Alright. October is in the books. Most of my gaming time this month was actually spent playing Avadon 2: The Corruption and Avernum: Escape From the Pit, both of which were great, and Avernum in particular will be a memorable one for me. I also really enjoyed The Casting of Frank Stone and will get another playthrough in before shelving it.

October Completions

1. Sammy Jukes: Twin Lakes (Steam)
2. Avadon 2: The Corruption (Steam)
3. Avernum: Escape From The Pit (Steam)
4. Innsmouth 22 (Steam)
5. The Casting of Frank Stone [Merciless Killer] (Steam)
6. The Sirena Expedition (Steam)
7. That Which Gave Chase (Steam)
8. Lighthouse Keeper (Steam)

October Retirements

1. Jagged Alliance Gold - just does not hold up at all IMO
2. Blood Orange - cool but frustrating
3. 63 Days - also cool but frustrating, lol

No games paused this month

Plans for November

I’m in the middle of playthroughs of The Casting of Frank Stone, Chants of Sennaar, Judgement (still), Assassin’s Creed Mirage, and Watch Your Plastic Ducks (such as it is), so I’ll wrap those up. I also intend to playthrough Tactics Ogre: Reborn, Nobody Wants To Die, and Sherlock Holmes Chapter One, try out The Last Farmer, Djinn - The Forbidden Knowledge, and Monomyth, get a little American Truck Sim time in, and who knows beyond all that. My birthday is on the 14th, and I have some final preparations for winter to attend to (plus I need to replace the brake pads for my front right tire, clean the caliper and rotor, and such on my car). So, we’ll see how it all goes, lol.

Alright. I don’t believe I’ll finish any other games today, so we’ll call September done and dusted. I played a fair amount of game this month. Spent like 25 hours playing The Crew 2, wrapped up The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero, Skald - Against the Black Priory, and Ruzar - The Dark Stones, which carried over from last month, and tried out a fair few other titles this month. The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero was the standout title, with Skald - Against the Black Priory being right there with it. I also went back and played Avadon: The Black Fortress which was cool and accounted for like 55 hours. And I thought Venba was easily the most feels in a game I played this month. It was also a lite month for retiring games, which is always nice.

September Completions

1. SKALD: Against the Black Priory (Steam)
2. Grimstone Valley (Steam)
3. Rainy City: Pandemic (Steam)
4. The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero (Steam)
5. Ruzar - The Dark Stones (Steam)
6. The Story Is You - Look Within (Steam)
7. Wardwell House (Steam)
8. Recollection (Steam)
9. Avadon: The Black Fortress (Steam)
10. I Live Under Your House (Steam)
    10a. I Live Under Your House - It lives under the house. (Steam)
11. The Abandoned Planet (Steam)
12. Venba (Steam)
13. Jake’s Halloween Night (Steam)

September Retirements

1. Soldat 2 - Fun but dead and actually a bit more twitchy than I personally prefer.
2. ARCADE GAME SERIES: PAC-MAN - I just kinda hate playing in tiny windows that you can’t adjust without extra work.
3. Total Party Kill - Cool premise and I wanted to try it since it’s one of the older curator licenses I’d claimed years back and am catching up on. But not really my type of game.

Games Paused

The Crew 2 - It does have a campaign of sorts, but I figure I’ll do that here and there over the next several months.
Wild Americas The Game - Cool concept. Super early into early access. And the devs are currently spending more time playing Space Marines 2 than working on their own game, lol. I’ll pick this back up when they make more progress in development.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl - Works fine on my rig with no mods, but I just kinda realized I wasn’t in the mood to replay this right now.

Plans for October

Djinn - The Forbidden Knowledge - The dev had asked me to wait until he posted a tutorial vid, then said it would be fine without one, then said he’d be posting one. So IDK. I’ll likely give this a couple hours though and see where it really is. It fits in with October’s horror theme regardless.

Judgement - Just started this. I imagine it’ll take up a fair chunk of my time for at least a week or so. Likely the main game I play.

Hades 2 - Going to play a couple more hours of this and then wait for full release to play through it in its entirety. They plan to add another area and some more stuff between now and full release.

Xeyyex 2: Color Wars - Probably not going to invest much more time into this, but I will play co-op with the dev at least once before setting it down.

Sammy Jukes: Twin Lakes - Started this already. Was laughing basically the entire time. I’ll wrap this up at some point this month. IRL, I actually live one town over from the town this game is set in, so it also has that working for it. It’s objectively a stupid assed game though lol. In that “it’s so bad it’s good” kind of way.

Nautikin Adventures - I’ll mess with this game a bit as well this month. Figure out how to actually play it lol.

Duckside - I’ll be playing this off and on this month as well.

The Casting of Frank Stone - This will be my primary horror title this month.

63 Days - This one look a bit like Last Train Home and I’m sure I’ll enjoy it.

Nobody Wants to Die - Just looks super cool.

Other games I expect to play: Terror at Oakheart, Lighthouse Keeper, Sherlock Holmes Chapter One, Chants of Sennaar, Innsmouth 22, Blood Orange.

We’ll see how it actually all shakes out, lol.

Alright. August is in the books. I spent almost 50 hours playing Ruzar - The Dark Stones. I’m at the final boss currently. I also have another almost 20 hours logged into Skald - Against the Black Priory, which I’m on the back half of. And I’ve continued my slow playthrough of The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero. Sovereign Syndicate was the standout game from this month. Really cool. Anyway,

August Completions

1. Tachyon Dreams Anthology (Steam). Very cool old school text parser PnC.
2. tomorrow won’t come for those without ██████ (Steam). Interesting existential experience.
3. Backspace Backspace Backspace (Steam). This one is a bit of a thought experiment reflecting on AI and social media.
4. Sovereign Syndicate (Steam). The first Disco Elysium-like? Super cool setting, dialogue, and overall experience.
5. 8/8/88 Needle AL (Steam). A game that highlights the horrors of racism and religious fundamentalism. In very stark and disturbing ways.
6. Twenty-second: Stories of Underground Kharkiv (Steam). A Ukrainian propaganda piece presented in game form. With some cool history lessons included. I thought it was interesting from the perspective of how people are conditioned to think in society, and especially when in the midst of a war.

August Retirements

1. Assassins Guild. Poorly crafted game.
2. NORTH. Confusing AF walking sim.
3. Distant Space. Aight Galaga-like with annoying UI.
4. Infinity Castle Dungeon. Difficult AF for me. Kinda like Exanima, but in a more Isaac-ish fashion.
5. Deadlock (Playtest). Meh
6. Urban Explorer (Playtest). Needs a lot of work. The actual game shows promise though.
7. Moonring. Didn’t know what to do in this one.
8. Seaside Racing. Zero player base. Fun concept though.
9. SpaceEngine. Terrible UI IMO.
10. Hoa. Meh platformer. Made more for children I think.
11. Eve of Calamity. Decent JRPG, but with a lot of RPGMaker issues.
12. Cats on Duty. Actually quite fun and recommended mash up of Plants vs Zombies and Match-3. Just not my cup of tea overall though.

Games Paused

Invaders Tower Defense Online (pending it possibly getting a wider player base to try out mp)
Goblin and Coins II: The Lost Recipes (I’m objectively bad at platformers, so it’ll take a bit to complete lol)

Plans for September

Chat with the developer of Ruzar about tweaking some aspects of the final boss fight and wrapping that up.
Finish Skald - Against the Black Priory
Continue The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero and Armored Core VI
Beyond that, I’ll probably play Venba, Chants of Senaar, and a few other things I’m sure.

I don’t believe I’ll finish another game today, so I think my list is complete for July. I’m currently playing Ruzar - The Dark Stones, Sovereign Syndicate, Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon, The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero, Last Stop, and those will definitely carry into August. Other priorities for August include Venba, SKALD: Against the Black Priory, Gobs and Gods, Eve of Calamity, Tachyon Dreams Anthology, Chants of Sennaar, Cats on Duty, and to try out the new biome in Easy Breezy Drive. That’s a pretty full month already.

I spent a large chunk of July actually playing Vampire Survivors and American Truck Simulator, but I set them down for now to attend to other stuff in my backlog and paused Fargone after trying it out, to wait for more updates. Cool game though.

July Completions

EYE TO ME (Steam) An interesting but ultimately failed gaming experiment.
Drizzlepath: Deja Vu (Steam) A fresh perspective on a walking sim classic
Vampire Survivors: Operation Guns (Steam) So cool
Space Station Escape (Steam) I lucked my way through this one, but if you like anomaly hunters, this one is pretty cool
A Highland Song (Steam) This was a very cool Indie with some interesting mixes of genres
Psychroma (Steam) Trippy cyberpunk-ey psych horror with an interesting story
The Nameless City (Steam) Lovecraft. As Lovecraft should be.
Another Crab’s Treasure (Steam) Silly but faithful Soulsborne. Instant classic
Cryohazard (Steam) Fun little bite sized roguelike
The Lost Condor - Walking Simulator (Steam) Interesting Machu Picchu simulator, but definitely overpriced for the content
Coffee For Cthulhu (Steam) Fun little flash style game
Little Kitty, Big City (Steam) Maybe the most wholesome game on Steam and a lot of fun
Moksha Space (Steam) Interesting philosophical thought experiment

and July Retirement

Back to Home Needs work
Last Whisper Bad behaving dev, lots of bugs. Poor combo.
The Day of Survival Tons of bugs and basic QoL issues
For What Will Come Retired temporarily due to the ending sequence being softlocked as a result of a bug. The dev says he’ll reach out if he finds a solution to the issue I encountered.
Stolen Realm Very cool but very repetitive
Time Re:Quest Barely a game. Stare at the screen simulator more or less
Long Way Cool ideas, poor execution

The Nameless City was probably most memorable this month, but Another Crab’s Treasure and Little Kitty, Big City were unquestionably the best games completed.

Alright. The Nameless City is done and dusted. This is true Lovecraftian horror rather than a game that simply has the tag slapped on because it touches upon madness of psych horror in general. It is very much a walking simulator, takes about an hour to complete, give or take a few minutes, and was in my opinion a really cool game thick with those Lovecraft vibes.

You play as a researcher who has decided to try to unveil the mystery of the Nameless City. A place whose memory was lost to time, sitting in anonymity somewhere in the Middle East. A place that predates Babylon, Sumeria, etc…As you explore, you begin to realize that this was potentially not a place that had been inhabited by humans. The implications of this are enough to literally drive our intrepid researcher mad, although in typical human fashion, his mind attempts to partition the reality he witnessed in these ruins from the reality we mostly all live and breather in. Without diving too far in and getting into spoiler territory, this is pretty much the story as it is presented.

As mentioned, this is a walking simulator, albeit one with adventure game sensibilities. You will walk and crawl through these ruins, triggering a couple lite puzzles, interacting with objects by walking into them, and learning to use specific runes to form spells. This latter system was particularly fascinating to me. It’s not enough to simply want to, say, create or destroy a barrier. You need to know the rune that represents creation or destruction, and the rune that represents a wall or barrier. In combining said runes by utilizing their corresponding words in Ancient Cthulhu (as I’m calling it), you are able to cast a spell whose effect corresponds to the verb and noun you used. Not only is this a super cool way to represent spellcasting and its limitations, but the effort that goes into finding even one rune guarantees that people aren’t just wandering around casting spells willy nilly. Each casting really means something as does the effort that went into finding the means to do so.

You do have a madness meter in this game, represented by how much of your spine you have left, lol. And casting spells has an impact on your meter, positive or negative depending on the spell being cast. Additionally, the amount of light available in an area also factors into your madness or lack thereof. Which makes sense when the implications of investigating remotes and ancient ruins of being likely of eldritch origin are factored in.

The graphics are PS1 era, and actually, in the credits, they do credit a PSX program that allowed them to do this. And yet, despite the very granular and simple nature of the graphics, they were super evocative and creepy. This game did a great job of making you feel every bit of trepidation, uncertainty, and fear your protagonist felt. If anything, I think the use of fifth gen graphics was the ideal choice for this game. If the devs had chosen something more modern, I’m not sure the emotions it evokes would be the same. Audio-wise, there are creepy background tracks, and there is a fully voice acted script, and I really enjoyed the way that was handled. The dude who voiced the protagonist really sounded like an explorer/researcher. It was very effective in building some attachment to what he was experiencing.

This is a short game and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I’m not really seeing any replay value, but it is pretty memorable. Releases on July 12 btw (tomorrow). No idea how it will be priced, but give it a look.

Alright. June is in the books. Finished a fair amount of games this month. The Planet Crafter and Geneforge 2 really consumed most of the month though. And were my two favorite games played this month as well.

1. Nomad Survival (Steam)
2. Kili’s treasure (Steam)
3. The Planet Crafter (Steam)
4. Easy Breezy Drive (Steam/Steam Deck)
5. The Dead Tree of Ranchiuna (Steam)
6. Geneforge 2 - Infestation (Steam)
7. It Comes In Waves (Steam)
8. Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical (Steam)
9. The Elision Effect (Steam)
10. Roundguard (Steam)
11. Vampire Survivors (Steam)
    11a. Vampire Survivors: Tides of the Foscari (Steam)
    11b. Vampire Survivors: Legacy of the Moonspell (Steam)
12. Getting There (Steam)
13. Buckshot Roulette (Steam)
    11c. Vampire Survivors: Emergency Meeting (Steam)
14. Minit Fun Racer (Steam)
15. The Cub (Steam)
16. Deep Beyond (Steam)

There were also a fair amount of retired games

1. My Jigsaw Adventures - Forgotten Destiny
2. Sand Land
3. Lighthouse Keeper
4. Entropy
5. Banana
6. EGG
7. Ship Graveyard Simulator
8. Pathfinder: Gallowspire Survivors
9. Infinite Innocence

Plans for July

I’ll prioritize The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero; Another Crab’s Treasure, and Hades II. The rest will be a matter of whatever strikes my fancy lol.

Oh yeah. And the Summer Sale additions:

Thymesia; Glitchhikers: The Spaces Between ; Carry Onward; EQQO/Dark Days bundle; Orwell’s Animal Farm; Buckshot Roulette; American Truck Simulator Northwest Bundle (Montana/Wyoming/Retrowave Paint Jobs); Legie; This is the Zodiac Speaking; Vampire Survivors: Emergency Meeting; Last Stop; Fire Tonight; Deep Beyond; Booth: A Dystopian Adventure; Songs of Silence (bought off Steam); Fanatical NSPCC Charity Bundle

And won: Another Crab’s Treasure; Hades II; ARMORED CORE™ VI FIRES OF RUBICON

Alright. May is in the books. Wrapped up New Vegas, caught up on some curator licenses from way back when, got sucked into Balatro, and played a few very memorable games (The Quiet Apocalypse, Lunacid, Dread Delusion). I also played a fair amount of Palworld. It’s definitely fun. I will revisit it when it exits early access.

April completions

Fallout New Vegas: Lonesome Road (Steam Deck)
Fallout New Vegas (Steam Deck)
Lucid Cycle (Steam)
Sunlight (Steam)
The Whisperer (Steam)
A Living Room (Steam)
Balatro (Steam)
The Darkness Below Prelude (Steam)
Some Distant Memory (Steam)
The Light Remake (Steam)
Dread Delusion (Steam)
Under the Sand REDUX - a road trip simulator (Steam)
The Quiet Apocalypse (Steam)
Cubic Light (Steam)
A Story About My Uncle (Steam)
My Name is You and it’s the only unusual thing in my life (Steam)
Building 847 (Steam)
Isolomus (Steam)
Scarytales: All Hail King Mongo (Steam)
Oneons: Prisoners (Steam)
Hexa Path (Steam)
Lunacid (Steam)

But, also retired quite a few games. Some just weren’t my cup of tea, others were outright bad and/or buggy messes. Many also fall into the category of catching up on curator licenses from way back when.

Clock Simulator
Mystery Solitaire Cthulhu Mythos
Time on Frog Island
SKYHILL: Black Mist
Hi-Fi Rush
FUREA UERZT
The Long Drive
Gravity Snake
Star Tank
Delta0
Dragon’s Dogma 2
A Wanderer’s Adventure
Rogue Robots
Marble Trap
DIG THE GROUND
Epic Adventures: La Jangada

Currently playing/June agenda

I’m currently in the middle of both Sand Land and Tales of the Neon Sea.

I’ll also definitely be playing The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero and Geneforge 2 - Infestation.

Alright, April is in the books. I spent most of the month playing Helldivers 2, Fallout 3, and Fallout New Vegas. I’ll be playing New Vegas for a few more days to start May off as well.

Anyway, April completions:

Helldivers 2 (Steam Deck)

Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition - Operation: Anchorage (Steam Deck)
Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition - The Pitt (Steam Deck)
Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition - Mothership Zeta (Steam Deck)
Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition - Point Lookout (Steam Deck)
Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition (Steam Deck)
Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition - Broken Steel (Steam Deck)

Purpose 1951 (Steam Deck)

Great North Shelter 2 (Steam Deck)

Fallout New Vegas: Dead Money (Steam Deck)
Fallout New Vegas: Honest Hearts (Steam Deck)
Fallout New Vegas: Old World Blues (Steam Deck)

And retired games

Kill It With Fire 2. Fun but not the type of game that can hold my interest.

PolyRoyale. Great foundation, but needs some work to make it playable in the fashion it’s intended to be played.

Alright. Great North Shelter 2 is done and dusted. I don’t know if there actually is a part one or if the title is one of the numerous meta jokes the developers thrive on lol. It is a walking simulator with hidden object elements.

You know how you watch something like a Will Ferrell movie and while you’re laughing and laughing, you’re also like “this is so stupid”? That’s this game. It’s so gamer-centric meta filled to the brim that you’ll find yourself laughing and giggling even as you’re proclaiming how stupid it is lol. However, that does not extend to the actual story, which is an exploration of time, behinnings and ends or a lack thereof, etc…although I do wonder if the serious nature of the story is itself a meta joke about walking sims.

There are also a couple jump scares and some lite horror elements despite the game very definitely not being a horror game.

The graphics are what you’d expect. Beautiful forests, lakes, mountains and so on with nicely done houses and other structures. And the audio is also what you’d expect. A mix of whimsical pieces and pretty piano tunes. Gameplay is as simple as walk or run around, click on objects, etc…and solve a couple really easy puzzles that gate progression.

It was fully Steam Deck compatible although the start up screen itself is not gamepad compatible for some reason. It did get just over an hour of battery life.

I thought this was a lot of fun. Took a little under two hours to complete although YMMV there. It retails at six bucks. That’s fair IMO. That said, this was a Winter sale purchase for me. Anyway, I highly recommend giving this hame a look. It’s pretty unique in several ways.

Alright. Purpose 1951 is done and dusted. This is the latest release by Tonguç Bodur, and a return to the more straightforward style of walking simulator he is well known for. I feel like each time I play one of Tonguç’s games, I find myself thinking it’s his best so far, and this is no different. Which is a testimony to his ability to continue refining and evolving his skills as a writer and developer.

In this game, the setting of the story is a bit different as the name suggests. You are a doctor in the post WWII era, who through circumstances beyond his control, is blacklisted from the community he lives in. The game follows his reflections on the medical community, his relationships, and the events that led him to this moment in time in his life.

The story format will be familiar. It begins somewhat wistful and contemplative, turns dark, but then closes out on a hopeful note. It was very well written. As a side note, I was a department director at two hospitals in real life for many years, and I have some of the same perspectives regarding the medical community and healthcare as are expressed in this game.

Gameplay is very straightforward walking simulator through some stunningly beautiful locales. Each chapter offers some new things to enjoy. And, as a first for Tonguç to my knowledge, there is even a city setting for one part of the game, which was cool. Each full chapter (other than the game ending itself) ends with a puzzle that upon solving, provides a story recap for the chapter.

I really thought the area transitions were cool as well. Starting in black and white, then changing to full color or sepia tones (depending on the area) once you have control of your character was a nice touch.

Something I noticed that I thought was interesting gameplay-wise. When you’re moving downhill, you actually move faster. It’s a minor detail, but I thought that attention to detail was really cool. Additionally, there was one part of the game where the controls started the section very stiff. Then I realized it’s because you’re actually not walking. You’re riding a bike. Completely made sense.

The voice acting was comfortable and believable. Nice job there. Similarly, the soundtrack was perfect, and varied based on the moment in the game. Each track was highly reflective of the story at that time.

I played on the Steam Deck with zero tweaks required. The controls are all analog stick movement and FoV, so this comes as no surprise. I also experienced no bugs at all, although I note that the game would start to blur a bit with quick turning. However, it never quite did.

It took me right at an hour to complete this game, and I enjoyed every moment of it. If you’re looking for a walking simulator with story depth and a fantastic soundtrack, you need look no further.