Update: August 28
Good News
I’ve continued to make solid progress towards destroying my backlog

Bad News
I still haven’t found time / ability to beautify my profile much. Also, I feel like I am a little “behind”, particularly in regards to playing Grim Legends 2, which I told someone I would be playing last week, but which it looks like I will play tomorrow or Wednesday.

So… my progress…

2064: Read Only Memories

This was a Steam Gifts win I was really excited about. I truly enjoy point and clicks, and they also hold a special nostalgic place in my heart. This really felt like an upgraded NES or DOS point and click, which I consider a win. Generally loved the art style and colors, and the music was amazing. The robot sidekick / main character (depending on how you look at it), Turing, was incredibly charming and well-written. Many of the other characters were great as well, and there were many fun, quirky moments.

However, I honestly found this game to be somewhat of a disappointment. There seemed to be fewer choices and/or puzzles than most point and clicks, with much much more monologues by various characters. And honestly, half the time I really didn’t care what many of them had to say (at least at the length they chose to go on about it). It felt more like a visual novel in some respects than a point and click adventure at times. The clues / leads in the game’s detective mystery really don’t go anywhere, leaving the player little to ponder over. Nor does the game seriously explore the complexities of a reality where there is the possibility for sapient robots, genetic splicing, and cybernetic enhancements. The game sacrifices both the detective story and the possibility for true, complex philosophical quandaries in favor of setting up straw men for the writer to knock down while trumpeting his own political / philosophical views.

There is even one point near the end where the player may be questioning the ethics of unleashing sapient robots on the world for any number of good reasons. However, if the player fails to endorse said plan, Turing overrules you, despite his previous claims that you are in it together (and the better game design choice to let the player actually be able to make choices.)

3/4 of the way through and I was asking, “Is it over yet?” I did beat the game, and I have 61% of the achievements. I’ll probably go back next weekend (or perhaps further in the future) to collect the rest. There’s one achievement in particular that calls for playing through the whole game in one sitting that will take all day someday.

Letter Quest: Grimm’s Journey

Finished the grind to 100%ing this. Not much to say in terms of review. Straight-forward word-formation type game with a few twists in the forms of power ups and RPG elements. Good casual fun for a short time, but was getting a bit old by the end, just because it was so repetitive and had next to zero story whatsoever.

The Silent Age

Another Steam Gifts win. Although I expected this to be pretty good, this one exceeded my expectations. It was full of pretty clever puzzles and a story that kept me engaged right up to the end. I would have played it straight through had I not had to take a break for lunch at one point. The game is beautiful as well.

100%-ed this one as well.

Back to the Future: The Game

An old bundle game (Indie Royale I think?) Although it really felt like a Back to the Future movie come to life as a game (a huge plus), the puzzles were often rather obtuse, even worse than what I was describing in Grim Legends last week. It didn’t help that the game seemed to expect certain dialogue and events to happen in certain orders, and if you failed to do it just so, you might have to really struggle to get the necessary event to trigger so you could progress. I had to make liberal use of the in-game hint mechanic, and even referred to a walkthrough at one point.

Likewise, the story was a mixed bag. While the characters and voice-acting were great, and it really felt like a Back to the Future movie to me (cannot emphasize that enough), it suffered a problem I’ve seen in many movies / games (including 2064: ROM above). Part of the story’s message clearly is that people’s free will should be respected. However, at the same time, Marty (and to a lesser extent Doc) have an idea about how the past, present, and future “should” be. They will go out of their way to circumvent free choice in order that things play out how they “should”, and even in some cases to lead things to be better for themselves or their family and friends. Meanwhile, if the timeline is altered in other ways (by accident, by other characters, or in a way that makes things worse for themselves) or if free choice is being impinged upon (e.g. by someone ELSE manipulating feelings) it’s “bad”. It’s self-serving hypocrisy that never is adequately addressed, and is unfortunately rampant in many modern writers’ stories.

Despite that, this game managed to still be rather fun since, again, it feels like a Back to the Future movie, and the political / philosophical questions are overshadowed by the time-travel, mysteries, puzzles, etc.

Completed.

Flix and Chill

Not going to write much here. I think most of you know this recent bundle game and the other junk that came from this publisher. Still, it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. Some mildly funny moments on the one hand. Some horribly clunky mini games on the other. Kind of cute though, and fortunately went by fast.

100% - ed this one as well.

Luke Sidewalker

Another from the same publisher as Flix and Chill. 100%-ed this in a half hour. Now just need to idle for cards at some point. Still, a half hour felt like too long to spend with this game (constantly bumping into people while trying to move forward is irritating).

Games I Started

Also this week I played around with SimplePlanes and Lethal League, both Steam Gifts wins. Enjoyed both of them, although I was disappointed with the controls in SimplePlanes. I’m not sure if I can tweak them to make them less sensitive or not. Still, there’s a lot to do, from designing planes to trying out other players’ designs to racing to combat. Had fun in the hour or so I spent with it. Lethal League was about what I expected. Unusual, but fairly simple, fighting game. It is fun in small doses but would get old if played too much I think (at least to my taste).

Both of these games I expect to play in short bursts off and on in the coming months, whenever the mood strikes or when I want something kind of casual just to mess around in.

I also tried to play Red Risk, a game someone gave me directly, but unfortunately it doesn’t run all that well on my computer. Will have to try it in the future sometime.

Games I Continued

I’m still grinding Awesomenauts, and I also spent a lot of time working on Megamagic: Wizards of the Neon Age. The latter I really, really wanted to love because of the art / idea / story behind it, as well as the AMAZING music, but unfortunately the gameplay has kind of let me down, and now I’m not even sure if I will be able to beat it without downgrading the difficulty. It’s that hard at times, with controls that are that difficult (also, I’m not the best micromanager of summons in games). I set it aside temporarily to calm down a bit. Will try again later this week, or perhaps next weekend.

Future

Will be continuing Awesomeanuts and Megamagic. I plan to start Left in the Dark: No One on Board (SteamGifts win) and The Wolf Among Us today, and Grim Legends 2 tomorrow or Wednesday. I also anticipate starting Victor Vran this week. I’m sure I’ll play at least a couple more small-medium games besides those.

Also will be posting again later today with a notes on my goals for the remainder of the year and a clearer idea what games I have in mind for the near future. Also, maybe will do something about beautifying my profile.

Thanks for reading.