Hello friends! How is your life going? For me it seems only work and sleep… Work and worry… Looking forward to be able to play some more in next weeks :).
Anyway, I took another close look to the challenge list, and started thinking in if I really want to play some of the games… The answer is no, so I will be putting those in red, and expect to have those increase over time. It’s liberating to accept that I made some poor purchasing choices in the past, and that i’m not gonna fall to the sunk cost phallacy again. I aim to finish at least 60 of the 100 games, which should be fairly achievable, not so many poor games anymore in my backlog :)
So, here is a quick resume of the best in this month, I will not list every game, since I don’t want to bore you…
Let's start with the best! Celeste is an incredibly good platformer. Hard as nails, offers a good challenge, that the game really wants you to win over, cheering you up, straight up telling you that you can pass this test, that you can climb that damn mountain. Story is simple, yet a powerful and important message is conveyed within. Level design is magistral, with varied and fun different areas, and controls are completely tight. If you die, it never feels unfair, which is a common problem in platformers. Also respawn is almost inmediate, and platforming comes into small areas that work as confined spaces, so game is constantly saving your progress, which helps a lot with the usual tedium of repeating large areas of a level. (I'm watching at you, hollow knight ¬¬)
I did not delve much into the B and C sides, which are even harder levels, since they are really difficult and I was here for the story and those levels already offer a sometimes harsh level of difficulty.
Overall, it's difficult for me to say something bad about this game, since it also comes from a small team, and I think they made a beautiful game. Very recommended.
First of all, I think this game is a bit overrated, I think it was very good, but not the "Instant cult game of epicness" I heard it was since years ago. It's a beautiful walking simulator with decent gameplay for the genre, but what is truly amazing is the not so obvious theme behind the game. I cannot say more without spoiling, so I will leave it here. I'd recommend it only for a fair price, since it's very short, around 2 hours only.
This is a game aimed for younger people. And it's a very good for that, with a very interesting taking in how to cope with depression and feeling of lose, which are so important to understand. Art is gorgeous, bosses sing like if it was a musical, and overall is a very charming experience. The downsides are that being your younger audience, game is quite easy and mechanics are not very complex. Good game for the intended audience, and enjoyable for all if you have reasonable expectations.
This game has a genius concept, but it's one so niche that it's very hard to recommend. You get a simple single task, wait for 400 days for the reawakening of your king. 400 days of real time. There are ways to get time flow faster, while you keep your charming character entertained. There are secrets to uncover, places to see. I will say no further, for this game is a journey in itself. It's slow, deliberately and utterly slow, the shadow moves at snail pace, every single action is slow, since one of the purposes of the game is to make you think about time itself, to make a pause in our lives and reflect in ourselves.
Gameplay is very limited, as it's fitting for a game like this. For me it was very satisfying to reach it's conclussion, but really, it's not for everyone.
Now for my biggest deception this year so far…
I wanted to like this game more. Art is incredible, and lore it's amazing. Enemy, bosses and background design are really good, but it has several big problems for me in a metroidvania, like the horrible level design, bland combat, cheap instakill traps and lack of movement skills and upgrades. But biggest problem of all, which is what made me uninstall it, it's the cardinal sin for games for me:
IT DOES NOT RESPECT PLAYER'S TIME. Every time I died, fair or not, I needed to backtrack from the last save point, which is always too far away from you. This problem exists in other games like Hollow knight, but in that game you can move faster and cover great area in a short time. In Blasphemous you are always sluggish, and controls are not as good. Overall, I think this is a good game, but I cannot tolerate it wasting my time every time I fall into a spike pit I cannot even see before falling down. I don't have time for that, but I think other people will enjoy it greatly.
That is all for today, enjoy gaming, see you all guys around : )
Hey! Life’s been busy, I had (and still have) quite a lot of work to do for …. work. Sounds like you know what I’m talking about.
Yeah, sometimes a game is just not right for the moment. The good thing is, if one ever changes their mind, it’s quickly colored in another color than red :)
I’ve heard a lot of good things about Celeste, but damn does it look challenging. Definitely not up my alley, although I can understand its appeal. Thanks for Journey review, I too noticed the almost cult-like following the game gathered. It’s pleasing to hear another voice, notwithstanding it might still be very good game. I’ve watched a bit of The Longing’s gameplay some weeks ago and yeah…I think it’s really a special kind of game!
I see you are also busy with work! I feel you. Yeah, now it’s a very difficult situation in industry, unfortunately, so a lot of overwork :_(. I agree about the games, I might try to recover some of them in the future, but that’s not a priority, since I keep getting new shiny games!! I usually don’t like harder games that much, but Celeste is really well balanced in the story levels. About the longing, it really is special, and weird, but I loved it. :)
I hope we’ll have the chance for more free time soon, see you around, and thanks for the reply, it always feel great to comment about games! :)
True, let’s hope for some more free time! I have a deadline next monday and after that I hope it’s going to be bit more relaxed for a few weeks! Hope you have enough time as well. Looking forward to your next post :)