15 votes

November 2025 Backlog Burner: Week 4 Discussion

Posted by kfwyre (edited )
Tags: backlog burner.2025.november, event

Week 4 has begun!

Post your current bingo cards.
Continue updating us on your games!

Quick links:

Week 3 Recap

11 participants played 11 bingo cards and moved 40 games out of their backlogs!

There were 3 bingo wins. Congrats to u/dannydotcafe, u/kfwyre, and u/Wes! 🎉

  • Nearly 70% of the games played this week had a one or two word title (one = 38%, two = 28%)
  • The kitchen was a feature this week, with "knife", "eggs", "coffee", "garbage", and "Pepsi" being mentioned in game titles.
  • If you play magnetic poetry with the titles, you can uncover some sage wisdom:

The darkest coffee must fandango.
Literature is irritating; torment.
Die, prodigal robot beasts of the midtown.
Katamari Caravan: stick, room, Tokyo, Sun

Game List:

Week 2 Recap

11 participants played 11 bingo cards and moved 43 games out of their backlogs!

There were 2 bingo wins. Congrats to u/Wes and u/J-Chiptunator! 🎉

Also, in my rush last week to get the recap up, I forgot to celebrate u/Wes's win from Week 1. So, additional congratulations!

  • Only 1 game this time had an ALL CAPS TITLE, but 9 games had PARTIAL CAps titles.
  • The shortest title was 5 characters: Venba
  • The longest title was 12 words: Tales from Toyotoki: Arrival of the Witch (The witch of the Ihanashi)
  • We had the numbers 0, 1, 2, 3, and 7 represented. Half of the digits!
    (Note that this only works if I read "I Expect You to Die" as "One: Expect You to Die", which I do)

Game list:

Week 1 Recap

12 participants played 11 bingo cards and moved 24 games out of their backlogs!

  • 25% of the games played started with the letters P and R
  • 13% of the games played have ALL CAPS TITLES
  • 21% of the games played have a number in their titles

Game list:

70 comments

  1. [5]
    Evie
    (edited )
    Link
    This might be my last week posting for this event -- Thanksgiving promises to be busy! If you never hear from me again, I love you all! If you do hear from me again, please don't hold my...
    • Exemplary

    This might be my last week posting for this event -- Thanksgiving promises to be busy! If you never hear from me again, I love you all! If you do hear from me again, please don't hold my melodramatic flourishes against me. I think both my writeups are a bit dogshit this week, and I went on a tremendously tedious gacha sidequest (what do you mean? that Wildcard 2 slot was always there, doesn't your card have one?) But a Bingo! is a Bingo! and I couldn't ask for a better group of seniors to play it with.

    Mode: Standard Winning Bingo! Finished 5/25
    Y N O H S
    ✅ Soma
    B G X K
    ✅ Keylocker    		 R
    T E ★ Wildcard
    ✅ Children of the Sun    		 P W
    V M
    ✅ Metro Gravity    		 F A Q
    C
    ✅ Citizen Sleeper    		 I D U L
    $ £ ★ Wildcard 2
    ✅ Morimens    		 € ¥

    —

    Keylocker

    Wee-oo-wee-oo. What’s that sound? Oh! It’s the DNF alarm!

    Yeah, I couldn’t finish Keylocker, which makes for a disappointing way to complete a bingo. I feel worse about this than usual; I picked up the game on the back of a writeup from another Tildes user, @SingedFrostLantern, which makes my failure to finish it feel like a personal failing for some reason. If you want a full discussion of the game, their post is much better than mine; I only got four hours in.

    What bounced me hard with Keylocker was a combination of a few things. First of all, the writing, which I found to be bad even for video games. Of course, the world-building is completely off-the-wall, just delightful (music is outlawed! You’re a Saturnite cyborg!) – the game bills itself as Cyberpunk, but aesthetically, and with the complete, joyful nonsense of its setting, it feels more psychedelic than that. But the worldbuilding does nothing to save the abysmal dialogue. Every character I’ve met in the game has a super over-the-top personality complete with super eye-rolling speech quirks. It's like the writer of this game heard that good characters have distinct voices and, as many amateurish writers do, took it way too far. I didn't get anywhere near far enough into the game to comment on the other aspects of the writing – the themes, the structure, even the overarching plot. But what I saw of the scene writing was bad enough that, frankly, I didn’t care to. What you’re left with, then, in this turn-based RPG, is the combat, which was probably perfectly serviceable. What I played of it felt slow, tedious and repetitive, but the buildcrafting and systemic depth present even in the opening hours was enough to make me think it would get good eventually. And the rhythm timing elements, a la Paper Mario (or Sea of Stars, or Expedition 33), added some degree of skill expression. Even so,I wasn’t having fun with it for the time I played it – getting through sessions was a slog, and I often felt the desperate desire to be doing literally anything else. I climbed up onto a stepstool to dust the moulding this week, for the first time in well over a month, because it was an excuse to not play Keylocker! And then felt guilty while I reaped the praise and thanks from the lovely ladies I live with.

    For this event, I planned to play another rhythm game that was supposed to come out this month: UNBEATABLE, which is also set in a world where music is illegal and you do crimes, which also has an anime-inspired artstyle, but which, in its demo, had charming, heartfelt writing that positively leapt off the screen. Unfortunately it hit a critical QA snafu and had to be pushed back to December, but for me personally, someone who’s really only tolerated turn based combat, there’s no real reason to play this when that is coming up. So, even though there were some things in Keylocker that interested me – I haven’t even mentioned the cool use of music in the opening! – I constantly found myself asking , “what am I doing here? This is a hell of my own making, a prison erected from my stubbornness!" Even as much as I was disliking it, I wanted to beat the game, I really did. I was going to try. But I hit a save bug – or possibly just made a mistake; I’m not sure – that wiped out over an hour of my playtime, and that was curtains. Other people seem to really like Keylocker, so if you like the version of it presented in SingedFrostLantern’s writeup, give it a try! It may be your kind of game. But it certainly wasn’t mine.

    —

    Morimens

    So, I didn’t enjoy Keylocker, but some friends had suggested that I try Morimens instead – a Chinese-developed, cosmic horror-inspired gacha game; two of my special interests colliding. So, with an unexpected surfeit of free time, and, wanting to have something to write about before the end of the week, I downloaded it. Despite the fact that it doesn’t fit on my fucking bingo card. Because I have a gacha problem.

    Not enjoying a singleplayer turn based game, and downloading a gacha instead, is a bit like if you didn’t like your dinner, so you decided to chase it with a shot of heroin. But for the brief time I played it, I found Morimens fun, engaging, and, most of all, interesting. Not necessarily as a work of art, separate from its content model and monetization. More as a representation of the gacha medium itself; a medium, I will here argue, that is actually largely separate from full priced one-time releases; a medium, I will here argue, that is in crisis. And amidst that crisis, Morimens is a game divided; divided between the pursuit of a unique – if underdeveloped – vision, and a desperate pursuit of ever more money, ever more players, ever more growth. In this division, we see two paths forward for the creative live service medium: a path towards a new era of prestige, innovation, and creativity, and another that leads to stagnation and creative death.

    Morimens’s closest gameplay comparison is the prototypical deckbuilding roguelike, Slay the Spire; its closest aesthetic and spiritual comparison, meanwhile, is to the gacha game Reverse: 1999. And I think you’d be better served to play either or both of these games than Morimens, which combines elements of them in a way that is not entirely clumsy, but not particularly interesting either. Essentially, Morimens is a low budget, non-voice acted visual novel where inexpressive PNGs ramble at each other and witness the horrors together. In between story segments, the gameplay consists of roguelike dungeons where you take a team of four PNGs – sorry, “awakeners,” the game’s name for its characters, into a dungeon: collect cards, prune your deck, gain artifacts to buff your build, and fight enemies with your strike, defense, and special cards. Unlike Slay The Spire, where you play as only one character, your whole team is your character, with each of your four characters having their own small deck consisting of three unique cards, a special “rouse” card that can only be obtained in the dungeon, a strike card, and a defend card. As a result your deck is really not one deck but an intersection of four smaller decks, and interesting and fun synergies abound. I’ve enjoyed playing a team containing the characters Nautila and Caecus, two characters who “counter” – striking back when taking damage – and whose cards synergize with each other in interesting and often bafflingly strong ways, given the right builds. Morimens’s gameplay is certainly its strongest element, at least so far; most modern gacha games are simplistic and easy, designed to minimize friction at all but the highest difficulty levels, and their character kits tend to be designed in a prescriptive way that obviates the need for thought, planning, or moment-to-moment decision making. Not so with Morimens. Though its dungeons are much shorter on average than a typical roguelike run, they are still chock full of challenge and of short, medium, and long-term decision making. But, on the other hand, you could also just play Slay the Spire. And if Morimens’s gameplay sets it apart from most other gachas, its story, though aesthetically unique, is full of all the worst habits of gacha storytelling. It’s tropey, poorly considered, and even, at times, the wrong kind of stomach churning.

    What’s the deal with gacha storytelling, anyway? Well. I think that the live service story game, composed of not just gachas, but MMOs and, like, whatever the hell Destiny is, is a medium of itself, in much the same way that we treat television as a different medium than film. The expectations of players are different; so too is the mode of production; so too are the techniques employed. The stories are much more episodic; where television is often written to be more melodramatic, less subtle, more aggressively emotive than film, to use the passage of time in the real world as an element of its storytelling; to connect viewers in the long term to the status quo of its characters and its world, the same can be said for the live service narrative game. And the modern, post-Genshin Impact gacha game is the purest distillation of this format; not only are its characters and world what keep you invested, they are also what you invest in; spending your hard earned in-game resources (and, the executives hope, real world money) on characters to use in combat and/or exploration. There’s an interesting incentive here: make a character compelling, likeable, well-written, desirable, and people will be more willing to buy them. This can manifest in pretty gross ways, with the way women and even children are objectified by the game designers and by the camera, even when it makes no sense for the story; this, it should be said, happens in Morimens to a slightly alarming degree, with one of the most overtly disgusting character designs for a young girl I’ve ever seen. I will not, it should be noted, be playing Morimens long-term. It can also manifest, however, in an interesting incentive: to write characters so compelling that people will want to spend money on them.

    In Reverse: 1999, the alternate history gacha visual novel, there is a character named Marcus. A teenage Hungarian girl, forced by circumstance into government work she’s completely unprepared for, marginalized for her neurodivergence, her femininity, and her arcane powers, she is the main perspective character in chapter 6: "E Lucevan le Stelle". In this chapter, she’s sent to Vienna on the eve of the first world war, where she meets an opera singer who is madly in love with her unlicensed Freudian psychiatrist, where she sees death, destruction, unjustifiable political violence and the reaction to it, and is consumed by a deep desire to leave all this behind and go home, clashing with her desperate need – and social responsibility – to uncover a crucial, life-saving truth about magic. Through it all, the writing behind her dialogue and her VA’s performance are authentic, engaging, and at times, the right kind of stomach churning; few things have left me as raw and wrung out as her as her mad, helpless grief at the climax of the story. So, after completing the chapter, despite the fact that Marcus didn’t synergize with any of my teams, despite the fact that I couldn’t really use her in combat, I went to the “pull” screen and wasted my hard-earned in-game currency on one of the most affecting characters in any gacha game. In Reverse: 1999, I have done this several times – so too, in a couple other gachas; with Arlecchino in Genshin, Ereshan in Black Beacon, Magic Bullet Outis in Limbus Company. But for Reverse in particular, I am so routinely affected by the game’s writing, its world, and the sharply political stories it aches to express with its characters, that I find myself even spending real world money on it (albeit not much) – something I don’t often do in any other gacha game. In Reverse, the incentives line up perfectly: a niche, unique vision, a fanbase that has bought into it, the budget and the creative chops to realize it, in a way that happens to serve the gacha monetization model.

    Morimens wishes it were Reverse: 1999. I don’t speak here of the aesthetics – the similar artstyles, the (as far as I can tell coincidental) lore similarities, the overlaps in setting and structure. I mean that Morimens, despite its unique, horror–infused vision, has, in the space that I’ve played it, failed to create the cohesive, unique, and engaging story and world it desperately reaches toward. Its “strong vision” is largely found in its gameplay and its aesthetic. Its gory, creepy character designs are sometimes striking, make no mistake, but the writing surrounding them is often weak, tropey, and dull. Morimens is a historical fiction cosmic horror game, but it doesn’t offer a new perspective on history or on the fear of the unfathomable. So far, I have found that its historical setting is merely set dressing. I have found that it steps, slack-jawed, into the old bigotries at the heart of Lovecraft’s horror – demonization of artists, of the poor, of the mentally ill, of the people treating them; of the deviant, the strange and the other – steps into them simply by accident, by careless and unimaginative reproductions of genre conventions. And I have found that whatever horrors the game is able to conjure with its strong visuals is deflated by the fact that the protagonist is an ultra-special cardboard cutout girl who cannot die; deflated by the fact that the dead or dissolved can and must ultimately be resurrected for gameplay purposes; deflated by a cast of characters that are as often designed and written to be hot and quirky, as they are to be queasy and horrible. Morimens is a unique game, no doubt. It has a strong aesthetic vision. But it lacks the clarity to keep you around on the strength of that vision alone; lacks the production value to keep you invested when its vision so often falters. This is a visual novel with no voice acting, with inexpressive PNGs as characters rather than, say, the Live2D models seen in the higher budget visual novels. Maybe you might want to stick around for the gameplay, though. Is that enough? When Slay the Spire exists?

    For much of Morimens’s 2-year lifespan, it has been rumored to be in hospice. Rumors, more than whispers, saying “end-of-service soon.” The game was made on a low budget, rushed out the door with an inadequate translation, low production values, and insufficient marketing. It has never made much money. Its difficulty, the odd quirks of its gacha systems, and its, uh, penurious vibes turned away players; recently, the developers had to promise that, should the game run out of money, it will be released as an offline singleplayer game for posterity’s sake (good for them!) But, flawed though Morimens is, its aforementioned issues aren't really the only thing to blame for its precarious position. Much worse, less imaginative games have made much more money, in different times. The problem is that the gacha market is becoming oversaturated and pancaking, with, it seems, a bland new gacha released every day; with established games bleeding players to upstart competitors; with players highly sceptical of the idea picking up yet another live service game that will, in tough economic times, pressure them to spend and spend heavily. How to stay alive, in that market? Morimens, I think, wanted to be Reverse: 1999. Wanted to carve out a niche but appreciative fanbase with the strong, unique creative vision its creators must believe it possesses. But it failed, or the niche it found was too small. So now, they turn to the other path, the way other gacha games are trying to stay afloat: with dark patterns and aggressive monetization. If they can’t find a large playerbase, they’ll wall in their existing niche and squeeze it for all it’s worth.

    Hoyoverse released Genshin Impact in 2020, and one sentiment I often heard about it, expressed by players who were, like me, new to the medium, brought in by Genshin’s accessible open world and their COVID-inspired listlessness, was that people were surprised by how unobtrusive the monetization really was, how easy and un-punishing it was to be a free-to-play player. This was, ultimately, an illusion; Genshin is probably one of the most efficient extractive engines to ever be described as ‘art.’ But Hoyoverse were, at the same time, conscious of the fact that players don’t really like to feel like they’re being upsold. And Genshin was designed to hide its monetization, to make its absolutely absurd pricing all but invisible to those who didn’t want to see it. Every gacha game released after Genshin adopted large chunks of its design bible, including when it came to monetization; though most games after it were, for a time, substantively more free-to-play friendly in an attempt to compete on price, they maintained the same doctrine of hiding their monetization and only occasionally nudging players to spend, counting on player psychology to make the jump to the cash shop unassisted. Now, however, as the gacha industry founders – as Genshin and Honkai and other established IPs make less money than ever, as new competitors bite at their ankles, die horribly, and give way to new competitors, even Hoyoverse itself has abandoned this player-friendly pretext, with more aggressive, naked monetization strategies than ever: more powercreep, more special packs, more spending events, more restrictive teambuilding; more reliance on getting multiple copies of a character to unlock their potential. More incentives to spend, in Genshin and almost everywhere else in the space. And yet more game announcements, as if saturating the space even further with even more, ever worse slop will save it. Even a game as financially hapless and pitiful as Morimens has its own recent clone in Chaos Zero Nightmare, which is like Morimens with few of the strengths and even more of the weaknesses. And Morimens itself, under the aegis of a new publisher, is one of the most aggressively monetized modern gachas I’ve ever seen. Long–time players say it’s pretty free-to-play friendly. Sure, I’ll buy that; they would know better than I. But the game is full of every dark pattern you can imagine, all kinds of ultra-limited-time spending events, cash-only banners, several different free reward tracks where the currency you get pales in comparison to the (obscenely priced) paid track, notification to direct you to the shop every day, special offer popups on every login. And why not? It might keep the game alive, and at least the developers of Morimens actually do need the money to stay afloat.

    But, I worry, this is the path the whole gacha space might go down. There was a time I thought that niche, compelling titles like Reverse, or like Limbus Company, like Path to Nowhere or Arknights or Cookie Run Kingdom or Trickcal: Chibi Go or Heaven Burns Red might be the future of the live-service medium, that up-and-coming creators would understand the importance of creative clarity and artistic integrity to stay afloat, to thrive, in a tough and competitive market. Then, earlier this year Black Beacon released, and I was swiftly disabused of that naive notion.

    Black Beacon was a tragedy, because its Borges-inspired surreal time-travel story was the best-written launch story arc I’ve ever seen in a live–service game. But you cannot play it now – and, at least in the global market, it will not be continued; the tantalizing threads it spun will never come together into a gorgeous tapestry. The game launched with technical issues, you see; with no PC client, and poor controller support, despite being a demanding action game. With certain buried bits of UI not properly localized from the original Chinese. With unequal rewards between servers. Many of these issues were fixed relatively quickly. Still, recently, Black Beacon announced an unceremonious end of service. It was creative, it was unique, it was well-written, and it wasn’t enough. If Black Beacon died like that, what could happen to Morimens? To every other upcoming gacha, (at least, those not developed by the titanic Hoyoverse and pushed with its infinte marketing spend), to all the stagnant and bleeding games already released? To Silver Palace, to Arknights: Endfield, to Infinity: Nikki, to Girls Frontline 2? Not all of these games are or will be masterpieces, or even any good. But maybe, if they can snag and hold onto a small playerbase, they can continue to make safe, inexpensive content while squeezing players until the sun rises in the west. Maybe that’s enough to sustain a business. It’s not enough to sustain an artistic medium. It’s not enough to sustain my interest.

    I love live service narrative games, because every time they tell a fantastic story within the constraints imposed by their monetization model, by government censorship, by a punishing release schedule and unreasonably low budgets, it feels like a miracle, a poppy piercing a paving-stone. But, I think, as the constraints imposed by an increasingly hostile, saturated, paved-over market become stricter and starker, the medium might be headed for death, or maybe a pruning, where many games, studios, and unrealistic creative ambitions will die – to make way for the ensuing generation. Or maybe, for nothing at all. Who can say what the future holds? What we have now, though, are interesting games, challenging and punishing and even, occasionally, beautiful art objects. Implausible creative successes, like Reverse: 1999. Tragic failure like Black Beacon. Games that have gone long in the tooth and bitten their own tongue, like Genshin and a host of other stagnant, septic, festering titles. And Morimens, a game that can’t decide how it wants to move forward, that’s struggling to stay alive on the back of a flawed vision in an environment that’s indifferent to it. The most interesting thing about Morimens, then, isn’t the game itself; it’s the creative crossroads it stands at. Maybe that’s why, after the period at the end of this paragraph, I’ll never think about it again. Still. At least the gameplay was fun while it lasted.

    7 votes
    1. [2]
      Wes
      Link Parent
      Ah, the Wildcard 2 tile. Always helpful in a pinch. I've never played a gacha, but it's interesting to consider how the live service model drives their narratives, for better or worse. It's easy...

      Ah, the Wildcard 2 tile. Always helpful in a pinch.

      I've never played a gacha, but it's interesting to consider how the live service model drives their narratives, for better or worse. It's easy to think of game design as existing in a vacuum, separate from the realities of the business, but that's never been the case. I recently commented on old school arcade games being tough as nails as a means of pilfering quarters from players, but the modern mobile markets are just as (if not more) influenced by in-app purchases, and utilizing the psychology of getting players to pay more.

      The fact that the same psychology may be moving us towards higher-quality experiences - with deep stories that feature emotional impact - is kind of a surprising turn for me. I guess it's one of those "mission accomplished" moments, where the end result strengths the medium, even if I don't respect the motivations behind it.

      Though if I'm being realistic, similar constraints likely exist in all other mediums as well. It's not as if Hollywood has ever functioned independently of money. Even the Sistine Chapel was a paid job. Maybe monetization is simply impossible to remove from design considerations.

      5 votes
      1. Evie
        Link Parent
        This is also a response to @kfwyre It's funny you should mention the Sistine Chapel, because the writers of Reverse: 1999 made almost this exact point in, of all places, the crossover event they...

        This is also a response to @kfwyre

        It's funny you should mention the Sistine Chapel, because the writers of Reverse: 1999 made almost this exact point in, of all places, the crossover event they did with Assassin's Creed. The story concerns a group of artists painting the frescoes on the dome of a cathedral; it explores their creative frustration with the restrictions placed on them by the church, their inadequate pay, their love for each other and their art, and their need to secretly create their own work, hidden on the structural components of the dome, that actually expressed all this, something just for them that no one else might see. The creation of art has never in recorded memory been a pure pursuit untainted by capital. Constraints, even unreasonable constraints, can in fact help create greater art than would be possible though wild and totally free expression. But it can still be a bit miserable, to have to write a crossover story with Assassin's Creed because the higher ups demand it, or to, say, introduce two new characters at the climax of the story because you always need two new characters to sell every patch. Gachas, mobile games, didn't become the bulk of the gaming industry in China and Southeast Asia because the people living there happened to be super greedy, but due to easily identifiable historical conditions. But it's a fairly restrictive structure for games that now, the majority of artists in that gaming industry have no choice but to work under. Even if I sometimes enjoy the results, you can feel the chafing and it hurts. I'm very glad for the devs' sake that PC games are becoming more prominent and accessible over there.

        4 votes
    2. kfwyre
      Link Parent
      Come for the games writeups; stay for the shockingly deep exploration of gacha game design. It genuinely never occurred to me that compelling characters and plotlines would be found in a genre...

      Come for the games writeups; stay for the shockingly deep exploration of gacha game design.

      It genuinely never occurred to me that compelling characters and plotlines would be found in a genre that I largely consider a cash grab, but it also makes perfect sense the way you laid it out: those are the exact kind of thing that could get people to get so invested in it that they would want to throw lots of money at a game in the first place. Really insightful stuff.

      5 votes
    3. SingedFrostLantern
      Link Parent
      The only thing that I can think of for the save issue would be how each save slot contains all the past saves made on it; when choosing a file to load, you can tap left/right to choose between all...

      The only thing that I can think of for the save issue would be how each save slot contains all the past saves made on it; when choosing a file to load, you can tap left/right to choose between all of them so there's a chance you may have tapped right and loaded an old save? The saves can't be overwritten so the only advice I can offer without more details is just to scroll through all the save files and check (though the above review is pretty clear about opinions).

      Well I can respect that you put in a few hours to try it and made a post for it. Just so you don't feel too guilty about pinging me for this, I can say that I tried UNBEATABLE's demo during June's Next Fest along with UNBEATABLE [white label] a while back and didn't feel much about either of them. Call it a difference of opinion?

      4 votes
  2. [6]
    J-Chiptunator
    (edited )
    Link
    J-Chiptunator's Blackout Bingo Card (Standard/Form, Completed in 11/18) Mode: Standard Winning Bingo! Finished 25/25 ✅ Weapon Shop de Omasse ✅ Metroid Primer Hunters ✅ Hypnospace Outlaw ✅ Gran...
    • Exemplary
    J-Chiptunator's Blackout Bingo Card (Standard/Form, Completed in 11/18)
    Mode: Standard Winning Bingo! Finished 25/25
    Job simulator
    ✅ Weapon Shop de Omasse    		 FPS
    ✅ Metroid Primer Hunters    		 Point & click adventure
    ✅ Hypnospace Outlaw    		 Sim racing
    ✅ Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec    		 Card game
    ✅ Vegas Stakes
    Dungeon crawler
    ✅ Enter the Gungeon    		 Visual novel
    ✅ Tales from Toyotoki: Arrival of the Witch    		 Score attack
    ✅ Liberation Maiden    		 Sandbox
    ✅ Grand Theft Auto V    		 Simulation
    ✅ Rune Factory 4 Special
    Cozy
    ✅ A Short Hike    		 Creature collector
    ✅ Pokémon Ultra Moon    		 ★ Wildcard
    ✅ Untitled Goose Game    		 Puzzle platformer
    ✅ Oddworld: Abe’s Odyssey    		 Hack and slash
    ✅ Hyrule Warriors
    Action-adventure
    ✅ Long Puppy    		 Metroidvania/search action
    ✅ Animal Well    		 Shoot 'em up
    ✅ Resogun    		 JRPG
    ✅ WitchSpring R    		 Puzzle
    ✅ The Witness
    Third-person shooter
    ✅ Splatoon    		 Digital tabletop game
    ✅ Crimson Shroud    		 Run and gun
    ✅ Cuphead    		 Beat 'em up
    ✅ Scott Pilgrim vs The World: The Game - Complete Edition    		 Match 3
    ✅ Tetris Attack

    Last October, I set a goal to publish my write-ups for three consecutive weeks. Things changed, though, I decided to save the final eight games for Week 4, hoping this would help reduce my stress and stop me from rushing posts at the end of Week 3.

    The best news? On November 18th, 2025, at 5:30 PM EST, I blacked out my bingo card, with Scott Pilgrim vs The World: The Game - Complete Edition as the last title. Doing this in just 18 days and keeping my write-ups meaningful was a real challenge. Some write-ups were shorter than others, since a lot of the games needed more than an hour to really grasp.

    Soon, I'll post in the final Backlog Burner thread further detailing my experience with the event and plans for the next round. For now, let's dive into the list of games.

    Tetris Attack

    Writeup

    So, imagine this: you grab a Super Nintendo cartridge labeled Tetris Attack. Naturally, you expect falling Tetrominos, right? The familiar gameplay loop: drop, rotate, and line 'em up for that satisfying clear.

    But after booting it up, there's something off. No falling blocks. Instead, there's a rising stack, and you're moving a cursor around matching colorful squares that vanish when you line up three or more. "Wait. This isn't Tetris!" you think. "Am I playing some sort of reverse Kirby's Avalanche?"

    That confusion was pretty common among 90s gamers. Back then, just about every puzzle game with blocks was tossed under the "Tetris clone" label. What we didn't know at the time was that Tetris Attack is actually Panel de Pon, a Japan-only title rebranded for the West. Nintendo swapped out the original fairy-themed visuals for characters and backgrounds from Yoshi's Island. The result? A strange but fun mashup with zero relation to the Tetris brand, something its co-founder later expressed they regretted approving.

    Unlike traditional Match-3 games, where you wait for pieces to fall, Puzzle League titles (the series this game belongs to) give you constant control. You can swap panels horizontally even while others are clearing, allowing you to chain combos back-to-back. That non-stop interaction makes the gameplay feel faster and far more intense than your typical puzzle fare.

    Matching more than three colors nets you combos, but building chains and triggering consecutive clears, is where the real fun (and big damage) lies, especially in VS mode. Blocking your opponent with waves of garbage blocks while racing to clear your own stack is thrilling and chaotic in the best way.

    Tetris Attack offers a nice selection of modes:

    • Endless Mode: The rising stack never stops—just see how long you can last.
    • Stage Clear: Clear the stack below a marked line to move on.
    • VS Mode: Either 1P vs the AI or 2P competitive battles.
    • Puzzle Mode: Solve specific clearing challenges with a limited number of moves.

    Endless Mode can be surprisingly addictive, though mastering chain setups takes some serious practice. Puzzle Mode, on the other hand, is a fun brain workout that helps you recognize patterns and refine your chain-making instincts.

    Because of licensing restrictions, Tetris Attack never saw a re-release. Thankfully, its original counterpart, Panel de Pon, is available in the SNES library on Nintendo Switch Online.

    If you want to dive deeper into the Puzzle League lineage, check out the Nintendo Puzzle Collection for GameCube (Japan-only). It includes the previously unreleased Panel de Pon N64 (basis for Pokémon Puzzle League) with four players VS mode, Dr. Mario 64, and even a brand-new Yoshi’s Cookie instalment.

    Whether it's called Panel de Pon, Tetris Attack, or Puzzle League, this series stands out for its quick reflexes, sharp thinking, and endless replayability; a must-play for any puzzle fan.

    Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec

    Writeup

    Christmas 2001 was unforgettable. I finally got my long-awaited GameCube with Super Smash Bros. Melee and Luigi's Mansion. Meanwhile, one of my relatives must've thought Nintendo's library might end up just as small as the N64's, and with VHS tapes slowly fading away, they decided to cover two needs at once.

    They gifted a PlayStation 2 bundled with the sim racing game, Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec to my sister. Suddenly, we had access to a huge lineup of games and a new way to watch movies. The PS2 quickly became the living room centerpiece, unfortunately shared space with my parents' cable TV habits. Let's just say "who gets the TV" became an ongoing family debate.

    Eventually, my dad solved the problem by upgrading our old CRT to one with DVD support for the basement. He even installed a separate VHS/DVD player upstairs for the rest of the family. Problem solved, and the perfect environment for long gaming sessions was born.

    Released in 2001, Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec showed what the sixth generation of consoles could really do. From the moment the intro rolled, it was clear the focus was all about realism. The car models looked almost photo-realistic for the time, with lighting and reflections so detailed that, on a CRT, they could easily trick you into thinking it was a real race broadcast.

    And that realism extended to the gameplay. Unlike Mario Kart, where sliding around corners is part of the fun, Gran Turismo 3 demands precision. Rear-wheel drive cars accelerate faster but are prone to fishtailing if you take corners too aggressively. Front-wheel drives handle turns more cleanly but don't pull as hard on straights. Every type of car teaches you something different about handling, speed, and balance.

    Arcade Mode gives you the basics: single races, time trials, free runs, and two-player battles. But the heart of the game lies in Simulation Mode. Here, you buy, tune, and maintain cars that wear down over time, with oil changes and wash cycles.

    At first, you can only enter beginner-level cups. Soon, though, you'll face tougher leagues that demand specific cars, upgrades, or licenses. That means grinding for credits and taking on the notorious License Tests. These exams are no joke; tight time limits, sensitive controls, and unforgiving cars make every gold trophy feel earned.

    I remember one in particular: test B-8. It took me at least five tries to finally nail it, barely squeezing under the 46-second limit by 0.018 seconds for the required bronze trophy. It's intense, but also satisfying once you start improving.

    The License Tests might be a little too strict, but they're a solid skill gate for the rest of the campaign. Once you're in the groove, Gran Turismo 3 becomes one of the most immersive and rewarding racing experiences of its era. The handling, visuals, and sense of progression still hold up, making it worth revisiting even today, a textbook example of when "real driving simulator" truly meant something.

    Metroid Prime Hunters

    Writeup

    When the dual-screen Nintendo DS launched on November 21, 2004, in North America, it came with a pack-in demo titled Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt. This proof-of-concept FPS showed off what the new handheld could do. While Super Mario 64 DS might have been a better showcase for content, First Hunt offered an ambitious look into the DS's potential, proof that the system wasn't just a market experiment but a serious platform. For years to come, it would go on to sell over 150 million units.

    The demo offers three single-player training stages:

    • Regulator – Destroy all hologram targets before time runs out
    • Survivor – Defeat as many Xenomorphs as possible before dying
    • Morph Ball – Navigate an obstacle course before the clock expires

    There’s also a Multiplayer Mode where up to four players, all as Samus, can face off in deathmatch battles across three different arenas.

    First Hunt includes three control styles:

    • Stylus Mode: Aim with the stylus, move with the D-Pad or face buttons, shoot with either shoulder button, and double-tap the screen to jump.
    • Dual Mode: A more traditional setup where the D-Pad or face buttons handle both movement and aiming.
    • Touch Shoot Mode: A demo-exclusive layout similar to Stylus Mode but swaps the jump and shoot functions.

    Stylus Mode offers the most precise aiming, though the lack of auto-aim and occasional touch-screen misreads can be frustrating, especially during platforming sections. In the full Metroid Prime Hunters game, additional button options for jumping help reduce this issue.

    The single-player campaign captures the tension and atmosphere of Metroid Prime, but hardware limitations hold it back. Levels are more linear, boss fights repeat too often, and there's less variety in both exploration and story lore. Platforming sections can be punishing; instant-death pits warp Samus back to checkpoints, a contrast to the mainline Prime titles. Thankfully, this is rarer in multiplayer's compact arenas.

    Because of the game's age, finding real opponents today is difficult. However, it's still possible to set up bot matches and experiment with the game's other hunters. Each has unique weaponry, Morph Ball traits, and abilities. For instance, Spire wields the Magmaul, which leaves lingering flames on enemies, and can climb walls with his Dialanche form, giving him a serious mobility edge.

    Metroid Prime Hunters is an impressive technical feat for early DS hardware, even if it can't quite match the depth or polish of the numbered Prime games. It's worth a look as a historical curiosity, but most fans will probably prefer revisiting Metroid Prime proper. Maybe someday it'll be worth finishing, but for now, it sits comfortably in the "nice experiment" category.

    Long Puppy

    Writeup

    Part of Playdate's Season 2 bundle, the action-adventure Long Puppy starts as a simple story about a boy and his dachshund but quickly turns into something much stranger, and stretchier. Across 13 levels, you toss a ball for your pup to fetch… though getting it back isn't as straightforward as it sounds.

    The ball often lands in unreachable spots, forcing your loyal dog to stretch his body to snatch it. Using the Playdate's crank, you aim his head, then press up on the D-Pad to extend his body or down to pull his paws back in line. It feels odd at first, but the mechanic soon becomes surprisingly intuitive.

    When a gap proves too wide, the pup can eat food items to boost his maximum stretch length. These collectibles are hidden around the level; you can sniff them out with the A button or use the radar (activated with B) to display a map with every item's location.

    Each time your dog grabs the ball, a ghostly rival appears to chase him. If it bites you, it’ll steal your toy, though you can reclaim it shortly after. It's more an inconvenience than a punishment, but it keeps the tension high.

    There's also a level timer that, by default, applies to nearly every stage. If it hits zero, it's game over. The countdown adds pressure but can feel restrictive, so disabling it might make exploration more enjoyable.

    Complete a level successfully, and your canine friend rewards you with a rather… aromatic display. The resulting "mountain" marks your completion percentage for the stage. Each level also hides a secret "pee spot" that reveals a bit of lore, though those seem pretty well hidden, still no luck finding one yet.

    So far, I've cleared two levels, and Long Puppy has been a charming surprise. Its crank-based stretching mechanic is playful, inventive, and surprisingly skillful once mastered. I'm looking forward to digging deeper into it, hopefully without too many ghost dogs interrupting fetch time.

    WitchSpring R

    Writeup

    If not for getting into Hololive streams in the early 2020s, especially Takanashi Kiara, one of the five founding talents of Hololive EN, I never would've stumbled upon WitchSpring R. The cute outspoken phoenix VTuber got so deeply into the game that she finished the main campaign and the new DLC across eight streams; a fun binge that sold me on giving the game a try myself.

    After doing some research, WitchSpring R stands out as far more than a standard remake. It's a thorough revamp of WitchSpring 1, which originally launched as a mobile-only game. The remake enhances the visuals and music, expands the lore in light of later series installments, and makes the mechanics deeper overall. This isn't just a glow-up; it's a redesigned experience much improved over the mobile version.

    Since I'm not a fan of touchscreen-only gaming, I discovered the original WitchSpring only after learning about the remake. So all my impressions come directly from WitchSpring R.

    The main character, Pieberry, kicks off her journey scouting for potion ingredients around her forest home. After returning, she's ambushed by human soldiers; a persistent threat that makes her realize she needs to train harder to restore her former powers. Pieberry's obsession with pies (especially berry pies) shapes a lot of her personality; she'll even barter shiny valuables for a slice of pie, so she's earned the nickname "Pie Bandit" in my playthrough.

    WitchSpring R is a JRPG at heart, but with a twist: stat growth comes not from traditional EXP, but by training through activities like gathering, battling, and minigames. The training gauge fills as you play, unlocking training choices that boost stats based on what you select. Some training sessions include fun minigames; ace them, and you'll get bigger stat rewards. There's an option to skip minigames too, which nets basic stat boosts plus a chance for bonuses.

    Defeating enemies and exploring unlocks more ways to upgrade Pieberry. Victories reward stat boosts, and there's a system for upgrading weapons, equipping new gear, and customizing her skill build for your play style. Crafting is central, with recipes (usually from defeating bosses) allowing for permanent stat-boosting items and new spells.

    Even after about three hours in Chapter 1, progression can feel slow at times. On Normal difficulty, mid-level enemies can hit hard, and Pie Bandit's low starting HP means you'll need to grind for better stats before tackling tougher foes. For a smoother ride, I'll consider dropping to Easy at first and then switching back later to help with pacing.

    Pieberry isn't alone; she can recruit a range of pets, each with unique abilities for combat and exploration. These companions add depth, letting you tailor Pie Bandit as a magical powerhouse or focus on physical combat. The customizable builds are extensive, thanks to the crafting system and item collecting.

    WitchSpring R offers an endearing JRPG adventure, enhanced by substantial upgrades in graphics, worldbuilding, and gameplay. The quirky pie-loving Pieberry and her training system stand out, though pacing and difficulty can require some adjustment. Above all: never utter the word "pie" and "berry" in the same sentence; she might just snatch your pie before you know what hit you!

    Enter the Gungeon

    Writeup

    Originally, I wanted to tackle Crypt of the NecroDancer, but a Switch 2 firmware update crashed the game on load. So I switched over to Enter the Gungeon, another roguelike dungeon crawler installed on my system.

    Enter the Gungeon puts you in control of one of four Gungeoneers, each with their own starting loadouts. Gameplay is classic twin-stick shooter: use one stick to move and the other to shoot, all while dodging waves of bullets fired by enemy Gundead and bosses. You get a limited number of Blanks each run that instantly clear the room of projectiles when used; a lifesaver for hectic moments.

    The challenge starts fast and ramps up quickly. The penalty for dying is harsh but fair; you lose all items and weapons found during your run and have to restart from the beginning. However, procedural generation keeps the dungeon layouts, items, and boss fights fresh in every playthrough. Along the way, you'll meet NPCs who set up shops or offer quests, and eventually expand your options back in the Breach hub as you unlock new items and services.

    Controls are tight and responsive, making movement and aiming intuitive even in tense boss fights. The game's addictive risk-reward loop makes each run exciting, and the sheer variety of guns and items means there's always something new to discover. Despite some initial setbacks, it's easily the standout title for burning through my backlog right now.

    Pokémon Ultra Moon

    Writeup

    Returning to Pokémon after a long break since the early 2000s, I wasn't sure what to expect from Ultra Moon. Like many who started with Gen 1, I drifted away around the GBA era and mostly ignored the series as it continued onto new systems.

    Pokémon is still a JRPG at its core, letting you build a team of six battling and collectable creatures from an ever-growing roster. Each game generation usually comes in two versions with version-exclusive Pokémon to promote trading. Moves are capped at four per creature, and the classic type-matchup system is very much alive; team synergy does matter, but honestly, difficulty isn't much of a concern until late-game challenges like the Elite Four.

    Ultra Moon tries to break the mold a bit. Gone is the traditional gym badge structure; instead, you face island trials and Totem Pokémon, which are beefed-up versions of the regional creatures. The Alolan setting stands out with its tropical vibe and regional Pokémon variants, making the world feel fresh. This is the first time since the series' beginning that the formula felt shaken up for me.

    I picked Litten as my starter, and it steamrolled the early game with its powerful fire attack that also inflicts a burn status. The replenishable move uses meant I rarely had to swap out for any of my backup Pokémon, even when I had solid type coverage.

    What really surprised me were the production values. The sheer amount of cutscenes, the dynamic camera angles, and the more lifelike 3D character models are a huge leap over the older chibi sprite look. In fact, it puts the Switch Pokémon releases to shame in terms of presentation.

    The slow-paced opening barely scratches the surface, but I'm intrigued enough to keep going. Ultra Moon may not be the traditional Pokémon structure I grew up with, but the new ideas and quality-of-life improvements accumulated over the decade and half are making it worthwhile so far.

    Scott Pilgrim vs The World: The Game - Complete Edition

    Writeup

    Scott Pilgrim vs The World is infamous as a warning about digital-only releases and delistings. Originally launched for PS3 and Xbox 360, it vanished from online stores less than four years later, before finally returning in 2021, Complete Edition and all DLC included, on all modern platforms.

    Despite having never played this game, it still left a strong mark on me since 2010, partly thanks to its ties with the movie, such as the memorable Fairy Fountain cover reminiscent of A Link to the Past. The entire franchise oozes love for 80s and 90s gaming, blending endless references into both the movie and the game. It even features an original chiptune album by Anamanaguchi, which fits perfectly with its energetic style.

    Unlike most beat 'em ups, Scott Pilgrim stands out for having a full RPG-like experience system. Gaining EXP means raising stats and unlocking new skills, with most basic moves being locked behind higher levels. Oddly, low attacks only unlock at Level 5, which slows early progression and adds to the challenge. Even on the easiest difficulty, "Average Joe", the learning curve can be steep.

    Stage 1 alone was a slog. It took nearly 30 minutes to clear, mainly thanks to long stages, limited early moves, and enemies that soak up a lot of damage. Enemies tend to block a lot and often jumps at you with little warning. Money drops are low, so stat-boosting items from shops are hard to afford, making upgrades feel out of reach early on.

    One odd quirk: the AI is bad at tracking movement along the Y-axis, so repeatedly using jump kicks can let you cheese through tougher enemies and even bosses. Having to rely on this exploit to avoid frustration didn't feel rewarding.

    Overall, my first impression wasn't positive. Supposedly, things improve with better stats and moves unlocked later, but the grind to get there turned me off. There are plenty of great beat 'em ups out there now, and slogging through Scott Pilgrim's punishing early hours just didn't feel worth it. Disappointing, given the game's legendary status and cool style.

    5 votes
    1. [2]
      SingedFrostLantern
      Link Parent
      Ooooh Gungeon and NecroDancer are both choice roguelikes that've sucked tons of hours of my life away. I don't know if it's the particular way I'm reading your writeup sentence, but if you have...

      Ooooh Gungeon and NecroDancer are both choice roguelikes that've sucked tons of hours of my life away. I don't know if it's the particular way I'm reading your writeup sentence, but if you have less than 2 blanks when going to a new floor, the game'll restock you to that amount.

      Do you mind if I ask about your progress? Stuff like furthest floor/Gungeoneers cleared with/do you aim for the bonus floors/perfect boss clears?

      I'm also curious about which beat-em-ups you recommend. Of the digital era, Fight'N Rage, Streets of Rage 4, and Absolum are what come to mind for me. I'm less warm towards River City Girls and TMNT: Shredder's Revenge which share the same kinda per-character RPG level up experience (and RCG has the same stat-grinding item purchases). And there's Castle Crashers but that always feels like a friend game to me instead.

      4 votes
      1. J-Chiptunator
        Link Parent
        My progress in Enter the Gungeon is still pending; I've only reached right before Floor 2 in my first and only run so far. Since I don't really know what to expect beyond Floor 1 yet, I'm treating...

        My progress in Enter the Gungeon is still pending; I've only reached right before Floor 2 in my first and only run so far. Since I don't really know what to expect beyond Floor 1 yet, I'm treating this as a casual run with a focus on exploration.

        For this playthrough, I chose The Marine as my Gungeoneer because of his high accuracy and quick reload speed, especially with his starter gun. The extra armor that absorbs one hit also helps a lot. He feels like the most reliable choice for a first-time run.

        As for beat 'em ups, I haven’t played many, so I can’t really make recommendations. The ones I own are mostly on the Sega Genesis.

        Next on my list is probably one of the first two Streets of Rage games, or one of the first two Golden Axe instalments. Neither has an EXP system, which helps; I mainly want to clear out more of my backlog, especially since I'm tightening my budget lately.

        3 votes
    2. CannibalisticApple
      Link Parent
      Ooh, love to see a Pokémon game on here! Ultra Moon is a good choice, I think Gen 7 has legitimately the best games since the franchise moved to 3D graphics. You can feel the cut content in the...

      Ooh, love to see a Pokémon game on here! Ultra Moon is a good choice, I think Gen 7 has legitimately the best games since the franchise moved to 3D graphics. You can feel the cut content in the other games (XY and Sword/Shield are particularly bad), but the Gen 7 games feel complete. They got to include almost everything they'd intended in Sun/Moon, and then add more for the Ultra games.

      I read that Gamefreak had a team of newer employees work on Ultra Sun/Moon while the veterans worked on the Switch games, and I feel like their passion and excitement about working on a Pokémon game really shined through. There are countless little details and side quests. I was grinning like a loon for a good chunk of it. (Also, Mantine Surfing is addicting...)

      4 votes
    3. kfwyre
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      A blackout bingo is a beautiful thing to behold! That is NO small feat. Well done! Also, your writeups, with their wonderful sprinkling of screenshots, have been consistently great. I remember...

      A blackout bingo is a beautiful thing to behold! That is NO small feat. Well done!

      Also, your writeups, with their wonderful sprinkling of screenshots, have been consistently great.

      I remember making my dad take me to (I think it was) Circuit City on the release date of the original Gran Turismo. When I booted it up, I remember thinking how amazingly REAL the game looked, which is sort of a rich thought to have for a game that looks like this. (That's, admittedly, not quite what it looked like on a CRT TV though.)

      Regardless, it was really convincing at the time! I feel like graphics were initially so simple that every time there was any sort of advance in them, we were blown away by how much better and more "real" they looked, even if now we can easily see how far from "real" we actually were.

      While the original hasn't necessarily aged all that well visually, I will say that GT3 still looks pretty good! I think the 4:3 ratio gives away its age, but if that race screenshot were in widescreen, it could probably pass for something newer than it is.

      Also, I love to see a Playdate game join the fold! I was considering playing some Season 2 games on it myself, but given that I did Playdate games for the last Backlog Burner, I was excited to change over to something different for this one.

      4 votes
    4. Wes
      Link Parent
      J-Chip, you continue to deliver. I really appreciate how you provide some context with each of your picks, adding historical context or your own personal experience with a game. This time, I...

      J-Chip, you continue to deliver. I really appreciate how you provide some context with each of your picks, adding historical context or your own personal experience with a game.

      This time, I actually have experience with some of these titles. I did own (but was never very good at) Pokemon Puzzle League, AKA Tetris Attack.

      WitchSpring is also one that I surprisingly have played. Though I played the original on Android. At the time, I was happy to find a "premium" game without IAP. Unfortunately I did run into some global time limit issues that were present in the original game, but have apparently been removed from the remake (thank goodness).

      I've never owned Gran Turismo 3, but remember the cover image quite vividly. I swear it was plastered on storefront shelves for years and always caught my eye. It's interesting to see it as one of the early "hyper realistic racers", or at least what was possible at the time.

      I do find it absurdly impressive the level of detail that goes into some of these games today, with simulations for things like air dynamics and even fluid sloshing in tanks.

      Long Puppy sounds adorable. I'm a bit jealous of some of these inventive Playdate-exclusive titles (but am glad that they exist).

      Congrats on the blackout! It seems like you ended with some really solid picks.

      3 votes
  3. [6]
    JCPhoenix
    (edited )
    Link
    BINGO! x4! Mode: Custom Winning Bingo! Finished 16/25 ✅ Cassette Beasts ✅ Hacknet ✅ Until Then Tower defense ✅ Tokyo Dark ✅ Nine Noir Lives ✅ Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma ✅ Patron ✅ Murders on...

    BINGO! x4!

    Mode: Custom Winning Bingo! Finished 16/25
    Collectathon
    ✅ Cassette Beasts    		 Programming
    ✅ Hacknet    		 Visual novel
    ✅ Until Then    		 Tower defense Horror
    ✅ Tokyo Dark
    Point & click adventure
    ✅ Nine Noir Lives    		 Escape room
    ✅ Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma    		 Base building
    ✅ Patron    		 Puzzle platformer
    ✅ Murders on the Yangtze River    		 Stealth
    ✅ Intravenous
    Experimental Cozy ★ Wildcard
    ✅ Still There    		 Shoot 'em up Beat 'em up
    FPS Action-adventure
    ✅ Arco    		 Comedy
    ✅ AKIBA'S TRIP: Undead ＆ Undressed    		 Mystery/investigation
    ✅ MAKOTO WAKAIDO’s Case Files TRILOGY DELUXE    		 Tactical shooter
    Life sim
    ✅ Chef RPG    		 CRPG JRPG
    ✅ Eastward    		 Turn-based strategy/tactics Tactical RPG
    ✅ Fae Tactics
    Puzzle-Platformer - Murders on the Yangtze River

    Murders on the Yangtze River
    Released on Steam: 2024-01-31
    Purchased by me: 2024-05-10
    Time/Amount played: ~2.8hrs so far
    Brief Let's Play

    So...I was a bit (lot) sus on this being a Puzzle-Platformer. When I think Puzzle-Platformer, I'm thinking Portal or old-school Prince of Persia. This is basically another Ace Attorney clone. Which is why I bought it. And I don't think Ace Attorney is a Puzzle-Platformer. But if the Steam tags say so, who am I to question the wisdom of the masses?🤷🏽‍♂️

    Gameplay-wise, it plays like Ace Attorney Investigations, while setting- and theme-wise, it plays like The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles. GAAC takes place in the Victorian era in Japan and London, while MotYR takes place in early 20th century in China and maybe also in London (we'll see).

    I was really surprised there was voice acting here. It's in Chinese, except like a brief intro video that's in English, but the it sounds solid. I don't speak Chinese, but the emotions and all that seem on par with the subtitles. And the English localization seems solid as well!

    One neat thing is that the game includes a glossary and sort of mini-encyclopedia. The glossary is for forensic terms like "castoff blood patterns," which is cool. But the encyclopedia is far more interesting, because it describes relevant Chinese history. Such as when the stories of Sherlock Holmes made it to China and brief information about the Qing Dynasty and how civil service worked and more. For a Westerner like me who doesn't know much about Chinese history, it's super helpful to understand dialog and character roles and such.

    One thing that sets MotYR apart from other Ace Attorney clones I've tried is that it's an actual game, like Ace Attorney games. What I mean is that there are losing conditions and you can hit a game over state. The AA clones I've played, like Makoto Wakaido I played in a previous week, are just like highly interactive visual novels. There's no game over state in Makoto; I can just submit wrong deductions over and over until I select the right one. In AA and MotYR, I can only do this so many times before I get a game over. So I like that; there's an actual challenge. I have to actually pay attention and think about things.

    Definitely planning to play this to completion, though maybe not now. I love mystery games, have played some others this Backlog Bingo (even completed them), but I need a break!

    Life Sim - Chef RPG

    Chef RPG
    Released on Steam: 2024-09-12
    Purchased by me: 2024-12-22
    Time/Amount played: 1hr so far
    Brief Let's Play

    I'm beginning to think I just buy games based on if they look cool and interesting or not. Because I was surprised at what Chef RPG really was: Stardew Valley meets Overcooked meets WarioWare.

    It follows the Stardew or Harvest Moon formula where some relative from the countryside has passed away and left you, the cityslicker, some property in the boonies. And you've had enough of the city so you're going to try something new. However, instead of a farm, in Chef RPG, it's a restaurant. There's also that gathering side of things: fishing, hunting, and purchasing supplies, among other methods, for your restaurant.

    The Overcooked side of the game is operating the restaurant. You have to actually make the dishes customer want, serve them, clean up tables, and then seat the next customers and do it all again in a timely manner. The more customers you serve, the faster you are, the more money you make.

    The WarioWare side is that actually cooking dishes seems to involve some minigames. For example, one the meals I needed to make required me to play a mini, short version of Dance Dance Revolution. I had to hit the WASD/Arrow keys at the right time, as they came down the screen. Another was like a timing minigame. I had to press the button at the right times to cook the food. My success or failures at these minigames determined the quality of cooking creations.

    Which is honestly a pretty neat concept! And it's all inside this absolutely beautifully done, vivid, pixel art world. With pixel animation as well!

    I also like that it feels alive due to all the NPCs walking around everywhere. This is a small town in the countryside, but it's still a town versus a village. I think since this is a restaurant game, it makes sense to have all these NPCs around. Like managing a restaurant in Stardew makes no sense; you're serving the same subset of ~40 people everyday? Doesn't sound that difficult.

    Being early access, it definitely has some bugs. I noticed issues with dialog menus closing out completely, instead of continuing the conversation. A little annoying, but not game-breaking that I could tell.

    Overall, pretty neat experience. Will I play this more? Yeah probably. That said, I think just like Stardew, I have to be in the mood for it. And I haven't been in a Stardew mood in a loooong time. So we'll see when I go back to it next.

    Visual Novel - Until Then

    Until Then
    Released on Steam: 2024-06-25
    Purchased by me: 2024-07-09
    Time/Amount played: 1.5hrs so far
    Brief Let's Play

    I think I came across this game via social media. Probably Instagram. And I was immediately taken in by the pixel art anime style. If you've been reading my comments on other games, you've probably realized I like pixel art and anime a lot. So when they're merged, I like then even more so. Surprising, I know.

    But was really sealed the deal for me was realizing there was Filipino influence in it. I'm a Filipino from the US. And it's not very often I hear of games with Filipino influences. In fact, this is pretty much the first. So I felt like I had to buy and try it.

    Anyway, it's solidly a visual novel, but a lightly-interactive one. Not quite Stein's Gate where you just click though dialog forever. Here, you control the MC, you can interact with the environment a little bit, and can even choose dialog options.

    I'm not 100% sure of this, since I've only played an hour and a half so far, but I suspect there are no wrong choices. In fact, sometimes, the game makes you think you have a choice, but then you're not allowed to choose, for example, one dialog option over another. I suspect that there's no game over state.

    I particularly liked how much background lore there is. And how deep it appears to go. For example, a major world-changing even happened in this world, before the start of the game. The MC, Mark, is frequently on his phone looking at social media, messaging apps, and even news sites. And the news sites operates as a real life would; where articles link to other related articles, there are other topics, which do the same.

    So I found myself going through the news articles on this event, to get a better understanding of this world. Of what's going on in this fictionalized version of the Philippines and the world. And there's A LOT to read.

    Interestingly, even though it's fictional, there are absolutely real-world parallels to what's going on in the Philippines today, with regards to corruption in the government, wasteful spending, wrong government priorities, potential authoritarianism, etc. So the game acts as a bit of social commentary.

    The other thing is that this game triggers a certain nostalgia for me. Even though I'm not from the Philippines, some of these experiences of being a teenager, of being in school, are fairly universal I imagine. But it kinda reminded me how I was like back then.

    I'll def keep playing this game. Storywise, nothing major has been revealed. It's still just slice of life. This 9th grade boy going to school and his daily experiences. But again, I think it's nostalgia and maybe longing for days gone by that's keeping me going with this. I want to see where this goes.

    JRPG - Eastward

    Eastward
    Released on Steam: 2021-09-21
    Purchased by me: 2022-05-30
    Time/Amount played: 1.5hrs so far
    Brief Let's Play

    I picked this up because it reminded me a lot like Earthbound or Mother 3. There's a odd vibe that I get from it. But in a good way. Like it's not your traditional JRPG story and background that's all super serious. It's more whimsical and silly.

    Also, I thought this was a turn-based JRPG; it's not, it's an active combat JRPG like the Ys series or Secret of Mana...or even Zelda. Wait, are Legend of Zelda games considered JRPGs? OK, so then what makes a JRPG a JRPG? Hmmm....

    Regardless, the combat seems pretty smooth and easy to utilize. I don't play a lot of active combat games, but this seems doable.

    Right off the bat, I got Gurren Lagann vibes, since these people all live underground. Which I'm not sure why yet.

    I definitely like the art style. Once again, it's pixel art. Once again, I prove that I buy games by aesthetic. I guess I definitely judge books by their covers.

    I don't have a whole lot more to say...Other than I'm definitely playing this more.

    ⭐Wildcard - Still There

    Still There
    Released on Steam: 2019-11-20
    Purchased by me: 2020-01-13
    Time/Amount played: 45min
    Brief Let's Play

    Since this is a Wildcard spot, I should mention the top tags for Still There: Point & Click Adventure, Emotional, Story Rich, Space

    I like the atmosphere of the game. There's something peaceful, yet melancholic about it. Certainly helps that the beginning dream sequence primes for melancholy

    The game starts with our AI supervisor (I can feel Tildoes already frowning) assigning us some basic tasks and tips about what to do, But then it pulls back pretty quickly. Found myself clicking around, randomly looking at things, trying to figure out how stuff on this station works. And what to do next.

    And it's, at times, clear as mud. Some tasks are less difficult because it's stuff that humans are expected to know how to do. Like making something to eat. I see some food pouches, a bowl/cup thing, and a microwave. OK, I make Cup Ramen pretty frequently IRL. But which food packet in-game do I use? How do I get the water? Oh, I need to recycle my pee into water? At least there seems to be some in-game instructions on how to do that. It took longer than I thought it would to figure all that out.

    It got a little more annoying as I started having to do the technical work. On the control board section of the station, it kinda looks like the instrument/control panels one sees on planes or spacecraft. All these buttons, knobs, switches, but very little to no instruction on what these things do and how they work.

    I guess that makes sense in-game, where we've been on this station for a long time, so we should know how to operate all this. But as the player, I was just left clicking around randomly. There was a small paper manual on board, but it didn't really explain a lot. It looked a bit like the paper/PDF manual from "Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes," but with even less explanation. Which isn't very helpful.

    Idk, with Point & Click games, brute-forcing ones way through the game isn't always fun. I want to feel like I'm learning and figuring things out. Or that I'm intuiting something.

    But I felt like I was spinning my tires, which got frustrating and made me wonder if this how it's going to be throughout the rest of this game. Like clearly there's a story here. Why is our MC alone? What happened to his family? What happened to the previous/fellow station employee? Or has he always been alone? Why do we have a pet iguana onboard?

    But getting to the story through the puzzles and minigames...Idk. Is is worth it?

    That said, I could see myself playing more of this. Though, like with other games this week, I have to be in the right mindset. It's like Zachtronic games such as SpaceChem. They look super cool and fun, but rarely am I in that mood to just rack my brain completely. I play games to have fun, to relax. Yes, challenge is important, but it's not the most important thing to me. Sometimes I just want to be told a good story.

    Tactical RPG - Fae Tactics

    Fae Tactics
    Released on Steam: 2020-07-31
    Purchased by me: ??? (Think I got it free)
    Time/Amount played: 45min
    Brief Let's Play

    The battles in Fae Tactics seem really quick. Tactical RPG games usually have battles that last like 20+ minutes. But that might just be because I was still in the tutorial phase of the game.

    Seems like a pretty bog standard tactical RPG. That's not a bad thing; it's not like the TRPG space has really been that innovative, IMO. Seems like most TRPGs are still fairly close to something like Final Fantasy Tactics.

    While I enjoy pixel art games, it seemed like the resolution was too low And trying to change the resolution through in-game settings didn't appear to do anything. So I don't think the art looked as good as it could, IMO.

    I don't have a whole lot more to say about Fae Tactics. And I think that's because I didn't feel the hook. I've gotten some "tickle" from most of the games I've played in Backlog Bingo so far. That doesn't mean I'm gonna go back and play those games immediately, but they're for sure on the "OK, I definitely need/want to play more of this" list (which is its own backlog, sigh).

    But didn't feel that with Fae Tactics. I'm pretty sure this was on my wishlist for awhile, before I got it free. Just because a game is on my wishlist doesn't mean I'm ever actually going to buy it. Even if on sale. I feel Fae Tactics would've been one of those games that I never actually purchased.

    Which I suppose is still true since it was free.

    Probably won't get back to this. Or if I do, it's on the lowest priority.

    Given that we in the States are heading into Thanksgiving later this week, and I'm traveling for the holiday, this might be it for me for this Backlog Bingo. I think this is the final week anyway. That said, I know we have a recap/conclusion post coming too. So if I get the time and feel like doing so, I might try one or two more games. But I'm also running out of games to fit the remaining categories. Which is a pretty good problem to have, I'd say.

    7 votes
    1. [2]
      CannibalisticApple
      Link Parent
      Congrats on the bingo! And I'm excited to see someone else playing Eastward! Seriously, it has some of the best pixel art I've seen, some scenes are genuinely gorgeous. You're fairly early so I...

      Congrats on the bingo! And I'm excited to see someone else playing Eastward! Seriously, it has some of the best pixel art I've seen, some scenes are genuinely gorgeous. You're fairly early so I won't say more, but I hope you enjoy the rest of it!

      Actually, strike that, I'll give you one tip. There are two missable quest items in Chapter 1. I missed one, and that empty slot in that tab bothered me for the rest of the game. So make sure to investigate everything while you can! I think the one I missed is in the ruins.

      6 votes
      1. JCPhoenix
        Link Parent
        Thanks! Yeah of my Week 4 games, Eastward was what I was most excited for. I've been wanting to play it, but it's either I'm already playing something else, or I have other games on deck. So glad...

        Thanks! Yeah of my Week 4 games, Eastward was what I was most excited for. I've been wanting to play it, but it's either I'm already playing something else, or I have other games on deck. So glad to finally start it. Appreciate the tip as well!

        3 votes
    2. aphoenix
      Link Parent
      Congrats on the Bingos! I definitely feel you with Fae Tactics. I have under an hour played, and I remember being excited to play it because there are so many things that I would typically like...

      Congrats on the Bingos!

      I definitely feel you with Fae Tactics. I have under an hour played, and I remember being excited to play it because there are so many things that I would typically like about it, but it just fell flat for me. I don't really know why, either, it just didn't spark for me in much the same way it didn't for you.

      5 votes
    3. [2]
      Wes
      Link Parent
      JCPhoenix is playing a detective game? I can't believe it! Shame you had to re-record your footage for Yangtze, but I appreciate the effort. The visual aesthetic is very nice on this one, and the...

      JCPhoenix is playing a detective game? I can't believe it!

      Shame you had to re-record your footage for Yangtze, but I appreciate the effort. The visual aesthetic is very nice on this one, and the ability to draw around areas of interest really helps sell the illusion that you're driving the story. The history snippets are also fun.

      I do think it's cool to see more international games coming to the West, and being made available on PC, even if the early ports are not as polished as we may hope for. It seems like developers are getting more used to the platform, and expected features and polish are slowly improving. But it's definitely not 100% yet, and I can relate to some frustration when there's localization bugs, or missing features like borderless fullscreen or Steam Cloud.

      Chef RPG seems a good fit for the Life Sim category. It has lovely art too, and I like that you can choose your starting season. Not sure what was up with the text bug you kept running into. The cooking was fun... but maybe don't quit your day job.

      I've heard people rave about the story in Until Then. It looks good. It's kind of hilarious that you can "like" others' social media posts, and then get called out on it. It definitely seems like the kind of game I'd want to completely immerse myself in. That's also true for Eastward, actually.

      Well done on the 4x bingo, by the way! I'm still working towards mine.

      4 votes
      1. JCPhoenix
        (edited )
        Link Parent
        Lol, Backlog Bingo for me this year was just "JC LARPs Being a Detective." I finished Ace Attorney Investigations 1 and 2 earlier this year and then I was just like...I need moar. This is why I...

        Lol, Backlog Bingo for me this year was just "JC LARPs Being a Detective." I finished Ace Attorney Investigations 1 and 2 earlier this year and then I was just like...I need moar.

        The cooking was fun... but maybe don't quit your day job.

        This is why I barely cook IRL. I'd either poison myself or set the house on fire. Like I can cook spaghetti and that's the extent of my cooking. I joke, but it's mostly laziness on my part as opposed to lack of skill. But if I can't even cook in a game...🫠

        The one game I'm still playing regularly is Eastward. That game is so good. Even though I'm garbage at the combat, it's just...Wow. There's some deeply nostalgic about it. I think I mentioned Earthbound/Mother 3 in the LP, but I don't think that's fully the factor. I'm only in the the second chapter, but I'm enjoying it so much.

        4 votes
  4. kfwyre
    Link
    Pinging all Backlog Burner participants/conversationalists: here's the new topic for the week! Notification List @aphoenix @1338 @BeardyHat @CannibalisticApple @dannydotcafe @deathinactthree...

    Pinging all Backlog Burner participants/conversationalists: here's the new topic for the week!

    Notification List

    @aphoenix
    @1338
    @BeardyHat
    @CannibalisticApple
    @dannydotcafe
    @deathinactthree
    @Durinthal
    @Eidolon
    @J-Chiptunator
    @JCPhoenix
    @knocklessmonster
    @Pistos
    @sotix
    @sparksbet
    @Wes
    @ZeroGee

    If you would like to be removed from/added to the list, let me know either here or by PM.

    6 votes
  5. [12]
    kfwyre
    (edited )
    Link
    Confession time: I've just been picking games at random for this event instead of diligently planning out my card like I usually do. The freedom has been nice, but now it's coming with a cost: I...

    Confession time: I've just been picking games at random for this event instead of diligently planning out my card like I usually do.

    The freedom has been nice, but now it's coming with a cost: I am going to have to aggressively shoehorn some of the games I've already been playing into categories on my card in ways that will almost certainly strain a good faith interpretation of them.

    In terms of pacing, I'm feeling really good about being able to hit a blackout this time. Deliberately choosing shorter games has really helped me keep things going, with my only obstacle being that I keep going back to Inkbound instead of playing new games.

    I think that's actually a solid endorsement for the game: I'm drawn to keep diving back into it hour after hour, even during a month where I intentionally want, even MORE than usual, to hop between different new games.

    Mode: Custom Winning Bingo! Finished 25/25
    Distribution
    ✅ Pepsiman    		 Order
    ✅ Irritating Stick    		 Calm
    ✅ Cursorblade    		 Simple
    ✅ Rocket Skates VR    		 Verticality
    ✅ ROTA
    Fragmentation
    ✅ PaRappa the Rapper    		 Annihilation
    ✅ Cozy Space Survivors    		 Collaboration
    ✅ The Operative: No One Lives Forever    		 Creativity
    ✅ DRL    		 Rebirth
    ✅ Spin Hero
    Style
    ✅ Roundabout    		 Emergence
    ✅ Acid Web    		 ★ Wildcard
    ✅ Incredible Crisis    		 Peace
    ✅ Vib-Ribbon    		 Deception
    ✅ DreamBreak
    Open
    ✅ Midtown Madness    		 Discovery
    ✅ A Simple Garbage Sorting Game    		 Swift
    ✅ Skator Gator    		 Abundance
    ✅ Inkbound    		 Isolation
    ✅ Firestarter
    Repetition
    ✅ Mask of Mists    		 Sound
    ✅ Paradise Marsh    		 Destruction
    ✅ Metal: Hellsinger    		 Maneuver
    ✅ Arctic Eggs    		 Comfortable
    ✅ Mekabolt

    DreamBreak

    This was the first complete miss of the event for me.

    I was initially excited for this game. It's got great graphics, good music, vibrant colors, and a compelling Soviet cyberpunk setting. I even got used to the game's clunky controls pretty quickly. The game has grid-based movement despite being a side-scroller, so it doesn't play like you expect. It reminded me of Another World though, which I love.

    I hit a mandatory minigame about twenty minutes into my playthrough. You're flying a car and drones are attacking it. You're given a very clunky method for targeting the drones and getting rid of them.

    Now, I am admittedly bad at games, so it's possible that what follows was entirely a skill issue (but I'm pretty confident it wasn't): I literally couldn't pass it. For one, the game seemed to eat some of my controller inputs. And for another, the rate at which the drones attacked seemed to be calibrated to be way too fast. I tried it several times, playing optimally, and I would still lose.

    I can't help but wonder if it's one of those things where, like, the wrong framerate causes the game to run in unintended ways or something.

    Anyway, after beating my head against that minigame for fifteen minutes (almost as long as I'd been playing the rest of the game), I gave up.

    Kind of a shame really, because I had been liking the game up to that point.

    Oh, and, uh... you've been framed for murder in the game so (::looks at card::) there is some deception involved (like I said, fitting these remaining categories is going to get pretty bad pretty quick).

    Spin Hero

    A game with permadeath is really, fundamentally about rebirth, right?

    Depending on how you feel about inspiration, this game is either a shameless ripoff of or a loving homage to Luck Be a Landlord. It's the same exact concept (slot machine roguelike) with a very similar setup, skinned and themed to be an RPG-style adventure where you fight monsters instead of a predatory property owner.

    Now, I know what you're thinking: Kefir, this game was in this month's Humble Choice, so how can you play this for the November Backlog Burner if you got the game in November?!

    But HA, do I have one over on you! I owned this game and didn't play it BEFORE the Humble Choice. If there's one past time I like more than buying bundles, it's getting games in bundles that I already own because I foolishly bought those titles ahead of time instead of waiting for them to be in bundles. Take THAT! I bet you feel SO foolish now!

    Anyway, I haven't yet had like, a bonkers runaway run like I know is possible in Luck Be a Landlord. Instead, the game has been more subdued with its power curve. I'm still learning all the different items and options and optimal way to play though, so I'm sure it's possible and I just haven't gotten there yet.

    I'll keep playing runs of this one in between other games. I don't love it yet, but if it can scratch the itch that Luck Be a Landlord did, then I'll get a good amount of time out of it.

    Incredible Crisis

    Okay, I guess I lied about having to work hard to fit categories to titles. This game is going in my wildcard spot -- not because I can't fit it anywhere else, but because "wildcard" fits it like a glove. This game is genuinely wild.

    When broken down, the game is little more than a series of minigames glued together with cutscenes. It feels like so much more than that though because the game's production value and charm is off the charts. They execute a simple concept very well.

    I mean, the game opens with a 2001 parody played by a ska orchestra (did you know that a "ska orchestra" was even a thing?)

    Here's a brief rundown of the opening minutes of the game: you start by doing a dance workout with your officemates but then a boulder breaks through the wall and you have to run away from it after which you're able to get into an elevator but that elevator falls after which you land on a horizontal flagpole and then have to balance your way back to safety.

    It goes on like this, whiplashing from scene to scene, each one with its own little minigame in which you usually fight for your survival in cartoony, over-the-top ways. The game is intentionally slapstick; intentionally bombastic; intentionally weird; intentionally ridiculous.

    I dig it.

    The quality of the minigames varies. Most of them are deliberately clunky but fun in keeping with the game's ridiculousness, but some are either a touch grating or go on too long. The second one (running away from the boulder) is actually bad enough that we're talking about it over in the CGA topic. It's a shame that such a misfire comes so early in the game because it's never fun to kick things off with a lowpoint.

    Also, later on in the game, there is a very unexpected not-safe-for-what-I-initially-thought-was-a-family-friendly-game moment in which you give a woman a "massage" that is, uh, quite questionable. It feels very out of place in an otherwise bright, cartoony game that seems directly aimed at kids.

    Regardless, I've had fun with it overall. I'm abusing save states again, but not as bad as I did with Pepsiman. With this one, I'm allowing myself to save only at the beginning of each new scene (which is still way more security than the game intends you to have). I'm not fully finished with the game yet, so I can't give my full thoughts on it, but I've been thoroughly entertained by it so far.

    6 votes
    1. Wes
      Link Parent
      "Ska Orchestra" is definitely not something I had on my bingo card. Though if I did, now I know which game to play. I'm kind of taken by the idea of stringing minigames together into a larger...

      "Ska Orchestra" is definitely not something I had on my bingo card. Though if I did, now I know which game to play.

      I'm kind of taken by the idea of stringing minigames together into a larger story. Truthfully, I don't know if I'd actually enjoy playing it, because you run the risk of a single game souring your experience. However, from a game design perspective, it sounds like so much fun to come up with different experimental ideas for short gameplay experiences. Like taking a bunch of game jam concepts and smashing them together.

      I'd say "Wildcard" definitely fits this one. In fact, all of your categories work. It's no good! I expect to see more post hoc justifications from you in the future. Spin me a story about how spending a night alone in Chernobyl is actually Comfortable for you, or how knitting scarves is Destruction (of the cold!). Step it up, Kefir!

      4 votes
    2. [3]
      kfwyre
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      DRL AKA D, the Roguelike AKA DOOM, the Roguelike So, DRL has a storied past. Here's a brief rundown of some of the major events: It starts development in 2002 using ASCII-only graphics in the...

      DRL AKA D, the Roguelike AKA DOOM, the Roguelike

      So, DRL has a storied past. Here's a brief rundown of some of the major events:

      • It starts development in 2002 using ASCII-only graphics in the classic Rogue style.
      • Development on it finishes in 2012, and the game officially adds a graphic pack made by Derek Yu (you know, the Spelunky guy).
      • The developers begin working on Jupiter Hell, a legally distinct follow-up.
      • ZeniMax hits the game with a cease and desist in 2016 for using "DOOM" in the name, so it changes to "DRL" or "D, the Roguelike."
      • Development resumes again in 2024 and the game goes open source.
      • There are now enough fans of the legally distinct follow-up that the devs have now demade the new game in the original DRL engine.

      Pretty wild, right? Plus we love a full-circle moment.

      (Also, imagine working diligently on a fan project for a decade and finally putting it behind you, only to get a legal threat four years later.)

      Anyway, DRL is a delight. It's a very competent mix of traditional roguelike trappings (e.g. grid-based and turn-based levels) with familiar DOOM elements (or should I say D? wait that's a different game).

      Unlike a lot of traditional roguelikes, the learning curve is quite shallow. Because it uses familiar weapons, ammo, enemies, etc, it's easy for anyone who's played DOOM to drop in and automatically know what's going on. You already know that radiation suit is going to let you traverse green goop without damage, for example.

      Also, unlike a lot of traditional roguelikes, this manages to capture DOOM's famous fast-paced gameplay, which is pretty remarkable for something that's turn-based. The game's systems are simple enough that they let you move quickly once you get the hang of things. It's not as frantic as standard FPS DOOM, but it plays WAY faster than any other TRL I've played (which, granted, isn't very many -- shout outs to Castle of the Winds and Dungeons of Dredmor).

      Anyway, the game is quality. I can see why they made their own commercial follow-up, because I would be happy with paying for DRL. Jupiter Hell has now jumped up the priority list in my backlog, because I love gatling-gunning imps in turn-based, tile format.

      It's great. It's free. I can't recommend it enough.

      Also:

      DOOM → catastrophe → breakdown → roadside assistance → AAA → beginning of phonebook → small businesses → entrepreneurship → new ideas → creativity
      (are you happy now, @Wes? XD)

      4 votes
      1. [2]
        Wes
        Link Parent
        Appreciate the history alongside the review. It sounds like a labour of love, and it's cool to see how the game has evolved (and then devolved) over time. I can see they're all really highly rated...

        Appreciate the history alongside the review. It sounds like a labour of love, and it's cool to see how the game has evolved (and then devolved) over time. I can see they're all really highly rated releases, too.

        It seemed like for a few years there, demakes were really in vogue. Gang Garrison 2, Bloodborne PSX, and Portal N64 all come to mind. I love the trend.

        There's something really satisfying about seeing modern games reinterpreted through older technologies. It's hard to imagine a game like Portal existing on the N64, but the project above shows it is possible. Some of the old school tricks needed are also entertaining, like performing fake reflections by cloning a player and positioning them behind a mirror.

        Even some modern titles like Ion Fury are built using the old Build Engine, used for Duke Nukem 3D and others. It almost feels like devs are tired of the absurd complexity of modern engines, and long to get back to the simpler days. I sort of get it. They still require a ton of work, but it's gratifying to build something from the ground up, and not rely on shaders, plugins, and middleware for everything.

        Hardware hacking remains very much alive today, and I'm glad.

        Also, your category choice is just the kind of post hoc justification I needed in my life. You could've taken a shortcut and redirected from AAA back to gaming, but nope, we're taking a very necessary detour through the phone book first. Well done!

        2 votes
        1. kfwyre
          (edited )
          Link Parent
          Once I’m done with my actual Backlog Burner writeups, I’m going to post a “sidequest” runthrough of a bunch of stuff I tried out or got running but didn’t follow through on (yet). Most of them are...

          Once I’m done with my actual Backlog Burner writeups, I’m going to post a “sidequest” runthrough of a bunch of stuff I tried out or got running but didn’t follow through on (yet). Most of them are oddities and curiosities rather than full games.

          One of those was Dead Space Demake which is a pitch perfect interpretation of what the game would have been like had it come out on the PSX (with swimming textures and everything!).

          3 votes
    3. [2]
      kfwyre
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      PaRappa the Rapper This game takes me back to a time where getting a demo disc was as cool as (or possibly even better) than getting a new game and where we had to be more hands-on with our...

      PaRappa the Rapper

      This game takes me back to a time where getting a demo disc was as cool as (or possibly even better) than getting a new game and where we had to be more hands-on with our computer maintenance, remembering to degauss our monitors or deal with our hard drive fragmentation.

      It's a great game. Terrible timing windows though.

      Similar to my feelings about Vib-Ribbon: I have decent rhythm myself, but I never really felt like I was "going with the flow" in the game. I had to abuse save states to see it through, locking in good bars that I could only tell were good based on the in-game scoring system, rather than me feeling like I nailed the timings.

      Also, the squeaky duck sound that plays when you drop below the "Good" rank is infuriating (and off beat!).

      I still really liked the game though? It's surprisingly short -- only six songs total. I genuinely enjoyed each of them. The different characters are memorable, each with their own vibe and setting. I uploaded the soundtrack to my Apple Music account so that I can M-I-X the flour into the bowl whenever I like.

      As is tradition for CGA, I feel obligated to highlight queer characters, and this game has (the unfortunately named) Mooselini, a femme-presenting moose with antlers. We love a gender non-conforming emcee.

      I do feel like the game's bright colors and flat character art aged quite well. I think it speaks to the universal truth that anything that's deliberately stylized is able to better hold on to its visual identity over time than something that goes for a more "standard" look.

      Also, I like the game's unabashedly weird angle. Like, I didn't expect to have to rap battle for a place in a bathroom line, and I legitimately chuckled at the cutscene that played when I failed that song (the first time -- after the fifth time or so, it got pretty annoying). There were lots of little moments that were great too. For example, Cheap Cheap singing:

      The other day I was called a little turkey
      But I'm a chicken, got it?
      Ya beef jerky!

      Or this moment where Mooselini closes the car door. The pause in the music... The "mmmh”...

      It's genuinely iconic.

      Like Vib-Ribbon, this is a game that gets by on aesthetics despite the fact that, mechanically, it is rather frustrating. The bright colors, catchy songs, and lovable characters cover a lot of sins.

      Mekabolt

      I played this game while walking on my treadmill and I'm currently grappling with some rather frustrating plantar fasciitis in my left foot so I bought new shoes to help with that and I was surprised at how comfortable they were while I was walking.

      They were, you could say, a big step up from what I was wearing before.

      Anyway, this game feels like a game jam graduate -- like something that was prototyped quickly and then fleshed out to become a tiny full release. It's got a small scope, some novel ideas, and great artwork. The soundtrack is also great, though the sound effects are WAY too loud in the mix and I had to turn them off.

      It's a puzzle platformer where you shoot your gun to activate/deactivate different robots in the levels, each with different abilities. Levels are bite-sized, and take a matter of seconds to complete. There are 96 levels in the whole game, and I completed it in about an hour.

      It's probably a little simple for most players, but I think this would be a stellar kids' game. The light puzzle solving and quick levels would play well with younger attention spans and problem-solving abilities.

      Roundabout

      You are Georgio Manos, a woman of few no words, impeccable style, and the progentior of an innovative new chauffeuring style: the revolving limousine.

      Encouraged by her mentor, Mickey the Mechanic, Georgio sets out to help the people of the city of Roundabout arrive at their destinations and along the way finds both conflict and sapphic romance.

      I didn't really care about the conflict, but I'll always support WLW.

      Gameplay consists of deliberately clumsy, cartoony isometric driving missions that are glued together by deliberately bad real actor FMV sequences.

      The game is clearly going for camp, but it admittedly takes a bit of time for that to really take off. At first you're subjected to actors woodenly reading lines in a way that's intended to be bad but isn't really entertaining. As the game opens up and the characters unfold a little more, the coldness thaws a little bit and becomes more fun.

      Driving the limousine is a good balance of awkward but attainable. As is Georgio's style, your limousine is constantly spinning. You don't drive it like you might cars in other games so much as you slide the spinning vehicle around like a puck. You will invariably hit lots of things, but you'll also learn over time how things work such that you'll be able to navigate some impressively tight spaces. You'll start learning how to account for the spin and seeing recognizable movement patterns/strategies in the environment.

      When you're not in missions, the game is an open-world collectathon. The world itself is pretty standard, with it being made noteworthy because even simple traversal is made more difficult and interesting because of your endlessly rotating limousine.

      If Mekabolt is a game jam graduate, then this game feels like an inaugural indie game -- the first one made by a studio that had a novel concept and enough resources to make it a full-fledged thing. I, personally, don't love it, as I'm not a huge fan of games with intentionally awkward controls, but if that's your jam, then this is definitely worth a spin.

      Metal: Hellsinger

      Shoot to the beat. Music goes brrr. Demons go destruction.

      I don't even like metal music, but the powerful rush this game generates when you're in the zone is unmatched.

      4 votes
      1. Wes
        Link Parent
        Oh my god, you've gone off the rails, Kefir! Madness has descended and words no longer have any meaning. This reality is failing before our very eyes. Okay, but interesting pick. I had a quick...

        I bought new shoes ... and I was surprised at how comfortable they were. [marks game as Comfortable]

        Oh my god, you've gone off the rails, Kefir! Madness has descended and words no longer have any meaning. This reality is failing before our very eyes.

        Okay, but interesting pick. I had a quick look at the developer's page, and they've actually produced a handful of very competent looking indie games. It's a bit of a shame that none of them seem to have sold very well, but it's also gratifying to know they keep trying. Best of luck to you, Somepx!

        3 votes
    4. [5]
      kfwyre
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      Acid Web You're a spider that likes to wear hats, and you have to protect your web from repeated emergences of enemies in this single-screen twin-stick wave shooter made by our very own...

      Acid Web

      You're a spider that likes to wear hats, and you have to protect your web from repeated emergences of enemies in this single-screen twin-stick wave shooter made by our very own @text_garden.

      I bought the game back during the "Have you made a video game?" topic but hadn't actually played it until now. I'm happy to report that it's great! Very reminiscent of Geometry Wars, which is a good thing. Each enemy type has its own identifiable shape and its own unique movement/attack properties.

      The game is 100 total waves, with checkpoints and new hats unlocked every 10. Each wave has its own unique theme that's hinted at by the wave title. You'll also get different weapons depending on the wave. All told there's a lot of variety packed into those many waves -- I haven't yet felt like I'm just doing the same thing over and over again.

      Speaking of packing things in, this game is among the smallest I can think of in terms of file size. Steam says the game takes up a miniscule 5.52 MB of my hard drive. I'm pretty sure I have individual photos that are larger than that! In a world of games that want to take up the entire disk, it's genuinely nice to see something so tiny.

      You would think something with such a small footprint wouldn't have good music, but you'd be wrong! It's great -- thumping, intense electronica that matches the intensity of the play. I have to assume it's being generated by the game instead of something pre-recorded? I can't think of any other way to get audio files down so small.

      Right now I've played the game for less than an hour, and I'm in the 20s right now, trying to get to level 31 for my next checkpoint. I'm thoroughly enjoying it and will definitely keep playing it after this event. Thanks for making a great game, text_garden!

      The Operative: No One Lives Forever

      This is one of those infamous abandonware cult classic games that a small number of people feel very passionately about. There are frequently calls for it to be re-released, but that will likely never happen because nobody knows who owns the rights to the game:

      See, as of right now, it's unclear if 20th Century Fox, Activision, or Warner owns the franchise. Activision could lay claim due to the Vivendi name, Warner could lay claim on account of owning Monolith, and 20th Century Fox could lay claim due to their hand in publishing and funding it. Another twist of the proverbial knife is the fact that the legal rights to No One Lives Forever were agreed upon well before digital records were widely adopted. And given that the agreements are probably buried in a twenty-year-old file cabinet somewhere, neither Fox nor Activision were all too eager to dig through their archives.

      Where legal avenues have failed, however, fans have collaborated and carved a path. I won't link it, but suffice it to say that there is a relatively easy way to get this game up and running on modern systems.

      I have no nostalgia for the game whatsoever, so I'm approaching it from the lens of a first-time modern player (albeit one who has a fondness for chunky graphics and old games).

      The game is a throwback to early first-person shooters that sort of reveled in letting you navigate 3D spaces. It starts you off in a contiguous exposition location that helps you established a firm sense of place (think Half-Life, System Shock 2, or Deus Ex). In this case, you're wandering around the spy headquarters (you're a spy, by the way), and you'll get your assignment and go through extensive tutorials on using weapons and gadgets and sneaking around.

      The game itself feels a bit like a PC version of Goldeneye 007. The levels are missions, each are on the longer side, they have different objectives you have to meet, and they have non-death failstates (e.g. letting too many civilians die). Furthermore, the game wants you to prioritize stealth and discretion over mindless shooting.

      I'm still in the beginning hours of the game, so I can't give my full thoughts on it, but I can say that I'm enjoying it so far and will keep playing it past the event. I even picked up a used copy of the strategy guide for cheap in case I end up needing help with the levels. I know I can just find the information online these days, but there's something nostalgic for me about gaming alongside a book for reference that the internet just can't quite replace.

      And with those two final entries, I HAVE HIT BLACKOUT BINGO STATUS BABY!

      Fireworks all around! 🎆🎆🎆

      4 votes
      1. BeardyHat
        Link Parent
        NOLF is one I've been meaning to play since I played the demo ages ago. I just haven't found the time and when I'm looking for an FPS, I just always forget it exists. Really gotta get on that.

        NOLF is one I've been meaning to play since I played the demo ages ago. I just haven't found the time and when I'm looking for an FPS, I just always forget it exists. Really gotta get on that.

        3 votes
      2. Wes
        Link Parent
        Woohoo, look at all that green! I swear, I'd never even heard of No One Lives Forever until a few months ago. I must have been Baader-Meinhof'd though, because it now seems that everyone is...

        Woohoo, look at all that green!

        I swear, I'd never even heard of No One Lives Forever until a few months ago. I must have been Baader-Meinhof'd though, because it now seems that everyone is talking about it. It was the 25-year anniversary recently, so that may have fired up the fanbase.

        I'm glad that PC preservationists have stepped in to make the game available. I don't always love using "abandonware" as a justification for piracy, but in this case, I think it's completely appropriate. If the publishers involved are so far removed that they don't even know if they own the game, then I'm not convinced they deserve to profit from it 25 years later.

        I know from past threads that we're both waiting patiently for Agent 64, but I'm delighted to learn of another like-game in the meantime.

        Nice working on getting in your blackout bingo, just under the wire.

        2 votes
      3. [2]
        text_garden
        Link Parent
        Thanks for the shoutout and I'm glad you like Acid Web! You're right that the music is generated, using a template-based system that generates compositions, and a drum machine and synthesizer that...

        Thanks for the shoutout and I'm glad you like Acid Web!

        You're right that the music is generated, using a template-based system that generates compositions, and a drum machine and synthesizer that plays it back. The sound effects are also all generated. The only thing I'm using recordings for are the individual drum hit samples.

        It's quite subtle, especially with some of the built-in synths, but the spider's position on-screen controls the music synthesizer, so the slow modulations you hear are always due to your own movement.

        I've been meaing to play NOLF. How are you playing it? Does it work fine on modern operating systems or would I need to patch it? I did enjoy Shogo back in the day, but that's about the only Lithtech shooter I've played outside the Blood 2 demo. I can recommend that if you like the campy mecha anime theme and don't mind a few frustratingly difficult sections (which I'm guessing you don't if you're still enjoying Acid Web :))

        2 votes
        1. kfwyre
          Link Parent
          Thanks for the explanation! I'll have to pay attention to how the position changes the music next time I play. That's such a cool detail. And I definitely don't mind trying over and over again in...

          Thanks for the explanation! I'll have to pay attention to how the position changes the music next time I play. That's such a cool detail. And I definitely don't mind trying over and over again in Acid Web. I have to balance my want to destroy everything onscreen immediately with a more measured approach that doesn't have me dying, well, immediately. XD

          Also, for NOLF, I can't link anything directly since it's of dubious legal status (though, if no one knows who owns the rights, it's unlikely anyone's going to act on anything), but suffice it to say that some of the fans felt like a revival of the game was necessary and have done some great work to unofficially remaster it for modern systems.

          Shogo was one of those "that looks cool but it would never run on my system" games back in the day, when it wasn't about which graphics card you had but whether or not you had a graphics card in the first place. Looks like it's actually available through digital distribution and, wouldn't you know it, I actually already own it on GOG somehow! Maybe I'll play it after NOLF, or maybe I'll save it for the next Backlog Burner? Decisions decisions!

          3 votes
  6. [6]
    CannibalisticApple
    (edited )
    Link
    Mode: Custom Winning Bingo! Finished 24/24 ✅ Cassette Beasts ✅ Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma ✅ Eastward ✅ Professor Layton VS Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney ✅ Katamari Damacy Reroll ✅ Haustoria ✅...
    Mode: Custom Winning Bingo! Finished 24/24
    Transformation
    ✅ Cassette Beasts    		 Restoration
    ✅ Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma    		 Connection
    ✅ Eastward    		 Change
    ✅ Professor Layton VS Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney    		 Quantity
    ✅ Katamari Damacy Reroll
    Maneuver
    ✅ Haustoria    		 Love
    ✅ Eastward    		 Faith
    ✅ Agatha Knife    		 Erosion
    ✅ Eastward    		 Perspective
    ✅ Agatha Knife
    Organization
    ✅ Professor Layton VS Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney    		 Recursion
    ✅ Eastward    		 ★ Emergence
    ✅ Pushmo    		 Truth
    ✅ Professor Layton VS Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
    Endurance
    ✅ Cassette Beasts    		 Vulnerability
    ✅ Haustoria    		 Destruction
    ✅ Eastward    		 Harmony
    ✅ Agatha Knife    		 Unorthodox
    ✅ Pushmo
    Fragmentation
    ✅ Eastward    		 Happiness
    ✅ Agatha Knife    		 Balance
    ✅ Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma    		 Tradition
    ✅ Agatha Knife    		 Fight
    ✅ Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma

    New week, and I've added two games! I haven't completed either yet, and honestly doubt I will before the month ends. But I do intend to beat both!

    Professor Layton VS Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is a game I'm slowly working through on my 3DS. Emphasis on slowly, I'm still in Chapter 1 (after playing a two-part prologue, it switches between games). It's wonderfully silly, as expected of each franchise, though it is a bit odd to see the characters together given the different art styles. I feel like the most important characters so far use the Ace Attorney design style (at least for the eyes), so that's interesting to note.

    Given the nature of the game, some of the puzzles have plenty of Organization involved. Similar logic for Change, but that's also because the games had to change things up a bit to work as a crossover. For example, Phoenix changed careers after the prologue! And both games ultimately place a big emphasis on discovering the Truth. So, that was an easy one to choose.

    The other game I've marked is Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma on my Switch. I got pretty far into the main story, but I got sidetracked by other things and unfortunately fell off. Which is personally extra frustrating to me because despite having played every Rune Factory game to date, I have yet to actually complete one. So I WILL complete this one!! I'm a bit rusty, but I'm getting the hang of the combat controls again!

    It's an RPG so of course I crossed off Fight. Another part of the game includes purifying blight across the land and working to revive and empower gods, so I also crossed off Restoration. I'm kind of tempted to also cross off Balance too, since balance can refer to restoring the natural balance, but... we'll see.

    5 votes
    1. [2]
      Wes
      Link Parent
      The Layton/Phoenix Wright mashup is so bonkers to me. Unlike the current trend of gaming crossovers, they really went for it and built a full game out of their similarities (and differences). I...

      The Layton/Phoenix Wright mashup is so bonkers to me. Unlike the current trend of gaming crossovers, they really went for it and built a full game out of their similarities (and differences). I have to give them kudos for that.

      Rune Factory is one I've yet to try. I really enjoyed the old Harvest Moon games, though, so I think I'd like them. Thankfully, 3-5 are on Steam, as well as Azuma.

      Which is personally extra frustrating to me because despite having played every Rune Factory game to date, I have yet to actually complete one. So I WILL complete this one!!

      It sounds like you might hit on Endurance then, too. Best of luck!

      4 votes
      1. CannibalisticApple
        Link Parent
        They mesh well in terms of gameplay and humor. Both are story-heavy games and rooted in logic and reasoning rather than mechanic-related skills, so they're a good combination compared to some...

        They mesh well in terms of gameplay and humor. Both are story-heavy games and rooted in logic and reasoning rather than mechanic-related skills, so they're a good combination compared to some crossovers. The biggest roadblock is that I'm pretty sure the Layton games are in the 1900's with light fantasy and steampunk elements, while Ace Attorney is set in a modern-ish era with some supernatural stuff. So they went with a literal third option and had them all somehow sucked into a book and end up in a storybook world. Works out great since it puts both casts out of their usual element, so they can mess with the formula and details without worrying about world building conflicts.

        One interesting thing from the second trial is that it introduced a mechanic with multiple witnesses on the stand at once. I was surprised because I recognized it from playing the Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, which were developed later. I guess the crossover was a good excuse for the developers to experiment with the usual formula and mechanics. If something didn't land right, it wouldn't reflect on the mainline entries.

        Funnily enough, Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma was also made to experiment with the formula without messing with the mainline games. And on that note, RF4 is widely beloved by the fanbase and seems to be considered the best one to date, so that or Azuma might be good starting points!

        And interesting point about Endurance... I may very well need to mark that off! I already had to endure a long wait to unlock new romance events locked behind story progression so that's gotta count for something...

        5 votes
    2. [2]
      CannibalisticApple
      Link Parent
      *BINGO ACHIEVED!!" After some thought I marked Rune Factory down for Balance since a big theme is maintaining the current balance of... Well, everything. And also, it didn't fit my final pick like...

      *BINGO ACHIEVED!!"

      After some thought I marked Rune Factory down for Balance since a big theme is maintaining the current balance of... Well, everything. And also, it didn't fit my final pick like I expected...

      Cassette Beasts!

      That was obvious and always my plan for Transformation because it involves transforming into monsters. And Endurance applies to the town in this game. People have been isekai'd to this fantasy world for many years, long enough for at least one generation to be born there and know nothing else. The fact people were able to survive in this world of monsters for so long with limited resources or ways to fight back—because the cassettes are a fairly recent discovery, so many living characters used to fight with weapons—is incredible. Yet these people persevered and built a proper settlement with businesses. It's pretty admirable.

      I enjoy it a lot, but like with Rune Factory, I'm a bit rusty. Except it's even worse because it's been a lot longer (I think I mainly played it in spring 2024...?). I had to look up how to heal my character, and some other basic things like overworld abilities. I thought Balance would apply because of type matchups, but I forgot that this doesn't have the usual rock-paper-scissors formula of most monster catching games. There are effects, but it's different. But it's good and really enjoyable, it's a really refreshing spin on the genre in every way.

      Now... Do I expect to finish it this anytime soon? Not really. I'm going to be busy trying to finish Professor Layton VS Ace Attorney first, and with the holidays coming up I won't have as much time to play ALL the games to the end. Heck, I'm not sure I'll fully finish Rune Factory's main story in the next month, though I'm determined to at least GET FREAKING MARRIED DAMMIT. also I think Spirittea is getting a big update in December and I want to finish that too dang it!! But I'm hoping this will let me add it to a more "regular" cycle of games so I don't just forget the basic mechanics again.

      And that aside... I'm just glad I finally crossed some long-unfinished games off my list. I finally finished Eastward. I completed Haustoria and survived the spirals. I started a religion for animals in Agatha Knife. I filled the sky with stars in Katamari Damacy Reroll. All games that had been sitting around, nagging at me for being unfinished. I still have many other games I need to complete someday, but it's nice to knock some off the list!

      4 votes
      1. Wes
        Link Parent
        Well done on the golfing bingo! Not to mention crossing so many long-term games off your backlog. Those can feel the most satisfying to turn in. Between Eastward, Cassette Beasts, and Katamari,...

        Well done on the golfing bingo! Not to mention crossing so many long-term games off your backlog. Those can feel the most satisfying to turn in.

        Between Eastward, Cassette Beasts, and Katamari, you shared a lot of overlap with other backloggers this event. I really enjoyed reading about games from multiple perspectives, so that was a lot of fun.

        Catch you soon in the final recap thread!

        3 votes
    3. JCPhoenix
      Link Parent
      PLvPW was a surprisingly good game. But to me, it's because of the PW side of things. I won't spoil anything, but the Layton side of the house had me like "What? No way...Really?? OK, my guy..."...

      PLvPW was a surprisingly good game. But to me, it's because of the PW side of things. I won't spoil anything, but the Layton side of the house had me like "What? No way...Really?? OK, my guy..." Which, having played at least one of the Layton games before playing PLvPW, is typical. Either way, the pursuit of the truth in PLvPW was a fun, wild ride, for sure. I should replay it. I think I still have it for my 3DS somewhere...

      3 votes
  7. [12]
    aphoenix
    (edited )
    Link
    My card is shaping up! This time around I elected to do a smaller card and spend a bit more time with each game. Mode: Custom Winning Bingo! Finished 9/9 ✅ The Room Three ✅ Death Must Die ✅ They...

    My card is shaping up! This time around I elected to do a smaller card and spend a bit more time with each game.

    Mode: Custom Winning Bingo! Finished 9/9
    Puzzle
    ✅ The Room Three    		 Bullet heaven
    ✅ Death Must Die    		 Real-time strategy/tactics
    ✅ They Are Billions
    Mystery/investigation
    ✅ The Room Four: Old Sins    		 ★ Wildcard
    ✅ Subnautica    		 Soulslike
    ✅ Curse of the Dead Gods
    Word game
    ✅ NYT Lunch Break    		 Horror
    ✅ SCP: Secret Files    		 Deckbuilding
    ✅ Inscryption

    I realized that I didn't provide links in the first week, and my games aren't linked in the list.

    Inscryption - Deckbuilding. This is another one that had been on my to-play list for a while. I had read "horror-themed rogue-like deck builder with a twist" and that's all I got so I was looking forward to playing. It fits the bill, but there's more to the game - this could have gone in Puzzle, Mystery, or Horror just as easily as deckbuilding. I have completed the first chapter, and just started the second. In the first part, you are in a cabin, and you play as a person who is sitting down to play a game (within the game) with a shadowy figure; that game is the deckbuilding game.

    For the best playing experience, if you're going to play Inscryption and are not already familiar with what the game is like, don't read what I've written in the spoiler below.

    Spoilers for Inscyrption part 1 and 2

    The Good - man, there are a lot of good things about the game. The learning curve is pretty appropriate, and the game introduces the mechanics around summoning creatures quite well. The introduction of sigils was simple and understandable and it gives you the opportunity to really improve some cards and start winning runs. The deckbuilding itself is good, though not particularly deep - it does not have the replay value of something like Slay The Spire, but it doesn't really have to. Because between runs you explore the cabin. You can stand up and walk around and there are several puzzles that you have to work your way through, and that augments the deckbuilding aspects.

    The overall story is creepy - the masked thing you are playing against will kill you if you lose, and you have to figure out how to beat it inside the deckbuilding game and in the cabin. The art of the game is simple and effective. It's washed out and shadowy, with everything lit by dim candles or magical lanterns. The masked creature is great, the cards are simple but well designed.

    The Bad - I didn't feel like anything I experienced was bad.

    The Different. - as I mentioned above, I did find the deck building aspect of the game to be a bit simple; there are a few cards that are obviously good, and a few cards that are obviously bad, and you can build a relatively strong deck very quickly. That's actually sort of in service to the game itself though. It's not designed for you to be spending 500 hours playing multiple runs to exhaust all the options of deck building and try all the characters, because it's just not that kind of deck builder.

    There's also a distinct change between chapters, and the change is enough that I've put the game down for a bit, and I'm going to move onto something else. I think that's also not bad, but different; I already trust the game enough to think that the end result of the other chapters will be quite good.

    I understand the Stoat event in Monster Train 2 now.

    5 votes
    1. aphoenix
      Link Parent
      SCP Secret Files - Horror. The SCP Foundation is an extensive work of collaborative horror fiction cataloguing the works of the SCP Foundation whose mission is to Secure, Contain, Protect the...

      SCP Secret Files - Horror. The SCP Foundation is an extensive work of collaborative horror fiction cataloguing the works of the SCP Foundation whose mission is to Secure, Contain, Protect the world against a variety of otherworldly things. They are presented as case files, often heavily redacted, about interactions with entities. The video game is based on the wiki, though it is notable that the case files don't match up exactly. You play as a new archivist, processing the case files for storage.

      The Good - the game does a really great job with vibes. The first two cases (all I've played so far) really have the same sort of feel that you get from reading an SCP case file. The anomalies are cool, and you also play as one of the subjects and you get to see what has happened to them. If you're familiar with the SCP wiki, you'll know that what happens is never good, and you are slowly moving towards death whenever you're a test subject. When you pop back to being the archivist, you're sitting in an office that is fairly realistic, complete with a company Slack that you keep on top of including the company nutbag.

      The Bad - if you want to have options, then this isn't the game for you. While the levels / files are all pretty standard Unity 3D fare, you are railroaded to your inevitable demise. As such, it's less of a game and more of a visual novel that you're taking part in. There are a few puzzles, but generally things are pretty straight forward.

      The Different - it seems like it would have been really straight forward to choose SCP files that had not yet been written (and maybe they did) and then actually write the game into the SCP wiki. There's probably a legal reason for not doing so, but it feels pretty weird that they're just unrelated case files.

      There are a bunch of things that aren't really good, bad, or different about the game, but are just factoids. I said off the top that the vibes were good, and that's a combination of set design, music, sound, and story. However, I don't think the set design is particularly inspired; it's not going to blow you away, and you've probably played games that felt similar. At one point I was playing and my daughter walked by and said "The Stanley Parable!" Then she did a double take and said, "That's not Stanley, weird!" and went on her merry way. There are a bunch of "samey" feeling games.

      I will probably go through all five of the case files at some point in the future - I enjoyed the experience. If you like stories on rails, and have any interest in SCP, then I think it's worth a play.

      6 votes
    2. aphoenix
      Link Parent
      Curse of the Dead Gods - Soulslike. Okay, this isn't my genre, so I'm not 100% sure that this isn't a slight cheat. This wasn't one that had somehow made it to the top of my to-play list, it's one...

      Curse of the Dead Gods - Soulslike. Okay, this isn't my genre, so I'm not 100% sure that this isn't a slight cheat. This wasn't one that had somehow made it to the top of my to-play list, it's one I actually had to seek out to fulfill this requirement, and at the very least, according to Steam, this fits the bill!

      This is an isometric souls-like / rogue-like game where you have entered a temple to look for treasures, and you must progress through runs to unlock upgrades and weapons so that you can look for treasure to progress through runs to unlock, etc.

      The Good - the play loop is pretty good, with runs starting out sort of forgiving, for a souls-like game; I muddled through and got to the first boss on my first attempt, though I did not succeed at the boss on my first attempt. However, I think that someone who was prepared and actually, well, good at this sort of thing probably could one-shot a fair number of things.

      There are three main sections, red, blue, green, which correlate to the three gods, and there are various blessings available from the gods. During each run, you accumulate corruption, and every time your corruption level reaches a particular point, you unlock a curse. Curses change the run, usually with some positive and some negative effect; one curse, for example, give you unlimited dodges for a few seconds after you take damage, but with the caveat that you can't see any of your heads-up-display while doing so.

      The curses are cool, the different feel for the temples are cool, and there are timely challenges - I almost said "daily" but I don't think they go away and you unlock one per day and can have up to three available - that you get to attempt once, to keep things fresh and interesting.

      The Bad - I think this is probably something to do with souls-like games, but there was just one thing that bothered me; the enemies in the jaguar / red wing telegraph what they're doing with a particular timing. I went through the temple and after a few runs I was able to beat the boss and progress onwards and try the blue / bird wing. I immediately had a lot of problems, because the way these enemies telegraphed and timed things was just a bit different. I still find it difficult to go from one wing to another right after each other. I don't begrudge different enemies different abilities or anything, but I struggled with this. This might just be old man yelling at clouds though; it probably doesn't make the game bad though, it just means that I'm bad.

      The Different - most of the souls-like games that I am familiar with are 3D with moving cameras like... Dark Souls was. This game is fixed camera / isometric, and I think it actually really works well for the game. I think that there are two schools of thought about it, and it's summed up succinctly like this: with the fixed camera angle, nothing can sneak up on you, so you can see attacks from all directions and that's good -or- same, but that's bad. It works for me, because I'm not really into Dark Souls or the like, so having something that was about learning enemy movement and attack patterns but maybe a bit simplified felt just fine to me.

      Overall, I can see coming back to this repeatedly. It's probably going to stay at the top of my "Recent" list on Steam for a while, because you can get in, play a quick run in 15-20 minutes, and then do something else.

      5 votes
    3. [2]
      Wes
      Link Parent
      I think I may elect to do a smaller card next time as well. I've worn myself out this month trying to complete four separate mini cards! But it was also fun to try the more rapid-fire approach....

      I think I may elect to do a smaller card next time as well. I've worn myself out this month trying to complete four separate mini cards! But it was also fun to try the more rapid-fire approach. Just one more week to get through!

      Inscryption is one I keep hearing good things about. I liked Pony Island, and still intend to play The Hex, but I'm guessing that similar unusual elements play out with this one. Perhaps with a bit more frontloaded gameplay, as people do describe the game as actually being fun.

      I had a devil of a time trying to talk about a game last week without spoiling its most impactful moments, so I can understand how tricky is it to describe these games openly, too.

      5 votes
      1. aphoenix
        Link Parent
        You have done a ton of games and great write-ups on them! Kudos to you! Inscyrption is one of those games where I feel like knowing nothing about it other than "puzzle / deckbuilder /horror" is...

        You have done a ton of games and great write-ups on them! Kudos to you!

        Inscyrption is one of those games where I feel like knowing nothing about it other than "puzzle / deckbuilder /horror" is probably the best thing. About an hour into playing it I thought "how the heck am I going to review this" and I ended up just leaning in to spoiler tags.

        Your comment made me realize that Inscryption and Pony Island were from the same developer, which now seems obvious just from how they both are.

        5 votes
    4. [4]
      aphoenix
      Link Parent
      They Are Billions - RTS. If I say the words "Steampunk Post-apocalyptic Zombie Survival RTS" do your ears perk up? If so, have I got the steampunk post-apocalpytic zombie survival RTS game for...

      They Are Billions - RTS. If I say the words "Steampunk Post-apocalyptic Zombie Survival RTS" do your ears perk up? If so, have I got the steampunk post-apocalpytic zombie survival RTS game for you.

      The Good - I mean, I put together the sentence "steampunk post-apocalyptic zombie survival RTS" up there, what more do you want?

      I haven't gotten very far in the campaign, and only a few survival attempts, but the gameplay feels pretty smooth to me, and it's intuitive. The resource usage all interplay with each other in a way that makes sense, and the display for what you need to improve is simple and effective. I did find myself making mistakes with energy a couple of times, and having to demolish buildings so I could make more energy-creating buildings, but that's my own lack of ability, not any sort of issue with the game or the display.

      The units are all detailed and almost cute, and the buildings are all similarly well designed. The missions / survival times have a neat little push/pull with expansionism and defence, and you have to be careful, because you are facing off against zombies, and there are definitely what feels like billions of them. And any one of them getting through can really fuck up your plan. One lone zombie that you lost track of can completely ruin your run in under a minute.

      The Bad - hot take here, but there wasn't anything that I disliked about the game.

      The Different - you know how in RTS games, you often save what you're doing and then try something for a few minutes, and if that doesn't work, you can reload your save and just not do that thing that you tried out? That is not how this game works. There's no saving and reloading; when something happens, it has happened, and now you must deal with it. That means that if you failed to adequately prepare for a horde, you cannot just quickload from a few minutes ago and put up extra walls; you are dead, the game is over, start again.

      I can understand that this is a bold a design choice in a game, and probably very polarizing. I mentioned to a friend that I played a bit of this, and he immediately said, "Oh, the game where you can't save. Terrible bullshit"; he hated it. But I think it's actually a pretty great take on real time strategy, especially in the campaign. If you fail, you can restart the mission, but you have a penalty to your rewards. It's definitely a different approach from almost any other RTS game that I've played, and gives it almost the same feel as playing an RTS against a "real" opponent.

      I think that this will probably stay in my rotation for a while.

      5 votes
      1. [2]
        JCPhoenix
        Link Parent
        I really need to give They Are Billions another go. I grew up playing RTSs. C&C and some of its spin-offs, Warcraft II, StarCraft. Even a bit of WC3 and SC2 later on (still need to finish SC2). So...

        I really need to give They Are Billions another go. I grew up playing RTSs. C&C and some of its spin-offs, Warcraft II, StarCraft. Even a bit of WC3 and SC2 later on (still need to finish SC2).

        So I picked up They Are Billions, sat on it for awhile as I often do, then spun it up one day. And I just didn't feel it. I knew it was like a "reverse" of a standard RTS in a way. Rather than trying to break into an enemy base, you're trying to keep the enemy out your own. Zombie masses of enemies. That sounded really cool. The pictures and videos on the Steam page look awesome!

        But I played the first mission or two and was just like "OK, that's enough of that." That was 4.5yrs ago. Haven't been back since.

        Alright your post is gonna be my impetus. I'll play some before I go to bed.

        Separately, I don't know why I didn't think about the NYT games for Backlog Bingo or even just the weekly "What have you been playing?" posts. I play so much of it. I play it at work during my breaks. Sometimes when I'm not on breaks. When I'm on the train. Waiting for the train. Waiting in line at the grocery store. In bed, even. At this point, I have an NYT subscription not for the news, but for these games! I play The Mini, Connections, Strands, and Spelling Bee. The Spelling Bee is the one I play the most. So addicting.

        4 votes
        1. aphoenix
          Link Parent
          I also have a subscription for the games, and I realized I hadn't played them in a while, so they totally qualified for BLB! I do have one minor annoyance which is the crosswords seem to switch...

          I also have a subscription for the games, and I realized I hadn't played them in a while, so they totally qualified for BLB! I do have one minor annoyance which is the crosswords seem to switch over to the next day much earlier in the day than the other puzzles, so I have missed the Mini a couple of times this week, and while I don't think that one has a streak, it's actually my favourite, so it bums me out. Ah well, I credit Hank Green for once again piquing my interest in Connections as a gateway for the rest of them.

          I hope I didn't overhype They Are Billions - I think that there are a few things that really worked for me; the simplicity makes it feel like a classic almost Warcraftian RTS, the steampunk vs zombies aesthetic, and the lack of saves while on a map. I said above, but I think the last one is especially polarizing; I love it as a mechanic, but I can definitely see how it's not for everyone. I also think that just normal survival is pretty cool and maybe better than the campaign itself.

          4 votes
      2. dannydotcafe
        Link Parent
        They are Billions is a game I really need to go back to. It was originally sold to me as a game for people like me who thought the most fun part of Age of Empires was building elaborate walls and...

        They are Billions is a game I really need to go back to. It was originally sold to me as a game for people like me who thought the most fun part of Age of Empires was building elaborate walls and towers to keep attackers at bay. I found it way harder than expected though. That lone zombie you mention kept getting in and knocking off the first domino. I'm ready to give it another shot though!

        4 votes
    5. [3]
      aphoenix
      Link Parent
      Blackout Bingo! Subnautica - Wildcard. This is another game that kind of went with my overarching theme of horror, because as much as it seems like a mostly friendly and relaxing open world swim...

      Blackout Bingo!

      Subnautica - Wildcard. This is another game that kind of went with my overarching theme of horror, because as much as it seems like a mostly friendly and relaxing open world swim session, the depths contain loads of scares.

      The Good: the game feels immediately familiar and intuitive, standard fare for a Unity game. The ocean immediately surrounding your lifecraft is lush and grassy and beautiful; flora and fauna abound, you've got water and easy access to food, and the detritus from the crash and various lifepods gives you access to lots of materials to build the things that you need to build. Easy peasy!

      Things rapidly deteriorate. The reaper fish comes out of nowhere and you fight him off. Then you go looking for some sulfur and you see a cute little fishy swimming up to you and he... explodes? What the hell! You find materials and build exploration aides, and find other equally beautiful biomes, but you go a bit to close to the burning ship on the horizon - the remains of your space vessel - and are greeted with a klaxon warning of radiation. You go somewhere else, and then hear something making a big noise, and you turn and there it is: a leviathan.

      The vibes of the game are fantastic, from the slick clean metallic lifepod you spawn in to the murky depths whence the reaper leviathan raises it's head to eat your submersible. The display and interfaces for everything are straight forward and intuitive; if gaming development falls through for Unkown Worlds, the studio that made the game, then they could design futuristic interfaces for things.

      The Bad: it's not really bad - and as an aside, this seems to have been a refrain of mine this BLB, making my "the good, the bad, the different" schtick kind of silly - but as with any open world game, sometimes I am at a loss as to where to go or what to do next. I'm not particularly far, but I do have a feeling that I should be doing something to stop the spread of radiation, because I swear it's getting closer to my lifepod, but I'm not quite sure if that's right. Also, I've mostly cared more about exploring in my little submersible, and maybe that will lead to my destruction, but I've got a radiation suit, so how bad can it get?

      The Different: I think the one real differentiation for this game from the other open world 3D Unity games that I've played is really that it's underwater. Most of the other similar games are on land or in space, and don't include the element of needing to surface for air as a relatively constant factor. There's also how organization works; I haven't started creating free standing structures, so my organization consists of what is effectively beer coolers that I throw in the water and label and hope I don't scatter when swimming or piloting the submersible. I also haven't unlocked a real map yet, though one of the swimming aides I've made does have one.

      I'm glad I finished on this one, because I'm probably going to spend a fair bit of time with it.

      5 votes
      1. [2]
        Wes
        Link Parent
        Bingooo!! I really enjoy the underwater theme, and it sounds like Subnautica nails that aesthetic. Outside of titles like Bioshock (entering the bathysphere), I really can't think of too many...

        Bingooo!!

        I really enjoy the underwater theme, and it sounds like Subnautica nails that aesthetic. Outside of titles like Bioshock (entering the bathysphere), I really can't think of too many games that give you the sense of descending into the deep, dark beyond.

        I played an interesting modpack for Minecraft a few years back that was "skyblock", except underwater, called Seablock. Similarly, in the "Programming/technical projects" thread, I just posted about an underwater Minecraft base I started recently, hoping to capture the same feel. We'll see how it turns out - I'll resume work on that come December.

        I'm glad I finished on this one, because I'm probably going to spend a fair bit of time with it.

        I can relate on this point. Through this month, I've started to accrue a list of games I'd like to go back and finish once the event is over. I'm now up to like five that I really enjoyed. On the one hand, it leaves me feeling a little flustered with options! But on the other, I'm glad to have a list of games I already know I'll enjoy and that are ready and waiting for me.

        Plus, separating the wheat from the chaff is kind of the point of this exercise, right? I'm not just absolving guilt from impulse buys I made years ago!

        4 votes
        1. aphoenix
          Link Parent
          Subnautica really feels like the game that nails the underwater aesthetic. It's been a hot minute since I played Bioshock, but in my brain that's a game that is not about swimming, but has...

          Subnautica really feels like the game that nails the underwater aesthetic. It's been a hot minute since I played Bioshock, but in my brain that's a game that is not about swimming, but has swimming tacked on, and that's the only genre that I am aware of; games where you do other things and they tack on swimming because it's not actually hard to do - it's slow flying in a specific area, and you have bubbles on the screen that slowly run out to indicate your limited resource of air. But it just feels more polished than that in Subnautica, and I guess it's good that it does because that's the primary point of the game.

          Also, I think you've played three times games this month for every one that I've played (as I write this, you have 27 in total checked off)! That's pretty awesome, and a lot of wheat/chaff separation.

          4 votes
  8. [3]
    dannydotcafe
    (edited )
    Link
    No special strategy on filling squares at this point, just putting games where they best fit Mode: Standard Winning Bingo! Finished 9/25 Has both combat and puzzles ✅ Darkenstein 3D Has multiple...

    No special strategy on filling squares at this point, just putting games where they best fit

    Mode: Standard Winning Bingo! Finished 9/25
    Has both combat and puzzles Has a lives system
    ✅ Darkenstein 3D    		 Has multiple playable characters Is mostly text-based Is one of the oldest games you own
    ✅ Wizorb
    Owned for more than 5 years
    ✅ Victor Vran    		 A solo-dev project
    ✅ Gunpoint    		 An updated version (remake, re-release) of an older game
    ✅ Grim Fandango    		 From a different culture or country
    ✅ Call of the Sea    		 Has a review score above 92
    ✅ Baba is You
    Uses a unique control scheme Focuses on relationships
    ✅ The Novelist    		 ★ Wildcard Chosen for you by someone else A romhack or total conversion mod
    Randomness determines your fate Considered a classic Adaptation of other media type (e.g. board game, movie)
    ✅ Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis    		 Has creatures Recommended by someone on Tildes
    Known for its replay value A modded game Set underwater From a studio you haven't heard of before Has great reviews, but not your usual type
    Focuses on relationships - The Novelist The most notable thing about this game is that I continued playing it *because* I found it boring. But I'll get to that.

    The Novelist is a narrative game focused on the struggles of a family. It takes place completely within a house they're renting for the summer. The house itself has minimal furniture and decorations, drawing attention to notes and items that are relevant to the story. Visually it reminded me a bit of the old dinner party simulator Façade, although much better looking than that game. Also instead of interacting directly with the residents of the house, you observe them.

    The player character sort of helpful ghost who hides in the house's lightbulbs, and literally reads the minds of of the family, using what it learns to whisper in their ears while they sleep and introduce new ideas (Inception, I guess). Writing this out it makes it seem much more sinister than the game presents it as.

    Each of the three family members (Novelist Dan, Painter Linda, and their son Tommy) have notes, letters, journals, or drawing scattered about the house. You can also literally enter their minds and see a snapshot of a memory. Doing this detective work tells you what each of them hopes for on that particular day. You choose which of them will succeed, followed by a second person who will get a compromise version of their desire. The remaining person suffers disappointment.

    During the first day in-game I was interested (its a notes & audiologs game after all). But after just a few in-game days, I realized something. I was doing basically the exact same thing every day.

    The situation is different. The notes you read and the memories you see are unique. But its always 3 notes per person, one memory, and you can make 2/3 of the family happy. Their struggles are the normal struggles of a family, and they're not all that different from one another. Its not a time loop game, the summer progresses and days make reference to your choices on previous ones, but after playing for an hour it was starting to feel that way. Mundanity in both narrative and mechanics.

    This couldn't really be all the game has to offer, could it? There had to be some twist, some mind-blowing revelation. I was so incredibly curious that despite my mounting boredom I kept playing. The cycle repeated 12 times in total, but I just had to know if it would actually go anywhere.

    And there was no big twist, just human struggles fit into a very logical framework. As I'm sitting with the experience now, I do see the intent. Its a narrative game where choices aggregate into branching outcomes. Fallout New Vegas with a microscopic focus and scope. While playing the game it was seldom clear whether the narrative branched or would have been the same with a different choice, though that's a bit like life I guess. Looking up some of the other endings, I realize that there's a lot more variance in the story than I had initially credited it with. This combined with the fact that it takes only about 3 hours to finish, and is the work of a single developer does make me appreciate it a lot more as an art project.

    But I don't think I can get past just how coldly mechanical the experience of playing it felt, just a few steps removed from reading plot points from a spreadsheet. Multiple endings are interesting, but there's no chance at all I'll want to play again with different choices. Something I'd like to write more about at some point is how much I love the experience with a game early on, before I can see how the machine works. Early on I can suspend disbelief that a game is a cohesive world, and at a certain point once I see how the mechanics of it control everything, it loses some of that effectiveness. I think that point was far too early in this game, and once the illusion dropped there just wasn't all that much left.

    Adaptation of other media type (e.g. board game, movie) - Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis

    Last week I played a bit of Grim Fandango, a Lucasarts Adventure that had caught my attention years ago, hooked me with it its setting and style, and then immediately put me off with the obtuseness of its puzzles. It prompted an existential crisis - did games like Monkey Island and Sam & Max, which I'd played so many years ago and thought I loved, just as bad? Had I been living a lie because I hadn't known any better?

    JCPheonix's comment on my post gave me some hope that maybe Grim Fandango was an outlier. So this week I gave Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis a try, a chance for classic Point and Click adventure games to have a redemption. And I can say right away it did! Adventure games are good actually!

    Right from the first screen the game shows off great art and a sense of humor. It's very much a cartoon caricature of Indiana Jones, but this fits the style of the game well. I laughed when Indy made a difficult trek through dense jungle and over a chasm to arrive at Tikal, only to discover souvenir stand and a direct road his companion took instead. Having lived for a while not too far from Mayan ruins in Central America, I think that's about right. On the fact that the only other person near Tikal is a snobby Englishman, I guess I'll point to my mention of colonialism in Call of the Sea and leave it at that.

    I think the puzzles are great, providing a bit of friction without being overly difficult. I haven't finished the game yet, so there might be a difficulty jump later. The times have have looked up hints have been more about keeping the game moving. With limited time to play I don't want to waste too much of it running back and forth across the world. I do hope Indy is cashing in on frequent flyer miles though, since he's been back and forth from Azores and Iceland at least 4 or 5 times.

    Mostly I just wish I had played this as a 13 year old, when I was hungry for new computer games and a huge fan of Indiana Jones. I'll give this game a final rating of very good, and much better than Grim Fandango.

    5 votes
    1. [2]
      Wes
      Link Parent
      I thought Façade was a very neat game when it released. Most encounters ended the same way ("I think you should leave"), but it felt so novel at the time. I'd be curious to see a more fleshed out...

      I thought Façade was a very neat game when it released. Most encounters ended the same way ("I think you should leave"), but it felt so novel at the time. I'd be curious to see a more fleshed out game using modern NLP techniques, even just to see if it'd actually be fun, or just interesting.

      I think I know what you mean about a game becoming less effective once you understand its mechanics. This touches a bit on "players optimizing the fun out of games", but sometimes, it's just that the game doesn't create a convincing enough smokescreen to make its mechanics feel integrated or believable. You start to focus on the smaller elements, and not engage with the game as a whole.

      For example, if I discovered in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater that the best method to score points is to perform nothing but special tricks, that kind of takes away from all the other interesting trick types in the game. But I'm not some scrub who's not gonna get a high score, so you bet your butt I'll be hearing that special trick sound on repeat for the next 20 minutes.

      Was this more fun, or did I just hyper-focus on the scoring mechanic?

      Horror games are another good example. If you can understand a monster's AI, or predict its behavioral patterns, it ceases to be a monster. It's just a hazard that pathfinds to you by following specific rules. Learn to manipulate those rules, and that's when the game stops being scary.

      Big props to Amnesia, by the way, for having an incomprehensibly-complex monster AI that cannot be easily predicted. Despite its age, it's still one of the most convincing horror games I've seen.

      I'm glad to hear that Indiana Jones has restored your faith in the classic P&C. Crisis averted, and Indy saves the day, yet again.

      By the way, you may need an extra line break after your closing </summary> tag for the markdown to fully work. That's why your link is broken. It's a common issue.

      4 votes
      1. dannydotcafe
        Link Parent
        I think I only played around with Façade for a few hours way back when it came out, but I still remember it being really cool and very ambitious. When I wrote this post I looked it up again,...

        I think I only played around with Façade for a few hours way back when it came out, but I still remember it being really cool and very ambitious. When I wrote this post I looked it up again, actually hoping it had been open sourced so I could take a look at how it all worked behind the scenes (I've done a lot of NLP projects, so I'd call it a professional curiosity). Unfortunately it hasn't, but if I play it again I could probably make some solid guesses.

        Funny you should mention horror games. I'm not actually a big fan of most (I played about 20 minutes of the first Amnesia before swiftly exiting), but it was actually the first Alan Wake that made me start thinking about a game being more effective when the mechanics are invisible. I found walking through the woods at the beginning of that game legitimately quite scary, but once I understand how the monsters worked, had mastered the flashlight/gun combo, the illusion fell away and it was a game with mechanics. Of course its still one of my favorites! (though that goes for just about everything Remedy has ever made)

        4 votes
  9. [2]
    BeardyHat
    Link
    Mode: Standard Bingo! Finished 3/25 Interactive fiction Comedy Military/realistic shooter FPS ✅ Darkest Dungeon 2 Cozy Third-person shooter ARPG Metroidvania/search action Base building Shop...
    Mode: Standard Bingo! Finished 3/25
    Interactive fiction Comedy Military/realistic shooter FPS Roguelike
    ✅ Darkest Dungeon 2
    Cozy Third-person shooter ARPG Metroidvania/search action Base building
    Shop keeper Horror ★ Wildcard Sim racing Survival horror
    Arena/boomer shooter
    ✅ Cultic    		 Action-adventure Management Walking simulator God game
    Driving/piloting
    ✅ Pacific Drive    		 City builder Exploration Real-time strategy/tactics
    ✅ Advance Wars: Days of Ruin    		 Soulslike

    I wouldn't call this my "Burner" event, so much as just my play whatever the hell I feel like and invest lots of time into it...event.

    I'm still at it with Darkest Dungeon 2, nothing really new to say other than I really like it now. I think the storytelling is pretty good and I appreciate that it's almost sort of comical? Like I just unlocked a little bit more of the Plague Doctor's story, which involves a standard "fight", except you're in class with a Professor and other students and if you use your ability to argue with the Professor, he shuts you down and you take stress damage. So you need to figure out when the optimal time to is to argue with the Professor to ultimately win the fight and progress the story; I'm not sure if you can fail these or not, but they're pretty easy.

    I've managed to "beat" the game once so far, but given it's Roguelite structure, that's only the beginning. This unlocked the second chapter of the game, but I've only given it one try so far, as I feel like I should do the "easier" first chapter and continue to unlock abilities for my Heroes via the story, as well as more trinkets and just general understanding of the game. I've now played about 24-hours of the game and I'm not planning on stopping anytime soon.

    I've also been playing a bit of Advance Wars: Days of Ruin on the side. Though this is something I've been playing off and on for months now and just recently started-up again, having done a mission or two, but now I'm sort of feeling a little burned out on it again having tried T29 a few times, which I'm finding a little frustrating. The mission isn't essential, it's just a fun side thing, so I could continue with the story rather than ram my head against the wall on this side mission, but I feel like I need to finish it.

    But that said, I have limited time and I'm pretty enamored with Darkest Dungeon 2, so I'm just going to continue on with that.

    4 votes
    1. Wes
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      Hey, if you found a game that you clicked with, that's just another success story, right? I'm glad you're enjoying DD2, especially after bouncing off it before. Thanks for the update as we near...

      Hey, if you found a game that you clicked with, that's just another success story, right? I'm glad you're enjoying DD2, especially after bouncing off it before.

      Thanks for the update as we near the end of the event. There'll be one more thread for the last few days of the month ("Week 5-ish"), and then a final wrap up thread on Dec 1st.

      edit: No Week 5-ish thread this month.

      3 votes
  10. [3]
    Eidolon
    (edited )
    Link
    Mode: Standard Winning Bingo! Finished 6/25 Has both combat and puzzles You chose it based on title alone You can create your own character ✅ Gothic 1 Someone else has played it for their Backlog...
    Mode: Standard Winning Bingo! Finished 6/25
    Has both combat and puzzles You chose it based on title alone You can create your own character You have to tinker to get it running
    ✅ Gothic 1    		 Someone else has played it for their Backlog Burner
    Randomness determines your fate Has a lives system You can save/pet/care for animals Has great reviews, but not your usual type Recommended by someone on Tildes
    You can complete it in only a few hours Has driving ★ Wildcard Has a score system A modded game
    Has a first-person perspective
    ✅ Gothic II    		 Is mostly text-based
    ✅ Roadwarden    		 You're giving it a second chance
    ✅ Noita    		 Has a moody vibe
    ✅ UnderRail    		 Has a moral choice system
    ✅ Planescape Torment
    Popular game you never got around to playing Has a fishing minigame From a genre you don’t normally play You wanted it when you were younger Adaptation of other media type (e.g. board game, movie)

    Bingo strike achieved!

    Noita - 'You're giving it a second chance'

    Noita was the first game I'd ever played with permadeath, a procedurally generated map and a progression system. On first play, I dropped it after a couple of hours of dying so much. The experience put me off the entire roguelike and roguelite genre for a few years, until I tried Balatro, Hades and Against the Storm. I knew I had to give Noita a second chance.

    I could see many features which I hadn't quite picked up on the first time around. I really like the tactility of the play. The movement and combat is fluid. Everything about the sound design is excellent. I love how the music comes in short bursts and triggers when the action is heating up. The physics and explosions are impressive, it's so satisfying breaking the world into bits and setting up massive chain reactions.

    However, I did also replicate my first-time experience by dying plenty of times. Admittedly I'm not good at platformers, my timing and co-ordination aren't great. I like games I can take my time with and not be under pressure. So Noita I find genuinely challenging and frustrating. I managed to get into the second zone a few times, but the action ramped up so much it made the first zone seem tranquil.

    What I am guessing, based on hints on the Steam reviews, is that I need to experiment as much as possible with incendiary combinations that could make life a lot easier for me. I think if I kept playing casually on the side, I could possibly like this game. I'm not sure, but I'm willing to test my resolve.

    Roadwarden - 'Is mostly text-based'

    Roadwarden is an interactive fiction text-based indie RPG released in 2022. It has a 'hidden gem' status and you can pick it up for an absurdly cheap price on sale. Honestly I'm enjoying it so much that I feel bad for not paying full price. So far I've had zero issues or bugs and it plays great on Linux.

    You play as a 'Roadwarden' venturing out to investigate the roadways of the realm, while also looking for clues about your predecessor's mysterious disappearance. In your first interaction, you can choose your class (fighter / mage / scholar), religious disposition and purpose. The standard mode has a global time limit of 40 in-game days to complete your main task, but you can also customize your game to remove that cap. Apparently the time limit is not too harsh, but it encourages you to use time and travel wisely so that 'day off' regeneration abilities are not exploited. While modern in feel, the game is clearly inspired by old-school adventure classics and it just feels well-thought out.

    After my first session, I did not want to close the game - an extremely rare experience for me these days. It is strongly immersive, the writing is detailed and lore-rich. The music is superb. The visual pixel two-toned style is quirky yet quite cosy. You're greeted with a decaying world that's very disconnected, so you find yourself tying threads together from what you're told about settlements and various points of interest. The dangerous parts of the world do truly feel that way, as the communities stick to their safe zones. So far, even just trying to satisfy the survival mechanics is satisfyingly difficult but not unreasonable. There are some interactions which require word inputs, so there is a light puzzle aspect to it as well. The game allows you to write notes inside the journal, but I've got my pen and paper out and I've made heaps of notes already.

    I think what I like about it so much is that it's quite 'chill' and not too demanding, as far as text-reading goes. Yes there's lots of text, but it's not Planscape Torment or Disco Elysium, you can breeze through it a bit more. Thankfully they changed the default pixel text style to a smooth font that's easy to read. I'm very excited to continue my playthrough!

    Update 30/11 - Gothic 1 - Game you have to tinker to get it to work -

    I thought I was over Gothic for a while after finishing Gothic 2, but after playing Planescape I thought I needed to go back to an action-RPG that's a bit easier to digest. Gothic 2 was almost a plug and play experience on Linux with Steam workshop mods and a few manual mods - the only 'trick' was to install the 'legacy'/older edition of the DX9>DX11 mod instead of the current version. Gothic 1 however has a reputation for requiring significant tweaks to work on Windows and there are various lengthy tutorials on the subject.

    In the end, it wasn't so bad. I progressed from critical failure at launch, to persistent blackscreen, to the game maxxing out my GPU and CPU, to the game lacking any grass. The fixes were simple, just .ini tweaks, ensuring the mod loadout was correct and downloading a manual fix for the grass. Now everything is working flawlessly, although the game does feel quite a bit jankier than Gothic II! I'll probably complete this over the holiday season, then I might try the Gothic Remake demo just to compare.

    4 votes
    1. Wes
      Link Parent
      Good rec on Roadwarden. I find the two-tone color palette really charming as well. They still utilize shading and other techniques, so the effect comes off as stylized yet detailed. I think I'm...

      Good rec on Roadwarden. I find the two-tone color palette really charming as well. They still utilize shading and other techniques, so the effect comes off as stylized yet detailed.

      I think I'm already on my "third chance" with Noita. It's a game I want to like so badly, but it just doesn't click for me. I guess I need to watch some tutorials to figure out the wand building, because my experience basically echoes your own: death, death, death.

      I still find their falling sand engine to be incredibly impressive, and I hope they continue to work with it, and maybe create a second game using the technology. Their wizard character would also feel right at home in a puzzle game that that employs different elements, or even a more traditional action RPG.

      Ah, but knowing me, I'll probably give Noita another try yet. Fourth time's the charm?

      3 votes
    2. BeardyHat
      Link Parent
      Roadwarden is one that's been on my wishlist for several years now and I keep looking at it everytime it's on sale, given it's usually only like $1.49 or whatever. I just haven't taken the jump...

      Roadwarden is one that's been on my wishlist for several years now and I keep looking at it everytime it's on sale, given it's usually only like $1.49 or whatever. I just haven't taken the jump yet.

      Interesting to hear that it's got a little bit more to it than I expected, given you can choose classes and the like. Seems like it would be a comfy game to play on Steam Deck.

      3 votes
  11. [7]
    kfwyre
    Link
    Pinging all Backlog Burner participants/conversationalists. Three things: I normally make a "Week 5(ish)" post for the last few days of the Backlog Burner, but this time I'm going to just keep...

    Pinging all Backlog Burner participants/conversationalists. Three things:

    1. I normally make a "Week 5(ish)" post for the last few days of the Backlog Burner, but this time I'm going to just keep this topic (Week 4) as the active one until the close of the event.

    2. I'll be posting the final recap in the evening of December 1st (US time), so get your final games in before then.

    3. OPTIONAL: PM me with any highlights from the event. I will share those anonymously with everyone in the recap.

    4. Please respond to this comment with a list of the different systems/hardware you played on. I want to see how many different platforms our games were spread between and include that in the recap as well.

    Notification List

    @aphoenix
    @1338
    @BeardyHat
    @CannibalisticApple
    @dannydotcafe
    @deathinactthree
    @Durinthal
    @Eidolon
    @J-Chiptunator
    @JCPhoenix
    @knocklessmonster
    @Pistos
    @sotix
    @sparksbet
    @Wes
    @ZeroGee

    4 votes
    1. Eidolon
      Link Parent
      Thank you as always for organising this. My thanks also to @Wes for the cards. I'm playing exclusively on Arch Linux these days (Cachy OS).

      Thank you as always for organising this. My thanks also to @Wes for the cards.

      I'm playing exclusively on Arch Linux these days (Cachy OS).

      5 votes
    2. dannydotcafe
      Link Parent
      In my mind there was still a whole lot more of this month to go, but I guess I just haven't looked at a calendar in a few days! Thank you so much for organizing this, it was a lot of fun. Forcing...

      In my mind there was still a whole lot more of this month to go, but I guess I just haven't looked at a calendar in a few days! Thank you so much for organizing this, it was a lot of fun. Forcing myself to write out a few paragraphs was surprisingly challenging in the beginning, but I felt like each week it got slightly easier as my dormant writing skills started to reawalen. Now to keep it going!

      I played everything on Steam (for Linux of course). The first 3 weeks were split between my Steam Deck and desktop (technically a server running a Bazzite VM with GPU and NVME passthrough, but we can call it a desktop). Due to holiday travel, games from week 4 were played on my laptop (Framework 14 running Bluefin).

      4 votes
    3. J-Chiptunator
      Link Parent
      This month's Backlog Burner had me play much fewer platforms than May's one, largely because I focused on games released beyond the 6th video game generation. Here's what I used to run on:...

      This month's Backlog Burner had me play much fewer platforms than May's one, largely because I focused on games released beyond the 6th video game generation. Here's what I used to run on:

      • Nintendo 3DS
      • Nintendo DS
      • Playdate
      • PlayStation 1
      • PlayStation 2
      • PlayStation 4 (PS4 Pro)
      • Steam (Windows 11 PC)
      • Super Nintendo Entertainment System (Super Famicom)
      • Switch 1 (Switch 2)
      • Wii U
      3 votes
    4. CannibalisticApple
      Link Parent
      Thank you for hosting as always! It makes sense to skip Week 5 since... well, it's already November 29. Hardly a week at all. Might as well just merge 4 and 5 into one week for all events. I've...

      Thank you for hosting as always! It makes sense to skip Week 5 since... well, it's already November 29. Hardly a week at all. Might as well just merge 4 and 5 into one week for all events.

      I've played the Nintendo 3DS, Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch. Looking forward to the full list!

      3 votes
    5. JCPhoenix
      Link Parent
      Mainly played via my two Windows gaming PCs. But also played some on Steam Deck and even my MBP.

      Mainly played via my two Windows gaming PCs. But also played some on Steam Deck and even my MBP.

      3 votes
    6. aphoenix
      Link Parent
      I played 8 of my 9 games on a Steam using a Windows PC. I played the NYTimes crossword / wordle / connections / strands on my iPad.

      I played 8 of my 9 games on a Steam using a Windows PC. I played the NYTimes crossword / wordle / connections / strands on my iPad.

      3 votes
  12. [7]
    Wes
    (edited )
    Link
    Onto the final week! I fell behind in week 3, but I'm back now with my final mini card. It's time to burn backlogs and chew bubblegum... and I'm all outta gum. Week 4: Flux Category Entry ✅...

    Onto the final week! I fell behind in week 3, but I'm back now with my final mini card.

    It's time to burn backlogs and chew bubblegum... and I'm all outta gum.

    Week 4: Flux

    Category Entry
    ✅ Focuses on exploration Manifold Garden
    ✅ From a series you have never played GOD EATER 3
    ✅ Known for its real-world drama Wuchang: Fallen Feathers
    ✅ Randomness determines your fate Golfie
    ✅ Same number of letters as your username Hoa
    ✅ From now-defunct dev studio Thief Gold
    ✅ From a studio you haven't heard of before Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunter Reborn
    ✅ Has a time limit The Forgotten City
    3 votes
    1. [4]
      Wes
      Link Parent
      The Forgotten City - Reminding us all of the golden rule. Salve, friend. Let me tell you about a strange time and a stranger place. A place where sin isn't possible, and nothing bad ever happens....

      The Forgotten City - Reminding us all of the golden rule.

      Salve, friend. Let me tell you about a strange time and a stranger place. A place where sin isn't possible, and nothing bad ever happens. A gilded age, if you will. Let me introduce you to The Forgotten City.

      This game blew me away. I was immediately hooked, and felt five hours melt away before I knew it. I went to bed that night thinking about the world and its story. My only regret is playing this title so early in the week, since I needed to pull myself away to actually play other things.

      I'm submitting this under the category "Has a time limit", though some may choose to quibble. It is time-loopy, so technically you have all the time you could ask for. However, there is a limited amount of time in each day to get things done, a la Majora's Mask, and I think that will be consequential in the end.

      This title is interesting because it started life as a Skyrim mod. It was so good that they spun it out into a real, standalone game, built in Unreal 4.

      Despite being remade from scratch, there's still clear influence from the original Skyrim mod. The physics feel similar, mechanics like quick-saving/loading are available, stealing is still there (though considerably more consequential in this game), and there's even a dev console enabled by default.

      Unlike a lot of Skyrim mods though, this game is polished to the nines (or the Nine Divines). For example, everyone starts as a "Stranger" to you, and you learn their name by talking to them. Okay, that's common enough in games. But you can also learn a name if you overhear it being spoken, or seeing strong contextual clues. It's a small detail but I was impressed by how well that worked.

      The game features something akin to a "class" system, letting you choose a perk to play with. I chose a backstory that put me on the lam, granting a 25% faster sprint speed. Listen, if you're ever given the option, never turn down more movement speed. More health is nice, but running right past the danger is even nicer. Never skip leg day.

      The game's world takes place in a sunken Roman city, deep in a hidden valley. It's funny, I had just made a comment about Titan Quest being set in a unique locale, and now here we are again. Okay, admittedly Ancient Greece may predate the Roman empire by five centuries or so, but close enough, right?

      The environments look great, and the statues dotting the landscape give me Piranesi vibes. The animations are smooth, and must be mocapped because the facial details look great. The voice over work is also really well done.

      I opted to turn off the "hint whispers", because I'd like to get to the bottom of this mystery myself. Still, it feels like the statues are whispering to me... drawing me in closer... No, it must've been the wind.

      Technically, the game feels great. It offered a full options menu, with my favourite feature ever, borderless fullscreen.

      My one complaint was going to be that the camera zooms in when sprinting. I really dislike this effect, as it causes me motion sickness like nothing else. Thankfully, since they included a console, I could run fov 90 to override the zoom-in effect and lock my field of view.

      Suffice it to say, I'm looking forward to playing more. I already have a notepad with dozens of observations, and I'll be back to collect more soon.

      Hoa - A puzzle-platformer in pastel.

      Hoa is beautiful to look at, with soft landscapes and gentle piano tracks that set a relaxing atmosphere. For some, it could be the perfect way to unwind after a stressful day.

      The gameplay, however, doesn't quite match the artistry. The platforming is simple and rarely challenging, and the puzzles are mostly perfunctory. I was ready to put the game down after just an hour, and nearly did. However, I decided instead to use the low-engagement gameplay as an opportunity to catch up on videos while playing, which turned out well. I finished the game in about 2.5 hours.

      Even if I wasn't very engaged, I'm sure many would appreciate Hoa for what it is. I personally prefer more challenge, but the game clearly succeeds in creating a serene atmosphere, and the gameplay arguably suits it.

      I'm submitting this under "Same number of letters as your username", though my options were fairly limited.

      Thief Gold - Aged like fine wine, which might fetch a nice price...

      I had to think about my options for the category "From now-defunct dev studio". When I came across a game from Looking Glass Studios, it felt right. They were a big name in the '90s and produced many landmark games, including Thief and System Shock. I'm glad to finally give one a try.

      Thief is a classic title. Originally published as Thief: The Dark Project in 1998, it was upgraded to Thief Gold the next year, featuring three new missions and other enhancements.

      "Gold" may be an appropriate term, as this game is now in its golden years. When booting it for the first time, I had the choice of playing at 640x480 or 800x600. Woof.

      Thankfully, as is often the case, a community mod saved the day by patching the game for modern systems. I'm now running the game in glorious 4K thanks to the TFix mod. It applied a few other texture upgrades as well, but the biggest change was the internal update to the Dark Engine.

      Another hint to the age was the default control scheme: it used WASD, except A/D rotated the camera instead of strafing. I spent some time reconfiguring all of the controls, then jumped into the tutorial.

      My first impressions were positive. The tutorial steps you through the darkness and sound mechanics, and suggests that maybe you shouldn't wear stilettos on cobblestone if you want to avoid detection. Good advice! The game taught me how to use a bow and sword. It then admonished me for trying to use a bow against my sparring partner.

      After that, I played through two missions. That might not sound like much, but it still took me about four hours to complete. I played on Hard, and completed all of the objectives for each mission. Admittedly, a lot of that time was spent trying to read the map. Some quick-saving/loading may have been involved towards the end, as I lost patience with resetting.

      The stealth mechanics feel rewarding. The focus on light really makes you think about your positioning, and leads to some dynamic situations (eg. luring a guard to a dark area, or dousing a wall-mounted torch with a water arrow). Of course, there's always the faithful option of waiting for a guard to come around a corner, then smacking them with a billy. Knockouts are permanent, so you can find a nice dark spot for others to take a nap in.

      I was surprised by the amount of world building that went into the Thief universe. Thematically, the technology is very steampunk, with cogs and pressure valves powering most devices. A few modern features, like security cameras, are also present, and they're bloody hard to see.

      Cults and religion seem to drive the major powers in this game, and are backed by a magic that feels somewhat occult. Supernatural elements are also present, though I found them best to run past. Zombies are not interested in stealth tactics.

      I streamed a mission for some friends, and they commented on how great and authentic the game looked. They assumed it was a modern game in a retro-style. Nope, it's just Thief! But I can understand the sentiment, because the game does look and play great. I might have even thought the same, had I not just spent 30 minutes installing patches and tweaking controls.

      3 votes
      1. [2]
        dannydotcafe
        Link Parent
        I'm so glad you got to Thief! Since I played it via an Eidos Demo disk when it was new, its been among my favorites. I do think the worldbuilding is a huge draw. That they start you off in what...

        I'm so glad you got to Thief! Since I played it via an Eidos Demo disk when it was new, its been among my favorites. I do think the worldbuilding is a huge draw. That they start you off in what seems to be just Medieval Europe, and then drawing back the curtain to show its something much more unique. And I've always loved the way it looked, but especially now in the age of retro-throwbacks, those textures and polygons are absolutely perfect!

        Though it won't help you at this point, I believe TFix gives you a control preset for modern WASD, so you should be able to skip the rebinding.

        And thanks for reminding me about the Forgotten City. Its been on my radar for a while, though I think I'll want to make sure I have some time and space to take my time with it!

        4 votes
        1. Wes
          Link Parent
          I was at first surprised by the the steampunk theme in the menu, thinking it seemed unusual for a stealth game. I'd assumed it was just another example of 90s software being really into...

          I was at first surprised by the the steampunk theme in the menu, thinking it seemed unusual for a stealth game. I'd assumed it was just another example of 90s software being really into skeuomorphism. But as I played, I kept seeing gears and steam pumps everywhere, and eventually realized it was a huge part of the game world.

          You're 100% right about the control presets. It seems there's a bunch of them made available by default. Whoops. Oh well, at least I learned the key functions well by manually going over each of them.

          The Forgotten City is definitely one of my standouts from this event so far. Do check it out if you get the chance. I'm even willing to forgive you for the irony of forgetting it.

          3 votes
      2. kfwyre
        Link Parent
        I utterly adored The Forgotten City. I feel about it the way that people feel about Outer Wilds, and it’s definitely one of those “I wish I could go back and play it again for the first time”...

        I utterly adored The Forgotten City.

        I feel about it the way that people feel about Outer Wilds, and it’s definitely one of those “I wish I could go back and play it again for the first time” games.

        Also it totally fits under the “time limit” category. You are on the clock each and every loop.

        3 votes
    2. Wes
      Link Parent
      Golfie - Slicing the Spire. How does "randomness determine your fate" in golf? By making it into a roguelike card game, of course! Each run of Golfie begins with a basic starter deck. These cards...

      Golfie - Slicing the Spire.

      How does "randomness determine your fate" in golf? By making it into a roguelike card game, of course!

      Each run of Golfie begins with a basic starter deck. These cards are crucial for play, as your shots are otherwise weak and ineffective. You can collect new cards by finding them in levels or purchasing them from vendors.

      New cards often enable more complex interactions, like activating a jetpack or placing a ramp. It sounds good on paper, but each new addition makes it harder to draw the basic cards you actually need. A ramp is useless if you don't have the power to clear it.

      I was hoping Golfie would put me into situations requiring wacky solutions like ramps and jetpacks. In reality, most experimentation with cards proved detrimental, and sticking to the basic deck was often the safest bet. Turning my ball to rubber or making it explode on contact just introduced too much unpredictability.

      I feel that some method to mitigate the randomness beyond deck editing would be helpful. Allowing cards to carry over at the cost of energy, or increasing your baseline power through progression would make it less risky to experiment.

      Another source of randomness is the procedurally generated holes. They're created on-demand as you choose a path along the overworld map. Each hole follows a theme, like beach or industrial, and may include modifiers like extra coins, depending on your route.

      The holes do feel varied with features like slopes, water hazards, and coin pickups. That said, when compared to traditional, hand-designed golf courses, they start to feel a bit repetitive. Their procedural nature also occasionally produces awkward layouts, making the difficulty somewhat scattershot.

      In one case, I found myself wedged in a seam at the edge of a map. There are no mulligans in this game, so my run ended there. In fact, most of my runs ended because of a single, difficult hole. This can be frustrating as it feels beyond the control of the player. At least in regular golf, you can just accept the max score for the hole and move on.

      By my count, this is now the third golf game I've played for a Backlog Burner event. I enjoyed both Golf Club: Nostalgia and Golfing Over It with Alva Majo previously, but couldn't quite connect with this one. It's a clever idea and certainly delivers on its premise, though I found it almost too faithful to its roguelike brethren. The blending of genres didn't quite work for me.

      Wuchang: Fallen Feathers - Fading beauty.

      The Ming dynasty is faltering. Bandits roam the countryside, and rumours spread of a strange disease that sprouts feathers in the afflicted, driving them to violence.

      This is the world you enter in Wuchang: Fallen Feathers. You wake in a cave, beset with feathers on your arm, and with no memory of who you are.

      It's a unique setting for a soulslike set in 1600s China, and everything from the first steps onward will feel familiar to fans of the Souls series.

      For me, it felt a bit like sliding on a form-fitting glove. The controls responded exactly as I expected, and the usual mechanics were all there: estus, bonfires, soul currency, and so on.

      Wuchang also draws inspiration from Sekiro with a posture-breaking mechanic. Applying constant pressure with well-placed charged attacks will stagger opponents, allowing for massive strikes. This is important in boss fights, and rewards both aggression and knowledge of enemy patterns.

      One departure from the Souls games is the massive skill tree, which governs everything from new abilities and combos to stat increases and estus flask upgrades. The menu feels a bit overloaded, but it likely allows for very specialized builds, especially at low levels.

      I spent my skill points on spear abilities. I enjoyed the extra reach they provided, and the lower stamina costs made them more reliable in extended combat. There is also a parry feature that I haven't mastered the timing for yet, but I expect it will become a boon once I do.

      The combat feels responsive and offers multiple approaches to each encounter. You have the usual light and heavy attacks, along with specialized weapon arts and swappable techniques, such as the aforementioned parry. Magic and consumable items can also be useful in a pinch.

      One new feature is the last-second dodge, which grants a temporary buff that increases weapon skill damage. I found this easier to weave into combat than a traditional parry, and enjoyed the risk/reward it adds for daring players.

      The combat is quite involved, and will take me more practice to feel confident with. Thankfully, an in-game guide covers each of the mechanics. Loading screen tips also offer helpful advice, like this gem of wisdom: "You lose health when attacked".

      Up to now, I've been using Souls-specific terms like "estus flask" because they're familiar. Wuchang rebrands everything, and I had to pause when I first read "Access the Impetus Repository to convert Red Mercury into Essence". It really just means "spend your money to level up and unlock skills", but it takes a moment to parse. Thankfully, the classic "Door does not open from this side" is still there.

      Beyond its mechanics, Wuchang is absolutely gorgeous to look at. Yes, your character is very pretty, and the outfits clearly show off the game's assets. But the environments themselves provide a refreshing contrast to the gothic fantasy common in soulslikes. The landscapes are lush, and the Chinese temples and shrines create a richly detailed world to explore.

      Importantly, the world isn't purely fictional. Wuchang grounds itself in real-world history, and it's actually for that reason that I'm submitting this game for the category "Known for its real-world drama" -- though this will require a little context.

      Wuchang takes place during the late Ming dynasty, a period of great hardship for the Han people. Marked by famine and financial collapse, there was widespread unrest and rebellion. Beijing itself was eventually taken over by rebel forces, culminating in the Chongzhen Emperor's suicide.

      Faced with rebels on one side and advancing Manchu forces on the other, the Ming general Wu Sangui made a fateful decision: he allowed the Manchus to enter China to help crush the rebellion. While the plan succeeded, it also paved the way for the Manchus to consolidate power. Rather than restoring the Ming dynasty, they established a new dynasty, the Qing.

      Over the following decades, the Qing used both military campaigns and political maneuvering to solidify their rule and subdue the remaining Ming loyalists. This was not a bloodless transition, and while there was eventually an integration of Han and Manchu populations, lingering resentments endured across generations.

      As you can imagine, this remains a politically charged topic even today. Debate continues over whether the Qing were a legitimate continuation of the dynastic cycle, or an invading power against the Han people. The conflict sits at the intersection of personal identity, official narrative, and cultural memory.

      By setting the game in this era, Wuchang wades into arguments that are long-standing and well-practiced. Its story features famous historical figures from the Ming side as both NPCs and bosses, requiring the player to defeat them to progress. This apparent one-sidedness has led some to accuse the developers of bias.

      In an effort to ameliorate these concerns, the devs later patched the game so that certain characters no longer truly die, instead becoming "exhausted". This change triggered a second wave of controversy in both China and the West about censorship, particularly as the changes made some parts of the game easier and undercut key emotional moments.

      It seemed like a no-win situation for the developers, and I feel bad for how harshly the game was review bombed in response. Some legitimate concerns about performance and a preorder bonus mixup also didn't help, though these were addressed in later patches.

      I wouldn't normally have started a 30-hour game during this event, but the richness of this real-world history felt worth exploring, and my love of the Soulslike genre made it harder to resist.

      I plan to set the game aside for now, and return to it after the Backlog Burner is over. Thankfully, the familiar gameplay will make it easy to pick up again, and I'm not yet deep into the story.

      Wuchang is fun, fluid, mechanically satisfying, and steeped in history. It's worth checking out for any fans of the genre.

      3 votes
    3. Wes
      Link Parent
      Manifold Garden - What will you grow? A mind-bending, surrealist experience; Manifold Garden is a living Escher painting. Like a painting, the world is stunning to look at. The scenery seemingly...

      Manifold Garden - What will you grow?

      A mind-bending, surrealist experience; Manifold Garden is a living Escher painting.

      Like a painting, the world is stunning to look at. The scenery seemingly stretches on forever, daring you to jump. The minimalist architecture is punctuated by bold colours that draw the eye and signal puzzle design.

      You might be reminded of another minimalist game, Antichamber. The influence is unmistakable, and they both make use of non-Euclidean spaces and screen wrapping to create impossible landscapes. However, where Antichamber is fundamentally a block manipulation game, Manifold Garden is all about directing gravity.

      Players can interact with a nearby wall to make it their new floor. Each direction has an associated colour, which is the only way to really orient yourself. There is no canonical "up" here. Most objects are colour-coded too, and can only be manipulated when you're standing on a floor of a matching colour.

      I think of the world like a hollow Rubik's Cube: you can stand on the inside of a coloured face and interact with objects of that colour. When you move to a different face, gravity flips as if you're rotating the cube.

      I found myself getting more familiar with the constant reorientation as I played. Indeed, the most efficient way to move is often by flipping gravity and falling down a hallway rather than walking the distance. As a result, I imagine this game has some very impressive speedruns.

      The puzzles have been well-designed so far. Most haven't been too difficult, but a few had me scratching my head. I appreciate that they require you to actually solve them, as you're unlikely to walk into a solution by accident. That's definitely the hallmark of great puzzle design.

      As there's no tutorial, you learn the rules through experimentation. New mechanics are introduced as you progress which gradually increases complexity. From what I've seen, the problem space appears quite large.

      I'm submitting this one under the category "Focuses on exploration", though mostly due to its exploration of mechanics rather than environs.

      Manifold Garden is a unique, abstract puzzler that tickled my brain in just the right way. You might like it, too!

      (: ¡unɟ ǝʌɐH

      GOD EATER 3 - A dangerous morsel.

      I went into this one completely blind. What the heck is a "God Eater"?

      I would describe this one as Monster Hunter lite. It doesn't quite have the mechanical complexity of the MH series, but it's well above that of a typical hack'n slash.

      For MH vets, the gameplay loop will feel familiar. You fight large monsters called Aragami using oversized weapons. Monsters drop parts, which you use to craft and upgrade your gear. Each weapon type has a distinct yet complex moveset.

      I tried a handful of weapons and found I liked the responsiveness of the scythe. For ranged weapons, the shotgun seemed a good choice for fast damage. This was not easy to test, though, as the NPC allies were so overpowered they'd often solo the early-game monsters while I was still figuring out the controls.

      The game is mission-based, with story advancing through cutscenes after each outing. It takes a while to get going, and you're stuck in tutorial mode for the first two hours or so. This is somewhat justified, as the game does throw a lot of mechanics at you.

      One big difference from Monster Hunter is the art style. God Eater 3 is unabashedly anime. From the opening cinematic, the game hits you with a high-intensity animation that really gets the blood pumping.

      I was generally impressed with the music, animations, and art style. Though being an anime game, the body proportions are also about what you'd expect.

      The character creator was fairly limited, with the notable exception of the voice options. I was given a whopping 20 voices to choose from, and each one sounded great. It's a small thing, but I was honestly impressed.

      One thing that didn't impress me was the new player experience. Before getting control over your character, you need to click through roughly 50 popups. They were mostly patch notes from previous versions of the game, but it really breaks the introduction's flow.

      All in all, I enjoyed it. It scratches that monster-hunting itch in a completely new universe, and really picks up once you leave the tutorial. I expect to play more in the coming weeks.

      This one is going under the category "From a series you've never played", because it's from a series I've never played. But who knows -- maybe I'll tackle the other installments some day.

      Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunter Reborn - Clever girl.

      I remember playing Deer Hunter II on Windows 98. I was a kid at the time, and never very good at it. I'm not even sure I ever had a successful hunt, but I kept coming back. I'd set up my tree stand, cover myself in buck urine, and watch the treeline.

      Looking back, it seems the late '90s were a golden era for hunting sims. 1998 saw the release of Deer Hunter, Cabela's Big Game Hunter, and today's focus, Carnivores.

      Carnivores has gone through many iterations. The original game, developed by Action Forms, released in '98 and was followed by three sequels over the next few years. Later, mobile developer Tatem Games revived it for iOS and Android as Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunter, and also released an HD version for the PS3.

      The version I played, Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunter Reborn, came out in 2015 for PC. Developed by Digital Dreams Entertainment in partnership with Tatem Games, it's an enhanced version of the HD PS3 release.

      Finally, Digital Dreams produced a Unity-based version titled Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunt in 2021. Unfortunately, this meant the previous version was delisted from Steam.

      Carnivores has certainly been around. However, since I wasn't familiar with any of these studios, I feel comfortable slotting this under "From a studio you haven't heard of before".

      So what does a 90s-PC-title–turned-mobile-game–turned-PC-game look like? Well, about what you'd expect: rudimentary gameplay, a UI with giant buttons, few graphical settings, and currencies displayed as bubbly gem and crown sprites.

      I also really liked it.

      All the positive memories I had with Deer Hunter II came flooding back to me as I tracked my prey. Sure, a stegosaurus is a pretty big deer, but the careful, methodical approach hunting requires just felt right. It was almost like I was camping out in a tree again, covered in urine. It was a great feeling.

      The hunting gameplay is actually pretty solid, at least for the era. Sound and smell can alert dinosaurs to your presence, meaning you need to move slowly and stay downwind.

      Your aim is pretty shaky after running, but you can steady it by holding your breath. Aim for the soft organs, usually in the forward belly region, for a clean kill.

      To ethically hunt dinosaurs, one also needs to buy a license. This is one of the primary methods of progression, as higher-tier dinosaurs are worth more points.

      Here's where I complain though. The balance in the point system still feels very much like a mobile game: unlocking guns, tools, and licenses is painfully slow. I don't know whether the developers simply removed all the pay-to-win features without rebalancing, or if it was even worse before. Either way, the current rates are glacial, and I'd happily triple them.

      Still, this could make a very decent podcast- or audiobook-friendly game. It doesn't require a ton of attention - except when going in for the kill - and it's relatively low stakes. I had a good time with it, and expect to return to the hunt soon.

      3 votes