Activities
Today
Report – November 17, 2025
Action RPG / Soulslike
Wandering through the last DLC — the snowy kingdom.
Adventure / Story-Rich / Episodic
The game doesn’t have cloud save. I reinstalled windows and everything disappeared — I had to play from Episode 3 to the end of Season 1 without my previous choices. Absolutely hate it. Season 1 hits like a truck, even though I kind of guessed the ending. In my opinion, the fate of some characters isn’t very well written.
FPS / Action / Sci-Fi
The visuals are fantastic — character models look incredible (the twins… yeah), and the world design is top-notch. The story and twist are okay, but I feel they could’ve taken it even further. Like Control, I think this game would be better if it were more linear. The weapon upgrade system is the weakest part: swapping a mod forces you to re-upgrade it from scratch every single time, which made me stick with just three weapons (shotgun, AK, bazooka). Still, I enjoyed the experience overall. Definitely recommended — hoping Atomic Heart 2 improves the weak points.
Boss Rush / Precision / Indie
Fast-food Soulsborne — you one-hit bosses, and they one-hit you. The challenge comes from the one-arrow mechanic: you shoot, then must retrieve it, making timing and precision everything. The bosses are well designed, the soundtrack is calm and pleasant, and even though the mechanic gave me a hard time, the game is still worth recommending.
Stealth / Fantasy / Third-Person
The story is a bit confusing for me, but the graphics still look surprisingly good for today’s standards. The stealth mechanics and level design are great, though it was tough since pure stealth isn’t my strongest genre. Still, for fans of stealth-heavy gameplay — definitely recommended.
Ninglors Log 415
November Progress:
3
PPU monthly:
done
November Additions:
3
Games finished this week:
Everafter Falls 
106 hours, 38 of 38 achievements
Win \o/
Monster Lover 1
4 hours, 9 of 9 achievements
Furry Shades of Gay 2: A Shade Gayer
15 hours, 22 of 22 achievements
Present from 2024
Won/Gifted Games:
Bought Games:
Pharaoh: A New Era
Synergy
Paleo Pines
Currently playing:
So much from me :3
Have a lovely week!
Queen Ninglor
Yesterday
Two-Week Report: November
Cage of Roses 
Started off well, but completely dropped the ball during the final big scene. Author's afterword said the beginning and end of the story were easy but finding a way to get from A to B was the hardest part, and it shows. I feel like this has happened before with ebi-hime…
Velvet Bite: Softly, with Teeth
Madison was cute, the other routes were pretty forgettable. Also, for a vampire romance, there isn't a whole lot of vampire-romance-like content… or a lot of content in general, which at this price point explains the mixed reviews. The number of endings and routes is super inflated. The story is always the same and your choices only affect who the MC ends up with at the end.
Horror games aren’t really my thing so for October (I’m behind schedule) I decided to knock out a couple vampire games. Neither of them had a very strong vampire flavor and both lasted about as long as a stick of gum, so I ended up playing more Silksong. After 200 hours, I think I’ve done every kind of playthrough I want to do for now, so it’ll be easier for me to stay focused on the backlog, at least until DLC starts coming out.
Nov 15 2025
Ori and the Blind Forest 2
Much like State of Decay 2, Ori and the Will of the Wisps is just more of its predecessor, just improved and upgraded in areas. Perhaps a more fully-realised idea (in both cases), whether because of new tech or more resources. In some ways it's the most rational step for a sequel - incremental adjustments, safe improvements - but on the other hand, one wonders what was lost by working on an effective replacement of the first game
If you're unfamiliar with the first game, by coincidence i can refer to fernandopa's review of it, and then briskly move on to saying that almost everything described there is maintained in the sequel. Visual environments are still gorgeous, with a more 3D effect to objects; sound and music is still good but exactly great; narrative is still mostly wordless, and works hard to tug on your tear ducts; movement still feels butter-smooth, with neat abilities that combine together into a free-flow parkour-feeling style; and combat is still slightly too sloppy to get your blood moving (but maybe it reveals its tricks more in hard mode)
An interesting set of changes is the ones that feel influenced by Hollow Knight, released between Blind Forest and Will of the Wisps. The easiest one to point to is the charms shards that you can find in the world and equip to limited slots. There are also more characters to talk to (and buy things from), and they seem to have adopted the language-shaped voices from Knight. Hell, there's just a map-seller explorer-type that you have find in each zone to reveal unvisited areas. I'm not throwing shade, i think these are good mechanics to borrow, i just find it interesting..
I had a very good time playing Will of the Wisps (much like i did with the Blind Forest). Is it the best metroidvania? No, but is it good enough to recommend? Easily, yes
For Pickers. Just copy paste and complete the data :)
* [GAME#1](http://store.steampowered.com/app/GAME#1-ID/) - HLTB Time: GAME#1-HLTBTIME
* [GAME#2](http://store.steampowered.com/app/GAME#2-ID/) - HLTB Time: GAME#2-HLTBTIME
* [GAME#3](http://store.steampowered.com/app/GAME#3-ID/) - HLTB Time: GAME#3-HLTBTIME
* [GAME#4](http://store.steampowered.com/app/GAME#4-ID/) - HLTB Time: GAME#4-HLTBTIME
* [GAME#5](http://store.steampowered.com/app/GAME#5-ID/) - HLTB Time: GAME#5-HLTBTIME
- Please make sure your games are sorted by completion before applying.
- If you so desire and you have at least 5 unplayed SG wins, the 5 games can be picked out of your SG wins (instead of only 2/5). Just note it in your application comment.
- Note in your post if you're ok playing multiplayer only games.
- Same for Early Access (I know some people want to wait for release).
- When you finish one (or more) of the games picked for you, please post an update by replying to your picker's comment.
- If the game has achievements, you can link to either the Steam or Astats page corresponding to your progress.
- If the game doesn't have achievements, please post a screenshot showing your completion.
- Finally, if you have completed all the games that were assigned to you but want another go at it, feel free to post another application.
- You can pick for/challenge up to 2 fellow assassins, please refrain to pick more so everybody who wants get a chance at it.
- You can pick for anybody who has applied and hasn't been given a list yet, unless they specified otherwise (see next point). It is recommended to signal with a "reserved" comment that you're currently picking for that person. This way it'll avoid the situation where you spend time picking games just to come back to somebody's comment 2 minutes prior.
- Please use the following criteria when picking a list for somebody.
- Pick exactly 5 games
- Length-wise: at least 2 short games (under 10h to beat) and 2 medium (under 15-20h). You can use HLTB to check the time, or more conveniently the Enhanced Steam browser extension (it shows the HLTB time directly on the game's steam page). That rule can be overridden by the bottom (i.e. pick 5 short games) but not the other way around, as not everybody has the same time to dedicate to gaming.
- Pick two SG wins unless the person specified SG wins only, in which case pick only in the applicant's SG wins list.
- Quality-wise: at least 3 of the 5 games should have a positive (or above) rating. You can use this site to quickly sort games in a user's library by ratings (thanks to JaffaCaffa for the suggestion).
- Please, respect the applicant's choice regarding multiplayer-only and Early access games, as well as other requests (exclusion of certain genre etc.).
- Please use the code below to post your comment, it's already formatted, you just have to copy/paste & complete the data.
Do I have to participate in this event?
No, this is an event to help you reduce your backlog. If you already have a plan and don't want anyone to pick games for you, you're free to ignore it.
What happens if I don’t participate in the event?
Absolutely nothing.
What happens if I play all the games picked for me this month?
Still nothing. (You might get a shiny profile badge at some later date. And you can come back for another batch.)
What if I don’t have time to play 5 games?
Don’t worry, one is enough, we’re just asking the pickers to select 5 to give the player a little choice.
One of the game picked for me won’t run on my computer for X or Y reason, what do I do?
If this happens, please notify the picker by replying his comment and ask them to pick a replacement. If the original picker don’t give you an answer within 24h, don’t panic, just leave a comment and we’ll pick one for you. Meanwhile, you could try one of the other picked games if you haven't played them all yet.
I played all 5 games that were picked for me and I want more!
If you have completed all 5 games and reported your completion to the original comment, you can make a new request for another list.
When picking for other people, can I only pick “never played” games?
Not necessarily, you can also pick games that seem to have been abandoned but haven’t been categorized as “won’t play”. No beaten or completed games, or games being currently played obviously.
Why are there so many rules for picking the games? I can’t be bothered!
We’re trying to make this enjoyable for everyone so if you decide to pick games for others, please read and follow the rules. I’ve tried to make it as easy as possible for the pickers too, but if it’s bothering you too much, remember you don’t need to pick games for others to join the challenge.
I’m new here, can I join the challenge?
Yes of course (and welcome to BLAEO). Please just be sure to have your games sorted by progress before signing up for the challenge, to make it easier for your picker.
Nov 13 2025
November Assassination #5 (SG Win)
Please consider liking my review on Steam - it means a lot to me!
If you ever wondered what's the importance of sound design for a videogame, play this and you'll get it.
A great introduction to the Frog Detective series. Great writing and awesome character designs. It ended before it god old, and it never got stale. It has charm for itself and to give away and then there's still some left. Don't expect much of a game, but enjoy and cherish the hour you'll with this experience. Sure, it's short, but this information is available everywhere. So if you buy it and play it and then come here complaining about it's length, sorry to say but the joke is on you.
October 2025
A sort of analog horror where you watch a kids tv show to uncover horrifying secrets. The interaction between watching the tapes and being able to interact with them and the world around you is pretty neat. There is unfortunately not much backtracking as moving onto the next tape will remove previous tapes and bar your way for past puzzles, but it’s sort of the idea to start a new game with the knowledge you have from a previous run. Scares are decent enough and the uncanny and analog horror to build suspense.
Recommend? Yes, a decent and short game with reasonable enough puzzles… though some secrets may require a guide as there is some out of the box thinking.
Captain Firehawk and the Laser Love Situation
Another Deep Space waifu-like, another disappointment. I saw the reviews for this but was still drawn in by the 90’s anime style. That’s all it really has going for it though as the game really fails on all parts. Levels feel repetitive, all bosses recycle the same attacks, no particularly engaging music, boring animation, and awful writing. The writing in particular is bad as it will often have characters repeat almost entirely what the other person said feeling a bit like AI scripts and even then the actual exchanges are boring immature exchanges. Also, unlike DSW you HAVE to destroy all of the clothes before defeating the boss or you just lose. It’s really annoying as you are just casually buying time until the camera brings you to the spots you missed.
Recommend? 90’s anime aesthetic aside, the game is just bad.
Well… this game took me over completely… With the release of Hades II I thought I would give the first game a try. After all, SuperGiant Games always did solid work with amazing art. Though the rogue-like aspect always threw me off until now. Man, this was addictive. Engaging gameplay with a multitude of weapons and abilities at your disposal. The various boons you could get from the gods helped vary the gameplay, though some did feel mismanaged. Even with the limited number of bosses I couldn’t stop myself from immediately starting another run, just one more room, just gotta see what I can get, what dialogue I can trigger, quests complete, and what modifiers I can overcome with which weapons. Though this is rogue-like/llte it is very much on the “lite” side as you carry over a lot of progress and bare minimum can advances quests without even finishing a run. Speaking of dialogue… there is SO MUCH. Like a lot a lot for every character, for ways you do runs, weapons, boons, etc. All voice acted brilliantly, mind you. Each character is stylishly designed and matches their voices well.
Recommend? Despite the low boss variety and occasional confusing quest progression, it is a crazy addictive game that will have you invested in both it’s gameplay and characters.
10/10 Would go to the Underworld again. Need Nyx, Meg, Alecto, and/or Than in my life (or most of the cast really).
Clock Tower: Rewind
0
4
7
5
Classic Point and Click horror adventure that has you running from a scissor man in an unknown building. The sprite work is pretty smooth and surprisingly effective in the horror sense. It’s pretty easy to get softlocked, particularly on the first time through where you run into a dead end. This is where the “Rewind” feature comes into play but I often found that by the time I’m at a dead end… the rewind just doesn’t go far back enough to save me. Luckily the game is pretty easy to run back and the use of saves will help you mitigate this. Like any point and click, the game has some pretty obtuse solutions and some interactions aren’t always clear. Add the fact that you can easily transition into different ending paths that moderately change how you progress without much clue as to how. Still, it’s an interesting and relatively short adventure. The enhanced port does have an amazing animated intro along with some great music.
Recommend? Generally, yes. Though I preferred Clock Tower 3, this is a fun little adventure that more or less holds up all things considered.
Parasite Eve
Replayed
Coming back to this reminds me of just how unique it was for the time in terms of combining horror and RPG. It also makes me realize how messy the game is. Dungeons and maps that get closed off when finished, limited inventory of a survivor horror in a item drop heavy RPG, enemy encounters being location based instead of random, a lack of direction in the overworld, and more. Still, I can’t help but love it (likely some nostalgia bias there) and I’m excited to finally play the sequels in the coming October.
Recommend? Kinda. Gotta love Active Time Battle RPG’s and wacky horror games.
Silent Hill 2 Remake
0
0
2
25
Pleasantly surprised despite Konami’s and Bloober’s history. A fairly faithful near 1:1 recreation of one of the most influential survival horror games in history now with modern graphics. What the game does best, which is arguably the most important, is sound design. It’s what Silent Hill does best and really immerses and disturbs you as you play. I remember just simply admiring the opening sequence of the game with all of the little sounds you could hear in the fields and town, and that was just the opening. The game is also visually stunning though in some areas the darkness may obscure that. The combat is also more focused which maybe a problem for some classic fans and makes the one combat trailer make more sense. We now get dodges and accurate aiming. With this improvement, enemies are now far more deadly as their attacks now track. It almost seems impossible to do a combatless run because of this.
Though it remains fairly faithful, there are some changes outside of graphics. Some puzzles and battles have been changed to fit the more modern control scheme while some story elements are a bit more straight forward as to maybe alleviate some confusion for newer players. For anything that has been changed, the game lets you know as there are interactables that callback to previous puzzles and encounters. The characters are pretty true to the original. Some are as prominent as they used to be while others are far more disgusting. One of the other big new changes are there are new endings to get, though you’ll have to go through the game at least one time before getting them.
Recommend? Yes, a wonderful comeback that gives hope for the future of the Silent Hill series and the rest of Konami’s IPs alike. Though it’s a shame it takes a remake to do it. In no way does it replace the original but it is a nice new way to re-experience a classic.
Nov 11 2025
★20: October 2025
Nov 10 2025
Ninglors Log 414
October Progress:
6
PPU monthly:
done
October Additions:
5
November Progress:
PPU monthly:
undone
November Additions:
Games finished this week:
FINAL FANTASY XV WINDOWS EDITION
58 hours, 46 of 97 achievements
Present from 2022
Escape From Mystwood Mansion
4 hours, 20 of 20 achievements
Present from 2025
The Expanse: A Telltale Series
5 hours, 13 of 35 achievements
Won/Gifted Games:
Everafter Falls – Win \o/
Unavowed – Ty SevenDeck <3
Bought Games:
Currently playing:
So much from me :3
Have a lovely week!
Queen Ninglor
Nov 09 2025
I need to figure out the fancy formatting yall use, but in October I finished:
- Vampire: the Masquerade - Coeteries of New York
– I liked it, i wish more of the choices mattered, but it was a fun little visual novel - The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante
– I liked it even more. Choices mattered and it felt way more like the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Books I enjoy so well. - Styx: Master of Shadows
– This was genuinely great. I suuuuucked at it at first, which made me feel olde, but by the end I was vibing. I def’ly plan to go back and 100% it.
I also got started on Beholder, BioShock Remastered, Distant Worlds: Universe (completed to PA criteria), and Quantum Break.
The only Oct Challenge Me! i finished was Styx: Master of Shadows (on a related note, if anyone has figured out how to get their controller to work on Psychonauts in a Linux environment Id love to hear the details).
All in all, I think it was a pretty solid first month on BLAEO. It was nice to play (and finish some) games that would prolly still be collecting dust. Unfortunately, October was a pretty lucky month for me on SG, so my backlog actually increased lol