July 2024 - Playing the Rest Through Relaxation

Games played this month

• Thomas Was Alone
  

  4 hours playtime

  35 of 35 achievements

• RISK: Global Domination
  

  6 hours playtime

  16 of 55 achievements

• THE GAME OF LIFE 2
  

  3 hours playtime

  2 of 10 achievements

• The Jackbox Party Pack 3
  

  83 minutes playtime

  5 of 20 achievements

• The Jackbox Party Pack 4
  

  15 hours playtime

  11 of 20 achievements

• Halo: The Master Chief Collection
  

  5 hours playtime

  10 of 700 achievements

• Yooka-Laylee
  

  45 minutes playtime

  4 of 35 achievements

Gameplay Summary

Though my total game time was average (about 10 hours for the month), I was able to make some great progress on my backlog. Between beating and completing multiple games and starting some new titles, I was able to play a variety of games while making actually beating progress. This luckily coincided with our first family vacation, so I had some time to play in our AirBnB while the family slept in. I had a blast with my gaming time this month.

Completed: Thomas Was Alone

This was a fun puzzle platformer I played but didn’t beat back when it was a Flash game. It was reasonably easy to complete, and I only missed a few achievements during my first playthrough. Thank God for level select. The narration was amazing, the platforming was occasionally challenging but forgiving, and the art was great even with the minimalist design. I have not yet beaten the bonus levels, but since I have all achievements, I am still going to consider this completed. Since this was almost completed during our vacation, I would say the vacation was well spent.

In Progress Completion: RISK: Global Domination

My friend, my brother, and I all played a round of this title while I was on vacation. I earned a couple new achievements, and we had a good time. This was one of the many games we played as a group during our visit on vacation.

Beaten: THE GAME OF LIFE 2

My mom and I played several rounds of Game of Life in the evenings over the past week. I feel a little weird marking it as beaten since I only have two achievements, but since one of the achievements is for getting first place, that falls in line with other games such as Civilization V which are considered beaten after getting first on one round. I still plan to play a lot more of this with her, so I hope to complete it by the end of the year. Review wise, the game is very well put together, and it gives a lot more choices for life than the original board game’s limited idea of what life looks like.

Beaten: The Jackbox Party Pack 3

This entry in the Jackbox series was a fun game to play, and I actually played it multiple times this month. The first time was when we were visiting my sister’s apartment during our vacation. We played Trivia Murder Party, which was definitely one of my favorite entries in the series. I still have a few achievements to get for that game, so hopefully I can earn those later, especially when we play for our October Virtual Happy Hour at work. The other game I played in this entry was Tee KO during our August Virtual Happy Hour at work. This one was also a fun entry. Some of the T-shirt designs were so good, I would be willing to buy them.

In Progress Completion: The Jackbox Party Pack 4

We briefly revisted this Jackbox title during my visit to my sister’s on vacation. My youngest sister wanted to play Fibbage: Enough About You, so we played a round of that title. There were some funny moments. No achievements were earned this time around, but it was still fun to revisit a nice title and get to know each other more.

In Progress: Halo: The Master Chief Collection

I literally only spent 15 minutes on Halo when I accidentally joined a random match while trying to see if we could do split screen multiplayer on a laptop. Apparently the PC version of Halo: TMCC does not support split screen, which was a let down. Surprisingly, I earned two new achievements in that short time, so I was happy about that. Eventually I will work through the campaigns, but that is for another time.

In Progress: Yooka-Laylee

I was very happy to start this title, which was selected for me as a Play or Pay (PoP) Long game. My brother bought it for me, and I put off playing it for a long time, but I’m glad I at least got started. The game absolutely reminds me of Banjo-Kazooie, which was a blast to play through during my childhood. It is similar, but it has some unique aspects that set it apart, like new game mechanics and modern references in the humor. Expect to hear more from me as I continue working on it in August.