January 2025 Progress Report
First report of 2025! Overall, a positive month ending on a depressing note. I played a lot of games (and gifts!) I got from Secret Santa and while I’m still scratching the surface; I’m fairly happy with the outcome and looking forward to the games next month… However I was given bad news today; one of my older dogs was acting strange and hiding around the house, so I took her to the vet where they let me know she has liver cirrhosis. She’s been on liver meds for years though as her numbers have always been a little wonky, but I’m trying to come to terms that she might not be here next month, and it’s throwing me off quite a bit.
I usually talk about next month’s game here but I’m not in the mood and I’m not sure how well I’ll do.
Total games added to backlog: 0
Total completed: 4
Play as Teuta, a sharp and intelligent journalist with a special ability arriving in New Sieg, a city full of crime, corruption, and hidden agendas! Investigating a morally grey lawyer named Limbo leads you to witnessing his murder, and in an attempt to stop it, Teuta uses her gift to turn back time immediately gaining his, and his friends, attention. Now entangled in the lives and secrets of five men, explore a new world full of danger, intrigue, and of course, romance!!!
15-40 hours to complete, BUSTAFELLOWS is an otome visual novel set in a noir-inspired world. There are 5 romanceable characters, each with their own distinct personality, backstory, and motivation. Fully voice acted with more adjustable voice options in settings and a significant amount of CGs, this game is already well worth playing. Something to note however, is that the story doesn’t end when your romance route does! Only by completing every route, can you read the other half of the novel; every route focuses on a separate part of the storyline and relates to that character’s background, and it’s worth playing through them all to tie up the loose ends and understand the full story. Highly recommended and I’m excited to read BUSTAFELLOWS 2!
Little Kitty, Big City
3-6 hours to complete, Little Kitty Big City is a wholesome adventure game that will take you on a heartwarming journey through a semi-open world area. As a very lost indoor cat trying to find their way home, encounter a variety of animals who will offer side-quests or assistance as you navigate through the busy streets.
There are many activities to discover, such as collecting and recycling cans, tripping and being pet by humans, finding many hats to wear, gathering “shinies” for a mischievous crow, and collecting feathers for a tanuki who’s figured out how spacetime works. Overall, a cute little adventure game that can be finished in one playthrough.
The Spirit and the Mouse
A thunderstorm approaches the small town of Sainte-et-Claire, knocking out most of its power and leaving electrical appliances malfunctioning! In an attempt to cheer people up, a small but determined mouse chooses to make a big difference. Gaining electrical powers after a fortunate accident and meeting Lumion, a guardian spirit, team up to restore light – and power – back to the residents.
4-6 hours to complete, The Spirit and the Mouse is a casual game with easy puzzles, a semi-open world, and collectibles. As an electric mouse, zip through power lines, collect static from metal objects, and discover light bulbs to obtain additional abilities such as a useful electric dash, a lightbulb locator, a photo mode, and maps of the four districts. Special note; The Spirit and The Mouse offers a colorblind mode and has a dedicated squeak button as well as fun hat apparel to wear. Overall, a warm, feel-good adventure that’s easy to recommend.
MAMIYA
Natsume dies… but he doesn’t exactly end up in heaven. Instead, he wakes up in an endless library and is assigned the job of a “Spectator.” His task is to read through countless books – each representing a unique universe – and select the “true end” among all its drafts and variations. But Natsume wasn’t supposed to have his memories intact after death, and he sure wasn’t supposed to get assigned the fate of his original world!
25-46 hours to complete, MAMIYA is a dark psychological horror mystery that I can’t and won’t recommend for a few reasons. The start of the novel focuses heavily on four characters engaging in self-harm, murder and suicide and I struggled to understand what the whole point of the novel was for about 9 hours. While it does get more coherent as you progress, it’s emotionally disturbing and a difficult read, especially if you are sensitive to themes of gender dysmorphia, mental distress, and acts of violence. Objectively, MAMIYA excels with its gorgeous art style and it’s well written, however, the overall bleakness of the story will make it hard for most people to stomach due to its graphic nature.
The most frustrating aspect however is the paywall. The base game only includes Episode 1 and 2, while the conclusion, Episode 3, is locked behind a $20 DLC. That means despite purchasing the full game, you’ll need to pay an additional fee just to experience the ending which feels both unfair and exploitative.
It’s been some time since I read an otome. Honestly BustaFellows looks nice, especially since it has voice acting and it can get really cheap (hope we’ll see that 95% discount again -_-). Nowadays I’m quite picky even for my wishlist but I felt this one deserves a place on that list.
Sorry about your doggo. :/
Hope you both had a good life with each other!
The controls are wonky but it’s def worth it, I’m picky about voice acting and I liked it enough, and if you don’t, you can mute that specific character’s voice, even the female leads.
I’ve had her for a long time, it’s just upsetting to suddenly hear I’m likely going to lose her so soon. I have two older dogs rn and if they pass close together it’s gonna be really rough. I was hoping they would both pass of old age, not something like a liver failing; but there isn’t much I can actually do about it.
That’s an interesting feature. I probably wouldn’t mute anything but it’s good to know.
Well, you cannot know, no one can. I know it’s hard to lose a pet since they become a part of the family. But death is part of this and it will come eventually. The best we can do is to cherish the moments we had. It would help if they had offspring because of the resemblance though.
Congratulations for your gaming this month! And I’m very sorry about your canine friend. However the end comes to all of us and our loved companions, what matters is that she had a good and happy life with you. And that’s what I wish both of you for the immediate future: much peace and serenity and that you make the most and cherish whatever wholesome time you have left together.
So far February is going ok, and thank you for your kind words.
I had fun with Little Kitty Big City as well. Such a nice game.
Very nice month of assassinations. I’m not really into otome, but I do like a good branching paths VN in general.
Sorry about your dog. I have a wolf hybrid who got very suddenly sick last year and lost her mobility overnight at that point. Got her to a vet and she did fully recover, but it was a tough stretch of time.
BUSTAFELLOWS was honestly pretty great, the only real complaint I had was the controls. I’m honestly just kinda shocked the whole 40 hour thing was completely voice acted, it’s worth getting if you wanna get into the story and ain’t too squeamish.
Thank you, I’m hoping Delilah takes well to the medications but I’m just grateful she’s having this issue near the end of her lifespan instead of when she was younger. Great Danes don’t live long, unfortunately. I’m glad your pup recovered, suddenly having them loose mobility sounds terrifying. Did they displace a bone?
She had pyometra and her loss of mobility was pain related. Wolves and high percentage hybrids will do everything they can to hide being sick or injured, so you end up dealing with later stages of things with them at times. Initially, we thought she’d gotten into some glutenous foods and was just sick from that, but it kept getting worse, and incredibly quickly. But yeah, she’s good now. Did have to have her uterus removed and was in pain management protocol for a few weeks. Her own mental processing took the form of treating a doll like her puppy for about a month or so. And then I guess she’d sorted it all out in her head and destroyed the doll, lol.