That feeling of Dread Formidolosus’ profile
Oh my gosh, you’re here! I can’t believe it’s really you. Please take a seat, and make yourself comfortable. Tea? Crumpets? I made them fresh this morning. So what brings you here today? You’re just browsing. By all means, we all do it. Oh… what can I tell you about myself? Well, let’s see… I like finishing games. I mean really finishing them. Not just ‘hooray we saw the end credits, the games is over’, but really sinking my teeth into those things until they are bled of content. Of course there’s some games that want me to play them for the rest of my life and I just can’t make that kind of commitment, so I resolve myself to just doing what I can for them. For the others I will keep them installed on my hard drives until they are done. So far the longest has been around 10 years from start to finish. 10 years sitting eating up space on my computer while I play everything else. But we get there eventually. And it feels good, so we keep doing it.
I’ve arranged all my games into lists, as one does. Over here, in the folders labelled ‘Beaten in’ are records of all the games I’ve beaten in any one year. I sometimes go back to those lists and think about all the good games I’ve played and enjoyed. And of course as each year progresses, I add the games as I’m beating them, so it’s nice to watch that list grow.
As we continue, you’ll also see the ‘Playing in XXXX’ list. Which I set up at the beginning of a year, with games I would like to at least try in a year. I probably won’t beat most of them, but the list serves as a reminder of some cool games I’ve got waiting, in the hopes I don’t let them slip through the cracks.
Then on our left, we have the “Big Game hunting” list, which is a list of mostly “AAA” games that I’ve beaten or am trying to beat. I guess the best way to describe this would be games that everyone should know. Of course the irony is that these are not usually the biggest games in terms of ‘time to beat’, ‘difficulty’ or much of anything apart from ‘popularity’ I guess. But it’s a fun list for me to track and make sure I’m getting my money’s worth on my ‘big’ games.
Up ahead, is a list entitled ‘the Almosts’. These are games I’ve started a while back and got quite far, but never quite finished. So I guess this list is just a way of reminding myself to give them another try one day. And so far it’s worked quite well. All the games I added were incomplete, but I’ve done half of them already. And I’ll continue to add to it as I finish more and more games lapse into ‘abandoned’ territory.
And over there is the ‘Long game’ list, which keeps track of all the games that I’m taking my time to beat. Usually games I got ages ago, played for a bit and then abandoned and now it’s been years and they are still on my hard drive, waiting to be beaten. The list is arranged by more or less length taken so far, and it’s helped add motivation. When the list was created, most were incomplete, but we’re now over halfway complete. Feels good to uninstall a game after that length of time.
So that’s the end of the tour. Oh of course, I also have my ‘won on steamgifts’ list, which shows my rather sad efforts at leeching, but at least shows that I have also played the games I won, so that’s something. And the almost ‘obligatory’ abc list, showcases my attempt at having a full alphabet set of completed games. Nearly there.
I generally only post once a month just to make my progress and comment on the games I played. I don’t expect any one to read and comment, but it’s always welcome.
So I’m just wondering if there’s any way to get a game rescanned? I have a couple now where they are showing as not having any achievements, but they do. So how can this be added?
Augastly late
Better than never though!
Beaten in August 7 Games
The third and final of these games that I have. Just your standard little puzzle game. Some real challenging levels and I’ll admit to using the guide for some, but usually a bit of persistence pays off.
Got this game for free basically, because it was in a pack with Wolfenstein Youngblood for less than the price of Youngblood by itself, so why not? It is split into two chapters, and I loved the first chapter. It’s a tense ‘get of jail’ scenario, with lots of stealth and action interspersed. Then the second chapter came and reminded me why I don’t like zombie games. Anyway, it was still fun enough, and I enjoyed the combat challenges. Worth checking out if you enjoyed the new order, as this serves as a prequel to the events in that game.
A fun little distraction with easy achievements. It’s a multiplayer racing game essentially, where you have to be the one to cross the line with the prize. It’s very one note, so you won’t be playing it for too long, but I had fun with the kids for a while.
Just cause 4 and I have had a bit of a history. I love Just Cause 2 and 3 and think they are some of the most fun open world out there, with silly physics and crazy weapons. They are also one of the few ‘grown up’ games I can let my kids play, as asides from the occasional swear word, the rest is fine. So once 4 released, I knew I wanted to get it, and waited for the right price point to come around. That happened in the winter sale last year. But upon installing it, I had to refund almost right away, as the game just wouldn’t get past a few minutes into the opening level. Then the game was given away on the Epic store, and for the first time ever I installed and attempted to play an Epic games game. This didn’t work out either however, as it turns out I really needed to move to windows 10. I had been putting the move off, because the automated update didn’t work for my file system and I knew it would mean down time for work, so I spent a weekend sorting out the update. And hooray it finally worked. But of course, Epic doesn’t have achievements or anything, so I waited until the steam summer sale to buy it again, and finally got to play the game I wanted. So was it worth it? Eh.
Look it’s still mostly pretty fun, but they seemed to take out some of the things that made 3 fun and added in things that were less fun. I know people complained about the challenges in JC3, but I love them, and was disappointed to see they were replaced with a whole bunch of 10 second challenges instead. And the map capture in 3 felt a lot better. Oh I know they like to market the ‘chaos’ aspect of their systems, but this 4th game is a bit ridiculous. Just touch a bad guy and within seconds you have 3 or 4 attack helicopters and tanks hounding you. I kind of wanted to be able to just cruise around without being forced to fight all the time.
Anyway, I guess the curse of sequels is to be compared to their predecessors and if the game had no history I would think it was great. I do just hope they bring back some of the more fun aspects of the previous games.
A simple little puzzle game with levels that were mostly logical with a sprinkling of more difficult ones. A great coffee-time, time waster.
This game is not trying too hard to pretend it’s not borrowing the idea from hidden folks, but being as I enjoyed hidden folks, this was a competent addition to the genre and I enjoyed playing through it. It also has a level creator and as a result you have endless user created content to keep you going after the initial play through. Seems like they will continue to support it with new content via DLC, so might be worth looking at if you like ‘wheres wally’.
Yup, it’s another short puzzle game. This one is quite fun. Basically you have to deduce what numbers go in each hexagon, with clues given to you as to the totals of rows, or other different rules. The difficulty never really gets too bad, and it’s nice bit of brain exercise when you feel like relaxing.
So this post is very late, but thought I better record the games I beat in August just for the sake of completion. Needless to say it was a pretty busy month for me in real life, so the time spent gaming was reduced. In fact I think I recorded the longest stretch between beaten games since 2015, which was 39 days between sokobond in July and the first game of this month. Crazy. But the nintendo switch is also somewhat to blame for that, as the wife and I have been catching up on some classic nintendo action. Anyway a super delayed post, means I won't waffle on, but save it for the September update, which I'll post soon
Other stats
Achievements Gained 207Most difficult (according to TSA) 'Rico was Here' in Just Cause 4
Games added 17
Number of different games played13
Achievement streak 1590 days
Average Game completion 77%
Total number of completed games 514
Games completed in 2020 61
Why would July to me?
But the truth hurts
Beaten in July 6 Games
A fun and rather silly little story about a raccoon who wants to suck the whole world up with an increasingly bigger hole and all his friends. It was certainly not a challenging game, but it made me smile for a while, and for that I appreciated it. I guess it’s another one of those where the devs had an idea for a silly mechanic and framed it with a funny story, elevating it and disguising the one trick pony that it really is.
Well it was very cheap and seemed like a good way to waste those trading card cents, so I bought it. It’s a bit of a hidden object type game, and the drawings and animations are cute enough, but I guess I expected a bit… more? I don’t know, maybe a few more levels, or a bit more to do in those levels. Any way I won’t begrudge it as I guess for the money I paid for it, it was still ok value.
Wow. This was unexpectedly good. I wanted to play it because it boasted local co-op and I am always looking for games to play with the wife. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect going in, but the puzzles and level of co-operation was perfect. Each chapter uses a new mechanic and there are so many creative uses of the mechanic throughout all the solutions. A lot of co-op games add co-op as an added bonus, to play with a friend, but this was one where I don’t think playing it single player would do it justice.
Ahh the spirit of Super Hexagon lives on, in this rather frustrating form. Simple mechanics but made so much more difficult by the speed at which everything plays out. I don’t think I would have been able to complete it without a bit of help from one tip I read online which suggested playing on two player mode all the time, just to remove some of the obstacles. Whilst super hexagon at least limited the torment to only 60 seconds, some of these achievements require much longer stretches of perfection, and I think it’s a bit unfair. To make matter worse, the hit detection would sometimes go crazy and reset me even when I hadn’t touched anything. Not recommended unless you are up for a world of pain
Steam sale means a chance to pick up some little puzzle games, and so of course I did just that. This was the first I played. It’s a pretty clever minimalistic puzzler where the goal is to get all the board to one colour. And different blocks do different actions. Some of the puzzles were really tricky as well. Recommended for lovers of little puzzle games
Another one of those little puzzle games I picked up. This takes the sokoban style of puzzler and turns it into a bit of a chemistry lesson. Interesting idea, but I will admit having to use a guide for some of the solutions, especially when some of the puzzles have multiple solutions and only 1 unlocks one of the mysterious sigals. But overall a pretty well executed mini puzzler that introduces enough new ideas to keep the puzzles interesting
Wow this is certainly a bit later then I would have liked but sometimes life gets a bit busy? So July we obviously had the tail end of the great steam sale, and I certainly got a lot of little games. So most of the games I beat this month came from those and all of these completions were done in the first third of the month. Which means, at the time of writing this, it's been nearly a month since I beat a game to completion. Which is probably the longest I've gone without a completion in a long time. And the reasons for that come down predominantly to two games, both sharing the word 'Odyssey' in their title.
First of all, in the steam sale I bought Assassin's creed odyssey, and have been loving it. The richly detailed world and mechanics have sucked me in, just at a time I was feeling a bit tired of 'big' games. I know not everyone loves the AC series, but I personally think this is the best one since black flag, and may even be better than black flag in my opinion. Origins was nice, but the setting and the increased player agency just elevate this above that. So yes I have now lost nearly 100 hours in this world, and with it a large portion of game beating time.
And secondly, we finally got a Nintendo switch this month and with it the one game I'd been longing to play since it was announced. Super Mario Odyssey of course. And this is absolutely deserving of the praise it received. I loved the Galaxy games on the Wii, but always had a soft spot for Super Mario Sunshine and it's more open ended exploration. And odyssey takes that and ramps it up to crazy levels. Just about everywhere you look in a world there is a moon to be found and pulling off moves you think will 'break' the level, instead reward you with coins or something, like the devs knew you'd be trying that. All in all it just cements for me that I will always be a PC and Nintendo gamer. The other consoles have some great exclusives sure, but those games often have third party equivalents on PC. I've yet to find any other game series that does a 3d platformer like Mario.
So yeah a lot of time has been going into chasing moons and conquering the ancient greek world for the glory of Sparta, but honestly I've been enjoying myself more than I have in a long time. I'm sure you all know how gaming burnout goes sometimes, where you have all these games to play but the spark is just not there, and it becomes a chore. Until you find a game that reminds you why you enjoy gaming so much. Lucky me, I guess, finding two at the same time. I might sink into a bit of depression once I beat these two
Other stats
Achievements Gained 148Most difficult (according to TSA) 'Party Pooper' in S.W.I.N.E HD
Games added 23
Number of different games played16
Achievement streak 1559 days
Average Game completion 77%
Total number of completed games 507
Games completed in 2020 54
June-o what time it is?
Time for an update
Beaten in June 6 Games
Started this one long ago, and then there were issues with their ‘online-only’ profile system and I kept losing my progress. Then they finally made it offline and I could finish this off. It’s a pretty realistic hunting simulation, albeit slightly limited in scope as you are only hunting one of 5 dinos. Camouflage and movement make a difference as well as sound, so while it’s possible to try and play it like an FPS, you tend to die pretty quickly unless you move slowly and make your shots count.
A pretty fun adventure game with ‘100’ endings. Some of which are pretty funny and play with a lot of other game tropes. It’s usually pretty cheap to buy as well, so if it looks like something you might be interested in, there’s no reason you shouldn’t.
Not a bad little puzzle adventure game, even if it was a bit on the short and easy side. Basically you rewind back and forth through scenes to get to the end. And there’s a little story thread to tie it together with two kids who are friends. It’s got a nice art style and decent presentation, so all in all not a bad package.
If you don’t like classic old FPS games then ignore my rating, you will hate this. But for people like me who enjoyed playing shooters in the 90s this was a bit of fun. It has a silly sense of humour and even though the combat isn’t difficult, there’s enough interest offered in the optional objectives and hidden masks to make it worth the time. It also made me remember how badly I want a no one lives forever revival, and that in turn made me sad when I remember that it is probably never going to happen. Anyway, this is cheap and it’s fun, so it’s recommended. (but only if you don’t mind the old looking graphics)
A decent enough little desktop/ weird computer simulator with some decent puzzles to solve. You are presented with an ‘operating system’ screen and it’s clear that things are not functioning as expected. And so you have to work out the mechanics to solve the puzzles. Some of which were quite creative in their solutions. Got it for free, so I can’t comment on the value, but it is worth finding in a bundle or trade if you like little experiments like this.
Look I will admit that I don’t get all the acclaim this game apparently received, but I think it may be that as a mobile game it’s a fantastic idea. Move the panels around to complete the story. On PC it’s a little bit on the short and easy side, but there were some neat ideas and I liked the way the story looped between the two episodes.
So June was a bit of a quieter month, winter hit here with a bang and we spent much time trying to stay warm in our 'south-facing' ice box. So less games were beaten this month, but funnily enough thanks to the power of slightly spammy games such as reventure and the spy who shot me, this was the most achievements I've got in a month for over a year. Apart from these that I played, I also spent a lot of time playing Super Meat boy. I actually managed to beat all the levels, which is an achievement in itself, haha. So there's still the, frankly insane, no death runs for all worlds. I'll come back and try get a few more of them, but for now my wrists and controller needed a break.
June also means summer sale and the chance for me to get some of the 'big' games I want, so I got AC odyssey, Just cause 4, Starbound, Wargroove, Knights and bikes, various DLC for games I needed and a whole bunch of little cheap puzzle games to fill up those coffee breaks. I know people complain about the steam sale like it's a religion, but this is exactly why I still love it. I get to go through my wishlist and sit and weigh up all the options for the money I have. And just the sheer number of little games that are there for less a dollar is amazing. Not AAA games, which is what some people seem to expect, but plenty of decent little games that I will get to enjoy with the wife or kids, that cost way less than any other form of entertainment if you take hours per dollar spent. So I added to the backlog a bit much, but a lot of them won't stay there too long, being short little games.
And that was the month that was. My goals for the year are still on track, and I will hopefully be able to finish another 6 or 7 games this month to keep it going. See you next month
Other stats
Achievements Gained 330Most difficult (according to TSA) 'Game night!' in The Pitl
Games added 39 (!Hello steam sale!)
Number of different games played21
Achievement streak 1528 days
Average Game completion 77%
Total number of completed games 500
Games completed in 2020 48
MayDay! MayDay! *bzzttt* We are Sinking! *crackle**
This is the coast guard, what are you sinking about?
Beaten in May 8 Games
A lot of my games this month are ones from my ‘long game’ list, which is the list where I attempt to track games I’ve started long ago and usually abandoned. Sometimes it’s because they don’t feel fun, or because my skills are not good enough at that time to play. In this case however, it is because of one particular achievement. It is a fun tower defense game, and in fact it’s probably one of the best in the market, but the achievement for playing once a week for 6 months is a killer! So this month I got over it and went ahead and set my clock and played a level 24 times in the space of an hour or two and finally got that last achievement and its associated one for beating all the challenges in the group. I know it’s not really in the spirit of the achievement but my attempts over the years have always failed, and hey, the achievement hunting groups don’t disqualify this, so it was time to move on and free up the space on my hard drive after 6 years.
Short puzzle game with simple mechanics. Not the best I’ve played but serviceable. It’s pretty easy at least so you shouldn’t need a guide to beat it.
Another game I started a long time ago and have been playing periodically over the years. The achievements run the gamut from extremely challenging to extremely grindy with plenty in between, and despite all the different modes, it’s still essentially just a gem swap game, albeit probably the best one made, so it’s hard to stay motivated to keep playing it for ages. Anyway, this year I decided to pick it up again and grind those last achievements. And here we are, all done and I feel pretty proud of this one to be honest.
I started playing this one a few years ago for my alphabet challenge, but hit a point where my worn out controller just wasn’t handling it so well and I gave up. Picked it up again now that I am playing with my Wii U Pro controller, and it was suddenly so much easier. Amazing what a difference a good gamepad can make. It’s a fun game with a silly story and FMV acting, and I wish more people had known about it, as I only found it because of a bundle.
Another one started years ago and abandoned. This time it was because it was just too grindy. Anyway, I guess I was in a grindy mood this month, because I sat down and ground out those hours to finish this one. It’s an interesting idea and works pretty well for the most part, as you battle a bullet hell level based on one of your songs. I would scored it higher, but it’s one of those games that takes about 3 or 4 hours to reach the end, and then has achievements that want you to grind for ages to lengthen the playtime. If you’re going to make me do that, at least keep things interesting with new weapons and ideas that will last a bit longer.
An interesting concept that I sat and started playing with my wife, as it seemed like it could have a midsomer murders feeling to it, but it became very clear quite soon into it, that the ‘contradiction’ element which is how you are supposed to drive the story forward, was not always logical or well thought out. So we abandoned it and I went through it with a guide. It’s a pity as the idea behind it is a good one, and I know it’s one similar to what is used in phoenix wright, but this was a story more grounded in reality, and I like that in a detective story sometimes.
A casual time management game that sees you dropping off and picking up kids with their own quirks that determine bonuses and penalties you earn. Surprisingly difficult in many ways, and some of the levels have very little margin for error to get the three stars. I guess that was why it was another one I started and abandoned years ago. I think there are better time management games out there, so give this a miss if you haven’t tried those yet.
Installed years ago because I thought the kids might enjoy a little racing game. They didn’t. But it stayed installed. Anyway, turns out it’s pretty easy for an adult with Mario kart experience to finish, so scratch another ‘long game’ off the list.
Wow, here we are and it's already 5 months of the year gone. I think a lot of people wish this year would just end already. And honestly, after a few months with movement restrictions and arbitrary laws by politicians who are letting the power go to their head a little, I'm also wishing the whole thing could just end. But hey at least my favourite things to do are at home, unlike a lot of other people.
So this was a relatively productive gaming month. I revisited a bunch of games I'd abandoned, the idea being that I want to boost my average completion up to 80%, and one of the best ways of doing that is by returning to games that have been forgotten. So it was a fairly eclectic list of games. Asides from these, I also carried on with stealth bastard, which now moves to the top of the list as the game I've taken the longest to beat, with nearly 7 years on the clock. I might actually get around to finally finishing it this year. I also made the mistake of starting Super meat boy. I've danced around it for years, knowing that I love a good hard as nails platformer and knowing that SMB is the godfather of this genre. Anyway, now that I am playing it, I realise I will probably never finish it, but it is worthy of its accolades, well crafted levels and smooth controls, and yes, some stupidly hard challenges. I don't know why I hate myself like this, but as with a lot of these kind of games, the more I play the easier the levels get, so who knows, maybe one day I'll add this to the list?
And that wraps up the month, June is usually an exciting month, because it's the one month of the year I get to spend a bit extra on games and get some bigger games I've got my eye on. Convenient that the steam sale is always just around the corner as well. So here is hoping for some good deals on some of those bigger games
Other stats
Achievements Gained 247Most difficult (according to TSA) 'Bloodbath!' in theHunter:Primal
Games added 28 (!OOPS!)
Number of different games played24
Achievement streak 1496 days
Average Game completion 77%
Total number of completed games 494
Games completed in 2020 42
April showers
It's not the end of the world, but you can see it from here
Beaten in April 13 Games
Last month was world autism awareness month. It’s a subject that is very close to me as my eldest son is autistic. So I thought it would be appropriate to kick off the month by playing this game. It’s a bit of a mixed bag in terms of the tone and story. I had hoped it would be a game I could play with my son, but for whatever reason the creator decided to use some default bad guy art work for the battles that is a bit too scary for kids I think. Without the central theme of autism, the game wouldn’t have much to distinguish it from the million other RPG maker games out there, it felt like the gameplay needed a bit more effot. But anyway, I guess it was a very personal project for the creator, and I am sure Max enjoyed having his own game
So this was a short little game with a cool concept. The world has been broken up and the levels are arranged in strange ways, with different boxes and ways of manipulating them. It was pretty short, and the levels never really got too challenging, but it was pleasant enough.
Another month, another HOG. This one was not a good one. Some of the drawings looked like they were the first posts on a teenagers deviantart page, and the puzzles were not at all challenging. But we press on, in the belief, that there are still other HOGs out there, and one of them might still suprise us one day.
Lunchtime during lockdown, miserable day outside. No where to go, might as well find a quick game and play through it. Started out doing it properly and solving the puzzles, but the journals got very ‘wordy’ and the solutions to the puzzles felt too much like actual work, so I just used the handy steam guide to go through it. I appreciate that they used actual science for the puzzles though, maybe it would be a good game for the kids to play through one day when they are a bit older.
Hmmm, well I had actually wishlisted this one, if you could believe it. It looked cute and I was hoping for a little whimsical adventure with a rabbit exploring a world. Instead I got this. I understand they are trying to tell a story about relationships but it is just not really working. And it doesn’t stand very well as a game, because there’s just not that much gameplay, short levels with little to do apart from walk here, pick up this, listen to a character talk, repeat. Oh apart from the ghost mini game they add in a few times, for no particular reason. Yeah this is why game developers often need creative directors, or at the very least, honest friends who could play through it and ask important questions like ‘why?’ just to shape it into something more people could enjoy. Thumbs up on the character models though, those are very cute!
So after a initial few games that were kinda ‘meh’ this was the first game I finished this month that I actually genuinely enjoyed. I love a lot of the devolver library, and this was a fun little collection of tributes to some of their games as if they were made by an off brand knock-off developer. When you see the games distilled into their key elements like this, you realise just how simple many of them are, and yet they are still fun, which is a credit to the developers of the originals. Anyway, definitely worth a look if you enjoy many of the originals, and feel like a bit of a lighter experience.
Ahh FMV games, I remember the fun times I had on my Dad’s 386 as we played through some American laser game classics on the CD roms. It really felt like the future of gaming to 10 year old me. Of course the acting was horrible and the mechanics pretty janky but those games have entered the realm of almost cult status of ‘so bad they are good’. Attempting to tap into that is Press X to not die, with an appropriately silly story, cheesy acting, and simple gameplay. I can confirm the title is not accurate however, and on the hardest level, you need to do a lot more than press X. It is very short, probably not even the length of a standard sitcom, but there’s a few routes to go down to see more scenes so replay is key. The final achievement is also pretty tough, to beat the game with no deaths on the hardest mode, but exiting to the menu when you die doesn’t count the death, so it makes it a bit more manageable. In all, I think they could have done a lot more with the concept, but it’s fine for a short laugh.
This is a short little parkour challenge with decent controls. It will probably take a few runs to get all the achievements, and just to get used to the route needed to get the 4 minute speedrun. I normally hate speedrun achievements, but at least this seemed to just be based on efficiency rather than cheap tricks and pixel perfect moves.
A new update meant the perfect time to return to this jelly baby simulator. The puzzles are well balanced and the co-op gameplay is fun. I did wish at times that the models were a little less floppy, but I guess that’s part of the charm. A lot of the puzzles had multiple ways of solving them, and it was funny sometimes to struggle my way through something only to realise the intended solution was quite simple. Anyway, it is a well acclaimed game for good reason, and strongly recommended.
Got the game for free and sat and went through it on a lazy, rainy weekend afternoon. Not much to say about it, but it’s got a psycho-babble story to listen to, and a simple game mechanic. Play it if you want an easy +1 basically.
Same rainy, boring weekend day as the last game. Installed this a while ago and finally went through it. I think it was an improvement on the first one in terms of some of the puzzles and even though they are pretty short and simple, nothing is fundamentally wrong with them and I’d still be interested to play a sequel one day.
How to take a simple game jam game and turn it into something more 101. At the core the gameplay mechanic is incredibly simple, just dodgeball basically, but when you add a little silly story and a few extra hazards and challenges, it becomes a much better game. The couch multiplayer mode will certainly add to the appeal for those with friends to play with, but even just as a fun little sports game for one person, I’d still recommend it.
Hey look at that, I finally got round to beating it. After Adelion posted about beating it last year, I went back and retried the mirror levels, only to come undone on the third level boss where the final steps were just to confusing to think of on the fly and after failing it 4 or 5 times (after having got through the initial level flawlessly before each attempt) I left it alone for a bit. But Adelion had mentioned to me there was an easy way to do the third boss and since the game has sat on the top of my list (by alphabet) for so long I finally decided to have another crack. And what do you know, the third boss is actually pretty easy if you follow the formula of positions and where to aim. So once that was out the way, the fourth level actually seemed easier? The final boss is just a simple avoid the hazards challenge, and I got it on the second attempt. It’s a fairly challenging platformer, but based on music, and I think that makes it a little easier as you can figure out how to time your jumps based on the beat and once you know the path, it’s fairly straightforward. On the scale of challenging platformers I’ve played, it’s probably a 7 out of 10, but don’t ask me how the scale works.
Well that was a 'bumper' month by all appearances. Not really in the sense that it was mostly shorter games I played, but I think like a lot of people, being forced to stay at home with out being allowed to see any friends and family has put me in a bit of a 'funk'. I'm fortunate to be unaffected as far as work goes, but my family is at risk of losing their business, and my gran broke her leg and we aren't allowed to go and see her, my wifes family were supposed to have come here from overseas and we were going to go on a beach holiday, so it all just adds up to make for not the best frame of mind. Anyway short distractions do help and once again I'm glad that my hobby doesn't require leaving the house and I'm also glad to have a lovely wife and great kids for company. I just wish this stupid virus, and the hype surrounding it would go away so people I care about won't have their lives permanently ruined.
So with that rant out of the way, asides from the games I did beat, I've also been playing a hat in time and the excellent Celeste. Also spent more time in insurgency sandstorm hardcore co-op which is always a good stress reliever. I have now beaten a total of 34 games this year, with one third done, so I'm ahead of my goals a bit, and hopefully can focus on some longer games. My own attempt at building a game took a bit of a back seat, but I now have 40 puzzles made out of hopefully 60 total, and I've got the core mechanic programmed in Unity. So It's making progress. I have a list of about 200 sprites I'll need to make and that's probably the biggest job ahead of me. But I think once the puzzles are done and I start getting people to test them it will motivate me more to carry on and finish it.
In other news, my achievement streak hit 4 years on April 28. I don't know if that's good or just sad, but there it is. Every day for the last 4 years I have earned at least one achievement. The fight against the backlog hydra is a marathon, and I've taken at least one step every single day for the last 4 years, so I think that is something.
Here's hoping May is a better month for all of us, and that the year takes a turn for the better. Stay safe!
Other stats
Achievements Gained 231Most difficult (according to TSA) 'Amped!' in Human: Fall flat
Games added 13
Number of different games played35
Achievement streak 1466 days
Average Game completion 77%
Total number of completed games 486
Games completed in 2020 34
March into a world gone mad
At least there's games at home
Beaten in March 8 Games
Ok so after having played the rather good HOG, My brother rabbit, with my wife, we decided to give another one a go, and this was just ridiculous. The mix of accents (are we in London, or manhattan? Can noir detectives even use that accent?), the ridiculous plot, the lame puzzles, the silly combat (?!?). Anyway it very quickly turned into a session of ‘mock the game’ and we still had fun going through it, so that’s something. Even if you enjoy hidden object games, maybe save this one for when you’ve run out of others.
See the hours I spent playing this game? What if I told you that 50 of those were time spent actually playing. And what if I then told you that probably 30 of those hours were spent perfecting the levels on the last world. And what if I then told you that probably 15 of those hours were spent on just the one level. The bonus level on 3-2 requires literal pixel perfect jumps, for about 5 of the obstacles, and I don’t know if it’s just because I was playing it at night mostly with netflix running on the other screen or I’m just getting slow in my old age, but for about a week, this was my life. I think even my wife was happy when I finally beat it, just because she didn’t have to keep seeing the same thing over and over.
But yeah it is a good game, I think the sequel was a lot kinder though
Another entry in the series which basically defines the concept of a ‘casual’ game. You can just relax and click some things and you’ll probably win. If you’ve played one, you’ll know what this one is like as well. But it does what it does pretty well, so that’s good.
After the immense success we had in ripping on Noir Chronicles, the wife and I decided to try another. This one had its cheesy moments, but was generally a much more competent, ‘classic’ type HOG. So yeah, pick it up sometime if you enjoy the genre.
A game that is almost proud of it’s casual mobile roots. There’s not much to it, but it can be a fun distraction. Almost like tamagotchi if you were looking after 10 at a time. I decided to finish it off this month, because the easter eggs were activated. I would say it was a game kids would enjoy, but at times the hunger and thirst timers seem a little too vicious and the field can fill up with sheep graves very quickly if you’re not careful.
Beat the original a few years ago and decided to finish this off now. Having spent a lot of time in the original certainly helped and I didn’t need to back track or replay like I did the first time. It’s still one of the best stealth 2d platformers I know of, and I think the way it leaves much of the gameplay open to your style is a great testament to good design. Definitely recommended
My middle child is always looking for new games to play and when he saw this sitting there installed he asked about it and so I let him play. I’d got bored with it years ago but kept it installed to ‘finish the achievements’ one day. Anyway, he enjoyed it and we did enough hunting to get all the achievements. I like that the achievements also make him happy, and maybe one day he’ll continue the tradition of beating the games fully.
This is definitely one of those games that is a triumph of ‘style over substance’, but it does such a good job of being so damn stylish that you are fooled into thinking more of it than you probably should. There’s no way to die and the puzzles are not particularly challenging, but the overall gameplay is decent and introduces enough changes through the short game time to keep it interesting. I’ve always said that a bad game will always be bad, even with good graphics, and an ugly game can still be amazing if the gameplay is fun, but games like Gris show that a game which would be passable otherwise, can truly be elevated into something amazing through the use of amazing audiovisuals. It is pretty short, but I don’t regret having spent money on it.
Wow, what a month, the world suddenly seemed to go from normal to mad, and it was a real eye-opener to how tenuous the lives we lead often are, and disruptions can throw thing out very quickly. We are in a lockdown here, and my wife and I always joked that we are perfect candidates to never leave the home, as I work from home and our kids are home-schooled so we normally only need to leave the home a few times a week, but this feels different. We are introverts through and through and very happy with each others company, but it's highlighted for us how important those times we leave the house are. We will usually go for a meal with my parents and siblings a few times a week, and we're realising that even this limited interaction is important. Even worse, 3 of my family have their birthdays in this time, and we just can't go there to give them a gift and share a meal. Anyway, we will be fine, and my work carries on uninterrupted, I just worry about those who have no income at this time. I think even once this is over the impact it's had will be felt for a long time and things might never quite go back to the way they were for a lot of people.
Enough of that though, I'm certainly grateful for games at a time like this, and I played a fair number this month. Asides from that I've also been finally learning Unity, and making puzzles and I think I am on track to finally realise my dream of releasing my own game. I'd started in gamemaker a few years ago but was getting frustrated by the limitations in the gamemaker engine. Unity is at least a full programming language, so the only limitation is my lack of knowledge. The game is not particularly complex, but the idea is just to have logic problems that you solve by moving things into boxes. Think of the classic 'zebra problem' and that's the type of puzzles they would be. The goal is to have about 60 puzzles starting out pretty basic and hopefully growing to a real challenge. I'm not sure anyone will even play it or enjoy it, but it's the type of game I would love to play, so maybe others will get some enjoyment from it. And it's also a learning experience in many ways to adapt the programming skills I use in my day job and applying them to something like a game, where there's a lot more moving parts and things to consider. I've set up a website to test the puzzles and create them, and once I've got the full quota I'll be looking for some testers to go over the puzzles and make sure I'm not missing anything, whilst I work on all the sprites I'll need to make. When that times comes I'd love it if some of you could try them out and help me balance them.
Other stats
Achievements Gained 187Most difficult (according to TSA) 'MASTER.RUNNER' in Bit.Trip Runner
Games added 17
Number of different games played18
Achievement streak 1436 days
Average Game completion 77%
Total number of completed games 467
Games completed in 2020 21
Quick February Update
Better later than never
Beaten in February 6 Games
A fun little action game, with a nice balance. It’s easy enough to beat all the levels, but getting all the pro stars can prove to be a big challenge. Gameplay is fast and it’s a great game to squeeze in when you have a few minutes. It took me a long time to beat because I was waiting on buying the DLC and also knew some of the achievements were broken. But finally got the DLC in december and used the depot method to fix the broken achievements.
Holy grind batman! This was a fun little game at first, where you crank out weapons and sell them to heroes in different areas, but then they had to include achievements for making 100 of each kind of weapon and it started to feel like a real grind. And so the quirky humour and fun I was having started to wear a bit thin. But I’m still up try the other games in the series some time.
Another month, another puzzle game. Nothing really much got added from the first game in the series, so the drill is the same, move things around, pick up gems in the least number of moves. A decent enough distraction for a coffee break
A perfectly decent little ‘stealth-em-up’ with more than a passing nod to the likes of No one lives forever. Which is also part of the problem. It just made me wish even more that whatever legal red tape is holding NOLF back would get cut, as even today those games are some of the best 60s spy hijinks you can get. Anyway, back to the spy who shrunk me, it’s got definite indie ‘vibes’ and could do with some polish, but it is still fun, and the weapons at your disposal give a variety of ways around the problems.
HOGs get a rep for being very similar and with contrived storylines, but My brother rabbit is definitely different to those and a breath of fresh air for the genre. Great animations, a cure story and a nice spin on the usual hidden object gameplay, where the objects are hidden in the world you explore, instead of just in fixed ‘scenes’. Recommended even if you don’t normally like HOGs
A game that can’t quite decide what it is. Great hand drawn characters and great bullet hell type game play, but then interspersed with awkward platforming sections. But it’s not too challenging at least, so frustration never sets in.
Well this update is now a month late, so I won't talk too much now, but save it for the next post. A bit of a quieter month all round, but no harm in that.
Other stats
Achievements Gained 276Most difficult (according to TSA) 'FLAWLESS.TENACITY' in Bit.Trip Runner
Games added 15
Number of different games played20
Achievement streak 1406 days
Average Game completion 76%
Total number of completed games 460
Games completed in 2020 13
A late ode to January
AKA Where did the first month of the year go???
Beaten in January 7 games
I love this universe that the devs have built. The way they can take an idea of a steam powered robot world and move it between genres keeps the games fresh but familiar. I first played steamworld dig on my 3ds when it came out, and loved the metroidvanian style of it. So it was great to get back to those roots with this game. As usual however, there are some insane achievements, specifically to do with how you finish up. Certain tasks done in the game give you stars at the end. Each star on it own is easy enough, but then the final one wants you to do all 4 in one run. So finish in less than 4 hours, earn a certain amount of money, don’t die and find all the secrets. I had one run where I needed only a few secrets and then to wrap it up with the final boss, but the secrets I needed were so far spread out I could never do it in time, with the clock sitting on 3.52. So I went back to an older save and worked on my efficiency in getting the secrets on my way to other places, rather than getting all the equipment first. And I did it! Nice tough game to start off my year
Ok so I’ll admit that after the rather slow start to my month, thanks to grinding on some longer games, I sought out some ‘quick and easy’s just to keep things going. This was a very one note game developed no doubt as a ‘my first game’ project from some bedroom dev. Plane flies, you click mouse, bombs drop and the city is razed. Repeat 25 times with no real progression or variety. But hey it was easy, so there was that.
As part of my little quest to get ‘the numbers up’. I picked a couple of Bullid games. I’ve played a few before and they were pretty quick and ‘casual’. This and the other game I picked were just silly. Super glitchy and very little by way of challenge to get the achievements.
This one wins the prize for the glitchiest game I’ve played in a long time. It’s a bit of a doctor mario type game, but the pills glitch and disappear so often. And the level counter doesn’t reset when you die, so you can just reset until you find an easy layout to get to the next ‘level’
SO yeah this was also a bit cheeky. I have played this game a lot on my phone, thanks to an early humble android and PC bundle, but never installed it on my computer. But I saw it only had one achievement and it was a quick one, so doubled down on my ‘cheap shots’ day, and added this to the list, for a total of 3 in one day.
The actual game is a fairly decent card based strategy game, and it was a great game to play on the phone. Don’t think I’ll spend more time replaying it on the PC for now though, as there are plenty of other games to kill.
I loved the first game with it’s unique looking puzzles and interesting designs, so I picked this up on the sale. I think they dropped the ball a bit. All the puzzles are the same shape now, and the choice of puzzle images seemed to be mostly grotesque fairy tale type images. So I preferred the first one definitely, but it’s still a decent enough puzzle game, and me and my wife sat and played it together.
This game is a really ‘make a word’ puzzle game. The dictionary is good and the bears add a nice element of strategy with their different modifiers. It alternates between timed levels, where any word will do, and the standard boards, which encourage thought about how to maximise your points and keep an eye on which tiles are expiring. Again, this is one I sat and played with my wife. We haven’t actually got to the end of it yet, but a random lucky unlock of a legendary bear meant we got all the achievements, so it goes on the list for this month.
The funniest part is the little ‘madlibs’ type card they show at the end of the level where they use some of the words you made in random sentences. Some of our results made us laugh out loud. We’ll probably still keep playing this one for a while, and it gets a thumbs up.
Wow January certainly came and went before I could even catch my breath. It started out with the last week of my holiday, which was great. I can't remember the last time I actually took 3 weeks off and just spending time with my family and doing things around the house really refreshed the old body and mind. And then of course work started again and everyone was keen to get things going, so I got loaded up with more work. As such, I spent less time gaming than I would have normally. I also spent a lot of time working on Hitman 2 and to a lesser degree 'Rise of the tomb raider', so there wasn't a lot of game completing action happening, but I have been enjoying the games I played, which is what we all want after all.
7 games done then for the month, although 3 of them were so quick, I don't really know if I should count them on my goal towards 90 for the year, but we'll see how desperate I get as the year winds down. So I guess we'll see how February pans out, but things may well get worse before I get ahead on my various projects and find myself with more free time again.
Other stats
Achievements Gained 235Most difficult (according to TSA) 'Spiritualized' in Joe Danger 2
Games added 20
Number of different games played19
Achievement streak 1344 days
Average Game completion 76%
Total number of completed games 454
Games completed in 2020 7
A farewell to 2019
So as expected 2019 was a quieter year for me on the gaming front. It was a fairly big year for me and my family personally, between having a new baby and buying a house, which meant less free time. And it has been fantastic watching my daughter grow in her first year, and putting in the hours working on my house. So yes, on the games side of things I always knew there'd be less time, which is why I set my goal for 90 games completed in the year, and I finished up on 93. So still not too bad, but it's the first year I finished less than the previous year, and I also earned 800 less achievements. I also had a list of 25 games I wanted to play this year and only got to 15 of them. Which is probably the biggest failure of the year for me.
In order to keep the BLAEO home page free of clutter, I shall hide the rest of my ramblings, behind this big button, press it at your own risk
Stats for 2019
Achievements Gained 2977 (3772 in 2018)Most difficult (according to TSA) 'Even Heavy Armor Cannot Withstand Fire of this Magnitude' in Company of heroes 2
Games added 234 added - 65 deleted
Total Games 2747 (2513 in 2018)
Achievement streak 1345 days (980 days in 2018)
Average Game completion 76% (73% in 2018)
Total number of completed games 454 (361 in 2018)
Games completed in 2019 93 (126 in 2018)
The full list of games I beat in the year is here but here's a list of my top 10 of the year
- Assassin's Creed Origins
126 hours playtime
67 of 67 achievements
- Sniper Elite 4
75 hours playtime
85 of 85 achievements
- Saints Row: The Third
93 hours playtime
83 of 83 achievements
- Mount & Blade: Warband
166 hours playtime
80 of 80 achievements
- LEGO® City Undercover
128 hours playtime
48 of 48 achievements
- Borderlands 2
120 hours playtime
75 of 75 achievements
- Figment
12 hours playtime
23 of 23 achievements
- West of Loathing
39 hours playtime
23 of 28 achievements
- Supraland
32 hours playtime
59 of 59 achievements
- Tropico 5
52 hours playtime
70 of 70 achievements
Assassin's creed reborn
Just when the AC series was getting pretty stale, this game came along to revitalise the whole thing. I think it redefines what is possible with an open world in many ways, and I loved every minute spent in the game. Looking forward to playing odyssey on day as well
Possibly the best one yet
With this entry to the Sniper Elite series, I think they are finally reaching the potential the series always had. Big open maps and open objectives which encourage experimentation, and allow you to perform some insane shots. The hardest mode is just insane, and finishing that was possibly one of the hardest achievements I did this year
Wow, this took a while
SRIII was one of the first games I bought when I started playing games on steam, so it felt amazing to finally beat it. I still think this is the best one in the series, leaning hard into the inherent silliness of the premise, and I honestly think it’s a better game than the grand theft series. GTA is like the ‘jock’ of the open world crime series, fuelled by testosterone and machismo, littered with enough sex jokes to make it ‘fun’, whilst SR is more like the class clown.
Can't wait for bannerlord
When I started playing M&B I will admit I was a bit lost as to what to do next. It’s such a sandbox experience that it can be confusing to know what you should be doing. But that freedom quickly became a reason to love the game as it really leaves so much of your experience up to you. Do you become a rebel leader, hell bent on conquering the world? Do you lead a small band of mercenaries performing jobs for whoever is hiring? A merchant making money through cunning trade? Of course it would all be meaningless if the combat wasn’t so comfortable to ‘get’. Here’s hoping bannerlord can keep the core of what makes this game great.
Take me down to lego city
I play the lego games for the kids allegedly, but I will admit a certain appreciation for them myself. They may all play very similarly, but it’s still fun, and they are one of the best co-op games to play with a kid. This particular one, is one of the best in my opinion. Completely original characters and story, nice big map and plenty to do. My eldest still insists on playing it, but now it’s with his own characters and made up storylines, which I guess is another reason why open world games can be great fun
Ok I get it now
When people were raving on about the Borderlands game back in the day, I didn’t get the appeal. I still didn’t get the appeal when I played Borderlands 1 years later. But after playing through most of Borderlands 2 and it’s various DLC with my brother, I now get the acclaim. Whereas the first game lacked character, and the pre-sequel tries a bit too hard, BL2 gets it just right. Fun quests, interesting enemies and epic boss fights. Just a fun ride all in all.
A quirky little puzzler
I enjoy the quirky and unusual games a lot of the time. I think they break up the monotony of games the follow the same formulas and showcase a different way of making games. I enjoyed this developers previous game, Back to bed, and was pleased to see the figment upped the ante with better characterisation, a deeper story, and quirky soundtrack, complete with villain monologue songs. The puzzles were also pretty well thought out.
Fun times in the wild wild wild wild west
I have a love hate relationship with RPGs. Some of my favourite games ever are RPGs, and a lot of the other games I really enjoy have borrowed RPG elements, but I just find a lot of them are too grindy and stats driven to just enjoy in small bursts. So this game was perfect for me. I never felt like I was getting outmatched because I didn’t have the perfect gear, and the humour is just perfect. There’s also tons of little secrets and sub-plots to unravel, and it took me a couple of playthroughs to get a lot of it. ( I did 100% the game, but then they added DLC. Thanks devs)
Supra-Metroid-land
This is probably the shortest time I’ve taken from release date to beaten, especially for a game this long. I have a deep love for Nintendo and this game feels like a perfect mix of Metroid, Zelda and some Portal level puzzling to boot, so once I started playing I just got hooked into it, and before I knew, it was finished. Looking forward to getting the DLC and sequel some time. GOTY 2019 for me definitely. (Missed the deadline to nominate it here unfortunately)
Your kingdom awaits, El-presidente
I love city building simulation games, even though I’m rubbish at micromanagement, so I’ve always loved the Tropico series for being kinder in that regard. You still have a lot of stats and things to pay attention to, but it’s more forgiving and with just a bit of common sense it’s not hard to succeed. I also love the quirky scenarios and random events that pop up. I don’t know why I took so long to finish this game, but once I started playing it again, it quickly sucked me in again and I’m glad to add this one to the list.
Most disappointing game
- Flat Kingdom Paper's Cut Edition
27 hours playtime
48 of 48 achievements
A great game and concept which I enjoyed playing… up until the point there was a randomly occurring bug which meant the one boss fight became a fight against pretty tough odds to beat. I wasted far too much time restarting that fight just to hope I could get lucky on all 15 of the attack selections and that honestly has a way of ruining a game a bit.
Plans for 2020
I suspect the amount of real life busi-ness will still be pretty high this year, so I'm setting my goal for completed games in the year to 90 again, or to reach 540 completed games total. I'd also like to increase the average completion from 76 to 80, but that might not happen, if I start too many new games.
I have put together a new list of the 25 games I'd like to beat this year, but as we know, that may turn out to be completely irrelevant.
List is here| 4432 | games (+2 not categorized yet) |
| 71% | never played |
| 6% | unfinished |
| 3% | beaten |
| 19% | completed |
| 0% | won't play |
- Won on SteamGifts 18
- ABC List 26
- Playing in 2024 20
- Beaten in 2015 39
- Beaten in 2016 80
- Beaten in 2017 102
- Beaten in 2018 124
- Beaten in 2019 93
- Beaten in 2020 85
- Beaten in 2021 86
- Beaten in 2022 67
- Beaten in 2023 96
- Beaten in 2024 67
- The Almosts 40
- Big Game Hunting 81
- The "long" game 100