Japan Studio/Team ICO are some of the best in the business and the folks over at Bluepoint Games did wonders with this release. I completed the game on Hard difficulty and although I'm tempted to tackle the time trials and uncover the rest of the secrets, I'll likely retire the game for now. Revisiting this game again provided a newfound appreciation for taking down each colossi. One colossi in particular was a giant (enemy) crab-like monstrosity. The way this colossi tumbles over when its balance is thrown off, how the creature shuts its eyes on impact and the way it contorts on its back, you can really feel the anguish of the beast. It's beautifully tragic and mesmerizing, to say the least. I've played this game to death back on the PlayStation 2 (PS2), but I'm just now revisiting the remake as of 2019. The Shadow of the Colossus is truly a classic.

#8. Most people are either still playing Kingdom Hearts III (KH III) or they've gotten it out of their system. I'm in neither camp. As someone who's only ever finished the original game back on PS2 and Birth By Sleep on PSP, I've been taking this opportunity to catch-up on the "essential" entries in order to appreciate KH III for all of its convoluted-ness and then-some. I re-played the original KH last year from the KH HD 1.5+2.5 Remix collection on PS4, so I decided to start the next game in the franchise. As of February, I finally completed Sora's campaign in Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories (KH Re: CoM). After 20+ hours on Proud difficulty, I can say that it was an interesting experience (arguably more enjoyable than revisiting the first KH), but not something I would consider replaying anytime soon (outside of going for 100% on my current save or checking-out Riku's side of the story).

KH Re: CoM is a 3D remake of the original sprite-based Game Boy Advance (GBA) game that heavily borrows/utilizes assets from the original PS2 KH game. Each world from the original KH game has been distilled into a series of rooms comprised of enemy encounters, traps and other goodies. Instead of being a straight-up action-RPG, CoM also utilizes an active card-based battle system. Cards can be used both in battle and outside of combat, too. Players can form decks based on their max "CP" limit (which can be increased at level-ups). Certain card combinations can also create sleights, which are more powerful abilities that can cause devastating results. Finally, special "room" cards are used to navigate each world, as new rooms are gated by a specific cards and their numerical value/color. Since all combat/room cards are numbered, each room requires a number equal or greater than a particular value, which are also divided into three distinct colors (red, green and blue).

Room cards are interesting because not only are they assigned a value/color, but their descriptions dictate the type of room that you're going to create. Room cards come in all types/sizes too, including ones that can be comprised of overly aggressive heartless, encounters where enemies are sleeping at the start of battle and others that can even be beneficial like save-points or treasure rooms. It's all rather overwhelming at first, but after a few hours, the various gameplay systems become easier to grasp. The one thing that stood out to me the most about CoM is the progression through each world. Compared to the original game (where players had to run back and forth, talking to NPCs in order to trigger events/sequences that weren't particularly clear to the player), CoM was relatively down-to-business. I will likely go back and finish Riku's side of the story over the summer. There's only 3.8 games keeping me from starting Kingdom Hearts III now…

In-progress: Although I've written about my experience with Yakuza games before, there was a time when I was up-to-date with the franchise. The western localization was agonizing between Yakuza 4 and 5 and the time between Yakuza 5 and Zero was rather significant, too. That's not the case today, as both Sega and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio have been releasing the games in the west at a steady pace. I finally got around to finishing Yakuza 0 last year, so I decided to start Yakuza Kiwami in 2019. I'm currently playing on Hard difficulty and I'm up to Chapter 5 at the moment. I've generally been following the main story quests (because I really want to start Kiwami 2 and Yakuza 6), but it's hard to keep myself from all of the goofy sub-stories and side-activities, even if they're largely the same as they've always been in previous games.

As someone who's played the original PS2 version of Yakuza, Kiwami has been an interesting experience so far for a variety of reasons. While the game is more or less a retelling of the story from the original game, the developers have released a prequel title since, which has been integrated back into the first game's scenario. Certain scenes and story beats have been re-written to take Yakuza 0 into consideration, which makes it almost feel like a new game even from even a veteran's perspective. This re-crafting of Kamurocho even extends to the game's sub-stories, as some of the non-playable characters (NPCs), funny side-stories and their corresponding quests make their appearances from Yakuza 0. Although I know how the story unfolds from here, it's been fun revisiting the game that started it all with a fresh coat of paint.

In-progress: Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown (AC7), developed by Project Aces, marks the 20th anniversary for the franchise. Ace Combat is a flight-sim of sorts that leans heavily on short/re-playable missions, dogfights, light customization options and arcade-like features. Most of the important entries take place in a fictional world (including AC7) stricken with political intrigue, warring nations, and melodramatic pilot drama. Like many other Japanese developers last generation, the franchise has had its "Westernized" entry or two (for better or worse) with 2011's Ace Combat: Assault Horizon and 2017's Ace Combat: Infinity, respectively, being the two major outliers in the long-running franchise. There hasn't been a proper mainline entry since 2007's Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation, so 2019 is a wonderful opportunity to return to the skies. Story writer, Sunao Katabuchi, wastes no time bombarding the player with political drama and silly science-fiction.

AC7 posits a world where drones are replacing human pilots and space-elevators and fake runways equipped with cardboard plane cutouts exist. It's perfect in the most convoluted sense yet the whole package is sincere and endearing in the best way possible. Even when the dialogue is the most ham-fisted thing ever and each cinematic overstays its welcome, I love every minute of it. The series composer, Keiki Kobayashi, is also back with his amazing filmic score, which lends itself beautifully to the many climatic moments and encounters during each mission. I've been bouncing back and forth between the campaign and multi-player since launch. I'm currently playing on Hard difficulty (where the challenge has been slightly mitigated due to the upgraded planes/parts I've been able to purchase from playing competitively), but the story missions escalate relatively quickly in both difficulty and objective variety. I'm looking forward to spending more time above the clouds when time and my willingness to go zero-G permits.

#9. Capcom's beloved Resident Evil (RE) franchise continues to impress and surprise existing fans and newcomers alike with their latest remake of Resident Evil 2. I've been playing RE games since the original back on PlayStation (PS1) and although I've played through all of the mainline titles (outside of RE6) and a variety of the spin-off games, my heart lies with the older titles, pre-RE4. I've enjoyed RE the most when the emphasis was put on surviving. Managing limited inventory/resources, storing items in "magic" boxes, knowing when to utilize ink ribbons to save progress, navigating environments with fixed camera angles and interconnected spaces with light puzzle-solving and backtracking is what defines RE for me. Once the series started resembling the (horrible) movies and became more action-oriented, my interest began to wane.

Fortunately, since the release of RE7 and Capcom's implementation of the RE Engine, it seems like they're back on track to becoming one of the best developers in the business. Despite a lot of the original staff having left over the years to pursue new ventures (such as director Hideki Kamiya who's now at Platinum Games), the Resident Evil 2 remake remains remarkably faithful to the original vision from 1998's classic. If you're familiar with the inevitable downfall of Raccoon City and the trials of tribulations of rookie cop, Leon S. Kennedy, and "I'm searching for my brother, Chris" Claire Redfield, you'll feel right at home here. The story is largely the same, but a few liberties have been taken (for the better mind you). Unlike the original PS1 game, the remake opts for a 3rd-person/over-the-shoulder perspective, which is more akin to post-RE4 titles and it works/feels as wonderfully as one would expect.

The core of the game and the general flow/structure mirrors the original title to a significant degree. At the same time, the Resident Evil 2 remake feels like a completely new experience. Capcom did a really good job balancing what made the 1998 game so great while adding modern sensibilities and other quality-of-life (QOL) changes. Each area is interconnected and outside of certain doors which still require keys, there are no load-screens between each location. Ink ribbons (at least on the standard difficulty) are no longer needed to save progress and auto-saves are generous in their usage. The map has even been made useful/relevant as items that have yet to be collected become noted and a simple color-coding scheme is applied showing the player whether or not a room has been completed looted. I completed Leon's campaign on Standard difficulty and scored a "B" rank. Next is Clair's campaign and I'll likely save the higher difficulty and "S" rank runs for a later date.

Ongoing Affairs

Ongoing: Despite only logging on during seasonal events, I continue to play Blizzard's Overwatch, perhaps against my better judgment. The Winter Wonderland 2018 and The Lunar New Year 2019 events launched late last year and in January of this year, respectively. Along with the most recent event came the "Year of the Pig", which included a slew of new skins, emotes and the like (of which nothing of interest was unlocked, thanks to the dreaded RNG). I played as much of the game as I could despite having other ongoing game obligations and had just as much fun as I've had in previous events. I did walk away from the latest event with a new appreciation for the game, however. A weekly arcade mode, 8 Player Mystery Heroes FFA, was in rotation and it was specifically where I found myself playing the most.

While I typically try to play/focus on a few specific characters, I wanted to see if this mode would be a quick opportunity to earn some easy loot boxes. What I quickly realized was how fun and easy it is to pick-up & play the majority of the roster. This death-match mode essentially forces you to play/try other characters at random upon death, which makes you learn whether or not one character or the other is built for your play-style. I went from exclusively playing as Soldier 76, Reaper and Pharah to wanting to potentially main Bastion, Ashe, Junkrat and possibly even Symmetra. Although I didn't get any fancy new skins or emotes, I did come away from the past two events with a newfound appreciation for the game as a whole.

Ongoing: I also continue to play Bungie's Destiny 2: Forsaken (begrudgingly mind you). Since the last time I wrote about my adventures with the Traveler, two major seasonal events have passed and I happened to participate in both of them. First, there was The Dawning, which had players collecting special ingredients in order to bake holiday-themed snacks & goodies for your fellow Guardians. Last month, we were gifted the glory that is Crimson Days, otherwise known as the yearly reminder that no one wants to play Crucible with you. I played Destiny 2 extensively during these two events and got all of the exclusive rewards/triumphs, too. The other major content update since last year has been the Black Armory and its accompanying Season of the Forge, which in retrospect, appeared to be divisive among fans. The Black Armory/Season of the Forge brought about new activities (specifically, the Forges), unique gear, a raid lair, a handful of triumphs and other quest-like pursuits.

From a story/lore perspective, I didn't find the whole ordeal very captivating. At the same time, I'm not the most lore-invested Destiny player out there and I've yet to read beyond a couple of the lore entries I've unlocked since Forsaken (although I do plan on taking an afternoon to dive deeper one of these days). The forges themselves were horde-like/wave-based encounters where the objective was to dunk orbs dropped by powerful enemies into a central location. Various loot (with somewhat ridiculous drop rates) were gifted upon completion and the entire affair had players accepting/completing new bounties from the social space's new debbie-downer, Ada-1. I came around to the forge activity itself and had my fun with it, but outside of that, the annual pass content continues to be another reason to login/grind towards an end-game I'm not sure I'll ever experience. More thoughts on Destiny 2 and its current sixth season (Season of the Drifter) in the coming month…

Ongoing: Finally, I continue to play Capcom's best-selling Monster Hunter: World. At this point, I feel relatively invested in the game and will likely shoot for the Platinum trophy (what's another 150 hours?). The new expansion, Iceborne, is on its way too, which gives me plenty of time to work towards any remaining end-game quests/goals. Around the new year, Capcom released a quest or two to celebrate the arrival of 2019. In addition to this, the Appreciation Festival launched a month or so ago, which brought about new layered armor and other unique quests. I managed to score a handful of the exclusive gear during this event, but there's still a bunch of end-game content I'm just not ready for. The recently announced Witcher 3 crossover event launched earlier this year too and it was much better than what most fans were expecting (complete with unique cut-scenes, quests and dialogue voiced by the original voice actor who played Geralt). More Monster Hunter: Stories (get it?) to come…

Games In-Progress

Here is a list of games I've started, stopped or checked-out since the new year. I don't quite have the words ready for the games below, but you can look forward to reading my thoughts in the coming months.

PS4:

Chasm
Timespinner
Devil May Cry V
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped (Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy)
Spyro: Year of the Dragon (Spyro Reignited Trilogy)
Tom Clancy's: The Division

Nintendo Switch:

Yoshi's Crafted World
Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes
Baba Is You
Mechstermination Force
Splatoon 2 + Octo Expansion
ARMS
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Mom Hid My Game!
Wandersong
Lightning Force: Quest for the Darkstar (Sega Ages)
Xenoblade Chronicles 2

Nintendo 3DS:

Chib-Robo! Zip Lash
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX
Super Mario Maker for the Nintendo 3DS
Pokemon Sun

Xbox One:

Ashen
Crackdown 3
Below
Forza Horizon 4
Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden

Nimby · Apr 19, 2019

Spyware · Apr 21, 2019

Weekly update 16!

Was sure I would beat two games this week. Ended up being right, but these were not at all the games I thought I would beat!
Played both due to Twitch friends having them next on their playlist and I didn't want to be spoiled.

35. Yesterday (PC) | 16th Apr - 3hrs | 3/5

This was a bit of a disappointment. I really liked the Runaway series despite its problems, and The Next Big Thing was great. I thought the story of this one sounded really intriguing so I had hopes for it. But I just don't get some design decisions with this one. The character design is a little hit and miss but generally they look fine. But then they don't actually move around the screen! They just take a step, fade out and then fade in next to whatever they were asked to interact with. It's quick and that's nice, but it looks really... off. I really like the premise of the story but not the way it is told. It becomes predictable and the player gets to know way more than the character, which is a thing I really dislike. I want to know just as much or little as the character I play as. I know I sound really negative now but it's still a good game. The puzzle aspect is good and the story still has its moments. I am interested in what the sequel is all about.

36. Ori and the Blind Forest (PC) | 20th Apr - 8hrs | 4/5

I basically did a coin toss between this and Hollow Knight back in February, so it's been on the "very soon" playlist for quite some time. I love when streamers get me started on games like this because I really focus through them too. I almost beat this in one sitting! Let's start with the few negative things first so we get them out of the way. Ori is ugly. The character not the game, which is wonderful of course. I really dislike both the look of the character and how they animate most of the time. Thankfully they're so small that the Naruto running animation isn't really up in your face and pretty easy to ignore. But it still bothers me that everything else looks amazing and Ori looks like that. I also wasn't a fan of some specific sections of the game. Just small ones and I loved the rest so it's a very minor point. The game in definitely great and the mentioned negatives are more like pet peeves and nitpicks. Controlling Ori feels good and the gameplay is generally lovely. I loved the pacing, especially the time between new abilities. Really appreciated the atmosphere of he different environments. The added fast travel was really nice to have, I have to say. I definitely wouldn't have enjoyed it as much otherwise, even tho I loved running around the world. Ended up 100%-ing the map, but skipped the harder achievements like beating the game without dying. The game sounds and looks great, it almost doesn't have to be mentioned. I can't say the story interested me much but I am curious what the sequel will bring when it comes to that. Bring on the wisps!

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Master Post!

Deleted member 176 · Apr 21, 2019

I'm really far behind so we're doing a Game Boy blitz. The polygon article came out just in time. I already gave up on all the Donkey Kong Lands, they're just terrible.

8. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (PS4) | 11th April - 25hrs | 4/5

I like this game a lot. Once it clicks it's really fun to spider-man around killing people and monsters. It's a lot better than the Dark Souls sequels. My issue with it is that the grind for the skill trophy was such a downer that I began to resent the game in retrospect. DLC or time should redeem it in my eyes, but that's why it's a 4/5 instead of 5/5.

9. Nintendo Labo Toy-con 04: VR Kit (Switch) | 17th April - 2hrs | 3/5

This is my first and only Labo. It took way longer to build than I thought it would, but it was really rewarding finishing the blaster and the games actually work pretty well. I want the camera and Pokémon Snap so bad.

10. Kirby's Dream Land (Game Boy) | 18th April - 30mins | 3/5

This one is a replay, albeit a game I haven't played in over a decade now. It's a lot better than I remember it being, I like how simple it is and the music is amazing. It's super short and doesn't overstay its welcome either. I completely forgot about the shooting mechanics, which were a pleasant surprise. A really strong start to the franchise, I'll probably replay it more in the future.

11. Super Mario Land (Game Boy) | 18th April - 1hr | 4/5

I looooove this game, this was the first time I completed it all the way through. This game inspired Mario Odyssey as much as Mario 64 did if not more imo. It's got everything you'd want on Gameboy. Short. Simple and straightforward graphics. Responsive controls. Amazing music. But then it also has this super weird atmosphere and is constantly surprising you with what comes next despite being so straightforward otherwise. One of the greats for sure.

12. Mega Man II (Game Boy) | 20th April - 1hr | 2/5

This game is pretty bad not gonna lie. I wouldn't have finished if it wasn't so short according to howlongtobeat and if it weren't for save states. I liked how it switched up robot masters and how there were a secret additional 4 robot master stages in the wily castle. it's just too cramped and hard to control to be a good mega man game.

13. Trip World (Game Boy) | 20th April - 1hr | 2/5

I hate this game. I tried it out because of the Polygon article but I absolutely resent it. I wouldn't have finished it if it weren't so short and I would have given it a 1/5 if it weren't for the cool visuals and unique vibes. But man... everything about the act of playing this game is just the worst. It sucks to move, your main attack sucks, the transformations suck except for the fish in one level, and it's somehow way too long despite being very short. I can respect what it was going for but I was glad to put this one away forever.

14. Balloon Kid (Game Boy) | 21st April - 1hr | 4/5

Another recommendation from the Polygon article, but this one is actually very good. I think the moment it really clicked for me was Level 5 which is basically a remix of Balloon Fight. The stages have a lot of variety in both layout and theme, the music is really good, and all in all I'm really impressed that this was on Game Boy. Only complaint is that the running physics are the same as the balloon physics so there are some bs moments where you jump towards a wall only to be blasted backwards.

15. Castlevania: the Adventure (Game Boy) | 21st April - 2hrs | 2/5

There's some huge bs in this game. I only finished because of save states and I was using them liberally. So many bs frame perfect jumps and traps everywhere, and it's a slog to control. The music and visuals are good tho, even if it's a bad Castlevania. Not looking forward to replaying this for the collection's platinum trophy.

Original post

KtotheRoc · Apr 22, 2019

Games 21-30 finally done.

Main Post

21: StarTropics (Start & End: 3/13/2019)

I'm incredibly familiar with this game. Probably even more than I actually thought, as I beat the whole game in one sitting.

Played on Nintendo Switch NES Online

22: Ninja Gaiden Sigma II (Start: 3/11/2019. End: 3/14/2019)

Despite the lack of blood in this version, and the less overall difficulty, I did enjoy this version, with its new bosses, and QOL improvements.

Played on PSNow.

23: Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (Start: 3/14/2019. End: 3/16/2019)

I borrowed my brother's copy of this game and conquered it once again. Still one of the greatest 2D platformers ever made.

Played on Nintendo Switch

24: Ninja Gaiden III: Razor's Edge (Start: 3/17/2019. End: 3/19/2019)

I had something of a Ninja Gaiden itch recently. Flaws aside (and there are quite a few), I still enjoyed my time with this game.

Played on PSNow.

25: Phantasy Star (Start: 3/20/2019. End: 3/24/2019)

Old RPGs like this don't take that much time when you know what you're doing. The first Phantasy Star game I ever completed.

Played on Nintendo Switch.

26: Final Fantasy VII (Start: 3/26/2019. End: 4/1/2019)

It's really weird being able to play Final Fantasy VII on Nintendo. I also told myself I wouldn't use the fastforward feature too much, but I did, lol.

Played on Nintendo Switch.

27: Phantasy Star II (Start: 4/2/2019. End: 4/7/2019)

A game I have tried numerous times to beat over the years. I finally did it this year. This victory was incredibly satisfying. (Also, once again, thankful to this game's fast forward feature, lol.)

Played as part of Sega Genesis Classics on Nintendo Switch.

28: Devil May Cry (Start: 4/8/2019. End: 4/10/2019)

Confession. I've never played the original Devil May Cry games. I'm correcting that now. Solid game.

Played as part of the DMC HD Collection on PSNow.

29: Resident Evil Code Veronica X (Start: 4/9/2019. End: 4/17/2019)

Confession: I had never beaten Code Veronica before. The game feels a little sloppy compared to other classic RE games (Plane Tyrant says "hello"). Probably one of the weaker entries in the main RE franchise.

Played on PS4.

30: Devil May Cry 2 (Start: 4/20/2019. End: 4/21/2019 )

Speaking of sloppy Capcom sequels... I don't think this is the worst of those I have played this year (Mega Man X7 says "hello"), but it is one of the weaker games I have played this year.

Played as part of the DMC HD Collection on PSNow.

Weiss · Apr 22, 2019

18. Ratchet: Deadlocked - 22/04/2019

Deadlocked is a pretty maligned game from what I can tell, which is weird since it's awesome. Taking Ratchet's gameplay and amping up the guns and explosions to Michael Bay levels is a breath of fresh air to the unhappy middle ground of UYA. Plus the soundtrack is an absolute banger.

Weiss · Apr 22, 2019

19. Suikoden - 22/04/2019

I only really played this game for the save bonuses in Suikoden II, which I hear is the bee's knees. I've actually played it previously but lost the save due to console transfer, which I'm worried will happen again with my current PS3.

The game itself is basically just a standard mid-90s JRPG with some cool subsystems it never really capitalizes upon in any meaningful way (the game's central mechanic is the Rune system and it took me until the final dungeon to actually learn how to equip them) but the story is a refreshing change of pace from the traditional Save The World plot thanks to its political trappings of medieval warfare.

Looking forward to trying Suikoden II.

Dead Guy · Apr 23, 2019

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#4 - Nancy Drew: Danger by Design | PC | 4 Hours | 04.04.2019 | 7/10

This is a game series that I believe will be fairly obscure to most people on this site as I never hear it talked about and Her Interactive is an incredibly small company in the grand scheme of things. Still though, they've been quietly producing games in the background for over 20 years now and the Nancy Drew series now sits at 32 games total. These games were a huge part of my childhood and because of this I started doing Let's Plays for them on my YouTube channel over 5 years ago. This particular entry is game #14 in the series. The game (and series as a whole) is a first person point and click adventure/mystery series that has you navigating and searching different environments for clues as well as the occasional puzzle thrown in that you must complete to progress. This particular game takes place in Paris, France and revolves around an eccentric fashion designer who is throwing tantrums and firing people left and right. It's our job as Nancy Drew to figure out why this is happening and possibly uncover the solutions to other mysteries in the process.

The environments in this one are quite nice and you do get a genuine 'Parisian' feel from the music and atmosphere. There are no terrible puzzles that stick out in this entry (unlike some other games in the series) and you progress at a relatively quick pace. The big negative here though is that I find the suspects incredibly weak in this game. Only 2 really have anything to do with what is going on while the rest are just kind of road blocks put in the game to impede your progress. One in particular I believe is one of the worst in the entire series as her entire story arc amounts to you baking cookies for her and getting an autograph so you can access the Paris catacombs later in the game.

Still though the game is engaging enough that it keeps your interest all the way through and the slower pace of the game is a nice change from the all out action of many other games I play. The series itself I feel is one that is very overlooked, especially when it comes to female representation in gaming. Nancy isn't an ass kicking heroine like many others you see but she is incredibly intelligent and uses her smarts to outwit the bad guys every time. It's a refreshing take on female main characters and shows that they don't have to become physical threats in order to win the day and stop the villain's plans. Definitely check out the series if you are a fan of adventure games and solving mysteries. They are only $20 dollars and will give you a great experience.

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#5 - Dive Kick | PC | 9 Hours | 04.22.2019 | 7/10

A fun little indie game who's main idea is to take fighting games and break them down to their simplest form. And I mean very simple as there are literally only 2 buttons needed to play. Despite this, the game is much deeper than it looks at first glance and is a fantastic introduction for beginners into competitive fighting games and the fun you can have with them. There's a decent number of characters here and all play differently depending on their speed, special moves and trajectory of their kick. Different strategies will have to be used with and against every character adding a lot of replay-ability as well as teaching you to think on your feet in very stressful situations. Should I get closer or further away? Is this a good time to use my special attack? Why is Uncle Sensei the worst character in the game despite supposedly being the Dive Kick champion 5 years running? All questions you will have to ask yourself in every match if you want to actually get good at the game and develop sound strategies. There is also a lot of humor based around parodying the FGC as a whole which I found quite funny, although if you aren't familiar with fighting games at all most of it will probably go over your head. Still though, I can't think of a better game to introduce a total beginner into the genre so if you've ever wanted to get into fighting games but have been intimidated by other franchises you may want to give this a try.

Chas Hodges · Apr 23, 2019

15

Not a great milestone, but I've found the challenge much harder to keep up with this year.

Deleted member 1759 · Apr 23, 2019

Main Post

It's been a while but I just don't feel like playing games at the moment. But at least I managed to finish two short f2p games today.

#17: A Bewitching Revolution (PC) | 0.5h | 23 April | ☭☭☭½

Can't say I freed the oppressed with tarot cards before. Definitely recommended.

#18: Burning Daylight (PC) | 0.6h | 23 April | ★★★★

"Just" a walking sim with a pretty good but weird story. You mustn't be afraid of 🍆 if you want to play this though.

Rhaknar · Apr 24, 2019

Game #48 - Supraland
Time: 15 hours

Wonderful surprise with this, as I never heard of it and it turned out to be quite the little gem, even if I was pretty checked out near the end, but that might say more about me and puzzle games than the actual game itself. Anyway, basically a first person puzzle game not unlike a Portal, with shades of "metroidvania" where you are collecting new powers to be able to progress in new zones and more importantly, solve new puzzles. Great art style (Im a sucker for the whole "living toys" motif with games), a cute story but more importantly great puzzles that more than once made me go "wow I can actually do that?" make for a impressive package, especially since it is basically a one person joint. Like I said initially, It's a little too long and feels bloated near the end, as I was pretty much eady to be done with it and I didnt even get even half the secrets in the game (completionists will have a field day with this one), and the combat is absolute trash, but still very much worth playing.

Game #49 - Burning Daylight
Time: 50minutes

Neat little walking sim with fantastic visuals and a cute if abstract neo-futuristic story. It was a school project from The Animation Project made by 12 students and it's quite impressive for what it is. It's very short as you can finish it in under an hour, but it's free on Steam and well worth it for the visuals alone in my opinion.

Main Post

saenima · Apr 25, 2019

Main Post

24. Crypt of the Serpent King - 1h40 - 17.04

Being fully aware this was a pretty anonymous mobile port, i wasn't really expecting Grimrock here. Was still disappointed. This is a barebones, thoroughly mediocre game. Barely above an asset flip.

25. Subject 13 - 4h20 - 22.04

Subject 13 has some interesting puzzles and nice vistas, but unfortunately that's all the praise i can give it. It's very janky, poorly written, terribly voice acted and the story, which is mostly unintelligible, ends in a very silly way. The player character is unwieldy and slower than Resi zombies. But the worst offender by far is the last puzzle of the game. It is literally a game of Minesweeper. A very obnoxious and long game of Minesweeper.

Seems like i've just been playing stinkers lately.

Weiss · Apr 25, 2019

20. Cuphead - 25/04/2019

Fuck yeah I beat Cuphead.

rahji · Apr 26, 2019

8. DMCV - Finished on 3/10/2019 Time: 20 hours

Beat the campaign and it was hell of a ride. It is really awesome that this game runs on a base ps4 with 60fps and the graphics look really sharp. The combat system was a little bit overwhelming for me. Sometime, I will come back to beat the higher difficulties. Right now, I am stuck at Mission 19 on SoS difficulty. Awesome game and my first full price purchase of 2019. I really hope there is some additional content down the pipeline.

9. The Witness - Finished on 4/25/2019 Time: 30? hours

Finished it last night and boy I wish I hadn't. Initially I was fascinated by the puzzles and couldn't get enough of it, but at the end I was tired of it and wanted a closure with a proper ending. Well guess what there is no proper ending, the final cutscene gave me nothing and left me disappointed. The best open world puzzler I have played but I wished it ended with the opening of the last area. That last area was so tedious and the game would have left a better after taste if I hadn't pushed on.

10. Sekiro - Finished on 4/26/2019 Time: 53 hours

So far my GOTY. Not even DMCV had me invested like this game. I squeezed my controller so hard during the fights that my left hand hurts after playing intense boss battles. The setting is so gorgeous with feudal japan.

Coming up: I don't know, I feel a little bit exhausted and empty after beating Sekiro. Maybe something from ps plus next month.

saenima · Apr 26, 2019

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26. Star Wars: Republic Commando - 8h20 - 25.04

I really needed something good to play after the last few game i went through. And this delivered. Republic Commando has its fair amount of shortcomings, but it's a damn solid shooter that doesn't overstay its welcome. And apart from a middle section that feels a bit drab and that drags a little, most of the game has fantastic pacing. The story i could take or leave, it mostly dropped into the background tbh. But everything else felt fresh in 2019. It's definitely a relic from when most action games didn't need to be open world with crafting and skill trees and xp bars and map icon diarrhea. Loved it.

27. Azkend 2: The World Beneath - 10h - 25.04

Despite enjoying a good amount of Azkend 2, all i really want to say after i'm done with it is fuck this game. Those 10 hours listed on the header are very deceiving, as literally the last 4 of those hours were spent in the same level, which i never beat. I kept banging my head against an insurmountable wall. I'd imagine it's very feasible on PC, using m/kb. But i can't imagine anyone beating that shit using a controller without the benefit of extremely unlikely good fortune. There is simply not enough time. And i tried. For 4 straight hours. Until i finally questioned my life choices and deleted this pos with the quickness.

So this is the first, and hopefully last, game on this list which i haven't finished.

5pectre · Apr 27, 2019

14. Mass Effect: Andromeda (Xbox One)
I remember being so hyped for this game but even though I got it day 1, I shelved it because of all the negative reviews. I played through the original trilogy last year, so I thought to myself, "They have to have patched all that by now, right?"

There is SO much wrong with this game that I won't even list it all, but first let me mention some of the things that I liked.

I liked the story. Sure, it was kind of a new take on the Geth storyline from the first part of Mass Effect 1 but I found it interesting and I actually wanted to see what came next.
I also really liked the looks of the game, JJ Abrams lens flares and all. It looked like a Mass Effect game.

Now some of the things that really irritated me.
It looked like a Mass Effect game but it certainly didn't feel like one. The only place I remember there being ambient music is on the Galaxy Map? It is very noticable that it's missing.

The animations.... oh GAWD, what the heck went wrong here? First off, the mouthes are not synchronized to the dialog. This threw me off every damn time and I had to force myself not to look at it.
The characters faces move in a way like they're wearing a rubber mask over their normal face. And they do expressions that are humanly impossible. I also noticed that in closeup scenes where you could see the hands they would often have unnaturally stiff fingers. NOONE has their hands like that.
Also, I don't think they MOCAP'ed any movement as it looked really odd.

Also, if a character model wasn't in the right position, if you for example skipped ahead with X in a conversation, that character would zip across the floor, t-pose style, with a stiff body. Looks hilarious but what gives?

I can somewhat look past all that but here comes the real gripes I have with the game... Quality of Life stuff (QoL).
The game is an ABSOLUTE slog to play through. Traversing the galaxy especially. OH. MY. LORD!

You press a cluster on the galaxy map and it shows the Tempest take off in an animation, fine. You get to the cluster and have x amount of planets. Press on a planet and the picture slooooooooooowly pans to the planet and flies there in 1st person and zooms in on the planet. You can skip this animation after about 3 seconds after it starts.
Now I want to go to the next planet so I press B to back out and target a new planet.

It zooms in on my current planet and slooooooooooowly zooms out. Flies to the new planet in 1st person and zooms in. Who in their right mind thought this was a great idea!!? Coming from ME3 where you just fly around this was driving me crazy.

To finish off there was 1 good thing about the slow traversing. When you were at a planet and backed into the Tempest you could see that planet from the bridge or you quarters. It looked really nice.

2/5
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52 Games. 1 Year. 2019.

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