couldn’t resist dipping into dq7re and getting to emberdale
feel like the rendering ultimately nerfs the character design in a way dq11 didn’t suffer at all but not enough to put me off picking this back up and working through it later this year when i’ve little else to do
Spent all day Monday on an “actually play the games on my Steam wishlist” binge
BABBDI
A very French exploration game. Find a train ticket out of the forsaken brutalist city of BABBDI, population a few dozen weirdos who have lost all hope, so they while away their remaining days lying flat or dancing to Eurobeat.
Something about the visual aesthetic and the minimalist storytelling here really hits the spot for me. You can play it as a meditative walking simulator, a parkour speedrunning game or a secret-hunting collectathon, it is really up to your whim since nothing matters anymore anyway.
FlyKnight
This solo-dev Soulslike tries comically hard to deliver the full experience. There’s a character design screen where you can change your bug’s head and the color of his eyes, like a dozen different weapon movesets, co-op multiplayer (I didn’t try it but it sounds fun), charming NPCs with backstories, and carefully handcrafted levels full of traps, ambushes and shortcuts. It even adds fishing for good measure. It’s good.
FlyKnight compromises the formula mostly on length: it has 3 bosses total and winds up being only 2-4 hours long — at least for an experienced Souls player, i.e. 99% of the people playing this game in practice. There are many indications that the game was originally intended to be longer, like the specialized damage types that don’t really have matching enemies, but the solo creator probably-wisely opted not to spend an extra decade before shipping anything. Also, the current amount of content could’ve artificially eaten 3x more hours if the enemies were punishingly fast/lethal/tanky, but the game goes for a Demon’s-Souls-tier difficulty instead, and I respect that.
Northern Journey
Another solo dev 3d game like the two above, but this is one that didn’t end up hit the spot for me, personally. It’s a pretty-looking setting in the Norwegian fjords, but not interesting to traverse and everything looks like same (except for the stuff that clashes with the aesthetic). The opening animation with the protagonist’s canoe getting sunk was so janky and unfinished there was no sense of drama, and it didn’t amount to so-bad-its-good comedy either. I moved on 10 minutes in.
Tearscape
Several reviews called this “Bloodborne meets Zelda” and yeah that’s extremely precisely what this game is. It has Zelda-style lock-and-key dungeons and hidden staircases, a stamina meter, and long, demanding bosses. The protagonist is described as a “hunter” and he has the hat and everything.
Tearscape has solid level and enemy design, so I can actually comfortably recommend it for anybody who enjoys both Zelda and Bloodborne so much you will never not appreciate a competently-executed derivative (I’m not judging — I am that kind of guy when it comes to Metroidvanias). But yeah personally, I’ve had my lifetime fill of both Zelda dungeons and multi-phase bosses by now.
Baby Steps
After binging all those other games it was 11pm, and I should’ve really quit gamer-ing and started getting ready for bed. But I was on a roll so I figured I’d try Baby Steps real quick. My gut feeling was I’d probably hate this and quit after 10 minutes anyway. I wound up playing until 3:30am.
The minimalist visuals and slapstick comedy are impeccable, and this game is low-key a dopamine-generating monster that had me going “OK just one more step”. It has a core game loop cycling every single step you take, and a strategic loop of taking note of landmarks and planning how to route your way to one, at which point you see more landmarks. The 5 seconds to 5 minutes that get burned each time you pratfall gives every decision a feeling of stakes, and the punishments are in an intriguing superposition of “totally fair” and “totally unfair” that largely depends on perspective. But they can also feel like they’re padding the game’s length, and I can tell one of them will make me explode in frustration sooner or later.
Baby Steps is sort of very fresh and sort of “every aspect of this feels like other games I’ve played before”. One of those games that makes me feel conflicted about whether to continue playing it or not.
Oh you are missing out. Northern journey is sadly at its worst right at the start because it has the common solo dev flaw that the first areas you see were made first.
I never tire of reminding people that Bennett used to be a bioethicist studying addiction because his games could not be so perverse otherwise
I definitely get the feeling that if I indeed don’t go back to Baby Steps and instead devote my limited time on this Earth to unambiguously fulfilling or productive worldly activities, the devs would 100% support me in my decision.
“You have already learned the lessons of my game,” the Zen master nods.
“But then why did you make it so long!?” the student cries.
“Why don’t you keep playing it and find out for yourself?” the Zen master says.
I caught the Mantine and named her Monte-RAY
back on crystar this action is terrible. definitely comparable to oneechanbara as an action game tho lacking the stylistic flair of blood covered bikini samurai chopping zombies into pieces. still, it is some kinda madoka-like bullshit so i’m all in. suicide. sibling murder. ghosts eating unborn children. girls probably being tricked into warrior roles that will destroy them. there was some point about crying making their magic powers stronger, thats why they are the crystars
reached the point where the protagonist is having the chris redfield re6 fit of angst where she just keep being mean to everyone. can’t even pet the dog cause she’s too mad. this is so gonna bite her in exactly two more stages time, lets see how
Playing the PS2 game Sopranos: Road to Respect rn
Spent the last hour imagining that I’m playing the Taxi Driver sequel for PS2 that was cancelled.
Think often about getting attacked by lawyers for pissing and beating up rastafarians with a pineapple for giving AJ Soprano a brain bleed.
Playing Eastshade after having on my wishlist for…fuck…I guess seven years now?
It sounds weird to say “What if a bunch of good ES: Oblivion quests didn’t require you to fight anything was an entire game” is good but it is. Everything is a little jank, the scale is small but interesting, and it’s writing swerves just enough on me to keep me hooked to see where it’s cute little stories go. I suspect this is the kind of thing that will drive some people insane in a bad way, but it’s like cat nip for me.
Despite being a game completely populated with anthro characters however, they all just…kinda look weird. It works really well for the vibe and unreality mixed with realism thing it’s doing but it’s not as furry bait as one would expect.
I did like the lesbian bear quest though, that was good.
Curious to see where it’ll go, because I’ve been pleasantly surprised how not handholdy it gets after the first…two quests presented or so. I’m not even sure what I need to do to advance the game right now, tbh. Just doing a metric fuckton of quests until the next step presents itself.
Good game if you’re the kind of weirdo I am.
big fan of eastshade
started pc death stranding 2
good lord this has some fuckin graphics
hey let me know when you get to Crymachina so we can book club it
once there’s a big sale maybe
can’t believe NISA missed putting this game on sale today and thus endangering you and I guess also me
Halo: Combat Evolved (Xbox)
well, it’s over. not the high note i was hoping to finish on, to say the least
fuck the Warthog Run
There’s a laptop taxxing demo out there called E1M1 Pool Rooms. It has absolute graphics. I couldn’t believe this water, the tile work, the way light worked. It was like I was in a weird bathhouse. The analog video light bloom was so cool to watch.
Edit: sorry I can’t get copy/paste to work on ios right now. Its on itch!
I booted up Shovel Knight on my switch and it still holds up for me. 100% one of my all time favorites still. I beat it on 3DS back in the day, but I got it for Switch cause I didn’t have a physical version of it and I wanted to have the Amiibo functionality on whatever copy I got. I’m breaking all the checkpoints in the levels and having fun with that. I used to break just a few of them, but my skill level for these sorts of games is much higher these days so I’m tearing through these levels.
Friend in the moped club is going to school for game design and released their first game in the program and - you guessed it - you ride a Honda Hobbit up a mountain. This very bike was stored in my garage for a few months. It’s a very chill and relaxing kind of experience.
