January 2025

New year, felt like going back to monthly updates so here’s the first one. With this, I’ll probably do a roundup at the end of the year but we’ll see about that.
I’ve also now updated my profile, distinguished the 2016-2024 (apparently it’s been 8 years since I’ve joined BLAEO? I refuse to believe it) and the 2025 and onwards updates. With the updates for each game beaten, it became a lot of information to scroll down through.
Not a bad month, but I haven’t played anything since the 20th because I fell (and still am) sick. I have a few games that I’m really looking forward to starting, but I need to rest first. I included a game that I won a hour ago, since it’d count as won on the 31st of january, but we’ll see about that.

• Finished
• Abandoned
• Added

En Garde!

7/10

about 5 hours playtime

12 of 30 achievements (73%)

Thoughts

The game is very charming and really beautiful. The gameplay is very fun and while I played on the easy difficulty, it was fun to find different ways to defeat the various types of enemies.
What I disliked was playing through the whole game only dying twice because of my own errors, but dying more than 15 times on the last boss. It did not felt very balanced.

The Invincible

8/10

about 10 hours playtime

16 of 29 achievements (55%)

Thoughts

I've yet to read any Stanisław Lem book, but I have a feeling that I will enjoy them after playing The Invincible. The game is basically a prequel to the homonymous book, and I really adored the game. The world and atmosphere is great and the 10 hours spent exploring Regis III flew by.

Midnight Fight Express

5/10

about 7 hours playtime

12 of 40 achievements (30%)

Thoughts

Repetitive gameplay and some really annoying bosses due to bad game design that made me want to drop the game 75% in, I don't quite understand the (high) appraisal that this game received. Other than that, the fighting is satisfying, the dialogue is fun and the soundtrack is the highlight of the game.

Beacon Pines

7/10

about 8 hours playtime

8 of 11 achievements (72%)

Thoughts

My first impressions weren't great but while playing it, the characters and story grabbed me and by the end I was engaged by the game, the characters and also the music. I played a few of the branches in the story and it was fun to see the different results. If one were to do the right choice each time I'd imagine that it'd take a lot less time to finish it.

The Gunk

6/10

about 6 hours playtime

13 of 17 achievements (76%)

Thoughts

The gunk in The Gunk remembered me of Princess Mononoke, which by itself was one of the better things about this game. I found it a bit underwhelming but a good enough try for a first 3d game by the SteamWorld games developers. The story, gameplay or puzzles are nothing to write home about, but I still enjoyed playing through it and it was a good, fun, short adventure to go through.

• Ori and the Blind Forest
  

  0 hours playtime

  0 of 50 achievements

• Moonstone Island
  
• Nanotale - Typing Chronicles
  
• Ori and the Blind Forest
  
• Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition
  
• Dordogne
  
• Fort Solis
  
• Electrician Simulator - First Shock
  
• Electrician Simulator
  
• TIS-100
  
• while True: learn()
  
• Soul Axiom Rebooted
  
• F1 24
  
• Saints Row: Gat out of Hell
  

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Steam Statistics:

Month	Finished	Abandoned	Added	Balance	Most Satisfying Reduction	Most Exciting Addition
January	5	1	13	+7	The Invincible	Dordogne

Main Quest #202 - 31 December 2024

Venba

7/10

about 2 hours playtime

11 of 15 achievements (73%)

Pretty sweet game.

Main Quest #201 - 30 December 2024

Just Cause 3

6/10

about 15 hours playtime

16 of 66 achievements (25%)

It’s been a while since I’ve played JC2, so it was fun to unleash chaos and get out as quick as possible. The wingsuit was a nice addition to the gameplay loop as well.
Story is nothing to write home about, as usual.

Main Quest #200 - 02 December 2024

INSIDE

8/10

about 4 hours playtime

2 of 14 achievements (15%)

I played LIMBO in 2016 and I remember hearing a lot about INSIDE when it came out, in 2018. Can’t believe it has been SIX years already since it released.
The lightning and atmosphere was top notch, I felt scared the whole way through. I feel like I enjoyed this one way more than LIMBO but I also did not really understand what the final stretch was supposed to really mean. I’ll need to research a bit about it and think about the game as a whole before I can give my full opinion.

Also, 200th game since I adopted the main/side quest system! It’s been a while.
I am however considering return to the monthly updates. There’s something to a monthly summary that catches my interest and I love stats.

Main Quest #199 - 30 November 2024

Genesis Noir

7/10

about 7 hours playtime

17 of 17 achievements (100%)

It feels like I haven’t played anything like this before, it’s so unique but simple to play through. The art and music are fantastic.

Main Quest #198 - 29 November 2024

Sniper Elite 4

8/10

about 10 hours playtime

18 of 85 achievements (21%)

Sniper was always my go-to weapon when I played multiplayer games when I was a kid. Playing single-player games focused on it are always pretty fun.

Main Quest #197 - 18 November 2024

Call of the Sea

7/10

about 7 hours playtime

20 of 34 achievements (59%)

The story got me hooked through the whole game and I really enjoyed it till the end. Definitely recommended for fans of the genre.

Main Quest #196 - 16 November 2024

RUINER

6/10

about 6 hours playtime

10 of 33 achievements (31%)

Decent. The art and music were great, the story and gameplay ok. I had high expectations because an online friend said he preferred this one to The Ascent, which I strongly disagree with. I still enjoyed the few minutes I basically hacked my way into petting cats.

Main Quest #195 - 13 November 2024

Life is Strange 2

7/10

about 19 hours playtime

26 of 46 achievements (57%)

Not the way I expected this game to go, some themes fall a bit flat but I did enjoy the brothers interactions and relationship throughout the game. I liked going on a “roadtrip” and the various sceneries we went through, but I feel that the rythm was a bit too fast even though the game took this many hours to play through.

Main Quest #194 - 6 November 2024

The Final Station

5/10

about 6 hours playtime

7 of 23 achievements (31%)

Bit underwhelming, but glad it’s done. The story is confusing and leads nowhere; there’s a bit of shooting, a bit of resource management, but no real challenge if you just explore everything and be careful opening every door, since there’s nothing to lose.