Procrastination is a bitch.

Anyways, I don’t think I can recap well all activity since that post back in 2022, but here’s a short recap of April so far an maybe we’ll go backwards from that.

Finally beat *Kingdom Shell, which is a good game. I wanted it to be a great game, but even as a Metroidvania fan I must admit it’s relatively limited. Five hours this month, but that was mainly mucking about a bit trying to get stronger for the final boss, gitting good at it with those limitations, and then doing a grand tour of the map to get all the final secrets. Thanks to a helpful “this is what you’re missing” inspiration (the game’s equippable upgrade system, think Hollow Knight charms) I only had to look at the guide for a final object which was in a room I had forgotten to revisit in a particularly dense section of the map. After that, one final bonus boss and a few minutes of farming were all that were required to 100% the game.

I’d beaten iZBOT last month and while I briefly booted it up in order to get one final gem from a particularly pesky level, quickly chose something else. I did play and beat IZBOT 2, which is… also okay. It’s mechanically better and the layouts aren’t as barebones as some of those in the first game, but it also lacks that spark the best platformers have and some of the levels felt like they were long due to busywork rather than challenge. That one I did complete with all achievements, even though the last one was kinda bad since all it took was replaying old levels to increase the enemy kill count.

After long procrastinating (sorry Nikola), finally grabbed myself Goblin and Coins II. The first one was charming but suffered from various design problems, but this is a significantly better experience. Still one mainly for existing platforming fans, but for that subset it’s a lovely experience that devliers beyond it’s cheap price. Plus the game kept my progress from the demo which I played a long time ago, which is cool. I’m about one third in and I am quite enjoying each level. Some more than others, though.

Won and started Evan’s Remains. The puzzles are good (even if I often just wing it rather than fully thinking them through), but the reviews weren’t kidding about how plot heavy it is. I’ve played visual novels which move dialogue along at a brisker pace. That’s not inherently bad, but it can get on your nerves (even if the overall plot is good and has me invested in the characters). It also runs slightly slow on my poor potato due to some graphical touchups it uses.

Picked up again The Almost Gone and had to restart due to accidentally brute forcing a puzzle (I must have been very distracted the last time given how obvious the intended solution was - literally just placing an item on another), and then advanced to about halfway through the second chapter where I’m stuck. I’m probably still missing something obvious, as the puzzles are pretty logical.

Finished Space Pilgrim Episode II: Epsilon Indi. The puzzle on which I was stuck just required me to re-examine an old piece of the scenery to be able to access a particular set of information. That questionable piece of design aside, this was fun. Good (albeit somewhat snarky) dialogue with characters that are pretty well characterised even with the relatively short screentime they get, and the ending does have me hooked enough to buy the other episodes of this tetralogy on the next sale.

After semi-impulsively buying it as a thank you for answering my regional price request, finally started HAAK. It’s a bit breakable wall/secret passage heavy even for genre standards (partially compensated by the map), but at the same time it does make your exploration feel rather well rewarded. I have been rather inconsistent this month, but I will pick it up soon enough, as I haven’t even left the first major area yet.

I bought Mr. Pumpkin Adventure and other adventure games ultra cheap on a recent-ish Chinese games sale. If this game is indicative of the overall quality of the games in the bundle, it seem like I’ll have a pretty good time. I did the first three chapters yesterday, and while one of the moments that had me stuck was due to not clicking in a not particularly obvious interaction (not a pixel hunt, but you thought you were done with that particular thing), the rest of the puzzles were either adequate or straight up ingenious.

Did a bit of redundant exploration in Haiku, the Robot trying to get a few of the missing achievements. The big ones are still gonna take more time (finding all the chips), but I had fun. Also, just for the challenge, there’s both completing the boss rushes (I was rather rusty so even the basic boss one destroyed me in my first attempt after picking the game back up) and the one hit per life special mode, but those won’t be done soon. Too many games need to be played.

Advanced a bunch on Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP, though the final puzzle of this section stumped me. The game has a moon phase tied aspect, and while the game suggests you can cheat, I decided to wait it out to get here. I wonder if next time I boot up I’ll still be there due to how this area works or if I’ll need to wait for another new moon.

Started a long time ago win, Marvin’s Mittens. Very whimsical and the core mechanic of your double jump getting more powerful the more stars you find scattered across the map does slightly scratch a long dormand collect-a-thon itch. It’s not particularly challenging, but it doesn’t try to be. Or maybe that’s just the early game experience.

Did another run of Demented Pixie. It was nice, even if at first I forgot it you could aim with the mouse, amking things needlessly more complicated than what they needed to be for myself.

Did a few more Trip to Vinelands attempts. Didn’t go as well as an uncharacteristically good one last month, but arcade games do trigger a Pavlovian enjoyment of seeing numbers grow bigger. Same with THOTH, where the randomly generated levels kicked my ass some more.

Booted up Hollow Knight to go fight one of the Dream rematches (I’m slowly inching myself to fully completing it), but my build resulted in me accidentally killing an enemy I didn’t want to kill, so I quit to desktop and haven’t retried again.

Played a short amount of Dungeon Escape, the precision platformer with which I have a love/hate reltionship. Got slightly more consistent at the level on which I’m currently stuck, but grew bored and found something else to do.

Finally, I got a reminder in Subject A-119 that my computer is woefully underpowered for the average Unreal Engine game, Literally didn’t load the first level. Maybe if I turn everything to low I’ll be able to play, but I wasn’t particularly curious about it. Some other time, maybe?

October Log Report - Yes, I’m that belated

Major games of the month

Finally finished Nightmares from the Deep: The Cursed Heart and played the whole of Nightmares from the Deep 2: The Siren’s Call, because I forgot I’d won the former in SG and wanted to play the second one for a PAGYWOSG event and because I give way more story impact to HOGs than they deserve. They were pretty good, albeit the second one has some of those adventure screen hidden collectibles with some of them being only sometimes visible which make attempts at 100% completion somewhat frustraring.

Kept playing Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove, I think finishing off King Knight’s stages, playing a bit of the platform fighter’s “campaigns” (honestly rather meh, the fights are okay in chaotic way with decent stage hazards, but the mandatory bonus stage is a drag and the boss straight up plays unfair), and doing some general secret and challenge searches/attempts. My completion is super low in terms of achievements, but my backlog is too big to dwell on a bunch of campaigns where I only loved one of them (spoiler alert: I revisited a bit the next month).

Finally got around to playing Bleed after having quite enjoyed the second one a while agoe. It’s… hard to gauge. On one hand, the game really becomes quite a bit more engaging when you get to try it in higher difficulties where the bullet time power up is super necessary yet you know the basic ropes better, but maintaining a consistent style grading seems needlessly tough, only a handful of weapons feel useful, and most damningly, it’s really not as fun as the second one (it is harder if you’re looking for a greater challenge, but not out of particularly good level design). Arcade mode (one life in a game with no healing and tons of hazards) is only for masochists.

Played a few (a dozen? twentysomething?) runs of Caveblazers: it’s not really a Spelunky clone as I thought it was, even if it shares some very general traits. It’s more about combat and trying to get the best possible synergies. Barely advanced, partially because I kept trying to succeed in a combat trial even at times where my equipment wasn’t the best to try it. Most bosses seem to be extremely hard to tackle unscathed, so I am not optimisitic I’ll beat this one. It’s an okay roguelike if you don’t mind some cheap deaths every now and then and the RNG being heavily stacked against you.

Hollow Knight and The Binding of Isaac were staples yet again. No real progress in either: didn’t have any real goals in TBoI to snipe the last few runs (this is the original I’m talking about, that’s feasible) I haven’t done and in HK mostly did some sparring in the Hall of Gods.

Also played

Started Finding Teddy and got stomped in less than half and hour. But from the guide it seems what you’d think to be a music puzzle is actually a coded language one? Honestly that was a super letdown in how obtuse that was. I might come back, but my expectations are low.

But nothing beat in terms of disappointing adventure games Barrow Hill: Curse of the Ancient Circle. It’s very old school in how it presents a bunch of scenes as points of view in a grid-wise first person manner, which ends up feeling rather disorienting instead of just having one or two views per room. The UI was close to non-existent and I am not even sure what I was supposed to do with many dark seeming dead ends and zero flavour text to indicate whether anything you were doing was either futile or getting to something. With the right frame of mind it might end up proving a good atmospheric game, but the night I played it it put me off.

Continued a bit of Earthworms amd Bad Dream: Coma. The former is a bit too chill for its own good since I was having a good time but haven’t finished it since a bit of progress in my last session (a seemingly frustrated objective did let me a bit down, but it wasn’t something unbearable). BD:C barely advanced, but I am coming to ropes with what it is. Turned out I malinterpreted a “skip all dialogue” prompt for a mere “advance dialogue” one, which did make things needlessly complicated.

Started Hotline Miami. While my one session this month ended in a crash, it was a rather fun forty minutes. It’s a weird mix of strategy and twitch reflexes in dealing with all the mobs. Wish a few things were more consistent, but respawning is so fast it never feels like the game is cheap, or at least not punishingly so.

Munin: did a few more levels. It’s not bad, but it’s still not particularly engaging. Stages rarely feel like they need to be a single level rather than a collection of mini-puzzles you must do without dying.

But also…

Played Bone Appetit for a short while. It was fun finding a secret passage, but it was not a particularly serious attempt to finish the secrets, just a (very short) chunk of game to briefly distract me before I decided to go watch Netflix that night. As I said before, it’s super recommended, but it’s compact structure means secrets aren’t particularly structured into larger sections/quests as they are in other Metroidvanias.

In this month’s section of “not really played”, sadly we have Oxenfree. Thought my PC would handle it well, but it didn’t, resulting in a few minutes of struggling before I realized this would be a PowerPoint presentation and deciding to be wise and skip until my other PC gets fully repaired.

Super belated September report

I have been behind on these, but I like to keep them formatted like this for the sake of… IDK, “completeness”.

The big one this month was Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove. I had started the Shovel of Hope campaign a long time ago and lost interest very early. I begrudgingly finished that campaign (in short: it’s often too old school for its own good and it’s simply not particularly fun to play as Shovel Knight) but then was ultra delighted with Specter of Torment and finished off by playing the lesser but still strong King of Cards. While I must warn that the package isn’t really worth the high price (for $40 full price and $32 on sale you can get quite a lot more indie goodies; with getting the games individually being barely above those prices), it was still a quite fun experience.

Also finished Four Sided Fantasy (turns out I was super close to the ending) and played a bit of NG+, for which I am not sure what’s different, but it’s still super fun. Not all the solutions are elegant, with both solutions based on slightly underexplaine mechanics and others where the solution is a bit too obvious for its own good, but each mechanic (all variations on a theme) stays the right amount of time. It’s currently bundled so I highly recommend picking this one up.

Got back and finished SIMULACRA. A few of the late game tasks were slightly frustrating and missed a couple personal objectives with regards to how I wanted to play the choices out, but it was still a nice experience. It slightly overstays its welcome and some of the twists feel weaker than they could be as a result, but I may try a few other routes later (sadly the game doesn’t have manual saves so branch experiments may be slightly hard to do, unless NG+ features chapter resets).

I’d picked up Earthworms in an earlier sale, and it’s quite a fun point and click adventure. Most obtuse thing is one puzzle where the solution is to simply guess a (short) combination, so while it’s not the cleverest puzzle game, it never felt like my task was guessing the developers’ thoughts. Definitely shows itself as a budget title ($6 with reuglar 90% discounts) with how limited flavour text is and how specific a few of the combinations tend to be, but the atmosphere is amazing.

On the flipside of, Bad Dream: Coma. Had to restart because I accidentally skipped some important dialogue which made things very unclear, then started a second file to try to go for two separate playstyles in terms of morality. Said system means that while the endgoals have different routes, a whole lot of the inventory ends up being kinda useless. Doesn’t help that while in retrospect something is the good or bad version, quite a few of them are ambiguous when just clicking. Played a bit over an hour with all of these combined and while I may force myself to finish it, it’s not a priority by any means.

Advanced a bit more in Environmental Station Alpha, and it’s still a mostly frustrating experience. It’s not badly designed per se, but around every corner is something which doesn’t quite work. It’s super hyped in some Metroidvania circles but I am unsure if I’ll finish it. This ended in a semi-ragequit over none of the available paths I had at the moment being the clear way forward.

Tesla vs Lovecraft **, **The Binding of Isaac*, and to a lesser degree PUSS! (I haven’t beat the first set of levels so far, though this last time I wasn’t on my A-game) were just timekillers. My progress in Hollow Knight was almost non-existent (got to the end of the first Pantheon, but can’t consistently kill those bosses, advanced a bit more in the other two available ones, trained on a few scattered bosses in the Hall of Gods).

Started Skautfold: Shrouded in Sanity but there’s some glitches which keep me from even finishing the tutorial. There’s a fix suggested in the forums, but haven’t tried that yet.

Belated August rundown of games played

Main courses

Yet again the star of the month was Hollow Knight, as got my bearings and got the hidden endings and did a bunch of extra stuff. While I’m not particularly good at the game, this was fun, even if in the platform hell area I got partially carried by an item combination which grants infinite heals.

The next big one was Tesla vs Lovecraft, which racked up quite a notable amount of playtime in spite of (or perhaps because) it’s a very simple twin-stick arena shooter with some balancing issues to the upgrades. It’s fun and I’m glad I won it, but not sure if I’d have felt I got my money’s worth if I bought it full price.

Retook Environmental Station Alpha and it was a mixed bag. It’s a good game, but it’s greatly overhyped in the Metroidvania community, where some major flaws get overlooked. I think I dropped this one for the month just after the fifth or sixth boss. The fifth one wasn’t too hard (slightly annoying with three phases with some a few attacks that can easily hit you), but the other one not only was deceiving in how it was to be fought (it seems it can only be hit when it exposes a weak spot, but no) but the nearest save point is not obvious (with the previous one being separated from the room by a laborious path).

I had a weird experience with Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams. It’s an old game and seemingly more complex games run fine on my current main PC, but it suddenly decided to act badly on it, even levels which had previously run just fine. Had to install it on my laptop, but it ended up playing. Didn’t play all that much beyond the requirement for the group given the experience (and the fact that it’s not that good), but will come back to it sometime later.

Beat the rest of Starman, which wasn’t all that much (some of the chapters were unexpectedly short). As mentioned previously, it’s a very zen game, and while not all puzzles are winners, the experience it worth it. Glad a weirdly specific SteamDB search brought it to my attention. I guess the game had a bonus chapter after that which I might tackle later.

Side dishes

I don’t remember if purely out of Playing Appreciated requirements or self-imposed rules (more likely the former), played a some more of BLACKHOLE. While that awful chase sequence did give me about half an hour more of trouble (take note, the successful run is less than three minutes long, but it’s got just one checkpoint), the next set of levels was comparatively more interesting, though the unflattering combination of physics and resulting controls still isn’t exactly winning me over. There’s an interesting plot going on, but the gameplay itself (I guess I could throw my honour away and just rush the levels at minimum, but then I’d feel it mocking me).

Played a short chunk (about two chapters?) more of Lara Croft GO, and I could have sworn I’d have beaten it, but apparently there’s even more to it after what you assume is the game’s boss. The puzzles are good, even if they often get solved in slightly brute force ways, and some of the “hidden object” collectibles result in replaying segments.

I backed Crowsworn on Kickstarter, and though I’d have gotten a free key, I decided to buy Unworthy from its celebratory sale as it was at a nice discount. Played a bit of it (a chunk of the area after the first boss), and it was alright. After playing some Soulsvanias which lack a stamina gauge I did find myself more than a couple of times getting hit by mismanaged attacks/dodges, but the game is interesting. It’s just that some of the other ‘vanias kept me sidetracked.

Replayed the bulk of Rusty Lake Hotel, as it now features achievements. I kinda screwed up getting full stars. This one may get revisited a few other times in order to 100% the achievements, though sadly some of the puzzles can get somewhat busyworky.

Played less just shy of Deepest Sword, but I think I was either on the final or penultimate “level” of it. It’s a lil’ charming awkward controls, physics game where you use a sword which keeps getting larger. NGL, I think I ragequit the final time. It’s not Getting Over It in terms of progress getting undone by mistakes, just harder.

Minor progress

Oh Peregrin. As stated in a previous journal entry, it’s not perfect (some of the solutions are not obviously wrong so you spend a fair amount of time repeating minor actions trying to get a favourable alignment), but its plot is fairly good so it keeps you going. Sadly ended up in a combat sequence which seems particularly hard to script (combat in this game one of those weird semi-turn based things and involves pitting enemies against each other, so it can get complicated).

In theory I should have finished Thomas Was Alone a long time ago, and I’m in what I assume is the final chapter. But I get occasional random (?) lag in some levels, and this one (which involves moving all of the player characters into spots around the room) gave me more trouble than I expected. There’s a few tips online which I haven’t applied since usually a restart is enough, but I just might need them to finish.

“Also played”

My current main computer doesn’t handle Trüberbrook the best. It gets somewhat slowed down in regular segments, but stutters like crazy during cutscenes. Might at some point try in the laptop; it’s just that what little I played didn’t give me the best impression.

Glorkian Warrior: The Trials Of Glork was a couple of runs (no new unlockables) and tried opening Sherlock Holmes versus Jack the Ripper, had it not load my file as expected (or maybe I got impatient), and then I forgot to keep playing it. The latter shows its age but the two stock characters and some of the original ones are just well played enough to keep one semi-hooked.

Another belated report, this time for July.

So I got some games on the tale end of the sale, and I gotta report I for once have played a bunch of them, namely:

• Goblin and Coins: This caught my attention before knowing the developer was so dedicated, and I have to report it is a joyful little title. It’s not perfect, but it’s dirt cheap and it oozes charm. Really looking forward to seeing how the sequel turns out. Beat it.
• Destroy Space Aliens: A Gameboyesque game 2D shooter, apparently it gets somewhat Metroidvania-y later. It’s tough but I guess it’s fair even if it’s of the old school philosophy of facing you with lots of enemies, if you’re simply smart as to when you should engage them or not. Bosses were enjoyable even if a bit tanky. Just played four levels and I should go back to it.
• Spooky Ghosts Dot Com: Another rather short Metroidvania. It’s flawed in many ways (it does have some cool ideas, including the general concept of the bosses, even if they’re not the best implementations), but it coasts on “cutesy charm” appeal.
• Bone Appetit: Any lovers of mid-budget Metroidvanias (mid-budget by genre standards, it’s $8 and gets super discounted during sales) should pick this up. Lots of focus on exploring the relatively small but absolutely packed mapped with no “true” way forward (I guess there’s technically a critical path, just that you’re constantly going elsewhere for other items and powerups). Beat it, but there’s tons of secrets I couldn’t find or figure out, so there’ll be eventually a “round two”.
• The Inner Darkness: This was a relatively good if simple and short puzzle platformer. What left it as a bad taste in my mouth is how it was very story focused and the resolution of it was bad, so I feel retroactively it’s a bit of a meh game. Not terrible by any means, but less than the sum of its parts.
• Starman: Played the first couple areas of this on the last moments of GMT July, so this got lumped with August on the whole, where I’ve advanced a bit more. It’s a very chill puzzle game which plays around with physics, mini-games, and a bit of lateral thinking. Got interested in it when browsing for another game I saw on SteamDB, and I can’t complain. It’s pace makes it better for short bursts, though; they’re relaxing bursts nonetheless.

Month was once again topped in terms of gameplay hours by Hollow Knight, where I advanced a bit towards the true ending and did some endgame quests. I’m not the best at it so I am very unsure if I’ll 100% the achievements or even the ingame counter (neither of which even include some of the toughest challenges), but it’s fun seeing how far I can get.

Next up in major players of the month (which weren’t part of the sale), I had:

• Sherlock Holmes versus Jack the Ripper: It was a chill experience, just not one I’m terribly pressed to finish. It’s decently written and voice acted, and progress is generally logical (a few times I did need the interactable object highlighter), it’s just that it isn’t quite gripping enough to have had me pining for the conclusion (I am not even sure how long until I get there).
• Underhero: This runs rather poorly in my computer, but I am planning to finish it or at least try to do so because it’s a rather charming RPG with Mario RPG-ish combat (tons of active commands). It does show its low-budget roots at some points due to how empty the levels feel (okay, maybe the framerate is making it feel longer than it should), but I think the characters and general situations are good enough to make me push for the ending. I got until close to the first chapter boss (I think, the game does have some semi-convoluted scenarios).
• Wooden Sen’SeY: It’s fun but the levels are very long with many branches where you are unsure which is the path forward which are optional, and every now and then there are long stretches which need more checkpoints. It’s a middling game, but I do hope to complete it (unfortunately during my last sessions I kept getting softlocking at some points of the level I was on, which wasn’t hard but it did feature one of those long checkpointless stretches, to add insult to injury).
• BLACKHOLE: I got until the first “boss” level during the month and would have ragequit right then and there if it wasn’t a Playing Appreciated game. The levels are actually well thought out, but the physics are janky and the controls are inconsistent, thus not apt for the precision platformer it wants to be. It’s got ice with its corresponding physics as part of the very first world, for crying out loud.
• A Case of Distrust: Finally finished this one. It’s a real gem. While I wish it had more reactions than what it does (it does contain a fair bit of non-essential ones), it’s still a great “chat ‘em up” detective game. Good artwork, killer soundtrack, interesting characters.
• Devil Daggers: Finally tried this one due to the event. It’s fun, even if my best time was kind terrible. I’ll try again later, but I feel this is the kind of game you want to keep in check because it absolutely runs on “just on more try” (even if said tries are usually very short).
• Peregrin: Another slow puzzle game, not entirely sure if just due to my current computer or it it’s meant to be like that. It’s got some great atmosphere and even if I don’t play it as consistently as I should (I started it over a year ago, but had to pause due to my monitor back then being terrible for displaying low-contrast areas), I do think the plot is engrossing enough. Puzzles are so-so with tons of busywork and “find the right spot” between actual thinking, but there’s definitely enough to keep one interested. Completed roughly two chapter’s worth of content this time.

Now, the odds and ends:

• Egg Returns Home: Re-installed, almost ragequit, ended up advancing a few levels. It’s one of those intentionally awkward controls games, though there is a method to its madness.
• SIMULACRA: Started, played a bit, but it was late and I’ll be lying if I say I was super hooked. Expected something more in line with a higher budget Replica (not necessarily with the same themes), got text conversation simulator with spoopy backdrop and occasional bizarre mini-game. I’ll continue and see a couple of routes, but I am quite unsure if I’ll 100% it.
• Almost There: The Platformer: Completed a few more levels, beat old highscores of others. This game has zero plot and I am quite unsure if I’ll be able to keep up with the later levels, which get rather tough in terms of obstacles and pressure over “long” (tens of seconds) stretches. So it’s probably gonna get played in short disconnected play sessions over time.
• 10 Second Ninja X: Replayed a few old levels to get more stars, got semi-shamed of not actually finishing its plot, but not enough to actually re-pick it up.
• Reventure: Got a couple more of its endings. It’s still fun, but I think I did get past the major discovery/exploration phase. Might be rather wrong given the number of missing endings (other half of them still), but I’ll need to pick up some steam again to go at it properly.

Belated monthly report, go!!!

So, this month was almost entirely dominated by one game: Hollow Knight. The game absolutely earns its hype. It’s not perfect, but it’s incredibly charming. I had been stuck at tje Soul Master (rather early game, he’s the third named mandatory * boss turns out he’s technically skippable), but I got the first ending and am making my way to the true ending (the game has tons of optional content). There’s some real joy in getting lost, and even when your detours lead nowhere or to some very measly item, it always feels great.

Next in beaten games this month, I finished Detention (I put in about one hour at the tail end of May) and played the entirety of MINIT (a short game). Detention was nice, not exactly what I expected: the “survival” bits of the horror are actually just a few short sequences at the start of the game, unlike in The Coma where they’re a core part of the gameplay loop. I was slightly pissed the game didn’t give me the “check every checkable spot” achievement as I though I was rather thorough, but the core experience was rather good (albeit the plot and themes are slightly unwieldy). MINIT was a short and mostly tight experience. It did have me running in circles a few times; nothing gamebreaking. I’m semi-stuck trying to 100% it and am even unsure if I should just jump to NG+, given how short it is, but I did have fun.

Next category: odds and ends

I made it to before the point of no return of Gato Roboto and am slightly pissed that I didn’t actually get 100% on my own. Had to look up those final thingies, and though I will complete it, that did kill my impulse. It’s still a charming experience. Room design is rather limited which makes traversal not quite as fun as it could be, but it’s a fun mini-Metroidvania nonetheless.

Played a chapter and parts of two more of Munin and it’s erghhhh. Physics are kinda janky, with many failures feeling less a fault of my own and more of the game being clunky by design. The puzzle concepts aren’t bad, but the game does suffer from having various pickups in the same level be the objective and thus lead to a lot of busywork whenever you restart. It’s not even like you must route smartly to pick them up, at least to the point where I’m currently.

Played the opening of The Fall. Sadly my less than stellar setup did stutter a bit with this one. It’s still playable, but annoyingly the dialogue text shows up at snail’s pace. The overall game is quite good though: a bit of a mix of a Point and Click adventure with a Metroidvania interface.

Returned briefly to Deponia Doomsday. While my interest on the game overall has gone down after that terrible chapter in what I think is the middle point of the game, it’s gotten better. If I wasn’t still having Hollow Knight fever I might have completed it after the bits of progress I made.

Did a few more runs of Himno and am actually now more confused than when I played just a couple before. It’s a platforming rougelike. Not sure if the procedural generation is exactly fair in terms of where it puts the necessary elements and platforms, as I did at least once have an impossible setup. There’s also not that much variety. It’s chill, but not quite as relaxing as you might expect.

Speaking of rougelikes, had a couple of runs of The Binding of Isaac as Samson and it remains a fantastic chillax comfort game.

Those I really didn’t play

Opened Goodbye Deponia by accident. I guess I could go achievement hunting sometime, but the lack of a chapter select means that’ll take some time.

Remember what I said about my current PC being on the low end? Well, it turns out WarriOrb: Prologue is one of those games that it can’t handle, at all. I’m used to low framerates, but this is the first time they make a game unplayable as opposed to just a bit more difficult for a sidescroller. It is 2.5D so I should have expected it.

Belated May commentary

So, due to a mix of factors, this was not a “productive” month. Had to travel two weekends, so that absolutely influenced things. Also, I blame partially Deponia Doomsday, but more on that later.

• Goodbye Deponia: Finished it. I didn’t hate its ending like other people did. Talked last month against some of its flaws, but overall it’s a strong game. There’s a sequence near the endgame wish could have used slightly better signposting as to what was the intended sequence of things, but overall it flowed well.
• Deponia Doomsday: Haven’t finished it yet, but it’s underwhelming to say the least. Like, there’s a good puzzles and some of the chapters flow really well, but there’s also a whole lot of “but you must do it this way” involved, and other chapters are absolute messes in terms of how much they throw at you and how much pointless downtime you’ll likely spend trying to find the right bit to keep progressing. Oh, and lots of the achievements this time around are just plain dumb, requiring either unlikely or illogical sequences (two of them require you to repeat failstates repeatedly).
• Gato Roboto: I love this so far. Some boss encounters could use slightly better balancing and it’s a bit linear/railroaded by modern Metroidvania standards, but damn if it isn’t cute as hell and fairly charming in its humour. If you picked it up for free a while back, play it, you won’t regret it.
• Dustforce: Sucks that the only achievement is for 100% completion and that getting from level to level can be a bit repetitive, but… damn if it doesn’t feel great when you nail the levels. Shame the enemies basically kill your style score if you aren’t perfect at handling them (and you need those high ratings to keep unlocking levels), but when you get in tune with a level it’s super satisfying parkour. If you enjoy spectacle fighters, consider picking this up.
• Detention Played the start of this at the tail end of the month, so I guess that’s why it doesn’t show up. Seems fairly alright so far, a Coma Sisters-lte experience with a somewhat heavier setting.

Finally retook Hollow Knight. I kinda suck at it (I was briefly stuck on a mini-boss, several platforming segments kicked my ass, and when I left I was struggling onthe third named boss of the main campaign), either due to lack of skill or some framerate issues on the computer in which I play. But it was still an awesome experience I will retake soon enough. On top of the absolutely charming presentation (you really love the world), the game absolutely nails the explorative aspect… getting “lost” and going in sidepaths happens very often, but it always feels rewarding even if you only end up at another dead end.

I won Goodbye Deponia on Playing Appreciated, so I dcided to play the previous two games first. The first one (Deponia) is a bit of a mess, with me getting softlocked about two hours in (well, less once you know what to do), and then due to time limit had to jump to the third game, which is much better in general at guiding you at what to do (usually). There’s a somewhat problematic representation of a trans woman through the series (like, they correctly gender her and even confirmation of her transness later is handled well, but in the first game it felt like she was there because “big burly man wearing lipstick and a dress is funny, hehe”) and a really uncomfortable sequence in this third game which again isn’t technically racist but has some bad undertones.

So what else did I play:
-Ageless: I had read the reviews, but guessed it couldn’t be that bad… unfortunately it is. The ideas are clever, but the mechanics are finnicky resulting in a precision platformer that’s not only janky to control but also basically requires you to guess when to use time stops (with damningly slow resets). Oh, and the checkpoints are somewhat far apart for the genre, so you end up doing a lot of busywork.
-Eventide 2: The Sorcerers Mirror: For some reason I’d begun this game and left if halfway through. It’s a decent HOG, with a very superficial morality choice system. It had one glitch near the end which robbed me of the “no minigame skipped” achievement, but still had fun playing it.
-Dustforce: I have no idea why playtime for this one didn’t show up. Played a few levels, and while the rating system is slightly punishing at how enemies (many of which you are unlikely to see the first time through each level), it still is a good example of how to do a “spectacle platformer”.
-Grimm’s Hollow: A short free RPG I sidelined but will continue sometime. Really charming presentation. Battle system is simple but it works with fair variety, and though the set-up for abilities leads me to wonder whether I overground at the start or if the game is just meant to be easy. The story has me hooked, even if it’s not too complicated.
-Elegy for a Dead World: More of a creative toy than a game proper, but it’s an interesting idea. Sadly the servers are down and the game gets stuck when you try to access online content, but I enjoyed my time writing and hope someday the servers come back.

These two I barely touched, but for the sake of completion I’ll add them here in my monthly report:
-LIMBO: Noticed I had only done so much progress in this version (I’d gotten the DRM version a long time ago and then noticed a few years later the Steam key did work), so played a few levels. The game is rough around the edges with a few puzzles relying more on trial and error than pure skill due to timing, but I guess that adds to the atmosphere.
-Reflection of Mine: I’d forgotten diffculty ramped up so much for this game. The framing story is kinda edgy (good ol’ “this is the inside of the mind of a teenager in an asylum”), but the gameplay will probably please you if you enjoy really hard puzzles.

I couldn’t actually get Little Miss Lonely to play, and it actually caused problems with my computer (it eventually launched, but ignored my commands other than menu features), which is how that time is there.

This was a semi-busy but overall productive month. Again, got more downtime than expected, but also got plenty done.

So, the big games:

• Path of Giants Beat the campaign, but I’ll go back for the extra challenges. It’s a bit mechanically limited to the point that I only ever played in short bursts, but it really is charming on the whole. If you’re into simple character-centric puzzle games, you’ll have a great time.
• Glorkian Warrior: The Trials Of Glork Got the highest cumulative points bonus. It’s fine, not the best balance which means if you get bad RNG the next few rounds will be painful, but the dialogue is mildly funny and the cast is charming.
• Reventure This is amazing. Sure, some of the actions needed for some endings get a bit repetitive, but it has a great combination of funny scenarios with some minor Metroidvania-like progression in terms of finding new paths by either earning permanent shortcuts or figuring out mechanics.
• The Coma 2: Vicious Sisters I got “stuck” at a point with some QTE. I’ll get back to it and give it another go or alternatively try a run where I “fall” for traps which could have been prevented. But back to talking to the game, it was a legitimately engaging experience. Great atmosphere, and while a few enemy encounters were BS (eg. when the stalker is up a flight of stairs), it generally managed to be creepy even when I was “safe”.
• Trine Got to the third area. Damn, this is janky, partially in terms of design, partially in terms of what I assume are bugs (such as the knight character straight up not hitting anything with his sword). Will force myself to finish it since I have the sequel waiting, but this is some good ideas with less than shining execution.

Smaller ones:

• Little Hidden City It was okay. No replayability and could have used with some in-game clues, but I won’t complain.
• Ablepsia Just bad. Obstacles either provide no challenge or only serve o test your patience. Okay-ish pixel art and music, so I hope the artist for both (TeaWithTears) does some more work for better games.
• Pink Gum It was more of an oh so slightly interactive art short film than a game proper, but it was quite enjoyable. If you’re into that, try it, and if you seriously disliked it and need $4 back, you will be within refund time. (I got it for free from the developer, but don’t think I’d have refunded.)
• Savant - Ascent Fun campaign, albeit most of the challenge is gone once you have full upgrades. Boss took me waaaay to long to figure out, but it was still fun. Difficulty curve for the arcadey post-game is straight up a cliff, though.
• UBERMOSH:SANTICIDE It’s the same old UBERMOSH we all know, this time having you be even more overpowered. Just played a few rounds, and will at some point get back to 100% it.

Others I wasn’t even planning to talk about, but might as well, lest I forget later:

• Robot Heroes Pretty interesting concept, but I feel the gamespeed is in an awkward middle spot between a reflex challenge and the strategic/puzzlery challenge it hopes to be.
• Minoria Kinda disappointing. Low speed, and I am unsure if it’s just my computer or if the game is really that clunky. Even if that wasn’t an issue, level design is uninspired and combat isn’t too fun. Gonna press on, but there’s better Soulsvanias, that’s for sure.
• Vive le Roi Forced myself to beat a few more levels than last time I had picked it up and I stand by the fact this is just frustrating. There are good concepts here, but the implementation is a hot mess that’s less than the sum of its parts.
• Em-A-Zurvival I decided to give this a second chance, and I’m glad I did. Main character’s writing might be cringey, but the overall game is strangely enticing for a game which for the most part plays zombie tropes extremely straight.

This month started out soooo well, but then I got derailed. Anyways, I did play a nice variety of games, and the one which took me the most time was Blasphemous, where I beat the content from the first free expansion, a bit of the second (I’ll get to those later, as unfortunately that’ll involve me revisitng the entire map again searching for the added pieces of content), and most of NG+ (the next to last boss was a pain in the regular playthrough, and so she’ll take a bit of extra gitting good to beat).

Hollow Knight still hasn’t been retaken, but I think that’ll be soon. I’m also getting close to “finishing” what currently exists of the Cube Escape Saga, being currently halfway through The Cave (that one is longer than expected) and I should be tackling the third premium game after that.

I hope next month I do take a healthy mixture of games rescued from the backlog void and completing sutff I’ve started (which as you can see by my stats, is not exactly my specialty).