Today I finished Quell - a relaxing puzzle game (well, relaxing up until the very last 4-6 levels). The game starts out thoughtful and relaxing, then suddenly (without any warning) there is a huge up-tick in difficulty starting at the 6th-to-last puzzle or so, and continuing at that level (rising slightly higher) by the time you reach the end of the game. Would have enjoyed the game completely had the difficulty level been the same throughout, or slowly increased rather than rammed up at the very end. 6/10

I also participated in the May challenge and finished 12 Labours of Hercules IV - Mother Nature, a nice Time Management game with nice artwork, amusing story / dialog, pleasant atmosphere / music, and you get to “build” your own base (a temple on the top of Mount Olympus) slowly over time by completing each level with Gold status. As a side note: this is the first Time Management game I’ve ever played, and I’m really glad I played it!

And finally, before I forget, I also finished Earth Defense Force 4.1. I had previously decided to just retire the game after it became super boring near the end as a Wing Diver (a class that has some really great weapons that essentially auto-target and kill stuff for you, just hold down the “Fire” button). For some reason or other, I came back to it and decided to swap out and play as Ranger, which was way more interesting and fun (though also a lot harder to win levels, since that class lacks any crowd-control weapons that don’t also blow yourself up if you accidentally fire them when a foe runs up just slightly too close). I ended up finishing the game by swapping between Ranger and (if needed for harder levels as a last resort) Wing Diver. I fun little romp.