May 2020 Progress Report

There was a major patch, and things seem to be running more smoothly in game.  I played some more Arcade games, and am two thirds of the way to getting enough tickets for a rideable scooter.

This was a major update that added some cosmetic & emote capabilities including decoupling pets from specific characters and a new full anonymous mode on certain days.  I overhauled my buildings to stuff that is balanced between split multipliers and generating artifacts.  Having buildings that only generate artifacts was making grinding for gold painfully slow, whereas by getting buildings with split multipliers, I'm increasing my overall gold take per run because the coin take is basically Coin Multiplier times Split multiplier.

I got my tower to 5 stars & 100 floors, which I don't think I even did with Sim Tower.  I had to start a new tower in order to get achievements for purchasing land, since my first tower evidently started with all land pre-purchased.  The 400 or 500 day achievement was bugged, so I had to reload the game one or two dozen days prior to getting the achievement.

I built a video platform company big enough to buy another one and was able to retire a millionaire.  I recommend this management sim to anyone who is a fan of the genre and doesn't mind crunching numbers to ensure the right amounts of things get auto crafted. The core gameplay loop is to hire people that make "parts" of an online platform which increases the number of potential or actual users handled, attract new users through marketing, and make money through ads or charging for services. It does a great job of illustrating the complexity of building & scaling an online platform, but in the late game that doesn't translate to engaging gameplay.

I recommend this game on sale to anyone who enjoys interactive movies given its high production value, but there may not be enough here for people who like games that happen to have a bunch of FMV. This is still the best interactive video I have played so far and am so glad I got it in a Humble Monthly, though it is not perfect as I explain later. Late Shift is a crime thriller where you play a student who unwillingly becomes an accessory to a heist and has to figure out how to deal and resolve the evolving situation before, during, and most importantly after the heist.
Playthroughs are 1 to 1.5 hours straight (no save or skip functions!), with one significant diverging point between chapters in the beginning of the middle, up to 14 chapters to reveal, and 7 endings.

Probably my favorite roguelite I've played, as it improved on the first game in every way except action combat.  I've completed half of the campaign, several endless games, and haven't touched adventure which I presume are longer campaigns.  In some ways it has less RNG and elements of chance than most roguelites because you select most of the cards that go into your deck and gambits/tests have an element of skill (sometimes subtle though).  There's clear progression, things that can help with progression, and enough variation in cards or strategies available that it doesn't rely solely on "git gud".

I recommend this simple yet elegant pure stealth game to anyone who likes stealth, likes a challenge, or maybe likes puzzles. The object is to steal all the white drops, and get to the lit up exit without getting shot. I'm only ~30% of the way through the campaign but I feel like I've played enough to weigh in on the game. 

This is now 0 for 2 on playing through most of a Zachtronics game.  As a supply chain/builder puzzle I was more engaged with Infinifactory than Spacechem, but I only got through the first third of levels.  They just got too complex for me I guess.