August’s Stats
aka. Revenge of the backlog
Hello fellow assassins,
It’s this time of the month again already! August went by really quickly for me and I didn’t have as much time as I wish I had for games. I only finished a few games, and sadly fed the backlog quite a lot (add to the shame list that I now have a Xbox Pass ‘til the end of march next year… Thanks Kale).
On other bad news for the backlog, I have caved it to the sirens of a F2P (and I blame people talking about it on the BLAEO discord for that, you know who you are…) and I’m pretty addicted to it, so that’s sucking a big part of my gaming time too. OH WELL what can you do. I’m also sad to report that for the first time since it started, I failed the “Play a game you won on SG” challenge this past month. SHAME.
I’ll promise I’ll try to do better next month. I hope you all have a wonderful September! Out of curiosity, are any of you also putting too much time into a F2P instead of your backlog? And if yes, which one?
| Played | Finished | Completed | Backlog+ | Achievements |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 67 |
ABC Challenge 2.0 Progress (0/27)
Finished this month: 0 (That starts well...)Most Satisfying Finish
Most Exciting Addition
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The Church in the Darkness
6 hours playtime
23 of 48 achievements
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A Short Hike
5 hours playtime
8 of 8 achievements
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This War of Mine
56 hours playtime
29 of 54 achievements
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Borderlands 2
71 hours playtime
38 of 75 achievements
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Dicey Dungeons
8 hours playtime
no achievements
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Gems of War
25 hours playtime
38 of 67 achievements
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Invisible, Inc.
17 hours playtime
5 of 23 achievements
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Knights and Bikes
4 hours playtime
9 of 36 achievements
The Church in the Darkness
6 hours playtime, 23 of 48 achievements
This game was probably my stongest disappointment this month. The premise caught my attention: a roguelike infiltration game with the unusual setting inspired by the tragic Jonestown events. I wrote a more in depth review about why I didn't enjoy this game overall, but it can be summed up to this: the game doesn't deliver on its promises. It gets pretty boring after very few runs (because sadly it's always the same map, just with sections aleatorily moved around) and the different cult leaders personalities are not that game changing, just leading to different endings. Equally, the potential of the context kind of get wasted in a mediocre story telling, leaving the player unsatisfied. It's not an awful game per se, but I can't really recommend it, especially not for the full price they ask for it at the moment sadly.
A Short Hike
5 hours playtime, 8 of 8 achievements
By far my favourite game I played this month, despite its apparent simplicity and the other good things I've played this month. This game was just such a delightful parenthesis, it gave me a mixed feeling of Firewatch and Animal Crossing, but just the great parts of it both. It's a short adventure where you decide to take a hike at the summit of the island/park where you're spending your summer to catch some phone coverage. That being said, there is so much more than meet the eyes and so many other things to discover that it made a game way less simple than it seemed. I won't spoil too much about it because the discovery is part of what was great, so do yourself a favor and go play it. 100% recommended. #BeachstickballForever
Dicey Dungeons
8 hours playtime, no achievements
This dice/card deckbuilding roguelike is the last work of Terry Cavanagh (VVVVVV, SuperHexagon) in a genre that finally speaks to me, and I have to say, the man's reputation is deserved. He knows how to make video games with good mecanics that makes you wanna keep playing. If you've liked Slay the Spire, this game might be for you (I'm not saying it's the same though, it does involve different mecanics). The game has both a funny tone, lots of good puns and a compelling gameplay. It has a good run lenght to allow you short sessions, and the difficulty gets more complex as you progress in the levels. I'm taking a break on it right now but I plan to go back to it as soon as they've implemented achievements. Definitely a recommend if you like the genre.
This War of Mine: Stories - Fading Embers
12 hours playtime (DLC only), 29 of 54 achievements
And finally this DLC. I do not have the 2 previous DLCs in the 'stories' series for This war of mine, but I loved the base game so I was really happy to go back to it and put more hours into it. The DLC is only one story with specific new mecanics that were not in the base game, as well as new locations and characters, and a few different endings. This DLC focuses on the importance of the collective memory and relic of a people's history versus the survival of a few individual in a critical time period like war. I encountered a few bugs but nothing too bothering (for me at least) and really enjoyed the story overall. It actually made me want to try the 2 previous Stories DLCs, anybody who played them have an opinion on them?
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The Church in the Darkness
6 hours playtime
23 of 48 achievements
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Yoku's Island Express
0 minutes playtime
0 of 31 achievements
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A Short Hike
5 hours playtime
8 of 8 achievements
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Dicey Dungeons
8 hours playtime
no achievements
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Knights and Bikes
4 hours playtime
9 of 36 achievements
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Zero Escape: The Nonary Games
0 minutes playtime
0 of 38 achievements
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Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma
0 minutes playtime
0 of 33 achievements
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Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls
0 minutes playtime
0 of 35 achievements
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The Town of Light
0 minutes playtime
0 of 20 achievements
I wishlisted Dicey Dungeons - Looks neat. If you want a different kind of dice game check out Tharsis - Keep your space crew alive trying to get to Mars.
I have TWOM Stories season pass, but need to play it. Glad to hear that the third Stories DLC was good, so I’m optimistic about the others. About damn time the 3rd one dropped while the dev studio is printing money with Frostpunk.
Thanks for the recommendation, i’ll look into Tharsis. I hope you like Dicey Dungeons if/when you get it, the devs are still updating the game and tweaking it even tho the release date is now passed, so that’s always a good sign.
Yes the time it took them to drop the actual stories DLC compared to when they first released the season pass made a lot of people complain from what i read. Justifiably, if you ask people to front the money and then take years to finish the content. (Looking at you kentucky road zero)
I now have a Xbox Pass ‘til the end of march next year… Thanks Kale
Kale did nothing wrong, Kale is innocent
[Dicey Dungeons] lots of good puns
ᵒʰ ⁿᵒ
You’d love Dicey dungeons. Just saying.
And i was actually saying thanks for the good deal on the Pass, it was not sarcastic <3
It’s funny you mention This War of Mine. I just dropped the game last week : it was just too gloomy for me and I usually don’t want to play games that depict the world as bad and grey (or even black) as it is for real.
And it kind of suprised me you liked so much the game (and this DLC) because I thought like you usually tended to play and enjoy lighter games, with shiny colors, etc (but I was wrong ;-) ).
To me, I confess all these black, white and greys got on my nerves, or rather sapped my will, and made me feel I wouldn’t be brave enough to reach a completion.
Actually, I moved on playing Chroma Squad : much brighter, lighter, colourful and funnier to play !
I do actually enjoy both (in different contexts). I really loved the strategy/management side of TWOM, and yes the game is not “fun” but I find it extremely enticing to play still, but I also understand it’s not for everybody.
You’ll have fun with Chroma Squad, I have good memories of it.
I quite disliked the endings for Fading Embers. There are like 5-6 or so different combination of endings and it’s pretty much the same overall in all of them. I personally enjoyed the first DLC the most, then the 2nd. I definitely liked the idea of the last one but it felt like a chore to me for some reason.
First dlc is about a father trying to get his daughter alive from the war and the 2nd is about a broadcaster. 1st dlc didn’t have many conflicting decisions or any from what I remember but I personally found it the most saddening even though it was predictable. In the 2nd dlc there are certain news you will be given a choice to broadcast or not. Depending on your choices, what some characters think of you will change. There are somewhat big consequences on paper but I don’t remember these consequences affecting gameplay in any way (I vaguely remember a certain area being unavailable for you to raid but my mind could be playing tricks on me).
So if you liked Fading Embers, I would like to believe that you’ll like the first two as well. Maybe even more.
Ps, I think I’ll buy A Short Hike during a sale, thanks for the review. Were its achievements challenging?
I only reached two endings, one of which is the failure one I waited til the last day but didn’t understand at first you had to make a deal yes or yes, so i couldn’t escape on the last night and just burned in the museum… and then saving all the art by giving the papers to that horrible guy who tortures people. I didn’t care much for the ending but I liked the theme and the whole reflexion around preserving a culture vs saving individuals human beings. I’ll definitely grab the 2 other stories DLC when there is a sale, it was nice to go back to This War of Mine.
I hope you enjoy A short hike, it was weirdly the highlight of my summer gaming. The achievements are ok, a few of them are not too easy but not impossible either. You have done way harder.
And thanks for reading <3
I agree, I think the premise of the dlc is very interesting and an important subject to think about in such times.
I failed the first time because I couldn’t repair the truck despite having all the materials. I thought my game glitched because I had no way to repair it. Apparently the button to repair it is close to the right door of the room the truck is in and I had other stuff there so I didn’t even see it. I almost opened a topic about it on forums rofl.
There will be some spoilers here from endings you didn’t get. The woman who finds the truck dies in all endings, it doesn’t matter whom you made a deal with. No matter what that woman will always die and this pissed me off cause I liked her. If you saved the children you escape with them regardless of your choices to store the art. Same deal if you don’t save the children, you don’t take the route the guy offers at the price of an art but you still end up in a safe refuge alongside the kids. Male playable character leaves you if you give an art belonging to him to the person who will save the children so the endings remain the same except the male guy will or will not be in it. The fate of the art can change too though, sometimes a certain art can be found again depending on whether you gave it away or kept it. Some of them can be found again or they can be lost forever especially if you gave them to the general.
In my opinion everything I did felt pointless because I felt like nothing truly changed. I seriously wanted to save the woman and I was quite angry that she died in every single ending.
There is a season pass for those “stories” dlcs. It might be cheaper to buy it like that. I bought it as soon as the first stories dlc was released alongside the season pass.
hmmmmmmmm
Yeah i feel like the ‘different’ endings are just a bit artificial and I am fine with just one playthrough for now (well 2 with the one i failed). I checked the season pass but it’s not a bundle so It’d be cheaper now that i have one to get the 2 others, but i’ll keep an eye for whatever get a discount between the 2 options.
As for the A short hike cheevos, by not too easy i meant there is one collectible item that you’ll have to explore quite a bit to find all of them (but there is a good guide on steam when you’re only missing one or two and can’t find them), and then there is… maybe 2 that are for minigames inside the game that might require you to practice a bit, but nothing unachievable or tedious, i had a lot of fun completing the game (and i’m not as hardcore in cheevo hunting as you are). By not too easy i meant ‘not just story cheevos’