HurrJackal1
  • Afterimage: I had to undervolt to get this to work - only game I’ve had this problem with, and not one I’d expect to need to given it’s a 2d game. It’s a good soulslike metroidvania, though a somewhat overlong one - the game just kept going and going. I completed the main endings, but not the New Game Plus one (a 5+ minute run back to a difficult boss is not fun). Lots of variation in combat styles available.
  • Chants of Sennaar: Stealth/Linguistics puzzle game. Very nice imagery - like a Mœbius graphic novel. The language puzzles were made easier by not only locking in terms when you matched them correctly, but giving the official translation (which in a couple of cases I was slightly off)
  • Mad Max: You can tell that this game was made by a people who really love the series - I wasn’t expecting it to be as good as it was. Side areas – and there were a lot of them – felt individual, though collectables have the usual Ubisoft/Warner/Rockstar problem (they could cut them by 40%, lose nothing except busywork, and make the collectables more meaningful). It could definitely use difficulty settings because combat is too easy and the snipers are almost never a threat. One achievement is no longer able to be completed because WBPlay went down - companies really should have a plan/patch ready for that. Bottom line: Strong recommend. (SG win)
  • The Legend of Tianding: Good combat, some soulslike/metroidvania elements, but it’s ultimately pretty linear. Bosses can be pretty difficult - I picked this up again this after previously bouncing off the final boss, lowered difficulty, and finished. (SG win)
  • The Bookwalker: Thief of Tales: Adventure/RPG game where you jump from the 3d real world into isometric worlds within books. The book worlds were interestingly weird and varied. In theory there’s some choices and consequences but it doesn’t feel like it mattered much.