March Mid Report

During the first 2 weeks of March I beat 3 sgwins and all of them are really good games.

• Grow Home
  

  3 hours playtime

  7 of 26 achievements

• Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
  

  13 hours playtime

  14 of 14 achievements

• Mr Shifty
  

  8 hours playtime

  10 of 14 achievements

Grow Home - sgwin. A really interesting non violent videogame. You play as BUD, a robot that is deployed on a planet and is tasked with making a star plant grow past the stratosphere, where it blooms. You have to climb the tree, latch onto branches and guide them to several floating islands that feed the tree. It is a fairly simple game with some exploration for good measure. The robot’s movement is a little awkward but really works well with the theme and the setting. The experience of climbing to high altitudes and traversing the branches is very rewarding. It is a fun short game that I will probably play some more and show it to my daughter when she grows up. Recommended.

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice - sgwin. One of the strongest experiences I’ve had in a long time playing videogames. This game is beautifully crafted. Graphically it is gorgeous (even playing it on low), the world building is phenomenal, the sound fidelity is even better, and the story is well researched and engaging. Gameplay works really well but I can understand it is not for everyone, especially not for people that like fast experiences or that are easily upset.

Hellblade is basically a walking simulator, with some environmental puzzles and some sections of hack & slash fighting. You play as a woman warrior entering the land of the dead to recover the soul of her beloved. Everything in the game is made to elicit an emotional response. Psychosis, schizophrenia, OCD, phobias, they all play a major role here. Combat, for instance, uses a closed camera angle, a disquieting color palette and doesn’t give you many cues, although it is very robust… this works well but feels strange. Even things I assume were not on purpose (difficulty to interact with doors and objects, obtuse movement at times) further enhance the experience.

It is a beautifully crafted experience with a lot of work and love put into it. However, it is a slow, intense, and stressing experience. Movement is slow, you spend a lot of time outside of combat, there are many environmental puzzles, combat feels strange, and levels are very linear (with slight detours for the only type of collectible in the game). I totally recommend it.

Mr. Shifty - sgwin. This was a blast to play. It is a top-down action game, with some similarities to Hotline Miami, featuring a teleportation power and exclusive melee combat. You play as Mr. Shifty, a special agent infiltrating the skyscraper of a very rich and dangerous man to extract his mega plutonium. Each level consists of a different floor that you must traverse from elevator to elevator, eliminating all threats (sometimes you can also avoid them) by any means necessary, on a mostly destructible environment. The story is fairly standard, you character does not speak and is not particularly original, the setting is OK, and the levels, enemies and hazards are competently done but in what the game really shines is on its gameplay. Teleporting around the levels, punching enemies, and making them shoot each other never gets old. It makes you feel like you were Nightcrawler, a member of the X-Men (the character colors and the smoke as you teleport are almost identical). Would love it if they actually made a Nightcrawler game. Totally recommended.


See you next time and happy backlog assassination :)