4 Yrs♥✓#
R2D21999
4 Yrs♥✓#
I typically do jump around, but I don't think I actually had any other Switch games going at the same time. I think I typically just totally closed out of it every now and then.
4 Yrs♥✓#
R2D219994 Yrs♥✓#
Game #109: Superbeat: Xonic
Platform: Switch
Main + Extras: 6h 8m 38s
Rating: 8/10
Date Completed: November 6, 2021
Game Synopsis: Match the rhythm to what you see on the screen with a mix of button presses and control stick movements.
Blog: This made me realize how much I actually like rhythm games.
So the way this rhythm game works is you have a left side and a right side of the screen, which is where the notes are going to appear. You need to hit certain buttons on that side of the controller, so if a note comes to the upper left, you'll have to press up on the d-pad when it passes, if a note comes to the bottom right you'll have to press the bottom button (B button for Switch), something comes to the middle left then you hit left on the d-pad, and so on and so forth. There's also going to be arrows pointing up and down that will also appear on both sides in which you need to hit up or down on the control sticks of whatever side it comes to. There's a harder difficulty that also uses the trigger buttons, also similar to the regular buttons. It's all pretty straight forward.
One complaint I have, and it's moreso a complaint towards the Switch, but this game was originally developed for the Vita, where the control sticks are level with each other, same with the buttons and d-pad. That's not the case with the Switch, the control sticks being at opposite heights of the controller can make the game trickier in songs that are more intense and fast. It only takes that split second of missing the control stick because to trip you up. All because your brain thinks that the right control stick is higher than it really is.
One thing I found kind of useless are the level up rewards. Sometimes you'll get new music which is always a treat to get. However, sometimes you'll get DJs or beats instead. DJs have functions such as giving you extended health, more exp, and probably some others. I don't actually remember because the only one I used is a DJ that gave a lot of health and a lot of exp. The beats are a sound that comes out whenever you hit your buttons during gameplay, this includes when you miss. I personally never found that to be useful and it felt distracting to the rhythm of the song so I would always turn it off.
The music is great, obviously if you have a rhythm game with bad music then your rhythm game won't be a good rhythm game. Some of my favorites is Souls of Vampire, Stargazer, and Love is Real. There's plenty of other great songs too, I recommend looking at the ost or whatever as it has a good variety and has something everyone would like.
TL;DR: Superbeat: Xonic is a fantastic rhythm game with a great music selection, but the controls aren't perfect and the level up rewards leave a bit to be desired for me.
Platform: Switch
Main + Extras: 6h 8m 38s
Rating: 8/10
Date Completed: November 6, 2021
Game Synopsis: Match the rhythm to what you see on the screen with a mix of button presses and control stick movements.
Blog: This made me realize how much I actually like rhythm games.
So the way this rhythm game works is you have a left side and a right side of the screen, which is where the notes are going to appear. You need to hit certain buttons on that side of the controller, so if a note comes to the upper left, you'll have to press up on the d-pad when it passes, if a note comes to the bottom right you'll have to press the bottom button (B button for Switch), something comes to the middle left then you hit left on the d-pad, and so on and so forth. There's also going to be arrows pointing up and down that will also appear on both sides in which you need to hit up or down on the control sticks of whatever side it comes to. There's a harder difficulty that also uses the trigger buttons, also similar to the regular buttons. It's all pretty straight forward.
One complaint I have, and it's moreso a complaint towards the Switch, but this game was originally developed for the Vita, where the control sticks are level with each other, same with the buttons and d-pad. That's not the case with the Switch, the control sticks being at opposite heights of the controller can make the game trickier in songs that are more intense and fast. It only takes that split second of missing the control stick because to trip you up. All because your brain thinks that the right control stick is higher than it really is.
One thing I found kind of useless are the level up rewards. Sometimes you'll get new music which is always a treat to get. However, sometimes you'll get DJs or beats instead. DJs have functions such as giving you extended health, more exp, and probably some others. I don't actually remember because the only one I used is a DJ that gave a lot of health and a lot of exp. The beats are a sound that comes out whenever you hit your buttons during gameplay, this includes when you miss. I personally never found that to be useful and it felt distracting to the rhythm of the song so I would always turn it off.
The music is great, obviously if you have a rhythm game with bad music then your rhythm game won't be a good rhythm game. Some of my favorites is Souls of Vampire, Stargazer, and Love is Real. There's plenty of other great songs too, I recommend looking at the ost or whatever as it has a good variety and has something everyone would like.
TL;DR: Superbeat: Xonic is a fantastic rhythm game with a great music selection, but the controls aren't perfect and the level up rewards leave a bit to be desired for me.
4 Yrs♥✓#
R2D219994 Yrs♥✓#
Game #110: Enter the Gungeon
Platform: Switch
Main Story: 2h 16m 43s
Main + Extras: 25h 35m 19s
Rating: 8/10
Date Completed: November 6, 2021
Game Synopsis: Go through a ever-changing, gun-themed dungeon to get the Gun that Kills the Past to change your past and your future.
Blog: I love a good rougelike.
Enter the Gungeon is a twin-stick shooter and also roguelike where everything is gun-related. The enemies are bullets with guns, the rest of the enemies and bosses are guns or have guns, and same with the weapons and items. It makes for some funny moments with everything being guns and bullets, and I enjoy how creative they can get with it
Enter the Gungeon is one of those games where you learn the mechanics and get better through dying. If you're new to the game you're going to struggle, and if you're someone who gets easily frustrated this will not be your favorite game. If you take the time you will get better.
Now, in my case from October to November I decided to start a fresh new game after being away from it for so long. Turns out, I'm still very good at the game. Maybe not as good as when I played a lot before that, but I beat the Dragun on my first attempt and beat a characters past on my second. However, after those initial wins, I kind of got bored. Everything felt slower, and since I wasn't dying a lot, I wasn't getting as much money for guns and items to unlock for future runs. Then there's also the unlockable characters, where some of them can take random chance and time to obtain or tedious. I didn't even bother going for one of the characters because I didn't want to go through the grind. I've already done so much and didn't feel like doing anything more than that.
I think I just don't feel challenged by the game as much as I used to. Which is a shame.
TL;DR: Enter the Gungeon is a great game, but if you're not into roguelikes you won't enjoy this, especially with the randomness to get some characters and items.
Platform: Switch
Main Story: 2h 16m 43s
Main + Extras: 25h 35m 19s
Rating: 8/10
Date Completed: November 6, 2021
Game Synopsis: Go through a ever-changing, gun-themed dungeon to get the Gun that Kills the Past to change your past and your future.
Blog: I love a good rougelike.
Enter the Gungeon is a twin-stick shooter and also roguelike where everything is gun-related. The enemies are bullets with guns, the rest of the enemies and bosses are guns or have guns, and same with the weapons and items. It makes for some funny moments with everything being guns and bullets, and I enjoy how creative they can get with it
Enter the Gungeon is one of those games where you learn the mechanics and get better through dying. If you're new to the game you're going to struggle, and if you're someone who gets easily frustrated this will not be your favorite game. If you take the time you will get better.
Now, in my case from October to November I decided to start a fresh new game after being away from it for so long. Turns out, I'm still very good at the game. Maybe not as good as when I played a lot before that, but I beat the Dragun on my first attempt and beat a characters past on my second. However, after those initial wins, I kind of got bored. Everything felt slower, and since I wasn't dying a lot, I wasn't getting as much money for guns and items to unlock for future runs. Then there's also the unlockable characters, where some of them can take random chance and time to obtain or tedious. I didn't even bother going for one of the characters because I didn't want to go through the grind. I've already done so much and didn't feel like doing anything more than that.
I think I just don't feel challenged by the game as much as I used to. Which is a shame.
TL;DR: Enter the Gungeon is a great game, but if you're not into roguelikes you won't enjoy this, especially with the randomness to get some characters and items.
3 Yrs✓#
Skyhler
3 Yrs✓#
Oh I freaking LOVED Enter the Gungeon! Currently my Roguelike of choice is Slay the Spire, but once I beat the <3 at Asc. Lv. 20, I fully intend to have Enter the Gungeon as my new Roguelike. I understand that you no longer feel challenged by it, but it's definitely a game in my future radar.
4 Yrs♥✓#
R2D219994 Yrs♥✓#
Game #111: The Messenger (2018)
Platform: Switch
Main + Extras: 10h 1m 26s
Rating: 9/10
Date Completed: November 9, 2021
Game Synopsis: Follow the adventures of a ninja to deliver a scroll to the top of a mountain in order to stop a demon army from destroying his home.
Blog: This is some delicious platforming goodness.
What's not to love about this game. The movement is fluid and the platforming tight but never unfair. I love the implementation of upgrades later on.
The game's music is one of the best parts about this game. I unironically have a playlist I listen to with most of the music from the game.
The characters are fun to talk to and it's fun to find little secrets to interact and make them talk more. If you go the whole game without listening to the Shopkeeper's stories then you're just playing wrong.
The pixel art is gorgeous and I love the contrast of certain areas in the game.
The only time this game stumbles is halfway through the game, it switches to a Metroidvania instead of a side scroller. It slows the gameplay down a lot when you have to stop every once in a while to figure out where to go and backtracking to large areas. This game would have been a 10/10 until this section. Very unfortunate.
I highly recommend The Messenger though. There's some things I haven't even talked about because I feel like it should be discovered by the player rather than me spoiling it here.
TL;DR: The Messenger is filled with good platforming, music, and funny dialogue. I could have done without having the game being turned into a Metroidvania halfway through though.
Platform: Switch
Main + Extras: 10h 1m 26s
Rating: 9/10
Date Completed: November 9, 2021
Game Synopsis: Follow the adventures of a ninja to deliver a scroll to the top of a mountain in order to stop a demon army from destroying his home.
Blog: This is some delicious platforming goodness.
What's not to love about this game. The movement is fluid and the platforming tight but never unfair. I love the implementation of upgrades later on.
The game's music is one of the best parts about this game. I unironically have a playlist I listen to with most of the music from the game.
The characters are fun to talk to and it's fun to find little secrets to interact and make them talk more. If you go the whole game without listening to the Shopkeeper's stories then you're just playing wrong.
The pixel art is gorgeous and I love the contrast of certain areas in the game.
The only time this game stumbles is halfway through the game, it switches to a Metroidvania instead of a side scroller. It slows the gameplay down a lot when you have to stop every once in a while to figure out where to go and backtracking to large areas. This game would have been a 10/10 until this section. Very unfortunate.
I highly recommend The Messenger though. There's some things I haven't even talked about because I feel like it should be discovered by the player rather than me spoiling it here.
TL;DR: The Messenger is filled with good platforming, music, and funny dialogue. I could have done without having the game being turned into a Metroidvania halfway through though.
4 Yrs♥✓#
R2D219994 Yrs♥✓#
I'll be interested to know how you feel about it after playing again. I think what I should have done is just continued from my old save but I didn't do that so...
3 Yrs✓#
Skyhler3 Yrs✓#
Nyah! You playing the Messenger (which is another good-looking game on my backlog) inspires me to play this also! I'm incredibly envious of your position haha.
Yeah, I'm looking forward to playing through it again. This won't be for a while though, because I still need to reach Asc. 20 with the Defect and Watcher in Slay the Spire, then beat the <3 on Asc. 20 with all the characters. This being The Ironclad, The Silent, The Defect and The Watcher.
One thing I actually think about Roguelikes as well, is if you've excelled with one character/build, you quickly learn what works and what doesn't. For example, I haven't got any Ascensions with the Watcher (much like the Defect when I started him) but I'm sure I'll barrel through the Ascensions in no time. I feel that Gungeon will be the same once I get the knack for it. I think I'll master one character at a time like I did with Slay the Spire... some reason I find it really entertaining that way. :3
4 Yrs♥✓#
R2D219994 Yrs♥✓#
DLC/Expansion #11: The Messenger - Picnic Panic
Game: The Messenger
Platform: Switch
100% Complete: 2h 1m 50s
Rating: 10/10
Date Completed: November 13, 2021
Synopsis: Barma’thazël is back and is causing trouble on an island. Go and investigate what's going on!
Blog: I think this was an excellent DLC.
Now, it doesn't change anything in terms of general gameplay. Your ninja doesn't learn any new tricks but there are some new things going on.
There are new bosses and even enemies. The enemies especially feel tougher than their base game counterparts, and I'm all for that.
There's of course new music which is always a blast to hear music from the Messenger.
There's also two new sections added which are "copied" from games. There's a Battletoads water race section (nowhere near as hard as Battletoads thank god) and a Punch Out section. Both are pretty fun.
And one thing that this game does better than the base game: there's no slow Metroidvania section. That's the best part!
TL;DR: The Messenger's Picnic Panic is a DLC that will challenge the player, but that's what makes it fun. Also no metroidvania section is a plus.
Game: The Messenger
Platform: Switch
100% Complete: 2h 1m 50s
Rating: 10/10
Date Completed: November 13, 2021
Synopsis: Barma’thazël is back and is causing trouble on an island. Go and investigate what's going on!
Blog: I think this was an excellent DLC.
Now, it doesn't change anything in terms of general gameplay. Your ninja doesn't learn any new tricks but there are some new things going on.
There are new bosses and even enemies. The enemies especially feel tougher than their base game counterparts, and I'm all for that.
There's of course new music which is always a blast to hear music from the Messenger.
There's also two new sections added which are "copied" from games. There's a Battletoads water race section (nowhere near as hard as Battletoads thank god) and a Punch Out section. Both are pretty fun.
And one thing that this game does better than the base game: there's no slow Metroidvania section. That's the best part!
TL;DR: The Messenger's Picnic Panic is a DLC that will challenge the player, but that's what makes it fun. Also no metroidvania section is a plus.
4 Yrs♥✓#
R2D219994 Yrs♥✓#
Yeah I think going one character at a time is the way to go. That's the way I did it anyway. It keeps me focused on one character rather than just juggling different ones.
4 Yrs♥✓#
R2D219994 Yrs♥✓#
Game #112: Pokemon Pearl
Platform: Nintendo DS
Main + Extras: 44h 30m 17s
Rating: 7/10
Date Completed: November 10, 2021
Game Synopsis: Travel the land of Sinnoh and catch the Pokemon that inhabit within it.
Blog: This was the very first Pokemon game I played as a child. It holds a special place in my gamer heart for that.
However, even I can see its flaws.
First of all it's a Pokemon game, if you've played or seen one being played, you pretty much know what to expect here. It doesn't do a whole lot new in that regard.
The game itself is slow. Just everything about it is slow. Battles are slow, getting to places is slow. Sometimes objectives are across the other side of the region. It took me like 3 or 4 play sessions to finally get to the third gym after leaving the second.
Before playing this game again I often heard about how slow it was, and I'd always be confused. I never experienced it being slow the countless times I played as a kid. Now I know. Now I understand that it's way too slow even for Pokemon.
Again, it's Pokemon. If you like Pokemon you'll still like Diamond or Pearl. I still did for the most part but I did feel some disappointment.
And for those who'd like to know, my end team was Empoleon, Garchomp, Roserade, Luxray, Starraptor, and Palkia (although I never used Palkia, he was just there for the Elite Four ride).
TL;DR: Pokemon Pearl is not unlike past Pokemon games. However in terms of how painfully slow it is, no other can really compare.
Platform: Nintendo DS
Main + Extras: 44h 30m 17s
Rating: 7/10
Date Completed: November 10, 2021
Game Synopsis: Travel the land of Sinnoh and catch the Pokemon that inhabit within it.
Blog: This was the very first Pokemon game I played as a child. It holds a special place in my gamer heart for that.
However, even I can see its flaws.
First of all it's a Pokemon game, if you've played or seen one being played, you pretty much know what to expect here. It doesn't do a whole lot new in that regard.
The game itself is slow. Just everything about it is slow. Battles are slow, getting to places is slow. Sometimes objectives are across the other side of the region. It took me like 3 or 4 play sessions to finally get to the third gym after leaving the second.
Before playing this game again I often heard about how slow it was, and I'd always be confused. I never experienced it being slow the countless times I played as a kid. Now I know. Now I understand that it's way too slow even for Pokemon.
Again, it's Pokemon. If you like Pokemon you'll still like Diamond or Pearl. I still did for the most part but I did feel some disappointment.
And for those who'd like to know, my end team was Empoleon, Garchomp, Roserade, Luxray, Starraptor, and Palkia (although I never used Palkia, he was just there for the Elite Four ride).
TL;DR: Pokemon Pearl is not unlike past Pokemon games. However in terms of how painfully slow it is, no other can really compare.
4 Yrs♥✓#
R2D219994 Yrs♥✓#
Game #113: Bird and Beans
Platform: Nintendo DS
Main Story: 17m 38s
Rating: 6/10
Date Completed: November 11, 2021
Game Synopsis: Catch the falling beans with your long tongue.
Blog: What a strange game.
Bird and Beans (called Pyoro in some countries) is a game published by Nintendo where you play as a bird, and you're catching beans with your tongue. There's also a separate mode where you're shooting beans out of your mouth to destroy asteroids.
That's it really. There's no story or anything like that. As basic as you get.
It's a fun little arcade game that I might come back to, play a round or two if I'm bored. It's nothing more than that however and that's really its only flaw.
TL;DR: Bird and Beans is a fun, short game but it's nothing that's necessary.
---------------
Game #114: Bomberman Blitz
Platform: Nintendo DS
Main Story: 11m 28s
Rating: 5/10
Date Completed: November 11, 2021
Game Synopsis: Bomb your enemies to come out on top.
Blog: This is bomberman. Yep. That's it.
One thing that might actually be different is that the bottom screen and top screen of the DS screen are different parts of the map which is neat.
This bomberman game is focused entirely on multiplayer and going head to head against your friends. I'm sure it's really fun with friends.
Unfortunately none of my friends have the game and probably wouldn't buy it anyway.
So I'm stuck with playing with computer players. Which is not as fun and offers myself very little value.
TL;DR: Bomberman Blitz is a DS bomberman focused entirely on local multiplayer. Not for me though.
---------------
Game #115: Hexceed
Platform: Switch
Main Story: 16h 48m 15s
Rating: 5/10
Date Completed: November 13, 2021
Game Synopsis: Like Minesweeper but with hexagons and new twists.
Blog: I'm a sucker for puzzle games.
Hexceed is basically Minesweeper, but instead of squares it's hexagons. However, there's a bit more to the game mechanics than your usual Minesweeper.
In the first few levels nothing will stand out. Then the game starts introducing arrows with the numbers. For example, there might be one time where the arrow points to the right and has a 2. This means that out of all the spaces to the right of that hexagon, 2 of them have mines. Sometimes instead of arrows it will highlight a big surrounding space instead. It's really cool and a unique take on Minesweeper.
Now unfortunately one very bad thing happened with this game and it makes me very disappointed. For whatever reason it just doesn't work anymore. I try to play levels and whenever I touch a hexagon now nothing happens. I was really far into the game too. I'm pretty sure it's an unintentional bug, but I couldn't truly finish the game unfortunately. Very unfortunate. At least it was free.
TL;DR: Hexceed is a great Minesweeper clone that changes things up, but unfortunately I ran into a bug that wouldn't let me progress in the game.
Platform: Nintendo DS
Main Story: 17m 38s
Rating: 6/10
Date Completed: November 11, 2021
Game Synopsis: Catch the falling beans with your long tongue.
Blog: What a strange game.
Bird and Beans (called Pyoro in some countries) is a game published by Nintendo where you play as a bird, and you're catching beans with your tongue. There's also a separate mode where you're shooting beans out of your mouth to destroy asteroids.
That's it really. There's no story or anything like that. As basic as you get.
It's a fun little arcade game that I might come back to, play a round or two if I'm bored. It's nothing more than that however and that's really its only flaw.
TL;DR: Bird and Beans is a fun, short game but it's nothing that's necessary.
---------------
Game #114: Bomberman Blitz
Platform: Nintendo DS
Main Story: 11m 28s
Rating: 5/10
Date Completed: November 11, 2021
Game Synopsis: Bomb your enemies to come out on top.
Blog: This is bomberman. Yep. That's it.
One thing that might actually be different is that the bottom screen and top screen of the DS screen are different parts of the map which is neat.
This bomberman game is focused entirely on multiplayer and going head to head against your friends. I'm sure it's really fun with friends.
Unfortunately none of my friends have the game and probably wouldn't buy it anyway.
So I'm stuck with playing with computer players. Which is not as fun and offers myself very little value.
TL;DR: Bomberman Blitz is a DS bomberman focused entirely on local multiplayer. Not for me though.
---------------
Game #115: Hexceed
Platform: Switch
Main Story: 16h 48m 15s
Rating: 5/10
Date Completed: November 13, 2021
Game Synopsis: Like Minesweeper but with hexagons and new twists.
Blog: I'm a sucker for puzzle games.
Hexceed is basically Minesweeper, but instead of squares it's hexagons. However, there's a bit more to the game mechanics than your usual Minesweeper.
In the first few levels nothing will stand out. Then the game starts introducing arrows with the numbers. For example, there might be one time where the arrow points to the right and has a 2. This means that out of all the spaces to the right of that hexagon, 2 of them have mines. Sometimes instead of arrows it will highlight a big surrounding space instead. It's really cool and a unique take on Minesweeper.
Now unfortunately one very bad thing happened with this game and it makes me very disappointed. For whatever reason it just doesn't work anymore. I try to play levels and whenever I touch a hexagon now nothing happens. I was really far into the game too. I'm pretty sure it's an unintentional bug, but I couldn't truly finish the game unfortunately. Very unfortunate. At least it was free.
TL;DR: Hexceed is a great Minesweeper clone that changes things up, but unfortunately I ran into a bug that wouldn't let me progress in the game.
4 Yrs♥✓#
R2D219994 Yrs♥✓#
Game #116: Blasteroids
Platform: Arcade
Main Story: 21m 54s
Rating: 4/10
Date Completed: November 11, 2021
Game Synopsis: Wait a minute, this is just Asteroids!
Blog: Yeah that's right, we're talking about arcade games now.
If you've seen the game Asteroids, that's basically what this game is except mission based.
Missions have pretty much the same objectives, which is to just shoot things. Asteroids, aliens, whatever. If it's listed as something you need to do, do it.
After you finish a set of missions, you fight a boss. There's only 2 sets of missions, and therefore only 2 bosses. That said, these bosses were bull shit. So many times they would destroy me within seconds. I'm so glad I had infinite lives. It would take me a while to get lucky a few times and dodge their advances.
I also want to add that there's a fuel system that also acts as your health bar. Every inch you move, fuel gets drained. If you get hit, fuel gets drained. If it's empty your ship explodes. I feel like fuel and health need to be either separate meters, or that fuel shouldn't be there at all.
It doesn't help with fuel that the movement with the strange spinny joystick is just really weird to control too.
The game doesn't really have much pizzazz to it if I'm being honest. It's rather dull.
TL;DR: Blasteroids is a Asteroids clone that
---------------
Game #117: Area 51 (1995)
Platform: Arcade
Main Story: 19m 16s
Rating: 5/10
Date Completed: November 11, 2021
Game Synopsis: Defend the base from an alien attack!
Blog: Ooooh a light-gun game.
Too bad it's got problems. :/
I feel like this game is pretty unfair. Yes I know it's an arcade game designed to take your money but I still hold that opinion even knowing the strategy.
In this game I'm constantly finding myself having to reload. It's annoying. The way you reload is by pointing off the screen and pressing the trigger. That's fine, makes sense you reload that way. What's not fine are the enemies that pop-up really close by to the edge of the screen. So close that the game can't seem to register if I'm reloading or aiming, but I'm clearly aiming at the alien!
Then there's the aliens that just pop up and shoot in a split second. Such garbage! Am I suppose to predict the future that kind of thing would happen? It happened a lot while I was reloading, because once again you need to reload constantly.
The game overall is fun, especially with infinite lives. But it can be so frustrating at times.
TL;DR: Area 51 is a fun light-gun game with some pretty unfair moments.
---------------
Game #118: Shinobi
Platform: Arcade
Main Story: 1h 47m 32s
Rating: 4/10
Date Completed: November 18, 2021
Game Synopsis: You're a ninja! Take down your enemies and save the hostages!
Blog: I'm convinced that there are no fair arcade games.
Shinobi is an arcade platformer and it just doesn't know when to stop.
It's so damn long! Over one hour standing at the arcade machine! Were the developers out of their damn minds? This is with infinite continues btw, so this is every level and boss back-to-back.
Also doesn't help that whenever you get hit, it's basically a 1 hit kill or very close to it. You basically have to play perfectly and the game won't make that easy. Enemies spawn out of nowhere. The ninja enemies in particular are the worst because they constantly jump around. The game is just chaos and it isn't very much fun.
TL;DR: Shinobi is an arcade platformer, but it is incredibly unfair. Make sure you're at an arcade that will give unlimited continues.
---------------
Game #119: Metal Slug 4
Platform: Arcade
Main Story: 55m 37s
Rating: 4/10
Date Completed: December 18, 2021
Game Synopsis: Mow down your enemies with a flurry of bullets.
Blog: There's a good game under all this bull shit.
The artstyle is great and the gameplay feels really fun.
My issue, as with the other arcade games, is that it feels very unfair.
Enemies would often shoot their bullets even before being on-screen. It doesn't help that this is another game where you're basically dead in one hit. Sometimes there were moments where just too much was being thrown at me all at once.
I wish the game would ease into that difficulty rather than just throw the player in face first.
There's also apparently some glitches. I've never ran into that myself and I can't attest to anything for the console versions, as I was on the arcade version.l. Watch out for that though.
TL;DR: Metal Slug 4 feels like it could be fun, but the difficulty spike is way too much.
Platform: Arcade
Main Story: 21m 54s
Rating: 4/10
Date Completed: November 11, 2021
Game Synopsis: Wait a minute, this is just Asteroids!
Blog: Yeah that's right, we're talking about arcade games now.
If you've seen the game Asteroids, that's basically what this game is except mission based.
Missions have pretty much the same objectives, which is to just shoot things. Asteroids, aliens, whatever. If it's listed as something you need to do, do it.
After you finish a set of missions, you fight a boss. There's only 2 sets of missions, and therefore only 2 bosses. That said, these bosses were bull shit. So many times they would destroy me within seconds. I'm so glad I had infinite lives. It would take me a while to get lucky a few times and dodge their advances.
I also want to add that there's a fuel system that also acts as your health bar. Every inch you move, fuel gets drained. If you get hit, fuel gets drained. If it's empty your ship explodes. I feel like fuel and health need to be either separate meters, or that fuel shouldn't be there at all.
It doesn't help with fuel that the movement with the strange spinny joystick is just really weird to control too.
The game doesn't really have much pizzazz to it if I'm being honest. It's rather dull.
TL;DR: Blasteroids is a Asteroids clone that
---------------
Game #117: Area 51 (1995)
Platform: Arcade
Main Story: 19m 16s
Rating: 5/10
Date Completed: November 11, 2021
Game Synopsis: Defend the base from an alien attack!
Blog: Ooooh a light-gun game.
Too bad it's got problems. :/
I feel like this game is pretty unfair. Yes I know it's an arcade game designed to take your money but I still hold that opinion even knowing the strategy.
In this game I'm constantly finding myself having to reload. It's annoying. The way you reload is by pointing off the screen and pressing the trigger. That's fine, makes sense you reload that way. What's not fine are the enemies that pop-up really close by to the edge of the screen. So close that the game can't seem to register if I'm reloading or aiming, but I'm clearly aiming at the alien!
Then there's the aliens that just pop up and shoot in a split second. Such garbage! Am I suppose to predict the future that kind of thing would happen? It happened a lot while I was reloading, because once again you need to reload constantly.
The game overall is fun, especially with infinite lives. But it can be so frustrating at times.
TL;DR: Area 51 is a fun light-gun game with some pretty unfair moments.
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Game #118: Shinobi
Platform: Arcade
Main Story: 1h 47m 32s
Rating: 4/10
Date Completed: November 18, 2021
Game Synopsis: You're a ninja! Take down your enemies and save the hostages!
Blog: I'm convinced that there are no fair arcade games.
Shinobi is an arcade platformer and it just doesn't know when to stop.
It's so damn long! Over one hour standing at the arcade machine! Were the developers out of their damn minds? This is with infinite continues btw, so this is every level and boss back-to-back.
Also doesn't help that whenever you get hit, it's basically a 1 hit kill or very close to it. You basically have to play perfectly and the game won't make that easy. Enemies spawn out of nowhere. The ninja enemies in particular are the worst because they constantly jump around. The game is just chaos and it isn't very much fun.
TL;DR: Shinobi is an arcade platformer, but it is incredibly unfair. Make sure you're at an arcade that will give unlimited continues.
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Game #119: Metal Slug 4
Platform: Arcade
Main Story: 55m 37s
Rating: 4/10
Date Completed: December 18, 2021
Game Synopsis: Mow down your enemies with a flurry of bullets.
Blog: There's a good game under all this bull shit.
The artstyle is great and the gameplay feels really fun.
My issue, as with the other arcade games, is that it feels very unfair.
Enemies would often shoot their bullets even before being on-screen. It doesn't help that this is another game where you're basically dead in one hit. Sometimes there were moments where just too much was being thrown at me all at once.
I wish the game would ease into that difficulty rather than just throw the player in face first.
There's also apparently some glitches. I've never ran into that myself and I can't attest to anything for the console versions, as I was on the arcade version.l. Watch out for that though.
TL;DR: Metal Slug 4 feels like it could be fun, but the difficulty spike is way too much.
4 Yrs♥✓#
R2D219994 Yrs♥✓#
Game #120: Aragami
Platform: Switch
Main + Extras: 6h 44m 27s
Rating: 5/10
Date Completed: November 19, 2021
Game Synopsis: You're a vengeful spirit, on a mission for a girl called Yamiko. Complete it before the sun rises.
Blog: Oh boy, stealth games. One of the quietest genres out there. They can definitely be a mixed bag.
Aragami is overall fun. I like the mechanics with the shadows and I feel like a bad ass sometimes when I teleport next to someone and kill them. The bosses I had fun with and the maps were pretty good.
However I ran into several bugs. Multiple times I had the camera just go crazy on me. I'm not sure what was up with that. Then there was one time I wasn't able to kill someone who was right next to me. They weren't anyone super important or had anything protecting them, they were just a normal guard. Both the camera and the guard being unkillable screwed me up and I got caught. It was a load of crap.
One complaint I have, that was intentional by the developers, is the story. I saw the ending coming a mile away. I won't spoil it, but it felt very cliché and I could figure it out by the second chapter.
Aragami is fun, but I had a unique negative experience with it that might not reflect everyone else's thoughts on it. I know my roommate who played the game before has a more positive view of it than me.
TL;DR: Aragami is a fun stealth game but the bugs and the obvious story made it hard for me to enjoy it.
Platform: Switch
Main + Extras: 6h 44m 27s
Rating: 5/10
Date Completed: November 19, 2021
Game Synopsis: You're a vengeful spirit, on a mission for a girl called Yamiko. Complete it before the sun rises.
Blog: Oh boy, stealth games. One of the quietest genres out there. They can definitely be a mixed bag.
Aragami is overall fun. I like the mechanics with the shadows and I feel like a bad ass sometimes when I teleport next to someone and kill them. The bosses I had fun with and the maps were pretty good.
However I ran into several bugs. Multiple times I had the camera just go crazy on me. I'm not sure what was up with that. Then there was one time I wasn't able to kill someone who was right next to me. They weren't anyone super important or had anything protecting them, they were just a normal guard. Both the camera and the guard being unkillable screwed me up and I got caught. It was a load of crap.
One complaint I have, that was intentional by the developers, is the story. I saw the ending coming a mile away. I won't spoil it, but it felt very cliché and I could figure it out by the second chapter.
Aragami is fun, but I had a unique negative experience with it that might not reflect everyone else's thoughts on it. I know my roommate who played the game before has a more positive view of it than me.
TL;DR: Aragami is a fun stealth game but the bugs and the obvious story made it hard for me to enjoy it.
4 Yrs♥✓#
R2D219994 Yrs♥✓#
DLC/Expansion #12: Aragami - Nightfall
Game: Aragami
Platform: Switch
Main Story: 2h 1m 41s
Rating: 6/10
Date Completed: November 20, 2021
Synopsis: A prequel to the base game, following two ninjas.
Blog: This is alright. It can also be a co-op game so you can have fun with a friend if you want. I did not. I very much played alone.
I had some of the same technical problems here that I did in the base game. Mainly the camera issues. I don't recall having the bugs where I couldn't kill people. Camera issues are still here.
Also the story doesn't mean anything to me. One of the main characters has some strange poison in his body, and he's suffering but it really has no important significance to the story aside from making the player feel like they missed out on something. The other character is a woman who's like his apprentice or something. I don't care for either of them.
That's really it. I think it's slightly better than the base game, I felt like I enjoyed it more but it's also really short. So your milage may vary I guess.
TL;DR: Nightfall is a good DLC but still has a few of the same problems that the base game has.
Game: Aragami
Platform: Switch
Main Story: 2h 1m 41s
Rating: 6/10
Date Completed: November 20, 2021
Synopsis: A prequel to the base game, following two ninjas.
Blog: This is alright. It can also be a co-op game so you can have fun with a friend if you want. I did not. I very much played alone.
I had some of the same technical problems here that I did in the base game. Mainly the camera issues. I don't recall having the bugs where I couldn't kill people. Camera issues are still here.
Also the story doesn't mean anything to me. One of the main characters has some strange poison in his body, and he's suffering but it really has no important significance to the story aside from making the player feel like they missed out on something. The other character is a woman who's like his apprentice or something. I don't care for either of them.
That's really it. I think it's slightly better than the base game, I felt like I enjoyed it more but it's also really short. So your milage may vary I guess.
TL;DR: Nightfall is a good DLC but still has a few of the same problems that the base game has.
4 Yrs♥✓#
R2D219994 Yrs♥✓#
Game #121: Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga
Platform: Nintendo DS
Main + Extras: 17h 34m 33s
100% Complete: 24h 2m 28s
Rating: 6/10
Date Completed: November 27, 2021
Game Synopsis: Go through the first 6 Star Wars movies in Lego form.
Blog: I used to have the Wii version but not anymore. :(
Lego Star Wars the Complete Saga is the biggest Lego Star Wars crossover yet... until the Skywalker Saga comes out. Until then, this is the biggest.
Most people have played and talked about the console versions, and I don't blame them. They're pretty good Lego games. One version people don't really talk about is the DS version, which is essentially a diet version of the console releases.
It's not a bad game and it still has its charm. It's obvious that it's missing a few things the other versions had. For example, some extras are completely not there. For instance, there is no extra for a minikit detector. Which is very surprising to me as that always feels like an essential one to have. Also, no bounty hunter missions. Which I liked those in the Original Trilogy and Complete Saga on Wii. Those were fun to me. There were also no bonus levels you get from the gold bricks.
The main levels are there, although there's 5 levels this time instead of the usual 6. Some of the levels they picked over others I don't understand. For example in Episode 3 they included the ship section to get to General Grievous' ship but they don't have a level for when you're in the ship, and for those who have watched the movies you'll know that that's more important to the movie than the flying the ship section.
The levels that are there, are essentially flatter versions of their console counterparts. Makes sense, they're on the DS. I kinda wish they went their own route with it but I guess you have to pick and choose your battles.
One thing this game has that the others don't are minigames. These focus on the touch screen aspect of the DS and I don't think they're very good if I'm being honest. Some of them are even quite frustrating like the deflection game, which took me hours to get the gold brick on.
Overall it's not bad, but if you have other options for playing the Complete Saga; I would get those over the DS version.
TL;DR: Lego Star Wars the Complete Saga on DS is just a diet version of the console games. It's not bad, but I wouldn't choose it over a console version.
Platform: Nintendo DS
Main + Extras: 17h 34m 33s
100% Complete: 24h 2m 28s
Rating: 6/10
Date Completed: November 27, 2021
Game Synopsis: Go through the first 6 Star Wars movies in Lego form.
Blog: I used to have the Wii version but not anymore. :(
Lego Star Wars the Complete Saga is the biggest Lego Star Wars crossover yet... until the Skywalker Saga comes out. Until then, this is the biggest.
Most people have played and talked about the console versions, and I don't blame them. They're pretty good Lego games. One version people don't really talk about is the DS version, which is essentially a diet version of the console releases.
It's not a bad game and it still has its charm. It's obvious that it's missing a few things the other versions had. For example, some extras are completely not there. For instance, there is no extra for a minikit detector. Which is very surprising to me as that always feels like an essential one to have. Also, no bounty hunter missions. Which I liked those in the Original Trilogy and Complete Saga on Wii. Those were fun to me. There were also no bonus levels you get from the gold bricks.
The main levels are there, although there's 5 levels this time instead of the usual 6. Some of the levels they picked over others I don't understand. For example in Episode 3 they included the ship section to get to General Grievous' ship but they don't have a level for when you're in the ship, and for those who have watched the movies you'll know that that's more important to the movie than the flying the ship section.
The levels that are there, are essentially flatter versions of their console counterparts. Makes sense, they're on the DS. I kinda wish they went their own route with it but I guess you have to pick and choose your battles.
One thing this game has that the others don't are minigames. These focus on the touch screen aspect of the DS and I don't think they're very good if I'm being honest. Some of them are even quite frustrating like the deflection game, which took me hours to get the gold brick on.
Overall it's not bad, but if you have other options for playing the Complete Saga; I would get those over the DS version.
TL;DR: Lego Star Wars the Complete Saga on DS is just a diet version of the console games. It's not bad, but I wouldn't choose it over a console version.
3 Yrs✓#
Skyhler3 Yrs✓#
I agree. Aragami was fun, but definitely lacked certain properties and had issues that stopped it being as enjoyable as it potentially could be. The idea was cool, just wish there were less glitches and a better story.
4 Yrs♥✓#
R2D219994 Yrs♥✓#
Game #122: What Lies in the Fog
Platform: PC
Main Story: 24m 28s
Rating: 8/10
Date Completed: December 1, 2021
Game Synopsis: You're in a small town surrounded by fog. The priest requests you to bring all the citizens to the church.
Blog: On the first day of Itchmas my true love gave to me: a creepy fog surrounding a town.
In this game you're a man. Your job is to take requests from the town citizens in order to get them to follow you into the church, as the priest requests. The citizens requests are usually wanting something that you can find somewhere else within the town.
First off, I'm loving the atmosphere. I love the creepy, eerie-ness of it all. The color scheme being monochrome, the townsfolk in general being weird, and even the fog just seems odd with the town being surrounded by it.
One thing I'm not so in love with is the walking back and forth. In this game you can only have one character following you at a time. I imagine the developers didn't want to have more than one character following as it might ruin the aesthetic if a train of characters followed you. It doesn't help with the game's tedium though. I enjoy going around getting things for the townspeople, but it's annoying when I have to go back and forth between areas to get multiple people to the same place.
Overall though, the developers did a good job.
TL;DR: What Lies in the Fog is a game with a great atmosphere, but I wish I didn't have to go back-and-forth so much.
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Game #123: The Black Iris
Platform: PC
Main Story: 32m 29s
Rating: 8/10
Date Completed: December 2, 2021
Game Synopsis: A scientist is tasked with decommissioning equipment at an abandoned research facility.
Blog: On the second day of Itchmas my true love gave to me: 2 secret codes.
The Black Iris is a 3D over-the-shoulder game reminiscent of games like Resident Evil. It's even got the tank controls of old.
Just like What Lies in the Fog, it's a game that's all about atmosphere and it does that well. The environments are abandoned and dilapidated. There are bodies of workers. There's also a few especially creepy moments.
I wasn't entirely in love with the camera. There were times where I get a strange overhead view that, while intentional, kinda made the controls screwy for me.
I also wish there were more puzzle-solving elements, even if they were only optional. At times it feels like it's approaching puzzle solving but you're really only getting keys in the form of items to unlock the way.
The Black Iris is a good Itch game though, I highly recommend it if you like spooky stuff.
TL;DR: The Black Iris sets up a nice, creepy atmosphere. I wish the camera wouldn't change so much though, and I wish there was more puzzle solving.
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Game #124: A Firm Handshake
Platform: PC
Main Story: 6m 2s
Rating: 6/10
Date Completed: December 2, 2021
Game Synopsis: Shake someone's hand.
Blog: On the third day of Itchmas my true love gave to me: three minutes of gameplay.
The time it takes you to read this whole post is the time it'll take you to finish this game.
A Firm Handshake is a game about shaking someone's hand. That's it. That's the game.
It's a game that feels like the developers could have gone further with this idea. Almost like they could have made some kind of puzzle game with this idea. There's one section where you need to get past columns of moving sumo wrestlers
Again, they just don't go far with the idea. It could have been a really fun game too.
TL;DR: A Firm Handshake is an insanely short game about shaking hands. I just wish it went further with the concept
Platform: PC
Main Story: 24m 28s
Rating: 8/10
Date Completed: December 1, 2021
Game Synopsis: You're in a small town surrounded by fog. The priest requests you to bring all the citizens to the church.
Blog: On the first day of Itchmas my true love gave to me: a creepy fog surrounding a town.
In this game you're a man. Your job is to take requests from the town citizens in order to get them to follow you into the church, as the priest requests. The citizens requests are usually wanting something that you can find somewhere else within the town.
First off, I'm loving the atmosphere. I love the creepy, eerie-ness of it all. The color scheme being monochrome, the townsfolk in general being weird, and even the fog just seems odd with the town being surrounded by it.
One thing I'm not so in love with is the walking back and forth. In this game you can only have one character following you at a time. I imagine the developers didn't want to have more than one character following as it might ruin the aesthetic if a train of characters followed you. It doesn't help with the game's tedium though. I enjoy going around getting things for the townspeople, but it's annoying when I have to go back and forth between areas to get multiple people to the same place.
Overall though, the developers did a good job.
TL;DR: What Lies in the Fog is a game with a great atmosphere, but I wish I didn't have to go back-and-forth so much.
---------------------
Game #123: The Black Iris
Platform: PC
Main Story: 32m 29s
Rating: 8/10
Date Completed: December 2, 2021
Game Synopsis: A scientist is tasked with decommissioning equipment at an abandoned research facility.
Blog: On the second day of Itchmas my true love gave to me: 2 secret codes.
The Black Iris is a 3D over-the-shoulder game reminiscent of games like Resident Evil. It's even got the tank controls of old.
Just like What Lies in the Fog, it's a game that's all about atmosphere and it does that well. The environments are abandoned and dilapidated. There are bodies of workers. There's also a few especially creepy moments.
I wasn't entirely in love with the camera. There were times where I get a strange overhead view that, while intentional, kinda made the controls screwy for me.
I also wish there were more puzzle-solving elements, even if they were only optional. At times it feels like it's approaching puzzle solving but you're really only getting keys in the form of items to unlock the way.
The Black Iris is a good Itch game though, I highly recommend it if you like spooky stuff.
TL;DR: The Black Iris sets up a nice, creepy atmosphere. I wish the camera wouldn't change so much though, and I wish there was more puzzle solving.
---------------------
Game #124: A Firm Handshake
Platform: PC
Main Story: 6m 2s
Rating: 6/10
Date Completed: December 2, 2021
Game Synopsis: Shake someone's hand.
Blog: On the third day of Itchmas my true love gave to me: three minutes of gameplay.
The time it takes you to read this whole post is the time it'll take you to finish this game.
A Firm Handshake is a game about shaking someone's hand. That's it. That's the game.
It's a game that feels like the developers could have gone further with this idea. Almost like they could have made some kind of puzzle game with this idea. There's one section where you need to get past columns of moving sumo wrestlers
Again, they just don't go far with the idea. It could have been a really fun game too.
TL;DR: A Firm Handshake is an insanely short game about shaking hands. I just wish it went further with the concept
4 Yrs♥✓#
R2D219994 Yrs♥✓#
Game #125: Crow Crime: A Murder Mystery
Platform: Browser
Main Story: 2m 36s
100% Complete: 4m 49s
Rating: 5/10
Date Completed: December 3, 2021
Game Synopsis: Who ate the cake?
Blog: On the fourth day of Itchmas my true love gave to me: 4 hungry crows!
I didn't enjoy this one so much.
Crow Crime: A Murder Mystery is a game where the objective is to find out which of the three crows ate the cake. I believe it's suppose to be a comedy.
What isn't so funny is that whatever choice you make, it always ends the same way. Seriously! The end of the game, you never find the culprit or choose wrong or whatever. It just ends as an "Oh well". The game is so short too, I 100%'d the game in under 5 minutes. That's incredibly short wow.
I just wish the game hadn't waste my time.
TL;DR: Crow Crime: A Murder Mystery is a game about solving a crime, unfortunately your choices don't matter.
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Game #126: La Maleta
Platform: Browser
Main Story: 16m 45s
Rating: 7/10
Date Completed: December 4, 2021
Game Synopsis: A game based on a poem of the same name.
Blog: On the Fifth day of Itchmas my true love gave to me: 5 packed up suitcases!
As mentioned, La Maleta is a point and click game that references the poem of the same name. The poem and game talk about the NATO referendum of the Canary Islands back in the 1980s.
The game follows the perspective of a young man going through this time and how he views it.
It's neat to see it and read the poem, but the gameplay is rather slow and repetitive with no clear direction, especially at the beginning. I only really understood what was going on after reading the poem at the end.
This isn't a bad game though. I thought it was quite relaxing personally, but maybe I was just tired from all the finals I was dealing with at the time.
TL;DR: La Maleta shows a historical perspective of the Canary Islands, but I wish it were more clear at the beginning and that the gameplay wasn't so needlessly repetitive.
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Game #127: Escaped Chasm
Platform: PC
Main Story: 30m 51s
Main + Extras: 48m 57s
Rating: 8/10
Date Completed: December 5, 2021
Game Synopsis: A girl waits for her parents to come home as she dreams away in her room.
Blog: On the sixth day of Itchmas my true love gave to me: 6 parents missing!
Escaped Chasm is a good game with a pretty glaring issue.
There's nothing wrong with the game itself. The pixel art is great, especially with the color pallet being a bluish-purple, black, and white. It allows for other colors such as red stand out and gives a sense of strangeness to it. The initial story is also great, having a girl wander throughout her house each day, checking for her parents and the surrounding rooms. It doesn't make the gameplay feel repetitive (like other Itch titles) because something is always different.
My main problem is the ending. I won't spoil too much, but the ending makes this game seem as if it's an introduction to an entirely different game. One that the player doesn't get to experience. That's disappointing to me, and plenty of others too. It shifts the whole tone of the game for the worse.
That said, I still had a fun time with it overall. I liked the initial experience, I just wish the ending matched that.
TL;DR: Escaped Chasm is a great little game but the ending ruins it.
Platform: Browser
Main Story: 2m 36s
100% Complete: 4m 49s
Rating: 5/10
Date Completed: December 3, 2021
Game Synopsis: Who ate the cake?
Blog: On the fourth day of Itchmas my true love gave to me: 4 hungry crows!
I didn't enjoy this one so much.
Crow Crime: A Murder Mystery is a game where the objective is to find out which of the three crows ate the cake. I believe it's suppose to be a comedy.
What isn't so funny is that whatever choice you make, it always ends the same way. Seriously! The end of the game, you never find the culprit or choose wrong or whatever. It just ends as an "Oh well". The game is so short too, I 100%'d the game in under 5 minutes. That's incredibly short wow.
I just wish the game hadn't waste my time.
TL;DR: Crow Crime: A Murder Mystery is a game about solving a crime, unfortunately your choices don't matter.
---------------------
Game #126: La Maleta
Platform: Browser
Main Story: 16m 45s
Rating: 7/10
Date Completed: December 4, 2021
Game Synopsis: A game based on a poem of the same name.
Blog: On the Fifth day of Itchmas my true love gave to me: 5 packed up suitcases!
As mentioned, La Maleta is a point and click game that references the poem of the same name. The poem and game talk about the NATO referendum of the Canary Islands back in the 1980s.
The game follows the perspective of a young man going through this time and how he views it.
It's neat to see it and read the poem, but the gameplay is rather slow and repetitive with no clear direction, especially at the beginning. I only really understood what was going on after reading the poem at the end.
This isn't a bad game though. I thought it was quite relaxing personally, but maybe I was just tired from all the finals I was dealing with at the time.
TL;DR: La Maleta shows a historical perspective of the Canary Islands, but I wish it were more clear at the beginning and that the gameplay wasn't so needlessly repetitive.
---------------------
Game #127: Escaped Chasm
Platform: PC
Main Story: 30m 51s
Main + Extras: 48m 57s
Rating: 8/10
Date Completed: December 5, 2021
Game Synopsis: A girl waits for her parents to come home as she dreams away in her room.
Blog: On the sixth day of Itchmas my true love gave to me: 6 parents missing!
Escaped Chasm is a good game with a pretty glaring issue.
There's nothing wrong with the game itself. The pixel art is great, especially with the color pallet being a bluish-purple, black, and white. It allows for other colors such as red stand out and gives a sense of strangeness to it. The initial story is also great, having a girl wander throughout her house each day, checking for her parents and the surrounding rooms. It doesn't make the gameplay feel repetitive (like other Itch titles) because something is always different.
My main problem is the ending. I won't spoil too much, but the ending makes this game seem as if it's an introduction to an entirely different game. One that the player doesn't get to experience. That's disappointing to me, and plenty of others too. It shifts the whole tone of the game for the worse.
That said, I still had a fun time with it overall. I liked the initial experience, I just wish the ending matched that.
TL;DR: Escaped Chasm is a great little game but the ending ruins it.
4 Yrs♥✓#
R2D219994 Yrs♥✓#
Game #128: Therapy with Dr. Albert Kruger
Platform: PC
Main Story: 18m 3s
100% Complete: 46m 54s
Rating: 7/10
Date Completed: December 7, 2021
Game Synopsis: You're at a therapist's office for therapy. Nothing strange here.
Blog: On the seventh day of Itchmas my true love gave to me: 7 blots for spinning.
Therapy with Dr. Albert Kruger is a game where you're a patient at a therapist's office but something's off about him.
It's a visual novel type of game, where you make choices to change the outcome of the game. I enjoyed the premise of this game; having to solve math problems, guess ink blots, and finding the ball under a cup. All while trying to determine what's going on.
One thing I'm disappointed with is that if you try to fast-forward, the game does a fourth wall breaking reason as to why you can't. That's so annoying for doing multiple endings, there's not even a narrative reason for there to be fourth wall breaks. It doesn't need to be so cliché like that. So I had to just mash on the clicker for my mouse, how wonderful.
TL;DR: Dr. Albert Kruger is an interesting premise for a visual novel, but going for multiple endings is a drag.
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Game #129: Storyseeker
Platform: PC
100% Complete: 26m 16s
Rating: 9/10
Date Completed: December 8, 2021
Game Synopsis: Explore a world and figure out what all happened to the world.
Blog: On the eight day of Itchmas my true love gave to me: 8 weasels swimming.
What a beautiful game.
Storyseeker is a game where all you do is explore the world and take in your surroundings. You have no map, and at a certain point the world does loop around.
Your surroundings and the people you talk to give you pieces to the story to this world. It's not something that you're required to do, in fact you're not required to do anything. You can honestly end the game anytime by setting up camp.
There is one objective that you can do, and that's by interacting with all the monoliths and unlocking a secret. Again, this isn't something that you're required to do but it does add a major thing to the plot if you pay attention to everything.
If you like artsy kind of games, this is a good one.
TL;DR: Storyseeker is a great game about exploration. It's easy to get lost but that's the way this game is meant to do. I highly recommend it.
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Game #130: Bird of Passage
Platform: PC
Main Story: 23m 56s
Rating: 8/10
Date Completed: December 8, 2021
Game Synopsis: Take rides on taxis and have discussions with the taxi drivers.
Blog: On the ninth day of Itchmas my true love gave to me: 9 gingko trees.
Bird of Passage is an atmospheric game about talking to taxi drivers. Its gameplay is almost like that of a visual novel, but you don't really get multiple endings.
I love the atmosphere of this game. It gives a sense of melancholy with the music and the dark streets illuminated by street lights and taxi headlights.
One thing I'm not in love about this game is that if you don't get the discussion right in the third taxi, you get stuck in a loop. After the fourth time it gets kind of tedious and annoying, especially when talking to the first two taxis really doesn't matter but you're forced to sit there anyway.
I love the little story to this game though. It's very interesting what the protagonist's objective is and why they're riding these taxis. I enjoyed my time with this game.
TL;DR: Bird of Passage is a wonderful atmospheric game about a player riding around in taxis. I don't enjoy the looping so much however.
Platform: PC
Main Story: 18m 3s
100% Complete: 46m 54s
Rating: 7/10
Date Completed: December 7, 2021
Game Synopsis: You're at a therapist's office for therapy. Nothing strange here.
Blog: On the seventh day of Itchmas my true love gave to me: 7 blots for spinning.
Therapy with Dr. Albert Kruger is a game where you're a patient at a therapist's office but something's off about him.
It's a visual novel type of game, where you make choices to change the outcome of the game. I enjoyed the premise of this game; having to solve math problems, guess ink blots, and finding the ball under a cup. All while trying to determine what's going on.
One thing I'm disappointed with is that if you try to fast-forward, the game does a fourth wall breaking reason as to why you can't. That's so annoying for doing multiple endings, there's not even a narrative reason for there to be fourth wall breaks. It doesn't need to be so cliché like that. So I had to just mash on the clicker for my mouse, how wonderful.
TL;DR: Dr. Albert Kruger is an interesting premise for a visual novel, but going for multiple endings is a drag.
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Game #129: Storyseeker
Platform: PC
100% Complete: 26m 16s
Rating: 9/10
Date Completed: December 8, 2021
Game Synopsis: Explore a world and figure out what all happened to the world.
Blog: On the eight day of Itchmas my true love gave to me: 8 weasels swimming.
What a beautiful game.
Storyseeker is a game where all you do is explore the world and take in your surroundings. You have no map, and at a certain point the world does loop around.
Your surroundings and the people you talk to give you pieces to the story to this world. It's not something that you're required to do, in fact you're not required to do anything. You can honestly end the game anytime by setting up camp.
There is one objective that you can do, and that's by interacting with all the monoliths and unlocking a secret. Again, this isn't something that you're required to do but it does add a major thing to the plot if you pay attention to everything.
If you like artsy kind of games, this is a good one.
TL;DR: Storyseeker is a great game about exploration. It's easy to get lost but that's the way this game is meant to do. I highly recommend it.
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Game #130: Bird of Passage
Platform: PC
Main Story: 23m 56s
Rating: 8/10
Date Completed: December 8, 2021
Game Synopsis: Take rides on taxis and have discussions with the taxi drivers.
Blog: On the ninth day of Itchmas my true love gave to me: 9 gingko trees.
Bird of Passage is an atmospheric game about talking to taxi drivers. Its gameplay is almost like that of a visual novel, but you don't really get multiple endings.
I love the atmosphere of this game. It gives a sense of melancholy with the music and the dark streets illuminated by street lights and taxi headlights.
One thing I'm not in love about this game is that if you don't get the discussion right in the third taxi, you get stuck in a loop. After the fourth time it gets kind of tedious and annoying, especially when talking to the first two taxis really doesn't matter but you're forced to sit there anyway.
I love the little story to this game though. It's very interesting what the protagonist's objective is and why they're riding these taxis. I enjoyed my time with this game.
TL;DR: Bird of Passage is a wonderful atmospheric game about a player riding around in taxis. I don't enjoy the looping so much however.
4 Yrs♥✓#
R2D219994 Yrs♥✓#
Game #131: Emily is Away
Platform: PC
Main Story: 30m 33s
Rating: 8/10
Date Completed: December 12, 2021
Game Synopsis: Message your friend Emily over Aim, just like the olden days!
Blog: On the tenth day of Itchmas my true love gave to me: 10 unread messages!
What a neat concept.
Emily is Away is a narrative game with an old internet aesthetic. It's really neat to see and I'm sure it's very nostalgic for those who have used the internet in that time period.
What was very nostalgic, and also cringey, to me is how your player character messages Emily and their thought process as a highschool teenager with an obvious crush on a girl. It brings back memories that I didn't want to have thought about but now I am.
As the story progresses into the last chapter though, the guy becomes unlikable. Even by my standards. He becomes really pathetic and so reliant on Emily even though like a year has passed at that point. The chat options also gives you questions to ask her, but always ends up deleting what he typed and asks something unrelated when I want to ask questions relating to their relationship. It's so frustrating.
Perhaps there's a reason that I'm not understanding for that ending, but I'm not into it.
TL;DR: Emily is Away is a nostalgic game for those who have lived the life of a teenager on Aim messaging. I wish the ending was better though.
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Game #132: Wandows 95
Platform: PC
Main Story: 7m 20s
Rating: 6/10
Date Completed: December 12, 2021
Game Synopsis: Help your mom fix her ancient computer.
Blog: On the eleventh day of Itchmas my true love gave to me: 11 pop-up ads!
Wandows 95 is another narrative game based around old internet and computers. This time though, it's based in the 21st century and you're helping your mom fix her ancient computer with Windo- I mean Wandows 95.
Honestly that's really all there is to it. You're doing Windows 95 type of stuff and it's just simply relatable. There's no real objective other than following the narrative and it's less than 10 minutes to get through it.
TL;DR: Wandows 95 is a narrative game about fixing your mom's computer. There's not much to it other than nostalgia though.
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Game #133: missed messages.
Platform: PC
Main Story: 2m 18s
Main + Extras: 21m 9s
Rating: 8/10
Date Completed: December 12, 2021
Game Synopsis: A narrative game about friendship and mental health.
Blog: On the twelfth game of Itchmas my true love gave to me: 12 iPhone Airdrops
This was a touching game.
I'm trying to be careful talking about this one, as I don't want to reveal too much about it to those who may want to play it.
This is a narrative game where you make decisions that effect the outcome. You could work on homework, hang out with a stranger, talk to your roommate, etc. It's a very nice and beautiful game.
One thing I hated: there was a moment where I had a text box overlapping other stuff, it was difficult choosing decisions because it was either hard to see what option I had or difficult to click.
Not everyone will have that experience, but I feel it's worth mentioning for me.
TL;DR: missed messages. is a great narrative game. Watch out for potential bugs with text boxes though.
Platform: PC
Main Story: 30m 33s
Rating: 8/10
Date Completed: December 12, 2021
Game Synopsis: Message your friend Emily over Aim, just like the olden days!
Blog: On the tenth day of Itchmas my true love gave to me: 10 unread messages!
What a neat concept.
Emily is Away is a narrative game with an old internet aesthetic. It's really neat to see and I'm sure it's very nostalgic for those who have used the internet in that time period.
What was very nostalgic, and also cringey, to me is how your player character messages Emily and their thought process as a highschool teenager with an obvious crush on a girl. It brings back memories that I didn't want to have thought about but now I am.
As the story progresses into the last chapter though, the guy becomes unlikable. Even by my standards. He becomes really pathetic and so reliant on Emily even though like a year has passed at that point. The chat options also gives you questions to ask her, but always ends up deleting what he typed and asks something unrelated when I want to ask questions relating to their relationship. It's so frustrating.
Perhaps there's a reason that I'm not understanding for that ending, but I'm not into it.
TL;DR: Emily is Away is a nostalgic game for those who have lived the life of a teenager on Aim messaging. I wish the ending was better though.
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Game #132: Wandows 95
Platform: PC
Main Story: 7m 20s
Rating: 6/10
Date Completed: December 12, 2021
Game Synopsis: Help your mom fix her ancient computer.
Blog: On the eleventh day of Itchmas my true love gave to me: 11 pop-up ads!
Wandows 95 is another narrative game based around old internet and computers. This time though, it's based in the 21st century and you're helping your mom fix her ancient computer with Windo- I mean Wandows 95.
Honestly that's really all there is to it. You're doing Windows 95 type of stuff and it's just simply relatable. There's no real objective other than following the narrative and it's less than 10 minutes to get through it.
TL;DR: Wandows 95 is a narrative game about fixing your mom's computer. There's not much to it other than nostalgia though.
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Game #133: missed messages.
Platform: PC
Main Story: 2m 18s
Main + Extras: 21m 9s
Rating: 8/10
Date Completed: December 12, 2021
Game Synopsis: A narrative game about friendship and mental health.
Blog: On the twelfth game of Itchmas my true love gave to me: 12 iPhone Airdrops
This was a touching game.
I'm trying to be careful talking about this one, as I don't want to reveal too much about it to those who may want to play it.
This is a narrative game where you make decisions that effect the outcome. You could work on homework, hang out with a stranger, talk to your roommate, etc. It's a very nice and beautiful game.
One thing I hated: there was a moment where I had a text box overlapping other stuff, it was difficult choosing decisions because it was either hard to see what option I had or difficult to click.
Not everyone will have that experience, but I feel it's worth mentioning for me.
TL;DR: missed messages. is a great narrative game. Watch out for potential bugs with text boxes though.
3 Yrs✓#
Skyhler3 Yrs✓#
Emily is Away is a game that I'd be interested in playing. I'm trying to avoid spoilers for the eventuality of me playing it, but I heard it's a really neat game. I really should play the entire trilogy. Looking at how long it took for you to beat it, if I ever want to buff my completion numbers for the year, that'd be a way to go!
4 Yrs♥✓#
R2D219994 Yrs♥✓#
Game #134: Grimm's Hollow
Platform: PC
Main + Extras: 1h 35m 56s
Rating: 7/10
Date Completed: December 13, 2021
Game Synopsis: You wake up in a mysterious world surrounded by grim reapers. Hurry, quickly find your brother.
Blog: On the thirteenth day of Itchmas my true love gave to me: 13 souls for reaping.
Grimm's Hollow is an RPG with an attack system similar to that of Undertale just without the bullet hell.
I love the color scheme of every area, and the character designs look fantastic.
The story is also really good. I like the concept of a world where some people who die are turned into reapers and others into ghosts.
Something I wasn't particularly a fan of was the combat. Not because I thought it was bad. I think it was good as a combat system. It was extremely buggy though. During fights a lot of the time the enemies would fight me while I was trying to pick my combat options, so I would have to time my dodging while also picking if I wanted to fight, use magic, etc. It was so incredibly weird and obviously unintentional. I wish I could say it happened once but it happened in just about every fight where enemies were still pretty strong.
It was annoying but I still got through to see the rest of the game.
TL;DR: Grimm's Hollow is a cute little RPG game about death and souls. Unfortunately the combat system was pretty buggy for me.
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Game #135: Six Cats Under
Platform: Browser
Main Story: 10m 47s
Rating: 8/10
Date Completed: December 13, 2021
Game Synopsis: An old woman has died. Help her get them out of her apartment.
Blog: On the fourteenth day of Itchmas my true love gave to me: 14 dozen kitty cats.
Six Cats Under is a game where you need to help a dead elderly woman help set her cats free from her apartment.
It's a point and click puzzle game, where you need to find the right sequence of actions in order to get the cats out.
That's it! It's a cute game but I wish it were a tad longer.
TL;DR: Six Cats Under is a cute puzzle game about getting a dead woman's cats out of her apartment. I just wish it were a bit longer of an experience.
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Game #136: How We Know We're Alive
Platform: PC
Main Story: 37m 55s
Rating: 6/10
Date Completed: December 14, 2021
Game Synopsis: A young woman returns to her hometown, after hearing about the death of her best friend a year ago.
Blog: On the fifteenth day of Itchmas my true love gave to me: 15 plus miles driven.
This is an example of a game where people enjoyed the game much more than I did.
I thought the story was good at least, and the pixel art well done.
My problems come from the gameplay. This game was just a bunch of backtracking to me. Once your character gets to the town, you have to walk all the way over to the cemetery, then back over to the flower cart, then head back the other way to the store, etc. It was just a bunch of nonsense and I would rather this have been something like a visual novel. I feel like it wasted my time.
Also it refers to itself as a point and click but there's no reason to because it doesn't add anything to the experience. The character either points out something completely obvious or says something that will be repeated by another character moments later.
It's not a bad game and it's good for the most part. The gameplay just didn't rub me the right way.
TL;DR: How We Know We're Alive has a good story and pixel art but I didn't gel with it due to it largely being a bunch of backtracking.
Platform: PC
Main + Extras: 1h 35m 56s
Rating: 7/10
Date Completed: December 13, 2021
Game Synopsis: You wake up in a mysterious world surrounded by grim reapers. Hurry, quickly find your brother.
Blog: On the thirteenth day of Itchmas my true love gave to me: 13 souls for reaping.
Grimm's Hollow is an RPG with an attack system similar to that of Undertale just without the bullet hell.
I love the color scheme of every area, and the character designs look fantastic.
The story is also really good. I like the concept of a world where some people who die are turned into reapers and others into ghosts.
Something I wasn't particularly a fan of was the combat. Not because I thought it was bad. I think it was good as a combat system. It was extremely buggy though. During fights a lot of the time the enemies would fight me while I was trying to pick my combat options, so I would have to time my dodging while also picking if I wanted to fight, use magic, etc. It was so incredibly weird and obviously unintentional. I wish I could say it happened once but it happened in just about every fight where enemies were still pretty strong.
It was annoying but I still got through to see the rest of the game.
TL;DR: Grimm's Hollow is a cute little RPG game about death and souls. Unfortunately the combat system was pretty buggy for me.
---------------------
Game #135: Six Cats Under
Platform: Browser
Main Story: 10m 47s
Rating: 8/10
Date Completed: December 13, 2021
Game Synopsis: An old woman has died. Help her get them out of her apartment.
Blog: On the fourteenth day of Itchmas my true love gave to me: 14 dozen kitty cats.
Six Cats Under is a game where you need to help a dead elderly woman help set her cats free from her apartment.
It's a point and click puzzle game, where you need to find the right sequence of actions in order to get the cats out.
That's it! It's a cute game but I wish it were a tad longer.
TL;DR: Six Cats Under is a cute puzzle game about getting a dead woman's cats out of her apartment. I just wish it were a bit longer of an experience.
---------------------
Game #136: How We Know We're Alive
Platform: PC
Main Story: 37m 55s
Rating: 6/10
Date Completed: December 14, 2021
Game Synopsis: A young woman returns to her hometown, after hearing about the death of her best friend a year ago.
Blog: On the fifteenth day of Itchmas my true love gave to me: 15 plus miles driven.
This is an example of a game where people enjoyed the game much more than I did.
I thought the story was good at least, and the pixel art well done.
My problems come from the gameplay. This game was just a bunch of backtracking to me. Once your character gets to the town, you have to walk all the way over to the cemetery, then back over to the flower cart, then head back the other way to the store, etc. It was just a bunch of nonsense and I would rather this have been something like a visual novel. I feel like it wasted my time.
Also it refers to itself as a point and click but there's no reason to because it doesn't add anything to the experience. The character either points out something completely obvious or says something that will be repeated by another character moments later.
It's not a bad game and it's good for the most part. The gameplay just didn't rub me the right way.
TL;DR: How We Know We're Alive has a good story and pixel art but I didn't gel with it due to it largely being a bunch of backtracking.
4 Yrs♥✓#
R2D219994 Yrs♥✓#
Huh. I hadn't known Emily is Away even had sequels. That's something I should check out. They seem longer too.
3 Yrs✓#
Skyhler3 Yrs✓#
Yeah, I'm not entirely sure about the length of them, but apparently the 2nd game is excellent and I haven't heard anything about the third, but I imagine it's good too. Looking forward to seeing what your opinion of them may be in the future. I imagine you will beat me towards playing them as I have MANY long games in my overall list of things to play.
4 Yrs♥✓#
R2D219994 Yrs♥✓#
Game #137: Pokemon Shining Pearl
Platform: Switch
Main + Extras: 37h 00m 13s
Rating: 5/10
Date Completed: December 24, 2021
Game Synopsis: Just like Pokemon Pearl but with a fresh coat of chibi paint.
Blog: I'm not particularly a fan of this game.
My problems with the game probably stems from my bias for the originals.
I think the chibi style is terrible, and dramatically devalues the cutscenes that are suppose to be serious because of the cheapness of the character designs.
I also dislike the idea of this type of remake. The Pokemon games have gone through at least 2 major design changes since the originals came out: the 3DS games and then coming to consoles with Sword and Shield. Shining Pearl feels like they didn't even try to bring the originals up to current speed as they've done with their remakes in the past. ILCA decided to take a giant leap backwards with this game. FireRed and LeafGreen updated Red and Blue to Gen 3. HeartGold and SoulSilver updated Gold and Silver to Gen 4. Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire were updated to Gen 6. Why couldn't these new games have been brought up or improved the standards to Gen 8?
It's so confusing with the changes they've made. They made it so you're not forced to have your Pokemon learn HM moves, but then they decide to make TM moves limited in number once again.
They added new changes to the underground that makes it awesome such as being able to catch Pokemon you couldn't usually get. But then when it comes to designing your base you're limited to only using statues instead of furniture as you could in the past games.
This Pokemon game is so easy when it comes to fighting throughout 90% of the game because they don't balance the forced EXP share. But then the Elite Four in this game is the toughest they've ever been and it's so incredibly fun! Why couldn't the earlier game have been like that?
You can change your outfit and hairstyle but it's weirdly limited. You can't mix and match your hair and clothes like in past games. You're forced into using sets. That's so lame!
This Pokemon Shining Pearl was just such a mixed bag for me. Next time I'll be more hesitant about buying Pokemon games.
TL;DR: Pokemon Shining Pearl makes changes to the original that simultaneously makes it better and makes me want to facepalm. Overall it's a worse remake.
Platform: Switch
Main + Extras: 37h 00m 13s
Rating: 5/10
Date Completed: December 24, 2021
Game Synopsis: Just like Pokemon Pearl but with a fresh coat of chibi paint.
Blog: I'm not particularly a fan of this game.
My problems with the game probably stems from my bias for the originals.
I think the chibi style is terrible, and dramatically devalues the cutscenes that are suppose to be serious because of the cheapness of the character designs.
I also dislike the idea of this type of remake. The Pokemon games have gone through at least 2 major design changes since the originals came out: the 3DS games and then coming to consoles with Sword and Shield. Shining Pearl feels like they didn't even try to bring the originals up to current speed as they've done with their remakes in the past. ILCA decided to take a giant leap backwards with this game. FireRed and LeafGreen updated Red and Blue to Gen 3. HeartGold and SoulSilver updated Gold and Silver to Gen 4. Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire were updated to Gen 6. Why couldn't these new games have been brought up or improved the standards to Gen 8?
It's so confusing with the changes they've made. They made it so you're not forced to have your Pokemon learn HM moves, but then they decide to make TM moves limited in number once again.
They added new changes to the underground that makes it awesome such as being able to catch Pokemon you couldn't usually get. But then when it comes to designing your base you're limited to only using statues instead of furniture as you could in the past games.
This Pokemon game is so easy when it comes to fighting throughout 90% of the game because they don't balance the forced EXP share. But then the Elite Four in this game is the toughest they've ever been and it's so incredibly fun! Why couldn't the earlier game have been like that?
You can change your outfit and hairstyle but it's weirdly limited. You can't mix and match your hair and clothes like in past games. You're forced into using sets. That's so lame!
This Pokemon Shining Pearl was just such a mixed bag for me. Next time I'll be more hesitant about buying Pokemon games.
TL;DR: Pokemon Shining Pearl makes changes to the original that simultaneously makes it better and makes me want to facepalm. Overall it's a worse remake.