Games Beaten - May 2024

A fair few things this time. Definitely recommend checking out Little Kitty, Big City if you have Game Pass. Also I really liked Voyager-19, great little horror game in a similar style to Iron Lung.

May 01 - Arizona Sunshine - The Damned - PC
May 02 - TimeSplitters - PlayStation 2
May 04 - The Sims Castaway Stories - PC
May 10 - Lil Gator Game - PC
May 11 - Portal 2 - Xbox One
May 13 - Little Kitty, Big City - PC
May 22 - Voyager-19 - PC
May 22 - Tales of Aravorn: Seasons of the Wolf - PC
May 24 - Crash Twinsanity - PlayStation 2
May 29 - Panzer Dragoon: Remake - Nintendo Switch
May 29 - The Inner World - Nintendo Switch - REPLAY

I finished ENDER LILIES: Quietus of the Knights in May in 22h and 5m. It's a good metroidvania.

(Xbox 360) Deadpool- 90%
(Xbox Series X) Werewolf The Apocalypse Earthblood- 55%
(Switch) Super Mario 3D World + Bowsers Fury- 100%
(Xbox One) Kung Fu Panda Showdown of Legendary Legends- 40%
(Xbox One) Adventure Time Pirates of the Enchiridion- 75%
(Xbox) Over the Hedge- 80%

Just one this month!

- Norn9: Var Commons [Switch] - May 11th

To be fair, uni got in the way... And I got distracted by other stuff, like new books (because just a game backlog wasn't enough)

Hopefully I'll make more of a dent on my backlog in June! I'm already almost done with a big one, and I have my sight set on a bunch of smaller titles too :)

I beat only five games. 13 Sentinels took a lot of time, and I'm currently playing through Persona 5 Royal. So my backlog is slowing down a little bit.

May 1 - Dead Cells (Switch) - 5/10
May 4 - Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Switch) - 9/10
May 10 - Watch Dogs (PS4) - 5/10
May 24 - 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim (Switch) - 9/10
May 30 - Magic Research (Mobile) - 5/10

Best Game: 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
Worst Game: Magic Research

Alright, just like April I had another six completions for May. They were all mobile games this time:

05/01 - Age of Zombies
05/06 - N.O.V.A. Legacy
05/10 - N.O.V.A. 3
05/18 - Dungeon Village
05/26 - Game Dev Story
05/31 - Grand Theft Auto III

Unfortunately no standouts for me this month. I didn't find any of these games particularly remarkable. You would think GTA 3 would be it but the terrible controls, lack of modern quality of life features, difficulty, and poor storytelling really dragged it down for me. N.O.V.A. Legacy was definitely the worst though with all the modern mobile trappings we all know and love. Only three mobile games in my backlog left to go! I do have two others but they're part of other series so I won't get to them until I start their respective series'. Nvidia just announced that all GTX 10 series and newer graphics card owners will get three months of Game Pass so I'll be putting my current backlog on hold to play some higher quality titles. Can't wait!

May 2nd - Rental (PC): Very short but interesting horror game. Also getting 100% achievements is really easy. Unfortunely it has profile limitations on Steam, so I can't flex it in my profile. 8/10

May 11th - Gravity Rush (PS Vita): I wish I gave this game a chance when I first heard about it like 8 years ago, but better late than never. This game single handedly made me fall in love with my PS Vita again. 9.5/10

May 26th - Half-Life 2: Fake Factory remaster (PC): A mod that modifies the infamous Cinematic Mod for HL2 and removes all the unnecesary stuff (horny bait), resulting in a graphical overhaul that looks like an official remaster of the vanilla game. Unfortunely, the mod is really buggy right now and makes questionable changes to the map layouts (idk if these changes come from Cinematic Mod or if they were added later with Fake Factory remaster). 6/10

May 31st - Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (PC): I don't know if back then this was advertised as Uncharted 5, but it really isn't. It's more like a overpriced DLC of 4: the same mechanics, but a shorter and worst (imo) story. Still, I had a blast with Uncharted 4, and with this game is not different. 8/10

May 2nd - Rental (PC): Very short but interesting horror game. Also getting 100% achievements is really easy. Unfortunely it has profile limitations on Steam, so I can't flex it in my profile. 8/10

May 11th - Gravity Rush (PS Vita): I wish I gave this game a chance when I first heard about it like 8 years ago, but better late than never. This game single handedly made me fall in love with my PS Vita again. 9.5/10

May 26th - Half-Life 2: Fake Factory remaster (PC): A mod that modifies the infamous Cinematic Mod for HL2 and removes all the unnecesary stuff (horny bait), resulting in a graphical overhaul that looks like an official remaster of the vanilla game. Unfortunely, the mod is really buggy right now and makes questionable changes to the map layouts (idk if these changes come from Cinematic Mod or if they were added later with Fake Factory remaster). 6/10

May 31st - Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (PC): I don't know if back then this was advertised as Uncharted 5, but it really isn't. It's more like a overpriced DLC of 4: the same mechanics, but a shorter and worst (imo) story. Still, I had a blast with Uncharted 4, and with this game is not different. 8/10

May 31st - Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (PC): I don't know if back then this was advertised as Uncharted 5, but it really isn't. It's more like an overpriced DLC of 4: the same mechanics, but a shorter and worst (imo) story.

I remember back then it was originally known or theorized Naughty Dog was working on a DLC for Uncharted 4 similar to Left Behind for the Last of Us. So when this was revealed it was definitely advertised as what that turned into and wasn’t treated like Uncharted 5, but kind of a stand alone side story. I also remember it straight up had Uncharted 4’s multiplayer attached to it too.

Pretty good month for me. 3 games which may not be alt but is for me:

11th May - Ori and the Will of the Wisps - 18h 1m 4s
13th May - Hogwarts Legacy - 70h 48m 23s
25th May - God of War: Ragnarök - Valhalla - 15h 20m 51s

Ranking:
3rd - Hogwarts Legacy - A well built game with some great combat but with a superflous open world
2nd - God of War: Ragnarök - Valhalla - A great little roguelite using it as an introspection of Kratos however it takes way too long to reach the epilogue
1st - Ori and the Will of the Wisps - an excellent sequel to the original which doesn't do much different but is well made and worth a playthrough

hHow did you manage to finish these games? I work, and I can only finish 2 per month.

My job is very much 9 to 5. This month all my family was away for 10 days. I do my fitness early in the morning leaving me with lots of free evenings. Went out with friends for a couple of evenings, but otherwise had plenty of free time.

Another good month.

05/02 - Demon's Souls (8.5/10)
05/03 - Pokémon Trading Card Game (7.5/10)
05/09 - Castlevania: Rondo of Blood (8.5/10)
05/09 - Astro's Playroom (9/10)
05/11 - Katana ZERO (9/10)
05/29 - Final Fantasy V (8.5/10)

Personal Favorite: This one's gonna go to Katana ZERO. The gameplay is polished and snappy and I really was interested by the story.

Least Favorite: This one's tough since I didn't dislike any game I played this month. I guess Pokémon Trading Card Game would be my least favorite due to the repetitive nature of it. It's still a really good game though.

Personal Recommendation: Definitely have to recommend Astro's Playroom. Wasn't expecting such a cute and fun game from a tech demo showcase of all things.

It's time I catch up on the last few Games Beaten threads, I've been somewhat absent from the forums while trying my best to work on my backlog and get shit done, but May was certainly not one of those months with much to report, all thanks to primarily focusing on Ghost of Tsushima. It's been more of a laidback mopup / revisit sort of month with only 3 short new completions:

Alisa - 11h50m / 100% (3 playthroughs) - REPLAY
Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood - 5h40m - REPLAY
Call of Juarez: Gunslinger - 2h35m - REPLAY
Layers of Fear (2023): Director's Story DLC - 1h10m
POOLS - 2h50m / 100% - BEST
Slender: The Arrival Remake - 1h30m - REPLAY
The Excavation of Hob's Barrow - 10h50m / 100% (2 playthroughs) - WORST

Alisa is an indie survival-horror game I've been eagerly waiting for to reach its "complete" state after going through a barrage of patches and I suppose you could say the wait's been worth it: I'm a huge fan of the original RE trilogy and Alisa evidently tries to replicate the aesthetic and desing philosophy of the very first iteration of '96 while adding a significant amount of jank on top, intentionally that is. As for what it gets done well, I truly felt at home with its pre-rendered backgrounds and similar tunes, its bizarre setting also feels like a weird mix of Alice in Wonderland and, obviously, Resident Evil which makes it unique enough to avoid being labeled as a cheap knock-off. Now onto the not-so-great and rather debatable stuff that probably won't bug you as much as on your first playthrough: Alisa's movement and reload speed is obnoxiously slow and almost every enemy type is way too fast, using firearms is basically a death wish but there is a melee weapon you gain access to almost right at the start and that has got to be the most broken / exploitable piece of self-defense, it does suck how the game encourages you to rely on that tool alone though. There is either the option to play without auto-aim (again, enemies being super quick on their feet makes it worse) or have it enabled for which the game penalizes you by throwing less resources at the player, an anything but ideal solution for a feature that doesn't even work properly half the time. Much like you can stunlock most enemies with your melee weapon, they too can gang up on you in a corner and keep at it until you drop without being able to return the favor: getting stunlocked in RE '96 was indeed possible, but it would be 100% on the player. There are no difficulty settings, but the game utilizes an NG+ system similar to Dark Souls by slightly increasing enemy health / damage with each subsequent run and you'll have to play through the game at least 4-5 times to view all possible endings as well as unlock all the goodies anyway. On a closing note, Alisa can be stressful up until you get used to all of its intentional quirks and only that's where it really starts to shine. For the asking price however, you can certainly do a lot worse.

Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood is a western FPS from the devs of the original Dead Island and Dying Light and functions as a prequel to the original released in 2006. Definitely a vast improvement over the first game, superb audio design with a well directed story, cinematic gunfights and simple yet engaging quickdraw duels, the whole package being of just the right length before it gets boring. You still take control of 2 characters but unlike in the original, you get to choose who to play as at the start of almost every chapter, though the only true difference in gameplay is how the slowmo quickdraw snaps onto everyone with auto-aim or requires to mark each enemy manually. Running on Techlands home engine, it also comes with drawbacks previously seen in Chrome games as well as the original Call of Juarez such as shimmering textures, nasty popups and complete lack of facial expressions, especially the latter affects the overall presentation a bit. The 2 "open-world" levels were also rather lackluster, the lack of coop is questionable and only appears in The Cartel, an entry I'd rather remove from my memory and I've ran into a couple crashes here and there. All things considered, the game excells at being a fun FPS and as long it's not a complete disaster on the technical side, it's more than enough to entertain me and entertain me Bound in Blood surely did. It used to be my favorite in the series, but that was until Techland redeemed themselves with their next gem (again, The Cartel never happened).

Call of Juarez: Gunslinger is where things get polished up to the max and the series truly peaks: we have a story that isn't really connected to the previous games despite sharing similar locations, but it's told in a very creative fashion as we're experiencing events as they unfold in the main protagonists narration, there are some really amusing set-pieces and the presentation is simply great all around with great voice acting and rocky western tunes. The visuals have been Borderlands-ified and look even better with striking colors and sharp textures, the shooting is extremely responsive and satisfying with all weapon types, the progression system is kept simple but motivating, the dules have been revamped and made slightly more user-friendly and the last-stand-mechanic aids the pacing of the game to reward a more aggressive playstyle, which obviously beats staying behind cover and waiting for your health to regen. Sadly you don't get to ride horses in this entry, but that's about the only "complaint" I've got really. FOV and the comic panel border can both be edited, though a simple toggle and a slider would have been more convenient. The game's length might come off as a downside, but I don't think that applies to Gunslinger: the 3-4 hours of pure action end just when they have to and despite the budget cuts in the story department (no fully animated cinematics), every single minute here is pure fun.

The latest chapter in the Layers of Fear anthology dropped just before Halloween last year and while it was completely free, I wasn't very impressed with it, much like with everything the remastered versions of the first 2 games have offered. It's a short campaign stitched together using previously seen assets, most of which are from Layers of Fear 2 (my least favorite Bloober Team project yet), the story is being "told" in the same way as the base games by throwing text scraps or voice lines at the player as he's being guided through constantly warping corridors: y'know, we've already been there. The unique take on the Director's Story is how you literally get to direct some scenes on a movie set, with multiple possible outcomes and that's the only reason you should ever think of playing the DLC as it is kinda fun to mess around with the options at hand. It's a neat little extra if you thought the 2023 bundle didn't have enough content, but you wont miss much if you skip it entirely either.

POOLS is a walking sim I never expected to end up loving as much as I did, it's definitely a game of acquired taste and not everyone's going to "get it" or be into it. There is no story to speak of, no enemies to run away from, no combat or hide and seek mechanics: just you stuck all by yourself in liminal spaces filled with tile corridors, chlorine and waterslides leading God knows where. I've played it with in-ears on max volume on a big screen and I found it absolutely terrifying despite very well knowing there's no fail state or anything alike to be afraid of, it's simply pure atmosphere in an oddly intriguing setting. You can tinker around with FOV & fisheye settings to add some extra immersion on top, but it's good enough out the box, there are no performance issues (some reflections are not displayed correctly in later levels though), the level design is mazey but not to the point where you can easily get lost and it basically creates the illusion of being a world of endless hallways while simultaneously remaining fairly linear, that on itself is nothing short of phenomenal and the fair price of less than 10 bucks as well as playtime of approx. 3 hours is the cherry on top. Except the aforementioned minor artifacts problem, I think it's perfect as is and an easy recommendation for the explorers of unknown.

The original Slender: The Arrival released far back in 2013 and it isn't a game I have fond memories of: a shoddily put together piece of software full of questionable design choices and an alarming high amount of frustrating moments. But this is thankfully not about the original but the long-awaited 10th anniversary update where Blue Isle Studios overhauled the entire game in Unreal Engine 5, completely free for the owners of OG! I've had no high hopes since the bar was set pretty low and all I expected was the same abysmally designed jumpscare-filled theme park but in prettier. Turns out I was off, way off: this remake is infinitely better and addresses all of my complaints I still have written down in my "review bible". The difference in graphics is pretty much day and night, every single level has been carefully redone and it's all the more evident if you've replayed OG recently. The performance remains smooth from start to finish, you can finally change your FOV in the settings, the bullshit difficulty has been toned down to a fair level, the animations are of much higher quality and several other OG bugs have been ironed out to opt for the best experience possible: there's even additional chapters to expand on the lore! The only 2 problems I've had with the remake is how dark the game gets without the torch and how much brighter it becomes when you whip it out, these things were somewhat uneven in comparison to everything else. But if you happen to dislike OG as much as I did and always wanted to play a more definitive version, this is certainly it.

The Excavation of Hob's Barrow is a point & click horror adventure developed using the AGS engine released in 2022, I've had my eyes on it ever since I've seen its publisher: Wadjet Eye Games, a team notorious for making some of the more memorable p&c titles, their most prominent work being the Blackwell series. This one however hasn't been developed by them per se, but they've offered their advice during the making: sadly I can't say I'll remember much of anything down the line as most of the game is rather unremarkable and since I've only had 3 completions this month, one of which is a DLC, it'll have to be the bearer of the WORST game of May 2024, even though it's not broken or insuffrable to play through by any means. It actually employs some clever tricks to double down on the horror aspect, one of them being these well-timed close up shots of uncanny face models. The ambient soundtrack also sets the tone for what's to come, the voice actors get it done, the plot is quite mysterious and the artstyle as well as the majority of backdrops are charming all around. It must have been the straight forward puzzles, the absence of meaningul multiple dialogue choices and the game only having one below average ending that must have ruined it for me since anything Wadjet Eye Games lays their hands on I hold to a high standard and Hob's Barrow just can't quite get there. It is very similar to Kathy Rain in how its paced out so if you enjoyed that p&c adventure, there might be something in for you but all in all, it's a "meh" from me.