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kiiroichi

1 backlog, 100 visual novels

so… i really like visual novels. and as most people on this site, i often bite more than i can chew when it comes to buying games. combining these two facts, i have accumulated a large amount of unread VNs. i knew this, but i didn’t know the exact number, or how bad it truly got. i only figured this out recently, while making a steam collection for pending VNs. the grand total amounted to around 100, and i thought, “damn, i really need to get to reading”. so here we are, logging progress on BLAEO!

The List

this is the starting list of 100 VNs. note that a small amount of them aren’t on Steam, they’re Switch exclusives

and that’s 100! (there’s actually a handful more i didn’t list….). the idea is to report back at the start of each month with progress made within this list. i thought it could be a fun “challenge”! the objective isn’t to clear the entire list, as i feel like that would be unrealistic, but i would at least like to get it down to 50, for a start. after that, we’ll see! i will have probably obtained a bunch of new novels by then…. ahahah…..

and with this, i shall return next month to report on progress! until then, see ya and have a good backlog hunt! 💛

about 3 hours ago 2 comments
Bangledeschler

June 2026
Actually managed to post semi on time. Of course despite that victory I have fallen to the ways of the Summer Sale (and still have a chance to do even more damage). Well, like the nihilist said on their death bed, “Here goes nothing.”

    Half-Life 2

    Bionic Commando Rearmed

    4/10
    5.2 hours
    no achievements

    A classic game remade with fresh 3D graphics. Had a bit of trouble reading my gamepad and some of the interfacing feels weird. Controls are extra weird and had to acclimate to the button layout each time I booted it up (sometimes even between missions). I actually really REALLY dislike the controls. Moving while swinging or hanging from your arm automatically makes you jump (rather than a direction and input like other games). Cycling through weapons is a pain not to mention I only found a use for a few.

    It is a classic game so it does come with classic difficulty. I.e. you die quickly, jumps need to be pretty accurate, limited lives, and pits mean death. The hacking game was actually pretty fun although feels limited in it’s variety. Bosses are gimmicky which is fun but then you realize there’s only a few types of bosses and they reuse them with only slightly different variations. Final boss was a bit of a letdown and lacked challenge or uniqueness.

    Half-Life 2

    Bound By Flame

    3/10
    10.6 hours
    22 of 41 achievements

    At it’s base it is a third person RPG that feels a bit like the Witcher or an early Bioware game in how it allows multiple combat options instead of being restricted to a single class, companion choices, and moral choices that effect your path and end. HOWEVER, it doesn’t move much past the base and feels more like a structure that was meant to be built on much more.

    Graphics are pretty poor given it’s release time and lacks any sense of style. Most scenery and creature/person designs are flat and bland. Combat is clunky while animations and dialogue are a slog. Skill trees lack diversity or interesting/good skills. Armor is a letdown as it does very little relying more on dodging and parrying. You get a wide array of fire based spells but again it seemed like only a few were worth investment. Side quests are not only basic but easily missable as the game almost expects you to frequently talk to NPCs hoping they spring a quest on. Is it too much to ask for proper quest indicators? It’s laughable how there are only about 3 “main” hub areas with smaller surrounding dungeon-ish areas for you to actually fight monsters and do quests. The final area feeling particularly small as you reach an end to your abrupt journey. Companions lack much to say despite the game suggesting you talk with them frequently to increase companionship and often have the depth or interest of a piece of blank paper.

    Ultimately, this game needs much more work and time to make an interesting game out of. As it is, it’s a short bland journey with little going for it. For it’s price, particularly discounted I suppose it’s not terrible but definitely worth spending several dollars more for a better game in the genre.

    Half-Life 2
    DLC

    Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course

    6.5/10
    7.6 hours
    21 of 42 achievements

    Nice little island adventure filled with boss fights. More of the same but you do get the chance to play as Ms. Chalice. Unfortunately to do so you do need to use up an equipment slot, but given her abilities it’s a bit of a fair trade. Not sure it’s entirely worth it’s full price.

    Half-Life 2

    THE KING OF FIGHTERS '97 GLOBAL MATCH

    7/10
    9.2 hours
    15 of 18 achievements

    For the most part it is more classic KoF but one thing really irks me about this… WHERE IS THE MUSIC?!! Most stages and fights have no music and rely on sort of ambient sound and does it make you realize fighting games NEED some sort of consistent OST. As always, great pixel work. This copy allows for online fights and gallery view but sadly does not have an actual practice mode. Though the gameplay is solid, there is technically better games in the series around this time particularly that with actual music but if you are sweeping up the series not too terrible to add. A semi-reluctant positive review. Last few achievements require online play, so unless I rig it with another person… it's not happening.

    Preferred Fighters/Team: Terry Bogard, Blue Marry, Mai, Benimaru

    Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
    PS5

    Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii

    7.5/10
    66 hours
    1 1 4 56

    Given this was a more character action focused game I was expecting to like this game a lot more than I did. Don’t get me wrong I LIKED it but it doesn’t stand out nearly as much as it should have given it’s premise. For starters this is the first Majima-only game. Additionally, we are also pirates. It should be mentioned now but this game reuses A LOT of assets from Like A Dragon 8, so be prepared to encounter a lot of the same enemies, characters, mechanics (not including turn based combat), and mini-games.

    That’s right we get to go wild with the Mad Dog himself and with him we get far more combat options, a new style, and aerial combat. This does break away from the mostly straight forward beat-em-up style combat from most of the other series. Unfortunately, the combat still feels limited and most of all… clunky. This is partly due to the fact that the jump, run, and use button are all bound to the x/cross often creating awkward moments as you are trying to do any one of these things. There also felt to be considerable delay when trying to do any action making interactions feel awkward. Despite all of this newness, the heat actions also feel particularly stifled with extremely area specific uses, one of which requires an item you will almost never run into. The new pirate style is fun especially once you start getting more skills and abilities, many of which inherit aspects from Ichiban’s journey.

    The story is fine as it ultimately does not go nearly as crazy as it’s concept would imply. After all we are supposed to be freaking pirates, this should be an especially grand adventure. Unfortunately it is fairly stifled as it runs a lot of the same Crime Drama beats as any other Yakuza. Even somewhat more stifling is that this isn’t really Majima’s journey but more him assisting Noah, a child that helps him when he first washes ashore, to have a chance to explore and get away from his poor island. Some familiar faces with a lot of newer forgettable ones. A lot of this game is extremely small dungeon islands, a revisit to LaD’s Honolulu area, and a couple other smaller hub islands in which to engage in story, battles, and mini-games.

    Ships and mini-games. Mini-games, again, are largely reused from the previous title(s) with some added flair and objectives. The more new mini-games include Goro Goro Kitchen which have you do a few repeat tasks to make food for yourself and/or others. It gets a bit repetitive especially with how annoying it is to gather ingredients and for the most part you don’t really need to cook with how easy it is to get items. The other is Bang Bang batting which basically serves as a replacement to the batting center. Ship battles are pretty decent once you get the hang of the drifting and how battles work with the right equipment but does lose it’s appeal pretty fast. This is largely due to how frequent you can run into encounters and how absolutely sluggish the sailing actually feels. I mean it just feels so SLOW trying to get between islands and it certainly doesn’t look like you have any speed. Luckily you can unlock fast travel points but that does feel like it defeats a bit of the purpose for the sailing journey, ya know?

    Ultimately it’s still an enjoyable game but fails to improve on any previous games failings or allow itself to go truly crazy. Like, why are so many interactions piece meal? Why do I have to craft items individually instead of being able to craft multiple copies at once? Why is gathering items just the absolute worse??? Also, though I did platinum the game, there are still some in game challenges I want to finish out for the hard clear.

    Nioh DLC
    PS4/5, DLC

    Nioh DLC

    7/10
    56 hours
    1 2 10 58

    I dropped the base game for years until I finally took it upon myself to finish and complete the base content. Having generally enjoyed my journey I then waited years for the DLC to go on sale so I can fully complete the first game in it’s entirety. Boy oh boy is that going to be at task because the DLC is just stuck at max difficulty. Each DLC has 2-3 story missions with some side missions, new weapon types, and new spirit guardians. These stories link together so you should play them in order.

    Dragon of the North - Feels more of the same of the base game. A lot of levels feel pretty generic and enemy diversity is pretty low. Odachi is a powerful but slow new weapon type that likes to switch between high and low stance. Bosses are incredibly rude with small spaces. One of the last bosses was pretty fun though and reminded me a lot of a Soul Calibur type character.

    Defiant Honour - Much more interesting DLC as we get fun trench based levels amidst an ongoing battlefield. Though the environmentals can be a bit annoying it is such a breath of fresh air compared to Dragon of the North. Tonfa are pretty fun as they are fast and seem to excel in breaking guard while still maintaining some power. Bosses feel a little more balanced though this is in part due to the fact that the arenas allow you a little more cheese potential but at least is unique in it’s design.

    Bloodshed’s End - This reminded me a LOT of the endgame of the base story (I think it literally takes place in the same castle). For the most part is good and even allows you to fight alongside notable NPC companions. However, the final boss is mad easy meanwhile the side content is some of the hardest challenges you’ll face without properly grinding. The finale does make me wish more was fleshed out in this DLC trilogy considering it is meant to be the final chapter and last we’ll see of most if not all characters.

    I’m currently settling for just beating them once through but once I get the spirit back up I’ll go back for the grind that is required to get everything done.

Other Games
Lucy Got Problems - Beaten -> Completed
Steam Review

about 12 hours ago 0 comments

Yesterday

RobbyRatpoison

RobbyRatpoison's June 2026 BLAEO Review


It’s been nearly a full year of my monthly recaps. I’ve made a lot of progress on my backlog, though it is still quite large. I’ve used BLAEO for nearly 8 years now and still have not have my Steam group membership approved. I was hoping that making posts on the website might help with that, but it seems I was mistaken. Other people seem to be waiting too, I suppose the group is no longer accepting new users. Oh well!

Sticky Business is a cute game, not really “fun” but it was an interesting experience. Would’ve gotten the 100% quicker if I understood the rewards system better. Need to make new stickers to get more hearts because they get maxxed out. Tinykin is a great 3D platformer / collectathon. Nice world, nice physics. I just wish there was a straight-forward way to find missing Tinykin and pollen. I tried to be thorough but I didn’t manage to get everything, and even after revisiting the previous levels I couldn’t find all of the missing collectibles. Another game I got 100% in is Hyper Gunsport which is a cool sport-type game, supposedly similar to Lethal League. Most of the battles were easy but some of them took dozens of attempts and pissed me off. I liked the characters and the gameplay was more fun than I expected. Stunt Kite Party might be fun for kids but not for adults (or at least not fun for me). Easy to beat, a couple difficult achievements, a few grindy achievements, but I managed to get 100% of them eventually. Would’ve been quicker if I crashed more early on, I probably spent at least 30 minutes at the end just crashing on purpose to get to 1000 crashes. Monument Valley 3 is another great installment in the series. Nice art and sounds, simple controls, but mind bending puzzles. A lot of times I resort to guides when puzzle games get too hard but I didn’t have to resort to that here. I did look up a guide for a couple of non-puzzle related achievements but I did all the challenging stuff on my own and got another 100%. Super Wiloo Demake was kind of bad but not terrible. 2D platformer, different costumes with different abilities. Three of the achievements were broken so I used a workaround to unlock those, but I did earn the 100% truly. Hotshot Racing is super easy on easy mode and super tough on the highest difficulty. Didn’t manage 100% on this one but I got gold medals in all of the Grand Prix on at least easy mode. Does that count as beaten? Who knows! bobo robot was a fun Sokpop game. I managed to softlock myself a couple times but it was a nice little adventure. Tip: if you’re on a gamepad, you have to hold B / (Circle) to use the wrench. The game doesn’t explain this properly. Speedrun in under 10 minutes was tough but doable, and a rewarding conclusion for this 100%. Sokfest was another Sokpop game, ended up feeling mixed about it but still went for 100%. Had to look up a guide for some stuff and it was kind of tedious but I liked the idea behind this epic crossover episode. Himno was just… open-ended? It’s a 2D platformer with little direction and no conclusion. Achievements for 5000 jumps and 2500 dashes were nowhere near finished when I was done with the other achievements, so I used a macro to just jump and dash automatically and got the final achievements for 100%. Telltale Texas Hold’em is just cards with some game characters, no achievements, just beat the tournament and listen to the characters gab with each other. Replica is a tough one, that’s all I’ll say. Townscaper was not a game in my opinion. Maybe if there were achievements I would’ve had some sort of concrete goal, but I just kind of messed around for a while. Space Captain McCallery - Episode 1: Crash Landing was one of the worst 3D platformers I’ve played in a long time. I dug the artstyle but the gameplay was very lackluster. Mekabolt was fun but too short. They kept adding new mechanics and I thought they could’ve made a lot more levels that utilized the mechanics in new interesting ways. And I got 100% achievements when the game was like 3/4 finished which was quite bizarre, but I kept going and got all of the “extra” stuff anyways. Superflight was a game I returned to after over 8 years and finally got 100%. Most stuff was easy. Two achievements were difficult (but they are both acquired at the same time with a singular difficult task) and four achievements were just an easy grind. Grey Scout was a cool Sokpop game, gotta save some folk without getting caught. Simple game, I enjoyed it. SUMMERHOUSE is a unique game, gotta unlock new tiles by combining other tiles in specific ways. There are no instructions for how to do this, no idea how somebody is expected to get 100% on this without a guide. Unreasonable lack of clarity. Mushroom Cats is just a hidden cats game, but one of the lowest quality ones in my opinion. Final game was sok-worlds, another Sokpop game. You basically turn pictures into static objects and create levels with them, and/or play levels created by other users. I found one half-decent world but the others I tried were crap, YMMV. That’s it for another month!

about 17 hours ago 0 comments
LumpyCreature

March April May June 2026

Completed or Beaten

A Game About Digging A Hole™

6.0 hours, 10 of 10 achievements


Wattam

6.1 hours, 36 of 36 achievements


The Room

2.3 hours, 5 of 5 achievements


Beholder 2

12.5 hours, 36 of 52 achievements


Distrust

2.8 hours, 4 of 56 achievements

Click to expand

Barely managed to beat the game due to bugs. Will not likely return to work on more achievements.



Played or Progress Made

Added

Bar of Shame

10% (26/263)
5% (13/263)
19% (50/263)
66% (173/263)
0% (1/263)

SG Only

30% (7/23)
9% (2/23)
22% (5/23)
39% (9/23)

Definitely acquiring more than I have time to play…..I don’t have a problem, you have a problem

1 day ago 0 comments
robilar5500

Alright. June is in the books. This was a slower gaming month for me, so there’s not a ton to report. In fact, let’s just get into it.

June Completions

Hellblade II: Senua’s Saga

6.9 hours, 7 of 12 achievements
Very involved puzzle adventure with QTE combat. You probably already know the basis. It's an examination of psychosis through the eyes (and head) of Senua, a warrior in an alternate history Earth. I think it was a very well thought out experience, and the world is undeniably beautiful. Worth a look for sure, especially during the Summer Sale (or future sales).


Hozy

3.5 hours, 9 of 9 achievements
Hozy is truly cozy. It's a renovation and decoration game. If you just want to turn off your mind and explore your inner interior designer, this is the game for you. Very chill experience.


June Retirements

Salt 2 - Man, the game itself is actually fine if unnecessarily grindy, but the sailing navigation pretty much ruined it for me. Sucky ducky IMO.

Plans for July

I’m playing and close to the end of Avadon 3: The Warborn. I’ll wrap up the game and the series probably this weekend or maybe a little into next week. It’s not the best thing Jeff Vogel has ever done, but still a worthwhile game and series. Beyond that, I’ll probably get to The Alters, Blops 2, and definitely a few of the Indies I bought recently. I’m also still slowly playing through Aliens: Fireteam Elite with friends. Everyone got sick at some point last month, which slowed things down; and my house is also just outside (like 5 blocks from) the pre-evacuation zone for the Willow Fire in Colorado, so it’s been a far from ordinary June and start to July.

Summer Sale (or close enough to) additions

FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE INTERGRADE
Star Trek Legends
The Talos Principle: Reawakened
The Talos Principle 2
Mining Mechs
Mining Mechs - Magnetic Mystery
Mining Mechs - Camel Chaos
Burnout™ Paradise Remastered
Cryptid Keeper
Who The Fuck Ate Grandma ?
Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® II
The Backrooms: Liminal space
Call of Duty - Black Ops II
Unto the Aurora
The Biggleboss Incident
a guard walks into a tavern
The Underground Man 2
The Underground Man

1 day ago 4 comments

Jul 02 2026

NateSCC
Half-Life 2

XENOBREAKERS: Classic Tower Defense

6/10
5.1 hours
16 of 22 achievements (73%)

#415
#25 of 2026
July 2, 2026

1 day ago 0 comments
Yekhus

Progress Report #37: June 2026

30.1% (227/758)
24.0% (179/758)
3.4% (30/758)
20.6% (159/758)
21.9% (163/758)

Monthly tally - Backlog: 5, Yekhus: 3

Total play time: 25.5h

Completed or Beaten (3)

Also Played (2)

Added to collection (Steam) (5)

  • Middle-earth: Shadow of War (SG giveaway)
  • A Date in the Park (free)
  • The Terrible Old Man (free)
  • Broken Sword 2: The Smoking Mirror - Remastered (SG giveaway)
  • Mortal Kombat 11 (SG giveaway)
2 days ago 0 comments
Lengray
April ➝ June 2026 = highly recommended
Celebrating 10 years as a BLAEO member. Yay!
Metroidvania9 hours

Excellent game overall. Length and difficulty were just right.

Adventure6 hours

Even though the storyline is short, this game is beautiful and very soothing.

FPS7 hours

Action-packed from start to finish and deliciously over the top.

Hack and Slash28 hours

Simple and repetitive but strangely addictive. Many secrets to find!

Visual Novel10 hours

I enjoyed this third game but wish the choices were more meaningful.

Adventure5 hours

A short and pleasant thriller set on Mars. Movement is too slow though.

Unavailable on Steam
The House in Fata Morgana - Dreams of the Revenants Edition Switch • 61 hrs
Mario Tennis Open 3DS · 5 hrs
Backlog evolution
assassinations: 8 additions: 26 balance: +18
2 days ago 8 comments
Mr. Beaver

June 2026 results

Priority Backlog Added this month Beaten Removed
High 134 3 1 -
Medium 226 2 - -
Half-Life 2

007 First Light

8/10
24.1 hours
25 of 37 achievements
Half-Life 2

Life is Strange: Double Exposure

0 hours
0 of 34 achievements
Half-Life 2

Hard Truck 2: King of the Road

0 hours
0 of 19 achievements
Half-Life 2

Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® II

0 hours
0 of 24 achievements
Half-Life 2

ROUTINE

0 hours
0 of 14 achievements
Half-Life 2

Old Skies

0 hours
0 of 44 achievements
2 days ago 0 comments

Jul 01 2026

Dog

#30 JUNE 2026

Forza Horizon 6

71.9 hours playtime, 52 of 57 achievements


A Space for the Unbound

16.1 hours playtime, 25 of 25 achievements


3 days ago 2 comments