Lurker > Simoun

Project Warlock (PC)

Decided to replay this just to mouthwash Turok 3 from my mind. This time I played on Hardcore which ended your game if you ran out of lives and made every monster stronger and faster. Didn't change much but kept me amused. I first played this game when it was relatively unknown. It was one of the few games that didn't come from the revolution DUSK brought and was just sort of there being its own little Wolfenstein clone but now that the sequel is in early access there's more of a buzz going around. Plus, it was made by just one guy and you know how I feel about games like that.

Anyways, I played this game on launch I believe because I recalled loads of bugs. Like, my last playthrough I blew up the lord of hell then the game ended itself to no credits. Some UI options exist now; crosshair and enemy lifebar are now off by default and you should really turn those things on. Yes it makes the game a little more unfair, but balance is all around the place in this game. I had a helluva time but the final boss was a marathon and wasn't so fun especially when the arena didn't actually replenish your ammo infinitely and you were forced to make do with what you had. So if you've been spamming that BFG I'm sorry that's all you're gonna get.

Those reasons along with some pretty noob mistakes like the inability to recall spells you've already learned and / or refund weapon mods not knowing that one choice is clearly better speaks to the amateurish efforts of this sole dev. Fortunately he is learning his lesson as the more ambitious sequel takes its time.

These are all the reasons why it sits in the "meh its okay" part of my tier list. I'm only listing it again here because I keep forgetting to put Fashion Police Squad which sits pretty high.

Hedon
Ion Fury (previously 3rd)
Turbo Overkill (PC)
DUSK (previously 2nd)
Hands of Necromancy
Cultic - is only this low because they decided to release it as "Episode 1"
Cruelty Squad
Fashion Police Squad
Dread Templar / HROT
Project Warlock
Amid Evil - This is my "Its okay, Average" Rating
Powerslave Exhumed
Warhammer 40K Boltgun
Postal: Brain Damaged
Prodeus
Forgive Me Father

Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion Remastered

Well. In hindsight, it probably wasn't a good idea to play this right after Turbo Overkill. I wanna say its been a terrible experience all in all; essentially stripped everything that made the first 2 Turok games great but retaining everything that was terrible about it such as the inconsistent hitboxes and the terrible linearity of it. I didn't stick around to do a 2nd playthrough much less a 3rd. But yeah, at least this one is over and done with. Yeah, now I see why the fans say its terrible.

I will say though. One thing I forgot to mention was how in Turok 2 remastered the model for Turok looked absolutely terrible. I just couldn't take him seriously. And this I feel is where most of the budget for the 3rd game went: the animations and models are better and certainly not silly. That's all. Dump this trash fire out of here.

Honestly the only reason Hedon and Ion Fury are above Total Overkill in my tier list is because of the technical wizardry behind the efforts. I recognize Ion Fury being built on the ancient build engine and Hedon with GZDoom and just being exploited to create levels and setpieces that fit modern standards is a feat in itself. Hedon in particular being made by only 1 person.

I think my first M rated game was the first Postal game. And I was not suppose to have this---I snuck into my uncle's room and stole it lmao.

Anyways, I was going to play Turok 3 when another FPS came into my radar and I had to finish it. This has officially dethroned DUSK for me. Time to bring back the tier list of retro first person shooters:

Hedon
Ion Fury (previously 3rd)
Turbo Overkill (PC)
DUSK (previously 2nd)
Hands of Necromancy
Cultic - is only this low because they decided to release it as "Episode 1"
Cruelty Squad
Dread Templar / HROT
Project Warlock
Amid Evil - This is my "Its okay, Average" Rating
Powerslave Exhumed
Warhammer 40K Boltgun
Postal: Brain Damaged
Prodeus
Forgive Me Father

For those playing at home who have seen this list previously, the footnote here is that no game is bad. Forgive Me Father was fun but incredibly imbalanced and a waning plot. Prodeus has no checkpoint system as the devs double down on this being an arcadey shooter. In fact the oddest thing is a recent update added QuickSave and QuickLoad as if they were new features. And Postal was balls to the wall, but enemy placement and the ability to snipe enemies ahead ruined some of the challenge.

This entire genre restarted back into the fore when DUSK reared its ugly head. Since then, several clones have surfaced following a distinct retro shooter formula but there's only been a few successors who've even come close to being on DUSK's tier, much less transcend it. That day ends today. Turbo Overkill is what happens when you take the insanity of Ultrakill and the brutality of DOOM Eternal, and give it a cyberpunk twist.

Man, where do I even begin. This game just kept escalating in scale and stakes. I will be spoiling the plot so skip this paragraph if you don't wanna hear it. You start out as this half-human bounty hunter working for a corpo who wants a sentient bio-organic virus eliminated. Episode 1 is classic cyberpunk in its level design and the final level punctuates that by making you go jumping through some flying cars in a tunnel and fighting on a runaway train. But it just gets worse: the bad guy wins and the virus takes over the entire planet. Episode 2 has you explore a post-apoc cyberpunk setting as you try to go to space to face the virus but it doesn't end the way you think it does. Turns out a rival bounty hunter kills you and leaves you for dead and uses the artifact to rule the universe. Episode 3 takes place 2 years later as your resurrected body must now face the insanity that is a planet long since forsaken and a mad god running rampant destroying what's left of humanity. The stakes are always so high and it just keeps getting worse and worse.

Throughout your game you'll acquire many upgrades of which your body gets more and more spliced so that you're doing quadruple jumps off of walls, wallrunning around cylinders, grappling and dashing around to not get killed. Your arsenal also grows, having some of the most unique mechanics in play. You got a sniper rifle that lets you telefrag your targets. You chainsaw legs (cheggs in the game) that let you slide around the level when you press crouch. You got an ion cannon where you paint your targets with a satellite lazor as this game's BFG. And if the weapons and abilities escalate you can bet your ass so do the enemies.

It's one of those "stand still and you're dead" kind of games. What I love is you can customize yourself to a point that there is room to experiment certain builds. Ultimately I went with buffing my chainsaw legs which proved useful later on when this was the only way to regain health and armor.

Also be prepared to have some spare time. Secret hunting nonwithstanding, some of these levels take 30 minutes approximately. One level even lasted an hour. The levels command your attention and your patience as it weaves some narrative and takes you for a ride with it, sacrificing the time it takes to be a decent level in a first person shooter.

This game sorely needs a community-driven map mode. One of the collectibles for this game unlocks secret levels that are just insane in of itself. So imagine 30 levels of 3 episodes with 10 levels each. And each level has a secret level. Well thats 60 all in all.

Turok 2: Seeds of Evil Remastered (PC)

I don't have much memories playing this game as a kid since I never really owned the cartridge and instead played it on my friend's N64. But having now the opportunity to beat it for real, I can see why I never could. This game is hard and sometimes just plain unfair. What I appreciate is how significant head shots are and how 90% of the enemies are humanoid hence they have heads that are shootable so the basic pistol and shotgun never became obsolete.

Turok 2 was touted at the time to have had massive levels and exploration potential even bigger than the first game anyway and I commend that. I'm not gonna rag on the linearity of the maps in the end as well as their confusing layout esp one particular zone which was infamous in fact. The fact is, the remake had to remake some of those levels to even be less of a pain in the ass to function. They were products of their time so I'll let it slide. What irks me though is in the end the game expected you to remember where everything was in order to make significant progress in the campaign and when everything was said and done, the backtracking was kind of a bitch.

Anyways glad to get this one down. I finished the first game's remake I think a year ago and I kinda preferred that game to this one honestly despite the longer length. I'll be loading the controversially bad/good 3rd of the trilogy soon so we'll see how that fares.

El Paso, Elsewhere (PC)

I've never seen anyone talk about this game. It came out September this year and that's it. But it's overwhelmingly positive and given a higher score than your standard fare indie game affair.

It's Max Payne 1 and 2. The UI, the controls, the mechanics, the bullet time, even the weapons and physics and how they operate are similar. If you ever wanted more of the oldschool Max Payne well here is 50 levels of that. It even has a dude monologuing noir style and his voice is amazing it totally sets the mood. I could listen to this guy all day long. It also takes a page from Painkiller in that you are fighting monsters of all kinds including Old Testament angels.

Off the bat, I like how just like in TUNIC there are options to give you invincibility or adjust the amount of pain your receive or dish out. There's even a "story" setting that's equally casual. Ahh the story. Well it's a basic plot: You're trying to stop your ex from ending the world. Just so happens she's the queen of all vampires. The location you're in is kind of a mind fuck place so you traverse through strange locales as the architecture fucks with you. So yeah this game's got a little bit of Alan Wake and Control to it as well.

This game has some really dark themes. Spoilers ahead as you continue descending it becomes really obvious that this relationship was abusive. That the abuse forced you to become addicted to painkillers (explaining the healing mechanic---I just like that it is exactly painkillers like in Max Payne but given context this time). James goes through an entire arc being down here as the location messes with him psychologically but also as he messes with himself in his tireless monologues.

How you think 50 levels is too long totally depends on you. I didn't think it was padding at all; all the cutscenes matter. However, I will say the pacing kind of peters out right around 2/3rds into it when a big thing happens but I thought it was justified. Spoiler: So as you go deeper you find out that the eldritch location messing with you has sentience and has sent something to torment you. You spend a significant amount of time dealing with it and immediately after, you finally see your ex as you approach the lower layers of the game. But in a surprising reveal, she actually lets you go early and it is in fact you who has been agonizing yourself on the kind of person she might or could be or would've been. So I feel like the padding was justified in that it's just you suffering the effects of the manipulation and agonizing yourself on whether she's still there or if you're actually gonna do it and kill her. And I think that's great storytelling.

Best of all, both endings are neither good nor bad. They are simply reprises of the same conclusion, leaving it up to you to decide how it ends and leaves this profound thought on the themes of abuse and control. I don't get though the trigger behind those 2 endings but I guess they had to find a way to make it and that was the only controllable element.

Like Max Payne, there are a lot of sidestuff to collect and see such as the radio and projector items that tell side stories with similar themes. It's not as hidden and intuitive but the things you find are odd in itself to stick around listening to. But also like Max Payne, the game's levels wasn't made with cover in mind so you are encouraged to perform bullet time to solve some tough problems. This antiquated design is both a good and bad thing as that means you are attributed more abstract levels of design which could get boring as you go. All the enemies have headshots and are still just as dangerous down to the common ghoul so weapon control is extremely important so you don't get mobbed. Speaking of the weapons they are great. The switching is almost seamless, the reloading is a bitch though so you have to make shots count and every single one save for the rifle has a punch to it moreso in bullet time. I think my favorite part is seeing smoke from recently fired barrels. It's a nice touch.

Let's see what else. The OST is fantastic. There's 50 levels right? Every single level has its own track and there's no underlying theme; it ranges from hip hop and rap to synth to rock. And the rapper I think is the same as the voice actor so that's amazing. The game also acknowledges setting tone and mood as the music dips in and out seamlessly during sequences in the levels.

Finally some quick bad stuff. The framerate for some reason goes down significantly in some levels and for others, only trigger after performing bullet time so you might be discouraged to use it. Fortunately this has only happened to me twice I think. I've also only encountered one instance in which a checkpoint screwed me over, but that was my attempt to rush a level. There are only 2 bosses spread across 50 levels so unless you're not really into this you might get bored real fast especially in the last 10 levels or so. There's also only 5 "biomes" to see and strangely one of them is in outer space and it only happens in exactly 1 level. Wasted potential I say.

But yeah, go check this game out if you want to get your oldschool Max Payne fix.

Ion Fury + Aftershock (PC)

Revisited this game again. This time after playing Blood, I've come to appreciate the alt fires as well as weapons I don't usually use. I pulled up a guide and explored all the secrets this time around and was surprised to find this game make a lot of references. Clearly a labor of love, my opinion hasn't changed about this game albeit I recall previously saying the game got kind of boring by the middle part because it was all caverns and generic labs and idk on replay I just kept going and never felt the monotony of things.

Like Amid Evil, my true reason for replaying was to see the expansion pack Aftershock. They put in a vehicle section and an open world cross-country thing ala Half-Life 2. It's great. And I smiled as they finally included a Silent Hill 1 megasecret (the main game only put SH4) in this one. There were new weapons that I found situational at best but nontheless fun to use. And there were new enemies but they came like at the butt end of the campaign and I mean they were great additions, I just wish I spent more time with them and there weren't alot either. No, the main reason to play Aftershock really is that there's just more Ion Fury to go around and I honestly wasn't disappointed. They even just made the final boss a traditional circlestrafer (the main game final boss was a bullshit Icon of Sin reference that required precision aiming amidst a sea of mooks) which was refreshingly easy.

Amid Evil + Black Labyrinth DLC (PC)

First played this on launch and my opinion still stands. Pretty much the same opinion as the other guy who played this in this thread: it was kind boring up until the last 3 episodes. But I recall back in 2018 I also said that I should've played this on Hard as normal was just too easy. So I did. Did that improve the experience? ehhhh, kinda. I was forced to use the soul mode even more but I would argue that more enemies would've been nice. It seems that the game would rather bathe you in eye candy and creative environments than seriously give you a challenge. At least it's not Dread Templar braindead though where the enemies mindlessly just home in on you without any tactical consideration. This game's new score is a +0.5 which isn't really going to bump up into anything.

The real reason for the replay is the prequel DLC. Here the protagonist is on a quest to get his iconic Black Axe. So naturally you don't start with it rather you start with a pair of fists and omg they are fun and even more fun when you're in soul mode as you go ORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORA on these demons.

So is this DLC better? As mentioned, Amid Evil's apparent strength lies in its environmental design. What we get is an even better set of levels unrestricted from the narrative of the main story. A far cry from the exotic and otherworldly locations; instead we have mundane setpieces like a swamp and a temple and a coast made better by its intricacies. We also get a new set of enemies who are frankly more annoying but surprisingly better. Well except for one shieldbro who just reflects everything you throw at it. It expects you to take a break from the action and slowly wait for it to open up (which is a tiny window btw) in order to kill it. I couldn't be bothered and just whipped out the BFG equivalent everytime these guys showed up. And speaking of which, the BFG equivalent in the DLC is very cool---a scythe that cuts time and space. It's very metal.

The DLC is divided into 2 parts. The first part is basically the aformentioned mundane part. I would call this the set of levels left on the cutting room floor in the last game, which doesn't underscore how bad it is btw, I just felt like they were left out for being boring but it's been proven wrong. The second part is better---essentially it's a multi-stage attempt to reach the Black Axe in a fortress that loves to troll the shit out of you. And frankly that is much needed a pace change all things considered.

Ultimately though, despite the number of new enemies, I feel like Amid Evil's strengths really lie in level design. Yes there are alot of new things to fight and it's not even that they appear in all 12 levels (as opposed to the 4 per episode in the main game to shake things up) that was boring me, but rather that they don't appear to have any extra tactical learning other than "Use weapon X on enemy Y". And by the end that didn't even matter as the game practically throws the Scythe BFG on you as if to say "When you're done playing around, use this to erase everyone in one click so you can move on" Hard mode btw does not actually make enemies tougher, it's just more but with less items. It also honestly doesn't help that every weapon in the game was the same except it executed differently. I would kill for a grenade launcher or a sniper rifle equivalent and I felt like the DLC missed that opportunity.

Finally the DLC is met with 2 boss fights both at the ends of their aformentioned parts. The first one was kinda OP like what am I suppose to do with that other than spam the BFG. The second one was...I wanna say Epic. But at the same time, it was just me biding my time to use the BFG at the right moment. But it was interesting to say the least and certainly a step up from every single boss fight in the main game. It nearly ran my ammo dry before I could finish it off. Btw I discovered that you can pretty easily cheese the final boss of the main game by exploiting its environment and standing in one place.

Anyways, this is finally done. More boomer shooters coming soon.

EDIT: Oh ya forgot to mention. The Music is awesome. I love the atmosphere.

Sludge Life 2 (PC)

Gotta play that mid-quel someday. Anyways, this chill surreal game is more of the same which is just a good thing honestly. Lots of exploration and parkour and tagging. I guess one thing against it would be how easy it's become to find tags in part due to ease in which key items are found. Perhaps foregoing a metroidvania approach and going freeform exploration is to this game's detriment. After getting all the necessary items within the first few minutes and them being in plain sight, the rest of the tagging felt easier and the places you could go to felt less than the original. Thankfully like the first game, it is also peppered with collectibles and To-Do's to keep you entertained. Just slightly disappointed tagging takes a backseat this time around (it was like a sign of rebellion in the first game).

Meeting fellow taggers and combo-ing with them has always been a treat though. The rep system of finding tags to find combos is still around but has lost its meaning narrative-wise. There is no story per se but several plot threads to follow each with their own conclusions. If I was concerned about that, I would say the narrative here is weaker than the first game but I'd say it just takes a different dimension and a different approach.

Completely forgot that I nominated for this lol

Quake 2 Remastered (PC)

After several months of backing up my files, I finally got on Windows 10. To start, decided to play the remastered version of one of my favorite childhoood games. I'm late to the party but this is clearly one of the best improvements to a game ever. Revamped AI for most enemies (and turning one of the lulziest enemies into an actual threat), new graphics to go with the times, multiplayer bots, co-op multiplayer mode, and a brand-new episode much like what happened with Quake 1 where MachineGames came to produce something that is now capable on modern systems. I ended up playing everything all over again and had a blast with it.

I grew up in an odd time playing games. Megaman 4, Chrono Cross, and Quake 2---beta sequels that couldn't compare to their predecessor. I have fond memories of Quake 2 and its rockin' soundtrack. It was cool when I heard it then, and when I heard it in Doom Eternal and it's still cool now.

The new episode was great as like the previous one, introduced elements that made the game way harder and challenging than its oldschool brethren. Split into 6 sections, a vast array of styles are explored with the new engine and they did not disappoint. Well, except for maybe one chapter who tried to turn the game into Serious Sam. That was not fun at all and was actually forced to cheat. But the rest was neato. There was one chapter that was REALLY testy and challenging, adding a boatload of enemies at a proper pace and surprise. There were maps that were easier with more focus on the ambiance and exploration, something I didn't think was possible with this game and engine. And there was the one obligatory nod to Quake 1, unofficially tying both games together in some form of pseudocanon. All in all great exp. And one exp I sorely needed after forcibly trying to trudge through my backlog pre-update.

End of an era.

there

Quistis - 8
Quina - 5
Strago - 3

Xtlm posted...

Mega Man Battle Network 1 (Switch)

So I had no idea how this game actually played going into the game and was pleasantly surprised.
It has fun mechanics and the story is simple silly.

The only knock I have is the confusing layouts to the internet part of the game. I had to look up a map online. Oh and also that one level where there was pattern solving with batteries that run out of energy. That was evil and I don't know if I would have had the patience to go through it without looking up directions to solve it.

Overall though the game was great! I am missing quite a few cards though and am not sure where to get them...I covered most if not all of the map and did quite a bit of grinding in the deep net.

Don't worry the maps improve from the 2nd game onwards

Metal Slug: Awakening (Android)

I believe this game is called something else in the West? Anyways, this is not the Metal Slug game we come to know and love and normally I am averse to triple A pay to win affairs like this. But it's Metal Slug and I'm surprised that the game actually holds your hand well into I wanna say three-fifths of the story before you start hitting a wall on progression. So yeah I was enticed to spend some money for some easier grinding and here I am. I thought it was satisfying at least for my downtimes on the phone but if this was like my main game I would never have enjoyed its tactics.

As I said the game itself is like a watered down Metal Slug for casuals. Everyone has health bars now. You can double jump. Bosses have massive health bars. Progression is tied to increasing your gun rank via a gacha mechanism where you're eventually guaranteed a really good gun the longer you stay so at least it doesn't try draining you of your wallet if you're patient enough. Thankfully, the requirement for story mode isnt as high as the post-game which is what you would want to stick around for and hey maybe I will for awhile. Join a guild, do some running and shooting and getting some nice lookin' guns.

Kudos on the effort of the devs like its obvious some of these environs are copypasted from the first three games. And they could've just went and cloned everything in snippets. But they went the mile to hire voice actors for an actual story however simple. And they went and made a slew of unique boss battles which were also alright on its own. So Story Mode is not an afterthought here you got 14 chapters with 3 areas each and some retro chapters as well. It's an endeavor in itself. Oh and this is all in 3d btw. 2d-3d so it was nice to see those old enemies and boss fights now as full fledged polygons.

Two games from my childhood that made me cry was the ending of Klonoa 1 and the Post-Avalanche scene in Terranigma as well as just that game in general. They just don't do shit like that to games anymore (targeted towards young adults or kids).

Code Vein (PC)

My final Windows 7 backlog is complete. Code Vein is a spin-off of the God Eater games which does not play like that series at all. I would probably call it more of a mix between Persona and Dark Souls. This was the only game in my backlog that I actually was looking forward to finish and that's why I saved it for last. I quite enjoyed this game and honestly wonder why people don't talk about it more. I suppose it does sit in this weird niche between Anime and Soulsclones.

As amazing as soulsclones are, what always peeves me is every single clone is trying to copy Dark Souls even down to its tone and mood. Refreshingly this game deviates in both mechanics and theme peppering the post-apocalyptic backdrop with some JRPG nakama bullshit. The whole blood coding system makes for some very versatile gameplay indeed. This is probably also the only soulslike I believe apart from Ashen that aspires to get to a proper good ending as far as good endings go.

Story spoilers incoming.

Despite that, I do have some complaints about the tone of this game. I had to redo this game when I found out I wasn't on path for the Best Ending and I was confused at first because realistically I was just following the game but apparently, in order to achieve the game's best ending one would have to pull a Dynasty Warriors 8 What If Mode and make sure that absolutely nobody dies. Nobody. You have to do this 3 times in the story and if you know what to do the tone is just off. You get treated to a 10 minute scene where the death is inevitable but then in the next minute they're all better. It's ridiculous. And I mean I have no complaints about the story as a whole, but there had to be a better way to get a True Good Ending that might also result in acceptable loss.

Spoilers end.

But the writing itself was alright. Usually with these soulsclones things are left as vaguely as possible. And that is the case here as well, but the revelations and worldbuilding blossom slowly in a spiral from who are you to what is this on my face. It's all explained and trickled down without feeling contrived. And it all leads to this stunning reveal in the end.

For all its wonderful offerings, a few game design flaws stop me from enjoying this game sometimes. You can ONLY save by initiating/sitting down in a bonfire. There's no autosave while you use it in between or after actions. That means, if you used the bonfire to level up and didn't exit to use it again, the level up wouldn't register until you found another bonfire later on. Often times I found my progress slowed because I forgot to "rekindle" at the save point.

Getting x2 annoying is the fact that the game crashes at certain fights and scenes. I had to get a cheat device just to bypass I think about 3 scenarios in the game. Mercifully you can essentially skip any cutscene even if its your first time seeing it.

Finally a third gripe is the game doesn't explain to you how to level properly. You get these skills you have to grind to be able to use them in another class. However, this is separate from your actual level. The game doesn't tell you that if you actively level alone, grinding for skill proficiency will be next to impossible. On paper it is a good system so you'll have to rely on skill abilities instead of whacking hard or vice versa but imagine if I wasn't restarting the game to get the good ending, then I would've been royally screwed at around the halfway point of the game.

Finally just a minor issue are the setpieces which are decent but I can't believe you can't showcase a post-apoc earth without using 40% caves into your repertoire. There's even a labyrinthine knock-off of Anor Londo a third into the game that everyone despises, but I absolutely love because its the only zone that's vastly different from the others.

Anyways, this'll be my last for awhile. Now I have to backup my files and upgrade my OS.

The next soulsclone I'm planning to play is Nioh 2 as someone on this board suggested aaaaages ago when I made my writeup post here about Nioh 1 being mediocre.

Klonoa was one of my first PS1 games. Dat infamous ending still makes me cry. But people getting this duology might feel weird about seeing Klonoa again in a 2nd game without knowing that both games are about a decade apart.

Amnesia: Rebirth (PC)

I don't know what to say as I'm tired af. This game has haunted me for a long time and I started to drop it off the wayside around the time the game got scary. But then I find out the game series hasn't changed as a whole and what were once novel mechanics back in the day, are now tired mechanisms overused and overwrought. Of particular note is the use of death to skip parts of the game in order to keep things moving. Normally I would complain but I was just so done with this protagonist that I just wanted to keep moving forward. I think the game intended you to hate her overtime idk. But anyways it was satisfying at the end when they finally offered the third option which I gladly took.

The story is tragic enough to keep me interested and much like all its games before it including SOMA, it offers a very interesting morally grey choice. Unlike SOMA though, we don't get to deal with an interesting philosophical quandary about the state of mind in things. We get this sorta-kinda-okay deconstruction of a mother's love and what she'll take to save her child. Honestly the infodump by the end was kind of on the nose I mean it was fine but the pacing could've been better. Still, it was nice to finally answer or expand on a few questions made by the first game.

God I dunno if I wanna do the Bunker now seeing how vastly different it is. Well, not in a long time at least. For now, my history with this developer stops here. SOMA, Penumbra, Amnesia all of it. It was a ride to be sure.

1 game left before I can finally upgrade my OS. I saved the soulsclone for last because I didn't want to be distracted by this horror game coming back to it sporadically. Amnesia Rebirth had to go and I sincerely put it off for the longest time. Why do I keep doing this to myself lol.

That would be Root. both the videogame and the boardgame.

Honorable Mention Spy Party

I couldn't sleep so I decided to knock off one of my backlogs tonight: **Alisa: Developer's Cut (PC)**

I hadn't heard of this game until I beat Tormented Souls last year and heard that this was also another retro indie horror game that came out around the same time. I probably attributed some artificial difficulty myself by deciding to play this on a keyboard instead of with a controller, but the tank controls and the jankiness of it brought me back to a time when I first played RE2 on an emulator. In Chinese.

Is this game better than TS its hard to say. If you preferred the tank to tank combat of the olden days, the tight resource management, or absolutely slow reloading (and no you can't reload on the menu), then yes this game is for you. On the other hand, there are a ton of different enemies and bosses in this game as well as several options and endings as well as unlockable weapons and costumes on replay so on variety alone I will say this is the better game. The mansion itself was simple but effective, gave the illusion that it was going to be longer than it was but only sparingly used enemies to gate you until the final act of the game. That said, there's not alot of backtracking mercifully but be prepared to at least until NG+, suffer through getting used to the slow as molasses sword swinging because the only way to gain any ammo significantly is to spend currency dropped by foes.

Unlike Resident Evil, the horror here is more on body horror than anything but boy is it effective with the whole less is more approach. Mansion's go its stock puzzles that is sure to bring some nostalgia but its just enough to stand out on its own as well. Also thankful that this game didn't try to shove Alice in Wonderland references down your throat. Apparently the cover is just aesthetic to you.

New topic when?

Oh yeah and I also beat this game on my phone called The Way Home (Android) that is basically Baby's First Diablo. That I would rather play than the actual Diablo 4 lol. I don't wanna bore you with how 'well' this game is designed, but I thought it was endearing enough.

The Book of Unwritten Tales 2 (PC)

Finally this long game is done. In the first game, I recall saying that it was quite a long winded adventure filled with period piece references and forced humor. The characters were endearing but the puzzles were either a bit simple or a bit obscure. This game...does it a little better. Maybe because it came out a little more recently and so the references were a little better if not dialed back. There's also a few bugs, one that required me to manipulate a save file to proceed.

The story itself was ok. I want to say it's even darker than the last one in that several characters meet grim fates. It's a German game so I guess I should've expected that. But while the first game played the comedic tone straight, this game played the consequences of the last adventure deconstructively and introduced a villain or two that wasn't afraid to hold things back. Even though only 2 of the 5 chapters took place in the same city, the pacing and the focus on one particular character made the game feel longer than it actually is. And while all 3 main characters got a focus, I was just so sick of the gnome and his arc that I wish their fates intertwined a bit more. The game ends rather twisted with hints of a sequel and well. If you just imagine that this game is game 2 of a trilogy, it doesn't feel so bad that this game felt like "the 2nd in a trilogy" if you know what I mean; a bit weak on the premise but decent enough to be transitionary. But now comes the bitter truth to this...

Finishing this game left a little somber taste in my mouth as I realized that a the developer has decided to leave the pt-click genre and focus on Iron Harvest. The only snippets of news I could find is they either do not have the money, or no longer see the genre as profitable. And its a shame because this game left it on a bittersweet note with a cliffhanger on the horizon. I can only hope a third game is coming but, the gap between the first 2 games was quite wide, that I don't think it is and the story ends here. Shame.

3 games left off the backlog before I update my OS.

Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People (PC)

My progress beating Telltale's games ticks ever so slowly to completion. I'm actually only planning to beat everything pre-Walking Dead. Basically every TT game that was actually a pt click adventure instead of a "choices matter" narrative game. Maybe I'll visit the Fables or Borderlands one down the road when this main quest is all done but that genre of gaming really bores me like is it even a game smh. Also I hear that there's a more recent set of TT games for The Expanse universe. So I might check that one as well.

Honestly I would finish these games faster were it not for the extremely boring episodic format that this very developer championed. Was probably good for its time but has aged pretty poorly. In addition, I've pretty much beaten all the "necessary" ones like the Sam and Max trilogy, Tales of Monkey Island, and the Back to the Future one. Only ones left in my list is Wallace and Gromit which I admit I missed. Aaaand maybe the first one which was Bone?

Anyways, anyone who's grown up in the 2000s can share my love for HSR and this game series was a love letter to the franchise. I honestly didn't mind the simplicity of this game's puzzles as much as it was nice seeing and hearing the various characters in glorious 3d. The jokes are still funny and got an occasional chuckle out of me from this series. I don't really think there's a weak episode here but I wish they were more connected in some way. I also appreciated the references that you could only have gotten if you were an avid watcher of all the old flash shorts, specifically around the final episode where alot of worlds collide. Also finally glad to see a third Dangeresque and sometimes I wish this had been the entire game instead. Also wish every episode had every character in it because I do love them all, and the cast count actually fizzled by the final episode.

Anyways, another one down. I have 4 games left to finish before I can upgrade my OS.

Bloodborne