[blog] JK's Backlog Battle

13/03/2023 - Half Past Fate: Romantic Distancing Completion.
Current Backlog: 575
Currently Playing: 9

As someone who hasn't played the original Half Past Fate yet, but planning on it,
I was a little disappointed in Half Past Fate: Romantic Distancing.
The game was really short and didn't really offer much on gameplay and story.

The story is of Stephen and Robin, who meet at a computer repair shop when Stephen's laptop needs fixing.
They find a lot of common interests and decide to plan a date to a live music show. Sadly their plans are halted because quarantine begins.
The story continues on there with them doing dates through video chatting and having small hurdles along the way.

The story is a great idea in theory, but they didn't really expand on it properly with the game.
It was still enjoyable enough, but I wouldn't recommend the game, especially with the current price of it.
- Marisa (JK)

14/03/2023 - Pilgrims Completion.
Current Backlog: 574
Currently Playing: 9

Slightly shorter than expected, but a lot of fun nevertheless.
Pilgrims is a playful adventure game where you roam the land, make friends and help them achieve their happy endings.
It has a few different endings to achieve, so exploring those choices is a lot of fun.
The artstyle, sound design and voice acting were all very well put together and complimented each other perfectly to make this fun little indie game.
Absolutely recommend it for a short bit of fun!
- Marisa (JK)

17/03/2023 - The Companion Completion.
Current Backlog: 575
Currently Playing: 9

A slow-paced walking simulator with beautiful graphics and serene soundtrack.
The Companion shows you a story of a family of five who are on a work-vacation in this dense lush forest.
You get to learn of their story and at the same time appreciate the beautiful nature of this world.

The game was alright, as a walking simulator it was a little too non-linear,
where it didn't really guide you to a direction all that much, but allowed you to wander around aimlessly.
Wandering around aimlessly isn't really a good thing when you want to complete the game.
I needed some help from a guide to figure out which way I was supposed to go.
There was occasionally this glittering light that would guide me to a direction, but it wasn't always there.

The game is stunning however, and very pretty to look at.
However, the animations of the spirit fox you play as were a little off and moving around the world felt a little fake,
like you were just gliding over the terrain until you get stuck into a rock.
The soundtrack was really pretty though and really had a calming and serene feeling to it.

I think this game is worth it at a sale, but not at full value.
I will still recommend it though! Pretty game.
- Marisa (JK)

17/03/2023 - Now You See Completion.
Current Backlog: 573
Currently Playing: 9

Through darkness, they see light. Through suffering, they feel life.

Seeking shelter from a thunderstorm, the house you've entered is not the sanctuary you'd hoped for.
Uncover horrible secrets within and use your wits and the items you find to escape this immersive blood soaked nightmare...

Now You See is a hand-drawn point-and-click horror game where you have to escape the house you entered for shelter.
The atmosphere of the game is thick and imposing, with a droning, spooky soundtrack
that puts you on edge from the get go and immerses you into the game perfectly.

It was rather short game, but was really spooky and a great experience nevertheless.
Would recommend even at full price!
- Marisa (JK)

17/03/2023 - Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus? Completion.
Current Backlog: 572
Currently Playing: 9

Another fun FMV filmed during lockdown, but this time it comes with a murder mystery twist!
Someone from Abby's family had poisoned Uncle Marcus in the last family meeting she missed,
and now Uncle Marcus has asked her to figure out who it was from her family.

The story happens during a yearly family quiz, which is always held on Abby's mom's birthday.
The acting is mediocre, but it's improved with the over the top character personalities
and the hilarious conversations the family has which make you laugh with the characters
and their funny, dark humor.

As a real fan of FMV games, this one is definitely up there with the quality of the clips
and the way they feel very coherent together even with the choices in between.
Definitely a recommend from me!
- Marisa (JK)

20/03/2023 - DRAMAtical Murder Completion.
Current Backlog: 572
Currently Playing: 9

"Everyone believes in you, and you don't even believe in yourself. Isn't that kind of sad?"

Aoba's vibrant cyberpunk world is one of contrasts: high-tech virtual reality battles versus street gang turf wars,
ultra-exclusive luxury resorts and tiny junk shops. The choices you make will shape the path of Aoba's journey
into the dark secrets lurking beneath the glossy sheen of the city.

DRAMAtical Murder paints a vivid picture of a world where the boundaries between the virtual and the real are breaking down.
The game's bubbly and colorful artstyle can fool you well, it contains sexual violence, gore and a lot more underneath it's lovely exterior,
so if you are not fine with these themes, this game isn't for you.

The steam version that you see here is quite heavily censored, but that is, rather easily, rectified by a 18+ patch provided by the Publisher on their own website.
Why it was not put on steam as a DLC, we might never know, but even though it is from a separate website, it can be easily downloaded and installed.
I followed this guide on how to make the patch work and you can also find the patch link there: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1481080/discussions/0/3104644789964407842/

Now, play the game as god intended, and release the dong! I mean...ahem.
With that out of the way, when jumping into the game, you are introduced to the love interests; Koujaku, Noiz, Mink and Clear.
There is also an extra character that becomes romancable after you've found the good endings for each of the previous.
I absolutely fell in love with all of the love interests and how their personalities were beautiful and different.
My favorite was probably Noiz or Clear, but I thoroughly enjoyed all of them.

Even the other NPCs in the game were beautifully constructed to fit the setting and also bring forward feels and good times!
The Story of this game is also very good! There is a lot of twists and turns that you aren't ready for and they make the game all the sweeter.
There was also a lot of feels and crying during me playing this, as I am baby and I cry easily when virtual characters have feels.

The game is absolutely worth the price of it (plus the 18+ DLC Patch price)
and I wholeheartedly recommend this to my fellow yaoi enthusiasts. Please don't play this game if you aren't over 18.
Even the censored version here on steam is spicy and has a lot of content that just isn't for you.

Alright, now go forth and spread the wings of yaoi supremacy!
- Marisa (JK)

26/03/2023 - Kaichu - The Kaiju Dating Sim Completion.
Current Backlog: 573
Currently Playing: 9

Have you ever dreamed of getting to date some beautiful and big Kaiju?
Well, here is your chance! Kaichu - The Kaiju Dating Sim is, as the name suggests, a Dating sim about dating Kaiju.
You take on the role of Gigachu, a pink, romantic Kaiju looking for love.

The game has 6 different Kaiju to date, but has a lot of repetition between each one.
The questions are randomized from a pool of questions, so duplicates are inevitable and sometimes quite annoying.
The landmarks are well made and crumble to bits perfectly as the love blossoms between these Kaiju.

The game is a short play, but if you plan to 100%, there might be some difficulties.
I decided to first explore most of the questions so I was prepared, and then went to it.
Some questions were still hard however, as some answers were surprising compared to the personality of the Kaiju.
Either way, it was a fun game to play, if not a little simple and repetitive.

I sadly don't think this game is worth it at it's full price, but at a sale, definitely.
I can definitely recommend Kaichu at a sale for dating sim enjoyers.
- Marisa (JK)

18/04/2023 - VirtuaVerse Completion.
Current Backlog: 577
Currently Playing: 9

In this cool cyberpunk point & click adventure, in a future not too far away,
one Artificial Intelligence has prevailed over all other AIs and their governments.
Society has migrated to a permanently integrated reality connected to a single neural network
that continuously optimizes people's experiences by processing personal data.

In VirtuaVerse you play as Nathan, an outsider still refusing to follow the system.
Geared with his custom headset, he is among the few that can still switch AVR off and see reality for what truly is.
The truth however is not as pretty as it once was.

The game claims itself to be a challenging point & click game, but fails to actually make it's puzzles too much of a challenge.
The dual layers of reality were fun to play with and explore, but there were too many times where I knew exactly what I needed to do and figured it out quite fast.

The story was rather boring and in the end it felt like it had been a long winded road to a very boring and uninteresting ending.
It was also quite predictable in some ways, but there was some interesting twists at the end as well, that made me scratch my head a little bit.
The soundtrack was very nice in my opinion, but also got very repetitive quite fast when you started to linger in certain areas longer.
The pixel artstyle was great and the cyberpunk feel was well implemented in it's design. Some areas were more impressive than others,
but overall, it was a very visually nice pixel game.

I wouldn't say that I regret the time I spent playing this game, but I definitely would have preferred for it to be shorter in length and less repetitive.
There was way too much traversing back and forth between different areas - the quick travel (which is totally not mentioned anywhere - hit M)
worked pretty well for the first few sections, but some of the later ones just required crossing several long screens repeatedly, back and forth, back and forth...

In the end, I would say that this game might be a great choice for those invested in cyberpunk style and point & click games,
but for someone like me who prefers a good story, this was not it. I also don't think it's a game worth 15€,
despite the fact that the game takes closer to 10 hours to beat. Take it as you will!
- Marisa (JK)

15/05/2023 - Lost Dream: Memories Completion.
Current Backlog: 579
Currently Playing: 9

Beautifully constructed, yet lacking in any real content or meaning,
Lost Dream: Memories is without a doubt, a pretty bad walking simulator.
There are many walking simulators around, many without any real content in them,
yet they somehow manage to keep me entertained for the most part.

This game tried to give you some sort of story, but failed to actually make it interesting and meaningful.
You play as a fox, and as far as I know, you've lost your memories of how you happened upon the place where you wake up in.
You go on a journey to... find yourself? Your memories? That part is still a little confusing to me.

You basically walk around levels, finding spots where you can nap and get achievements for each,
but other than that there is not really anything to do. The Nap achievements were also in the wrong order,
where Nighty Nap and Peaceful Fields achievements were reversed. It was obviously a mistake on the devs part,
but it's not game breaking nor does it make the game impossible to 100%, so it was just a minor inconvenience.

I don't believe this game is worth the money, maybe for those collecting games,
but other than that it's not great. I wouldn't recommend it.
- Marisa (JK)

16/05/2023 - Dirt 3: Complete Edition Completion.
Current Backlog: 579
Currently Playing: 8

A fun rally game that some might call one of the best.
I am not that big of a fan of racing games, but I did have a blast playing this game and trying to 100% it.
There were some annoyances, for example the multiplayer achievements, as there is basically no players playing online mode.
You have to find a group of friends who are dedicated on getting the multiplayer achievements, if you plan to achieve them.

The Gymkhana sections were a breath of fresh air from the regular rally racing, but they were often more annoying than fun.
Definitely not something I enjoyed that much. That being said, it's a game worthy of getting.
Sadly, it has been removed from the steam store, but someone might still be selling keys for it!
- Marisa (JK)

19/05/2023 - Meow Express Completion.
Current Backlog: 580
Currently Playing: 8

The game is basically the cat version of flappy bird,
though it seems the controls are even more annoying,
than I remember flappy bird being on the phone.

In Meow Express, rather than being a derpy bird, you are a derpy looking cat atop a robotic vacuum cleaner that flies!
The premise is that you are a cat bus driver and your job is to collect as many cat passengers as you can
and get through the stages and deliver the passengers to pillow land, which is the main menu of the game.

The artstyle is cute and fun, the soundtrack is pretty great and the puns are purrfect!
Sadly the game itself is very annoying and not really all that fun.
There is some maneuvering you can do to get farther in the game and reach 100% achievements,
but other than that, it's just bad in my opinion.

It might be for you though, and I will definitely recommend this game, because the game is cheap and well made.
There were lots of people who enjoyed flappy bird, so there must be people that enjoy this game as well!
- Marisa (JK)

19/05/2023 - Academy Carols Completion.
Current Backlog: 580
Currently Playing: 8

Did I really play a Christmas themed game during summer? Yes.
Did I enjoy it? Well, Yes. To some degree.

Academy Carols is a "dating sim" visual novel game where the main character is a first year student at a Magical Academy.
I say "dating sim" because more generally speaking, dating sims usually have multiple choices for the preferred partner,
but in this game there is only one, although quite handsome, prince charming. Quite literally as well, as he is a prince.

Even though the game lacks in choices of the preferred partner, the game delivers three different endings that depend on your choices.
The Perfect, The Good and The Bad endings. Although the game is free, the developer has put some thought and effort into the whole game.
The artstyle is pleasant to look at and the CGs are all very nice. The soundtrack, although slightly repetitive,
is still very good considering the price tag of nothing. The story is a little lacking,
but did manage to make me a little bit emotional, which is always a plus!

I do think this game is a lovely experience of Christmas themed romance that blossoms
between a senior student and a first year student, a prince and a commoner.
The ending leaves you hanging a little bit, so hopefully there will be continuation eventually!
Until then, I would highly recommend checking this game out.
- Marisa (JK)

10/06/2023 - Poop Clicker Completion.
Current Backlog: 588
Currently Playing: 9

EDIT: With the most recent update, the last two achievement's requirements were lowered down and a new system of autosaving was added.
The autosave feature, as far as I have heard from other players, has not fixed the random loss of progress that happens to players,
but if you manage to keep the game open at all times and 100% it, I would say this game is alright for a simple 100%.
However, I still don't particularly think this game is actually good and the fact that the dev doesn't seem to want to fix the progress loss,
I won't be recommending this game and my review will stay negative.

There was a big update to Poop Clicker, where the graphics where updated,
steam achievements were added and a lot of the mechanics were revisited and made better.

Where previously it might have taken you a maximum of 3 hours to complete the game,
with all of it's in-game achievements, now it takes you hundreds, or even thousands, of hours.

That would be a good thing, but sadly, the hours are mostly just boosted by the last two achievements,
that require you to get 50 billion poop per second and 10 trillion poop per second.

If the game was better optimized that wouldn't be an issue, but I am currently at 100 million poops per second
and I have played the game for 300+ hours. I also use an autoclicker for the majority of that time.
I am sure that will tell you exactly how annoying getting the last two achievements will be.

There has also been a weird bug that made me, and many others, loose their progress within the game.
I had played the game for 50 hours when I one night closed the game and went to sleep.
As I woke up the next morning to open the game, my progress was at 0 and in-game achievements showed at none as well.

I created a discussion about it in the community hub to see if someone could help me figure out why this happened.
The ini file of the game is crypted when the game is closed, so you can't edit it manually.
The dev commented on the discussion that it was a "anticheat measure" but as we all know,
with steam there are way more ways to cheat if you are desperate enough.

To me it felt like the developer was not taking the issue of multiple people loosing their progress seriously so for that reason,
and the ridiculous hour boosting achievements, I am going to have to change my review to a negative until further fixes are made.
- Marisa (JK)

24/06/2023 - Dragon Age: Inquisition Completion.
Current Backlog: 595
Currently Playing: 9

Mages and Templars, and innocent people caught in the middle. Some things never change.
— Varric

In Dragon Age: Inquisition you become the savior Thedas once more.
You are the Inquisitor, tasked to save the world from the massive breach in the sky,
a huge tear in the veil that leads into the fade, where demons and maker-knows-what pours out of it.
You play as an unfortunate bystander caught in the middle of an evil plot conjured by a would-be-god creature who calls itself The Elder One.

The reason why I adore this game so much is because in Inquisition you have so much freedom to create the character you wish to be.
It doesn't have elaborate origin stories that fill in the empty gaps like origins did,
nor does it limit you to a specific character of a specific race with a specific last name, *cough* Dragon Age 2 *cough*.
It gives you enough freedom to create without being too restricting with a full backstory,
so you can create full story yourself how you see fit in your mind.

You can play as a Human, Elf, Dwarf or Qunari, Inquisition being the first game in the series that allowed for the player to play as one of the horned oxmen.
It truly has a great character creator, though there is a few negatives about it that many of the fans have brought forward.
The character creator plops your character in the fade, which is very green hued, so creating accurate coloring to what you want can be a challenge.
Bioware is also known for a very poor choice in hairstyles, but I believe they did a better job in this game than the previous ones.

I am a huge fan of the whole series, but Inquisition just has something that I can't deny,
it was everything that I hoped it would be when it was released in 2014 and I still believe it holds up very well storywise and graphically.
The gameplay is something that they could have done better at, but Inquisition was a huge improvement on the previous games in my honest opinion.

It's a game that I love, it's a series I can't say no to, and I've purchased this damn game multiple times so far.
It's absolutely a fantastic piece of modern media and I definitely can recommend it to any RPG fans.
If you wish to get into the world of dragon age, I do recommend starting from the very beginning, at Dragon Age: Origins,
but don't be afraid to just jump into this third game as well, you'll learn most of what has happened along the way!
- Marisa (JK)

25/06/2023 - Insomnia: Theater in the Head Completion.
Current Backlog: 593
Currently Playing: 10

“O sleep, O gentle sleep, Nature's soft nurse, how have I frightened thee.
That thou no more will weigh my eyelids down, And steep my senses in forgetfulness?”
― William Shakespeare

As the name suggests, it is a game depicting the feeling of insomnia,
whose plot is revealed through the exquisite and colorful hand-drawn paintings.
The game plays out like a theater show in the mind of a dark haired woman,
watching her struggle with her conscience, memories, and day to day occurrences,
which are preventing her from sleeping.

Her mind is in jumbles, full of colors and excitement, though she wishes to just close her eyes and go to sleep.
She cannot, and eventually comes to terms with her own mind, creating something with her mind that releases the thoughts
and allows her to sleep for a few hours before the day begins once more.

The game is short and pretty looking, and the achievements are relatively easy to obtain.
Definitely a great game to pass the time for a moment.
Hopefully after having played this game your mind can go to rest.
- Marisa (JK)

27/06/2023 - Logicats Completion.
Current Backlog: 593
Currently Playing: 10

💜 This game was gifted to Catizens Curations for review.

Logicats is an interesting puzzle game where you get to learn programming concepts through reading code in a fun and effective puzzle kind of way.
I would say this game could be a fun learning experience for students, but it was definitely a fun experience for me as well!

I am not really interested in programming, but this game brings out programming language to my brain so it's easy to understand and simple to manage.
The puzzles get higher in difficulty as more code gets added and different commands are shown to you.
It was doable, but some puzzles did make me scratch my neck a few times for their difficulty.

Sadly the game is quite short, under an hour to be exact, but if it were any longer I feel like it would get too repetitive and boring too fast,
so it's one of those situations where it feels too short, but at the same time it feels the perfect length.
Definitely a recommendation from me for all the puzzle lovers out there
and especially if you are little bit interested in programming language!
- Marisa (JK)

01/07/2023 - Hidden Cats in New York Completion.
Current Backlog: 594
Currently Playing: 10

💜 This game was gifted to Catizens Curations for review.

Hidden Cats in New York is the third game from the awesome devs at Nekoarts Studio.
Similarly to the second game, there is different mode types in the game and secret levels to be found.
A short and pleasant experience in a big and lovely illustration!

You start with a beautiful monochromatic scenario and you uncover the colored art through finding the lovely little cats.
In the normal mode you need to find 120 cats that are hidden in fixed positions each time you play this mode
and you have 5 hints to be used, though I recommend trying for no hints as its part of an achievement.

The advanced mode is a little trickier where you need to find 200 cats in random positions,
12 Special cats that unlock the Bonus Levels for later and 20 city people that hand out hints when found,
of course the no hints route is recommended as always because of the related achievement.

The bonus levels are smaller illustrations where you get to find kittens all over the artworks
and some of them are even hidden behind or inside objects. The bonus levels are very fun nonetheless.

The game is definitely a good time and I can definitely recommend this one and the previous games as well.
- Marisa (JK)

03/07/2023 - Mushroom Cats Completion.
Current Backlog: 594
Currently Playing: 10

For a free game this small and adorable game is definitely a cute little distraction.
You need to find all the hats on the map to put on all the mushroom cats and once they get all their hats it's winter!
It's very simple, takes under 10 minutes of playtime to complete. It might be a great choice for the little ones in the family.
- Marisa (JK)

04/07/2023 - Cat Burglar: A Tail of Purrsuit Completion.
Current Backlog: 594
Currently Playing: 10

A cute little stealth game where you play as an anthropomorphic cat named Kat,
who is trying to collect gems in a base of the Dogo Corps headquarters and discover the dastardly leader's, Major Bulls', master plan.
Cat Burglar is a short, light-hearted, stealthy puzzle platformer with a pet charity awareness campaign,
each time you complete a level you are shown a different animal related charity.

The game has a cute 3D artstyle and fun gameplay. Some of the levels are rather tricky at certain times,
but it's mostly rather relaxed and easy. The soundtrack is lovely and doesn't get annoying while playing.
There is also extra challenge levels called Gem Jam mode and DOGO mode.
Gem Jam requires you to collect as many gems as you can before the timer runs out, that mode doesn't have any Dogo guards,
so you are just focused on collecting the gems. DOGO mode has extra Dogo guards that you need to avoid,
you don't collect any gems in this mode, but you need to find all 4 keys and get out of the level without the Dogo guards noticing you.
Both modes add some extra fun to the game, but Gem Jam was a tad bit annoying,
as the timer was short and achieving platinum in each level was hard.

For a free game this is definitely one of the more greater finds that I have found and it's definitely worth your time.
Absolutely fantastic little game.
- Marisa (JK)

Dude, thank you so much for talking about Cat Burglar. I didn't know it was free but after reading your thoughts and watching some gameplay I instantly downloaded it.

Dude, thank you so much for talking about Cat Burglar. I didn't know it was free but after reading your thoughts and watching some gameplay I instantly downloaded it.

I am glad you think so! I happened upon the game by accident through the curator I am part of xD <3

06/07/2023 - Mew Mew Chamber Completion.
Current Backlog: 598
Currently Playing: 10

A Cute little match-3 game that seemed like it was originally made for mobile, but it worked great regardless.
The artwork is sweet, the levels are not too challenging and there is even a free mode where you can play endlessly,
or until you run out of moves to make.

It's very cheap and for that you actually get quality.
I can definitely recommend this little game for anyone.
- Marisa (JK)

09/07/2023 - BAPTISM Completion.
Current Backlog: 610
Currently Playing: 10

Even though BAPTISM has great looking artwork and an interesting story premise, the actual contents of the game seem to be lacking.
BAPTISM is a kinetic novel, there are no choices, no dividing paths, you only need to read the story to complete it.
It can be completed fairly fast, depending on your reading speed, which was a disappointment in my opinion.
I wished that it would have gone for longer, as the story was fairly interesting.

I don't think I can recommend this game, as the amount of content you get seems too lacking.
I guess if you have some cents leftover and you wish to own it, then go for it, but otherwise it's not worth it.
- Marisa (JK)

09/07/2023 - Lost Dream: Stars Completion.
Current Backlog: 609
Currently Playing: 10

This game is utter trash and I can't believe that I actually spent the full price of it.
It's a walking simulator, that I was fully aware of, but the fact that it has absolutely NOTHING in it
and the "story" is literally a few area triggered inner monologue lines that appear on the screen when you happen upon the right area.

In the description on the store page it says "Play as the fox and traverse the land collecting quest items and competing puzzles!"
.. excuse me???? What quest items? What puzzles? There was literally nothing to collect and no puzzles to solve.
The only thing they might call a puzzle was the ending, but then again the inner monologue literally tells you what you need to do
to the big lump of rock at the end that it feels like an insult on my brains.

The areas look pretty much identical except for a different shade of color and more or less fog.
There is no quest markers or any indication where you need to go, except the inner monologue if you happen upon the right area for it to trigger,
so getting lost was inevitable in the maze of similar looking rocks, trees and bushes.
At least the fox was cute looking, but that was about it.

It's literal trash and not worth any amount spent on.
Just don't do it.
- Marisa (JK)

09/07/2023 - Mimi the Cat - New Friends Completion.
Current Backlog: 608
Currently Playing: 10

💜This game was gifted to Catizens Curations for review.

Mimi the Cat - New Friends is the second game showing the life of Mimi and it's a Sokoban type game in which you can push cardboard boxes,
stack them and even jump between platforms while carrying them, so that Mimi, or one of her lovely friends that you can meet along the way,
can reach their comfortable catbed and relax like all little cats want to do.

In this puzzle game you get to play through 50 levels, that might feel familiar to you if you played their previous Mimi the cat game, Mimi's Scratcher.
The levels work similarly as the previous game and there is no time limit once again, so the levels are all relatively easy to complete,
especially if you are familiar with Sokoban styled puzzle games.

The soundtrack sadly seems to be the exact same one as the previous game, so it felt a little repetitive,
especially as I had played through all of the levels of the previous game. I had familiarized myself with the game's music enough to know the tune.

Mimi and her friends have lovely designs and the implementation of being able to change the character
by clicking on the cats in the background was a fun addition. You firstly need to find the cats in the levels while playing though,
which did add another fun aspect to going through all the levels.

I think this game was a lovely second game, and I do recommend it, but I do hope that if the developers plan on making a third game,
that they make improvements and additions, such as making a new soundtrack with a different tune perhaps
and adding some more mechanics or changing up the items that you push around.

Either way, it's a recommend from me
and I hope you enjoy the game if you do decide to get it!
- Marisa (JK)