April showers
It's not the end of the world, but you can see it from here
Beaten in April 13 Games
Last month was world autism awareness month. It’s a subject that is very close to me as my eldest son is autistic. So I thought it would be appropriate to kick off the month by playing this game. It’s a bit of a mixed bag in terms of the tone and story. I had hoped it would be a game I could play with my son, but for whatever reason the creator decided to use some default bad guy art work for the battles that is a bit too scary for kids I think. Without the central theme of autism, the game wouldn’t have much to distinguish it from the million other RPG maker games out there, it felt like the gameplay needed a bit more effot. But anyway, I guess it was a very personal project for the creator, and I am sure Max enjoyed having his own game
So this was a short little game with a cool concept. The world has been broken up and the levels are arranged in strange ways, with different boxes and ways of manipulating them. It was pretty short, and the levels never really got too challenging, but it was pleasant enough.
Another month, another HOG. This one was not a good one. Some of the drawings looked like they were the first posts on a teenagers deviantart page, and the puzzles were not at all challenging. But we press on, in the belief, that there are still other HOGs out there, and one of them might still suprise us one day.
Lunchtime during lockdown, miserable day outside. No where to go, might as well find a quick game and play through it. Started out doing it properly and solving the puzzles, but the journals got very ‘wordy’ and the solutions to the puzzles felt too much like actual work, so I just used the handy steam guide to go through it. I appreciate that they used actual science for the puzzles though, maybe it would be a good game for the kids to play through one day when they are a bit older.
Hmmm, well I had actually wishlisted this one, if you could believe it. It looked cute and I was hoping for a little whimsical adventure with a rabbit exploring a world. Instead I got this. I understand they are trying to tell a story about relationships but it is just not really working. And it doesn’t stand very well as a game, because there’s just not that much gameplay, short levels with little to do apart from walk here, pick up this, listen to a character talk, repeat. Oh apart from the ghost mini game they add in a few times, for no particular reason. Yeah this is why game developers often need creative directors, or at the very least, honest friends who could play through it and ask important questions like ‘why?’ just to shape it into something more people could enjoy. Thumbs up on the character models though, those are very cute!
So after a initial few games that were kinda ‘meh’ this was the first game I finished this month that I actually genuinely enjoyed. I love a lot of the devolver library, and this was a fun little collection of tributes to some of their games as if they were made by an off brand knock-off developer. When you see the games distilled into their key elements like this, you realise just how simple many of them are, and yet they are still fun, which is a credit to the developers of the originals. Anyway, definitely worth a look if you enjoy many of the originals, and feel like a bit of a lighter experience.
Ahh FMV games, I remember the fun times I had on my Dad’s 386 as we played through some American laser game classics on the CD roms. It really felt like the future of gaming to 10 year old me. Of course the acting was horrible and the mechanics pretty janky but those games have entered the realm of almost cult status of ‘so bad they are good’. Attempting to tap into that is Press X to not die, with an appropriately silly story, cheesy acting, and simple gameplay. I can confirm the title is not accurate however, and on the hardest level, you need to do a lot more than press X. It is very short, probably not even the length of a standard sitcom, but there’s a few routes to go down to see more scenes so replay is key. The final achievement is also pretty tough, to beat the game with no deaths on the hardest mode, but exiting to the menu when you die doesn’t count the death, so it makes it a bit more manageable. In all, I think they could have done a lot more with the concept, but it’s fine for a short laugh.
This is a short little parkour challenge with decent controls. It will probably take a few runs to get all the achievements, and just to get used to the route needed to get the 4 minute speedrun. I normally hate speedrun achievements, but at least this seemed to just be based on efficiency rather than cheap tricks and pixel perfect moves.
A new update meant the perfect time to return to this jelly baby simulator. The puzzles are well balanced and the co-op gameplay is fun. I did wish at times that the models were a little less floppy, but I guess that’s part of the charm. A lot of the puzzles had multiple ways of solving them, and it was funny sometimes to struggle my way through something only to realise the intended solution was quite simple. Anyway, it is a well acclaimed game for good reason, and strongly recommended.
Got the game for free and sat and went through it on a lazy, rainy weekend afternoon. Not much to say about it, but it’s got a psycho-babble story to listen to, and a simple game mechanic. Play it if you want an easy +1 basically.
Same rainy, boring weekend day as the last game. Installed this a while ago and finally went through it. I think it was an improvement on the first one in terms of some of the puzzles and even though they are pretty short and simple, nothing is fundamentally wrong with them and I’d still be interested to play a sequel one day.
How to take a simple game jam game and turn it into something more 101. At the core the gameplay mechanic is incredibly simple, just dodgeball basically, but when you add a little silly story and a few extra hazards and challenges, it becomes a much better game. The couch multiplayer mode will certainly add to the appeal for those with friends to play with, but even just as a fun little sports game for one person, I’d still recommend it.
Hey look at that, I finally got round to beating it. After Adelion posted about beating it last year, I went back and retried the mirror levels, only to come undone on the third level boss where the final steps were just to confusing to think of on the fly and after failing it 4 or 5 times (after having got through the initial level flawlessly before each attempt) I left it alone for a bit. But Adelion had mentioned to me there was an easy way to do the third boss and since the game has sat on the top of my list (by alphabet) for so long I finally decided to have another crack. And what do you know, the third boss is actually pretty easy if you follow the formula of positions and where to aim. So once that was out the way, the fourth level actually seemed easier? The final boss is just a simple avoid the hazards challenge, and I got it on the second attempt. It’s a fairly challenging platformer, but based on music, and I think that makes it a little easier as you can figure out how to time your jumps based on the beat and once you know the path, it’s fairly straightforward. On the scale of challenging platformers I’ve played, it’s probably a 7 out of 10, but don’t ask me how the scale works.
Well that was a 'bumper' month by all appearances. Not really in the sense that it was mostly shorter games I played, but I think like a lot of people, being forced to stay at home with out being allowed to see any friends and family has put me in a bit of a 'funk'. I'm fortunate to be unaffected as far as work goes, but my family is at risk of losing their business, and my gran broke her leg and we aren't allowed to go and see her, my wifes family were supposed to have come here from overseas and we were going to go on a beach holiday, so it all just adds up to make for not the best frame of mind. Anyway short distractions do help and once again I'm glad that my hobby doesn't require leaving the house and I'm also glad to have a lovely wife and great kids for company. I just wish this stupid virus, and the hype surrounding it would go away so people I care about won't have their lives permanently ruined.
So with that rant out of the way, asides from the games I did beat, I've also been playing a hat in time and the excellent Celeste. Also spent more time in insurgency sandstorm hardcore co-op which is always a good stress reliever. I have now beaten a total of 34 games this year, with one third done, so I'm ahead of my goals a bit, and hopefully can focus on some longer games. My own attempt at building a game took a bit of a back seat, but I now have 40 puzzles made out of hopefully 60 total, and I've got the core mechanic programmed in Unity. So It's making progress. I have a list of about 200 sprites I'll need to make and that's probably the biggest job ahead of me. But I think once the puzzles are done and I start getting people to test them it will motivate me more to carry on and finish it.
In other news, my achievement streak hit 4 years on April 28. I don't know if that's good or just sad, but there it is. Every day for the last 4 years I have earned at least one achievement. The fight against the backlog hydra is a marathon, and I've taken at least one step every single day for the last 4 years, so I think that is something.
Here's hoping May is a better month for all of us, and that the year takes a turn for the better. Stay safe!
Other stats
Achievements Gained 231Most difficult (according to TSA) 'Amped!' in Human: Fall flat
Games added 13
Number of different games played35
Achievement streak 1466 days
Average Game completion 77%
Total number of completed games 486
Games completed in 2020 34
That’s quite a lot of games! Not bad. Congratulations on the 4 year streak as well. I think it’s very impressive. I hardly got any achievements in the last months.
The pandemic hits everyone of us, though some (like yours) harder and some a bit less. Let’s indeed hope May will look better for all of us!
Thanks! Yeah I am hopeful that the year will end on a better note than it’s started.
Not sure where the problem was but Where is my heart was one of the few games I regretted adding to my library. I just didn’t have much fun with it and despite its short playtime it felt like a drag. I couldn’t even be bothered to try the optional bonus levels.
Other than that, I see you came around to complete 140. Congratulations on that. Not so sure if the fourth level is actually easier. I had serious problems with the rhythm in the level and as I wrote in my own comments I had to rely on visual inputs because if you use the accoustic signals you are already dead because movement is expected to be done before that. I kinda agree that the boss in level 4 is easier. But then again, on normal version he actually always killed me several times so I am glad that I lucked out and got him first time during the mirror level.
Well I can forgive a game for being a bit boring if it doesn’t last too long. And so where is my heart was ok in that sense. If it had stretched out into a longer game I would have probably stopped before the end and only beaten it 5 years later.
For me rhythm is not something I struggle with normally, I play quite a few musical instruments, and so the odd timing didn’t put me off once I’d clicked with it. It is a bit odd though, in that a lot more happens on the ‘off’ beat. I also watched a video of someone else doing the level just to prepare for my attempts.
Awesome! You finished a lot!
And you are making a puzzle game? That sounds fun! Unless it’s like The Witness. Don’t be like The Witness.
I remember playing Refunct, it was weird at first but the faster I got the more fun it was, felt FANTASTIC shaving off seconds as I went! ^^
Haha no it’s nothing like the witness. It’s just a little game of logic problems. It’s more just a way to learn some new skills and make a game I would probably like playing myself. Who knows, maybe when it’s finished one day, other people will also enjoy it.
And yes refunct was one of the more fun speed run challenges I’ve endured, as you get more and more used to the fluid motion and optimising your path, it feels like you are doing parkour. It would not work at all if the controls weren’t great.