Thanks to the quarantine i’ve gotten a bit more done before the end of the month, look at me; being productive. Also somehow I ended up agreeing to edit a 125,000 word fanfic. 3 chapters down, 41 to go.
The Shrouded Isle
11.7 hours, 16 of 16 achievements
Pretty fun and morbid, but has a really steep learning curve.
I hesitantly recommend this game.
The Shrouded Isle has an incredibly steep learning curve, when you first start; you start with all the DLC’s which makes the game difficult and frustrating. (To make it easier and shorter right click the game > properties > BETAS > original. Doing this locks you out of getting two achievements, but you can always revert back to NONE. Reduces 5yrs to 3yrs, and eliminates sickness and the Awoken Ones.)
Once you get past and you play a bit and you start to understand what to do - and it gets pretty fun!!! -you can play through all the endings pretty quickly, you need to find the 12 (6 in BETA) sinners and sacrifice them before the 5 years are up, but you need to juggle the moods of the houses and not kill two people from the same house in a row while managing your village.
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
14.3 hours, 14 of 14 achievements
Very fun and very difficult to finish. I ended up needing to take a lot of breaks because this game lives up to its genre - Psychological horror.
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is a brilliant work of art that is heavily influenced by real and accurately portrayed mental disorders. You follow Senua, a young woman suffering from severe psychosis as she journeys into Helheim to find and recover the lost soul of her lover, Dillion.
This incredibly emotional psychological horror game has an amazing and fluid combat system that’s easy to pick up and play with, not to mention how engaging the storyline is! The graphics are exceptional and many times I felt as if I was watching a movie. Brilliant!
Sakura Gamer
3.3 hours, 8 of 8 achievements
The main character was cuter than all the targets, can't date yourself. ):
Sakura Gamer is a very engaging VN, and I was surprised on how excellent the writing was when compared to previous games! The art is cute as usual and the music is pretty upbeat.
The protagonist is Sayo, otherwise known as Nekohime! You follow along with her and her friends on the grand adventure of making a visual novel! There are four routes you can take, Suki’s route, Chika’s route, a harem route and a solo route!
Took me on average 3 hours to finish one route, skipping all the additional text you can finish this game within 4 hours!
A Short Hike
5.3 hours, 8 of 8 achievements
The most wholesome game I have played this month, hands down. Had WAY more fun than I thought I would!!!
A Short Hike has overwhelmingly positive reviews, and as someone who finished this 100%, I can say it's much deserved. This short (3-6 hr) relaxing game is a 3D pixelated masterpiece! It’s easy to play and is very enjoyable and satisfying.
You play as Claire, a young bird from a big city looking for a cellphone reception out in the middle of nowhere. There are lots of things to explore, fun characters to meet, and treasure to find! This gem also features one of my favorite things to do in a game – Flying!
Eliza
8.6 hours, 1 of 1 achievements
It was pretty ok for a VN, would only recommend buying on a really good sale though.
Eliza is a unique VN about an AI therapy program and its relationship with its creator, Evelyn. This game features multiple endings, hand painted backgrounds and characters, and is fully voiced. Eliza has a noticeably strong philosophical theme that features mental illnesses and its effects on individuals.
I will note that while this game is interesting, I didn’t really have that much fun with it. Eliza is very linear and may have multiple endings yes, but some of those endings are not “ideal” which narrows things down quite a bit. I ended up picking Rainer’s route and the ending was a bit baffling to me. Both Rainer and Evelyn had a personality change and things went very “culty” very fast when there was no indication it would be so in any of the previous dialog.
I hesitantly recommend this game because it is beautiful and well written, but the ending I experienced left much to be desired.
That is an interesting and fine bunch of games you finished, gratz!
I played The Shrouded Isle before the DLC and quite enjoyed it. I definitely want to revisit it at some point. Thanks for pointing out the differences between DLC and Original. I’ve heard several people speak very highly of A Short Hike in the last few days and it was also interesting to hear your opinion on Eliza.
Good luck with your 125,000 words, what else is there to do at the moment? :D I know, I know, Home Office…