[blog] JK's Backlog Battle

09/08/2022 - When The Past Was Around Completion.
Current Backlog: 511
Currently Playing: 16

When The Past Was Around is a short and bittersweet narrative point-and-click puzzle game about newfound love,
heartbreak and learning to move on and let go. The story is beautiful and sad, told without words, just pictures, scenes and music.
It made me very emotional and got me bawling my eyes out at the end.

The soundtrack is perfect, even though a little repetitive, but it gets better near the end.
I am also in love with violins and this game just made me love them even more!

I also like to point out that the other main character is an owl man, a very beautiful owl man
who looks like the perfect boyfriend, which further confirms my suspicions of being a furry all along.
The puzzles were relatively easy to do, so there was nothing difficult about the game.

I would 100% recommend this game to people who like emotional stories.
- Marisa (JK)

I'm glad to hear When The Past Was Around sounds as lovely as it looks. It's been floating at the edges of my radar.

09/08/2022 - Pan-Pan Completion.
Current Backlog: 510
Currently Playing: 16

Pan-Pan was a short and sweet game, with simple, but lovely, graphics.
The game only took me just over 2 hours to complete, and I did so all in one sitting,
which is good for this game in my opinion, as it seems the system for saving is fully manual without any autosaving.

Our character crashes in their flying balloon ship and now has to find the parts to repair it, which was so kindly indicated
by three random hooded creatures with big mustaches. Majority of the game consists of memory and pressure based puzzles
that are quite simple, once you understand what you are supposed to do, but the game fails to guide you in any direction,
so it will take you awhile to figure out. You can rotate the camera which is very important because clues could be on the walls,
I myself didn't notice that I could rotate the camera until I was stuck.

I'm rating this game as recommended, as for the most part it is a beautifully crafted, delightful game.
To mark it as not recommended would be like kicking a puppy. But be wary of getting to figure out literally everything by yourself,
as there is no hints in the game, and if in doubt, definitely wait for a sale.
- Marisa (JK)

I'm glad to hear When The Past Was Around sounds as lovely as it looks. It's been floating at the edges of my radar.

It was definitely worth the play! The artstyle was also quite lovely <3

13/08/2022 - No Longer Home Completion.
Current Backlog: 512
Currently Playing: 16

No Longer Home is a simple game about letting go of the life you've built due to circumstances beyond your control.
You get a close look at the lives of Bo and Ao and you learn about their dreams, frustrations and fears.
This is an Interactive Story, point-and-click, where you wander through the home shared by the main protagonists and their flatmates.

No Longer Home is fine for what it is, but feels like it could have been so much more.
The writing is really well done and the characters feel real and well thought out,
and the game really hits that "life in your early 20s" vibe that's a crossroads of frustration and uncertainty,
but at most times it feels like its dragging on in conversations that are not interesting and not contributing to the story at all.

Overall, I did really find the characters and storyline interesting. I genuinely wanted to know more about them and where their story would lead.
You know, how the situation between them would change or if it would stay the same, how would the characters evolve and improve themselves,
but then the game was over, without any further progress on the story or characters. No finalization of anything.
I also find it sad that all those metaphorical symbolisms remained unexplained and vague.

In the end, No Longer Home is a decent story based interactive game with LGBTQ+ main characters and relatable story,
but it falls short with the storytelling and the story progression finding it's end. I would recommend the game, if you find it on a really good sale,
but at full price, the game is not worth it, therefore I will not recommend this game. I wish there was a neutral option for steam, but sadly no.
- Marisa (JK)

14/08/2022 - Sigh of the Abyss: Shadow Bonds - Prologue Completion.
Current Backlog: 511
Currently Playing: 16

Shadow Bonds is an introduction to the world and characters of Sigh of the Abyss.
It’s a promising prologue to a new visual novel series that’s still in development, with interesting characters, romance and story.
It has excellent world-building that shows you a glimpse of a mysterious world full of magic and malice.

There's plenty of choices and subtle decisions that change the story and dialogue,
with ways to change the personality of your character and make it your own.
I love the artstyle of the game and the CGs are amazingly done. I think Alpheon and Malec are so charmingly romantic
and they are probably my favorite romancable characters in the game. Sylas and Marané were also lovely, but not for me.

I love the story it's setting up and I simply can't wait for the release of the main game.
This prologue is definitely worth playing.
- Marisa (JK)

14/08/2022 - Mysteria of the World: The Forest of Death Completion.
Current Backlog: 509
Currently Playing: 17

A wonderful visual novel about a girl who wakes up in a strange forest without her memories of herself or how she got there.

The game tags itself as "otome" and "dating sim", but the romance is very light
and the "happy endings" seem to not really relate to the romances all the time, mostly just to the girl and her journey.
The story, lore and characters were all very well done and interesting, and I fell in love with one of the characters the moment I met them!

Sadly I noticed that the writing is ... not that great however. It felt like it was written by someone who either was not very good at English
or their way of storytelling was very blunt and had fewer words. I believe the game would have benefited from better writing tremendously,
as it would have been more descriptive and interesting, conveying the emotions more clearly.

Nevertheless, I believe this game was fantastic and definitely worth the money I paid for it.
- Marisa (JK)

15/08/2022 - First Bite Completion.
Current Backlog: 507
Currently Playing: 17

First Bite is an intriguing LGBTQ+ friendly visual novel that gives the readers exactly what they want:
Hot ass vampires, terror and sexiness and most importantly, the choice of turning yourself into a sweet and sexy creature of the night.
These developers are clearly people who appreciate the thrill of vampires because they fully seem to understand vampire lovers
and they absolutely nailed the allure of vampires: Of wanting to do naughty things with them and/or be bitten by them,
but also being terrified they’ll kill you, but also knowing that’s part of what makes it so hot in the first place.

As a visual novel, the game play basically boils down to making choices upon choices when they are presented for you,
which can lead to a successful outcome, the true endings, or becoming one of the vampire's late night snack, the dead ends.
The game actually does a good job of making your choices seem like they actually matter, which is really important for me.

Sadly, there is only one true ending per vampire and the rest are dead ends resulting in the character's demise,
be it happily or in terror. There is one common CG with all three characters and one CG per each vampire in their respectable routes
and I do have to say, the CG quality is incredibly well done and gorgeous, but I would have preferred to have the same artstyle
for the characters in the CGs as with the sprites.

As a short game, there isn't a lot of soundtrack variety, but what there is definitely fit the theme and mood set,
sometimes eerie, sometimes comedic, sometimes bloodthirsty. It does get a little bit repetitive at times though,
and I would have wished to have more variety. Where this game excels at though, is the voice acting.
I was especially in love with Valerie's and Laurel's voices, and I felt like their voices fit them perfectly.
The only complaint here for me was that some lines weren't voiced, while others were. However, it wasn't that bad.

I really enjoyed this game myself, as a fellow vampire enthusiast, but because of the shortness of the routes,
the lack of continuity within the artworks and the amount of content or the lack there of, I can't recommend it for the price they are selling it at.
You can woo them all quite fast and it is not that difficult and the game is very bare bones outside of all the dead ends.
I will however, still mark the game as recommended, because I truly believe this game to be amazing,
as long as you manage to get it at a sale or a bundle.
- Marisa (JK)

Haven't heard of so many of these. Thanks for doing write ups.

Haven't heard of so many of these. Thanks for doing write ups.

Glad to be of assistance! I always enjoy doing reviews for games that are lesser known :D

writing these reviews is definitely a fun time for me :)

18/08/2022 - Dead Man's Rest Completion.
Current Backlog: 507
Currently Playing: 17

A Wild West themed story of love, murder and revenge. You get to play as Lee "Blackjack" McCarthy, a bounty hunter,
who has been after an outlaw called Wild Bill for 8 years of his life. He tracks him down to a small town
in the heartland of the Arizona Territory, Golder's Rock, where he plans to put an end to the wild goose chase.

Dead Man's Rest is a story about a special kind of love, homosexuality,
a total taboo in a time where heterosexuality was the overwhelming factor and you could get jail time for being yourself openly.
The game has 5 love interests, each being variably different from each other, but keep the characters consistency almost each time.

It does an amazing job at being faithful to old western culture that involves your standard by the book sheriff,
trifles with Native Americans, and some small scenes of gunfighting. It also does an excellent job at adding in the romance aspect as-well.
It feels down to earth and realistic, with morals that reflected the time back then whether it be about sexuality or your culture,
and how people would have reacted.

The artstyle was pleasant, and nice to look at! The backgrounds were slightly on the simpler side most of the time,
but there was also some painterly styled backgrounds as well. I preferred the painterly styled backgrounds,
as it added a nice contrast to the sprite art and I would have preferred to have that as the main style
for background art all of the time.

In some cases I had some troubles with the art though,
the choice of having Taza, a native american, looking like your generic long haired asian boy, was not a good call.
He commented on the fact that the main character is "a white man", but it fell a bit short
with the fact that Taza looks pretty white himself on the arts.

All in all, I believe this game is very much worth the purchase,
and I think the story, characters and art is all absolutely amazing.
- Marisa (JK)

23/08/2022 - FRAMED Collection Completion.
Current Backlog: 506
Currently Playing: 17

FRAMED Collection combines two games, FRAMED 1 and FRAMED 2, into one version easy to be played back-to-back.
You get to rearrange comic panels to change the outcome of the story of a noir-styled spy adventure.

It's a quite simple styled puzzle game, but sometimes the solution has you scratching your head
for the answer for more time than you'd like. Mechanically, you move the order of the panels,
or turn them around and then hit play to see if you got the order of them correctly to help the main characters escape.

It's definitely fun seeing the failures play out, even though the challenge is to anticipate the outcomes of panels before you move them,
and hopefully get no failures. So success or failure, you are always having fun watching the story play out.

The game has an interesting story, even though it's told very plainly,
and the simple silhouette styled art style of the game is interesting to say the least.
The soundtrack of the game is nice and Jazz-y, which gives the noir aesthetic even more of a stronger hold.

The game is simple, but it excels at what it tries to be, and succeeds spectacularly.
I definitely would recommend these games, and the collection, even though it was on the shorter side.
- Marisa (JK)

23/08/2022 - Beyond Eyes Completion.
Current Backlog: 504
Currently Playing: 17

Beyond Eyes is a modern fairy tale about finding courage and friendship.
Step by step, uncover an incredible world, carefully guiding Rae, a young blind girl, on a life changing journey.

Beyond Eyes is a unique and beautiful game.
I really loved the premise of getting to unlock the watercolor world as Rae adventures out for the first time.
You discover things might not be as Rae hears them, as you investigate further and go forward on the journey to find your cat friend, Nani.
You conquer Rae's fears, explore a world she can only "see" through her other senses.

I get that Rae is blind and probably doesn't want to dart about anywhere for fear of bumping into something.
I get that this game defines itself as a 'walking simulator', and I've enjoyed other games in the genre before,
but the problem with this one is that it's just very very slow. The game has only a few hours of actual "gameplay",
but its amplified by the fact that the main character walks everywhere really slowly, which then boosts the "gaming" hours.

Nevertheless, the game makes you feel things through the main character, like happiness, sorrow and fear.
The Game has adorable animals and a colorful atmosphere. It has simple, yet soothing, soundtrack and it looks quite pretty.
Taking all of this into consideration, I will recommend the game. Sadly it's not sold through steam anymore,
but if you manage to get yourself a copy, it's worth playing through for sure!
- Marisa (JK)

24/08/2022 - Sucker for Love Completion.
Current Backlog: 503
Currently Playing: 17

“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear,
and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.”
― H.P. Lovecraft

H.P. Lovecraft once said that fear of the unknown is the strongest fear of mankind,
but what if you want to grab that unknown by the shoulders and plant a wet, sloppy smooch all over it's face?
Well, this game basically tells you what happens. The game is literally what you would expect from it.
You do dark rituals to summon eldritch horrors, you date them and try to win their smooches all for yourself.

The writing in Sucker for Love is charming and funny throughout, but you still feel the pangs of fear once things start to go sideways.
I think this is due to the time pressure from few of the scenes plus the more intense time pressure of the secret route,
which is something you don't see in VNs that often. The gameplay involves talking to and performing rituals for your lovely lady horrors.
The theme for these rituals change for each girl, as such it keeps the main mechanics of the game fresh,
even though you're still doing pretty much the same things.

If you look past the thirsty meme reviews talking about how they want to bang that Cthussy and leave your expectations of cringe behind you,
this game will un-ironically be amazing. The game parodies on dating sim games, human nature and Lovecraftian elements
while also somehow doing all of them justice very well. The humour is also very funny and had me laughing out loud multiple times.

And with the words of the protagonist:
"3D women are fine, but fourth dimensional girls with non-euclidean geometry are smokin' hot! They've got curves I can literally get lost in."
I leave you to choose for yourself: Are you ready to smooch those Lovecraftian Horrors? The answer is yes. obviously.

and Aunty Nyan Nyan can step on me any day.
- Marisa (JK)

24/08/2022 - Night Book Completion.
Current Backlog: 502
Currently Playing: 17

Did I enjoy Night Book? Yes. Is it a "good" game? Not really.
I think that biggest issue for me was the pacing, the game may have benefited more from a slower and longer pace,
allowing the players to uncover more lore and information as the time goes by and more scarier things happen to the main character.

Night Book has a fair bit of replayability due to the choice tree and dialogue options available to the player,
though many of the choices give you very similar outcomes. Replaying the game might give you a little bit of a headache though,
as the skip scene button doesnt always skip the scene, most likely due to one line being different, and you have to watch something
you've already seen another time, just a slightly bit different.

The game does a fairly decent job at conveying a spooky atmosphere,
but the overall presentation is weakened by often using text messaging and the small view through security camera feeds
rather than actually following the main character herself. You don't get the full immersion value as you normally would
and the attempted jump scares are mostly comedic rather than actually scary.

However, the game was fully made during covid lockdown at home,
which gives you an interesting perspective on what kind of games you are able to make while having limited resources
and the fact that the actors were not able to interact with each other while filming.

In the end, If you're an FMV game fan you'll probably still want this,
but be aware that it's a very mild recommendation compared to some better titles.
Definitely get it at a sale if you do, not at full price.
- Marisa (JK)

25/08/2022 - Tacoma Completion.
Current Backlog: 500
Currently Playing: 18

Tacoma is an narrative adventure walking simulator game set aboard a high-tech space station,
stationed new Luna, our moon, in the year 2088. You enter the station as Amitjyoti "Amy" Ferrier
and your mission is to uncover the mystery of Tacoma Station, as well as getting the AI Core safe from the station.
You’ll explore every detail of how the station’s crew lived and worked,
finding the clues that add up to a gripping story of trust, fear, and resolve in the face of disaster.

The mechanics of the AI Recorded memories where you would follow
different characters around during various scenes was interesting and quite enjoyable.
I was really interested in learning about each character, and the fact that the memories often divided between rooms
and characters added replay value for each memory.

Sadly I found myself wondering what the relevance of some of the "desktop" files were,
as the world-building that was often delivered through various news articles felt like a lot of reading for very little relevance.
They didn't really give me more information or insight into what the characters were going through,
but there were enough interesting conversations between characters to learn something about them.

One of my gripes with this game was that I would have wished for the characters to be shown as more personalized designs,
rather than just the basic mannequin holograms with different colors. It would have given more personality for each character,
and learning about them would have been more enjoyable.

Tacoma was also quite short, maybe even too short for it's own good.
The story is intriguing and gripping you at every turn, but sadly, there is just too little in a short amount of time.
I feel like the game would have been better with more optional memories, more info on who the characters were,
more dialogue about the happenings on the station and the reason why it was now abandoned.

Tacoma is all about its characters and the overall story, and because those aspects of it were well balanced, I would absolutely recommend it.
I find the full price of it a little hefty for how short it is, but the game is a quality product, there is no mistake of that.
If you enjoy walking simulators, especially ones that provide good, and immersive story experiences, then you’ll likely enjoy Tacoma.
- Marisa (JK)

26/08/2022 - The Magnificent Trufflepigs Completion.
Current Backlog: 500
Currently Playing: 17

The Magnificent Trufflepigs is a first-person, metal-detecting narrative game.
You play as Adam, a sharp-witted but compassionate man returning to his childhood village of Stanning.
There he'll help a woman named Beth on her mission to unearth a local treasure.

The game has amazing visuals, with stylized graphics and a bright color scheme,
that makes you wonder how accurately they actually wanted to picture quaint English countryside,
since it looks more like a fantasy than reality.

I kinda wish they would have worked more with this game, because as it is now,
it feels like something that was not finished properly. There is interesting slice-of-life type of story unfolding as you play,
about Beth and her day to day life, but we learn next to nothing about the main protagonist,
who was more interesting to me and the actual gameplay of searching for treasure with the metal detector is very very slow,
to the point of being annoying.

If you are a gamer who strives to 100% games, this game might be a pain, as skipping dialogue is not possible
and even in new game+ finding the remaining treasures you need for one of the achievements gets a little annoying.
Atleast they have chapter select, which works as intended, but sadly you can't use that to find the treasures you are missing
after completing the game for the first time, that's what new game+ is for.

The ending of the story was quite predictable even at the start, and sadly it left a sour taste in the mouth,
even though it was enjoyable for the first time playing. It felt like the short time of 7 days metal detecting was not enough
to uncover the whole backstory and story fully and interestingly as possible.

In the end however, I did enjoy playing the game, mostly because I enjoy walking simulators and I find metal detecting to be actually quite interesting.
Sadly I don't think this is a good game for anyone else who isn't interested in those very specific topics/genres.
I also think the price of it is a little bit too steep for the amount of content there is.
Otherwise, I do recommend the game.
- Marisa (JK)

02/09/2022 - HIVESWAP: ACT 1 Completion.
Current Backlog: 498
Currently Playing: 18

HIVESWAP is a hand-drawn point & click adventure game where you play as Joey Claire,
a puzzle-solving teen snatched out of the comfort of her own home and left stranded on a hostile alien planet on the brink of a rebellion.
The game introduces you to amazing characters and an interesting world.

Many might ask if you have to have read Homestuck to understand anything in this game,
but thankfully it's very much a separate story of its own. Sure you could read it to understand some of the Easter eggs more,
but it's not forced. I was not familiar with the Homestuck fandom/story at all, I've of course heard of it, but had no idea what it was about,
but I had no troubles enjoying this game.

First of all, this is only the first chapter of HIVESWAP out of promised four that are supposedly coming out eventually.
You will be left with a cliffhanger and the story is far from complete. It is relatively short chapter,
where the story itself can be played through in a few hours, where as all the extra things you can do and things you can click on,
might take you another hour on top of that.

That being said, I think the story of the game is absolutely fantastic! It has fun humorous moments,
some spooky parts and lots of relatable content. I instantly fell in love with the characters and the story.
The jokes are well placed and humorous and I found myself laughing a couple of times.
You get to know the characters through their thoughts and dialogue fairly well and it just makes you want to hear more about them and their journey!

In the end, I believe this game, and this chapter, is totally worth getting if you want to enjoy a good time with a point & click adventure game.
Sadly there is only chapter 1 and chapter 2 currently out, and the third has not been mentioned at all,
so the conclusion of the story might be something we'll never get.
But putting that aside, get the game.
- Marisa (JK)

08/09/2022 - HIVESWAP: ACT 2 Completion.
Current Backlog: 509
Currently Playing: 17

HIVESWAP is a hand-drawn point & click adventure game where you play as Joey Claire,
a puzzle-solving teen snatched out of the comfort of her own home and left stranded on a hostile alien planet on the brink of a rebellion.
In ACT 2, you continue on your journey with the troll named Xefros, trying to find your way to a party held by a friend of his moirail, Dammek.
You get to meet dozens of unique and memorable characters, some of which are more helpful than others, as you navigate through this volatile alien culture.

Most of the game in act 2 is happening on a train ride to the party. You have to go through different train carriages that hold different trolls of the Hemospectrum;
the Rust and Bronze bloods, the Gold and Olive bloods, the Jade and Teal bloods, the Blue and Indigo bloods and the Purple bloods.
Each carriage gives you different puzzles/quests to solve and how to move forward in your journey to the front of the train.

In my honest opinion, this act was quite good and didn't leave me unhappy.
I played through act 1 and act 2 almost back to back, and I noticed a lot of differences.
Where act 1 was more of an actual point & click, with puzzles to solve and items to interact with,
act 2 gives you more of a dialogue based game that reminds you of a visual novel.
There is almost no point & click puzzles to solve, until near the end,
and most of the problems you need to figure out is by talking to multiple characters.

On the positive side, the more dialogue based gameplay can be very impressive,
since as you progress you find more new characters who have many different things to say to you, each time you talk to them.
Every one of them weighs in, helpfully or not, on every part of every puzzle. Huge amounts of dialogue to be read.

On the flip side however, this more dialogue based gameplay can end up quite brainless and boring,
as you keep talking to characters over and over and over again. Some people might like that, but many will not find it fun.

In the end, the amount waited for this act, and the fact that they strayed farther away from the point & click aspect,
I don't think I can recommend this part of the game. I did enjoy it, and there were lots of twists that I didn't see them coming,
but it's just isn't worth it. Considering also that you'll probably have to wait for the next chapter... forever.
I am not unhappy with the game, I just can't recommend it forwards.
- Marisa (JK)

13/09/2022 - Cut to the Core Completion.
Current Backlog: 510
Currently Playing: 17

The question you are asked while reading,
"How much of someone can you cut away before there's nothing left?",
The answer? A whole f*cking lot is what it is.

Cut to the Core is a kinetic visual novel with gruesome and ghastly imagery, sound design and feel.
It's not really a game that you can play. You watch and read as the story unfolds, bit by bit.
There is no choices, no different endings, it's all just accumulates to one point of climax, of horror and creepiness.

The game is a dark and violent story that deals with very mature themes and unsettling imagery.
Even the general artstyle of it brings you a feeling of dread. It contains elements that many may find disturbing,
including strong language, sex, drug abuse, animal abuse, child abuse, abortion, self-harm, gore, body horror and suicide.
these content warnings shouldn't be taken lightly, as the imagery is very, very real feeling.

I, myself, am quite desensitized to gore and slaughter because of things I read and sometimes watch,
but this story brings forth feelings I would have never have found in myself.
The animal abuse content warning of this game is especially very shocking,
and I wouldn't consider recommending this to any of my animal loving friends.

Still, this story is very, very well told and all the sounds and details intensify it with every fiber of their being.
I can recommend it to fans of horror and gore, as long as you are aware of the content warnings.
- Marisa (JK)

17/09/2022 - Board Completion.
Current Backlog: 510
Currently Playing: 17

Great puzzle game, but to me the stages felt a little too easy.
I think I had the most trouble at towards the end when the right click was introduced.
Despite this, I feel like many others could enjoy from this puzzle game!
Definitely recommended, especially for the cheap price.
- Marisa (JK)

17/09/2022 - Perfect Gold Completion.
Current Backlog: 509
Currently Playing: 17

Absolutely adorable yuri visual novel where you get to see the story unfold
and decide it's fate from the perspective of two lovely ladies, Marion LaRue and Audrey Clary.
They are students of the magical arts, trying to battle between the expectations of family
versus the passion to do what's best for yourself.

The story is quite short and heavily relies on flashbacks, which is a cheap way of storytelling in my books,
but the story in it's simplicity is boosted by the fully voice acted characters, animated CGs and sprites
and the over-all lovely artstyle. The character design in this visual novel is also very pleasing to the eye
and you can tell that the characters all have varying personalities and are not cut from the same mould.

My only gripe with the game would have to be, that the choices felt a little unnecessary
and there were not enough endings. The story can end in two ways, a happily ever after
and a less happily ever after, but still happy. It would have been far more interesting of a story
if the two endings would have been polar opposites, or if there were multiple endings
i.e. romance end, friendship end and bad end.

Overall, I would highly recommend people to play this game!
If you are a fan of cute gay girls doing cute magical things
or you want to have your heartstrings tugged by array of emotions, this is definitely for you.
The price is also very good for the amount and quality of content you get.
- Marisa (JK)

19/09/2022 - Shelter 2 Completion.
Current Backlog: 511
Currently Playing: 17

In Shelter 2 you play as a Lynx raising her cubs in the brutal, but beautiful landscape.
Surviving in the middle of the food chain is difficult, as you will be both the predator and the prey.
You learn the harsh realities of nature and you learn that surviving is not as simple as it seems.

This game is more of an in-depth look at the survival animal simulation than Shelter 1.
Where in the first game it was quite linear and more simple,
Shelter 2 brings in a more bigger and open world with more predators to watch out for,
more prey to hunt, lots of things to collect and keeping your cubs safe is way harder this time.

This game is simultaneously breaking your heart into million pieces and making you aw out loud multiple times.
It's calm and relaxing, but at the same time it can be very stressful.
I do think there is a little too much collectibles to collect and it makes it more of a chore, rather than fun.

Anyways, this game is very fun to play through and enjoyable.
I can definitely recommend this game.
- Marisa (JK)

19/09/2022 - Shelter 3 Completion.
Current Backlog: 510
Currently Playing: 17

I consider myself a fan of the shelter series, and other Might and Delight games
and I had absolutely amazing time with the first game and great time with the second.
Sadly, this third game came short of both, but it was still emotionally impactful.

Where as the first shelter game was quite linear,
the second expanded upon it and made the series into an actual survival game,
with an open world to explore and you were to make sure your offspring survived to adulthood,
this third game takes away what the second game brought to the table and even more of it.

It brings in dialogue, which was not needed for animals, and it takes away the open world aspect.
There was limiting amounts of predators to watch out for and those that you did watch out for
were fairly easy to dodge. The game makes you follow a certain path to your destination,
without really guiding you on that path, so getting lost is fairly easy and when you do,
you might as well be done with as your herd runs out of food.

However, it felt like they improved on with certain aspects, like the artstyle seemed to look more detailed,
the way they made the atmospheres of different areas feel was also amazing.
The ending was emotional and sad, something I did not see coming.

In the end though, I feel strongly that they could've done so much better with this game and it was fairly lacking.
I wouldn't really recommend this game. You should rather go play Shelter 1 and Shelter 2.
- Marisa (JK)

20/09/2022 - Cat Museum Completion.
Current Backlog: 509
Currently Playing: 17

Cat Museum is a surreal 2D side-scrolling puzzle-adventure, where you enter a bizarre and curious world
and start a fantastical adventure in a museum filled with cats and other strange creatures.
You search for strange clues that help you reveal the truth of the protagonist's childhood
and enjoy the journey by interacting with your mischievous cat companion, enjoying its playful company while you move forward.

The story itself can seem cute and colorful at first glance, but it unravels to be quite macabre and disturbing.
The protagonist clearly is dealing with trauma related to certain happenings in his childhood
and the place and visuals are results of that trauma in the boy's mind.

Puzzle design was quite easy and simple, fast to figure out and not too troubling when wanting something easy to play.
There are some chase scenes that bring a little bit of horror to the mix, but otherwise its a quite calm game.
The cats were cute and adorable, sometimes a little disturbing, but still well drawn and designed.

The end and some other aspects of the story made me tear up a little bit, so it's definitely emotional.
It's a game that I would definitely recommend to others, just be aware that some imagery can be quite disturbing
and it's not for everyone.
- Marisa (JK)