Post AVKMDJ6lnI8m2K8d6m by grissallia@aus.social
(DIR) More posts by grissallia@aus.social
(DIR) Post #ARUg0tsjXFBV0o4ozo by grissallia@aus.social
2022-12-31T22:33:53Z
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I'm not one for "New Year's resolutions", but I am one for overly ambitious projects.For 2023, Project365 is "One New Game Per Day".Given that I have 634 unplayed games in my Steam account and {mumble} unredeemed bundle Steam keys, there's a reason my unplayed collection is tagged "Pile of Shame".I'll pin this to my profile, and give a brief summary here each day (or x, if I miss x days due to work or stuff).I'll play 15-30 minutes of (at least) one new game I've never played before. If it's rubbish, I'll give it at least 15 minutes, even if I hate every minute of it.I'm also open to suggestions; if you reply to this thread with a game, I'll schedule it, or tell you what I thought of it.I'll hashtag these with #Project365ONG so you can mute it if you're not interested.#Project365 #Gaming
(DIR) Post #ARUg0uStMo6kowzhM8 by grissallia@aus.social
2022-12-31T22:36:05Z
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My rating system is as follows (well known games as examples):0: Dead - mainly dead multiplayer games, abandoned games, or stuff that just crashes on my PC. (eg. Deus Ex: GOTY) 1: Nope - Either it's just rubbish, or it's supremely frustrating; or I just hated it; not playing again. (eg. Dirt Rally 2.0)2: Meh - Maybe I wasn't in the right mood/frame of mind, or not my kind of game, or it's just meh. These generally get a second go at some stage, but are at risk of deletion. (eg. Train Valley 2)3: OK - Something that kind of grabbed me, that I'd play again if in the mood. (eg. DC Universe Online) 4: Good - This is actually a blurry category; some of these might be "OK", some border on "Excellent"; but these are the ones that I come back to (or want to) more than once, and they're good quality games with most of the rough edges knocked off (eg. Borderlands 3, Warframe, Relicta, Slay the Spire)5: Excellent - These are the ones that just keep dragging me back. They're the games I'm thinking about while playing a different game. Right now that's Ghostwire: Tokyo.These categories can change over time - Warframe went from Meh, to OK, to Good, to Excellent, back to Good.
(DIR) Post #ARUg0uxjW8mIMbQKQa by grissallia@aus.social
2022-12-31T23:11:51Z
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Using this toot as an anchor point for the #Project365ONG reviews.If you want to suggest a game, please reply to this toot.#Gaming #Project365
(DIR) Post #ARUg0vQ5ohSlmYgydE by grissallia@aus.social
2022-12-31T23:50:19Z
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Jan 1, 2023 - Day 1 - ReviewTotal NewPlays: 1Game: RuinerPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Sept 26, 2017Library date: April 28, 2018Unplayed: 1709 days (4y8m4d)Playtime: 30m#Ruiner is a #cyberpunk isometric twin-stick shooter. I'm playing with keyboard & mouse. I've got a bit of a thing for cyberpunk themed games. I picked this one up in the #HumbleBundle April 2018.I didn't read up on it before jumping in, and I'd forgotten everything about it. You're dropped straight into the action, with the prologue running you through the controls. Having not read up first, this meant the prologue twist took me by surprise.It's very polished, with a good cyberpunk feel. Critically, for an isometric game, it gets movement with the WASD keys "right", something that another isometric cyberpunk game, #TheAscent, does not.I'm giving it an initial rating of:4: Good.#Ruiner #Cyberpunk #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365
(DIR) Post #ARUg0vr2CX0v87IUcq by grissallia@aus.social
2023-01-01T09:32:49Z
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Jan 1, 2023 - Day 1 - Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 2Game: PreyPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: May 5, 2017Library Date: July 20, 2019Unplayed: 1261 days (3y5m12d)Playtime: 2.1hI bought this on a whim when the Digital Deluxe edition was on special for about 75% off. Then I read a little more closely, and realised it was survival horror, and I don't DO horror.Except... recently, I have started playing games I never would have touched before. I'm not sure why, but for the first time in my life I'm actually finding some enjoyment in that type of game, instead of uncontrollable anxiety.I've also realised that I really seem to dig Arkane Studios games. I started playing Dishonored for the first time a few months ago, I've been playing through Deathloop, so I thought I might take Prey out for a spin for half an hour. 2 hours of jump scares, frantically smashing mimics, and trying to stay alive later, I saved out to write this up, and grab some dinner.Can pretty safely rate it:4: Good.#Prey #Horror #Survival #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365
(DIR) Post #ARUg0wTJuBdf2rD4Ii by grissallia@aus.social
2023-01-01T22:46:22Z
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Jan 2, 2023 - Day 2 - ReviewTotal NewPlays: 3Game: Aegis DefendersPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Feb 9, 2018Library Date: Dec 24, 2019Unplayed: 1105 days (3y9d)Playtime: 19mThis game came in a Humble Choice bundle, and it had two things going against it:1. Pixel graphics2. Platformer1. I was there for 8-bit & pixel graphics the first time around. My first "gaming" computer was a PC XT clone with an amber monochrome monitor. Our only gaming was a pong clone.I think these are the reasons I lack rose-coloured glasses for that era of gaming.2. It's a 2D platformer. Like many #autistic folks, my fine motor control is not the greatest, nor is my hand-eye coordination. Platformers have been one of the major sources of frustration for me over the years, as I regularly mashed the wrong keys on the keyboard.Which turned out to be a part of the problem.When I got to grips with an Xbox controller to play Forza Horizon 4, it was an eye-opener, not just in terms of racing, but also for platformers.Aegis Defenders is a 2D platformer mash-up with a Tower Defense game. Explore, find the target, defend it, upgrade, rinse and repeat. It remains to be seen whether I'll want to come back to it repeatedly, so for now I'm giving it a rating of:3: OK.#AegisDefenders #2D #Platformer #TowerDefense #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365
(DIR) Post #ARUg0xI0riBja4vYJc by grissallia@aus.social
2023-01-02T01:49:10Z
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Jan 2, 2023 - Day 2 - Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 4Game: SOULCALIBUR VIPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Feb 9, 2018Library Date: Nov 30, 2019Unplayed: 1129 days (3y1m3d)Playtime: 29mSOULCALIBUR VI was the headliner game for the last "Humble Monthly Bundle" before it became the "Humble Choice" bundle in December 2019, which also lead to the odd side-effect of getting two December" bundles that month.Unfortunately for SOULCALIBUR VI fighting games are just below platformers on my "categories of games I do not play", and the game went unplayed.Again, hand-eye coordination is at play, as well as "remember this string of buttons you need to press". I know the Konami Code exists, but I couldn't quote it to save my life.But here I was loading it up this morning, and... it has a storyline? Character development? Not just punch punch kick kick punch duck block?I actually enjoyed it enough to reinstall Injustice: Gods Among Us to see if I still hate it as much as I did the last two times I tried playing it.SOULCALIBUR VI gets a rating of:3: OK.ps. I don't actually hate Injustice as much as I did. Go figure.#Soulcalibur #Fighting #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365
(DIR) Post #ARUg0xr6lEGFKvLa1A by grissallia@aus.social
2023-01-03T07:16:17Z
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Jan 3, 2023 - Day 3 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 5Game: OutlastPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Sept 4, 2013Library Date: Sept 22, 2017Unplayed: 1929 days (5y3m12d)Playtime: 15mI have absolutely no idea why I own this game. It's exactly the kind of horror game I hate, and *still* won't play.Unlike the survival horror of Prey (at least so far), this is visceral gore and jumpscare stuff....and there's no way to fight back.So, no... no thank you. While searching for the date in Steam, I also found I own Outlast 2. Why???Outlast gets a rating of:1: Nope. (NopenopeNOPENOPENOPE)#Outlast #Survival #Horror #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365
(DIR) Post #ARUg0yWwFhinQeuzDc by grissallia@aus.social
2023-01-03T23:36:18Z
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Jan 4, 2023 - Day 4 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 6Game: Marvel's Midnight SunsPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Dec 2, 2022Library Date: Jan 3, 2022Unplayed: 0 days (see below)Playtime: 2.4hI use gg.deals to keep track of all the games I want, for when they go on special at historical lows. Yesterday I woke up to an alert for Midnight Suns. It's currently 41% off on Green Man Gaming, and 33% off on Steam.Yesterday afternoon, I decided to jump on it, and loaded it into my cart, and at the last minute, I balked. Literally sitting there with my finger over the mouse and the mouse pointer on the purchase button.FOMO vs NOMO. Somehow FOMO won. I didn't click the button. I'm certain. Almost certain. In any case, I found myself staring at the "Purchases" screen.[shrug] Now I own Midnight Suns. Started downloading it immediately, and got stuck in.The reason this says "Unplayed: 0 days." is that I started playing just before 10pm, and finally realised I had to log out and get some sleep after midnight, or I'd be playing until ridiculous o'clock.I'm not sure quite how to describe it. A tactics-RPG-roguelike? With an undercurrent of snarky MCU-style humour.Anyway, I love it. I'll love it more when they patch some optimisations in for the occasional stuttering, but Marvel's Midnight Suns still gets my first "Excellent" for 2023.5: Excellent#MidnightSuns #RPG #Tactics #Roguelike #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365
(DIR) Post #ARUg0z7S3wvdFu098C by grissallia@aus.social
2023-01-03T23:46:35Z
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Supplemental: One of the big unexpected turns (I hadn't read a lot of the reviews about it), is how the main character ("The Hunter"), is customisable, and you can choose to play as a male or female hunter, and can customise how you look.It might seem like a small thing, but the ability to align an in-game character that I'm playing closer to my sense of self really helps me get into the game.Prey, AC: Odyssey, & Valhalla, (just as examples) all let you choose between a male or female protagonist, instead of defaulting to male.But when games like Cyberpunk 2077, and now Midnight Suns not only let you pick a female protagonist, but customise her look, these are great steps towards inclusivity in gaming, particularly as a #trans person.
(DIR) Post #ARUg0zasIYSqj9ldzc by grissallia@aus.social
2023-01-04T22:43:08Z
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Jan 5, 2023 - Day 5 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 7Game: HomefrontPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Mar 15, 2011Library Date: Dec 8, 2017Unplayed: 1854 days (5y28d)Playtime: 25mNot to be confused with "Homefront: Revolution" (which is, apparently, a "re-imagining"), Homefront is a FPS set in a apocalyptic post-invasion America in 2027, after North Korea has re-united with South Korea, and Korea has become a superpower.The montage showing North Korea's movement from pariah state to world superpower, includes a "OMG 6 MILLION DEAD FROM AVIAN FLU!", which at the time of release probably felt apocalyptic, but with 6.7M dead of COVID, and counting, feels both a bit on the nose, and also a bit "and?"The initial setup with one scene that would require a CW if I described it; once things kick into motion, so far it's a pretty average run & gun shooter; the AI seems to like one-shotting, so it's kind of slow making forward movement.Apparently there's a serious storyline, but I didn't manage to progress far enough through the prologue to find out. Ehhh. I might go back to it.My initial rating for Homefront is:3: OK#Homefront #FPS #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365
(DIR) Post #ARUg10DrxZekg60mm0 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-01-06T11:29:35Z
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Jan 6, 2023 - Day 6 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 8Game: Gardens Inc. - From Rakes to RichesPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Mar 26, 2014Library Date: Sept 23, 2017Unplayed: 1931 days (5y3m14d)Playtime: 3.9hI've looked at this game sitting there in the 2017 group a few times, and bounced each time."A gardening game?" Another day. Today was that day. It's an almost nine year old game; classed as a "casual strategy" game, when they go into 800x600 and get blown up to full screen, with no options for high res, you know you're going to have a bad time.I figured I'd suffer for the 15 minutes, and then write up the review.[4 hours later]I can't believe it sucked me in like that.It's got a typical casual/mobile game cheesy storyline, with staged levels feel. You're running against a clock, and you've got to fix a few things in each garden, and you need to do some upgrades, and managed resources, and I'll just play this level one more time to beat it.My initial rating for Gardens Inc. is:4: GoodThe only thing that stopped this cartoonish casual game getting an "Excellent" was the low-res graphics and resolution shift.#GardensInc #Casual #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365
(DIR) Post #ARUg10o1n8a0UEvf8K by grissallia@aus.social
2023-01-06T23:54:07Z
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Jan 7, 2023 - Day 7 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 9Game: The Metronomicon: Slay The Dance FloorPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Mar 29, 2016Library Date: Mar 12, 2018Unplayed: 1762 days (4y9m26d)Playtime: 36mIt looks like I picked this up in a Fanatical BYOB deal, and added it to my collection. I quite like rhythm games on my mobile.It then sat there unplayed for almost five years.It's very colourful, and a little bit cheesy. Almost feels like someone came up with the play on words for Necronomonicon and thought "That should be a game!"However, trying to set this up to play almost felt like a speedrun of the five stages of grief.Denial: Why isn't this working with a controller?Anger: Who puts a game like this out for it not to work with a controller??Bargaining: OK, I'll turn off Steam's controller management and set it up in game, like the steam discussion says.Depression: This is terrible to play with a controller.Acceptance: I'll use the keyboard.Once I used the keyboard, things made a lot more sense. It's definitely "I'd need to be in the mood" game, but it scratches an itch nothing else in my Steam library does.The Metronomicon: Slay The Dance Floor gets a rating of:3: OK#Metronomicon #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365
(DIR) Post #ARUg11d4jLPf2YoQhU by grissallia@aus.social
2023-01-07T01:27:29Z
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Jan 7, 2023 - Day 7 - NewPlay Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 10Game: Gardens Inc. 2: The Road to FamePlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: May 23, 2014Library Date: Sept 23, 2017Unplayed: 1932 days (5y3m15d)Playtime: 36mIn a world where game sequels can take years to be released, it's a breath of fresh air to see a sequel released [checks notes]... 58 days later.OK, it's a casual game, and they seemingly decided to cash in on the popularity of the first one. The sequel suffers from the same "fixed resolution forced to full screen" as the predecessor, but does have a couple of small quality of life changes that improve upon the formula.Same frustratingly addictive gameplay loop that keeps me coming back to replay the level to try and beat the clock and get the gold award, but I consciously made the decision to not let it eat up my entire Saturday.Again, the fixed-resolution-forced-full-screen is the only thing keeping this from an "excellent".4: GoodEdit: In an odd twist, there are two more sequels (3 & 4), but not available on Steam, only through Big Fish Games, or on mobile. 1 & 2 aren't available on mobile. I thought they felt like mobile games, and they are *very* suited to the iPad screen.Oh no...#GardensInc #Casual #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365
(DIR) Post #ARUg128GrMMmbJPLKC by grissallia@aus.social
2023-01-07T20:50:20Z
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Jan 8, 2023 - Day 8 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 11Game: Brütal LegendPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Feb 27, 2013Library Date: Nov 24, 2017Unplayed: 1871 days (5y1m15d)Playtime: 22m[Press Play] ...and FMV with Jack Black.Anyway, we heard you like metal, so we put metal in your metal.The lead character is a roadie voiced by (and apparently modelled on) Jack Black, so if you like Jack Black, you're off to a good start. Fortunately, I like Jack Black.To be honest, I'm not quite sure how to categorise this game. It's a heavy metal road trip that was apparently first released in 2009(!) on console, before being ported to PC and released on Steam in 2013, and in some ways, it really doesn't really feel like a game that's 16 or even 10 years old. The design style helps with that, and the gameplay is fun so far.I'm rating Brütal Legend four horns.4: Good#BrütalLegend #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365
(DIR) Post #ARUg12esu6SEESfO9w by grissallia@aus.social
2023-01-09T00:40:41Z
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Jan 9, 2023 - Day 9 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 12Game: Edge of Twilight - Return to GloryPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Sept 26, 2016Library Date: Jul 22, 2018Unplayed: 1632 days (4y5m18d)Playtime: 36mI'm not sure where to start with this. There's just so much to say about this game.I hated it so much, I set up a new WordPress install, and spent more time writing a review than I spent playing it.https://reviews.grissallia.com/2023/01/09/review-edge-of-twilight-return-to-glory/TL;DR: Edge of Twilight is rated:1: Nope.#EdgeOfTwilight #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365
(DIR) Post #ARUg136tDyr7dJlkoK by grissallia@aus.social
2023-01-10T07:20:45Z
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Jan 10, 2023 - Day 10 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 13Game: Q.U.B.E. 2Platform: Steam PCRelease Date: Mar 14, 2018Library Date: Jan 7, 2019Unplayed: 1464 days (4y3d)Playtime: 30mA couple of my personal guidelines for this project:1. I don't read up on the game first. A lot of these games came in bundles, and I figure if I can't remember the game, and I haven't played it, I don't want to end up with preconceived ideas about the game. I never would have played Outlast, for instance. I had no idea what Q.U.B.E. 2 is about.2. I'm not going to play/review sequels if I've got the original game. If unplayed, I'll play that, and if played, I skip the series.It looks like this came in a bundle, and I don't have Q.U.B.E.Puzzle games definitely scratch a particular itch for me, and knowing there's a solution there, and I just have to find it can keep me playing for hours on end.Portal, Portal 2, Relicta, Portal Reloaded, most recently: The Entropy Centre. They're all variations on a theme: Solve 3D physics puzzles (or with Portal Reloaded, add "time travel" to the mix).Q.U.B.E. 2 is another first person puzzle along these lines, and I'll definitely end up staying up too late to solve one of the puzzles within.My initial rating for Q.U.B.E. 2 is:4: Good#QUBE2 #Puzzle #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365
(DIR) Post #ARUg13cnJMNPEGhEXY by Mac_CZ@mastodon.macsnet.cz
2023-01-10T08:01:31Z
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@grissallia Q.U.B.E.2 is way better than the first one, it's not even worth it to play the first one.
(DIR) Post #AVKMDBuSYf8Ni7KCRs by grissallia@aus.social
2023-01-10T11:36:25Z
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Jan 10, 2023 - Day 10 - NewPlay Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 14Game: The SurgePlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: May 16, 2017Library Date: Aug 27, 2018Unplayed: 1597 days (4y4m14d)Playtime: 2h20mI'm picking through games at random that I haven't played. Again, with no idea what I'm getting myself into."OK, sci-fi. Cool... WHOA!"The whole vibe of the intro was that things were going to go sideways, I just didn't expect it to happen in quite such a visual way.Apparently, this is a "soulslike" sci-fi game. My last "soulslike" was Elden Ring. That went so badly, I got a refund.It could be that I didn't really grasp the gameplay loop. I did here, though, because it was making me quite cross at first.I think I've got enough of a handle on it that I might even given Elden Ring another shot, at some stage.Anyway, the plan was to play for 15-30 minutes, and almost 2.5 hours later, The Surge is good.For bonus points, I was looking in my email to see when I got it, and discovered I also got The Surge 2 in a bundle that I haven't even activated. Yet.My initial rating for The Surge is:4: Good#TheSurge #Soulslike #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365
(DIR) Post #AVKMDCrJ1sCoecrCAi by grissallia@aus.social
2023-01-11T03:52:21Z
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Jan 11, 2023 - Day 11 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 15Game: Loot RascalsPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Mar 8, 2017Library Date: Oct 28, 2017Unplayed: 1901 days (5y2m14d)Playtime: 24mAs soon as I started this game, I thought "I'm going to hate this." I was wrong.I don't love it but I don't hate it. It drew me in, but then crashed and kicked me out.It's a hex-turn-based-roguelike-deckbuilder, and has quite an odd design style to it.It did intrigue me, but crashing out at random threw me off. I'll probably poke at it again at some stage.Loot Rascals gets a rating of:3: OK#LootRascals #Roguelike #TurnBased #DeckBuilder #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365
(DIR) Post #AVKMDDipor1XKdtwbg by grissallia@aus.social
2023-01-12T00:06:33Z
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Jan 12, 2023 - Day 12 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 16Game: BreathedgePlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Feb 26, 2021Library Date: Dec 12, 2022Unplayed: 31 days (31d)Playtime: 3.5hI have a love-hate relationship with survival games, and a big chunk of that is probably down to "is it multiplayer PvP?" (ugh), and is "there some kind of objective beyond build random stuff?"Rust, and V Rising: Meh.Subnautica: Excellent.I'd seen Breathedge described as "Subnautica in space", which is kind-of true, but it has its own wild humour that you'll either love or hate.So far, I love it. At 10pm last night, I thought I'd play it for half an hour. I logged out at 1:30am.If a game can get me hooked like that so deeply that I lose track of time, that's an excellent game.So Breathedge gets rated:5: Excellent#Breathedge #Survival #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365
(DIR) Post #AVKMDETd0sSDflnJXk by grissallia@aus.social
2023-01-12T01:10:16Z
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Jan 12, 2023 - Day 12 - NewPlay Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 17Game: The Wolf Among UsPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Oct 11, 2013Library Date: Aug 1, 2017Unplayed: 1990 days (5y5m11d)Playtime: 68mTelltale Games seem to pretty much do one thing, and they do it well; however, a lot of that depends on the source material.I have a LOT of Telltale games that I've racked up over the years (thanks, bundles!), and every time I played them they frustrated me.Turns out that playing a game that is designed for a controller, with a mouse and keyboard, will do that to you.My previous hyperfixation on trying to play every game with mouse/keyboard may have cost me some great gaming experiences over the years.Playing TTG's games with a controller has been a revelation, and I've finally been able to get through enough of a game without have to think about the controls to realise that they're basically just playable movies.The Wolf Among Us is based on a DC comic of the same name. The storytelling is excellent, but it's very much going to be based on whether I'm in the mood or not.The Wolf Among Us is rated:4: Good#TheWolfAmongUs #TelltaleGames #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365
(DIR) Post #AVKMDF5ClAVnYJNK76 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-01-12T03:40:39Z
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Jan 12, 2023 - Day 12 - NewPlay Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 18Game: Wings! Remastered EditionPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Oct 18, 2014Library Date: Sept 23, 2017Unplayed: 1937 days (5y3m20d)Playtime: 19mIn 1990, my best friend from school moved into the small village I lived in, in the NSW Southern Highlands.As Commodore computers were banned in our house, this was the first time I encountered a Commodore Amiga. What a glorious machine.I was at his place frequently, just so we could play games together. One of the games I was obsessed with, was Cinemaware's "Wings!"This was also the first time I encountered an arcade flight game, and nothing ever quite scratched that itch the same way.So when Wings! Remastered Edition went on sale, in September 2017, I snapped it up... and then promptly forgot about it.The question for me was: "After all these years, having played countless flight games, both arcade and simulation, would the gameplay hold up?"Yes. Yes it does. It's not going to win any awards, and it doesn't really compare to modern flight battles, but it's just some nice, arcade-style, World War I shooting and flying.I suspect that it might get very samey, playing all the way through, but it's an OK way to scratch that particular itch.I'm giving Wings! Remastered Edition a rating of:3: OK#WingsRemastered #Flying #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365
(DIR) Post #AVKMDH8T80JLv0uxTk by grissallia@aus.social
2023-01-13T07:27:45Z
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Jan 13, 2023 - Day 13 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 19Game: Dead PixelsPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Dec 8, 2012Library Date: Dec 6, 2013Unplayed: 3325 days (9y1m7d)Playtime: 23mThis is quite possibly one of the oldest unplayed games in my Steam library. At some stage in early 2019 I opened it, but never played it.Given the kind of game, I'm not surprised that past me took one look and went "no, thank you".It's most of the things I dislike in a game. It's a retro/8-bit sideways-scrolling-zombie-shooter.I'm not really a fan of sideways scrollers. Zombie games are a bit take-it-or-leave-it.8-bit "retro" games, though? As I've said before, I was there the first time around, and I have few warm memories.Shoot zombies, collect coins, buy upgrades, rinse & repeat. I got somewhere into the third level and just got sick of it.For me, Dead Pixels was:2: Meh.#DeadPixels #SidewaysScroller #Zombies #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365
(DIR) Post #AVKMDHq4VtBo6FJmRU by grissallia@aus.social
2023-01-14T09:02:44Z
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Jan 14, 2023 - Day 14 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 20Game: Half-Life: Opposing ForcePlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Nov 19, 1999Library Date: Apr 10, 2004Unplayed: 6853 days (18y9m4d)Playtime: 45mI was wrong yesterday when I said that was the oldest unplayed game in my Steam library.There is another.On the 10th of April 2004, I installed Steam for the first time, and activated my first Steam key, for the "Platinum Pack".I went on to just play Half-Life.I didn't play Opposing Force or Blue Shift.This game sat for almost 19 years, unplayed. I did open it once in 2019, but apparently closed it again without playing.(Technically, it's even longer, because I owned it on CD before that, and hadn't played it there, either.)So much for playing for "15-30min"; at the 45 minute mark, I had to leave to drop my daughter to work, otherwise I might still be playing.Here we are in 2023; 23 years, 1 month, 26 days after Opposing Force was released, it still absolutely bangs. Here I am playing it natively at 1440p. It runs at normal speed. The head crabs STILL send chills up my spine. There's still a bug in the game that will permanently break the Desert Eagle if you try and fire it underwater (guess what I did!).I've got games from the mid 00's that are unplayable.Half-Life: Opposing Force is:4: Good#HalfLifeOpposingForce #FPS #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365
(DIR) Post #AVKMDIPAPPGJr5jo92 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-01-16T13:12:08Z
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Jan 15, 2023 - Day 15 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 21Game: SilencePlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Nov 15, 2016Library Date: Nov 4, 2017Unplayed: 1898 days (5y2m11d)Playtime: 36mThe process of going into a game with no idea what it's going to be can lead to some terrible experiences, or some wonderful ones.Silence is both. This is an excellent game (no waiting until the end of the review).It opens on a stunningly rendered tableau of children in the early evening in a snowy village, building a snowman.It then proceeded to break my heart with the intro. I'm not going to spoil it, but it was unexpectedly heart-rending. The only game that's affected me more than this recently was Stray, and I still haven't been able to bring myself back and continue beyond the intro level with that little cat.Silence is a point-and-click adventure, that's unlike any I've played previously. The art is slightly surreal, and utterly gorgeous, and I will definitely go back to play more. As of 10pm AEDT, Silence is on sale on Steam until January 27th for A$2.99 (90% off), AND there's a free demo available (the below is not a sponsored link).https://store.steampowered.com/app/314790/Silence/Silence is:5: Excellent#Silence #PointAndClick #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDJ6lnI8m2K8d6m by grissallia@aus.social
2023-01-16T13:12:33Z
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Jan 16, 2023 - Day 16 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 22Game: Nex MachinaPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Jun 20, 2017Library Date: Dec 3, 2017Unplayed: 1870 days (5y1m13d)Playtime: 23mNex Machina nearly got three different ratings. You'll have to wait until the end for this one.It's a top-down twin-stick bullet-hell shooter; it's gorgeously rendered. Shoot a mob and it explodes in a shower of voxels in a deeply satisfying way. The lighting of the jungle-ish alien planet I'm fighting my way through is glorious.The first 7 minutes were spent with hands on G13 & mouse, and I could not get past level 4. I was ready to throw my mouse at the wall, and quit. It's right there in the paragraph above: 'twin-stick shooter'. "Maybe I should at least give it a try with a controller".With a controller I now kept dying on level 3. I'm ready to throw the controller at the wall, and there's no cable to restrain it.All of the gorgeous lighting & explosions of mobs made it almost impossible for me to follow the action. Mobs would spawn right on top of me.Then a weapon power-up drops. Suddenly my triple-shot is making me effective, and now I realise that it's not that the game sucks; it's just difficult, but rewarding.If you're a fan of bullet-hell or twin-sticks, this might be your game.First Nope, then Meh; now my Nex Machina rating is:4: Good#NexMachina #TwinStick #BulletHell #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDJv6m8PGYRgpZQ by grissallia@aus.social
2023-01-16T21:36:48Z
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Jan 17, 2023 - Day 17 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 23Game: Killer is DeadPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: May 23, 2014Library Date: Nov 18, 2017Unplayed: 1886 days (5y1m30d)Playtime: 18mI nearly didn't write up a review on Killer is Dead. I'm still not quite sure how to.The game is a hack-and-slash beat-em-up. At least I think it is.You play an executioner with a super-powered katana who kills killers.The idea for these reviews grew out of my initial project to play all of my games for at least long enough once to work out if I want to play them again, or delete them. I've been keeping a spreadsheet of all of the games I've played since December 1st.Killer is Dead is the 326th unique Steam game I've played. It might be the first one I don't know how to rate.It's very stylish, but runs at a low resolution, and doesn't appear to have any kind of menu to adjust anything, or even see the keybindings.The storyline is interesting, but the misogyny comes in early, and apparently becomes part of the gameplay later in the game.The storyline & visual style makes me want to play it again. The misogyny and complete lack of adjustments make me want to uninstall it. I guess Killer is Dead is:2: Meh#KillerIsDead #BeatEmUp #HackAndSlash #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDKfC0nGmrNFdOy by grissallia@aus.social
2023-01-17T21:42:59Z
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Jan 18, 2023 - Day 18 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 24Game: Passpartout: The Starving ArtistPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Jun 16, 2017Library Date: Dec 3, 2017Unplayed: 1872 days (5y1m15d)Playtime: 40mOnce again, I find myself confounded by trying to categorise a game. I've genuinely never played a game like Passpartout: The Starving Artist before.I suppose you could call it a "French artist simulator", but that's selling it short.Passpartout is a whimsical & charming indie game in which you play a French painter, trying to sell your art to rude passers-by from your Parisian garage (while managing your baguette & wine budget).The hook is that YOU create the paintings that you're trying to sell. You're presented with a blank canvas, a palette of 24 paint colours, and a single round brush (adjustable size), with which to create your artworks.Looking at some of the things people have painted in-game, some of them are truly works of art. As a designer, my major weakness was always blank page design, whereas I was better at fixing design issues.The game makes me wonder if I can use my dusty old graphics tablet as a games controller.I believe I've levelled up at least once in-game, having unlocked a spray-can brush, but I'm going to come back to Passpartout: The Starving ArtistEdit: After losing another 2+ hours, Passpartout: The Starving Artist is now rated:5: Excellent#Passpartout #Painting #Indiegame #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDLR38rYDFndqzo by grissallia@aus.social
2023-01-18T20:54:31Z
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Jan 19, 2023 - Day 19 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 25Game: Dead EffectPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Dec 18, 2014Library Date: Nov 24, 2017Unplayed: 1882 days (5y1m26d)Playtime: 20mDead Effect is billed as an "Indie sci-fi zombie shooter".It is all of these things.This was probably an impressive indie game for 2014, but 9 years later, it has a lot to compete with.It started out OK; you can choose the gender of the protagonist, and so Jane Frey punched her way out of stasis. Unfortunately, this was where the game peaked.I'm not big on zombie games. The odds are stacked against you, as you fight off hordes of various types of undead; this is OK, if you feel like you've got a chance. This did not feel like I had a chance, even on "easy" mode.I fought my way through the barrage of zombies on the first level, but surviving the dreadful voice acting feels like the true achievement. To call the protagonist wooden would be an insult to wood.There are datapads hidden throughout the levels to collect, and the third datapad provides Frey's backstory, even mentioning that her breasts are real. I love the smell of casual misogyny in the morning.At level's end, you get a Doom-like level status screen, and on to level two.The voice acting in the second level was somehow worse; by the time I got mobbed, I was happy to die. RIP, Jane Frey.My rating for Dead Effect is a big old:1: Nope#DeadEffect #FPS #IndieGame #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDMEKBexxichCng by grissallia@aus.social
2023-01-19T22:56:04Z
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Jan 20, 2023 - Day 20 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 26Game: Gamedec - Definitive EditionPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Sept 17, 2021Library Date: Jul 18, 2022Unplayed: 186 days (6m2d)Playtime: 1h45mLast week @britt mentioned Gamedec in passing, and I said I might move it up my #NewPlay list."I'll just play for 15min." Almost 2 hrs later I logged out, late to start work.Gamedec feels part-RPG, part point-and-click adventure. A gorgeous isometric cyberpunk game, you play a game detective (thus "Gamedec"), investigating crimes inside games.Much like yesterday's NewPlay, you can choose the gender of the protagonist, as well as a thumbnail history, and an initial skillset.The game utilises a branching path narrative that closes off particular pathways, based on other choices, which increases its RePlayability (yeah, couldn't resist).I think the closest I've played to it recently would be Disco Elysium, but I've not progressed as far through DE, so this might be an unfair comparison.There are a couple of rough edges in-game. In spite of choosing your gender at the start of the game, the NPCs will occasionally misgender you, which can really break your concentration.There's one NPC in-game that you can team up with, but his auto-follow pathing means he'll sometimes stand on top of the objective.This just took a bit of the shine off, nevertheless I still rate Gamedec as:4: Good#Gamedec #RPG #PointAndClick #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDMcQk2FSvNySNE by grissallia@aus.social
2023-01-18T20:11:13Z
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Was going to play this for another half hour last night.2+ hours later, I had to quit out, late to start my work shift. Oops.
(DIR) Post #AVKMDN2JBowsDe57i4 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-01-21T01:17:52Z
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Jan 21, 2023 - Day 21 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 27Game: Quantum BreakPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Sept 30, 2016Library Date: Jan 1, 2018Unplayed: 1846 days (5y20d)Playtime: 40mI'm in two minds about games that use the likeness of the actor they mocapped as the in-game character.Having actors performing the lines and playing the part generally brings something extra to a game that's missing when it's the devs and their friends doing the voices.However, if you already associate the actor with something else, it can be somewhat distracting. It's a fine balance.I went into Quantum Break almost completely blank. Two things occurred:1: "Oh, it's that guy, from the thing, and the other thing!" (Shawn Ashmore, X-Men, The Boys) 2: "This feels a bit like Control."With good reason; turns out that Quantum Break was the game Remedy released before Control.I'm a big time travel nerd. If it involves time travel, I'll get into it, and can get lost thinking about implications and causality.This is a third-person action/adventure-kind-of-shooter, by Remedy, involving time travel. So far, I'm really enjoying it, and just wish I hadn't waited so long to play it....and apparently there are TV episodes involved somehow? I guess I have to keep playing. Right now, I'm giving Quantum Break a rating of:4: Good#QuantumBreak #Action #Adventure #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDNnoLCwiayJ3ke by grissallia@aus.social
2023-01-22T03:23:23Z
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Jan 22, 2023 - Day 22 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 28Game: Sleeping Dogs: Definitive EditionPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Oct 9, 2014Library Date: Jan 8, 2018Unplayed: 1840 days (5y14d)Playtime: 36mOddly enough, this is a game I've wanted to play for quite a while, but it's one I kept forgetting I owned.One of the problems of game bundles and ADHD, and the related poor impulse control, is that I tend to collect things with the full intent of playing them, but completely overestimating my ability (and time) to do so.Sleeping Dogs is one of those games that I've only heard mentioned in glowing terms, yet I knew nothing about the game itself.The game's opening is cinematic, and you're thrust straight into the action of a drug deal gone wrong, and consequently attempting to escape from the Hong Kong police.Without spoilers, you're a Chinese-American who finds themselves in the middle of a triad turf war, and as a skilled martial artist, you can hold your own.The almost-intuitive hand-to-hand combat to me feels most like the Batman Arkham games, and the game environment itself feels like what I imagine Hong Kong at night would feel like.I'm not letting this Sleeping Dog(s) lie, because it's:4: Good#SleepingDogs #Action #Adventure #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDOhoyxkVOgVn3Q by grissallia@aus.social
2023-01-22T20:50:36Z
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Jan 22, 2023 - Day 22 - NewPlay Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 29Game: Deus Ex - Human Revolution - Director's CutPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Oct 26, 2013Library Date: May 30, 2018Unplayed: 1698 days (4y7m23d)Playtime: 77mDeus Ex & I have a history. That history is: owning the original Deus Ex, trying to play it, sucking at playing it, never playing it again. I even bought the Deus Ex pack on Steam, only to find a couple of months ago, that it doesn't want to play on Windows 10 without a lot of effort.Deus Ex: Human Revolution (& the sequels), are effectively a reboot/sequel (rebooquel?) of the original Deus Ex games, set in the same universe, but in the future.Being #AuDHD, it feels like there's a competition in my brain between my less-than-average hand-eye coordination & fine motor skills (thanks, ASD!), and my "lots going on to pay attention to" ADHD. I can generally get by in single player FPS games, but stealth games generally leave me frustrated.Deus Ex is a stealth game wrapped in the skin of an FPS. You can play it like an FPS, but that's not necessarily the best way to do so.A good storyline can be the difference between me uninstalling the game, or working at making slow progress.It's a good looking game, but so far for me, it's equal parts "keep going", & "frustrating, give up". The storyline will probably keep me going.Deus Ex: Human Revolution is:3: OK#DeusExHumanRevolution #Stealth #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDPTK8LkLm0jj60 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-01-22T21:04:00Z
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Jan 23, 2023 - Day 23 - NewPlay Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 30Game: Mr. ShiftyPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Apr 14, 2017Library Date: Jan 8, 2018Unplayed: 1841 days (5y15d)Playtime: 26mMr. Shifty is a game that, had it not come in a bundle, I definitely would not have bought it; were I not working my way through this little project, I'd probably have never played it.Going in dark, based on the name, I didn't really want to play it, and then it turned out to be a controller-based, top-down, (theoretically) twin-stick "shooter", action game.That would have been my loss.The right stick is rarely used, and the titular character cannot (as yet?) shoot.What he can do is teleport, and punch things, and so I found myself navigating a level working out how best to teleport to a point that I can punch the enemies, without them one-shotting me.Initially frustrating, at the 5 minute mark, I was "15 minutes will never end", but as I started to get the hang of it, it turns out to be wildly entertaining, even if there is some frantic button mashing involved.At the 26 minute mark, I logged out with level 2 completed.While deaths are frequent, each level has mini-stages, so you're returned to the start of that mini-stage, to try and teleport and punch your way through; sometimes the best strategy is letting the environment take care of the enemies.Turns out, Mr. Shifty is kinda:4: Good#MrShifty #TopDown #TwinStick #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDQNKm6Y8ZiwSOm by grissallia@aus.social
2023-01-24T10:49:41Z
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Jan 24, 2023 - Day 24 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 31Game: Black The FallPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Jul 11, 2017Library Date: Feb 3, 2018Unplayed: 1816 days (4y11m21d)Playtime: 35mBlack The Fall is a stressful game. It's very minimalist, both in terms of colour palette, and control scheme.Part sideways scroller, part puzzle, part stealth game. You are unarmed, and you will die. A lot. Timing is everything, but it's not in a frenetic, bullet-hell kind of way, but in a tense, and drawn-out fashion. A couple of levels in, you get the one device you can use in the game. It is not a weapon. Even that device leaves me feeling uneasy.I am genuinely unsure of how I feel about this game. It's challenging. Spotting the solution to a puzzle, even if it's obvious, is satisfying. On the other hand, it's also quite stressful.The stylised graphics, and the audio design are very well doneI'm not sure this game is fun, but Black The Fall is:4: Good#BlackTheFall #SidewaysScroller #Platformer #Puzzle #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDR5I8fiAm3VYum by grissallia@aus.social
2023-01-25T10:55:53Z
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Jan 25, 2023 - Day 25 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 32Game: The Norwood SuitePlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Oct 2, 2017Library Date: Feb 3, 2018Unplayed: 1817 days (4y11m22d)Playtime: 23mToday was quite an odd day. I woke up after 6 hours sleep. Which feels quite offputting after sleeping 4.5 hours per day on average for over a year.Made myself some breakfast, sat down to play this game, and... things got weirder.The Norwood Suite is a first-person point-and-click adventure game, set in the Hotel Norwood.It is quite a surreal game. It's unclear why the driver of the car who's dumped you outside the Hotel Norwood has done so, but you've been given a voucher for one free night, at this hotel, and thus your musical adventure begins.Apparently, the Norwood was built by a once-famous musician, and the interleaving musical cues are great, but slightly unnerving, which is kind of the way I feel about the game.After 20-odd minutes in-game, I was still just scratching the surface, and I feel like the game may be good, or may turn out to be a disappointment. This may well end up as a RePlay.For now, The Norwood Suite is:3: OK#TheNorwoodSuite #FirstPerson #Adventure #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDRmBZC1Sv5Zom0 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-01-25T21:27:04Z
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Jan 26, 2023 - Day 26 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 33Game: OvergrowthPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Oct 17, 2017Library Date: Mar 12, 2018Unplayed: 1781 days (4y10m14d)Playtime: 19mIn the mid-2000's, I bought my first Mac. I picked up some games along the way, and one of them was called Lugaru.Lugaru was an indie third-person game in which you were an anthropomorphic giant fighting rabbit. I did not care for it.I opened Overgrowth, and saw "Lugaru" listed as a game campaign option, but bypassed it and went for the main Overgrowth campaign, and... once again, I am a giant running, jumping, and fighting rabbit.The graphics are middling, the controls feel sloppy, the character movement ungainly. The ragdoll physics are OK, but the actual fighting is frustrating.The storyline is... there, but holds little interest for me. I do not feel any care for the generic rabbits or their plight, and forced myself to keep going to hit fifteen minutes.I got to 19 minutes, because I literally got distracted by a different game on my iPad for a few minutes.Overgrowth feels like a sandbox game, with a storyline awkwardly shoehorned in, and as it turns out, is a sequel to Lugaru. Almost 20 years later, I still do not care for it.A lot of people seem to love Overgrowth, but for me it's just:2: Meh#Overgrowth #ThirdPerson #Action #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDSl9uUnNyC6VoO by grissallia@aus.social
2023-01-27T05:59:25Z
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Jan 27, 2023 - Day 27 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 34Game: Car Mechanic Simulator 2021Platform: Steam PCRelease Date: Aug 11, 2021Library Date: Jan 27, 2023Unplayed: 0 daysPlaytime: 83mI've largely avoided any sequels as NewPlay reviews. I feel driven to have played and completed the first game in the series before I can adequately review the sequels, and I've finished so few games I'm a little bit ashamed.Which brings me to Car Mechanic Simulator 2021. It follows CMS 2015, and CMS 2018, (and CMS VR), but it's not really a sequel. It's basically a more refined version of the same concept.I've played both of the predecessors, but after the watching the CMS 2021 demo, I put a "lowest historical price" alert on it, and forgot about it.This morning I got an email, and half an hour later, I had coffee and CMS 2021.I go back to the original SimCity, on the Amiga; most of the modern generation of "simulation games" leave me cold. They feel like little more than work simulators.I have a job, I don't want to play one in my off time (I'm scowling at you, PC Building Simulator 1 & 2). On the other hand, I do like cars, but I really dislike getting my hands literally dirty and scraped.CMS 2021 scratches that particular itch just nicely, filling in the car-shaped gaps between Forza Horizon, and CSR2 on iOS.Car Mechanic Simulator 2021 is:4: Good#CarMechanicSimulator2021 #Simulation #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDTUtATNKG1V25g by grissallia@aus.social
2023-01-28T06:30:36Z
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Jan 28, 2023 - Day 28 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 35Game: The Cycle: FrontierPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Jun 8, 2022Library Date: Jun 8, 2022Unplayed: 234 days (7m20d)Playtime: 69mIt feels like everyone wants to have a live service game with a battle pass now. I have battle pass fatigue. The only battle pass I've (technically kind-of) paid for was for Destiny 2 (because my kids bought me the Digital Deluxe edition of The Witch Queen).The thing about a battle pass is that the game needs to be enjoyable enough without the battle pass, to make me want to come back and be willing to pay for a battle pass, and you need to have enough of a player base to make the game enjoyable.The number of battle passes I'm currently paying for: 0.The Cycle: Frontier fails on both of those fronts. It's a PvPvE "extraction" game, apparently similar to Escape from Tarkov (which I haven't played).In TC:F you drop to a planet, try and collect a bunch of stuff, and then get-off planet before dying or being killed. You die? You lose EVERYTHING you were carrying.However, it appears that TC:F has significant PvP balance issues (low playerbase?), meaning you're just as likely to get headshot on the evac ship by a high-level player. In the 69 mins I played, I didn't see another human player on the planet.The Cycle: Frontier is just:2: Meh#TheCycleFrontier #PvPvE #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDUOtoEB73jhlOS by grissallia@aus.social
2023-01-28T22:26:14Z
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Jan 29, 2023 - Day 29 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 36Game: The Descendant: Episode 1Platform: Steam PCRelease Date: Mar 24, 2016Library Date: May 24, 2018Unplayed: 1711 days (4y8m5d)Playtime: 62m[Griss, in movie trailer VO]: "Centuries after environmental catastrophe, one man..."You know the drill. This game opens up like Fallout, except with nukes swapped out for environmental disasters.However, it's not an RPG. Turns out to be a point-and-click, Telltale-like interactive movie.It feels slow, with just enough plot to keep me searching the environment to find the thing I need to make the other thing work, to solve the problem.It's a mouse-and-single-key (E) game. Character movement feels slow, but the quick-time events are "how fast can you mash the key?"; the musical cues can be a little overbearing.There's some flashing forward and back in time, playing two separate characters in two different time periods, which adds a layer of interest, but it's let down by the general sluggishness of the interface.In following with the Telltale Games model, episode 1 was released free, episodes 2-5 are $21.50 for the complete set. I didn't feel like it was worth paying that, but I want to know how the story ends; try as I might, can't find a plot summary.Deals sites showed I could buy the entire set for A$2, so I guess I'll be playing the rest of the story.The Descendant: Episode 1 is:3: OK#TheDescendant #Adventure #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDVAkwISXSA5yzI by grissallia@aus.social
2023-01-29T20:59:35Z
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Jan 30, 2023 - Day 30 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 37Game: Running with RiflesPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Apr 3, 2015Library Date: May 11, 2018Unplayed: 1725 days (4y8m19d)Playtime: 20mRunning with Rifles is a cartoonish top-down shooter with cover shooter elements.I pretty much didn't like it straight off the bat. I just kept dying. By the time I logged out, I was staying alive longer, but not much.The thing is, if I hadn't been playing it as a NewPlay, I probably would have quit after five minutes and used it as trading card fodder.I'd love to say that after 15 minutes of the frenetic gameplay the game had revealed itself to me, but I can't. There's something there that made me keep trying, and I can see why it appeals to people.I've got other top-down shooters I'd prefer to play, and other frenetic first-person or third-person cover shooters I'd prefer to play.Running with Rifles is:3: OK#RunningWithRifles #TopDownShooter #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDXDfKRyVnlTKng by grissallia@aus.social
2023-01-31T12:41:04Z
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Jan 31, 2023 - Day 31 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 38Game: Lara Croft GOPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Dec 4, 2016Library Date: Apr 9, 2018Unplayed: 1758 days (4y9m22d)Playtime: 55mI was never a big fan of the Lara Croft games. I own many of them (not the originals), and most of them are unplayed.The whole "tomb raider" conceit hasn't exactly aged well for Ms Croft (or Mr Jones, for that matter), but here, Lara Croft is in a turn-based puzzle environment, where the cultural artifacts she's stealing seem to belong to a lot of angry snakes & lizards. As for gameplay, it's a lot like a turn-based strategy game was mashed up with (the excellent) Monument Valley, and then given a Lara Croft makeover....and it works. Intending to only play for 15 minutes, I logged out after completing the second level... 55 minutes later. Each level is broken into stages, and while you're solving puzzles and avoiding critters, you're also trying to keep your eyes open for the collectibles stashed on each level.For A$13.95, if you like relatively laid back environmental puzzles, it's definitely good value for money (more so if you got it in a bundle like I did), and will scratch that puzzle itch nicely.Lara Croft GO is unexpectedly:4: Good#LaraCroftGO #Strategy #Puzzle #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDXySWTPC8tMhjk by grissallia@aus.social
2023-02-01T08:13:36Z
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Feb 1, 2023 - Day 32 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 39Game: Whispers of a MachinePlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Apr 17, 2019Library Date: Jan 10, 2020Unplayed: 1118 days (3y22d)Playtime: 31mWhispers of a Machine is a point-and-click adventure billed as a "Sci-Fi Nordic Noir".Apparently, part of the unique spin that WoaM puts on the point-and-click genre, is that conversations come with multiple responses, with each response altering the way the game plays and NPCs interact with you, in one of three directions.You play as Vera, a "cybernetically augmented" Swedish detective, investigating a murder, "in a post-AI world".I need to be in the mood for a point-and-click, and at the moment, I'm not. So far, it hasn't grabbed me enough to keep me playing beyond the 30 minutes, or make me want to jump back in, but when I'm in the mood, I'll give it another shot.Right now, I'm giving Whispers of a Machine a rating of:3: OK#WhispersOfAMachine #PointAndClick #Adventure #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDYh7qP8ONQGNMG by grissallia@aus.social
2023-02-02T09:30:35Z
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Feb 2, 2023 - Day 33 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 40Game: Agents of MayhemPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Aug 16, 2017Library Date: May 26, 2020Unplayed: 982 days (2y8m7d)Playtime: 41mFrom the developers who brought you Saints Row, Saints Row 2, Saints Row The Third, the over-the-top Saints Row IV: Re-Elected, Saints Row: Gat out of Hell, and Saints Row (a reboot of Saints Row that shares a name and little else) comes a repetitive "open-world" action-adventure game vaguely connected to Saints Row (but not the reboot) that is to action-adventure games what Hush Puppies are to high fashion.You play as a squad of three characters, that you can switch between mid-fight. Like Trine, but somehow less fun.The game is set in a largely deserted, but very pretty, representation of a futuristic version of Seoul. The gameplay is smooth, the mechanics proficient, the characterisation and voiceovers are well done.I played through two missions; all the pieces of something entertaining are there, yet somehow fail to mesh into something I want to keep playing.I can't put my finger on what's missing, just that it is. A little less polish, and this would be "meh", but for me Agents of Mayhem just scrapes across the line to:3: OK#AgentsOfMayhem #ThirdPersonShooter #OpenWorld #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDZRD53zugLpBBo by grissallia@aus.social
2023-02-02T21:38:49Z
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Feb 3, 2023 - Day 34 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 41Game: Regions of RuinPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Feb 5, 2018Library Date: Jan 6, 2019Unplayed: 1489 days (4y28d)Playtime: 21mSometimes i'll open a game, & can see that the developers put a lot of love into it. It makes me want to like the game.It makes me feel worse when I don't; I do not like this game.It's a mashup of different styles of games: a pixel-art 2D sideways-scrolling RPG. I've not encountered this particular combination before.As I've said before, I lived through pixel art the first time around, so I don't miss it; sideways scrolling games need to grab me, but I like RPGs.The problem for me is that the 2D sideways scrolling nature of the game makes it quite difficult to manage the RPG elements of the game. I ended up mashing everything with my weapon, unclear what was background art, and what I could smash to open.Then there's the map. I literally spent five minutes trying to figure it out, before working out that the apples you collect throughout the game are tokens to spend opening up the map.My apologies to the developers of Regions of Ruin, but this is now just trading card fodder; it's a:1: Nope.#RegionsOfRuin #SidewaysScroller #RPG #PixelArt #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDa8oSwsMraE09Y by grissallia@aus.social
2023-02-04T02:11:50Z
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Feb 4, 2023 - Day 35 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 42Game: Hi-Fi RUSHPlatform: Xbox Game Pass PCRelease Date: Jan 25, 2023Library Date: Jan 28, 2023Unplayed: 7 daysPlaytime: 55mHi-Fi RUSH was announced unexpectedly by Bethesda during the Xbox Developer Day on January 25th.Apparently developed in parallel with Ghostwire: Tokyo (which I love, (5: Excellent)), and given my history with Bethesda games, given it was immediately available with Game Pass, installing it was a no-brainer.I got stuck into it this morning, and it was every bit as fun as the rumours suggested. It's a third-person rhythm action game, in which your attacks are performed in sync with the music, and if you land the attack on the beat, you do bonus damage.However, playing for more than 30 minutes, I suddenly encountered an unexpected 2D platform level, which yanked me out of the zone, and left me trying to time jumps just right, with the unexpected context switch.I like the storyline so far, loving the music, and without that jarring context change, this would have been excellent. Time will tell if I can adjust to the platform levels, or if I need to play with a controller, but it's still a great game, and free if you have a Xbox Game Pass subscription.Hi-Fi RUSH is:4: Good#HiFiRUSH #ThirdPerson #Rhythm #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDasthbjtAVmnz6 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-02-05T05:34:30Z
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Feb 5, 2023 - Day 36 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 43Game: TrailmakersPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Sep 18, 2019Library Date: Jun 7, 2020Unplayed: 973 daysPlaytime: 21mLooking at some of the reviews after playing this, where it was glowingly compared with Minecraft (no), and Kerbal Space Program (I don't know), I was really left wondering whether I'd played the same game. I'm not great with blank-page games, and I think it's a lot to do with my AuDHD.As a kid, LEGO never really fired my imagination. I would build the same chunky square buildings, over and over, but felt frustrated by my inability to envision the kind of grand designs other kids could create.I might try and copy something I'd seen on TV (I once tried to build the Pheonix from G-Force (aka Battle of the Planets / aka Science Ninja Team Gatchaman)), but I'd then get frustrated about the lack of fidelity, or my brother taking the pieces I wanted.Fundamentally, I don't appear to be wired for blank stage "design something with these bits" stuff. Trailmakers is a kind of digital LEGO kit. It feels like they slapped a campaign in to familiarise you with the game, but I just found it incredibly boring and slow, and was thankful to quit the game.For someone who IS inclined to that kind of "design your own stuff" gameplay, it might click, but for me Trailmakers is:2: Meh#Trailmakers #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDbgWj5RDeR0RLE by grissallia@aus.social
2023-02-06T01:18:15Z
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Feb 6, 2023 - Day 37 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 44Game: Serial CleanerPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Jul 15, 2017Library Date: Nov 22, 2019Unplayed: 1172 daysPlaytime: 40mI've updated my NewPlay definition to include games that I've played a few minutes of previously, due to the context of this game.Serial Cleaner is one of the games I attempted to play in the midst of trying to recover from a mental health breakdown. It's a stressful game, and I dumped it after a few minutes.Having played it then and again now, it provided an interesting perspective on details of the gameplay that I couldn't really grasp then. Unchecked anxiety and gaming don't really mix.Serial Cleaner is a stylised 2D action-stealth game. You play a "cleaner", given jobs to clean up after murders, and not in a "working with the police way".It's another game that plays much better with a controller than keyboard/mouse, and there's a huge buzz for suddenly hiding from a cop who had you in plain view.While the subject matter is a somewhat tasteless, the gameplay just nails it.I'm glad I gave Serial Cleaner another go, because it's:4: Good#SerialCleaner #Stealth #Action #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDcPC31APsxu6xk by grissallia@aus.social
2023-02-07T09:41:18Z
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Feb 7, 2023 - Day 38 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 45Game: Bomber CrewPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Oct 20, 2017Library Date: Jan 16, 2021Unplayed: 752 daysPlaytime: 22mI had to do some digging around for this one, because when I looked it up in my activations list on Steam, it appeared that I'd bought the retail version, and I couldn't understand why I would have done that.Turns out that I received it as a freebie, which made me feel better. Slightly.Bomber Crew, is a cartoonish strategy sim in which you manage the crew of a World War 2 Lancaster bomber, including shooting down enemy planes, aerial reconnaissance, and in an unexpected twist, dropping bombs.I played the first two tutorial missions, and found the controls incredibly frustrating. I only played the second tutorial mission because it increased the crew size, and I needed to cross the 15 minute mark, and I was just... bored.I just didn't connect with the game at all. I can see how the difficulty could ramp up, but I feel like my frustration would ramp up as well, with the "zoom into the plane to manage the crew" mechanic.I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt, and try it again when I'm not quite as please-don't-let-these-symptoms-be-COVID.Right now, Bomber Crew is a tentative:2: Meh#BomberCrew #Strategy #Simulation #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDdDX1rQuP5SJQO by grissallia@aus.social
2023-02-08T08:01:31Z
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Feb 8, 2023 - Day 39 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 46Game: Fractured MindsPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Nov 14, 2019Library Date: Oct 25, 2020Unplayed: 936 daysPlaytime: 31mFractured Minds is a difficult game to review; the 31 minutes playtime is playing it to completion.I have 6 out of 9 achievements in the game, already.It's an evocative experience, that speaks to experiencing & living with mental health issues, and does a wonderful job of eliciting an experience of those feelings, without triggering them.The musical score is fitting, and the gameplay challenges, insofar as they exist, are not overwhelming.It's not going to win any beauty pageants, but it's not meant to. Fractured Minds is less a game, and more of an experience, and it's:4: Good#FracturedMinds #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDdrwbbl8QQMaPo by grissallia@aus.social
2023-02-10T13:13:32Z
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Feb 10, 2023 - Day 41 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 47Game: Shady Part of MePlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Dec 11, 2020Library Date: Feb 10, 2023Unplayed: 0 daysPlaytime: 18mIt finally happened. I missed a day. On-call, and yesterday was a hugely eventful day in my personal life. Woke up this morning, and realised that I'd missed my NewPlay (and that's why I built a buffer!)Shady Part of Me is a perfect example of why I still subscribe to Humble Choice, AND why this project is worth my time. When this month's games showed up, I decided I'd play one of them as a NewPlay.Shady Part of Me is a platformer. It is visually exquisite, a mix of 2D and 3D animation, a limited palette, with watercolour washes everywhere. The audio is sublime. The storyline is, thus far, intriguing.I've said before that I'm not a big fan of platformers, but this is one I want to come back to.If it wasn't so late, and I wasn't so tired, I'd have kept playing.Shady Part of Me is beautiful, and may be the first time I've given a platformer a review of:5: Excellent#ShadyPartOfMe #Platformer #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDed5mJTOmeQEu8 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-02-11T11:29:31Z
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Feb 11, 2023 - Day 42 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 48Game: Last InuaPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Dec 11, 2014Library Date: Jul 26, 2021Unplayed: 565 daysPlaytime: 19mI didn't intend to play two platformers in row, but it's the downside of going in without warning.Yesterday and today were chalk and cheese, and unfortunately for Last Inua, it suffers greatly in comparison to The Shady Part of Me.Last Inua is moody and atmospheric, but in a way I find unsettling. It's the story of an Inuit father and son, fighting to survive in the Arctic.Unfortunately, both the controls and the gameplay are frustratingly opaque. There were several sections where timing was required to pass a series of hazards, yet the timing of the hazards appeared to be random, meaning you might get past two, only to be unexpectedly killed on the third one, and next time around you die almost immediately.Whereas last night I was eager to keep going, and only stopped because I needed sleep, tonight I kept looking at the clock, hoping I was close to fifteen minutes.I don't know if there's a happy ending to the story for this father and son, and it's unlikely I'll ever find out, because Last Inua is:2: Meh#LastInua #Platformer #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDfJHFTDWtU9veq by grissallia@aus.social
2023-02-12T12:29:47Z
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Feb 12, 2023 - Day 43 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 49Game: SerenaPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Jan 31, 2014Library Date: Oct 6, 2021Unplayed: 494 daysPlaytime: 41mManaged to avoid a platformer hat-trick, but I might have preferred a platformer.This point-and-click whodunit was completed in a single 41 minute playthrough. It was apparently some kind of collaborative effort, and was given away free.I was marginally invested in trying to unravel the who, but the limited gameplay was quite frustrating. Click on things repeatedly until you get all the dialogue variations, then move onto the next thing. When the clock chimes start over, with the clicking and the dialogue, and there's 41 minutes of my life I won't get back.I give Serena a rating of:2: Meh#Serena #PointAndClick #Whodunit #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDg1wZOwj813bHM by grissallia@aus.social
2023-02-13T13:39:21Z
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Feb 13, 2023 - Day 44 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 50Game: Steamworld Dig 2Platform: Steam PCRelease Date: Sep 22, 2017Library Date: Nov 11, 2021Unplayed: 459 daysPlaytime: 21mAnother platformer... ish.Broke my rule for game #50, because it was getting late and it was the first unplayed game I hit in the list.Way back in the dark ages of iOS (2009), there was a game that I became obsessed called "I Dig It". You control a mining vehicle, and you dig things up, and you bring them to the surface, upgrade the vehicle, and go back down to mine some more. Rinse & repeat.SteamWorld Dig was fundamentally the same model, and I didn't mind that in the slightest. I played for a couple of hours, and then haven't played since.SteamWorld Dig 2 adds platforming, before I got anywhere near digging things up. It required a frustrating timing combo of button presses to work my way through the game, and I was ready to give up, thinking that they'd completely redesigned the game concept.Nope, you just have to get through that frustrating level to get to the digging. Once into the digging, it feels more like its predecessor.Unfortunately, it feels a bit like in trying to make SteamWorld Dig better, they made it a bit worse. I'm willing to give it another shot, though.SteamWorld Dig 2 is:3: OK#SteamWorldDig2 #Platformer #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDgpvZYvdd2RWBk by grissallia@aus.social
2023-02-14T13:01:59Z
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Feb 14, 2023 - Day 45 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 51Game: The Uncertain: Light at the EndPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Oct 9, 2020Library Date: Jul 23, 2021Unplayed: 571 daysPlaytime: 38mThe Uncertain: Light at the End is a point-and-click adventure set in a post-robot-uprising society where the remaining humans are being hunted by the robots, as robots build a new society.The narrative is interesting, the graphics are great (apart from the way the human characters move, which is... odd).Find things, click on things, the occasional QTE.The Uncertain: Light at the End is:3: OK#TheUncertain #Adventure #PointAndClick #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDhV36fp1gZgMHg by grissallia@aus.social
2023-02-15T13:23:30Z
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Feb 15, 2023 - Day 46 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 52Game: RobocraftPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Aug 14, 2021Library Date: Jul 24, 2021Unplayed: 571 daysPlaytime: 24mRobocraft: Build robots out of components, destroy other robots in third person perspective, upgrade your robot, rinse and repeat.I hope you like loading screens, because they're everywhere.It feels like there's something under the skin of this game that could have been something fun, it's just... not.Robocraft:2: Meh#Robocraft #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDiL9yvVQIC3yVc by grissallia@aus.social
2023-02-16T13:24:10Z
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Feb 16, 2023 - Day 47 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 53Game: State of MindPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Aug 16, 2018Library Date: Sep 7, 2019Unplayed: 1259 days (3y5m10d)Playtime: 40mState of Mind is a point-and-click adventure (apparently a thriller), set in a futuristic Berlin.I'd like to write something more complicated about it, but after 40mins, I'm still not quite sure what's happening. It's piqued my curiosity, though, so I'm interested in continuing for a while.State of Mind is:3: OK#StateOfMind #PointAndClick #Adventure #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDj4BHXWCXp7vgO by grissallia@aus.social
2023-02-17T13:34:57Z
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Feb 17, 2023 - Day 48 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 54Game: RepubliquePlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Feb 26, 2015Library Date: Apr 2, 2022Unplayed: 320 days (10m15d)Playtime: 35mI picked up Republique when I went on a VR game bundle spree, and bought a ton of VR games I've not even played.The VR version of this game came with the non-VR version bundled.Republique is a stealth game, where you assist a young woman attempting to escape from inside a facility where she is due to undergo reprogramming.Or something. I'm not a big fan of stealth games, as I feel like I invariably miss something important, and end up frustrated.You bounce from camera to camera, while trying to find things in the environment to protect her, and keep her phone charged.In the right mood, I'd probably spend another couple of hours with Republique, because it's:3: OK#Republique #Steaslth #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDjgSzC8wSZ2VMG by grissallia@aus.social
2023-02-19T10:45:02Z
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Feb 18, 2023 - Day 49 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 55Game: SuperflightPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Nov 9, 2017Library Date: Nov 2, 2020Unplayed: 838 days (2y3m16d)Playtime: 18mSuperflight is a voxel-based game in which you control a person in a wingsuit, and attempt to fly as close to obstacles and through gaps, and rack up as many points as possible.That's it. That's the game. This is a simple, yet slightly frustrating game, and I'm not sure whether it's because I need to adjust the controller sensitivity more, or whether I just lack the necessary coordination.There's no soundtrack, just the sound of the wind as you swoop and dodge, and it works. Superflight is:3: OK#Superflight #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDkPUHo9iiC6SX2 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-02-19T11:18:46Z
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Feb 19, 2023 - Day 50 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 56Game: GRIP: Combat RacingPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Nov 6, 2018Library Date: May 3, 2020Unplayed: 1022 days (2y9m16d)Playtime: 21mI have a surprising number of platformers, and point-and-click adventures for someone who's not a huge fan of either genre. Finally managed to pick out a game that wasn't either. This one is a racing game (I mean, it's right there in the name!).In GRIP you race vehicles which will can flip over and drive in either orientation, as well as on the walls and ceilings of the track. You can also pick up power-ups, to attack the people you're racing against and... it's basically post-apocalyptic Mario Kart.GRIP, just like almost every game in the past week is:3: OK#GRIP #Racing #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDl4FqElWkdB14i by grissallia@aus.social
2023-02-20T12:48:28Z
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Feb 20, 2023 - Day 51 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 57Game: Little NightmaresPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Apr 28, 2017Library Date: Dec 4, 2018Unplayed: 1539 days (4y2m16d)Playtime: 29mSpeaking of platformers as I did yesterday... another one.Little Nightmares is a supremely creepy 3D-ish platformer in which you play a small child, trying to escape from a vessel, possibly a ship, with only a lighter to guide your way.The atmosphere sends shivers down my spine, the soundscape is perfect. A couple of the visuals could almost have used a content warning, not gory, but traumatic for some people.Little Nightmares is:4: Good#LittleNightmares #Platformer #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDlifPz5kly5I48 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-02-22T09:28:28Z
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Feb 21, 2023 - Day 52 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 58Game: The DwarvesPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Dec 2, 2016Library Date: Dec 4, 2018Unplayed: 1541 days (4y2m18d)Playtime: 32mThe review is late, but I played this game last night. Yesterday was pretty heavy emotionally, and I wasn't really up to staying past midnight to review The Dwarves as well.Today was pretty hectic, and I wondered whether it might be useful to let my feelings on The Dwarves steep for a bit, to see if I could review it better.It didn't help. The Dwarves is quite nice graphically, the voiceovers are well done, the gameplay is... really hard to put my finger on.The Dwarves is a fully 3D isometric RPG. I generally play 15-30 minutes of a game to get a feel for it. Even after 32 minutes, I couldn't get a feel for this game.The pieces are all there, but it is feeling its age a bit. It didn't drag me in to keep playing, but it didn't make me want to quit and play something else. It just... is.I think I'll come back to it, and see if it it clicks if I get a bit further into the game.For now, The Dwarves is barely:3: OK#TheDwarves #RPG #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDmJtBarkdPV15E by grissallia@aus.social
2023-02-22T10:33:52Z
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Feb 22, 2023 - Day 53 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 59Game: Purrfect DatePlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Dec 15, 2017Library Date: Jan 30, 2019Unplayed: 1484 days (4y23d)Playtime: 17mOh my word, did the "don't read about the game beforehand" bite me today.About 10 minutes into Purrfect Date, I was wondering when the scene-setting for the game would finish, and the game would start.Yeah, turns out that Purrfect Date (which came in yet another Humble Bundle) is a visual novel (and, apparently dating sim?)It's about cats, and it may turn out to be a wonderful visual novel slash dating sim, but as a game, for me?Purrfect Date is a big old:1: Nope#PurrfectDate #VisualNovel #DatingSim #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDmu319n0RYPtRY by grissallia@aus.social
2023-02-23T11:37:12Z
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Feb 23, 2023 - Day 54 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 60Game: Driftland: The Magic RevivalPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Apr 19, 2019Library Date: May 3, 2020Unplayed: 1026 days (2y9m20d)Playtime: 15mWhile I don't look at the info about the game beforehand, I usually look at it after.Particularly in the case of Driftland: The Magic Revival, because I wasn't exactly sure what kind of game I'd just played.Apparently, it's meant to be an "old-school RTS", but I played old-school RTS games; I cut my teeth on Dune II, Warcraft II (the first RTS I ever bought), and Starcraft.This just doesn't gel in the same way. I found it somewhat confusing, with a quirky interface that felt overloaded, but with instructions that felt like they'd been written in another language and then run through Google Translate.But when I check the reviews on Steam, it's "Mostly Positive".Am I the problem? At least there's someone out there who enjoys it.Driftland: The Magic Revival won't be revived any time soon. It's a bit:2: Meh#Driftland #RTS #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDnX2gAyuOUf2Dw by grissallia@aus.social
2023-02-24T12:06:07Z
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Feb 24, 2023 - Day 55 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 61Game: ValfarisPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Oct 11, 2019Library Date: Aug 4, 2022Unplayed: 204 days (6m20d)Playtime: 16mValfaris is an old-school pixel-art platformer, with a heavy metal soundtrack. Two out of three of these things I dislike, one I can tolerate. They all come together like a delicious meal of liver, peas, and beans.I hate this game. Not ironically. I genuinely hate it. I spent the last few frustrating minutes trying not to watch the clock.Some platformers are forgiving if you don't get the timing quite right on your moves.This is not one of those. It requires a level of timing and coordination that my brain is not, and never has been, wired for.Some folks can play this kind of game, and just flow through the game like water. I flow like bricks, and wanted to throw one at the screen.If this kind of platformer is your bag, more power to you, but for me Valfaris is a straight-up:1: Nope#Valfaris #PixelArt #Platformer #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDoCWBy9sT849s8 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-02-25T23:00:37Z
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Feb 25, 2023 - Day 56 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 62Game: Do Not Feed The MonkeysPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Oct 24, 2018Library Date: May 14, 2019Unplayed: 1383 days (3y9m11d)Playtime: 91mAnd now for something completely different...Don't Feed The Monkeys is a pixel-art based surveillance sim. At least I think that's the best way of describing it.If you'd asked me how long I'd been playing it for, I would have said 30 minutes, maybe 45 minutes.It was an hour and a half.Which is strange for a game that, quite honestly, I wasn't really enjoying that much. I just couldn't quite get my head into the right space for it.I'm not sure if that's the way the game works, or the lack of instructions, and just having to find your way through, or just the realisation that it IS a surveillance game, and I'm deeply uncomfortable with the implications, and cannot just set them aside.In any case, the game isn't bad on a technical level, but I can't see myself playing it again, so Don't Feed the Monkeys is:2: Meh#DontFeedTheMonkeys #PixelArt #Surveillance #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDop9sJ4COy916G by grissallia@aus.social
2023-02-26T12:22:35Z
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Feb 26, 2023 - Day 57 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 63Game: Steamworld HeistPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Jun 7, 2016Library Date: Jan 24, 2023Unplayed: 33 daysPlaytime: 16mWell, I think this is the first time I've ever encountered a sideways scrolling turn-based strategy game.A couple of days ago, I set up a new dynamic collection in Steam that collected all of the unplayed games in my Pile Of Shame, excluded all of the unplayed VR games, and then I just hit free-scroll on my mouse, close my eyes, move the mouse around, and click on whatever comes up.Even though this is a seven year old game, when I checked the details, I remembered that I'd bought it on sale last month as part of a deal.It was worth it. It's a fun little game, that does not feel seven years old. The missions so far are pretty quick, so I could see myself firing it up for 10 or 15 minutes just to kill some time.Steamworld Heist is:4: Good#SteamworldHeist #TurnBased #Strategy #SidewaysScroller #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDpbixjumparnnc by grissallia@aus.social
2023-02-27T09:41:27Z
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Feb 27, 2023 - Day 58 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 64Game: Gas Guzzlers ExtremePlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Oct 9, 2013Library Date: Jul 18, 2019Unplayed: 1320 days (3y7m9d)Playtime: 17mGas Guzzlers Extreme (GGE) is EXTREME, and you know it's EXTREME because everything is distressed metal capital letters, but the X in EXTREME is bigger and on fire and EVEN MORE EXTREME.What we've got here is a fairly middling racing game from 2013, with guns mounted on the cars enabling you to shoot cars in front and behind you, and you can pick up power-ups around the track.Basically Mario Kart with more realistic cars and guns.The problem for GGE, is that I'm playing it for the first time in a world where Forza Horizon exists. Forza has spoiled me for other arcade racing games.Unfortunately for Gas Guzzlers Extreme, the intervening 10 years between release and now has not been kind.Sure, I can shoot the other cars, but I can have a lot more fun in any of the *four* Forza Horizon games released since 2013, and having fun driving is kind of the point for an arcade racing game.In 2013, Gas Guzzlers Extreme was probably a lot of fun, but now it's just kind of:2: Meh#GasGuzzlersExtreme #Racing #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDqNE77udCv5jqC by grissallia@aus.social
2023-03-01T13:20:56Z
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Feb 28, 2023 - Day 59 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 65Game: A Story About My UnclePlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: May 28, 2014Library Date: Jan 11, 2019Unplayed: 1509 days (4y1m17d)Playtime: 20mI'm on call this week, and it's kind of messed up my ability to play AND review games, so I played this on Tuesday, but am now getting the review done.A Story About My Uncle is a first-person 3D platformer. It has something of a push-pull effect on me.On one hand, the story (as it is), keeps pulling me forward, but the control scheme keeps pushing me away.Unfortunately for ASAMU, the pull isn't enough to overcome the push.In terms of design and sound, it's an atmospheric game, that really reinforces the story, but unfortunately, I just found myself repeatedly getting frustrated with the controls.I'm not ready to delete it, but I'm unsure as to whether I'll be drawn to play it again.For now, I'll give A Story About My Father a rating of:3: OK#AStoryAboutMyFather #FirstPerson #Platformer #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDqynrPyD5SfkPY by grissallia@aus.social
2023-03-01T13:40:12Z
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Mar 1, 2023 - Day 60 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 66Game: X-Morph: DefensePlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Aug 30, 2017Library Date: Jan 10, 2020Unplayed: 1146 days (3y1m19d)Playtime: 28mRemember when tower defense games were the flavour of the month, and everyone seemed to be making one?X-Morph: Defense is an isometric, sci-fi, tower defense/top-down shooter mash-up... in which you play the bad guys.As part of an alien fleet invading Earth, you control a ship that can attack the ground & airborne defenders, while also building towers, and creating blockages to increase the path lengths of the attackers.There are five waves per level, and in the last wave, you face off against a single boss.Loading up, I was a bit "Oh, a tower defense game." By the time I finished the level, it was after midnight, and I was "more, please".Except, I'm on call, and I really do need to go to bed.Load up X-Morph: Defense and lay the smackdown on those xenophobic humans, because it's:4: Good#XMorphDefense #TowerDefense #Shooter #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDrjx27gTRgjOts by grissallia@aus.social
2023-03-02T12:11:29Z
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Mar 2, 2023 - Day 61 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 67Game: Immortal RedneckPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Apr 26, 2017Library Date: Jan 30, 2019Unplayed: 1492 days (4y1m2d)Playtime: 17mOne day, someone asked the question "What if a redneck on holidays in Egypt was turned into an immortal mummy?"Unfortunately, Immortal Redneck is the answer.The best way to put it would be "What if Serious Sam, but a redneck & less fun?"It does throw in some roguelite elements, and a skill tree, so those are definitely things that are in the game, but it just feels so pointless.After the first few minutes of killing mobs, I was looking at the clock, wanting my fifteen minutes to be up, and then finally, blessedly, it was.If you're looking for a fun FPS with some roguelite elements, keep looking.Immortal Redneck is:2: Meh#ImmortalRedneck #FPS #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDt5G2OJzc3hvkW by grissallia@aus.social
2023-03-03T12:44:11Z
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Mar 3, 2023 - Day 62 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 68Game: What Remains of Edith FinchPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Apr 25, 2017Library Date: Dec 26, 2022Unplayed: 67 days (2m5d)Playtime: 24mI'm not quite sure what kind of game What Remains of Edith Finch is. I think it's an exploration game?What I do know is that it hooked me pretty quickly; the story was fascinating from the get-go. I've slowly worked my way through the story to the point I feel like I'm on the verge of something, and it's a game I'm going to need to come back to when I'm not utterly exhausted.What Remains of Edith Finch has grabbed me in that short time, and I'm rating it:4: Good#WhatRemainsOfEdithFinch #Exploration #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDtm9SudHl5mBbk by grissallia@aus.social
2023-03-04T10:17:04Z
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Mar 4, 2023 - Day 63 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 69. Nice.Game: Tomb RaiderPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Mar 5, 2013Library Date: Jan 8, 2018Unplayed: 1881 days (5y1m24d)Playtime: 29mNo, not that Tomb Raider. Not that one either. The other one. The 2013 reboot. In terms of franchises I've never played, Tomb Raider might be at the top of the list.The closest I've come in all the time since the first Tomb Raider in 1996 to playing anything in the series is Tomb Raider GO several weeks ago.Not exactly representative of the series. If you've been living under a rock for the last 27 years, Tomb Raider is a series of action-adventure games centred on the character of Lara Croft, an archaeologist.The biggest surprise to me about this game is that it does not feel like a 10-year-old game. It plays like something far more recent.I'm already hooked; the only reason I didn't keep playing is that it was time for our evening walk.Yeah, I think Tomb Raider is:4: Good#TombRaider #ThirdPerson #ActionAdventure #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDuWwew3y6DfYXo by grissallia@aus.social
2023-03-05T10:51:29Z
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Mar 5, 2023 - Day 64 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 70Game: Bright Memory: InfinitePlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Nov 12, 2021Library Date: Nov 12, 2021Unplayed: 478 days (1y3m21d)Playtime: 33mThis was a weird game to calculate how long I owned it, because technically I owned it about 18 months before it was released.It's ostensibly a sequel to Bright Memory, but is actually a remake and expansion of Bright Memory. Bright Memory: Infinite was given to everyone who'd bought Bright Memory on Steam.The thing is, I tried playing Bright Memory after bought it; after 9 minutes, went "Nope, wasted my money", and haven't touched it since.Bright Memory: Infinite dropped at the end of 2021, and I brushed it off. Which is a shame, in hindsight.I'll have to go back and take another look at Bright Memory, I think, to see if I was having a bad day, or if BM:I "fixed" what I didn't like about it.As it turns out, BM:I is quite a lot of fun. BM:I is a sci-fi FPS with melee elements, but in spite of being built on Unreal Engine 4, it doesn't feel like other FPS games.I'm not sure if it's because the developer is Chinese and brings a different aesthetic to the design of the game, or if it's because the gameplay implements this unusual sword and gunplay combo playstyle, but I'm really enjoying it.In keeping with the last few days, Bright Memory: Infinite is:4: Good#BrightMemoryInfinite #FPS #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDvGfuuduO344p6 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-03-06T12:10:38Z
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Mar 6, 2023 - Day 65 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 71Game: Black MesaPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Mar 6, 2020Library Date: Sep 18, 2021Unplayed: 534 days (1y5m16d)Playtime: 54mToday's game is weird for a whole different reason to yesterday's game.Black Mesa started out as a mod, and then was turned into a full remake of Half-Life with the blessing of Valve.In one way, it's a replay, but in another, it's a whole new game.Half-Life was amazing for its time. I played it, and completed it, before Half-Life: Source was released. I bought Half-Life: Source, but it felt like I was just replaying it; I just couldn't connect with it.Unfortunately, therein lies the problem. While Black Mesa is a remake, and adds some new stuff to the game, I can't connect with it. It's very well made, but it's just not doing anything for me.If you're a Half-Life fan, Black Mesa might be right up your alley, but for me it's just:3: OK#BlackMesa #HalfLife #FPS #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDvyHInWMZHStmq by grissallia@aus.social
2023-03-07T12:29:09Z
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Mar 7, 2023 - Day 66 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 72Game: NorcoPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Mar 25, 2022Library Date: Aug 8, 2022Unplayed: 211 days (6m27d)Playtime: 41mI am, quite vocally, not a fan of pixel art games. As I'm reasonably certain I've said before, I lived through pixel art when it was a necessity, and I have no nostalgic sentimentality towards that era that makes me look back wistfully to a more "simple" time.Which is why, upon starting Norco, I sighed. It was immediately obvious that I'd overlooked the fact it was a pixel art game when I bought it, and I figured I'd just suffer through it for 15 minutes and get it out of the way.I was wrong.Norco is a point-and-click adventure, set in and around a suburb of New Orleans, some time in a run-down future.The soundtrack is moody & evocative, and the storyline drew me in. The only reason I didn't keep playing is that I'm somewhere south of exhausted and desperately need some sleep.Far from my initial impression, Norco is:4: Good#Norco #PointAndClick #Adventure #PixelArt #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDwj4Uox2uPMGiu by grissallia@aus.social
2023-03-08T13:49:15Z
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Mar 8, 2023 - Day 67 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 73Game: FigmentPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Sep 22, 2017Library Date: Dec 4, 2018Unplayed: 1555 days (4y3m4d)Playtime: 18mFigment is a isometric action-adventure-puzzle game, that opens up with a voiceover indicating a car accident.The voiceover does not prepare you for what you will encounter; a whimsical environment with a grumpy character named Dusty, who is being harassed by a chipper & chirpy bird named Piper.It only gets weirder from there.You are in... somebody's... brain (I have no idea who), and you control Dusty who is unhappy about having to track his way across this surreal landscape to retrieve his scrapbook.The soundtrack is comes out of nowhere and thumps you with wailing guitars, and somehow it all comes together in a way that made me want to keep playing.Figment is interesting, and thus:4: Good(It's also free on GOG and Steam until the 9th of March, links to follow!)#Figment #Isometric #Adventure #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDxYpOOLrUvZbOa by grissallia@aus.social
2023-03-09T09:53:55Z
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Mar 9, 2023 - Day 68 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 74Game: Cats in TimePlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Aug 27, 2021Library Date: Sep 11, 2022Unplayed: 179 days (5m26d)Playtime: 35mSometimes you just want to chill with a game. You want something laid back, that scratches an itch in your brain, but still keeps you entertained.Cats in Time is now that game for me; it's a 3D puzzle game where you're presented with a building containing a number of puzzles, and 10 hidden cats.The cats have been strewn across time in a number of different environments (the first couple I encountered were Egypt and Greece). The cats themselves are adorable; big fluffy orange cats that trill and meow when you find and click on them.The puzzles aren't too taxing (at least so far), and I could probably spend the next few hours just rotating buildings and clicking on puzzles while the happy little soundtrack burbles away in the background.Cats in Time is a keeper, because it's:4: Good#CatsInTime #3D #Puzzle #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDyRm66IuFLHU2a by grissallia@aus.social
2023-03-11T04:07:54Z
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Mar 10, 2023 - Day 69 - NicePlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 75Game: Olli Olli WorldPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Feb 8, 2022Library Date: Jan 3, 2023Unplayed: 66 days (2m7d)Playtime: 16mI had my eye on this game for a while, and when it came up on special I bought it... and promptly forgot about it.I have a serious problem.Olli Olli World is a sideways scrolling skateboarding game. It's nowhere near as complex as Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, and is a fun little game so far.Short review because I had so little sleep last night. Would recommend.Olli Olli World is:4: Good#OlliOlliWorld #Skate #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMDyt4Sc8dc03HaS by grissallia@aus.social
2023-03-23T12:03:39Z
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Oooh, @missytwrites has reviewed Figment2!https://aus.social/@missytwrites/110072440444298216
(DIR) Post #AVKMDzEhADR4h4AYIC by grissallia@aus.social
2023-03-11T05:06:59Z
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Mar 11, 2023 - Day 70 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 76Game: BiomutantPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: May 26, 2021Library Date: Mar 8, 2023Unplayed: 3dPlaytime: 36mBiomutant is a post-apocalyptic RPG, where you take the role of a mutant... raccoon?You have a gun, and a buster sword, and some wicked cool moves that you can break out on enemies.The game is narrated, and the narrator sounds just like one of those British cartoons that also have a narrator.Honestly, I don't feel like I'm making a lot of sense at this point. Not a bad game so far, was worth getting in this month's Humble Bundle.Biomutant is:3: OK#Biomutant #RPG #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKME0K37nJS3xgLHE by grissallia@aus.social
2023-03-12T07:01:03Z
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Mar 12, 2023 - Day 71 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 77Game: Monster SlayersPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Mar 24, 2017Library Date: Nov 3, 2022Unplayed: 129d (4m9d)Playtime: 39mMonster Slayers is a roguelike deck builder, and I actually went back through my emails hoping I hadn't paid for it.Turns out it was a freebie with a Fanatical order, so I don't have to go back in time to ask past me what I was thinking.It's just a middling deck builder with nothing that made me want to keep playing. It's not bad, it's not good, it just is. Maybe it was revolutionary back in 2017, but there are just so many better options now.Monster Slayers?:2: Meh#MonsterSlayers #DeckBuilder #Roguelike #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKME148MSAyMtF96m by grissallia@aus.social
2023-03-14T03:31:32Z
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Mar 13, 2023 - Day 72 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 78Game: Citizen SleeperPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: May 6, 2022Library Date: Dec 24, 2022Unplayed: 79d (2m17d)Playtime: 42mCitizen Sleeper is an RPG.It's just unlike other RPGs I've played, and I don't know whether that's because of a lack of experience on my part, or whether Citizen Sleeper is just unique.You are synth who's gone rogue from the corporation that apparently now owns the human body you signed over to them. A consciousness bound to a synthetic body.Having stowed away on a ship, you now find yourself on a space station where you need to try and stay alive, as without regular chems from the corporation, your synthetic body will reject your bio-organic components.There's no third person or first person views here. The station is a scrollable map, where you can interact with various locations, and each day you get a literal "roll of the dice", up to six dice you can spend on different things to try and survive and build a life.I might even stream it for a while later today, if I can get my streaming setup running properly, because Citizen Sleeper is:4: Good#CitizenSleeper #RPG #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKME1fi6kEYFQp9g8 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-03-14T11:29:00Z
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Mar 14, 2023 - Day 73 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 79Game: I Am BreadPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: April 10, 2015Library Date: Mar 14, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 32mThis is a game like no other.I suppose it's an RPG.The role you're playing is that of a sentient piece of bread, trying to find a heat source to become toast.No, you're not high, that's the game.You're not an anthropomorphic piece of bread, either.Just a piece of bread that flops around from side to side, and end to end, grabbing and climbing things, to reach your goal of becoming... toast. My word, this is a weird game. I Am Bread is...:3: OK#IAmBread #RPG #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKME2ONQfxkTxipIe by grissallia@aus.social
2023-03-16T13:20:51Z
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Mar 15, 2023 - Day 74 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 80Game: Mini NinjasPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Oct 9, 2009Library Date: May 1, 2018Unplayed: 1780d (4y10m15d)Playtime: 19mThe 15th was my birthday, and while I played this on my birthday, I spent the evening with my family, so the review is much later than I planned.Mini Ninjas is 13 years old, and feels like a 13 year old game; while it plays at full 2K resolution, it just feels kind of empty, and a little frustrating.It's a third person action-adventure game in which you play... mini ninjas. You're the last remaining ninjas in the dojo, sent out in desperation to find out what happened to all of the other ninjas sent out to investigate strange events.Mini Ninjas is just barely:3: OK#MiniNinjas #ActionAdventure #ThirdPerson #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKME37OjHyWjammTQ by grissallia@aus.social
2023-03-16T13:31:51Z
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Mar 16, 2023 - Day 75 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 81Game: Saints Row: Gat Out Of HellPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Jan 23, 2015Library Date: Sep 7, 2020Unplayed: 921d (2y6m10d)Playtime: 22mI appear to have possibly broken my "no sequels" rule, because it appears that this is a sequel to Saints Row IV. (Checked before posting, and it's actually a standalone expansion).I realised this too late, and so this is, unfortunately, my NewPlay for the 16th.If you've played Saints Row IV, this is basically Saints Row IV in hell. Not in a "this is terrible" way, but literally the Saints Row version of hell.It too is a third person action-adventure game, in which you play one of the characters from SR:IV, trying to rescue your boss from Lucifer, where he(!) is being married off to Satan's daughter Jezebel Morningstar, because he's so chaotic, that the devil decided he was perfect husband material.I think my head is going to explode from writing that sentence. If you enjoyed SR:IV, you might enjoy this, if not, well... you probably won't.Saints Row: Gat Out Of Hell is:3: OK#SaintsRow #GatOutOfHell #ActionAdventure #ThirdPerson #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKME3kkMzS0hdCCo4 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-03-17T13:50:05Z
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Mar 17, 2023 - Day 76 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 82Game: M.A.R.S.Platform: Steam PCRelease Date: Nov 21, 2021Library Date: Nov 21, 2021Unplayed: 481d (1y3m24d)Playtime: 21mM.A.R.S. is a free-to-play third person cover-shooter. I'm glad I didn't pay for it.This is a game with gameplay that feels like it came straight from the early 2010's... which is a problem for a game that was released in 2021.A cover shooter in a world where Gears of War, The Division, and Outriders exist, has to bring something to the table in terms of gameplay that other cover shooters don't offer.Technically, they've done that. Poorly animated characters, sluggish movement, and utterly woeful voice acting, is definitely something I haven't seen in the other cover shooters I've played, particularly all at the same time.Some games are so bad they're entertaining; The developers of M.A.R.S. seem to have taken one look at the mountain of mediocrity, and decided to set up base camp about three feet up.M.A.R.S. Not even once. It's:1: Nope#MARS #CoverShooter #ThirdPerson #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKME4SLksKSsrb1lo by grissallia@aus.social
2023-03-18T06:15:05Z
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Mar 18, 2023 - Day 77 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 83Game: Horatio Goes SnowboardingPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Jul 10, 2021Library Date: Jul 23, 2021Unplayed: 603d (1y7m23d)Playtime: 16mThere are some games that are difficult for me to review, that are not necessarily bad games, but I feel like my wiring makes it hard to assess them properly.Horatio Goes Snowboarding (HGS) is one of those games. HGS is a reasonably simple score attack game. You play a blue sphere in snow gear, who goes snowboarding.It feels like a modernised mashup of Frogger, and Ski or Die, with a DnB soundtrack.The first part of the game (or Frogger) has you crossing several roads and trying to avoid cars, to pick up a snowboard, and then get to the choppa!The second part (Ski or Die), has you snowboarding downhill, trying to chain slaloms, and avoid obstacles, until you reach the end... and do the same thing again, until you run out of money (crashing results in medical bills, and the snowboards must be purchased).And that's it.My fine motor control isn't fantastic, and I end up missing most of the slaloms, but collecting a lot of trees. The controls (L & R triggers, or the LH stick) feel a little sloppy.I just find it a little too frustrating to remain interested, and was counting down the minutes.I'm sorry, Horatio Goes Snowboarding. It's not you, it's me. It's just a bit:2: Meh#HoratioGoesSnowboarding #ScoreAttack #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKME5AJ7RUV5CA8Ho by grissallia@aus.social
2023-03-19T13:13:05Z
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Mar 19, 2023 - Day 78 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 84Game: Magrunner: Dark PulsePlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Jun 21, 2013Library Date: Aug 26, 2020Unplayed: 935d (2y6m21d)Playtime: 47mMagrunner: Dark Pulse is a 3D puzzle game, with a dark secret behind it that is revealed as you play the game. You must use your mag-glove to manipulate the world around you, to get from one door to the other door on each level.Unfortunately for Magrunner, it's a victim of time. While obviously inspired by Portal, as I played, I had the sensation I'd played it before. In the past few months, as I've played through my library, I've played Q.U.B.E. 2, Relicta, and The Entropy Centre. All of them have a similar gameplay loop, it's just that they do it better, because it has not aged well in comparison to those more recent games.It meant that I largely found the puzzles a frustrating interruption to the storyline - which apparently "confronts the Cthulhu Mythos". After 45 minutes in-game, it didn't appear to have gotten anywhere even close to being in the same timezone as Cthulhu, let alone confronting it, which doesn't bode well.Magrunner: Dark Pulse is just kind of:2: Meh#MagRunner #3D #Puzzle #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKME6HQyQmmXaVL28 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-03-20T11:16:48Z
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Mar 20, 2023 - Day 79 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 85Game: Evil WestPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Nov 22, 2022Library Date: Mar 20, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 34mEvil West is third-person rails shooter (for want of a better term?), set in the USA's old west. This old west, however, is full of supernatural monsters that you have to kill in increasingly bloody ways. This is not (at least so far) a game that will test your brain with complicated puzzles, and deep ethical questions.See Jesse. See monster. See Jesse punch monster with gauntlet, or shoot monster. Rinse and repeat.What the combat does test, however, is your coordination, and this was where I found myself struggling. I currently have it on Normal difficulty, but I'm stuck on one fight, and just can't get my timing right to beat all of the mobs.Running around punching monsters into a mess of gore isn't usually my kind of game, but when I spent the weekend knowing there were Nazis running and transphobes saying the vilest things about trans folks just because we have the temerity to exist, sometimes punching a few monsters into piles of goop hits the spot.The old west atmosphere and landscape is well done, and the game comes together very nicely.Evil West is:4: Good#EvilWest #ThirdPerson #RailsShooter #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKME78bmjJvCVNnuq by grissallia@aus.social
2023-03-21T12:46:47Z
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Mar 21, 2023 - Day 80 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 86Game: FilamentPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Apr 23, 2020Library Date: Mar 21, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 119mA couple of long-awaited deals popped up on Fanatical overnight, and if I added a A$7 game to my cart, I got a potential free game.I am a sucker. For free games, but also in general. Filament looked interesting, and so I grabbed it, and oh no what have I done?I put nearly two hours into this addictive little puzzle game today. Pretty much diametrically opposed to Evil West, this is almost all puzzles all the time.You control a small robot with a light filament that he pulls along, and the filament needs to be wrapped around a series of light-up poles, without crossing the filament, until the level exit opens, and I cannot stress how it sent floods of dopamine through my system watching everything light up.Right now Filament is A$5.98 for the standard version, and A$7.08 including the soundtrack, and this addictive little puzzler is:5: Excellent#Filament #Puzzle #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKME86WBzF6CJPeIS by grissallia@aus.social
2023-03-23T08:55:18Z
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Mar 23, 2023 - Day 82 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 87Game: HealPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Apr 11, 2020Library Date: Jul 27, 2022Unplayed: 239d (7m24d)Playtime: 17mHeal is 2d puzzle game. You play an old man, walking through an old house, solving a series of puzzles so you can leave the room you're in, and move onto the next one.There is no dialogue in this game, no explanatory or flavour text, just some icons you can click on, and some puzzles that were not even entirely clear were puzzles at first.Because I went in without preparation, it took me a little bit of time to assess what it was I was supposed to do.There are 7 levels, and in 17 minutes I'd already cleared the first two, but I didn't really enjoy the process. It wasn't really challenging, and the only reason I'll complete it is because it won't take long to do, and I'll get some trading cards I can sell off for a few cents each.Sadly, Heal is just kind of:2: Meh#Heal #Puzzle #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKME8t5HQ5gcw8Qzo by grissallia@aus.social
2023-03-24T13:43:08Z
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Mar 24, 2023 - Day 83 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 88Game: Toybox TurbosPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Nov 12, 2014Library Date: Dec 27, 2021Unplayed: 452d (1y2m25d)Playtime: 17mThe first PC racing game I played was Test Drive, some time in the late 1980's, on a PC clone, and was incredibly frustrating to steer with the keyboard.It was still more fun than Toybox Turbos.Toybox Turbos was released in 2014, and is still for sale on Steam in 2023, at the price of AUD$21.50.If you have the misfortune of mistakenly buying Toybox Turbos and installing it, it will crash immediately. Turns out that if your screen is running at any resolution higher than 1280x720, it crashes.To fix this crash, you need to change your screen resolution to 1280x720, restart the game, and in the options, set the game to the resolution you want to run it at (my screen is 2560x1440).At this point, the game will crash. Again.However, you can now reset your desktop resolution to your preferred resolution, and then run the game, at which point you can start playing.This was more entertaining than the actual game.On paper, it seems like a fun game, but for reasons probably rooted in a boozy lunch with a PM who really liked handheld camera shots in movies, instead of the camera being behind the car, it follows you around in near-isometric view like a drunken one-legged sailor in a storm.Toybox Turbos:1: Nope#ToyboxTurbos #Racing #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKME9coXOfculWxH6 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-03-25T11:52:39Z
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Mar 25, 2023 - Day 84 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 89Game: AragamiPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Oct 25, 2016Library Date: Aug 23, 2022Unplayed: 214d (7m2d)Playtime: 23mAragami is a stealth game, set in Japan, in which you play an assassin summoned from death to put right a terrible injustice.Your powers come from staying the shadows, allowing you to teleport from shadow to shadow, with your power levels indicated by a design that lights up on your cloak.I am traditionally terrible at stealth games, and I got stuck on the second level, restarting multiple times before deciding it was time to call it a night.I suspect, however, this may be due to my overall state of weariness.There's a definite rush of adrenaline as you teleport into a shadow behind one of the bad guys, assassinate them, and them teleport away into another shadow, but I just couldn't seem to press the right buttons at the right time.Definitely a game I'll come back to, Aragami is:4: Good#Aragami #Stealth #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMEAKltxpf7663n6 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-03-26T05:40:17Z
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Mar 26, 2023 - Day 85 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 90Game: Tomb Raider: AnniversaryPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Jun 5, 2007Library Date: Mar 4, 2018Unplayed: 1848d (5y22d)Playtime: 22mThe Tomb Raider series has a long and storied history, as I learned when I reviewed Tomb Raider (2013) on March 4th.Tomb Raider: Anniversary was released in 2007, by Crystal Dynamics. It's a sequel that's a prequel to "Tomb Raider: Legend", and is a remake of the original Tomb Raider from 1996.Released 4 years after the second Tomb Raider movie, I got an Angelina Jolie vibe from the character design, and it's entirely unclear to me whether Jolie was just well cast in the movies, or whether the design team were making a deliberate callback.Unfortunately, as with a lot of older games I've tried to play this year, this Tomb Raider has not aged well. Graphically it feels rather bland, but more critically, the follow-camera seems like it's never quite sure what it's following, and shimmies & bounces all over the place, making me feel slightly queasy trying to navigate.The initial tomb-opening sequence sees your helpful "native" guide die; it's entirely unclear whether it's the wolves who came running out of the freshly opened tomb, or a stray bullet from Lara's dual-pistols, but Lara's "shrug-and-move-on" left me cold.I don't think I'll be coming back to Tomb Raider: Anniversary, it's just:2: Meh#TombRaiderAnniversary #ThirdPerson #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMEAxlYz1Z42LCZU by grissallia@aus.social
2023-03-26T10:58:23Z
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Mar 26, 2023 - Day 85 - NewPlay Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 91Game: Lost CastlePlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Sep 1, 2016Library Date: Mar 12, 2018Unplayed: 1840 days (5y14d)Playtime: 20mThere are some games, that when I play them for the first time, I'm terribly disappointed to discover something that I have missed in my library that I could have been enjoying all this time.Lost Castle is not one of those games.It's a 2.5D "action RPG" with roguelike elements. Apparently the devs looked at the table of roguelike elements, scooped up a bunch, looked at "fun" and went "Nahhhh".Repetitive mobs, repetitive soundtrack, 20 minutes of my life I'll never get back.Pity Lost Castle didn't remain lost, because:1: Nope#LostCastle #ActionRPG #RogueLike #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365
(DIR) Post #AVKMEBdb3SU79lublw by grissallia@aus.social
2023-03-27T09:33:05Z
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Mar 27, 2023 - Day 86 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 92Game: Call of JuarezPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Jun 12, 2007Library Date: Jul 4, 2018Unplayed: 1727 (4y8m23d)Playtime: 26mIn an odd twist, this game was released only one week after yesterday's game, Tomb Raider: Anniversary.Call of Juarez is a first-person shooter set in the old west. Developed by Techland, who went on to create Dying Light, it suffers from similar problems to yesterday's review of Tomb Raider: Anniversary. It's an almost-16-year-old game, and it just hasn't aged well. The graphics are bland, the voice acting feels cheesy, but the pimp offering "30 minutes free with Suzy" to anyone who captures the protagonist just pushed me into "ick" territoryI kept going, and gave it a shot, but found myself dying repeatedly, with a non-obvious stealth mechanic required to get through the second level (I had to Google a walkthrough to work out what I was doing wrong).In the end I just wasn't having any fun to keep me going. If I want to play a game set in the old west, I now have far better -and more fun- options available to me, and I can't see any good reason to spend any more time trying to make my way through this game.Call of Juarez? I can't hear a thing. It's:1: Nope#CallOfJuarez #FPS #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMECJQXvwfFVU0yO by grissallia@aus.social
2023-03-28T13:37:32Z
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Mar 28, 2023 - Day 87 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 93Game: SplasherPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Feb 8, 2017Library Date: Mar 12, 2018Unplayed: 1842 (5y16d)Playtime: 22mSplasher feels like a dev somewhere asked "what would happen if we took Portal 2's paint gun, and made a 2D platformer?"It's one of those platformers that requires near perfect split-second timing, and my autistic fine motor skills just don't want to play along.I made it through a couple of levels, but I kept one eye on the clock.Splasher is not a bad game, I just find it a little bit too frustrating to keep playing.Splasher is:2: Meh#Splasher #Platformer #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMECvMGuHp99EJ60 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-03-29T09:21:52Z
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Mar 29, 2023 - Day 88 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 94Game: Arcade Mayhem JuanitoPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Aug 4, 2017Library Date: Mar 13, 2018Unplayed: 1842 (5y16d)Playtime: 15mArcade Mayhem Juanito (or Juanito Arcade Mayhem, it can't seem to decide), is a well made pastiche of retro arcade games.It feels like someone threw early 2000's Nickelodeon, Wreck-It Ralph, and a bunch of arcade games into a blender, and hit frappe.The gameplay mechanics are basically straight out of Space Invaders. Use the controller's A button to shoot upwards at the things falling out of the sky. You can also dash with the B button.That's it.The problem is that that much single button mashing *very* quickly takes a toll on my thumb, and as for yesterday's platformer, timing is everything, and mine is rubbish.The graphics are great, the sound effects a little overwhelming, and I have some questions about the game assets in the first set of levels that seem to be a straight rip from a certain falling-blocks game, Comrade.This is a well-made game, but while I feel interested in continuing to see how the story (such as it is) develops, it's just a little too frustrating for me to push forward.Juanito Arcade Mayhem is:2: Meh#ArcadeMayhemJuanito #Arcade #HappyBirthdayPhil #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMEDa7pKtdBaIrdg by grissallia@aus.social
2023-03-29T12:51:46Z
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Mar 29, 2023 - Day 88 - NewPlay Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 95Game: Zombie Army TrilogyPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Mar 6, 2015Library Date: Jan 30, 2019Unplayed: 1519 days (4y1m29d)Playtime: 17mIn the past six months I unexpectedly discovered that I'm seemingly gluten-intolerant. I've spent most of the last few months avoiding gluten, and subsequently enjoying not having my gut feel like a broken garbage disposal.This evening when my son got home from work, he arrived a large bag of various types of hot cross buns, including my all-time favourites, apple & cinnamon. They were most definitely not gluten-free, and I'd forgotten the near immediate effect it would have on me, leaving me feeling like I need to puke."Zombie" games tend to spike my anxiety through the roof, and I generally avoid them, particularly at night.This is to say, I made two terrible decisions tonight. 17 minutes of Zombie Army Trilogy at 11:15pm might be almost as bad for my sleep tonight as that hot cross bun.Which is a shame, because Zombie Army Trilogy is effectively a reskinned Sniper Elite III, with all the fun and gore that comes with it; with the constant groan of zombies around you, and spikes of terror as they appear from the ground in front of you, it's a great zombie game.Zombie Army Trilogy isn't wrong, it's just wrong for me; it's:3: OK#ZombieArmyTrilogy #ThirdPerson #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365
(DIR) Post #AVKMEEFbL84bGDhzHs by grissallia@aus.social
2023-03-30T12:14:16Z
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Mar 30, 2023 - Day 89 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 96Game: SeraphPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Sep 21, 2016Library Date: Mar 13, 2018Unplayed: 1843 (5y17d)Playtime: 20mSeraph is a platform shooter, with auto-aiming.It's the kind of platformer I prefer to play, it's a bit button-mashy at times, and a few times I mashed the wrong button to shoot, but it doesn't rely on perfect timing with lots of unexpected deaths.In Seraph you play a wingless angel who's spent 30 years in angel prison (I guess?), and who may or may not be responsible for the horde of demons roaming the levels that you have to shoot with your dual-wielded pistols & "gun-fu".That's some classical angelology right there.As platformers go, it's much closer to the kind of platformer I prefer, but it's not a great game that's got me rushing to play it again.For a bit of demon-shooting mayhem, Seraph is:3: OK#Platformer #Shooter #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMEF2AQYvBgqQlzE by grissallia@aus.social
2023-03-31T11:41:25Z
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Mar 31, 2023 - Day 90 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 97Game: Panzer Corps Gold EditionPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Jul 10, 2011Library Date: Mar 13, 2018Unplayed: 1844 (5y18d)Playtime: 23mIt should have been obvious from the name that I would not enjoy this game.Any game that has me playing as the Nazis is not a game I want to play.This is a hex-based strategy game AND I have to play as the Nazis? Ugh.I got to 23 minutes because I try to at least finish the tutorial missions I start. I finished the first two tutorials and dipped. Panzer Corps Gold Edition is over 11 years old, feels older, and again: you're playing as the Nazis, and that just feels a bit too on the nose in 2023.Panzer Corps Gold Edition is a big old:1: Nope.#Hex #Strategy #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMEFihsOwtomKkIC by grissallia@aus.social
2023-04-01T07:14:04Z
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Apr 1, 2023 - Day 91 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 98Game: Slice, Dice & RicePlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Apr 28, 2017Library Date: Mar 13, 2018Unplayed: 1845 (5y19d)Playtime: 20mI have to assume that the games I've been playing all came in a bundle back in 2018, but I can't find any evidence that I purchased it.Slice, Dice & Rice is fairly basic, but quite atmospheric beat-em-up.The quirky thing about it is that as your character(s) are armed with some pretty sharp and pointy weapons, there's no health bars. A couple of hits, and your opponent is dead.Win four matches, and take the round. There are four simple hit types, you can jump, but it's not entirely clear what triggers the jump (it might be pressing down on the left joystick?), and no complex series of button presses to remember.If I'd paid the full price of A$14.50 for this game, I'd still be disappointed, but as it came in a bundle, I'm not judging it as harshly.The stylised graphics and blood-spurting death animations, combined with a fairly quick load time make this a bit of fun to pick up, and lay the smack down for five minutes.Slice, Dice & Rice is:3: OK#SliceDiceAndRice #BeatEmUp #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMEGPbIvGBxoP09Q by grissallia@aus.social
2023-04-02T12:35:29Z
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Apr 2, 2023 - Day 92 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 99Game: Monster CrownPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Jul 31, 2020Library Date: Apr 2, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 16mFor reasons that escape me now, last July I decided to purchase an annual subscription for Humble Bundle.I think my reasoning was "I've been paying USD$11.99 per month, I can switch to AUD and pay $16.95 per month, or pay up front, and effectively pay $14.92 per month! If I get one good game each month that normally costs more than $15, I'm ahead."I am not ahead. There have been some good games - and I already owned every one of them. Most of the others I haven't played, so at this point, I am not ahead, at all.What do have is a particular collection of games, games I have acquired over the last nine months, unplayed games that make managing storage on my gaming PC a nightmare for... me.So... I'm going to try and play them as well.I started with Monster Crown. I did not grow up with Nintendo, and I had trouble grasping the purpose of this game.My son (also a Humble Choice subscriber) walked in while I was playing it and said "Oh! I saw that game. It's just shitty Pokemon."Indeed, it turns out that Monster Crown is, apparently, "inspired by" early Pokemon games.The 8-bit style "retro" graphics, & chiptunes had already put me off, and the gameplay didn't grab me at all.Monster Crown is:2: Meh#MonsterBattler #Retro #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMEH4MrLs00FTYh6 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-04-03T12:45:52Z
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Apr 3, 2023 - Day 93 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 100Game: Demon TurfPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Nov 4, 2021Library Date: Apr 2, 2023Unplayed: 1dPlaytime: 30mFirstly, an apology if you watched this #NewPlay live on Twitch.Something was applying a voice-effect to my mic, and I was unable to work out the source, which is why it was so heavily reverbed.This is another game from March 2023's Humble Choice.It was not initially obvious to me what kind of game I was playing; Demon Turf is a 3D platformer.The thing about a new game, is that if I need to go through a tutorial to familiarise myself with the controls, I have to want to finish the tutorial.I did not want to finish the tutorial. I kept going because I was streaming it, but I didn't enjoy this game. You play Beebz, a demon girl with the goal to take over the Demon Turfs and wrest control away from the Demon King to become the Demon Queen, and I just don't care.I can't quite explain why this game grated on me, but after 30 minutes of frustration, I was done.Was it fun? Not for me. Would I play Demon Turf again?1: Nope.#3DPlatformer #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMEHrdu9HkT4WuUy by grissallia@aus.social
2023-04-04T10:53:02Z
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Apr 4, 2023 - Day 94 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 101Game: Hot Wheels UnleashedPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Oct 1, 2021Library Date: Aug 31, 2022Unplayed: 216dPlaytime: 29mOK, tonight's live #NewPlay went a lot better than last night's and I don't even hate my voice. I should add the link to my Twitch account somewhere.Anyway, Hot Wheels Unleashed. It's a racing game, where you race Hot Wheels cars on Hot Wheels tracks, which is also Forza Horizon 5's first expansion pack (and was also Forza Horizon 3's second XPAC).If you were the kind of kid who loved Hot Wheels cars, and I was, licencing Hot Wheels to appeal to nostalgia only gets you part way there.There's got to be a good racing game under the hood (pun intended).Fortunately for Hot Wheels Unleashed, it IS a good racing game. It's a lot of fun drifting your way around the corners, and boosting past opponents, and that's what I want in a racing game, or any game.If you love a fun racing game, have a nostalgia for Hot Wheels, and you don't already have Forza Horizon 3 or 5 with the relevant XPACs, then Hot Wheels Unleashed might be right up your loop-the-loop.(Do not get me started on the DLCs though.)Hot Wheels Unleashed is:4: Good#HotWheelsUnleashed #Racing #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlayTonight's stream: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1784343096
(DIR) Post #AVKMEIaJE50whbQa7U by grissallia@aus.social
2023-04-05T14:23:16Z
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Apr 5, 2023 - Day 95 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 102Game: Super Mega Baseball: Extra InningsPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Aug 22, 2015Library Date: Mar 13, 2018Unplayed: 1849d (5y23d)Playtime: 20mI live in Victoria, Australia, where you MUST barrack for an Australian Football League (AFL) team. One of the first questions you'll be asked when meeting someone new is "who do you barrack for?"So I kind of understand how people feel about sport; I do not feel those things.It was obvious exactly what kind of game this was, because it's right there in the name.Super Mega Baseball: Extra Innings is a cartoonish baseball game, where you alternate between batting & pitching, & yelling at the balls you strike out.I have no idea what the secret is to correctly hitting the ball, because I was virtually unable to do so. I managed to hit a few balls in the whole game. I got someone to first base once (kissing, right?)What annoys me is that I had a riotous amount of fun for something I found so frustrating. Watch the video, and you'll find me laughing while declaring "I hate it".If the game hadn't ended when it did (and I don't know WHY it did), I would have played through the whole innings, and hated every minute of it.Maybe this would work for someone who understands & enjoys baseball, but for me Super Mega Baseball: Extra Innings is:1: Nope#SuperMegaBaseballExtraInning #Sport #Baseball #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlayhttps://www.twitch.tv/videos/1785314425
(DIR) Post #AVKMEJaLVQdbo0S7oe by grissallia@aus.social
2023-04-06T14:13:39Z
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Apr 6, 2023 - Day 96 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 103Game: OrwellPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Oct 28, 2016Library Date: Mar 22, 2018Unplayed: 1841d (5y15d)Playtime: 22mOrwell is (apparently) the first chapter of five in a game that's about investigation and surveillance after a terrorist attack.You're gathering information on a person, who seems to have been pre-judged as being guilty of the crime; the "advisor" you're working with seems to have made up his mind already. I've played a lot of games over the past few months. While it's only been 103 I've reviewed, there were a couple of hundred more late last year before I decided on this little project.I have played games that have delighted me, annoyed me, frustrated me, frightened me, bored me.This is the first time that a game has made me feel *bad* about playing it. This game might be something others would enjoy, but given the current political climate, and the overreach of government into people's lives, particularly trans folks, this was just a little bit too fascism-adjacent for me to feel comfortable.I did not enjoy Orwell at all:1: Nope#Orwell #Surveillance #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlayhttps://www.twitch.tv/videos/1786225691
(DIR) Post #AVKMEKQoMMbaQj01aq by grissallia@aus.social
2023-04-07T22:48:24Z
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Apr 7, 2023 - Day 97 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 104Game: DredgePlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Mar 31, 2023Library Date: Apr 7, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 3hDredge was released a week ago, and I think this is the fastest Released -> Purchased -> Played #NewPlay this year.Dredge describes itself as "a single-player fishing adventure with a sinister undercurrent".I'd describe it as a cozy work simulator with a subtext of horror.Here Be minor #spoilers:---The game's intro has you (intro makes it clear you're a man) out to sea in your fishing boat, which gets shipwrecked near a small fishing village, whose previous village fisherman has disappeared under unclear circumstances.---You are pressed into service as the new village fisherman, and given an old boat, and a loan you must repay. The village & villagers are all slightly unsettling.The game then revolves around catching & selling fish, & dredging the bay to upgrade your boat so you can go further & faster to ensure you can get back safely to dock each night.Fish are all different sizes & shapes, so part of the game is a puzzle minigame to arrange the caught fish in the most efficient way.If you don't get back to dock before 6:30pm in-game, weird stuff starts happening, & your "panic" levels increase.I played Dredge for 3 hours straight last night, because Dredge is:5: Excellent#Dredge #Adventure #puzzle #Cozy #Horror #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1787098972
(DIR) Post #AVKMELHHDIZZ3RXvN2 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-04-08T14:10:29Z
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Apr 8, 2023 - Day 98 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 105Game: Terra NilPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Mar 29, 2023Library Date: Apr 7, 2023Unplayed: 1dPlaytime: 3.3hI first played the Terra Nil demo about 9 months ago during the Steam Next Fest.It had a lot of rough edges, but it was quite charming, and there was definitely something there.It was released on the 29th of March; it then popped up as part of Fanatical's Easter sale. Take a dash of ADHD, a touch of exhaustion, and a habit of buying new games as a coping mechanism; shake them all up, and I found myself the owner of both Dredge & Terra Nil (there went my savings towards a new motherboard).Terra Nil is an "environmental strategy game". You find yourself in the middle of a wasteland, with the job of terraforming the land to restore the biomes and biodiversity that are long gone, and finally removing all traces of civilisation.While Dredge is "cozy horror", Terra Nil is just cozy. There are challenges to achieve during the rewilding process, but there are no threats, no impending doom, just a delightful experience of watching a dead wasteland brought to glorious life, accompanied by a delightful soundtrack that seems to slowly fill in as you move towards the goal.It did not feel like 3 hours had passed; Terra Nil is:5: Excellent#TerraNil #Environment #Strategy #Cozy #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMELzwXEIlHyRazY by grissallia@aus.social
2023-04-09T11:59:56Z
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Apr 9, 2023 - Day 99 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 106Game: The Secret of Monkey Island: Special EditionPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Jul 15, 2009Library Date: Mar 13, 2018Unplayed: 1853d (5y27d)Playtime: 31mI went into today's #NewPlay just trying to stay upright, and I slept for a couple of hours afterwards. This may have contributed to my feelings towards TSoMI:SE.I've said it before in these reviews: I'm not a huge point-and-click adventure fan.TMI time: for a lot of my life I struggled to admit that I didn't like some things, and it's only in the past few years that I've been able to let myself say "Actually, I don't like this."Some of my earliest computer gaming experiences were The Colossal Cave on a rebuilt mainframe we had at home (that's a whole other story), and a pirated copy of Zork.When I started on PC, I played all of the Quests (King's, Police, and Space), and I'd usually get to a point of frustration and abandoning them.I didn't play any the SCUMM-based adventures, and so I have no nostalgia for them; sadly, for the most part, they just do nothing for me.TSoMI:SE isn't a bad game. I can see the love that went into rebuilding it, but maybe (in the immortal words of Fozzie Bear) "It's not that it's wrong, it's just wrong for me."I will try it again when I'm more awake but at best, The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition is:3: OK#TheSecretOfMonkeyIsland #PointAndClick #Adventure #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMEMphQnhZsUevfE by grissallia@aus.social
2023-04-10T12:55:05Z
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Apr 10, 2023 - Day 100 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 107Game: KingdomPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Oct 22, 2015Library Date: Mar 22, 2018Unplayed: 1845d (5y19d)Playtime: 68mKingdom is a pixel-art based, sideways-scrolling strategy/resource management game. Pretty much everything I dislike, in a single package.As soon as I saw it load in, I was sure I'd be clock-watching, just itching for my 15 minutes to be up.An hour later I was still playing.Sometimes the gameplay is so good, the art disappears, and this turns out to be a great game, but you have to work for it.It does very little to hold your hand; the first ten minutes were spent trying to intuit what was going on.You're a king or queen, mounted on a horse. You can ride in either direction, and pick up and spend gold coins, and... that's about it. You cannot attack or fight back if attacked.You use your initial few gold coins to hire a couple of beggars, and build a tiny village. The tiny village allows you to provide each person you hire with a tool (hammer) or a weapon (bow & arrow).During the day, the armed villagers kill rabbits and earn gold coins for you, while the working villagers can build defenses. At night, the armed villagers defend you. Each new day, you earn more gold coins, and the cycle continues, for just one more day.My initial impressions of Kingdom were wrong; it's:4: Good.#Kingdom #Strategy #2D #SidewaysScroller #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMENSL78btoKjmtM by grissallia@aus.social
2023-04-11T09:18:38Z
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Apr 11, 2023 - Day 101 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 108Game: ObductionPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Aug 25, 2016Library Date: Mar 22, 2018Unplayed: 1846d (5y20d)Playtime: 47mAs Obduction loaded up, it seemed like the kind of game I'd like. Kind of the polar opposite of yesterday's game, Kingdom; it's really pretty... and I found it deeply frustrating.At its core, it's a first-person 3D puzzle game. I like puzzle games. Right off the bat, the interactions with the in-game characters annoyed me. You activate these projected pre-recorded video bites, and something about them just set my teeth on edge.When you interact directly with an "in-game" character though, that really broke my concentration. The character appears pre-recorded & pre-rendered, and it's almost impossible to make out the critical info they're saying.On top of this, interacting with the various devices in the world momentarily locks your view on the object you're interacting with. Consequently, with one of the early puzzles, I gave up in frustration, only to find that I was *so* close to solving it, and it would have been obvious, had cause & effect not been disconnected by the locked view.There might be a reasonable puzzle game underneath the frustration, but I'm not sure I want to spend the time finding out.Obduction also works in VR, so I'm reserving a final rating until after I try VR, but right now, it's:2: Meh#Obduction #Puzzle #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMEPvTvl6rTIO5aq by grissallia@aus.social
2023-04-12T12:15:58Z
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Apr 12, 2023 - Day 102 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 109Game: SubterrainPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Jan 21, 2016Library Date: Apr 9, 2018Unplayed: 1829d (5y3d)Playtime: 73mSubterrain is a top-down sci-fi horror survival game.Apparently.You play an imprisoned scientist who has to break out of his cell, and finds that the entire prison, and apparently, base on Mars has been overrun by zombies, maybe. Based on some flavour text, on something I picked up.It's moody & atmospheric, and I spent 73 minutes exploring all of the nooks and crannies of the prison, waiting for something to happen.There's next to zero guidance, and you need to discover your way forward, which is why I explored every nook and cranny; all the while collecting things until I hit my carry limit. There's a recycle-and-build system in there somewhere, but by the time I got close to it, I'd had enough.The game itself is well designed, and the sound design kept me thinking that something was just about to happen... but no. I killed two zombies in the first two levels.There's a hint of something interesting in there, but it's buried under so much drudgery, that for a moment I questioned why I'm doing these reviews at all. Ultimately Subterrain felt like style without substance, and I'm genuinely disappointed; it feels like I wasted 73 minutes of my life that I didn't enjoy, and won't get back. It's just:2: Meh#SciFi #TopDown #Survival #Horror #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMEQfZAPyNmDwtQO by grissallia@aus.social
2023-04-13T10:43:49Z
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Apr 13, 2023 - Day 103 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 110Game: God Eater ResurrectionPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Aug 29, 2016Library Date: Mar 31, 2018Unplayed: 1839d (5y13d)Playtime: 45mGod Eater Resurrection is a bit of an odd duck of a game.Firstly, you cannot (and never have been able to) buy it directly on Steam, as it comes bundled with God Eater 2: Rage BurstSecondly, it felt a bit like another game I'd played in the past six months, and it turns out that Code Vein is (apparently) set in the same universe.Unlike the soulslike world of Code Vein, though, GER is a hack-n-slash.As for the game itself, it would have been difficult to stop the game at 15 minutes, because at that point, having spent a few minutes in the character creator tweaking my avatar, it was *still* in the intro video, setting up the universe. All up, it was 19 minutes from when I'd started the game, until I could first move around in-game.The between-mission area has a fixed camera, and I couldn't find a comfortable playstyle on K/M or with controller, but in-game fighting has a free-movement camera, and I ultimately settled on K/M.There is a LOT going on in switching weapon modes, and managing the different options in-battle, but it feels like it might be worth getting to know it a bit better.God Eater Resurrection is:3: OK#GodEaterResurrection #ThirdPerson #HackNSlash #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMERPeP4pu59VhFw by grissallia@aus.social
2023-04-14T13:06:41Z
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Apr 14, 2023 - Day 104 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 111Game: Ken Follett's The Pillars of the EarthPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Aug 16, 2017Library Date: Jun 6, 2018Unplayed: 1773d (4y10m8d)Playtime: 25mI feel like I should tread carefully here; while a voracious reader when younger, I've not encountered the works of Ken Follett, but apparently The Pillars of the Earth (henceforth, "Pillars") was a "worldwide best-seller".Pillars came in a Humble Bundle, and it's not a game that I would have purchased on its own. I'm not familiar with the source material, or the author, so the branding isn't a hook.However, if the storytelling and gameplay game can grab me early, this isn't necessarily an issue. Unfortunately, Pillars very much seems to lean into an assumed familiarity with the source material which was strike one.Strike two was "Oh. It's a point-and-click adventure."I've made no bones about my feelings towards point-and-click. The Full Throttle remaster hooked me. Deponia was a bit hit and miss.Strike three was the game pacing. It's... slow. There's a lot of slow moving from place to place, a lot of things to click on that don't seem to do anything.The thing that tipped me over the edge, though: the game made it almost impossible to quit out. In the end, I alt-tabbed and closed it.Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth is a solid:1: Nope.#ThePillarsOfTheEarth #PointAndClick #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMESAnZmYARNZLkG by grissallia@aus.social
2023-04-15T09:56:17Z
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Apr 15, 2023 - Day 105 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 112Game: Satellite ReignPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Aug 18, 2015Library Date: Apr 20, 2018Unplayed: 1822d (4y11m27d)Playtime: 28mI have a soft spot for cyberpunk themed games, and one of the unexpected side-effects of this project is discovering how many cyberpunk-themed games that aren't *Cyberpunk 2077* I already own.Satellite Reign is a cyberpunk-themed class-based real-time strategy game.So far, at the point I'd reached in the game, part-way through what just may be a lengthy tutorial, there's not a lot to critique.It's a nice, solid little game, and I'm part way through a rescue mission. It captures the dystopian cyberpunk aesthetic nicely, without feeling like a straight rip from Blade Runner, but does feel like it draws from that well, as well as Cyberpunk, and William Gibson.I'd love to make this a long deep review, but I'm wrestling with fatigue today in a way that seems to have fried my ability to write.In any case, I'll definitely be going back to play it again, just to see how it unfolds.Satellite Reign is:3: OK#SatelliteReign #RealTimeStrategy #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMESskwLiCdi8SGG by grissallia@aus.social
2023-04-15T14:42:24Z
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Apr 15, 2023 - Day 105 - NewPlay Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 113Game: FortifiedPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Feb 4, 2016Library Date: Jun 7, 2018Unplayed: 1773d (4y10m8d)Playtime: 29mFortified is 1950's-inspired alien-invasion third-person 3D tower defense game.It's boring.I played across two characters, over three levels, and it was just just... boring. A good tower defense game needs your weaponry and income to scale up appropriately to whatever you're fighting. That balance can be difficult to achieve. Orcs Must Die manages it. Fortified does not.The "attack" buildings feel incredibly slow and underpowered, and the monsters feel generic and annoying, rather than threatening.I like to at least reach a checkpoint, or finish a level in a game, and not quit out mid-level, but in all seriousness, I should have, because playing longer to complete the last level didn't make it any more entertaining, which is a fundamental issue. If a game isn't challenging, then it needs to at least be fun.I can't even offer a hope that there's something under the surface. While 1950's-style the interstitial graphics and interface would feel at home in a pulp sci-fi magazine, the in-game assets feels like generic cut & paste models from a free unreal library.Could Fortified be more than the sum of it's pulpy parts?:1: Nope#Fortified #TowerDefense #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMETkzgh65LvVlnk by grissallia@aus.social
2023-04-16T12:26:23Z
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Apr 16, 2023 - Day 106 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 114Game: Old Man's JourneyPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: May 18, 2017Library Date: Dec 4, 2018Unplayed: 1594d (4y4m12d)Playtime: 26mI am struggling to write about Old Man's Journey, and so this review will be short, and long, and strangely personal, and out of order.Old Man's Journey is a puzzle game, and a work of art. It reveals itself as you attempt to understand how to play it.Old Man's Journey is:5: Excellent#OldMansJourney #Puzzle #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlayI had to get that out of the way, because this game went unplayed for a very different reason to normal.It came as part of the October 2018 Humble Bundle, and the idea of playing it terrified me.When I was a child, for a few years, my dad used to take us into nursing homes on Sunday afternoons, as he visited people and played guitar and sang hymns for them.I hated it. I hated the smell, and it frightened me, and I could not explain why. I've worked in an aged care adjacent role for over a decade; I've spent far more time in the company of folks in aged care than I ever expected I would.But I understand now what it was I hated; I hated being around old men, because I was terrified of becoming an old man.I mean, I know you can't "catch" old man, it's just part of living as a man... and for years I found the idea of myself as an old man terrifying, as in "I would rather be dead". (cont...)
(DIR) Post #AVKMEUXukoEFneOq3M by grissallia@aus.social
2023-04-17T06:21:37Z
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Apr 17, 2023 - Day 107 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 115Game: The Darkside DetectivePlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Jul 27, 2017Library Date: Jan 7, 2019Unplayed: 1561d (4y3m10d)Playtime: 16mFor someone who's not a big fan of point-and-click adventures and retro pixel art, I certainly own a lot of retro pixel art point-and-click adventures; case in point, The Darkside DetectiveOne of the things I think I don't like about it is that I like to play games fullscreen, and pixel art at fullscreen on a 32" monitor can feel overwhelming.The gameplay has to overcome that. The Darkside Detective did, at least in the first "chapter".The puzzles weren't so deeply complicated that I had to spend forever tracking back and forth to multiple locations, and then trying to work out the exact combination of multiple weird objects to make something work.It also didn't take me two hours to make any progress; I completed the first chapter in 15 minutes. I didn't need to spend interminable amounts of time waiting for a character to walk backwards and forwards across a screen (I'm looking at you, The Secret of Monkey Island).As far as point-and-click adventures go, The Darkside Detective is:3: OK#PointAndClick #Adventure #Retro #PixelArt #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMEVKTqF4qEH7cki by grissallia@aus.social
2023-04-17T06:55:27Z
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Apr 17, 2023 - Day 107 - NewPlay Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 116Game: Dead Island Definitive EditionPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: May 31, 2016Library Date: Dec 4, 2018Unplayed: 1595d (4y4m13d)Playtime: 20mDead Island is another first-person zombie killing game, but this time it's set on a resort island.It's a pretty run-of-the-mill "kill zombies, collect stuff, make stuff, kill more zombies" gameplay loop. Being set on a tropical island seems (so far) to give it a slightly different feel to other zombie games.But it also felt kind-of familiar, not just like other zombie killing games, but like I'd played it before.When I logged out, and looked up who'd made it, that feeling made sense; Dead Island is made by Techland, the same studio who make the Dying Light franchise.Techland know how to make zombie games, but with the familiarity of the gameplay loop, if I was in the mood for killing zombies, I'd probably choose Dying Light 2 over this, as a more recent game with gameplay improvements.Dead Island Definitive Edition is:3: OK#DeadIsland #FirstPerson #Zombies #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMEVdGiO6dAXud2O by grissallia@aus.social
2023-04-16T12:44:18Z
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In hindsight, it feels obvious to me why I was so terrified; I'm not a man.As I struggled over the past seven years to accept myself as trans, I finally came to understand that gut-level, lifelong fear was rooted somewhere deeper. How do you explain that to others? How do I explain that I have a fear that seems utterly irrational, but is so deeply rooted that I hoped I would die before I reached that age?Yet... as I worked to come to grips with accepting my gender incongruence, I discovered that if I imagined myself as an old woman, I was fine. No fear. Even a sense of peacefulness about it.In hindsight, it now seems blindingly obvious that my subconscious was trying to communicate something to me.So when I saw Old Man's Journey on the list today, I decided to give it a try.It is an exceedingly beautiful game. To borrow from Bruce Cockburn, "every place it touched me, is a laceration now."Coming out as a trans woman at this stage of my life means that there are life experiences that I will never know. As I've written elsewhere recently, I've lived with longings and yearnings that I had no words for, for most of my life.They were desires that had no context, because I was trying to play the role of a (cisgender) man; a role that did not come naturally, but an alternative was literally inconceivable for most of my life.As you play through Old Man's Journey, you reach points where the titular character sits, and remembers his life as a young man. (cont...)
(DIR) Post #AVKMEWFYQ2jN5HpCiG by grissallia@aus.social
2023-04-18T12:30:57Z
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Apr 18, 2023 - Day 108 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 117Game: Wizard of LegendPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: May 16, 2018Library Date: Dec 29, 2018Unplayed: 1571d (4y3m20d)Playtime: 22mWizard of Legend is a top-down pixel art roguelike dungeon crawler, and if you've been reading my reviews, none of that bodes well.The game starts out in a museum that talks about a bunch of wizard arcana and wizards, that's effectively a tutorial level, which I assume was kitted out with a bunch of NPCs who were named after people that crowdfunded the game or something, but there's nothing that says whether you should speak to them or not.Lots of things to read that do nothing except provide flavour text.I probably spent close to 15 minutes just getting through that section, and most of it felt like wasted time.Then I got into the game proper, and it was definitely wasted time.Apparently a lot of people like this game. I am not one of them; Wizard of Legend was definitely not my book of arcana. It was just:2: Meh#WizardOfLegend #PixelArt #RogueLike #DungeonCrawler #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMEXD6qcMy3zglXc by grissallia@aus.social
2023-04-19T12:03:57Z
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Apr 19, 2023 - Day 109 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 118Game: Super Daryl DeluxePlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Apr 10, 2018Library Date: Feb 2, 2019Unplayed: 1537d (4y2m17d)Playtime: 51mI've said before that games had me stumped for what "kind" of game they were; Super Daryl Deluxe is somewhere beyond that. It defies my abilities to describe in. It's a one-of-a-kind.I mean that literally. It bills itself as a "RPGvania", which explains the platforming, mashed up with the RPG, and a dash of roguelike, and then liberally doused in Napoleon Dynamite. If you Google "RPGvania", it's the only game that comes up.The art style is unique, rendered in largely greyscale with some colours in use to make them pop out, and a lot of colour washes.The quests kept me playing long enough to get me into the rhythm of the game, and I'm curious as to where it's going.Unfortunately, a lot like Napoleon Dynamite, that style of humour starts to become grating after a while. I'm not sure it can carry my interest for an entire game.Super Daryl Deluxe is:3: OK#SuperDarylDeluxe #RPGvania #RogueLike #Platformer #RPG #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMEXpkWxHHzplclk by grissallia@aus.social
2023-04-20T09:59:51Z
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Apr 20, 2023 - Day 110 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 119Game: Sundered Eldritch EditionPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Jul 8, 2017Library Date: Jan 7, 2019Unplayed: 1564d (4y3m13d)Playtime: 45mToday I found myself faced with a "pure" Metroidvania. I even Googled it to make sure I understood the term.So, some of the games I've been referring to as "platformers" may actually be better defined as Metroidvanias, and that is to say, I don't like them.I find them frustrating, and I lack the hand-eye coordination to pull of the moves at the right time, and somehow this morning, none of that mattered.I thought I'd knock out the game this morning in a quick 15 minute play session, and write up a review, and that would get me focused and into work time.Some time later, I quit out to find I'd been playing for 45 minutes. Somehow, I managed to pull all the pieces together and find a rhythm, and what a marvellous rhythm it is.It's an incredibly atmospheric game, inspired by H.P. Lovecraft. Part old-world horror, part technology, dropping through floors, and wall-jumping, killing everything in sight.While (as usual) I was playing in "easy" mode, it wasn't easy for me, but not so challenging I wanted to punt the controller out the window.It makes me want to give some others another try.Sundered Eldritch Edition is:2: Good#SunderedEldritchEdition #Metroidvania #Platformer #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMEXrARgPc4EQkym by grissallia@aus.social
2023-04-16T12:56:39Z
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He remembers being at a party, and seeing a woman across the room. He remembers a date, as they watched the sun set. His proposal to her. His first kiss with his new bride.I will never know those things. I will never be that young woman, seen across the room; I'll never know what it is like to be romanced; never have someone who will look into my eyes, and ask me to spend my life with them. I will never be a bride.These are the things I attempted to do for another, things that I knew I should do, but felt like a role that I was playing; "me", but not me.I do not regret any of the choices I've made, because I did the best that I could, with what I knew.However, this does not mean that I do not feel grief at the loss of a life that might have been.Old Man's Journey was deeply frustrating to play. There are no written instructions, no guidance on how to play. It's not even initially clear what you're trying to achieve... and to embody an old man? It was an extra layer of discomfort.As I persevered, and the nature of the puzzles revealed themselves, I found myself becoming lost in the game.And then... his memories. Each one a bittersweet wound, as his life opened up before him, and a life unlived opened up within me.This beautiful puzzle game touched me in ways that no other game I've played this year has touched me.These reviews have been about how I've felt about games, and how they've made me feel.Old Man's Journey is a beautiful, painful work of art.
(DIR) Post #AVKMEYcfb4PSRYeh1M by grissallia@aus.social
2023-04-20T12:38:18Z
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Apr 20, 2023 - Day 110 - NewPlay Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 120Game: Seven: Enhanced EditionPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Dec 1, 2017Library Date: Jan 30, 2019Unplayed: 1541d (4y2m21d)Playtime: 26mWhy not a twofer?It seems a lot of the games I'm playing are mashups of other genres.Seven: Enhanced Edition is a post-apocalyptic cyberpunk isometric stealth ARPG.I'm not sure that the parts gel together that well. The graphics are great, the ability to run, jump, climb, and zipline from place to place, and then pickpocketing someone to get a key to enter a new area is kind of fun... but the isometric view makes it somewhat tedious.When trying to navigate in a stealth game, I want to be able to get a full idea of what's going on around me.The game has a function that allows you to scan an area using your cybernetic eye, but it disconnects from your position to scan, which feels like it takes away any sense of anchoring that view, relative to where you are.It's not a bad game, it feels like once I get through what appears to be the introduction it may develop further, but I get so anxious, and becomg so very methodical and careful in stealth games, it kind of takes the fun out of it.Seven: Enhanced Edition is:3: OK#SevenEnhancedEdition #Stealth #ARPG #Isometric #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMEZMOr2zOjO3DIe by grissallia@aus.social
2023-04-21T09:24:29Z
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Apr 21, 2023 - Day 111 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 121Game: NeuroVoiderPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Sep 1, 2016Library Date: Jan 30, 2019Unplayed: 1542d (4y2m22d)Playtime: 27mNeuroVoider is a top-down roguelite twin-stick shooter RPG... with pixel art.I don't have a lot to say about this game, so allow me to digress; I don't get why so many indie games are done in pixel art. I'm not saying they can't be done well, I don't understand why so many people choose them.Maybe it's selection bias on my part; a lot of my games came in Humble Bundles, and maybe someone at Humble has a huge amount of nostalgia for pixel art games.There's the occasional one that transcends the style, but for the most part, the game has to be that much better for me to be able to get past the pixel art.Anyway, NeuroVoider was off to a rough start for me being a pixel art game, but twin stick shooters are a huge ask.You play a brain in a robot body, that has to shoot other robots.I don't quite understand why, but in spite of being able to do a huge number of different things with one hand on my beloved G13, and the other targeting with a mouse, when I need to move with the left stick and aim with the right, I become incompetent.If you're a fan of this kind of game, it might be more your thing, but I can't see myself going back to it.NeuroVoider, sadly, was:2: Meh#NeuroVoider #PixelArt #RPG #TopDown #TwinStick #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMEa2wIt16rJxBbc by grissallia@aus.social
2023-04-22T09:48:19Z
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Apr 22, 2023 - Day 112 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 122Game: BoundaryPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Apr 13, 2023Library Date: Apr 21, 2023Unplayed: 1d (1d)Playtime: 50mSince I have a huge number of unplayed games, common sense would dictate that I don't add any more to the pile.Sadly, it appears that I am lacking in the "common sense" department. A few days ago I caught a couple of minutes of a gameplay video of Boundary.Boundary is a 6DOF multiplayer space-based tactical shooter. It looked like a lot of fun. It's in early access on Steam, so I added it to my wishlist.Then Fanatical sent me an alert yesterday to advise me that it was on special for 10% off, and I had an outstanding 5% discount voucher, and FOMO minutes later, I was the proud owner of a copy of Boundary.I played it today, and I'd love to say I was not disappointed. Unfortunately, I cannot say that.There's very little in the way of laying out what each piece of kit does.In-game found myself getting railed from across the other side of a space station one too many times (which is nowhere near as fun as it sounds).It's got potential. When it's fun, it's really fun. It's just that it's mostly full of bots; when it's not, if your team is losing, there are no penalties to other players quitting out, so they do.I don't regret buying Boundary... yet. It's:3: OK#Boundary #6DOF #Tactical #Shooter #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMEat3B8hVSwKnpY by grissallia@aus.social
2023-04-22T14:25:07Z
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Apr 22, 2023 - Day 112 - NewPlay Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 123Game: Sudden Strike 4Platform: Steam PCRelease Date: Aug 12, 2021Library Date: Aug 27, 2018Unplayed: 1699d (4y7m26d)Playtime: 39m(Housekeeping: I've said previously that I won't review sequels unless I've played the previous games, but I'm qualifying that to say I will play them if I don't own any of the predecessors. Carry on.)Sudden Strike 4 is a real time strategy game set in World War 2.I fell in love with RTS games with Dune II (RIP), and played through many of the Command & Conquer games, Warcraft II (I still have the manual!), and up to StarCraft.StarCraft was where I started falling out of love with the RTS genre. I realised that I was struggling to keep up with all of the different things I needed to, and that combined with being the main strategy in multiplayer seemingly Zerg rushing, I stopped playing.I was since diagnosed as autistic & ADHD, and (at least for me), I find complex RTS games overwhelming.It didn't help that Sudden Strike 4 threw me into the tutorial as the Germans. I just don't play as Nazis, ever. It's too on the nose in 2023.I got out of the tutorial, played the first match of the Allied campaign, and it's a good looking, solid RTS, but just a bit much for me to manage.It's not bad, but just not my cup of tea.Sudden Strike 4 is:3: OK#SuddenStrike4 #WorldWar2 #RTS #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMEbYsfcA3YfuD20 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-04-23T03:53:20Z
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Apr 23, 2023 - Day 113 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 124 Game: Middle-earth: Shadow of MordorPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Oct 1, 2014Library Date: Mar 13, 2018Unplayed: 1867d (5y1m10d)Playtime: 74mMiddle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is a third-person open-world action-adventure (some light RPG elements) that is, surprisingly, set in Middle-earth, between The Hobbit and LotR.However, the most surprising thing about this game for me, other than the ~20 minutes of introduction video, was how it does not feel like a game that's almost 9 years old.You play as a Gondor Ranger that's been murdered and trapped between life and death, and... look, I'm not sure what the end-game is meant to be, but I was having a hell of a time just sneaking around and kill Uruk-hai.Combat is fun (if a little counter-intuitive, being that space is "run" and left-shift is "sneak".)Sneaking up behind an unaware Uruk and shanking them with the dagger is satisfying, as is straight-up swordplay. You can also "stealth" into wraith mode, and put an arrow into into a distant orc, and watch them drop with a satisfying whistle-and-thunk.This game feels like motivation to keep playing through library, to discover gems like this that I'd missed completely.Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is:4: Good#MiddleEarth #ShadowOfMordor #ThirdPerson #OpenWorld #ActionAdventure #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMEcIFwuSPpP8Rl2 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-04-23T09:07:10Z
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Apr 23, 2023 - Day 113 - NewPlay Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 125 Game: AbsolverPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Aug 30, 2017Library Date: Apr 7, 2019Unplayed: 1477d (4y16d)Playtime: 41mAbsolver is an online multiplayer combat game (apparently).Other than the initial server login, nothing in the first 20 minutes of gameplay gave me any clue that there was an online component; this lack of information was something that was reflected through the gameplay.You're a "prospect" wearing a magical mask, on the road to becoming an "Absolver"; there's a lack of clarity around what you're trying to do, and how to achieve it.The initial 10 minutes of the game largely walk you through the combat process, but somehow the combat feels disconnected and sluggish.The most annoying part of the process is that there are seemingly four different combat stances, but it requires a frustrating combination of two buttons to be pressed in a particular order, to switch stance, and then it kind of just... switches back?I even gave it another 20 minutes playtime in case I was missing something, but combat was just as frustrating the second time around.There might be something here that rewards persistence, but if it's there, it didn't hook me.Absolver did not absolve itself; it's just:2: Meh#Absolver #ThirdPerson #Melee #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMEcx1VL4DrqD0Ii by grissallia@aus.social
2023-04-23T11:14:12Z
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Apr 23, 2023 - Day 113 - NewPlay Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 126 Game: Medal of HonorPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Oct 13, 2010Library Date: Dec 6, 2013Unplayed: 3425d (9y4m17d)Playtime: 76mOK, so I have no idea what's going on here. This game showed up as a "2019" game (my Steam library is sorted by year, filtered by unplayed).However, checking the "added to account" date, shows this as being added in 2013, thus it's been unplayed for almost a decade.I probably don't need to explain that Medal of Honor is a war-themed first person squad-based shooter. When I'm playing a shooter against aliens or zombies, there's a sense of throwing yourself at enemies who are objectively "bad guys".Medal of Honor turns out to be the *13th* Medal of Honor game since Medal of Honor in 1999. It was, apparently, the first Medal of Honor in a modern setting and... a lot has happened in the 13 years since it was released; I spent the entire time I was playing with a disquieting sense of unease.As for gameplay, it's a competent shooter. The sense of progression kept me going, and before I knew it I'd been playing for over an hour.It is a 13 year old game, and a lot of games have been released since that have similar mechanics without the on-the-nose setting.Medal of Honor isn't for me; though as a game, it's:3: OK#MedalOfHonor #FPS #Melee #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMEdfgpGnQ6N6fvE by grissallia@aus.social
2023-04-24T11:30:18Z
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Apr 24, 2023 - Day 114 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 127 Game: Anna's QuestPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Jul 3, 2015Library Date: May 14, 2019Unplayed: 1441d (3y11m10d)Playtime: 78mI opened Anna's Quest to find that it was yet another point-and-click adventure. 78 minutes later I closed it, somewhat confused at how I'd lost 78 minutes on a point-and-click adventure.You play as the titular Anna. Living deep in the forest with your grandfather, one day he becomes deeply ill, yet still expressly forbids you to enter the forest.Upon leaving, you're kidnapped by a wicked witch, and imprisoned in a tower, and that's when things get weird.It turns out that Anna is unaware that she's telekinetic, but the witch somehow knew, and wants her telekinetic gift.The humour in the game is quirky, and seems almost childlike, the puzzles indicate that this is not a game targeted at kids. They are your usual "use X with Y" puzzle, but I'm not sure kids are going to think "If you cut that rubber ball in half, it will make a perfect insulator for that electric buzzing thing"The game has my interest piqued, and I look forward to seeing exactly why and how Anna ended up with telekinesis.Anna's Quest is, surprisingly:4: Good#AnnasQuest #PointAndClick #Adventure #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMEeO0AWF2Jnq3zU by grissallia@aus.social
2023-04-24T23:06:13Z
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Apr 24, 2023 - Day 114 - NewPlay Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 128 Game: Sunset OverdrivePlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Nov 17, 2018Library Date: Apr 24, 2023Unplayed: 0d (0d)Playtime: 45mSunset Overdrive was on my wishlist for several years, & it's on sale on Steam right now for $7.11.However, it's in a bundle in which I own the other title, dropping the price to $6.26, which seemed too easy.Still, past me hasn't always made the best decisions with my waitlist, and my eldest has it in his shared Steam library, so I installed it from there & played it.I spent the six bucks.Sunset Overdrive feels like an open world mashup of Borderlands, Dying Light, & Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, by way of iZombie.The core premise of monsters created by drinking an energy drink at a launch party feels like it was lifted wholesale from iZombie; however, Sunset Overdrive originally released on Xbox in 2014, with iZombie being developed in 2014 & released in 2015, which is interesting timing, to say the least.The bright, hyperkinetic gameplay involving grinding rails & acrobatics while shooting monsters is refreshing, & leans into aggressive offensive gameplay, rather than playing defense like a cover shooter.It doesn't take itself seriously, breaking the fourth wall, & if you've got a spare 7 bucks, it's worth the buy.Sunset Overdrive is:4: Good#SunsetOverdrive #OpenWorld #ThirdPerson #Shooter #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMEezvtUaCDRaM76 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-04-25T00:53:44Z
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Apr 25, 2023 - Day 115 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 129 Game: Sir, You Are Being HuntedPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Aug 19, 2013Library Date: Nov 24, 2017Unplayed: 1978d (5y5m1d)Playtime: 15mSir, You Are Being Hunted is a first person stealth survival game.If you've been reading up on my reviews, you might assume how this is going to go, and you'd be correct.Up front, though, let me say how utterly refreshing it is to have a game where the gameplay voiceover heavily features a gendered honorific, & allows you to change that from "Sir" to "Madam" with a button at the main menu.Unfortunately, any potential gender euphoria from this change is overwhelmed by playing a stealth survival game.For the newcomers: I'm not a big fan of survival games, and even less so of stealth games where you're primarily helpless; this is both. Not great for a woman with anxiety issues.If that's your cup of tea, have at it; a game set in a quaint & creepy English countryside, where you're being hunted by robots was always going to be a big ask, & it was a "please be over, please be over" every time I died and checked the clock.There's a whole layer of real-world subtext for me about being hunted by English people who want me to not exist that really drives the final nail into this game's coffin.Sir (Madam), You Are Being Hunted is a big old:1: Nope#SirYouAreBeingHunted #FirstPerson #Stealth #Survival #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMEfXxqxnxuzVX9s by grissallia@aus.social
2023-04-26T09:22:10Z
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Apr 26, 2023 - Day 116 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 130Game: PolygoneerPlatform: Steam PCRelease Date: Aug 25, 2017Library Date: Jun 6, 2019Unplayed: 1420d (3y10m20d)Playtime: 18mPolygoneer takes Asteroids, fixes the "ship" in the middle of the screen, rotating on a single axis. Backgrounds distort & change colour, affecting your aim, the acid house(?) music hammers your ears.It is not a long game; I've (technically) completed it.Polygoneer is a 2D vector-ish arcade game that throws colour-coded shapes at you; match the colour of the shape with your shot colour, rotate left or right, shoot the shape before it hits you. Rinse, repeat, and survives as long as possible. I honestly wondered how I was going to even get to 15mins. X, A, and B buttons on the controller map to blue, green, & red respectively.There are 5 levels; levels 1-3 each introduce a new colour, with level 4 speeding up the three-colour action. Each subsequent level is unlocked by surviving for at least 60s in the previous one. Then there's level 5. A black pentegram spins against a psychedelic background, while all you need to do is just try to shoot (no colours) & survive. My longest attempt on L5 lasted just 14 seconds.I got it free; it's currently A$0.42 on Steam, and is definitely worth the buy for a few minutes of frantic fun.Polygoneer is a surprising:3: OK#Polygoneer #Vector #Arcade #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMEgE9K7Y61pFDua by grissallia@aus.social
2023-04-26T09:39:31Z
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Apr 26, 2023 - Day 116 - NewPlay Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 131Game: Honkai: Star RailPlatform: Standalone Launcher (Win)Release Date: Apr 26, 2023Library Date: Apr 26, 2023Unplayed: 0d (0d)Playtime: 65mHonkai: Star Rail is the long-anticipated latest release from HoYoverse (previously miHoYo), the developers of several games, but arguably best known for Genshin Impact.Like Genshin, H:SR is an gacha-driven third-person RPG. Like Genshin, H:SR you collect multiple characters, 4 of which can be added to your active battle team.I could create a list of parallels, because H:SR fundamentally feels like a sci-fi-themed reskin of Genshin Impact, right down to the button locations on the UI - but for one critical change.The main menu is on the right, instead of the left.Seriously though, while that IS true, it's the combat system that's fundamentally different.Instead of the frantic character-switching active combos of Genshin, combat is a turn-based attack system from a fixed perspective.This change does make the game feel significantly different, at least in the hour I played it. There are still character synergies at play, but with all characters in play simultaneously, it becomes a question of how you form your team to balance defense with offense.While I'll need to play longer to give a more in-depth review, initially, Honkai: Star Rail feels:4: Good#HonkaiStarRail #RPG #ThirdPerson #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMEi9y8dOS1RIufo by grissallia@aus.social
2023-04-27T06:34:46Z
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Apr 27, 2023 - Day 117 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 132Game: Phoning HomePlatform: SteamRelease Date: Feb 8, 2017Library Date: Mar 13, 2018Unplayed: 1871d (5y1m14d)Playtime: 95mPhoning Home is a third-person open-world robot survival sim. It is also free on Steam (which is why there's a link at the end).Phoning Home was developed by ION LANDS, who went on to create Cloudpunk, (one of my all-time favourite games).I've mentioned before that I'm not a big fan of sandbox survival games. Valheim left me cold, and V Rising genuinely left me regretting spending the money on it.Phoning Home, on the other hand, is a narrative driven survival game, which takes the exploration and construction and gives it purpose.I only intended to play this for 15 minutes before work, and was an hour late starting work, so deep did it suck me in and make me want to keep playing, and further the story of the cute little WALL-E inspired robot, ION.To the point that the new Warframe expansion The Duviri Paradox dropped today (it's free too!), and if I'm to have any hope of giving it a fair go, I'll need to play that first, because otherwise I suspect I'll be up all night playing Phoning Home.Which means this is:5: Excellent#PhoningHome #OpenWorld #ThirdPerson #Survival #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlayhttps://store.steampowered.com/app/431650/Phoning_Home/
(DIR) Post #AVKMEk07IEhVjSi4au by grissallia@aus.social
2023-04-28T14:02:09Z
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Apr 28, 2023 - Day 118 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 133Game: Unfortunate SpacemenPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jun 13, 2020Library Date: Jun 14, 2020Unplayed: 1048d (2y10m14d)Playtime: 31mUnfortunate Spacemen feels like a first-person mash-up of Among Us, Dead By Daylight, and Alien. It's a free multiplayer survival game that's suffered the same fate as most of the other free & paid multiplayer games that sat in my Pile of Shame for too long: no-one is playing.The game starts with a slightly over-the-top tutorial playing as one of the titular Spacemen. It's frustratingly slow as the voiceover drones on endlessly, switching out halfway through in what was (I guess) supposed to feel funny, but just felt odd & forced. There's nothing here you don't already know from every other FPS.Next, the "playing as the monster" tutorial. You start out disguised as one of the spacemen; you can then switch into monster form to kill a spaceman, then back to spaceman again, or even take on the identity of whoever you killed.The gameplay feels a bit janky in the way it plays, but the biggest problem is the same one experienced by most F2P PvP games: get big quick, or go home.The servers are still running (unlike many other games), but there aren't a lot of players, & apparently most are just griefing.Which makes Unfortunate Spacemen a:1: Nope.#UnfortunateSpacemen #FirstPerson #Survival #PvP #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMElwI5QpRkAw2uO by grissallia@aus.social
2023-04-29T12:03:21Z
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Apr 29, 2023 - Day 119 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 134Game: FlowerPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Feb 15, 2019Library Date: Jun 15, 2020Unplayed: 1048d (2y10m14d)Playtime: 25mFlower started it's life on Playstation 3, back in 2009, and was ported to several platforms before coming to Windows in 2019.I'm kind of lost for words when trying to describe Flower. It's less of a game, and more of an experience. There's no score, no lives or deaths.You just use the controller or mouse/keyboard to navigate a flower petal through the utterly gorgeous environment. The only issue I had with Flower was that trying to control the petals could be a bit janky and frustrating at times.As you fly across the hills flowers will appear. Fly close, and musical notes will play, and a new petal will join you, eventually building to a melody, then a flowing harmony.Each of your interactions with the environment builds upon the ones before, bringing the land to life before you.It's truly a wonderful experience.Flower is:4: Good#Flower #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMEnhTXUANCo1F5s by grissallia@aus.social
2023-04-30T13:29:25Z
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Apr 30, 2023 - Day 120 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 135Game: Scrap GardenPlatform: SteamRelease Date: May 7, 2016Library Date: Sep 26, 2020Unplayed: 946d (2y7m4d)Playtime: 34mSometimes I encounter a game where the visual design is gorgeous, the music is perfect, and then the gaming elements seem to be tacked on.Unfortunately, Scrap Garden feels like one of these games. Scrap Garden is a 3D-ish platformer. You control a small robot, apparently the only robot to survive a calamity that has wiped out robot society, and needs you to find out what went wrong and fix it.The character design and atmosphere all blends together beautifully; it feels like all of the love and affection by the devs were poured into these elements, then the gameplay was just kind of pasted over the top, with a voiceovers & voice acting meant to patch over the cracks, that feels more annoying than informative.It's not a bad game, by any means, but there are enough rough edges in the gameplay to leave me feeling just mildly frustrated.The controls feel muddy, which is not great for a platformer; I felt like I was constantly fighting with the follow camera. Then in some sections of the game, it becomes a 2.5D platformer with a fixed camera, and a new set of frustrations with controls & obscured angles.It looks like a gourmet meal, but tastes like McDonalds.Scrap Garden is:3: OK#ScrapGarden #3DPlatformer #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMEpPpA5EeWdmArI by grissallia@aus.social
2023-05-01T12:25:21Z
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May 1, 2023 - Day 121 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 136Game: Paragon: The OverprimePlatform: SteamRelease Date: Dec 6, 2022Library Date: Mar 9, 2023Unplayed: 53d (1m22d)Playtime: 33mParagon: The Overprime is a bit of an odd duck. It's a third-person shooter/MOBA with a history. Many years ago, Epic Games decided to get into the MOBA space, & in August 2016 released an open beta called Paragon. In 2017, Epic released another new game, this time in the Battle Royale space, the little-known Fortnite.For reasons lost to the mists of time, Epic chose to put all of their eggs (& devs) into one basket, pulling the plug on the Paragon servers in April 2018... then released all of the Paragon assets for free use in Unreal Engine 4.July 17th, 2020: Strange Matter launched a game built from those assets called Fault: Elder Orb. On November 1st, 2022, Fault was shuttered.December 6th, 2022: Netmarble released a new F2P MOBA, based on the same assets, called Paragon: The Overprime (a week after a *paid* game by different devs, called Predecessor, built on the same assets was released).Having spent 33mins playing it, I suspect it will go the same way as its predecessors (no pun intended). There's just nothing there that isn't done better in other games like Overwatch, or more directly, Smite.Third time probably isn't lucky for Paragon: The Overprime; it's just:2: Meh.#ParagonTheOverprime #MOBA #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMEr9ahPRFusCEpk by grissallia@aus.social
2023-05-03T00:00:36Z
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May 2, 2023 - Day 122 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 137Game: RedfallPlatform: Xbox Game Pass PCRelease Date: May 2, 2023Library Date: May 2, 2023Unplayed: 0d (0d13h)Playtime: 55mArkane's latest open world first person shooter Redfall dropped on Xbox Game Pass at 10am local time, and I started playing it at 10:45pm.I *tried* to start at 9:45pm, but in spite of preloading, it wanted to reinstall the entire game.I discovered this year that in working through the Arkane games I own, I love what they do, and they just have some hook that gets in there and makes me want to keep playing....until now.I'm not sure what it is about Redfall. The atmosphere is excellent, the game sent chills down my spine in the same way that Prey does, but it just feels like something is missing.There was just nothing there that hooked me. I'm going to go back and give it another go, and see if I just didn't play for long enough, or if this is an unusual miss from Arkane.At this point, however, I'm glad that I downloaded in through Game Pass instead of buying it, because if I'd dropped A$120(!!) on this on Steam, I'd be incredibly disappointed right now. Redfall is:3: OK#Redfall #FPS #Vampires #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AVKMEsum9SmBNVHR1E by grissallia@aus.social
2023-05-03T14:14:40Z
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May 3, 2023 - Day 123 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 138Game: HelplessPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Mar 11, 2023Library Date: Mar 27, 2023Unplayed: 37d (1m6d)Playtime: 32mHelpless is a third-person walking sim/adventure. You play a child in a post-apocalyptic world. While traveling with your ill mother to an unknown destination, your RV breaks down, and it's up to you to find help.Helpless is free on Steam, and according to the Steam page, was built by a team of 22 students as their bachelor's degree team project, so I'm not going to judge it too harshly.Stylistically, I can't really think of anything to compare it to, but it feels very coherent, and well thought out. The sound design is well done (particularly as they don't appear to have had a dedicated sound designer), but the game does feel a little bit linear.The apocalypse in "post-apocalypse" appears to have been environmental collapse; with desert encroaching on what little of civilisation is left; there are no enemies as such, only the sun.As you explore for parts to get back on the road, you find yourself darting from shadow to shadow so as to not overheat and die of exposure. It could have used some tweaks in the UI & gameplay, and it doesn't seem like a long game, but for what it is, and *free*, there's definitely an interesting experience to be had.Helpless is:3: OK#Helpless #WalkingSimulator #Adventure #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlayhttps://store.steampowered.com/app/2290490/Helpless/
(DIR) Post #AVKMEuinQyNkyvgtcm by grissallia@aus.social
2023-05-04T23:01:24Z
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May 4, 2023 - Day 124 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 139Game: Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - DaemonhuntersPlatform: SteamRelease Date: May 5, 2022Library Date: May 4, 2023Unplayed: 0d (0d)Playtime: 61mGiven the date, I see now I missed a solid opportunity to theme my NewPlay, but what can you do?Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters (CGD, OK?) is the first cab off the rank for this month's Humble Choice, and is the latest... (checks notes)... *turn-based* 40K *PC* game.I honestly thought it was the latest 40K game, but I checked, and there have been FOUR 40K games released since this, with two new ones later this year.Embarrassingly, I've tried multiple 40K games, & failed to connect in any genre. I went into last night's stream, not sure which which genre CGD was, and it's a turn-based tactics game.CGD is both visually & aurally gorgeous, and was I not pretty much trashed, I could have gone on playing for another hour or two.However, it feels very lore-dense, with some assumed knowledge, which might be off-putting if someone was buying it cold, without any 40K knowledge.A few weeks ago it dropped to a historical low, and I was tempted, but decided against it, which meant that for once, Humble Choice paid for itself.Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters is a really long name, but it's:4: Good#Warhammer40k #ChaosGate #Daemonhunters #TurnBased #Tactics #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubWp6tnPRX4nkCjA by grissallia@aus.social
2023-05-05T14:20:21Z
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May 5, 2023 - Day 125 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 140Game: Samorost 1Platform: SteamRelease Date: May 20, 2021Library Date: Aug 26, 2021Unplayed: 617d (1y8m9d)Playtime: 16mGiven my current state of mind, I wanted to play something relatively simple, that didn't take too much thought.The first game I picked was so dire, that I actually uninstalled it and as it was a free licence, removed it from my account.Then I picked Samorost 1 out of the list.At which point I began to wonder if I may actually have fallen asleep at the keyboard.Not only was it the most surreal game I've played this year, it was also the shortest. That 16 minutes playtime includes stopping the game once to get it back into fullscreen mode, and unintentionally restarting it after I'd completed it, thinking I'd missed something.It is, apparently, a 2003 game that was remastered with new graphics in 2021.It's a weird as hell point-and-click puzzle game, which has had two follow up games, which I will more than likely play, given the opportunity.I can't say more than that, because I don't know how, and it will take me longer to write the review than it did to finish the game.It's free on Steam, so, uh... maybe just play it?WTF just happened to me? Samorost 1 is:4: Good... I think?#Samorost1 #Puzzle #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlayhttps://store.steampowered.com/app/1580970/Samorost_1/
(DIR) Post #AhubWqlLeVOQCXg1Pk by grissallia@aus.social
2023-05-06T09:53:17Z
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May 6, 2023 - Day 126 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 141Game: Project Cars 2Platform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 22, 2017Library Date: Dec 29, 2018Unplayed: 1589d (4y4m7d)Playtime: 25mI don't like driving. As I've gotten older, this dislike has increased. It took me a long time to work out why. Once I was diagnosed with ADHD, it made sense; it requires maintaining focus for a long period of time, on something that's fundamentally boring.Which brings me to Project Cars 2. This this a track racing game. It's just me, and my controller, and my complete inability to press the right buttons and the right times, over and over again - for a long period of time.It takes me right back to trying to play some early Gran Turismo on the PS2, and hating every second of it, in spite of the fact that I wanted to love it.I love arcade racers, particularly the Forza Horizon series. They're fun. Project Cars 2 is a Serious Racing Game, and in spite of the care that's gone into the game design, after losing my first kart race by more than a lap, and repeatedly crashing into walls in my second, I quit out.Project Cars 2 is a good game, it's just not a good game for me. This is particularly unfortunate, as it also has SteamVR support.For me, Project Cars 2 is a:1: Nope.#ProjectCars2 #Racing #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubWrhq92BH7x2jaK by grissallia@aus.social
2023-05-07T11:50:23Z
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May 7, 2023 - Day 127 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 142Game: Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Relics of WarPlatform: Epic Games Store / SteamRelease Date: Jul 13, 2018Library Date: May 7, 2023Unplayed: 0d (0d)Playtime: 6h17mGladius - Relics of War (GRW) is a turn-based 4X (apparently) strategy game, as opposed to Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters' (CGD) tactical strategy.Oh no...After getting my head around CGD on Thursday night, I remembered I had a Steam key for Gladius - Relics of War (GRW) in my spreadsheet of shame (think pile of shame, but Steam keys I haven't even redeemed).Not only that, I'd also gotten it free on Epic Games Store at some stage. On the chance I wouldn't "get" it and/or like it, I installed it on EGS (and I despise using EGS), with a view to adding the key to my giveaway list if I hated it.4 hours and 46 minutes later, just after finally completing the *tutorial*, I discovered a missed alarm, when I got a phone call from the appointment I'd missed.Tonight I installed it on Steam, started over, & completed the tutorial in 91m.It's not quite as pretty as CGD, but it's incredibly engrossing, and I'm not entirely sure why. Civ 5, Civ 6, Age of Wonders: Planetfall didn't grab me like this, and Stellaris did my head in.Gladius - Relics of War is:4: Good.#Warhammer40k #GladiusRelicsOfWar #TurnBased #Strategy #4X #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubWtWZNuM0lZmlIO by grissallia@aus.social
2023-05-07T12:06:40Z
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This review has moved here: https://aus.social/@grissallia/110508511815440161
(DIR) Post #AhubWu5fHQQWWQCmzw by grissallia@aus.social
2023-05-08T11:01:18Z
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May 8, 2023 - Day 128 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 143Game: Total War: SHOGUN 2Platform: SteamRelease Date: Mar 15, 2011Library Date: Apr 28, 2020Unplayed: 1105d (3y10d)Playtime: 25mTotal War: SHOGUN 2 (TW:S2) did not get off to a flying start.As this was the first run, it wanted to install Flash Player. I refused to allow that, and it seemed to run OK. Turns out that it was included to show ads on the main menu, so no loss. In the case of TW:S2, I knew it was a strategy game, going in, and since I've had a pretty good run with strategy games over the weekend, I thought I'd give it a go.That good run ended today.I started with the tutorial, and it was just teeth-grindingly slow. I tried to persevere, and finally, after 15 minutes, I was about to engage the enemies on the main battlefield of the tutorial, after a couple of skirmishes....and it crashed.I started it again, went into the campaign, one the first battle, but what little forward motion I had was gone, and I quit out a few minutes later.TW:CS2 is, apparently, a "blend of real-time & tactics strategy, but it just hasn't grabbed me, and the random crash was enough to leave me wanting to spend time in other strategy games.Maybe ones with Space Marines.Total War: SHOGUN 2 is:2: Meh#TotalWarShogun2 #RTS #TurnBased #Strategy #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubWvbbe9ZTDm9oQK by grissallia@aus.social
2023-05-08T12:19:05Z
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May 8, 2023 - Day 128 - NewPlay Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 144Game: AVICII InvectorPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Dec 11, 2019Library Date: Oct 25, 2020Unplayed: 925d (2y6m13d)Playtime: 30mAVICII Invector is a rhythm game. You have a ship, you have to steer in through a futuristic course and hit the right buttons at the right times to the rhythm of Avicii songs, and it helps to be a fan of Avicii, because you're going to be hearing a LOT of Avicii.There's not a lot to say here. It's not an overly complex idea, it just gets very complicated very quickly at higher levels.Unfortunately, if you're someone with fine motor control & coordination issues, anything more than "Beginner" mode quickly becomes frustrating. A lot time in game is spent in triangular tunnels; in Beginner mode, there's only the A button, left stick to to change walls, left or right as required, and the left bumper(!) to hit light-up track lines.The use of the bumper left me feeling like I was going to drop the controller, so that was bit off-putting.In easy mode, the game adds the X button. The on-screen icon is a different colour, but the same SHAPE as the wall-change icon. I kept registering it as "move left" and missing the presses.Even so, I don't mind a rhythm game to kill time here and there, so AVICII Invector is:3: OK#Avicii #AviciiInvector #Rhythm #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubWwmdGdz8sGK8FU by grissallia@aus.social
2023-05-09T14:26:49Z
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May 9, 2023 - Day 129 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 145Game: Rise of IndustryPlatform: SteamRelease Date: May 3, 2019Library Date: Jul 19, 2021Unplayed: 659d (1y9m20d)Playtime: 21mI think I might have picked a bad night to play this game. It was right there in the title "Rise of Industry".It's "tycoon sim", and it's quite a deep & complex sim at that; the entirety of my playtime was the 72-step tutorial, with many of those steps having a bunch of subtasks.Given that I'm still somewhat sleep-deprived as well, it was a lot to try and take in, and I may need to take another run at it when I'm more awake.Graphically, it's very pretty, and the interface is quite clean and modern in comparison to earlier generations of sim games. I'll give it another shot, but it might be just a little *too* deep for me to engage with; I'm also not big on the whole entrepreneur/tycoon thing, and that might be enough to stop me going back.Rise of Industry is a qualified:3: OK#RiseOfIndustry #Tycoon #Simulation #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubWxvX12hKQ9Ukl6 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-05-10T14:15:22Z
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May 10, 2023 - Day 130 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 146Game: Papo & YoPlatform: SteamRelease Date: May 3, 2019Library Date: Jul 25, 2021Unplayed: 654d (1y9m15d)Playtime: 71mI'd played through all of my unplayed games up to 2020, and this was the only 2021 non-VR game that's unplayed, so that's a goal knocked on the head.Papo & Yo is a 3D platformer-puzzler, with something deep to say, that isn't preached at you; it's built right into the core of the game.If you'd told me this game was released in 2023, not 2013, I'd have believed you.The graphics & atmosphere are lush, and gorgeous. The game's setting is a surreal representation of a Brazilian "favela" or slum.As your character Quico runs across cobblestones, sheets of corrugated iron, and terracotta tiles, the sound of his footsteps change to reflect the surfaces, with the terracotta particularly breathtaking.The game opens with a still frame dedication from the designer to his mother & siblings, on surviving their own monster; at this point I decided to stream it.It took my breath away multiple times, but particularly as the storyline delved into the character's trauma. It took me to a place emotionally, that I had to end the stream to deal with the feelings.Papo & Yo is lovely & deeply moving; quite simply, it's:5: Excellent#PapoAndYo #Puzzle #3DPlatformer #Adventure #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlayhttps://www.twitch.tv/videos/1816240083
(DIR) Post #AhubWzeEcK3Bl5Py4m by grissallia@aus.social
2023-05-11T13:47:49Z
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May 11, 2023 - Day 131 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 147Game: Not For BroadcastPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jan 30, 2020Library Date: Nov 20, 2021Unplayed: 568d (1y6m21d)Playtime: 24mNot For Broadcast is, apparently, a "propaganda simulator". When I bought this, I thought it was a mid-1980's TV studio broadcast simulator, which is, technically, true.What I learned, very quickly, is that I don't want to play a TV studio broadcast simulator. Nor would I want to work in one.I love the craft of making TV. I've spent hours upon hours listening to a podcast about showrunning.Live TV? No. Too many moving parts that I had to pay attention to, and I ended up more stressed out than I was when I sat down to play.It's a well-produced game, and reading up on it afterwards, it has an interesting storyline, but playing it through would just feel like hard work. It's times like this I wish you could gift a Steam game to someone who'd actually enjoy it.Will I play Not For Broadcast again?1: Nope.#NotForBroadcast #Simulator #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubX1U1nF4fS0eqRc by grissallia@aus.social
2023-05-12T13:46:23Z
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May 12, 2023 - Day 132 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 148Game: EverspacePlatform: SteamRelease Date: May 26, 2017Library Date: Aug 15, 2022Unplayed: 270d (8m27d)Playtime: 42mEverspace turns out to be a 6DOF roguelike space shooter.The worst thing about it is that it's been sitting in my pile of shame for almost 9 months before I discovered it before work this morning; I was very nearly late to start work.I've always been a fan of space combat games. From Descent, and X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter, to Star Wars Squadrons, and Chorus, many hours and more than one joystick were lost as I spun and turned and tried to shoot before I was shot.A roguelike space combat game? Turns out it works, really well.I have yet to see if it will works with my joystick and throttle, but even with keyboard and mouse, I feel like I'm going to lose quite a few more hours.Everspace is:4: Good#Everspace #Roguelike #SpaceCombat #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubX2htFBkzFI9Qgq by grissallia@aus.social
2023-05-13T12:21:45Z
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May 13, 2023 - Day 133 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 149Game: FixFoxPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Mar 31, 2022Library Date: Feb 14, 2023Unplayed: 88d (2m29d)Playtime: 37mFixFox is a top-down pixel art sci-fi puzzle game. Fix machines with weird tools, try and escape the planet.It's a "cozy" game, so it's very chill and laid back. There's a touch of Stardew Valley about it.I read the description of it before it was released, and it seemed like it would be interesting, so I wishlisted it, and then was on special in February for 75% off, so I bought it.I kind of regret it. Conceptually it seemed like a nice idea, but in practice it doesn't rise above the pixel art to grab me the way some other games have. While it is kind of cute & cozy, it's also just... boring. I wanted to like it, but it just didn't do anything for me.Sadly, for me, FixFox is:2: Meh.#FixFox #PixelArt #Puzzle #Cozy #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubX3of7UlggaKLsu by grissallia@aus.social
2023-05-14T13:00:24Z
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May 14, 2023 - Day 134 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 150Game: TruberbrookPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Mar 12, 2019Library Date: May 3, 2020Unplayed: 1106d (3y11d)Playtime: 25mTruberbrook is an incredibly pretty point-and-click-adventure, set in Germany in the late 1960's.I had look it up afterwards to find out exactly what was going on, because it looks nothing like anything I recall playing before.It's apparently using photogrammetry for textures, and it looks absolutely incredible.The game starts with a cold open, where you need to get your motorcycle running again at a closed gas station in the middle of the night, which is followed by an intro that is watching a stylised Volkswagen Kombi driving up a mountain road, and it may have been skippable, but I don't know, because I was mesmerised.I can't really speak to the adventure-ish side of things, because at the 25m mark, today's exhaustion caught up with me, but I'm interested in continuing to play and find out.Truberbrook seems:4: Good#Truberbrook #PointAndClick #Adventure #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubX4lrZO7heC1dA0 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-05-15T09:18:12Z
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May 15, 2023 - Day 135 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 151Game: Lost in RandomPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 10, 2021Library Date: Apr 9, 2023Unplayed: 36d (1m6d)Playtime: 26mI've hit a weird inflection point in this little project. One of the things driving me forward was my list of unplayed games in Steam, that when sorted chronologically dated back multiple years.Now the earliest unplayed date, in terms of sorting, is May 2022. It's not *entirely* accurate, because prior to this project, I went through a stage of starting each game and stopping it to try and reduce my mental load, but it's removed some of the tension & impetus.Anyhow, we continue with a relatively recent purchase; Lost in Random is a third-person "action-adventure" game, that apparently inspired by gothic fairy tales. You play a young girl on a quest to rescue her older sister from an evil queen.The game starts by thrusting you straight into combat, which shows how aspects are the game are driven by the randomness of dice rolls, before dropping you into the game-play proper.It's another utterly gorgeous game; the graphics and sound effects are wonderful. Control is fairly simple, although a little counterintuitive, using "E" to jump down. My main gripe is the camera control doesn't always follow correctly, leading to some frustrating moments.Even so, Lost in Random is:4: Good#LostInRandom #ActionAdventure #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubX6Ey6f00CkeOAK by grissallia@aus.social
2023-05-16T22:40:27Z
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May 16, 2023 - Day 136 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 152Game: Bad North: Jotunn EditionPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Nov 17, 2018Library Date: Dec 25, 2022Unplayed: 145d (4m24d)Playtime: 43mSteam went down while I was writing this, which was a little disconcerting.Bad North: Jotunn Edition is the "definitive edition" of Bad North, which I'd never played. It's a real-time cozy tactics strategy roguelite.I threw "cozy" in there, because of all the games this reminds me, it's actually Townscaper that it comes closest to in terms of atmosphere.It's somewhat minimalistic in design, but that gives it a unique character. You defend a series of islands against Viking invaders, so it's like the anti-Assassins Creed Valhalla.I wish I had more to say about it, but I've come down with some kind of not-COVID (according to two tests so far), and couldn't stay awake last night to post the update.I then went to bed and couldn't sleep, so it's a lose/lose.I really must look up the difference between roguelike and roguelite, because all of these subcategories are doing my head in.Bad North: Jotunn Edition is:4: Good#BadNorth #Cozy #Tactics #Strategy #Roguelite #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubX7upsU5DOtFL3w by grissallia@aus.social
2023-05-17T13:44:22Z
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May 17, 2023 - Day 137 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 153Game: Batora: Lost HavenPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Oct 21, 2022Library Date: Mar 10, 2023Unplayed: 68d (2m7d)Playtime: 29mBatora: Lost Haven is an isometric action-adventure with RPG elements (RPGlite?)It's another quite pretty game. It also has a female protagonist, which is frequently something that improves my chances of enjoying a game.One of the small pieces of the puzzle in coming to terms with being trans was looking at all of the small signals strewn across my life.Playing games, reading books, watching movies... when the protagonist is female, I connect with that story in a way that rarely - if ever - happens with a male protagonist.Batora has an interesting "save the post-apocalyptic world" storyline, which has my interest; on the other hand, as often happens with isometric games, I find the fixed camera angles somewhat stifling.Batora does allow you to zoom in and one by one level, but it feels like it could have used an extra level of zoom-in.Batora: Lost Haven has piqued my interest, and so far it seems:4: Good#BatoraLostHaven #ActionAdventure #Isometric #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubX8NY9j3GpwgGoq by grissallia@aus.social
2023-05-18T13:35:00Z
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May 18, 2023 - Day 138 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 154Game: ElexPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Oct 18, 2017Library Date: Dec 1, 2022Unplayed: 168d (5m17d)Playtime: 66mElex is a third-person open-world "sci-fi" ARPG. Apparently. The game opens with a narrator drawling the story of the planet Magalan, and the terrible disaster that befell them, leaving them in a post-apocalypse that feels like the designs of Skyrim, Fallout, and Destiny 2's EDZ got put in a blender, but the devs decided to roll their own gameplay.They kept the aspect of Fallout's "collect all the things just in case" gameplay, but while I managed to collect a stash of stuff, an hour in I still have no idea what to do with any of it.Combat feels mushy, and the mobs I've run into feel overpowered....and then there's the voice acting. Our protagonist is a gruff emotionless white guy who's been done wrong, and left to die by his faction. Early on, he meets a character from a different faction, and the conversation itself felt like a grind.To call the voice acting wooden would be an insult to trees.Unfortunately, I think Elex is another game that might have been interesting in 2017, but suffers in comparison to everything that's come since, and there's little here that makes me want to keep playing.Elex?2: Meh#Elex #ARPG #ThirdPerson #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubX9wgKakRhC7qDY by grissallia@aus.social
2023-05-19T13:15:00Z
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May 19, 2023 - Day 139 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 155Game: Moving OutPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Apr 29, 2020Library Date: Sep 25, 2022Unplayed: 236d (7m24d)Playtime: 20mMoving Out is an isometric couch co-op game. First mistake I made was trying to play it with keyboard and mouse. Definitely designed for controller. Picked up the controller, it became playable. Take your cartoony avatar, rush into the house, grab the highlighted objects, load them into the truck as fast as possible.Rinse, repeat.The moment I saw the option for multiple players, I should have twigged that this was designed to be played co-op.I can see how it might be fun co-op, as you get in each other's way and coordinate to try and beat the timer.Single player? It's not much fun at all. Is this the kind of game I'd pull out to play on the couch with friends? Maybe, if I had friends who came over to game, or a party.Alas, I'm 49, and neither of those things happen.Moving Out is just a bit:2: Meh#MovingOut #CouchCoOp #Isometric #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubXBBxhGZ5YsHYfo by grissallia@aus.social
2023-05-20T14:09:28Z
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May 20, 2023 - Day 140 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 156Game: A New Beginning: Final CutPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Dec 11, 2012Library Date: May 14, 2019Unplayed: 1467d (4y6d)Playtime: 30mA New Beginning: Final Cut is a mashup of a point-and-click adventure & a graphic novel, and it does neither very well.Today almost didn't have a review. I've spent a chunk of the day asleep, and being sick seems to have supercharged my ADHD. I'm 16 games ahead, I could have skipped today... kind of wish I had.I scoped my unplayed games, & saw this. Most of the time I remember at least activating a particular game; this one was a complete mystery.It's a heavy-handed environmentalism-focused point-and-click "adventure". Not the fun kind of point-and-click, either.The kind where you have to mouse over every little thing on screen to try & find something.When you do, the interaction model is terrible. Most point-and-clicks give you a right-click context menu. Here it's left-click-hold-down-the-mouse-button-choose-the-correct-option......then listen to the droning, "my life sucks & I just want it to be over" voice acting with a poorly translated script that disavows contractions.This is not a game you play for fun, it's a game you play as penance for not sorting your recycling properly.Play A New Beginning: Final Cut?:1: Nope.#ANewBeginning #PointAndClick #Adventure #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubXCnDkDxkWiipO4 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-05-21T12:57:16Z
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May 21, 2023 - Day 141 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 157Game: ReCore: Definitive EditionPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 15, 2018Library Date: Mar 20, 2023Unplayed: 62d (2m1d)Playtime: 36mReCore is a third-person action-adventure platformer with a female protagonist and robots.The game opens in medias res with Joule and her "corebot" dog Mack, trying to find out what's gone wrong in the post-apocalyptic desert where they're located.Joule is on the trail of an unusual energy source reading, and as you go, the game introduces you to the core gameplay mechanics, which was pretty well done.One of the unusual mechanics is that the corebots that attack you all have energy cores that can be extracted mid-fight, once you've done enough damage, by essentially entering a tug-of-war after firing your extraction device.Occasionally, there's an "instant extract" option, but I'm not sure what triggers that. Fight through to the end-of-mission boss, defeat, extract core, return to your "crawler" home base, repair, upgrade, next mission.I quite enjoyed it, and am interested to see how the underlying storyline of "New Eden" and what's gone wrong there develops.I would have kept playing, but sleep is coming on fast. Again. Will be glad to be over this virus.ReCore: Definitive Edition seems fun so far, so it's:4: Good#ReCore #ActionAdventure #ThirdPerson #Platformer #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubXDofwIijhWPVIG by grissallia@aus.social
2023-05-22T05:13:22Z
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May 22, 2023 - Day 142 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 158Game: Agatha Christie - The ABC MurdersPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Feb 4, 2016Library Date: Mar 14, 2023Unplayed: 69d (2m8d)Playtime: 76mAgatha Christie - The ABC Murders is a point-and-click 2.5D puzzle/mystery game.IIRC it came as a free mystery bonus gift with a Fanatical purchase.The most annoying thing about it is that it absolutely sucked me to keep playing it. I've never read an Agatha Christie novel, and the only things I knew about Hercule Poirot is that the character is French, and has been played onscreen by David Suchet multiple times.This is not a David Suchet voiced version of Poirot. Yet, 76 minutes in, and I've completed around a quarter of the game, in spite of having little desire to do so. It's just... scratching an itch.I don't think it will be a particularly long game; the puzzles aren't overly complex (so far), I just can't understand quite why I felt so compelled to keep going until I completed the first chapter.No connection to the character, no particular affinity to this kind of game, no emotional drive to play it, yet I'm going to probably keep playing it, which I find mildly irritating.Agatha Christie - The ABC Murders is:3: OK#AgathaChristie #TheABCMurders #PointAndClick #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubXEmEMsMKgEH47c by grissallia@aus.social
2023-05-23T14:31:49Z
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May 23, 2023 - Day 143 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 159Game: Just Die AlreadyPlatform: SteamRelease Date: May 21, 2021Library Date: Sep 25, 2022Unplayed: 240d (7m28d)Playtime: 2h25mI spent most of today in the hospital for what turned out to be a kidney stone. I'm still in a lot of pain (waiting for it to pass) so I planned to knock out 15 minutes of a game, write up a quick review, head off to bed.Just Die Already came as part of the September 2022 Humble Choice bundle. It's an "old people mayhem sandbox" game, from the developers of Goat Simulator, a game that did not particularly grab me.Because it's built on Unreal Engine 4, it's got that same kind of Fortnite graphics feel, that I'm not particularly fond of. On top of all of that, it's a sandbox game (I think the first one I've reviewed?) and sandbox games just do nothing for me. I need a goal to focus on.Which is why I was taken aback when I finally quit out and I'd been playing for almost two and a half hours.As an angry senior citizen who's just been kicked out of their retirement home, you set out to cause ultra-violent gory-but-cartoonish violence everywhere you go.It's absolutely not a kind of game I'd choose to play, yet it kept me distracted from the pain all evening, which is sometimes exactly what I need from a game.Just Die Already is:4: Good (!)#JustDieAlready #Sandbox #Mayhem #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubXGbfZ76EM3LewC by grissallia@aus.social
2023-05-24T13:50:01Z
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May 24, 2023 - Day 144 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 160Game: UnmemoryPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Oct 14, 2020Library Date: Aug 17, 2022Unplayed: 280d (9m7d)Playtime: 1h42mI had my little rock baby earlier tonight, and within a few hours I felt like myself again.Just in time to play a game, and review it before bed, 15 minutes and I'm away.The best laid plans of mice and women and all of that...Unmemory is a murder mystery puzzle game, via a novel, mashed up with Christopher Nolan's "Memento", and a multimedia demo CD from the mid-1990's, packaged up like a tar baby for the unwary #AuDHD gamer.Last night's game kept me distracted. Tonight, on the other hand, I was hyperfocused as this game scratches multiple itches simultaneously. Lots of small details to take notice of; pieces to put together, patterns to match.As the main character (gender unclear), you wake up with amnesia, covered in blood, and find yourself trying to solve the murder of the woman in the bathtub. Who is she? Am I responsible? What is going on??I've tried not to spoil the game with any details of the storyline in the review, because it's just downright enjoyable to learn what's happening as you go, and start finding order within the chaos.This is genuinely the kind of game that suits the term "multimedia", and it's not as an insult.Unmemory is:5: Excellent#Unmemory #Puzzle #Mystery #Multimedia ##MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubXI7xuWWl4VSxuq by grissallia@aus.social
2023-05-25T11:48:56Z
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May 25, 2023 - Day 145 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 161Game: Demon PitPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Oct 18, 2018Library Date: Aug 17, 2022Unplayed: 281d (9m8d)Playtime: 18mThis was the third unplayed game I played today. First was Due Process, a free multiplayer shooter with no players. Quit, uninstall. Then Bomjman, which had an auto-translated and generated voiceover that was so bad, I quit and immediately uninstalled it too.Then came Demon Pit. Apparently I bought a bundle of mash-up games on the same date. Unlike yesterday's game, though, Demon Pit did not scratch any itches.It's a retro-styled first-person boomer shooter, with a grappling hook, like a mashup of Doom and Just Cause. You're in a single arena where you need to kill a set number of mobs to end that wave, then you get a new weapon, the arena re-arranges around you, and more mobs spawn.Keep going until you die.It's a short review because... there's not a lot to it. The grappling hook mechanic is OK, but you frequently get flung past your goal into more mobs. It gets repetitive very quickly, and it's just not much fun after that.Demon Pit is:2: Meh#DemonPot #FirstPerson #BoomerShooter #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubXJa0VkYJZlasGO by grissallia@aus.social
2023-05-26T15:25:26Z
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May 26, 2023 - Day 146 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 162Game: Tell Me WhyPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Aug 27, 2020Library Date: Jun 2, 2022Unplayed: 358d (11m24d)Playtime: 82mI was talking with some trans friends earlier tonight and mentioned that I was going to have to dip and play tonight's game, and one of them suggested "Tell Me Why".As it turns out, Tell Me Why IS one of the games in my pile of shame. I grabbed it last year when it was released free for Pride Month, and I'm kind of glad that I didn't play it immediately, as it hits differently on the other side of coming out, and starting to transition.Tell Me Why is a point-and-click adventure game from the makers of Life Is Strange, that tells the story of two twins (one of whom is a trans man), their psychic link, and the murder of their mother.There's something very realistic about this game. This is (so far) a world that feels lived-in, with an environment that feels like it has an actual past.The voice acting is excellent (with the trans character being played by a trans actor), but also telling a story that's interesting, moving, and not just a "trans story".But, it is *also* a trans story, & it evoked some incredibly strong emotions as I saw a young character engaging with their transness in a way that I could not at that age.This game may take over my weekend.Tell Me Why is:5: Excellent#TellMeWhy #PointAndClick #Adventure #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubXKDi88JNYuAa9I by grissallia@aus.social
2023-05-26T23:30:44Z
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May 27, 2023 - Day 147 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 163Game: HuePlatform: SteamRelease Date: Aug 31, 2016Library Date: Dec 22, 2017Unplayed: 1982d (5y5m5d)Playtime: 27mThere are some technically unplayed games hidden in my library, and Hue is one of those games. It's a game I started at some point in the past but quit out of immediately. I still count those games as unplayed.In the case of Hue, I suspect it was in my "I CAN'T USE A CONTROLLER" phase. One of the nice discoveries during this project is that my controller skills have improved over the last few months.Hue is a lovely little platformer with an interesting gameplay mechanic, in that the puzzles in the game are based on different colours, and switching between colours at the appropriate times.There are still timing-based puzzles that rely on jumping-and-switching-colours-and-moving, which I still struggle with (darned fine-motor control issues), but as platformers go, this one is pretty good.I picked this specifically, though, because not only was it unplayed, it's currently free on Steam through to the 9th of June. Link after the hashtags.Hue is:4: Good#Hue #Platformer #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlayhttps://store.steampowered.com/app/383270/Hue/
(DIR) Post #AhubXM1jPduxAKa2kq by grissallia@aus.social
2023-05-28T15:25:39Z
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May 28, 2023 - Day 148 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 164Game: SablePlatform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 23, 2021Library Date: Mar 10, 2023Unplayed: 79d (2m18d)Playtime: 1h55mSable is a third-person open-world adventure & exploration game. Unlike... any open world game I've played, as far as I can recall, it has no combat.Sable is the coming of age story of the eponymous main character, and leaving her clan to embark on her "gliding".Apparently inspired by Breath of the Wild, Sable's quest takes her climbing and solving puzzles across her home world of Midden; seemingly a post-apocalyptic wasteland, Sable rides her hoverbike from destination to destination, picking up quests.Her goal is to collect a series of masks, which (if I understand correctly), will ultimately lead her to a ceremony to choose a final mask, which seemingly represents her permanent role within her society.Sable has a quite lovely cel-shaded graphic style with a dynamic colour scheme that changes based on a day & night cycle, and has an almost ethereal soundscape.Sable is:5: Excellent#Sable #ThirdPerson #OpenWorld #Adventure #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubXMxVwo8e3XcBou by grissallia@aus.social
2023-05-29T12:48:48Z
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May 29, 2023 - Day 149 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 165Game: NorthgardPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Mar 8, 2018Library Date: Apr 7, 2019Unplayed: 1513d (4y1m22d)Playtime: 49mNorthgard is a real-time strategy game about Vikings. Slightly cartoonish Vikings, but Vikings all the same.Having watched his father the King, and clan slaughtered, Rig the now-very-angry seeks vengeance, by way of taking several years to build one single village, to build a longboat, and set sail to Northgard, where his father's killer has gone to invade and colonise.I get that the seasons are a necessary part of the RTS process of this game, but it took three years of in-game time to get to the point I could follow the guy across the ocean.He could be dead by now, for all I know. OK, he probably isn't, but still.In any case, build a building to process wood, assign villagers, build a scout building, train scouts, etc etc. The game has its own charm, but on the surface it appears to be a pretty run-of-the-mill strategy game.Not going to complain, but not itching to jump back in.Northgard is:3: OK#Northgard #Strategy #RTS #Vikings #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubXOLemX2oMhuz5c by grissallia@aus.social
2023-05-30T14:06:39Z
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May 30, 2023 - Day 150 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 166Game: Ori and the Blind ForestPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Apr 28, 2016Library Date: Mar 12, 2023Unplayed: 79d (2m18d)Playtime: 26mOri and the Blind Forest is a Metroidvania platformer, and it's utterly gorgeous.The prologue broke my heart a little bit. I don't know quite what else to say about this. The sound design is also wonderful, immediately drawing me into Ori's world.It seems that Ori's goal is to restore life to the forest, but I haven't played enough of the game yet.However, I wanted to keep playing, which is a significant change since the start of the year.One of the odd things about playing so many platform games over the past few months is that, in something that has genuinely surprised me, I do seem to have improved at my platforming skills.It's still a struggle, and I'm not going to be playing anything on hard mode (or probably even normal), but on easy mode I find that platformers go from something that just provides me with endless frustration, to a challenge that feels rewarding.Ori and the Blind Forest is captivating, and is:5: Excellent#OriAndTheBlindForest #Metroidvania #Platformer #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubXPNovyMxZhwE6K by grissallia@aus.social
2023-05-31T13:36:10Z
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May 31, 2023 - Day 151 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 167Game: Max PaynePlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jul 25, 2001Library Date: Dec 7, 2017Unplayed: 2001d (5y5m24d)Playtime: 30mNo, that is not a typo. Yes, this is the original Max Payne. No, I have never played it. Yes, this will be hard to review.Max Payne is a... come on, you know: third-person shooter, undercover detective is framed, goes rogue to try & get his life back.I'd started Max Payne at some time in the past, & closed it after three minutes. Possibly because it's buggy as hell.As the game starts, "Remedy" pops up on the screen; "Wait... the people who made Control?" It added a new lens with which to judge the game.Unfortunately, it doesn't help much. I can see why Max Payne was so groundbreaking in 2001, but almost 22 years later, it hasn't aged well.Firstly, the face-tech that was amazing in 2001 makes Max look constipated, and that's a hard thing to get past. It makes the game feel cheesy now. Secondly, it is quite buggy. Kudos that it still runs in 2023 (at 2K res!), but audio dropouts & random freezes make it tough to want to keep playing.However, there's a core to the story there, and a foreshadowing of Remedy's future storytelling prowess. I can see why they're remaking it; I think I might wrestle with it for a bit longer.Max Payne, even 22 years later, is:3: OK#MaxPayne #ThirdPerson #Shooter #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubXQwb89mYPrDVwm by grissallia@aus.social
2023-06-01T13:58:46Z
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June 1, 2023 - Day 152 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 168Game: SlipstreamPlatform: SteamRelease Date: May 22, 2018Library Date: Mar 4, 2019Unplayed: 1550d (4y2m28d)Playtime: 18mSlipstream is a retro-styled arcade racer. It's not 8-bit retro, so much as a throwback to the arcade racers I sucked at in the early-mid 1990's.One of the things I find myself struggling with is that the more games I play, the more reference points I have, and the harder it becomes to enjoy some games.If I open an MMORPG, I played WoW for over a decade, but that burned me out on MMORPGs. So an MMORPG has a lot to overcome.If I open a survival game, it needs to grab me as well as Subnautica... used to. Until I played Breathedge. Friendship ended with Subnautica, Breathedge is my survival friend now.For arcade racing games, it's Forza Horizon 4*. Slipstream is a very well designed arcade racer, and leans heavily on nostalgia for that era of games. It's just that I don't have any nostalgia for that style of game.So while it's well done, it doesn't offer me something that I don't get from another game, in a more enjoyable way.Sorry, Slipsteam. You're just a bit:2: Meh#Slipstream #ArcadeRacer #Racing #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay*Almost 18 months ago, I found a literal showstopper bug that causes FH4 to crash, regularly. It took months for the Forza team to accept that it was a bug.It's STILL not fixed. Much disappoint.
(DIR) Post #AhubXRXSv5GyGCSxPc by grissallia@aus.social
2023-06-02T11:31:10Z
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June 2, 2023 - Day 153 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 169Game: ShadowgroundsPlatform: SteamRelease Date: May 8, 2006Library Date: Oct 5, 2011Unplayed: 4258d (11y7m28d)Playtime: 30mTake the basic feel of Doom, & move it to Ganymede; mash it up with an early 2000's boomer shooter, make it top-down, limit ammo, add AI companions, who frequently stand in your way, preventing you from moving to get away from the mobs overwhelming you because you'd run out of ammo.That's Shadowgrounds.Setting the game options is done in an external app before opening the game. It seems I'd opened the configuration app and closed it again, at some stage in the last few years, meaning that the game has actually been unplayed for over eleven and a half years.Oh well.To try and say something nice about the game, it uses light, shadows, and jump scares very effectively.It's also a 17 year old game where you cannot *aim* at the mobs you're trying to kill to conserve ammo, so you're just doing a spray-and-pray in their general direction, and hoping you don't run out out of... nope, I'm out of ammo. Again. Back to the pea-shooter.Nope, overwhelmed by mobs and dead. Again.But at least you respawn... a total of five times, apparently.Even as I wrote the review, the rating on this just kept slipping.Gotta give Shadowgrounds a big *old*:1: Nope#ShadowGrounds #BoomerShooter #TopDown #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubXTUheKFeKDBmNs by grissallia@aus.social
2023-06-03T12:13:25Z
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June 3, 2023 - Day 154 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 170Game: Dead RisingPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Aug 8, 2006Library Date: Jan 20, 2023Unplayed: 134d (4m14d)Playtime: 49mDead Rising is the first in the series of Dead Rising third person action-adventure zombie games.I bought it, after starting this project, because of one of the rules I set for myself that I wouldn't play a sequel to a game unless I'd played the predecessors.Since I already owned Dead Rising 4 from a bundle (still unplayed), I decided I had to start at the beginning with Dead Rising, & bought it on special.This rule was a mistake, as was buying this game. Changed the rule to add "if I own them".It's not a bad game, per se. It's just that it was released almost 17 years ago, and is competing with zombie games like Dead Island and Dying Light.It's got quite a lot of character in the main protagonist, Frank West, a photo journalist trapped in a mall full of zombies. However, his loping run feels frustratingly slow, and the zombies seem to be either ignoring you, or swarming you with little warning.I got quite frustrated, but was slowly making progress, and then I died. Games in 2006 weren't really big on autosaving, something you don't miss until it's not there.After more than 40 mins playtime, I found myself at the start of the game again, and quit.Dead Rising has fallen to:2: Meh#DeadRising #ThirdPerson #Zombies #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubXU6dNIaoDqw4VU by grissallia@aus.social
2023-06-04T12:59:28Z
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June 4, 2023 - Day 155 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 171Game: UnderheroPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 19, 2018Library Date: Feb 29, 2020Unplayed: 1191d (3y3m6d)Playtime: 41mUnderhero is a quirky little 2D pixel art platformer with timing-based combat.The game opens with you controlling a fully-levelled herp who is seemingly at the end of his quest to rescue a princess.Then he gets killed by a minion.You are now controlling that minion, and things only get weirder from then on.Fights are timing-based, and you get extra points for hits on the beat. There are some RPG-lite levelling antics going on as well, and the whole thing kind of sits together quite well.The quirky humour is what pushed it beyond "meh" for me - it's still a pixel art platformer, after all, but one I'll keep around for when I'm in the mood.Underhero is:3: OK#Underhero #2D #Platformer #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubXVddg4aUyVNwae by grissallia@aus.social
2023-06-04T13:12:40Z
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June 4, 2023 - Day 155 - NewPlay Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 172Game: Dead Rising 2Platform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 30, 2010Library Date: Nov 4, 2017Unplayed: 2038d (5y7m)Playtime: 74mAfter yesterday's Dead Rising review, @Averagegoob responded to me suggesting that Dead Rising 2 was better than Dead Rising.He wasn't wrong.It definitely improves on some of the weaknesses of Dead Rising. The new protagonist, Chuck Greene, feels like he moves faster than Frank West in Dead Rising.The stakes feel higher here. Frank has a daughter he needs to keep safe, as well as [spoilers] that give him (and thus the player) an impetus to keep fighting.Combat feels cleaner, and a little more fun as well. A nice addition is the ability to create combination weapons, which make things a little more gory, with a side of black humour.On the downside, you still have to find a toilet to save the game, which is a little annoying, but overall, it's a step up from Dead Rising.Dead Rising 2 is:3: OK#DeadRising2 #ThirdPerson #Zombies #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubXX4GMZTjPMqijA by grissallia@aus.social
2023-06-06T01:36:53Z
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June 5, 2023 - Day 156 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 173Game: CartoPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Oct 27, 2020Library Date: Sep 1, 2021Unplayed: 643d (1y9m5d)Playtime: 74mI committed to self-care last night, to resting and trying to shake off this virus. Therefore, to not force myself into playing a game.At 11:30pm, having spent a good chunk of the day either asleep, or at least in bed, my brain was having none of it.Got up, and decided to try and play something cozy & chill. As Steam were running a "Cozy & Family Friendly" sale/promoted category, I thought I'd click through and see what was on sale, and there was Carto, a game I've owned since Sept 2021.Carto is indeed a cozy top-down puzzle game, with a unique gameplay mechanic. As young girl, travelling with your granny on her airship(!), an accident leaves you stranded, and collecting pieces of a map.Each section of the map is square, and you can open the map, and rearrange the pieces of the map to navigate to different places, or solve puzzles BY rearranging the map pieces.It was perfect for "I'm too tired to fall asleep", and kept me playing until I was sleepy enough to sleep; I went to bed and was out like a light. This is a game that would also work great on a big screen, via SteamLink, so if you've got that kind of setup, it's a great way to chill out.Carto is:4: Good#Carto #TopDown #CozyGaming #Puzzle #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubXYmG0UGQi6RMwK by grissallia@aus.social
2023-06-07T05:00:26Z
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June 6, 2023 - Day 157 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 174Game: TimberbornPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 16, 2021Library Date: Jun 5, 2023Unplayed: 1d (1d)Playtime: 3h55mTimberborn is an "oh no what have I done reality" game (TIL there's not really an antonym for simulator).Technically, Timberborn is a "lumberpunk" city-building strategy management game in a post-apocalyptic Earth devoid of humans.In practice, Timberborn is regret*-generator that will eat up your time, until you look up from the monitor and realise you should have been in bed two hours ago. In my case, three and a half hours.You control a colony of beavers. BEAVERS! They're adorable and whimsical, and they build stuff, and you can build more stuff, and then extend, and then plant trees, and dear me, this just made me want to keep playing.I had this on my wishlist for a while, and then it came up on special, and then it was even cheaper on Humble, and it was worth every penny of the A$23.50 I paid for it.Except in lost sleep.*I regret nothing.Timberborn is:5: Excellent#Timberborn #Lumberpunk #Citybuilder #Management #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubXZwveIOWLURPDE by grissallia@aus.social
2023-06-07T12:47:01Z
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June 7, 2023 - Day 158 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 175Game: Honey, I Joined a CultPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Nov 4, 2022Library Date: Jun 7, 2023Unplayed: 0d (0d)Playtime: 19mHoney, I Joined a Cult is a top-down tycoon/management sim, in which you create a cult.When June's Humble Choice bundle dropped today, I went through and added the 5 games I didn't already have to Steam.With the idea of reviewing the bundle over the next week.This is a tycoon management game about building a cult. I really did not think this through.For those of you new to my story, my family & personal history is intertwined with two separate cults. This game was starting off from a long way behind, and literally started causing me anxiety.Firstly, the music. I didn't get around to turning it down, but disco funk is somewhere below Kenny G for me, and definitely didn't not enhance my calm, or gameplay experience.Secondly, the game visually feels a bit like The Escapists but with vector art graphics instead of pixel graphics. Finally, coming off a city-builder management sim last night into this was like jumping off a moving bullet train into a push wagon. It... was not pleasant.I wanted to give this a chance, but at 19 minutes, it was all a bit too much, and I was out.Honey, I Joined a Cult? Actually:1: Nope#HoneyIJoinedACult #TopDown #ManagementSim #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubXb8JFT5m14m0ae by grissallia@aus.social
2023-06-08T08:44:19Z
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June 8, 2023 - Day 159 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 176Game: Curse of the Dead GodsPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Feb 24, 2021Library Date: Jun 7, 2023Unplayed: 1d (1d)Playtime: 28mCurse of the Dead Gods is a roguelike isometric dungeon crawler.This is the second of the five previously unowned games from the June 2023 Humble Choice Bundle.I like dungeon crawlers when I'm in the mood, but roguelikes are not my go-to style of game.As an intrepid dungeon raider, you seek fame and fortune, and you're almost immediately cursed as you enter the temple. Smash things, pick up gold, kill mobs.Weapon upgrades, spiky floors, strange gods. I feel like I've played this before...?Wait up. It's Hades with a warmer colour palette, and less dialogue.That's not to say it's a bad game. If you like gameplay of Hades, you might like this. If you like the storyline & wit, maybe less so.It's a good looking game, but left me wondering when I'd choose to play this over Hades.Curse of the Dead Gods is:3: OK#CurseOfTheDeadGods #Isometric #DungeonCrawler #Roguelike #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubXcbllQFeajZ39E by grissallia@aus.social
2023-06-09T09:32:54Z
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June 9, 2023 - Day 160 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 177Game: GrimePlatform: SteamRelease Date: Aug 2, 2021Library Date: Jun 7, 2023Unplayed: 2d (2d)Playtime: 28mKids, it's time to charge up (or plug in) your controllers. Game number four from the June 2023 Humble Choice bundle is Grime.Grime is a 2D soulsvania platformer. One of the things I've struggled with over the course of the last 5+ months is categorising games, and I've kind of given up doing it myself, and just Google it.There are so many sub-genres, and games that are mashups of different things, that I just want to make sure I'm talking about the right thing.After the intro & I was dropped into the game (and fired up my controller), I was struck at how much the game reminded me of Dead Souls 3.Turns out Grime is considered a "soulsvania" in that it takes elements of souls-likes and uses them in the gameplay.The actual game is a little hard to describe; there was also the sense of "I have no idea what's going on here" and so was exploring the chambers and tunnels.The thing that'S surprised me was that I've gone from close to anti-platformer at the start of this project to -almost- enjoying them now.On that basis, Grime is:3: OK#Grime #2D #Platformer #Soulsvania #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubXe5EHNPXAOM5ho by grissallia@aus.social
2023-06-09T14:29:59Z
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June 9, 2023 - Day 160 - NewPlay Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 178Game: Remnant: From the AshesPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Aug 20, 2019Library Date: Jun 7, 2023Unplayed: 2d (2d)Playtime: 40mRemnant: From the Ashes is a third-person souls-like ARPG, & game #5 from the June Humble Choice bundle.The game opens with an avatar designer; while not overly complex, it was enough to be able to create a female character & make her feel like "me".You then find yourself in a boat for a cinematic intro, while a voiceover sets the scene; after a final shipwreck, you're washed up on a post-apocalyptic shore, with a palette of mostly dark muted colours, armed only with a sword.So... souls-like.There's an integrated training section of the game where you're introduced to the main bads, "the Root". Creepy AF spike-shooting black & red trees can spawn out of nowhere, or drop from platforms above you where they're ...rooted... in defiance of gravity, hanging there in exactly the way bricks don't.Once you're rescued by the inhabitants of "Ward 13", you get a couple of guns (less souls-like), and start exploring this horrifying world in which you're part of the titular remnant of humanity.The atmosphere is incredibly creepy, and I'll probably spend some more time killing evil trees.Remnant: From the Ashes is:3: OK#RemnantFromTheAshes #ARPG #SoulsLike #ThirdPerson #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubXernMoG7b14sPA by grissallia@aus.social
2023-06-10T13:24:32Z
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June 10, 2023 - Day 161 - NewPlay Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 179Game: Turbo Golf RacingPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Aug 4, 2022Library Date: Jun 7, 2023Unplayed: 3d (3d)Playtime: 16mTurbo Golf Racing is game #6 from the June 2023 Humble Choice bundle and answers the question "What if Rocket League, but mini golf?"I really don't know what else there is I can say about it.Take away the stadium, give all 8 players their own ball, three competitive rounds to get your ball from one end of the green to the hole as fast as possible.Powerups, weapons, wildly differing greens.This is a multiplayer game, and I can understand why they were willing to put it into a bundle less than a year after release.As with any multiplayer game, no players = no game, so by putting it into a bundle, the devs are obviously hoping to goose the playerbase.I did find a match, and it was kind of fun, but I suspect this will end up being another also-run game that will get shut down in a year or two, just through not having enough players to support ongoing development.Turbo Golf Racing is:3: OK#TurboGolfRacing #Sports #Golf #Racing #Multiplayer #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubXhDUd6nsstFEVE by grissallia@aus.social
2023-06-11T00:12:04Z
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June 11, 2023 - Day 162 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 180Game: Meeple StationPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Apr 11, 2020Library Date: Jun 2, 2022Unplayed: 374d (1y9d)Playtime: 63mMeeple Station is game #7 from June 2023's Humble Choice, the last of my unplayed games from the bundle, and answers the question "How do we fill out the bundle to 8 games?"I actually picked it up in a bundle last year, so I have a free key.Meeple Station is an isometric pixel-art colony builder/management sim. You build and control a space station.In this case, build and control are very loosely defined. When I looked at this game, I was expecting to find it was still in Early Access, but no, apparently this bug-ridden disaster area is the release version. Patch 1.0.7 was released in Jan 2022, 1.0.8 was released in July 2022, and nothing else since.Some nice ideas, but very poorly executed. After 63 mins, I hadn't even completed the 5 tutorials.For example: You assign crew members to a task, then you have to wait for them to complete that task to move on in the tutorial. There's no way to force them to do it, you just have to wait... and they just won't do it. I restarted two tutorials, one of them at (as it turned out) the final step. When it happened again mid-tutorial #5, I was done.Meeple Station has some nice ideas, but:1: Nope#MeepleStation #PixelArt #ColonyBuilder #Isometric #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubXjKImlRFQaRhOS by grissallia@aus.social
2023-06-12T04:51:09Z
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June 12, 2023 - Day 163 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 181Game: Styx: Master of ShadowsPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Oct 8, 2014Library Date: Jan 23, 2023Unplayed: 137d (4m17d)Playtime: 19mStyx: Master of Shadows is a third-person-ish* stealth RPG game. You play as the titular Styx, a 200 year old goblin, who's been captured and locked up while trying to obtain the game's MacGuffin. This may be intentional.Before I decided that reviewing sequels if I didn't own previous games in the series was OK, I kept skipping over the sequel to this (thanks Humble Monthly Bundle June 2018!). When this came up for sale for $1.65 in January, I added it to my pile of shame.It's a stealth & assassinate game. There's a storyline about elves and humans and something called amber, but it's basically just an fairly middling framing for a stealth game.While it IS a third-person game, Styx's stealth method is to crouch, meaning that sometimes the camera breaks to first-person instead, which is somewhat disorienting.At this point it's not bad, it's not dragging me back to play it again, it's just something that was fine to kill some time on and knock off my list for today's review while waiting for one of my poor decisions to finish downloading. I wouldn't pay full price for it, but AUD$1.65? It was worth it.Styx: Master of Shadows is:3: OK#StyxMasterOfShadows #ThirdPerson #Stealth #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubXkDFUTOIB09a2S by grissallia@aus.social
2023-06-13T13:05:24Z
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June 13, 2023 - Day 164 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 182Game: Styx: Shards of DarknessPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Mar 15, 2017Library Date: Jun 6, 2018Unplayed: 137d (4m17d)Playtime: 19mJust like it's predecessor, Styx: Shards of Darkness is a third-person-ish* stealth RPG game. While the graphics are better, I found Shards of Darkness somehow more frustrating and difficult than Master of Shadows.I don't think I died during my run yesterday. I died *constantly* while playing tonight. As far as I can tell, it feels like the grab/grapple mechanic is a little less certain in Shards of Darkness; that for whatever reason, Styx doesn't always grab onto an object in the same way as Master of Shadows.Consequently, there was a lot of dropping to my death, whether it be to the ocean underneath the village where the first part of the game takes place, or straight into the path of a roaming guard.In any case, I spent longer playing it, tonight, but only made it about as far into the game as I did last night (due to all the deaths, and effective restarts).Styx: Shards of Darkness is, barely:3: OK#StyxShardsOfDarkness #ThirdPerson #Stealth #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubXlh3z6pkll6u9I by grissallia@aus.social
2023-06-14T13:19:29Z
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June 14, 2023 - Day 165 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 183Game: TinylandsPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jan 22, 2021Library Date: Dec 25, 2022Unplayed: 171d (5m20d)Playtime: 37mTiny Lands is a cozy isometric puzzle game. It's those old "compare these two images and find the differences", but with tiny little low-poly side-by-side dioramas that you can rotate and zoom.They're very pretty, with an almost tilt-shift style, and a wonderful away of sound effects intermittently plays in the background while a very chill & laid back soundtrack accompanies you.Set up my new WQHD work monitor tonight to test it, and this was the perfect game for it.However, it is possible to, in a word, cheat.If you've ever deliberately gone cross-eyed to trigger a 3D illusion, that some technique works almost flawlessly here. The differences in the images suddenly pop out at you as you rotate the tableaux, but it defeats the purpose of just chilling out and letting your mind wander.Tiny Lands is:4: Good#TinyLands #Cozy #Isometric #Puzzle #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubXn7KgvRPBWPOjY by grissallia@aus.social
2023-06-15T12:58:58Z
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June 15, 2023 - Day 166 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 184Game: Dustforce DXPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jan 18, 2012Library Date: Aug 13, 2022Unplayed: 306d (10m2d)Playtime: 17mIt's not often a game pisses me off, but Dustforce DX managed it. It is, of course, a platformer.The music isn't bad. The semi-transparent spiky vector graphics fit the Indie feel of the game.As there's no obvious way to to use a controller with the game, I played it with the default keyboard setup.This was the part where I got cranky. I managed to complete the first two tutorial levels with an increasing amount of frustration, which peaked when trying to wall-jump up to the final tutorial.Trying to press three keys at a time, at exactly the right time, almost completely eluded me.Again, it's the fine motor control thing, and this is a game designed for practicing moves repeatedly to tune that fine motor control to a fine art.This made the game an exercise in frustration.As it turns out, there is a non-obvious way to set up a controller... you just assign the keys. I've never seen that done before, and it literally took me Googling it to find that out.It didn't help.If you enjoy that "needs perfect timing" kind of platformer, this might be right up your alley. Not mine, though.Dustforce DX is a big:1: Nope#DustforceDX #Platformer #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubXndakzFGnZVA12 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-06-16T14:08:07Z
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June 16, 2023 - Day 167 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 185Game: Bleed 2Platform: SteamRelease Date: Feb 19, 2017Library Date: Feb 2, 2019Unplayed: 1595d (4y4m14d)Playtime: 19mBleed 2 is a 2D twin-stick sideways scrolling pixel-art arcade shoot-em-up.It feels very much like a 80's arcade game, both sonically and visually.Lots of frantic button mashing, which would be great if I could mash the right buttons in the right order, but as I can't, I spent a lot of time dying.The most frustrating thing is that every platformer / sideways scroller I've played uses the A button on the controller to jump, while Bleed 2 uses the right trigger, and uses A to taunt.As the right thumbstick is used for shooting, it makes sense, but I found myself taunting instead of jumping far too many times (and then, of course, dying).It's not that Bleed 2 isn't a good game, it's just that I'm not good at it.Bleed 2 is just:2: Meh#Bleed2 #SidewaysScroller #PixelArt #TwinStick #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubXpgr7p2pAH2nNg by grissallia@aus.social
2023-06-17T14:47:54Z
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June 17, 2023 - Day 168 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 186Game: Weird West: Definitive EditionPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Apr 1, 2022Library Date: Jun 5, 2023Unplayed: 12d (12d)Playtime: 1h45mOops.Weird West is a top-down twin-stick immersive sim set in an alternative wild west full of monsters bad juju. The whole point of this endeavour was to reduce the number of unplayed games in my pile of shame, not add to the pile, and yet here we are with Weird West.I assume part of it is my ADHD, and the "ooh, shiny" dopamine hit when something grabs my interest. A couple of weeks ago I saw the demo for Weird West and grabbed it. I also (and I have no recollection of doing so) wishlisted it.Running on 2.5 hours sleep this morning, and I get an email saying "Weird West is on special!"Fired up the demo, bought the game. Between Weird West, and Evil West, I guess the old west crossed with the supernatural is a thing now.The cross between top-down and immersive sim makes for some interesting gameplay, however there were times when I felt like I wanted to zoom right in to a third-person perspective when in fights, but the fixed camera position made it a little bit frustrating.Given that if you ask me to choose between western and sci-fi, I'm going to choose sci-fi, I was a little surprised at the way Weird West hooked me.Weird West is:4: Good#WeirdWest #TopDown #ImmersiveSim #TwinStick #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubXql99M4STs3jhw by grissallia@aus.social
2023-06-18T11:54:53Z
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June 18, 2023 - Day 169 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 187Game: Table Top Racing: World TourPlatform: SteamRelease Date: May 26, 2016Library Date: Mar 13, 2018Unplayed: 1923d (5y3m5d)Playtime: 24mTable Top Racing: World Tour takes iconic cars, shrinks them down to matchbox-sized caricatures, and sets you racing around landscapes built in kitchens and... something else, I guess. I never got out of the sushi kitchen.If it sounds like I've played this game before, it's because it's fundamentally the same conceit as Toybox Turbos that I reviewed back in March.To me, the most important thing about arcade racing games is that the cars handle well. Unfortunately the cars in TTR:WT handle like a bar of soap.However, if you grind away for a few races, you can pick up some coin, which will allow you to fully upgrade the car, at which point it handles like a faster bar of soap.The game design is cute, the track I raced on repeatedly was fun (a sushi kitchen), the soundtrack was banging, but the racing itself wasn't.Maybe as you grind through, later cars you can buy might handle better, but there's just not enough to keep me pushing through to find out.I spent an hour watching John Romero play a Doom 2 custom WAD this afternoon, and it was more fun than this.Table Top Racing: World Tour is:2: Meh#TableTopRacingWorldTour #Arcade #Racing #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubXsI9S849EWVbn6 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-06-19T12:51:38Z
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June 19, 2023 - Day 170 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 188Game: Bioshock RemasteredPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 16, 2016Library Date: Sep 16, 2016Unplayed: 2467d (6y9m3d)Playtime: 41m"Wait... you've never played Bioshock?"Well... yes and no.I got Bioshock Remastered & Bioshock 2 Remastered for free because I already owned Bioshock & Bioshock 2.Once I got past the intro (which seemed completely new to me), and into the game proper, I started to feel a sense of deja vu.As it turns out, I played the original Bioshock for a total of 3.1 hours, last played July 26, 2014. I don't remember any of it; since I've never played Remastered, so I'm counting it as technically unplayed (particularly as I'm too tired to start something else at 10:30pm)Bioshock (if you've been living under a rock) is an FPS/immersive sim set in a Libertarian utopia called "Rapture" that... isn't.I'm not far enough into the game to understand why Rapture has collapsed, but I'm pretty sure that it's something to do with the "Plasmids" that effectively give the character super powers.The visual and audio design of Bioshock Remastered is incredible, giving the game an oppressive & claustrophobic feel.I doubt I would have grasped much of the Libertarian subtext in 2014; in post-Brexit/COVID/Musk 2023, that subtext sits very uncomfortably.Bioshock Remastered is:4: Good#BioshockRemastered #FPS #ImmersiveSim #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubXsrFLe8ezMvdUe by grissallia@aus.social
2023-06-21T14:05:46Z
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June 21, 2023 - Day 172 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 190Game: StrayPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jul 20, 2022Library Date: Oct 15, 2022Unplayed: 249d (8m6d)Playtime: 40mThis review is going to contain minor spoilers for the early part of the game.Stray is a third-person game about a cat.I count any game where I've played less than 15 minutes of the game as "unplayed".Due to a mix-up around the release date, I missed out on the discounted purchase price, so left it on my wishlist, until it got discounted 3 months later.As soon as it finished installing on October 15, I started playing.The graphics are gorgeous. The cat is adorable, and amazingly cat-like. I feel like I'm controlling an almost-real cat... which turns out to be a problem.As per the title, you're a stray cat; the game opens to find you snuggling with your siblings, high up on the wall of the city, before the intro takes you on all on a little adventure to teach you the controls.***Spoiler Alert***At the end of the intro, you jump across a gap in a pipe. The pipe you land on gives way, and you find yourself scrabbling to hold on as your siblings look down on you helplessly... as you lose your grip and fall into the city below.You finally come to rest at the bottom of a pile of rubble. Gingerly (pun intended) you attempt to stand up, only to find that you cannot stand on your hind leg, and limp for a couple of steps, before collapsing.It was at this point, at the end of the intro, after 13 minutes of playtime that I logged out of the game, sobbing inconsolably.This tiny digital cat purrs, and trills, and meows, and looks around, and cleans itself, and feels utterly too real for me to see it get hurt like that.I was overwhelmed by a sense of grief and loss as I watched this ball of fluff get separated from their siblings, and seeing them get hurt, limping and then collapsing was entirely too much for me (our furball is fine after having a sleep, but still).I finally started it up again tonight; even 8 months later, I still feel that pain and sadness as I try to play.The game itself is beautiful, rendering the post-apocalyptic environment full of dead robots in a gorgeous way. There were some fun "cat" moments, just jumping off things, or solving environmental challenges by knocking paint cans off the edges of a building.The sounds made by this little ball of fur are wonderfully realistic, and everything within me wants to protect this little gem.On paper, the idea of playing a cat exploring a "cybercity", and solving a mystery seemed like it was the perfect fit for me, as someone who loves cats, but in practice it seems to hurt too much to play.If you love cats, and cyberpunk, and can disassociate yourself enough, then you might really enjoy Stray.However it seems that I cannot, which is unfortunate, because Stray is:4: Good#Stray #ThirdPerson #Cats #Exploration #Cyberpunk #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubXvV1Wj93BJYQls by grissallia@aus.social
2023-06-22T13:28:27Z
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June 22, 2023 - Day 173 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 191Game: ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove!Platform: Epic Games StoreRelease Date: Mar 1, 2019Library Date: Oct 14, 2022Unplayed: 251d (8m8d)Playtime: 34mWay back on the 1st of January when I set out on this misbegotten journey, I wrote in my toot that I was open to suggestions.Today, on day 173, a friend suggested "Have you played ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove!"I had not, however, I did not have a copy of the game in my Steam library, nor do I have an unused Steam key."I'll buy it for you!"Friendo, adding to my pile of unplayed games does not reduce the size of the pile. However, I considered the offer, and took a look at GG.Deals, because the last thing I wanted was for friendo to pay full price.It was at this point I made a terrible discovery. The game had been given away free on the Epic Games Store last October. As I have collected most of the games given away by Epic, the chance was... yeah. I do own a copy of the game.EGS is the anti-Steam. It takes anything that's good about Steam, and does it in the worst possible way.Steam handles a large library well? EGS handles a small library terribly.Steam makes moving a game to a different drive incredibly simple? EGS requires 15 years experience in tech support.Steam makes buying a new game almost dangerously easy? EGS makes it laborious enough to question whether you even want the *free* game in your cart.The free games given away on Steam have literally become little more than demo versions, to see if I like the game enough to either use the Steam key I might already have, or buy the game on Steam.Yes, I despise using EGS so much that I've bought games on Steam that I already received for free on EGS. I resent the exclusivity arrangements that force me to use EGS for Tony Hawk 1/2 and Alan Wake Remastered.Of course, collecting all these free games on EGS means I have *multiple* piles of shame, across different launchers (I won't even get into GOG).However, this is a review of TJ&E:BITG!, not EGS, and now that I've gotten my EGS rant out of the way on Mastodon (as seen in less detail on :birdsite:) this is the first game from my EGS pile of shame this year.TJ&E:BITG! is an isometric platformer, that has you searching islands, & shaking trees looking for bits of an exploded ship.The main thing I'm looking for in a game is fun; maybe it was in one of the trees I didn't shake.Having never played any of the previous three(!) games, I felt utterly bewildered for most of my playtime. I understand that people love this game, I just don't understand why. Respect, though. If it's your cup of tea, more power to you. It's most definitely not mine.I'm sorry, friendo, but I'm glad I saved you the purchase price, because for me ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove! is a big:1: Nope#ToeJamAndEarlBackInTheGroove #Isometric #Platformer #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubXwOgBnfFxvasWO by grissallia@aus.social
2023-06-20T12:34:37Z
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June 20, 2023 - Day 171 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 189Game: Funk of TitansPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jul 25, 2015Library Date: Aug 4, 2022Unplayed: 320d (10m16d)Playtime: 20mFunk of Titans is a sideways scrolling endless runner, and it's every bit as bad as it sounds.For some reason, the ancient Greek Gods have been rendered as African Americans. Zeus seems to fall somewhere between Samuel L. Jackson and Morpheus.You, as Perseus, appear to be an extra from a blaxploitation movie, in a yellow jacket and afro, yelling "shaka laka" and "oh yeah" over and over, giving the whole game a slightly racist tinge.Then there's the "funk" of the soundtrack. The less said, the better. P-Funk, this is not.This is a game that could make me hate platformers again. A sideways-scrolling-endless-runner-platformer where the only controls are jump or whack-with-sword.You better time EVERYTHING just right, because three hits and you're dead.Did I mention that each hit removes an item of Perseus' clothing, because... yeah, that's a thing.However, if you're really lucky, you can find a Pegasus in each level, to get a bonus level where Pegasus is a rocket powered horsehead in some horrifying Flappy Bird mashup.However, sometimes, you just need something to focus all your rage and anger onto, just to let it out and move past it.Funk of Titans isn't even good for that. I have no idea how I ended up with this game, I only hope it was free with something else.There is nothing redeeming about this game at all. While this is not the worst game I've played this year, it's really putting in the work.Run away, as fast and as far as you can. Avoid Funk of Titans like an anti-vaxxer, because it's just:1: Nope#FunkOfTitans #EndlessRunner #SidewaysScroller #WhoAmIKiddingNoOneReadsTheHashtags #ThisGameSucks #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubXwdZIRZei6YljE by grissallia@aus.social
2023-06-23T14:03:27Z
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June 23, 2023 - Day 174 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 192Game: BreakneckPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Dec 8, 2017Library Date: Aug 24, 2022Unplayed: 303d (9m30d)Playtime: 17mBreakneck is an endless runner, where you fly a ship that feels like a cross between a pod-racer and a landspeeder.It is, quite obviously, a mobile game ported to PC.The visual design and landscapes of the game are very well done, with a post-apocalyptic sci-fi feel.That's pretty much the only good thing I have to say about it.Avoid obstacles, but fly close to them to charge up the ship boost, collect coins, try to reach the end of the level without being "caught" by a pursuing ship, or hitting something.There is no reverse on this ship, so sometimes you just get stuck, and wait to die.This game is a just pure grind, with no reason to keep playing, and very much a clock-watcher.I hoped I hadn't paid for it, but turns out I bought it on a discount for $3.99. For reference, the Steam refund policy is less than two hours playtime, within *14 days* of purchase, so at least something of value came out of playing this game.Breakneck?1: Nope#Breakneck #EndlessRunner #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubXylRO93lJ6G5HE by grissallia@aus.social
2023-06-24T12:26:19Z
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June 24, 2023 - Day 175 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 193Game: Lego Builder's JourneyPlatform: Epic Games StoreRelease Date: Jun 23, 2021Library Date: Dec 22, 2022Unplayed: 184d (6m2d)Playtime: 35mLego Builder's Journey is a cozy 3D isometric puzzle game, featuring (almost) everyone's favourite plastic bricks. It answers the question "What if Monument Valley, but Lego?"The game opens to a Lego beach diorama, suspended in tilt-shifted space. You're prompted to pick up a block, placing it on the handful of visible studs to build a sandcastle.Once completed, a wave of translucent bricks sweeps in, washing the sandcastle away.An atmospheric dreamlike soundtrack accompanies the most gorgeous game I've played this year.This (Lego!) game is visually stunning. The raytracing and lighting makes it feel like I'm interacting with real Lego; some bricks have scratches and fingerprints. One early level, set at night with a fire, had me sitting and staring at the screen in wonder (you will, however, need a raytracing capable card for the full experience).The most obvious point of comparison is the TT series of Lego games and they could not be more different.In Lego Builder's Journey, there's not a minifig in sight. The two main characters, a parent and child, are each represented by a stack of 1-stud bricks.Without a single line of dialogue the game still communicates emotions, without the beloved mugging and goofiness of the TT games.The diorama can be rotated with a right-click and hold, as you find the best place to place blocks; the blocks are picked up, & rotated with a left-click, or a left-click & hold to place or drop, which leads to my main criticism.Unfortunately, the controls do not reflect the same care and attention to detail as the rest of the game; if you've ever played any other game that uses right-click to rotate, left-click to place (& there are a lot of them), the UX design choices here present an exercise in frustration. At some points in the game, I was frantically trying to drop a block to pick up another one about to disappear off the edge of the diorama, only to repeatedly rotate or place the block I'm holding, instead of dropping it. Having to stop and think about what I'm trying to do with a piece rather than being able to click instinctively (without even providing the possibility of reconfiguring the controls) adds an ongoing subtle level of frustration to what is almost a perfect puzzle experience.However: I got this free on EGS, but it was 66% off on Steam, so I bought it. When I loaded it up to check something, I found my EGS save file was just... there. Having experienced the frustration of migrating save games previously, I've never seen this before, and it was delightful & unexpected.Lego Builder's Journey is a wonderful way to while away an afternoon, and is:5: Excellent#LegoBuildersJourney #CozyGaming #Puzzle #Lego #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubY15Ml2BcVTb1c0 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-06-24T12:26:39Z
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June 24, 2023 - Day 175 - NewPlay Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 194Game: Century: Age of AshesPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Dec 3, 2021Library Date: Jun 24, 2023Unplayed: 0d (0d)Playtime: 25mOops, I did it again.While my chances of playing through all of my unplayed Steam games & keys by the end of 2023 were slim to begin with, adding new games to the pile does not help in the slightest.Why would I do this to myself? Century: Age of Ashes is a free to play multiplayer third-person aerial combat game. By aerial combat, it means dogfighting with dragons.The visuals are gorgeous, as you dodge and weave between castle in a mountainous Nordic landscape, shooting fireballs and spears at the other dragoneers.I'm not sure on the long-term viability of the game, given the whole "free-to-play multiplayer" thing, and I've only played a couple of matches. It does the whole battle pass thing, and I'm not paying for a battle pass, which means grinding, and I have no idea what the grind is like.Century: Age of Ashes may well go the way of so many other F2P PVP games this year, but it's free, and did I mention how cool it is to dogfight on fricking dragons?!?Century: Age of Ashes seems:4: Good#CenturyAgeOfAshes #ThirdPerson #AerialCombat #Dragons #F2P #PvP #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubY2533hWhamSHku by grissallia@aus.social
2023-06-25T13:19:48Z
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June 25, 2023 - Day 176 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 195Game: Kingdom Come: DeliverancePlatform: SteamRelease Date: Feb 13, 2018Library Date: Sep 7, 2019Unplayed: 1387d (3y9m18d)Playtime: 1h34mKingdom Come: Deliverance is a first-person open world RPG set in medieval Bohemia. You play Henry, a young man set on a mission of vengeance.This was a game that I really knew nothing about, that was part of the August 2019 Humble Bundle. After I disappointed @bluntelk by not enjoying ToeJam & Earl, he asked if I'd played this.I had not, and since I owned this on one Steam, away I went.Once again, going into the game without knowing anything about it proved somewhat beneficial to the setup of the story. RPGs often follow the pattern of the Hero's Journey.Henry's life in this bucolic village in Bohemia was obviously not going to be the whole of the game. Had I read the logline for the game on the Steam page, it gives away the catalysing event that sets Henry on his journey, so it was devastating to experience it first-hand, but also gave me a fire in my bones that I might have lacked knowing what I was in for.In terms of gameplay, it's a good looking game for a game released five years ago, & built in Crytek's CryEngine.Will I complete it? I'm not sure. Statistically, it's unlikely. I've started multiple Assassin's Creed games, and haven't completed any of them. I was hours into Cyberpunk 2077 before discovering I hadn't even completed the prologue. In all my time gaming, the only open-world game I've even completed is FarCry 5. There's also the issue of playing a male protagonist. When I play a game with a female protagonist I feel a sense of connection that's noticeably absent with male protagonists; in fact, recognising this was another small piece in understanding the puzzle that is myself.However, the story did pique my interest, and it might be one of those games that draws me back, so I'm going to sit with it for a while.Overall, (and this should make @bluntelk happy), I think Kingdom Come: Deliverance is:4: Good#KingdomComeDeliverance #FirstPerson #OpenWorld #RPG #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubY3TBtQQrtwl51c by grissallia@aus.social
2023-06-26T11:51:47Z
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June 26, 2023 - Day 177 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 196Game: Before We LeavePlatform: SteamRelease Date: May 14, 2021Library Date: Aug 21, 2022Unplayed: 309d (10m5d)Playtime: 38mBefore We Leave is a cozy city-building strategy sim. Set on a post-apocalyptic planet, your "peeps" have come up from underground to a newly green planet to repopulate & rebuild civilisation.In some ways, it's not unlike Timberborn, which I reviewed earlier this month, which is unfortunate.Even with the post-apocalyptic, "mine the remains of the previous civilisation" thematic similarities, it feels very different.Before we leave, in keeping with the "cozy" idea, uses big cutesy hex tiles, on a round planet that you can explore to find other island and settle.The downside is that unlike other city-builders, the use of hex-tiles with the big graphics makes everything feel cramped. I found myself getting frustrated with the game early on, because virtually everything needs to be connected to a road, but with large hex tiles in a relatively small space, I felt like most of the space was taken up with roads.While the whole "mining the bones of the past" enables skipping over several steps that would be involved in getting from ore to metal in other games, in Before We Leave, mining the remains creates areas of pollution that, once again, suffers because of the "large hex tiles in a small area". The areas of pollution easily end up overlapping areas I'd rather they not, and given the fixed location of the ruins, it then becomes a question of whether I rip up all my buildings and start again, or just start the level over.There's still something there that kept me playing beyond my initial 15 minutes; it remains to be seen as to whether that's sustainable long-term.Before We Leave is:3: OK#BeforeWeLeave #CityBuilder #Strategy #Cozy #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubY5BBXLDZCgLjEm by grissallia@aus.social
2023-06-27T10:12:52Z
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June 27, 2023 - Day 178 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 197Game: Flashout 3D: Enhanced EditionPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 3, 2022Library Date: Sep 9, 2022Unplayed: 291d (9m18d)Playtime: 18mFlashout 3D: Enhanced Edition is a third-person Wipeout-style track racer. Race hover-ships, upgrade them, win races, etc.After getting out of the game and checking the release date, I had to double-check the details, and then hit Google.This does not play like a game released in 2022. Per the game description it's a free re-release to celebrate the developer's release of Flashout 3.The reason I didn't recall the original Flashout is because it was released in 2012, and it was mobile-only.That makes more sense of the "Enhanced Edition", but the gameplay is very much 2012, and there's just not a lot to offer here, even for free, that isn't bettered by more recent games.They didn't put any energy into even providing mapping information for the controller buttons, let alone configuration, and I had to quit the game and turn off Steam input for it to even register any buttons other than the left control stick.If you've got a gaming budget of zero, or want a free game for your kids' PC, it's not terrible, but it's not great either.Flashout 3D: Enhanced Edition is just:2: Meh#Flashout3D #Racing #Wipeout #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubY6JNKNMaiNBmds by grissallia@aus.social
2023-06-28T10:21:53Z
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June 28, 2023 - Day 179 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 198Game: Recursive RuinPlatform: SteamRelease Date: May 18, 2022Library Date: Jun 8, 2023Unplayed: 20dPlaytime: 29mRecursive Ruin is a first person narrative-based puzzle game about grief.I read about this game last year, and added it to my wishlist; when it popped up on sale three weeks ago, and so I added another game to the pile of shame.The game's conceit is in the title, because a large chunk of the game's environments are recursive. This is deeply disorienting, and feels like the diametric opposite of a cozy game.It's standard WASD keyboard and mouse navigation, and with the addition of what is, effectively, a companion cube, it's a bit like "What would it be like to play Portal on psychedelic drugs?"This is an interesting, but disquieting game; I'm genuinely not sure if I like it, or just solving puzzles.Recursive Ruin is:3: OK#RecursiveRuin #FirstPerson #Puzzle #Trippy #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubY8OlZIrdBfj7K4 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-06-30T12:56:46Z
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June 29, 2023 - Day 180 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 199Game: Tower of TimePlatform: SteamRelease Date: Apr 12, 2018Library Date: Dec 21, 2022Unplayed: 191d (6m9d)Playtime: 43mTower of Time is a... I guess top-down tactical RPG? It's a squad-based dungeon crawler that has some very nice, polished aspects, and some "we used interns for this" design decisions that feel a little jarring.And so much text to wade through.I'm not sure how much actual *playtime* was in that 43 minutes, because this is a game in love with telling its own narrative, in grandiose text screen after text screen that you need to get through to actually play the damn thing.The actual dungeon-crawling aspect isn't too bad. The squad-based strategy is this odd mix of tactical & real-time strategy.You can pause the action and go semi-tactical, or you can slow down time by clicking on one of the squad members action keys which is almost like bullet-time.Live switching between the different squad members in play and trying to synergise their skills feels a little bit like the aspects of character synergy in Honkai Starrail.The first level dungeons are quite pretty, but I'm not sure if the slowdowns during the game were due to the graphics settings, or that it was running off spinning rust.Tower of Time is:3: OK#TowerOfTime #TopDown #RPG #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubY9AchN93a67Kuu by grissallia@aus.social
2023-06-30T13:55:41Z
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June 30, 2023 - Day 181 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 200Game: EverythingPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Apr 22, 2017Library Date: Oct 28, 2017Unplayed: 2071d (5y8m2d)Playtime: 35mEverything is... look, I genuinely don't know quite how to describe this "game". I just wanted something simple to knock over in 15 minutes, and I chose Everything.If nothing else, the name of the game lends itself to all kinds of wordplay I'd love to engage if I wasn't so exhausted.I guess I can stop doing these reviews, now that I've played Everything.See?Anyway, Everything is, apparently, a simulation.In Everything you can become... everything. Anything. Everything in Everything becomes a playable character.Other things talk to you. There are also snippets of lectures from a "philosophical entertainer" named Alan Watts.This is the weirdest game I've played this year, and I'm not even entirely sure it IS a game.There are things that really annoyed me about the control scheme, but then there are surreal, trippy visuals that did my head in.I have a nice neat spectrum that I've been able to fit every game I've played so far this year into, and then this.I'm going to take the easy way out, because thinking is hard right now.Everything is:3: OK#Everything #Simulation #DoYouSeeWhatIDidThere #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubYB3bgQilQuqlG4 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-07-02T06:08:03Z
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July 1, 2023 - Day 182 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 201Game: A Little to the LeftPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Nov 9, 2022Library Date: Jun 30, 2023Unplayed: 1dPlaytime: 33mA Little to the Left isn't about becoming increasingly progressive, but rather a cozy puzzle game about organizing household items.I'd had it on my wishlist for a while, and Steam seasonal sales are my kryptonite.To be honest, after the last week, it was really kind of what I needed last night.Also, there's a cat.The cat likes to reach in at infrequent intervals and mess up the pile of things I'd just organised, and to be honest, I didn't mind at all.There's a lovely, whimsical feel to the design of the game. The puzzles (so far) aren't terribly complex, but there's a wonderful feeling of satisfaction with each solved puzzle.It's not just the satisfaction of solving the puzzle itself (and one does love a good puzzle game), but the solutions themselves are usually deeply satisfying to my autistic brain, that wants to organise & systematise everything.I think the only other game that's really scratched that itch for me is the delightful (and LGBTQ+) Unpacking.A Little to the Left is:4: Good#ALittleToTheLeft #Puzzle #Organising #CozyGaming #Cozy #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay(A Little to the Left is still available on sale until July 14th.)
(DIR) Post #AhubYBmyxj17he4zz6 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-07-02T14:04:12Z
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July 2, 2023 - Day 183 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 202Game: Elden RingPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Feb 25, 2022Library Date: Jul 2, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 33mHere we are, at the half-way mark. There are 182 days ahead, and 182 days behind. For today, I decided on something specialTurns out, in return for my upgrading my son's computer last night, he bought me the game of my choice today... which was Elden Ring. Again.Technically, this is not an "unplayed" game. My kids bought me Elden Ring for my birthday last year, and I attempted to play it, got intensely frustrated with it, and quit out after 80 minutes and got a refund.I simply didn't understand that death is part of a soulslike.However, in the process of playing through this project, I grasped the play style of a soulslike, which brings me back to Elden Ring.In case you've been living under all of the rocks, Elden Ring is a third-person open-world soulslike action-RPG.It's dark, and brooding, almost devoid of colour. As with other soulslikes, there are points within the game that you can return to either when resurrecting, or to (effectively) save your progress.However, do that, and it resurrects all the mobs you just killed, doesn't it? (Yes. It does.)There's a constant trade-off between returning to these points to restore your energy, and effective save your inventory, and upgrade, or to keep moving forward, in the hope of finding what Elden Ring calls a "Site of Grace".Starting over from the beginning on a fresh save, I learned something that I missed first time around... when I quit out after 80 minutes in March 2022, I hadn't even completed the tutorial. The final tutorial boss frustrated me so badly, I gave up.Probably should have gone in with a character base far less squishy too.This time, as a Vagabond, I died twice, and I enjoyed myself.It's still not "I MUST PLAY THIS UNTIL I AM FINISHED!", but it's definitely "I'm going to willingly spend some time in this game."Thus, at the halfway point of #Project365ONG, I'm happy to say, having given it another shot, Elden Ring is:4: Good#EldenRing #Soulslike #OpenWorld #ThirdPerson #ARPG #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubYDmLZ3hHsFnWGu by grissallia@aus.social
2023-07-03T14:25:52Z
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July 3, 2023 - Day 184 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 203Game: Broken PiecesPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 10, 2022Library Date: Jun 21, 2023Unplayed: 12dPlaytime: 89mBroken Pieces is a third-person puzzle adventure game. You play Elise, a woman stranded alone in a French town called Saint-Exil, trying to work out why everyone else in town has vanished.It's largely puzzle-solving, with the occasional combat encounter thrown in.Which is one of my two major issues with the game.The first, however, is the script. Broken Pieces is set in France, and was built by a French dev team.I suspect the script was better in French, and then it was just run through Google Translate or something, because it's really clunky.Because Elise is the only character in the game, she's commentating things constantly. She doesn't use contractions, and some of her phrasing is like nails on a blackboard. This is not a game where you can get lost in the well designed environments, because as soon as Elise starts narrating something, you're pulled out of the game with "wait, what?"The only thing clunkier than the dialogue is the combat; the "bad guys" suddenly appear out of a swirl of dark mist that will suddenly surround you. For whatever reason, in spite of the fact they seem multidimensional, a very normal gun will kill them. If you can manage to target them.You can't hit a key to unholster your gun, and begin to target them. You have to wait until the game does it for you, and then start shooting. There's a combination of keys to dodge, which I have yet to successfully manage.Sadly, while the game is atmospheric, and it has some nice ideas, the execution leaves a lot to be desired. I kept plugging away for almost 90 minutes, drawn in by the puzzles, and repelled by the user interface and how little you can actually do.Broken Pieces feels like an appropriate name; it's just:2: Meh#BrokenPieces #ThirdPerson #Adventure #Mystery #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubYEmNqPJwyep3y4 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-07-04T12:38:13Z
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July 4, 2023 - Day 185 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 204Game: Split/SecondPlatform: SteamRelease Date: May 18, 2010Library Date: Jun 28, 2022Unplayed: 371d (1y6d)Playtime: 19mSplit/Second is an arcade racing game that answers the question "What if Michael Bay made a racing game?"The game is set in a reality TV show, apparently, and there are explosions. A lot of explosions.You can trigger the explosions to take out your competitors, or vice versa.This is another game that's only *technically* unplayed. I spent 9 minutes in-game last year, trying -and failing- to get it to recognise my Xbox One S Controller.I first tried playing a racing game with a keyboard on an MS-DOS PC clone with a CGA monitor in the late 1980's. I didn't like it then, and nothing has changed.It wasn't until I played Forza Horizon 4, in 2019, over thirty years later, that I understood the fun of arcade racing games, and how the controller made that possible.I bought Split/Second on special last year, and was deeply frustrated by the apparent impossibility of getting it to recognise the controller. So I gave up.Last week, I was trying to get a different racing game working, and had the same problem. Once again, I went to the discussions on Steam, to see if I was missing something, and as it turns out, due to the age of that game, disabling Steam input meant it would recognise the controller.When I saw Split/Second in the list tonight, I wondered whether that would fix it... and it did!Which means that I can tell you that Split/Second is a thirteen year old racing game, in an post-Forza Horizon & post-The Crew era.It's a good game for its age, but it doesn't hold up so well against more recent games. There are small irritations throughout. You can map the controller (yay!) but there are only a handful of things to map. Brake, accelerator, steering, and the "Power Play(s)" that trigger the Bayesque explosions that target the other cars.But to navigate the menus, put down the controller & use the keyboard.The driving itself feels a little bit like everything is a fraction of a second behind the controller, particularly braking.Even so, the game is still more fun than the table-top racing game I reviewed recently.All things considered, given the age of the game Split/Second is:3: OK#SplitSecond #Arcade #Racing #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubYGZLBs4mWmjfuq by grissallia@aus.social
2023-07-05T13:23:24Z
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July 5, 2023 - Day 186 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 205Game: Hollow KnightPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Feb 25, 2017Library Date: Dec 4, 2018Unplayed: 1674d (4y7m1d)Playtime: 32mHollow Knight is a 2D Soulslike Metroidvania. I find it wryly amusing that six months ago, that was word salad to me.Now I know I'm dealing with a 2D platformer that will have me traveling backwards and forwards through different zones, with parts of levels inaccessible to me until I find MacGuffins or character upgrades that will allow me to access those areas.It's also going to be hard, and I'm going to die a lot; I'm going to be faced with the option of trying to get back to a save point to redeem the stuff I've picked up and upgrade, or risk it all to collect more stuff. If I do go back to the save point, all of the stuff I killed will have respawned.That's the game play; the relevance of all of that to this review is that this isn't a game I could have appreciated six months ago.It's one of the unexpected discoveries of this project, that in pushing myself to play all of these games has given me a new appreciation for the mechanics underlying many of them, that were opaque to me before.Hollow Knight has a melancholy feel to it, both with the soundtrack, but also with a muted, stark palette that reinforces the Soulslike feeling.There's not a lot of explaining what's going on, so when an NPC does have something to say, it's slowly opening up the world around me.I still feel like there's a lot to put together to make sense of what's happening, but Hollow Knight seems:4: Good#HollowKnight #2D #Metroidvania #Soulslike #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubYHRZwDSfF06zSK by grissallia@aus.social
2023-07-05T22:29:26Z
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July 6, 2023 - Day 187 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 206Game: Drizzlepath: Deja VuPlatform: SteamRelease Date: May 25, 2018Library Date: Jun 2, 2022Unplayed: 398d (1y1m3d)Playtime: 32mDrizzlepath: Deja Vu is a walking simulator. There are games that are referred to derisively as "Walking Simulators"; in this case, there's no derision at all.Drizzlepath: Deja Vu is a pure walking sim.This makes it somewhat difficult to review as a game; most walking sims have puzzles that need to be solved, or interactive elements to the gameplay.Drizzlepath: Deja Vu has no gameplay elements at all. You can walk in any direction, or jog, if you prefer. That's all.There's a lovely ambient soundtrack; occasionally, a honey-voiced English woman speaks some philosophical musings about our journey in life.It's quite beautiful; the conceit of the story is about a journey to the top of a mountain, and thus you find yourself walking through natural environments filled with butterflies and animals, surrounded by mountains, trees & grass, with occasional ruined buildings; interspersed with oddly juxtaposed Unreal Engine assets that may or may not be part of the underlying story.There's an option for autowalk, which meant that I could nurse my morning coffee in one hand and control the viewport with the mouse.It can be strangely meditative; for the first 10-ish minutes of playtime, I was thinking of things to say in this review, but the further I got into the walk, the more I found myself actually focussing on what was happening around me in-game, my mind eventually drifting to deeper thoughts about the nature of gender.It's unfortunate that I read the description before starting the game, as it begins with "A man embarks..."; within the game you're entirely disembodied, and voiceless. There are no NPCs that verbally interact with you, and the voiceover is by a woman; the male framing is unnecessary.It lead to an initial sense of discomfort and disconnection; in spite of the disembodiment, I felt forced into the role of a man. My experience of most of my life has been that of a passenger in someone else's male body. His body is mine, but not mine; observing the world, but never quite part of it.As I continued, and realised that there was nothing physical or gendered within the game, I relaxed into experiencing the game world, instead watching it as a disconnected observer. What started out as a walking sim became a meditation of my own experience of life as a trans woman.I often struggle to write these reviews, having made a rod for my own back. I usually spend more time writing a review than I spent playing the game in question.This one was a struggle to stop writing, and to edit down to less than aus.social's 3000 character limit.All of this for a "walking sim" with no gameplay.Drizzlepath: Deja Vu is an incredibly subjective:4: Good#DrizzlepathDejaVu #WalkingSimulator #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubYJIn1rcT0K102C by grissallia@aus.social
2023-07-08T10:10:52Z
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July 7, 2023 - Day 188 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 207Game: Neon WhitePlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jun 17, 2022Library Date: May 13, 2023Unplayed: 55d (1m24d)Playtime: 19mNeon White is... um.OK, let me try this a different way.Neon White answers the question... nope. Got nothing. I'm unable to imagine the question to which Neon White would be the answer.I played this at 11:45pm last night, after a long work day, and then a concert.I spent most of today trying to work out how to review the game, because it's not really like anything I've played before.It's part-FPS, part-puzzle game, part-3D-platformer, part-parkour, part-card battler, part-manga-visual-novel?This is genuinely the hardest time I've had reviewing a game.You enter the game as a character that has just died; with no memory of your past, you find yourself in ... heaven? As a visitor, or a "Neon". You've been put into a competition; while you should be in hell, you've been tasked with earning a spot in heaven by killing the most demons who are trying to invade heaven.You do this through the power of parkour... and guns. Lots of... cards?Instead of guns, as you parkour around the place (thus the platforming part), you find cards. Each card represents a different weapon, and discarding the card has a secondary effect.One card, for instance, is a handgun with thirty bullets. Run towards a demon, shoot it in the face, run past where it was, around the corner, jump and discard the card mid-jump for double-jump to allow you to reach the next platform.Time it wrong, and you're stuck, and have to restart the level. Restarting is quick, which is good, because you'll be doing it a lot; you need to chain all of these different moves together, because traversing the level is timed, and the faster you complete it, the better the rewards.The better the rewards, the better the chance that you'll win first place, and the place in heaven.Neon White is weird and frantic and challenging and...4: Good...?#NeonWhite #Parkour #FPS #Platformer #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubYKSkiJBObVgTCa by grissallia@aus.social
2023-07-08T13:50:38Z
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July 8, 2023 - Day 189 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 208Game: BrinkPlatform: SteamRelease Date: May 10, 2011Library Date: Apr 28, 2023Unplayed: 71d (2m10d)Playtime: 33mBrink was an online multiplayer squad-based FPS. It's still most of that, but the online aspect is all but dead.I saw this game in April; IIRC, it was "Oh! A Bethesda game I don't own. Why have I never heard of this? It's free?"You get what you pay for, I guess. Brink was developed by Splash Damage and published by Bethesda.Splash Damage? Now there's a name I haven't heard in a long time. A long time.After developing some third-party maps for Return to Castle Wolfenstein in the early aughts, Splash Damaged released a free standalone multiplayer-only expansion for RtCW called "Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory".I sank dozens, if not hundreds of hours into ET. It was the first online multiplayer game that really hooked me. I knew the maps like the back of my hand.In Brink, I can feel the echoes of ET, but with none of the hook. Apart from the near-dead multiplayer experience, the single player campaign is just drudgery.The first, and absolute killer, is that all of the avatars are male. All of the in-game characters are male. All of the characters in the cut-scenes are male, even in the crowds.This post-global-warming-sea-rise-ecological-disaster world apparently has no women. You can customise the hell out of your avatar, Henry Ford style. Anything you want, as long as it's a dude.This is not a critique, so much as a statement about where I am in life. Playing as a male avatar is discomforting, because of the decades of having to exist in the real world feeling like I was desperately trying to play the role of a man.It just totals my inability to form a connection to the game world.It doesn't mean I can't play a game where the avatar is male, it's just that the game has to excel in enough other areas that I can lose myself.Brink is 12 years old, and exists in a world of games with better single-player campaigns, better gameplay, and with actual humans to play with (or against) in multiplayer.The only thing that Brink can contribute moving forwards is freeing up 5Gb of space on my PC's hard drive.Brink is:2: Meh#FPS #Platformer #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubYLnLlDFkjgKQwi by grissallia@aus.social
2023-07-09T04:12:26Z
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July 9, 2023 - Day 190 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 209Game: Hard Reset ReduxPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jun 3, 2016Library Date: Dec 4, 2018Unplayed: 1678d (4y7m5d)Playtime: 27mHard Reset Redux is something unexpected: a cyberpunk-themed pure FPS.I've encountered so many genre-mashing games over the past few weeks, that it broke my brain a little trying to categorise this game, until it clicked that it's simply a classic FPS, with hidden areas, linear staged levels, and almost all.The game is titled "Redux" because it's effectively a remaster of the original Hard Reset released in 2012 (which I also own, but haven't ever played).I say "almost all" because unlike something like Doom or Quake, there aren't scads of different types of weapons strewn about. You get two weapons, and in-game credit caches, which allow you to purchase upgrades for those weapons along the way.There was... something... about the gameplay that I couldn't quite put my finger on. The developer (Flying Hog Games) rang a bell.Back in March I played another linear FPS -Evil West- for the first time. When I looked up Flying Hog Games after playing, I found that they were the dev team behind Evil West as well.Much like yesterday's game, it feels like the dev team's DNA is comes through in the gameplay.Unfortunately, much like Brink, Hard Reset is a 7 year old game (which is a remaster of a 12 year old game), and suffers in comparison to newer games.However, it feels much less grindy than Brink, and being a single-player FPS rather than a multi-player FPS with a single-player campaign with bots shoehorned into the game, gives it just enough juice that it becomes one of those "I'll play this if I'm in the mood for something cyberpunk and shooty that's not Cyberpunk 2077."Hard Reset Redux is (only just):3: OK#FPS #Cyberpunk #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubYNKi2fX1VQwaa8 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-07-09T12:11:03Z
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July 9, 2023 - Day 190 - NewPlay Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 210Game: The Surge 2Platform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 24, 2019Library Date: Apr 30, 2023Unplayed: 70d (2m9d)Playtime: 79mThe Surge was one of the earliest reviews I did in this project, and the game that gave me an understanding of the mechanics of Soulslike gameplay.In April I found that I had a Steam Key for The Surge 2, from the Humble Choice July 2021 bundle, and so I loaded it up.For the last few days, it's been bugging me that the gap between play days and new plays was 19 days. It feels... unordered. Threw in a bonus newplay to round it up to 20.The Surge 2, like its predecessor, is a sci-fi themed third-person Soulslike action-RPG.It's also the game I've sworn more at than any other since January 1.I've gotten frustrated with some games, but my frustration with The Surge 2 was on a whole different level.After a cut-scene intro, followed by a character creator, you wake up on a hospital table in a prison.Unlike the first game, you don't have an exo-suit, just a couple of defibrillator gauntlets. Yeah, I have no idea why.The game does the same thing as the first one, too. Throws you up against larger enemies to teach you the movesets, and then suddenly throws you up against an armored boss.Clad only in a hospital gownsuit (no bare bums here), and a pair of defibrillator gauntlets.I died.And died.And died, and died, and died some more.For the first 45 minutes I couldn't even land a single hit on him before he took me out.The swearing became increasingly copious, eventually quitting out in frustration, and looking up a Google video on how to kill the boss.It didn't help.I went back in, and locked on, targeting the one exposed part of his body (his head).Died.Died some more. Eventually I got a single hit in.Died a few more times, ragequit and went grocery shopping.Came back from the shopping, sat down at the PC and tried again.I died.I honestly don't understand what people see in Soulslikes. The sheer frustration of dying over and over again.Eventually, I was managing to avoid him, so I was still dying, just slower.Then I noticed he was telegraphing his attacks, and there were... gaps. I might be able to land a punch and retreat.I did.Then two attacks in a row.I started to feel the pattern. I still died, but I was doing increasing damage.Then suddenly... I didn't die. He did.I won the fight.It was then, that I understood what it is that people see in Soulslikes. Breaking through that frustration to clarity.The satisfaction of taking down a boss that seemed impossible to kill, or even hit. Not by coming back with bigger guns, but by recognising the patterns, and countering them.The Surge 2 is the Soulslike that gave me an understanding of the satisfaction to be found in Soulslikes, and is:4: Good#ThirdPerson #SciFi #ActionRPG #Soulslike #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubYP5XW2aMwxrVDM by grissallia@aus.social
2023-07-10T12:31:19Z
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July 10, 2023 - Day 191 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 211Game: Neon AbyssPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jul 15, 2020Library Date: Jan 28, 2022Unplayed: 528d (1y5m12d)Playtime: 19mNeon Abyss is a bright pixel-art-based twin-stick roguelite platformer. This is another (technically) unplayed game. I actually took a couple of shots at it in 2022, totalling less than ten minutes of playtime (less than 15m = unplayed).I figured that with my improved controller skills, it might make more sense, and I was correct.To describe it as "bright" is kind of an understatement. It really does lean into the titular "neon". The lighting effects are wonderful, and the EDM soundtrack really fits the feel of the game.Rooms are procedurally generated, so you're not getting the same experience twice, which is interesting.However, the controls feel a little bit counter-intuitive, as using the right stick for shooting means that a non-thumb button needs to be assigned to jumping, which is the left trigger on the controller.While the buttons can be remapped (yay!), there's no sensible button to map it to. I keep instinctively going for the A button when I'm not shooting. I think I'll get used to it, though.The more games I play, the more I find myself comparing a given game to others that are similar, which is becoming increasingly complicated, but also helps clarify which games really stick out to me.Ori and the Will of the Wisps, and Grime, both stick out as comparisons, but also that make me feel like jumping back into one of them.What it comes down to seems like "Is this a game that feels different enough to draw me back again?" I think that maybe the answer is "yes".Neon Abyss is a brightly lit:3: OK#2D #PixelArt #Platformer #TwinStick #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubYQ3ntyn7xs3d9E by grissallia@aus.social
2023-07-10T23:37:03Z
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July 11, 2023 - Day 192 - PlayOn Bonus ReviewGame: InsurmountablePlatform: Epic/SteamRelease Date: Apr 29, 2021Library Date: Apr 14, 2022/Nov 22, 2022Playtime: 8h43m (7h19m/34m)Decided to throw in a little something for the games I've played a lot, and come back to. Welcome to "PlayOn".Insurmountable is a hextile-based roguelike adventure about climbing mountains. This is not a game, in any way, that interested me. I hadn't even heard of it when Epic gave it away for free. On one particularly down day, I was looking for something laid back to play, and was sorting through the games I'd gotten free on Epic and I installed it just for the hell of it.The reason for the split scores in the summary, is that despite my antipathy towards the Epic Games Store, Insurmountable kept me coming back.When it came up on special on Steam in November, it was an instant buy. It then sat unplayed because I started this whole thing.The game's storyline is that of a mountain climber who comes to a remote island for a bit of climbing, and find themselves caught in a time loop, with a stranger.As you go on, you can unlock two other characters, a scientist, and a journalist.There are three mountains to be scaled, with each mountain having a number of quests on procedurally generated maps.Some of the quests are suited more to one specific character, with extra rewards if completed with that character.As you go on, you level each of the characters, and pick up gear that can be used by all three characters.Each map presents a number of challenges and terrains; with a limited carrying capacity, you must decide which gear to take with you.All characters have a set of five stats: Sanity, Temperature, Energy, Oxygen, and Health.Events on the mountain will affect each of these stats. Get caught in a crevasse? Might affect your sanity & health. The further you move without resting, the more energy you use.Climbing during a blizzard, down goes your temperature. When you hit the "Death Zone", your energy & oxygen use increase.Unexpected events can suddenly wipe out your energy, which means that while you can continue moving, the risk of further events shoots up exponentially.When you run out of energy, if you have food in your pack, that might save you, but otherwise you need to rest.Sleeping where you are can recover some energy, but out in the open? Temperature drop. You can carry a tent in your pack that takes up a lot of room, but gives you three safe sleeps before it crumbles to dust. Or you can hightail it towards a cave.Make it to the summit, then to your destination, or fail and die; each time you're returned to the bunker, and "the stranger" to start another loop.For a game I didn't think I'd like, Insurmountable is:5: Excellent#Insurmountable #Roguelike #Adventure #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #PlayOn
(DIR) Post #AhubYQllGXxAACcjfE by grissallia@aus.social
2023-07-11T12:40:19Z
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July 11, 2023 - Day 192 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 212Game: Dark Future: Blood Red StatesPlatform: SteamRelease Date: May 17, 2019Library Date: Jan 5, 2020Unplayed: 1283d (3y6m6d)Playtime: 15mDark Future: Blood Red States is a car-combat RTS based on a TTRPG. Set in an alt-history post-apocalyptic wasteland thanks to the corporations that took over the United States when Nixon beat Kennedy, you are a road warrior, tasked with...Yeah, honestly, I just kind of gave up trying to follow everything after a while.You're a brain in jar, controlling a car that has to fight other cars until a boss car shows up, and if you win, you get cash to upgrade your car and run another mission.Except you do not actually "control" the car. Your brain-in-a-jar tells the AI what to do, and the AI changes lanes, and fires the guns.I did not win the first mission. I did not feel any desire to give it another try. I just found it frustrating to try and manage all the moving parts, before being overwhelmed by other cars while trying to kill the "boss" car.I did not care for it, and it was the first game in a while that I was thankful when I hit the 15 minute mark.Dark Future: Blood Red States is a:1: Nope#RTS #CarCombat #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubYSqnWnAccOzmnA by grissallia@aus.social
2023-07-12T12:55:26Z
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July 12, 2023 - Day 193 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 213Game: Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship EditionPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Aug 22, 2014Library Date: May 17, 2019Unplayed: 1517d (4y1m25d)Playtime: 20mGuacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition (yeah, I'm not retyping that constantly) is not what I expected. It's one of those games I repeatedly skipped over, because I assumed it was a luchador-themed beat-em-up.Turns out it's actually a 2D Día de los Muertos/luchador-themed Metroidvania brawler mashup.For a game that's 9 years old, it doesn't play like a game that old. It feels like it could have been released in the last couple of years, and I think that's largely down to the art-style.It's also multiplayer co-op playable, but I've not had the chance to test that yet.Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition is:4: Good#Guacamelee! #Metroidvania #2D #Platformer #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubYThGNj8bF7XgZM by grissallia@aus.social
2023-07-13T14:42:57Z
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July 13, 2023 - Day 194 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 214Game: GhostrunnerPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Oct 28, 2020Library Date: Jul 18, 2022Unplayed: 360d (11m25d)Playtime: 15mGhostrunner is a first-person sword-slasher game. It is deeply, frustratingly fast.I am deeply, frustratingly, exhausted. I spent most of the evening trying to troubleshoot my PC to find out why it had suddenly turned into a snail. It appears that one of my usual running apps has been "updated" in a way that means I now get 8-10 FPS in-game.This was after the discovery that at some stage recently, Riot games started forcing their POS launcher to automatically run "in the background" if the Xbox app was running.Except it appeared to somehow be triggering a subset of the Xbox app to run, even if the Xbox app wasn't actually running, meaning it was unkillable.Long story short, what Riot began with Valorant's shitty DRM, they finished with this stunt. I still had LoL installed on my machine from when my son tried to convince me to start playing it, so every trace of every piece of Riot's garbage has been wiped off my system.After two hours of this collective bullshit, I barely had enough time to actually play Ghostrunner before midnight.I suspect that I'm just too exhausted at this point to coordinate my hands well enough to not die repeatedly (somewhere close to 60 deaths within 15 minutes). The game helpfully keeps count.I'm going to give Ghostrunner the benefit of the doubt, mark it down for a RePlay, and rate it:3: OK#GhostRunner #FirstPersonSlasher #Parkour #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubYUbyyqVY524yye by grissallia@aus.social
2023-07-15T04:36:39Z
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July 14, 2023 - Day 195 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 215Game: Going UnderPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 24, 2020Library Date: Dec 25, 2022Unplayed: 201d (6m19d)Playtime: 82mGoing Under is a roguelite dungeon crawler set in a late-stage capitalist hellscape and I am absolutely here for it.I got almost 4 hours sleep on Thursday night, and woke up feeling pretty ragged.When I got home from work I was down to one cylinder, and went grocery shopping, then came home ready to crash.I figured I could knock 15 minutes of a game out and then write the review today.Almost an hour and a half later I dragged myself to bed.Dungeon crawlers are traditionally darkly-lit demon-infested horror-crawls, not brightly-lit, cartoonish, horror-crawls. The horror in Going Under comes from the biting satire of late-stage tech-startup capitalism in a VC-funded world, with nods to anyone who's worked in a knowledge worker / IT-related role.The game starts with your first day as an -unpaid- intern (because of course it does), watching an introductory video about your new workplace, a recently acquired subsidiary ("Fizzer") of a multi-national conglomerate ("Cubicle"). You've been assigned to Fizzer by the company's AI (of course), and just as the video gets to the explanation of why no Cubicle employee should never enter the dungeons underneath the Fizzer office, your Project Manager boss assigns you to enter the dungeons underneath the Fizzer office to kill the "monsters" that are invading.The dungeons themselves, and the monsters, are previously acquired start-ups, with names like "Joblin" (a gig worker app), and "Winkydink" (a dating app).Between the roguelite elements and the quests to build up rep with your "mentors", Going Under really nails that "just one more run" feel.Going Under is:5: Excellent#GoingUnder #Roguelite #DungeonCrawler #StartUp #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubYW7vLZeUmO20P2 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-07-15T11:50:45Z
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July 15, 2023 - Day 196 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 216Game: VampyrPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jun 5, 2018Library Date: Sep 25, 2022Unplayed: 293d (9m20d)Playtime: 27mVampyr (or "I don't vant to suck your blood, but I might have to), is an open-world third-person ARPG, set in London during the 1918 Spanish Flu.Yesterday's "I feel like hot garbage due to lack of sleep" turned out to be "Actually, sick. Again." so a game set during the Spanish flu feels vaguely appropriate.The setup of the game is interesting, but gameplay turned out to be a little more frustrating than expected. You're a doctor who wakes up in a mass grave to find he's been turned into a vampire.However, for some reason that I would dig around and find if I was feeling a little less half-dead, any time I turned in game, the experience would make a whip-pan seem positively leisurely in comparison.More than once while I was trying to escape the men pursuing me, and seeking to kill me... again?... in attempting to turn a corner, I'd find myself having turned so fast I was disoriented, or worse still, running TOWARD my pursuers.It hasn't really grabbed me at this point; if I'm in the mood for a supernaturally themed ARPG, I'm more likely to load up Ghostwire: Tokyo than Vampyr, or for vampire-on-vampire violence, probably Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt (at least as long as the servers are live).I'll probably give Vampyr another shot when my hearing isn't going wild, but for now it's:3: OK#Vampyr #ThirdPerson #ARPG #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubYWwGKPuzIVaCrg by grissallia@aus.social
2023-07-16T06:32:20Z
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July 16, 2023 - Day 197 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 217Game: Violations Will Be PunishedPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Mar 4, 2023Library Date: Apr 28, 2023Unplayed: 80d (2m19d)Playtime: 40mViolations Will Be Punished is a dystopian-cyberpunk-themed top-down turn-based strategy game that was free until May, and then became paid.I've been watching Marvel's Secret Invasion in fits and starts, and other than feeling pretty much burned out on cinematic universes, the most disturbing thing about it is the AI-generated content used in the opening credits.It just feels... wrong. Much like doing a search for a technical issue on Google, and hitting a result that initially seems reasonable, and then quickly becomes obvious that the "article" is a vaguely coherent remix of something else, and resulting in frustration.Which brings me back to Violations Will Be Punished, which feels like a dev had some great technical ideas, some great story ideas, and no idea what to do about the graphics, so hit up an off-brand Midjourney clone to generate a bunch of graphics to touch up and drop into their game.The gameplay feels a bit like "what if you took Command and Conquer, stripped it down and turned it into a turn-based-strategy game, and wrapped it in a thick layer of anti-corporate irony. There's some dark humour in the game that I can appreciate, and the gameplay is OK, but the dead-eyed thousand-foot stare of the characters in the cover art and the in-game avatars, and the design inconsistency, definitely gives the impression that all of the characters were spat out by a GAN, and gives the whole thing a slightly unsettling vibe.At the core of this game, it feels like there's something there that could be good, but the execution just makes it all feel a bit:2: Meh#ViolationsWillBePunished #TurnBasedStrategy #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubYY0YLwwcc6b9Bw by grissallia@aus.social
2023-07-17T14:05:56Z
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July 17, 2023 - Day 198 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 218Game: The Outer Worlds: Spacer's Choice EditionPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Mar 8, 2023Library Date: Jul 16, 2023Unplayed: 1dPlaytime: 39mWell, I'm back on my Humble Choice arc again.First cab off the rank, is The Outer Worlds "Spacer's Choice Edition". The Outer Worlds is a first-person ARPG that answers the question "What would the love child of Fallout: New Vegas and Firefly look like?"The "Spacer's Choice Edition" includes all of the DLCs and some graphical spit-and-polish to the original release from October 2019.As it turns out, after turning to Google, I suspect the main reason it feels like that is because it was developed by Obsidian who also developed... Fallout: New Vegas.Once I reached the ship ("The Unreliable") that apparently serves as the main hub of the game, and completed the first quest onboard, I turned around and started exploring the ship. Entering the hold, was an immediate raised-eyebrow moment, as it could have all but been the Serenity. Up the stairs, and further exploring lead me into the galley/dining area, which - once again - could have been lifted straight from Firefly.There are differences, of course; it's obviously a homage, rather than a straight-up lift. With Disney owning Fox, I'm sure the Microsoft-owned Obsidian wasn't looking for a lawsuit.Still, it provides some nice sans-Whedon warm-and-fuzzies.So far -and in 39 minutes, I really didn't get very far, what with the character conversations and all, it seems like a capable ARPG that want to give a bit more time to.It's very polished, and is gently tugging at me to come back and play a bit more, but... alas, the incessant coughing means I really need to try and sleep.The Outer Worlds: Spacer's Choice Edition pretty much justifies the cost of this month's Humble Bundle; it's:4: Good#TheOuterWorlds #FirstPerson #ARPG #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubYYlLXyNIxEUW80 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-07-18T07:45:43Z
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July 18, 2023 - Day 199 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 219Game: Shotgun King: The Final CheckmatePlatform: SteamRelease Date: May 12, 2022Library Date: Jul 18, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 18mThe second review for this month's Humble Choice bundle is, a little confusingly, the eighth game in the list. Every month there are eight games, and the AAA game is the first, and the eighth game is, often, pretty much the bundleware of the game.I figured I'd get Shotgun King: The Final Checkmate out of the way early. The download clocking in at a storage-crushing 63Mb didn't improve my opinion at all.Then I started the game. Low-res. Pixel art. It even has a "CRT effect" with levels of curvature and scanlines. If only the developers had put as much work into the gameplay.Once again, these kind of effects have no attraction to me. I don't look at indie games like this with affection. If you want to pull the nostalgia strings, it has to be worth it.Then I start the game. There's a series of static screens telling the story of the game, and I realise that it feels a lot like a Cinemaware game (ask your grandparent).The evil Black King has lost all of his pawns, bishops, knights, rooks, and even his queen, to the White King (who's offered better job conditions), and now the Black King is out for vengeance, armed with his trusty shotgun....then up comes a chessboard.It's chess, if chess was... a roguelike‽Your king appears on the board, armed with said shotgun, facing a collection of pieces. Each piece moves as their traditional chess counterpart, which means a basic knowledge of chess, while not necessarily required, is certainly going to help.Initially, you can move one square or fire. As you're on the back row, and the shotgun has a firing arc, you want to get closer; getting closer decreases your firing arc, which equals more damage.Then white moves. After you've emptied both barrels, you need to move once to reload, then you can fire again.If you clear the board, or kill the white king, as per chess, it's round over. At the end of each round, you get a choice between two cards, but for each card, there's a card that boosts the white side.Which is where the roguelike strategy comes in.As it turns out, the developers ABSOLUTELY did the work. There are (apparently) 12 rounds to win. I've made it to round 5 twice, and round 4 once. The game will allow you to move into check, and there's a certain level of shame in walking straight into the diagonal path of a pawn, given I've been playing chess for over 40 years.It is with genuine surprise that the eight game in this month's bundle, Shotgun King: The Final Checkmate is actually:4: Good#ShotgunKing #Chess #Roguelike #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubYaEo3vXBWtHYga by grissallia@aus.social
2023-07-19T14:02:15Z
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July 19, 2023 - Day 200 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 220Game: RoadwardenPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 12, 2022Library Date: Jul 18, 2023Unplayed: 1dPlaytime: 23mThe third review for this month's Humble Choice bundle is the fourth game in the bundle, because I wanted something low impact, and Roadwarden looked like it might fit the bill.Another pixel-art based game, but also a mash-up between an RPG, and adventure game, and interactive fiction?Roadwarden is set in a fantasy kingdom of some kind, where you find yourself as the newly appointed "roadwarden". Shocking twist, right there.As far as I can tell, a roadwarden is kind of a jack-of-all-trades who travels between locations in the peninsula, carrying communications, doing odd jobs, killing monsters, and completing the quests the game hands you.It's all rendered in pixel-art shades of brown, but (thankfully) the pages of text you need to read through a rendered in a clean serif typeface (although you can choose a pixel-font if that suits you).It hasn't really grabbed me. It was definitely low-impact, but I'm a bit too tired to read through pages and pages of text.I'll let it sit for a few days, see if it tickles my brain (as some games do), or if I forget about it.Roadwarden is:3: OK#Roadwarden #PixelArt #RPG #TextAdventure #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay #HappyBirthdayDad
(DIR) Post #AhubYbder10VsFuv3o by grissallia@aus.social
2023-07-22T13:03:43Z
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July 20, 2023 - Day 201 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 221Game: TemtemPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 7, 2022Library Date: Jul 18, 2023Unplayed: 2dPlaytime: 29mThe fourth review for this month's Humble Choice bundle is the second game in the bundle, "Temtem".It's a cutesy MMO... Pokémon clone. Pokémon are Temtem, Pokéballs are Temcards, the Pokédex is now a Tempedia, etc etc. Not sure how Nintendo didn't sue (cf. Dinkum & ACNH).The closest I ever got to a Nintendo handheld of my own is a dual-screen Donkey Kong, so I never really got into the Pokémon thing.The closest I got was Pokémon Go, which was OK for a while, but the fun wore off relatively quickly.The thing that worked for me was the real-world aspect of Pokémon Go.Put that into a setting where I have to wander around in a game-world and capture creatures to make them fight other creatures, and it's just really not my thing. I didn't really enjoy it when WoW added it, it's worse when it's the point of the game.Honestly, I'm surprised I even managed to write this much about the game, because I found Temtem to be:2: Meh#Temtem #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubYcPA0P0MFa8r6O by grissallia@aus.social
2023-07-22T13:05:09Z
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July 21, 2023 - Day 202 - No NewPlay ReviewThis review unintentionally left blank due to hyperfocus on upgrading my PC and not even noticing the time until well after midnight, and then suddenly it was 3am.
(DIR) Post #AhubYcwU0VexuvjT2e by grissallia@aus.social
2023-07-23T08:08:26Z
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July 22, 2023 - Day 203 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 222Game: Kraken Academy!!Platform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 11, 2021Library Date: Jul 18, 2023Unplayed: 4dPlaytime: 24mThe fifth review for this month's Humble Choice bundle is the fifth game in the bundle; this was unintentional, but I'm not making this mistake again. I'll come back to the third game at the end of the bundle, because I'm still trying to decide what to do about it.Kraken Academy is a... oh no, yet another retro pixel-art top-down adventure game.I'm not going to fill up another review complaining about how retro games don't do anything for me, unless the gameplay hooks me and gets me past the visual design.I did not get past the visual design.The game has a lot of high-res well designed characters. They pop up in voiceover scenes to move the "action" along, but then the gameplay is back to a pixel sprites.Kraken Academy!! is set in the titular private school, which is so run-down, it justs feels like it's missing Rick yelling at Carl about walkers.You and your sister have been sent there, she hates you, you're there for music, one of the other students is a girl made of broccoli, named Broccoli Girl.Smash bins to collect plastic bottles to trade in for in-game currency. Pick up quests, complete quests, which just feels like a grind to fill up the time. Apparently there's a magical kraken a little bit further into the game, but it was pretty much an exercise in clock-watching. Kraken Academy!! feels like the filler for this month's bundle; for me it's a:1: Nope#KrakenAcademy #PixelArt #Adventure #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubYdPCHkd1LzAOnY by grissallia@aus.social
2023-07-24T13:22:09Z
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July 23, 2023 - Day 204 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 223Game: Merchant of the SkiesPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Apr 17, 2020Library Date: Jul 18, 2023Unplayed: 5dPlaytime: 48mI played yesterday, but due to some unexpected surprises, the review is super-late today.The sixth review for this month's Humble Choice bundle is Merchant of the Skies. It has airships! It has floating sky islands! It has trading! It has pixel-art... again?This time, your in-game avatar is literally Lemming-sized pixels (ask your great-grandparent). I was initially frustrated by encountering another pixel-art game, but Merchant of the Skies had other frustrations in store.This is not a game that teaches you how to play it; when I was as exhausted as I was feeling last night, poking around at things trying to understand what it was I was supposed to do did not spark joy.Oddly enough, as I kept poking away at it, trying to run down the clock, the underlying gameplay mechanics began to reveal themselves, and the gameplay was enough to keep me playing for 45 minutes.This is the kind of thing I was talking about in my Kraken Academy!! review. Pixel art isn't a bad thing, per se, if the gameplay supports it, and in the case of Merchant of the Skies, it works.To the game itself. You have inherited an airship, and your job is to fly from island to island, on a top-down map, buying and selling things, and trading your way to untold riches.It's basically a capitalism/work simulator. At first, unlocking the map and finding different islands felt interesting, but it became monotonous fairly quickly.There are no enemies to attack you in the air, no air piracy. The only real challenges are trying not to run out of gold, and trying to make it to the nearest island without running out of energy, because if your airship runs out of energy, you're doomed!Actually, you're not. You just get towed to the nearest energy station to buy a refill.Unfortunately for Merchant of the Skies, there are other capitalism simulators that are more fun.But kudos for rising above the pixel art, in any case. Merchant of the Skies was ultimately a bit:2: Meh#MerchantOfTheSkies #PixelArt #Trading #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubYemz8nFbe3IuW0 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-07-25T08:16:24Z
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July 24, 2023 - Day 205 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 224Game: OzymandiasPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Apr 17, 2020Library Date: Jul 18, 2023Unplayed: 6dPlaytime: 74mAnother day, another late review. I'm on call this week, which means that it's a little bit trickier to fit in a game and a review, and I had to write yesterday's review. I had enough time to squeeze in 15mins of the second last game in the Humble Bundle.74 minutes later, yeah... After the last two games, I didn't have a lot of hope for Ozymandias. At least it wasn't pixel art?Turns out that Ozymandias is a "stripped down 4X". The first 4X game I tried to play (and failed at) was Reach for the Stars, and I just haven't had a lot of luck since then.Generally, I find there are too many moving parts to keep track of, and I end up stressed out instead of relaxing. Not the good kind of stressed out where I get to through the stress to a win state.The bad kind where I hate every minute of it.Herein lies the surprise with Ozymandias: I had no idea it was a 4X until after I finished playing it, and read the precis for the game on Steam.They've stripped out the bit I dislike, and left me with something that got me hooked and kept me playing *far* later than I should have.The framing is an early 20th century expedition, where you're introduced to the "world" of Ozymandias. The game introduces you to each piece of the gameplay in a single level, and it all comes together into something very playable.It's a top-down strategy game, and the graphics work for the playstyle. Not too simplistic, not overly complex.I just have to make sure I don't start playing again now, because I have somewhere I need to be for dinner.Ozymandias is:4: Good#Ozymandias #4X #Strategy #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubYfqvBdzewY9ZI0 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-07-25T14:49:44Z
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July 25, 2023 - Day 206 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 225Game: Yakuza 4 RemasteredPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jan 29, 2021Library Date: Jul 18, 2023Unplayed: 7dPlaytime: 44mThis is how July's Humble Choice Bundle ends, not with a bang, but a deep sigh.Yakuza 4 Remastered, is the ... fourth... game in the Yakuza/Like A Dragon franchise. Yakuza has a complicated history. There's a release order, and a chronological order, and this was kind of what I was worried when trying to decide whether to play Yakuza 4.Apparently, the generally agreed-upon "best" way to play the Yakuza games is according to the chronological story starting with Yakuza 0, and being dropped straight into Yakuza 4 without the backstory did make it a bit... "Huh?"I have trouble categorising this game, due to a lack of experience to this style of game. Even though my playtime was 44 minutes, I feel like most of that was cutscenes telling the story. It feels a lot like a playable movie, although it seems like technically it's a third-person action-adventure.Seeing that I have Yakuza 0, looks like I might need to head back to the start.So far, Yakuza 4 Remastered is:3: OK#Yakuza4 #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubYgc4MLhvImDDmK by grissallia@aus.social
2023-07-26T10:27:02Z
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July 26, 2023 - Day 207 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 226Game: SamudraPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 29, 2021Library Date: Mar 14, 2023Unplayed: 134d (4m12d)Playtime: 21mSamudra is a sideways scrolling platformer-puzzler set in an underwater world that's riven by pollution.As the game opens, a young child dressed in a Kruegeresque oversized jumper, shorts, sneakers, and... a diving bell... is sinking to the bottom of the ocean. The further they fall, the worse the pollution becomes, until they finally hit the seabed.This is a gorgeous game. The graphics look hand-drawn. The lighting effects are wonderful.Unfortunately, Samudra is beautifully boring with a side-order of frustrating.The controls are simple: WASD (or controller thumbstick), and space (or button A) for actions.As you slowly run across the ocean floor -because you're underwater, wearing a diving bell, without any oxygen hose- you will encounter things that trigger a speech bubble containing an icon above your head. There are literally no instructions. Even the "Controls" in the menu says "You have one button. This action button."Your job is to work out exactly what the hell you're supposed to do, and how... because most of the time, the action button does *nothing*. Until it does. There's no real indication that it's become usable, so I spent a lot of time just mashing it hoping it might suddenly do something.You can't jump... unless you can. You can't interact with things... unless you can. The game is rendered in a lot of dark, underseas tones, with much of the junk littering the ocean floor rendered in various shades of white.It turns out there are indicators built into the environment for when actions are available... and they're also white.Unless they're not available yet, in which case they're a slightly different shade of white.But it's a 2D sideways-scrolling platformer, so at least that's not confusing. Except when it is.I found myself standing on top of a crate; jumping down from the crate triggers a quick time event. You have to jump down. There's nowhere else to go. As you land on top of the slope built out of shipping containers, one hurtles down the slope towards you from the right of the screen.You can't outrun it. You can't jump out of the way. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. I couldn't find any way to avoid it. In frustration I alt-tabbed out to find a walkthrough.It turns out that you need to run *towards* the shipping container, and then use the action button to step into a shadowed nook... in the Z axis.I have no idea what I'm meant to be doing, but worse still, no idea why. Unfortunately, the beautiful atmosphere and look of this game does not compensate for the lack of fun.Samudra is:2: Meh#Samudra #2D #Platformer #Puzzler #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubYhpDqvp53rNEv2 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-07-27T14:39:33Z
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July 27, 2023 - Day 208 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 227Game: The Eternal CylinderPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Oct 14, 2022Library Date: Mar 14, 2023Unplayed: 135d (4m13d)Playtime: 22mThe Eternal Cylinder is a weird game. It's a weird open-world-ish adventure-slash-survival-slash-puzzle game where you play as a little creature called a Trebhum, and you can consume stuff around you in the environment in order to evolve.Which you need to do, to try and stay ahead of the giant unavoidable titular "Eternal Cylinder", which literally crushes everything in it's path.Including you, if you can't get ahead of it, and to one of the towers dotted around the landscape that stop the cylinder. Temporarily.The alien landscape reminds me of the planets in No Man's Sky, but the weirdest thing on the planet's surface might be the Trebhum. These little spehroidal* creatures start out with two eyes and a snout, which which they consume (left mouse button) and expel (right mouse button) things they find around the environment.Some of these things help the little Trebhum evolve new abilities. Like suddenly growing legs with which to jump and run away from the giant, world-crushing cylinder.Fortunately the game autosaves a lot because, y'all gonna need it.All the while, the game is narrated by a friendly & gentle Englishman (who's actually a New Zealand actor, Peter Hadyen), guiding you through the things you need to do to survive.The only reason I stopped playing was because I had my late work shift and a co-worker waiting on me to make the actual phone calls due to my lack of actual voice, otherwise I would have continued playing.The Eternal Cylinder is crushingly:4: Good#TheEternalCylinder #OpenWorld #Survival #Adevnture #Puzzler #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubYiuvnBz2Rr3JSK by grissallia@aus.social
2023-07-29T09:54:10Z
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July 28, 2023 - Day 209 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 228Game: Call of the SeaPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Dec 9, 2020Library Date: Mar 10, 2023Unplayed: 140d (4m18d)Playtime: 5h48mCall of the Sea is a first-person 3D puzzle game, set on an island near Tahiti, in 1934.You play as Norah Everhart, a woman trying to unlock the mystery of the disappearance of her husband on an expedition to this remote island.I bought this game as part of an "International Women's Day" bundle, where all the games have female protagonists. Capitalism will find any excuse for a sale, but in this case, part of the money was going to charity, and I wanted more games with female protagonists, so it felt like a win/win.This is a wonderful game. The graphics are lush and gorgeous, and the puzzles are mostly of the kind that pushed me just enough that I enjoyed them, but not so much that you need to keep a walkthrough open in a web browser. The kind that are satisfying to solve.The kind that kept me playing non-stop until I'd completed the game. The last game that hooked me into playing through in a single session was Firewatch, which is one of my all-time favourite games, and Call of the Sea comes close.The game opens with Norah waking up from an odd dream, in a cabin on a ship, which has just reached its destination.As Norah looks down at her hands, they're covered in small brown blotches, and her voiceover starts talking about her illness. These blotches are symptoms of her illness, and her husband's expedition to this remote -and possibly cursed- island was an attempt to find a cure.It's Norah's illness that is at the core of this game. While to say more would involve spoilers, I think if this were just a puzzle game, I'm not sure it would have hooked me. But Norah's story, the mystery of her illness, but a smart & capable woman who refuses to let her illness define her, and whose relationship with her husband appears to be one of equals, drew me in, and as each puzzle solution revealed a little bit more of the story, I just wanted to solve one more puzzle.The call on Call of the Sea is:5: Excellent* (see next toot - spoilers)#CallOfTheSea #FirstPerson #Adventure #Puzzle #Mystery #FemaleProtagonist #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubYjzZnPIFmYEXKq by grissallia@aus.social
2023-07-29T10:06:18Z
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These are fundamentally game-breaking spoilers, the whole game rests on not knowing what I'm about to say.Don't read on if you want to play (and I really recommend playing it).So while I think Call of the Sea is excellent, the endings of the game left a slightly bitter taste in my mouth.There's a point at the end of the game that you need to make a choice between the two endings. Excellent point to save the game so you can experience both of them.If you play the game, there will be a song at the end of the game. It's worth listening to, as a reprise of the song earlier in the game, but as the screen fades to back, *QUIT THE GAME*. Don't let the final "after the credits" scene play out. Or mute your speakers, and minimise the screen to get the "completion" achievement, but even that is a bitter reminder.***Here Be Huge Spoilers***Norah's husband Harry is alive. The final after credits scene is an epilogue by Harry.After playing as Norah, living Norah's story for almost six hours, Harry's epilogue suddenly makes the game about Harry, and how Norah's departure/death affected Harry's life, and how awful Harry's life is without Norah, and now he only has his work.The epilogue was COMPLETELY unnecessary. Call of the Sea absolutely did not need a "Poor Harry! What about the mens?!" button on it.Anyway, rant over. Otherwise, an excellent game.
(DIR) Post #AhubYkI0gs2ShirG4G by grissallia@aus.social
2023-07-29T12:10:11Z
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July 29, 2023 - Day 210 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 229Game: OthercidePlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jul 8, 2020Library Date: Apr 30, 2023Unplayed: 90d (2m29d)Playtime: 29mWhat's black and white and red all over? Tankies on social media. Also, Othercide.Othercide is a roguelike tactics strategy game with an extremely limited palette. The entire game is in black and white, with shades of red.The game initially starts out in a instructional level set in a gothic-almost-Victorian-London-by-way-of-Lovecraft 1897 where you play as "Mother", the "protector of the veil" -a warrior with Barbie feet (more on that later)- in a tactics battle with a number of supernatural monsters.Towards the end of the battle, Mother sacrifices herself, for reasons that are not entirely clear, other than to set up the rest of the game, but she appears to be trying to stop some greater supernatural evil, called "the other" and represented by "the child"; as the child is obviously not Grogu, I have the assumption that it may, in fact, be her child? In any case, kiddo is a bad seed, and he wants to destroy... everything. Destroying the city in the first battle wasn't quite enough.Then Mother is... kind of... resurrected. Not exactly alive, but... alive-ish? She reforms among innumerable dead bodies piled everywhere, like a naked red Barbie with just as much physical definition, but alarmingly lifelike bare buttocks, and inexplicably, "Barbie" feet that are positioned as if our shoeless Mother is wearing high heels. It's definitely a choice.From here, you find out that through Mother's sacrifice, you are now in some kind on aethereal interstitial plane where you can spawn "daughters", in one of three roles - ranged, melee, or tank.The thing is, in the original version of the game, there was only "Nightmare" mode. There is no healing class, because there is no healing... except for sacrificing another daughter after the battle. The game has since introduced a second mode called "Dream", where as each day passes, each daughter regains 50% of her HP back.Maybe I won't have to sacrifice any daughters. Based on what the game told me, though, that's unlikely. It tells you upfront that dying is part of the game, and you should expect to die. A lot.Red-Barbie-Mother aside, it's quite an interesting game. It doesn't grab me quite as much as some of the other tactics-style games I've played this year, but I can definitely see myself spending some more time with the game when I'm in the mood for something dark and angry.Othercide is pretty:4: Good#Othercide #Tactics #Strategy #Roguelike #FemaleProtagonist #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubYlUSE5aSQbgi6S by grissallia@aus.social
2023-07-30T04:25:40Z
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July 30, 2023 - Day 211 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 230Game: Opus MagnumPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Dec 8, 2017Library Date: May 3, 2020Unplayed: 1184d (3y2m28d)Playtime: 23mOpus Magnum is a programming-puzzle game from Zachtronics. If you've encountered a Zachtronics game before, they're pretty much all along these lines. Well, they were along these lines, because in collecting some details about Opus Magnum, I learned that Zachtronics is no longer making games.There are only a handful of Zachtronics games I don't own at this point. Infinifactory is on my wishlist, and Last Call BBS is available on Xbox Game Pass.Opus Magnum is a puzzle game about programming and... alchemy?Indeed, in Opus Magnum you build and program small machines to make increasingly complex alchemical formulae.It's also a dangerous game for me, because it features my Kryptonite: systemisation & optimisation.I've lost countless hours in these types of games just trying to systemise my processes.But, as I discovered, Opus Magnum has a slightly keener edge. It has leaderboards. Not only am I trying to optimise my designs, but I can see that @tomcat is beating me.It's a good thing I'm in a shooty shooty mood today instead of an optimisation mood, or I could see the rest of my day disappearing in this quirky little puzzle game.The UX is a *little* bit confusing at first. It's not entirely clear how to start the first project. I clicked around on screen for a couple of minutes before unintentionally double-clicking on something I'd clicked on several times, but other than that, it seems pretty straightforward.Opus Magnum seems:4: Good#OpusMagnum #Puzzle #Programming #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubYm4c3eViEkbaSm by grissallia@aus.social
2023-08-01T10:30:43Z
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July 31, 2023 - Day 212 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 231Game: Möbius Front '83Platform: SteamRelease Date: Nov 6, 2020Library Date: July 31, 2022Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 30mAs I mentioned in my Opus Magnum review, I own most of the Zachtronics games. I went through the list, and there were four I don't own, and I recognised Möbius Front '83 as a key I had in my spreadsheet, so I installed it.I read an interview with Zach Barth (not to be confused with Zach Braff) about ending Scrubs.Oops... I mean ending Zachtronics. In it he mentioned that Zachtronics was known for a particular kind of game (correct), and that if he were to go back to development again, he'd want to explore a different genre of game.Ah, there's the rub. I wish him all the best in his future endeavours, but everything about Opus Magnum that endeared the game to me is missing from Möbius Front '83.It took me half an hour to complete the tutorial. I probably could have completed it faster had I not been exhausted, but it just felt like a grind.Möbius Front '83 is a hextile turn-based strategy wargame. You've got infantry squads that can move only move one tile at a time, or shoot, but can move through forests and hide in them to ambush others, and can also load into a troop carrier to go further. In addition, when hiding, they can only be shot at by units in the next tile. Also, they have rocket launchers as well as rifles.The troop carriers can go further, but appear to carry the a single rifle's worth of damage, and you lose a turn when it deploys the troops.Tanks have guns and missiles (?), can move multiple tiles in a single turn, and then shoot in the same turn.That about seems to kind of be it. I was just bored by the end of the tutorial.After finishing a NewPlay, but before writing a review, I'll read one or two other reviews about the game. Not to crib from them, but to see if there's something I missed, some aspect to the game that I would have seen if I'd played longer.It's disappointing how often a game turns out to be more of the same.As such, with Möbius Front '83, it's interesting to note that apparently the game introduces some more interesting sci-fi stuff later in the game; the title isn't just something that sounds vaguely cool, but is actually relevant.Unfortunately, it turns out that my initial feelings aren't that far off the mark. There is quite a bit of a grinding involved to get to that point.Grinding in service of a storyline isn't a bad thing, per se. I played WoW for a very long time, and that's just par for the course. The key is to hook the player with the storyline first. Not just force them to grind.In any case, Möbius Front '83 was a bit of a disappointment as a Zachtronics game. As a turn-based strategy game, it's just:2: Meh#MöbiusFront83 #TurnBased #HexTile #Strategy #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubYnSktNPsXuuNjU by grissallia@aus.social
2023-08-02T13:20:09Z
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August 1, 2023 - Day 213 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 232Game: Shadows of DoubtPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Apr 25, 2023Library Date: Aug 1, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 2hWhen I read a review of Shadows of Doubt a few months ago it absolutely fascinated me. You're a private-investigator in a first-person voxel-based fully-simulated city sandbox, solving crimes, and through that, hunting for a serial killer.I added it to my wishlist, and it came up as a flash-special on one of the sales websites, which in turn I had a voucher than gave me a further 10% off, which meant it was almost half-price.I want to say I love it, but I don't know if I do. It looks wonderful. I fell in love with voxel-based games thanks to Cloudpunk, and Shadows of Doubt has a similar kind of cyberpunk visual flair.By fully simulated, they mean that the area of the city you're in contains NPCs and critical characters that are actively going on with a life, irrelevant of your presence. It felt strangely realistic.Unfortunately it's not an easy game to make headway in, and I don't know if that's a "game" think or a "me" thing.You collect evidence, and you can pin it together Pepe Silvia style, but by the time I decided to quite out, I was feeling like Charlie. I'd collected so much evidence, I felt overwhelmed, and I didn't know what to throw away.However, I was incredibly exhausted, and that probably didn't help at all. It's definitely a game I'm going to go back to, as it's in Early Access and is still being developed.Shadows of Doubt is:3: OK#ShadowsOfDoubt #Voxel #FirstPerson #Mystery #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubYoj6C65GStYwqW by grissallia@aus.social
2023-08-03T09:16:12Z
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August 2, 2023 - Day 214 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 233Game: The Artful EscapePlatform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 10, 2021Library Date: Oct 1, 2022Unplayed: 306d (10m2d)Playtime: 48mDo you wanna rock?I SAID DO YOU WANNA ROCK?!?The Artful Escape is a game about the distance between who you are, and who you want to be. Francis Vendetti is the nephew of a Dylanesque folk singer, and feels trapped in the shadow cast by his long-departed uncle.Living in a small town, where his uncle was the primary export, the town is looking to him to bring back the glory days during the 20th anniversary celebration of his uncle's album.The Artful Escape is essentially a (musical?) platformer, but not in a traditional platformer sense. There are no hit-the-button-at-the-right-time-or-die sequences (at least so far).Once the story gets going, you're required to do some Simon-style pattern matching with the controller buttons, and you do, indeed, get to rock.Graphically, this game is utterly gorgeous, and for a game that is about music, the sound is excellent.The Artful Escape is:4: Good#TheArtfulEscape #Platformer #Music #Adventure #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubYpSpS4fCkixT7o by grissallia@aus.social
2023-08-03T09:56:27Z
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August 3, 2023 - Day 215 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 234Game: Dandara: Trials of Fear EditionPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Feb 7, 2018Library Date: Apr 7, 2019Unplayed: 1579d (4y3m27d)Playtime: 15mDandara: Trials of Fear Edition is a 2D pixel-art Metroidvania platformer. It's not like any other platformer I've played. Instead of running and jumping, as Dandara, you fire yourself from surface to surface, but only the surfaces that are covered in salt.As you move around the map, the map is moving relative to you as well, sometimes rotating through 90 or 180 degrees.After the first couple of levels familiarising you with the controls, the Metroidvania aspect of the game starts to reveal itself, as you make your way back and forth through multiple areas to activate switches to raise and lower platforms covered in salt so you can traverse to the end of the level.You also find yourself armed, to shoot environmental threats and mobs.Unfortunately, it just didn't grab me. I found myself watching the timer waiting for the 15 minutes to be up.Dandara is a:1: Nope#Dandara #Platformer #Metroidvania #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubYqA4rHG4urC0XI by grissallia@aus.social
2023-08-03T21:23:04Z
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August 4, 2023 - Day 216 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 235Game: My Friend PedroPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jun 7, 2019Library Date: Dec 16, 2022Unplayed: 231d (7m19d)Playtime: 20mYou're on your own kid, just you and the psychotic banana.My Friend Pedro is a hyperkinetic shoot-em-up platformer.You're woken up in a mob basement. unarmed, by a talking, floating... banana; I guess the banana is Pedro.Pedro instructs you on how to navigate the levels, with walljumping, crouch-rolling, bullet-time, split shooting.A bit like John Wick, with less coordination, a ridiculous outfit, and a talking banana.You navigate each level via a series of different obstacles, with the ultimate goal (at least at first?) of killing "Mitch the Butcher", mob boss, restauranteur, and cannibal?Apparently you're meant to be the meat.The game is a frenetic ballet of trying to press a whole lot of controller buttons at the right time, and even if you don't checkpoints seem to be plentiful, so it's possible to suck and still make it through the levels on normal mode.At the end of the level you're given a rating; C, C, B, so far, so I guess I'm improving?In any case, this year has improved my controller mastery by far.My Friend Pedro is chaotic:4: Good#MyFriendPedro #Platformer #ShootEmUp #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubYr93Ca1zxxihZg by grissallia@aus.social
2023-08-04T11:57:24Z
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August 4, 2023 - Day 216 - NewPlay Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 236Game: BlasphemousPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 10, 2019Library Date: Aug 4, 2022Unplayed: 365d (1y)Playtime: 17mHappy Birthday to Blasphemous. I didn't realise that I activated it one year ago today. I know that at the time, I took one look at it, didn't even open it. To be honest, I'm glad I didn't.It's another game I wouldn't have been able to appreciate had I not spent all this time working my way through my pile of shame.Blasphemous is a 2D pixel-art soulsvania action-platformer.It is not a pleasant game. Laced in heavy religious themes, you are the "Penitent One" travelling through the land of Cvstodia (not a typo), with your sword "Mea Culpa".There are locations where you can save, which cause your enemies to respawn, and when you die, you need to go back to collect your stuff. So... soulsvania, I guess?After killing the first boss, you take off your giant pointy eyeless helmet, and fill it with the blood pouring out of him.Then you put it on.This is actually a game I could see myself playing, in the right mood. Just a kind-of specific one.Blasphemous is:3: OK#Blasphemous #Platformer #Soulsvania #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubYsQSRLY7wEs7LU by grissallia@aus.social
2023-08-05T11:46:19Z
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August 5, 2023 - Day 217 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 237Game: Titanfall 2Platform: SteamRelease Date: Oct 28, 2016Library Date: Nov 25, 2022Unplayed: 253d (8m11d)Playtime: 78mTitanfall 2 is a first person shooter with mechs. While it has a multiplayer mode, I was focused on trying the campaign.Technically, this is not the first time I've played Titanfall 2. I attempted to play it via Gamepass on the Xbox a few years ago, and try as I might, I just couldn't coordinate on the controller in any way that felt playable.It was one of those games that I'd heard people rave about, and when it came up on deep sale late last year, I took the bait.A seven year old game, with mouse and keyboard?Yeah, that's the good stuff. Wall-running, which is a critical part of this Titanfall 2, went from making me want to throw the controller in frustration to something fluid and fun.The gunplay while in pilot mode is incredibly satisfying. The guns feel weighty, and the sniper rifle in particular has a wonderful heft to it; putting a sniper round into a drone is particularly enjoyable.By the end of my 78 minutes, I'd just loaded into the mech and completed the first mission, with the mech's abilities being a lot of fun, particularly the "catch all the projectiles and return-to-sender" ability.Titanfall 2 seems:4: Good#Titanfall2 #FirstPerson #FPS #Mechs #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubYt9pidqUCy6M4W by grissallia@aus.social
2023-08-05T21:52:49Z
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August 6, 2023 - Day 218 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 238Game: Builder SimulatorPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jun 10, 2022Library Date: Jun 4, 2023Unplayed: 63d (2m2d)Playtime: 16mBuilder Simulator is a first-person work simulator, and most work simulators suck.In my experience there are two kinds of games I describe as work simulators.The first involves cleaning. I'm not sure why, but when I was experiencing quite a dark time in my mental health, I discovered House Flipper. Leaving aside the real-world ethics of house-flipping, the game is essentially a cleaning & decorating sim.Power Wash Simulator is another oddly satisfying work sim.Building Simulator... is not.Building Simulator opens with your new assistant, Bill Derr. Mmm, I love the smell of bad puns in the morning (I do not.).Bill Derr is Claptrap from Borderlands mashed up with a cement mixer, and the annoying dialed up to ten.Bill's role is -apparently- to tell you how to play the game. I found myself in the middle of nowhere, with an outline on the ground that I had to turn into a foundation.A cement mixer, a wheelbarrow, a couple of piles of sand, and gravel, and... "OK, now build".I spent the next few minutes poking around trying to work out exactly what I had to do. Eventually I dug into the options menu to find the controls to see if there was something I was missing, and it turns out that the tools menu is accessible through the middle mouse button.If only there was some kind of in-game character to provide that sort of instruction.Once I had access to the tools, grab shovel, dig out the marked outline, buy formwork through your handy tablet computer.How much? Who knows. Not enough, not enough, too much. Install formwork. Sell overpurchased formwork back to story. Buy reinforcement. Rinse and repeat. Now make concrete. Fill wheelbarrow with concrete. Lay foundation.Look, there's probably someone out there who finds deep levels of satisfaction in this. It's just not me.There's something soothing about cleaning work sims that I don't experience in this kind of work sim. I got to play the beta of PC Building Simulator 2, and having actually run my own real-world computer store for several years, I found it teeth-grindingly frustrating.The biggest problem with Building Simulator is that it's just like starting a new job, where no-one will tell you anything, and you just need to poke at things until you get what's going on.I have a job, I don't need to simulate having a second one.Building Simulator?:1: Nope#BuildingSimulator #FirstPerson #Simulator #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubYuOl6dNY3Y5myW by grissallia@aus.social
2023-08-06T04:10:45Z
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August 6, 2023 - Day 218 - RePlay ReviewTotal RePlays: 6Game: Disco Elysium - The Final CutPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Oct 16, 2019Library Date: Nov 9, 2021Playtime: 1h12m (Total: 3h) Disco Elysium - The Final Cut is an upgraded version of the original Disco Elysium, a detective RPG. It's one of those games that seemingly everyone raves about. Reviews all give it a 9 or 10 out of 10.It's the first game in the August Humble Choice bundle, and a curious choice for a AAA game, as most people who would be interested in it would already own it.I've tried to get into it twice previously, and it just didn't click for me. I'd racked up 108 minutes of playtime, and just sat there in my library, taking up space.The necessity to review it meant starting over again, and turns out to be third-time lucky. This time it clicked. Not sure what the difference is, but I "get" it now.It's a largely text-driven affair, and I now understand that the dice-role checks are taken from tabletop RPGs, which makes a little more sense of what's going on.You play a cop who wakes up drunk and with amnesia in a wrecked apartment. You, the as-yet nameless cop are in a pretty bad way, and your mission is to find out who murdered the man hanging in the tree behind the hotel where you woke up, and who you are.It seems like you're not a very nice guy.I paid more attention to the dialogue choices this time around, and nobody (including yourself) respects you, and as it turns out, you're on the verge of resigning.Thank goodness for autosaves, because I've twice triggered an unintentional resignation from the police force, and ended the game unexpectedly.Disco Elysium - The Final Cut is:4: Good#DiscoElysium #ThirdPerson #RPG #Detective #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #RePlay
(DIR) Post #AhubYvEryt3wfATPCS by grissallia@aus.social
2023-08-07T13:00:04Z
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August 7, 2023 - Day 219 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 239Game: Chivalry IIPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jun 12, 2022Library Date: Aug 4, 2023Unplayed: 3dPlaytime: 28mSometimes the reveal of the Humble Bundle on the first Tuesday of the month is a pleasant surprise. Sometimes, it's a case of finding I already have the AAA game in the bundle.Then there's months like this, where I was overjoyed* to see the second game in the bundle.Chivalry II.On December 28th last year, in what was the predecessor to this project, my personal rating on the predecessor, Chivalry: Medieval Warfare was "Meh".It was DirectX 9, laggy as hell, and I didn't even complete the tutorial. Does Chivalry II turn me into a fan?First up, like Temtem last month, Chivalry II is primarily a multiplayer game. If I were a cynical woman, I might infer that there are some devs looking to the Humble Bundle there trying to goose the player base on their games.Chivalry II is a first-person OR third-person medieval battle simulator.There's no single-player campaign, just a somewhat frustrating tutorial to go through before being thrust onto a multiplayer battlefield.It's said that trying to create art with a mouse is like trying to draw with a bar of soap, and trying to swing a sword with a bar of soap is worse.On the off hand that it worked better with a controller, I tried the tutorial with a controller instead. It was not better.There were points during the tutorial where I was doing exactly as instructed, and not succeeding.At one point, I had to block two opponents, and then move the mouse to the left to slash left.The sword slashed right. I tried repeatedly, eventually figuring I was moving the mouse to the wrong left. I moved it to my other left.The sword slashed right.Eventually, mercifully, I made it through the tutorial, and onto the battlefield. At least I could show my mettle, and my metal, against a field full of human opponents.Ah, no.That would be a field full of bots. 63 bots and me.But it was fun, right?Nope. It was not even that.Frantically trying to remember all the different ways to block and riposte, and heavy attack and light attack, and it was a lot easier to die than to fight.I dropped my weapon, and walked away from the battlefield, with no desire to return. I'll cash in the trading cards, and then get 25Gb of NVMe space back.Chivalry II is a:1: Nope#ChivalryII #MultiPlayer #MeleeCombat #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubYwNPkbUYBxTk9o by grissallia@aus.social
2023-08-07T14:54:51Z
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August 7, 2023 - Day 219 - RePlay ReviewTotal RePlays: 7Game: Road 96Platform: SteamRelease Date: Aug 16, 2021Library Date: Nov 16, 2021Playtime: 40m (Total: 3h) Road 96 is a cel-shaded procedurally generated first-person adventure RPG set in a vaguely midwest alt-American quasi-dictatorship in the summer of 1996.It is the third game in the August Humble Choice bundle, and the second of the games that I already owned, having bought it three months after it came out.You play a succession of teenaged runaways attempting to escape cross-country by whatever means possible to reach the titular Road 96, the one route out of the country.As you make each journey, you encounter a cast of characters, slowly piecing together their backstories as you make each journey.Each journey can end in arrest, or (apparently) death, or escape.So far, my first two chapters have resulted in being arrested each time, so at least I'm not dead?The soundtrack is quite wonderful, and I find the storyline quite moving.Between this and Disco Elysium, I think either game justifies this month's bundle, but if you don't have either, it's a definite buy. Even if you do end up with Chivalry II as well.Road 96 is:5: Excellent#Road96 #FirstPerson #Adventure #RPG #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #RePlay
(DIR) Post #AhubYx6R3DVKRaXhKa by grissallia@aus.social
2023-08-08T10:45:44Z
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August 8, 2023 - Day 220 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 240Game: Trek to YomiPlatform: SteamRelease Date: May 5, 2022Library Date: Aug 4, 2023Unplayed: 4dPlaytime: 29mTrek to Yomi is a side-scrolling action game, where you play as a samurai set on vengeance.Two days in a row, two sword-based action games, and they could not be more different.There is an elegance to a katana that's just not there with a broadsword, and comparing these two games side by side is eye-opening.The look of Trek to Yomi took me by surprise. It's set in black and white, as if it was a Kurosawa film (with film effects and everything). While it's technically side-scrolling, the opening tutorial of the game has you walking towards and away from the camera in the Z-axis as well, giving the game a beautiful sense of three dimensions.The sound is lush and gorgeous, and the controls are intuitive. There aren't a dozen different combinations to remember, just a few, which makes the swordplay come to life. I very quickly found myself instinctively weaving and blocking, rotating to face another enemy and seeing him off.I'd seen Trek to Yomi mentioned a few times since it was released, but the idea of playing a game in black and white as an Edo period samurai didn't grab me at all.Yet as soon as I'm finished writing this review, I'm going back to play some more.Trek to Yomi is:5: Excellent#TrekToYomi #SideScroller #Samurai #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubYyOCGfJ2QxrOee by grissallia@aus.social
2023-08-09T22:00:22Z
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August 9, 2023 - Day 221 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 241Game: Arcade ParadisePlatform: SteamRelease Date: Aug 11, 2022Library Date: Aug 4, 2023Unplayed: 5dPlaytime: 54mThere comes a time in every monthly Humble Bundle where you hit the cruft. The games they chose to pad out the bundle to eight games....and so we come to Arcade Paradise, game number five.This is not that game.I really didn't expect much of this from the title. The apparent love of retro games by indie devs is lost on me, and going on the name and the artwork, I made the assumption that this was going to be something a la Capcom's "Arcade Stadium" with a bunch of retro-styled games, and maybe some vague narrative thread to string them together.Having just finished re-assembling my PC at 11:45pm, I figured I'd put in my 15 minutes and write the review later.The game intro didn't do much to assuage my fears. A bunch of hand-drawn animated graphics. Not *badly* done, but I've been burned before.The intro ends, and the screen morphs into... full first-person high resolution 3D.*blink* wut.This is a pleasant surprise.As it turns out, Arcade Paradise is a love letter to retro arcade games, wrapped in a business sim.As 19yo college dropout Ashley, you've been handed the keys to one of your father's run-down laundromats, in the hope that you'll "make something" of yourself.The game opens with you dropped off by the bus in front of said laundromat, with a series of answering machine messages from your father telling you each step of managing the laundromat.Hope you don't mind doing laundry, kid. There's a lot of it to do. There's also cleaning, garbage collection, maintenance, and emptying coin hoppers.Oh, and there are a couple of arcade machines in the back room.This is the heart of the narrative. Yes, you need to do all that stuff in the laundromat, working long days, to earn money... so that you can afford to buy more arcade machines, and prove to dad that there's more to life than just the grind of doing laundry.I was hooked, and am tired this morning as a result.There are some things that frustrate me about the gameplay. The "opening the safe" process gets old *very* quickly. The inability to interact with the garbage piled outside the laundromat just annoys me.I WANT TO CLEAN IT UP. There are empty vending machines that I want to fill, and cannot interact with. I don't just want to build the arcade, I also want to clean up and renovate the laundromat, but that's a "me" thing.Ironically, you can also play the arcade games themselves, something that just doesn't grab me at all, but that's OK by me.In a completely unexpected twist, Arcade Paradise is:4: Good#ArcadeParadise #FirstPerson #Simulation #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubYyn0mP9hfvTDKi by grissallia@aus.social
2023-08-10T13:00:20Z
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August 10, 2023 - Day 222 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 242Game: SuchARTPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Aug 14, 2022Library Date: Aug 4, 2023Unplayed: 6dPlaytime: 1h44mGame number six: SuchART.I figured this might be the game where I sigh, and force myself to 15 minutes and write my little review.Almost two hours later...Conceptually, this game is much like Passpartout: The Starving Artist that really surprised me back in January.Instead of a humble garage in Paris, you find yourself in a future where all art is created by robots, and realising the dead end of this, real live artists are being sponsored to create real art, with real paints and canvases......based on a space station.It's a cute twist. You're supplied with everything required to make basic art, and you can paint commissions or just create paintings and sell them in the "marketplace" (no other players required).My first commission was a request for a unicorn from my sister.It was a very bad unicorn. She loved it. Of course.You can pretty much grind out anything, and it will be accepted and loved by those who commissioned it.White polar bear in a snowstorm doesn't cut it though.You have to put *something* on the canvas.I kept painting, and churning out crap to complete quests and level up. It was kind of fun, and a chill way to kill some time.Then... I saw something. An idea. An actual idea. In fiddling around with the in-game tools, something unlocked, and I found myself frantically grabbing paints and rollers and brushes, and a water pistol filled with paint, and *creating*.When I was done, I sat back in my chair, and just loved that thing I'd created.SuchART is:5: Excellent#SuchART #FirstPerson #Art #Simulation #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZ0QOhSFqkMuBMW by grissallia@aus.social
2023-08-11T12:01:40Z
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August 11, 2023 - Day 223 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 243Game: Tin CanPlatform: SteamRelease Date: May 13, 2022Library Date: Aug 4, 2023Unplayed: 7dPlaytime: 25mTin Can is game number seven in this month's Humble Choice bundle, and answers the question, "What if Breathedge, but serious?"Tin Can is a first-person space survival sim. Your goal is to survive as long as possible in real time.The tutorial walks you (an on-board janitor) through the basic systems of the escape pod through a set of cute over-the-radio interactions with an on-board engineer who has to be in two places at once, and seconds you a few times to run through some repairs, then diagnostics, then troubleshooting.Then the ship starts to explode, and suddenly you need to be in that escape pod.You have a handful of spare parts, a technical manual, and a few minutes to solve whatever problem the escape pod is experiencing before that problem kills you.The game tells you upfront that you will die. A lot.I wouldn't describe it as fun, per se; it's stressful, but very engaging. With only one game left in this month's bundle, I'm genuinely surprised at the number of bangers this time around.If you don't already own the games I reckon you can't go wrong dropping AUD$17 on the bundle, even if the final game turns out to be a fizzer.Tin Can is:4: Good#TinCan #FirstPerson #Survival #Simulation #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZ1L7IZcnaHRTlo by grissallia@aus.social
2023-08-12T06:41:59Z
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August 12, 2023 - Day 224 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 244Game: Hot BrassPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Feb 17, 2021Library Date: Aug 4, 2023Unplayed: 8dPlaytime: 16mHot Brass is the final game in this month's Humble Choice bundle, and answers the question, "What if Rainbow Six Siege was a top-down game about SWAT cops?"I'll start out with saying I'm wary about reviewing this, purely on the basis of it being by a local Melbourne developer, and if I rip it to shreds, I feel like there's a chance that I probably know someone who knows someone.However, I need to get this out of the way. I cognitively understand why "ACAB" is a thing, yet I still struggle to reconcile it personally with some people I know who are very much C, but very much not B.However, one cannot get away from the fact that SWAT teams are militarised police, and Hot Brass is a SWAT team simulator, so TCAB.On a purely gameplay front, I wasn't quite sure how to make sense of the game, but a couple of minutes of the tutorial and I was ready to jump ahead and into the game.It's much the same as most first or third-person shooters: WASD movement, CTRL to crouch, point weapons with mouse. Space to sprint is an odd choice, though. 1 & 2 to switch between primary & secondary, 3 & 4 for flashbang & door breach charge.Right-click to yell at a non-compliant suspect... F to tase a suspect into compliance, E to handcuff a compliant suspect......it got ugly quickly.I tried to just play without thinking about it too much, but I couldn't compartmentalise.I've lived with depression and anxiety for most of my adult life, and my late Dx for autism explained a lot of that. I'm trans.I'm now painfully aware in a way that I wasn't when I was younger that there are several different aspects of my identity in which an encounter with police could end badly for me, and I still have the privilege that comes from being white and educated.I'm not Breonna Taylor, or Elijah McClain, or Eric Parsa, or Maddie Hoffman, or Clare Nowland. These names and more are burned into my brain, countering the lifelong messaging that the police are there to protect me.As I breach the door in the first mission, then start yelling at someone expressing thanks that the police have arrived, followed by handcuffing them, it's all a bit too visceral, even as a top-down game with my character represented by a circle with a MP5 icon. I'm not having fun. The mechanics of the game are well executed, and on a purely technical level, it seems like a good game. Some of the illustrations in the loading screens are... I can see a lot of effort and love went into them, and I'll leave it there.Unfortunately, I can't enjoy playing as a cop; Hot Brass is:2: Meh#HotBrass #TopDown #Shooter #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZ2XCr6tDI46eFk by grissallia@aus.social
2023-08-13T11:14:14Z
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August 13, 2023 - Day 225 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 245Game: Save RoomPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Apr 28, 2022Library Date: Sep 11, 2022Unplayed: 336d (11m2d)Playtime: 32mSave Room is a military-themed organisational puzzle game.It's pretty simple. You have a case. You have X amount of space in the case. You have guns, and ammo. Make everything fit, with nothing left over.Later on you get extra bits and pieces. You have a health meter, and sometimes you have things that add and take away from health, and you might have to take away from your health with an item and then replenish your health with a booster, thus using up both items.There's actually not a lot to say here. It's a fun little puzzle game, and not a bad way to chill out and kill some time.Save Room is:3: OK#SaveRoom #Puzzle #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZ370hzWt56rF3o by grissallia@aus.social
2023-08-14T10:07:28Z
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August 14, 2023 - Day 226 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 246Game: SubmergedPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Aug 4, 2015Library Date: May 13, 2023Unplayed: 93d (3m1d)Playtime: 24mSubmerged is an third-person post-apocalyptic open-world exploration game. You play as a young girl, Miku, who is trying to save her brother's life, and to do so, must sail around a submerged city, climbing the buildings and exploring the ruins to locate crates containing survival items.It's very pretty, but based on my movement through the game so far, it seems like it will be a reasonably short game that won't outstay its welcome.I think the sail->search->climb->find gameplay loop could get pretty old pretty quickly.As you move through the story, you uncover pieces of Miku & her brother's story, and the story of what happened to the city in the form of pictographs, and as you explore, there are 60 collectables to find.Submerged is:3: OK#Submerged #ThirdPerson #OpenWorld #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZ4Ks9wDCsOLpJ2 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-08-15T10:23:12Z
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August 15, 2023 - Day 227 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 247Game: The Stillness of the WindPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Feb 8, 2019Library Date: Jun 5, 2023Unplayed: 71d (2m10d)Playtime: 22mThe Stillness of the Wind is a third-person game about loss and getting old.Talma lives alone on her farm in the middle of nowhere, with a couple of goats, and a few chickens.This is a very quiet game, that involves just... living. As Talma, you milk the goats & make cheese. You collect eggs from the chickens, and mushrooms from under the windmill. You plant seeds, and collect water from the well, to water them. You cook dinner, read a letter should one come, and go to bed to start over.Rendered in warm watercolour tones, you feel Talma's age as she makes her way around her tiny farm. Various items bring memories to mind, and several of them are quite sad.This is not a game to play for fun. It evoked in me a sense of melancholy and loneliness.I will probably play it through to completion, but when I'm in the right frame of mind to engage with it.The Stillness of the Wind is:3: OK#TheStillnessOfTheWind #ThirdPerson #CozyGaming #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZ56jI0UdGok2ts by grissallia@aus.social
2023-08-16T23:37:20Z
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August 16, 2023 - Day 228 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 248Game: Praey for the GodsPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Dec 15, 2021Library Date: Mar 10, 2023Unplayed: 159d (5m6d)Playtime: 29mPraey for the Gods is a third-person "open-world" boss-climbing adventure game.Set in a harsh frozen post-apocalyptic wilderness, you play a nameless woman on a quest to kill the "Gods" in an attempt to try and save your world.I bought this as part of the "Humble Heroines" bundle in March, and had no idea what the game was about. I started playing at 11:58pm last night.After playing it, I was still struggling to grapple with understanding exactly what was going on.Apparently, the game is inspired by a PS2 / PS4 game called "Shadow of the Colossus"; the PS2 version was released in 2005, and remade for the PS4 in 2018. I have no experience with that game either, & I feel like the devs expect the player to be familiar with the concepts underlying the gameplay.The game opens with an intro giving the basic concept of the world, & the "gods", after which you find yourself in a tutorial level that guides you through navigation & interaction; you progress through a map, interacting with various items along the way, including a pull-switch that you "attack" to open doors and activate items.Until suddenly it doesn't.I activated one of these switches as I had several times before, and instead of moving into the next section, I was somewhere else entirely different, with nothing in common with the environment I'd just been in (that would give me some clue to how I'd arrived there), with a skyscraper-sized monster trying to kill me.I'm unarmed.At this point, I'm glad I'd left the difficulty set to the easiest level, because otherwise I would have been dead. A lot.After punching the monster proved ineffective, I eventually realised that maybe I could climb out of the way.Success.After an eternity of sluggish climbing, there was a switch at the top which activated a bell that affected the monster.At which point I noticed that the monster had three of the switches attached to its body. Turns out you can climb the monster too.Did I mention that climbing is sluggish and awkward?These boss fights are the core of the game, and the core gameplay is just frustrating. Each time you attack the boss with one of these switches, which you need to do multiple times for each switch, it tries to shake you off, so you need to wildly tap a button to stay on.This drains your stamina, until you get knocked off and have to climb back up again, frustratingly grinding your way to killing the boss.The game is a good looking game, and apparently open-world with a "survival" mechanic as well, but with feeling like I'm just grinding to achieve anything, it doesn't feel worth the effort.Praey for the Gods is:2: Meh#PraeyForTheGods #ThirdPerson #Adventure #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZ5zK12A608Hdzc by grissallia@aus.social
2023-08-18T09:16:17Z
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August 17, 2023 - Day 229 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 249Game: Mutant Year Zero: Road to EdenPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Dec 4, 2018Library Date: Apr 7, 2019Unplayed: 1593d (4y4m10d)Playtime: 45mMutant Year Zero: Road to Eden is an adventure/tactical RPG with exploration & stealth elements, set in a post-apocalyptic Earth.You control a team of humanoid/animal mutants called "stalkers" who scavenge the wastelands (called "The Zone") for resources to keep the last human refuge, "The Ark" running.In terms of gameplay, it feels similar to other tactics RPGs I've played this year, and like many of those, it drew me in.Even so, attacks have to be planned out carefully, and regular manual saves are necessary; it was late last night when I played it, but I don't think there's any autosaving.Initially, your team consists of two characters, a humanoid boar named Bormin, and a humanoid duck named Dux. A lot of effort went into character names, apparently.You find yourself on the map exploring in the dark; you can use a torch to explore, or turn it off to stealth around. Sometimes you're in stealth to split up and ambush the "ghouls" of The Zone, sometimes it's to avoid enemies that are so many levels above you, you have to sneak past them.The overgrown post-apocalyptic environment is well executed, and this is yet another game I can see myself returning to; I wish I hadn't left it so long to play.Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden is:4: Good#MutantYearZero #TacticalRPG #Adventure #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZ704FkLv8jdknI by grissallia@aus.social
2023-08-18T13:30:41Z
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August 18, 2023 - Day 230 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 250Game: Darksiders Warmastered Edition Platform: SteamRelease Date: Nov 30, 2016Library Date: Dec 4, 2018Unplayed: 1718d (4y8m14d)Playtime: 27mDarksiders Warmastered Edition is a remastered version of the original Darksiders released in 2010. It's a third-person hack-and-slash action-adventure.The game opens with a explanation of the universe of the game; For eons, heaven and hell were at war, until "The Council" brought the war to a standstill. The Council had their own four-person army to take down anyone from either side who broke the law.The army? The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.After a period of time, humans arose, and it was predicted that one day Heaven, Hell, and Humans would engage in a final battle when the seventh seal was broken (a lot of repurposed religious imagery here). The game opens to a scene of world wide devastation, as meteor strikes across the planet turn out to be monster demons attacking humans, angels attack monsters, humans running around and dying a lot, and then you show up."You" being one of the Four Horsemen: War.Angry looking dude with glowing eyes, long blond hair, and a huge sword. You take down demons and angels left and right, until you get smushed by a big demon in a boss battle.Then you show up in front of the council, and they're kind of unhappy, and blaming you for the battle, as you weren't supposed to show up until the seventh seal was broken, and the seventh seal is intact.Basically, War has been set up.Playing with keyboard and mouse, the controls feel a little bit sloppy, and habitually going for the shift key to sprint doesn't work well when the shift key is set to focus fire.With a little bit more playtime it might feel a little bit better, but I don't know if it's because it's a seven year old remaster of a thirteen year old game, or it's just overly bombastic, but it's not grabbing me and yelling "keep playing", but there's something interesting there.Darksiders Warmastered Edition is:3: OK#Darksiders #HackAndSlash #ActionAdventure #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZ7tMw8aXuFVuzY by grissallia@aus.social
2023-08-19T09:56:34Z
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August 19, 2023 - Day 231 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 251Game: Glass Masquerade Platform: SteamRelease Date: Nov 19, 2016Library Date: Aug 19, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 1h10mGiven today's exhaustion levels, I wanted something simple to play, and it just so happened that I got an email that Glass Masquerade was on special, as it's been on my wishlist for some time.Glass Masquerade is a gorgeous stained-glass puzzle game, in which you're presented with a shape that you need to fill in with a series of random pieces arrayed around the outside of the play area, on two concentric "trays", with very much of a jigsaw puzzle vibe (without being a jigsaw).The only downside is that it can be frustratingly fiddly to rotate the trays to find the piece you want.It's beautiful, with a chilled soundtrack, and a great way to just kick back and relax when that's what I need.Glass Masquerade is:4: Good#GlassMasquerade #StainedGlass #Puzzle #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZ8ZCQc35zz5KC0 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-08-20T08:51:13Z
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August 20, 2023 - Day 232 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 252Game: Hotshot RacingPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 11, 2020Library Date: May 13, 2023Unplayed: 99d (3m7d)Playtime: 18mHotshot Racing is a intensely colourful polygon-based retro arcade racing game.In May a couple of games I wanted came up in a Fanatical Bundle, where the more games you bought, the cheaper each game was; buying three games was the minimum bundle level. Hotshot Racing was the filler game I added to the bundle to hit that level.I love a good arcade racer. Hotshot Racing is not a good arcade racer.Again, I have no love for retro-style graphics, but if the driving was good, I could get past the graphics.The driving is not great either. The AI-driven cars are incredibly aggressive for a game that's meant to be a racer, and not something like Wreckfest.Getting out in front of the other cars is always temporary, because they magically catch up every time... then immediately try and run you off the road.The same two AI drivers in each race would box me in and bounce me, no matter if I got ahead of them or not.It was just a frustrating 18 minutes of racing that I would have preferred to have spent in Forza Horizon or Wreckfest.Hotshot Racing is:2: Meh#HotshotRacing #ArcadeRacing #Retro #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZ9mLvCAFl4FLKi by grissallia@aus.social
2023-08-21T13:15:05Z
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August 21, 2023 - Day 233 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 253Game: Golden LightPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Mar 12, 2022Library Date: Apr 2, 2023Unplayed: 141d (4m19d)Playtime: 22mGolden Light is, in the description provided by the developer, a "Survival-Horror FPS Prop Hunt Roguelike about meat".Honestly, I need to let the devs describe it, because I couldn't.It's a pixelated bitmapped mess. It uses procedural generation to decide what something you pick up will do each run. You're apparently in some monstrous "gut", and you can eat anything you pick up.There are weapons, but if you use them, you'll make the gut angry.You can eat the weapons. They might do something good. They might do something bad. They might do nothing at all.Some props will turn into vaguely defined and difficult to identify monsters. The graphics are awful. "Meat" panels randomly appear on badly lit walls.I viscerally hate this game, pun intended. This is the third-worst game I've played this year. I cannot understand how anyone would enjoy this, let alone rate it 9/10.It came as part of the March Humble Bundle, and I'm just glad that I didn't buy it by choice.Golden Light is:1: Nope#GoldenLight #HorrorSurvival #FPS #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZApvzMcj2SviYS by grissallia@aus.social
2023-08-22T13:50:35Z
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August 22, 2023 - Day 234 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 254Game: Desktop Dungeons Enhanced EditionPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Apr 19, 2023Library Date: Apr 18, 2023Unplayed: 126d (4m4d)Playtime: 32mDesktop Dungeons Enhanced Edition is an updated version of Desktop Dungeons (Nov 7, 2013). I'm not exactly sure what makes it "Enhanced", but it was given away free earlier in the year, and if you owned this, you got the sequel "Desktop Dungeons: Rewind" for free, which seemed like a deal that was too good to be true.Desktop Dungeons is a top-down bitmap pixel-art roguelike dungeon crawler puzzle game.It's also a great example of a game where the gameplay overcomes my dislike of pixel-art games.In one sense, it's a pretty standard dungeon crawler. Explore the dungeon, attack mobs. However, each square you uncover goes towards refilling your health and mana. You need to explore the fog of war to find mobs, but if you clear the fog of war and then try and kill the mobs, you're gonna have a bad time.It took me a few goes to get through the first level, but by the time I did, I was hooked. Between dungeons there's some resource management and basic city-building going on, but the game is designed to be played in short chunks.Desktop Dungeons Enhanced Edition is:4: Good#DesktopDungeons #TopDown #DungeonCrawler #Puzzle #PixelArt #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZBZJGev5JC9xHU by grissallia@aus.social
2023-08-23T12:20:02Z
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August 23, 2023 - Day 235 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 255Game: Desktop Dungeons: RewindPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Apr 19, 2023Library Date: Apr 19, 2023Unplayed: 126d (4m4d)Playtime: 23mDesktop Dungeons: Rewind is Desktop Dungeons Enhanced Edition in 3D.Literally.Gone are the pixel-art bitmaps, replaced by glorious detailed 3D artwork.The gameplay is (at least at this point) identical.Like, last night I played through the first map multiple times before I understood it and beat it.Tonight, exactly the same map, with the same mobs, and the same drops, but all in 3D.So: Desktop Dungeons: Rewind is an isometric 3D roguelike dungeon crawler puzzle game.Where last night it was a great example of a game where the gameplay overcomes my dislike of pixel-art games, now the fun gameplay is also pretty.Still a pretty standard dungeon crawler. Explore the dungeon, attack mobs. However, each square you uncover goes towards refilling your health and mana. You need to explore the fog of war to find mobs, but if you clear the fog of war and then try and kill the mobs, you're gonna have a bad time.I cleared the first level with exactly the same strategy I used last night, still hooked. The only reason I didn't keep playing was that it ran into my actual work shift.Between dungeons there's some resource management and basic city-building going on, but the game is designed to be played in short chunks. No change, just prettier city-building, in 3D!In a shocking and surprising turn of events, Desktop Dungeons: Rewind is:4: Good#DesktopDungeons #Isometric #DungeonCrawler #Puzzle #3D #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZCtCMCQHPATLv6 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-08-24T13:39:33Z
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August 24, 2023 - Day 236 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 256Game: Shred! 2 - ft Sam PilgrimPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Dec 18, 2018Library Date: Aug 9, 2023Unplayed: 15dPlaytime: 19mShred! 2 - ft Sam Pilgrim is a 2.5D mountain bike game. I'm not sure simulator quite fits.Firstly, I don't know who Sam Pilgrim is, and I don't really care to find out. I assume he's the mountain biker you play in-game.I got an email for a 5-game bundle from Fanatical a couple of weeks ago, and as I wanted one game in the bundle, and $8.00 for 5 games was cheaper than that game on its own, I bought the bundle.I have a terrible sense of balance which means that riding a bike is a chore, and pulling stunts or tricks is utterly impossible.Riding a skateboard (or anything with small wheels) is a non-event. Yet I lost countless hours to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, & 3 (even 4, to a degree).I also got invited to the Rider's Republic beta, enjoyed it enough to buy the game when it went on sale. In both the THPS games and RR, I've managed to pull some pretty wild stunts and had fun while doing it.None of that mattered in Shred 2. Shred 2 wants you to pull technically correct tricks... perfectly timed. Fail? Start the level over.I started a lot of the tutorial levels over. The restart level button on the controller is the Y button, which meant I started more than a few levels over because I hit the wrong button.When I started playing THPS2, I found it incredibly frustrating, but the risk/reward balance was just enough to keep me in the "One more try" loop, and I kept improving.This was less of a loop, and more of a grind, and it just didn't feel like fun.It actually felt a bit like OlliOlli World, but without the sense of humour that underlies that game.Oddly enough, the closest comparison I can make is Forza Horizon to Forza Motorsport. I own Forza Horizon 1 through 5. I've sunk countless hours into Forza Horizon, and I'll tell anyone who'll listen how it converted me to playing arcade racers.I also own Forza Motorsport 7. I think I've raced three laps, if that. Forza Motorsport is technically demanding, requiring focus and discipline, and understanding the technical limitations of your car and the track.Forza Horizon, I just press the accelerator on the controller and steer the car, and have a lot of fun.Shred 2 feels like Forza Motorsport. If I had excellent hand eye coordination, and the ability to repeat the same bio-mechanical movements over and over, I might be able to enjoy it; unfortunately, I don't and I can't.For me, Shred! 2 - ft Sam Pilgrim is:2: Meh#Shred2 #MountainBiking #SportSim #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZDyCL614kxorLs by grissallia@aus.social
2023-08-24T22:33:40Z
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August 25, 2023 - Day 237 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 257Game: Banners of RuinPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jul 30, 2021Library Date: Aug 9, 2023Unplayed: 16dPlaytime: 19mBanners of Ruin is a roguelite deckbuilder in which a mouse and a bear attempt to take back their city from the corrupt folks who stole it.With two and a quarter hours sleep last night, I figured I'd get in early for a NewPlay and review, because I'm not even sure I'm going to make it through the morning.Banners of Ruin came in the same bundle as Shred 2, and where Shred 2 felt like a "oh well, nothing lost", Banners of Ruin is a bit of a surprise.Although it's quite different, it reminds me mostly of Slay the Spire, and while initially put off by the idea of trying to play a deckbuilder and remain conscious, it's actually fun.The tutorial was well done, but a little bit too loquacious, and determined to hold my hand even after I'd grasped the basic mechanics, but once through the tutorial, I had a fun, if short run.On the downside, it insisted on starting on a secondary monitor, and we had a fundamental disagreement about which monitor is which. It also supports a quite limited number of resolutions for a game that was released mid-2021, only running up to 1920x1080, but Fullscreen is an option, and the graphics don't suffer at all.All in all, Banners of Ruin seems to be a fun way to kill 15 minutes here and there, and is:4: Good#BannersOfRuin #RogueLite #DeckBuilder #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZEcFwA3ilCYqn2 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-08-25T22:43:44Z
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August 26, 2023 - Day 238 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 258Game: Hero's HourPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Mar 2, 2022Library Date: Apr 2, 2023Unplayed: 16dPlaytime: 17mHero's Hour bills itself as "A fast turn-based strategy RPG with real-time combat." It was included in the Humble Choice March 2023 bundle.I've repeatedly said that nostalgia does nothing for me, and it turns out I was wrong about that. Nostalgia can piss me off.One of the growing trends at the moment in gaming is to remake old games. The most important thing about taking a game someone loved and remaking it for "modern" gaming, is to understand what made the game tick, then update the things that were limited by technology of the time, while keeping the elements that made the game tick intact.For instance: The Quake II RTX "reimagining" took the first three levels of Quake II and made them pretty. Ho-hum.The Quake II re-release updated the game itself and pretty much nailed bringing an ancient game into the modern era, without losing the character of the game.I didn't know what to expect going into Hero's Hour, other than the pixel-art that featured in the header graphic, but within a couple of minutes of starting the tutorial, I realised I didn't need the tutorial, because I knew exactly how to play the game.Describing Hero's Hour as "A fast turn-based strategy RPG with real-time combat." sounds better than "A pixel-art knock-off of Heroes of Might & Magic III".I sank countless hours into Heroes of Might & Magic III. It might even have been the first "one more turn" game for me.If you want to create a knock-off of a classic like HOMM3, you need to understand what makes it tick, what gives it that "one more turn" element, and the devs of Hero's Hour clearly don''t.Desktop Dungeons demonstrated that a great gameplay loop overcomes the limitations of pixel art.Hero's Hour made the art worse, and breaks the gameplay loop.In HOMM3, your pixelated hero explores the pixelated map, but when entering a town, each kind of town has a character all its own, that grows as you expand the town.Hero's Hour has almost-identical little boxes for each building.HOMM3 battles were a carefully managed hextile-based strategy affair that could leave you elated or exasperated.Hero's Hour replaces that with chaotic real-time battles that leans into the exasperation, and adds frustration. You can speed them up to 2x, but that still feels like an eternity.Heck, some of the sound effects during map exploration feel like a straight rip from HOMM3.Ultimately, Hero's Hour feels like the Temu version of HOMM3, and if I wanted to play a game that felt like HOMM3 without understanding HOMM3, I'd play HOMM VI.Hero's Hour is an unsurprising:1: Nope#HerosHour #TurnBased #Strategy #RPG #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZFtJCFIGiNXz0a by grissallia@aus.social
2023-08-27T12:17:52Z
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August 27, 2023 - Day 239 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 259Game: CrumblePlatform: SteamRelease Date: Dec 5, 2020Library Date: Dec 25, 2022Unplayed: 245d (8m2d)Playtime: 15mCrumble is a 3D physics platformer, where you play as a slime, rolling around on, and jumping between platforms, and using your ridiculously long tongue like a web shooter to swing from place to place.I haven't clock-watched a game for a while. Even Golden Light got 22 minutes out of me.After 4 minutes in this game I was watching the clock.I spent a further 11 minutes trying to get past one single section of platforms.On the first level.The thing is, when you get your momentum up, and have things to swing from, I can understand where this might almost achieve something that could be described as almost, but not quite, entirely unlike fun.With apologies to Douglas Adams, whose name I have besmirched just by associating his words with this game.At its core, this is part platformer, part grappling game, and the grapple requires momentum to function. There's no "reel-in" function to the grapple-tongue, to allow you to build up momentum, either (a la Just Cause et al.).If you can't get momentum up, and your timing & coordination isn't almost perfect?Well, sucks to be me.At least you can target the grappling point, right? Why do that? It might add some sense of fun and enjoyment to this torture. The tongue wants what the tongue wants, and rarely did the tongue and I agree on what it should stick to.In addition, even when I was close to getting something resembling success, the camera would suddenly clip through the environment, and I'd be disoriented as to where I was trying to go.When I added it to the bundle in Christmas, it seemed like fun. Poor, delusional, past Allie. The most joy I got from this game was "Quit to Desktop".People have, miraculously, completed this game. Maybe, in the eternal words of Detective Roger Murtaugh, "I'm getting too old for this shit."Crumble is a crumbly:1: Nope#Crumble #3D #Physics #Platformer #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZGXilzcUjiSG00 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-08-28T12:04:32Z
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August 28, 2023 - Day 240 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 260Game: CandlePlatform: SteamRelease Date: Nov 11, 2016Library Date: Jan 15, 2023Unplayed: 225d (7m13d)Playtime: 15mCandle is a 2D adventure puzzle-platformer. The graphics are beautiful; the lush backgrounds and characters seemingly hand-painted.You play as Teku, on a quest to save a tribe member from another tribe that has captured them, armed with the titular candle.The illumination & lighting in the game is gorgeous.But I'm getting ahead of myself.When I load the game, it opens at a resolution of 1280x720, a full screen jagged square in the middle of my widescreen monitor. I set the resolution to 2560x1440. I turn off fullscreen. The window jumps off the screen. I kill the game, restart it. It starts at 1280x720. There is no way to save the resolution. This is foreshadowing.The game opens with a cinematic, the narrator setting the stage for the world in which Teku lives.A narrative technique attributed to Chekov (Anton, of the famed "gun", rather than Pavel, of the USS Enterprise), is "Show, don't tell". The devs seemingly disagree.The narrator's tale continues......and continues......is he STILL going?He is still going.He does eventually stop talking, but he will be back to over-explain everything after I complete the first level.My eyes come to rest upon Teku, becoming conscious in the middle of his burning village.Teku stands. I move the control stick left. Teku walks. Slowly.The game encourages me to press the left trigger to get Teku to run. Teku moves noticeably faster than Teku's walk, but to describe this as "running" is stretches the definition of run to near-breaking.Teku reaches a ledge. "Press X to climb". I press X. Teku does not climb. Repeat. Same result.I nudge the control stick. Teku moves a couple of pixels. I press X. Teku climbs.I press on.I am faced with an icon of a cube. Text appears onscreen.Not to tell me what the cube means, but to tell me to open the menu to read the instructions to tell me what the cube means.Show, don't tell.I start encountering puzzles. The few clues available are frequently inscrutable.Don't show, don't tell.Several of puzzles require quick movement & precise timing. Teku is neither.Death comes frequently, & frustratingly. A tunnel that I have just exited, and can re-enter, becomes inexplicably inaccessible during a puzzle, with no indication of this.I solve the puzzle. I start to climb. I reach a ledge. I am immediately killed.I try again, repeatedly.I die again, repeatedly.Tired and frustrated, I quit to the desktop.I really wanted to like Candle; it is gorgeous, but it feels like all of the love & care was given to the visuals, with little left over for things like UX, controls, or gameplay.Sadly, Candle has been snuffed out with a disappointing:2: Meh#Candle #2D #Adventure #Puzzle #Platformer #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZHsJotgqrt6Dk8 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-08-29T12:59:11Z
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August 29, 2023 - Day 241 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 261Game: Hellblade: Senu'a SacrificePlatform: SteamRelease Date: Aug 8, 2017Library Date: Jun 29, 2019Unplayed: 1522d (4y2m)Playtime: 31mHellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is a third-person action-adventure game, in which you play as Senua, a Viking-era Pict warrior, on a mission to enter Helheim, and save the soul of her dead lover.The game opens with a mental health warning that it features representations of psychosis, with good reason.Senua is experiencing psychosis, and hears voices.I immediately found this challenging. I have lived with mental health issues for all of my adult life. While I have not experienced psychosis, I felt... a familiarity... with the game's expression of psychosis.The game opens with Senua in a canoe paddling into a horrifying gorge in which bodies are floating in the water, and are impaled on stakes along the riverside, as the narrator speaks of Senua in the third person.Senua is paddling into Helheim.This tableau, however, is not an expression of Senua's psychosis.The narrator is.As the Senua paddles on, the narrator joins with a cacophony of other voices challenging, attacking, and goading Senua.This is discomforting.As Senua makes landfall, and progresses on foot through an environment that is no less harrowing than the river, light appears and fades; the screen distorts, the voices rise and fall.The weight of this presses down on me. On Senua. On us.Memories explode into view, and then fade.Senua reaches the gates of Helheim, and engages in her first battle, which is frightening, and devastating in turns.This has been a difficult and long review to write; the way in which the game shifts between the mental and physical is both visceral, and somehow weightless.This too, feels familiar. It makes this a complicated game to play.On a technical level, the visuals are excellent. The sound design is is something else; it lifts this game to another level.There is no HUD, no health bar. No instructions on what to do.With keyboard and mouse, the game relies on the standard WASD + F to use. Swordplay and blocking felt instinctive.This game is only a few months newer than yesterday's game, yet almost perfectly embodies "show, don't tell". The attention that was seemingly lacking for gameplay in yesterday's game, is seen here in buckets, and the game is better for it.However, these reviews aren't entirely a review of the quality of the game, but also whether I want to invest my gaming time in a particular game.That is far more complex, because while this IS an excellent game, it's a difficult one for *me* to play; it is affecting on a level that I need to assess further.As such, for me Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is:4: Good#HellbladeSenuasSacrifice #ThirdPerson #ActionAdventure #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZIRlh62wdpgWzw by grissallia@aus.social
2023-08-30T03:21:59Z
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August 30, 2023 - Day 242 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 262Game: Dead BitsPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jun 8, 2014Library Date: Jun 11, 2018Unplayed: 1906d (5y2m19d)Playtime: 16mDead Bits is a voxel-based FPS platformer, that is somehow less than the sum of its parts.The game starts out with something that almost resembles a storyline, and then you find yourself in a series of brightly-coloured maps or dark tunnels with a torch, facing a a barrage of identical enemies whose health is represented by a number set in typeface from one of those "Free Font Downloads!" websites.The platforms are hard to judge, and every death sees an unskippable cutscene as monsters gorge on your dead voxel body in black and white.Your weapons are whatever each level sees fit to give you, and collected weapons don't carry forward between levels. There is no loot.The melee weapon is an undefined chrome-wrapped long thing.Guns are gun-ish shaped things. The only goal is to kill enough monster shapes to get to the next level.The absolute kicker was when quitting the game, it hung. As it had set itself to the front-most window, and prevented anything from being in front (like Steam, or the task manager!), I spent several minutes on top of that 15 minutes just trying to quit.Dead Bits is nothing more than trading card fodder, a big:1: Nope#DeadBits #FPS #Voxels #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZJhl18QkXiAoYi by grissallia@aus.social
2023-08-31T11:44:49Z
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August 31, 2023 - Day 243 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 263Game: The AscentPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jul 30, 2021Library Date: Aug 31, 2022Unplayed: 365d (1y)Playtime: 67mThe Ascent is a cyberpunk-themed isometric action-shooter RPG, with an oddly annoying control scheme.This is not, technically, the first time I've played The Ascent. I played a short part of it -on PC- when it was on Xbox Game Pass. I remember being annoyed by the controls then, but forgot I'd installed it.Then it dropped in the August 2022 Humble Choice bundle, and I uninstalled it from the Xbox app and installed it on Steam, and promptly forgot about it.Turns out that was *exactly* twelve months ago.When starting it tonight, I remembered my annoyance with the controls, and turned on my controller. This is a game that feels like it was designed to be played with a controller. On a controller, and an isometric* game, moving with the left stick feels natural. WASD feels odd, because you're using two keys at a time.But targeting with the right stick feels like playing in glue. Maybe if it had snap-targeting, but it doesn't. Targeting with a mouse feels natural and particularly during the first frenetic boss battle, if I'd been trying to target with the controller, I'd probably have given up.My only other critique is that "isometric*" above. A lot of isometric games handle being behind an object by making it transparent, or outlining your character.The Ascent puts a circle on the ground, which can be a little hard to keep track of when you're behind a large fixed object during a frenetic boss battle.On top of this, it's isometric until it isn't. Suddenly, the camera is behind you for a while, but not when it might be helpful, like when you're behind a giant object during a frenetic boss battle.The gameplay and atmosphere are excellent. It nails that gritty cyberpunk feel. The mobs suddenly popping up out of nowhere give just the right amount of chills. The first level in the bowels of the city feels -and sounds- like you're underneath everything.The visuals and sound design when you complete your first major quest getting a machine running is great.The Ascent is a game that overcomes its weaknesses pretty damn well.The Ascent is:4: Good#TheAscent #Isometric #ActionShooter #RPG #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZK5VapQfjNHma0 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-08-31T23:44:42Z
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September 1, 2023 - Day 244 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 264Game: LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original AdventuresPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jun 3, 2008Library Date: Nov 27, 2021Unplayed: 643d (1y9m5d)Playtime: 79mLEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures is a Traveller's Tales LEGO game, which is [X] IP turned into a LEGO-based adventure game.Looking at my remaining games; there are a lot of them, but many are sequels to games I've already played, or games like this, where it feels a bit like "If you've played one, you've played them all."Therefore, I wasn't going to review any more LEGO games, I was just going to play it for a bit to see how it held up, which means I'm now reviewing it.Traveller's Tales have been making this kind of LEGO game since 2005's LEGO Star Wars, and LEGO Indiana Jones was their first non-Star Wars IP-based LEGO game. Time has been weird to it.I grew up with George Lucas and Steven Spielberg as part of my movie lexicon. Star Wars and Indiana Jones.As a child, I didn't think about the underlying themes in the same way I do now. Some of the tropes in the original movies haven't aged well; even in the 15 years between 2008 and 2023, it's hard not to think of most historical archaeology as stealing shit from people in other countries to put it on display in a museum.That makes it harder to just relax and play.But even putting that aside as much as possible, the game itself makes it hard to play.Being 15 years old and still able to run in ultra-wide resolution is pretty impressive, but later LEGO games have refinements that are missing here.I started the game and sat through the intro video and keyboard/mouse were set as primary control. I picked up the controller and attempted to play, and it immediately put the game into two-player mode. Get the controller set as primary controller, still can't get out of 2P.Quit out, restart, sit through the same unskippable intro. Indy can jump over gaps using his whip. Get to a point that requires Satipo (the other character), Satipo keeps falling into a chasm instead of following. Thinking it's bugged, quit out, restart, sit through intro, same bug. Can't even complete the first level.Google it.If V-sync is off, the characters can't jump properly, which feels like a hall-of-famer for "weird game bugs".Enable V-sync, sit through the unskippable intro again, I can finally move on.Controls are a bit twitchy, and I die a lot from undefined edges where Indy doesn't bother grabbing on even when I'm mashing the button.I finally clear the level (having lost most of my studs), and sit back.If you REALLY like Indiana Jones, AND enjoy LEGO games, then you might get a kick out of LEGO Indiana Jones.If you're just into LEGO video games, maybe play one of the newer, more refined iterations.LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures is (barely):3: OK#LEGOIndianaJones #LEGO #Adventure #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZLUMNuu04jv8xE by grissallia@aus.social
2023-09-02T00:51:18Z
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September 2, 2023 - Day 245 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 265Game: Monaco: What's Yours Is MinePlatform: SteamRelease Date: Apr 25, 2013Library Date: Feb 20, 2014Unplayed: 3481d (9y6m13d)Playtime: 21mMonaco: What's Yours Is Mine is a top-down pixel-art-styled stealth heist game.I'm not sure what I found more surprising: that this game is over 10 years old, or that it's been in my library unplayed for 9.5 of those years.In this game, you break out of prison, and assemble a team of thieves, with the goal of pulling off a heist.It apparently has co-op mode as well, although I only played in single player.When I started this project, I was openly hostile to pixel-art games. What I've learned over the past 8 months is that while pixel-art based games can be the product of lazy devs, or devs who are hopped up on caffeine and nostalgia, a good game can overcome my feelings about pixel-art (and lazy devs can be just as lazy using vectors, voxels, Unity, or Unreal).On that basis, I think I'm done commenting on pixel-art, other than to mention if it's the art-style of the game.With that said, Monaco isn't a true pixel-art game. Even though the environments and characters are pixel-art, the lighting and UI elements are not.Monaco is a lot of fun. Even though each of the characters you embody is only a small blob of pixels, each has their own skillset, and even in the early stages of the game, can see how they'll fit together for "the heist".As a stealth game, the lighting is used to great effect throughout, and and having your area of vision lighting up a room and suddenly spotting a guard is nerve-wracking.Making it through the level undetected and making a clean getaway give a great buzz.Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine is:4: Good#MonacoWhatsYoursIsMine #PixelArt #TopDown #Stealth #Heist #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZMfjz5bFkKFkKe by grissallia@aus.social
2023-09-03T02:06:48Z
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September 3, 2023 - Day 246 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 266Game: The Entropy CentrePlatform: SteamRelease Date: Nov 3, 2022Library Date: Nov 6, 2022Unplayed: 301d (9m28d)Playtime: 35mThe Entropy Centre is a first-person puzzle game. It answers the question "What if the Portal gun controlled time instead of space, in a lab environment built by the architects of the Oldest House?" This is a game that capital-L Loves the brutalist architecture of Control. This is not -technically- unplayed. I played the demo before it was released, then almost immediately purchased it, and forgot I'd purchased it.That's not a bad thing; The Entropy Centre appears to have received a number of updates since it was released, so much so that it felt like I was playing it for the first time.You ("Aria") wake up in a remote and overgrown and deserted lab, with no idea how you got there, or even *where* you are.Upon starting your exploration of the facility, you encounter a gun that can rewind time, within a specific set of circumstances.Given the sheer weathered and damaged state of the lab, this provides an in-game explanation for why it can only rewind some things, and not others.Much like Portal, you have to make your way through test labs, and move boxes around to open doors.Also much like Portal, there's an AI assisting you, but instead of being a disembodied voice, the AI ("Astra") AI is embodied in the gun itself.Unlike Portal, though, you have to think in four dimensions, and frequently need to think through the solution, then reverse engineer it to work in reverse-time as well as in space.As someone who enjoyed Portal and the many variations on the theme (Q.U.B.E. 2, Relicta), I also am enjoying this game.It's just unfortunate for The Entropy Centre that my kids gave me Starfield for Dad's day, otherwise I'd be throwing the cubes around for the rest of the day because The Entropy Centre is:5: Excellent#TheEntropyCentre #FirstPerson #Puzzle #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZNLZTZ3nq3p9X6 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-09-04T10:05:12Z
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September 3, 2023 - Day 246 - NewPlay Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 267Game: StarfieldPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 6, 2023Library Date: Sep 3, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 6h30mStarfield is a first-or-third-person space-based RPG set in a post-Earth universe... but you probably knew that already.I'm aiming for no spoilers here.My kids bought me Starfield Premium as a Dad's Day gift, which meant I spent far too much of yesterday sitting in front of my PC.I will spend far too much of tonight doing the same thing, in all likelihood.Todd Howard, Executive Producer at Bethesda has described Starfield as "Skyrim in space", which is ridiculous, because I'm enjoying Starfield.My entire playtime for Skyrim (the original 2015 edition) was 5.8 hours.When the Skyrim Special Edition was released, I started over. I completed 6.3 hours.I essentially got to the same point each time and got bored; it's not that I *dislike* Skyrim, it just didn't grab me and make me want to keep playing.I do wonder whether more than a decade playing WoW just burned me out on fantasy RPGs.I sank far more time into Fallout 4, but gave up on that because 50% of the time my 130+ hour save game crashes on load, and Bethesda's response was "start over".Uhhh... no.So Starfield feels more Fallout 4 than Skyrim to me, but YMMV.Which is another interesting thing, now that I think about it. Fallout 4 and Skyrim feel like they have a lot more in common with each over than with Starfield, particularly when it comes to the UI.Starfield feels... different.The two games it most reminds me of are Star Citizen (thanks for the free weekends reminding me not to spend money on it!), and No Man's Sky.However... there are a couple of things that have surprised me so far."Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.” - Douglas AdamsIn No Man's Sky, space *feels* big. Overwhelmingly so. (Total playtime, 13.9 hours).In Starfield (so far!) not so much. You open a star-map, choose a planet, choose a location, and effectively fast-travel there (launches and landings are cool though).Then there are the space battles; I have a T.16000M HOTAS (thanks, pandemic!). I love to kick back in Chorus and shoot down a bunch of space bad guys.In space, no-one can hear you scream in frustration at the mouse & keyboard controls for space battles. I assume it works with a controller, but thrust into an unexpected battle, I didn't get to the point of trying that yet.That's the extent of my critiques. Starfield's launch is everything Redfall wasn't, and Starfield is:5: Excellent#Starfield #FirstPerson #RPG #Space #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZOieNF7E5vd692 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-09-04T10:59:37Z
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September 4, 2023 - Day 247 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 268Game: Ring of PainPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Oct 16, 2020Library Date: Sep 25, 2022Unplayed: 344d (11m10d)Playtime: 22mRing of Pain is a roguelike card game, written by a Melbourne-based dev.Because it's Melbourne, and I know people who know people, it would make me nervous to say anything bad about it.It's helpful then that I don't actually have anything bad to say about it.It's a weird and decidedly creepy roguelike, in which a half-human half-bird creature has summoned you to a nest (I think), where your goal is to survive.I actually played it for longer than I intended to.Even though I'm not a huge fan of card-based roguelikes, Ring of Pain is:4: Good#RingOfPain #Cards #Roguelike #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZPECTwLvfmOIK0 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-09-05T10:11:55Z
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September 5, 2023 - Day 248 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 269Game: Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine - Anniversary EditionPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 6, 2011Library Date: May 29, 2015Unplayed: 3021d (8y3m7d)Playtime: 23mWarhammer 40,000: Space Marine - Anniversary Edition was released in 2021 as a free update to Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, with all of the previously released DLCs and add-ons included. The game is a third-person shooter-hack-and-slash combo.A few minutes after starting the game I found myself thrown straight into combat as an Ultramarine Space Marine(?), with the game throwing multiple combinations of mouse button and key presses at me, as a barrage of Orks attacked me.Such frantic combinations as "Press f then mouse button 5 then e". My dude, I have no idea which button on my mouse is mouse button 5. I can't even tell my left and right apart most of the time, let alone which of the other seven buttons on my mouse beyond 1 & 2 are which.Even the G Hub software just calls them "Forward" and "Back". It took a torch and a minute of trying to find the right viewing angle and distance for my 49yo eyes to work out which button had "G5" stamped into the plastic ("Forward", for the record).Trying to remember which of the buttons are which in the middle of a pitched battle was a lot, particularly when - on top of all this - the mouse view is bizarrely restricted, even with my mouse set to 3200 DPI.I had to pick up my mouse, move it, and put it down again more than once just to do a 180 degree sweep. I don't think I've had to do that since mice were functionally male.After surviving that mission, and slowly starting to mash the right buttons in the right order, I started to feel like the game was making sense.I was slamming my way around the map, Orks getting splattered by my big gun, and my big knife making short work of any Orks who got too close.Unfortunately, as with many other games that have a few years on the clock, there are games that have been released since that provide a similar gameplay experience with a better user interface and/or user experience.In practice, if the Warhammer 40k branding were stripped away, the battle gameplay feels a lot like Outriders, but less refined; unfortunately for the game, I have no emotional bond to Warhammer or 40k, so there's not a lot to keep my interest.If I'm in the mood for "big weapons make enemies go splorch", it's probably going to be Outriders or Gears of War before this.Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine - Anniversary Edition is:3: OK#Warhammer40K #SpaceMarine #ThirdPerson #Shooter #HackAndSlash #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZQeTBkxa5XgmuG by grissallia@aus.social
2023-09-06T12:07:06Z
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September 6, 2023 - Day 249 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 270Game: Astral ShipwrightPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Nov 12, 2022Library Date: Sep 2, 2023Unplayed: 4dPlaytime: 45mAstral Shipwright is a spaceship building and trading... game.I added this to my Steam library after the dev who created it and another game decided to shut down his game development studio, and made them both free, and open-sourced the code.There's absolutely no intro, no tutorial. You're just in a space dock and you start building your ship.Once you've built a working ship, and you're ready to fly, you discover that you've got no money left to buy fuel, or hire crew, or buy resources to sell elsewhere.You delete your save, start over, build a smaller ship, buy that stuff, and spend a lot of time clicking on things in the process of buying something here, flying there, selling it, buying something else, selling it elsewhere, and slowly upgrading your ship.It's pretty bare-bones; it feels more like a demo than a completed game, yet strangely compelling. The bones of something interesting is there, and for free, the price was right.Astral Shipwright is:3: OK#AstralShipwright #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZREH2dbFsaRNiK by grissallia@aus.social
2023-09-07T12:48:45Z
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September 7, 2023 - Day 250 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 271Game: Mirror's Edge CatalystPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jun 7, 2016Library Date: Nov 26, 2022Unplayed: 285d (9m12d)Playtime: 24mMirror's Edge Catalyst is a first person parkour & melee game.Today I also learned, after giving in and playing it without playing Mirror's Edge first, it is not in fact, a sequel. It's a reboot.I use a Logitech G13 Gameboard for my gaming, which has a terrible design flaw in the thumb button, which causes the activation lug for the microswitch to snap off. I have the thumb button set to "jump".I've had some replacements 3D-printed, but they usually don't last more than a few months.This one didn't last the game.The thing about this game (which looks gorgeous!) is that learning each of the moves feels a little bit frustrating to try and pull off, but once I started to "get" it, it felt good.When I managed to start stringing them together it felt great.But then when you get into that flow state, where you start anticipating the moves just before you need to pull them off, that feels amazing......until the jump button stops working.Anyway, looks like I'm pulling my G13 apart again tomorrow to swap out yet *another* activation lug.Mirror's Edge Catalyst is:4: Good#MirrorsEdgeCatalyst #FirstPerson #Parkour #Melee #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZSYA8B6RyYkmLw by grissallia@aus.social
2023-09-08T13:03:59Z
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September 8, 2023 - Day 251 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 272Game: SyncedPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 8, 2023Library Date: Sep 8, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 1h4mSynced is a free-to-play third-person post-apocalyptic sci-fi co-op PvE or PvP looter-shooter with roguelite elements.Today's apocalypse is brought to you by [spins wheel]... nanotechnology!This is another Tencent game. Fans of Ring of Elysium (a F2P battle royale set for shutdown on December 1st) assert that Synced is just Tencent recycling game assets, but as I never played Ring of Elysium, I cannot verify this.I have, however, played Synced. It feels like a game designed by sticking a bunch of post-it notes with gaming-related words on a wall, and throwing darts while blindfolded until a set of ideas was assembled to wrap around the core gameplay element.Of course, being a Tencent game, the core gameplay element is microtransactions. The tutorial puts you in the shoes of "Deadcut", a "runner" (yeah) who's a gambling man with a sarcastic running commentary.Joy. I get to play as a man. I never managed to enjoy pretending to be a man in real life, I prefer not to play one in a game.The basic tutorial lays out the story, introduces you to your... familiar? Nano tank? Nano pal who's fun to be with?During each level, you can weaken a nano mob to the point your can "Sync" with it (thus 'Synced') and... then it lives in your nano-infused arm except when you need it?Once introduced to the basic gameplay loop of killing mobs, collecting power-up goop, and trading that goop for power-ups at regular "exchange stations" that offer "random" power-ups (the roguelite bit), you then make it to "Haven".The sassy leader of Haven declares that you must be something special to make it there all by yourself; she sends you off on your choice of 3-person PvE or PvP quest... with two other players with identical avatars. I feel so special.There's a touch of PUBG to the looting, with a much smaller weapon selection; you fight your way through the nano mobs, and nano minibosses to the nano boss of the level as "the surge" (yes, really), grows in strength until it reaches 100%.There's a safe zone around the mini bosses & bosses when they've zoned in, and if you're outside the eye of the storm... erm.. in the surge, you'll be taking constant damage.Finish this part of the tutorial, and suddenly you can become one of the other two F2P "runners", or pay for the battle pass (nobody expects the Battle Pass!) to increase your choices.I assume that much like Ring of Elysium, Synced will last for a few years with a handful of whales paying for the Battle Pass, until Tencent rebrand their studio and release their next big microtransaction-looter.I'm really not sure who this mashup microtransaction engine is aimed at; Synced is just:2: Meh#Synced #ThirdPerson #ShooterLooter #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZTQkrCluhsINRg by grissallia@aus.social
2023-09-09T03:13:25Z
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September 9, 2023 - Day 252 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 273Game: Rock of Ages 2Platform: SteamRelease Date: Aug 28, 2017Library Date: Feb 2, 2019Unplayed: 1680d (4y7m7d)Playtime: 15mRock of Ages 2: Bigger & Boulder is a bizarre tower defence boulder-racing game.There's a bunch of games that never made it to being reviewed this year. Many of them were multiplayer games; some of which are still on sale, but invariably had no-one to play against, other than bots or the bizarre individuals who get their kicks from hacking a game and then killing anyone who tries to play.There's another group of games that didn't make it. Frequently ancient, wouldn't run on Windows 10. Alas, their time has come and gone.Rock of Ages II is a little weirder. It's just over six years old, but absolutely refused to load.Load > Crash. Load > Crash. Load > Crash.[Tech support mode on]Event viewer is recording the crash, but not making it clear what's at fault.To the Googles!One fix says to disable networking. That... actually works. Not a good solution, but it must be something new in Windows 11 network code, right?Actually, no.I went through a stage of this project where I just started all the games for a minute to shorten my "year" list for unplayed games.When I started ROA2 previously *before* I upgrades, it had worked fine without crashing.Digging into the Steam discussions: "Changing this global OpenSSL variable fixes it!"No, thank you. I don't think I will.A bit more on the Googles leads to a page on Intel's website, that explains that certain versions of UE4 contain an older OpenSSL library, that triggers a crash on 10th Gen and newer CPUs, and by setting that OpenSSL variable, it tells UE4 to ignore the SHA extensions.However, it only needs to be set in the launch options for the game, not globally.We're off to the races.Literally. This is a game in which you play Sisyphus (I think?) and roll a boulder through an obstacle course towards the castle of your AI opponent (who are various historical figures acting in decidedly non-historical ways).Inside your castle, workers are quickly carving your boulder from a solid rock. While this is happening, you frantically set up your various defenses to try and knock the AI's boulder off course, while they are doing the same.As soon as your boulder is ready, you roll it towards their castle, and try to smash down their door. Boulder hits door, does damage, rinse and repeat.First one with a smashed door loses. All of this is wrapped in a classical music soundtrack with Pythonesque graphical stylings.I lost, beaten soundly by Joan of Arc (!)I think, if I were in the right mood, Rock of Ages 2 would be:3: OK#RockOfAges2 #TowerDefense #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZUTGzKNdvyTu0e by grissallia@aus.social
2023-09-10T02:21:08Z
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September 9, 2023 - Day 252 - PlayOn Bonus Review 2Game: Tina Tina's Wonderlands Chaotic Great EditionPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jun 24, 2022Library Date: Oct 26, 2022Playtime: 10h42mThis month's Humble Choice bundle dropped on Wednesday morning AEST, and in an unsurprising turn of events, the first game in the bundle, the "AAA game" is Tiny Tina's Wonderlands Chaotic Great Edition... which I already own.So y'all get a PlayOn review. I opened it up for a few minutes to show my 11yo ("no, that's not the kind of game I like")... and I was still playing an hour later.I have a weird relationship with the Borderlands games, and the ad campaign for Borderlands 3 typified my problem. "Guns! Guns! More Guns!!!"I... don't care. There comes a point that trying to manage and juggle all those weapons becomes frustrating. "Do I keep this gun or this one with slightly different specs?" Which guns do I keep, which do I sell?It just becomes overwhelming. I've spent almost 45 hours in Borderlands 3, and it feels like about half of that was just inventory management.Tiny Tina's Wonderlands is essentially Borderlands 3 wrapped in a fantasy setting, so a fantasy-themed action-RPG first-person shooter.The conceit of the game is Tiny Tina (Ashly Burch) from Borderlands is Dungeon Master for a tabletop game called Bunkers & Badasses (wink wink), with you, and two other players, Captain Valentine (voiced by Andy Samberg(!)), and Frette (a robot voiced by Wanda Sykes(!!))The villain of the campaign is the evil "Dragon Lord", voiced by Will Arnett (!!!)Honestly, it was the voice cast that got me across the line for Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, and I have no regrets.Yes, the inventory management is just as frustrating as Borderlands 3, but the switch to the "fantasy" environment and the humour of the interactions between the characters makes it a lot of fun.If you enjoy the humour of the Borderlands series, and enjoy fantasy games, then you'll probably enjoy TTW. If not... If for no other reason, if you don't already own TTW, it makes this month's Humble Choice bundle a steal, whatever else is included.Tiny Tina's Wonderlands is:5: Excellent#TinyTinasWonderlands #FPS #Fantasy #ARPG #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #PlayOn
(DIR) Post #AhubZV5uffHxroYlEm by grissallia@aus.social
2023-09-10T03:04:40Z
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September 10, 2023 - Day 253 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 274Game: Dragon Age: Origins - Ultimate EditionPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Oct 27, 2010Library Date: Apr 21, 2015Unplayed: 3064d (8y4m20d)Playtime: 47mDragon Age: Origins is a third-person fantasy RPG that was released on November 6, 2009. The "Ultimate Edition" was released almost a year later, containing all of the DLCs that had been released for the game.I'm not sure how this ended up in my pile of shame. As I mentioned in my Starfield review, I feel like WoW burned me out on fantasy-themed games, and I don't feel like I would have bought this intentionally.But here it is. I wish I hadn't waited quite so long to play it.DA:O is almost 14 years old. It's been sitting in my library for 8 years. Graphically, it feels like a like a game from 2009 (although it supports ultrawide screens out of the box!). It *really* needs a FOV slider, because that's a lot of field of view.The character creator is pretty good, particularly for a game of this age, but the character animations feel a little wooden. But... the story. It just hooked me straight in. I was invested in the relationships between my character and her family almost immediately. I looked up, and almost 45 minutes had passed.Looks like I'm going to have several RPGs on the go at once. I've also read commentary that says that DA:O has a lot in common with Baldur's Gate 3 (on my wishlist), so at this rate, I'm never going to get to the end of my Pile of Shame.Even at this early point in the game, Dragon's Age: Origins seems very:4: Good#DragonsAgeOrigins #RPG #Fantasy #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZWJ4AFP7ctimNU by grissallia@aus.social
2023-09-11T10:40:02Z
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September 11, 2023 - Day 254 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 275Game: Deceive Inc.Platform: SteamRelease Date: Mar 22, 2023Library Date: Sep 11, 2023Unplayed: 0d Playtime: 21mDeceive Inc. is a first-person multiplayer PvP hide-and-seek extraction shooter mash-up. It's the second game in this month's Humble Choice bundle, and I'll admit that I was a bit disappointed to see it.I'd looked briefly at Deceive Inc. on Steam in the past and added it to my "Ignore" list, because it didn't really seem like my kind of thing, and having played it now, I was right.Deceive Inc. does seem kind of unique. It's part Among Us, part Midnight Ghost Hunt, part extraction shooter, with bit of Deathloop's swagger, all by way of Fortnite's graphical styling......as well as Fortnite's monetisation model. It seems almost impossible to release a AA game now without including a battle pass of some kind.It feels like so many games want to be the next Fortnite, and I don't want to pay for a battle pass in any of them, particularly a paid game (*cough* Diablo IV *cough*).As a game, it's stylish (in that Unreal Engine 4 way) and the gameplay is OK.The biggest problem for me is that I despise solo PvP extraction shooters [exasperated sigh in the direction of The Division 2's Dark Zone], and I just don't enjoy hide-and-seek style games that much, and mashing them up like this is like offering me peas and corn as a meal.It might be that if I played one of the 2v2 or 3v3 modes with friends, I might enjoy it more, but if I was already down to play something with friends, this probably wouldn't be on the list of options to begin with.Deceive Inc. is:2: Meh#DeceiveInc #FirstPerson #PvP #ExtractionShooter #HideAndSeek #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZX73APO27v6hHs by grissallia@aus.social
2023-09-12T14:42:22Z
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September 12, 2023 - Day 255 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 276Game: The Forgotten CityPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jul 28, 2021Library Date: Sep 12, 2023Unplayed: 0d Playtime: 3h42mThe Forgotten City is a first-person narrative-driven adventure involving time loops, and an ancient Roman city.It's the third game in this month's Humble Bundle, and if you're a fan of narrative adventures (eg. Firewatch) or time travel gameplay, this might be the game for you.It was a bit slow at first; I was 10 minutes in, and I was thinking it wasn't really a game for me....and that was three and a half hours ago.The graphics are pretty good, the sound design is great, but the narrative is excellent.However, I'm not going to write a longer review. The problem with this game, and it's highlighted upfront by the devs is that to say too much about it spoils the game for those who haven't played it.Thus, please consider my three and three quarter hours of straight playtime, and having reached one of four endings my way of saying that The Forgotten City is:5: Excellent#TheForgottenCity #FirstPerson #Adventure #TimeTravel #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZYEB1OgJaJRu2C by grissallia@aus.social
2023-09-13T12:13:17Z
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September 13, 2023 - Day 256 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 277Game: Aces & AdventuresPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Feb 24, 2023Library Date: Sep 13, 2023Unplayed: 0d Playtime: 24mAces & Adventures is a fantasy RPG deckbuilding roguelite using poker mechanics.It's the fourth game in this month's Humble Bundle, and the first where, in spite of a tutorial, I had no idea what was happening half the time.I don't know. I'm still not sure exactly what happened.You play as one of several classes, each of which (other than the first) you unlock by playing. I completed playing "Spring" as a dwarf warrior and unlocked the rogue class.It's turn-based combat, in which you have three decks in play simultaneously. The attack deck which is a standard 52 card deck, a second deck of ability cards, and a third deck of upgrade cards.At least I think that's what was happening. Admittedly, I'm very tired right now, which might have stunted my understanding of how to play, but I muddled my way through to completing the first... section? Quest?In any case, I think I need to give Aces & Adventures a pass this time, and blame it on myself, so for now it's:3: OK#AcesAndAdventures #Fantasy #Roguelite #Deckbuilder #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZZKav1PR0VSXg0 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-09-14T11:05:43Z
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September 14, 2023 - Day 257 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 278Game: Patch QuestPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Mar 3, 2023Library Date: Sep 14, 2023Unplayed: 0d Playtime: 24mPatch Quest is a top-down 2D twin stick roguelike-metroidvania-monster catching bullet-hell mashup.This is the fifth game in this month's Humble Choice bundle.With cutesy cartoonish graphics, you run around a "patchwork land" armed with a lasso and a gun-that-is-not-a-gun-but-really-it-is-a-gun, to capture monsters and ride them while you shoot others with the not-gun that makes them "fall asleep" and disappear. Unlike last night's game, it's not that I'm too tired too understand it, it's just that it just all feels kind of bland.There's a basic story to try and provide a reason to want to care about this odd maze full of monsters and give me a reason to catch or not-kill them, but I was kind of glad when I was done.Patch Quest is just kind of:2: Meh#PatchQuest #TopDown #Twinstick #Roguelike #Metroidvania #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZajRi6slLs5u3E by grissallia@aus.social
2023-09-14T11:20:32Z
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September 14, 2023 - Day 257 - RePlay ReviewTotal RePlays: 8Game: Aces & AdventuresPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Feb 24, 2023Library Date: Sep 13, 2023Playtime: 52m (1h16m total)Aces & Adventures is a fantasy RPG deckbuilding roguelite using poker mechanics.Yeah, when I woke up this morning, I decided to give it another shot over coffee to see just how much of my ability to understand the game had been clouded by exhaustion.Turns out, pretty much total.When I played it this morning, it all made a hell of a lot more sense, both the way that the various kinds of cards work, and also the synergy between them.In addition, I could actually remember a bunch of poker hands that evaded me last night.Essentially, each round presents you with one or more cards with a bunch of hitpoints, health points, armor, etc etc. The cards also might have certain abilities.You get one attack per round, but triggering abilities doesn't count as an attack, so if you can clear the board before your attack, you do that.This morning's run had a card with first strike, and another set of three cards, that each time you kill one, the rest get stronger, so it helps if you have an ability card that synergises with your draw that enables you to hit all enemies for three damage at once.Which I did, and required two spades to trigger.During the attack round is when the poker hands come into play (pun intended); you play your hand and then the AI attempts to defend.If you play a single Ace, for example, the best the AI can do is block that with an Ace. Play a King, and the AI can block it with a King, or trump it with an Ace, which means you take damage.But a poker hand? Double or triple your damage, particularly if you've collected some upgrade cards that stay with you until the end of the round. Maybe you pick up a card that's +1 damage per spade played.It's a nice damage addition when you drop a single spade, but when you drop a straight? That won me the round against a boss mob.So with some sleep under my belt, it's fair to bump Aces & Adventures up to:4: Good#AcesAndAdventures #Fantasy #Roguelite #Deckbuilder #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming#Project365ONG #Project365 #RePlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZbEdq7psucgofw by grissallia@aus.social
2023-09-15T13:54:31Z
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September 15, 2023 - Day 258 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 279Game: ForetalesPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 15, 2022Library Date: Sep 15, 2023Unplayed: 0d Playtime: 15mForetales is a card-based narrative adventure game. This is the sixth game in this month's Humble Choice bundle.Once again, I'm exhausted and facing another card-based game.You have two characters who are off on an adventure through your fairly typical anthropomorphic fantasy land. Vorelain is duckbill and a thief, Leo is a lion and an archer.Each has attack points and defense points, and a set of cards that you can play as either character each turn to move through the narrative.The quirky thing is that the game is designed in such a way that you can completely avoid combat and defeat your opponents by other means.The game has a narrator, and it was all making sense until the audio suddenly went into overdrive and the output just became a wall of static. I was able to coax some vaguely useful sounds out of the speakers by turning all of the volume controls in the game (there are five!) down.However, one of the casualties was the game's narrator, which made the rest of the level (a "region") a little uneven.There's an option to save and exit, however this warns you that you'll be restarted at the beginning of the current region, and I was still in the start region, so... I muddled my way through to the next region.It feels like there might be an interesting story there, but that audio bug was wild.Tentatively, Foretales is:3: OK#Foretales #Fantasy #Adventure #Cards #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming#Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZcVL7WmqqhVfLE by grissallia@aus.social
2023-09-16T11:26:40Z
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September 16, 2023 - Day 259 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 280Game: Who Pressed Mute On Uncle Marcus?Platform: SteamRelease Date: Mar 19, 2022Library Date: Sep 16, 2023Unplayed: 0d Playtime: 21mOver the last 279 games, I felt like I'd played every type of game that's available. I've played games I would not normally choose to play.Who Pressed Mute On Uncle Marcus is a FMV murder mystery, and the seventh game in the September Humble Choice Bundle, and the first FMV game I've reviewed this year.The video quality is good, the actors are OK, and Uncle Marcus is played by Andy Buckley, arguably best known as David Wallace in the US version of The Office.I won't spoil the storyline, but you're presented with choices to make which leads to a branching decision tree as you try to solve a murder in one night.If you like Andy Buckley, and FMV games, you'll like this. If you don't like either or both, this probably won't be your cup of tea.In any case, I'll probably end up playing this through, because I'm a bit meh about FMV games, but I do like Andy Buckley (he was great in Avenue 5 too).Who Pressed Mute On Uncle Marcus is:[3: OK] [4:Good]#WhoPressedMuteOnUncleMarcus #FMV #MurderMystery #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming#Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZdxjhR5zN3nrF2 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-09-17T06:54:53Z
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September 17, 2023 - Day 260 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 281Game: Autonauts vs PiratebotsPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jul 28, 2022Library Date: Sep 17, 2023Unplayed: 0d Playtime: 41mAutonauts vs Piratebots is a 3D base-builder survival strategy programming game. It's the last of this month's Humble Choice games and not an entirely bad way to end the bundle.You're sent to Rigel VII (I guess the devs are Star Trek fans?) after your base of Autonauts is attacked and destroyed by Piratebots.The survival comes into things with the good old "build stuff from blueprints by despoiling the world around you".As an aside, even with what we know about climate and the environment, it's kind of wild how many games just fall back on "cut down or dig up the environment, and kill things" as the basic gameplay loop.With that said, Autonauts vs Piratebots actually makes you build sustainable forests to cut down trees once you get started; it's just something I got to thinking about while playing.The tricky part is that once you can start creating the bits you need, you can create robots to cut down the trees. Then you program the robots how to cut down trees.However, their axes break, so you teach another robot how to make an axe, and program it to make an axe, and wait until the axe is taken before making a new one.Cut down a tree? Someone has to gather the wood. It has to be put somewhere. Program the bots! Run out of bots? Build a bot factory.41m in I'd worked my way through the basics of the tutorial, but just like programming in the real world, doing it when you're tired is going to lead to mistakes and debugging, like wondering why the bot won't do what you asked because you completely missed a section of the programming.It's more scripting that programming per se, but you get the general idea.Anyway, Autonauts vs Piratebots is:3: OK#AutonautsVsPiratebots #Strategy #BaseBuilder #Programming #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming#Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZf97IbnF2e8ScS by grissallia@aus.social
2023-09-17T22:10:22Z
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September 18, 2023 - Day 261 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 282Game: Journey to the Savage PlanetPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jan 28, 2020Library Date: Sep 12, 2023Unplayed: 6d Playtime: 20mJourney to the Savage Planet is a first person comedy sci-fi adventure game.FOMO is a curse, and when it comes to a games wishlist, it's self-inflicted. I started using tracking sites like IsThereAnyDeal and GG.deals after missing out on one-too-many ridiculously cheap games that I'd wishlisted.The downside is that it's not necessarily the best choice when that mixes with ADHD impulsivity."After all, why shouldn't I buy another sci-fi game nine days after I got Starfield?"Oops.In Journey to the Savage Planet, you find yourself in a company exploratory ship that's "landed" on the aforementioned planet.Unfortunately for you, the company is less Weyland-Yutani and more Jupiter Mining Corporation by way of Planet Express.The snarky onboard computer walks you through the first steps of the tutorial, including a cheesy intro video from the founder of Kindred Aerospace, "the 4th best interstellar company!"You've been sent out to survey this planet as a possible option for human settlement. but you're basically stranded on this planet until you can find your way off, with the help of your trusty on-board 3D printer, and "Glob", which is both food and critter bait.When you're teleported outside your ship (because no doors means no airlocks), you discover a planet that looks like it was designed by Jack Kirby on a bender. You might not want to play this game if you're prone to acid flashbacks.Your job is to walk around this deserted planet and scan it. Your first available weapon is a backhanded slap, but if you hold the attack hey, it's a *hard* backhanded slap.The first critters you encounter are delightfully rounded little birds, who the scanner declare "love you", which makes it even harder to slap a few of them into oblivion to collect resources for your 3D printer, but there don't seem to be any other options.Twenty minutes in and structures that appear to already exist on the planet indicate that this planet might not be as deserted as the initial scans appeared, and the message from Kindred's CEO upon this discovery seems to indicate that he's not quite everything he seems.After 40 hours of Starfield, Journey to the Savage Planet is an amusing palate cleanser; it's:4: Good#JourneyToTheSavagePlanet #FirstPerson #SciFi #Adventure #MastodonGaming #Gaming#Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZgTiLVrbAomQMa by grissallia@aus.social
2023-09-19T11:07:27Z
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September 19, 2023 - Day 262 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 283Game: Lies of PPlatform: Xbox Game Pass PCRelease Date: Sep 19, 2023Installation Date: Sep 19, 2023Unplayed: 0d Playtime: 32mSomething a little different today. A review of Jodie Whittaker's Australian accent.OK, not really (although it's passable, and justifiable with her backstory of having been living in the UK and returned to Australia).As far as I remember, this is the first time I've reviewed an Xbox Game Pass game, which means I get to play Lies of P without dropping A$100 or more on it.Lies of P is a third-person soulslike set within a retelling of the Pinocchio story. You play as P (ie. Pinocchio), who's suddenly awakened, seated in a train, in what very much appears to be mostly-human form, with the exception of a mechanical arm.A voice calls to you to meet her at a hotel, but to get there, you first need to escape the train station, which is full of mechanical people determined to kill you.You're presented with one of three initial playstyles, and I chose the one with the (seemingly) most straight-forward attack style (and the most HP).Lies of P is set in the Belle Époque era. I had no idea what that was, but it's basically late 19th Century Europe through to WWII. The environment is beautiful.One of the most lessons I learned the hard way, is don't make the mistake of skimming each of the tutorial pop-ups. Turns out they're kind of important.Even so, by the time I hit the 32 minute mark, I'd traversed the same set of mobs five or six times, and died on the first boss repeatedly.Blocking is incredibly important, both for restoring energy, and for staggering the mobs. Unfortunately, it requires very good timing, and I don't quite seem to be able to pull it off yet.This is where XGPU is most useful to me. If I put in another couple of hours, and it's not a game I'm going to improve at (some of them aren't, thanks hand-eye coordination!), then nothing lost.Not quite sure what I'll do when I have to start paying full price for XGPU, but that's a problem for 2027 Allie.For now, Lies of P is:4: Good#LiesOfP #ThirdPerson #Soulslike #MastodonGaming #Gaming#Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZhg9sjPathbsOm by grissallia@aus.social
2023-09-20T11:46:04Z
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September 20, 2023 - Day 263 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 284Game: Aliens: Colonial MarinesPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Feb 11, 2023Installation Date: Sep 11, 2022Unplayed: 374d (1y9d) Playtime: 17mAliens: Colonial Marines is a Sci-fi survival horror FPS, and two out of four of those categories are games I don't like to play. I wasn't sure what 2022 Allie thought she was doing with buying this, so I looked it up. It turns out it was part of a bundle, and for some reason I decided to install it?That was my first mistake. The second was playing it. Technically, I only played it for twelve minutes, because the first five minutes of the game is basically a movie setting up the game as a follow-on from Aliens.I probably don't need to explain further. Be a marine. Enter the Sulaco. Dark environment, Kill or be killed. Get killed.There's absolutely nothing in this game that makes me want to even attempt to keep playing. Not my thing.Aliens: Colonial Marines is a:1: Nope#AliensColonialMarines #FPS #SciFi #Survival #Horror #MastodonGaming #Gaming#Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZjSlFVsqQjMCnI by grissallia@aus.social
2023-09-22T13:21:08Z
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September 21, 2023 - Day 264 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 284This Play Intentionally Left Blank
(DIR) Post #AhubZjulZOHjpaSZRg by grissallia@aus.social
2023-09-22T13:31:47Z
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September 22, 2023 - Day 265 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 285Game: In Sound MindPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 28, 2021Installation Date: Aug 31, 2022Unplayed: 387d (1y22d) Playtime: 20mIn Sound Mind is a first-person psychological survival horror game, and that's a three out of three for a express train to nopeville.I tried to give it a fair shake. The atmospheric design is pretty much exactly what you'd want in a horror game, as is the audio.The environmental design is considerably more frustrating, with the things you can use being highlighted with an icon, and everything else just being... there.You play as a psychologist who appears to be going quite mad, having woken up in the basement of a building in a completely flooded town.You need to solve some puzzles, as the atmosphere got increasingly tense, I was less and less inclined to keep going.For complex reasons, I get no enjoyment out of horror games, and this game has not changed that.I'm sorry, In Sound Mind. It's not you, it's very definitely me, saying:1: Nope#InSoundMind #FirstPerson #Psychological #Survival #Horror #MastodonGaming #Gaming#Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZlMoAcJIKqaTnE by grissallia@aus.social
2023-09-24T01:23:50Z
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September 23, 2023 - Day 266 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 286Game: TOEMPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 17, 2021Installation Date: Sep 13, 2023Unplayed: 10dPlaytime: 56mTOEM is a cozy black-and-white hand-drawn photography isometric photography game.It doesn't sound like much when described like that, but it's absolutely lovely, particularly when coming off a couple of days of horror games.You wake up in your grandmother's house, on the day of going to see the TOEM. Not sure what the TOEM *is* exactly, but it appears to be a coming-of-age journey within this world.You explore the game, and you're given quests which are things to find and take photos of.That's it. That's the gameplay loop. Within the game there are also collectibles, and cassettes which you can play in your in-game tape player.It was exactly the tonic I needed yesterday, and a great wind-down game.TOEM is:5: Excellent#TOEM #Photography #Cozy #BlackAndWhite #HandDrawn #MastodonGaming #Gaming#Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZllyf2RXauMa1Y by grissallia@aus.social
2023-09-24T03:54:42Z
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September 24, 2023 - Day 267 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 287Game: Dirt 5Platform: SteamRelease Date: Nov 3, 2020Installation Date: Sep 9, 2023Unplayed: 15dPlaytime: 34mDirt 5 is an arcade off-road racing game developed by Codemasters.I don't normally talk about who developed a particular game, but today is a little different.I've always had a bit of a love-hate relationship with racing games. Mainly hate; from 1987 (Test Drive) through until 2019 I tried to like racing games, but I just didn't. Racing with keyboard/mouse is awful, and I couldn't "get" racing with a controller (PS2 / Gran Turismo).That changed with the Xbox One controller and Forza Horizon 4. It finally clicked for arcade racing. I still don't enjoy technical racing sims.Dirt Rally & Dirt Rally 2.0 were both an exercise in frustration. I'd heard that Dirt 5 was different, and I had a key for it, so I installed it.They were correct. Dirt 5 is a whole different exercise in frustration.As a racing game, it's proficient, and feels a lot like a rally cross between The Crew and Forza Horizon games.Dirt 5 was released by Codemasters in 2020. Codemasters was purchased by Electronic Arts in 2021. Which explains a lot about why Dirt 5 has been almost impossible to play since 2021.There is a literal gamebreaking bug, in a game that is less than three years old and remains unfixed. Quite simply, my initial start of this game was a fluke, because after that, it crashed every single time.It's a known issue. It is unfixed. I put on my technical support hat, and went hunting. It appears that older DRM (Denuvo in this case) does not get on with the e-cores in 12th and 13th gen Intel CPUs.Gigabyte released a workaround patch for 12th gen Alder Lake CPUs that parks the e-cores to enable compatibility, and I located an app (ParkControl) that will allow me to do the same, and it works consistently.This is for a game that EA *still* sells.The Steam forums have multiple posts about it crashing on startup, as do the EA Dirt 5 forums (for Xbox Game Pass PC and Steam).EA just doesn't appear to care, which is no surprise at all.Dirt 5 is:3: OK (for racing)1: Nope (for EA & DRM)#Dirt5 #Racing #Rally #Arcade #MastodonGaming #Gaming#Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZoHxJ7D9OfL996 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-09-25T13:23:05Z
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September 25, 2023 - Day 268 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 288Game: Planet AlphaPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 15, 2018Installation Date: Oct 14, 2019Unplayed: 1442d (3y11m11d)Playtime: 22mPlanet Alpha is a 2.5D sci-fi platform puzzle game with stealth gameplay mechanics.You are a tall, slender astronaut in a fishbowl helmet, who awakens on an alien planet, and sets off on a left-to-right journey of survival.The game initially opens at the resolution of your main monitor... on your leftmost monitor.Since my main monitor is an ultrawide, and my leftmost monitor is a FHD monitor that's up and to the left, this is... irritating. Only made worse by the fact that the game doesn't allow you to specify which monitor to start on.Oh well. WIN+Shift+Right Arrow, and it's on the main monitor. And away we go and... crash.For the third time this month, I spend more time troubleshooting a game than playing it. This turns out to be the same issue as Rock of Ages 2. Using a version of Unreal 4 that has a buggy version of OpenSSL that triggers a crash on >10th Gen Intel CPUs. Add a start-up command, and finally we're off.First off, this is a gorgeous looking game. The alien environment is truly alien, and lighting is used to great effect.It is completely wordless. There is no explanation as to why you're there, or what your goal is. No obvious backstory.At first there's a lot of climbing and jumping, and getting timing right. Then you're introduced to the fact that you apparently have the ability to control day and night, and move the environment backwards and forwards through the day-night cycle at will...ish. When the game lets you, for specific puzzles.Dev forbid you should use the ability for the stealth puzzles.Ah, stealth mechanics. The gameplay mechanic I love to hate.There are particular contexts in which I'm OK with it. This is not one of those contexts.A few minutes after encountering the day-night magical power, you find yourself in a room that makes the whole game even more confusing. I'm not sure what it was trying to communicate, but the angry robots who smashed through the walls and started hunting you certainly seemed unhappy about it.How do you avoid them? Stealth mechanic. Does it work? Sometimes. The game's 2.5D environment means I'm never quite sure whether they can see me or not, until they shoot me and I die. Several times.This is one of those games where I *don't* like the stealth mechanic. There are also no save points, just "chapters", but no clear indication as to where chapters start and finish.In the end, while the game is SO very pretty, there's just nothing to motivate me to keep pushing right on the controller.Planet Alpha is pretty:2: Meh#PlanetAlpha #Platform #Puzzle #SciFi #MastodonGaming #Gaming#Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZpmpjnVM2inJui by grissallia@aus.social
2023-09-26T13:10:35Z
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September 26, 2023 - Day 269 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 289Game: Rage 2Platform: SteamRelease Date: May 14, 2019Installation Date: Nov 22, 2022Unplayed: 308d (10m4d)Playtime: 32mRage 2 is an open-world post-apocalyptic FPS.Do you like things that go "splorch" when you shoot them? If you answered 'yes', Rage 2 might be the game for you!Rage 2 is a sequel to Rage, a post-apocalyptic FPS. I played 27 minutes of Rage back in 2022, and found it a bit repetitive and grindy, and visually it was many shades of brown, grey, and black.Rage 2 is BRIGHT! There's a woman with a blue mohawk and white facepaint screaming out of a pink and yellow background on the Steam header, like an escapee from Mad Max Fury Road.The game is set about 30 years after the end of Rage, and the antagonist from Rage who wanted to take over the world is back, and he's pissed....and mostly robotic. He's been living underground and has amassed a ragtag army of mutants to... take over the world.Where Rage felt grindy and repetitive even within the first 30 minutes, Rage 2 felt more... fun. However, I've only really completed what is essentially the intro, and gotten my first vehicle and a handful of quests, so maybe it will turn out to be less fun as time goes by.In any case, I now have an alternative post-apocalyptic shoot-and-splorch game to Outriders.Rage 2 seems:4: Good#Rage2 #FPS #OpenWorld #PostApocalyptic #MastodonGaming #Gaming#Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZqufY9MnXJT5lY by grissallia@aus.social
2023-09-27T13:46:08Z
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September 27, 2023 - Day 270 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 290Game: TunchePlatform: SteamRelease Date: Nov 3, 2021Installation Date: Aug 9, 2023Unplayed: 50d (1m19d)Playtime: 21mTunche is 3D-ish brawler/roguelike set in the Amazon jungle.Playing as one of five characters (one of whom appears to be Hat Kid from A Hat In Time??), each with their own backstory and reasons for being there, you attempt to make your way through the jungle, wildly mashing buttons and brawling with whatever pops out of the repetitive jungle screen to clear levels and collect whatever pops up.No matter how I tried, I couldn't mash the right buttons in the right order, and even though I made it through all the way to the first boss, I got mashed by the boss, and didn't feel any desire to try again.Tunche isn't really my thing, just a bit:2: Meh#Tunche #Brawler #Roguelike #MastodonGaming #Gaming#Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZrpO9GjkNE0OAq by grissallia@aus.social
2023-09-29T11:13:57Z
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September 28, 2023 - Day 271 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 291Game: Void BastardsPlatform: SteamRelease Date: May 29, 2019Installation Date: Sep 25, 2022Unplayed: 369d (1y4d)Playtime: 19mVoid Bastards is a cel-shaded FPS roguelike, in which you play a reconstituted criminal, raiding successive space stations to collect spare parts on behalf of the AI controlling your stranded prison ship, so that it can be repaired, until you die. At which point you'll be replaced by another reconstituted criminal to continue the job.Literally reconstituted, as it seems that in this universe, prison means being freeze-dried and powdered and placed into storage.Each space station presents different challenges to overcome, while trying to collect parts, food, and fuel (to make it to the NEXT space station). You're also collecting equipment to build yourself upgrades, while trying not to get dead, but at least upgrades survive each death.The next couple of weeks of reviews will probably be pretty short, while I'm on leave.Void Bastards is:3: OK#VoidBastards #FPS #Roguelike #MastodonGaming #Gaming#Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZtVFv5oxZMbL4S by grissallia@aus.social
2023-09-29T12:35:56Z
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September 29, 2023 - Day 272 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 292Game: Warhammer 40,000: Space WolfPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 22, 2017Installation Date: Sep 29, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 15mWarhammer 40,000: Space Wolf is a deck-building turn-based tactics strategy game set in the 40K universe.It showed up in a Humble Bundle offer, with all but one DLC included, at the lowest tier - AUD$1.56.The catch is that the game is being delisted from Steam on October 12th.For $1.56? Yeah, why not.There are only 2 DLC missing; one is free, and I got the other for $1.02 with Steam's "Complete your bundle" option, so for a grand total of $2.58 I got an OK-ish turn-based tactics game.Having played it, I actually feel like I got a bargain (I'll add a link to the Humble Bundle page below.)Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf is:3: OK#Warhammer40KSpaceWolf #TurnBased #Tactics #MastodonGaming #Gaming#Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZuUaF4sSdZIJf6 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-09-30T05:29:01Z
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September 30, 2023 - Day 273 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 293Game: Gladiator TrainerPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Nov 26, 2016Installation Date: May 14, 2019Unplayed: 1600d (4y4m16d)Playtime: 19mGladiator Trainer is available on Steam, and is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike a game.It has many things in common with games. For instance, it has pictures. Graphics would infer some kind of movement. This game from 2016 contains less movement than Defender of the Crown (1986).It's a "game" about making slaves fight as gladiators. Lovely.Upon launching the game, like many other games, it throws you into a launcher first. The launcher is entirely empty, with the exception of a button at the bottom of the screen that says "Play Game".Which then takes you to a main screen. While being set in a medieval-style fantasy land, it inexplicably has an anime girl on the main screen.Presented with the option of keyboard control or mouse control, I chose the suggested mouse control.This was a mistake.It meant that clicking *anywhere* on screen at the wrong time would select the highlighted option.That's when the highlighted option was selectable. Sometimes a list is available that presents options, but you can only select one.Surprisingly, this game is still available on Steam. Normally priced at AUD$2.95, it's currently a steal at AUD$0.82.That is, if you buy it, you'll feel like you've been ripped off for 82 cents.I (apparently) got it as part of a bundle, and I still feel ripped off. This immediately dropped to the second worst game I've played this year.The best thing you could do for yourself is search for this game on Steam, and then add it to your ignore list, so you may never need to suffer as I have suffered.Gladiator Trainer makes me wish I had a lower rating than:1: Nope#GladiatorTrainer #MastodonGaming #Gaming#Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZvjVd4PWU9HkZ6 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-10-01T12:51:07Z
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October 1, 2023 - Day 274 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 294Game: Where The Snow SettlesPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jul 23, 2021Installation Date: Jun 26, 2022Unplayed: 462d (1y3m5d)Playtime: 35mWhere The Snow Settles is a third person narrative-driven walking simulator.As young farmer, Aurelia, you and your hunter sister Esta set out of a journey to find out why your village has been trapped in a seemingly endless winter.It's a somewhat gentle game. Where The Snow Settles is:3: OK#WhereTheSnowSettles #WalkingSimulator #MastodonGaming #Gaming#Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZwjtt6JlbeTZoW by grissallia@aus.social
2023-10-02T13:09:57Z
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October 2, 2023 - Day 275 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 295Game: Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite SpacePlatform: SteamRelease Date: Mar 20, 2013Installation Date: Nov 1, 2014Unplayed: 3257d (8y11m1d)Playtime: 18mWeird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space is a top-down space exploration "roguelike".You get a ship, you explore a randomly generated area of space, travel from star to star, and collect things, then try to make it back to the home star before your twenty year mission is up.Coming off the back of playing Starfield for a couple of hours, it's a bit of mood whiplash.Each star is a particular number of light years away, so the goal is to not travel too far away before heading back.I'm genuinely not sure where the "roguelike" element that the developer used in the description comes into it. You can't upgrade the ship with the things you find. You throw them in your cargo bay, or trade them, and the sum total of stuff in your cargo bay is your score.Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space is:2: Meh#MastodonGaming #Gaming#Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZyHy7vACPbQIYS by grissallia@aus.social
2023-10-04T01:00:32Z
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October 3, 2023 - Day 276 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 296Game: Yoku's Island ExpressPlatform: SteamRelease Date: May 30, 2018Installation Date: Sep 7, 2019Unplayed: 1487d (4y26d)Playtime: 15mYoku's Island Express is a sideways-scrolling Metroidvania... pinball mash-up?I've been playing a LOT of Cyberpunk 2077. Sorry, Bethesda, CD Projekt Red is my master now. I quit out of CP2077 at 11:55pm last night, and was like "oh no!", and randomly grabbed an unplayed game.The thing about this project is stumbling across a game that blows my mind with just how bad it is... or how good.Firstly, if you've known me for any period of time, I have a bit of a thing for pinball; there's one specific pinball machine that if I see it in an arcade, I WILL play it until I'm dragged away.As usual, I opened Yoku's Island Express without any idea of what I was getting myself into. I assumed it was some kind of cutesy 3D platformer, which is why it had sat unplayed for so long.I have regrets. Four years of missed opportunity.You play as a bug rolling a ball (a la dung beetles, but it's a *white* ball) around a tropical island, in which you've just taken over the role of postmaster. You're given a delivery quest to a part of the island obscured by clouds.You need to traverse the island by rolling your ball, collecting fruit bubbles, completing quests, and navigating via flippers and bumpers.Honestly, I'm not sure I can really do it justice with words. The idea of a Metroidvania using pinball mechanics seems too wild to work, but it does. It's so damn fun.Note: You absolutely want a controller for this game.For reasons that are not entirely clear, it's recently jumped up to AUD$29, but accordingly to gg.deals, it normally sits around AUD$5. The demo is available on Steam for free, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.Yoku's Island Express may be one of my favourite games this year. It's:5: Excellent#YokusIslandExpress #Platformer #Metroidvania #Pinball #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubZzJQJzvBaP6ySe by grissallia@aus.social
2023-10-04T01:38:25Z
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October 3, 2023 - Day 276 - RePlay ReviewTotal RePlays: 9Game: Cyberpunk 2077 + Phantom Liberty DLCPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Dec 10, 2020Library Date: Dec 25, 2021Playtime: 94.3h. It's complicated? (CP2077 has a launcher, which I sometimes launched, but didn't play, and Steam counts the launcher being open as playtime, which is why I have 1750+ hours in Warframe).For anyone who's been living under a rock for the past three years, Cyberpunk 2077 is CD Projekt Red's follow-up to The Witcher 3, and is based on the Cyberpunk series of TTRPGs, of which I've played... none.Truth be told, I've never played any TTRPG. I grew up in the era of the Satanic Panic, and I was the fundie Christian trying to save my friend's soul by getting him to quit D&D.Same friend who decades later was one of the first people I came out to as trans, and the first person to ever see me dressing as myself.This isn't really a digression, given the themes of identity and body modification in CP2077; the game touches some very sensitive parts. In CP2077 you play as a mercenary, "V". (You choose gender/sex at the start of the game). I'm not going to go into the plotline, because there be spoilers.CP2077 was released in a blaze of glory, followed by a million screams of "WTF is this, CDPR?"It was an utterly gorgeous disaster. It had multiple systems that had been stripped out of the game compared to the demos, and it was delightfully buggy.It was released two months into my breakdown, and I had a VERY bad Christmas in 2020. I had no desire to game at all, or do much of anything. By Christmas 2021, I was myself again (thanks chems!) and got CP2077 for Christmas.While CDPR had ironed out some bugs, I found it somewhat of a chore to play. It just felt... frustrating? I didn't have a lot of fun. I opened it up every few months and played for an hour here and there, getting about 16 hours into the game between Dec 21, and Sept 2, this year.Then the free update 2.0 dropped a few days ahead of the Phantom Liberty DLC, and I thought I'd give it another shot. Reviews suggested starting a fresh playthrough, and so I did, and it's a whole different ballgame.The gameplay feels completely overhauled, and it now feels like it supports the narrative instead of fighting it. I'm hooked (sorry, Bethesda).Per other reviews, the Phantom Liberty DLC isn't a post-game add-on, but more of a mid-game add-in. It kind-of weaves into the existing narrative timeframe, that opens up a new set of missions mid-game, and being several hours deep into the initial DLC missions, I'm glad I decided to buy it.It's obvious that they took advantage of 2.0's systems in the gameplay design, and it feels far better developed thematically than even post-2.0 CP2077.If you tried CP2077 pre-2.0, it's worth updating and jacking in, chooms.Cyberpunk 2077 (+ Phantom Liberty) is:5: Excellent#Cyberpunk2077 #RPG #ActionAdventure #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #RePlay
(DIR) Post #Ahuba113zEQIs2XL7Y by grissallia@aus.social
2023-10-04T11:50:24Z
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October 4, 2023 - Day 277 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 297Game: Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed CollectionPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Feb 1, 2013Installation Date: Dec 24, 2013Unplayed: 3571d (9y9m10d)Playtime: 17mSonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed Collection is a kart racing game themed around Sonic the Hedgehog and multiple other Sega properties.The biggest surprise for me is that I've owned this game for almost 10 years, and somehow just not noticed it was installed?In any case, it's a pretty average kart-racing game, although unlike other kart racing games, part way through each lap, your car may transform into a boat or a plane.For a 10 year old game, it plays like it's a lot more recent, or maybe kart-racing games have just reached an evolutionary plateau.It's a DirectX9 game, and very much does not like ultra-wide monitors, but running it at 2560x1440 renders it in letterbox mode and totally playable.The "Collection" part is that this comes with all the separate DLC content included.Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed Collection is:3: OK#SonicAndAllStarsRacingTransformedCollection #KartRacing #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #Ahuba1PAXbho4noah6 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-10-05T12:51:21Z
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October 5, 2023 - Day 278 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 298Game: Just Cause 4Platform: SteamRelease Date: Dec 5, 2018Installation Date: Jul 15, 2019Unplayed: 1543d (4y2m20d)Playtime: 45mJust Cause 4 is a third-person action-adventure open-world-ish game.You play as the ongoing lead character from the Just Cause series, Rico Rodriguez; previously a mercenary working with "The Agency"; Rico has apparently parted ways with them prior to the events of Just Cause 4.In each instalment, Rico has been tasked with taking down a dictator in small "South American" countries.Playing as Rico, you're required to intricately gather intelligence while designing a mission to quietly take down the dictator... but seriously, no.The storyline of each game is basically a fig leaf for creatively blowing up as much stuff as possible.Rico's primary interaction with the environment is a wrist mounted grappling hook, that allows you to come up with all sorts of creative ways to navigate the open-world.You can use the grapple to quickly jump from point to point, or use it to get airborne, then switch to a parachute or wingsuit depending on your goal. You can also grapple onto moving vehicles, and then hijack them for high-speed hijinks.Then there are the guns. You can only carry two at a time, but each gun generally has an alternate firing mode, giving you up to four options for creative mayhem with the highlighted targets; destructible environmental objects are helpfully painted red or marked with obvious red highlights.This is not an RPG where you carefully assess which weapon has better DPS. Pick up gun, shoot stuff until you're out of ammo, pick up another gun. These small dictatorships sure like to leave weapons lying around all over the place.One of the reasons I put off playing JC4, even though I enjoyed the mayhem of JC3, was that reviews essentially made it out to be "Rico vs the weather", and made it sound like something I wouldn't enjoy.Anyway, they were pretty much wrong. As per the previous games, it's grapple around and blow things up. It's not exactly Shakespeare, but sometimes it's just fun to blow things up.Just Cause 4 seems:4: Good#JustCause4 #ThirdPerson #OpenWorld #ActionAdventure #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #Ahuba3Rix4wCPJ1exE by grissallia@aus.social
2023-10-08T12:03:30Z
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October 6, 2023 - Day 279 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 298Game: Lumote: The Mastermote ChroniclesPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Feb 20, 2020Installation Date: Oct 7, 2022Unplayed: 364d (11m29d)Playtime: 15mLumote: The Mastermote Chronicles is 3D puzzle platformer.You play as a squishy bioluminescent creature who has to bounce around and solve puzzles. The lighting and music in this game is absolutely gorgeous, Lumote: The Mastermote Chronicles is:4: Good#LumoteTheMastermoteChronicles #3D #Platform #Puzzle #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #Ahuba4GPubUGwWk8y8 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-10-10T11:12:43Z
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October 7, 2023 - Day 280 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 299Game: Morbid: The Seven AcolytesPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Dec 4, 2020Installation Date: Aug 4, 2022Unplayed: 429d (1y2m3d)Playtime: 15mMorbid: The Seven Acolytes is a top-down pixel-art Soulslike.The gameplay didn't get me past the pixel-art.Morbid: The Seven Acolytes is:2: Meh#MorbidTheSevenAcolytes #TopDown #Soulslike #PixelArt #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #Ahuba5cmquyXACDWTY by grissallia@aus.social
2023-10-10T11:24:27Z
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October 8, 2023 - Day 281 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 300Game: My Time At PortiaPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jan 15, 2019Installation Date: Jan 5, 2020Unplayed: 1372d (3y9m3d)Playtime: 35mMy Time At Portia is a cozy third-person post-apocalyptic crafting RPG.Customise your avatar, and then the ferry docks at Portia where you alight to take over your father's old workshop, and become one of the town's builders.Chop down trees, break rocks, make tools, I've done it all before in so many games, and while it's nice to have a post apocalyptic game where society has actually been rebuilt, it's a bit too cutesy for me.My Time At Portia is:3: OK#MyTimeAtPortia #ThirdPerson #Crafting #RPG #PixelArt #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #Ahuba6eF2zjWKzuCNk by grissallia@aus.social
2023-10-10T11:37:25Z
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October 9, 2023 - Day 282 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 301Game: NiGHTS Into DreamsPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Dec 18, 2012Installation Date: Oct 15, 2020Unplayed: 1089d (2y11m24d)Playtime: 15mNiGHTS Into Dreams is a remaster of a Sega Saturn game from 1996. I genuinely have no idea how to characterise this game.You're dropped almost straight into this bizarre game after choosing an avatar without any explanation whatsoever about what you need to do or why.Apparently it was really popular, and I honestly don't understand why.It's kind of 2.5D-ish. Your avatar merges with this weird-looking character, and you fly around the level collecting bubbles which somehow enable you to kill the level boss when you collect 20 of them, after which you get bonus time to collect more bubbles.After the first time I died in-game, I then got semi-helpful instructions on what was happening in the levels.The boss level? No such luck. It's almost completely different, no bubbles to collect, and somehow you need to attack the boss, but I couldn't for the life of me work out how, and eventually ran out of time.NiGHTS Into Dreams is a big old:1: Nope#NiGHTSIntoDreams #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #Ahuba86dcu2erMCOHY by grissallia@aus.social
2023-10-11T11:12:36Z
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October 10, 2023 - Day 283 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 302Game: We Are The DwarvesPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Feb 26, 2016Installation Date: Sep 11, 2020Unplayed: 1124d (3y29d)Playtime: 20mWe Are The Dwarves is, apparently, a real-time tactics strategy game, about space-faring dwarves.The game provides an intro, which is... confusing. It seems that this particular universe is made of stone instead of dark matter.Our trio of stonefaring dwarves get into an accident, and then you have to... I don't know, and I don't really care to be honest.Firstly, this is another game that uses a version of Unreal Engine 4 that uses a known buggy implementation of OpenSSL; the bug is only triggered on >10th Gen Intel CPUs. There's a workaround for it, but without the workaround, it will crash right after starting. It's the third game I've encountered with this bug since upgrading my PC, but it's a bad start to a game experience.The game gives you a Steam achievement called "We all hate tutorials", and I don't, particularly when your odd game is so frustrating to try and play. I'm not even going to get into the voice acting.I finally worked out where I was going wrong after wandering around a level over and over for ten minutes, but that pretty much meant that I'm just not interested in fighting with the game further.We Are The Dwarves is a:1: Nope#WeAreTheDwarves #Tactics #Strategy #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #Ahuba9hXhB9jo6TNRY by grissallia@aus.social
2023-10-11T12:22:00Z
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October 11, 2023 - Day 284 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 303Game: Forza MotorsportPlatform: Xbox Game Pass PCRelease Date: Oct 10, 2023Installation Date: Oct 10, 2023Unplayed: 1dPlaytime: 36mForza Motorsport is a racing sim, and the latest release in the Forza Motorsport series, which is... a little confusing?The previous Forza Motorsport was Forza Motorsport 7, not to be confused with Forza Horizon (1-5), which is a more arcade focused racing game.It seems that Forza Motorsport is intended to be a reboot; however, I do not have enough experience with any Forza Motorsport games to provide any comparison.I do, however, have a lot of experience with Forza Horizon because FH4 was the racing game that finally "clicked" with me.My history with racing games goes back to the original Test Drive in 1987. For years I attempted to play racing games with keyboard and mouse, and steering with a keyboard and mouse sucks.I never completed Test Drive.I tried racing several more times over the years, nearly throwing a PS2 controller in frustration with Gran Turismo 4. I just never clicked with racing games.Until Forza Horizon 4. Maybe it was the timing, the Xbox One S controller, maybe it was the arcade nature of the Horizon series, and the tunes, and the fact that most races weren't endurance events.However, I suspect it was mostly that I could rewind when I screwed up and could finally finish a race "on the podium" instead of losing control most of the way through a race and having to do the whole thing over....and using an Xbox controller.That lead to more practicing, which lead to better driving, which lead to more winning, and more fun.However, sim & track racing still weren't my cup of tea. Rally racing was worse [scowls at Dirt & Dirt 2.0], an exercise in frustration.When @triana suggested to me that Motorsport may have brought some of that Horizon magic to track racing, I said I'd give it a try.She was correct. Just the "simple" addition of rating my driving in each track section, suddenly has me focusing on how better to improve to beat my previous ratings.Adding driver assists AND talking me through the reasoning behind them (at least in the tutorial) helped me better understand how and when to brake and accelerate.Also, it's REALLY pretty. If you love cars, Forza Motorsport renders them, and the tracks, and the environment gorgeously.I still don't think I'm going to end up as a huge driving sim nerd, but Forza Motorsport may have hooked me. It's pretty:4: Good#ForzaMotorsport #ForzaMotorsport2023 #Racing #Sim #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubaAxB2XFxgsnNS4 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-10-11T22:35:46Z
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October 12, 2023 - Day 285 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 304Game: Lineage IIPlatform: NCSoft LauncherRelease Date: Apr 27, 2004Installation Date: Mar 31, 2022Unplayed: 560d (1y6m12d)Playtime: 20mLineage II is a third-person MMORPG.Originally released in 2003 in Korea, an English edition was released in 2004.I knew I'd installed it at some stage, and had to dig through my backup drives to work out when. I got an Amazon Prime gaming code for in-game gear, and thought I might finally take a look.It was definitely an exercise in clock-watching. The MMORPG I've played most recently was Final Fantasy XIV, and comparing the two is like chalk and cheese.Lineage II is built in Unreal Engine 2.5 and it feels ancient. After a couple of grinding quests, I was glad to log out and uninstall it.Lineage II?:1: Nope#LineageII #MMORPG #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubaBndtTDwJbLHEG by grissallia@aus.social
2023-10-14T10:24:37Z
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October 13, 2023 - Day 286 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 305Game: I Am Not A Monster: First ContactPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 27, 2018Installation Date: May 14, 2019Unplayed: 1613d (4y4m29d)Playtime: 18mI Am Not A Monster: First Contact is billed as a "retro sci-fi tactical turn-based strategy" game.By retro sci-fi, they mean early-mid 20th century pulp sci-fi. If you like that kind of sci-fi, this might be right up your alley. Unfortunately, it's not really my cup of tea, and I couldn't really get past that to lock into the game.Graphically, it's a weird combination of pulp sci-fi stationary graphics for menus, full-screen pixel-art animated transitions, and high-res gameplay, and it feels kind of jarring switching between them. It just feels a little incoherent.There was almost something there with the gameplay, but when the game was making me feel like I wished I was playing a completely different tactics strategy game, that pretty much sealed the deal.I Am Not A Monster: First Contact is just:2: Meh#IAmNotAMonsterFirstContact #Tactics #TurnBased #Strategy #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubaDMm4Kv7Aqmqcy by grissallia@aus.social
2023-10-14T10:54:49Z
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October 14, 2023 - Day 287 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 306Game: Blade & SoulPlatform: NCSoft LauncherRelease Date: Jan 19, 2016Installation Date: Mar 17, 2022Unplayed: 576d (1y6m27d)Playtime: 15mBlade & Soul is a third-person martial-arts oriented MMORPG.Originally released in 2012 in Korea, an English edition was released in 2016.Because I'd opened the NCSoft launcher a couple of days ago for the Lineage II review, I thought I'd knock this one off as well.It looks OK, but it's an MMORPG, which means that graphics and gameplay are pretty much just a starting point.Graphically, it's built in Unreal Engine 4, but it doesn't have that "Fortnite" vibe that so many recent UE4 games seem to have. Gameplay seems OK.However, to justify whether or not to start a new MMORPG becomes about more than "how does it look & play", but:- does it have a sizeable enough playerbase that you'll be able to play through zones with other people?- is it P2W (ie. "Pay To Win" - or spending more money on the game means you can buy your way into in-game Godhood over lower-levelled players, and gank them mercilessly)- how many other MMORPGs are you also playing?And:- no- yes- umm, too many.Ultimately, it doesn't offer me something different that I can't find in one of the other half-dozen MMOs that I've already started playing and lost interest in.On top of that, I played World of Warcraft for over a decade, and burned out on both WoW and MMPRPGs.I realised a few weeks ago that what I really missed from my WoW days wasn't the gameplay so much as the shared experience of running end-level content raids with friends, all meeting up on one night, and fighting our way through a dungeon together (specifically, Molten Core, Karazhan, Naxxramas, and Icecrown Citadel all hold dear places in my memory.Starting a new MMO where I don't know anyone, and the only people I could raid with would be PUGs and randoms? Just not for me.All of this together puts Blade & Soul into:2: Meh#BladeAndSoul #MMORPG #ThirdPerson #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubaFKMmGBNFxfx9U by grissallia@aus.social
2023-10-15T09:28:32Z
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October 15, 2023 - Day 288 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 307Game: 7 Billion HumansPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Aug 24, 2018Installation Date: Sep 11, 2022Unplayed: 399d (1y1m4d)Playtime: 24m7 Billion Humans is a top-down puzzle programming game.Really not sure which order to stick those adjectives, because the fundamental gameplay loop is solving puzzles by using simple programming logic.In playing it, I thought it felt a lot like World of Goo, (both stylistically and audibly) and it turns out that the reason it feels a lot like World of Goo is that one of the three devs who make up Tomorrow Corporation, is the dev who created World of Goo.As far as programming/puzzle games go, this one is pretty good, but I realised that I run into the same problem I run into with every programming/puzzle game:I'm not a very good programmer. I'm not quite sure why. I feel like I should be good at it. I first started trying to learn to program over 40 years ago. I've written programs in multiple varieties of BASIC, C, COBOL, and TurboPascal, as well as doing years of HTML & PHP work.But while I can look at someone else's code and kind-of work out what's going on (at least to a middling degree), I don't seem to be able to get past a point with my own attempts at coding where everything just kind of goes blank. It's like there's too many things to keep track of, and that part of my brain shuts off.Anyway, that's where I got to with 7 Billion Humans. It's:3: OK#7BillionHumans #TopDown #Programming #Puzzle #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubaGHDFTFoCTCwsK by grissallia@aus.social
2023-10-16T13:01:59Z
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October 16, 2023 - Day 289 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 308Game: Arietta of SpiritsPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Aug 20, 2021Installation Date: Apr 17, 2023Unplayed: 182d (5m29d)Playtime: 19mArietta of Spirits is a pixel-art based retro action adventure game, about dealing with grief and monsters. You play as 13-year old Arietta, who is staying with her parents at her recently deceased grandmother's holiday cottage.When I looked up the activation history, I couldn't initially make sense of why this game would be in my library. It wasn't part of a bundle, it looked like I'd bought it. Digging deeper, I found that it was a bonus game that came with the other game I'd ordered from Fanatical that day.Unfortunately, while I like the idea of games that deal with grief, because sometimes I find them cathartic, Arietta of Spirits is SO retro that I spent much of my time glancing at the clock.Firstly, the game includes a mechanic that I'm not terribly fond of: character graphic with a text box full of text to tell the backstory. Click, different talking head. Entire conversations like this. At least you can click through them.Then there's the sound effects. They're /really/ retro, like C64 retro. The death noises of the mobs (see below) was really jarring and set my teeth on edge.Start off on the adventure to... pick apples. Get stopped by dad, get given a wooden sword, to defend against wasps.Encounter wasps. Discover that mob hitboxes aren't terribly consistent. Gets worse in the boss fight at the end of the level, when fighting a big wasp, and some little wasps.I know from reading up after quitting out that I didn't quite reach the core gameplay about dealing with unhappy spirits, it's just... there was just nothing that made me want to keep playing.For gamers with a deep love of retro gaming, this might be something that would appeal to them, but I'm not part of that group, which is why Arietta of Spirits is, unfortunately, a:1: Nope#AriettaOfSpirits #Retro #PixelArt #ActionAdventure #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubaIBc9Fxq7gbVQW by grissallia@aus.social
2023-10-17T12:59:51Z
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October 17, 2023 - Day 290 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 309Game: Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig - Digital EditionPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Nov 16, 2019Installation Date: Mar 28, 2020Unplayed: 1298d (3y6m19d)Playtime: 22mBetween Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig - Digital Edition is quite literally a digital edition of the board game.Based on my experience with the digital edition, I have no desire to experience the tabletop version.I played through the tutorial with the AI, and lost, then through a level against AI, and lost, and I felt like I was basically trying to work out the rules as I went.There's little to explain what the icons on the cards mean, and most of them were hard to read anyway.Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig - Digital Edition is an easy:1: Nope#BetweenTwoCastles #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubaIvhNupMQcAJG4 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-10-18T10:36:32Z
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October 18, 2023 - Day 291 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 310Game: The QuarryPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jun 10, 2022Installation Date: Oct 18, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 30mThe Quarry is a third-person interactive horror adventure game.I've made no secret of my dislike of horror games, and I feel much the same about straight horror movies. I'm OK with horror comedy, and there are a handful of horror movies (the original "Last Summer" movies, most of the "Scream" franchise), but as a rule, if a horror movie is on, I'm somewhere else.When October's Humble Choice Bundle dropped earlier this month, I opened up the email to see the AAA game for this month was a horror game I'd already looked at briefly before, and added to my Steam "ignore" list.So here we are. The first surprise was the cast list: there are a number of well-known names in the cast, including horror staples, David Arquette, and Ted Raimi, as well Ehtan Suplee, and Lance Henrikson - which was an even bigger surprise, because for some reason I thought he'd passed away recently. Nope. Still alive and well, and doing the voiceovers for the game tutorials.The second surprise was that while this time I wasn't going in completely blank, as I knew this was a horror game, I didn't realise it was effectively a playable movie.Which meant it actually combines two of my least favourite things, horror games AND horror movies.The graphics are good, with a couple of caveats.They've used the likeness of the actors, and in the prologue you encounter a couple of recognisable faces.Unfortunately, it feels a bit Polar Express; the uncanny valley is strong with this one.The other thing, is that one of the characters is played by Skyler Gisondo (you may know him from The Righteous Gemstones, or Santa Clarita Diet).He doesn't seem to blink; it becomes really unnerving, because the intro doesn't appear to be setting him up as a bad guy, it's just REALLY disconcerting.The navigation controls are a little frustrating, with the camera swinging around wildly, occasionally leaving me wondering which direction key I needed to use. In the TellTale games of this style, the QTE key is clearly defined. Here it's a black keyboard key icon, with a small white triangle that appears at the last second to indicate which direction to go. More than once I hit the wrong key at the right time.On the other hand, the environmental design and sound design are very well done, leading to exactly the kind of extremely heightened dread and anxiety that is the *exact* reason I don't play horror games.If you enjoy that overwhelming tension that doesn't seem to have any catharsis, this might be the game for you. Me?1: Nope#TheQuarry #ThirdPerson #Horror #HumbleChoice #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubaKvlwc4gdQDOeO by grissallia@aus.social
2023-10-19T12:07:12Z
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October 19, 2023 - Day 292 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 311Game: Metal: HellsingerPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 15, 2022Installation Date: Oct 19, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 25mMetal: Hellsinger is a rhythm-based FPS. The rhythm in question is heavy metal. Very heavy metal.This is the second of the October Humble Choice Bundle games, and the second game that I'd looked at before and decided "Ah... no."It's nothing to do with being an FPS, or a fundie* aversion to the setting, or being a rhythm game.It was the soundtrack, which seemed to me more like death metal than heavy metal, but I'm old.In any case, you're more likely to find me listening to Sara Bareilles than Slayer. Dire Straits rather than Dio. Counting Crows, not Cannibal Corpse.You get the idea.The idea of a game with a soundtrack featuring the lead singers from bands like System of a Down, Dark Tranquillity, Trivium, and Lamb of God is not my idea of a good time.I found Nine Inch Nails in Quake was a lot to deal with.So... I was wrong. Killing mobs in hell, slashing or firing on the beat of screaming thrashing metal is an intense but incredibly fun time.It's not a game I'm going to play to unwind, by any means, and I can't understand a single word they're singing (which is probably for the best), but Metal: Hellsinger is:4: Good#MetalHellsinger #FirstPerson #FPS #Rhythm #HeavyMetal #HumbleChoice #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay*actually, the whole hell theme does still make me feel a little uneasy. Not sure I'll ever shake that.
(DIR) Post #AhubaMEx4n0ihCCEBU by grissallia@aus.social
2023-10-20T12:43:27Z
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October 20, 2023 - Day 293 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 312Game: The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of AshesPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Oct 22, 2021Installation Date: Oct 20, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 26mThe Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes is a third-person interactive survival horror game.This is the third of this month's Humble Choice Bundle games, and by the same developer as The Quarry, Supermassive Games.Unfortunately, like The Quarry, this is another playable horror movie, and like The Quarry, I have no desire to play it.In one sense, I'm disappointed. It's not like this is a bad game. The design quality and atmosphere are great, the sound design is excellent.This is very much a me problem, rather than a gameplay issue.If interactive survival horror movies are your thing, you'll probably get a kick out of it.On the other hand, I'm going to have to play *something* else to be able to relax enough to sleep.The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes is:1: Nope#DarkPicturesAnthology #HouseOfAshes #ThirdPerson #Survival #Horror #HumbleChoice #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubaOFNcAXcv6Pb84 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-10-22T09:02:01Z
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October 21, 2023 - Day 294 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 313Game: Rebel Inc: EscalationPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Oct 14, 2021Installation Date: Oct 21, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 29mRebel Inc: Escalation is a top-down political/military strategy sim. It's the fourth game in the October Humble Choice Bundle, and is by the same developers as Plague Inc: Evolved.Plague Inc is a game about pandemics, released in 2016, and it's game that, while it wasn't "fun" in the traditional sense, it's even less so now.Rebel Inc: Escalation brings that same sensibility to taking control of a war-torn country to "stabilise" it, and needing to "deal with a deadly insurgency".The game doesn't really hold your hand, but it's fairly easy to work out. You have a budget that's provided by... the UN, and you need to spend the money on local initiatives to improve support, and remove support from the insurgents. You also need to create government and military strategies to build towards a win-state, which appears to be finding a way to remove the insurgents while maintaining your own popularity.While I "won" the first level, it vas vaguely disquieting to play a game about war and "insurgents", and would probably feel a bit on-the-nose at the best of times, but even more so at the moment.Rebel Inc: Escalation is (only just):3: OK#RebelIncEscalation #Political #Military #Strategy #Simulation #HumbleChoice #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubaPvFNzcq7F0Y1g by grissallia@aus.social
2023-10-22T12:17:44Z
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October 22, 2023 - Day 295 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 314Game: Spirit of the IslandPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Aug 18, 2022Installation Date: Oct 22, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 72mSpirit of the Island is a third-person farming sim and is the fifth game in the October Humble Choice BundleIt's a cutesy game that feels like a mash-up of Minecraft, Stardew Valley, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons, with a hint of Disney Dreamlight Valley.It scratched the go-here-do-this-make-stuff itch, but not real well.Unfortunately, it has a lot of rough user interfaces edges that still need to sanded off. Inventory management is a multi-click nightmare, and in a game like this, inventory management is everything.The game also uses a fixed camera position, and tells you this up-front, but it doesn't make it any less annoying.I want to enjoy Spirit of the Island, but if I want a chilled out experience like that, I'm probably going to look at something else like the games above first.Spirit of the Island is:3: OK#SpiritOfTheIsland #ThirdPerson #FarmingSim #HumbleChoice #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubaQR9TN97iBw1ku by grissallia@aus.social
2023-10-23T10:11:23Z
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October 23, 2023 - Day 296 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 315Game: Lords & VilleinsPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Nov 11, 2022Installation Date: Oct 23, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 15mLords & Villeins is a top-down pixel-art medieval city-building sim. Number six in the October Humble Choice Bundle.I generally try to find something good to say about a game, but I genuinely can't find anything to like about this game.Top-down & pixel-art was a hard sell to begin with, but Stardew Valley is top-down pixel-art and that worked for me.This just didn't click. It's not so much of a city-building management sim, as a micro-management sim based on city-building.The systems in the game seem disconnected from one another.You assign land to a family. A 10 block x 10 block area of land is "10 acres". Each person takes up 1 block, so I guess each person is 10% of an acre in size?But then you turn that area into a house, and now it's a 10 acre house?I have to give the villeins everything single thing they need from my "warehouse". There are things in my warehouse. How did they get there? I do not know.For instance, I had to give them X amount of straw.Then they need walls on the land I zoned for them, and I can build the walls out of straw or wood. Do the walls come out of my warehouse pile of straw or the straw I just gave to the villeins?The game does not tell me, and at this point, I do not care. I just want it to be over.I attempt to build walls. You place the icon and drag out the wall. I dragged it in the wrong place. I can't cancel it. I need to delete it. I can't delete it with a drag. I have to click on and delete every single piece of wall individually.The systems in this game are opaque and frustrating and when my 15 minutes were up, I gave a sigh of relief.There is probably an audience for this game, but wherever that may be, I assume they have a tolerance for pain that I lack.Lords & Villeins: 1: Nope#LordsAndVilleins #TopDown #PixelArt #Medieval #CityBuilder #HumbleChoice #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubaTC1E5p8G7sU5I by grissallia@aus.social
2023-10-24T13:41:45Z
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October 24, 2023 - Day 297 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 316Game: A Juggler's TalePlatform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 30, 2021Installation Date: Oct 24, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 46mGame number seven in the October Humble Choice Bundle is "A Juggler's Tale"; a 2.5D sideways scrolling puzzle adventure game. I have incredibly mixed emotions about this game.You play as Abby, a young girl, who is both a juggler, and a marionette. Abby is trapped in a circus and forced to perform, and A Juggler's Tale is the story of her escape, narrated by the puppeteer.The graphics are gorgeous, the sound design is good. The puzzles are not too challenging, although the controls (on controller) can be a little bit fiddly.The narrator is an older man with an English accent, and is in turns condescending, and patronising in the way he talks to (and about) Abby, frequently belittling her (and technically *my*) failures when attempting to solve puzzles - and I utterly despise him.I'm not sure whether the intent of the devs was to make me feel like that towards him, but his manner and commentary triggers emotional responses within me that I don't think were intended.I'm tempted to just Google the game to find out how it ends, and if there's any kind of catharsis, because the idea of spending the entire game with this horrible person, fills me with dread.A Juggler's Tale is: 4: Good*#AJugglersTale #SidewaysScroller #Adventure #Puzzle #HumbleChoice #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay*Trigger Warning, mention of abuse.I suspect that my reaction is partly a trauma response, from the abuse I experienced growing up. So, while I think this game is good, if you have that kind of trauma it may actually be triggering, which is a weird thing to have to say about a game like this.
(DIR) Post #AhubaUY2Bj1oShBa2S by grissallia@aus.social
2023-10-26T08:57:25Z
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October 25, 2023 - Day 298 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 317Game: Mr. PrepperPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Mar 19, 2021Installation Date: Oct 25, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 32mMr. Prepper is the final game in the October Humble Choice. It's 2.5D cooker-themed... sorry, "prepper"-themed survival sim.It basically feels like Fallout Shelter if it were about SovCits. And written by SovCits.You play as the titular "Mr. Prepper" who literally goes by that name in-game, introducing himself as that to other NPCs.The US government has been taken over by some kind of fascist organisation that stopped Mr. Prepper from escaping from his home town in the midwest, and is now monitoring him for subversive behaviour.You need to build a bunker for him, and build a whole lot of stuff for the bunker, all while hiding it from the regular government inspections.This is another game where if the theme of the game were different I might enjoy it more, but the whole real-world prepper/conspiracy theorist Venn diagram takes the shine off it, and just gives me a case of the icks.Mr. Prepper is: 2: Meh#MrPrepper #Survival #Sim #HumbleChoice #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubaVZ8P7VDcOhyOO by grissallia@aus.social
2023-10-26T20:47:19Z
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October 26, 2023 - Day 299 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 318Game: Dub DashPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Feb 17, 2016Installation Date: Oct 21, 2023Unplayed: 5dPlaytime: 27mDub Dash is a dubstep-themed rhythm arcade game.Using a couple of buttons, you need to time your button-presses just right to dodge the obstacles that pop up in front of you, in time with the dubstep soundtrack.I have a bit of a thing for rhythm games, but I struggle a bit with games where I need to memorise an exact set of moves and repeat them perfectly. This is a combination of both.The first level is a top-down level where you're a rolling wheel in a trench dodging the obstacles popping out of the side-walls of the trench. Kind of like the Star Wars trench run meets Skrillex.The thing I found mildly irritating is that most of the required moves are on the beat, and then suddenly one that's off-beat, and not necessarily in a way that makes sense.I'd feel like I was in the groove, and suddenly I'd smash into an obstacle that was on the third beat. I eventually beat the first level, but this is definitely one of those "I might play it again if the mood strikes me" games.Dub Dash is: 3: OK#DubDash #Rhythm #Arcade #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubaWOBLKKsAiajxY by grissallia@aus.social
2023-10-27T13:27:18Z
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October 27, 2023 - Day 300 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 319Game: Not TonightPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Aug 17, 2018Installation Date: Oct 21, 2023Unplayed: 6dPlaytime: 36mNot Tonight is a pixel-art work simulator based in a post-Brexit Britain, where a fascist government has taken over, and as a "Euro" with part European heritage and the right papers, you have to fight with an authoritarian bureaucracy in an attempt to remain in a country that wants you out.To do this you work as a gig-economy bouncer at a pub.I played for 36 minutes, doing the same job over and over, and if the gameplay loop extends beyond this, I don't feel like playing any longer to Not Tonight is: 2: Meh#NotTonight #PixelArt #WorkSimulator #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubaXMRjGXdBcmrtQ by grissallia@aus.social
2023-10-29T11:47:11Z
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October 28, 2023 - Day 301 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 320Game: Vampire: The Masquerade - Shadows of New York Platform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 11, 2020Installation Date: Oct 21, 2023Unplayed: 7dPlaytime: 52mMy sole exposure to Vampire: The Masquerade prior to playing Vampire: The Masquerade - Shadows of New York was playing Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt.Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt is a third-person battle-royale with vampires.Vampire: The Masquerade - Shadows of New York is... not.I thought all of the early reading was setting up for the gameplay, but it was taking quite a long time, and then I was faced with a decision, which was - apparently - the wrong decision, because immediately afterwards I was met with a Game Over.So I started over, discovered that seemingly all of the narrative "choices" in the initial setup lead to exactly the same point of decision, made the opposite decision and... more story.After a while, because I'd hit the wee hours of this morning, I decided to pull the pin, and looked up the game, and... oh. Right. It's actually a visual novel, something of a "Choose Your Own Adventure" based on the Vampire: The Masquerade TTRPG, which I also learned of last night.So, if you're a fan of visual novels, and Choose Your Own Adventure (TM), and the Vampire: The Masquerade TTRPG, this might be right up your alley.Admittedly, the story did end up being kind of interesting, but this is actually a sequel to an earlier visual novel (Coteries of New York) for which I have an unused key, so might read that first.Vampire: The Masquerade - Shadows of New York is: 3: OK#VampireTheMasquerade #ShadowsOfNewYork #VisualNovel #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubaYR5jTqqWJy5lw by grissallia@aus.social
2023-10-29T12:07:04Z
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October 29, 2023 - Day 302 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 321Game: YouropaPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jun 27, 2018Installation Date: Oct 21, 2023Unplayed: 8dPlaytime: 29mYouropa is a third-person 3D platform puzzle game, in which pieces of a stylized Paris have been ripped from the ground and suspended in mid-air as a series of platforms.Each platform has one of more puzzles that need to be solved to open the door to transport you to the next platform, and gravity is non-committal about the whole thing.At times you can walk along a platform that wraps around itself and find yourself walking on what was previously the underside of the platform. At other times you can take a step towards the edge of the platform and find yourself suddenly on the next surface and rotated through 90 degrees, or alternatively, plunging towards Paris below, because gravity, much like the controls for this game, can be finicky.Unfortunately, while the graphics and lighting are quite pretty, giving the game a certain charm, and the conceit of the game is something out of the ordinary, the wildly inconsistent controls make it equal parts fun and frustrating, and not in a "enjoyable challenge" way, but more in a "Why am I doing this to myself?" way.Ultimately, I don't think the uniqueness is enough to make me want to come back to Youropa, making it a bit: 2: Meh#Youropa #ThirdPerson #3D #Platform #Puzzles #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubaZPi66LBYKKVG4 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-10-30T10:49:41Z
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October 30, 2023 - Day 303 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 322Game: Tales of the Neon SeaPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Apr 30, 2019Installation Date: Oct 21, 2023Unplayed: 9dPlaytime: 43mTales of the Neon Sea is a cyberpunk-themed 2D pixel art adventure.I'm a sucker for cyberpunk-themed games, and this is a game that makes pixel art look gorgeous. It's just a shame that the artwork is the best part of the game.You play as Rex, a partly cybernetic ex-cop-turned-detective, who awakens in a sewer, only to suddenly find himself being chased by a grim-reaper-esque character wearing a plague doctor mask. Who can teleport.After slowly escaping (because Rex is injured and moves really slowly), it's eventually revealed that this is a flash-forward."Three days earlier...", sees Rex getting out of bed in a gigantic house, and beginning his adventure.The thing is, Rex moves slowly even when uninjured. The longer I played, the more it became obvious why. This is a game that has been made longer by slowing you down.The length has then been increased by putting each of the MacGuffins you require to solve each puzzle as far away from you as possible, forcing you to walk slowly from one end of Rex's gigantic house to the other and back. Over, and over. There's no run. Only walk.You also can't pick up stuff along the way that might be helpful later; things only become available to you when you need them for a puzzle.While the storyline and setting grabbed me, the constant trudging backwards and forwards in Tales of the Neon Sea made it all a bit:2: Meh#TalesOfTheNeonSea #2D #PixelArt #Puzzle #Adventure #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubaakJ90PXgUyT0C by grissallia@aus.social
2023-10-31T12:52:29Z
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October 31, 2023 - Day 304 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 323Game: TSIOQUEPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Nov 8, 2018Installation Date: Oct 21, 2023Unplayed: 10dPlaytime: 17mTSIOQUE is a 2.5D hand drawn point and click adventure.You play as young princess Tsioque, who has been left behind in the castle by her mother, the Queen, who has ridden off to fight an existential threat to her kingdom (queendom?)While the Queen is away, the wizard will play. He's evil, takes over the castle, imprisons the princess, she has to escape, yada yada yada.There are point-and-click adventures where the puzzles are creative brainteasers, and obvious in hindsight.There are others where you just randomly click on crap until something happens.Given the complete lack of tutorial, and the single-pocket inventory, IF you actually have one item, it may not be entirely obvious how to use it.By "may not be", it's actually "good luck working out the UI!"A later puzzle presented me with an "invisibility blanket". Often a point-and-click will say "you can't use that now" when you try to use something at the wrong time.TSIOQUE doesn't. Nothing happens. There's no feedback whatsoever.Turns out that on the next screen, you need to use it to evade some enemies. How? No idea. I tried to run back to the previous room and use the blanket?Nope.Click in the wrong place, the item is returned to the pocket. Turns out that when you can use it, you kind of drag it towards Tsioque and *it's removed from the pocket*, and she can use it.How do you put it away afterwards?You can't.Tsioque finds herself standing in the dark. Clicking does nothing. The invisibility blanket is back in the pocket. She's also wearing it, and it cannot be removed.Take one step forward, she trips, the guards throw the lights on, the wind blows the blanket away and she gets captured.Over and over.I gave up in frustration - I'm ten minutes into the game at this point, with a further five minutes of being stuck on this "puzzle", and search for a walkthrough.Turns out that above the light switch is a spider. I'd seen the spider in previous scenes, but there was nothing you could do with him.However, NOW he's clickable (not that there's anything to indicate this); his relative size is that of a tap-target on a full-screen mobile ad, and clicking on him will turn the lights off, and all the guards plummet to their death.Obviously.Unlike last night with Tales of the Neon Sea's artwork to draw me in, TSIOQUE doesn't even offer that. Do I want to keep playing?:1: Nope#TSIOQUE #HandDrawn #PointAndClick #Adventure #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubabkLQM2Cmu00hM by grissallia@aus.social
2023-11-01T12:17:44Z
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November 1, 2023 - Day 305 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 324Game: CryptarkPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jun 21, 2017Installation Date: Oct 21, 2023Unplayed: 11dPlaytime: 21mCryptark is a 2D pixel-art roguelike sci-fi shooter.You're the away team in a salvage crew, in which you enter procedurally generated ships, destroy armed defences to make your way to the AI brain controlling each ship, within a time limit.Your attack-suit-mech is heavily armed, and you'll pick up various upgrades along the way.It's apparently a twin-stick as well, but I played with mouse and keyboard.I'm pretty wiped out, but even so, it's another of those games that if I was in the right mood I might take another shot at it.Cryptark is:3: OK#Cryptark #2D #PixelArt #Roguelike #Shooter #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubacMH9KNMgXkIoy by grissallia@aus.social
2023-11-02T11:19:45Z
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November 2, 2023 - Day 306 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 325Game: Warhammer: ChaosbanePlatform: SteamRelease Date: May 31, 2019Installation Date: Oct 21, 2023Unplayed: 12dPlaytime: 24mWarhammer: Chaosbane is an isometric fantasy hack-and-slash ARPG set in the Warhammer universe.It answers the question "What if Wish.com Diablo III was given a Warhammer paint job?"It seems perfectly serviceable, but unless you're a big Warhammer fan, if you already own Diablo III (or Diablo IV), may as well just play them.Warhammer: Chaosbane is:3: OK#WarhammerChaosbane #Isometric #Fantasy #ARPG #HackAndSlash #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubaduLO9DnUUh1Yu by grissallia@aus.social
2023-11-03T11:41:01Z
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November 3, 2023 - Day 307 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 326Game: Disney SpeedstormPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 29, 2023 (F2P)Installation Date: Sep 30, 2023Unplayed: 34d (1m4d)Playtime: 16mMickey Kart ... oops; of course, I mean Disney Speedstorm, is a free-to-play Disney Pixar themed kart-racing game.The tracks in the game are themed on various Disney & Pixar properties, with the ability to play as various Disney Pixar characters.The karts handle fine, it basically feels like a Disney version of Mario Kart, with added lootboxes, and microtransactions.If you're a Disney fan looking for a F2P kart racer, this is:3: OK#DisneySpeedstorm #KartRacing #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubaebEofX5dWlHQ8 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-11-04T11:45:41Z
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November 4, 2023 - Day 308 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 327Game: Little Man Has a DayPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Aug 17, 2023Installation Date: Aug 21, 2023Unplayed: 75d (2m14d)Playtime: 30mLittle Man Has a Day is a 2.5D walking simulator about a little man having a day.With hand drawn graphics, this game is a deeply complex and cerebral exploration of what it means to be human.Well, as deeply complex as one can get in 13 minutes. Because that's how long it took me to finish the game. The only reason I have 30 minutes above is that I went back to get the rest of the achievements.As "Little Man" you wake up and you're having an "eh" day. You explore the map, and meet a handful of characters, and write about it in your journal.Little Man Has a Day is free on Steam and it's:3: OK#LittleManHasADay #WalkingSimulator #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubafKc5xpRuFzW9A by grissallia@aus.social
2023-11-05T22:03:44Z
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November 5, 2023 - Day 309 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 328Game: MinoriaPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Aug 27, 2019Installation Date: Oct 21, 2023Unplayed: 15d Playtime: 19mMinoria is 2D Metroidvania about nuns vs witches.The game is set in the middle ages, with the character designs being vaguely anime-styled.Attacks are telegraphed by a glowing circle that appears around mobs, yet I still managed to die a lot.Unfortunately for this game, I've played some excellent Metroidvanias this year which resulted in Minoria just feeling pretty:2: Meh#Minoria #2D #Metroidvania #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubagPc4rQFG3L1Zw by grissallia@aus.social
2023-11-06T09:30:11Z
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November 6, 2023 - Day 310 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 329Game: Anno 1800Platform: Ubisoft ConnectRelease Date: Apr 17, 2019Installation Date: Nov 6, 2023Unplayed: 0d Playtime: 2h20mAnno 1800 is a 3D real-time strategy city-builder, set in the 19th Century.I bought it today."But Allie, you have too many games. You have new ones coming on Wednesday morning in the November Humble Bundle! Why would you buy a new game?"Ubisoft had a free weekend, and I made the mistake of installing it. Then playing it. Had I not played it (wouldn't be the first time I installed a game on a free weekend and forgot to play it), I wouldn't have encountered an antagonist so eminently punchable (Edvard Goode) that I wanted to keep playing solely to grind his company into dust.With a 20% discount on top of the already discounted price through Ubisoft taking it to a historical low of AUD$17.99, it was almost impossible to say "no".In terms of actual gameplay, it hooked me early, and I was suddenly staring at an in-game popup that said "It's been two hours, how about a cup of coffee."Anno 1800 is:4: Good#Anno1800 #CityBuilder #RealTimeStrategy #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubahEf14FtoNDn96 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-11-07T00:20:37Z
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November 7, 2023 - Day 311 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 330Game: Townsmen - A Kingdom RebuiltPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Feb 27, 2019Installation Date: Oct 21, 2023Unplayed: 17d Playtime: 25mTownsmen - A Kingdom Rebuilt is an isometric real-time strategy city-builder, with a medieval setting.I got a whole bunch of games on the 21st of October. I was talking with my son about how I'd skipped a couple of months of Humble Choice in the past few years, and he gave me most of the games I was missing (because he didn't want them).Included in those games was Townsmen - A Kingdom Rebuilt; this review could also be "A tale of two city-builders".The graphics in Townsmen are quite cute, and it makes Townsmen look like it could be a lot of fun.Unfortunately, that's the best part of this game, because the actual gameplay is incredibly frustrating.As an aside, in-game grammar and spelling mistakes immediately break my concentration. One typo is an oversight. Multiple typos and grammar errors sets my teeth on edge. This was not a good start for Townsmen.The biggest issue I had with Townsmen is that it's less a city-building sim, and more of a city-micromanagement sim. I want to build buildings. I don't want to have to go to each building independently and assign and unassign workers (particularly in early game).Buildings also degrade over time, and can catch on fire if they degrade too much. How do you know? Apparently they start to change colour. So now I have to remember to look at each building individually to see if it's changed colour and might need repairs. To repair a building, click on it to bring up the building interface. Click on a drop-down menu, and choose "Repair Building". Actually, this building is normally that colour, and doesn't need repairs. Like I said, micromanagement.The tutorial levels give tasks, and give optional tasks, and would intermittently stop everything to remind me to complete the task I was *working* on."You need more wood, build another sawmill. You need another worker to build the sawmill. Build a new townhouse. You need more wood for the townhouse."So I'm going around pulling workers from other jobs to put them on different jobs so I can complete the jobs to complete the tasks, which you've just paused the entire game to remind me to complete.Anno 1800 hooked me so deeply that it was a case of "two hours already?", where this had me checking the clock repeatedly.It's not just that it suffers in comparison to Anno 1800, compared to all of the other citybuilders I've played this year, Townsmen - A Kingdom Rebuilt is:2: Meh#TownsmenAKingdomRebuilt #CityBuilder #RealTimeStrategy #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubaiDHNgkEqNaCdE by grissallia@aus.social
2023-11-08T13:15:00Z
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November 8, 2023 - Day 312 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 331Game: Almost There: The PlatformerPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Feb 19, 2019Installation Date: Sep 7, 2019Unplayed: 1523d (4y2m1d) Playtime: 15mAlmost There: The Platformer is a minimalist 2D platformer.This game takes everything I hate about platforming games and distils it down into a pure essence: Eau de Platform.This game makes Celeste feel like a relaxing walk in the hills. Celeste made me want to at least keep trying before giving up in frustration. This made me look up at the clock every thirty seconds wishing for sweet release from my self-imposed straitjacket."Almost There" was what I whispered to myself as the clock slowly, painfully ground towards the 15 minute mark.Almost There requires pinpoint precision to do... well, everything. Beat the timers on each level to get three stars. Land on the tiny platforms. Beat the pointy insta-kill moving spikes. Wall jump to avoid the lasers. Avoid the moving lasers.The dev describes it as being "designed specifically for fans of the hardcore platforming genre" and playing this made me wish WWE 2K23 *had* finished downloading tonight.To be clear, this game is not a bad game. This is a game that exists to mock me; a game that exists to remind me that it doesn't matter how hard I try, there are some games that will never be "for" me. That's OK with me.I hate this game. This is a game that does exactly what it says on the tin, but a game that I will never be able to enjoy.For lovers of hand-eye co-ordination, this may be the peak of platforming experience, but for me, Almost There: The Platformer is a solid:1: Nope#AlmostThereThePlatformer #2D #Minimalist #Platformer #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubbEHe8zFgJBs8si by grissallia@aus.social
2023-11-08T21:22:20Z
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November 9, 2023 - Day 313 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 332Game: WWE 2K23Platform: SteamRelease Date: Mar 17, 2023Installation Date: Nov 9, 2023Unplayed: 0d Playtime: 51mWWE 2K23 is a pro wrestling sports sim. It's game #2 in the November Humble Choice bundle.I am not a sports fan; my wife passionately fills that role in our relationship. I'll occasionally watch a game with her, but sports just don't do anything for me.Then there's professional wrestling. Not only do I not see the appeal, I find it actively repellent. The showboating aggressive and sweaty men give off the same vibe as the boys who used to bully me aggressively and incessantly at school.There are few sports I want to know less about than pro wrestling, which puts playing a game like WWE 2K23 somewhere south of playing an F1 game, and almost at survival/escape horror levels.Although, to be honest, I once went on a hyperfocus bender on the performance side of pro-wrestling, so I know what a heel turn and face turn are, but the sports side? I was even LESS interested in knowing more.I was fully prepared to dislike this game. I WANTED to dislike this game. I figured I'd get in, play 15 minutes and get out, have a little rant about it, and free up 80 gigs of precious SSD space.I loaded it up. The game aggressively loading up on the wrong monitor helped. Forcing me straight into a tutorial without first letting me adjust the settings? Pump it into my veins. Hiding the settings menu somewhere other than the options menu? Just trying to get it working has eaten up a good chunk of my 15 minutes. I'm ready to rant.However, it's not a fair review of *the game*, so into the tutorial with some guy named Xavier Woods, who's part of "The New Day". Already learning things I don't want to know.Xavier tells me that I need to train so that one day I can face off against John Cena. The tutorial walks me through the various moves, and combos, and it takes me a bit over 15 minutes to complete.There are a LOT of moves to remember. At least now I can give it a fair review... except it's straight into a Wrestlemania ring. Xavier is now dressed in pink and yellow spandex, and is going up against his first opponent...John Cena. Apparently. I can't see him, but I know he's there (sorry, not sorry)."One day" is today. I'm wrestling John Cena. I can remember *some* of the moves from the tutorial. I'm... oh no......I'm enjoying this.I'm playing WWE 2K23, and I'm having fun. I beat John Cena.I BEAT JOHN CENA.I put down the controller. My hands are aching.I just had fun.Playing a pro-wrestling sim.Who even am I now?I'm not about to sit down and watch WWE any time soon, but I'm not getting that 80Gb of SSD space back, either.For a game that I was prepared to dislike SO much, I can't quite believe the words I'm about to write: WWE 2K23 is actually really:4: Good#WWE2K23 #ProWrestling #Sports #Sim #HumbleChoice #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubbGFapanWPOvWxU by grissallia@aus.social
2023-11-10T13:45:34Z
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November 10, 2023 - Day 314 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 333Game: Friends vs FriendsPlatform: SteamRelease Date: May 30, 2023Installation Date: Nov 10, 2023Unplayed: 0d Playtime: 16mFriends vs Friends is a combination multiplayer PVP FPS and deckbuilder.Those two things go together like chocolate ice cream and nachos; I like both of those things, but not in the same bowl.It's the fourth game in this month's Humble Choice bundle, and is reinforcing my theory that some devs are trying use the bundle to juice their player base to try and reach critical mass.The opening of this game took me by surprise. I do not remember another game that has a fully animated theme song intro.For a moment I was genuinely wondering whether this was a cartoon of some kind, because it feels just like the opening to a 90's Saturday morning cartoon.The theme song alerted me to the fact it was a deckbuilder, but not that it was also a FPS, so when I found myself staring at a cel-shaded 3D environment, and while the environmental design and character designs were well done, I was at a loss as to what to do next. I wandered around hoping that I'd trigger some kind of tutorial, some idea of how to play the game... nothing.I found a shop, and guns I could try out, but no idea how to obtain them. I couldn't work out how to start a match, and I didn't want to start a match without knowing how to play.Eventually I gave up, and started a 1v1 quickmatch; I muddled my way through, winning 1 out of 5 matches. I tried a 2v2 match with bots, in which my "team" lost both times.Turns out, the guns are cards in your deck, you win matches, get cash, use the cash to buy new cards, build a new deck (or upgrade the old one).After the 2v2 match, I spotted a question mark icon tucked away in the bottom right hand corner of the screen, which on a 3440x1440 screen wasn't exactly obvious, and it contained a set of instructions for how to play the game.For me there are few issues with the game; the first one is in the title. It's a game that would probably work best with 1 or 3 friends (multiplayer options are 1v1 or 2v2).With everyone either in the same room in a LAN game, or all on voicechat together, this could be amusing, because some of the card effects were amusing. Playing against randoms? No-one to laugh with.Some cards were confusing "If I play this, does it affect me or the opponent?" No idea, even after playing it......because it's a PVP FPS. The pace of the game means it either feels like nothing is happening, or feels like everything is happening, as I'm trying to shoot, and look at my deck, and not get shot, and pick out a card, and I'm dead.Unfortunately, Friends vs Friends feels like it had potential, but it all ended up just a bit:2: Meh#FriendsVsFriends #PVP #FPS #Deckbuilder #HumbleChoice #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubbHdNgdQ6hT42fw by grissallia@aus.social
2023-11-11T12:14:00Z
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November 11, 2023 - Day 315 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 334Game: ProdeusPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 24, 2022Installation Date: Nov 11, 2023Unplayed: 0d Playtime: 28mProdeus is a post-modern retro FPS, and is number 5 in this month's Humble Choice bundle.Some time in 1994, a 20yo sat down in front of a friend's PC, as the friend said "You have to see this!" and fired up a new game his dad had downloaded.I was stunned. The same computer we'd played Captain Keen & Wolfenstein 3D was showing a true 3D environment first-person shooter (even IF the mobs were bitmaps).But it wasn't just the visuals. It was the sound. The cheap speakers plugged into the SoundBlaster were emitting snarls and growls, that felt like they were just about to burst in and kill us, and all of my hairs stood on end.I'd never experienced anything like it. I was watching him play Doom.I've lost count of the number of FPS's I've played since. Tens of thousands of digital opponents have been blasted into pixels in all kinds of environments, and it's rare now to get a chill playing a FPS. Yet firing up Doom (or Doom 2), and hearing those snarls & growls can still give me chills, and in spite of having them installed, I don't play them.When I played Doom Eternal for the first time, it felt like they'd captured the spirit of Doom, with all the advances of modern tech. It was fun, but it didn't feel like that moment in 1994.Prodeus has all the little Doom-like touches; armor shards & health bottles, exploding barrels, secrets stashed here and there, but with added up & down mouse camera movement.However, that could still describe countless boomer shooters; the difference is that Prodeus has somehow managed to capture the *atmosphere* of Doom, in a way that I can't remember experiencing in a very long time.I felt like I was playing a true spiritual successor to Doom, and that's tough to pull off.But technology is not the only thing that's changed in the last almost-30 years. I've lived through some real-life horror. The mix of adrenaline and fear, that rush that I got from playing Doom in 1994, it hits differently now.Reaching the end of the first level, seeing that Doom-like end-screen didn't give me a rush of excitement, just a sense of relief. My jaw and my shoulders are tight and sore. My body reacts in a different way.This was a hard review to write. It's taken me almost three times as long to write as I spent playing.These reviews are primarily about my feelings towards a game, and whether I want to play it again, and Prodeus is difficult.As a game, it deserves an "excellent", but as I game that I'll play again? I don't know. As I wrote earlier, I have Doom and Doom II installed on Steam (and Doom 3). I have less than two hours playtime across all three games.Prodeus' 1.29Gb install can stay on my SSD, because it's:4: Good#Prodeus #FPS #Retro #BoomerShooter #HumbleChoice #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubbJ5QHrRfCjBx1U by grissallia@aus.social
2023-11-12T08:41:01Z
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November 12, 2023 - Day 316 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 335Game: The Legend of TiandingPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Nov 2, 2021Installation Date: Nov 12, 2023Unplayed: 0d Playtime: 21mGame number 6 in the November Humble Choice bundle is The Legend of Tianding.This is a 2.5D side-scrolling beat-em-up platformer, which is based on a Flash game from 2004. Both games are based on the life of a real Taiwanese outlaw during the early 20th century.It was a bit of a frustrating start. The game doesn't support ultra-wide screen, and instead of letterboxing, stretches 2560x1440 to 3440x1440.The graphics are done in a comic-book style, which is well done, but other than that, it's a perfectly functional beat-em-up.The Legend of Tianding is:3: OK#TheLegendOfTianding #BeatEmUp #SideScrolling #Platformer #HumbleChoice #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubbKwHOpJswwvg36 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-11-13T12:46:59Z
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November 13, 2023 - Day 317 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 336Game: SCP: Secret FilesPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 14, 2022Installation Date: Nov 13, 2023Unplayed: 0d Playtime: 56mSCP: Secret Files is an odd game that's based around SCP (which stands for "Secure. Control. Protect."), and is a collaborative story writing wiki about paranormal anomalies.I'm not going to try and explain SCP beyond that; you either know what SCP is, or you don't, and if you know what SCP is, you either know if it's a "you" thing, or if it isn't.I know what SCP is, and it's not a thing that grabs me. In SCP: Secret Files, you find yourself as a new recruit in SCP, (the organisation that the SCP wiki is ostensibly about), and working through SCP "casefiles".I played through 51 minutes of this game because I wanted to see how the first story ended (one of several different stories within the game), and it was somewhat disappointing.SCP: Secret Files?1: Nope#SCPSecretFiles #SCP #HumbleChoice #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubbLW5FhxYjzgGrA by grissallia@aus.social
2023-11-14T10:15:39Z
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November 14, 2023 - Day 318 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 337Game: SCP: Secret FilesPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jun 2, 2022Installation Date: Nov 14, 2023Unplayed: 0d Playtime: 20mSouldiers is a 2D pixel-art Metroidvania Soulslike platformer, and the last of this months unplayed Humble Choice bundle games.It has a fantasy setting, which involves being saved from death due to machinations within the kingdom by a Valkyrie only to have to fight in the land that you're taken to, and I didn't get much further than that in 20 minutes.The devs have put a lot of thought and effort into the backstory, but it's not one that grabs me.Once again, I'm staring at a fairly average Metroidvania in a year when I've played such excellent Metroidvanias and Soulslike platformers, that a game really needs to bring something different to the table to grab me.Unfortunately, Souldiers didn't, and it's just kind of:2: Meh#Souldiers #2D #Metroidvania #Soulslike #Platformer #HumbleChoice #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubbNOMHOy6Yc585o by grissallia@aus.social
2023-11-14T10:48:36Z
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November 14, 2023 - Day 318 - RePlay ReviewTotal RePlays: 10Game: Hardspace: ShipbreakerPlatform: SteamRelease Date: May 26, 2022Library Date: Jun 20, 2021Playtime: 59h20mHardspace: Shipbreaker is the first game in this month's Humble Choice bundle, and on the short list of games that I've completed - on July 24, 2022.Also, you may note that the "Library Date" predates the "Release Date", and this is not a typo.It was released in Early Access in 2022, and I did not once regret buying it.Hardspace: Shipbreaker is a 6DOF first-person action-adventure sim, in which you play a blue collar space worker, who has signed up to work with Lynx Corporation as a ship breaker.Living in space, it's your job to dismantle, sort, and destroy, recycle, or recover, all the parts of junked spaceships.There's just a small catch. While you can make good money ship breaking, Lynx Corporation uses cloning technology, and when you sign up with them, they own you and your DNA until your pay out the billion credit debt you incurred in training.Ship breaking is a dangerous job, with a lot of risks; for instance, one of the big ones is death.But that's OK; if you die, Lynx will just reconstitute you, and you get to keep on working. The cost of the reconstitution is added to your debt, so no biggie, right?The actual mechanics of breaking up the ship involve a ruggedised spacesuit, a tether tool, and a laser cutter.The procedurally generated ships become increasingly complex, with new dangers involved as you level up.Each ship floats in an orbiting salvage yard with a furnace & salvage bay on both the left and right hand sides of the yard, and a recovery barge below. You use the laser cutter to break up the ship, and the tether tool to either send recoverable whole objects to the barge, recyclable materials to the salvage bay, and junk to the furnace.You're paid on the basis of how much usable material you recover from each ship, as well as earning "Lynx Credits" that you can use to upgrade your tools and skills.It's a surprising amount of fun cutting up a ship, and tethering all the recyclable parts together and firing them off to the salvage bay.As long as you don't get too close, and get recovered too, because... yeah, I died that way. A few times.The whole thing is set to a soundtrack that wouldn't be out of place in an episode of Firefly; in some ways, the whole game has a bit of that vibe.Hardspace: Shipbreaker isn't just a game, it's a game with an excellent narrative that has lot to say about capitalism, corporate exploitation labour abuses, and unionism.I genuinely love this game, and it's up there with Firewatch as one of my favourite games.It's worth buying this month's bundle JUST for this game, because Hardspace: Shipbreaker is:5: Excellent#HardspaceShipbreaker #6DOF #FirstPerson #ActionAdventure #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #RePlay
(DIR) Post #AhubbOTiEyqTvVav4q by grissallia@aus.social
2023-11-14T11:08:31Z
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November 14, 2023 - Day 318 - RePlay ReviewTotal RePlays: 10Game: UnpackingPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Nov 2, 2021Library Date: Nov 23, 2022Playtime: 7h17m*Unpacking is the third game in this month's Humble Choice bundle, and another one on the short list of games that I've completed; this one on December 30th, 2021My time played in Steam, however, is 0h 0m.Unpacking is also available on Xbox Game Pass for PC, which is where I played it, and completed it.Twice.Unpacking is an utterly lovely, and very chill isometric pixel art puzzle game, that involves unpacking a series of moving boxes, and learning about your life. It's a game about what makes somewhere home.Each set of puzzles is based around a time in your life, and as you unpack the boxes, you begin to tease out the narrative of your life.The thing about Unpacking is that to explain it beyond this, risks giving away part of the narrative, and I don't want to do that.There is so much I love about this game, both for the puzzle, but also for the narrative; those of you who've played it know exactly what I mean.It's a game that sat with me for a long time after I'd finished it, and I ultimately decided that I want to own a copy, and put some money into the pocket of the (Australian!) devs (Witch Beam, based in Brisbane), so I bought it.Writing about it like this has just reminded me how much I love it, and I might just need to play it through again. It's another one on my list of favourites, along with Firewatch, Dredge, and Hardspace: Shipbreaker.Unpacking is the other game it's worth buying this month's bundle for; it too is:5: Excellent#Unpacking #Isometric #PixelArt #Narrative #Puzzle #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #RePlay
(DIR) Post #AhubbQTmng5o8Je0TA by grissallia@aus.social
2023-11-15T09:23:33Z
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November 15, 2023 - Day 319 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 338Game: BPM: Bullets Per MinutePlatform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 16, 2020Installation Date: Nov 15, 2023Unplayed: 0d Playtime: 16mBPM: Bullets Per Minutes is a rhythm-based FPS roguelike. I discovered BPM when I was reading about Metal Hellsinger, and added it to my wishlist.Joke was on me. Turns out I already owned it.After the 250Mbps fibre was installed today, I went looking through my unredeemed Steam keys list, and spotted BPM. "Ooooh! I'll install that!"While this has the same basic concept as Metal Hellsinger, it plays very differently.Instead of raiding hell, you're a Valkyrie raiding randomly generated Viking-esque dungeons, rendered in an eyewatering, almost monochromatic colour palette.You also absolutely MUST fire on the beat, or the gun just doesn't fire. Even on easy mode, the mobs hit hard. Each hit does 25% damage.You walk into a darkened room that may or may not have a wild number of mobs in it, and you run around trying to make out where you're going, and not get hit.If you're unlucky, there's a boss in the room, who might completely blind you for a moment... and then you're dead. Ultimately, it was the graphics that killed it for me. I would probably persevere if I could easily make out what I'm shooting at against the backgrounds, but it just becomes too much work, particularly when there are a lot of mobs on screen.I really wanted to like this game, but unfortunately, BPM: Bullets Per Minute is another:1: Nope#BPM #BulletsPerMinute#FirstPerson #Rhythm #FPS #Roguelike #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365#NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubbSB4UEJLOqu5Zo by grissallia@aus.social
2023-11-16T13:10:43Z
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November 16, 2023 - Day 320 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 339Game: Homefront: The RevolutionPlatform: SteamRelease Date: May 17, 2016Installation Date: Sep 11, 2022Unplayed: 431d (1y2m5d) Playtime: 29mHomefront: The Revolution is an open-world FPS reboot of 2011's Homefront, a game I reviewed on the 5th of January.The setting is much the same; a unified Korea has invaded the United States, and you find yourself as a member of the resistance seeking to fight back against a superior military force.It was only when I started playing it that it started to feel familiar.Of my 29 minutes playtime, about half of that was just watching things happen on screen.The biggest problem though is that it's not a game that's aged well. The game mechanics themselves seem totally fine, it's an issue of timing.Right now, while Israel's government commits war crimes against innocent Palestinians while claiming self defence against Hamas, and the war by Russia against Ukraine continues, and with an ascendent US fascist movement painting themselves as the resistance, this game does not feel like a game.When I play a game, it's partially to escape from the world, not to remind me of it, and Homefront: The Revolution does exactly that, so it all feels a bit:2: Meh#HomefrontTheRevolution #OpenWorld #FPS #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365#NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubbT1tJqYu2fcGuG by grissallia@aus.social
2023-11-17T13:01:44Z
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November 17, 2023 - Day 321 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 340Game: I Am FishPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 16, 2021Installation Date: Jul 18, 2022Unplayed: 487d (1y3m30d) Playtime: 18mI Am Fish describes itself as a physics-based adventure. It's a game about four fish, in a full 3D environment.I don't normally talk about the developers behind a game, because I like to take each game on its own merits.However, I Am Fish has a callback to at least one of Bossa Studios previous games, but also takes a particular gameplay cue from them as well.In I Am Fish, you start out as a goldfish. The game opens in a bakery, where the baker hands two loaves of very wriggly bread to a customer for free, one of which ends up at a pet store, where you are currently swimming with three friends (a puffer fish, a flying fish, and a piranha).The bread is wriggly because it's sentient bread, a callback to Bossa Studios' previous game "I Am Bread". When fed to the fish, the bread seemingly makes them far more intelligent, and after your three friends are captured and removed from your tank, you awake the next day in a round, sealable goldfish bowl, and it's time to escape... by rolling your bowl along the handily placed shelves to ground level, and then to freedom.This is an utterly gorgeous game. The lighting is incredible, the fully realised 3D levels are wonderful, and the music is delightful.The control scheme was designed by a sadist.Bossa Studios are also responsible for Surgeon Simulator, and if you've played Surgeon Simulator or I Am Bread, what both of these games have in common with I Am Fish is that the games are designed with the most incredibly frustrating control schemes.I played -and gave up- on both of these earlier games in sheer frustration. Much like platformers that require pinpoint accuracy, and playing well known guitar licks, I lack the fine motor control necessary to achieve the required goals.There are games that are designed to reward the most dextrous & skilled players who can build up the required muscle memory to make the right moves at exactly the right time; if a player can't do that, they just become a source of frustration, and even self-recrimination.It's why I can enjoy Forza Horizon in single player mode, but am left behind in virtually every race in online mode.It's why I was hostile towards platformers for decades, with everything from Super Mario Bros. to Celeste just winding up my frustration levels until I feel like my brain is melting.This is also why, as much as I want to play I Am Fish (it's just so beautiful), I probably won't end up persevering much longer, when there are so many other games I can just play and enjoy.I Am Fish is a gorgeous, frustrating conundrum of a game, that I simultaneously want to give every rating, which averages out to:3: OK#IAmFish #3D #Physics #Adventure #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365#NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubbUfHEtf3773Ew4 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-11-18T10:12:34Z
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November 18, 2023 - Day 322 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 341Game: Ashes of the Singularity: EscalationPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Nov 11, 2016Installation Date: May 8, 2020Unplayed: 1289d (3y6m10d) Playtime: 24mAshes of the Singularity: Escalation is a RTS game, developed by Oxide Games, and published by Stardock Entertainment.It is a generally serviceable RTS.I played through the first tutorial, and having completed it, I'm uninstalling the game.As much as I said yesterday I try not to talk about the devs behind games, I'm talking about the devs for a completely different reason today.I was surprised to see the Stardock logo pop up, as I don't play games published by Stardock, on principle.Both Oxide Games and Stardock Entertainment were founded by Brad Wardell; since he happily poured fuel on the GamerGate fire, and was openly supportive of GamerGate, amongst other things, I made the decision not to buy or play any of his games.Since I'd already started up the game, figured I'd still give it an honest review (as a game, it's OK), but will I play Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation again?1: Nope#AshesOfTheSingularityEscalation #RTS #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365#NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubbVK2nKGr9Y7nTk by grissallia@aus.social
2023-11-19T11:10:44Z
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November 19, 2023 - Day 323 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 342Game: Injustice 2Platform: SteamRelease Date: Nov 15, 2017Installation Date: Mar 18, 2023Unplayed: 246d (8m1d) Playtime: 32mInjustice 2 is a 3Dish beat-em-up fighting game, and a sequel to Injustice: Gods Among Us.Fighting games aren't really my go-to, because it comes back to that same issue of fine motion control and hand-eye coordination. I'd made two serious attempts to play Injustice: Gods Among Us, and failed miserably both times.However, after playing & reviewing SOULCALIBUR VI on January 2nd, I gave Injustice a third go, and it clicked.Still not really my go-to, and I haven't played either game since January.In March, Injustice 2 popped up for AUD$7, and I figured it was worth a shot.I finally took that shot.It was not worth a shot.I did not get off to a good start. My first attempt involved me taking a run at the tutorial in a game that insisted it had "Full Xbox One controller support" (as did Steam), and then consistently showed a PS4 controller on-screen, and showing the wrong buttons for combos.After fiddling with the controller mapping, I quit the game, hit the forums, enabled Steam input, and finally had a working controller.I stormed through the first part of the tutorial until I hit the combos, where I finally got stuck for five minutes just trying to get the timing and pattern right on a particular combo.I'd probably need to go back and have yet another go at Injustice to see if there's a difference, but fundamentally, I am completely unable to time the combo moves correctly to even complete the tutorial.After almost half an hour, my hands were sore, I was making zero progress, and the only thing I had to show for it was frustration.It's a good looking game, and if you're a big DC fan and good at fighting games, this might be right up your alley.Unfortunately, Injustice 2 was a waste of seven bucks, and 45Gb of SSD space; it's yet another:1: Nope#Injustice2 #BeatEmUp #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubbWzYaT4UKaYSp6 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-11-20T12:36:09Z
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November 20, 2023 - Day 324 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 343Game: Red Faction: Guerrilla Re-Mars-teredPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jul 4, 2018Installation Date: Jun 29, 2019Unplayed: 1605d (4y4m22d) Playtime: 26mRed Faction: Guerrilla Re-Mars-tered is a third-person shooter built with a physics-based destructible environment.Set on a partially terraformed Mars, it's a remaster of Red Faction: Guerrilla from 2009 (thus the awful pun in the name), and essentially answers the question "What if Just Cause was set on Mars, and you had a sledgehammer instead of a grapple?"While the destructible environments are fun, for a five year old game, that was released three years AFTER Just Cause 3, the graphics make it feel like it's three years older.I wouldn't pay full price for it at this point, but if you're looking for some Mars-based destructive mayhem, Red Faction: Guerrilla Re-Mars-tered is:3: OK#RedFactionGuerillaReMarsTered #ThirdPerson #Shooter #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubbYLvWmYkYG1qKW by grissallia@aus.social
2023-11-21T12:21:55Z
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November 21, 2023 - Day 325 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 344Game: Starpoint Gemini WarlordsPlatform: SteamRelease Date: May 24, 2017Installation Date: Aug 15, 2022Unplayed: 463d (1y3m6d) Playtime: 20mStarpoint Gemini Warlords is part third-person space combat, part 4X strategy, and part RPG.I'm unable to review the 4X strategy & RPG elements, because I couldn't get past the utterly dire ship controls. Going into the game blank, I had no idea it had space combat elements, which is pretty much "OK, joystick time".I tried using the keyboard controls, and the ship handled like a stoned snail. Switched over to the Xbox controller, and that was actually worse, because while the ship still seemed to be handling like a stoned snail with the left stick, the right stick had the camera whipping around like a hummingbird on speed.I went into the options to try and see if I could adjust the settings, and with the controller turned on, it just completely blacked out the options, so it's buggy too.After 15 minutes of fighting with the game to try and get it to the point it was somewhat playable, I pulled the pin.There might be a reasonable game buried under all that hassle, but am I going to put any more time into Starpoint Gemini Warlords to try and find it?1: Nope#StarpointGeminiWarlords #ThirdPerson #SpaceCombat #4X #Strategy #RPG #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubbZ9YYGG52BFTge by grissallia@aus.social
2023-11-22T11:14:10Z
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November 22, 2023 - Day 326 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 345Game: Internet Cafe SimulatorPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Oct 26, 2019Installation Date: Aug 17, 2022Unplayed: 462d (1y3m5d) Playtime: 26mInternet Cafe Simulator is a first person internet cafe simulator. I wanted to play something simple and fun tonight. Unfortunately, I chose this.I said last week that only a few of my reviews that get a rating of "Nope" are games that are actually bad games.*Spoiler Alert*: Today that list increases by one.This is a bad game. The only reason I didn't pull the pin at the 15 minute mark was because I was still trying to assemble my first internet cafe "desktop".I thought maybe it would improve once my internet cafe was open.Unfortunately the same care & concern that was shown in the UI & UX extends to the gameplay as well.There is nothing even remotely approaching a tutorial. You wake up in an apartment, which you're told you've rented, with $10K in your account, and two floating signposts. One to your new internet cafe, and the other to a strip club.There's a giant hunger bar taking up half the screen, but no directions on where to buy food.It seems that all of the complex design work in the game went into building a working strip club.Go to your new premises, pick up a broom, sweep all of the copy-pasted garbage off the floor, sit at the computer and buy everything you need to put together your first desktop.Almost everything in the game is some renamed real-world item, not in an amusing Car Mechanic Simulator way, more in a "badly-ripped-off-IP" way.All of the parts show up in a series of identically sized boxes outside your front door. Not that there's anything to explain that.I stumbled across them. Pick up each box, carry it inside, drop it to open it, pick up the item inside, try and manoeuvre it into place, rinse and repeat until you've assembled your first desktop, and oh, it's after midnight, so no customers until tomorrow.Go home, sleep, come back, open up, customer comes in, goes to computer, sits down, sends IM that says "Waterr. Thirsty. Waterrrrr."I have no clue where the water is, and I'm not going looking.Every single gameplay element feels like it was slapped together from whatever free assets the dev found in the Unity IDE, and wrapped around a single idea, but then couldn't work out how to market "Strip Club Simulator", so threw in an internet cafe as an afterthought. I'm about to free up 4Gb of SSD space, because Internet Cafe Simulator is an unequivocable: 1: Nope#InternetCafeSimulator #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #Ahubbak6dr5ZxpMBIO by grissallia@aus.social
2023-11-23T12:21:52Z
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November 23, 2023 - Day 327 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 346Game: SoundfallPlatform: SteamRelease Date: May 12, 2022Installation Date: Nov 11, 2023Unplayed: 12dPlaytime: 16mSoundfall is part rhythm-based top-down dungeon-crawler, part looter-shooter.So far, one level in, this musical odyssey feels like a dungeon-crawler in name only. So far the dungeons are brightly-coloured floating islands, adorned with equalizer level bars rising and falling in time with the ear-wormish pop soundtrack.Existing in a third space between Hi-Fi Rush and Metal Hellsinger, this is an interesting take on a rhythm game, and the only reason I'm writing a review instead of continuing to play is that it's been a tough day, and I can barely keep my eyes open.The only issue I have with the game is that in spite of having previously needed to calibrate my video and audio latency for other rhythm games, the calibration tool in Soundfall insists my calibration requirements for both are 0ms.I think it's this that left me feeling like I was constantly slightly off-beat, just enough that it didn't feel quite right.Even so, Soundfall is already fun, and I'll happily say it's: 4: Good#Soundfall #TopDown #Rhythm #DungeonCrawler #LooterShooter #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubbbBP0MvJKU7yqG by grissallia@aus.social
2023-11-25T08:09:47Z
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November 24, 2023 - Day 328 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 347Game: Danger ScavengerPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Mar 26, 2021Installation Date: Oct 21, 2023Unplayed: 34d (1m3d)Playtime: 18mDanger Scavenger is a cyberpunk-themed isometric twin-stick roguelite crawler set on top of a series of skyscrapers.Pick from one of four archetypes, pick a start weapon, make your way across the rooftops, shooting objects for parts, killing robots, collecting cases, and weapons, and trying not to fall off the side of the skyscraper.It's relatively easy to write about games I don't like, or games I do like, but after playing it last night, I've struggled all day to write anything about this game.Danger Scavenger is: 2: Meh#DangerScavenger #Isometric #Roguelite #Crawler #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubbdJd4kgzwZzZwW by grissallia@aus.social
2023-11-25T09:13:19Z
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November 25, 2023 - Day 329 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 348Game: DeadPolyPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jan 13, 2022Installation Date: Oct 23, 2023Unplayed: 2dPlaytime: 47mDeadPoly is a polygon-based zombie survival looter-shooter.It's in early access; the dev seems quite active, but has recently rebuilt the entire game.I don't want to judge it too harshly, because it has just been completely rebuilt, and the dev is working solo.The bones of an interesting zombie survival game are there, and even with that it managed to keep me interested for 40-odd minutes.DeadPoly is: 3: OK#DeadPoly #Polygon #Survival #LooterShooter #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubbePL10qxKZfeTo by grissallia@aus.social
2023-11-26T11:31:54Z
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November 26, 2023 - Day 330 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 349Game: Monster Racing LeaguePlatform: SteamRelease Date: Mar 24, 2023Installation Date: Jun 28, 2023Unplayed: 151d (4m2d)Playtime: 17mMonster Racing League bills itself as a "multiplayer combat racing game where you don't have to steer."The drivers are cartoon monsters, with an almost generic Unreal Engine cartoon-feel, which is why the game built in Unity was a surprise.Unfortunately, that wasn't the only surprise. Turns out that you do, in fact, have to steer, after a fashion. You just don't need to accelerate and brake. While the game is 3D, it uses a semi-fixed side-on camera angle, which makes the races and targeting weapons somewhat frustrating.It's Free-to-Play, and like every other F2P game includes a battle pass, but with the frustrating race mechanics (a "well-timed" missile will not only knock you off the track, it will immediately drop you from first to last position, which little chance to regain any ground), the generic design of the monsters and cars, offers virtually no reason to keep playing.While the blurb bills Monster Racing League as "non-stop fun", which is an odd assertion, because for fun to be non-stop, it would first have to start. I'll soon recover 3Gb of HDD space, because it's a:1: Nope#MonsterRacingLeague #Combat #Racing #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubbfcUVay75epfcW by grissallia@aus.social
2023-11-27T09:37:08Z
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November 27, 2023 - Day 331 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 350Game: Warstride ChallengesPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 8, 2023Installation Date: May 19, 2022Unplayed: 557d (1y6m8d)Playtime: 23m (31m total)Warstride Challenges feels like Doom, Neon White, and a 3D platformer were thrown into a blender with Warframe.If you haven't played Warframe, there are times where the gameplay can become almost impossibly fast. There are certain warframes that, when grouped with other warframes, almost become uncontrollable.Meet Warstride Challenges. It's kind-of an FPS using that kind of speed to speedrun levels, with the kind of platforms that require almost pinpoint precision, and then shoot demons, all while competing against a timer to earn medals.Each level has (n) demons to kill before the door unlocks at the end of the level, with a series of goal times to achieve. The faster you hit that door, the higher the level of the medals you get.As the game progresses, you need to collect (n) medals to unlock higher levels. However, as you progress, you also unlock increasingly harder versions of the levels you've already completed, where you can earn more medals, etc.Time a jump wrong, and you die, and there are many opportunities to die. Miss shooting one of the mobs? No exit, and that run is wasted.Go again.After a couple of levels are completed, you also get a limited about of "bullet-time", to slow down for that sweet headshot, but it's not enough.You can also add other players, either from the worldwide leaderboard, or friends who play, as a "Nemesis", and you find yourself competing against their ghosts.I'm not quite sure how I came to own this game. I seemingly picked it up in early access. I recalled it being a beta, and I have no receipt for it, yet it's a paid game that I own.I have mixed feelings about this game. There is definitely something thrilling about beating the timers, and getting higher medals, or nailing the exit door ahead of another player's ghost.When I played it during early access, I played it for less than 10 minutes before giving up in frustration, but now that it's gone 1.0, I decided to give it another try (thus the 23m vs 31m above).However, it's a game that's already bringing me up hard against my poor coordination & fine motor skills, which makes completing some levels in time feel more like luck than skill.And even 6 levels in, with 3 of them also completed on Hard, my frustration levels are already starting to exceed my fun levels.Still, I think I'll probably end up pushing of a bit further in Warstride Challenges until the balance firmly tips against me, so I'll say it's:3: OK#WarstrideChallenges #FPS #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #Ahubbh2PEjIBUJxseW by grissallia@aus.social
2023-11-28T23:16:59Z
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November 28, 2023 - Day 332 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 351Game: Pinball FXPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Apr 13, 2023Installation Date: Aug 22, 2023Unplayed: 98d (3m6d)Playtime: 17mPinball FX is a pinball simulator, and is a sequel to Pinball FX3.Bit of an odd game to be reviewing, but it's literally the only thing I played yesterday, and is my only review option.Pinball FX uses the razor business model of giving the game away for free, and selling the tables as DLC.Over time I'd collected quite a few tables in Pinball FX3 (14 hours playtime), but I'd specifically downloaded it for one specific table - The Getaway: High Speed II.This pinball table is a core memory for me. I spent countless hours and dollars playing the real-world version of The Getaway. Any arcade I entered (or still enter!), I will scan for this machine. Given that it was released in 1992, I'm usually disappointed.When Pinball FX3 presented the opportunity to be able to play it again, whenever I wanted, I jumped on the opportunity. For what it is, it's great. It's not the same though.In 2021 the dev team behind Zen Studios announced that they were going to reboot the Pinball FX series in Unreal Engine 4 (with a now-expired exclusivity deal with the Epic Store), and that all future tables would be released on Pinball FX, not Pinball FX3.Of course, existing tables that were purchased for FX3 do not transfer to Pinball FX, meaning if you want to play your tables in FX, buy them all again, sunshine.However, they've since made concessions, and you can buy a "bundle" for any owned DLC that provides the FX version of the table at 50% off.For the Black Friday sales, they heavily discounted all of the DLC, which meant that I was able to upgrade my Getaway table for $2.64.As for Pinball FX itself? It's good. The interface is a lot cleaner that FX3. The flippers seem feel a little bit... off, but I need to investigate more.However, what it DOES do properly is ultrawide portrait mode, which was broken in FX3.Playing Pinball FX3 on a QHD monitor in portrait mode was a revelation (thank you again, @atomicpoet), but it was miserable on an ultrawide in portrait mode.Pinball FX, however? Being able to see the whole playfield AND part of the cabinet brings a whole new sense of immersion, and enjoyment, and feels as close as I'll get to owning The Getaway (real table? AUD$5500) which makes that $2.64 worth it.The thing which takes the edge off is the seemingly ever-present microtransactions built into the game. They don't seem to be necessary, and I'll likely continue to ignore them.Even so, I'm more than happy to declare Pinball FX:5: Excellent#PinballFX #Pinball #Simulator #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubbiMeIx4xbORYqO by grissallia@aus.social
2023-11-29T13:43:37Z
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November 29, 2023 - Day 333 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 352Game: ForspokenPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jan 25, 2023Installation Date: Nov 29, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 71mForspoken is a third-person ARPG, with a magic-based weapon system, and parkour oriented open-world(ish) traversal.You play as Frey, a young woman who was abandoned as a newborn, and grew up in a series of foster homes; after aging out of the foster system, she found herself living on the edge of society.The game opens with Frey entering a New York courtroom, leading to a lengthy cutscene with minimal interaction. Several scenes like this follow, which slowly (and frustratingly) introduce you to the basic mechanics of interacting with the world.Hijinks ensue, resulting in Frey being transported through a magical portal to the land of Athia, where she finds herself bonded with a magical (and sarcastic) talking vambrace she calls Cuff.Once in Athia, a "beautiful and cruel land" under a matriarchal rule of "The Tantas", the game introduces you to the rest of the gameplay mechanics and the spell-based combat system.Forspoken was released in January this year to some fairly mixed reviews. Having read through the reviews, I'd decided that it probably wasn't a game I would play, even though it has a female protagonist.However, Forspoken is only an "unplayed" game on a technicality. Square Enix made a demo of the game available earlier this year, which I installed, played five minutes of, and utterly hated. A few months ago, I decided to give it another go, and fell in love with it.The magic-based combat system requires some getting used to; playing the demo exhausted was not a success; when I wasn't exhausted it all clicked into place. Steam does not count time played on demos against the full game, so here we are.I put a little bit of money aside in case Forspoken went on sale, & Black Friday saw a 60% discount so goodbye piggy bank.However, there are some little quirks to the game. Because access to the various skills is gated, I found myself trying to do basic RPG things like jump, and being unable to; at other times the game forces Frey into a frustrating slow walk for narrative reasons.Once you start picking up the combat spells & particularly the parkour spell, the gameplay improves massively.Also frustrating are conversational interactions with Cuff, which freeze you in place for the duration, and it doesn't let you replay conversation options, which means if you don't catch something he says, too bad. On the other hand, the interplay between Cuff & Frey during gameplay can be amusing (if occasionally repetitive).With that said, I found myself over an hour into Forspoken without even noticing, and for my money, it's:4: Good#Forspoken #ThirdPerson #ARPG #Simulator #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubbjLycw8Sfb8XR2 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-11-30T12:42:21Z
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November 30, 2023 - Day 334 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 353Game: CryoFallPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Apr 30, 2021Installation Date: Nov 30, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 61mCryoFall is a sci-fi themed 2D top-down survival game.Realising that I'd not made a dent in my unused Steam keys this year, I picked an interesting sounding game at random, and installed CryoFall.Lots of times this year I've had difficulty defining a game, CryoFall made it easy for me. If you've played Minecraft, Rust, Valheim, V Rising (grrr), ARK Survival Evolved, or Fallout 76 the game mechanics are fundamentally the same.The main difference is that unlike those games, which are either first- or third-person, CryoFall is the first time I recall seeing this gameplay in a 2D environment.I don't remember seeing the technology tree model laid out quite as clearly or extensively as CryoFall does it, which extended my playtime, but it actually helped crystallise my thinking regarding survival games.Almost all of the games I listed above have less than three hours playtime, except for Minecraft, and Rust (neither of which I play now).The gameplay model scratches an itch in my brain for a little while, then it doesn't. The game also has online PvE and PvP modes, but I played it solo to explore the game mechanics.I generally lean more towards PvE multiplayer games; particularly when the game is a huge timesink like a survival game.If the game is PvP-oriented, it's worse; returning to V Rising a day later to find everything I'd built completely destroyed? It ended any desire to play again.What I realised is that if survival & base-building is part of the game, building towards a narrative end goal (eg. Fallout 4), or a win-state, I enjoy that element of the game; when it's the focal point of the game, without any further purpose, for me, it fundamentally becomes work, and loses purpose.As a survival game, CryoFall's 2D environment offers something a little different to other survival games, but it's not a something I see any long-term playability in; as such, it's (just barely):3: OK#CryoFall #2D #Survival #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #Ahubbl3GJULzw8OcXg by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-01T08:53:33Z
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December 1, 2023 - Day 335 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 354Game: Evoland*Platform: SteamRelease Date: Apr 5, 2013 (8 Feb 2019)Installation Date: Dec 1, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 40m[Dr. Strange VO]"December 1st? We're in the endgame now."Firstly, the reason for the asterisk against the name is because this is actually Evoland Legendary Edition, which was a re-release of Evoland & Evoland 2 in a single binary, but the games are the same; this is a review of Evoland (1).Evoland is a top-down, pixel-art, bitmapped, isometric, 2.5D, 3D RPG (so far).I randomly picked it out of my Steam keys backlog this morning, and I could not have imagined this game. Honestly, it's worth playing just for the experience.The game starts out looking much like a Game Boy top-down RPG. It's a monochrome viewport, the same size as your character. A chest sits at each end of the viewport.You can only move right.Move right, and open the chest. Now you've unlocked the ability to move left.Move left, open the chest.The viewport expands.As you explore further, and open chests, the game world expands and changes; as you play the RPG, it is walking you through the history of RPG gameplay mechanics and changes, and it's unique and utterly wonderful.I can't speak for Evoland 2 yet, but I played this early this morning before I left for work, and I'm going back to play it now, because Evoland is:5: Excellent#Evoland #RPG #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubblrFJeKuR9mXS4 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-02T11:38:12Z
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December 2, 2023 - Day 336 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 355Game: Prince of PersiaPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Dec 10, 2008Installation Date: Nov 23, 2023Unplayed: 9dPlaytime: 25mPrince of Persia is the second reboot of the original Prince of Persia. Unlike the original 2D platformer, this Prince of Persia is a full 3D third-person game, with a few platforming elements.I lost far too many hours to the original, not understanding why I couldn't make the pinpoint-perfectly-timed jumps consistently.Fortunately, 2008's Prince of Persia isn't quite as unforgiving. It does, however, suffer from a couple of issues.The game goes from the being able to control the camera while following in the game world, to occasionally and unexpectedly moving to a fixed camera at some points, to the fights themselves, which I managed to complete several of, but I'm still not sure how, as I was playing with keyboard and mouse, and the movement keys during the battle seemed to change dynamically in relationship to the camera position, and I was never quite sure which key I should be pressing.The other issue is purely one of age. This is a game that's fifteen years old, and while it's surprisingly playable (especially compared to some other games I've played this year), the evolution of movement in third-person games in the interim, makes movement in Prince of Persia feel incredibly restrictive.Another issue arises from the age of the game. From some follow-up reading, it appears that this particular version of Prince of Persia was meant to have a follow-up that didn't eventuate. A Nintendo DS game was released that was a sequel, but the storyline kind of just sputtered out.As I'm finding that I'm increasingly invested in games with a narrative payoff, investing time in a game where time has revealed that this particular narrative effectively just stops dead, feels like time I could invest elsewhere.Edited, after sleeping on it. It's borderline; I kind of feel like giving it another go, so I'm upgrading Prince of Persia to:3: OK#PrinceOfPersia #ActionAdventure #ThirdPerson #3D #Platformer #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubbnGo46NOoikSvo by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-03T01:40:38Z
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December 3, 2023 - Day 337 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 356Game: Little OrpheusPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 13, 2022Installation Date: Nov 30, 2023Unplayed:3dPlaytime: 21mLittle Orpheus is a 2.5D sideways-scrolling platform adventure game. This is a remastered version of the iOS/tvOS/macOS game which was originally released in 2020 on Apple Arcade.The thing about #ADHD and game sales is that I absolutely have to be stoic in the face of FOMO. In spite of having so many unplayed games, and unactivated Steam keys, I still get drawn in by shinies. I bought one game that I'd been waiting months for a price drop. I bought the Prince of Persia bundle that I'd wishlisted at some stage, and which dropped to less than five bucks (and in hindsight may have been a poor choice).Then there was this game, Little Orpheus. I stumbled across it, and it fascinated me, and AUS$4.12 later (thanks, Fanatical and your 5% voucher!) it was added to my collection of unplayed games.Zero regrets.You play as a Soviet interiornaut who has returned to Soviet Russia three years after disappearing on a mission sent to explore the interior of Earth and its suitability for colonisation.This framing device is a voiceover interview between you and a superior, after your return to the surface, wanting to know where you've been for the last three years, and more importantly, where is the titular MacGuffin, "Little Orpheus", Comrade?Thus far, it's been nothing but a few environmental puzzles, and some timing-based jumps with a couple of QTEs, with no combat.If the whole game is like this, I will not mind in the slightest, because this game is a visual and auditory feast. The lighting and environments are gorgeous, and the classical musical accompaniment brings to mind the classic cartoon shorts of my childhood.It's reminiscent of another platformer that I played earlier in the year that I was somewhat unimpressed with, and the thing that separates the two is the humorous narrative of Little Orpheus has me desperately wanting to keep going to see the story play out. Little Orpheus is:5: Excellent#LittleOrpheus #Adventure #Platformer #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubboYZHYB6o64AFs by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-04T11:01:14Z
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December 4, 2023 - Day 338 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 357Game: Ghostbusters: The Video Game RemasteredPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Oct 4, 2019Installation Date: Dec 1, 2022Unplayed: 368d (1y3d)Playtime: 19mGhostbusters: The Video Game Remastered is exactly what it says on a the tin. It's a Remastered version of Ghostbusters: The Video Game, released in 2009, which is effectively a Ghostbusters-themed third-person shooter...ish.There are some games I really want to like. I grew up in the 1980's and vividly remember Ray Parker Jr's Ghostbusters theme, and the Ghostbusters logo being omnipresent for what felt like forever, at least to a ten year old.I loved the movie too, and saw it multiple times; suffice to say, I've always had a soft spot for Ghostbusters. I somehow missed Ghostbusters: The Video Game the first time around.On the other hand, I'm incredibly wary of "remastered" games. Sometimes the remaster has been lovingly shepherded by people who understood exactly what it was that made the original tick, and manage to bring a game up to date, while still capturing that je ne sais quoi (eg. Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1+2).Other times, it feels like a cash-grab, throwing a higher resolution option into the settings menu, and slapping a "remastered" label on it.This is a spectrum, rather than a binary, and unfortunately, Ghostbusters: The Video Game Remastered feels closer to the cash-grab end.This 'remaster' feels like the first run of an agile process, with the goal of just delivering the MVP (minimum viable product, not most valuable player) to fans of the original game, rather than bringing the original up to near-parity/quality with other games of 2019.As an example, while the game offers an ultrawide resolution, it breaks the UI, while a QHD resolution gets stretched instead of letterboxed.A couple of years ago I made a meme about RPG designers being obsessed with fishing, and adding fishing minigames to everything.Here, it feels like fishing IS the game. Tire out the ghost, reel it in, trap it. When I made that mental jump, it kind of pushed me out of the zone.The final kicker, though, is the presence of Harold Ramis. While all of the original cast are voicing their characters, hearing Harold Ramis again just made me feel kind of sad, and that's very much a "me" thing, that's not the fault of the game.I think maybe for fans of Ghostbusters, who enjoyed the 2009 original, there will be something in this that recaptures the magic.Unfortunately, coming in cold to Ghostbusters: The Video Game Remastered just left me feeling a bit:2: Meh#GhostbustersTheVideoGameRemastered #ThirdPerson #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #Ahubbp819kXCa2eTVg by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-05T11:20:07Z
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December 5, 2023 - Day 339 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 358Game: LiberatedPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jul 31, 2020Installation Date: Dec 25, 2022Unplayed: 345d (11m10d)Playtime: 23mLiberated is a side-scrolling 2.5D platformer set in a vaguely-cyberpunk dystopian society built around a Black Mirror-ish social credit score called "CCS". The game is -quite literally- framed within a noir-styled graphic novel.It definitely feels unique among the games I've played this year, with the only other black and white game that springs to mind being Shady Part of MeThe skeuomorphism of the graphic novel itself is very well done, with page turning animations and moving from panel to panel through the narrative being very effective; at one point, the page was illuminated with a vague reflection of the light source showing up the grain of the matt gloss paper, at which point I did a double-take, because it's a computer game!Unfortunately, the downside of the framing is that even though the "active" landscape frames take up a large chunk of the screen during actual gameplay, the character still feels very small onscreen, relative to the scenery, which is framed by the graphic novel and the tabletop it appears to be lying on.The game appears to be oriented towards controller-based play, with my initial attempt to play with keyboard and mouse feeling very hit-and miss. I'm not sure if my mouse pointed disappeared because I alt-tabbed out to close some windows on another, or if the game disabled it; this meant at one point I was using a gun with my least favourite targeting device, the right thumbstick.Once a mouse & keyboard girl, always a mouse & keyboard girl.I'm also not a fan of QTEs, which so far have featured in the game a couple of times. The game does a better job than some, by clearly showing which button needs to be pressed, but even so, I struggled to mentally map A, B, X, Y to the buttons under my thumb, and blew one run pretty much at the last QTE in the series as I mashed the X button while the A appeared on screen.The thing that's stuck with me though, is a vague sense of unease that I can't actually place, or settle. There's something about the game I find disquieting, and I think I might need to sit with that awhile to see if the answer reveals itself.With that said, the narrative pull may draw me back in, so at this point, I'm willing to say Liberated is:3: OK#Liberated #SidewaysScroller #Noir #Dystopia #Cyberpunk #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubbqzaE4yaMSildo by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-06T05:20:48Z
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December 6, 2023 - Day 340 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 359Game: 3000th DuelPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Dec 13, 2019Installation Date: Jan 17, 2022Unplayed: 688d (1y10m19d)Playtime: 22m3000th Duel is a 2.5D sideways scrolling Soulsvania platformer. Controllers on, let's go.As the unnamed masked character, you find yourself resurrected, with a voiceover telling them you need to fight to find out who you are.Armoured, and armed with a claymore, you set out to kill everything in sight. Of course.I found myself getting a little frustrated with 3000th Duel very early. Early on, the game told me to use dash (RT) during fights, and I started using it and getting my ass kicked, because it was a little premature.Then mid-fight, I was suddenly weaponless. Then dead.The RT is the dash trigger. RB (the bumper trigger) puts your weapon away, and I'd clipped RB with my finger.Weirdly, LT is the map button, which found me frequently staring at a map, mid-fight.Visually, it's OK, with more than a hint of Hollow Knight (which pre-dates 3000th Duel by a couple of years).However, it does have an inventory & stats system which I don't recall seeing in another Soulsvania (but ADHD Swiss cheese memory, so... could be wrong...)Overall though, it's another Soulsvania in a year where I've played several very good ones, and in learning to appreciate this particular game style, it means that my expectations have become somewhat higher.As such, 3000th Duel is a passable Soulsvania, but not one I'm likely to return to in a hurry; it's:3: OK#3000thDuel #SidewaysScroller #Platformer #Soulsvania #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubbrdznpIoNnd2dE by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-07T13:15:05Z
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December 7, 2023 - Day 341 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 360Game: WandersongPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 28, 2018Installation Date: May 14, 2019Unplayed: 1668d (4y6m23d)Playtime: 29mWandersong is a 2D music-themed rhythm adventure platformer.As with so many other platformers, the game opens with your character standing defenceless on the left hand side of the screen, and setting out on their adventure.The game world is rendered in a brightly-coloured papercut stop-motion animation style. It was here that I ran into my first problems with the game.It's definitely a controller-based game, but the UI for menus is so frustrating that I resorted to keyboard and mouse - and STILL had problems.I lost close to ten minutes (which I subtracted from the playtime to get the total above) just wrestling with the options UI and trying to get it to commit the resolution I'd chosen.With game actually running at a reasonable resolution, I set off to the right, to embrace my destiny. A sword! Every adventurer needs a sword!This is when I encountered what felt like the weirdest weapon interaction I've ever encountered: to use the sword you select a direction for the sword to point with the D-Pad (or left stick, but I recommend D-pad) and then move towards the target.Enter battle... and immediately lose your sword forever as it flies out of your hands and plummets offscreen.As it turns out, this is not a fighting platformer, it's a musical platformer.After some further scene setting, you're into the game proper.Fights in the game are effectively a complicated version of the memory game "Simon", with a C major scale's 8 notes instead of Simon's 4.As an example, an early fight with a ghost involves replicating the notes and patterns that the non-vocal ghost is making. This is where using the d-pad is more effective than trying to use the left stick. You need to hit the right notes in the right order, and it's too easy to slide through a wrong note with the analog stick, meaning you need to start the pattern again.For the most part, it's effective, and the music is quite lovely, but it's definitely a game I'm going to need to be in the mood for.Part of the reason for that is that the bugginess of the UI extends into the game itself, with the game intermittently pixelating as if dropping to low resolution, and intermittent visual glitches.During the battles with a ghost, the screen colours invert, and the soundtrack changes accordingly, and usually switches back after winning the battle.However, after one battle, the colours and soundtrack started inverting and reverting non-stop, making the game virtually unplayable.Unfortunately, the general bugginess took the edge off a game I quite enjoy otherwise, leaving Wandersong at:3: OK#Wandersong #2D #SidewaysScroller #Platformer #Rhythm #Adventure #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubbtdiNqGYZVVqTI by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-08T12:40:59Z
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December 8, 2023 - Day 342 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 361Game: Expeditions: RomePlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jan 21, 2022Installation Date: Dec 8, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 25mExpeditions: Rome is an isometric turn-based RPG, which I think is a combination I haven't played this year, or possibly at all.This is the first game in the December Humble Choice bundle.[next morning, coffee in hand]So, where were we?I started up the game, and was faced with a character creation screen. The game is set in Rome, circa 80 BCE (I'm estimating the date based on the age of one of your in-game companions; some guy named Gaius Julius Caesar. Yes, that one.)The framing is that you're the youngest child of a senator who's just been murdered, and your mother has spirited you out of Rome.You can choose the gender and name of your character - at which point the game explains the structure of Roman names; First name, Family Name, Nickname.If you choose to play a female character, the game prevents you from choosing a first name, explaining that women in Rome did not have a given name, just a family name, and nickname.Playing as a female, the NPCs within the game reflect the patriarchal attitudes of the setting, reminding you of your "place" in society, and the expectations upon you.You're fairly quickly thrust into battle, at which point I was disoriented. I was faced with hex tiles, and choices on how to move the characters in my party."This is a turn-based tactics strategy game?"Throughout the year I've found myself caught out trying to categorise some games.I have no experience with table-top RPGs; I grew up in the middle of the "Satanic panic", and was taught that D&D was evil; when my only friend at high school was spending his lunch breaks playing D&D, I was on my own elsewhere, reading.If I had any experience with TTRPGs, I would have immediately recognised it as a turn-based RPG; instead, with my history with first- & third-person action RPGs, I just didn't recognise it as an RPG, and it felt unique to me.Even in reading up this morning, and having that "a-ha" moment, I recognised that I *have* played another turn-based RPG this year—Honkai Star Rail—but didn't connect the two, due to Honkai being third-person.If I'd played the official Game Of The Year, I also might have recognised the gameplay (Santa, please leave Baldur's Gate 3 under the tree).As such, it's hard to rate Rome: Expeditions comparatively; I can only really judge it on whether I enjoyed it, and... kind of? The graphics are very pretty, the voice acting is OK. I found the combat a little clunky, but maybe that was my lack of experience.I'll probably give it another shot, (at least until I get BG3), so I'll say Rome: Expeditions is:3: OK#RomeExpeditions #TurnBased #RPG #HumbleChoice #HumbleBundle #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubbunK5bXu9b125Q by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-09T07:59:52Z
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December 9, 2023 - Day 343 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 362Game: Midnight Fight ExpressPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Aug 24, 2022Installation Date: Dec 9, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 16mMidnight Fight Express is an isometric brawler.This is the second game in the December Humble Choice bundle, and is published by Humble Games.Two isometric games in a row? OK then. The game opens with your amnesiac character, "Babyface", in a police interview room, questioning him as to who he is and why he's been on a crime spree across the city.There's mention of a talking drone, and then the screen fades to black, taking you back to your apartment where it all began; a large box is delivered, containing said talking drone."Droney" (yes, seriously) bursts out of the box, and tells us we need to start killing to prevent the city collapsing to a crime spree during the night. Droney gives the game more than a little of the "My Friend Pedro" feel....and away we go.On the plus side, the game handles the isometric controls well for keyboard play. Unlike Expeditions: Rome, Midnight Fight Express has a fixed view isometric camera.Unlike most of the fixed isometric view games I've played this year which use ordinal keymapping for WASD (mapping W to "true north"), essentially requiring the use of two keys to move "forward" (or "northeast"), relative to the gamespace, Midnight Fight Express rotates the directions 45 degrees clockwise, resulting in the W key moving "forwards" (or NE). I loaded up a few of them after playing this, and then went back to Midnight Fight Express again to compare the controls.I think I prefer this approach, given how frustrating I found The Ascent when needing to use two keys at a time to move (or maybe just provide an option to switch that on and off).As best as I can remember, I've never played an isometric brawler before.With some games, the narrative is little more than a device to support the gameplay, while others use gameplay to tell a story. While I think Midnight Fight Express is definitely in the former category, when I went back into the game to compare the controls, I ended up playing for another 16 minutes.I wasn't initially sure felt, but I think Midnight Fight Express might be growing on me, so I'm going to say it's:3: OK#MidnightFightExpress #Isometric #Brawler #HumbleChoice #HumbleBundle #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #Ahubbw8H7BtqIrpHNo by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-10T03:29:15Z
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December 10, 2023 - Day 344 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 363Game: Elex IIPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Mar 2, 2022Installation Date: Dec 10, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 52mElex II is a third-person open-world "sci-fi" ARPG; it's a sequel to Elex, which I reviewed on May 19th. and the third game in this month's Humble Choice bundle. Usually, when someone's making a sequel, they'll take the things that worked about the first game or movie, try and amp those up, while introducing something new to give those same elements a twist.As I'm playing through a game, I'm making notes in my head about the game, things I want to touch on when I write about it.Elex II was released four and a half years after Elex; after playing through Elex II, I went back and read my review of Elex from May.With Elex II, the devs decided to so something different to the usual strategy for a sequel. They instead took the elements that didn't work in the predecessor, and amped those up instead. The review almost writes itself.The game opens with a narrator drawling the story of the planet Magalan, and the terrible disaster that befell them, leaving them in a post-apocalypse that feels like the designs of Skyrim, Fallout, and Destiny 2's EDZ got put in a blender, but the devs decided to roll their own gameplay. [Check]They kept the aspect of Fallout's "collect all the things just in case" gameplay, but while I managed to collect a stash of stuff, an hour in I still have no idea what to do with any of it. [Check]Combat feels mushy, and the mobs I've run into feel overpowered. [Mobs seem a little less OP now]...and then there's the voice acting. Our protagonist is a gruff emotionless white guy who's been done wrong, and left to die by his faction. Early on, he meets a character from a different faction, and the conversation itself felt like a grind. [Check]To call the voice acting wooden would be an insult to trees. [Actually, this changed. It's now wooden with a thick cheesy topping.]Unfortunately, I think Elex is another game that might have been interesting in 2017, but suffers in comparison to everything that's come since, and there's little here that makes me want to keep playing.[Dec 10] The worst thing is that last paragraph from the Elex review feels accurate for Elex II in the worst possible way. This game from 2022 FEELS like a game from 2017. The UI is clunky, the character graphics feel firmly lodged in the uncanny valley, and don't get me started on the teeth. They're going to give me nightmares.Oh, and one more thing. This game takes up 86.5Gb. That's bigger than Death Stranding, Horizon Zero Dawn Complete, and bigger than Cyberpunk 2077 (WITH DLC!). Wut? Why??Elex II takes everything I disliked about Elex and gives more of the same; so, uh...2: Meh#ElexII #ARPG #ThirdPerson #HumbleChoice #HumbleBundle #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubbxMqWV9K8LeQjY by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-10T04:48:42Z
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December 10, 2023 - Day 344 - NewPlay Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 364Game: MordhauPlatform: Epic Game StoreRelease Date: Apr 29, 2019Installation Date: Dec 9, 2023Unplayed: 1dPlaytime: 19mMordhau is a first-person or third-person medieval combat simulator/slasher.I picked it out of my unused Steam keys list last night, then realising I already owned it on EGS, decided to install it there.I thought, for some reason, it was a Soulslike.It is not. It like a twin to Chivalry II, right down to the annoying knight doing the tutorial.Multiplayer game, enter tutorial, use the mouse to try and do a bunch of different sword moves and parries.Unlike Chivalry II, you also get the option of training with a bow and arrow (which was OK), and jumping on a horse and using a lance.Somehow, as frustrating as Chivalry II was, this was *more* frustrating. I could not, for the life of me, coordinate the horse and the lance, and after spending half of my playtime trying to hit the second of four targets with the lance, my frustration exceeded my patience, and I quit the game, and recovered 36GB of SSD space.For someone who's into multiplayer swordfighting, this game might be right up your alley, which is why I'm throwing the Steam key into my giveaway list.Like Chivalry II before it, Mordhau is a big old:1: Nope#Mordhau #Slasher #MultiPlayer #MeleeCombat #FirstPerson #ThirdPerson #HumbleChoice #HumbleBundle #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubbyvGk0HKxOlR1k by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-11T10:41:45Z
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December 11, 2023 - Day 345 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 365Game: Nobody Saves The WorldPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jan 19, 2022Installation Date: Dec 11, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 41mNobody Saves The World is a cartoonish top-down fantasy RPG dungeon crawler, number 4 in this month's Humble Choice bundle.It's weird as hell. Waking with amnesia, and no pants, you set out on an adventure to find out who you are, and what's happened to the world's greatest wizard, Nostramagus.Armed only with Nostramagus' wand (which you obtain early on from the crime scene), Nostramagus' protege sends you tumbling into a dungeon cell.From there, you start a series of quests, leading to the ability to shape-shift, first into a rat, then into other forms, and developing skills for each form, as you level them up. This leads to further quests, etc etc etc.It's just a mad lot of fun, and given that the RRP for Nobody Saves The World is AUD$35.95, and a month of Humble Choice is AUD$16.95 it makes this month's bundle almost worth the price, even moreso if one of the earlier games is something you want.However, for my money, Nobody Saves The World is:4: Good#NobodySavesTheWorld #TopDown #RPG #HumbleChoice #HumbleBundle #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #Ahubc00ygGRILORVZ2 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-12T10:05:08Z
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December 12, 2023 - Day 346 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 366Game: The GunkPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Apr 30, 2022Installation Date: Dec 12, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 78mThe Gunk is a third-person action-adventure platformer, with some puzzle elements thrown in. It's game number five in this month's Humble Choice bundle, and honestly, was not a game I was looking forward to playing.The game title, and the thumbnail on Humble's website really put me off; had I stumbled across this game, with a name like "The Gunk"? Ew. No thank you.But here I am, forcing myself to play through each of the games each month, so I installed The Gunk and loaded it up.The game opens with an external shot of a workhorse ship, in space. This is a no Starship Enterprise, more of a yellow brick.From inside the ship, a conversation between Rani (a crew member) and Becks (the captain) ensues.They're low on funds, and space hauling is no way to make money. They've found a barren planet, which set off an alert on the ship for an energy source, but as Rani disembarks from the low-flying ship, her "power glove" barely holding together, all they find is a few worthless crystals, and a bubbling mass of "gunk".We're off on an adventure... and what an adventure it is.The gunk, as it turns out, is drawn to the energy pools that triggered the ship's alarms, and Rani's power glove has a build in "vacuum" that can suck up the gunk (don't think too hard about this). Once the area is freed of the gunk, it springs back to life.Gorgeous, colourful, life. As you move through the various tunnels and platforms, they're rendered beautifully, but watching the bubble of life expanding outwards from your position as you remove the last piece of gunk, is wonderful.Built into Rani's power glove is a scanner that can scan the various resources you encounter as you can explore, and you can extract them in much the same way as the gunk.You'll need them, too, because scanning every new thing you come across is how you unlock upgrades to the power glove.The platforming and puzzles are not too complex, and the laid-back accompanying score is fantastic, and suits the game perfectly.The best thing for me about The Gunk, though, is the narrative; the back and forth between Becks as she waits back at the ship, and Rani as she explores further afield is fun, and it's this that genuinely kept me exploring for more than an hour, only quitthing because I was going to be late to start work if I didn't.As they say, "Never judge a book by its cover", and missing out on The Gunk would have been a terrible shame. For me, this game alone makes this month's bundle entirely worth the money, because The Gunk is:5: Excellent#TheGunk #ThirdPerson #ActionAdventure #Platformer #Puzzle #HumbleChoice #HumbleBundle #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #Ahubc1bWlrGnH2YDAm by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-13T10:25:20Z
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December 13, 2023 - Day 347 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 367Game: The Pale BeyondPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Feb 25, 2023Installation Date: Dec 13, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 22mThe Pale Beyond is a survival RPG which appears to be set in the late 19th century; it's the sixth game in the December Humble Choice bundle.You play as the first mate on a ship that's setting out to try and find what became of its sister ship after it went missing five years earlier on an Arctic expedition.At first I thought it was a graphic novel. A lot of flat, hand-drawn graphics, and clicking to read text.One line at a time. My frustration levels started to grow at this point. Eventually after clicking through all that text, and setting my character traits in the process (a "Muttwash criminal"), I found myself at the docks.Well, more like found everyone else. My character is nowhere to be seen, which feels vaguely disorienting for a game that is split between barely animated isometric views, and first-person perspective interactions with paintings of characters and text boxes.It has a touch of Frostpunk to it, without any of the things that kept me engaged, and ultimately I felt no desire to keep going.An added point of frustration was that the game only saves at particular points, which meant that when I decided to quit, but changed my mind, I was actually back at the start of the "level", which would have meant clicking through all of the previous ten minutes of interactions again, which completely took the wind out of my sails (pun intended).The Pale Beyond might be more suited to someone with an interest in survival games and/or 19th century nautical adventures, but I found it a bit:2: Meh#ThePaleBeyond #FirstPerson #Isometric #RPG #Survival #HumbleChoice #HumbleBundle #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #Ahubc30jXd1hdVLr6G by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-14T10:18:48Z
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December 14, 2023 - Day 348 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 368Game: From SpacePlatform: SteamRelease Date: Nov 4, 2022Installation Date: Dec 14, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 16mFrom Space is a post-apocalyptic (alien invasion!) isometric action twin-stick shooter; it's the eighth game in the December Humble Choice bundle.The game opens with a short exposition to set the game world, then gives you the option to pick a "specialist" from an extensive range of options.The characters look like Fortnite avatars run though a chibi filter, but they work well enough with the games stylised graphics.You load into a training area, then you're off on your first mission. You start with a weapon slot (plus melee weapon via right-click), with more slots unlocking as you progress.There's also a cache for your weapons at each destination location. The game (at least as far as I played) seems to be set entirely at night, and makes excellent use of lighting and sound effects.It's a perfectly serviceable twin-stick shooter. Whether it will draw me back, I don't know.From Space is:3: OK#FromSpace #Isometric #TwinStick #Action #Shooter #HumbleChoice #HumbleBundle #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #Ahubc4qshEKlLWl11M by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-14T11:48:13Z
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December 14, 2023 - Day 348 - RePlay ReviewTotal RePlays: 11Game: Last Call BBSPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Aug 4, 2022Library Date: Aug 14, 2023Playtime: 30m (2h48m)Last Call BBS is a Zachtronics game, and is the seventh game in this month's Humble Choice bundle, and the final bundle game this month.I'm going to broadly group the folks reading this into folks who saw "Zachtronics" and went "huh?" and folks who saw it and went "ohhhh".Most (but not all) of the Zachtronics games are variants of programming games.Last Call BBS however, is a final labour of love for Zachtronics fans. The name is a double entendre, for this was also the last game by Zachtronics before Zach Barth closed the studio, and left programming (at least temporarily).It's difficult for me to describe Last Call BBS, because it's a callback to an earlier time, before the web, before the internet was everywhere.It's a pixel-art simulation of a computer from the late 80's-early 90's, that comes with its own simulation of a PDA ("Kids, when we were younger, we didn't have fandangled smartphones, we had "Personal Digital Assistants" with monochrome pressure-sensitive screens, and we had to learn a whole new way to write the alphabet, and we LIKED it! Well... we accepted it."The game sets you up with a modem, allowing you dial into a BBS (Bulletin Board System), modem screeches and all, and download 8 different "pirated" 'warez'. Last Call BBS even simulates the download process, making you wait for up to 15 minutes for the "download" to complete, and then forcibly logging you off, in much the style of real world BBSes of the time.There's almost a sense in which Last Call BBS feels like a Roman à clef, and that some of the stories in the game are Zach taking an introspective stock how how he "got here".For all of the pixel art games I encountered (and complained about) this year, Last Call BBS is the one game that actually DID give me a sense of nostalgia for that era. It feels... earned, I guess.As for the "mini-games" themselves, they appear to be inspired by many of Zachtronics hit games. In keeping with tradition for Zachtronics games, Last Call BBS contains two different solitaire variants.I don't know how old Zach is, but I get the feeling that we lived at opposite ends of a particular era in computing that all but disappeared in the wake of the internet becoming omni-present.There's a layer to Last Call BBS that may only be appreciated by those of us who lived through that period of time, yet still provides the kind of challenges that lead to an entire subgenre named for Zach Barth: "Zachlikes".Last Call BBS is:5: Excellent#LastCallBBS #PixelArt #Narrative #Programming #Zachlikes #HumbleChoice #MastodonGaming #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #RePlay
(DIR) Post #Ahubc62yFlbB3JQBVI by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-15T12:17:07Z
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December 15, 2023 - Day 349 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 369Game: Dear Esther: Landmark EditionPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Feb 15, 2017 (Feb 14, 2012)Installation Date: Oct 25, 2020Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 16mFrom Esther is a first-person walking simulator. The Landmark Edition is a remastered version of the original 2012 version.You find yourself on a deserted island in the Hebrides, off the coast of Scotland. You can move using the WASD keys, and zoom with the mouse button, and... well, that's it.You walk around this beautiful windswept island, and as you do, you encounter abandoned houses, shipwrecks, cave systems with glow-in-the-dark cave drawings, and the occasional figure disappearing into the mist.As you walk, voiceovers are triggered intermittently, of an older English man, reading letters addressed to "Dear Esther", which begins to lay out the story of how you find yourself there.It is, to my mind, the purest expression of the walking simulator genre.Sometimes when I write reviews, I do some reading up on the game, to see if I missed something, or to see if there's a context for a gameplay decision that seems nonsensical, or just to understand something like "why is it called 'Landmark Edition'?"In this case, I learned something unexpected.Dear Esther isn't just a walking simulator. It's THE walking simulator. Dear Esther's gameplay is the gameplay for which the subgenre was named. It was apparently the subject of much debate back in 2012, as to whether it truly counts as a "game".One of my favourite games is a walking simulator (Firewatch), so it's not that I have any particular bad feelings towards, them; it just feels unfortunate that given this particular game's place in gaming history, it didn't grab me more.With that said, this game evokes a very specific, melancholy mood, and it's a game I can see myself returning to, when I'm in a particular frame of mind.So for me, Dear Esther: Landmark Edition is:3: OK#DearEsther #FirstPerson #WalkingSimulator #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #Ahubc7A66ktSVhlOFc by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-16T12:13:54Z
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December 16, 2023 - Day 350 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 370Game: Land Above Sea BelowPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 14, 2023Installation Date: Nov 11, 2023Unplayed: 35d (1m5d)Playtime: 30mLand Above Sea Below (LASB) is a hex-tile isometric strategy game. It answers the question "What if you added pressure to Dorfromantik (2022)?"I haven't reviewed Dorfromantik (DR) this year because this was mainly games that had sat in my pile of shame, not a game that I bought the day it was released. It's a very chill little hex-tile strategy city-builder.LASB was released almost 18 months after DR, and the influence is obvious, right down to the identical gameplay controls.However, where LASB veers away from DR is in going upwards. In DR, you have several different types of items that can appear on a tile; houses, forests, fields, grasslands, rivers, and railways.Each hex tile in your pile can have any combination of these items on any edge. Match an edge, score points, match more edges, score more points.In LASB, while it has rivers, the cards instead have themes. And instead of just spreading out into nothingness like DR, in LASB, you're building islands surrounded by water, which is part of the "pressure" that LASB adds.LASB has game rounds called "seasons". Each season lasts seven "days", with icons at the top of the screen showing you what the tiles you're going to get are.At the end of the season, the water level rises. Your island is centred around "the fall tree" and if the fall tree gets flooded, it's game over.However, when you're placing your tiles, if you connect them on three sides to three other tiles with the same theme, all of the tiles connected (of the same theme) are raised higher, with many potentially above the water level rise.If you connect a tile on four or more sides, you get extra days (and extra tiles) in that season.River tiles behave differently; they neither get flooded, or raised.It becomes a balancing act of trying to decide whether you can lift enough tiles, above the water level rise, or if you want to try and extend the season; being that there's no guarantee that the tiles you'll get for the extra day(s) will match the theme - which may result in more land being flooded.It's an interesting alternative to DR, but it doesn't have quite the same chilled-out feeling.With that said, LASB feels slightly rougher around the edges. Dorfromantik feels polished, cleanly adapting to my ultrawide monitor, where I had to fiddle with LASB's settings just to get it to run letterboxed at 2560x1440.LASB also adds a slight blur at the edge of the screen which I find more annoying than "cute tilt-shift".Although clearly derivative, Land Above Sea Below presents an interesting twist on Dorfromantik's gameplay, which is quite:4: Good#LandAboveSeaBelow #HexTile #Isometric #Strategy #Puzzle #CityBuilder #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #Ahubc8Vl5hoYhAuCeW by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-17T12:40:09Z
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December 17, 2023 - Day 351 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 371Game: Mind ScannersPlatform: SteamRelease Date: May 20, 2021Installation Date: Aug 31, 2022Unplayed: 473d (1y3m17d)Playtime: 1h15mMInd Scanners is a 2D pixel-art game about psychotherapy in a dystopian society.The game is set in a society where everything within the walled city in which you live is tightly controlled, while outside the walls, people are gathering.This society is seemingly run by some kind of AI system, and that system has locked up your daughter for being mentally ill.You take a job as one of the titular "mind scanners", with a goal of infiltrating "The Structure" to get to your daughter.You're sent out each day with your little machine, which runs a "mindscan" on each target, allowing you to declare them "sane" or "insane".If "insane", you play a series of minigames with each minigame targeting a particular type of "insanity" to proceed through a process of "curing" them.I kept playing as long as I did in the hope of "rescuing my daughter", but the game ultimately became repetitive and boring, feeling like I was just treading water waiting for the next story beat.This is another game whether the game didn't rise above the pixel art, and the subtext of the game just made me feel icky.In spite of spending over an hour playing Mind Scanners, I wish I could get that hour back; it's a:1: Nope#MindScanners #PixelArt #2D #Dystopian #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubcAFAeLja4J9z4i by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-18T10:02:52Z
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December 18, 2023 - Day 352 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 372Game: KARDS - The WW2 Card GamePlatform: SteamRelease Date: Apr 15, 2020Installation Date: Sep 25, 2022Unplayed: 449d (1y2m23d)Playtime: 18mKARDS is a free-to-play (F2P) deck-building customisable card game (CCG).Just like what it says on the tin, KARDS takes inspiration from battles and military units of World War 2.My main exposure to digital CCGs was Hearthstone. Where Hearthstone kind of lost me was the sheer number of cards, and the ever-changing "meta-game", which I could not keep up with.In 18 minutes, it's not really possible to grasp whether there's a meta-game involved, but the tutorial was fun enough.Given that it's F2P, I'd need to spend a lot more time coming to grips with it, but what I saw was enough to make me want to come back again.Of course, without digging deeper, there's a risk that it's actually pay-to-win, and my opinion might change if that's the case, but on the surface, KARDS seems:3: OK#KARDS #DeckBuilder #CCG #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubcB7lNNP2nchaAS by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-18T23:18:30Z
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December 19, 2023 - Day 353 - Now for something completely different!Steam's review system wasn't exactly designed for this project.https://s.team/y23/hdrpjj?l=englishI might continue it into 2024, but just a Game - Rating post, just to try and break Steam completely next year :p
(DIR) Post #AhubcBqmfzPp3FlXLE by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-19T12:22:57Z
1 likes, 1 repeats
December 19, 2023 - Day 353 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 373Game: Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous - Enhanced EditionPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 3, 2021Installation Date: Dec 18, 2023Unplayed: 1dPlaytime: 61mPathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous - Enhanced Edition is an isometric RPG based on the Pathfinder TTRPG.I'm making a bit of a last ditch attempt to reduce the number of unredeemed keys before the end of the year, so I'm rapidly losing storage space on my PC.In all my years of playing games, I don't think I've ever really played a party-based RPG that was based on a TTRPG.Having never played a TTRPG, when the game offered me a pre-fab character, maybe I should have just taken it, instead of spending the next 20 minutes creating a character from scratch, only to realise that I was (in effect) picking random options with no real idea how they'd work in-game.Oh well. Game is fun, lighting effects in the dungeon are gorgeous, will probably kick it around a bit more, unless BG3 shows up under the Christmas tree, in which case, all bets are off.As far as I can tell, the "Enhanced Edition" includes QoL changes that were back-ported from the console versions to PC.Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous - Enhanced Edition is:4: Good#PathfinderWrathOfTheRighteous #Isometric #RPG #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubcEOXDTbKwVZWE4 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-20T10:37:45Z
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December 20, 2023 - Day 354 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 374Game: RoboquestPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Nov 8, 2023Installation Date: Dec 20, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 16mRoboquest is a "FPS Roguelite" set in a post-apocalyptic future world.I tried to activate this key a couple of days ago, only to get a Steam error saying it had been activated by another account. Since I hadn't given it away, I guess it was duplicated at some stage, but Humble replaced it without breaking a sweat.The game opens with Max at the wheel of her hover-Kombi travelling through the desert alone, until she stumbles across a 500-odd year old robot buried in the desert sand.Somehow, this bright yellow "Guardian" hasn't been ravaged by the sand and time, and Max pops a battery into the Guardian's chest cavity, and you're as good as newIn terms of gameplay, it's pretty fast and smooth. It feels very Borderlands-inspired, with brightly-lit desert environments and cel-shaded graphics, but movement is less Borderlands and more... something else I can't quite put my finger on.Your missions is to "save the world" (apparently), and to do this you need to shoot a lot of "bad bots"; literally, that's what the game calls them.It feels kind of breezy, but definitely confirmed it's time to crack open my G13 and replace the microswitch actuator again, because the "space" button has crapped out again. I really need something more solid, or a full rethink of the design.Anyway, I think Roboquest is:3: OK#Roboquest #FPS #Roguelite #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubcGioZ30m9z4k76 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-21T08:50:20Z
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December 21, 2023 - Day 355 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 375Game: Warstone TDPlatform: SteamRelease Date: May 24, 2018Installation Date: Dec 21, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 19mWarstone TD is an isometric tower defense game with some basic RPG, strategy, and city building elements (so says the blurb).I've started hammering my unredeemed keys list a little bit harder, with the challenge to get it down under 200 before the 1st of January. Just to make the next 10 days a little more gruelling!Warstone TD was one of them, from Feb 2020; the "TD" is for Tower Defense.It's a little bit different to most tower defense games I've played, as the game starts with several (I guess they're called) warstones along the path that the mobs follow, and you can choose to build from several optional unit types at each location.During each round you might unlock an extra warstone to place somewhere else, but I think this is where the element of strategy comes in.Also, after some rounds, you get a double-strength warstone which increases the range of the units (not sure what else it does).So far it doesn't seem like you can change or upgrade a unit once activated, so it's an interesting twist on the genre, and I don't have a lot of traditional TD games anyway, so it's kind of fun.After the initial gameplay introduction, the game sets a story about a wizard who's seen the future, and that he's going to be handed over to a group of invaders by the town, and so he enlists the help of the player (fourth-wall break, nice), to do the city-building thing, and build and arm the city so he doesn't meet that grisly end.It's a cute framing device and gives some nice RPG elements to push the game outside of the standard tower defense genre.Warstone TD is kind of fun, and definitely something I'll return to when I'm the mood for that kind of game; it's3: OK#WarstoneTD #TowerDefense #RPG #Strategy #CityBuilder #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubcJABUG5pjRtd3I by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-21T11:26:43Z
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December 21, 2023 - Day 355 - NewPlay Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 376Game: Okami HDPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Dec 13, 2017Installation Date: Dec 21, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 53mOkami HD is a third-person action-adventure game, and a HD re-release of Okami, a game that was originally released for the PlayStation 2 and the Nintendo Wii.It's genuinely like nothing else I've played this year. The game is set in "Nippon", and you play as the reincarnation of the Shinto sun goddess "Amaterasu", embodied in a white wolf.You are accompanied by a bug named Issun who doesn't like being called a bug, and WILL NOT STOP TALKING. Issun is your guide.You can break things throughout the game by headbutting them; in combat you fight with a sword that's held in your mouth.However, what truly makes this game unique (other than the art style, which is based on classic Japanese painting styles, including Sumi-e), is that one of your combat techniques is literally painting.You can fight an enemy until they are drained of colour, and then go into a "painting" mode, and use your brush to attack them with the various brushstrokes you learn throughout the game.I've found some games hard to categorise because they're a mashup of so many game ideas that I end up with a long hyphenated description. I borrowed the description for Okami HD from the game blurb, because I just don't have a frame of reference to apply.My only points of frustration with the game are that the camera was wildly frustrating until I found that you can (and I needed to) invert both the X & Y axes, and that manual saving is required, which can only be done at specific locations.I've become so habituated to auto-saves, that even though the game goes out of the way to highlight the save system, I still managed to wipe out over half an hour of game progress before I realised what I'd done.Okami HD is very:4: Good#OkamiHD #ThirdPerson #ActionAdventure #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubcLNNGBpeaw5BtA by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-21T12:36:25Z
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December 21, 2023 - Day 355 - NewPlay Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 377Game: Heave HoPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Aug 29, 2019Installation Date: Dec 21, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 27mHeave Ho is a 2D platformer, primarily designed for couch co-op play, but that does have a solo campaign.However, just calling it a "2D platformer" would be like calling Forza Horizon 4 a "car game", or calling Dredge a "fishing game".Nothing prepared me for the sheer hilarity of trying to play this game; at some points I was sitting doubled over laughing, yelling at the screen for how ridiculous the game is.Primarily, you play as a head with two arms attached to the side. Use the left stick to swing both arms (yes, that sounds counter-intuitive, but it makes sense when you play), and use the left and right triggers to grip surfaces with either your left or right hands (or both!).Whichever hand is gripping a surface then becomes an anchor point to wildly flail your other arm and headbody around in a desperate attempt to try and grip another surface, as you try and navigate across the platforms to the goal point.This was another game from my unused keys list, but as my eldest already had it installed in his library, I installed using family sharing instead of my key, in case I hated it.Six minutes later I quit the game and redeemed my own key, because Heave Ho is hilariously:5: Excellent#HeaveHo #2D #CouchCoOp #Platformer #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubcNOrjcDIs8nPUW by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-22T12:31:04Z
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December 22, 2023 - Day 356 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 378Game: Death's Gambit: AfterlifePlatform: SteamRelease Date: Aug 15, 2018Installation Date: Dec 22, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 49mDeath's Gambit: Afterlife is a 2D pixel-art soulsvania.It's a updated version of the original Death's Gambit, where the dev team took the feedback they received about the original game, and reworked the game, while increasing the size of the game.For reasons that I can't quite explain, particularly after playing so many soulsvanias this year, this somehow managed to hook me and keep me playing for 3/4 of an hour.Death's Gambit: Afterlife is:4: Good#DeathsGambitAfterlife #2D #Platformer #Soulsvania #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubcPvuJjpejCGpGq by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-23T12:32:46Z
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December 23, 2023 - Day 357 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 379Game: VenbaPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jul 31, 2023Installation Date: Dec 17, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 79mVenba is a 2D narrative-based cooking game.The game tells the story of a Tamil couple, Venba and her husband Paavalan, who have emigrated from Tamil Nadu, to make a new life in Canada.Throughout the game, you proceed by preparing dishes from Venba's mother's tattered cookbook, frequently needing to solve what are, effectively, simple puzzles to complete each recipe.There is so much that I'd like to say about this game, but to do so would spoil many of the emotional beats of the narrative.It's not a long game; I completed it in a single sitting, and collected most of the achievements along the way.Venba is a lovely, and occasionally heart-wrenching game; it is:5: Excellent#Venba #2D #Narrative #Cooking #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubcSLrKDmOEGQa00 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-24T11:52:12Z
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December 24, 2023 - Day 358 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 380Game: Smoke and SacrificePlatform: SteamRelease Date: May 31, 2018Installation Date: Dec 18, 2023Unplayed: 6dPlaytime: 29mSmoke and Sacrifice is an steampunk-themed isometric survival RPG.You play as Sachi, a mother seemingly forced to sacrifice her first-born child to "the Sun-God", a machine that provides light and heat to Sachi's village, after "the freezing".However, all is not lost; turns out that the children being "sacrificed" are not actually being sacrificed (killed), but transported to an underworld, and being sacrificed to a form of slavery, forcing them to work to feed the "Sun-God" and keep it running. Sachi finds herself transported to the same underworld location, where she begins her survival journey to try and find her now-seven-year-old son.Unfortunately, the story wasn't enough to overcome the frustrating survival mechanics that I encountered in the first 30 minutes of the game, with successive fetch quests required to slowly grind the story forward, by the time I hit save, I was hoping that I could find a recap of the storyline of the game somewhere, just to find out how it ends.Sadly, for Smoke and Sacrifice, the last thing I was interested in sacrificing was any more of my time; it's a: 1: Nope#SmokeAndSacrifice #Isometric #RPG #Survival #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubcUK9zVboLZeFd2 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-25T11:25:04Z
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December 25, 2023 - Day 359 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 381Game: American FugitivePlatform: SteamRelease Date: May 21, 2019Installation Date: Dec 18, 2023Unplayed: 7dPlaytime: 20mAmerican Fugitive is a top-down 3D open-world action-adventure game.Feeling a lot like early GTA games, you play as a petty thief who's been framed for the murder of his father. After breaking out of prison you set out to clear your name.By committing other crimes.After escaping from prison, you need to avoid the police until you escape from the general area of the prison. Apparently, they're looking for a red-haired bearded man in a yellow prison jumpsuit, and not a red-headed bearded man in a white shirt and blue jeans (that I just stole off someone's clothesline).Graphically, it's well executed, although I found the steering of vehicles to be incredibly twitchy.One of weird little things that became clear to me this year is that I really don't enjoy games where I'm playing as a criminal.A game that expects me to commit crimes against NPCs portrayed as innocent bystanders, is something that just rubs me the wrong way, and as potentially interesting as the setup for this game is, I just felt kind of icky afterwards.Also, playing as a male character still continues to make me feel disconnected from what's happening in the game.Unfortunately for American Fugitive, that just leaves me feeling pretty: 2: Meh#AmericanFugitive #TopDown #OpenWorld #Action #Adventure #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubcWxwAacCXWH2uG by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-25T13:57:02Z
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December 25, 2023 - Day 359 - NewPlay Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 382Game: Baldur's Gate 3Platform: SteamRelease Date: Aug 4, 2023Installation Date: Dec 25, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 91mYou had to know this was coming.Baldur's Gate 3 is an open-world RPG featuring turn-based combat, and the ability to move the camera to play in an isometric top-down playstyle, or third-person.After more than four months of reading people raving about it, I opened up my Steam client this morning to see a gift from my son: a Baldur's Gate 3 Steam gift, just waiting for me to accept it.Of course, then I needed to re-arrange a bunch of games to find room for the 137Gb required to install it. Freshly installed, I then went and spent some time playing games with my wife and son.I put the roast into the oven for dinner, and sat down to start playing.Things immediately went sideways. I found myself thrust into a cut-scene that ended in one of the most viscerally horrifying ways I could have not even imagined.I was not prepared.Then, suddenly, I'm in a character creator. OK. Create my character. Create her guardian....aand now I'm back in the scary room, and the cutscene continues.I am becoming increasingly confused by what is happening, and then... oh. OK, that's what's going on.Wait... no. What the hell is going on? Whatever I expected... it wasn't this.Finally, I find myself in playable territory. Movement is... counterintuitive. Years of right clicking where I want to go means that the left clicking doesn't come naturally to me.I start breaking things that seem to need to be broken, and then suddenly... I am dead, and I have to start over again (fortunately, at the playable part, not the cutscenes).I am staring at the screen, and thinking about all of the people who raved about this game, and all of the people who told me what an amazing experience it was....and feeling how terribly they had undersold it.The environments are stunning. This feels like a fully realised world. When I finally start encountering other characters, they're not woodenly delivering clunky dialogue like other RPGs I've played recently.The characters feel... real. At one point, I wonder if I'm going to have to break up a fight between two party members.After 90 minutes in-game, I've completed, apparently, the prologue.But the roast needs to come out of the oven, and dinner needs to be prepared.Tomorrow morning, I will sit down and play 15-30 minutes of some other game, and probably spend the rest of my day in Faerûn, because Baldur's Gate 3 is:5: Excellent (as if it was going to be anything else.)#BaldursGate3 #RPG #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubcZdqDlK4q3tXV2 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-26T04:20:36Z
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December 26, 2023 - Day 360 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 383Game: NiffelheimPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 26, 2018Installation Date: Dec 26, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 45mNiffelheim is a Norse-themed 2D survival crafting game with some RPG elements.As part of my two remaining goals of attempting to review 400 new games by the end of the year, and to get my unredeemed keys list down to under 200 (current count: 201 left), I had no idea what this key was actually for.At some stage I'd overtyped the title without noticing. Niffelheim it is.The game opens up with a Viking funeral boat, aflame and disappearing into the mist, while a narrator intones about how my boat has been hijacked on the way to Valhalla.I then found myself at a character selection screen with a choice between three burly male warriors, and a well-endowed Valkyrie.My Valkyrie then found herself armed with some basic weapons, and a basic hut, and a series of quests delivered by a raven.Other than that, you're in pretty standard survival game mechanics; kill things, cut down trees, gather food. The 2D aspect makes playing with a controller natural, and before I noticed, I'd been in-game for 45 minutes.I found Niffelheim strangely compelling, so let's say that it's:4: Good#Niffelheim #2D #RPG #Survival #Crafting #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubcbtVqT2xpFF5Ci by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-26T05:16:55Z
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December 26, 2023 - Day 360 - NewPlay Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 384Game: The King's BirdPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Aug 24, 2018Installation Date: Dec 26, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 21mThe King's Bird is a 2D platformer that utilises a "momentum-based flying mechanic".You play as a young girl, who explains in the introduction level how she's always dreamed she could fly, and has always been caged.From there she goes on to gain the gift of flight (in a sense), and you're off to explore. Her gift of flight is less "flight" and more "momentum activated short-term gliding".The controls are simultaneously simple and frustrating. Movement instructions are presented as pictograms, and even when following them exactly, results can vary.When everything comes together, movement feels glorious; however, it's not entirely clear on what makes everything come together.The game's atmosphere is gorgeous, all silhouettes and varying monochromatic colours, and the score is beautiful.If only movement wasn't so inconsistently frustrating; at this point in the game, The King's Bird is:3: OK#TheKingsBird #2D #Platformer #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubcdssRnj7zqxbUW by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-26T07:13:33Z
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December 26, 2023 - Day 360 - NewPlay Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 385Game: The HexPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Oct 17, 2018Installation Date: Dec 21, 2023Unplayed: 5dPlaytime: 26mThe Hex is a trippy, genre-bending 2D pixel-art pastiche adventure game.From the blurb: "In a creaky old tavern, in a forgotten corner of the video-game universe, a storm is raging. An anonymous caller suggests that there is a murder plot. Six video game protagonists are the only plausible suspects..."Beyond this, the game is difficult to review, because to try and review it is to spoil the game.One of the things I've learned over the last year, is that I prefer games where the gameplay supports the narrative, rather than the narrative being an excuse to try and justify the gameplay.The other thing that I've said is that given my general lack of nostalgia for pixel-art games, a pixel-art game needs to offer something that overcomes my general lack of interest.The Hex delivers that in spades. With that said, there are some minor frustrations I have with the gameplay, but even going into those runs the risk of spoilers, so I'll just say that The Hex is:4: Good#TheHex #2D #PixelArt #Adventure #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubcfplCMQE2lW8uW by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-26T09:36:31Z
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December 26, 2023 - Day 360 - NewPlay Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 386Game: Grid (2019)Platform: SteamRelease Date: Oct 11, 2019Installation Date: Dec 26, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 19mGrid (2019 - to separate it from the original Grid released in 2008) is a motor-racing game.It was delisted from Steam on Dec 1, 2023, so if you don't have a key, you can't buy Grid.I had a key, I used the key, I probably wasted the key. As a racing game, it's perfectly serviceable, enjoyable even.However, I'm not a big "racing" player, and my go-to for racing games is the Forza Horizon series, and a racing game needs to capture me with something that Forza doesn't offer.In Grid, I have a game that's been delisted because the licensing for the vehicles has expired, made by a company (Codemasters) who received the Electronic Arts treatment, as did all of their existing games.Consequently, it's a game that I probably won't sink any time into, purely because it's effectively racing into a dead-end. Grid is:2: Meh#Grid #Racing #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #Ahubci3evejCwS2Gqu by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-26T23:34:14Z
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December 27, 2023 - Day 361 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 387Game: GreedFallPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 10, 2019Installation Date: Dec 21, 2023Unplayed: 6dPlaytime: 2h42mGreedFall is a third-person action RPG set in a fantasy version of the 17th century.You play as a noble of the "Merchant Congregation", one of several competing factions seeking to colonise the island of "Teer Fradee", hoping to find a cure for the "Malichor", an illness that is wreaking havoc on the Merchant Congregation's capital city of Sérène.I was just going to play 15 minutes, write up a review, and move on.Instead, I found myself deeply engrossed in the storyline, and regretting that I hadn't discovered GreedFall earlier.Firstly, the character selection screen gives you a choice of the gender, and basic look of your character, with them being fully voiced. Huge checkmark.But the worldbuilding itself is just amazing. At least in the initial quests in Sérène, it most closely reminds me of Dishonoured in terms of setting (which is a very good thing).GreedFall is currently on sale on both GOG for a historical low of A$8.76, and Steam for A$10.99, and if you feel like scratching an itch for a game set in the Age of Discovery (when you're not playing Baldur's Gate 3), I don't think you could go wrong with GreedFall, because it's:5: Excellent#GreedFall #ThirdPerson #ARPG #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubckNEJrZU7jCvdQ by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-27T01:15:21Z
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December 27, 2023 - Day 361 - NewPlay Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 388Game: Night CallPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jul 18, 2019Installation Date: Dec 21, 2023Unplayed: 6dPlaytime: 55mNight Call feels like noir-ish adventure mashup between a visual novel and a map of Paris.Being that you're playing as a French cab driver, that's to be expected. You were assaulted and left for dead by a serial killer at the site of a pick-up while driving your cab.The game has you investigating your own attempted murder, with a touch of blackmail thrown in; another cop determined to prove that ACAB has determined your true identity, and uses this to blackmail you into assisting with her "investigation".The screen is split horizontally, with the top half being a stylised GPS screen, and the bottom half being the inside of your cab, as if you were watching from a dashboard-mounted camera.Each night, you drive your cab around, picking up passengers that appear on the GPS screen. You engage with the passengers, conversing and occasionally gathering clues.It's incredibly moody, but so very slow. Fortunately, there's the option for the conversations to auto-play until you reach an engagement point, but I did end up running some CSR2 grinding races on my phone while reading the conversations.At the end of each night's driving, you take the clues you've gathered, plus the ones left by your detective "friend" in an envelope outside your house each night, and slowly try to work out which of the five suspects is the killer.It's this aspect of the game that has me continuing to want to play, but only just. Night Call is barely just:3: OK#NightCall #VisualNovel #Adventure #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubcnRwsm81fEREuG by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-27T03:00:05Z
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December 27, 2023 - Day 361 - NewPlay Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 389Game: Strange BrigadePlatform: SteamRelease Date: Aug 28, 2018Installation Date: Dec 27, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 42mStrange Brigade is a solo or co-op action-adventure third-person shooter, set in Egypt in the 1930's.I'd been sitting on Strange Brigade for a while, because I've previously played one of the Zombie Army games by the same developer (Rebellion), and it so thoroughly creeped me out, that I had no desire to go through it again.But with access to the game via my son's Steam account, and a spare Steam key, and it being the middle of a sunny day, I thought I'd give it a shot.You play as one of four members of the titular Strange Brigade, a special unit of the British Government tasked with dealing with supernatural entities.One of the options is Gracie Braithwaite, a brawler, and a red-headed Lancashire lass. One of the things I've learned from my family tree, is that great-grandmother was from Lancashire, and was described by my grandmother as "a Lancashire lass", and it just felt right to choose her.In terms of the gameplay, while it bears some basic similarities to the Zombie Army Trilogy (because zombies are heavily featured!) and it uses the same Asura engine as ZAT, it styles itself heavily after pulp movies of the 1930's, with an overly chirpy English narrator providing running commentary.The game is bright and colourful, unlike the spine-chilling environments of ZAT, and I found Strange Brigade a far more enjoyable experience - at least once I remapped the rather wild control scheme.Nothing like hitting the shift key to run away from a zombie, only to drop a grenade instead.I had a bunch of fun with Strange Bridgade; it's pretty:4: Good#StrangeBrigade #ActionAdventure #ThirdPersonShooter #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #Ahubcpo07kxMyClsYa by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-27T04:27:07Z
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December 27, 2023 - Day 361 - NewPlay Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 390Game: Ultimate Zombie DefensePlatform: SteamRelease Date: Dec 9, 2020Installation Date: Dec 19, 2023Unplayed: 8dPlaytime: 36mUltimate Zombie Defense is a top-down co-op wave defense shooter.It was free last week on Fanatical, and I grabbed it because it was free, of course.Although I'd already done zombies today, why not a few more?You're in a fixed area, and you're armed with a gun, and a little bit of cash. Kill zombies under the wave is over, spend cash on fortification & weapons upgrades, rinse and repeat.I got to the fifth level solo, and learned the hard way that in spite of the previous four levels with the zombies only coming from the North, they can also come from the south.Where I had no fortifications, and no chance of survival.I then jumped into one of 5 (!) available 4-person multiplayer servers, and played with that team until we were all dead. At which point I quit; I would have quit earlier, but I didn't want to abandon the bunch of randoms after someone had already done so.Ultimate Zombie Defence is ultimately boring, so:1: Nope#UltimateZombieDefense #WaveDefenseShooter #TopDown #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubcsXRxkV3Rk3Cfw by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-28T04:26:27Z
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December 28, 2023 - Day 362 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 391Game: LightmatterPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jan 16, 2020Installation Date: Dec 28, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 2h12mLightmatter is a first-person puzzle platformer, and answers the question "What would you get if you mashed up Portal and one of the best two-part Steven Moffat episodes of Doctor Who, Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead?"Featuring a Cave Johnson-like voiceover, "Virgil", the CEO of Lightmatter is going to guide you out of his facility after a small technical issue occurred during the demonstration of his Lightmatter renewable energy source.The small technical issue being that there were some big explosions, and touching a shadow will kill you (a la Moffat's "Vashta Nerada" from the aforementioned Doctor Who episodes).The game wears its influences on its sleeve too, with Virgil making mention of Aperture Science and taking multiple digs at Cave Johnson.Fortunately the game is different enough from Portal that it doesn't feel like a retread, and immediately dragged me in for an enjoyable couple of hours.I'll go back to finish Lightmatter next time I'm deep in a puzzle mood because it's:5: Excellent#Lightmatter #FirstPerson #Puzzle #Platformer #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #Ahubcvzv6M3WAuOTy4 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-29T04:49:06Z
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December 29, 2023 - Day 363 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 392Game: Mini MotorwaysPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jul 21, 2021Installation Date: July 27, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 34mMini Motorways is a minimalistic cozy top-down traffic puzzle strategy game from New Zealand developers Dinosaur Polo Club. It's a follow-up to their previous railway puzzle strategy game Mini Metro.Following on from the design aesthetic in Mini Metro, Mini Motorways presents you with a grid, initially containing one stylised house, and one stylised destination, in the same colour, and provides (n) road pieces to join the two.Cars in that colour will then travel back and forth between the two locations. The destination building will tick, adding an icon for which a matching car is required, with each building having a certain capacity. If the building reaches capacity without enough matching cars reaching it, it's Game Over, man. Game Over.Each level is presented as a specific major world city, and achieving certain goals in one city will unlock one (or more) cities to play in further levels.Levels are played on a "weekly" basis using an in-game clock; as the in-game week passes, new destination buildings are added, often in a different colour, with a matching house in the same colour.These houses can be on the other side of a river, or the other side of the map, or both, and you must use the roads to enable enough vehicles to reach each destination before the building "fills up".At the end of each week you are given one of two options to choose from for extra pieces for the following week. One option may be 30 road pieces, with the other being a roundabout, with 20 road pieces, or a bridge crossing, with 20 road pieces, or one of several other options including the titular motorway, allowing you to connect distant areas of the map in a single hit.I broke my guideline of mentioning the developers because in spite of them having only released these two games, I love both of them. Mini Motorways is:5: Excellent#MiniMotorways #Minimalist #TopDown #Puzzle #Strategy #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #Ahubcz2rlrC9cunNTc by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-29T07:15:50Z
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December 29, 2023 - Day 363 - NewPlay Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 393Game: MindustryPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 27, 2019Installation Date: Nov 6, 2021Unplayed: 783d (2y1m23d)Playtime: 1h12mMindustry is a top-down automation strategy game mashed up with an RTS.I've always had a thing for automation games, which I suspect is a largely #autistic thing. Most games of this type are about systemisation, finding efficiencies, then building (and rebuilding) automation pipelines to produce a particular outcome.These are games that I avoid because they suck me in to the point that I've lost entire days inside them, with Shapez & Production Line being just two examples. I've seen at least one person whose *entire* Steam 2023 review was one game played, no new games. All Factorio, all the time.A game in this space has to bring something different to the table; for Mindustry that's planetary domination, leaning into the RTS side.Build factories, research technology, build tanks, and defenses, seek and destroy.Unfortunately, this is where Mindustry leaves me a bit cold. It's not that I don't like RTS games: I cut my teeth on Dune II. I went on to Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, then finally StarCraft.Unfortunately, Mindustry feels it doesn't quite pull off either type of game that well. The gameplay elements are not explained clearly, and the UI is *really* clunky, making it difficult to find critical information, and not always making it clear what the next step is.Unfortunately, the RTS side of things feels like (at least in the early stage of the game) like the only real strategy is Zerg rushing.I finally quit out of the game, entirely unsure whether I'd completed that stage of the game, or needed to do something else.There are a bunch of nice ideas in the game, and I think it's the work of a single dev, as far as I can tell. I just feel like it needs a lot of polish.Mindustry is:3: OK#Mindustry #TopDown #Automation #Strategy #RTS #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #Ahubd1XQVCpRMH6oO8 by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-29T08:32:55Z
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December 29, 2023 - Day 363 - NewPlay Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 394Game: ShatterlinePlatform: SteamRelease Date: Sep 9, 2022Installation Date: Oct 9, 2022Unplayed: 446d (1y2m20d)Playtime: 24mShatterline is a multiplayer F2P co-op PvE & PvP FPS with some roguelike & extraction shooter gameplay elements.Launching a F2P FPS into early access in 2022 was a huge risk in an already flooded market.Launching a F2P FPS in 2022 when your development headquarters are based in Kyiv, Ukraine? They don't make risk-management charts that big.The premise is interesting, and the intro is well done. Even the initial PvE tutorial level is great. The gameplay is smooth, and the UI is polished.However, the problem with F2P multiplayer shooters is that there are so many options available that a game has to present something that's utterly unique to rise above the crowd, and Shatterline doesn't quite deliver that.In this case, that's less my judgement of the game, and more that Steamcharts shows that the average players has gone down consistently every month since launch averaging 285 players per day over the last 30 days.No matter how good Shatterline's design and gameplay is, with a game that's primarily multiplayer, without the players, a game is pretty much doomed to failure.Unfortunately, as interesting as Shatterline's backstory is, and as nice as the gameplay is, I suspect Shatterline may follow in footprints of The Cycle: Frontier before too long.Shatterline is:3: OK#Shatterline #F2P #FPS #PvP #PvE #Multiplayer #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #Ahubd4E2Vk6Th13s5Q by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-30T06:59:53Z
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December 30, 2023 - Day 364 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 395Game: Outward Definitive EditionPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Mar 26, 2019Installation Date: Nov 30, 2023Unplayed: 30dPlaytime: 37mOutward Definitive Edition is a third-person fantasy RPG with survival mechanics.The problem with any RPG released from here on out is that Cyberpunk 2077 and Baldur's Gate 3 both exist.However it's worse for RPGs that were released before 2023, because between these two games, they've raised the bar so incredibly high, that most games are going to suffer in comparison.Outward Definitive Edition is an updated release of Outward release in May 2022 that includes "quality of life" improvements; given the state of the game, I shudder to think what QoL was like beforehand.However, in trying to be fair, I looked up RPGs that were released in 2018 & 2019; which means comparing it to games like Kingdom Come: Deliverance, and Greedfall.Unfortunately, even then it doesn't fare well. It just feels very rough around the edges, and frustrating to play. As an example, whether you love it or hate it, most RPGs use some kind of encumbrance gameplay mechanic (and if you love encumbrance, I wonder what's wrong with you).Outward leans heavily into the realism, which means it takes barely anything collected in your backpack before you're encumbered. Better* still, after combat I picked up two weapons from the mobs I'd just killed. One of them left me encumbered. The second left me completely unable to move.Not that the screen indicated the change in any way. There's an icon that appears onscreen when you're over the encumbrance limit, but no warning to say I'd been completely immobilised. I thought the game had bugged out completely.There's also a cooking mechanic (because survival gameplay as well) with some recipes, but also "manual cooking". I tried to cook something with fresh water and *fresh* raw salmon, but instead of boiled salmon, it resulted in "diseased mush". I probably shouldn't have eaten it, because eating it left *me* diseased, with an icon onscreen, and nothing to indicate how to resolve that.It feels like the game wants you to work really hard to like it, and I'm glad that I got it in a bundle, because I don't feel bad about disliking it.You've probably already guessed, but Outward Definitive Edition is a:1: Nope#OutwardDefinitiveEdition #ThirdPerson #Fantasy #RPG #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #Ahubd7VWJCrvs6GNFY by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-30T10:39:01Z
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December 30, 2023 - Day 364 - NewPlay Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 396Game: Wasteland 3Platform: SteamRelease Date: Aug 29, 2020Installation Date: Dec 21, 2023Unplayed: 9dPlaytime: 54mWasteland 3 is an isometric squad-based RPG with turn-based combat mechanics.Apparently it's all RPGs all day here. Less "all", and more "this afternoon", because I ended up spending all morning cleaning out my desk and sorting screws.Yeah, I forgot my ADHD meds, and today has been erratic. The kicker was discovering that I'd doubled up on a day count back in early October, meaning that instead of only needing to play one extra game per day for three days, it was two extra games today, and two tomorrow to hit my "400 new games" goal.Anyway, turns out I've had a bunch of cool isometric RPGs just sitting in my unredeemed Steam keys spreadsheet; it's suddenly an embarrassment of riches, between Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, BG3, and now Wasteland 3.Having not played the previous two Wasteland games, I thought it was some kind of post-apocalyptic FPS, but instead it's a post-apocalyptic RPG set in a nuclear winter affected Colorado.The game starts out with a cut-scene talking about what happened to the Desert Rangers after the events of Wasteland 2 (and providing enough information for context), explaining that the Desert Rangers are on their way to Colorado to meet with "the owner of Colorado" to seek assistance for Arizona (I really need to look at a US map).Looked at the map, got distracted. Anyway, things do not go according to plan, and you get ambushed on your way, and off the game goes.Looks like I've got a lot of RPGs to play in 2024, because Wasteland 3 seems:4: Good#Wasteland3 #Isometric #PostApocalyptic #RPG #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubdAEcAW82KXNPoe by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-30T22:39:17Z
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December 30, 2023 - Day 364 - NewPlay Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 397Game: MOTHERGUNSHIPPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jul 17, 2018Installation Date: Sep 7, 2019Unplayed: 1576d (4y3m24d)Playtime: 16mMOTHERGUNSHIP is a bullet-hell FPS built in the Unreal Engine.I immediately ran into problems when I tried to run it, because it did not want to play well with multiple monitors, insisting on running on the left-most monitor (which isn't my main). No options in-game to choose which monitor to run on.Putting it into a lower resolution and windowed mode somehow made things worse, because it pushed the window chrome AND the back button off the top and bottom of the screen, respectively.Eventually I got it running on the main monitor, and away we went. You're a nameless pleb dropped into combat on a spaceship, receiving instructions from an army General, and a tech, delivered by VO and a text-box in the middle of the screen.You're wearing some kind of exo-suit, and you can see your robotic hands at the bottom of the screen, and you're sent off to start punching sci-fi cartoonish turrets.When you die (oh, and you will die), you're immediately resurrected to keep fighting, with the "General" lampshading this.A few rooms in, and you can start buying gun parts with the coins you collect, and then you can build and rebuild your weapons, into whatever wild assemblies you can imagine.I was pretty tired last night, and it's only just occurred to me that the reason I couldn't buy parts in one of the shops was that I didn't have enough coins. There was just an error box icon that would appear when I tried to pick up gun parts, which I thought meant I'd run out of room or something. It didn't make it clear *why* I was getting that icon.Which highlights one of the issues with the game. The ship(s) are bright and colourful with a lot going on, and the UI just kind of tends to blend in with everything else on screen.I don't usually highlight the engine that the game is built in, but sometimes games have a certain "feel" to them that immediately registers as the game engine, and when I checked, I wasn't surprised to find it was an Unreal based game (no Unreal splash at the start, though!).If bullet-hell shooters are your thing, this might be worth picking up on special, but I probably won't be back; they're not my thing, so for me MOTHERGUNSHIP is just a bit:2: Meh#MOTHERGUNSHIP #FPS #BulletHell #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubdCjWsY2u4zr8HQ by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-31T00:12:57Z
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December 31, 2023 - Day 365 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 398Game: Beyond: Two SoulsPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jun 18, 2020 (PC)Installation Date: Dec 19, 2022Unplayed: 377d (1y12d)Playtime: 24mBeyond: Two Souls is a third-person... interactive movie?I picked a doozy for my final primary NewPlay. The game starts by presenting the option to play in the "original" non-chronological order, or the "remix" chronological order.I picked "original", and then found myself in a cutscene with a mo-capped pre-transition Elliot page, and then an unexpected Willem Dafoe, setting up an interesting premise.Whoever Jodie is, she's dangerous.After the cutscene, I found myself playing as child Jodie. This was where I ran into my first issue with the game. I'd picked mouse & keyboard to play with, but given that this was originally a console release, it really isn't designed for mouse & keyboard, and the controls just felt weird.Switched to controller, and things started to make more sense.The hard part of trying to provide more of a review is this: explaining what happens next goes into spoiler territory, and so... I won't.Because the game relies on mocap, and was originally released in 2013, prior to Elliot Page coming out as a trans man, I found playing as adult Jodie in the next section somewhat disconcerting, and in a way that I really can't quite put into words. Not enough to make me not want to play, but enough to break immersion.This is not a critique of the game, rather an acknowledgement of how events in the real world can affect my perception of a game.I really enjoyed (and completed!) one of Quantic Dream's other games, Detroit: Become Human, which is what lead to me buying this and Heavy Rain in a bundle last year.Based on past experience, I'm interested in continuing this playthrough of Beyond: Two Souls; so far, it's:3: OK#BeyondTwoSouls #ThirdPerson #InteractiveMovie #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubdFHzNOna0RzgGm by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-31T05:22:35Z
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December 31, 2023 - Day 365 - NewPlay Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 399Game: Saints RowPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Aug 23, 2022 (PC)Installation Date: Dec 31, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 59mSaints Row (2022) was a poorly received reboot of the Saints Row franchise. It's a third-person action-adventure RPG, that is, this time around, based around the founding of a criminal gang named "The Saints".You play as "The Boss", and can choose from a set of pre-made characters, or build your own from scratch, so I lost track of how long I spent in the character creator.In this case, I didn't go into the game completely unawares; I've played some of Saints Row IV, which was cartoonishly over the top.I remember reading reviews of Saints Row saying that they wanted it to be more grounded, and to paraphrase Inigo Montoya, "...that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."Maybe it's not quite as OTT as the last game, but grounded is not a word I'd use either.I'm a little surprised at this point that the reviews were so awful, as it definitely feels a lot like the previous Saints Row games to me.I'll probably slot in some further Saints mayhem between RPG sessions in the new year.So far, Saints Row seems:4: Good#SaintsRow #ThirdPerson #ActionAdventure #RPG #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubdIat5ahMFvrJdw by grissallia@aus.social
2023-12-31T11:30:35Z
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December 31, 2023 - Day 365 - NewPlay Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: **400**Game: Dave The DiverPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Jun 28, 2023 (PC)Installation Date: Dec 31, 2023Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 43mDave The Diver is a 2D sideways-scrolling pixel-art* game that's part management sim, part fishing sim, part restaurant game, and part action-adventure RPG.When Dave the Diver first showed up on Steam a few months ago, I was still very much of the "pixel-art-no-thank-you" mindset, so it was a pass.Then I saw some folks raving about how good it is, and then the free Dredge DLC was announced, and I went back and added it to my wishlist.As they're currently offering a "Dredging & Diving Bundle" on Steam which meant the game was cheaper than the sale price (by a couple of bucks), I decided to add one more game to my pile of shame, and then take it off again, and what a way to finish this project out.It is REALLY hard to categorise, because it pulls gameplay aspects from multiple different genres, and it's probably best if I lay it out.Firstly, to address that asterisk against pixel-art, the game uses pixel-art for the gameplay, but uses vector art for the UI, which is a great way to make the game feel up-to-date.The game opens with Dave relaxing on a beach, drinking a beer, when his phone rings, and he gets a job offer. Queue plane & map intro cut-scene.A guy named Cobra has offered Dave a job diving in "the Blue Hole", which is a procedurally generated environment that is different on each dive.After a tutorial sequence, where you learn to catch fish with a harpoon (fishing sim!), you learn that you've been roped into managing a sushi bar as well (management sim!).Dive twice during the day to complete quests (RPG gameplay!) and catch the fish that you then use at night to set the nightly sushi bar menu. Oh, and you're also the sushi bar waiter; this takes partial gameplay ideas from cooking sims like "Cook, Serve, Delicious!" in that the various customers will order the things that you've added to the menu, and the cook (thank goodness!) prepares each meal, as you run back and forth serving them, and cleaning up after some detty pigs, as well as another mini-game where you need to pour green tea and fill the cup perfectly.Some of the RPG gameplay elements like equipment upgrades and weapon upgrades are handled through unlockable "apps" on an in-game "smartphone", and given that there are a number of preloaded apps on the phone with locks on them, looks like there are more mini-games as well.Somehow, though, the devs managed to pull this off in such a way that it all fits together seamlessly, and is a lot of fun as well.So, there you have it; for my final game review of 2023, Dave the Diver is:5: Excellent#DaveTheDiver #2D #SidewaysScroller #FishingSim #ManagementSim #CookingSim #ActionAdventure #RPG #Gaming #Project365ONG #Project365 #NewPlay
(DIR) Post #AhubdLX6A8RxN36pea by grissallia@aus.social
2024-01-01T06:04:50Z
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Decided to continue with the reviews, but in a cut down format. If I'm really moved to write about a game, I might do that, but the pressure is off on writing a proper review, because that time is now reserved for #2024HealthProject As always, it's a summary of whether I want to continue to play the game or not, not necessarily whether it's good or bad (although if it's a real stinker, I'll probably end up saying so).
(DIR) Post #AhubdNdCMQW9sXyjRI by grissallia@aus.social
2024-01-01T06:24:45Z
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January 1, 2024 - Day 366 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 401Game: Killing Floor 2Platform: SteamReleased: Nov 19, 2016Installed: Jul 12, 2022Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 15mRating: 1 - NopeMultiplayer FPS zombie killing. Oh hell no.#KillingFloor2 #FPS #Zombies #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubdPsrz8F2rjKH8y by grissallia@aus.social
2024-01-02T00:39:33Z
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January 2, 2024 - Day 367 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 402Game: Killer InstinctPlatform: SteamReleased: Sep 28, 2017Installed: Nov 30, 2023Unplayed: 33d (1m2d)Playtime: 25mRating: 2 - MehKiller Instinct is a fighting game that went F2P last year as a teaser to get people to buy the Killer Instinct: Anniversary Edition DLC that provides balance updates, and everything available in the in-game shop.I won't be buying it. It's pretty cheesy, and while the single-button combos make my button mashing a lot easier, my hands get tired far too quickly for this to be fun.#KillerInstinct #F2P #Fighter #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubdRvmNHl1DKhcxM by grissallia@aus.social
2024-01-02T00:50:30Z
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January 2, 2024 - Day 367 - RePlay ReviewTotal RePlays: 12Game: Mind ScannersPlatform: SteamRelease Date: May 20, 2021Reviewed: Dec 17, 2023Original rating: 1 - NopeNew rating: 3 - OKPlaytime: 4hrs30m (5h)When I reviewed Mind Scanners a couple of weeks ago, I found it icky. I tagged it for the trading cards, and as with many games that have trading card drops, it has to be played to collect them.I've sold enough of them to buy whole DLCs with the proceeds, so at least it feels like I got something out of the game. Usually this just reinforces my opinion of the game, and makes me more determined to recover the storage space, but sometimes things go differently.I started playing this last night, and then kept playing it this morning. It turned out that I'd missed a part of the user interface, and thus gameplay, and instead of just turning everyone in mindless zombies, there's a whole gameplay aspect of also maintaining their personalities in the process.Which took this from icky to "Ohhh, NOW I get it!", which makes my original review a bit harsh. I'm still not a fan of the pixel-art, but the gameplay is actually interesting, and in getting this part of the gameplay right (effectively restarting the game from scratch), the narrative has now revealed itself.I was wrong about Mind Scanners. It's OK.#MindScanners #PixelArt #2D #Dystopian #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubdU2wVcfxm84NOq by grissallia@aus.social
2024-01-03T12:58:57Z
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January 3, 2024 - Day 368 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 403Game: Two Point CampusPlatform: SteamReleased: Aug 9, 2022Installed: Jan 3, 2024Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 60mRating: 3 - OKTwo Point Campus is an isometric business management sim, with a cartoon vibe.January's Humble Choice bundle dropped this morning, and this is the second game, because (unsurprisingly), I've already got the first.I'll come to that tomorrow.In the meantime, Two Point Campus has a kind of goofy outer layer covering a business management sim.It's the kind of thing that could probably suck me in when I'm in the right frame of mind, but I already own the predecessor to this (Two Point Hospital), and after a couple of hours it lost me, and I haven't been back since.Two Point Campus is OK.#TwoPointCampus #Isometric #ManagementSim #HumbleBundle #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubdULNP5QAhIh68G by grissallia@aus.social
2024-01-02T01:11:13Z
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January 2, 2024 - Day 367 - NewPlay Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 403Game: VoidtrainPlatform: SteamReleased: May 10, 2023Installed: Jan 1, 2024Unplayed: 0d (1m2d)Playtime: 3h6mRating: 5 - ExcellentVoidtrain is a first-person survival game, which is a little hard to explain.You find yourself inside "the void", on a train pushcart with a transmission lever, a brake lever, and a push-lever.The cart is mounted on rails that disappear off into the void, and you can jump off the cart and... swim... around the void collecting materials to build and upgrade the train. You're anchored to the train with a rope that you can use to pull yourself back to the train, but that also limits how far you can explore to grab materials.So: Void...train.I don't even own the game. It's on my wishlist, and it popped up because my son owns it, so I was able to install it from his library.I've said before that I don't really like survival games, but this one is SO wild, and doesn't rely on random servers, and isn't PvP oriented, that it scratched an itch I barely knew I had. So much so that I realised I was falling asleep and it was almost 2am.It also features multiplayer co-op, which might be interesting. I'm going to buy this for myself when I can afford it; it's a lot of fun. Choo choo mothertrucker.#Voidtrain #Survival #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubdW1b9amxuXSKa8 by grissallia@aus.social
2024-01-04T11:23:23Z
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January 4, 2024 - Day 369 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 404Game: Aragami 2Platform: SteamReleased: Sep 17, 2021Installed: Jan 4, 2024Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 32mRating: 3 - OKAragami 2 is a sequel to Aragami, which I reviewed on March 25, 2023 (link below). It's the third game in this month's Humble Choice bundle.Like its predecessor, it is a third-person stealth game, set in Japan, 100 years later. However, it has no direct connection. If you like stealth games, this is not a bad way to kill some time.Aragami 2 is OK.https://reviews.grissallia.com/2023/03/25/aragami/#Aragami2 #ThirdPerson #Stealth #HumbleBundle #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubdY21gyJs8RfhWi by grissallia@aus.social
2024-01-04T12:51:23Z
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January 4, 2024 - Day 369 - RePlay ReviewTotal RePlays: 13Game: Marvel's Midnight SunsPlatform: SteamRelease Date: Dec 2, 2022Reviewed: Jan 4, 2023Rating: 5 - ExcellentPlaytime: 20m (105h42m)Marvel's Midnight Suns is a isometric and third-person tactical RPG with deck-building gameplay elements. It's the first game in this month's Humble Choice Bundle, and I "reviewed" this 12 months ago, to the day.However, while I've transferred my original review over, it wasn't really much of a review, because early on, I lacked the vocabulary to describe a lot of the games.Marvel's Midnight Suns takes many existing Marvel characters, and remixes them for the game's narrative.You play as the "Hunter", a recently resurrected demon-slayer, who died centuries earlier defeating Lilith... their mother (the Hunter can be played as either gender).Lots of things I can't explain about this because [spoilers, Sweetie], but Hunter has been resurrected because Lilith is back.Hunter becomes one of the current Midnight Suns. The core roster of fully voiced playable characters at the beginning of the game is:Hunter Sister GrimmMagikBladeAs the game commences, you also unlock as playable characters:Doctor StrangeIron ManSpider-ManCaptain AmericaCaptain MarvelGhost RiderWolverineThe Hulk / Bruce BannerScarlet WitchThese versions of the characters each have a great storyline to introduce them, with their own specific deck that can be built & customised. Cards are won as part of the gameplay, but can also be created from blueprints.There are four DLCs that were released for the game after I reviewed it; rather than being post-game content, they integrate into the gameplay. They dropped roughly every four weeks starting from January with:1. Deadpool2. Venom3. Morbius(!)4. StormThe biggest question was about how the Deadpool DLC would work, because... it's Deadpool, but it worked surprisingly well, fourth-wall breaking and all.The voice cast for the game is a veritable who's who of voice actors, with many of them having previously voiced other versions of the characters in other games, animated media, or live media (notably, Sister Grimm/Nico Minoru being voiced by her live action actor, Lyrica Okano), as well as several Critical Role alumni. It's only improved in the last twelve months as the DLCs were released.If you don't already own Marvel's Midnight Suns, it's worth buying this month's Humble Choice Bundle for this alone.Marvel's Midnight Suns is still:5: Excellenthttps://reviews.grissallia.com/2023/01/04/marvels-midnight-suns/
(DIR) Post #AhubdaoJMQ8CkmHI48 by grissallia@aus.social
2024-01-05T07:21:29Z
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January 5, 2024 - Day 370 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 405Game: OTXOPlatform: SteamReleased: Apr 17, 2023Installed: Jan 5, 2024Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 15mRating: 1 - NopeOTXO is a noir-themed pixel-art top-down shooter with roguelite gameplay, and is the fourth game in the January Humble Choice bundle.The game opened with low-res top-down pixel-art of a train carriage, and as someone gets off the train, they drop a mask that you pick up and are immediately compelled to put on; at which point everything fades to black, and you wake up on a beach like Leonardo DiCaprio in Inception.You start walking and find a mansion, where a groundskeeper explains to that your loved one who was next to you on the train is now trapped at the heart of the mansion and all you have to do is kill everyone inside.A tutorial walks you through the gameplay, but the keyboard and mouse controls left a lot to be desired, and I just couldn't get it right with a controller, and I wasn't enjoying myself anyway.15 minutes and I was done.OTXO is a:1: Nope#OTXO #TopDown #PixelArt #Roguelite #Shooter #HumbleBundle #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubddaF3BexM0ib3I by grissallia@aus.social
2024-01-06T11:48:24Z
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January 6, 2024 - Day 371 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 406Game: RoguebookPlatform: SteamReleased: Jun 18, 2021Installed: Jan 6, 2024Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 28mRating: 4 - GoodRoguebook is an isometric roguelike deckbuilder using hex-based gameplay mechanics. It's game five in the January Humble Choice bundle.The game has an impressive opening animation that leads you to the "Roguebook". You are trapped in the titular Roguebook, and need to gain brushes and ink to reveal what's hidden in the blank hex tiles on the page as you attempt to reach an exit.Each of the inks do differing things, with some revealing smaller and larger areas around you, and some revealing (n) tiles in a straight line.In the uncovered tiles you will find gold stashes, locations where you can donate gold to craft a card, basic & elite fights that provide the brushes and ink.One of the more interesting things about the game is that Richard Garfield was involved in the development; his name may not ring a bell unless you're familiar with another game he created, a little tabletop game called "Magic: The Gathering".I'm not a big deckbuilder fan, but so far Roguebook seems to be:4: Good#Roguebook #Isometric #Roguelike #Deckbuilder #HumbleBundle #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #Ahubdgdtg3MkqDS3fM by grissallia@aus.social
2024-01-07T10:52:12Z
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January 7, 2024 - Day 372 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 407Game: The Red LanternPlatform: SteamReleased: Dec 9, 2021Installed: Jan 7, 2024Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 34mRating: 3 - OKThe Red Lantern is a first-person narrative-driven game about dog-sledding, with some roguelite & survival elements.It's the sixth game in this month's Humble Choice bundle, and it's an interesting title, that I wouldn't have picked to play.Making a snow-change, you open the game by meeting a series of dogs, needing to select 4 of them to build a dog-sledding team in Alaska.Once you've picked your doggos, you reach your destination, and have to make a several-day sled trip to a remote cabin through a procedurally generated environment. The game is the story of that trip.If you fail, you wake up again in your van, "from a nightmare", and start the sled-trip over, with more resources based on your previous experiences, with your ultimate goal to reach the cabin that's marked by the red lantern hanging outside.If you're a dog person, this game might definitely be up your alley.The Red Lantern is:3: OK#TheRedLantern #FirstPerson #Survival #DogSledding #Roguelite #HumbleBundle #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubdjpLpvJKibpkR6 by grissallia@aus.social
2024-01-08T08:36:40Z
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January 8, 2024 - Day 373 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 408Game: Hell PiePlatform: SteamReleased: Jul 22, 2022Installed: Jan 8, 2024Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 24mRating: 1 - NopeHell Pie is a cartoonish 3D platformer set in hell, and is the seventh game in the January Humble Bundle.You play as Nate, a low-level demon, who has been tasked with collecting the ingredients for Satan's birthday pie.Hell is a muzak-filled cross between a corporate office and hell, which is somewhat tautological.The game relies on gross-out humour, and it didn't work for me with Ren & Stimpy, and nothing has changed since then.I found the controls frustrating on both keyboard/mouse and controller, and with the gross-out humour, I had no motivation to try and improve.Hell Pie is a:1: Nope#HellPie #3D #Platformer #HumbleBundle #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #Ahubdn6TehnCsary2y by grissallia@aus.social
2024-01-08T13:25:00Z
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January 8, 2024 - Day 373 - NewPlay Bonus ReviewTotal NewPlays: 409Game: Twin MirrorPlatform: SteamReleased: Dec 1, 2021Installed: Feb 16, 2023Unplayed: 326d (10m23dPlaytime: 35mRating: 3 - OKTwin Mirror is a third-person narrative adventure, and is the final game in this month's Humble Choice bundle.The developers of this game are Don't Nod, responsible for the "Life is Strange" series, as well as "Tell Me Why" (and other games).In Twin Mirror, you play as a reporter who has returned to his hometown for the funeral of his best friend. His best friend's young daughter believes her father was murdered, and asks you to investigate.I already owned Twin Mirror, but hadn't played it. It hasn't quite grabbed me as strongly as I thought it would, but it's a game I'll probably poke around a bit more in.Twin Mirror is:3: OK#TwinMirror #ThirdPerson #NarrativeAdventure #HumbleBundle #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubdqLpa4rAx54ltY by grissallia@aus.social
2024-01-09T13:09:52Z
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January 9, 2024 - Day 374 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 410Game: Baba Is YouPlatform: SteamReleased: Mar 14, 2019Installed: Dec 14, 2023Unplayed: 26dPlaytime: 26mRating: 5 - ExcellentBaba Is You is a top-down pixel-art puzzle game. It's like Sokoban on acid.Each puzzle has a goal. The rules for each puzzle are in each puzzle, as blocks you can move.For example, there are three blocks "Baba", "Is", and "You".When these three blocks are lined up, they're active as a statement. You can move one of the blocks, which will break the statement, but also fail the level.The same level might have "Walls", "Are", and "Stop". However, if you move the "Stop" block, it will break the statement, and now you can pass through walls.Each level also has a win statement, which is usually (but not always) "Flag Is Win". Your goal is to reach the flag.Wonder what would happen if you pushed the "Wall" block into the place of "Flag".Now you have an active rule of "Wall Is Win", and... now you just have to walk over a wall piece, and you win the level.I really needed a simple game to try and knock over tonight, and this hooked me (and my 11yo, who solved one of the puzzles for me, and now wants the game himself!).Baba Is You is a wonderful example of a pixel-art game whose gameplay overcomes my resistance to pixel-art, and so it's:5: Excellent#BabaIsYou #TopDown #PixelArt #Puzzle #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #Ahubdtf5Gx2XDf6goy by grissallia@aus.social
2024-01-10T13:08:55Z
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January 10, 2024 - Day 375 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 411Game: Fell Seal: Arbiter's MarkPlatform: SteamReleased: May 1, 2019Installed: Jan 10, 2024Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 32mRating: 1 - NopeFell Seal: Arbiter's Mark is a fantasy-oriented isometric turn-based tactical RPG.It mixes different art styles, which the characters being almost an anime style, while character portraits appear hand-painted.It would have been a hard sell at the best of times, but compared to some of the tactical RPGs I've played in the last month, the game didn't have a chance.Will Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark get to stay on my PC?1: Nope#FellSealAribitersMark #Isometric #TurnBased #Tactical #RPG #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #Ahubdx40cjlBlpn8aW by grissallia@aus.social
2024-01-11T05:30:21Z
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January 11, 2024 - Day 376 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 412Game: Chess UltraPlatform: SteamReleased: Jun 21, 2017Installed: Jan 11, 2024Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 21mRating: 4 - GoodChess Ultra is a 3D turn-based strategy... chess game.With a name like that, you'd expect it to have gun battles and all kinds of extreme weapons and it's just a very good 3D chess game with online multiplayer, and reasonably good bots to play offline.It has several different options for the location of your game, with appropriate sound effects, as well as several difference chess sets you can choose between.Given my complete lack of chess games on Steam, it was nice to just kick back and play chess for a while. Chess Ultra is:4: Good#ChessUltra #3D #TurnBased #Strategy #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubdzV1ZGYfKCRjyS by grissallia@aus.social
2024-01-12T13:28:08Z
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January 12, 2024 - Day 377 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 413Game: Rain WorldPlatform: SteamReleased: Mar 28, 2017Installed: Dec 4, 2023Unplayed: 39d (1m8d)Playtime: 18mRating: 2 - MehRain World is a 2D platformer, set in a post-apocalyptic world, where you play as a "slugcat" that's been separated from its family, in an intro that's almost as depressing as Stray's intro.The character animations are great, and the environmental design is very well done, but after 15 minutes of shimmying up and down poles and through pipes, while trying to find food and avoid predators, I wasn't really enjoying myself.Apparently it only gets more difficult moving forward, so it looks like this was a swing and a miss.I just found Rain World a bit:2: Meh#RainWorld #2D #Platformer #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #Ahube2Z2AoY2pVLU8m by grissallia@aus.social
2024-01-14T05:31:23Z
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January 13, 2024 - Day 378 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 414Game: 198XPlatform: SteamReleased: Jun 21, 2019Installed: Sep 9, 2023Unplayed: 126d (4m4d)Playtime: 23mRating: 3 - OK198X is a 2D pixel-art pastiche of 1980's arcade games. It's a bit hard to characterise it other than that.At the start of the game you're inexplicably dropped into a beat-em-up with a different name, and very little context. This is one of the times that reading up on the game before I played it might have helped. It took me about 10 minutes to beat that stage, only for the actual game to reveal itself, which is a game about arcade games, and a coming-of-age story.The pixel-art in this game is *gorgeous*. It captures a mood incredibly well, and combined with the music and voice talent, the game's backstory is well done. It's a pixel-art game where the pixel-art is actually art.The game is built around five different kinds of arcade games that were popular in the 1980's.Which is where I ran into problems. The second game is a side-ways scrolling sci-fi shooter, and I was always terrible at this kind of game.Which means that's where I got stuck, repeating the same section of the game, and dying around the same point each time.All things considered, I'd like to try and continue playing, but I'm not sure if I'll get past that section to find out.198X is:3: OK#198X #2D #PixelArt #Arcade #Platformer #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #Ahube5CSNDGr0Lnzrk by grissallia@aus.social
2024-01-14T11:28:26Z
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January 14, 2024 - Day 379 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 415Game: DOOM VFRPlatform: SteamReleased: Dec 1, 2017Installed: Aug 10, 2021Unplayed: 887d (2y5m4d)Playtime: 18mRating: 3 - OKDOOM VFR is a VR FPS, and the first time I've reviewed a VR game. My list last year excluded VR games because I didn't have my VR headset set up on the new system.It's notable that Bethesda really gave VR a red-hot go, with Fallout 4 VR, Skyrim VR, Wolfenstein Cyberpilot, and DOOM VFR.I bought all four when they were in a ridiculously cheap bundle, and I've had mixed experiences. I've tried Skyrim VR (which I found frustrating), and Wolfenstein Cyberpilot (which tried to so something different).I hadn't played DOOM VFR or Fallout 4 VR, so that's one more to go.DOOM VFR follows the Cyberpilot model of setting the game in the existing game world, but doing something different to an existing game (unlike Skyrim VR).Unfortunately, it suffers from the same problem that a lot of VR games do: "How the hell do you move?"Gorilla Tag solves it by moving like the top half of a gorilla & loping with your hands, which makes sense.DOOM VFR uses teleportation, which feels clunky, because it is clunky. In addition, on the Vive controls, the right thumbpad in most games is used for turning.However, Bethesda chose to use it for a weapon wheel, which means that to turn, you actually need to turn. Most PCVR headsets are wired, which makes this a *great* way to get tangled in the headset cable - which I did.As far as the actual gameplay goes, it does a reasonable job of giving that DOOM atmosphere; I got freaked out by mobs several times, and screamed out loud in fright when my hand hit *something* in the real world that I assume was the tower fan.Overall DOOM VFR is:3: OK#DOOMVFR #VR #FPS #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #Ahube8eZX8XjiPyzbc by grissallia@aus.social
2024-01-15T13:29:26Z
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January 15, 2024 - Day 380 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 416Game: ClustertruckPlatform: SteamReleased: Sep 27, 2016Installed: Aug 4, 2022Unplayed: 529d (1y5m11d)Playtime: 17mRating: 1 - NopeI was going to describe Clustertruck as a first-person game of "The Floor is Lava" while jumping between moving trucks, and then discovered that's exactly how the devs describe this physics-based platformer.You start each level on top of a moving truck and you need to get to the goal at the end of the convoy as fast as possible without touching anything that's not a truck.It requires pinpoint timing and coordination, two things I am lacking.Unfortunately, while it's well executed, I did not enjoy Clustertruck; it's a:1: Nope#Clustertruck #FirstPerson #Physics #Platformer #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubeBrRbjcdfD1oaO by grissallia@aus.social
2024-01-16T14:16:25Z
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January 16, 2024 - Day 381 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 417Game: Legend of KeepersPlatform: SteamReleased: Apr 30, 2021Installed: Aug 9, 2023Unplayed: 160d (5m7d)Playtime: 19mRating: 3 - OKLegend of Keepers is part management sim, part turn-based strategy, part roguelite.Turns out that all those dungeons that gamers raid are managed by the "Dungeons Company".As a newly hired Dungeon Manager, it's your job to place mobs, hazards, and occasional spells between those so-called "adventurers" and the treasure at the end of the dungeon.I started out figuring I'd be bored, and was kind of into it by the second round. I'm not sure if it quite hits my "good" level, but it comes close, so Legend of Keepers is (for now):3: OK#Clustertruck #FirstPerson #Physics #Platformer #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubeEOUBrEzWGVEMi by grissallia@aus.social
2024-01-17T12:59:29Z
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January 17, 2024 - Day 382 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 418Game: Felix The ReaperPlatform: SteamReleased: Oct 18, 2019Installed: Jan 17, 2024Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 15mRating: 4 - GoodFelix The Reaper is an isometric puzzle game.You play as Felix, a newly hired "reaper". Reapers enter the mortal realm to ensure that those who should die... do.The game opens up with your mentor explaining the job to you, and as... OK, the voice actor for the mentor is doing an incredible Patrick Stewart impression......this is uncanny......OK, I need to Google this.Oh. It's ACTUALLY Patrick Stewart!Sir Patrick Stewart OBE, Shakespearean thespian, Jean Luc Picard, and Professor Charles Xavier, is playing a middle manager in the Ministry of Death.His newly-hired charge, Felix, is already questionable; given his penchant for dancing while going about his job, as well as the fact that he's in love with Life, he's not off to a great start.The puzzles themselves are amusing with a side of macabre. Felix shows up, time stops. Felix must get object A to point B, all while manipulating the sun so that he can remain in the shadows the whole time, and object A can be involved in a pre-ordained death (by order of the Ministry of Death).It's gloriously silly, and the presence of SirPatStew is the icing on the cake.Felix The Reaper is:4: Good#FelixTheReaper #Isometric #Puzzle #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubeGWMHYj67GCXui by grissallia@aus.social
2024-01-19T22:33:57Z
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January 18, 2024 - Day 383 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 419Game: RetrowavePlatform: SteamReleased: May 7, 2022Installed: Jan 18, 2024Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 15mRating: 2 - MehRetrowave is an 80's-inspired arcade racing game. If you enjoyed Outrun, and enjoy Synthwave, you might enjoy this.I've discovered over the past year I don't mind Synthwave, but as a driving game, I found it boring & repetitive.I'd prefer Forza with a Synthwave radio station, because unfortunately I just found Retrowave:2: Meh#Retrowave #Arcade #Racing #Synthwave #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubeJNxdEn905INk0 by grissallia@aus.social
2024-01-19T23:00:49Z
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January 19, 2024 - Day 384 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 420Game: SuzerainPlatform: SteamReleased: Dec 5, 2020Installed: Jan 19, 2024Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 18mRating: 0 - NopeSuzerain is part visual novel, part political simulator, and very quickly demonstrated to me that I want nothing to do with politics.I've started trying to hack down my list of unredeemed keys, a piece of mental load that I've decided to try and get rid of.I recognised the name of the game, but nothing else, so I had no idea what the game was about, or what I was getting myself into.You play as Anton Rayne, the newly democratically elected President of a country that's moved from a kingdom around the time of your birth, through a civil war as you reached adulthood, to a nation in crisis as a democracy in the 1950's.If politics is something you do enjoy, this might be the game for you, but turns out it's really not my cup of tea.The further I got into the game, the less I wanted to play; deciding the fate of a nation was hard enough, but the political machinations required were painful.Suzerain seems like a well developed game, but for me it's a big:1: Nope#Suzerain #VisualNovel #PoliticsSim #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubeMl75c5tSl9PkG by grissallia@aus.social
2024-01-20T13:24:50Z
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January 20, 2024 - Day 385 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 421Game: Battle Chasers: NightwarPlatform: SteamReleased: Oct 4 5, 2017Installed: Jan 20, 2024Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 22mRating: 4 - GoodBattle Chasers: Nightwar is an isometric RPG with turn-based combat.It was literally the first game in the spreadsheet, and the name put me off, but I decided to just get it over and done with after yesterday's disappointment.It's a party-based system, which uses a character switching mechanism while exploring the world, so that you're only controlling a single character at once.It seems to have a reasonably well developed storyline, and it's kind of fun. Turns out Battle Chasers: Nightwar is: 4: Good#BattleChasersNightwar #Isometric #RPG #TurnBasedCombat #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubePrxWcLv6rNQKe by grissallia@aus.social
2024-01-20T23:45:01Z
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January 21, 2024 - Day 386 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 422Game: AI War 2Platform: SteamReleased: Oct 23, 2019Installed: Jan 21, 2024Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 27mRating: 1 - NopeAI War 2 is a "grand strategy/RTS hybrid", involving fighting back against an AI that's taken over a galaxy.Reading other reviews of the game, it certainly sounds like a game that I'd like, but they don't reflect my experience of the game.Over time I've concluded that I'm not really wired for this kind of RTS game. They very quickly become overwhelming, which I think is an aspect of #AuDHD. There are so many different moving parts to try and follow, and I tend to hyperfocus on one aspect, which doesn't work terribly well in a lot of RTS games.In this case I found the tutorials overwhelming. There was so much to keep track of, and so much going on, that I started to feel stressed out.In the tutorial.From a design and execution point of view, AI War 2 seems like a really good game, however from the point of view of whether or not I'd enjoy playing it?1: Nope#AIWar2 #GrandStrategy #RTS #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubeRt61MRzMxvMNk by grissallia@aus.social
2024-01-22T12:19:01Z
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January 22, 2024 - Day 387 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 423Game: Raiden V: Director's CutPlatform: SteamReleased: Oct 11, 2017Installed: Jan 22, 2024Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 16mRating: 1 - NopeRaiden V is a top-down forward-scrolling shoot-em-up, and the Director's Cut is a 25th anniversary re-release.I don't do these kinds of games. They drive me spare; I find no fun in them at all, and found Raiden V particularly grating with the voiceover.I came, I played, I uninstalled; Raiden V: Director's Cut is a:1: Nope#RaidenVDirectorsCut #TopDown #ForwardScrolling #ShootEmUp #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubeUSyQwKzMoj2a8 by grissallia@aus.social
2024-01-24T10:10:04Z
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January 23, 2024 - Day 388 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 424Game: Sunless Skies: Sovereign EditionPlatform: SteamReleased: Feb 1, 2019Installed: Jan 23, 2024Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 24mRating: 3 - OKSunless Skies: Sovereign Edition is a 2D top-down "Gothic Horror" RPG, that's part visual novel and part "what the hell did I just play?"You start the game as the first mate of a space-faring Victorian steam locomotive that sails through the aether unmoored from such frailties as railway tracks.It only gets weirder from there.I genuinely don't know how to review this game, or quite honestly, how I feel about it.There's something here that I can't quite put my finger on; Sunless Skies: Sovereign Edition is:3: OK...?#SunlessSkiesSovereignEdition #2D #TopDown #GothicHorror #VisualNovel #RPG #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubeWmtnpSqZC3yuu by grissallia@aus.social
2024-01-24T12:30:18Z
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January 24, 2024 - Day 389 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 425Game: Yuppie PsychoPlatform: SteamReleased: Apr 25, 2019Installed: Jan 24, 2024Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 34mRating: 1 - NopeYuppie Psycho is a 2D pixel-art survival horror game.I gave it a shot, when it seemed like a point-and-click adventure (although it's more move-and-press 'E' constantly); I was a Kings/Police/Space Quest girl when I was younger, and maybe... but then it turned into survival horror.Thanks, Yuppie Psycho, but: 1: Nope.#YuppiePsycho #2D #PixelArt #SurvivalHorror #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubeZ4hIctDeyPDw8 by grissallia@aus.social
2024-01-25T13:03:17Z
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January 25, 2024 - Day 390 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 426Game: Fae TacticsPlatform: SteamReleased: Aug 1, 2020Installed: Jan 25, 2024Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 15mRating: 1 - NopeFae Tactics is a JRPG-inspired isometric pixel-art tactics game.For a tactics strategy game to work for me, I need to feel some connection to the story.Unfortunately for Fae Tactics, the clash between the human world and the fae world, with a human capable of magic, a bird, and a dog, trying to reach some destination did absolutely nothing for me.I did not enjoy it at all.Fae Tactics is a: 1: Nope#FaeTactics #PixelArt #Isometric #Tactics #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubebfdeFcxi7hknI by grissallia@aus.social
2024-01-26T11:39:47Z
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January 26, 2024 - Day 391 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 427Game: ElderbornPlatform: SteamReleased: Jan 31, 2020Installed: Jan 26, 2024Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 22mRating: 1 - NopeElderborn is a first-person Soulslike slasher melee-combat game.The game opens with a bombastic monologue from the lead character (at least you can choose their gender), who lays out a brief history of how you got to the point of entering the locked-down city of doom, but there was nothing unique about it that grabbed me. It was just... filler.(Sidenote: If your game supports 3440x1440 ultrawide, you need a FOV slider. Playing a first-person game through a fisheye lens is not fun.)The graphics and design feel average. It feels like they forgot the narrative part of a Soulslike that gives you a reason to press on.Ultimately, the biggest problem with the game is that it's just boring. Run to room. Cut down undead. Run to next room that looks like previous room. Cut down undead. Rinse and repeat. Elderborn is: 1: Nope#FirstPerson #MeleeCombat #Soulslike #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubedtBOreMai3bBQ by grissallia@aus.social
2024-01-27T21:51:27Z
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January 27, 2024 - Day 392 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 428Game: PalworldPlatform: Xbox Game Pass for PCReleased: Jan 19, 2024Installed: Jan 27, 2024Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 4.9hRating: 4 - GoodPalworld is a third-person tree-punching survival game with a new game mechanic of seeking to be sued out of existence by The Pokemon Company.If you haven't heard of the game that sold 8 million copies in a week on Steam, and is currently sitting at #2 behind PUBG on the Steam chart for record number of concurrent players, the elevator pitch for Palworld is "Pokemon with guns"I didn't expect it to be quite so literal.I'd read a piece about survival games by Zack Zwiezen a few days ago, in which he referred to them as "tree punchers" (which I've stolen from him), and he touched on Palworld in the review; so I had no intention of buying it.However, after rebooting my PC yesterday, I found myself staring at the Xbox app and an install button for Palworld via Game Pass, which meant I didn't need to buy it, and the die was cast.The gameplay loop is certainly addictive; I can understand why so many folks are playing it.It starts out like most survival games; wake up in a random location with no idea how you got there, and start punching trees. It's the same gathering-and-crafting loop we've been doing since Minecraft (and probably even before).Then there's the Pokemon... sorry, "Pals". I'm not a Nintendo girl. I didn't have any Nintendo stuff growing up, and the first Nintendo console I owned was the N64 I bought for our kids for Christmas 2000 (Christmas 2000 sounds like an awesome B-grade movie).My first encounter with Pokemon was Pokemon GO. I lack the encyclopaedic memory of all the different Pokemon I encountered in PoGo, but upon encountering -and killing- Pals in Palword, they were definitely giving off Pokemon vibes. You can also collect the Pals, by attacking them with a weapon until they're weakened enough to capture in a Pokeball... erm, Palsphere.Once captured, you can put them to work in your base, or, uhh... butcher the cute little PokePals, to feed the other PokePals working in your base.Best not to think too deeply about a game that is also apparently survival horror.The Pokemon vibes ceased to be vibes and became "you're going to get sued for IP infringement" when I encountered Gumoss.Gumoss is a grass-type Pal (yes, they've snarfed the 'type' concept too), which feels unarguably like Ditto in an acorn cap.If I, with my limited recall of Pokemon, can recognise this, I've no doubt the Pokemon fans calling Pocket Pair out are on the money, and it makes sense that the notoriously laid-back-and-not-at-all-protective-of-their-IP, The Pokemon Company, are "investigating".Which is primarily why I didn't buy it on Steam; I don't want to lose A$44 when they get sued out of existence for IP infringement.Still, as a game, Palworld is:4: Good#Palworld #ThirdPerson #Survival #Crafting #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #Ahubeghwv5RlKjpAae by grissallia@aus.social
2024-01-28T07:15:42Z
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January 28, 2024 - Day 393 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 429Game: EtherbornPlatform: SteamReleased: Jul 19, 2019Installed: Jan 21, 2024Unplayed: 7dPlaytime: 28mRating: 2 - MehEtherborn is a third-person 3D platform puzzle game that seems to have been designed on the principle "What if we remade Monument Valley without understanding what made it tick, and then adding a vaguely philosophical voiceover?"Unfortunately, it means that Etherborn feels like a knock-off version of Monument Valley, just somewhat annoying.The same kind of 3D puzzles, now with the added ability to fall off the structure, and get placed right back where you were.A disembodied voice speaking over the top of the initial level, then at the end of the next level doesn't really add anything to the game, other than making you wait until it finishes speaking. What it has to say seems to have little to do with the actual game.While you can navigate from any surface to any other surface that is joined by a curve, sometimes you'll jump and suddenly find yourself plummeting to your doom.The follow camera wanders around all over the place, with some minor adjustments possible with the right thumbstick, often leading to falling to my death because of the angle of view.More than once I found the avatar obscured from view by parts of the level itself, which just added to the frustration.I played through the intro level, then the first level, and after that I saved and quit, because it just felt like a chore.Etherborn is just:2: Meh#Etherborn #ThirdPerson #3D #Platform #Puzzle #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubejaGE84yFlFZWS by grissallia@aus.social
2024-01-29T11:16:44Z
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January 29, 2024 - Day 394 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 430Game: The Wild EightPlatform: SteamReleased: Oct 4, 2019Installed: Jan 29, 2024Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 19mRating: 3 - OKThe Wild Eight is a top-down/isometric tree-puncher survival game set in the Alaskan wilderness after a plane crash.I don't have a lot to add. The inventory management is a little bit frustrating, but if you've played one survival game, you've played most of them. The Wild Eight is barely:3: OK#TheWildEight #TopDown #Isometric #3D #Survival #TreePuncher #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubelnS03on7FR8MK by grissallia@aus.social
2024-01-31T08:04:25Z
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January 30, 2024 - Day 395 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 431Game: Baldur's Gate: Enhanced EditionPlatform: SteamReleased: Nov 28, 2012Installed: Jan 30, 2024Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 15mRating: 2 - Meh...?Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition is a remastered version of the original Baldur's Gate released on Dec 21, 1998. It's an isometric RPG, and I've made a terrible mistake.The original purpose of this little project was to play through games that were in my unredeemed keys spreadsheet, or already installed in Steam, which I've stuck to most of the time.I've been enjoying BG3, and last night got an email for a Fanatical Star Deal for Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition, and Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition.Only A$5.98? Download, installed, start playing after knocking off at 11:30pm.Here's the thing: I know Baldur's Gate is considered to be a classic RPG.Even though The Enhanced Edition runs natively on a 3440x1440 resolution monitor, it's not in a good way. The UI, which was originally designed to sit close to the centre of the screen, is now sitting out at the very edges of the monitor, with the play area a relatively small area in the middle of the screen, dwarfed by two huge black voids on either side. Then the UI.If that wasn't enough, after 15 minutes of playtime, I was *still* in the tutorial. I hadn't skipped it, and it's good thing I hadn't, because the idea of pausing mid-battle and making moves is considerably different to both BG3, and any other game I recall.At the end of the day (not a cliche, literally), after more than twelve work hours, I don't think I was in the right mindset to either take the game in, or to work around the technical limitations.With that said, I'm not sure it will grab me, but I've put it into the "replay" category to give it a second chance.For now, Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition is a bit:2: Meh#BaldursGateEnhancedEdition #TopDown #Isometric #RPG #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubeoPoGPgrEnOnQW by grissallia@aus.social
2024-01-31T11:48:16Z
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January 31, 2024 - Day 396 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 432Game: Cyber HookPlatform: SteamReleased: Sep 25, 2020Installed: Jan 31, 2024Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 17mRating: 2 - MehCyber Hook is a retrowave-themed first-person parkour-with-grappling-hook 3D platformer.Another game pulled randomly from the spreadsheet of doom.Love the aesthetic, found the game somewhat frustrating due to the default key assignments, and my lack of general coordination.In Just Cause, the grapple is deployed with the right mouse button, and shooting with the left.In Cyber Hook, this is inverted. I swapped them around, which helped, but the mechanic feels just different enough to be frustrating; I have to think instead of just reacting.The shift key is assigned slow down time, instead of speeding things up (most games assign it to run).Speedrunning is not really my thing, so Cyber Hook just feels a bit:2: Meh#CyberHook #FirstPerson #3D #Platformer #Parkour! #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #Ahubeqdhzhzq8TuvMu by grissallia@aus.social
2024-02-01T12:28:10Z
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February 1, 2024 - Day 397 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 433Game: Still TherePlatform: SteamReleased: Nov 21, 2019Installed: Feb 1, 2024Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 40mRating: 4 - GoodStill There is a point-and-click adventure game set on a space station.You play as an astronaut who has experienced some kind of family tragedy, and may-or-may-not be dealing with it.It has a touch of dark humour, and it's got me intrigued so far.Still There seems:4: Good#StillThere #PointAndClick #Adventure #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubesnLyotqoyRegC by grissallia@aus.social
2024-02-03T06:26:40Z
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February 2, 2024 - Day 398 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 434Game: WildfirePlatform: SteamReleased: May 26, 2020Installed: Feb 2, 2024Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 15mRating: 3 - OKWildfire is a 2D pixel-art stealth-oriented platformer.Having encountered something (possibly alien), you find that your village has been torched by soldiers of the king, with the survivors taken away.You're caught, and executed... but you survive, because the encounter has changed you in a way that has given you power over the elements.I didn't think I'd like it, but Wildfire is:3: OK#Wildfire #2D #Stealth #Platformer #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #Ahubev0XkkdfgSdDW4 by grissallia@aus.social
2024-02-03T10:39:11Z
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February 3, 2024 - Day 399 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 435Game: HammertingPlatform: SteamReleased: Nov 17, 2021Installed: Feb 2, 2024Unplayed: 1dPlaytime: 25mRating: 1 - NopeHammerting is a 2.5D Dwarven mining colony sim.I know this, because after 25 minutes of playing, I quit, and searched the web to find out what it was I was trying to play.It feels like there's actually a reasonable game in there somewhere, but it didn't click with me, because of the way it introduced the game mechanics.Hammerting starts by pausing the game during the "tutorial", and lighting up a bit of the screen with a popup that says "This does [x]". You then hit Next, and it repeats until it runs out of things to tell you. Sometimes it tells you quite a lot of things one after the other.Presented like this, these things are abstracted away from their purpose, and with ADHD and not taking my meds on a weekend, it was a lot to try and fail to take in.Even when I did manage to take something in, the UX was frequently inscrutable, with no system to give me any idea what I was looking at.You start the game with three dwarves, and you can click on a button, and click on an item in the environment to get them to do something.Click the mining button. Click on the copper ore. The dwarves mine the ore. The ore falls out of the wall.The ore sits on the ground. The dwarves do nothing with it. It has a right click menu, but none of the options have anything to do with picking up the ore.Then my hardy band of dwarves got attacked by a rampaging slime. They killed it in short order. Pieces of slime on the ground. They apparently have value, based on the tooltip.No idea how to collect them.The final straw was about 10 minutes later, when I thought I might be starting to get the hang of something, maybe, and the dwarves were attacked again by slimes.The dwarves stood there, resolutely, being attacked.I clicked on the attack button, and clicked the slimes.The dwarves stood there, resolutely, being attacked.I clicked to move the dwarves, they moved out of range of the slimes.The slimes followed until they reached the dwarves.The dwarves stood there, resolutely, being attacked.One was knocked unconscious.I quit the game in frustration.Hammerting?1: Nope#Hammerting #Mining #ColonySim #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubexFVQ5nOdReC7E by grissallia@aus.social
2024-02-03T21:38:14Z
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February 4, 2024 - Day 400 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 436Game: S.W.I.N.E. HD RemasterPlatform: SteamReleased: May 23, 2019Installed: Feb 2, 2024Unplayed: 2dPlaytime: 32mRating: 3 - OKS.W.I.N.E. HD Remaster is an isometric real-time tactics (RTT) strategy game, about a war between armies of rabbits, and pigs.It seems the universe has a sense of humour, because my complaints about the lack of tutorial in yesterday's game were met with a 16 minute tutorial in S.W.I.N.E. HD Remaster.S.W.I.N.E. was originally released in 2001, and the remaster involved some of the original devs. It's a reasonably solid game (if somewhat basic), but it scratches a bit of an itch I wasn't aware of.With that said, there are some rough edges to the game. Having never played the original, I'm unsure as to whether they've been left that way to maintain fidelity for fans of the original game, or if it's just some stylistic choices.The most grating, though, is the voiceover work. Within the universe of the game (by way of spoken accents), the Rabbit army are presented as French, and the Pig army are presented as German.The accents seem very much like someone trying to imitate the respective accents, rather than a native of those countries speaking English, and while not a gamebreaker, it does grate a little.Overall, S.W.I.N.E. HD Remaster is just:3: OK#SWINEHDRemaster #Isometric #RTT #Strategy #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubezVB2nWHcczjou by grissallia@aus.social
2024-02-05T12:33:08Z
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February 5, 2024 - Day 401 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 437Game: Kill It With FirePlatform: SteamReleased: Aug 14, 2020Installed: Feb 2, 2024Unplayed: 3dPlaytime: 23mRating: 3 - OKKill It With Fire is a first-person action game about about killing spiders with as much collateral damage as possible.I'm mildly arachnophobic, and it grew on me. It also has a VR mode, and I'm not entirely sure I'm ready for, or could cope with that.Kill It With Fire is:3: OK#KillItWithFire #FirstPerson #Action #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #Ahubf1oOSK4ymo073A by grissallia@aus.social
2024-02-06T12:12:38Z
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February 6, 2024 - Day 402 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 438Game: Paradise KillerPlatform: SteamReleased: Sep 5, 2020Installed: Feb 2, 2024Unplayed: 4dPlaytime: 21mRating: 4 - Good?Paradise Killer is a first person open world detective mystery visual novel... thing?It's really quite unique, with a kind-of vaporwave-ish aesthetic and in the 20 minutes I spent with it, it left me intrigued.Paraduse Killer is so out of the box that I'm not entirely sure, but I think it's:4: Good?#ParadiseKiller #FirstPerson #OpenWorld#Adventure #VisualNovel #Mystery #Detective #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #Ahubf44451nrlzLekq by grissallia@aus.social
2024-02-08T11:43:29Z
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February 7, 2024 - Day 403 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 439Game: Life Is Strange: True ColorsPlatform: SteamReleased: Sep 10, 2021Installed: Feb 7, 2024Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 35mRating: 4 - GoodLife Is Strange: True Colors is a third person adventure game, and is the first game in February's Humble Choice bundle. I actually owned it already; in my head, I pictured it as a sequel, so I hadn't actually played it.You play as 18yo Alex Chen, who has a psychic ability and can see the emotions of others as coloured auras, and hear their thoughts.Beyond that, I'm not sure, as the pacing of the game means that even after 35 minutes, I'm not terribly far into the storyline.However, based on the previous games, and my experience so far, Life Is Strange: True Colors seems to be:4: Good#LifeIsStrangeTrueColors #ThirdPerson #Adventure #HumbleChoice #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #Ahubf6L9cSf4pZMKfY by grissallia@aus.social
2024-02-08T12:22:06Z
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February 8, 2024 - Day 404 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 440Game: ScornPlatform: SteamReleased: Nov 4, 2021Installed: Feb 8, 2024Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 17mRating: 1 - NopeScorn is a first person horror survival adventure puzzle game. It's the second game in February's Humble Choice bundle.This was in my "never playing that" list, and seeing it show up in the bundle was a moment of "suck it up, princess."However, for day 404, it was definitely a case of fun not found.The game is viscerally disturbing, with the environment being all flesh, bone, and metal; a Gigeresque fusion that just had my brain screaming "GET OUT, QUIT, NOW!"After exploring the tunnels of the first level, and sticking my avatar's hand into far too many squelching control interfaces, I was glad when my 15 minutes were up.Scorn is an absolute:1: Nope#Scorn #FirstPerson #Horror #Survival #Adventure #Puzzle #HumbleChoice #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #Ahubf8fmwiM6491q6q by grissallia@aus.social
2024-02-10T10:37:25Z
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February 9, 2024 - Day 405 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 441Game: Destroy All Humans! 2 - ReprobedPlatform: SteamReleased: Aug 31, 2022Installed: Feb 9, 2024Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 24mRating: 3 - OKDestroy All Humans! 2 - Reprobed is a third person open world adventure game. It's the third game in February's Humble Choice bundle.Unlike Scorn, I actually had DAH!2-R on my wishlist. However, what I didn't know is that while it's a sequel to 2020's Destroy All Humans!, it turns out that Destroy All Humans! was a remake of Destroy All Humans! released in 2005, and DAH!2-R is a remake of the sequel Destroy All Humans! 2.DAH!2-R is set in 1969, and you're playing as a clone of the original Furon invader, Cryptosporidium-137.As the now-President of The United States, you find yourself under attack by the KGB, having simultaneously destroyed your mothership in orbit, and waves of KGB agents launching a direct ground assault on you, while you're attending a music festival in San Francisco. Of course.It's feels much like a pastiche of alien invasion movies of the 1950's & 1960's, and it's kind of goofy fun.Destroy All Humans! 2 - Reprobed is:3: OK#DestroyAllHumans2Reprobed #ThirdPerson #OpenWorld #Adventure #HumbleChoice #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubfArumbFAsKiYHw by grissallia@aus.social
2024-02-11T12:18:12Z
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February 10, 2024 - Day 406 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 442Game: Beacon PinesPlatform: SteamReleased: Aug 31, 2022Installed: Feb 10, 2024Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 20mRating: 4 - GoodBeacon Pines is an isometric narrative adventure, in which you can go back and change the choices you've, and thus the outcomes that ensue. It's game number 4 in the February Humble Bundle.Framed as a storybook, in which you're participating in creating the story, the story is about a anthropomorphic young deer, whose father died when he was six, and whose mother has now disappeared. Luka and his best friend find themselves in the middle of investigating goings-on in their small town of Beacon Pines.The game is bittersweet, and I'm interested to see where it goes from here.Beacon Pines seems to be:4: Good#BeaconPines #Isometric #Narrative #Adventure #HumbleChoice #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubfD2chkzvc7k8G0 by grissallia@aus.social
2024-02-12T09:31:31Z
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February 11, 2024 - Day 407 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 443Game: There Is No Light: Enhanced EditionPlatform: SteamReleased: Sep 20, 2022Installed: Feb 11, 2024Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 21mRating: 1 - NopeGame number 5 is the February Humble Bundle is There Is No Light: Enhanced Edition. It is a top-down, pixel-art hack-and-slash action-RPG (ARPG).It's set in a brutal, seemingly post-apocalyptic world, and opens with your wife being stolen away during childbirth, so that your newborn child can be sacrificed for the sake of the community.This threw me off from the get-go, and it didn't improve from here on in.Here's the thing: I'm on call this week. It's Wednesday morning. I'm three reviews down (have played, though) - four, if I pre-emptive count today's review. I'm running on three hours sleep, and today is going to be another long day.The reviews this week are going to be perfunctory, but I've remembered the point of this whole thing: whether or not I enjoy a game, and want to play it again.The answer to that question in regards to There Is No Light: Enhanced Edition is:1: Nope#ThereIsNoLightEnhancedEdition #TopDown #PixelArt #HackAndSlash #ARPG #HumbleChoice #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubfFQ5rSxazUju7M by grissallia@aus.social
2024-02-13T18:56:51Z
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February 12, 2024 - Day 408 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 444Game: Children of SilentownPlatform: SteamReleased: Jan 12, 2023Installed: Feb 12, 2024Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 21mRating: 3 - OKChildren of Silentown is an isometric point-and-click adventure with a beautiful but haunting art style. It's game 6 in this month's Humble Choice Bundle.Lucy is a 12 year old girl living in a town deep inside a forest, that's haunted by monsters, in which children have repeatedly gone missing.The game is very atmospheric, and just a little creepy. I think I might keep playing to find out what's happening in Children of Silentown, because it's:3: OK#ChildrenOfSilentown #Isometric #PointAndClick #Adventure #HumbleChoice #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubfHnD2UdgLlZOQS by grissallia@aus.social
2024-02-13T19:03:53Z
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February 13, 2024 - Day 409 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 445Game: OakenPlatform: SteamReleased: Jul 21, 2023Installed: Feb 13, 2024Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 17mRating: 3 - OKOaken is an isometric hex-based tactical roguelike deck-building strategy game. It's game 7 in this month's Humble Choice Bundle.Oaken is very pretty, but I'm not sure I could explain the storyline, even if I tried. You're some kind of spirit making your way down an oak tree, through various battles, and building out your deck in the process.If you're a roguelike fan, Oaken is:3: OK#Oaken #HexBased #Isometric #Roguelike #DeckBuilder #HumbleChoice #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubfJzKsNWl9xG6bY by grissallia@aus.social
2024-02-16T12:20:53Z
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February 14, 2024 - Day 410 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 446Game: SnowtopiaPlatform: SteamReleased: Dec 15, 2022Installed: Feb 14, 2024Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 27mRating: 1 - NopeSnowtopia is a top-down/third-person snow resort management sim. It's the last game in this month's Humble Choice Bundle.You start out in the middle of nowhere in a snow-covered valley with the main buildings of a snow-resort in the centre, begging for you to build it out into a functional skiing paradise.There's potential here for something interesting, but it's let down painfully by a tutorial that explains things in a way that still leaves you unsure of exactly what you're supposed to do.However, the game's biggest failing is that it tells you to build ski runs on the vector-graphics hills, and then when you try to, it gives the cryptic error "Impossible to build on uphill slope."It feels like it was designed by someone who understands exactly what that is supposed to mean, and since it's obvious to them, it should be obvious to everyone else.However, having lived just south of the NSW snowfields for over a decade, one of the most important things required for ski runs is the uphill slope, so you have something to ski down.Don't let the time played fool you; I became determined to *at least* complete the tutorial. I did not. I gave up in frustration.Snowtopia? Snownopia. It's a:1: Nope#Snowtopia #ThirdPerson #Sim #HumbleChoice #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubfM2bFDKJWenjyC by grissallia@aus.social
2024-02-16T12:33:48Z
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February 15, 2024 - Day 411 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 447Game: Fantasy BlacksmithPlatform: SteamReleased: Nov 16, 2019Installed: Feb 1, 2024Unplayed: 14dPlaytime: 33mRating: 1 - NopeFantasy Blacksmith is a first-person work simulator, where you get to play as a blacksmith in a fantasy setting, making swords for adventurers.If it sounds like an interesting idea, that is correct. It's an interesting idea.The execution, on the other hand, will push you to build your first sword so that you can immediately fall on it, and put yourself out of your misery.It's like the devs on this game thought of the worst possible way they could do every single thing in this game, and then found a way to make it buggy as well.Some games are so bad, they cycle through to being some kind of perverse pleasure.This is not one of those games. This is a game that makes Snowtopia look like a masterpiece of UX design and user-friendliness.This is a game that will have you longing for pixel art, just so the game is actually bright enough to see what you're doing.It feels like something that was coded by a repurposed Nutrimatic Drinks Dispenser, producing something which is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike a game.Every single game element seems to be a psychological challenge to see how hard you can push a user before they break and throw their mouse across the room.While it doesn't reach the nadir of Edge of Twilight - Return to Glory, it does put in one hell of an effort.You do not play Fantasy Blacksmith. You suffer through Fantasy Blacksmith. It's a painfully obvious:1: Nope#FantasyBlacksmith #FirstPerson #Sim #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubfOMsamjkk8IxrE by grissallia@aus.social
2024-02-16T12:35:03Z
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February 16, 2024 - Day 412 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 448Game: Bee SimulatorPlatform: SteamReleased: Nov 17, 2020Installed: Feb 1, 2024Unplayed: 15dPlaytime: 15mBee Simulator is a third-insect bee simulator. It's right there on the tin.Back in 1991, Will Wright (creator of SimCity and The Sims) released SimAnt; unsurprisingly, this was an ant simulator.This was among the first games I purchased, and I was very disappointed. While I learned a lot of information about ants (some of which still comes in useful), I didn't actually enjoy the game in the same way that I'd enjoyed SimCity.Unlike the top-down nature of SimAnt, Bee Simulator is a fully 3D environment. It's a little more game-oriented compared to the po-faced SimAnt, but basically: if you're interested in bees, and/or want to experience life as a bee, Bee Simulator will be right up your alley.It's not a bad game, just not that interesting to me. For me, Bee Simulator is just a bit:2: Meh#BeeSimulator #ThirdPerson #Bees #Simulator #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubfR4uW3979Gv9lY by grissallia@aus.social
2024-02-17T23:47:28Z
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February 17, 2024 - Day 413 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 449Game: Edengate: The Edge of LifePlatform: SteamReleased: Nov 16, 2022Installed: Feb 10, 2024Unplayed: 7dPlaytime: 31mEdengate: The Edge of Life is a third-person post-apocalyptic walking simulator.You play as Mia Lorenson, who wakes up alone in a deserted hospital. It starts out feeling a little bit like the opening scenes of The Walking Dead, then goes in a different direction."Walking simulator" is often considered to be a bit of an insult to a game, but one of my favourite games of all time (Firewatch) is a walking sim.It's got my interest piqued, but it's not quite as "keep-going" as I found Firewatch. I'm still interested in seeing where it takes me, and finding out what Mia has to do with the apocalypse that unfolded while she was unconscious.I *have* a theory, but if it turns out to be correct, it will be so on the nose I'd probably come back and lower the rating; at this point, Edengate: The Edge of Life is:4: Good#EdengateTheEdgeOfLife #ThirdPerson #WalkingSimulator #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubfTFGSWcHrxmSBM by grissallia@aus.social
2024-02-18T10:13:05Z
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February 18, 2024 - Day 414 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 450Game: Iris and The GiantPlatform: SteamReleased: Feb 28, 2020Installed: Feb 2, 2024Unplayed: 16dPlaytime: 27mIris and The Giant is 2.5D RPG/roguelike/deckbuilder. It's kind of hard to pigeonhole.You play as Iris, and the game is an exploration of her mental health and struggles with anxiety. Cut-scenes that start to flesh out the backstory can be triggered during battles.As deckbuilders go, it's quite unique, and the game has a certain melancholy air to it.Iris and The Giant is:4: Good#IrisAndTheGiant #RPG #DeckBuilder #Roguelike #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubfVOCUGx8WFycO8 by grissallia@aus.social
2024-02-24T07:40:01Z
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February 19, 2024 - Day 415 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 451Game: Sheepy: A Short AdventurePlatform: SteamReleased: Feb 7, 2024Installed: Feb 19, 2024Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 42m(The next few reviews will be very short, because I played each game on the day while I was sick, but I didn't have the energy to write the reviews.)Sheepy: A Short Adventure is a 2D pixel-art platformer.You play as an abandoned plush toy ("Sheepy"), who's brought to life inside an abandoned factory.A pixel-art platformer is exactly the kind of game I would have avoided at the start of this ridiculous project, and it would have been my loss.Both the soundtrack and the visuals of this game are gorgeous, and it's got the gameplay just right to match. This game is utterly glorious - and it's free! (link below)Sheepy: A Short Adventure is:5: Excellent#SheepyAShortAdventure #PixelArt #Platformer #Gaming #ProjectONGhttps://store.steampowered.com/app/1568400/Sheepy_A_Short_Adventure/
(DIR) Post #AhubfXds6yg1VRKA5o by grissallia@aus.social
2024-02-24T07:53:11Z
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February 20, 2024 - Day 416 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 452Game: Niche - a genetics survival gamePlatform: SteamReleased: Sep 15, 2016Installed: Feb 1, 2024Unplayed: 19dPlaytime: 18mNiche - a genetics survival game is a top-down hex-tile turn-based strategy game with roguelike elements.The single player game opens with a cutscene of a kitten-like animal being stolen from its family by a bird of prey. In mid-air, the kitten scratches the bird, and is dropped, where it wakes up alone on an island.Your goal is to get back to your family... in a manner of speaking. "Adam" will only survive 14 days (unless injured), and so needs to find a partner, and mate, with Adam's descendants eventually finding their way "home".At this point I was already on the verge of tears, and learning of the gameplay pushed me over the edge.It might have been recoverable if the gameplay had been better, but it's just clunky. Adam died within a few days on my first run, because of how clunky the UI is, and in trying to climb onto a rock in the water, it was unclear that would, in fact, leave Adam in deeper water, taking damage.On the second run I did a bit better, but found the whole thing just a little bit too clunky and complicated.Niche - a genetics survival game is just a bit:2: Meh#NicheAGeneticsSurvivalGame #HexTile #Strategy #Roguelike #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubfZbonaDrbeNYAa by grissallia@aus.social
2024-02-24T08:36:26Z
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February 21, 2024 - Day 417 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 453Game: BasementPlatform: SteamReleased: Nov 11, 2016Installed: Feb 1, 2024Unplayed: 20dPlaytime: 19mBasement is a 2D side-view pixel-art business simulation strategy game about coming up with the money to fund the development of a new video game, in much the same way that Breaking Bad is a drama about a high-school teacher's struggles with the American healthcare system.In both cases, the protagonist turns to drugs as a way to make money; in Basement, it's weed instead of meth, by way of Fallout Shelter or Mr. Prepper.Much like Mr. Prepper, Basement is not really my thing; I just found it:2: Meh#Basement #Strategy #2D #PixelArt #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubfcVu02GycAdMrg by grissallia@aus.social
2024-02-24T08:42:52Z
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February 22, 2024 - Day 418 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 454Game: Deadly DaysPlatform: SteamReleased: Sep 19, 2019Installed: Feb 2, 2024Unplayed: 20dPlaytime: 15mDeadly Days is a top down pixel-art strategy roguelite set in the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse caused by chemically tainted hamburgers.Your goal is to eventually locate and destroy the source of the hamburgers, and honestly it just didn't grab me at all.Deadly Days is also:2: Meh#DeadlyDays #TopDown #PixelArt #Strategy #Roguelite #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #Ahubffmfq8TGl3VIvI by grissallia@aus.social
2024-02-24T09:30:00Z
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February 23, 2024 - Day 419 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 455Game: Pink - Summer Carnival 2023/2024Platform: Marvel StadiumReleased: Jun 7, 2023Installed: Feb 23, 2024Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 2hOK, so this obviously isn't a game, but it is the reason there's not an actual game review for yesterday.I've never seen Pink in concert before. This is my second live concert in three months, and with all due respect to Dave Grohl and Foo Fighters, my experience at Pink's Summer Carnival 2024 last night set a new bar that I can't imagine being topped.I found the Foo Fighters almost unbearably loud; I spent the whole night with my watch alarming for sound levels of between 103 & 109dB, and wearing ear plugs.Comparatively, my watch went off twice last night when the volume momentarily exceeded 100dB.The downside was that compared to AAMI Park's seating, the Marvel Stadium seats are more flexible, and the rows are closer together. I'm 6'3" with legs that go all the way up, and while the seating at AAMI Park wasn't comfortable, at Marvel Stadium it was excruciating, with flexible plastic seats meaning the punter in front crushed my already-twisted legs on more than one occasion.Because the two concerts were so close together (Dec 6, 2023 & Feb 24, 2024), while they're stylistically different, I can't help but compare them.Firstly, although stylistically different, both Dave Grohl & Pink can hold their own, both as musicians, and lyricists. They can both tell incredible stories with their songwriting, and both have an ear for a hook.They also both have an incredible stage presence and charisma.However, whereas the Foo Fighters concert was just sheer motherf***ing rib-shattering wall-of-sound territory (Dave said "motherf***er" so many times within two hours it would make Samuel L. Jackson blush), Pink's performance was a (literally) jaw-dropping spectacular.The integration of the staging and live video made the Foo Fighters video choreography look laid-back by comparison.I was aware that Pink's shows involve acrobatics, but before the concert started, I said to my wife that I couldn't see where she'd be able to do it.From the opening moments I discovered that my imagination is not big enough. From the moment she opened the show with "Get the Party Started" while dropping on a swing from a concealed location 50 metres above the stage, to closing out the show with "So What" while literally flying & tumbling on a harness above 2/3 of the general admission audience on the floor of Marvel Stadium, and right out to the edges of the level 2 seating, the show was mesmerising.To see two amazing performances within 3 months is an incredible privilege; last night, however, was quite literally the most incredible live music experience of my entire life.Pink - Summer Carnival Melbourne 2024 was:5: Excellent#Pink #SummerCarnival2024 #Concert #Music #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #Ahubfj49dbEiw8ho5Q by grissallia@aus.social
2024-03-02T06:40:59Z
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February 24, 2024 - Day 420 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 456Game: NeoversePlatform: SteamReleased: Feb 19, 2020Installed: Feb 1, 2024Unplayed: 23dPlaytime: 34mNeoverse is a 3D-ish rogue-lite deckbuilder.It didn't get off to a good start. There are three main characters, all women. The opening cutscene seemed to be entirely about them engaging in various battles aimed at the male gaze.One of the main characters featuring in the game art is a character wearing a skintight silver bodysuit, viewed from behind and below the waistline, with her butt being the focal point.As for the game itself? Nowhere near that. It's set in a multiverse, where you and two other characters need to enter universes to fight a series of staged battles to unlock more cards and save the universe(s) through card battles.As rogue-lite card battlers go, Neoverse is (just barely):3: OK#Neoverse #3D #DeckBuilder #CardBattler #Strategy #Roguelite #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubflZQKJRAhhLo6S by grissallia@aus.social
2024-03-02T06:52:33Z
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February 25, 2024 - Day 421 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 457Game: Black BookPlatform: SteamReleased: Aug 11, 2021Installed: Feb 2, 2024Unplayed: 23dPlaytime: 43mBlack Book is a rogue-lite deckbuilder RPG.Black Book is set in 19th century Russia, and is a card-battler/RPG built around Slavic folklore.You play a woman who lives with her uncle, whose betrothed husband-to-be seemingly unalived himself.Not willing to accept this, she seeks out and makes a deal with the devil to become a witch, and seeks to break the seven seals on a tome given to her by her uncle, which may contain the power of something which can save him from Hell.The "cards" in this case are spells within a spellbook; it feels much like a very dark Slay the Spire, with an RPG layered over the top.However, the devs have layered an incredible amount of Slavic folklore into the RPG side, which (due to my upbringing) left me feeling a little bit uncomfortable.Black Book is a slightly creepy:3: OK#BlackBook #RPG #DeckBuilder #CardBattler #Strategy #Roguelite #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubfoqCAPdSqaDkA4 by grissallia@aus.social
2024-03-02T07:07:14Z
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February 26, 2024 - Day 422 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 458Game: UndyingPlatform: SteamReleased: Dec 7, 2023Installed: Dec 20, 2023Unplayed: 68d (2m6d) Playtime: 30mUndying is an isometric zombie survival game, with a twist.Undying is set in the immediate aftermath of a zombie outbreak. With survivors having been shepherded into safe zones, the survivors are being extracted, one safe zone at a time.Anling and her son, Cody, are in one of these safe zones, which is overrun by zombies during the extraction. The extraction fails, and Anling and Cody make a run for their lives, finding a car, and returning to their home.Their home becomes their survival base, with all of the standard trappings of any number of other survival games, just with extra zombies.With one catch - Anling was bitten by a zombie while escaping, and needs to teach Cody how to survive before she turns.This adds a somewhat melancholic layer to the game, knowing that (playing as Anling), you're on borrowed time, and as a parent, this affected me quite deeply.As you go through each step of building and repairing items, you encourage Cody to observe, which levels *him* up, allowing him to do more of these things himself.Undying is:4: Good#Undying #Isometric #Survival #Zombies #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #Ahubfrgja2qlg6ojKa by grissallia@aus.social
2024-03-04T08:58:29Z
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February 27, 2024 - Day 423 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 459Game: Paradise LostPlatform: SteamReleased: Mar 25, 2021Installed: Feb 2, 2024Unplayed: 25d Playtime: 23mParadise Lost is a first-person walking simulator set in an alt-history 1980 where World War II did not end in 1945, and the Nazis managed to survive until (at least) the 1960's, before setting off nuclear weapons and retreating underground.A lot of folks aren't big on walking simulators, but one of my favourite (ever) games is a walking simulator - Firewatch.A walking sim needs to have a good pace, and a good story.Therein lies my biggest issue with Paradise Lost; the walking pace is so agonisingly slow, that 20 minutes into the game, I was only just starting to scratch the surface of a game that seems to have an incredible atmosphere, and design aesthetic... and Nazis.It is the story of a boy named Szymon who, after his mother's death, seeks to find the answers as to who she really was, and who the unknown man in a photo is (or was).This leads Szymon to this abandoned underground world built by the Nazis to escape the consequences of their bombs.Unfortunately, Nazis just feels too on the nose in 2024, and combined with the excruciatingly slow pace, Paradise Lost is an unfortunate:2: Meh#ParadiseLost #FirstPerson #WalkingSimulator #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubfuyDNVcDrC1EUi by grissallia@aus.social
2024-03-04T09:04:29Z
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February 28, 2024 - Day 424 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 460Game: EarthlockPlatform: SteamReleased: Mar 8, 2018Installed: Feb 1, 2024Unplayed: 27d Playtime: 20mEarthlock is a third-person turn-based ARPG, that claims inspiration from JRPG's from the 90's, and really leans into the nostalgia for those games.I lack the prerequisite nostalgia for 90's JRPGs, and as I did not enjoy this game, I cannot imagine any kind of context in which I'd choose this over Baldur's Gate 3.For me, Earthlock is a: 1: Nope#Earthlock #ThirdPerson #TurnBased #ARPG #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubfyEzDboW04tAYK by grissallia@aus.social
2024-03-04T09:14:23Z
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February 29, 2024 - Day 425 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 461Game: House BuilderPlatform: SteamReleased: Jan 16, 2024Installed: Jun 21, 2023Unplayed: 27d Playtime: 21mHouse Builder is a first person building simulator. While being fundamentally the same theme as Builder Simulator that I reviewed last year, the thing that it manages to do is be more fun.Developed by the same team that designed the Car Mechanic Simulator series (which I own, and enjoy), House Builder brings those dev skills to bear on building houses instead of fixing cars. They acquit themselves reasonably well, for what it is. While it's not quite as boring & frustrating, Builder Simulator, at its core it's still a work simulator, just about building houses.If you like building houses, maybe this will work for you. It's the kind of game I would absolutely need to be in the mood for, which shares mental space with Car Mechanic Simulator, Power Wash Simulator, or House Flipper, but all of them feel more rewarding.Still, House Builder is: 3: OK#HouseBuilder #FirstPerson #WorkSimulator #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #Ahubg16wXyA8u09Hvs by grissallia@aus.social
2024-03-04T09:15:27Z
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March 1, 2024 - Day 426 - No NewPlay ReviewThis post unintentionally left blank, as I crashed hard due to lack of sleep and illness. Dang it.
(DIR) Post #Ahubg3twAmXdYX5RZo by grissallia@aus.social
2024-03-04T09:28:19Z
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March 2, 2024 - Day 427 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 462Game: The Beast InsidePlatform: SteamReleased: Oct 18, 2019Installed: Aug 13, 2022Unplayed: 567d (1y6m18d) Playtime: 38mThe Beast Inside is a first person horror survival game.There's a particular kind of horror movie referred to as "torture porn". I know people watch movies like the Saw series, and Hostel series, and I genuinely cannot understand why. I'm already put off by horror movies, but the idea of that kind of movie comes close to triggering an anxiety attack.As if the cover graphics weren't a giveaway, this game's opening cutscene movie (no pun intended), feels like it verges on torture porn.I'm not even going to describe it beyond "VAW", because it would require trigger warnings. The scene ends with something like "One week ago...", meaning that your entire gaming experience is building towards that horrifying moment.It did not put me in a good mental space for enjoying the game. The game is set in the 1980's, and the story and puzzles that followed were OK; the game is broken into chapters, with an interesting time-shift into the 19th century, in the same house, but I have absolutely no desire to see how the game plays out.The Beast Inside is an absolute: 1: (HELL) NOPE#TheBeastInside #FirstPerson #Horror #Survival #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #Ahubg6aYBJoftH2VH6 by grissallia@aus.social
2024-03-11T03:43:45Z
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March 3, 2024 - Day 428 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 463Game: Sniper Ghost Warrior ContractsPlatform: SteamReleased: Nov 23, 2019Installed: Dec 1, 2022Unplayed: 458d (1y3m2d) Playtime: 15mSniper Ghost Warrior Contracts is, by definition, a first-person shooter. However, describing something as an FPS generally involves a particular set of expectations, whereas this game is about being a long way from the target, setting up the perfect shot, and then executing.Truth be told, in FPS PvP games, I like playing the sniper role. I like playing the Sniper Elite games, in which putting bullets in the heads of Nazis feels a little bit too good.Just randomly killing people for the sake of killing people with the perfect shot? It doesn't do much for me.Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts feels pretty:2: Meh#SniperGhostWarriorContract #FirstPerson #Shooter #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #Ahubg8p9rygop9tCK0 by grissallia@aus.social
2024-03-11T03:50:16Z
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March 4, 2024 - Day 429 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 464Game: Aven ColonyPlatform: SteamReleased: Jul 26, 2017Installed: Sep 25, 2022Unplayed: 526d (1y5m8d) Playtime: 41mAven Colony is an isometric city-builder strategy game set in the future, colonising an alien planet.When I first opened it, it felt a bit overwhelming, and I figured I'd give it 15 minutes. 40 minutes later...As city-builders go, Aven Colony is:3: OK#AvenColony #Isometric #CityBuilder #Strategy #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubgBFoppCiMQNW9g by grissallia@aus.social
2024-03-11T03:56:18Z
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March 5, 2024 - Day 430 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 465Game: EmbrPlatform: SteamReleased: Sep 24, 2021Installed: Jul 27, 2022Unplayed: 587d (1y7m7d) Playtime: 19mEmbr is a first-person firefighting game, where you play the role of a firefighter working for a subscription-based for-profit fire-fighting company.Ha. Ha ha. No, seriously. The whole vibe of the game is gig-economy-meets-fire-services.I just found the game kind of frustrating to begin with, but in 2024 the whole theme just feels a bit on-the-nose.Embr is:2: Meh#Embr #FirstPerson #FireFighting #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubgDXGLwLVR6YTce by grissallia@aus.social
2024-03-11T04:05:36Z
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March 6, 2024 - Day 431 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 466Game: Warhammer 40,000: BoltgunPlatform: Xbox Game Pass PCReleased: May 23, 2023Installed: Mar 6, 2024Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 33mWarhammer 40,000: Boltgun is a retro FPS set in the Warhammer 40k universe. It feels like Doom-meets-Warhammer-with-mouseaim. It was added to XBGP this month, and so I decided to give it a shot.Pun intended.I think for someone who loves Warhammer, it would be awesome. However, I'm not a Warhammer girl, so clanking around in the armor, and killing everyone for Warhammer reasons just doesn't resonate with me.In terms of gameplay, it's an OK retro FPS. The titular boltgun IS kind of fun, dealing high-speed accurate death to mobs half a map away, but it doesn't feel like enough to carry me through the whole game.Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun is:3: OK#Warhammer40k #Boltgun #Retro #FPS #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubgFaAk5rTmhvpR2 by grissallia@aus.social
2024-03-11T04:16:48Z
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March 7, 2024 - Day 432 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 467Game: Conglomerate 451Platform: SteamReleased: Feb 20, 2020Installed: Aug 17, 2022Unplayed: 568d (1y6m19d)Playtime: 18mThe store page for Conglomerate 451 describes it like this: "... a grid-based, dungeon crawling first-person RPG with roguelike elements set in a cyberpunk world."Grid-based, dungeon-crawler RPG with a cyberpunk aesthetic, and roguelike elements... sure.It's technically first-person, but most first-person games don't have a fixed camera and snap turns, leading into turn-based combat encounters.It cribs from a whole lot of different game genres, and then kind of mashes them up in a way that feels like it's less than the sum of its parts.Unfortunately, it feels like it's not quite sure what kind of game it wants to be, so tries to be all of them, and fails to achieve any of them.Don't even get me started on the giant twin ventilation fans on the sides of buildings that look almost exactly like a graphics card twin-fan cooler.Conglomerate 451 is a:1: Nope#Conglomerate451 #RPG #Roguelike #DungeonCrawler #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubgHUDfCHvgpA6Qy by grissallia@aus.social
2024-03-12T10:20:30Z
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March 8, 2024 - Day 433 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 468Game: Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of RuinPlatform: SteamReleased: Nov 18, 2023Installed: Mar 8, 2024Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 24mWarhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin is an isometric real-time strategy game, and it's first game off the rank in this month's Humble Bundle.It's also got to be the quickest release-date-to-bundle-date I've seen.It's good looking, but boring. There's some kind of storyline here, but it feels a lot like it relies on pre-existing knowledge of Warhammer, and much like Boltgun a few days ago, I suspect if you're a Warhammer fan you might get more out of this that I did.Not a great start for the March Humble Choice bundle, Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin is just:2: Meh#WarhammerAgeOfSigmar #RealmsOfRuin#Isometric #RTS #HumbleChoice #Gaming #ProjectONG
(DIR) Post #AhubgJ9NTenyqlQUE4 by grissallia@aus.social
2024-03-12T10:32:15Z
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March 9, 2024 - Day 434 - NewPlay ReviewTotal NewPlays: 469Game: Nioh 2Platform: SteamReleased: Feb 5, 2021Installed: Mar 9, 2024Unplayed: 0dPlaytime: 32mThe second game in the March Humble Choice Bundle is Nioh 2; it's a third-person ARPG, which is described by the developers as "masocore".It's set in a fictionalised supernatural era of Japan in the 16th century, and I hope you like sharp weapons, because there are a lot of them to choose from.Not that they did me much good, because I died pretty much straight away, and repeatedly.Turns out that "masocore" is a portmanteau of "masochism" and "hardcore", and Nioh 2 is aimed at a subset of players for whom I guess soulslikes aren't frustrating enough?It's a gorgeous-looking game, but I have low frustration levels to begin with, and this just didn't click with me. I still want to give it another try though? So I'm going give it a (just barely):3: OK#Nioh2 #ThirdPerson #ARPG #Masocore #HumbleChoice #Gaming #ProjectONG