February and March Report
I have never been good at writing, and I’m lazy too so I forgot to do the February post and now it’s two months in one. Someday I will fix my bad procrastinating habit, I swear not likely soon though. I actually didn’t play much in February, but I had more free time in the second half of March so I managed to beat some more games.
-
Aritana and the Harpy's Feather
6 hours playtime
19 of 37 achievements
-
Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition
55 hours playtime
no achievements
-
Murdered: Soul Suspect
16 hours playtime
44 of 48 achievements
-
Scrap Garden
4 hours playtime
31 of 42 achievements
-
INSIDE
6 hours playtime
14 of 14 achievements
-
Virginia
7 hours playtime
5 of 17 achievements
Aritana and the Harpy’s Feather
Part of the March Monthly Challenge on Steamgifts. Very enjoyable platformer game, not outstanding or anything and pretty short but I had fun playing it. It’s not too hard but it does have challenges for those who enjoy earning achievements. The most outstanding point about this game is the graphic, it has very nice art and background; the shifting of styles between the 3D of normal gameplay and the story book style of the cutscenes is nicely done. I had some pretty frustrating death but I think it’s more because of my shitty controller than the game’s fault. I wish there was more variety in enemies and the boss fights wasn’t so repetitive, but it’s not too bad either with how short the game is.
Screenshots.
Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition
You have no idea how happy I am to finish this, I played this game since last year (about November) and after months I finaly beat it. I love RPGs but they can take so much time to play. Totally worth it though, I can understand why this game is so popular, it’s amazing. People weren’t kidding when they say how much flexible the gameplay is, you can play in so many way and none of them feels like the wrong way. I try to be as thorough as I can and I still realize I missed so many things when I watched a LP online. There are so much content too, so many things to do and secrets to explore. The best part though is the story, I love stories with really good world-building and this game really satisfies it. I also got attached to so many characters, at the end I just feel so bad fo JC. It’s amazing how much depth there is in this game considering how old this is.
It doesn’t mean it’s perfect however, there are many things that prevent many people from playing it now and is why I don’t think I’ll play this a second time. It’s old, and many aspects don’t age well. While the outdated graphic don’t bother me the clunky combat really do, and there are many glitches. Some are pretty hilarious (like the floating bodies and the occasionally dissapearing floor) but some really messed with my computer. At least I didn’t have any game breaking bugs or bad crashes but my computer is old and I had some pretty bad scares with this game. Still worth it though.
Screenshots
Murdered: Soul Suspect
I played this game as part of the February and January Monthly Challenge with Trilled Meow, he wrote a pretty detailed review here. We both enjoyed it but I can’t help but feel like it could have been much better. The side quests like the Ghost Stories are nice, but many background stuff feels like they are there just because. There isn’t much variety in the NPCs and even though there is a cool ghost function where you can possess people and read their thought there isn’t much to read outside of plot. Basically every character outside of Roland and maybe Joy is brushed over and hardly developed, including the antagonist. You can collect things that have to do with them but hardly learn anything about them as a character which really dissapointed me, and the ending felt really rushed. Still not bad and I enjoyed it, but it feels like a lot of lost potential.
Screenshots
Scrap Garden
Average is how I would describe this game. Gameplay, story, characters… are all pretty average. The gameplay is simple, just jumping and some interacting, you collect rubies as you go and do some puzzles. It’s a fairly easy game, each level takes about 30 minutes. The boss fights have variations but all pretty simple. The collecting rubies part feels pretty redundant to me, like they want an excuse for you to explore around and not just walk between puzzles but doesn’t feel rewarding when no matter how many rubies you collect it will all be gone at the end of the level even though the required number is much lower than what you got. I feel like it would have been better if you can use the leftover rubies to discover secret areas but there wasn’t any. It’s very linear, and the story is simple too. It’s about a little forgotten robot going around a dead robot world trying to revive it, it’s very straightforward with a little twist at the end. The graphic is pretty nice with lovely background in some scenes. It’ is short and average, and I enjoyed it. Not bad if you want a short relaxing platformer game, and the main character is pretty cute.
Screenshots
INSIDE
I loved LIMBO and had wanted to play this game for some time so I got this in the Daily Deal and wasn’t dissapointed. It is, most of all, gorgoeus. I love the bleak atmosphere and the way color was used, the use of lighting and the fluid animation. I love all of it, I can just stare at this game for days. I also love surrealism both in art and stories so I really appreciate this game’s weirdness. And it does get really fucking weird, I’m pretty sure everyone who played it agree on that. It’s really effective when paired with no dialogue and not giving any answers, it makes players curious and copme up with their own theories. The gameplay is nice too, some puzzles are really tense like when you have to evade the dogs which adds to the bleak atmosphere, and the extra stuff is pretty entertaining to obtain. Though I would say the puzzles rely a bit too much on timing, it lacks the challenge that I felt from LIMBO. Overall a very unique experience, I look forward to Playdead’s next game.
Screenshots
Virginia
Part of the March Monthly Challenge on Steamgifts. As I said above I love surrealism and weird shit, so this game is right up my alley. This game gets nowhere near the weirdness of INSIDE however, and most of them are due to dreams. Like INSIDE I love how this game doesn’t have any dialogue but you can still guess a story throughout. There is no basically no gameplay aside from walking around and collect things if you want, it’s like a kinetic visual novel and that is where most of the critism of the game comes from. I can see it not being many people’s things but I loved it, especially with such a very pretty art style and graphic. About the story, I enjoyed it but I wish we knew more about the main character than a tiny hint at the end.
Screenshots
Ah yes, like many others, I loved the first Deus Ex game :) I agree that some of the aspects didn’t age too well, though. But it’s still one of the best games out there, in my opinion! :)
I feel like if I have played it as a kid I would have been blown away by it, such a great game. Well late is better than never ;).
I’m actually playing ‘Deus Ex’ right now, but it’s giving me a hard time. While I agree with most what you say, I think I’m too spoiled by modern games, where gameplay is so much smoother and “easier”. And by easier I mean that you don’t have to equip your keychain first and then are able to open a locked door but can unlock the door with pressing one single button.
Great that you were able to finish it and enjoyed it as much as you did :)
You should install the mod “Deus Ex: Revision”. It helps a lot in getting the game to play nicely with modern systems, although it doesn’t fix the gameplay quirks. http://store.steampowered.com/app/397550/Deus_Ex_Revision/
Thank you for the suggestions, I have indeed already installed a mod for better graphics and better compatibility and it helped a lot. The gameplay quirks actually are something I want to experience :)
Yeah playing this makes me realize just how easy most modern games are. Many hours of my time in the game is me trying out different ways and getting lost because there is hardly any maps and I’m bad enough with directions even with maps. Many times I contemplated quitting and just watch a LP, but playing my own way was so enjoyable that I managed to overcome it. Like Formidolosus suggested you can try out different mods, I believe there are many good mods for this game. I played it vanilla because I like to enjoy a game as it originally is in my first playthrough and because I’m fine with old graphic. I hope you will have a good time with the game too!
True, (most) modern games are really casual compared to older ones. The problem is, I got used to that and shy away from less comfortable titles more and more ;(
All the possibilities to solve the missions are really fascinating, especially considering how old the game is. I’m only able to play in short sessions, but they are fun!