Another solid month for me for September, with 12 games beaten taking me to 78 in total. 100 is actually looking like a realistic target for the full year, which I hadn't been expecting!
For my full list, part one can be found here:
https://www.resetera.com/posts/2732807/
Parts two and three are here:
https://www.resetera.com/posts/8440648/
67.
Technobabylon (Steam) - 2 September 2018
Completed with 100% of achievements unlocked.
Technobablyon is the last of Wadjet Eye's games for me to play out of those that I currently own, and once again it didn't disappoint. With a 'cyberpunk' setting, it's very different from the
Blackwell series that I started out with, but no less enjoyable for that. I did find that a few of the puzzle solutions were a little less intuitive than they might have been due to this futuristic setting, but that wasn't a very common issue, and the setting has the benefit of bringing with it a dual-world mechanic - the 'cyberspace'-style 'trance' - which I always enjoy in games. Another enjoyable, though a little less memorable, plot rounds out another positive experience.
68.
Year Walk (Steam) - 9 September 2018
Completed with 100% of achievements unlocked. A rather strange game,
Year Walk is a horror-themed first-person adventure game with fairly light puzzles, based around Nordic folklore. The game's excellent when it comes to creating an appropriately creepy atmosphere, through its graphics, sound and the various encounters that you'll proceed through, but I didn't particularly enjoy the gameplay, with the puzzles often not conveyed particularly clearly. I can see how this would appeal quite strongly to some, especially horror fans, but not really a game for me.
69.
Guacamelee! 2 (PS4) - 13 September 2018
Platinum trophy earned, including 100% complete playthrough on both normal and hard modes.
Guacamelee! 2 is a textbook example of how to do a sequel, taking the positives of the first game and comprehensively building and improving on these. The combination of tight combat in a well-designed 'Metroidvania'-style open-world, with superbly stylistic and colourful graphics comes together fantastically. I'd particularly call out the satisfying platforming mechanics, which make use of fighting moves to aid traversal (e.g., an uppercut can be used to gain height) - the difficulty here is very well-judged and, while there are a few moments of frustration that are inevitable with challenging platforming sequences, the sense of satisfaction that comes as a payoff for eventual success more than makes up for this. Frequent humourous elements and abundant references to other IPs, from
LIMBO to
God of War and
Street Fighter, round out the package - overall,
Guacamelee! 2 is superb.
70.
Framed 2 (Switch) - 14 September 2018
Complete playthrough. Very similar in approach to the original
Framed, this sequel again tasks the player with manipulation of comic-style scenes to allow various protagonists to proceed unharmed through the sequence. Framed 2 builds on this with some more complex scenarios and a wider range of actions depicted in each scene - this can occasionally lead to frustration and resorting to trial-and-error, but such moments are infrequent and overall the
Framed 2 is just as satisfying as the first game, while also retaining a superb sense of style throughout.
71.
To The Moon (Steam) - 17 September 2018
Complete playthrough. Created with RPG Maker,
To The Moon's gameplay mechanics are fairly limited, primarily requiring the collection of various objects throughout a range of scenarios, but that's not the reason to come to this game. Where
To The Moon excels is with its interesting narrative premise, based around exploration and manipulation of memories, and tells a touching and engrossing story; to say too much about the specifics of the plot would be a spoiler, but there are some interesting twists and a satisfying ending - it's easily worth playing on this basis alone.
72.
Goetia (Switch) - 18 September 2018
Completed with good ending; 100% of codex entries collected. With an appropriately dark and mysterious setting,
Goetia puts the player in control of the spirit of a former inhabitant of a now-abandoned mansion and tasks you with exploring the mansion and its surroundings in an attempt to uncover the events that have led it to this state. Although dark in tone and with death as a common theme,
Goetia is more atmospheric and somewhat creepy than it is horror, and the game does a good job of capturing this feeling through its story and soundtrack. What may let the game down in the eyes of some is its difficulty - many puzzles have solutions that, while they may make sense in hindsight, are not at all obvious to work out, especially with key items and interactive elements not necessarily being easy to locate. If you're prepared for this difficulty and find the theme interesting, you'll likely enjoy
Goetia, but otherwise itI'd suggest being a little wary.
73.
A Normal Lost Phone (Steam) - 21 September 2018
Completed with 100% of achievements unlocked.
A Normal Lost Phone, as its name suggests, presents you with an ostensibly normal smartphone that you've found abandoned, tasking you with investigating the story behind the phone's owner through the phone interface and the information stored on it. This comes across as an unusual and well-realised form of story-telling, as you're largely left to uncover the story in a freeform manner, investigating messages and other content in whatever order you choose - albeit some (needed) structure is afforded by gating off certain areas behind access controls/passwords that you'll find from other areas. This open nature results in a satisfying experience and you're drawn into finding out as much as you can about the story... in a way that ultimately feels almost uncomfortably intimate as you discover more. Recommended.
74.
Thimbleweed Park (PS4) - 22 September 2018
Platinum trophy earned, including complete playthrough on both casual and hard modes. A delightful throwback to the days of the classic LucasArts-style point-and-click adventure games (which I loved in their time), I thoroughly enjoyed
Thimbleweed Park. While the game makes use of an interface very much like the SCUMM system used by those older games, there are intelligent improvements coming from more modern game design - for the most part, puzzle solutions make sense, limiting the extent to which trial-and-error is needed to work out what might have been obscure solutions that older games might expect - and a 'casual mode' and in-game hint system serve to address those situations where you still find yourself stuck.
Of course, LucasArts adventures also typically conveyed a great sense of humour, and
Thimbleweed Park doesn't disappoint, with Ron Gilbert back at his best for the game's script.
Thimblweed Park's plot starts very much along the lines of the investigation scenario of Twin Peaks, but increasingly diverges with elements of parody as you proceed through the game's nine parts; ultimately, the conclusion isn't an satisfying as it might be, depending on what you might be expecting, but the path that it takes is unusual and interesting as a result.
75.
Another Lost Phone: Laura's Story (Steam) - 23 September 2018
Completed with 100% of achievements unlocked. From the same developers as
A Normal Lost Phone, this follow-up works in a similar way, again presenting you with a smartphone interface and a story to uncover about the phone's owner. Again, I enjoyed this fairly freeform investigative gameplay, and
Another Lost Phone develops nicely on the earlier game in a number of ways. The underlying story is more involved and has more surrounding detail to discover, there's a greater range of functionality and simulated 'apps' to investigate, and overall just a higher level of polish - overall, another well-realised experience.
76.
Celeste (PS4) - 27 September 2018
Platinum trophy earned, including all 200 strawberries and 24 crystal hearts (assist mode not used until B-sides and C-sides).
Celeste is a fantastic experience as a platformer - at times brutally difficult, but all the more rewarding for that. The levels are well-designed, with a satisfying ramp-up in difficulty as the game progresses. While essentially linear, the game still achieves a sense of exploration with a few optional or alternative paths through levels, each of which also hides a multitude of secrets - most commonly, floating strawberries that are the game's primary collectibles.
Celeste makes it very clear that collecting these is entirely optional, but of course, testing yourself against the challenging platforming scenarios that many of the strawberries present brings some of the greatest moments of elation when you succeed.
Unusually for a platformer,
Celeste tells a touching and somewhat profound story, of self-discovery as the protagonist Madeleine attempts to climb Celeste mountain. The game's presentation is excellent, with simple yet effective pixel-art graphics, a memorable soundtrack - and, in a commendable gesture towards accessibility, the inclusion of an 'assist mode' that allows a number of 'cheats' to be enabled, such that anyone should be able to experience the game (though of course, overuse is likely to detract from any sense of achievement that might otherwise be felt).
Celeste is certainly going to be a strong contender when it comes to game of the year considerations this year!
77.
Another World - 20th Anniversary Edition (PS4) - 28 September 2018
100% of trophies earned. Clearly revolutionary in its time (being a remastered version of the 1991 Amiga release), especially with its very impressive polygonal graphics, nowadays
Another World shows its age, with rather clunky controls (while still expecting great precision at times) and very obscure requirements to progress through certain encounters. I'd say that it's still worth playing through
Another World, especially if you do so with a guide to alleviate some of the frustration that might otherwise come from getting stuck in places, for the insight that it can bring to the history of the action/platformer genre, but do so in the knowledge that it's very old-school in much of its gameplay.
78.
Figment (Steam) - 30 September 2018
Completed with 100% of achievements unlocked.
Figment is an enjoyable, fairly lightweight action/adventure, with a beautiful graphical style. Set in the unconscious mind of a person recently involved in a car accident,
Figment sees you exploring areas themed around creativity (expect to see gardens, music and similar) and logic (where clockwork mechanics are prevalent), with charming hand-drawn graphics, an impressively dynamic musical score and dialog based around rhyming, frequent puns and, as a stand-out, singing boss enemies! With combat encounters being fairly trivial, gameplay is primarily focused on exploration and puzzle solving, which, while again never really getting difficult, is still generally satisfying, especially with the puzzles fitting in very nicely with the world themes - for example, progression might require planting seeds in the garden areas, or setting up mechanics in those based around clockwork. The simplicity of the game might be a detractor for some people and it's fairly short (perhaps 4-6 hours for an unguided playthrough), but I had a good time with
Figment.
