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Comments
- Gris (Switch) — Atmospheric puzzle-platformer. Chill gameplay, very striking visual aesthetic.
- A Short Hike (Steam) — A short, lovingly-crafted adventure game. The world feels a lot bigger than it actually is, with lots of places to explore and side stuff to do.
- Hexcells, Hexcells Plus, Hexcells Infinite (Steam) — A trio of puzzle games, somewhere in a space between Minesweeper and Picross. Relatively short, but certainly ramps up in difficulty close to the end.
- Yono and the Celestial Elephants (Switch) — Isometric adventure game. Wound up being much shorter than I expected it to be, and what gameplay there was felt a bit sparse at times. The characters and setting were pretty charming, though, so it was an enjoyable (if brief) romp.
- Hyper Light Drifter (Epic) — Fast-paced action-adventure. Strong aesthetic, but this one didn't click with me for a while. The early game was rough, and the dash mechanic felt kinda janky at times. Once I got some more upgrades and better weapons, though, things more or less fell into place, though it was still a bit frustrating at times.
- Return of the Obra Dinn (Steam) — A puzzle game that has you explore an abandoned ship and unravel a complex narrative about what happened to its passengers and crew. Pretty satisfying to piece stuff together, though there were a few puzzles near the end I kinda had to solve via brute force. A unique concept that I'd like to see more of.
- Freedom Planet (Wii U) — Sonic the Hedgehog-styled platformer. Pretty fun... for the most part. Of the three playable characters, the one I played is (from what I've heard) not as polished as the other two, and it showed. Certain parts of the game (a few boss fights in particular) were definitely not designed with her in mind, so they got frustrating real quick. On the whole though, I enjoyed it, and I'll probably go back and play through it again as the other two characters... eventually.
- Slime Rancher (Epic) — Just beat this one today, for a given definition of "beat"; reached the end of the story (insomuch as there is one), but you can progress at your own pace and there's still plenty to do after the credits roll. Between this and Stardew Valley, I wanted to get at least one of the chill farming games off my backlog before Animal Crossing: New Horizons drops. This game... makes me happy. The music, the designs, the general aesthetic, it's all very warm and pleasant and inviting.
Now to decide what game to tackle next... I picked up MOLEK-SYNTEZ on sale a day or two back, and I've yet to play a Zachtronics puzzle game I haven't loved, so that one's under consideration.In between all of this stuff, I've also been developing another puzzle game in Unity, that I'll hopefully publish on itch.io at some point this month. Just a bit of cleanup work to do, then lots of puzzles to design. Still looking for dev work, too- had a decent interview with a local studio that didn't pan out, but not much luck beyond that. Back to the grind...
* Celestian Tales: Old North, a JRPG
* Chasm, an NLX 2D platformer with an arcade mode that turns it into a score-attack 2D action platformer
* Dragonsphere, a point-and-click adventure
* Raiden III, a vertical shmup
Other stuff I've been playing:
* La-Mulana, an NLX 2D platformer
* Spooky Ghosts Dot Com, an NLX 2D platformer
* various mods for Super Metroid: Arcade, Arrival, Ascent, Magaluf, Oxide, and its randomizer
* The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past randomizer, a randomizer mod and an NLX top-down adventure
* combo randomizer for Super Metroid and Zelda ALTTP
note: NLX = "non-linear exploration", a term I made up so that I don't have to differentiate between Zelda and Metroid/Castletroids
Overall, I enjoyed it a lot. Gameplay is usually somewhat slow-paced, but never to the point where it became a hassle. It definitely prioritizes atmosphere over challenge, but it wasn't as sparse as I thought it'd be, and some of the late-game puzzles felt suitably complex.
The aesthetic is absolutely the game's strongest point. Each level has a distinct atmosphere to it, and all of them are gorgeous and have a lot of memorable setpieces (one of the first areas in this game reminded me heavily of Journey, which happened to be the last game I beat in 2019). The music's pretty good, too, but that's down to preference.
The narrative is... abstract. There's a lot of symbolism that's clearly leading somewhere, and is important somehow, and you'll probably get the general idea, but some of the exact nuance was lost to me on my first playthrough. I didn't mind too much, though. It still conveyed the sentiment and emotional impact it was aiming for.
Would recommend.
*back to work*
well this just introduced me to yet another DRM-free source for things
now the list is up to the following:
fully DRM-free:
* FireFlower
* GOG
* JAST USA
* MangaGamer
partially DRM-free, properly labeled:
* Desura? (defunct)
* GamersGate
* Humble Store
* itch.io
* Playism
partially DRM-free, but not properly labeled:
* Epic?
* Steam
Perhaps dumb is not the right term, but stale, the way it worked in mirai-hen it's basically just a good vs. evil story, represented by the sometimes fanatical but well-intentioned hope side vs. the crazy homicidal despair side. Or rather that's how it seemed to me at the time I wrote that until it was revealed the despair side was mostly uninvolved.
Although the price for having a different kind of story besides good vs. evil was Tengan's frankly bizarre reasons for doing what he did.
Anyhows, I've begun playing Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls, though I intend to take it slowly. I've been trying to avoid spoilers, to partial success, with how inconsiderate people are about spoilers I'm surprised I got spoiled as little as I did. Anyhows I didn't feel like playing it yet but I suppose the only surefire way of avoiding spoilers is to play/watch the game.
So far it's been much less action-based than I expected, with lots of dialogue spaced throughout, unfortunately I don't find the dialogue nearly as interesting as in the other games. Also fanservice. Despite the lack of polish, the environment really shines, Towa City makes good use of the psycho-pop style in a way the other settings don't.
(I suppose there's no point in me posting updates? Though I'm writing stuff down anyways so I can look back on it later on.)
I'd love to read updates!
i'm talking about derivativeshttps://www.gog.com/partner/stay_at_home
Version that's light on spoilers for this game (and heavy on spoilers on the rest of the series obv):
* Supposedly, Despair Mode is tailored to people who are used to action games, Komaru Mode for people who aren't, and Genocide Mode for people who just want to get through with the story. I guess Despair Mode is the right one for me then.
* There's this part with a monokuma humping a corpse was, uhh, tasteless.
* I guess it wasn't a spoiler that Monaca (Li'l Ultimate Homeroom) is some sort of mastermind.
* Ohh, Nagito is here, I didn't know this game included DR2 characters.
* I haven't been told anything about saving yet, I'd like to know if the game is being autosaved. (Post-game addition: it's not.)
* I don't think it's normal that the Truth Bullet selection menu cursor is the default Windows arrow cursor.
* Checking the 'net, it's a tradition among all games that you can't save until well after a while of playing the game.
* Whyyyyy dooees Jaataaroo (Li'l Ultimate Art) speeeak sooo sloooooowlyyyyyyy, it's annoying.
* I really like Kotoko's (Li'l Ultimate Drama) design tho.
* I like the environments, too.
* Just as I was thinking the game seemed very easy, I got found and killed during a puzzle.
* I definitely didn't expect anything like the Game Over you get from getting killed by a monokuma.
* Oh hey, it's Hina's brother.
* I've been expecting a boss battle for a while.
* I see I'm almost out of bullets, perhaps I should think of this more like a Resident Evil type of thing and be careful conserving ammo, especially by using Genocide Jack more often.
* Detective Shuichi Tadokoro.
* I got a C grade for this chapter, from not retrying too much, solving puzzles right and finding some of the five hidden Warriors of Hope poster things.
* Chapter 2
* It occurs to me that this game should have an option to reverse the run/walk shift button. Holding shift all the time is unnecessary.
* The sewer water looks cool.
* I hadn't found any interesting text so far, but at this point the game starts giving out texts written by random adults (i.e. the game's helpless citizrns) and they're intriguing.
* I thought the game had been too easy for a while and then I learned that you can be knocked off into the sewer, killing you instantly.
* Gotta admit, I fell for a child's puzzle.
* Nobody seems to recognize Touko for some reason even though she should be famous.
* The texts have gotten quite intense, what with the adults describing what they've been through.
* So this is the Haiji dude, I know people revile this guy. I like his design though.
* Hmmm, I failed the puzzle but I can't tell why. (Post-game addition, for some reason this ended up happening often.)
* So here's the father of the lower half of my avatar.
* A boss fight? But I saw no supplies out there. Hmmm, it's going to be tough with so little ammo.
* Well that wasn't hard, turns out I was showered with items during the fight.
* I got a D.
* Chapter 3
* I know it's no use complaining about unsurmountable waist-height obstacles in videogames, but there's this part where you have to follow footprints that pass through unclimbable chairs and counters and it's kind of ridiculous.
* Now this backstory flashback was... disturbing.
* I feel like my Battery Gauge length reset back to normal (before improving it with skills) but I can't figure out why.
* Goddamnit I now know why people dislike Kurokuma, saying in five lines something that can be said in one.
* So far I haven't been close to running out of skill points (from leveling up) to equip all skills I have. It's not like I can overlevel or anything so I'm wondering why.
* I still don't see the point of the Guiding UFOs, they're objects to point in the direction you're supposed to go but it's always obvious where to.
* Almost ran out of "normal" ammo at this event, that would've made things tough. That was thrilling, having to protect a bunch of people.
* The groping (or anti-groping if I'm being generous) minigame is super creepy and I'm embarassed about the fact I'm playing a game with that thing in it. I'm aware it's the opposite of similar games out there, but that doesn't change the fact that it's there. Edit: RIP Youtube recommendations.
* This boss fight involving cutting off clothes isn't any better.
* I'm not one to get put off easily by these things, you know, panty shots and stuff, but that part really left a bad taste in my mouth. Fortunately nothing like the minigame comes up again.
* What's with the sudden lack of save points.
* The normal end-of-chapter boss fight was cool tho.
* I got a C.
* Chapter 4
* I wonder if the 正 marks on Touko's legs are to count the number of Genocide Jack's victims.
* Hmmm, I'm pretty sure there was an item sparkle around here that dispappeared after an enemy exploded. Maybe I've been missing items over that?
* I wonder what happens if I run out of Link (mind-control) ammo when I need it to advance.
* So from what I see, linked monokumas can't damage other monokumas.
* The game got disturbing again.
* So throught the game you find hit notices for several background characters, you can hand them out to this other character but the game prompts you twice before doing so and I find it suspicious.
* Ahh so Haiji is a pedophile, I wonder if that's why he's hated.
* The characters can stop mentioning that there's an arcade machine in the arcade (puzzle) rooms whenever I enter one.
* I got this puzzle right through something close to brute force, and even in hindsight I don't know why the answer is what it is. Self-reminder to load back and see the hints.
* lol advertising Danganronpa: Kirigiri.
* Touko seems overly concerned about things designed after monokuma, even though as far as she knows it's just aesthetics.
* I got a D again.
* Chapter 5. "Ultra Despair Girl" sounds like it'll be the last one.
* I wonder if handing out these hit lists is causing the wanted character to get hunted down.
* So there's this ghost that's telling me a bunch of backstory stuff and I'm wondering if all of that is real.
* All that experience AoE farming in WoW turned out to be useful during this climactic event with lots of enemies.
* "Jeez... The atmosphere in here is practically screaming 'Final Boss Fight'..."
* There's this puzzle with coloured doors. Whenever I see red, green and blue color-coded ordered things, it bothers me if they're not in that order, their default order in computer graphics.
* Ahh, Monaca's skeleton pattern on the back of her clothes is because of her disabled legs.
* I thrashed this boss with what looked like a glitch, I spammed Genicide Jack's superpower and apparently using it right before its "stunned" state ends causes it to get stunned again.
* I always try to get the bad ending first. Hmmm...
* Hypothesis: When a game prompts you to take a good/bad ending decision, the bad ending one is the one the cursor starts on.
* Maaaan this boss fight is sweet. Though the camera gets wonky during a part where it's particularly important to be aware of your surroundings.
* I got a D.
* During the credits roll with the monitor in the background there were two events that I don't recall seeing.
* At the events selection extra menu there are tabs for extras like a BGM gallery, but no apparent way to select them, and one of them (Movie Gallery) is redundant with the one available.
* I wonder what I've missed. I know I must've missed several hit notices.
* And yeah, I never ran out of skill points.
Spoiler-heavy version.
* Supposedly, Despair Mode is tailored to people who are used to action games, Komaru Mode for people who aren't, and Genocide Mode for people who just want to get through with the story. I guess Despair Mode is the right one for me then.
* That part with the monokuma humping that corpse was, uhh, tasteless.
* I guess it wasn't a spoiler that Monaca is some sort of mastermind.
* Ohh, Nagito is here, I didn't know this game included DR2 characters.
* I haven't been told anything about saving yet, I'd like to know if the game is being autosaved.
* I don't think it's normal that the Truth Bullet selection menu cursor is the default Windows arrow cursor.
* Checking the 'net, it's a tradition among all games that you can't save until well after a while of playing the game.
* Whyyyyy dooees Jaataaroo speeeak sooo sloooooowlyyyyyyy, it's annoying.
* I really like Kotoko's design tho.
* I like the environments, too.
* Just as I was thinking the game seemed very easy, I got found and killed during the 4 monokuma, 1 bomberkuma puzzle.
* I definitely didn't expect anything like that Game Over you get from getting killed by a monokuma.
* Well, Yuta didn't last long, or at least he definitely lost an arm. I wonder if the game purposedly used the execution theme/artstyle with no associated (apparent) death to make it unexpected when someone really died during a part like this.
* I've been expecting a boss battle for a while.
* I see I'm almost out of bullets, perhaps I should think of this more like a Resident Evil type of thing and be careful conserving ammo, esp. by using Genocide Jack more often.
* Detective Shuichi Tadokoro.
* I got a C.
* Chapter 2
* It occurs to me that this game should have an option to reverse the run/walk shift button. Holding shift all the time is unnecessary.
* The sewer water looks cool.
* I hadn't found any interesting text so far, but I'm intrigued by the one written by the father about having contemplated wether to have their child or not.
* I thought the game had been too easy for a while and then I learned that bomberkumas can knock you off into the sewer, killing you instantly.
* Gotta admit, I fell for the birds on a fence riddle.
* Reminder to look up what 5-0 means.
* Nobody seems to recognize Touko.
* The texts have gotten quite intense, what with the adults describing what they've been through.
* So this is the Haiji dude, I know people revile this guy. I like his design though.
* Hmmm, I failed the puzzle at the room with the Kotoko cardboard cutouts but I can't tell why.
* So here's the father of the lower half of my avatar. The spoiler that made me up and play this game was the fact that this guy dies.
* Well, that guy didn't last long either. Also I guess it's ambiguous but his final words made it sound like he's unaware that his son is dead.
* This dramy moment would be a good time for Touko to mention she knows Komaru's brother and that he's alive. I guess there's a reason she's hiding it?
* A boss fight? But I saw no supplies out there. Hmmm, it's going to be tough with so little ammo.
* Well that wasn't hard, turns out I was showered with items during the fight.
* I kinda predicted Jataro to be pretty.
* I got a D.
* Chapter 3
* Unless there's memory wiping involved, Komaru should've known that Makoto was a student at Hope's Peak Academy, but the dialogue suggests otherwise.
* Finally I got further confirmation that the Killing School Life was broadcast. A lot of things seemed inconsistent with that.
* I know it's no use complaining about unsurmountable waist-height obstacles in videogames, but there's this part where you have to follow footprints that pass through unclimbable chairs and counters and it's kind of ridiculous.
* Now that Kotoko sexual abuse flashback was... disturbing.
* I feel like my Battery Gauge length reset back to normal (before improving it with skills) but I can't figure out why.
* Hmmm... there's the "I must not die" note where Chihiro's father died, and there's no body to be found. So maybe he's fine? I'm probably overthinking it. At any rate he's definitely not aware that his son is dead.
* Oooooh, of course, the reason none of those related to Class 78 don't recognize Touko is because, just like Komaru, they were held captive and isolated. Makes sense now.
* Goddamnit I now know why people dislike Kurokuma, saying in five lines something that can be said in one.
* So far I haven't been close to running out of skill points to equip all skills I have. It's not like I can overlevel or anything so I'm wondering why.
* I still don't see the point of the Guiding UFOs.
* Almost ran out of Break ammo at the Secret Base event. That would've made things tough.
* The groping (or anti-groping if I'm being generous) minigame is super creepy and I'm embarassed about the fact I'm playing a game with that thing in it. I'm aware it's the opposite of similar games out there, but that doesn't change the fact that it's there.
* The boss fight against Kotoko isn't any better.
* I'm not one to get put off easily by these things, you know, panty shots and stuff, but that part really left a bad taste in my mouth. Fortunately nothing like the minigame comes up again.
* What's with the sudden lack of save points.
* The boss fight against the robot was cool tho.
* So each Warrior of Hope's thing is a form of child's abuse. I missed what Masaru's is, physical abuse maybe? So physical abuse, psychological abuse, sexual abuse, next will be child labour or something. Though given that Nagisa is the Li'l Ultimate Social Studies I bet he's been raised in isolation.
* I got a C.
* Chapter 4
* Turns out it's the "studies" part that's important. Of all the times in this series some comedic relief thing turns out to be something serious, I think the Warriors of Hope being an RPG party is my favourite.
* So even gameplay elements are Nagito's doing, thus fulfilling this game's quota of metaness.
* I wonder if the 正 marks on Touko's legs are to count the number of Genocide Jack's victims.
* Hmmm, I'm pretty sure there was an item sparkle around here that dispappeared after a bomberkuma exploded. Maybe I've been missing items over that?
* I wonder what happens if I run out of Link ammo when I need it.
* So from what I see, linked monokumas can't damage other monokumas.
* As for the NagisaxMonaca thing, the game got disturbing again.
* I wonder why the game prompts me so much about handing out the hit lists to Hiroko.
* Ahh so Haiji is a pedophile, I wonder if that's why he's hated.
* The characters can stop mentioning that there's an arcade machine in the arcade rooms whenever I enter one.
* I got the birthday puzzle right through something close to brute force, and even in hindsight I don't know why the month is what it is. Self-reminder to load back and see the hints.
* lol advertising Danganronpa: Kirigiri.
* Touko seems overly concerned about the monokumas and especially the Big Bang Monokuma even thought it's apparently just aesthetics.
* I got a D again.
* Chapter 5. "Ultra Despair Girl" sounds like it'll be the last one.
* I wonder if handing out these hit lists is causing the characters to get hunted down or something.
* Hmmmm... maybe I wasn't supposed to know that Monaca's surname is Towa?
* I wonder if there's place in this game for two child sexual abuse victims.
* I wonder if the ghost and/or the things it said are real.
* All that experience AoE farming in WoW turned out to be useful during the event after finding the Excalibur.
* "Jeez... The atmosphere in here is practically screaming 'Final Boss Fight'..."
* As for the doors puzzle, whenever I see red, green and blue color-coded ordered things, it bothers me if they're not in that order, their default order in computer graphics.
* Ahh, Monaca's skeleton pattern on the back of her clothes is because of her "disability".
* I thrashed this boss with what looked like a glitch, I spammed Genicide Jack's superpower and apparently using it right before Kurokuma reenters the robot causes him to be expelled from it again.
* I always try to get the bad ending first. Hmmm... it should be to break the controller, right?
* Well, that wasn't so much a bad ending as much as it was barely an ending. I guess those fireworks were supposed to be explosions?
* So on the second prompt I chose to break it again, with same results, I guess it'll be the same for all future prompts.
* Hypothesis: When a game prompts you to take a good/bad ending decision, the bad ending one is the one the cursor starts on.
* I gotta wonder how the suicide prank works when there are two people holding your hands for you to drop and die.
* Ahh, so that's how Monokuma came about. I've been wondering about that since forever.
* Ahh, so that's why the bad ending is bad.
* I know the Future Foundation are weirdos, but it seems contrived to think that they'd go to war with Towa City over that. Also, I presume that part wasn't being broadcast.
* (Paraphrased) "What did you think would happen if you gave hope to adults who had everything taken away from them?" imo this game is doing the hope-is-not-necessarily-good better than 2 or V3 did.
* Poor Komaru. Though if Monaca really wanted to convince the others that she killed Komaru's parents she could've shown her faces.
* Maaaan this boss fight is sweet. Though the camera gets wonky when it's doing the electricity attack.
* I was wondering who was riding Big Bang Monokuma, certainly didn't expect that one.
* Monaca is probably disabled for reals now. I don't recall if one sees her using her legs in DR3.
* I got a D.
* During the credits roll there were two events that I don't recall seeing (the injured Warriors of Hope with unmasked Jataro, and Monaca working on robotics).
* At the events selection there are tabs for extras like a BGM gallery, but no apparent way to select them, and one of them (Movie Gallery) is redundant with the one available.
* I never found Adult X, Y or Z.
* I wonder what I've missed. I know I must've missed several hit notices, I got the ones for Komaru, Taka's relative, Hifumi's sister, Celeste's cat, Kenshiro and Kyouko's relative. If there are hit notices for characters I've met, I missed them all.
* And yeah, I never ran out of skill points.
https://www.gog.com/
2. GOG compiled their free games onto this page for convenience:
https://www.gog.com/partner/stay_at_home
I heavily recommend Treasure Adventure Game. The title sounds lame, but it's a metroidvania with a surprising amount of depth to it.
3. https://store.steampowered.com/app/335190/200_Mixed_Juice/
200% Mixed Juice is basically the second "mascot game" from the same dev that made 100% Orange Juice. It's basically like a quick version of Pokémon, but with Orange_Juice characters.
I never expected it to be free, but here we are.
The game is "semi-DRM-free" -- singleplayer is playable without Steam, but multiplayer requires it, from what I've tried.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/282800/100_Orange_Juice/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/390710/Acceleration_of_SUGURI_2/
Both free right now.
100% Orange Juice is a multiplayer board game. I've written about it extensively on this forum.
Acceleration of Suguri 2 is, I think, a shmup dueling game?
Going by what I've seen of the PSV, PS4 gaming zeitgeist, it would be more controversial if Sony had censored the pan.
She's a recluse author and a secret serial killer so maybe not?
Welcome to -ahem- EVERY OTHER GAME ON THE PSVITA.
Also you definitely want to spoiler tag it, at least the serial killer part.
I meant more in general, rather than with this specific incident. Even this gets a rile out of Sony gamers.
The comments are kind of amazing (in a bad way).
I knew about Monster Monpiece already, but I'm not sure to what extent Mary Skelter counts (but if it does then I am more hesitant about picking it up).
More accurately though some of these just sound like "Welcome to more of the kinds of games people previously didn't pay attention to getting localized versions."
I mean I can't think of any similar unlicensed NDS or PS2 games.
Maybe they took this (quite NSFW) out of the PC version of Mary Skelter but I doubt it.
That said I guess it's possible to use the other fingers to do it while holding the device thumbs-up.
https://nonadecimal.itch.io/socialjusticewarriors
This game is basically Internet Flamewar Simulator.
Social justice monk: eschews Internet to hone his body itself into a weapon
Social justice ranger: explores the wilderness of the Internet fringe in search of hated enemies to destroy
Social justice sorcerer: is just naturally adept at constructing arguments that are difficult to pick apart
Social justice bard: can always count on artistic skill to befuddle foes
Social justice druid: you ain't gonna burn a cross in a courtyard roamed by 200lb. rottweiler-mastiff crossbreed