LastM LastM’s profile


Hello, folks! Long time no see. I haven’t felt like writing til this week because of 2 very different games I played: Final Fantasy XV and A Plague Tale: Innocence both from the xbox pass I noticed something: my taste in games has changed. I fell in love with those big open world areas during my teens after playing San Andreas. I couldn’t get enough games like that. I’d spend 100h-200h+ in each of them. On the other hand, more linear games would bore me and would just consider them not worth the price.

After starting FFXV soon after Plague Tale - story-driven game with a plot that does not stray from its path - I felt incredibly disconnected from FF’s story because of the amount of extra “work” between important missions. I dreaded every single fetch side quest. TBH, it’s not entirely the game’s fault. Both are good games, but I’ve been dreading those stupid marks on the maps for a couple years now. Every single time, I have to climb a “tower” or whatever the game uses to reveal a part of the map and pin 300 more marks, a piece of me just dies. I see them and I start thinking to myself “ain’t nobody got time for that ”.

Honestly, I don’t know if it’s a lack of time or motivation, a growing concern about the size of my backlog or simply a change in taste, maybe a bit of all of them but I’m starting to avoid games when I see the “open world” tag almost as much as I already avoid the “crafting” or “survival” tags. These 3 combined are like the unholy trinity for me. In contrast, linear, story-focused, short games are becoming more and more appealing to me. (Although I’m still having a hard time to accept that paying $30 for a good 2h long game is better than spending that same amount for a game that is 10x longer, when 90% of it is just utterly boring. I guess, years and years of indoctrination are hard to erase. xD)

TL;DR: I used to love open world games and all those 300 fetch side quests where I could just get absorbed in the lore and spend 100h+ in it and I always thought linear, story-driven games were boring and overpriced. Now, I hate big areas, towers that I need to climb, pins on a map, quest markers and everything else related to open world games, meanwhile, a story that can grab my attention for 2-3h is just

Anyway, IIRC I’m supposed to post the games I’ve played these last 7(?) months. It’s not a long list, I haven’t played that many games on steam since they keep adding a lot of good stuff to the xbox pass. Looking forward to playing the new Ori game next week :D If you wanna know more about any of the following games, let me know. (expect Trails of Cold Steel, I’m still playing it)

  • Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth

    15 hours playtime

    41 of 41 achievements

  • Life is Strange 2

    13 hours playtime

    46 of 46 achievements

  • GRIS

    5 hours playtime

    17 of 17 achievements

  • The House of Da Vinci

    4 hours playtime

    6 of 6 achievements

  • The Suicide of Rachel Foster

    4 hours playtime

    11 of 11 achievements

  • The Haunted Island, a Frog Detective Game

    56 minutes playtime

    6 of 6 achievements

  • Total War: WARHAMMER II

    48 hours playtime

    30 of 152 achievements

  • Total War: WARHAMMER

    39 hours playtime

    34 of 185 achievements

  • The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel

    32 hours playtime

    11 of 51 achievements

  • Masquerada: Songs and Shadows

    19 hours playtime

    24 of 27 achievements

  • The Talos Principle

    16 hours playtime

    26 of 40 achievements

  • Iconoclasts

    12 hours playtime

    6 of 11 achievements

  • Baba Is You

    9 hours playtime

    10 of 18 achievements

  • Primordia

    6 hours playtime

    19 of 29 achievements

  • Inked

    5 hours playtime

    24 of 30 achievements

  • Why Am I Dead At Sea

    4 hours playtime

    21 of 27 achievements

  • The Cave

    3 hours playtime

    12 of 27 achievements

Xbox game pass for pc

Ok. Since I spent most of this month playing games from the Pc Pass, I decided to write a bit about it. I bit the bullet a couple weeks ago and subscribed. It costs $1 (It includes regional pricing options - I paid 25 cents instead of a dollar thanks to that) the first time you sub and the value is out of this world. I thought I’d wanna play 2-3 games, but there are many more I could see myself trying in the next couple months. Let me talk a bit about the games I’ve played this month:

  • Metro Exodus

    This is the game that got me to sub, so I had to try this one first. Let me say that this game is amazing. It’s the best post-apocalyptic I’ve played and A LOT more immersive IMHO than Fallout 4 and others games in this subgenre. I’m not good explaining stuff, so I’ll leave this video here from Game Maker’s Toolkit where he talks about the game It’s really a shame so many people won’t even try this game because of the whole EGS vs Steam controversy. It does have some flaws: the story starts a bit slow, the second map is a bit too big for its own good and therefore might bore completionists. However, none of these small flaws, ruin the experience at all. Overall, it’s still an amazing game and a very solid 8 or 9 out of 10. It took me a week or so to beat it (13-16h, I’d say)

  • Guacamelee 2

    It improves almost everything when compared to the first. The writing is even funnier. I laugh out loud at lot playing this game. The gameplay is still solid with a mix of combat and platforming. If anything, it’s a bit easier than the original. The “Git gud” yes, it’s called like that area is way easier. Same for achieving the true ending by collecting golden key pieces Another great game. (9-12h long)

  • Super Lucky’s tale

    I didn’t like this game and stopped playing after the third level. The main character is awful to control. Very slow and clunky. It’s heavily inspired by Donkey Kong - you even collect letters to form his name -, but without anything that makes DK games so good. It’s probably longer, but I couldn’t get past the first hour. I do no recommend it.

  • Recore

    I haven’t finished it yet, but I liked it so far. It’s definitely not the system seller MS might have expected, but it’s a decent game. Since I read Fnord’s post yesterday, let me warn you that this game is FULL of gates that won’t let you continue unless you go grind for a couple hours. You need to collect crystal balls to advance. If you focus on the main quest, you won’t have enough to open some vaults that are required to continue. I had like 17 balls and needed 30 to continue. I had to do a bunch of repetitive shit and I’m still missing 5. I just wanna hear the rest of the story. T_T


Overall, I’m quite happy with this offer. It has a few problems For example, by default, the game language is set to be the same your Windows 10 uses. For most MS Studios games that cannot be changed. I hadn’t play a game in portuguese for more than 10 years. It was weird. xD, but the insane value for your money more than makes up for that.

What about you guys, have you tried it? If you have, what should I play next? I appreciate suggestions! :)

I wasn’t gonna write a post just for Sekiro, but I love and hate this game so much that it deserves one.

First of all, if you think Dark Souls is hard. You clearly haven’t tried Sekiro yet. Not only it’s way more brutal than DS, it turns everything you learn in that game against you.
You wanna block against a boss? Dead. Maybe roll? Dead! Mindless spamming or cheesy tatics = 99% chance of dying. So you might ask, what am I supposed to do? Parry and you better git gud. The game is about swords clashing and it shows. Unlike DS that you just had to deplete your enemies HP, in this game, depleting his posture is by far the best way to kill him and you do that by parrying his attack at the correct time. Honestly, Sekiro is as much a Souls game as it’s a rythmn one. If you learn the flow, you learn the game… but it’s for fucking hard…. It took me around 15h just to learn this. I was around the 10th boss Genichiro when the combat finally clicked.

The game has some interestings improvements over DS. The first and biggest addition is the introduction of sub-bosses. They’re are as tough as regular bosses, but usually with less health. Honestly, some are harder than main bosses. Fuck those Ashina Spear guys >.<. Second, you don’t use souls to upgrade your stats. Only to acquire skills. Attack power is increased by killing main bosses and life/posture through sub-bosses and hidden throughout the map. Third, the inclusion of colors other than black and grey PRAISE THE SUN. Seriously, it’s so colorful and beautiful. Look at this: (Last picture might contain spoilers)


Btw, have I told you that the story/worldbuilding isn’t told through enigmatic items/conversations, but cutscenes? I didn’t have to watch any 2h long youtube video to understand everything that I missed!!!!! If that’s not an improvement, I don’t know what is. Seriously though, I always loved Souls games - and I think Miyazaki did an amazing job developing those games -, but imo Sekiro is clearly superior and harder, be warned! than all 3 of them. (Never tried BloodBorne, since I don’t own a PS4)


Edit: Ok, I lied. I’m too lazy to start another post, therefore, here are some other games I played this month: I’m sorry, please don’t hurt me xD
The Room 3: Bought and finished yesterday. It’s 3h long like the previous one. The first is still my favorite. It was a new and clean concept: a bunch of puzzles in a room. The third is still better than the second, but I’m into multiple endings in puzzle games because you’ll be doing the same puzzles 4 times if you wanna complete the game. That’s a nope from me.
Figment: Interesting puzzles that are repeted a bit too much and a phenomenal soundtrack. The story sometimes is really deep and sometimes very childish. It seems the devs didn’t know which path they wanted to take and decided to go for a middle ground. It didn’t work.
Smoke and Sacrifice:I found this game incredibly boring. It was almost a chore to play it. You click and missclick a lot. The story isn’t good enough to hook you into the game. The hand drawn art is nice. The game froze after I killed the last boss and died at the same time, so I decided to give up. I’ve played it enough.

I’ve been playing Xenoblade Chronicles 2 on the Switch as well. 30h in and I’ve been enjoying it a lot! Amazing rpg so far.

Lots of travel and my notebook is awful = not so many games played this month. T_T
I started the first 2 last month, only Rusty Lake should be here, tbh. But shhh, don’t tell anyone

Praey for the Gods

8.3 hours, no achievements
Early Access

More

I usually don't play EA games, so I might seem a bit harsher with this game for its missing features.
This game was clearly inspired by Shadow of the Colossus. They got the massive bosses and the setting right. However, the random enemies are kind of useless. I'm also not a fan of survival mechanics. I'm really tired of searching for supplies/hunting just to survive. I honestly think this game would be more enjoyable without random generated enemies and survival. The original was just beating up giant bosses and it was a masterpiece.
No need to reinvent the wheel, if it ain't broke.
I hope to replay this when they add achievements/finish the game.


Yakuza Kiwami

20 hours, 24 of 55 achievements
SG win

More

Apparently, this is a remake of the original game. I really missed a lot of QoL improvements/new things from Yakuza 0 tbh. Majima was my favorite character, so it was a bit of a dissapointment to have him reduced to a madman that will charge towards you screaming "Kiryuuuuuuuuuuu" every 50 steps. "No, majima, I don't want to fight you again."
Overall, the story is quite nice and the dad/daughter moments are the best. If you like yakuza games, it's a must-play.


Rusty Lake Paradise

3 hours, 48 of 50 achievements

More

The only PoP game I manage to play this month. Shame on me!
Even though it has a worse rating on steam than the other games in this franchise, I actually liked this one more. Weird, I know.
I guess, the story/puzzles clicked with me or maybe because it was the first game I played in almost 3 weeks. Idk xD


I also brought my Switch with me and tried to play Pokémon Let’s Go, Pikachu!, but I gave up. The introduction of Pokemon Go mechanics ruined this game for me. It made the game unbelievably boring. The starting pokemon is so OP that you don’t need to catch anything. If that wasn’t enough, the whole team get xp when you fight AND when you catch pokemon (which is just throwing a pokeball on them lame). I defeated Brock (Rock type leader) with a Pikachu. Let that sink in. I hope they don’t add any of that in the Sword and Shild versions.


After re-watching Kimi no na wa (Your Name, in english), I’ve decided to watch the complete works of Makoto Shinkai. Let me say, they’re amazing. My favorite is Kotonoha no Niwa, which honestly is a damn masterpiece and only 45 minutes long. Go watch it. You won’t regret it. I also really liked 5 Centimeters per Second. I hope to watch both Children Who Chase Lost Voices and Voices of a Distant Star this weekend.


I finished The Chalk Man. Honestly, I bought solely because of the cover. It’s one of the best covers I’ve seen in a while. You can’t see in the picture, but the pages’ outlines are black with details to simulate chalk. The book itself has a few good moments, but it falls flat. The big reveal was poorly written, imo. One could see it coming from miles. Well, never judge a book by its cover, kids!

On the other hand, I’ve been reading The Woman in the Window and so far, it’s been great! I saw that a movie with Amy Adams and Gary Oldman is being released later this year and decided to give it a try. Let me just say that it’s a best seller for a reason.


My reading backlog is empty for the first time in forever. I’d appreciate some suggestions. My favorite genres are Mystery/Thrillers, Fantasy and Classics. I’m always up for some detective books as well. Thanks!

Short post. I didn’t play many games this month.

DARK SOULS™: REMASTERED

24 hours, 22 of 41 achievements
9/10

More

I wasn't going to play this, but I saw a bunch of people playing Sekiro and I felt like playing a souls game. It's still the best game of trilogy. I absolutely love this game. It's the 3rd time I've played it.
About the REMASTERED ed.: It still has most of the bugs that were present in the Prepare to Die edition. The graphical overhaul wasn't that big. Honestly, if it wasn't 75% off for DS1 owners, I wouldn't have bought it. At that price, I do recommend because it's still easier than using the ds1+mods.


Europa Universalis IV

58 hours, 88 of 295 achievements
Total Playtime: 630 hours

Fnord's post got me to reinstall the game for another playthrough. However, one thing led to another and I ended up playing 2-3 different nations. Got some interesting achievements:

1. A Hero’s Welcome: Starting as Karaman, form the Sultanate of Rum (0.4% of players unlocked it)
2. Breaking the Yoke: As Ryazan, own Saratov, Crimea and Kazan while being independent (0.2%)
3. All belongs to Mother Russia: Form Russia (8.3%)

The first 2 were hard. The last one, was quite easy. I brought my total % back to 30%, which is nice. Paradox will most likely ruin this with a new dlc in a couple months, though. xD
I'll definitely try some other interesting nation in the future, but for now, I'll mark as beaten.


Flowers for Algernon

0 hours, no achievements

More

Quick summary: Charlie is a 32-year-old developmentally disabled man who has the opportunity to undergo a surgical procedure that will dramatically increase his mental capabilities. This procedure had already been performed on a laboratory mouse, Algernon, with remarkable results. Charlie will be the first human subject.
This book is amazing. I'm not going to spoil anything because it's a great first experience, but I'll just say that I finished it in just 2 days and I usually take a month to read something this long. I highly recommend this book.


Long post because it’s been a while. Ops. xD
At least I got a bunch of new, cool screenshots:

Altar of Transformation B C D Eiffel tower Finches’ House
G Hyrule Castle I J K L
M N O Peach’s Castle Q Restaurant
Sphinx Temple of Time U Vanderboom Farm Weldry Prison XCOM Bureau
Yoku’s hut Z        

If you’re interested in one of the games, you can find the list of games used here
Link for the Screenshot community challenge

  • Switch screenshots look bad because Nintendo won’t let me transfer high quality pics to my pc. I had to post them on Twitter and take a screenshot. It’s stupid.

Steam

Injustice™ 2

11.6 hours, 34 of 74 achievements

My older brother was here for a week and he only plays fighting games. Usually MK/SF, but I had bought this game a long time ago and decided to give it a try while he was here. He liked. I'm not much into fighting games, but it's fun playing versus. I finished the Story, but it's not that great. I'm really tired of this "Superman has gone bad" trope. Every single DC movie/series has done it by now.


BATTLETECH

40 hours, 58 of 128 achievements

One of the best Strategy games I've played in a long time. I usually stick to 1-2 games in that genre, instead of trying to find new games. The reason is that strategy is such a niche genre that I find it really hard to trust new devs. Most indies in this genre are terrible and there are just a handful of AA studios actually making games in this genre. I won BATTLETECH on SG and got challenge to play it (Thank you!) and it was a very pleasant surprise.
Honestly, I should have known better, considering I liked their previous games (the shadowrun series), even though they were more rpgs than strategy. The story, the music, the gameplay everything is really fun in this game. Looting old mech and using their parts to create a new, heavier mech is incredibly addicting.
If I have to nitpick, I'd say that the worst part of this game is the difficulty curve. The game starts really hard as you only own terrible mechs. It gets really easy at the middle, but then you reach a point you can't progress without grinding for new mechs or money to buy parts and weapons.
I highly recommend this game to any strategy fan!


Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story

7.5 hours, 20 of 30 achievements

It looks like a tablet/mobile game and it plays like one. It's repetitive, the story has all possible cliches, it has a terrible User Interface, but the core gameplay loop teaching your stundents until they can evolve to one of the 3 professions, which in place can also evolve into 2 more professions each is quite fun and addictive. Graduating characters that have been with you all the way from lvl1 until lvl 30 is great.


Rusty Lake: Roots

6.2 hours, 12 of 16 achievements

It's a short and fun game about a weird family. Interesting puzzles that are not unfair. One can't really ask more from a game in this genre.


Yoku's Island Express

7.1 hours, 25 of 31 achievements

I'm not a pinball fan, but I absolutely loved this game. I never expected to play a pinball metroidvania, but the devs manage to create something that is not only innovative, but also incredibly fun to play. It's up there with Hollow Knight.
If you like metroidvanias, do yourself a favor an buy this game.


Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap

6 hours, 11 of 13 achievements

It's a 1:1 remake of the original game. You can switch to the original graphics and sound on the fly. I never played the original, so I just played using the modern visuals.
The game is hard, as all older games used to be. I'd have spent at least a hundred quarters to finish it on the Arcade back in the day because I died so much… I bet a speedrunner can finish it in less than an hour. It's quite short. The worst part about it how slippery the characters are. It feels like playing with Luigi in the old Mario games. I hate this. >.<


Non-Steam

Axiom Verge

9 hours, no achievements

I love metroidvanias, so I couldn't pass this freebie from the Epic Games Store. It's the closest to the original Metroid feeling a game has ever reached imo. Everything in this game screams Metroid. It's quite good. I just wish the bosses were a bit better. Most of them are easy or predictable. The last boss was a joke thanks to the OP red coat which gives you a teleport that damages enemies you pass through, while making you invulnerable. Just spam it and you'll defeat anything. :/


Octopath Traveler

38 hours, no achievements
Nintendo Switch

I was having a good time with this game, until I realized that I was just doing the same thing over and over. You reach a town -> cutscene -> start the quest for one of the eight protagonists -> cutscene -> go to a nearby dungeon -> defeat boss -> cutscene. Repeat this for all 8 characters, 4 times each. The same thing 32 times… Had the characters been written well, this might not have been a problem… However, while some of them have interesing stories and great voice actores, others are incredibly boring. You have so many cliches: The disgraced knight, the naive cleric, the thief with a heart of gold… At least the soundtrack is probably one of the best of all time.
PS: What the hell was that Hunter speaking 16th century shakespearean english >.<


Barakamon

Anime 12 Episodes

A friend recommend me this because I was looking for a "feel good" slice of life anime. I have to say this it's exactly it. It's simple, it's fun and you feel good after watching it. Solid.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Animated movie 117 minutes

Probably the best animatd movie I've seen in a while. It's a fresh take on the Superhero origin story movie. It's surprisingly funny and well-written.

In Cold Blood

Book 343 pages

I always liked thrillers/crime books, so I decided to try the True Crime genre. I haven't finished yet, but so far it's an amazing book. I can definitely see why this book is a classic.

Link for the Screenshot community challenge

My Screenshot challenge is coming up very nice:

A B C D Eiffel tower Finches’ House
G Hyrule Castle I J K L
M N O Peach’s Castle Q Restaurant
S Temple of Time U V W X
Y Z        

If you’re interested in one of the games, you can find the list of games used here

  • Switch screenshots look bad because Nintendo won’t let me transfer high quality pics to my pc. I had to post them on Twitter and take a screenshot. It’s stupid.

Steam

Return of the Obra Dinn

8.3 hours, 14 of 16 achievements

Pros:

  • Amazing detective game. I was surpised that I got so many people right by myself. I had to use some hints in the last 13 people. I only found 5 ocrew members with a guide.
  • Interesting Story.
  • Art style
    Cons:
  • Gameplay hindered by its art style. I loved the art style, but it's not good for a detective game. What's the first thing you ask when you have to indentify a person? It's either skin, hair or eyes color. It's impossible to that in a monochromatic game. :/ Besides that, it makes a lot of characters look almost the same. This game didn't need this added difficulty. It's already difficult enough thanks to the way the story unfolds from the end to the beginning.


Minor games played:
Burly Man at Sea: It’s a very short game with a focus on multiple playthroughs to unlock different story paths. It’s not very good. I was bored after my second playthrough. I still got to a fourth one, but I couldn’t bring myself to play anymore.
Far from Noise: The whole game feels like an excuse to get you to read dialogue while you listen to the sound of nature. Rain and wave sounds are always appreciated. Dialogues are really good too. Unlike, Burly Man at Sea, I enjoyed the 2h I spent with this game.
Elegy for a Dead World: I expected something completely different when I read its steam page. It’s a game about writing stories and reading other people’s stories. However, UI is terrible. I couldn’t find anything and the achievements are completely crazy. You need to get 1000 people to read your story in each world, but there were only 2 people playing when I tried. TL;DR: Game is dead and devs are crazy.

Non-Steam

What Remains of Edith Finch

3 hours, no achievements

The Epic guys finally got me to download their client. This game was too good to pass.

Pros:

  • It's really easy to get sucked into the story.
  • Interesting characters. I loved most of them, but the fish cutting guy really got me T_T
  • Quite easy + good visuals
  • Unlike most walking sims, this game added a lot of gameplay to keep you engaged and not just reading. It's a game, not a book afterall.

Cons:

  • A bit short, but since I got it for free, it wasn't an issue for me. Full price is a bit too much.


And here’s the where I spent all my free time this month:

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild


Finally completed this game after 105h!
Let me start by saying that Ocarina of Time is my favorite game ever and this game got really close to top it. It was also my first Zelda since Majora’s Mask, which I didn’t like very much.
Unlike previous Zelda games, it’s an open world game. I’ve played thousand of open world games - 10 ACs, Far Cry, both Mordor games, etc, etc -, but I’ve never experienced such freedom in a game. I think, I finally get why people love open world games. I mean, you still have to defeat Ganon and save Zelda, as always, but in this game

ain’t no mountain high enough
Ain’t no valley low enough
Ain’t no river wide enough
To keep me from getting to you Zelda

Because you can climb, swim and walk literally everywhere.

Unlike previous open world games, towers aren’t there just to unlock a part of the map. Since the game doesn’t add icons on the map, you have to use these vantage points to find all the hidden things in the map, and trust me, there are a lot of interesting things hidden all over the place.

Combat was really good. Controls are very tight and the fact that the weapons break, means that I had to try a lot of options and think about which weapon I was gonna use against every enemy, even trash mobs. It’s good to break this tradition of owning 1000 weapons while only using 1-2 in games.

TL;DR: This is definitely the best game I’ve played in a decade. It’s clearly a system seller. If you have a chance to buy/rent/borrow a Switch, you must play this game. Honestly, I can’t remember the last game I played for more than 100h just because I refused to put it down. Even after 100%’ing it, I still feel like booting this game up. I gotta be strong and stop myself because my backlog can’t take more hits like that. >.<

PS: I got both Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and Octopath Traveller. Anyone has played any of them? I don’t know which one I should start next. xD
PPS: I almost forgot. I’ve also been playing a lot of Dota Auto Chess. It’s a custom game inside dota 2 that is a lot of fun, even if you never tried Dota 2.

Link for the Screenshot community challenge

My Screenshot challenge is coming up very nice:

A B C D Eiffel tower F
G H I J K L
M N O Peach’s Castle Q Restaurant
S Temple of Time U V W X
Y Z        

If you’re interested in one of the games, you can find the list of games used here

  • Switch screenshots look bad because Nintendo won’t let me transfer high quality pics to my pc. I had to post them on Twitter and take a screenshot. It’s so stupid.

Steam

My Memory of Us

4.6 hours, 17 of 23 achievements

Pros:

  • WW2 and the Holocaust through children's eyes.
  • Intuitive puzzles. I only had to look for a guide once.
  • Short and sweet.
    Cons:
  • Controls suck and you can't remap in-game. (Seriously who uses the arrow keys to move intead os AWSD in 2019?)


Remember Me

10 hours, 39 of 50 achievements

Pros:

  • Graphics hold up quite nicely for a 2013 game.
  • Chapter selection and great checkpoint system (It's criminally underrated how these awesome features are never talked about. People only notice them when they get stuck in a terrible checkpoint)
  • Interesting Story

Cons:

  • Combat is a bit boring.
  • I hate the rewind sections
  • I found a game-breaking bug. (If you kill the bosses on chapter 7 before their minions, the game won't let you get out of battle stance and therefore you won't be able to open the door to progress.)


Non-Steam

Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle

26 hours, no achievements

Pros:

  • Looks and feels like a Nintendo game with the price of a Ubisoft game.
  • Movement during combat is awesome. You can walk, team jump, dash and shoot in a single turn. (much faster and less static than XCOM, for example)
  • Interesting collectibles (There are a lot of them) that you have to go back to previous worlds after acquiring some powers.
  • Challenges are awesome, especially the the first ultimate challenge.
  • Amazing visuals
  • I loved the boss fights, especially the Opera Singer

Cons:

  • A bit too easy if you're a turn-based veteran
  • I hated the escort missions (Seriously, I cannot think of a single where escort missions are fun. Why devs keep adding them?!)
  • The game could use 1-2 extra worlds. 4


The ABC Screenshot challenge!

A new year demands a new community challenge!
I’d like to thank a lot of people for the ideas, especially Blue and Ninglor.

How does it work?

  • There is no set game list, run the games that you believe that will give you the best chance of getting an amazing screenshot
  • There are 26 letters, so you’ll have to take at least 26 pictures. Each one should feature something started with a different letter.

Create your own theme! (optional)

If you think the challenge above is too easy for you, you may create your own theme. A theme that all pictures will have to follow.
Examples:

  • A blue theme: All pictures will feature something blue or blue will be their main color
  • An animal theme: There will be a different animal in each screenshot, corresponding to each letter - Rat, Zebra, Lion, etc
  • Winter theme: Santa, Pine cone, Gingerbread, etc

You get the idea. Be creative. Create your own challenge!

You can use this as a template to post your screenshots
[A](screenshot) | [B](screenshot) | [C](screenshot) | [D](screenshot) | [E](screenshot) | [F](screenshot)
[G](screenshot) | [H](screenshot) | [I](screenshot) | [J](screenshot) | [K](screenshot) | [L](screenshot)
[M](screenshot) | [N](screenshot) | [O](screenshot) | [P](screenshot) | [Q](screenshot) | [R](screenshot)
[S](screenshot) | [T](screenshot) | [U](screenshot) | [V](screenshot) | [W](screenshot) | [X](screenshot)
[Y](screenshot) | [Z](screenshot)


FAQ:

Can I used games that I already played before?
Sure. It’s all about being creative! It’s not an official theme, there are no “rules”. No one is forced to participate as well. I was gonna do it alone, but I thought it would be more fun to transform it into a community challenge.

I have another question!
Which part of no rules, did you not understand?! xD But seriously, do whatever work best for you!

I was gonna write this post next week, but I’m not sure I’ll be at home to do that, so I had to do it now. Unfortunately, I haven’t finished many games, so be prepared for a lot of half assed reviews! yay!

Steam

I barely played games on my PC this week. The only thing I’ve tried was Sunset Overdrive. I haven’t finished it yet, but so far the game has 2 big qualities: a sense of freedom and mobility + a great sense of humor. After playing games where the protagonist moves really slow, it’s a breath of fresh air to have a protagonist that is always jumping and grinding through the city. Running around is a delight in this game. The last game I remember the main character being so agile was Prototyp, but even that game wasn’t as fast-paced as Sunset. I can never blink twice in this game. I like the humor as well, but it’s kinda dark. I can definitely see why so many people didn’t like that aspect of the game.
On the other hand, the Story is just dumb: A crazy company created a soda that turn humans into zombies. Yes, it’s that stupid.

Non-Steam

I know that my Non-Steam could be called Nintendo Switch these last couple weeks, but it’s the only thing I’ve been playing lately. sorry! xD Anyway, I finally “completed” Super Mario Odyssey. What a game! I’m still humming that soundtrack daily. I got all the 883 moons for the completionist ending. There is also another ending if you grind enough coins to buy more moons from the shop. It only adds a fireworks cutscene + the original Mario victory theme Definitely, not worth the time imo. I just sold my sold my copy for $50. I had forgotten this about buying physical copies. It’s so good to resell games! At the end of the day, I paid $10 to play a AAA game. Amazing!

I bought 2 games from the eshop. Goetia because it was just $1 and Cat Quest. Goetia is kinda boring and the hint system is terrible. Some of the puzzles make no sense. I caved halfway through and started using a walktrough. Cat Quest on the other hand is actually quite fun. If you like cat puns, this game is purrfect for you! :P

On more exciting news, I got both Mario + Rabbids and Octopath Traveler for ~$60! Both digital, but still :D

Natsume Yuujinchou (Natsume's Book of Friends)

Anime 13 Episodes

This anime seems highly regarded, but I didn't like it. Honestly, it was boring to me. I think the premisses are interesting and I like the dynamic between Natsume and his cat sensei, but the whole story falls short. It never reaches a point where you just wanna binge the whole season. There are some nice episodes though (loved both episodes with the little fox and the also the firefly episode), but overall, I felt most episodes were just boring. There are at least 5 more season, so people must really like this series. Maybe it gets better later. Dunno.

Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Minai (Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai)

Anime 12 Episodes
I haven't finished this yet, but I'm really liking it so far. It has THE most stupid anime title EVER, but it's a very high quality anime.I won't spoil the story, but it's really good. It starts a bit slow and the first and second episodes might have one too many lewd jokes, but if you like slice of life animes, give it a chance. Don't judge it by its stupid name or cover image.

Merry xmas!Happy New Year!!