Progress report: June ‘22 (a.k.a. loud-ass speedcore blasting in my head)

Woof… waaay too much stuff happened in June. I got a hefty birthday gift, which made me wish I could already be home, playing on my consoles. I also got through all my finals safely, although I’m still waiting on one of the grades. Nothing more of note here, except that the yearning has completely and utterly dominated my life. I’m seriously hoping that I’ll be able to make a dent in my new backlog this month.
As for now, though… June’s assassinations.

• Indian Legends Solitaire
  

  37.0 hours playtime

  8 of 8 achievements

• Last Days of Spring
  

  1.1 hours playtime

  9 of 9 achievements

• Mini Words: Top Movies
  

  0.8 hours playtime

  11 of 11 achievements

• Rainforest Solitaire
  

  32.7 hours playtime

  8 of 8 achievements

• Slappy Ass
  

  3.0 hours playtime

  11 of 11 achievements

• Virtual Cottage
  

  100.0 hours playtime

  8 of 8 achievements

Indian Legends Solitaire - Fun fact: to try and accurately describe the gameplay of this and Rainforest Solitaire, I tried to look up ways to play the game… there were so many it would take me ages to read about them, much less parse them. So what I will say is that the idea of this one is similar to TriPeaks from the Microsoft Solitaire Collection, although with hundreds of different layouts and additional rules to abide by. I wouldn’t recommend this game, if only because of how time-consuming it is to complete a hundred levels with three stars, but since both it and Rainforest were really trying to push being pay-to-win, they have since been removed from the storefront.

Last Days of Spring - You know I had to play this one on June 21st (aka the actual last day of spring)! It… was not great, much like everything else from Sapphire Dragon Productions. At some point you have to wonder how on earth their games don’t seem to ever evolve. Oh well, I guess the sequel’s got different character art?

Mini Words: Top Movies - With the same gameplay basics as Mini Words, this time we’re tasked with uncovering names of people and things related to the top 100 highest-grossing movies (as of 2020). Easily more enjoyable than Mini Words in that there’s less guesswork involved, but also drastically short compared to it.

Rainforest Solitaire - The sister game to Indian Legends, this one is played by matching two of the same cards. Again, the grind is very time-consuming, and again, even if I wanted to recommend it, it’s not available for download anymore.

Slappy Ass - There goes that friend of mine again, gifting me a random sexual game. Oh well. Slappy Ass, as the name suggests, is all about… slapping a virtual ass. The more you slap, the more you get to customize. You can dress the ass up in different underwear, change its skin, you can even choose to start hitting it with things like a paddle or, uh… controlled electrical shocks? There are also three minigames, which were what kept me from completing this game for so long. Maybe it’s because I got this game as a gift, but I really do think that if you’re gonna wanna play low-tier sex-selling games, you might as well try something that stands out, and Slappy Ass certainly can be said to do so.

Virtual Cottage - Simply put, a really nice app to put on while idling or working. I spent most of these 100 hours earnestly doing my homework. There are multiple kinds of weather ambiance to choose from and a small, albeit solid collection of lo-fi music. Honestly, it’s a wonder I didn’t go crazy with how few songs there are… I will gladly recommend this to anyone who would rather idle out some achievements than go to just any random lo-fi mix or playlist, but at the same time, it’s hard to guarantee longevity with such a small playlist. I hope they’ll get the rights to more songs sooner rather than later.

Bonus: Yes, I did take part in Steam Next Fest! I’m glad you asked! Here are the demos I tried out:

a pet shop after dark - npckc’s art style is one of those things that inevitably stand out. However… I’m not sure how this idea could be expanded upon much more? Don’t get me wrong, there is something there, but it seems like a disappointment on the horizon.

Alice is Dead: Hearts and Diamonds - I’m sure there’s a great game here, but I had no idea how to progress past the first room…

BROK the InvestiGator - I admit I still haven’t played this one until the end, but it looks interesting, although I find the UI needlessly confusing. I’m also reminded that I still haven’t played Demetrios…

Concerto on White - I was pleasantly surprised to discover a new rhythm game… but then I tried playing it two times and both times, it simply hung after the introduction. A shame.

Exes Assault!! - I love the absolutely insane premise. Will gladly see how it develops further.

Hush Hush - Only Your Love Can Save Them - Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe the first news of this game being a thing were coming out before the inception of Blush Blush; which makes it all the more better to see that not only the girls, but the guys also seem to have all kinds of roles that fit into the plot organically. The UI is slick, there’s full voice acting, the gameplay poses a challenge right from the get-go… naturally, I’d love to see a spin-off like this that puts the focus on the guys, but for now, I’m even more excited for the full release of this.

Melatonin - An, uh, “capitalism”-themed rhythm game. The Rhythm Heaven influence is very clear, and I say that having barely played it. The perfection-focused gameplay is an acquired taste, but I will keep an eye out for the full release.

Monster Prom 3: Monster Roadtrip - I’m still pretty much stuck where I was a few years back with the first game, not to mention the DLC or the second game… but you know I had to try this one out. It’s short, waaay too short for my liking (10 minutes per try? Really?), but the writing and humor check out, and the gameplay is fresh and definitely more challenging than the first game, at least. Color me interested, but not before I work my way through the first two games.

New Year’s Eve Miracle - Short and sweet, it’ll probably be one of those dirt-cheap titles when it releases; can’t imagine much being squeezed out of such a small thing.

Outcore - This looked interesting; it started out minimalistic, using your actual desktop as the play zone, but then it quickly switched to a platformer… wasn’t a fan of that, so I dropped it.

Please Be Happy - This game… it’s absolutely beautiful! I got so entranced, I’d say it even brought me back to what it was like back when VNs were still a relatively new thing in my life. Everything, from the UI, through the art style and the voice acting, down to the writing, it was astonishing. I’m also super positive about the fact that it’ll be a GL VN, as I haven’t had the best track record with these before. I’ll definitely be on the lookout for it, but in the meantime, this definitely upped the priority of the studio’s previous games in my backlog.

Wylde Flowers - Easily my favorite demo out of all the ones I’ve tried out. I wouldn’t have known of this game’s existence, had it not popped up in the imDB credits of a VA I was interested in; when I noticed its demo was taking part, I downloaded it immediately. I’ve been saying this before and I’ll say it again, for a few years now I’ve been chasing the nostalgia feel of playing MySims, a game I loved when I was little. Obviously, nothing’s ever tried being a copycat (if anything, I’ve realized that MySims itself might have been attempting to ride the coattails of something like Animal Crossing?), but the general rule is that the games I’m looking for will have to be cute and likely also farming sims. …this was perfect for that. The art style is gorgeous, the cast is just big enough where you want to get to know all of them and the gameplay loop is satisfying as all hell. This demo was also the longest, clocking it at around 2 hours, but you’re telling me that when the whole game releases, I’ll get to do all that for about 60 more?! Sign me UP!

See you next month! :)