Mother Russia Bleeds

Frequently compared to Hotline Miami the only real similarities are in the brutal and visceral nature of both games. Gameplay is different (beat-em-up sidescroller vs fast-pace top-down action) and style is different (grungey underbelly of Russia vs electric neon of 80s Miami), that being said they're both very good at what they're aiming to achieve. The story unfolds as you, one of four "street fighters" are imprisoned and forced narcotic testing of the drug Nekro, something that reminded me of the notorious Krokodil (don't google that). There are four intitial characters, I was particularly fond of Natasha and her quicker movements but I paired her with the stronger more tank like Ivan, he'd beat them up whilst I kept them off him. The bots are somewhat dumb however and it was very inconvenient in later levels as they would just wander in to danger areas, kind of wish there was online co-op available to counteract this. It's not a particularly long game, I clocked approximately 8 hours but I found the game very difficult, someone who is more skilled at this particular genre would probably be able to finish it in less than 5. Each of the 8 level introduces something new, enemies/weapons/etc, finishing with creative and challenging bossfights, I wasn't always sure exactly how I beat them, feeling a little bit like I only won through brute force but most of them are excellent. Everything else being said it has some great atmospheric visuals and a fantastic OST.

Toren

An endless cycle of death and rebirth, the sun, the moon, a dragon and a tower. I am probably reading way too much into this game but from my single playthrough there seems to be a lot more going on than initially meets the eye but I don't really know enough about the subject nor can I find anyone really talking about the game. The strength lies in its story and mysteries as the gameplay itself is rather lacking, camera angles get annoying, levels don't really flow, controls are clunky... If you can make it past all that you'll be in for a treat though as it just does things differently.

Riptide GP2

This game is a blast. A bit slow to get into but once I finally got the hang of how to play and unlocked a few skills it was an incredible amount of fun. It's a "rocket-powered hydro jet" racing game where to earn boosts you do tricks, get the timing wrong and you will fail big time. I ended up keeping a list of the trick combos to keep track of what I had unlocked. It did get a bit easy in the middle levels but the final few levels felts like the difficult was fair. The only let down is the multiple is completely non-existant, it's one thing to play against bots but it'd be nice to see if I could actually win against other people. I managed to get every single player achievement at least.

E.Y.E: Divine Cybermancy

Where do I begin with this...? Probably the most bizarre game I've played recently without it feeling forced. I don't regret playing this, it's fantastic in it's own unique way but I still have difficulty recommending it. It refers to itself as an FPS but the RPG elements are not in anyway skimped on. Expect a lot of reading, skills points, specialisations and choices that matter. The interface and controls were overbearing and cumbersome at times, with so much to remember I ended up getting stuck on a couple of occasions despite having the skills to get solve the problem. Keeping a notebook at hand is highly recommended if you do dare to venture into this strange post-apocalyptic world. There's a lot of hacking involved, just about everything can be solved by hacking, if you're not careful it becomes a game inside a game and if you even less careful, you will be hacked back. The visuals aren't much to look at now but the design is something else, I spent ages just looking at armour for the individual characters and there's a neon sign for everything! I can't really say much about the story because quite honestly, I have dumbfounded as to what actually happened. Cliché amnesia, you wake up with no memory, everyone seems to know who you are and you're part of a secret society, that's certain. Everything else, not a clue. Great game though.

Darkness Within

A point & click, Lovecraft inspired horror detective story, it's actually pretty good. Emulating the Lovecraftian style, the unknown and delving into madness enough for me at least. Okay... I was genuinely terrified at several points of the game, the atmosphere of the game is intense throughout and no jump scares. There were times when I really didn't have clue how to move forward in the game, despite extensive note-reading, I'd find myself roaming between several rooms of several places trying to figure out what I had missed, this could be very offputting. There is a very interesting mechanic with the notes, you'd have to turn it on in the settings but you can make it so you have to underline the clues, easy to bypass that extra but if difficulty by just underlining everything. If you like horror and you like point and clicks, this is a must play.

Call of Cthulhu®: Dark Corners of the Earth

If Darkness WIthin is Lovecraft-horror done right then this is Lovecraft-horror done wrong. Well, more the case of I really don't think this game has aged well. Taking direct inspiration from novella The Shadow over Innsmouth, an entirely different route is created to finish the story. Although it had its moments not only was I not scared but I was laughing at how superficial some of it was, even if it was accurately portrayed to the original descriptions. The monsters are downright goofy looking in parts. The beginning part of the game is really drawn out and tiring, you spend a large amount of time not even in possession of a weapon. It picked up a bit towards the end, maybe more so because those final levels have more unique architecture than just dark old-timey town but it still felt slow. I used this mod guide to update the visuals and FOV which brought an interesting set of problems on top of some the game already had albeit still playable.

Ghostbusters: The Videogame

Surprisingly, this game is amazing. Felt incredibly faithful to the original movies, was an insane amount of fun with interesting twists and turns around each corner and considering it was released in 2009 still looks pretty good. Heck, I'd even go as far to recommend it to people who don't know much, if anything, about the franchise. Though to be honest I'd probably recommend it on just how many people sent me a message asking "Who ya gonna call?" alone. The game is fairly linear but it's more than a theme-park ride, you really do get thrown into the action and learning to control the proton pack and all its tools was tough but fair.

Particula

There is no point to this game. It's got zero content. I'm pretty sure I mistook it for another game because I was expecting a walking simulator and now I'm confused as to what game I might have been thinking of and how I ended up at this terrible tower defense game with 3 levels, even if there are over 10 difficulties, 3 levels are 3 levels. Just... just don't. If anyone knows what game I might have mistaken it for, it would be nice to know.

ಠ_ಠ

Idol Hands

A simple and very easy god game, it's okay, nothing special. If you want to waste a few hours or scratch an itch, go for it but don't go out of your way to play this. I also get the feeling this was a mobile port, I don't know if it was but it gives that feeling. The endless mode is incredibly pointless but very useful for getting once incredibly annoying achievement about becoming a Tree Expert. I'll give it one plus though, more entertaining that Godus.

Slime Rancher

Absolutely adorable, seriously. The slimes, they're already so cute then there are cat ones too and you can combine all of the slimes to be different colour cats...!?! Yeah it's early access but I feel I've already seen everything, especially when compared to the other popular farming game, Stardew Valley, lacks a huge amount of content. There was some fun but I see no reason to play this game until its officially released, that is unless you really like slimes. I could see it becoming a fantastic unique little title if it was given some more variety.

Violett Remastered

I want to finish this game, even more so as one of my SG wins but I've come across a game-breaking bug quite far into the game. There is no way around this and given how far I am in this game, I'm worried that if I restart I will just encounter the bug again, wasting time. The fact that this title has been given away makes me wonder if it will be fixed. It's a shame because it's a delightful little wonderlandesque point and click title.

Into The Gloom

This game a very good niche title but it has a massive flaw, a sin in gaming almost that really lets it down and that's not including the ridiculous amount of (harmless) jump scares. It probably doesn't look like much, it keeps within its aesthetic but nothing that makes it stand out from other games let alone horror-exploration titles, even the store description is generic and doesn't give credit for one of the more creative stories inside an amateur horror title, not only that but there are five endings (two failstates). As I've already mentioned it is an exploration title, there are chase scenes but more importantly puzzles. Puzzles themselves are not a problem and most of them in this game aren't that bad but the problem lies with the fact that a fair few of them are timed puzzles, I cannot abide puzzles that require you to solve something within a set limit but others may feel differently.

Awkward Dimensions Redux

Memes, dreams and wait that's a lot more depressing that I first expected. F2P artsy walking simulator, is it worth a look? Probably not. If it adds achievements? Maybe. There is some gameplay and the levels look nice but its mostly surreal, random. I'm sure there is a story it is nonsensical, not flowing between the levels. Someone might say its like The Stanley Parable, it is not.

Real Horror Stories Ultimate Edition

What a load of crap. This has cheap jump "scares" down to a fine art. Random clicking till grandmother explodes is not a puzzle. To top it off, gamebreaking bug preventing a transistion to the next level. I'm calling this done, I've seen everything this game has to offer.

Doorways: Holy Mountains of Flesh

The third and final installment of the Doorways Trilogy comes to a spectacular conclusion. Though there are parts that feel less action orientated than what I remember of its predecessors, I honestly feel this game is just as good if not better than them. It also seems to have gone all out in the visuals, level design and exploration. The puzzles are tough, in particular the "mansion" area of the game where I was stuck for absolutely ages but I'm glad I persevered for that ending. There are jump scares but they are few and far between and more importantly make sense, all the games are far more reliant on the unsettling atmosphere and flashbacks.

ARK: Fear Evolved

I'm playing ARK again! I'm on a new server which belongs to a friend, the admin of the last sever decided to randomly wipe everything and change the map. Very disappointing to lose all that progress. On the plus side, less server lag now and there is no land hoarders. Currently building something secret, will post screenshots when I'm done probably but it's taking its time to plan the design which turned out to be far more complicated than I first realised and also gathering mats. Even with the gathering rate turned up a notch so much time, kind of wish they'd give some console commands so I could just spawn the components I need to finish it but I guess they're too worried I might surround their houses with pumpkins.... Speaking of which, the halloween event is on and I haven't even seen the Dodorex yet, let alone killed it. The thing is suppose to be bigger than a t-rex but is more illusive than a Quetzal and that's not for the lack of trying. I thought I might try and get the witches hat too but seeing what I need to do for that is verging on the ridiculous.

Scavenger Hunt

a bloody weapon

a torch

a body

the writing on the wall

twilight sky

stars

a pretty flower

garden equipment

a terminal

lasers

my pimped out ride

a message in neon

it has more than 2 eyes

a mythical beast

a spider

man's best friend

the massacre

death by fire

up close and personal

got you in my sights

Happy Halloween!

(source)

Global Ops: Commando Libya

24/24 (100%), 8.9 hours

One of my SteamGift wins finally completed but I feel bad because this game is very, very bad. Although an action packed and over the top third-person shooter there would be nothing to make this game stand out if it weren't for the dumb AI, the bizarre key bindings and the inconsistent difficulty. It is the very definition of generic military shooting game. I promise I'm not exaggerating any of these claims. I had the AI run straight past me at some points, one key is bound to many actions (space bar is used for sprint, forward roll, crouch and jump) most sections are a walk in the park (even on the hardest setting) then there will be this one random enemy which is a pain in the butt that caused seemingly random deaths. :|

Oh well, it wasn't all bad, some of the one-liners were amusing at least.

Lucius II

65/65, 15.0 hours

If you have not played the original Lucius turn back now.

The story continues as Lucius wakes up several months later from a coma in a psychiatric ward. As much as I like the sequel I don't think it holds up when compared to the first game. The Improvements are noticeable, in particular with the size and variety of levels, you're no longer restricted to the same house each time, also the gameplay itself has room for more creativity and with more opportunities to gruesomely murder a person, or multiple in each level, heck you literally have a chance to massacre an entire town at one point. However with freedom that has been introduced there was definitely knock on effect with some of the more dramatic finales that are now missing, making the game feel rather bland and less exciting overall. There's no buildup and no "ah-ha" moment as you solve the puzzle, you don't have to look far to find something for the kill and sometimes it is just given straight to you, the inhabitants aren't particularly bright and prone to walking into a fire. The story was one of the better parts of the original alongside having to learn about the inhabitants, without that many of the lives taken seem meaningless but the music is much better in this game, no more endless irritating stings!

Ukrainian Ninja

8/12 (67%), 2.6 hours

Another SteamGifts win finished!

I don't understand the concept of this game. The "ninjas" seem like entirely different species to the other humanoids and they defeat major enemies by dropping incredibly oversized dynamite on them but despite the size the blast radius is the size of a teaspoon? All this whilst releasing zombies unto the city and dodging lesser enemies that can shoot through wall? Eh.. that last one might be a bug. Aside from the weird stuff it's fairly unremarkable platformer filled with bugs, like being left behind with the floor of an elevator, or getting stuck going around corners. It'd probably also be fairly difficult if it weren't for the fact you can brute force your way through the entire game, so many check points and very easy to just jump over and ignore enemies.

It's okay but could have done with a lot more polish and expanding on the ideas introduced.

StarFence: Heroic Edition

20/22 (91%), 10.1 hours

Another SteamGifts win finished!

Part tower-defence, part shooter is a game where you take control to defend the base. Every level feel very samey but as more bonuses and upgrades are unlocked it does get easier even as the screen becomes a mess of ships, mines and lasers. It doesn't take much to find yourself very overpowered, destroying a craft in one hit. Problems lie when you have to heal, to do so you have to stop shooting which usually means gameover when your overwhelmed by enemies. Be careful where you're aiming because hovering direct over the base stops the shooting but won't heal unless you're clicking also it's not easy to see health bars when a ship explodes near by. It gets very fiddly if you wish to add more objects to the field, even outside of battle but quite often the levels force you to do so. I do like the art design, nothing too fancy but it does remind me of Aeon Command in a way, beautiful and colourful backgrounds with simple but detailed ships.

Super Mega Neo Pug

no achievements, 4.2 hours

If that green helicopter game took acid, this would be the result.

This game doesn't have Steam achievements but it's one of those games that would benefit more than many if they were included. Being an endless game I did a few test runs then set myself some goals to achieve before I considered this game "finished". These goals were:

• Earn 10,000 High-Score
• Unlock all Characters
• Collect all Snowglobes

Controls are relatively simple, only one button of your choice ever needs to be used as the game automatically propels your pug across a range of biomes, in appearance they're incredibly varied but the gameplay and even patterns remains the same. It doesn't matter what biome you're in, the bosses are the same and appear in the same order, I only ever saw three but they were at least unique to each other. The worst offender for predictability were power-ups, they could always be picked up in the exact same spot on the screen, unless there was an object that blocked that part. That brings me to another problem where coins and other object would spawn on top of each other preventing the collection of the coins needed to unlock characters. Getting all those coins is one massive grindfest or repetitiveness. Not worth it as the only character that do anything useful are the last to be unlocked (including one that makes coins easier to collect). Surprisingly this game has some really nice pixel art but again in places objects became difficult to see and in a game about dodging objects that's nor particularly fun. The snowglobes were hard-to-miss collectables that showed up in levels, some only to a particular biome, others were random, once they were collected they were never to be seen again.

If you click here you will see I managed to achieve all my goals. Perhaps you'd like to try and match them or show off and beat my highscore.

The Adventures of Fatman: Toxic Revenge

no achievements, 7.7 hours

Somewhere in an alternate Universe, Batman really let himself go.

Occasionally funny, Fatman looks dated, feels bland, juvenile and is quite boring parts when compared to other P&C adventure games though my understanding is that when it was first released, back in 2003, it was very well received. Maybe it's just me but after the umteenth fat joke I stopped caring, heck even the terrible voice acting is far more hilarious than any of those. The majority of the game is quite straightforward to progress, there were a few points where I got stuck because I was too slow to write down vital piece of information or because I miss something from an obtuse or pixel hunting however this game also features "death" so making sure to save often was a priority and not a problem to reload saves even with only 6 slots available. As you might expect there are plenty of references and jokes about Batman and Superheroes in general.

Some "special features" are included with the game including audio commentary, outtakes, soundtrack and "pizza quest".

Think To Die

11/11 (100%), 0.5 hours

You'd probably think there would be nothing to say about this game given that you can literally skip all the content and get all the achievements without actually trying to solve the levels. The aim of the game is to commit suicide, very macabre but it's not the first game to do it, I remember play the eerily similar Karoshi many years back, albeit this game has flashier art direction. A puzzle-platformer with 144 levels total (and some bonus stuff), new mechanics are continuously being introduced right up til the end. Although it is a little different and whilst quite fun the game has its flaws and fair share of bugs. For a F2P game it's not bad.

In some ways Karoshi makes more sense as a game as it translates roughly to "overwork death", usually associate with heart attack brought on by stress. You play as a business man in Karoshi but just some random person, in Think To Die, unless there is something far more sinister with the game that I initially missed. There is a wiki article about the phenomenon and it's spread to other countries here.

True or False

12/12 (100%), 0.7 hours

Pretty sure this is /r/todayilearned in game form but with less agenda pushing. So in the spirit of things, TIL Koala's Teeth are strong enough to bend time and space. Hang on, wait a second, that's not true! Alongside that one, many of the false "facts" are something outrageously silly. The game does what it says on the tin, gives you a question and you have to answer whether or not it's True or False, with some cute animal guides holding up the question cards. there's only one thing I'd ask for with this game and that is would it please say what the real answer is on those that are false. Also it has some really nice designs on the acheivements!

Pixel Puzzles: Space

55/55 (100%), 16.2 hours

Most the Pixel Puzzle games are fairly similar, this one just happens to be space themed. If you don't like jigsaws you won't like these however I find them very enjoyable and relaxing. There's a range of sizes, the smallest has 60 pieces to the largest has 350.

The hints systems have always been rather interesting in these games, for this particular one they have floating parts mixed up with the puzzle pieces. There are three types of hints available, "fix angle" - shows the correct rotation, "show ghost" - flashes the solution in the background, and "location" - shows where the piece belongs. To use a hint, grab a part and place it in the appropriate slot then use the hotkey relevant to the hint you want to use. Alternatively you don't have to use hints at all, instead using them to build a rocket which if you complete before you place the final piece you will earn an extra achievement. I didn't realise this at first and went back to replay several levels despite never actually wasting parts on hints.

Pixel Puzzles: Birds

33/33 (100%), 13.7 hours

Again very similar to Space and the other Pixel Puzzles, various jigsaws with the same sizes available this time with birds. The backgrounds seem to have at one point been a mess, the screenshots on the store page are no longer representative of this and they've opted for a plainer flatter ones instead.

Although the same hints are available, there is a different hint system in place revolving around catching crabs. After a while they spawn on your board, up to two at a time, pick them up and put them in a net, when you have enough just use your hotkeys and they're ready to go. The crabs do get annoying but you can turn them off with one button so that's a plus.

Fair warning to those planning to play with a younger audience or those of a more sensitive nature, one of the puzzles contains a dead bird, nothing graphic but worth a mention. Also, welcome to penguin hell!

Polyology

9/9 (100%), 4.2 hours

It's not much to look at but this Sokoban or "crate pushing" styled puzzle game is a fairly good twist on the old genre. Starting with the traditional blocks, the goal is to push all blocks of the same colour together (opposed to a set location), how many needed to be touching is also indicated by an optional number on the blocks. Gradually a variety of mechanics are introduced, these include: "restraint" - routes which blocks cannot pass, "constraint" - routes which you cannot pass, "switch" - instead of pushing you change places with the block, "fading" - blocks gain a timer when touched by another block followed by disappearance, "static" - blocks which cannot be moved, "polymino" - blocks with more varied shapes, "wildblocks" - blocks that aren't picky with who they're connected too, and my favourite "ice" - blocks that continue moving until they hit a wall after one push. In later levels these mechanics are used in various combinations with some interesting results.

There's 60 levels in total and to finish them isn't particularly difficult, getting under par for 3 stars each level is the real challenge. There's also an arcade mode where blocks are spawned in and you have to match as many as possible before the timer runs out. An unexpected surprise was unlockables, instead of just plain numbers on your blocks after collecting enough stars you could change it to shapes or aztec styled numbers (plus a couple of other designs).

HardCube

13/13 (100%), 1.4 hours

A short and simple rolling ball platformer, HardCube takes you through forests, western plains, winter landscapes and ... "sci-fi"? Not sure about the name given to the last one, it's modern and futuristic, a cityscape with the colour-scheme of Mirror's Edge (and the achievement for completion references the main character) but is it really sci-fi? Even with the lasers? Interestingly enough there is still variations within each set of levels, some being during night-time, dust storms and such.

32 levels total, not including tutorial, 8 for each set. There's two options for playing, timed or not time but difficulty remains the same. Only one achievement is reliant on timed mode being active and it's not hard to earn. In fact the entire game is relatively easy, just takes a small amount of patience, rushing your way through the level leads to careless mistakes. Hazards are introduced throughout the game, a few mines, several styles of obstacles that try to push you off, slippery ice and of course the previously mentioned lasers but nothing particularly innovative. There are also optional collectables and a scoring system based on how many you gather with leaderboards. The most direct route may not always be the best way, frequently I found a way around the obstacles sometimes even climbing over them so if you're planning on playing this game try the less obvious path.

Job the Leprechaun

3/3 (100%), 4 hours

Another game which mysteriously had pointless achievements added. I finished this last year but had to go back and become a jumping cow. Not a game I would recommend even before this nuisance but it's a short simple platformer about collecting clovers, rescuing a friend and hitting creatures with your hat. I wish I could say more but there really isn't a lot to it.

Shelter 2

3/26 (12%), 4.6 hours

Much like it's predecessor, Shelter 2 has you taking the role of an animal raising their young to adulthood and all the troubles that brings with it, main difference being in the first game you play a badger, this time around a lynx. The sequel introduces a lot of new content, for starters the one that makes the most sense, hunting, starting out on rabbits eventually you may come across the challenge of deer, a mighty feast for all if successful. All you really have to do is run at the creatures, jumping at those larger and those capable of flight but it's quite a challenge to get use to and predict the movement. The maps are also far more open, they loop but you can stay in one location for the entirety of the game or you can go explore, some areas are only accessible in certain seasons, it doesn't matter too much how far you go because eventually you loop back to where you start out. Inside each map is plenty of collectables to be found. Events appear to be randomized and are not guaranteed for each playthrough, it maybe reliant on which section of the map you're in at any point during the year. I read about events I did not witness on the forums and also experienced events I had not seen mentioned. Each playthrough taking your kittens to adulthood takes approximately 2 hours, you can continue to play without them once they've gone or you can start anew with one of the kittens you raised or start a completely new family. Despite the new content the game still feels quite bare and simple but I'm not sure what more you can expect from a game like this.

I love this game but oh boy, it feels like I'm being ripped apart, I'm a terrible Lynx-mother. During my first playthrough one of my kittens stopped following, in an attempt to save it I ended up neglecting the others too much and lost another. They make such an awful sound when they die. ☹ It happened again in my second playthrough, nearly at adulthood to add an extra sting, only the one death that time. I still don't really understand why, they seemed so well fed, especially in the second playthrough. After all that has happened, the kittens leave anyway...

I have some recordings, unfortunately not all because something went awry and decided to record the wrong program. No loss really but you do miss out on the disappearing rabbit.

Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunter Reborn

12/12 (100%), 20.8 hours

I'm not completely sure what possessed me to start playing this game and I'm still not sure why I decided to finish it, it's not particularly great. Probably stating the complete obvious here but Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunter Reborn is a FPS dinosaur hunting simulator and the most recent addition to the series of the same name. Visiting various islands, from deserts to dense forests, you capture dinosaurs where they're hilariously elevated from the ground, something akin to stereotypical alien kidnappings, to be displayed in your trophy room. Starting out with the bare minimal, a gun and a map, the more you succeed the more you unlock, making you rather overpowered by the end if I'm honest.

From what I've read on the forums this game is no longer getting updates, which is a shame because there seems to be less dinosaurs than previous incarnations of the series but not only that, it's very buggy. Maps wouldn't load, dinosaurs moved through rocks and crashed several times with no explanation.

There's nine dinosaurs in total.
Three minor dinosaurs: Gallimimus, Pelecanimumus and Pteranodon. These are more in the background, you can't have them airlifted for display but they will garner points should you successfully knock one out. The Pteranodon will also grant an achievement if you hit it with the x-bow.
Six main dinosaurs which you can display: Ankylosaurus, Stegosaurus, Parasaurolophus, Triceratops, Ceratorsaurus and Tyrannosaurus Rex. These dinosaurs can be captuered and displayed and all are quite capable of killing you should you get too close, some being more aggressive than others.

All dinosaurs come in a variety of sizes, the larger being more typically seen in end game maps and there is a chance for a "mutated" version to spawn which have an altered appearance and are tougher to take on.

I don't think this game is particularly difficult but it is very grindy, even if you're a good shot. The game also isn't very interesting and extremely repetitive, it does get easier but fairly boring up until you're on maps with frequent carnivore spawns, even the maps themselves don't have that great variety. I think four total maps, just sometimes it's nighttime and sometimes it's foggy. You can choose your difficulty level, every upgrade you have acquired can be turned off and left behind, in doing so you'll be rewarded more points for succeeding.

I've uploaded some videos but the only video probably worth the watch is number 11 where I get the achievement "Full House" as the goal is to hunt every dinosaur in one session.

Appointment With FEAR

30/30 (100%), 6.2 hours

The first game I've completed for this months theme Superheroes. It's a comic book styled "Choose Your Own Adventure" game where your choices have weight and the consequences can lead to death. This game is actually an adaption of a physical CYOA book by the same name, I've never read so I cannot comment on how faithful the adaption is. You start out by choosing what kind of superhero you want to be (powers/gender/appearance), lots to choose from as far as appearance goes but only four powers. What power you choose will have the most influence on the story, everything from how you prepare breakfast to how you solve a situation or if you even can. There are many boss battles in the game but they mostly play out the same that is to say, they are more about luck than skill. You can't see everything in one playthrough but there's tons of replayability with more than a few surprises in store for those who try. Should you find yourself an ex-superhero you can go back to earlier checkpoints and try another route but once you restart with a new hero you can no longer go back to those checkpoints.

Nothing Important...

definitely nothing important

Been fairly busy this month, September is always chaos and it's not over yet! Lot's of Birthdays, forced socialisation, parties, family gatherings & my home town has a music festival going on (plus a few other things). Pure nightmare fuel compared to the rest of the year. This is also the month preparations start by an irl club I'm a member of for events in November/December that they host yearly, probably sounds a bit early but trust me, any later and it just doesn't work.

I had a couple of people ask about my monthly statistic, well I'm not all that interested in making monthly posts but I'll keep a spreadsheet of the data. Click here to view. I've also been keeping an index of the games I post here. Click here to view.

I don't know how many remember but I hosted a theme a few months back. Well, I promised GAs for the participants, it may have taken a while and I intended to do them sooner but I'll be inviting those that did over the next couple of days. Not a requirement to join but as the 2 games are "non-bundled" at the time of typing I reserve the right to invite non-participants should the minimum 5 entries not be met. Hopefully nobody is on vacation and I won't miss anyone out. As for those who were not around or did not participate there is a giveaway "sneakily hidden" open to anyone who finds it in this tab.

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These are games not really worth talking about but I like to keep track of every game I have played and they have nowhere else to go, so here they are!

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Soup: the Game
How did I get this achievement, pretty sure it's for winning one game.... I did not win.

SAMOLIOTIK
If you like memes you'll probably like this game. Unremarkable otherwise.

大海战 Navy Field IV
What even is this. Thanks DakotaThrice for instructions on this one.

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Thinking With Time Machine

no achievements, 2 hours

For a mod this is pretty good, I didn't go in expecting much but the short time I spent playing this game was satisfactory. The story is minimal, no narrator or companions to talk to like the base games but there are some interesting events that take place. The mechanics are very similar to the time based puzzles in The Talos Principle where you record yourself doing actions and then play them simultaneously as you do more actions to solve puzzles, the differences being you get to use Portals in those puzzles and you can start your recording any place on the map. The majority of the game I found easy, there was only one puzzle I was truly felt stuck on for quite a while and that was Chamber 8. The mod crashed a few times on me and I also got stuck in my duplicate on occasion but it's F2P so not really a problem.

Some spoiler filled screenshots (Steam) and the proof of completion.

Quantum Conundrum

13/25 (52%), 25 hours

This is a game I played a small amount of back when it was released in 2012 but lost interest and as it has been so long since I last played it I started from the beginning.

It's a physics based puzzle-platformer game where you play a young boy who goes to visit his scientist uncle, Professor Quadwrangle, only to discover he's got himself in a bit of a pickle. The puzzles vary in difficulty and complexity introducing new mechanics controlled by the "Interdimensional Shift Device (or IDS)" throughout the game. If the name of the device wasn't a clue you switch dimensions to find the solution to a room, there are four dimensions included with the game and they are Fluffy, Heavy, Slow Time and Anti-Gravity. A really nice touch was the aesthetic of the room changing to match the dimension you're currently in. Although there were times when I got stuck for the most part I could see what I had to do but just had difficulty implementing those actions, in particular the actual platforming part of the game and also the "surfing" mechanic which is actually quite fun once you've got the hang of it.

The similarities to Portal are fairly obvious, which is to be expected as Kim Swift the director of Quantum Conundrum was also the lead designer for Portal. Professor Quadwrangle serves a role very similar to that of GlaDOS, despite being stuck somewhere unknown he is able to talk to the young boy no matter where in the house he is, often giving tips and explaining how certain things work. They tried to make him more like GlaDOS with witty and sarcastic remarks but he doesn't come across in such a way, almost all the comments are very cold, neither funny or clever, just rude. I think it would have done well to have the character more relaxed and friendly. There is another character who appears often in levels, IKE (Interdimensional Kinetic Entity), a cute and friendly albeit somewhat shy creature that seems to be able to live in any dimension.

There is an incredible amount of books in this game, so many so I believe they deserve their own mention, especially as I spent quite a bit of time just rumaging through bookshelves to find new ones, I kind of wish I could actually read them. A list of all the books possible can be found here. As well as the books, you can also collect "noise makers", they weren't very difficult to find and they're very similar to radios in Portal, as their names imply both make noise.

There is two DLCs available for Quantum Conundrum, The Desmond Debacle and IKE-aramba!. I don't really think either add anything other than more puzzles to the game but I gave up on completing IKE-aramba! after repeatedly failing a horrible "surfing" level.

Doc Clock: The Toasted Sandwich of Time

9/12 (75%) 7.8 hours

Why take the easy route when you can go back in time and make things worse?

With an accident turning your beloved cat into a cactus (a catcus?) the obvious solution is to invent a time machine so you can go back in time to before the event happened and absolutely definitely not to just event a machine which will turn your catcus back into a cat. You end up going on a trip through snow and fire with a homicidal robotic companion strapped to your back, battling more homicidal robots that have conquered the world, to fix your time machine, save the day, collecting toasted sandwiches along the way.

The entirety of the game is based around finding objects to build and invent contraptions to get to the end of the level, starting out with simple bridges your projects will get more complex and fun the further you get throughout the game, you do this by simply sticking two or more objects together. The game is however very buggy and temperamental, a "snap" to connect feature wouldn't have gone amiss. Walking pace is also very slow and you're unable to jump, it very much is reliant on building vehicles to get anywhere at a decent pace. If you already own this game, I would recommend giving it a try to see the mechanics but I wouldn't recommend it otherwise. Also, the cat himself reminded me of those from the Petz series.

Project Temporality

16/19 (84%), 13.4 hours

This is a game about manipulating time via recording your character to do multiple actions at once, similar to some levels in The Talos Principle and those in Thinking with Time Machine. You can have up to 11 clones to help you finish a puzzle but you will be awarded a better score for using fewer clones and minimal time recording. I found the puzzles quite challenging, especially towards the end. I'm convinced getting on every level is impossible, achieving is hard enough. Feel free to prove me wrong with gameplay footage though. There is a story told via conversations you have with two people and also through notes found throughout the levels, I couldn't find all the notes. Although I enjoyed this game there is nothing that really makes it stand out as good or bad.

—— Moirai ——

As others have said already, this game is best going in knowing nothing about the story.

It will take you about 10 minutes (if that) and the controls are a little bit awkward to get use to. That is all you need to know.

People who've played this... What's in the barn??

—— Crystals of Time ——

A professional theif travels to an abandoned mansion to uncover the mystery of disappearances including that of her father, she has in her possession a crystal which can show glimpses of the past. Honestly though, you could probably remove those time mechanics and it wouldn't make much of a difference to the game, they're really quite irrelevant to everything except the plot, you can't even use the crystal in every room. It's a tad more difficult than some HoGs such as those from Artifex Mundi but there's a lot of repeated hidden object scenes to the point where you are asked to seek the same objects previously found. Also there was a lot of backtracking, on more than one occasion the game would have you on one side of the map and send you back to the other side to retrieve a couple of items, then you would return back to the original spot just so you could continue. I guess it's a bit more logical than other games of the genre but sometimes I prefer convenience. The story is quite boring, nothing really happens.</span>

Proof of completeion here.

—— Orion: A Sci-Fi Visual Novel ——

Probably one of the more enjoyable Visual Novels I've come across, Orion is about a young man who receives a strange message that his home will be destroyed. He soon finds himself learning new things about himself, his family and his friends, whilst meeting a whole cast of interesting characters on his journey. There seems to be two art-styles going on, there was a more life-like but still stylised, used in background and larger scenes, which I thought looked very nice and a more anime-style, used for the character art, that I wasn't a fan of but it grew on me by the end. It took me approximately 1hr40mins to complete the first route but in subsequent paths you can skip previously read dialogue and text which made thing goes by a lot quicker. Not all the lines are voiced but what voice acting there is, is very good. I got 4 endings by myself before resorting to this guide for directions.

Screenshots.

—— Ben There, Dan That! ——
—— Time Gentlemen, Please! ——

British, silly, vulgar and over-the-top, these point & click adventure games are a good laugh at best, a little ridiculous at worst and often makeing fun of the genre it resides in. The two games tell the tale of Ben and Dan as they're kidnapped by aliens in the first and imprisoned by worse in the sequel. I enjoyed the majority of the games but it did start to drag by the time I was getting near the end of the second game. The interface feels more clunky than usual, it doesn't take too long to get use to it and is otherwise standard. There are lots of references to other games and media throughout, I did feel a little bit awkward knowing that I hadn't played any of the three games portrayed in the posters in the lounge of the first game but I guess that's just something to look forward to should I get a chance in the future. I couldn't take screenshots using the Steam function in the first game but it worked fine for the second.

Ben There, Dan That! screenshots here.
Time Gentlemen, Please! screenshots here.

—— MacGuffin ——

This game seems inspired by The Stanley Parable, it's essentially a walking simulator, with an interactable environment, minor puzzles and a narrator. Although there are similarities in style it does have its own unique flair and to my knowledge it doesn't have multiple endings. You are a talented theif who gets a mysterious call from a man called Richard. He sends you to a nuclear power plant to retrieve an item known as the "MacGuffin". The game takes you on a humorous, bizarre and unexpected journey as learn who Richard really is and why the MacGuffin is so important and although it's mostly linear there are parts of the game which are easy to miss. The jokes can mostly be described as "random", so if that isn't your thing you won't enjoy this game. The game takes approximately 30mins to complete if you don't rush.

I don't know if anyone cares but I actually made a video of my second playthrough, it can be found here, fair warning though, there's flashing lights and screen shaking on a few occasions.

Screenshots

—— Stranded in Time ——

I feel like I've been tricked, I was promised time travel and this did not happen, at least not for me. This game is kind of lacking, a lot. The dialogue was cheesy and cringe-worthy, even the characters were face-palming it was so bad. There was a lot of travelling back and forth, especially in one section involving opening and closing doors which could have been settled by having all the doors permanently opened after solving a puzzle. The ending was abrupt and absolutely rubbish.

Stranded In Time seems to refer to the alien you meet whilst trapped in a cave, when the story ends, he kidnaps your Uncle and leaves you behind you on Earth. I wanted to see the aliens planet. :(

—— The Secret Order 3: Ancient Times ——

Fairly standard Artifex Mundi HoG, beautiful scenery, interesting puzzles, passable story, not very innovative. In The Secret Order 3 you travel back in time to Victorian London and then to a mythical realm known as Aeronheart to prevent your father from being killed. The gryphon was adorable!

Screenshots

—— Mandagon ——

Short, easy to complete and with stunningly detailed scenery this game is absolutely beautiful. Gameplay is fairly simple, a platformer where you find objects then bring it to a location, once you have done this for all the objects a gate will unlock and you will reach your goal. The story is not obvious but quite interesting and left to your own interpretation.

—— Snake Blocks ——

A relatively simple puzzle game the goal is to get all the snake heads to their individual highlighted box forming knots of snakes as you weave them in and around themselves and walls to create the optimal pathway to a solution. I found the majority of the game really easy, I didn't even begin to get stuck until halfway through the 3rd set of puzzles but the later puzzles provided quite a challenge. The game appears to only have set viewing angles, so actually dragging the snake to the location you wanted to was tricky and would often decide to go wandering somewhere else but it was also very easy to erase a path if you decide to change your mind. The motivational comments the game gave upon completion of a puzzle were a nice touch.

Proof of completion here.

—— Sonic CD ——

Ah, my eyes! I don't know who thought this art direction was a good idea but there was such a fustercluck of colours sometimes I couldn't even tell where I was suppose to be going and worse than that, the background was occasionally the same colour as sonic and other enemies/items. Other than that though, it was alright.

—— A Date In the Park ——

After recently starting a new life in Portugal, Lou meets a woman called Catarina in a bar one evening. The next day things begin to get interesting as he agrees to meet her for a romantic rendezvous in a park. The game sets a series of mysteries and a small treasure hunt so it's best to know as little as possible about the story when starting this game. I found it quite hard to navigate, it was easy to get lost and miss areas of importance but even with that I enjoyed the experience. I also believe that although it's set in Portugal, it will probably be more interesting to those who cannot speak Portuguese as it emulates living in a foreign land with no knowledge of the language and being unable to communicate with the locals.

Over all the game serves as a great cautionary tale in a similar way that Little Red Riding Hood might to a child when it comes to trusting strangers. Also I called my duck "Quackers".

If you're done with the game, there's a great thread here discussing the ending.

—— Voxelized ——

Made by the same person who released the controversial game Journey Of The Light, this game is also unfinished and probably won't ever be finished. Voxelized is a Minecraft clone without any content. I dug down just to see if there was anything below the top layer, there was nothing, not even bedrock, and subsequently got stuck in the sky as I fell. On the plus side, all you have to do is launch the game to get the only achievement.

If you are looking for a Minecraft clone worth playing, I recommend Creativerse. A fair amount of unique content and a cuter style, the 27 hours I put into the game scratched an itch for me a few weeks back. Screenshots here.

Human Resource Machine

I hated this game. It's not bad, i'm just so awful at these types of puzzles. I truly felt like an idiot after most of these. If there were more puzzles that eased you into the new mechanics I might have enjoyed the game a bit better but it really felt like it was throwing me from one fire to another before the previous one had gone out. The presentation is wonderful though, you watch as a new employee wastes their years in a dull brown office building sorting boxes and taking coffee breaks.

The Tiny Bang Story

I played this game on recommendation from posts by Daephen and ᵈᵃᵛ◯ᵈᵒ. They're absolutely right about it being a hidden gem! I adore this game, it's so beautiful and full of charm. Overall it isn't particularly difficult but I didn't find it a breeze to complete. The hint system was interesting, I didn't really need it but to get access to any hints you have to play a clicking mini-game gathering flies.

Screenshots

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

This was the third game that I purposely purchased requiring a Steam account. Partly to check out the DLC that was added and partly to see how I feel about this game 5 years after its release, I put my backlog on hold to play and finally 100% Skyrim! When I first saw the advertisement for the game I was incredibly hyped for it. At that point I had barely played any Elder Scrolls games, only a tiny amount of Morrowind so this was an incredibly new experience for me, clocking 150 hours and explored every nook and cranny available. This time round, I soon discovered that I was actually very disinterested in everything the game had to offer, it took me to level 20 before I actually felt anything for the game and I lost that interest several times over and when I got that last achievements I was so relieved. It really felt like a chore, that sense of fun and exploration just isn't there the second time. I don't believe Skyrim is a bad game, it may not be as good as its predecessors or no where near others games in the genre but bad? No.

The highlight was definitely the DLC, the content I hadn't seen before.
Didn't really care for Hearthfire, houses are nice but it's just an overly complicated version of what you already do as far as purchasing houses in Skyrim goes and after the settlement building in Fallout 4 it was kind of "meh".
I wasn't a fan of Dawnguard but that was mostly being a vampire, which was annoying, I stopped that as soon as I could. The area in the Soul Gem was okay but there was so many falmer caves. I loved the area toward the end of the expansion, I was not expecting that. Also the side quest exploring Dwemer ruins for an artifact was fantastic.
Dragonborn is the best expansion in my opinion but it's set on the same island as the expansion for Morrowind: Bloodmoon, Solstheim. An island inhabited mostly by Dunmer and Nords, because that's exactly what Skyrim needed, more Nords. The final boss fight was amazing and the route to get to him kept me interested almost the entire way.

I did take screenshots but I didn't use any fancy graphic mods, just the silly ones, so they're probably not worth looking at as Skyrim can be rather ugly in places. However if you are curious, just click here.

North

Where do I begin with this, it definitely took me be surprise. I first thought this was a game about a dystopian city but then it hit me, it's actually a game about immigration and after checking the store page it specifically states that it is about refugees. It's actually fairly creative in the way it presents its content, although it definitely has an amateur sort of feel in places, most memorably the mining mini-game was awful. There are several strange and surreal sequences to convey it's message of the game, many of which are left up to your own interpretation but what felt definite to me was the representation of distrust the natives "Northerners" felt towards the "Southerners", how much that has to proven before they're accepted, the dire conditions that the refugees lived and worked in and what was given up in the process. The most interesting part of the game to me is definitely how you find your next goal, you do this by reading and sending letters letters to your sister at one of the many postboxes.

Screenshots