Hello, fellow assassins! Long time no see. I hope all of you are doing great. I don’t think anyone missed me too much, but I had some issues RL and then holidays, so I did not manage to keep you posted. Challenge seems to go decently enough, since I played already 40 out of 60 games planned for this year. I don’t think I will reach the target, since now I also have Game Pass, and am trying to play my wishlisted games there (Will play Psychonauts 2 next month when I have my new laptop, can’t wait)
I managed to play quite a lot in this time, so here I come with my comments. Most of the games were not played in Steam, so I don’t know how to put the pretty boxes with pictures. Of course, since we are all about assassination, I will start with Hitman :)

HITMAN I + II (9/10)
I’ve always loved Hitman games, and I think these games perfectly capture that essence. They are kind of an assassination sandbox, with expansive maps, in which you decide how to approach your targets. There are a lot of ways you can complete each mission, some easier, some more complex, and some absolutely crazy and hilarious. Graphics are very good, and so is gameplay. Overarching story is meh, but nobody should play Hitman for the story.
For those who prefer some help, there is kind of a “guided” mode, in which you receive clues and guidance to some of the more “scripted” assassination ways. I relied on this when replaying, since trying different approaches is very fun, especially with the size of the maps, since usually you don’t explore everything the first time.
Can’t wait till I finally can buy Hitman III to complete the trilogy. Very recommended games to stealth game fans.

JUST CAUSE 4 (5/10)
This game was a bit of a disappointment. Just cause games always have crappy story, have very repetitive content and are somehow buggy, but they are all about having fun exploding things. JC4 is the same as previous games, but less fun, with less explosions and gigantic map. Maybe play it if you have it, but stick to JC3 otherwise.

BUGSNAX (8/10)
This has to be one of the most charming games I’ve played in a while. Most of the game you are just trying to capture the cute creatures the game shower you in, half bugs, half snacks (hence the name). The story is simple and somehow predictable, but discovering all bugsnax is very fun, and the game does not overstay its welcome.
Really, google this game if you don’t know abour it, the Bugsnax are crazy adorable : D

UNTITLED GOOSE GAME (11/10)
This is a small puzzle game in which you play as a bastard goose that seems to enjoy bothering humans and damaging property. Simple and hilarious, I loved my time with this game. Pretty short as well, but I was laughing most of the time. I can be quite petty sometimes ;D

THE OUTER WORLDS (7/10)
I got into this game with very high expectations, but it did not totally deliver. The setting is amazing, with a perfect vibe of “frontier” atmosphere in space. Main characters and companions are mostly well written and interesting, graphics and sound are really solid, with varied and colorful worlds. Gameplay is similar to other ARPG, nothing new or special here, combat is pretty bad balanced, but did not bother me too much.
Main problem for me was the writing. Story is nonsensical most of the time, and a lot of the themes it tries to convey are done in an incoherent way. It starts very well in the main theme of “corporate = evil”, but it never goes deeper than that into motives, and forces some political things that blur the message. The outer worlds seemed incomplete to me, like this was only a demo, and maybe it was, since I saw TOW2 is in production already.
I’d still recommend to play the game, but was disappointed on the story, which was supposed to be its biggest strength.

HAVEN (7/10)
What a fantastic story! A lot of games tell stories about love, but very few explore romantic relationships in a serious and deep way. They made the relation between Yu and Kay seem quite realistic, which of course involves a lot of conversation, and not everyone will like that. Gameplay is quite simple, fun and fast movement, some exploration, and useless basic combat that should not have been included at all.
This game is good for the story it tells, but give it a pass if you care about gameplay, because this should have been a graphic novel IMHO.

EASTSHADE (8/10)
Another game from the GamePass, I loved this one. You play as a painter whose mother asked him to paint several views from her homeland. This is a very peaceful game, which main mechanic involves making paintings of places, things and people. The world is quite and gorgeous, the music is relaxing and it plays like a very simple exploration RPG game.
Totally recommended if you’d like to play some original game with no violence at all in it. It gave me some very needed peace of mind.

SYBERIA 3 (2/10)
As a fan of graphic adventures, Syberia has always been one of my favourite sagas. That said, Syberia 3 is an insult to every fan, and to every gamer. This game should have never been existed.
Story is nonsensical and stupid, and gameplay is terrible and buggy. Some places were very hard to find because there was no indication that you could go there, for example. Camera do not work well; the mouse cursor would bug at times and would force me to restart the game… You get the point. They even had the balls to end the game in a cliffhanger, probably because it was unfinished before launch, but still.
I will check the new Syberia game when it launches later this year, and I really hope they got their shittogether for it, because Syberia 3 was utter trash by any measure of adventure standard.

SMILE FOR ME (5/10)
This game was glowing reviews on Steam, and I can understand why, since it’s a very original game, but it gave me some creepy feeling and I did not enjoy it very much. I don´t know how to review it, so I’ll leave it here.

YOUROPA (ABANDONED)
This is a 3D platformer which seemed interesting, but was clunky as hell, so I stopped playing after one hour and uninstalled. Cannot comment much on it since I did not play it enough to evaluate.

That’s all for now, thanks for reading, and keep gaming!