Dear Esther - Walking simulator that just didn't have an interesting story to me. No challenge (no puzzles or anything), very short, and story didn't draw me in at all. I enjoyed Gone Home, just thought this was pointless, quick, and no pay-off. Actually kind of glad it was quick. Might be the least enjoyable 'game' I've played in a long time. 3/10.

The Banner Saga - Hadn't played an RPG for awhile, so wanted to try out one on the shorter side. Combat wasn't too fun and didn't understand it even at the end of the 10-15 hours I played. How did I have a character who could inflict 1 point of damage one turn, and the next turn against the same enemy now inflict 7. What changed? Story was good, but the names made it difficult to follow. Didn't really seem in control of my choices even when a character of mine died. Never got to that fun part of an RPG where you can completely dominate enemies. 6/10

Dear Esther is one of the OG walking simulators. If you didn't play it around the time of release, there's no reason to play it now.

Finally finished Subnautica last night. Originally bought it for my son a couple years ago, but then got it for myself when it was free on Epic. Played it last year, moved onto other things, then came back to it recently.

One of the best games I've ever played.

The world design is smart and gorgeous. I know it was meant to be a more relaxing exploration/crafting game (which isn't really my bag), but the psychological unease it puts you in is delightful. It's a terrifying game. There are so many, "Nope, nope, I'm not moving forward another inch" moments.


The feeling of loneliness, of helplessness, the fear of the unknown...it's odd that a game can get to me like that. It's just a game, after all.


The first time I encountered the , my son (11-years old) was watching over my shoulder. We had no idea it was going to be there - I had just discovered the lava zone and was totally lost. We both freaked out and then couldn't stop talking about it for a couple days.

Both my kids watched me beat the game last night. The way the story is written and comes to a conclusion is really satisfying, partly because you have to discover a lot of it on your own. It's semi-linear at first, but eventually, clues stop and you have to figure out what to do next. As you explore, more of the story reveals itself.

I'll be buying Subnautica: Sub Zero tonight.

Is Subnautica a roguelike where you die and start over?

If so, is it as difficult as Don't Starve in terms of dying frequently?

If you die, you respawn at the last "base" you were at (your starting escape pod, a base you build, or a vehicle) and lose some of the items you were holding at the time. It's pretty forgiving. As long as you don't stupidly drown from going too deep with low oxygen, you won't die nearly as often as in Don't Starve.

You can't make multiple save slots. Every time you save the game, it overwrites your current game. My strategy was to only save when I knew I was totally safe and if I wasn't at my base, I knew I could easily get back there. In the game I just finished, I only died once or twice, but that was because I knew I had a good save game I could reload. I also played like a total wimp, so it wasn't until I got really comfortable with the environment that I would take chances.

Sekiro - This was a lot of fun. From Software absolutely nails this sort of third-person combat. They're masters at designing simple mechanics that have a lot of depth, which make their games accessible despite being very challenging. Combining defence with offence through the parry system was a stroke of genius. I'm playing Jedi: Fallen Order now and it's clear that Respawn don't quite grasp what makes Souls-like combat work. Sekiro is excellent at giving the player feedback, both visual and aural, that ensures you know what your character is doing and what's happening in the fight. Fallen Order doesn't have the same sense of tangibility or impact.

Sekiro is damn hard though. Several boss fights are on an Ornstein and Smough level of difficulty. The pace is faster than in DS games though, which makes trying again and again and again less painful. The game would be unbearably difficult without video strategy guides though. I'd probably have given up if Youtube didn't exist.

The Secret of Monkey Island (Special Edition, PS3) - Considered one of the best (and evolutionary in some respects) adventure games ever, but I take issue with the godlike status it has. I played this several times in the '90s, but not since then IIRC. There was a fair amount I remembered.

It's a classic LucasArts "point and click", and is indeed the best example of what people mean when they use that term.

It's not too long which is good, I think it took me around 7 hours. This could be significantly longer if you have no memory/knowledge of the "puzzles" and don't use hints. Special Edition has some hint stuff built in I think, plus the ability to change between classic and 2009 remake graphics instantly. IMO the remake graphics look bad (like a no-budget cartoon) and you're better off with the pixel art; I stayed mostly in classic mode, but switched a lot to see the difference.

The atmosphere of the MI games never resonated with me much. That theme music is cheesy, and just something about the overall visual aesthetic doesn't do it for me. This opinion carries over into several other LucasArts games, and it's one of the main reasons I prefer Sierra overall.

The "humor" is also horrendous, not my cup of tea at all.

The game is tightly designed (in a good way) for the most part, but again it has never come together for me in the same way it does for many.

I started MI2 and the visuals are already much better/world more interesting (perhaps more time/money/tech spent on them), and the size and structure are closer to what I prefer from a classic adventure game. I'd also played this before, but not in around 18 years and I think only finished it once.

Loom - Another LucasArts "classic", does experimental things with an interface where the only inventory item is a musical instrument that you play tunes on (like in Zelda: Ocarina of Time) to do magic.

It's not great, just a middle tier adventure game from that era. It took me 3h40m according to GOG.

I played the upgraded graphical version of this (still from 1990-91) as opposed to the original lower color EGA one without voices, because that's all there is for purchase now (of course you could find EGA if you wanted to). The creator has said though that the EGA version is really the "official" one, that the art upgrades weren't good, similar to how I feel about Monkey Island remakes.

So while I wasn't impressed with the game (which I'd also played before in the mid-90s), there is the grain of salt about the EGA vs. VGA.

This avoided my radar somehow, perhaps because of what you said about it being ostensibly a "crafting" game.

I completely agree with your assessment about Monkey Island fwiw.

Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight

After playing through Hollow Knight last year and it quickly becoming one of my favourite games of all time, I decided to go a bit deeper into metroidvania genre - I somehow completely missed this type of games until recently (Dark Souls being sometimes refered to as "3d metroidvania" was honestly the first time I heard the term). With recent steam sale, I bought a couple of indie representatives of the genre, and Momodora was the first one I finished.

The first thing you notice when starting the new game is graphics and controls. Pixel art here is absolutely beautiful - I'm not really an expert on rating this style of graphics, but it has just the right amount of detail and the world really looks wonderful. Controls are also very good, though a bit different than Hollow Knight (which is my point of reference) - significantly less precise, but have a bit more weight to them. Attacking feels really good, not sure if it's the sound effects or the graphics, but there is just something immensly satisfying about the combat.

That being said, for me the main selling point of the game is its atmosphere. The creator really nailed the melancholic feeling of a dying world, cryptic NPC dialogs and diverse, yet coherent design of subsequent levels. I was really surprised to find out that Momodora was released before Hollow Knight - I assumed it was heavily inspired by it in that regard, but it turns out that the heavy inspiration went the other way around.

There are to elements that I had a bit of mixed feelings. First of all, bosses. Their design is... ok, if a bit uninspired at times, but the core idea of teaching you attack patterns that you then have to dodge and exploit is there. However, almost all of them are really easy, most fights took me only 2 tries (and Im far from being good at that type of games). Maybe I'll try harded difficulty for more satysfying experience on that front - I played on normal, but it feels like giving bosses just a bit more damage output would make fighting them more interesting.

Secondly, the game is short, it only took me 4,5hrs to finish. Personally I don't feel like it is an inherent flaw and it felt just long enough (could have even been a bit shorter), but it might be an issue for some, so just a warning. That being said, the replay value is definitely there, I will surely attempt a 100% run on a hard difficulty in the future.

As my last point, I would like to shortly talk about 2 flaws that I found. First of all, the game isn't very... metroidvania-y, meaning that there is only 1 exploration ability (well, 1 and a half I'd say) and very little required backtracking. Accessing new areas is usually done with keys/collectables rather than movement abilities, which just isn't as much fun. Finally, the last area feels like a bit of a slog - there isn't really anything new or exciting there, and I just found myself rushing to get to the final boss. The game could have been easily those 30 mins shorter and it would be better imo.

So, my final verdict is a very strong 8/10, this game is a must-play for any fan of metroidvanias, and a very good entry point for newcomers. In fact, it might even be a better entry point than Hollow Knight, which is very hard and a massive time investment.

Next up on my list is Guacameele!, but I can already tell you that I like it significantly less than Momodora.

Have you played Bloodstained yet?

not yet, but definitely planning to, heard a lot of good about this game. It is very steeply priced for what it is, though, so I'm waiting for a decent promo to get it

Pretty sure it's still free on xbox game pass. If you havent tried that yet they have a $1 first month offer

Man, I was just looking at that game. Actually looked at it a few times. I'll get it at some point. I don't like to have more than 2 unfinished games going at once though.

Right now I'm on Ghosts of Tsushima and I am Setsuna

Finally managed to complete Ori and the Blind Forest on One Life mode. Ended up dying in the Mount Horu zone a couple of times before finally making it. It's an excellent game that is well worth playing even if you aren't usually into platformers.

Not sure if I want to attempt Will of the Wisps without dying...

I tried playing through this again recently but the inventory management system drove me nuts on my second play through. I got to the point where I had build the Cyclops and was about to head deep. After spending 15 minutes transporting materials between the base and the cyclops I quit out and uninstalled.

Ori 1 is a spectacular game

Ghost of Tsushima

I had no intention of getting this game until a few days before release when a friend told me it was open world. Mostly because I’m not really interested in melee based combat. Turns out you don’t have to do that at all aside from the duels, of which there are a ton of, but the melee combat is done interestingly enough that I didn’t mind it.

The game is stunningly beautiful!! All of the set pieces and biomes, especially the dueling areas, are just gorgeous!! The gameplay is quite nice as well. Very smooth and fluid. I have no issues with any of the technical aspects. And if you stick to the story, I’m sure nothing gets old.

Unfortunately, I don’t do open world games like that. I basically do whatever it takes to not play story missions until I have to, and in some games, that’s okay. This is not one of those games, however. The repetition in all the side stuff gets boring fast and you quickly start to notice weak spots in the games overall aesthetic in regards to cutscenes and such. It’s the same thing over and over and over again and I was glad to be finished when I finally saw the credits roll.

The story is pretty good and infinitely darker then I expected. I knew it would take some turns but it really “went there” in a lot of areas I wasn’t expecting. Not a lot good character development, but it is open world so you can only do so much there. There is a lot repeating dialogue and ideas but it’s fine. It’s going to be hard to be fully engaged in a single-player story for awhile after playing The Last of Us Part 2. That game ruined all of story games for me, not unlike Breaking Bad did for TV.

Overall, I’d say it’s a strong 7.5. Certainty worth getting.

Thoughts on Crosscode after completing the main story at around 50 hours, and now 54 hours in attempting to 100%

This is a fantastic game in a lot of ways. Let’s start with price. This game is 20 dollars or free with Xbox game pass for both PC and Xbox. For what I am getting out of this (will be close to 70 hours when I finish 100%) it is an absolute steal.

The core gameplay mechanic of beat em up, twin stick shooter, bullet hell hybrid with puzzling and giant bosses never stops being fun. The main dungeons are MASSIVE, some taking upwards of 3 hours + to complete. The main storyline is riddled with sidequests to help keep you leveled heading into the next section, and most of them are quite fun, from standard fetch quests, to massive puzzles, all the way to a tower defense sidequest.

This game is HARD. Sometimes unreasonably so. The puzzles are not easy at all, and some seem almost stupidly devilish once you have the four main element types. One great feature the developers included are difficulty sliders, both for damage taken, and enemy attack frequency. I played the entire game with both at 100%, but after over 3 hours on the final boss, I finally said **** it and dropped both by 10% because jfc, the final boss is stupid hard. I believe he has 12 phases. Part of that was my fault as I was not properly prepared consumableswise (I almost never use consumables in RPGs but they are essential to use correctly in this game) and once you start the final boss fight there is no way to exit out and go get more consumables that I found.

The writing and characters are great. Witty, funny, heartfelt and interesting for the most part. The story gets a bit up it’s own ass in the last chapter, but prior to that, it is a lot of fun learning where the story is going.

The music is outstanding. To the point that I am playing my favorite tracks while driving now. The main character’s theme is fantastic, the desert area theme is inspired, and the beginners stage theme oozes fun. I would love to see this guy compose for other games because he nailed it for this one.

Final thought: The game started production in 2012. Released for PC in 2018 and hit consoles three weeks ago. Buy it, play it, love it. The team seemed to work damned hard on it, and they deserve more attention.
I haven’t 100%ed a game in decades. I’m certainly looking forward to this being my first in a long time.

10/10

Manifold Garden

One of two switch titles that I've completed, the other Mario Odyssey. I suppose it's not a coincidence they are both top tier visual delights.

I'm not really a math expert. But it is amusing hearing people talk about infinity, or incorrectly labeling the experience as "non-euclidean" as it's such a specific term. The game has a constant harmony between bounded and unbounded space - the latter seeming to repeat itself forever. It's pretty cool to tell a story only with changing shapes. Although nauseating and fervently mind bending, the story is of emotions and structural beauty. It's hard to imagine the lead artist wasn't thinking about things like God and what it means to exist. It's going to be profound for most people who play it and are able to understand the game play. If driving through traffic circles gives you major pains then this game isn't for you.

I finished Half Life: Alyx today. Even though it's a VR game it is also definitely true to it's Half Life heritage. The level/world design is amazing. I'm in awe how the Valve artists are able to create such a believable world.

My biggest negatives are probably that the levels are super linear. You are never left for very long wondering what you need to do next. Also, there are no vehicles to drive in the game. It's all run and shoot.

My biggest positive is that the "fun-factor" for this game is sky-high. The battles are immersive and fun. Gotta love when you enter an area and the Half Life music starts playing. Good luck! It's easily my favorite VR game (Skyrim #2). The controls and game mechanics are very well thought-out.

Plus, even though it's a prequel, it sets up for a Half Life 3 sequel! Please please please.

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night - I thought it would be better

ok, so there was -50% promo on Bloodstained recently and I decided to finally get it. As the title above suggests, I was rather disappointed - it's a decent game, but with all the hype I really thought I would like it much more.

Before I start, 2 disclaimers:

- I never played any of Castelvania games, so all the nostalgia does not apply to me, which is why my view might differ from others
- I only got the first ending, on which I stumbled upon very early (below 50% map completion). I realise that some late game content might change my mind on certain things, but I'm just not looking forward to playing the game anymore at the moment, and wanted to reply to some above posters asking me about it. Will probably do the rest of the game eventually

Similiarly to Momodora, I'm gonna start with controls, to highlight one of my biggest issues right away. They just... don't feel very good in Bloodstained. Movement is awkward and somewhat clunky and combined with lack of normal dash makes precise control of the character extremely hard. I praised Momodora for how great it feels to hit enemies - the opposite can be said here. I have no idea if it's the matter of sound design, feedback on hit or something else, but there is just no weight on your hits. You just stand in front of an enemy, push the button, animation plays and a number shows some health deducted from their hp. I'm not sure why exactly is that, but Bloodstained just does not feel good to play.

My second (similarly vague) issue are boss fights. For some reason, they just don't feel right. Not sure if they are lacking in spectacle or emotional investment, but I just did not get that grandiose feeling of facing something powerful that should normally accompany those encounters. Combat system does not help, clunky controls combined with low dmg output/input design philosophy (which I very strongly dislike) led to most boss fights being just me standing in front of the boss and mashing magic and meele buttons, sometimes trying to dodge something and failing. Maybe higher difficulty (I played on normal) would force me to learn patterns like in other metroidvanias, but I just wasn't motivated due to issues shown above. One fight that actually made me do that was Bloodless and I consider it the best one in the game (of those I encountered), and it's not even close.

Few words on the rpg elements - before founding soulslikes and metroidvanias, I used to literally only play rpg games, so I like seeing those mechanics as deep as possible. Here, they feel a bit unfinished. A good example are stats - what's the point of giving your hero 4 stats governing their capabilities, if you can't influence them in any way, except for minor adjustments through items? Stats should be a base for builds, and that's just not the case here. The way it works, they are just some numbers you watch growing without doing anything with them. On the other hand, weapons feel kinda same-y (at least within one class) and are mostly differentiated by accompanied numbers, giving it more rpg than action-adventure touch. There are a ton of shards that could give your character some actual customization, but they again feel a bit uninspired, you mostly hit with something, shoot something or summon something. So, yeah, in this case I actually wish they went more action route and created less weapons and shards, but made them more distinct. Though maybe everything feels so similar due to controls, not game design.

This is getting really long, so I'll sum up plot, setting and graphics in just a few words: not my thing. I don't feel like they are inherently bad, but I just don't enjoy this aesthetic at all.

Finally, something that Bloodstained definitely gets right: exploration. Level and world design is fantastic, connectivity and access abilities are great, and there are tons and tons of secrets. This element of gameplay alone was the only reason I actually finished the game and for me it actually elevates the experience to quite enjoyable. Considering that the creator of the game also co-created the entire genre, it is not surprising that the core element is done so right, but I am still very impressed.

Given all above, I'm gonna give the game 5/10, though I admit that if my expectations were not so high it would probably closer to 6 or even 7, purely because of how good exploration is. This is a very subjective opinion and I realise that I'm in a small minority of people disliking this game, but it just does not seem to be for me.

next up in metroidvania mini-series of reviews is probably Valdis Story (I gave up on Guacameele as I really disliked it), I am roughly half way through the game and I can already tell that I like it much more that Bloodstained

The Secret of Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge (PS3 version) - I wrote about the first one a few posts back; I think that's a fine game that's never done much for me personally. This one on the other hand is an absolute masterpiece.

- The graphics are much better, I guess it's handpainted backgrounds as opposed to the 1990 pixel art in MI1. I'd highly recommend the original graphics, but I switched back and forth just to see what the remake graphics looked like (they're inferior) as you can do that on the special editions.

- The attempts at humor are far less grating and juvenile than MI1. It never "tries" that hard, which MI1 does. I see it as MI1 being the type of humor a 13 year old nerd in 1990 might have found funny, and while MI2 is cut from the same cloth it's simply much less of a focus.

- The main section of the game is 3 islands with many locations each, most of which are open to you all at the same time. There are 4 different objectives, with dozens of point-and-click adventure game "puzzles" that are masterfully laid out in a non-linear way. It's amazingly satisfying to chip away, solving small problems that start snowballing into the big goals. You generally have a good sense of things like "okay, I need something to distract this person, but what? Oh! Maybe that thing on the other island...but I can't get that thing unless I do such and such first...hmm..." after you get your bearings.

I've played hundreds of adventure games, and I don't think there are any that compare to this in terms of being wide open and nearly overwhelming at first, while also perfectly achievable and mostly "logical".

- It took me 15 hours; some puzzle solutions I remembered from 19 years ago so it's possible that should be longer. There was still a ton I didn't remember, thankfully. I was stuck on some parts for a good couple of hours each, but I'm glad I stuck it out without resorting to hints because the solutions were logical and satisfying.

- Despite the scope, there's very little friction. The world is laid out such that travel is relatively quick - much faster than MI1 despite being a much bigger game. You're also not bogged down with extended bits of dialogue when you try solutions that fail. You're given a quick generic "Nope" or a short quip.

- There is some annoyingness with timed puzzles. You can't die or miss a chance forever, but sometimes you have a couple of seconds to act in a situation that will keep repeating. This would be a good reason to play with a mouse rather than with a controller, but I've loved adventure games on consoles since Maniac Mansion on the NES.

- In general, if you've always wanted to play a classic point and click adventure game or are looking for another, this should be the one. It's the genre at its peak, both in terms of gameplay and in terms of the actual market position. Before Doom, these were king.

Have you played the remastered Grim Fandango

Not yet but I own it and played the original 18 years ago. Which reminds me...

Full Throttle: Remastered (PS4) - Another LucasArts classic, this one coming at the end of the adventure game genre's peak. You're a biker in a weird semi-future/semi-dystopia, great atmosphere and voice performances and music (including songs, not just score).

It's not a wide-open structure as I described for Monkey Island 2 (but that would have been amazing), it's set up as short segments including some actiony stuff.

It's real good, but would benefit from less weird action and more open adventure gaming.

If you're on the fence, buy on sale and play through the intro and first bigger section, which is by far the best part. That section (Maureen's neighborhood) is extremely atmospheric and stuck with me for 20+ years. You can quit after that if you're not engaged enough to continue.

That brings back memories. Grim Fandango and Monkey Island were two of the big names I remember when I first started gaming/buying magazines (lol, although demo discs goat).

Never actually played them, so might have to give them a shot.

I have the GF remaster but am totally scared of the difficulty of point and click adventure games and without the infinite time of childhood can see myself just getting frustrated and going straight guide route which then basically turns it into a graphic novel.

And I never really played them as a child. I think the closest I came was Myst. And then years later Zack and Wiki on Wii, which did require some googling in spots.