End of August Update!

Bayonetta was chosen for my PoP and was also a SG win.

If I'm totally honest, I don't like hack n slash games. I think I've tried three different games in the Devil May Cry series because I wanted to like it soo much. I could never finish a game. With that in mind, I did at least finish Bayonetta. I'll try to judge the game based on its quality and not my preferences. 

The very first thing that happens upon hitting "new game" is that you are thrown into a giant battle of epic proportions with no idea how you got there. That really sets the tone for the whole game. The game throws you in the middle of this story, and it is unapologetic about its approach. At first I was confused, but now I absolutely love that about this game. As you play, things get more clear, and you can learn a lot about the witches and other parts of the lore.

Let's get this out of the way. Bayonetta is a sex icon. A girlboss if you will. There is a lot of fan service, and she's always showing off her… assets. She owns her sexuality and uses it to murder her enemies, so I 100% support all of Bayonetta's decisions. 

My least favorite thing is the gameplay, and that's just because I don't like this type of gameplay. I'm sure its fantastic, and I'm just terrible. There are a lot of fun combos you can do and spells you can unlock. There is a LOT of fighting, so make sure that's something you like before going in. It takes up most of the game. I didn't even care about the score I got at the end of the chapters because it didn't change. I stayed in the stone/bronze range the whole way through. I am a failure and I'm proud.

My absolute favorite thing about the game was the scale of everything. So many areas were massive, and the bosses were even more so. The game was beautiful, and the level and character designs were on a whole other level. It looked amazing, and I couldn't believe how well they were able to scale these arenas and bosses to feel like this big epic fight.  The game is incredibly hard (or at least it was for me), but it's very much worth it for that sense of accomplishment you get after every fight. 

Overall, this isn't my type of game, but I'm glad I played it. I don't think I'll play the sequels, but it was fun to try something outside of my comfort zone and gain an appreciation for this genre. If this is your type of game, I 100% recommend it. Also I did not play this on the steam deck, so no comment on how well it works there.

Oxenfree II: Lost Signals takes place 5 years after the first game. It does stand on its own, but having prior knowledge of the first game does add a lot of context to the sequel. I'd recommend playing this one after the first. 

We play as newcomer Riley, who just took a job setting up radio transmitters to help study radio anomolies. She is joined by a new coworker named Jacob, who will travel with you on this journey. This is mostly a creepy walking simulator with dialogue choices, and the gameplay consists of setting up these transmitters. 

I have a mostly positive opinion of this game. It's hard to make a sequel live up to such a great first game, but they do a really good job. 

I like the narrative and the main characters. Oxenfree is a very story-driven game, so it's important that the narrative carries the game. There are moments that definetely impacted me. The game is also fully voiced, like the first game, and the voice actors do a very good job at bringing their characters to life.  

There were a few things that made me like the first game better. I thought the first game was a lot creepier. Maybe because I know what to expect going into the sequel, but I was hoping it would surprise me. It just didn't add enough new mechanics to set the bar higher. It's also a little boring, for lack of a better word. There is a lot of walking and backtracking, but not enough engaging things to fill that gap time. It definitely picks up in the second half, though. 

Overall, I still think this is a great game. The story is great, the characters are likable, the visuals are fantastic, and there are some truly creepy moments, even if the first one scared me more. I also like that the walkie-talkie and radio play a bigger part in this game. If they make another Oxenfree, I will gladly play it!

Alba is a wholesome, cozy wildlife game about a young girl named Alba. Alba loves animals, and during her summer vacation to her grandparents house, she decides to study and help every animal on the island. Meanwhile, a big corporation is planning to replace the wildlife preserve with their fancy new hotel. Together with her best friend Ines, Alba tries to stop the hotel while also meeting lots of animal friends on the way.

This game is adorable. Alba has an app on her phone that displays an animal's information when she snaps a photo of it. The game consists of you going around the island, taking pictures of different animals (mostly bird species), and helping the community with different tasks. The gameplay is minimal but very relaxing, and it hits that part of the brain that feels good about positive accomplishments.

If I had a small gripe, it would be that when you take pictures of animals, they show up as a premade image of that animal instead of the picture you captured. It's not exactly a photography game, so I understand that it would be hard to implement that, but I played a lot of Toem before this so I'm spoiled.

Overall, Alba is a cozy game that is worth your time. I recommend it when you are stressed or just want to unwind after a long day.

I don't know what I expected when I went into this game, but it was even weirder than that. Boyfriend Dungeon is a Rougelike… Dungeon-Crawler… Romance Sim?

Your family is worried about you. You're shy and awkward, and you've never been on a date in your life! Your cousin lets you stay rent-free in his old apartment at Verona Beach, encouraging you to socialize and meet some new people. You also take up a job fighting in the dungeons and leveling up your weapons, which also serves as therapy to help tackle your deepest fears and insecurities. Did I mention that your weapons are human/weapon hybrids and you have the potential to fall in love with all of them? 

Dungeon Boyfriend is strange, and it knows it. It embraces its strangeness, which leads to a pretty memorable game. I don't want to get into the mechanics too much to avoid spoilers, but it's half dungeon crawler and half dating sim. There are a lot of characters to romance, or you can choose to just be friends. The game is very lenient about letting you choose how you want to approach each character. Even the dungeon-crawling portions are very forgiving. The game is not very difficult and is better for casual players of the roguelike genre. 

I enjoyed this game. I thought I'd hate it but I ended up getting all the achievements, which is not something I usually care about. I can see opinions being very divisive about the characters. Some were good, and others were… not boyfriend material. They each have very different personalities, so I can see the ranking being vastly different for everyone. The game is also LGBTQ-friendly, which is nice.

I ended up romancing everyone to get the achievement, but also because the most fun part was completing everything I could in the game. There were definitely some things that held the game back. There are only three dungeons (two are needed to complete the game) with around 12 floors each. Once you find everything, there isn't any replay value. The characters also felt like they fell a little short. Each romance had an anticlimactic conclusion. It's like the game had some really good ideas but just kind of… felt short. I can see a sequel really improving on this initial concept. 

Overall, the game is a gimmick, but the gimmick is fun and interesting I also recommend it for casual players. I found myself enganged in this universe and accepting every weird thing that was revealed to me. Also, Pocket is best character. Both weapon and character If you know, you know.