September-December 2018

It’s been a while since my last post (September) and my gaming time was very reduced over the last couple of months but I just had to post before the end of 2018.

During this period I managed to beat 12 games, including 3 sgwins

• A Hat in Time
  

  13 hours playtime

  11 of 37 achievements

• Braveland
  

  5 hours playtime

  21 of 21 achievements

• Dead Cells
  

  32 hours playtime

  36 of 53 achievements

• The Dweller
  

  5 hours playtime

  11 of 11 achievements

• Glass Masquerade
  

  4 hours playtime

  27 of 30 achievements

• Heroes of Hammerwatch
  

  56 hours playtime

  20 of 47 achievements

• Juanito Arcade Mayhem
  

  6 hours playtime

  44 of 81 achievements

• Little Nightmares
  

  3 hours playtime

  8 of 22 achievements

• Marie's Room
  

  43 minutes playtime

  7 of 7 achievements

• The Metronomicon: Slay The Dance Floor
  

  5 hours playtime

  15 of 32 achievements

• Pocket Kingdom
  

  7 hours playtime

  16 of 16 achievements

• The Tiny Bang Story
  

  4 hours playtime

  no achievements

A Hat in Time - sgwin. A cute 3D platformer in which you play as a Kid, stranded in a alien planet after your spaceship lost all the time capsules that serve as fuel. You are tasked with retrieving the time capsules in order to return home. The game is colorful and has a nice setup but I found it to be a little too childish for my taste. Also, the 3D platforming is way too easy and poses little to no challenge. All in all I’m happy I have played it but I didn’t find it great.

Braveland - A casual turn based strategy game similar to the Heroes of Might & Magic series but too linear, too easy, and very short. There are way better games in the genre.

Dead Cells - A masterpiece. This is a great game in every aspect but it really shines in gameplay. It is a roguelike action platformer with a rewarding progression, varied enemies and loot, and great action (it actively encourages speedrunning). I also love the artstyle and setup. Totally recommended.

The Dweller - A short and casual puzzle game in which you play as a monster controlling a cave and you must kill/scare away a group of explorers dressed as Indiana Jones. The gameplay is simple yet fun, some levels require a little bit of thinking, and it doesn’t get boring.

Glass Masquerade - a nice jigsaw puzzle game that stands out from the rest because of the stained glass artstyle. Recommended.

Heroes of Hammerwatch - An enhanced version of Hammerwatch, a hack & slash adventure with varied enemies, locations, loot and characters to choose from. This new game adds a better progression system, a guild mechanism and a town that you can upgrade to improve your characters. Gameplay is great and, even though the game is built around multiplayer, I managed to beat it solo. Totally recommended.

Juanito Arcade Mayhem - An arcade game similar to Pang in which you must fight an alien invasion that corrupts all our favorite classic video games (Tetris, Donkey Kong, Pac man, Arkanoid, etc…). I had fun with this one. Recommended.

Little Nightmares - sgwin. A wonderful 2D scrolling adventure that takes inspiration from games such as Limbo. You play as a little boy that must escape a terrible place filled with his worst nightmares and sins. The artstyle is amazing, as is the setup and the level design. Gameplay can be a little fidgety at times and you character does not always control as it should but it does not detract from the experience. Totally recommended.

Marie’s Room - a short adventure/narrative experience that is technically competent but that lacks consistency and honesty. I particularly disliked the twist in the end and the way the narrator sometimes knows everything and other times acts as if she doesn’t know stuff she was involved in.

Metronomicon - sgwin. A rhythm role playing game. The world has been invaded by music yielding monsters and it is your job, as cadets from the dance combat school, to defeat them and prevent people from growing crazy. It is a fun game that doesn’t take itself too seriously with some nice music and a non standard gameplay. If you are into rhythm games, this one is worth playing.

Pocket Story - A really nice puzzle game in which you are trapped in a magic island and must complete challenges to find your way out. The game features nice pixel art and chiptune music, well designed puzzles, charming characters, good humor and I found it quite fun. Recommended.

The Tiny Bang Story - A well above average hidden object game with mild puzzle solving and an interesting adventure. Recommended if you like the genre.

2018 Final Report

2018 was a strange year for me gaming-wise and I found myself losing interest/not having enough time to play videogames as the year progressed. Being a father to a 3 year old girl also plays a major role in all of this.

Anyway, during this year I beat 51 games and enjoyed many of them. The highlights of the year were Hollow Knight, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, and Dead Cells.

Here’s a graph with my monthly “performance”.

I want to thank you all for the help with my backlog and I really appreciate our community. I will try to be a better backlog assassin next year and hopefully return to my monthly posts.

I wish you all a great 2019