OK, an update!
It’s a loooong time since I’ve posted a text update, but I’ve been updating my BLAEO account through the past year. As usual, I’ve fallen into bundle-gathering ways, and indulged in some new games, but that unplayed percentage is (slowly) getting smaller. I’ve left it so long that most of these will be a quick list, but I’ll highlight some of my favourites.
Sorcery! - Nostalgia for a childhood spent re-reading an old Lone Wolf book. Nicely recreated.
Say NO! More - Weird little game that I loved (especially the crocodile.)
Whispers of a Machine - Beautiful design and art; story didn’t grab me as much as I’d hoped.
New Tales from the Borderlands - New entry in a game universe I’m obsessed with. Mixed feelings about it.
Opus: Rocket of Whispers - Picked this up long ago (probably in a bundle?) and went in with few expectations. Surprised by a story full of thwarted hopes that went right to my heart. More to play in this series now.
Press Any Button - got emotional about a computer.
Mind Scanners - Enjoyed the style and storytelling in this curious scifi game.
Unpacking - The way this game uses its mechanics to tell a story and immerse the player in a sense of places and things and belonging… I loved it.
Deep Sky Derelicts - I got so much enjoyment from this little Mignola-looking scifi deckbuilder. Simple in some ways, but the idea of the hulking ships and risky jaunts really hooked me.
Stray - Nice scifi short, but wish I hadn’t let myself get so hyped for it. Made me really, really motion sick every second I played it!
Return of the Obra Dinn - Absolutely hooked me from beginning to end. No time pressure, just a giant spooky logic problem that had me making notes on people’s socks. Creepy story. Great audio. Beautiful.
Sally Face - Short horror that I meant to play for ages and finally checked out the story.
Alex Hunter: Lord of the Mind - I have so many hidden object type games in my backlog from bundle-hoarding. This wasn’t a particular favourite, but decent enough.
Inscryption - Totally hooked me during the time I was playing it. Much more than I was expecting.
Psycho Train - More hidden object that I’d abandoned previously after running into problems. Got through it this time, and enjoyed the replay.
Queen’s Quest 2 - Hidden object again. Not really one that interested me, but passed some time finishing off the story I’d started.
NORCO - beautiful, and some top notch storytelling and scifi. Wasn’t sure how I felt about it by the end. Revived my hunger for point and click storytelling.
Outer Wilds - I saw a video that told me to stop watching and go and play Outer Wilds spoiler free. Did so. Had one of my most amazing gaming experiences. Spent weeks afterwards watching other people have that experience on stream to re-live the emotional journey.
Citizen Sleeper - The themes of this game are so up my street I can’t even say, and I’m rubbing my hands in anticipation for the next game.
The Pale Beyond - I bought this thinking it looked like The Terror Simulator, and it sort of is, but I wasn’t expecting to get so invested.
Monster Camp - Got in a bundle and not really my thing, but I enjoyed the artwork.
The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante - Caused a variety of sufferings to Sir Brante.
Eternal Threads - OK, this game had some pretty impossible competition given some of the games I played this year, but I enjoyed it all the same.
Cave Crawler - Short VHS-tape-like experience about being a little robot in a creepy cave.
Still There - I love games about figuring out how to make things work. This one reminded me a bit of Tartarus, but more point and click.
Iron Lung - Simple game with shedloads of atmosphere. Loved every horrifying minute.
Mutazione - Quirky and characterful.
Knights of Pen and Paper II - old bundle title that was enjoyable enough.
Hypnospace Outlaw - this game about an alternate-history sleep-based internet recreates the feel of the Geocities-era web more than anything I’ve ever seen. In theory a little bit like Orwell, but so much more immersive and absolutely full of character. I really loved this one.
In Other Waters - fiddly interface, but lovely and delicate little scifi story.
Orwell: Ignorance is Strength - Hypnospace Outlaw ruined this sequel for me - it couldn’t live up to how much I enjoyed that game!
Where the Water Tastes Like Wine - clunky controls at times, but really lovely and unusual game about people telling stories.
Detroit: Become Human - I’d heard this game dealt clumsily with real-life themes, but wasn’t ready for how much so. In theory full of themes I love, but turned out not to be for me.
Assemble With Care - Nice enough, but I felt like I was meant to be playing on a tablet.
The Little Acre - odd little point-and-click. Loved all the animation, despite the story not quick sticking for me.
Love Thyself - super short game spinning off… Endless Space? Can be a dating sim, though I just played it as a weird little story. Free. Good. Amusing.
The Murder of Sonic The Hedgehog - carrying on the theme of free weird spin-off visual novel things. No idea why it exists, but it was fun.
Death Stranding - got it in a bundle, and went in just to give it a try. Absolutely loved the experience. It reminded me of playing Fallen Earth back in the day, but with a whole other layer of weirdness, solitary box-lugging, and pizza. Got completely attached to all the characters, silly stuff, and messed-up world, and now waiting like Oliver Twist for another helping.
Suzerain - Turns out I would not be good at uniting a political party, or staying alive while trying to do so. Enjoyed this a lot.
If Found - Beautiful short story about coming out, family, and some scifi twists I was’t expecting.
Sable - long part of my off-steam backlog, but I ended up getting it on steam too and using the momentum to start a new playthrough. I wanted more from the lore and background, but it’s a beautiful and atmospheric game.
Beecarbonize - free game about fighting climate change. Good.
We Know the Devil - unusual visual novel where the mechanic is choosing to include or exclude. Hard to say too much without spoiling, but really liked this one.
Divination - very short but intriguing scifi game about predicting the future. Warning for themes of suicide throughout this one. Fascinating mini-story.
Hardspace: Shipbreaker - got totally immersed in this to the point where it was quite therapeutic! Loved the gameplay, loved the little family of shipbreakers on the comms (albeit the protagonist is a silent one), and was fascinated by all the hints of AI in this setting. Would love to see more in this universe.
Rocket of Whispers: Prologue - played because I loved Rocket of Whispers, but this was incredibly buggy.
Boyfriend Dungeon - This was a bit ‘social pressure simulator pro’ to me, but I befriended a cat and hit a lot of things with swords.
Machine Heart - free, short, occasionally janky but also moving scifi short.
Batman: The Enemy Within - played a silent Batman who alienated everyone around him equally.
Transistor - Some haunting voice stuff in this. I’m glad when a game with a really interesting story makes it so terrible gamers like me can still play and fully enjoy it.
Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture - This captures the feel of a certain kind of small British place so well. Only thing that threw off my immersion was the odd bit of music, but the rest of the game really drew me in.
The Almost Gone - This game has a lot of sadness and bitterness in the story, and I found it hard to play on at times, but it was interesting.
The First Tree - on my backlog for ages, I never really found the things in this game that others seemed to find appealing. Not for me, but glad I persisted.
Phew, that’s a lot, but I’ve played some absolutely gorgeous games this year - some that will probably stick around in my favourite games of all time. Now back to the backlog.
Nice Progress!
Tales From the Borderlands is one of my favorite games but I haven’t played New Tales after reading the reviews. It’s sad because I’ve wanted a sequel to that game for so long. Also I’m so glad you liked Death Stranding. I know its a hit or miss game but I absolutely loved it. i went from stressed to finding it incredibly relaxing in no time.
I befriended a cat and hit a lot of things with swords.
Pocket was definitely the best part about the game. I didn’t care about the boyfriends. I just wanted to hang out with the cat :P
I’ve put down an order for Anthony Burch’s ‘Borderlands: Debt or Alive’ book which is out in March. Hoping it will be a good Tales read.
Wow, that’s quite an update, with lots of great games!
– Queen’s Quest 2: just a random older HOG…but I did play 1-4, so it couldn’t have been that bad, right?
– The Little Acre: fun little game I played with my kids when they were about 5 1/2.
– Rocket of Whispers: even though I enjoyed much of the gameplay, I just found the protagonist so unlikable. He was borderline abusive to the female protagonist. I just couldn’t stand thinking I was supposed to be him, so I started skipping cutscenes (which weren’t really gripping me anyway).
– Detroit: Become Human. I absolutely loved this game, as did both my kids (now 12), especially my daughter. I hadn’t read anything about the game when I traded for it and hadn’t really read any reviews, but it had really high Steam ratings (around 94%). What was so clumsy about it?
Thanks for the write-up!
Oh yeah, all those backlogged ones you have are a good play! Stray was a lovely story and setting to explore except it made me SO motion sick - I did get some improvement by turning off the auto camera and motion blur, as those seemed to make it worse when climbing up buildings etc. In the end I found a mod to make the game easier so that I could avoid certain movements, and that’s how I finished up the game. I think as with DBH below it was the laggy, bouncy feel of the camera that made me queasy. Hope you enjoy your time with the above!
Re Rocket of Whispers, I do agree about the very unsympathetic protagonist, and definitely found it rough having him as the perspective on the story. Despite that, I was completely hooked by the sense of longing and failed hopes and devastation. It felt so hopeless, which I will admit is not usually a recommendation in a game, but I felt so much while playing it. Even the resistance and anger of the main protagonist felt like it played into it - after everything, all the lost people’s hope is on this one guy who hates and resents them, and just wants it all to stop. Everything’s so full of grief. Guess I needed a real downer of a game!
Detroit: Become human was another game that gave me motion sickness, now I think of it, so maybe that is one other reason I wasn’t well disposed towards it. I have friends who enjoyed it, but it was not for me. I think my biggest problem with it was the way the game’s themes are translated into something gamified, that you can ‘win’ and ‘lose’ at in ways that felt off to me. I’m currently playing Sentience: The Android’s Tale, so let’s see how a different take on some connected themes goes.