March into a world gone mad
At least there's games at home
Beaten in March 8 Games
Ok so after having played the rather good HOG, My brother rabbit, with my wife, we decided to give another one a go, and this was just ridiculous. The mix of accents (are we in London, or manhattan? Can noir detectives even use that accent?), the ridiculous plot, the lame puzzles, the silly combat (?!?). Anyway it very quickly turned into a session of ‘mock the game’ and we still had fun going through it, so that’s something. Even if you enjoy hidden object games, maybe save this one for when you’ve run out of others.
See the hours I spent playing this game? What if I told you that 50 of those were time spent actually playing. And what if I then told you that probably 30 of those hours were spent perfecting the levels on the last world. And what if I then told you that probably 15 of those hours were spent on just the one level. The bonus level on 3-2 requires literal pixel perfect jumps, for about 5 of the obstacles, and I don’t know if it’s just because I was playing it at night mostly with netflix running on the other screen or I’m just getting slow in my old age, but for about a week, this was my life. I think even my wife was happy when I finally beat it, just because she didn’t have to keep seeing the same thing over and over.
But yeah it is a good game, I think the sequel was a lot kinder though
Another entry in the series which basically defines the concept of a ‘casual’ game. You can just relax and click some things and you’ll probably win. If you’ve played one, you’ll know what this one is like as well. But it does what it does pretty well, so that’s good.
After the immense success we had in ripping on Noir Chronicles, the wife and I decided to try another. This one had its cheesy moments, but was generally a much more competent, ‘classic’ type HOG. So yeah, pick it up sometime if you enjoy the genre.
A game that is almost proud of it’s casual mobile roots. There’s not much to it, but it can be a fun distraction. Almost like tamagotchi if you were looking after 10 at a time. I decided to finish it off this month, because the easter eggs were activated. I would say it was a game kids would enjoy, but at times the hunger and thirst timers seem a little too vicious and the field can fill up with sheep graves very quickly if you’re not careful.
Beat the original a few years ago and decided to finish this off now. Having spent a lot of time in the original certainly helped and I didn’t need to back track or replay like I did the first time. It’s still one of the best stealth 2d platformers I know of, and I think the way it leaves much of the gameplay open to your style is a great testament to good design. Definitely recommended
My middle child is always looking for new games to play and when he saw this sitting there installed he asked about it and so I let him play. I’d got bored with it years ago but kept it installed to ‘finish the achievements’ one day. Anyway, he enjoyed it and we did enough hunting to get all the achievements. I like that the achievements also make him happy, and maybe one day he’ll continue the tradition of beating the games fully.
This is definitely one of those games that is a triumph of ‘style over substance’, but it does such a good job of being so damn stylish that you are fooled into thinking more of it than you probably should. There’s no way to die and the puzzles are not particularly challenging, but the overall gameplay is decent and introduces enough changes through the short game time to keep it interesting. I’ve always said that a bad game will always be bad, even with good graphics, and an ugly game can still be amazing if the gameplay is fun, but games like Gris show that a game which would be passable otherwise, can truly be elevated into something amazing through the use of amazing audiovisuals. It is pretty short, but I don’t regret having spent money on it.
Wow, what a month, the world suddenly seemed to go from normal to mad, and it was a real eye-opener to how tenuous the lives we lead often are, and disruptions can throw thing out very quickly. We are in a lockdown here, and my wife and I always joked that we are perfect candidates to never leave the home, as I work from home and our kids are home-schooled so we normally only need to leave the home a few times a week, but this feels different. We are introverts through and through and very happy with each others company, but it's highlighted for us how important those times we leave the house are. We will usually go for a meal with my parents and siblings a few times a week, and we're realising that even this limited interaction is important. Even worse, 3 of my family have their birthdays in this time, and we just can't go there to give them a gift and share a meal. Anyway, we will be fine, and my work carries on uninterrupted, I just worry about those who have no income at this time. I think even once this is over the impact it's had will be felt for a long time and things might never quite go back to the way they were for a lot of people.
Enough of that though, I'm certainly grateful for games at a time like this, and I played a fair number this month. Asides from that I've also been finally learning Unity, and making puzzles and I think I am on track to finally realise my dream of releasing my own game. I'd started in gamemaker a few years ago but was getting frustrated by the limitations in the gamemaker engine. Unity is at least a full programming language, so the only limitation is my lack of knowledge. The game is not particularly complex, but the idea is just to have logic problems that you solve by moving things into boxes. Think of the classic 'zebra problem' and that's the type of puzzles they would be. The goal is to have about 60 puzzles starting out pretty basic and hopefully growing to a real challenge. I'm not sure anyone will even play it or enjoy it, but it's the type of game I would love to play, so maybe others will get some enjoyment from it. And it's also a learning experience in many ways to adapt the programming skills I use in my day job and applying them to something like a game, where there's a lot more moving parts and things to consider. I've set up a website to test the puzzles and create them, and once I've got the full quota I'll be looking for some testers to go over the puzzles and make sure I'm not missing anything, whilst I work on all the sprites I'll need to make. When that times comes I'd love it if some of you could try them out and help me balance them.
Other stats
Achievements Gained 187Most difficult (according to TSA) 'MASTER.RUNNER' in Bit.Trip Runner
Games added 17
Number of different games played18
Achievement streak 1436 days
Average Game completion 77%
Total number of completed games 467
Games completed in 2020 21
I also enjoy making fun of not so good HoGs. :D It offers a little bit of retribution. ;)
Mark of the Ninja is truly a gem! Once I complete the original I will jump on the remaster. :D
Good luck with your game and stay strong and positive! :3
Yeah, my wife and I enjoy doing that sometimes. We’ll give a game or TV show a try and if it’s just too silly, there’ll come a point where we just look at each other and say something funny, and it becomes a game in itself.
I also took ages to finish the original Mark of the ninja, guess I got distracted by other games, but once I returned to it, I realised why it’s good. I waited a bit before starting the remaster, just to avoid getting burned out on it.
Thanks for the encouragement on the game. I’m hoping to have it finished by the end of the year, but I guess 2020 is proving to be a bit of a wild year, so we’ll see.
You completed Bit Trip Runner? You are a monster. From time to time I think: “Hey, why not give this a try again”. And after an hour I remember why I will never complete this. I managed to perfect first two worlds and normal stages in world 3. But the bonus stages, oh my god, the bonus stages O.o I am a patient (although very screen-shouting) person, but this is beyond even me. I command your endurance.
Yeah it is probably one of the hardest games I’ve beaten. I started it right after having aced the second runner game and I hit that long level in the first world (1-11 I think?) and didn’t touch it again for years. Then I picked up runner 3 recently and thought I better finish this one first. It’s a hard game generally but World 3 bonus levels are insane. When I finally beat 3-2 I wanted to yell but the kids were asleep, so I just danced around my office while my wife looked on in amusement. I envy those guys who can just pick up games like this and breeze through them so easily. The only way I beat games like this is by playing the same level enough times that muscle memory kicks in or something. They’ll say the time to beat is like 20 hours, but there’s me with 50 hours or more. Anyway, it was worth it just to see the double exclamation marks on all these levels.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2051544092
If you have need for hard games I have some recommendations for you :P Didn’t even know there is a Runner 3. Still have a key for Runner 2, but it is not on my list currently.
I think I could complete the game IF you didnt have to replay the whole level again just to replay the bonus level. That is what is off-putting me. I honestly thought about a macro-recording programm to automate this step. As for the completion time. Beating the game in 20 hours I say is possible. However, getting all achievements in that time I call bullshit.
Hahah, ok I’m probably going to regret this, but do recommend some hard games for me. I have a few in my backlog if the urge hits to punish myself, but I’m always interested in some new suggestions. I am currently busy with work and other projects, so my gaming is on ‘cruise’ mode, but every few months I get an itch for a game that hates me.
I wonder if a macro would have worked for bit trip runner. I mean it’s technically the same timing for each run, but you’d have to start it at the exact moment each time to get it right. It would have certainly saved me a lot of time, as even in my last few runs I’d still mess up the first half regularly and have to start again. My experience with macros has been limited to short repetitive tasks like clicking the same button a million time or whatever stupid achievements some games come up with. I think for someone who has the precision of a speedrunner, getting everything done in 20 hours is possible, but looking through the leaderboards on astats, I see a lot of 10 hours and less, and I am sure most of them cheated in some way. But honestly, achievement hunting for the sake of climbing a leaderboard pretty much died the day games with 1000+ achievements came out, so if they feel that they need to cheat to validate their skill as a gamer they are only robbing themselves.
Well, most games I can recommand only become annoyingly difficulty if you try to complete them. But let me take a list through my list:
- 1001 Spikes: One screen jump and death puzzles. Should still be among the easier side
- Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure: Cute and nice on the medium difficulties. Pure pain on the highest difficulty where you have to complete levels without getting hit
- La-Mulana can be fiendish if you go for the “No secondary weapons” achievement. And it is the most complex puzzle games I’ve ever seen. Beating it without a guide is probably one of the hardest thing you can do
- MagiCat: Quite a cute game but completing it takes a loooot of time. Most levels are not that difficulty but then you have to speedrun them or collect three jewels. The real masterpiece of difficulty are the boss fights though. The ones in-game and then actual in the boss mode which are tied to the achievements
- Our Darker Purpose: While I don’t see me playing it again it belongs to the games I can recommand without issues. The hard mode achievements are really painful. Actually most achievements are quite cleverly tied to certain conditions. Design-wise very good.
- Super House of the Dead Ninja: Everything kills you in one hit, you kill most stuff in one hit. Lots of traps and very fast, the higher the difficulty the less lives you have. The hardest achievement asks for a speedrun on the highest difficulty which leaves no room for error. It took me 20 hours to get this one.
- Squirreltopia: Jump and run. This is especially weird since it is a game which relies much on momentum. So to complete certain levels you need to speed up which gives you less time to react.
- Teleglitch: Die more edition: If I should recommand just one game for difficulty, it would be this. Teleglitch is amazing and one of the games I needed the longest just to beat it. The game relies heavily on knowledge how to tackle which situation, what to craft and how to perform. You die in a second if you make a wrong decision. Overall a fantastic experience. But I probably made my life harder by playing with a controller
There are some games which are a bit easier like certain Ys games or the Mega Man games but overall there are some games which you can take a look at.
I have never used macros, so I am not sure. But I think there are programs where you can “program” a macro by playing it. So I would just need to record it by winning once and then set the starting command to a button you use to restart the level. It should work.
Speedrunners maybe, but there are very few which can do this. I think the game was part of the coal event which has been SAMMED to death. So that may be a reason for the low completion time.
Good suggestions thanks. I own a few of these already, so I’ll bump them up the list. And I’ve wishlisted the others to keep an eye on them.
I remember there was also a time when one of the game sellers was stupidly giving out real store money tied to achievements, and I do seem to recall bit trip runner being one of them? But I know a lot of people couldn’t resist the temptation.
Yes, these are very strange times indeed. I too feel for the people which are hit harder than me. We will see how and if that will change the world. At least we can take the time we have given now to play games, or do things we have postponed forever. Like you making your own game. I can only imagine how much work that is, so I wish you good luck with it!
It seems that almost everyone has played GRIS by now. I really should keep my eyes open for it during a sale.
I agree, that at least we have games. I feel bad for all of those who enjoy sporting events, thankfully I’m not one, but just about everything is cancelled or postponed.
I’m also glad to finally be moving forward with my dream of making a game. Everyone says to just start with something simple, so that’s what I’m trying to do. Once I’m done making puzzles, the hardest part to stay motivated with will be creating all the artwork.
And yes Gris is definitely worth a look on a sale.