BLAEO — Backlog Assassins Extraordinaire

Owlboy

14 hours playtime

6 of 12 achievements
MO:Astray

10 hours playtime

24 of 26 achievements
Teslagrad Remastered

9 hours playtime

36 of 36 achievements
Teslagrad

3 hours playtime

36 of 36 achievements

December 2024

December went by very quickly. I officially finished work on December 19th, but I had appointments and other work for a few days after that and even some work related training on Boxing Day.
A slightly earlier than usual post this time. I don’t want to forget to post my update and I doubt I’ll finish anything in the next 5 days.
This month’s gaming was dominated by Hades. Steamdeck on the way to work and on the way home, mostly.

In other news, I bought a new sofa. Exactly the same model as last time, but a different colour (；´∀｀)
I had the previous one for 9 years, so the fabric was faded and the stuffing in the pillows was in a sorry state. In a less ‘throw-away society’, I probably could’ve got it recovered and bought new stuffing at a reasonable price. The cost of doing that was similar to buyong a new sofa though. IKEA took the old one back so it’ll probably be reused, if I had to throw it out I would’ve felt guiltier. Interesting fact, the price was almost double what I paid 9 years ago. Still, if this one lasts as long it’s a god investment.

I also booked flights to visit the UK next year, so it’s been an expensive month!

Steam

Owlboy

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A platformer that was released back in 2016 that I added to my library in 2018. I'd started it before and got to a point where I couldn't work out where to go next. Started again from scratch this time and managed to beat the game.

I feel my achievement statistics are a bit misleading for this game. I played the game on normal difficulty and finished it but only have 50% which seems a bit low. In fact, the number of achievements overall was very low and there was no achievement for beating the game, which seems a bit unusual. I should have probably tried to collect more items to get higher stats. There was one, maybe a couple, of achievements related to beating a mini-game that I gave up on. Long story short, I didn't enjoy the game enough to do it! Cute pixel graphics, good characters, decent story. I'm not sure why I didn't particularly enjoy it, to be honest. If you like platformers, you'll probably enjoy it. 'Beaten' for now, unlikely that I'll come back to it but you never know!

MO:Astray

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Another platformer. Released in 2019 and added to my library in May 2020. Started this in the past and not sure why I stopped. I don't think I didn't get stuck and I don't think I was far enough along in the game to decide whether I liked it or not. Guess I just wasn't in the mood for it.

I guess this was an 'action-platformer' game, a good mix of different elements that kept it interesting. The mechanics of the game - the main character's movement and skills - was unlike other games I've played. The story was good too, albeit a little difficult to follow without picking up all the collectibles. Even then there is an element of putting together the different parts and working out the chronology. The remaining achievements are for beating the game at a higher difficulty. Actually, the game allows you to get these by just beating the final boss at a higher difficulty via chapter select. A great addition, but it took me a long time to beat the final boss. I tried a few times at the next difficulty level but I don't think I'll be able to do it. Another one that I could come back to if I run out of games sometime. Unlikely, I know! A

So, for now, a very respectable 92% of achievements and 'Beaten'.

Teslagrad Remastered & Teslagrad

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This is another game that I played up to a certain point and got stuck. I think it was more about where to go than a particularly difficult point in the game. Rather than persevere or check online, I just stopped playing! Released all the way back in 2013. I added the original to my library back in December 2016, then bought the remastered version in April 2023. So, quite a long time between me buying and finishing this old game!

In retrospect, it was probably not the best idea to buy the remastered version of a game that I had stopped playing. The idea was to push me to go back to play it again but, as with the two versions of Guacamelee! last month, this could have quite easily meant I needed to play through the game twice. Things worked out okay though. Luckily, the developers created a link between the games. I finished the remastered version and decided to jump straight into the original version while I was familiar with the levels and controls, when I opened it, all the achievements popped! Whoop! Two completed games!

The game itself was pretty good. A fairly standard platformer. Most of the achievements weren't too difficult, mainly finding collectibles. There was one scroll that needed a bit of skill, a time limit to get through obstacles. I guess I got lucky though, it didn't take me too long. Two games to add to the 'Completed' category.

Backlog Additions

I went a bit crazy this month. There was a Humble Choice that I actually wanted to redeem, the news that barter.vg was stopping trading, and I bought some myself. A total of 17 games! This is by far the most games I added in a month this year, and maybe since I started using this site. Not great for my backlog, but as the only place I have ever used for trades is not available anymore then I may not get as many games in future. So, here they are:

Robocop: Rogue City, BlazBlue Entropy Effect, Until Then, Detroit: Become Human, Mars First Logistics, Crime Boss: Rockay City, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, Minami Lane, Moonstone Island, Pepper Grinder, SANABI: The Revenant, Anomaly Agent, Cursed to Golf, I Am Future, Circuit Superstars, Shadows of Doubt, A Space for the Unbound

Progress in 2024

I haven’t posted these stats in an update for a long time. While I update the numbers regularly in the ‘stats’ section of my profile, I last included them in a post at the end of 2021. I’ve chosen a bad year to come back to including here, mainly because of all the additions this month. I’ve done ok with beaten and completed but there are a lot of new unplayed games that make my stats look bad.

Beginning of 2024 - 407 games

1% won't play

9% never played

29% unfinished

44% beaten

17% completed

Beginning of 2025 - 450 games

1% won't play

12% never played

25% unfinished

45% beaten

18% completed