Activities
Today
Back again with a convenient Next Fest demo showing. In my defense, I did replay FF7 Remake on Steam this time in preparation for the second game, but I wasn’t rightly going to repost that review. Seeing as I’m lagging as usual – anyone here looking forward to Part 3? Enjoy the brief impressions below and have fun.
Last Stronghold title I played was the original, almost a quarter of the century ago. Aside from the obvious jump in technology since, I think Stronghold 4 makes a case for plenty of QoL additions such as convenient building snapping to where it makes the most sense, dedicated ability to repair your walls, etc. Something I didn’t really enjoy was the honor progression system despite the neat heraldry assets. I get this niggling feeling it’s there just to constantly have something to fiddle with rather than using the clear-cut, more linear approach the original game went with and which worked just fine. Narratively, this is supposed to be a prequel, but there isn’t much story in this demo. On the presentation side I sadly walked away unimpressed since no 3D assets could really replace or even replicate those gorgeous 2D sprites, especially when you hover over the buildings to see people working.
Perhaps because I’m inexperienced with similar titles at large, but ANOMALITH really grabbed me so much I spent almost two hours with the demo. A TPS survival game where Reina Minazuki delves into the anomalous Zone as one of the Divers, this is a surprisingly glum experience that doesn’t go overboard beyond anime aesthetics for characters sometimes clashing with more believable locales. A spooky hospital in this case. You dive in to fight monsters, gather materials in your limited inventory and dump it back through portals. What I enjoyed the most is probably what some may intensely dislike – how deliberately stilted the game feels to play as that lends itself to playing more methodically. Maybe this changes once you unlock more abilities? This is a gun-centric experience based on the demo, which makes you value parry and close-range ability you do get all the more for it.
I’m not sure if I would classify The Road of Dust and Sorrow as really horror based on the demo, but this 2D action adventure nails the atmosphere pretty well. Mind you, we are dealing with a mother and daughter pair trying to survive in a not!zombies apocalypse scenario. I guess the closest comparison would be The Last of Us based on my brief stint with that one back on PS3? There is some light resource management but I never found myself starved for bullets or baseball bats, both of which you can craft on the spot. From what I’ve gathered based on found notes and conversations there was a miracle crop invented that went horribly wrong and doomed humanity leaving the survivors to pick up the pieces from these Dusters. Pixel visuals match the drab mood game is going for and I while I wish there was more to game’s puzzles it’s clear devs were going for a more accessible approach.
Curse of Resthaven certainly makes for an interesting genre blend, I’ll give it that. Protagonist accepts Imperial commission to a seemingly cursed island all the while searching for his niece who went missing on that selfsame island. At its core an adventure game, but one where you’re not solving puzzles by combining items as much as upgrading the town itself so you can claim goods from stores which you in turn sell to various ships as well as buy goods in a fluctuating fantasy economy. Narrative part comes in the form of questioning people based on various clues you’ve gathered as you uncover local mysteries. Going on expeditions with various hireling companions that play out in CYOA fashion are also a factor. It’s hard to determine just how well all of this will gel together based on the demo, but I’m getting a hint of on-the-rails Vagrus – The Riven Realms vibes from this one.
One element of At Fate’s End immediately standing out as its defining aspect is easily the production. So much effort has clearly gone into gorgeous 2D visuals and animated scenes, down to using what is either fictional or some language I couldn’t immediately place for spoken lines. Story regarding the young Princess of Swords, Shan Hemlock, who has to go around challenging her siblings for power is an intriguing premise. In the demo you’ll only “resolve” the situation with boisterous sister Camilla who’s been a poor ruler of her territory, but this gives you firsthand experience of the clues system as you suss out what exactly is her deal. Gameplay-wise you’re looking at 2D action adventure with some platforming and abilities your unlock, mainly from your other siblings. Entire thing is presented in the form of Tarot cards you use for everything. Bit of a feature creep with long walks to reach places.
In what appears to be a trend for these demos, Arisen Force: Vonimir is yet another game punching above its weights in terms of what it offers. I went into it expecting a JRPG only to get an action RPG instead. From a fantasy setup of Aurelia’s father, the king, going missing during the last monster invasion, to your taking control of her and her underlings as you handle what seems to be a tax matter. In the writing department you’re struggling against an awkward translation that can’t keep consistent tone to save its life. You get a party of characters, but only control one at a time and I think combat itself is barely average. Time-to-kill for bosses was too long for a combat system that has you using a single button and spending easy-to-come-by stamina for abilities. Low number of grunt samples and high frequency of their use got old REAL fast. AI is also used for some art assets if that’s a deal breaker.
Brawler set in Indonesia about a revenge story of some kind, possibly with implied human trafficking, I have to say Acts of Blood left a lukewarm initial impression. With punches, kicks, special executions and parries in your repertoire the easiest parallel to draw as far as combat goes would be Batman: Arkham games, which exposes some design flaws in this one. Combat itself leans more on the cumbersome, I suppose you’d call it realistic side, but issues arise. There’s a reason camera should zoom out further from default OTS perspective if you’re supposed to be fighting groups of enemies or why they should be color-coded in such a way that PARRY indicator doesn’t blend in with their outfits, for example. Something Acts of Blood has overlooked and marred an otherwise enjoyable combat system. I did like how meaningful skill upgrades were even if controls could use some fine-tuning.
I wouldn’t say Dinghai: The Ocean Pillar is unlike anything you’ve ever played in your life, but I think it does a fairly good job at being a stage-based roguelite. It’s the RPG progression systems, dual weapon set approach and generally drawing inspiration from Chinese mythology that hook you in. Story? Eh, I’ll admit to being lost. Something about a youth by the name of Yi who ends up being “possessed” by the ancient Abyssal Dragon in a pact as latter now gets to resolve old business. Mythical aspect is really the background stuff as clearing zones with drop preferences for you to gradually bulk up your character is the meat and potatoes here. Oh, and Yi is also a talking chicken now. Compared to other Chinese projects Dinghai seems to have decent translation effort put into it, though. Game also looks great as it also utilizes engaging camera work at times at the expense of free camera.
Yesterday
#446
#56 of 2026
October 23, 2026
Oct 22 2026
October Assassination #3 (SG Win / PoP Pick)
Please consider liking my review on Steam - it means a lot to me!
The Adventure Pals was a game that I enjoyed and was delighted by …. for the first 8 of the 9 hours it took me to beat it.
It is a game that hits on that saturday morning cartoon nostalgia. The artstyle, graphics, animation, effects, humor, sounds, everything is crafted towards a very specific vision, and damn, it pays off. It's a great game to look at, and it's one of these games I know will never look dated, because it's a timeless art direction. It's more like Adventure Time than some Adventure Time games hahahaha
The gameplay is also nice, with some caveats. It's mostly an action platformer, with many segments of jumping and dodging intespersed with combat segments. The combat is … bad. It's just too messy and hectic, and the screen frequently is too cluttered to allow for satisfying encounters. It reminded me a lot of Guacamelee, which in my book is not a compliment. Each biome has five levels, each level has five stages, and each stage has a hidden collectible that is generally easy and fun to hunt for. You have consumables that can change the tide of a battle and a score based on how fast and thorough you were during your exploration, and many other hidden collectables through the world and the side quests and the arenas.
And if that was the whole game, I would say it's a charming game that starts strong and loses momentum until it's finally over with a little steam left. But ….
Now, after reading all of that you might be wondering -- geez, how do you justify a thumbs down? Well, two factors were decisive. The first was a softlocking game bug I encountered in the fourth world, Crablantis. I beat the first level, and then another level unlocked. Unbeknownst to me, that was the third level, and once I beat it, the game was softlocked since I hadn't beaten the second level (it was never enabled) and could not proceed further. This game was released near a decade ago and I'm not the only person that experienced the bug, so the fact it wasn't fixed yet indicates to me it will never be fixed. And that's a shame, because that softlock prevented not only progress, but also achieving a side-quest that I fought for (the Crystal Skull near Stoney Head).
The second was compounded by the first. If everything has been fine in terms of softlocking bugs, I probably wouldn't have complained about the pace dying near the end of the game. But when I finally got softlocked I realized how repetitive the game had become. And while the gameplay loop is fine at first, I realized it hadn't improved much for the previous 10 hours, and I suddenly lost all the urge to beat it.
And that's such a shame, because it's not everyday you find these sweet works of passion. But at the same time, our time and money is limited, and the small things that are bothersome in this game are bothersome enough to prevent a recommendation.
Oct 21 2026
#445
#55 of 2026
October 21, 2026
Oct 20 2026
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Eastshade
18 hours playtime
18 of 18 achievements
Report #435: Eastshade
This one has been on my wishlist for quite some time. Looked nice and short. Bought it this summer. Did not know that it has such a huge story quest line. What I really liked that you are not flooded with quest markers. Basically you have no clue at the begining what to do. Just one goal: Paint 4 pictures in memory of your Mom.
Oct 19 2026
#444
#54 of 2026
October 19, 2026
October Assassination #2 (Backlog)
Please consider liking my review on Steam - it means a lot to me!
What a wild ride. I've been hearing about this game for a while, but just managed to get my hands on it a week ago, and damn son, the hype was real.
DOOM 2016 plays like FPS games haven't played in a while, and I say that as the biggest form of praise that I can give. It's all thrills no fills. You boot the game, 1 minute later you're opening a demon's jaws open with your bare hands and the pace never drops. Level after level, you're constantly getting new guns and gun mods, new runes and new suit upgrades, to the point you eventually become an unstoppable force of nature.
Level design is literally perfect, with an incredible mix of cramped and open arenas with a diverse range of monsters set for you to obliterate. The levels look good, play good and sound good. The difficulty ramps up but you never feel you're lacking the tools to best any encounter. It's a freaking crescendo of gore and skill that is always accompanied by heavy metal riffs that amp up the action to 11.
No time and nowhere to hide. No regenerating health. No cover shooting. It's you, them, and your full arsenal until your ammo depletes, you chainsaw demons in the face, and the whole valsa repeats. No ammo? Get out of jail free card with the BFG.
If you care about secrets, it's always good to take a deep breath and calm down between fights, but if you don't care about them, the game lets you RIP AND TEAR non-stop for almost freaking 12 hours. Movement is a treat, your jumps are heavy, your ledge grabs are hefty and the Glory Kills are juicy.
Too bad it took me 10 years to play it, but I'm glad it didn't take me an extra second. If you have the chance to play it and haven't done so yet, stop everything else you're doing and go play this NOW.
I'm not stuck here with you. YOU are stuck here with ME! RIP AND TEAR SONNY JIM
Oct 18 2026
Beginning of the week update 18/10/26 - 25/10/26
Goals
- Play every game I won on steamgifts for atleast 30 min. in progress
- Update blaeo as I go along.
- Finish dreamfall chapters
Thoughts
I really like working on my backlog again.
progress
- Finished glasmasqerade 3: honeylines. Archived
- Started pixel puzzles traditional jigsaws
- Finished the Darkside Detective. Archived
- Bought peak
Oct 16 2026
End of the week update 10/10/26 - 17/10/26
Goals
- Play every game I won on steamgifts for atleast 30 min. in progress
- Update blaeo as I go along.
Thoughts
Enjoyed working on my blacklog again, makes me feel so productive haha
Bit off a little to much, but I have plenty off time.
progress
- 12 labours of herculus 9: Done and archived
- the sexy brutale- played, didn’t like it ( its a fun game, just not for me) archived.
- train station renovation.Didn’t manage to finish it, but it’s well on it’s way. Archived
- glass masqerade 2: illusions beaten and archived
- Started glass masqerade 3:Honeylines
Challenge me
- Made a seperate list consisting of my steamgifts
- played darkside detective ( in progress)
Next week
Work on my Challenge me games
I’ve been wanting to play this game for a long time, so I figured I’d make a post about it.
Platformer. Weirdly, jump is mapped to the R button, even though that’s what you’ll be doing most often by far; the A button performs your slightly-delayed melee attack that locks you in place until its animation is done, and the B button spends one of your limited magic points to perform your equipped spell. There isn’t a single enemy that can’t be damaged by jumping on it, and you don’t get a ranged attack until around 2/3rds through the game, so even from a combat standpoint, you’ll be doing more jumping than anything. It really should’ve been A jump, B attack, and R magic. The options menu has a window that tells you what each button does, but if you actually want to remap them, you’ll have to do that externally.
Early on, the game tells you that you can press the jump button in mid air to flutter for a bit before your fall resumes, and “if you time it right,” you can flutter multiple times in a single jump. What the game doesn’t tell you is that this mechanic is rather finicky: you’ll do a full flutter even if you just do a quick push of the jump button in midair, but in order to be allowed to flutter another time before landing, you have to hold the jump button throughout the flutter animation, then quickly let go and push+hold it again once you notice the flutter ended. Thankfully, this mechanic is never mandatory; the only time it’s ever really needed is for getting all the medals in the optional bonus stages, with everything else being possible to do with just regular jumps.
The start of the game is rather empty and boring. Sure, there’s lots of jumping over pits–and even jumping onto single-tile platforms–but hitboxes for platforms are rather generous and the 3D effect is very smooth and well done, so you’ll rarely miss any jumps. However, the platformer genre is about more than just jumping across pits and platforms; they live and die based on how well enemies (or other hazards) enhance the platforming, and in this game, they just…don’t. Enemy patterns feel like they were designed for a traditional top-down Zeldaclone and were hastily stitched onto this game at the last minute. SO many enemies just wander around in random directions like the ones in the first NES Zelda, and they’re often placed on platforms that are so large, you can simply go around them. There are isolated moments where you think the game is introducing stuff to build upon later, but then it just…doesn’t. Halfway through the first stage are giant bouncing fireballs that you have to jump over, and then they’re never used again. Stage 2 has a spot where you’re jumping on lilypads to cross a river when a Zora pops out onto one and starts shooting towards where you’re about to land, but that’s the only time something like that happens. I heard that Nintendo “went back and finished” the game before releasing it on NSO, but honestly, the game still feels unfinished regarding how little it realizes its potential.
The latter parts of the game get a bit better by having moving platforms and floating enemies that can chase you across multiple floors, but the last level gets rather annoying by having long paths you have to traverse before you reach the spot where you can jump to the next floor, so if you fall down, you’ll have to retraverse those long paths that you’ve already cleared of enemies, and it gets rather tedious. Falling into a regular pit just takes away a single hit point (1/3rd of one heart) and puts you back on the platform you jumped from, which is a surprisingly modern way to handle platformer pits, so if they changed the code to work that way, it would’ve been nice if they had also changed the tall towers to work similarly.
Stages themselves can also drag on for a while, but thankfully, the game doesn’t limit saving to after each level; it also lets you save and resume from the last star-teleporter you used…though this feature is hidden past the End Game option, so I didn’t know about it at first.
However, the biggest problem with the game is that it’s too zoomed in. If you look up footage, it will seem as if enemies move at a reasonable speed, but even at that speed, they can still go from “completely off-screen” to “actively dealing contact damage” in half a second. The worst example is the first boss: all it does is move off-screen and try to hit you, and its sound-effect-warning always plays on the exact frame the game respawns the boss just outside of your vision–often on the side where you’re not looking and thus are closer to the edge of the camera, giving you even less time to react.
On top of the camera’s issue with enemies, if the next platform you need to jump on is above you and not overlapping the platform you’re currently on, it can still end up being off-screen, even if you’re standing on the edge of your current platform beside where the next platform is. It’s not until you jump in that spot when the platform suddenly scales into view. I found myself frequently jumping around everywhere just to get a reasonable view of my surroundings, to make sure I wasn’t missing any branching paths or upcoming enemies. It doesn’t help that some levels have worse draw-distance than others; there were a couple times where I was trying to jump on a platform on the floor below, when halfway through my jump, the platform popped out of existence and I just kinda had to hope I was lined up correctly when I started falling.
One last thing I’ll bring up is the magic. Throughout the game are branching paths that can contain health pickups, magic refills, or coins, and near the end of each level is a shop that lets you spend those coins on a new spell. Thing is, all the spell cards are face-down, so you don’t know which one you’ll get until after you buy it. That’s fine, though; I’ve never been a huge fan of randomness, but spells are optional and the game could theoretically be beaten without using them at all. However, when I made it to the last shop, I thought I’d see what all of my options were before I headed to the final boss; problem is…
…yup, the spell you get is pre-determined before the game ever loads the card-selection screen. Eat your heart out, Telltale Games, because Dragon Hopper was doing secretly-meaningless choices back in 1996!
Oh, and to make things extra annoying, card-selection is done with an emulated mouse cursor (the fairy) instead of snapping the cursor to the next card when you push the D-pad.
Overall, this game feels like it was designed as a technical showpiece first and a game second. It’s not bad, but I doubt it would be as well-remembered if it had been made for a more popular system than the Virtual Boy. Even by that system’s standards, it pales in comparison to other titles like Vertical Force and Jack Bros. I’d only recommend buying it if you can get it for around five dollars (maybe ten, but that’s pushing it).
P.S. Almost forgot to mention: all cutscenes wait until you push a button before advancing the text…EXCEPT the ending, so there’s one last little annoying thing you’ll have to deal with. The ending also drops the bombshell that, this whole time, the game had a points system. What gives you points? How many points do you get from doing those things? Who knows, but you got 533 of them!!