I'm sorry to report I wasn't able to finish my no-death run uguleley was kind enough to challenge me in my previous post. I died, a lot. Yet here it is right at the top of the list, I never thought I'd be able to finish it. Like SOMA it was a very difficult game for me to play, I had to be in the right mood and I admit I ended up taking a break, which was partly responsible for the post delay. You require so much patience to fight your way back with every death, everything you've killed respawns, it happens so frequently and sometimes so unfairly that it's tempting to give up. But say you died thanks to some nasty trap, or some devious skeleton hiding around a corner, when you get back to that location you now know what to expect and can plan for it. That goes for the boss fights too, with the exception of one or two every time I got that giant health bar appear and some epic music started I knew I was going to die and just used that first fight to try and learn their moves for next time. Whenever I started to get overconfident I was quickly told no, that can't happen. I became a lot more cautious as I began to understand the game.

The world design and how everything links together is really impressive, it helps reinforce the idea of this being one huge map that you're unlocking shortcuts and connecting places together. There's obviously the joy of finding the bonfires that act as save points but finding a ladder you can kick down to allow you to skip a lengthy section feels much more rewarding than Victor Vran's loot drops. The game gives you such a feeling of accomplishment when you take down a boss that gave you so much trouble that you want to find the next one and experience it again. I was finding myself reading up lore and watching boss reaction videos at 2am in the morning. I did find things to get easier towards the end once I had enough stamina to equip the most damage resistant armour and could roll normally with it, that meant I could afford to make mistakes and made the game more forgiving because of it. But it's a long hard road to get to that point. It's too soon to even think about the sequels as I'll need a long recovery time but it's good to know they are beatable and I definitely won't be dreading them as much as I was the first game.

Just over 2 years ago I joined this site and one of my first updates was me beating Deus Ex: Human Revolution Director's Cut. Unfortunately I'd played the regular version of this game for a few hours back in 2013 and meant this had been awkwardly stuck at a low achievement percent since. The motivation to replay it came in the form of November's Play or Pay and I'm glad I did as it's just as good as I remembered. I also managed to get the pacifist and foxiest of hounds unlocked this time, for some reason I was previously under the impression the prologue didn't count, I was wrong... so it was a big relief to get the 100% after being so careful with alarms and sneaking around. Saving a certain someone proved too much of a challenge with no casualties (I ended up reloading) so I'm just going to pretend that never happened and stick with my director's cut ending lol. Just like the Dishonored series doing things lethally is an option but I think I'd have approached the game the same way even without the achievements as there's already plenty of action games out there, with all the paths you can take and ways to approach objectives I think going non-lethal and avoiding detections provides the most satisfying experience.

This has been the most recent game I've played, it was only fitting to play something with snow and people freezing to death to get me in the festive mood! I was immediately intrigued when I first heard about it, I loved This War of Mine and it reminded me of Banished which is another favourite. Unlike Banished you haven't been cast out and left to fend for yourself in some nice cosy wilderness (for most of the year), instead you're in charge of the last city on Earth in rapidly dropping temperatures with the main objective being to keep the heat generator going no matter what, the stakes simply feel much higher.

I've yet to play Cities Skylines however I imagine the city building to be more advanced than what Frostpunk offers, but also being a survival game there's more to it than just building placement with resource dilemmas, technology priorities, worker allocation, and challenges in the scenarios testing you like uprisings and what you're prepared to do to bring order, or whether to turn refugees away and condemn them to death, or let them in and accommodate them in situations which never come at the right time. There's also an exploration element too once a beacon has been built, you can scout the area and potentially find that invaluable stash of coal that might make it back in time to keep you alive for a few hours more, or perhaps other nice surprises, like hungry bears. And then there's the storm. You're given some advanced warning to get prepared if you're lucky, and you better because when it arrives there's nothing you can do other than wait it out and pray your generator can keep your houses above freezing with your citizens trapped inside. I've never received so many messages about frostbite and amputations.

It only took a few failed attempts to figure out where I was going wrong and since I've not had any real issues preventing problems from getting too far out of hand on the default difficulty but it can be adjusted to be harder once you've mastered it, I'm not sure I'm ready just yet. I found it quite overwhelming at the start with a lot of options to choose from especially in the tech tree but I think that's quite common in this genre. I have to give credit to the game's presentation, there's gorgeous artwork for each location and for story pop ups too. The graphics are impressive, I kept zooming in on new constructions just to admire all the details, I wish you could get even closer. It's a bit grim in case I haven't given that away but that only fitting given the situation. It's been a while (yes even in such company with others in this post) that I've been so eager to return to play it again after closing, and I don't think I've lost track of time so much as I have whilst playing this, a must play!

This has one of my all time favourite video game soundtracks, I'd been listening to this for a few years now without actually having played the game. So it was especially awesome to hear how it fit together, in particular during combat the music is dynamic and changes based on your attacks which is really cool. The game is set in Neo-Paris and the world more than matches the soundtrack, it feels alive and I love the mix of historic architecture and futurist skyscrapers, just like the use of classical and electronic music. It's quite linear and although there's a bit of exploration to find hidden collectables the levels aren't that big, if you wanted to you could rush through most of it but I think a large part of the game's value is the amount of effort that must have went into the exteriors, it's there to be admired, it looks great for a game released five years ago. I wish it had more of an open hub world as it felt almost wasteful to only see some of these locations once and spend so little time there. I wanted to 100% it which wasn't too difficult, I was worried I might struggle with the combat as looking at some gameplay beforehand I've never been great with combo action games, but there's only 4 you need to learn, and you customize them yourself using only 2 buttons to activate them, it has a good tutorial and new abilities get introduced as the game goes on so you aren't overwhelmed at the start. I finished it on the hardest difficulty and only had trouble in a handful of situations outside of boss fights, those were more challenging but you just need to learn the right strategy. Very memorable! :P

I'd been meaning to play this for a while having only heard good things about it, but honestly it's never easy convincing me to play anything horror related! So again Play or Pay came to the rescue and I'm glad I got that push as the story is fantastic, worth all the unease and discomfort the creepiness caused! I went with safe mode of course which may have helped knowing I could close my eyes and hold W to get past enemies but there is no option to brighten up the atmosphere, sometimes you walk around a corner and just see something watching you leap out of sight, or all the headless bodies you come across (not quite as nice as Headlander), or just the noises you hear while moving around. I hate that feeling of opening doors and not knowing what to expect on the other side, it's so rarely a good thing in these kind of games, but yet I'm so intrigued I want to open them anyway. Thankfully there are very few jump scares. But the story does make it all worthwhile, I liked the logs and audio tapes you find that give you an idea as to what happened in this underwater facility you're trapped in, you're put in difficult situations and it does a good job of shocking you, unlike Oxenfree I was gripped from start to finish and I always wanted to learn more, the voice acting is excellent and you meet up with a great companion that at least helps you feel not alone. Definitely one that stays with you long after finishing it.

I made sure to play the new DLC The Last Broadcast to get my 100% achievements back, and also to play more This War of Mine, because it's very good. Looking back about what I said about the last episode, Father's Promise, I thought they did a better job this time with it feeling like you had more freedom to choose what to build and what locations to visit like in the main game, but also unique enough and more story focused to feel different with one of the characters being a radio operator with a physical disability and his wife being the night time scavenger looking for news for him to report to listeners, or not, depending on whether you feel you should tell him. The story was engaging and has a few endings depending on your choices, there's one episode left, hopefully the wait won't be as long!

This is one of a few games I played in this period to try to balance all the gloom from the games above. It's all about the seven deadly sins and it's up to you to commit them all in order for some priests to forgive you which they can only do if they are performed in their parish... things didn't get off to the best start when I grabbed the forbidden apple, I forgot my controller was plugged in and there was this massive vibration on the table nearby causing me to leap out of my chair as if God had just struck a lightning bolt at me. Very immersive! It's been described as Monty Python-esque and had me regularly laughing as you go about offending people and doing your evil deeds. It's also a work of art, you're in these real renaissance era paintings that act as the background and characters you meet, there's musicians playing classical music, it's all just very lovely. I had a bit of difficulty finding the items that you can interact with as everything blends so well together but it's quite obvious what's required once you've travelled to all the locations. It's unlikely I'll ever forget this one, highly recommended.

I don't think it was coincidence I was so eager to play more Glass Masquerade alongside Dark Souls as sometimes I needed reminding not all games are so mean. This is one of the most relaxing games I've played and I love pretty much everything about it, the new DLC brings more locations to visit and more stained glass windows to piece together. I've also just discovered they released a Christmas update, yay! A sequel has been announced which is great news and I'm looking forward to more puzzles in the future.

As the name suggests this is all about landing your head in headless bodies. Nice right? Thankfully everyone is a robot and doesn't seem to mind that much when you force their head off. If you don't want a body then you can just fly your head around using a thrust rocket, allowing you to enter pipes and find secret rooms. It's certainly interesting, the doors speak to you when they open, you are red I will spread, there's a chess match warzone, you can press F to dance (there's at least 15 different ones) that serves no real purpose (aside from an achievement) other than being awesome, and it's all very 70s and chilled out. I thought I'd discovered a real favourite in the first few hours as it just had me laughing whenever I spoke to someone or something, but there's one thing I haven't mentioned, the combat, it just becomes a nuisance towards the end of the game, I was moving from room to room trying to avoid it, I wish there were less guard spawns, there's no XP, only upgrades you gain through finishing objectives and finding them hidden away, so the laser gun battles you're forced to engage in only serve to slow you down and get quite repetitive. I didn't expect much but it's still really fun, it's been a Steamgift win I'd put on hold way longer than I should have done, well worth playing.

I've been able to get all the achievements which is nice, I've not played it for a couple of months since my Rocket Pass expired which I guess I should be thankful for given the hours of quick chatting Nice Shot! and What a Save! I've instead used doing other things... still I'll keep it installed for when I next get that urge. It is a lot of fun when things are going right for you, it's provided plenty of good memories, my fondest being the time when I was playing with a friend (a witness) and was too slow cancelling the queue join and started a game with less than 5 minutes before kickoff for a football match I wanted to watch, so I somehow activated God Mode and scored 5 worldies out of nowhere in the first 30 seconds causing them to question the matchmaking, beg for mercy, and then forfeit. When I'm missing the most easy chances the majority of the time it's reassuring to know I'm capable of better, just only before my football team are about to play!

With the Spyro remaster coming out I wanted to play a 3D platformer to get me in the mood. I'd rank it lower than A Hat in Time but better than Yooka Laylee, the platforming takes a bit to get used to as you "unbox" your box (which you can customise of course) to jump around and gain height, and you have a limited number of boxes which you recharge at save points, which are never far away. The main collectable are golden tapes which all need to be found to reach 100% and while I love exploring to find these things I wasn't expected them to be so well hidden. The game itself isn't that difficult, it has a few boss fights against the Wildcards and Boss Wild... a box with an Elvis hairdo and a helicopter, and there are side challenges that rarely take more than one attempt to collect stamps that are also required that have you blowing things up, winning races and delivering letters. So having some difficulty locating the golden tapes was good in a way, even if it became a nightmare, you can speak to an NPC who provides a screenshot of their location, however a lot of the time these are useless as in the tropical island for instance there are hundreds of palm trees and beaches so there aren't any distinct features that might provide a clue. But it's enjoyable for most of the game before you're searching for the last ones, there are 3 different worlds, the mentioned island, snowy peaks and an Aztec rainforest, the snowy one was my favourite with the ice slides you can use to get around. There's something so satisfying about finding everything that made it all worthwhile and left a good impression overall.

It feels bad to say it but I found Old Man's Journey to be a bit underwhelming. The gameplay has you dragging terrain around to progress in this storybook style world and there's not much to the puzzles, however the story is well told through these absolutely breathtaking memories (the biggest highlight of the game) whenever you stop to rest that reveal why you're taking this journey and who you're visiting. The art style is nice to look at and despite not being too long it does give a good sense of an adventure with a variety of locations and means of transport. I'd recommend it but I think I'd have been disappointed if it wasn't bundled.

I'm now feeling especially guilty saying this twice in a row given its reputation but again this was a bit underwhelming. I liked it enough overall to give it a positive review. It gets points for it's writing, some of the dialogue really made me laugh which is always a good thing, the voice acting is great and I liked how your relationship with the other characters changes depending on your choices. But I don't think there were enough meaningful ones, the story never really felt like there was an escalation and despite there being some supposed urgency I never felt like there was any hurry or sense of danger. It takes a few playthroughs to get all the achievements and I'm actually dreading a replay with the slow pace and torturous walk speed, it's probably best played over several sessions as it got quite tedious at times for me. I never had that thrilling feeling like when you're reading a book that you can't put down because you're desperate to find out what happens next, there aren't really any dramatic revelations that left me desperate to get to the next destination. And interrupting conversations whenever you spoke felt rather rude too. Quite a few complaints looking back, and I didn't find it that scary or creepy either which is a shock given how easy that normally is!

This is a Steamgift win that I'd previously played, beat the first few bosses and cleared the early maps, and then never played again for some reason. Having been challenged to play it again in Play or Pay as an option I thought I'd give it a second shot. This time I managed to reach the end but I think I know why I previously abandoned it, I'm not sure how much of a fan I am of this genre. My only other experience is Torchlight 2 which despite it's many positive reviews I never enjoyed that much, Victor Vran is different with an annoying narrator, being able to jump and reach hidden areas through some basic platforming, and not having a class system, you can wield any weapon which gives you different skills to use, and can further customise your build through your outfits and cards that give bonuses to certain attributes like critical hit chance or armour penetration. The main issue I have is I don't find the focus on loot and stat comparing that compelling, sure it's awesome when you find a legendary weapon, but most of the time my inventory was filled with rubbish and I was stuck with the same weapons for a large portion of the game. It's not bad and I liked some of the locations you visit, but I didn't find the combat that interesting and that is the majority of the gameplay. I've got Grim Dawn in my backlog which I've been led to believe has a few interesting features that set it apart so hopefully I'll finally have a good ARPG experience.

Oh wow you're reading this! I'm not sure how to explain this one, perhaps it would be best if you check the steam store page and watch the trailer... yeah, that was my first impression of it as well! I promised someone new to Steamgifts I'd buy and play it if they did so as well having won it and we both had a surprisingly good time. It's very funny with these FMV cutscenes that separate the chapters, everything is way over the top, the audio isn't in sync, nothing makes much sense, the costumes are hilarious and it's just incredibly silly really. You can tell the developer had a great time making it and honestly we've both been quoting the game for weeks after finishing it. I haven't got the nostalgia to appreciate the retro gameplay but I managed to finish it and it wasn't too bad, worth checking out!