Activities
Today
June 2026
Lots of games gained… some completions done… ze usual. I’ve been focusing on finishing some longer games I’ve had on the backburner for years now, so I’m glad I’ve been able to chip away at them fairly well this month. More to come!
One of the best AAA RPGs I've played to date. The lore and the exploration are highlights. I absolutely adored exploring the world and seeing what it had to offer. I also think the combat was nice, even though folks tend to say the game doesn't have the best combat. It does get trivialized at a certain point, but I liked it. The DLC is also one of the best AAA RPG DLCs I've had the pleasure of playing, especially the Blood and Wine DLC. It's a bit of a marathon to 100% the game, but most of it was well worth it. I need to deduct some points due to the sheer exhaustion I felt while trying to complete the game at times. However, overall, this is a wonderful game, and I highly recommend it.
The playtime may not seem long enough to support this, but this shoot 'em up was the hardest 100% I've done in my entire life for the genre. I'm also not a newbie when it comes to these, as I've been playing Touhou games for over a decade, both official and fan games, often in lunatic mode. That final boss was no joke, and a bit B.S., if I'm being honest. The game also relies too much on you needing to use your dash mechanic, as many bullet patterns put you in situations where it's literally impossible to dodge without the dash mechanic. I wasn't a fan of this, as this mechanic was also on a cooldown that I felt like I needed to use the instant it came off cooldown at all times. All of this was really stressful, and while it was a well-made game, it was genuinely painful to achievement hunt.
Recommended if you don't want to 100%, but HIGHLY NOT RECOMMENDED if you want to 100%. If you are not familiar with shoot 'em ups, then you WILL NOT 100% this game without blood, sweat, and tears. You have my GUARANTEE on that front.
Man… this stopped being fun after the first two levels. I actually shelved it for years because the difficulty was just overwhelming, and only picked it back up after finishing Lilac 0. But honestly, coming back didn’t help much, as the game is brutally hard for no real payoff, and the visuals, while technically nice, are an absolute assault on the eyes.
After about 20 minutes, I consistently felt overstimulated and had to take breaks. The combination of intense eye strain and constant split‑second decision‑making, especially in the later stages, made the experience more exhausting than enjoyable. And if you’re aiming for 100%, you’re required to survive 60 seconds of this on every level. It sounds easy enough, but in practice, it’s genuine pain.
I DO NOT recommend this game. It’s not the worst thing I’ve ever played, but it’s punishing, visually taxing, and rarely fun enough to justify the effort. I'll give it some credit for not being a bad game, but it definitely isn't a fun one.
Twilight Town: A Cyberpunk Day In Life
This game was a genuinely enjoyable short visual novel, held back mostly by its own ambition. The world and characters hint at a larger, more developed story that simply does not exist within this package, and that gap between promise and delivery is hard to ignore. But what is here, the sharp character writing, the adult humor that actually lands, and the excellent pixel art direction, is worth your time and the very modest asking price. Recommended, but go in knowing it is a brief experience with an abrupt ending, and you will likely have a good time
東方実在相 ～ Dream Logical World
東方実在相 ～ Dream Logical World is a genuinely well crafted fangame with some of the most ambitious spell card design I've seen in this scene, but "well made" and "fun" are not the same thing, and this game proves that hard. The character roster and story options are a blast to dig into, and the Stage 6 boss and EX boss themes are genuinely some of my favorite Touhou fangame arrangements, even if the rest of the soundtrack didn't leave much of an impression. But the actual moment to moment gameplay leans way too hard on a sort of "you just have to know what's coming" design, and the bombs straight up not saving you when you desperately need them to is the cherry on top. Mixed recommendation, but I say you should lean toward playing it if you're an experienced player who wants a real challenge.
Probably one of the most addictive strategy games I have ever played, and it happens to be my first entry in the series. The variety of leaders, victory types, and playstyles keeps the game fresh for hundreds of hours, and the art direction has way more charm than people give it credit for. The Deity AI is a frustrating mess, and the diplomacy system is more annoying than engaging, but for the sheer "one more turn" pull this game has, I have to recommend it (if you can also get past the pure BS that is that EULA they added). However, I took some points off for how horrible this was to achievement hunt.
This is the definitive game for playing board games, tabletop games, and more. There are a lot of mods across many different types of games, with near-limitless options. This makes playing these games more accessible for my friends and me, and I greatly appreciate that something like this exists. Getting all of the achievements was a pain, but the game itself is wonderful. Highly recommended, but keep in mind you have annoying achievements like playing the game for 1000hrs or getting eight people together to cross lines over one another. Took off some points for this reason.
-
theHunter: Call of the Wild™
-
Shatter
-
Balatro
-
Far Cry 5
-
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
-
One Move Away
-
KuloNiku
-
Tavern Talk
-
Vampire Therapist
-
Death of a Wish
-
CraftCraft
-
Cursemark
0 hours playtime
no achievements
-
Fish & Hike
0 hours playtime
no achievements
-
Little Problems
-
Something to Drink?
0 hours playtime
no achievements
-
You Know The Drill
-
Vultures - Scavengers of Death
-
The Warrior
-
PROXIMATE
0 hours playtime
no achievements
-
Umurangi Generation
-
Toroa: Skycall
-
Knuckle Sandwich
-
Welcome to Elderfield
0 hours playtime
no achievements
-
RoadOut
-
Dogpile
-
PATHOGEN X
-
Pawsome Resort
0 hours playtime
no achievements
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Beast Breaker
-
Sugar * Style
-
Book of Travels
-
VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action
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Tailside: Cozy Cafe Sim
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Cozy Caravan
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Idols of Ash
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Megabonk
#416
#26 of 2026
July 5, 2026
Completed Monument Valley 2
Excellently crafted and beautiful looking game with not so hard puzzles.
I guess I’m in my “shorter reviews to actually release something on time” phase for a while. Not that I mind considering I got to finally finish some games I’ve been eyeing. Some minor streamlining in the format I’ll stick to from now purely to avoid sampling colors for their hex codes, but I doubt anyone notices. Enjoy the read and take care of yourselves during this hellish summer heat.
The Expanse: A Telltale Series ( PC (Steam) – Adventure – 2023 ) + STEAM REVIEW
Man, Telltale has to be a grand master Lich or something at this point considering they died and then had various degrees of comebacks, successors or otherwise. The Expanse is a particular example of newly (re)formed Telltale cooperating with Deck Nine with a popular IP coming from both novels and TV show. Well, I only wish it was a bit better.
We play as Camina Drummer serving under captain Cox in her pre-Tycho days. Scavenging some space wrecks leads them to discover possible payload that would ensure they’re set for life… which, of course, means Cox has to set her up. Fortunately our girl survives, manages to return to their ship, and deciding whether their former captain takes a one-way trip to the airlock or becomes a resident in the brig is among the first big decisions you’ll make. Turns out there are people actually looking for whatever you found first, and some of them are not super nice. Space pirates. They’re space pirates.
It pains me to say The Expanse just might be the dullest Telltale excursion I’ve played. License itself is strong, and this one doesn’t fall into the Game of Thrones trap where writers crippled themselves with over reliance on canonical characters, but neither the story or characters are all that engaging. Drummer herself comes across as almost sedated for the most part and I don’t think I can really blame the actress on this one since there is an emotional scene where she truly shines, so it has to be poor direction. Your crew fares better although there’s still some dead weight. Khan and Virgil steal the show for being on complete opposite personality ends while both harboring a secret. Maya is the token romantic interest writers are absolutely dead set on hooking you up which becomes annoying if you want to fend off her advances. The twins didn’t really get that much attention in my playthrough beyond the obvious.
Naturally, this is an episodic game so you get some chafing from that setup alone. Real issue is the story since it’s a short prequel that gets neatly resolved. Not helped by one episode basically recycling the previous for half the duration as our heroine is experiencing oxygen deprivation. Game also really loves having you “swim” in zero gravity as you’re gathering nebulous scrap, and only occasionally tasking you with optional finds that provide narrative gain. It’s a weird addition to the formula of yapping with characters interspersed with QTEs. Both of which are surprisingly toned down since you only get your crow to hang around with and scant few action scenes. I also counted precisely one instance of what could be categorized as a puzzle with the solution hanging visibly right behind the character. Compliments denied.
Compared to the older games this sure got a facelift, but you can tell some budget limitations must have been imposed elsewhere. For a game set on a space ship in the Expanse universe this could be the most constrained Telltale offering I’ve played.
80 Days ( PC (Steam) – CYOA – 2015 ) + STEAM REVIEW
80 Days is many things; a CYOA, travelogue and adventure, but it is foremost based on the novel by Jules Verne. Mind you, player has full freedom in how you go about things since the game is open ended rather than some 1:1 recreation of Around the World in Eighty Days.
Phileas Fogg has made a wager that he can travel around the world, as in start from and make it back to London, in 80 days. With half his fortune at stake, both Fogg and his trusted valet Jean Passepartout embark on a journey of a lifetime. It's up to you whether they make it. Amusingly enough, I found the success of the journey to be the least relevant motivator. It's the narrative of various places and self-contained arcs that happen on actual journeys that steal the show. World itself is also something worth bringing up since we're not looking at the real world. For example, there's the Artificer's Guild who are making mechanical automata, airships are flying about as means of transportation and political situation is tense for variety of reasons. Our duo gets caught up in these events by default and some can have dire consequences.
Traveling from location to location, action you would in most games treat as entirely perfunctory to get you to "the good stuff", is where the bulk of that time will end up spent at. Which is where my big annoyance with 80 Days comes up - you need to discover routes between cities before you can travel. Either by exploring in a city, talking to people while en route to somewhere or through special means like buying items that reveal these routes to you. Unless you go into the game with a specifically laid out plan for the entire journey, availability of known routes becomes a factor. Buying implies inventory which does, in fact, exist. Number of bags determines how many items you can carry and this begins to matter as luggage affects your travel expenses. So you're constantly balancing three things: days left, available funds and inventory Tetris for tangible benefits or for what can be sold at some point. There's also Fogg's health which didn't play a notable role for me. Just talk to the man, for god's sake. And DON'T let him talk you into boxing the current champion.
Another element you'll fight constantly is UI clearly not designed for PC. I lost count how many times I wanted to quickly cross-reference my inventory to see if that katana I bought in Yokohama will sell for a lot of dough in New Orleans. Basically, 80 Days only wants you to engage with the interface when it feels like it. Which means events. Most of your actions happen in cities where you're relegated to market, bank, exploration/hotel and departure. Pretty self-explanatory. I was surprised by how many elements synergize and how many I didn't even see in play because there are many routes you can take. Aspect of CYOA where you get to determine how events play out, backed by strong narrative, are probably the highlight of the game and you end up dealing with mechanics to realize them. Loop you're looking at is: exploration to unlock a route to the next city, sleep at the hotel and do some shopping until you depart, something happens while you're traveling before you ultimately get to the next location, rinse and repeat. And yet... it works.
Simple stylized visuals do their job, be it with backgrounds or characters, but I think the soundtrack ended up surprising me the most. Theme especially with how adventurous and setting-appropriate it comes across as. 80 Days may be one of those titles that require multiple intentionally different playthroughs to get the most out of.
Home ( PC (Steam) – Adventure – 2012 ) + STEAM REVIEW
I can't remember when was the last time game had me check its manual to find a code, beyond MGS1's Codec frequency, but Home now has that dubious honor if you want an optional achievement + note bringing some narrative clarity. Game itself is perhaps a bit too simple, but that may be of P&C charms if you boil them down. You barely even need puzzles these days if you can make due with atmosphere.
Our protagonist wakes up dazed in a house he doesn't recognize. At first blaming it on sleepwalking he then goes along with the flow as mystery compounds. Going through some kind of industrial plant, one where he seems to have worked at, and even finds his way through the local park while making a horrible discovery seemingly unrelated to his own motivation - get home to Rachel. All set against the backdrop of an impending storm looking to shake up more than just local weather. That summary above is meatier exposition than Home provides, but that's more because this a slow burn.
Every new location reveals clues, direct or otherwise, both you and protagonist are piecing together. I especially found the game's insistence on asking you "do you want to pick up X?" whenever you came across a new object odd. This is apparently part of getting an achievement where you ignore everything and rush through, remaining none the wiser as to what actually happened. Home's supposed selling point is how in critical moments you get to decide what happened retroactively which is peculiar when you're putting together a story post-fact. I wouldn't really say it's the narrative shaping according to your decisions, but it gives certain weight to everything that makes you want to scrounge for every bit of information you can get your hands on. Your reward for this approach is our protagonist making assumptions based on what he knows. I'll just say if you DO make the effort you may end up not liking the result very much which is quirky award. Especially considering you get to decide how the game "ends". As I've alluded to in the opening, there aren't really any puzzles present since whatever you find you'll also automatically use where appropriate, and locations are small enough with clear PONR (Point of No Return) telegraphing.
Production-wise soundtrack is doing the heavy lifting in Home. Not that chunky pixels fail to portray a sufficiently depressing vibe, even though I was sometimes entertained by our ginger guy shuffling over the screen, but it's the subdued atmosphere that ends up stealing the show. Especially when it tonally shifts in the finale and goes for an oppression galore where you're supposed to be the safest.
Vampire: The Masquerade - Reckoning of New York ( PC (Steam) – VN – 2024 ) + STEAM REVIEW
Effectively the third part of the New York trilogy of games, Reckoning of New York takes us back to Vampire: the Masquerade in what the license appears to be the most comfortable with - Visual Novels of all things. Just like the previous two, this one functions perfectly fine as a standalone although you will appreciate seeing established characters. Even if Reckoning doesn't honor previous decisions since there's no save import to work with. Still worth checking out regardless.
New Year of 2024 is almost upon us which should be a time for celebration... unless you're Kali of clan Ravnos who just got accosted up by local Camarilla enforcement and dragged to see the Prince. Not that Kali is innocent, hailing from a clan of con artists and tricksters, but this seems to concern her Sire who is apparently in even deeper problems involving some serious smuggling. Getting a stay of execution under the condition she delivers her absentee Sire to New York's Camarilla, Kali pulls a fast one and gets a sympathetic Caitiff mediator to accompany her, lest she flee the city. So begins a week of nocturnal mishaps featuring Kali and Padraic as they hunt for clues, avoid vampire hunters and navigate the traitorous nature of what they are.
Unlike the previous game this is a far more linear affair with some "pretend choices", that becomes more evident on replay, and I think only ONE genuine decision conveniently a reload away if you wanted to check it out. You'd think that would be a problem in a game with one autosave slot, but not in this case. You just end up going with the flow and realize you're on-rails. Whether you want to have Hunger and Hunter Threat on is an option here. I would recommend playing with both enabled since it doesn't affect things that much and at least you won't spam Disciplines to get out of every situation. Or you will seeing as sometimes it doesn't result in Hunger increase. Neither are serious core features game dies or lives by while going into the extreme negative does net you some unique scenes.
Since I mentioned it, yes. There are two playable characters. Not like the game goes out of its way to hide who you'll play other than Kali, but I won't spoil it for you. Whether it's worthwhile to go through what is largely the same story from a different perspective and maybe 20-30 minutes of new context is up for debate. Bizarrely, this is where the one true choice comes in as that's picking the REAL ending for the game. You get to customize Kali's Disciplines: picking from Animalism, Obfuscate and Presence to cover all the bases, but the other character is locked. There's no RNG involved so as long as you qualify for the Discipline requirement you pass. Be careful as what you pick is what you get given this ain't no RPG showering you with ability points or at every step. I'm almost pressed to say Discipline choices are almost merely flavor if you turn off the above mentioned mechanics.
I don't want to say much about the story or characters since, well, it's what you're playing a VN for. If you're familiar with Vampire: the Masquerade you can pick up on some clues earlier and this is a kind of plans-within-plans setup. Nice to see the old reprobates albeit in different art style, for better or worse. Shame my girl Julia from Shadows didn't have a bigger role to play. If there's a downside to how the game is structured that would be the way entire setup hinges on you liking the polar opposite duo in the lead. Ravnos don't really get to shine in the license material, quite the opposite actually, so it's definitely refreshing to see one as a snarky energetic girl.
Yesterday
🕹️ April, May and June 2026 Journal
My Statistics 😔
Steamgifts Statistics 😔
Cooperative roguelike for up to 4 players. The art style is a solid 10/10, but the gameplay it's also very impressive. Each character is very unique, and it’s one of the few games where I couldn’t pick a favorite, since all of them can be extremely useful in battle. You can find the game very cheap; the only downside I see is that the DLC (which only includes a new character and a few skins) is overpriced and even includes achievements…
Ignoring that last point, I think it’s a must-buy if you like roguelike games and also have friends to play with!
| April |
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| May |
|---|
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| June |
|---|
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| Bought Games 🛒 |
|---|
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Unrailed!
Ravenswatch
Remnant: From the Ashes
Ragnarock
Unholy Heights
Settlement Survival
Nice Day for Fishing
Train Station Renovation
Super Loco World - Cozy Train Automation
Mika and The Witch's Mountain
R.E.P.O.
|
| Won / Free / Trade / Present 🎁 |
|---|
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Immortal Hunters
Everholm
Two Point Museum
Prey
Slime Rancher 2
Total War: WARHAMMER III
Trombone Champ
Car Mechanic Simulator 2018
Turnip Boy Robs a Bank
Nordhold
PRAGMATA
Siege Survival: Gloria Victis
Happy's Humble Burger Farm
Eets
Everdream Village
Merge Hidden 合成寻物
Journey
ABZÛ
Devil May Cry 5
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Let's see if I can play even more this summer >:)
VERY OPTIMISTIC OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE YEAR
I've been at grind quite well in June and I feel good about this quarter.
Continuing the trend to do PoP, as that keeps me busy, I have a few game series I wanna sneak in this quarter.
One of the is Doom series, at least start with the first two and complete them, after that get to play Tomb Raider series and maybe conquer that as well.
Pragmata would also be highly on my radar since I've decided that my 3000 game would be a game I purchase and play right away. I exceeded that by 8 games already. Some I got from bundles, others got gifted and one for free, Speedball, which I completed last month.
I've got a few games I am excetied to continue as series too, like Bioshock 2, experience SOMA and play Baldur's Gate for the first time. Somebody told me about a BG2 mod that allows me to play the original in the 2nd engine, which would be nice.
JULY - SEPTEMBER 2026
| Unfinished | Beaten | Completed | Backlog+ | Library+ | Wishlisted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 2 | 0 | ⇑ 0 | ⇑ 0 | ⇓ 773 |
| Achievements | Games Completed (All-Time) | Average Completion Rate |
|---|---|---|
| ⇑ 18 | 328 | ⇑ 75.9% |
Yearly Challenge - Completed Games (26/30)
Completed this Quarter: 0
BEST SINGLEPLAYER THIS QUARTER
MOST EXCITING ADDITION
BEST MULTIPLAYER THIS QUARTER
WISH I PLAYED SOONER
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Cat Quest
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BioShock 2 Remastered
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Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition
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Beyond Blue
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SOMA
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Another Crab's Treasure
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DOOM + DOOM II
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Tomb Raider
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Oxenfree
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Half-Life 2
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Shop Titans
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Blanc
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Gungrave G.O.R.E
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FINAL FANTASY
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VVVVVV
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The Darkness II
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Dead Space
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TUNIC
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The Last of Us™ Part I
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Ghostrunner
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Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag
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Dishonored
-
Ghost of Tsushima DIRECTOR'S CUT
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DAVE THE DIVER
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Manor Lords
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Halls of Torment
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Borderlands GOTY Enhanced
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Yakuza Kiwami
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Monster Hunter Wilds
-
Dying Light
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Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition
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Wartales
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Assassin's Creed Valhalla
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Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen
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Rogue Legacy 2
-
State of Decay 2
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Balatro
-
Fallout 4 VR
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Battlefield™ 6
SCHEDULED
IN PROGRESS
BEATEN
TRIAL/DEMO
PAUSED
1 backlog, 100 visual novels
so… i really like visual novels. and as most people on this site, i often bite more than i can chew when it comes to buying games. combining these two facts, i have accumulated a large amount of unread VNs. i knew this, but i didn’t know the exact number, or how bad it truly got. i only figured this out recently, while making a steam collection for pending VNs. the grand total amounted to around 100, and i thought, “damn, i really need to get to reading”. so here we are, logging progress on BLAEO!
The List
this is the starting list of 100 VNs. note that a small amount of them aren’t on Steam, they’re Switch exclusives
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2064: Read Only Memories
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7'scarlet
-
Blackberry Honey
-
Blankspace
-
CAFE 0 ~The Drowned Mermaid~
-
Chasing Tails -A Promise in the Snow-
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Crypterion
-
The Fairy's Song
-
Fatal Twelve
-
Femboys of the Phalanx
0 hours playtime
no achievements
-
Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds
-
Hakuoki: Edo Blossoms
-
Hashihime of the Old Book Town
-
Highway Blossoms
-
The Imperial Capital Burns - Muv-Luv Alternative Total Eclipse
-
Japanese School Life
-
KARAKARA
-
KARAKARA2
0 hours playtime
no achievements
-
Kindred Spirits on the Roof
0 hours playtime
no achievements
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A Kiss For The Petals - Remembering How We Met
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The Letter
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Leveling up girls in another world
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Lilycle Rainbow Stage!!!
0 hours playtime
no achievements
-
LINGERING
-
Lovingly Evil
-
Lucy Got Problems
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Memory's Dogma CODE:01
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Muv-Luv
-
Muv-Luv Alternative
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Muv-Luv Alternative Total Eclipse
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Muv-Luv photonflowers*
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Muv-Luv photonmelodies♮
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My Girlfriend’s Special Place
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My Vow to My Liege
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Ne no Kami - The Two Princess Knights of Kyoto
0 hours playtime
no achievements
-
Ne no Kami - The Two Princess Knights of Kyoto Part 2
0 hours playtime
no achievements
-
NEKOPARA Extra
-
NEKOPARA Vol. 2
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NEKOPARA Vol. 3
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NEKOPARA Vol. 4
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Nie No Hakoniwa - Dollhouse of Offerings
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Night Cascades
-
Nightshade
-
Ninja Girl and the Mysterious Army of Urban Legend Monsters! ~Hunt of the Headless Horseman~
0 hours playtime
no achievements
-
Omni Link
-
OshiRabu: Waifus Over Husbandos
0 hours playtime
no achievements
-
Our Fate Forsaken
-
Our World Is Ended.
-
Perfect Gold
-
Please Be Happy
-
Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly
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Red Embrace
-
Saku Saku: Love Blooms with the Cherry Blossoms
0 hours playtime
no achievements
-
Sakura Agent
-
Sakura Alien
-
Sakura Alien 2
-
Sakura Bunny Girls
0 hours playtime
no achievements
-
Sakura Forest Girls
-
Sakura Forest Girls 2
-
Sakura Forest Girls 3
-
Sakura Gamer 2
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Sakura Gym Girls
-
Sakura Knight
-
Sakura Knight 2
-
Sakura Knight 3
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Sakura Melody
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Sakura MMO
-
Sakura MMO 2
-
Sakura MMO 3
-
Sakura MMO Extra
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Sakura Nova
-
Sakura Space
0 hours playtime
no achievements
-
Sakura Succubus
-
Sakura Succubus 2
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Sakura Succubus 3
-
Sakura Succubus 4
-
Sakura Succubus 5
-
Sakura Succubus 6
-
Sakura Succubus 7
-
Sakura Succubus 8
-
Sakura Swim Club
0 hours playtime
no achievements
-
SeaBed
-
Sky in your eyes
-
Spirit Hunter: Death Mark
-
Spirit Hunter: NG
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STEINS;GATE
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Summer With You
-
sweet pool
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The Symbiant
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[TDA00] Muv-Luv Unlimited: THE DAY AFTER - Episode 00 REMASTERED
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[TDA01] Muv-Luv Unlimited: THE DAY AFTER - Episode 01 REMASTERED
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[TDA02] Muv-Luv Unlimited: THE DAY AFTER - Episode 02 REMASTERED
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[TDA03] Muv-Luv Unlimited: THE DAY AFTER - Episode 03 REMASTERED
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Tokyo Onmyoji -The Tale of Rei Tengenjibashi-
0 hours playtime
no achievements
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We Know the Devil
-
Winter With You
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夢游仙境ロマネスク: Chronicles of Refugia
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Collar X Malice
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Cupid Parasite
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Paradigm Paradox
and that’s 100! (there’s actually a handful more i didn’t list….). the idea is to report back at the start of each month with progress made within this list. i thought it could be a fun “challenge”! the objective isn’t to clear the entire list, as i feel like that would be unrealistic, but i would at least like to get it down to 50, for a start. after that, we’ll see! i will have probably obtained a bunch of new novels by then…. ahahah…..
and with this, i shall return next month to report on progress! until then, see ya and have a good backlog hunt! 💛
June 2026
Actually managed to post semi on time. Of course despite that victory I have fallen to the ways of the Summer Sale (and still have a chance to do even more damage). Well, like the nihilist said on their death bed, “Here goes nothing.”
Bionic Commando Rearmed
A classic game remade with fresh 3D graphics. Had a bit of trouble reading my gamepad and some of the interfacing feels weird. Controls are extra weird and had to acclimate to the button layout each time I booted it up (sometimes even between missions). I actually really REALLY dislike the controls. Moving while swinging or hanging from your arm automatically makes you jump (rather than a direction and input like other games). Cycling through weapons is a pain not to mention I only found a use for a few.
It is a classic game so it does come with classic difficulty. I.e. you die quickly, jumps need to be pretty accurate, limited lives, and pits mean death. The hacking game was actually pretty fun although feels limited in it’s variety. Bosses are gimmicky which is fun but then you realize there’s only a few types of bosses and they reuse them with only slightly different variations. Final boss was a bit of a letdown and lacked challenge or uniqueness.
At it’s base it is a third person RPG that feels a bit like the Witcher or an early Bioware game in how it allows multiple combat options instead of being restricted to a single class, companion choices, and moral choices that effect your path and end. HOWEVER, it doesn’t move much past the base and feels more like a structure that was meant to be built on much more.
Graphics are pretty poor given it’s release time and lacks any sense of style. Most scenery and creature/person designs are flat and bland. Combat is clunky while animations and dialogue are a slog. Skill trees lack diversity or interesting/good skills. Armor is a letdown as it does very little relying more on dodging and parrying. You get a wide array of fire based spells but again it seemed like only a few were worth investment. Side quests are not only basic but easily missable as the game almost expects you to frequently talk to NPCs hoping they spring a quest on. Is it too much to ask for proper quest indicators? It’s laughable how there are only about 3 “main” hub areas with smaller surrounding dungeon-ish areas for you to actually fight monsters and do quests. The final area feeling particularly small as you reach an end to your abrupt journey. Companions lack much to say despite the game suggesting you talk with them frequently to increase companionship and often have the depth or interest of a piece of blank paper.
Ultimately, this game needs much more work and time to make an interesting game out of. As it is, it’s a short bland journey with little going for it. For it’s price, particularly discounted I suppose it’s not terrible but definitely worth spending several dollars more for a better game in the genre.
Nice little island adventure filled with boss fights. More of the same but you do get the chance to play as Ms. Chalice. Unfortunately to do so you do need to use up an equipment slot, but given her abilities it’s a bit of a fair trade. Not sure it’s entirely worth it’s full price.
For the most part it is more classic KoF but one thing really irks me about this… WHERE IS THE MUSIC?!! Most stages and fights have no music and rely on sort of ambient sound and does it make you realize fighting games NEED some sort of consistent OST. As always, great pixel work. This copy allows for online fights and gallery view but sadly does not have an actual practice mode. Though the gameplay is solid, there is technically better games in the series around this time particularly that with actual music but if you are sweeping up the series not too terrible to add. A semi-reluctant positive review. Last few achievements require online play, so unless I rig it with another person… it's not happening.
Preferred Fighters/Team: Terry Bogard, Blue Marry, Mai, Benimaru
Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
1
1
4
56
Given this was a more character action focused game I was expecting to like this game a lot more than I did. Don’t get me wrong I LIKED it but it doesn’t stand out nearly as much as it should have given it’s premise. For starters this is the first Majima-only game. Additionally, we are also pirates. It should be mentioned now but this game reuses A LOT of assets from Like A Dragon 8, so be prepared to encounter a lot of the same enemies, characters, mechanics (not including turn based combat), and mini-games.
That’s right we get to go wild with the Mad Dog himself and with him we get far more combat options, a new style, and aerial combat. This does break away from the mostly straight forward beat-em-up style combat from most of the other series. Unfortunately, the combat still feels limited and most of all… clunky. This is partly due to the fact that the jump, run, and use button are all bound to the x/cross often creating awkward moments as you are trying to do any one of these things. There also felt to be considerable delay when trying to do any action making interactions feel awkward. Despite all of this newness, the heat actions also feel particularly stifled with extremely area specific uses, one of which requires an item you will almost never run into. The new pirate style is fun especially once you start getting more skills and abilities, many of which inherit aspects from Ichiban’s journey.
The story is fine as it ultimately does not go nearly as crazy as it’s concept would imply. After all we are supposed to be freaking pirates, this should be an especially grand adventure. Unfortunately it is fairly stifled as it runs a lot of the same Crime Drama beats as any other Yakuza. Even somewhat more stifling is that this isn’t really Majima’s journey but more him assisting Noah, a child that helps him when he first washes ashore, to have a chance to explore and get away from his poor island. Some familiar faces with a lot of newer forgettable ones. A lot of this game is extremely small dungeon islands, a revisit to LaD’s Honolulu area, and a couple other smaller hub islands in which to engage in story, battles, and mini-games.
Ships and mini-games. Mini-games, again, are largely reused from the previous title(s) with some added flair and objectives. The more new mini-games include Goro Goro Kitchen which have you do a few repeat tasks to make food for yourself and/or others. It gets a bit repetitive especially with how annoying it is to gather ingredients and for the most part you don’t really need to cook with how easy it is to get items. The other is Bang Bang batting which basically serves as a replacement to the batting center. Ship battles are pretty decent once you get the hang of the drifting and how battles work with the right equipment but does lose it’s appeal pretty fast. This is largely due to how frequent you can run into encounters and how absolutely sluggish the sailing actually feels. I mean it just feels so SLOW trying to get between islands and it certainly doesn’t look like you have any speed. Luckily you can unlock fast travel points but that does feel like it defeats a bit of the purpose for the sailing journey, ya know?
Ultimately it’s still an enjoyable game but fails to improve on any previous games failings or allow itself to go truly crazy. Like, why are so many interactions piece meal? Why do I have to craft items individually instead of being able to craft multiple copies at once? Why is gathering items just the absolute worse??? Also, though I did platinum the game, there are still some in game challenges I want to finish out for the hard clear.
Nioh DLC
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2
10
58
I dropped the base game for years until I finally took it upon myself to finish and complete the base content. Having generally enjoyed my journey I then waited years for the DLC to go on sale so I can fully complete the first game in it’s entirety. Boy oh boy is that going to be at task because the DLC is just stuck at max difficulty. Each DLC has 2-3 story missions with some side missions, new weapon types, and new spirit guardians. These stories link together so you should play them in order.
Dragon of the North - Feels more of the same of the base game. A lot of levels feel pretty generic and enemy diversity is pretty low. Odachi is a powerful but slow new weapon type that likes to switch between high and low stance. Bosses are incredibly rude with small spaces. One of the last bosses was pretty fun though and reminded me a lot of a Soul Calibur type character.
Defiant Honour - Much more interesting DLC as we get fun trench based levels amidst an ongoing battlefield. Though the environmentals can be a bit annoying it is such a breath of fresh air compared to Dragon of the North. Tonfa are pretty fun as they are fast and seem to excel in breaking guard while still maintaining some power. Bosses feel a little more balanced though this is in part due to the fact that the arenas allow you a little more cheese potential but at least is unique in it’s design.
Bloodshed’s End - This reminded me a LOT of the endgame of the base story (I think it literally takes place in the same castle). For the most part is good and even allows you to fight alongside notable NPC companions. However, the final boss is mad easy meanwhile the side content is some of the hardest challenges you’ll face without properly grinding. The finale does make me wish more was fleshed out in this DLC trilogy considering it is meant to be the final chapter and last we’ll see of most if not all characters.
I’m currently settling for just beating them once through but once I get the spirit back up I’ll go back for the grind that is required to get everything done.
Other Games
Lucy Got Problems - Beaten -> Completed
Steam Review
Jul 03 2026
RobbyRatpoison's June 2026 BLAEO Review
It’s been nearly a full year of my monthly recaps. I’ve made a lot of progress on my backlog, though it is still quite large. I’ve used BLAEO for nearly 8 years now and still have not have my Steam group membership approved. I was hoping that making posts on the website might help with that, but it seems I was mistaken. Other people seem to be waiting too, I suppose the group is no longer accepting new users. Oh well!
Sticky Business is a cute game, not really “fun” but it was an interesting experience. Would’ve gotten the 100% quicker if I understood the rewards system better. Need to make new stickers to get more hearts because they get maxxed out. Tinykin is a great 3D platformer / collectathon. Nice world, nice physics. I just wish there was a straight-forward way to find missing Tinykin and pollen. I tried to be thorough but I didn’t manage to get everything, and even after revisiting the previous levels I couldn’t find all of the missing collectibles. Another game I got 100% in is Hyper Gunsport which is a cool sport-type game, supposedly similar to Lethal League. Most of the battles were easy but some of them took dozens of attempts and pissed me off. I liked the characters and the gameplay was more fun than I expected. Stunt Kite Party might be fun for kids but not for adults (or at least not fun for me). Easy to beat, a couple difficult achievements, a few grindy achievements, but I managed to get 100% of them eventually. Would’ve been quicker if I crashed more early on, I probably spent at least 30 minutes at the end just crashing on purpose to get to 1000 crashes. Monument Valley 3 is another great installment in the series. Nice art and sounds, simple controls, but mind bending puzzles. A lot of times I resort to guides when puzzle games get too hard but I didn’t have to resort to that here. I did look up a guide for a couple of non-puzzle related achievements but I did all the challenging stuff on my own and got another 100%. Super Wiloo Demake was kind of bad but not terrible. 2D platformer, different costumes with different abilities. Three of the achievements were broken so I used a workaround to unlock those, but I did earn the 100% truly. Hotshot Racing is super easy on easy mode and super tough on the highest difficulty. Didn’t manage 100% on this one but I got gold medals in all of the Grand Prix on at least easy mode. Does that count as beaten? Who knows! bobo robot was a fun Sokpop game. I managed to softlock myself a couple times but it was a nice little adventure. Tip: if you’re on a gamepad, you have to hold B / (Circle) to use the wrench. The game doesn’t explain this properly. Speedrun in under 10 minutes was tough but doable, and a rewarding conclusion for this 100%. Sokfest was another Sokpop game, ended up feeling mixed about it but still went for 100%. Had to look up a guide for some stuff and it was kind of tedious but I liked the idea behind this epic crossover episode. Himno was just… open-ended? It’s a 2D platformer with little direction and no conclusion. Achievements for 5000 jumps and 2500 dashes were nowhere near finished when I was done with the other achievements, so I used a macro to just jump and dash automatically and got the final achievements for 100%. Telltale Texas Hold’em is just cards with some game characters, no achievements, just beat the tournament and listen to the characters gab with each other. Replica is a tough one, that’s all I’ll say. Townscaper was not a game in my opinion. Maybe if there were achievements I would’ve had some sort of concrete goal, but I just kind of messed around for a while. Space Captain McCallery - Episode 1: Crash Landing was one of the worst 3D platformers I’ve played in a long time. I dug the artstyle but the gameplay was very lackluster. Mekabolt was fun but too short. They kept adding new mechanics and I thought they could’ve made a lot more levels that utilized the mechanics in new interesting ways. And I got 100% achievements when the game was like 3/4 finished which was quite bizarre, but I kept going and got all of the “extra” stuff anyways. Superflight was a game I returned to after over 8 years and finally got 100%. Most stuff was easy. Two achievements were difficult (but they are both acquired at the same time with a singular difficult task) and four achievements were just an easy grind. Grey Scout was a cool Sokpop game, gotta save some folk without getting caught. Simple game, I enjoyed it. SUMMERHOUSE is a unique game, gotta unlock new tiles by combining other tiles in specific ways. There are no instructions for how to do this, no idea how somebody is expected to get 100% on this without a guide. Unreasonable lack of clarity. Mushroom Cats is just a hidden cats game, but one of the lowest quality ones in my opinion. Final game was sok-worlds, another Sokpop game. You basically turn pictures into static objects and create levels with them, and/or play levels created by other users. I found one half-decent world but the others I tried were crap, YMMV. That’s it for another month!
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Sticky Business
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Tinykin
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Hyper Gunsport
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Stunt Kite Party
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Monument Valley 3
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Super Wiloo Demake
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Hotshot Racing
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Tabletop Playground
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Sokpop S06: bobo robot
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Sokfest
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Himno
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Telltale Texas Hold'Em
2.1 hours playtime
no achievements
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Replica
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Townscaper
1.2 hours playtime
no achievements
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Space Captain McCallery - Episode 1: Crash Landing
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Mekabolt
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Superflight
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Sokpop S09: Grey Scout
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SUMMERHOUSE
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Mushroom Cats
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Sokpop S07: sok-worlds
March April May June 2026
Completed or Beaten
A Game About Digging A Hole™
6.0 hours, 10 of 10 achievements
Wattam
6.1 hours, 36 of 36 achievements
The Room
2.3 hours, 5 of 5 achievements
Beholder 2
12.5 hours, 36 of 52 achievements
Barely managed to beat the game due to bugs. Will not likely return to work on more achievements.
Played or Progress Made
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Old World
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Dungeons of Hinterberg
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Middle-earth™: Shadow of Mordor™
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Wingspan
Added
Bar of Shame
SG Only
Definitely acquiring more than I have time to play…..I don’t have a problem, you have a problem