Tildes' 2022 Backlog Burner: Week 3 Discussion Thread
Use this thread to post about the games that you play!
Also, a quick note about thread etiquette: It is fine to make multiple top-level posts throughout the week if you play multiple games. It is also fine to respond to yourself with updates if you're continuing a single game and want to talk more about it as you go!
Previous threads:
Announcement
Beginning
Week 1
Week 2
What is this?
Your "backlog" is all those games you've been meaning to play or get around to, but never have yet! This event is an attempt to get us to collectively dig into that treasure trove of experiences!
How do I participate?
Choose a game (or several) from your backlog and play it/them. Then tell us about your experiences in the discussion thread for the week! If you're not sure what you might write, take a look at a previous backlog post or our previous Backlog Burner event in 2020 to get an idea. Also if you want to keep track of statistics across the whole event or anything else like that, go for it!
Do I need to finish the games I play?
Nope! Not at all. There aren't really any requirements for the event so much as this is an incentive to get us to play games we've been avoiding starting up, for whatever reason. Play as much or as little as you like of a given game. Try out dozens for ten minutes each or dive into one for 40 hours. There's no wrong way to participate!
What's the timeline?
I will post an update thread weekly, each Tuesday, for the four weeks of February. At the end of the month, I think it would be neat to tally how many collective games we all removed from our backlogs, as well as what the best finds were from our collective digging into our libraries. I expect we'll turn up some good hidden gems, as well as interesting insights.
Do I need to sign up?
You don't have to do anything to officially join or participate in the event other than post in these threads! Participate in whatever way works for you. Also, because this is ongoing, it is okay to make more than one top-level post if you're updating the thread with new information.
Island Saver
9.6 hours, still in progress, worked perfectly in Proton 7.0-1
Continued from last week. It's Slime Rancher without the babysitting. The base game is free, and there are two DLC islands that are more of the same thing. I bought both because I like the gameplay loop and because it felt wrong to not throw some money at the developers. I've played the whole thing while listening to audiobooks, and it's perfect for that.
Don't Escape Trilogy
2 hours, completed, worked perfectly in Proton 6.3-8
Continued from last week. I finished all three scenarios. I plan to go back and retry the 3rd one some more. There seems to be some variation on how to handle it based on what I encountered and the achievements I didn't get.
Umurangi Generation
1.5 hours, worked (almost) perfectly in Proton 6.3-8
I wanted to like this one more than I did. I'd seen it compared to Jet Set Radio which I think gave me some expectations for the game that weren't quite fair to it. I was primed for something it didn't deliver (through no fault of its own). In terms of aesthetic and feel, I get the comparison, but the game itself is very different. It's basically a Tony Hawk game where, instead of performing tricks, you go around the level and take pictures. Each level has objectives for what you need to photograph, and you have to scan the levels and take shots. It's super chill and a neat concept, but I didn't love having to scan the levels for tiny collectibles.
Blue Fire
4.5 hours, still in progress, worked perfectly in Proton 7.0-1
I'm really liking this one. The game is a sort of exploration-heavy 3D platformer/hack 'n slash game. Imagine the world of Dark Souls with the aesthetics of Wind Waker with individual levels reminiscent of the secret levels in Super Mario Sunshine. The game doesn't reach the same heights as any of its references, but it's enjoyable in its own right. I don't know that I'll finish the game fully (from what I've read the later levels get VERY difficult, and not having a map is a bit of a challenge), but I'm liking it so far.
Local Multiplayer Games
My husband and I had friends over for the first time since Omicron hit, and we played some old favorite 4-player local multiplayer games as well as trying out a handful of new ones. I play these on my TVPC which runs Windows, so no Proton data for these:
Ultra Foodmess
30 minutes, played on Windows
We liked this one. Cute, short, round-based gameplay with a few different objectives. This will get moved into our rotation.
Shipped
20 minutes, played on Windows
More short, round-based gameplay based around driving boats. Cute art style with slippery physics. This will also get moved into our rotation.
Pummel Party
30 minutes, played on Windows
This is a Mario Party clone. There's nothing fundamentally wrong with it, but it also didn't grab us. We'd rather just play Mario Party. We moved on from it and it won't be in our rotation.
Unspottable
30 minutes, played on Windows
This is another take on Hidden in Plain Sight which is one of our local multiplayer favorites. In that game, player characters aren't labeled, and your goal is to blend in your character with NPCs while trying to out the other players, who are also trying to blend in as well. It's a great concept, and Unspottable does a good job of reimplementing the formula. We'll be moving this one into our rotation.
Pikuniku
1.75 hours, still in progress, played on Windows
This one's two-player instead of four-player, and it has a full campaign instead of being round-based. It's a cute, co-op, puzzle platformer with imprecise physics. My friend and I had a blast trying to work our way through the levels. The game is meant to be fun and flimsy. We didn't finish the game, but we will come back to it.
Good to hear that Umurangi works well on Proton. Been on my “I’ll get there” list for awhile now, and yes I realize the irony of saying that on this thread :p
Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist - played through a few times, enough to get a couple of achievements. This game is one I would call "cute" and I don't mean that in any way negatively. If you're not familiar, it's a first person game that is perhaps closest to The Stanley Parable; it's a game that doesn't have the same sort of story that other games tend to have.
I don't know that I would necessarily recommend buying it if you don't have it, but if you have an hour or two and want to experience something that you already have, it's worth it.It's free and worth the 30 - 120 minutes of potential playtime.I have continued to play Sunless Skies from last week, and will probably play this through to completion, though at the rate I play, I estimate that I'm about 1/4 of the way there (according to howlongtobeat.com).
I also tried out Morkredd which is a cool concept, but I put it down after 15 minutes. The concept - up to the point that I reached - was that you have two characters that you control with opposite joysticks, and they have to stay somewhat close to each other within a spotlight. It's a fun little brain teaser; using the two joysticks on a standard controller to control separate things on the screen was something it took a few minutes to grasp. I'm not sure if I'll return to it, though.
It's free on Steam. :)
Well worth the price then! Thanks for the info; I guess if I'd put the effort in like @kfwyre did and linked to the games I was talking about, I would have seen that.
The Sexy Brutale - This is fine. Only put 20 minutes into it, and I'm unlikely to play it much more, but that's just because it's not really my thing.
Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter - I played The Sinking City to completion, and it disappointed me in several ways, but what it did right was the investigation parts. This is like The Sinking City minus a lot of the disappointment because it's all investigation parts, and they have more substance. Yeah, I got stuck in a silly "trail the suspect" sequence that went on too long, but I'm otherwise enjoying it. It's a bit ugly in the human face department though. In The Sinking City, everyone looked vaguely ill but that was consistent with the setting. Can't really explain why everyone in this game also look vaguely ill. I'll probably keep playing this.
Remaining backlog: Lost Planet 3, Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak