What games did you complete? 2022 Edition

[cassidy]

Spoiler

06/01/22

1. Yakuza 3 remastered -(series X)

 

26/01/22

2. Yakuza 4 remastered - (series X) 

 

27/01/22

3. Nobody saves the world - (Series X)

 

16/02/22

4. Infernax - (series X)

 

17/02/22

5. Dreamscaper - (series X) 

 

17/03/2022

6. Young Souls - (Series X) 

 

06/04/2022

7. A Memoir Blue - (Series X)

 

22/04/2022

8. Elden Ring - (Series X) 

 

27/04/2022

9. Turnip Boy commits tax evasion. 

10. Gigawing - Capcom arcade stadium version

 

30/04/2022

Battle Circuit - Capcom arcade stadium version

 

And just completed No 12. And again thanks to Gamepass another bloody fantastic game. 

 

Life is Strange : True Colours - Series X 

Think I enjoyed this more than the original. It's a cracking story told well, with great acting throughout. Obviously there's not much game but when the tale is told so well and movingly who cares. 

 

 

[Unofficial Who]

May

 

16/05 Full Throttle:Remastered (PC) I was looking for a short game to play and then I remembered I hadn't played the remaster of this left of centre graphic adventure game. It was an interesting experience although a little frustrating due to some of the puzzle design in some sections that want you to do things just so. I remember wanting this badly back in 1995 and hoping for a CD32 port but that wasn't to be, it would be many years until I had a PC that could run Full Throttle and I didn't enjoy it as much as The Curse of Monkey Island. And having played this again now I was a little underwhelmed having just recently played Day of the Tentacle which has much better puzzle design.

 

But I started a second run with the commentary on and...I think I might have approached it (and maybe have always approached it) the wrong way. Playing through it without the frustration of getting stuck has led to a more free flowing experience and it's amazing seeing how they managed to make it seem much more animated than it really is. Back in 1995 it was hard to get the illusion of the PC doing this sort of thing full screen with slow CD drives and they do a lot here to suggest movements with cuts and sound effects with many of the screens either being stills of very sparsely streamed roads. If I'd have had this back in 1995 I'm pretty sure this would have been a game I played over and over in much the same way as I used to with Law of the West on the C64. The remaster is pretty good too with the characters looking how I imagined they looked back in the day. Using the switch between old and new filters they've maintained exactly the same colour palette too. I think this was a big ask at the price back in the day for anyone other than LucasArts fans but this is a great remake and if you don't like it you can downgrade it to look and sound exactly like the old version. It goes cheap and if you have GamePass it's sitting there right now. Oh and special mention for the voice acting which was amazing for a game in 1995 and is still pretty good 27 years later.

 

 

15/05 Unbeatable [White Label] (PC) I was a little unsure about whether to include this free Steam game? Demo? Prologue? I bounced off this last year and was going to delete it but I gave it one last shot and got all the achievements by playing it on beginner because these old hands can't handle the higher levels. It's one of those rhythm games with the in song controls limited to two buttons, one for you to get Beat to hit high, the other low. It has a really unique look to it with it's fake VHS filter and it kind of has a Scott Pilgrim vibe to it. Fun way to pass an hour on a lazy Saturday.

 

 

14/05 Trek To Yomi (PC) This is a bit of a weird one in that it feels like it was made to appeal to an audience too old to play it. I remember seeing these old black and white samurai and ninja serials as a kid if I snuck out of bed at 4am and turned on the tv with the volume almost muted. These were movies my mother and grandparents spoke about in hushed tones. This looks amazing, the film grain and flicker is just right (unlike Genesis Noir which gave me a headache whenever I tried to play it.) Compared with some clever tilt shift framing for wide shots and you have something that looks unique. My partner looked over my shoulder and said it reminded her a lot of Prince of Persia. For me it reminded me of Mechner's previous game Karateka. This really felt like a modern day version of that (and The Last Ninja and Fist 2). As mentioned elsewhere in this thread the combat and feel a bit weird, I never felt that I got to grips with countering (even though I got an achievement for 50 perfect counters) and I felt like I cheesed some of the encounters with projectile weapons. But that atmosphere, amazing stuff and perfect GamePass fare.

 

 

13/05 Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion (PC) I played this previously but the great thing about a game turning up on another service is that you have the excuse to play it again just to unlock the achievements. It reminds me a lot of Amiga parody games like Wibble World Giddy. This one is obviously a shot at Zelda and for some reason the repeated joke of others handing over important documents to this dumb Turnip who instantly rips them up doesn't get old for me. If you complete the game you unlock a decent rogue like that's obviously inspired by Adventure Time's Train Dungeon. It's pleasant GamePass fare.

 

 

09/05 California Games (C64) Revisiting this has finally made me realise why I was cold on this back in the day. The controls compared to the rest of the series are overly complicated and most of the games just don't give you much of a chance to get used to them before booting you out. Except for Foot Bag. On paper the least exciting of the games on offer but in practice just a really chill experience. My advice if you want to replay this for some 80's vibes, just play Foot Bag.

 

 

01/05 The Stanley Parable:Ultra Deluxe Still funny and more than enough new content to justify buying the new version. There's one element that's as meme like as the cake being a lie but they recognise it and flog the horse to death in front of you to spare us years of others doing it.

 

Have I completed it? Well I got the achievement for doing so. But I keep finding more and more the more I dig. The end is never the end is never the end is never the end...

 

 

Earlier this year

 

Spoiler

27. 27/04 The Darkside Detective:A Fumble in the Dark (PC)

26. 23/04 Streets of Rage 4 (PC)

25. 17/04 Exo One (PC)

24. 16/04 A Memoir Blue (PC)

23. 08/04 Slay the Spire (PC)

22. 03/04 Tunic (PC) 

21. 02/04 Kingdom:Two Crowns (PC)

20. 26/03 Say No! More (PC)

19. 21/03 Wizball (C64)

18. 17/03 Battle Circuit (PC/Arcade)

17. 17/03 We Happy Few (PC)

16. 07/03 Powered Gear (PC/Arcade) 

15. 06/03 FAR:Changing Tides (PC)

14. 05/03 In Other Waters (PC)

13. 02/03 Aperture Desk Job (Steam Deck/PC) 

12. 27/02 Final Fantasy 14:A Realm Reborn:Seventh Astral Era (PC) 

11. 25/02 Vampire Survivors (PC) 

10. 18/02 Hypnospace Outlaw

9. 05/02 Final Fight (PC/Arcade)

8. 31/01 Dynasty Wars (Arcade/PC)

7. 31/01 Mega Twins (Arcade/PC) 

6, 29/01 Superhot:Mind Control Delete (PC) 

5. 16/01 The Forgotten City (PC)

4. 09/01 Mr Driller Drill Land (PC)

3. 07/01 Olija (PC)

2. 07/01 It's a Knockout! (C64) 

1. 02/01 Katamari Damacy REROLL (PC)

 

Abandoned games

13/05 The Wild at Heart (PC)

19/03 Narita Boy (PC)

04/01 YIIK: A Postmodern RPG (PC)

 

[RubberJohnny]

GTAV - I got to the return to North Yankton bit on release and then had a hard drive failure and was shocked to find the Rockstar Social Club circa 2014 didn't have cloud saves meaning everything down the drain. 8 years later, I returned and finally finished it.

 

 

It's a goodun, innit? Los Santos is one of the best realised locations in gaming, and it's enjoyable just cruising around it not doing much in particular, although I think Forza Horizon has spoiled me on how car-friendly open worlds can be, there's a lot of unbreakable street furniture to get hung up on here. But otherwise this all holds up very well, it brings back the more varied missions from the earlier games and adds some spectacle that those older platforms could never do with the big setpieces that see you chasing vehicles across the whole map, some epic destruction and then getting into battles that span ground sea and air, it's actually quite impressive they squeezed all this out of what were at the time, ageing systems with 512MB of RAM.

 

And it's avoided becoming a time capsule of its decade like GTAIV has, if anything it has the problem a lot of satire does now where all the events of current year just caught up with the exaggerated versions, there was a radio ad about how working is just like slavery and I went "oh it's just /r/antiwork". Story wise, it strains under the needs of serving the gameplay, and so many hours of it, there's so many different interests popping up to have their subplot take over the main story and justify a bunch of missions that the personal arcs kind of get crushed out. I think RDR2 kind of solved this problem by having you play amongst this big supporting cast so they can all get some development in a more natural way, so I think that might be where they go in future, more of a criminal crew/gang angle, I can't really see these games ever going back to a single character. GTA6 reveal when?

[Captain Kelsten]

On 22/03/2022 at 23:42, Doctor Shark said:

Elden Ring - 22/03/22

Took 107 hours on my main save, but I put probably another 10-15 in just dicking about with other characters. Even with the various flaws and issues I had with the game, it still balances out as a 10/10 experience. I mean, it's the only game I've actually finished in over two years, so it must be good, right?

 

Edit: Wait, that's not entirely true, I also finished the Return of the Obra Dinn last year. One game a year! Not bad

 

On 31/03/2022 at 20:07, Doctor Shark said:

Dark Souls 2

Tried it on release, didn’t get on with it. 
 

Bought Scholar of the First Sin edition in 2015, put 62 hours in but didn’t finish and basically forgot everything about the game (including the fact I’d played it so much - I thought I’d only played for about 3 hours!) 
 

After Elden Ring I fancied more FromSoft but not necessarily more Elden Ring, so decided to do Dark Souls 2, 3 and Bloodborne, none of which I’d previously finished (I really didn’t gel with Sekiro at all so not going to bother with that). 
 

Anyway, went sorcerer and then Hexer, something else I’ve never done in these games, and had a thoroughly enjoyable time. Dark Souls 2 gets a bad rap, mostly cus it’s not dark souls 1 and dared to try to be different. Some of it works, some of it doesn’t but, overall, it’s still a phenomenal game and a worthy successor. Loved it. 

 

On 04/04/2022 at 17:09, Doctor Shark said:

 

Dark Souls 3!

I think Dark Souls 3 is the natural progression of what came in Dark Souls, whereas Dark Souls 2 felt more experimental in a lot of ways. 3 at times feels like it's playing it too safe and can often feel like a bit of a gauntlet as you desperately run to try and find safety or a bonfire with extremely fast, aggressive and numerous enemies. After playing so many hours of DS2, 3 at first felt like everything was on double speed but you soon get used to it. There are a number of times where if an enemy catches you with the first hit of a combo, you're gonna eat the whole thing, such as the ninja corvians in the Painted World DLC, but overall the game isn't overly difficult. None of the bosses gave me any trouble outside of the last few (Nameless King, Soul of Cinder and then Sister Friede), which all took a good number of attempts, but there are definitely some of the strongest bosses on display in From games, with some real standouts.

 

I think overall I might just prefer DS2, which I felt I connected with more and was more engaged in due to its esoteric systems, story and bold decisions - those that worked, anyway - some of which I was sad to see completely abandoned in 3. As I said, 3 feels more like a direct sequel to 1 a lot of the time, for better or worse.

 

Interestingly, I think DS1 has a great 2/3rds and a very poor final 3rd, DS2 has a poor first 3rd but an increasingly great back 2/3rds and DS3 is....okay, overall. Some cracking zones (Ilithyll and Illithyll Dungeon stood out in particular for me), some pretty crappy ones (Undead Settlement, Cathedral of the Deep I wasn't overly keen on) and a lot of middling ones that just sort of exist to stitch the world together. I felt the Painted World of Ariandel DLC was almost like DS3 condensed - some great bits, some fucking horrible bits but overall came out as a net positive. I'll get round to the Ringed City DLC soon, but I need a bit of a break! 

 

 

 

 

Bloodborne - 01/05/22

I bought this on release, like I do with all FromSoft games. I bounced off it, hard. I didn’t understand why, as it had so many things I like: gothic horror, lovecraftian cosmic horror, great combat, an intriguing story. I started it maybe 6 times over the intervening years but, I am happy to say this time it stuck and I finally finished it. 
 

So, what can I say that’s not been said dozens of times before, here and elsewhere? 
 

Elden Ring might be From’s latest and extremely popular but Bloodborne is, for me (and many others if my recent poll thread is anything to go by), their magnum opus. It’s just such a tight, refined experience. Everything has purpose and everything is on point: the combat, the story, the visuals, the weaponry. Nothing is extraneous and nothing is wasted. Every item, every zone, every enemy and every NPC has their place in the story and what a story it is! It’s intriguing, it’s puzzling and it’s just brilliant. Scholars uncover something underneath the city. They begin experimenting on it. The group split into various factions, all pursuing their own avenues of research. Long story short: it all goes wrong and you arrive just in time to clean it up…by making a huge mess. It starts as a Victorian horror werewolf story and ends as the best game inspired by the H P Lovecraft Cthulhu mythos ever made. 
 

I’ve come to adore this game. It’s not only cemented itself as my favourite FromSoft game by some margin, but it’s actually slithered its way into being one of my favourite games, period. 
 

Fear the old blood. 

 

Spider-Man (remastered version) - 02/05/22
 

I’ve finished the base version on ps4 before and very much enjoyed it, but I got it again as part of the ps5 miles morales pack and decided to play through it again over the last couple of weeks between Bloodborne and a trying a few other games to remind myself of the story before starting Miles. 
 

And what a story it is! It’s probably one of if not the best Spider-Man stories outside of the comics. The way it builds Doc Oc is superb. It has a few missteps (Martin Li/Mr Negative goes from nice guy to panto villain very suddenly) and some of the side stories are annoying, but overall it’s just a cracking Spidey tale. 
 

New York is stunningly realised and traversing it is a dream. Swinging feels fun, fluid and thrilling. It makes traversing the large open world such fun. Even once I unlocked fast travel I think I only used it about twice, because seeing a mission marker at the other end of the city meant an excuse to just swing about like a loon for a bit. 
 

I’d decided to do as many of the side bits and challenges as I could - something I rarely do in open world games (or I attempt to and then burn out and don’t finish the game at all) but, thanks again to the city itself and the swinging, they’re actually really fun and easy to do. All backpacks, research stations, gang hideouts, landmark locations and more and the game adds more as it progresses to always give you something to do, even if that “something” is usually just beating up endless thugs/demons/sable goons. Thankfully, the combat is amazing, too, taking a leaf from the Batman Arkham games. You unlock dozens of moves and gadgets but to be honest I didn’t end up using 90% of them more than once. Nice that they’re there, but they’re hardly necessary when Spidey’s so handy with his fists. 100+ hit combos, doing challenges without getting hit, mixing moves to meet objectives, it’s all cracking fun. 
 

Really looking forward to giving Miles Morales a go next.

 

[BabelRich]

Bit behind on this again

 

16/03 – Danganronpa – Trigger Happy Havok

Always wanted to try these games and having this drop on to GamePass was perfect. This was quite the trip, I guess I didn’t really know what to expect and found an extremely compelling narrative. It suffered a little from translation issues here and there and I could have done without some of the more ‘Japanese’ trimmings e.g. Toko’s weird worship stuff and Hina’s proportions, but on the overall story was great and contained plenty of moments where I could be smug and some genuine surprises. Gameplay wise there’s not much to speak of and what is there is poor minigame stuff I guess they feel they need to do to keep you entertained during the long trials. But I instantly wanted to play more of this. But first…

8/10

 

25/03 – Tunic

I didn’t enjoy this anywhere near as much as I thought I would. I loved the ideas behind it but in practice it just annoyed me too much. I loved the exploring, but combat was a bit of a chore meaning revisiting areas was a pain in the arse which put me off even after activating No Fail Mode (when I got to the Quarry because fuck that noise).

I think the problem was this wasn’t the game I wanted it to be, which I realise is my problem not the game’s, but it still meant my enjoyment was blunted.

6/10

 

01/04 – Danganronpa 2 – Goodbye Despair

More of the same but in a wilder setting and with mostly new characters. They attempted to add more gameplay elements which didn’t really work but the story, and weirdness, was still present and compelling.

The most annoying thing is that apparently the story finishes in an anime series instead of game 3 (which is a soft reboot I think).

08/10

 

08/04 – Kirby and the Forgotten Kingdom

Seeing the trailers, I thought this looked incredible. Then hearing reports from the demo was deflating, but I took a punt as it’s something I can play with the nipper. I thought I’d give it a blast before we went on holiday and I ended up enjoying it so much I completed it without her. But that just gives me an excuse to play it again.

09/10

 

 

Spoiler

13/03 - Horizon - Forbidden West 10/10

15/02 - Agent A 7/10

14/02 - Saint's Row - Gat Out of Hell 6/10

11/02 - Nobody Saves the World 8/10

04/02 - Final Fantasy 7 Remake Episode INTERMission 6/10

01/02 - Final Fantasy 7 Remake 8/10

26/01 - Gorogoa 9/10

25/01 - The Gunk 7/10

23/01 - Control 7/10

11/01 - Rise of the Tomb Raider 7/10

07/01 - Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space 9/10

 

[rockhops]

Spoiler

Previously:

1. OlliOlli World

2. Metroid Dread

 

3. Inside (Switch)

I went into this pretty blind, having not played Limbo or read much about either game. I saw Inside going cheap in a sale and it had decent review scores, so gave it a go. I guess it's a puzzle-platformer game, but a lot of the focus is on the unsettling world around you and trying to understand what's happening. On the whole I enjoyed it, nothing was too frustrating and I ended up googling different theories about the game's setting, which is a good sign. Doubt I will go back to get the extra collectables though.

 

4. Murder by Numbers (Switch)

This was fun. It's a picross game that also works as a visual novel (I guess, I haven't actually played any). You play as a soap star who makes friends with a robot, and together you solve crimes by completing picross puzzles.

 

It's not going to win any prizes for its narrative, but the characters were likeable and helped give a sense of progress that might otherwise be lacking in a picross game. One criticism I would have is that the game unlocks bonus puzzles based on your rank for solving each case, however, you only unlock all the available puzzles by getting an S rank. If you fail you need to play the case again. I finished with all A ranks, so to get the extra puzzles I'd need to repeat the whole campaign which must be at least 20 hours. Big nope on that one, but otherwise a lot of fun and one I would recommend.

[Gabe]

11. 03/05/2022 - The Division (PC)

 

I don't remember when I first started playing this (probably at least 4+ years ago), but I never really devoted much time to it until last years. The problem, of course, is that because I was playing so long after release, I had to do it 95% solo, and there are some challenging missions in there if you don't want to grind for materials to upgrade gear.

 

It was good fun though. The shooting was solid, the gameplay loop gave enough variety and of course the loot cycle scratches that itch. It also looked absolutely phenomenal at times - at night in Times Square with a proper a snow squall and low visibility was beautiful to see. Even without the dynamic weather it looked good.

 

All-in-all a good bit of fun. I also have the second game, which I did start last night, though again I think it'll be something to dip in and out of rather than attack full-on.

 

Previously completed:

Spoiler

1. 01/01/2022 - Final Fight: Streetwise (PS2)

2. 02/01/2022 - The Forgotten City (PC)

3. 05/01/2022 - Football, Tactics & Glory (PC)

4. 08/01/2022 - Alt Frequencies (PC)

5. 31/01/2022 - Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (Gamecube)

6. 05/03/2022 - Gogoroa (PC)

7. 21/03/2022 - Guardians of the Galaxy (PC)

8. 10/04/2022 - Assassin's Creed: Origins (PC)

9. 24/04/2022 - Mass Effect Andromeda (PC)

10. 25/04/2022 - Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel (X360)

 

[Quest]

Bugsnax (Series X)

 

 

I didn't enjoy this very much. The problem with attempting this kind of thing is that it needs to be surprising, and that didn't work out all that well over a heavily telegraphed seven-hour stretch of mechanically quite boring video game. I knew exactly where this was going within about three minutes of booting it up and then had to wait ages for it to happen.

 

I did think the voice acting was generally pretty decent though. 

 

Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion (Series X)

 

Brief Zelda-lite (very lite) with joke after joke that failed to land with me. I'm sure some will enjoy this as it's pretty frictionless and cheery, but for me it was nothing more than landfill indie. 

 

This gaming week isn't going so well. Hopefully Citizen Sleeper will turn things around...

 

Spoiler

07/05 - Trek to Yomi (Series X)

05/05 - Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion (Series X)

05/05 - Bugsnax (Series X)

10/04 - Scarlet Nexus (Series X)

09/04 - Kururin Paradise (GBA)

08/04 - Olija (Series X)

08/04 - Metroid Dread (Switch)

07/04 - GunValkyrie (Xbox)

05/04 - Bujingai (PS2)

01/04 - Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS)

29/03 - The Cave (360)

28/03 - A Memoir Blue (Series X)

27/03 - Blaster Master Zero II (Switch)

27/03 - Fairune Origin (Switch)

24/03 - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All (Switch)

23/03 - Hyper Light Drifter (Switch)

21/03 - AI: The Somnium Files (Switch)

20/03 - Kaze no Notam/Notam of Wind (PS1)

20/03 - Flynn: Son of Crimson (Series X)

13/03 - Cyberpunk 2077 (Series X)

10/01 - Taiko no Tatsujin: The Drum Master (Series X)

31/01 - Touhou Luna Nights (Series X)

28/01 - The Forgotten City (Series X)

26/01 - Poochy &  Yoshi's Woolly World (3DS)

17/01 - iS: Internal Section (PS1)

16/01 - New Pokemon Snap (Switch)

15/01 - Shinobi III (Mega Drive)

14/01 - Bulk Slash (Saturn)

13/01 - Densetsu no Stafy (GBA)

13/01 - Wolf Fang - Kuuga 2001 (PS1)

11/01 - Clock Tower - The First Fear (PS1)

11/01 - Finger Flashing (PS1)

10/01 - Mon Amour (Switch)

10/01- Psy-O-Blade (Mega Drive)

08/01 - Romeo + Juliet (Mac)

08/01 - BLACK BIRD (Switch)

04/01 - The Pedestrian (Series X)

03/01 - Paper Mario: The Origami King (Switch)

03/01 - Sonic Generations (Series X)

01/01 - How We Know We're Alive (Mac)

 

[instasis]

3 hours ago, Quest said:

Bugsnax (Series X)

 

 

I didn't enjoy this very much. The problem with attempting this kind of thing is that it needs to be surprising, and that didn't work out all that well over a heavily telegraphed seven-hour stretch of mechanically quite boring video game. I knew exactly where this was going within about three minutes of booting it up and then had to wait ages for it to happen.

 

I did think the voice acting was generally pretty decent though. 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

05/05 - Bugsnax (Series X)

10/04 - Scarlet Nexus (Series X)

09/04 - Kururin Paradise (GBA)

08/04 - Olija (Series X)

08/04 - Metroid Dread (Switch)

07/04 - GunValkyrie (Xbox)

05/04 - Bujingai (PS2)

01/04 - Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS)

29/03 - The Cave (360)

28/03 - A Memoir Blue (Series X)

27/03 - Blaster Master Zero II (Switch)

27/03 - Fairune Origin (Switch)

24/03 - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All (Switch)

23/03 - Hyper Light Drifter (Switch)

21/03 - AI: The Somnium Files (Switch)

20/03 - Kaze no Notam/Notam of Wind (PS1)

20/03 - Flynn: Son of Crimson (Series X)

13/03 - Cyberpunk 2077 (Series X)

10/01 - Taiko no Tatsujin: The Drum Master (Series X)

31/01 - Touhou Luna Nights (Series X)

28/01 - The Forgotten City (Series X)

26/01 - Poochy &  Yoshi's Woolly World (3DS)

17/01 - iS: Internal Section (PS1)

16/01 - New Pokemon Snap (Switch)

15/01 - Shinobi III (Mega Drive)

14/01 - Bulk Slash (Saturn)

13/01 - Densetsu no Stafy (GBA)

13/01 - Wolf Fang - Kuuga 2001 (PS1)

11/01 - Clock Tower - The First Fear (PS1)

11/01 - Finger Flashing (PS1)

10/01 - Mon Amour (Switch)

10/01- Psy-O-Blade (Mega Drive)

08/01 - Romeo + Juliet (Mac)

08/01 - BLACK BIRD (Switch)

04/01 - The Pedestrian (Series X)

03/01 - Paper Mario: The Origami King (Switch)

03/01 - Sonic Generations (Series X)

01/01 - How We Know We're Alive (Mac)

 

 

You knew exactly where it was going within 3 minutes? Really?

[shirubagan]

Spoiler

01. How We Know We're Alive (Mac)
02. Gorogoa (Game Pass)
03. The Procession to Calvary (Game Pass)
04.Shadow Warrior [2013] (Xbox)
05. Pokémon Legends: Arceus (Switch)
06. Crossfire X – Chapter 1: Catalyst (XSX)
07. Battlefield 4 – Campaign, Normal (XSX)
08. Astro's Playroom (PS5)
09. Il Filo Conduttore (Mac)
10. Ratchet & Clank – Rift Apart (PS5)
11. Borderlands 3 – Guns, Love & Tentacles DLC (XSX)
12 & 13. Back to the Future – The Telltale Game, Episodes 1 & 2 (Xbox GWG)
14. Pokémon Sword (Switch)
15 & 16. Back to the Future – The Telltale Game, Episodes 3 & 4 (Xbox GWG)
17. Panzer Dragoon Remake, Normal Run (Switch)

18. Rez Infinite, Area 1-5 run (PS5)
19. Bowser's Fury, All Cat Shines (Switch)

 

 

20. Back to the Future – The Telltale Game, Episode 5 (Xbox GWG)
It feels like they gave up by this point and just created a tonne of timelines for the sake of it. At least it's over now.

[Quest]

4 hours ago, Pelekophoros said:

 

You knew exactly where it was going within 3 minutes? Really?

 

Spoiler

As soon as you feed Filbo a strabby and his leg transforms, I thought to myself 'Oh, we're going to end up with a big mutant katamari of bugsnax and townsfolk'. I think I've just watched too much body horror over the years. 

 

[shirubagan]

Spoiler

01. How We Know We're Alive (Mac)
02. Gorogoa (Game Pass)
03. The Procession to Calvary (Game Pass)
04.Shadow Warrior [2013] (Xbox)
05. Pokémon Legends: Arceus (Switch)
06. Crossfire X – Chapter 1: Catalyst (XSX)
07. Battlefield 4 – Campaign, Normal (XSX)
08. Astro's Playroom (PS5)
09. Il Filo Conduttore (Mac)
10. Ratchet & Clank – Rift Apart (PS5)
11. Borderlands 3 – Guns, Love & Tentacles DLC (XSX)
12 & 13. Back to the Future – The Telltale Game, Episodes 1 & 2 (Xbox GWG)
14. Pokémon Sword (Switch)
15 & 16. Back to the Future – The Telltale Game, Episodes 3 & 4 (Xbox GWG)
17. Panzer Dragoon Remake, Normal Run (Switch)

18. Rez Infinite, Area 1-5 run (PS5)
19. Bowser's Fury, All Cat Shines (Switch)
20. Back to the Future – The Telltale Game, Episode 5 (Xbox GWG)

 

 

21. Nobody Saves the World (Xbox)
I really like Drinkbox's output as they're quite silly so gave this a quick co-op spin with a friend when it released, only for it to be left behind as the ludicrous flurry of superb 2022 releases piled on.

 

A nice, daft take on a dungeon crawler where you can change forms to use different abilities, then – as you progress – chop and change those up to create builds that suit your style, the various dungeons and challenges dotted around and also to level up each form. The UX is a bit unwieldy at times, but ultimately I found this satisfying and fun, trying to defeat enemies with different skills to see which suited best.

 

A great one for chipping away for 30 mins or so a day that somehow turned into 24 hurt of play time.

 

Recommended.

[Jamie John]

20. Blasphemous (2019) - Switch

 

 

Blasphemous is a visually striking Castlevania homage with some Souls-like elements, but it lets itself down with some needlessly punitive design choices.

 

You play as the Penitent One, a nameless, mute swordsman on a pilgrimage through a medieval Iberian-tinged world. Locations are, for the most part, varied and interesting, taking you to a snow-covered convent at the top of a mountain, all the way down to the depths of a gigantic up-turned bell that has been embedded into the ground. The narrative, such as it is, is wilfully obscure in a very From Software sort of way, requiring you to read item descriptions and decode cryptic conversations from the different twisted NPCs you come across, including a 15 foot-tall pilgrim with bunches of coiled rope for a face and a three-headed woman with a beard who hatches from an egg made of hair (very cool). I began by taking notes on the different proper nouns the game throws at you in an attempt to understand it all, but ultimately the story is a bit simplistic, not having the richness or depth of the games it's influenced by, so I stopped midway through and didn't feel like I was missing out on much.

 

 

Combat, in general, is well done, centred around a generous parry mechanic that rewards risk-taking, letting you punish foes for lots of damage when you deflect their attacks, sometimes allowing you to hit back with a gory 'execution' finisher, which is always satisfying. I also enjoyed the boss fights a lot: all of them are tough but fair and many feature some spectacular looking enemies, including a giant skeletal archbishop on a raised bier whose pall bearers try to swat you with their massive hairy hands, as well as a colossal blind cherub who attacks with huge deathly snakes made of bone. It's probably the most 'metal' game I've ever played, with lots of the monsters looking like they've been copied straight from a Mastodon album cover. I've seen the aesthetic described as 'maximalist Catholic gothic', and that's a pretty fitting term for it - it's the most interesting thing about the game.

 

 

A metroidvania is nothing without good exploration, however, and this is where Blasphemous unfortunately falls down. There simply aren't enough checkpoints or fast travel portals to encourage the player to root out every secret, and whereas in Hollow Knight or Metroid Dread, by the time you're into the late game mop-up you can more or less fly through each screen, here the game requires you to complete the same fiddly, masocore platforming sections every time you want to travel to and from certain areas. For a game of this type, there are only a handful of powerups to find, too, none of which (I don't think) are strictly necessary to actually finish the game. Having access to a double-jump or some other technique to make traversal quicker would probably have been enough for me to hunt everything down, but as it is I finished on about 85% and had had my fill. There were additional DLC sections that I didn't bother with, either.

 

 

If you're a fan of Castlevania or Souls then I'd definitely recommend checking it out, especially in a sale (I got it for a fiver and it lasted me about 12 hours), but there are better examples of the genre out there that I would tell you to play before this. Completionists, especially, will need a lot of patience.

 

7/10

 

Played in 2022:

 

Spoiler

1. Halo Infinite (2021) - XSX - 7/10

2. Bowser's Fury (2021) - Switch - 8/10

3. The Forgotten City (2021) - XSX - 8/10

4. Grindstone (2020) - Switch - 8/10

5. Inscryption (2021) - PC - 9/10

6. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (replay) (2001) - Switch - 8/10

7. The Wolf Among Us (2013) - PC - 7/10

8. What Remains of Edith Finch (replay) (2017) - XSX - 8/10

9. Kena: Bridge of Spirits (2021) - PS5 - 8/10

10. Kill It With Fire (2020) - XSX - 3/10

11. Islanders (2019) - PC - 5/10

12. Creaks (2020) - Switch - 8/10

13. Shovel Knight: King of Cards (2019) - Switch - 9/10

14. The Last Guardian (replay) (2016) - PS5

15. Exo One (2021) - XSX - 8/10

16. Red Matter (2018) - Quest 2 - 7/10

17. Elden Ring (2022) - XSX - 10/10

18. Kirby and the Forgotten Land (2022) - Switch - 8/10

19. Slay the Spire (2019) - Switch - 7/10

20. Blasphemous (2019) - Switch - 7/10

 

Abandoned:

 

Tomb Raider: Underworld (2008) - PC

Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition (2020) - Switch

Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology (2017) - 3DS

 

[RubberJohnny]

 

Rez Infinite - The base game is as good as ever, even if I'm a bit more rusty at it now, but I kind of expected Area X to be a bit more substantial than it was, something in size equivalent to the original - not a massive ask, I feel, considering you can bomb through that in less than an hour.

 

As it is it feels like a sequel pitch that didn't get greenlit that's been bundled with a rerelease only so they can justify doubling the price and put "VR support" on the box (a feeling not helped by it literally switching to a separate .exe). It's fine for the fiver I spent on it, but I'm glad I waited for a sale.

 

Previously:

Spoiler

Goragoa

Mass Effect 3

Red Dead Redemption 2

Pokemon Legends: Arceus

Hitman III

GTA V

[Popo]

New Super Mario Bros 2 (2012)

This is a very by-the-numbers entry in the NSMB series - which is not to say it’s bad at all, but it doesn’t offer much in the way of surprises, save for the humongous amount of coins you collect as you play. Collecting several hundred coins in the space of a minute is not without a certain feeling of satisfaction, let’s be clear, and the game throws them at you in several different ways, so this is fun. 
 

It’s not a short game by 2D Mario standards per say, but it does gate a significant chunk of content behind hidden exits - not only courses, but whole worlds. I suppose this is to encourage players to go back over courses they’ve already done and stretch out the life of the game, but this reviewer felt the locking away of sizeable portions of the game behind such an unenjoyable trope to be miserly and mean-spirited. I’m not interested in poring over courses, looking for hidden exits that may or may not be there - especially those interminable ghost houses and their multitude of doors. By all means have this stuff in there but don’t put 2* of you 9 worlds behind them - I just Googled the solutions in order to get my money’s worth out of the game. 
 

The challenge level was about right for me, and moving Mario around is never not fun. Very trad, but an essential 3DS title. I haven’t played coin rush mode yet, but I’m sure it’s a welcome distraction. 

* Wikipedia tells me there are 3 hidden courses, maybe I’ll see what YouTube has to say and I might come back and do it later. 

 

Spoiler

06/01/2022 - Halo Infinite

09/01/2022 - Hyper Light Drifter

05/02/2022 - Ori and the Will of the Wisps

13/02/2022 - Guardians of the Galaxy

20/02/2022 - It Takes Two

20/03/2022 - Super Mario 3D Land

20/03/2022 - Panzer Dragoon: Remake

21/03/2022 - Psychonauts 2

18/04/2022 - The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

08/05/2022 - New Super Mario Bros 2

 

[JamesC]

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.

 

Bloody brilliant overall.

At one point I wasn't sure if i was going to like it. The first couple of hours on the Big Shell were a bit of a chore with the need to find the maps for each area and then diffuse all those bombs. I found that all a bit like hard work. Once that was done it was all just great fun though. They did a great job of making Raiden convincingly competent but at the same time utterly bewildered by what was going on!
I think my favourite part of the game was probably the Tanker prologue though. I just loved that bit.

[Quest]

09/05 - Steel Assault (Switch)

 

 

I expected to love this as it's pulling together elements of Gunstar Heroes, Bionic Commando, Contra and the like, but it just completely failed to get its hooks into me. All those influences never really cohere into anything particularly compelling and the level design rarely pushed me to make the most of the toolset available. 

 

Some really impressive pixel graphics though, it must be said. 

 

Spoiler

02/06 - Kirby 64 - The Crystal Shards (N64)

02/06 - Steamworld Quest - Hand of Gilgamech (Switch)

29/05 - Ikari no Yōsai/Operation Logic Bomb (SFC)

29/05 - I Am Dead (Switch)

29/05 - Pop'n Twinbee (SFC)

18/05 - Off Peak (Mac)

18/05 - Umurangi Generation (Series X)

13/05 - Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy (Series X)

13/05 - New Super Luigi U (Switch)

11/05 - Wild Guns Reloaded (Switch)

10/05 - Fairune 2 (Switch)

09/05 - Steel Assault (Switch)

07/05 - Trek to Yomi (Series X)

05/05 - Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion (Series X)

05/05 - Bugsnax (Series X)

10/04 - Scarlet Nexus (Series X)

09/04 - Kururin Paradise (GBA)

08/04 - Olija (Series X)

08/04 - Metroid Dread (Switch)

07/04 - GunValkyrie (Xbox)

05/04 - Bujingai (PS2)

01/04 - Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS)

29/03 - The Cave (360)

28/03 - A Memoir Blue (Series X)

27/03 - Blaster Master Zero II (Switch)

27/03 - Fairune Origin (Switch)

24/03 - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All (Switch)

23/03 - Hyper Light Drifter (Switch)

21/03 - AI: The Somnium Files (Switch)

20/03 - Kaze no Notam/Notam of Wind (PS1)

20/03 - Flynn: Son of Crimson (Series X)

13/03 - Cyberpunk 2077 (Series X)

10/01 - Taiko no Tatsujin: The Drum Master (Series X)

31/01 - Touhou Luna Nights (Series X)

28/01 - The Forgotten City (Series X)

26/01 - Poochy &  Yoshi's Woolly World (3DS)

17/01 - iS: Internal Section (PS1)

16/01 - New Pokemon Snap (Switch)

15/01 - Shinobi III (Mega Drive)

14/01 - Bulk Slash (Saturn)

13/01 - Densetsu no Stafy (GBA)

13/01 - Wolf Fang - Kuuga 2001 (PS1)

11/01 - Clock Tower - The First Fear (PS1)

11/01 - Finger Flashing (PS1)

10/01 - Mon Amour (Switch)

10/01- Psy-O-Blade (Mega Drive)

08/01 - Romeo + Juliet (Mac)

08/01 - BLACK BIRD (Switch)

04/01 - The Pedestrian (Series X)

03/01 - Paper Mario: The Origami King (Switch)

03/01 - Sonic Generations (Series X)

01/01 - How We Know We're Alive (Mac)

 

[shirubagan]

Spoiler

01. How We Know We're Alive (Mac)
02. Gorogoa (Game Pass)
03. The Procession to Calvary (Game Pass)
04.Shadow Warrior [2013] (Xbox)
05. Pokémon Legends: Arceus (Switch)
06. Crossfire X – Chapter 1: Catalyst (XSX)
07. Battlefield 4 – Campaign, Normal (XSX)
08. Astro's Playroom (PS5)
09. Il Filo Conduttore (Mac)
10. Ratchet & Clank – Rift Apart (PS5)
11. Borderlands 3 – Guns, Love & Tentacles DLC (XSX)
12 & 13. Back to the Future – The Telltale Game, Episodes 1 & 2 (Xbox GWG)
14. Pokémon Sword (Switch)
15 & 16. Back to the Future – The Telltale Game, Episodes 3 & 4 (Xbox GWG)
17. Panzer Dragoon Remake, Normal Run (Switch)

18. Rez Infinite, Area 1-5 run (PS5)
19. Bowser's Fury, All Cat Shines (Switch)
20. Back to the Future – The Telltale Game, Episode 5 (Xbox GWG)
21. Nobody Saves the World (Xbox)

 

 

 

 

22. Trek to Yomi (Xbox)
Super-stylish side scrolling walking sim characterised by a super-stylised Seven Samurai cinematic look. I was constantly finding the scenery, camera work to give this a truly unique atmosphere coupled with what turned out to be a decent Samurai story. Weirdly, I found that combat that varied wildly between seamless, flowing sword battles against multiple opponents and janky, stilted bouts where I couldn't get the timing right at all. Eiter way, it's not great and I found myself repeating the same moves a lot of the time to regain som lost health.

Over all I thought this was a really enjoyable experience and will play through again for the other two endings at some point. As a Game Pass addition, this is fantastic, clocks in at around 4-5 hours at the most. I do love a short game.

 

 

22.5 Rez Area X (PS5)
Yeah, snuck this in. Loved it as always, but as @Rubber_Johnnysays, it's a bit short.

[strawdonkey]

On 28/04/2022 at 23:49, strawdonkey said:

2021/65a. Star Hunter DX (Space Cadet, 1CC, 19.3mil)

01. The Artful Escape

02. Rhythm Doctor

03. Monolith

04. Higurashi When They Cry - Ch.2 Watanagashi

05. Outer Wilds

06. OMORI

02a. Rhythm Doctor (all the bonus stuff and B+'d every stage)

07. Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel (all solo content clear)

08. Windjammers 2 (1CC)

09. Vampire Survivors

10. Ghost Blade HD (1CC Easy)

10a. Ghost Blade HD

07a. Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel

11. Exceed 2nd - Vampire Rex (uh, 3CC I guess)

12. Higurashi When They Cry - Ch. 3 Tatarigoroshi

13. Magic The Gathering: Arena (Mythic Rank, constructed)

14. Solitarica

15. Schildmaid MX (Jaeger Mode 1CC, 12.9mil)

16. ZeroRanger - White Vanilla Mode (719k, Type-C, C++)

17. Zenohell (Honestly it took like 20 credits)

18. Higurashi When They Cry - Ch. 4 Himatsubushi

16a. ZeroRanger - Green Orange Mode 1-ALL (354k, Type-C)

19. Backspace Bouken (and the Numb Lock DLC)

20. Exceed 3rd: Jade Penetrate Black Package (1CC, Easy, 5,388,190)

20a. Exceed 3rd: Jade Penetrate Black Package (1CC, Normal, 3mil and some change)

21. Rez Infinite (Area X)

22. Point Blank (1CC, Expert Mode)
23. Touhou 8 - Imperishable Night (1CC, New Moon, Reimu/Yukari)

23a. Touhou 8 - Imperishable Night (1CC, Waxing Crescent, Reimu/Yukari)

24. Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion

25. Graze Counter (many 1CCs)

26. Touhou 7 - Perfect Cherry Blossom (1CC, Easy, Reimu)

27. Higurashi When They Cry - Ch. 5 Meakashi

X1 - Carrion

 

Higurashi 5 takes place from the point of view of one of the other characters, and takes you through their actions over 23 days. It's refreshing seeing the original protagonist from a third party's point of view and the game still manages to pack in a bunch of new revelations that tie in nicely to previous chapters.

 

Spoiler

Usual warning, just gonna spoil a bunch of shit here

Spoiler

You follow the twin sister of one of the original protagonist's classmates, who has been exiled from the village where everyone else lives due to twins being an ill omen or something. She meets Satoshi, who is one of the characters who disappears, suspected to be part of the ritual murders that have been happening yearly, and after he vanishes she goes from lovestruck and stupid to a terrifying killing machine based off the understanding that the yakuza family she is part of have killed Satoshi. This leads to her murdering several people, switching identities with her twin sister whilst doing so, and multiple other people in the village going from sweet and carefree to fucking horrifying monsters almost on demand.

 

And then you find out that the yakuza family she is part of have potentially not been responsible for the ritual murders nor the murder of Satoshi after all after all due to a wide-ranging misunderstanding on how much influence and control they have over the region, as well as the yakuza group claiming responsibility for some high-profile stuff that is unlikely to have been performed by them; but, she has still gone and murdered a lot of people and chucked their bodies down an underground well.

 

It escalates quickly and yet there are still a ton of unanswered questions. There's three more games to go, and perhaps the most baffling thing of all is that there appears to be a new character in one of them, in a story that feels like it is very rounded and complete already other than the mystery of what actually happened.

 

 

--

 

I was having a load of fun with Carrion, until towards the end. It's a great premise - a Metroidvania, only instead of trying to avoid/defeat the big monster, you are the big monster and you're going to eat all the delicious humans while fucking up the lab. The powers and puzzles are interesting, the way it unlocks isn't too obtuse and dealing with the combat scenarios was fun, until it wasn't. At the end of the game there's just too many rooms full of shielded drones/shielded humans/mech suits with chainguns to deal with and the checkpointing often has you having to trudge back through a series of rooms before getting minced up in seconds.

 

It's still really good but my patience just ran thin towards the end, so while I didn't complete it I was still very much done.

[Exidor]

4. Elden Ring (PS5)

In February I told a mate I might not get it right away because I wasn't going to have much free time to play games this year. Two months and 183 hours of obsessive traipsing round the Lands Between in every spare moment and it's all over. What a ride. Now I'm going to catch up on all the sleep I've missed, say a quick hello to the missus and then dive back in for NG+.

 

Spoiler

1. Death's Door (PC)

2. Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS5)

3. Jedi: Fallen Order (PS5)

[strawdonkey]

On 09/05/2022 at 18:06, strawdonkey said:

2021/65a. Star Hunter DX (Space Cadet, 1CC, 19.3mil)

01. The Artful Escape

02. Rhythm Doctor

03. Monolith

04. Higurashi When They Cry - Ch.2 Watanagashi

05. Outer Wilds

06. OMORI

02a. Rhythm Doctor (all the bonus stuff and B+'d every stage)

07. Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel (all solo content clear)

08. Windjammers 2 (1CC)

09. Vampire Survivors

10. Ghost Blade HD (1CC Easy)

10a. Ghost Blade HD

07a. Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel

11. Exceed 2nd - Vampire Rex (uh, 3CC I guess)

12. Higurashi When They Cry - Ch. 3 Tatarigoroshi

13. Magic The Gathering: Arena (Mythic Rank, constructed)

14. Solitarica

15. Schildmaid MX (Jaeger Mode 1CC, 12.9mil)

16. ZeroRanger - White Vanilla Mode (719k, Type-C, C++)

17. Zenohell (Honestly it took like 20 credits)

18. Higurashi When They Cry - Ch. 4 Himatsubushi

16a. ZeroRanger - Green Orange Mode 1-ALL (354k, Type-C)

19. Backspace Bouken (and the Numb Lock DLC)

20. Exceed 3rd: Jade Penetrate Black Package (1CC, Easy, 5,388,190)

20a. Exceed 3rd: Jade Penetrate Black Package (1CC, Normal, 3mil and some change)

21. Rez Infinite (Area X)

22. Point Blank (1CC, Expert Mode)
23. Touhou 8 - Imperishable Night (1CC, New Moon, Reimu/Yukari)

23a. Touhou 8 - Imperishable Night (1CC, Waxing Crescent, Reimu/Yukari)

24. Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion

25. Graze Counter (many 1CCs)

26. Touhou 7 - Perfect Cherry Blossom (1CC, Easy, Reimu)

27. Higurashi When They Cry - Ch. 5 Meakashi

X1 - Carrion

28. Deathsmiles (1CC, Normal, Rosa, 57mil)

 

It's been a while since I put time into a shooter from Cave. The whole love affair with shmups started by discovering DoDonPachi a long time ago and while I've played a lot of their classics, other than DDP they've not been given more than a few hours of tinkering with. Deathsmiles has a great gothic horror style, you literally save Halloweentown from monsters at one point and you're trying to stop someone from opening a portal to hell and flooding the world with demons.

 

Also one of the bosses is a giant cow.

 

I had a few visibility issues with this game for a while - bullets are easy to see and consistent, but enemies appear from all sides of the screen and I'm still finding myself taking hits from enemies appearing in places I'm not expecting them to. There's also the problem of lots of the enemies dropping shiny things on death, which proved far too difficult to ignore for the longest time and was almost certainly responsible for slower progress than expected, thanks to putting myself in dangerous positions unnecessarily in pursuit of goodies.

 

 

Scoring is a bit tough to get used to in this game - killing stuff in general gives you a small number of points and some shiny stuff to collect, but on collecting 1,000 of the shiny things you can enter Power Up mode for a limited time. This pretty much makes you melt everything on the screen, and generate more shiny things, which increase in value for each of them you collect, so picking the specific place to activate so you can maximise Shiny Thing Count is important for hitting the score thresholds for getting extra lives. There's only two of these available in the game and while it's not the hardest shmup it's very easy to take a couple of hits in daft places and tank your run without them. Also the final boss is way more difficult than the rest of the game to the extent that this successful run was really clean up to the boss, and then saw me routinely bombing the boss bullet patterns with five lives' worth of bombs as I had no idea how to avoid them at all. Must find out if there's a practice mode.

 

Had an absolute ton of fun with this one and will be having a bit of a play around with some of the other modes before temporarily shelving this one until Halloween.

[edit] 

 

[matt0]

Turns out I haven't posted in this thread since January... Here's what I crossed off my increasingly unrealistic "to play" list.

 

Halo Infinite is a weird apologetic shrug of a game. I’ve played better Halo games, I’ve played worse Halo games. It has the feel of a loose, ODST style experiment, not a mainline series entry which probably played a big part in how much I enjoyed it. Doesn't bode well for the series future, but serves as a somber, elegiac final chapter for the time being.

 

Into the Breach and Loop Hero I think I appreciated as pieces of intricate game design more than I enjoyed actually playing. Into The Breach I found was too rigidly deterministic for my tastes, to the point that it felt more like a logic puzzle that I wasn't allowed to experiment with more than a tactics game - I would have probably enjoyed it a lot more if it had a Tactics Ogre style undo history and really let me play around with cause and effect. Loop Hero I never fully clicked with the logic behind the way the tiles interact. I liked them both enough to get through to the end, and both games demand you put some effort in to engaging with the mechanics to get there but I didn’t feel the need to keep playing after the credits so probably barely scratched the surface.

 

Mad Stalker was a short but sweet unreleased Megadrive mech-brawler from 1994 that I liked the look of enough to get the limited edition physical release. Mid tier as far as the system's library of action games go and I managed to tear through it in a single evening (with many, many continues), but a good time.

 

Death’s Door reminded me of dying days of Amiga / Late DOS era stuff underneath the obvious Zelda / Dark Souls comparisons. In a good way. It brought up fond memories of Heimdall 2 in particular, another game where you go travel through networks of astral doorways in to different realms. It's a better game than Heimdall 2 though.

 

Metroid Dread weirdly replicates the main problem of Samus Returns by repeating the same mid-boss encounters over and over again. Samus Returns has been my watermark for a decent but unexceptional game for 5+ years now and Dread manages to be better in every respect despite the weird encounter repetition, but it doesn’t stand with the genre greats.

 

Final Fantasy 12 is the only game with the balls to ask “what if Chewbacca was a hot bunny lady and Han Solo was boning her?”. Still, surprisingly dull.

 

Shin Megami Tensai: Strange Journey Redux didn’t live up to its reputation for me. The combat, demon fusing mechanics, story, gonzo humour – all excellent. But there’s so much padding, forced backtracking and tedious dungeon design. It’s a handheld game with an auto-map, don’t put dark regions or fucking teleporter mazes in it! The whole point of those is to provide a mapping challenge to work out with a pen and paper, which no one is going to do with a handheld game, so it's just tedious busywork... It got me interested in trying out more SMT games for the core mechanics and the tone but I wouldn’t recommend this over say, Persona Q or one of the 327 (rough estimate) Etrian Odyssey games.

 

2022 so far:

 

Spoiler

January:

 

Mortal Shell (Xbox One)

Halo Infinite (Xbox One)

 

A nebulous period of time from the end of January to the date of this post:

 

Into The Breach (Switch)

Death’s Door (Xbox One)

Mad Stalker (Megadrive)

Metroid Dread (Switch)

Loop Hero (Switch)

Shin Megami Tensai Strange Journey Redux (3DS)

Final Fantasy 12 (Xbox One)

 

[instasis]

13/05: Exo One (Xbone Sex)

 

The first level of this was intriguing, the second and third pretty delightful and then it went really annoying for a few levels, but then the final level was lovely and chill and I just wish it had been more like that for longer. It seemed to be struggling with its identity quite a bit, and I think that's a shame - if it had leaned into whatever it was trying to achieve more, it could have been great. At points I wanted it to be an awesome chill experience like Whale Trail, but with alien planets, and at others I wanted it to be a wonderful re-imagining of Marble Madness. It didn't do either and just kinda sat in the middle.

 

13/05: A Memoir Blue (Xbone Sex)

Oops, completed another. It was a lovely chill affair, more a picture book than a game, but the actual story didn't resonate with me. But then, I'm not a pro-swimmer who became alienated from my mum for poorly articulated reasons, so that's not surprising.

 

 

Spoiler

23/1: Ninja Baseball Bat Man (MAME)

17/02: Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (PS5)

19/02: The Pedestrian (Xbone)

19/02: Gorogoa (Xbone)

20/02: The Gunk (Xbone)
18/03: Horizon Zero Dawn (PS5)
20/03: Oculus First Contact (OQ2)

22/03: Horizon Zero Dawn: Frozen Wastes DLC (PS5)

26/03: Little Hope (PS5)

04/04: The Outer Worlds (PS5)

09/04: House Of Ashes (PS5)

 

 

[Gabe]

12. 11/05/2022 - World War Z: Aftermath (PC)

 

The Aftermath release adds three new scenarios to the base game of zombie-shooting fun.

 

This didn't have the same impact on me as the original release did but it was still a solid game and the zombie horde moments can still be quite tense and I do like how they mirror the way they climb and create a wall in the film. It would undoubtedly have worked better with other players that coordinated properly (rather than letting me bleed out ) but it was still a fun way to spend a few hours.

 

It does what it does in a very perfunctory manner and, in truth, leans on those horde moments to give it any kind of gimmick to make it memorable in any way, but that's okay because, as I say, it was short. My main niggle was that each chapter was essentially its own self-contained story (not that there was much story) and it didn't contain any 'main' narrative to tie it all together - I would've liked it to provide a stronger thread to give me reason to do stuff.

 

Had I not got this free via Epic it wouldn't have been something I'd have played, but I guess that's the beauty of free games.

 

Previously completed:

Spoiler

1. 01/01/2022 - Final Fight: Streetwise (PS2)

2. 02/01/2022 - The Forgotten City (PC)

3. 05/01/2022 - Football, Tactics & Glory (PC)

4. 08/01/2022 - Alt Frequencies (PC)

5. 31/01/2022 - Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (Gamecube)

6. 05/03/2022 - Gogoroa (PC)

7. 21/03/2022 - Guardians of the Galaxy (PC)

8. 10/04/2022 - Assassin's Creed: Origins (PC)

9. 24/04/2022 - Mass Effect Andromeda (PC)

10. 25/04/2022 - Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel (X360)

11. 03/05/2022 - The Division (PC)

 

[Mawdlin]

Children of Morta (Switch)

 

I'd only heard of this game in comparison to Hades, in the sense that it always comes off worse. Which is a pity as it's probably my favourite Roguelike due to the evolving narrative which adds a wonderful flavour and detail to the experience.

 

It also cleverly deals with two of the main flaws with Roguelikes. Firstly, you don't have to start way back at the beginning every time. Get to the end of a certain level or area and you move at least a short step forward. Secondly, the story moves on as you level up so the Groundhog Day feeling never sets in.

 

The way it deals with character development is excellent too. Level up one character and some of the 'family' traits pass over to everyone. And there are some fantastic characters to choose from too. My favourite being Joey, a sort of hammer spinning/wielding strongman who can wipe out anything at close quarters.

 

If Hades is better than this, which appears to be the consensus, then I'm in for a real treat.

 

8/10

[Jamie John]

21 hours ago, Pelekophoros said:

13/05: Exo One (Xbone Sex)

 

The first level of this was intriguing, the second and third pretty delightful and then it went really annoying for a few levels,

 

I enjoyed Exo One a lot, but, yes, that level in the middle where you're stuck in the rocky jungle planet is rubbish.

 

On 10/05/2022 at 10:56, matt0 said:

Final Fantasy 12 is the only game with the balls to ask “what if Chewbacca was a hot bunny lady and Han Solo was boning her?”. Still, surprisingly dull.

 

Default response when anyone plays FFXII: do all the monster hunts! They're the best part of the game.

[matt0]

2 minutes ago, Jamie John said:

Default response when anyone plays FFXII: do all the monster hunts! They're the best part of the game.

 

I did 4 or 5 of them, I know they probably get more involved later on but at that stage they were just more of the same combat. The game just didn't grab me, the mechanics or the story. It was just okay, washed over me.

[instasis]

14/05: Cyberpunk 2077 (PS5)

 

I need to chew on this one a bit to form detailed opinions, but I rate this alongside Mass Effect 2 in terms of sci-fi RPGs. Brilliant.

 

Spoiler

23/1: Ninja Baseball Bat Man (MAME)

17/02: Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (PS5)

19/02: The Pedestrian (Xbone)

19/02: Gorogoa (Xbone)

20/02: The Gunk (Xbone)
18/03: Horizon Zero Dawn (PS5)
20/03: Oculus First Contact (OQ2)

22/03: Horizon Zero Dawn: Frozen Wastes DLC (PS5)

26/03: Little Hope (PS5)

04/04: The Outer Worlds (PS5)

09/04: House Of Ashes (PS5)

13/05: Exo One (Xbone Sex)

13/05: A Memoir Blue (Xbone Sex)

 

[strawdonkey]

On 10/05/2022 at 07:36, strawdonkey said:

2021/65a. Star Hunter DX (Space Cadet, 1CC, 19.3mil)

01. The Artful Escape

02. Rhythm Doctor

03. Monolith

04. Higurashi When They Cry - Ch.2 Watanagashi

05. Outer Wilds

06. OMORI

02a. Rhythm Doctor (all the bonus stuff and B+'d every stage)

07. Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel (all solo content clear)

08. Windjammers 2 (1CC)

09. Vampire Survivors

10. Ghost Blade HD (1CC Easy)

10a. Ghost Blade HD

07a. Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel

11. Exceed 2nd - Vampire Rex (uh, 3CC I guess)

12. Higurashi When They Cry - Ch. 3 Tatarigoroshi

13. Magic The Gathering: Arena (Mythic Rank, constructed)

14. Solitarica

15. Schildmaid MX (Jaeger Mode 1CC, 12.9mil)

16. ZeroRanger - White Vanilla Mode (719k, Type-C, C++)

17. Zenohell (Honestly it took like 20 credits)

18. Higurashi When They Cry - Ch. 4 Himatsubushi

16a. ZeroRanger - Green Orange Mode 1-ALL (354k, Type-C)

19. Backspace Bouken (and the Numb Lock DLC)

20. Exceed 3rd: Jade Penetrate Black Package (1CC, Easy, 5,388,190)

20a. Exceed 3rd: Jade Penetrate Black Package (1CC, Normal, 3mil and some change)

21. Rez Infinite (Area X)

22. Point Blank (1CC, Expert Mode)
23. Touhou 8 - Imperishable Night (1CC, New Moon, Reimu/Yukari)

23a. Touhou 8 - Imperishable Night (1CC, Waxing Crescent, Reimu/Yukari)

24. Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion

25. Graze Counter (many 1CCs)

26. Touhou 7 - Perfect Cherry Blossom (1CC, Easy, Reimu)

27. Higurashi When They Cry - Ch. 5 Meakashi

X1 - Carrion

28. Deathsmiles (1CC, Normal, Rosa, 57mil)

29. One Step From Eden (Reva clear, all bosses spared)

 

One Step From Eden is a superb deckbuilder/grid-based action game hybrid, in the vein of Slay The Spire only you have to move around in real-time to aim your attacks and avoid hazards. It gets really frantic until you get used to the visual language of the game and understand better how to react to things. I've been playing it on and off for a while and it took until tonight for me to realise that you can influence your random card drops somewhat, which makes building your specialised deck so much easier.

 

The characters are pretty varied in their abilities and the suite of spells they begin with, but my favourite is Reva, who basically lets me live out my Slay The Spire armour deck dreams in real time - where you'd build up in the region of tens of shield units on Slay The Spire before using a Body Slam to pile on the damage. Only in this case, you can literally chuck your shield units across the battlefield for upwards of a thousand damage later in the game, but also you can miss and oh god it's a disaster when you do.

 

Runs of this game take upwards of 40 minutes and it's extremely intense throughout, but there's definitely scope for putting together a broken build and taking some of the pressure off. This build was the best one I've had by some margin, focusing on bulk shield generation and abilities that apply poison to the enemies, as well as an artifact that meant that poison could never fully fall off. 

 

Like Slay The Spire it feels like this is only the start, but given that it's taken me 25 attempts to get this far I don't foresee a huge amount of further progress in my future, though there's still characters to unlock and a ton of cards and artifacts to go yet. And also the shopkeeper who I could fight at any time but who is an absolute monster no no not doing that 

[Gambit]

15/05 - The Nonary Games: 999 and Virtues Last Reward (PS4)

 

As a fan of the likes of Phoenix Wright and Danganronpa, the Zero Escape series has always been on my radar but for some reason I've never made the purchase. Until now! The Ninary Games (a double pack of 999 and VLR) were on sale for cheap so I picked them up. In short, fantastic. The flow chart structure was something I'm not neccesarily accustomed too, but the way it's wrapped into the main story in a fascinating way is pure sorcery. VLR did make feel a little dumb on occasions, especially where it got more into maths-like puzzles, but I had a handy guide that I turned too as a last reward. The only thing stopping it from getting a 10 is because it probably controls better on the touch screen of the 3DS.

 

Will have ti pick up Zero Time Dillemma now.

 

9/10

 

Spoiler

January

05/01 - Starfox 64

14/01 - Resident Evil 3

15/01 - Great Ace Attorney Chronicles

30/01 - Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

 

February

06/02 - Hades

 

April

03/04 - Lost Judgment: The Kaito Files

10/04 - Knights of the Old Republic

25/04 - Horizon: Forbidden West