July/August Update!

Played on Game Pass

Mixtape is a story-driven interactive game. You play as Stacey Rockford, a music enthusiast who is spending one last day with her friends before moving away.

Mixtape is completely linear. There aren't really choices and the story cannot branch in any direction. The gameplay is very minimal. Mostly walking, skateboarding, minigames, talking, and observing things. It is supposed to take place in the 90's, but none of it feels 90's. The music is more 80's, and the dialogue and setting feels like someone trying to evoke nostalgia, but not quite hitting the mark.

I didn't really connect with any of the characters. I didn't like the music. I didn't feel nostalgic. I am a fan of story-driven interactive games, but this one didn't connect with me. I did like the artstyle. There were a couple moments that made me laugh. The coming-to-age plot will always be relevant and hit its mark for a lot of people. Personally, I was looking for a game to capture the magic of Life is Strange one and this one wasn't it.

I'd only recommend this game on a very steep discount.

The Quarry is a choice-based horror game. It is made Supermassive Games, who made "Until Dawn" and the "Dark Pictures" games.
The story follows nine teenage camp councilors. They become stranded at camp and realize that they may not be alone…

I skipped this game at first. Supermassive can be very hit or miss. After beating House of Ashes, I wanted to give this a shot. This isn't as good as House of Ashes, but I really enjoyed it!

The quarry is single player only. There is a two-player mode but it has you pass the controller to a friend, and the sections are uneven for playtime. This game also plays just like their others. It doesn't stand out as far as gameplay goes. You control each of the councilors and make choices on their behalf. Any of them can die. All of them can survive. You walk around, make important choices, and always prepare to have a QTE thrown at you. There are a lot of cutscenes.

The quarry can branch in different directions based on your choices. Most lead to a character dying or surviving. Some of the good choices do require you to think ahead or remember something from before. When I first started, I really hated the characters. They were so embarrassing to listen to that I I almost stopped playing. I'm glad I stuck with it, because they do get better as you progress. Every decision was nerve wracking because I was terrified of getting any of the characters killed!

I think the story was very neat and it had a perfect mix of horror and comedy. It does a great job at slowly building the suspense and mystery, and its a really fun time if you go in completely blind. It's also very rewarding to the players that really pay attention the the dialogue and story.

Unfortunately, even with its great setup and story development, The Quarry has a super rushed ending. The ending is serviceable, but doesn't feel satisfying. You don't feel like you got the closure you wanted and it should have been longer.

The game is intense and has a good story. They didn't quite stick the landing, but it's still worth playing. There is also a cosmetic DLC that adds a rewind feature. You can reverse three deaths if you own the DLC.

I recommend this game on discount, not the full price. I really enjoyed it, but I wouldn't have paid $60 for it.

The Complex is a short FMV choice game. The cutscenes are live action.

The game has a lot of potential. The acting and production was very good. It never felt cheap. The acting never took me out of the story. I game mainly takes place in one room, but I was fully engrossed. The problem is that It felt like a demo to an interesting story that didn't quite feel complete. Not to mention the choices were not very good and the biggest choice was confusing/misleading.

By the time the story really got interesting, the game was over. There is also no way to go back and make different choices without starting the whole game over. It is short, but since there is no gameplay, I'd rather not watch the whole thing again to see the other endings.

I didn't dislike The Complex . It's a fun sci-fi thriller, and they put a lot of work and effort into it. The actors did a great job and it felt like I was watching a well budgeted film. Would I recommend it? Not full price, personally. I'm new to the FMV space, but I have played much better ones for the same price.

Distance is a driving platformer with parkour elements. It also has an interesting sci-fi cyberpunk like story.

I'm going to be honest here. I did not like this game. When I first beat it, I was like, hey.. that's pretty good! The driving felt fluid. The levels were well designed, and the game was very atmospheric. I also love games that have a small hint of psychological horror.

But truthfully, I was not having fun. And to be honest, it was mostly my fault.

Do not make the same mistake I did. Do not play this game on keyboard.

I tend to play all my games on keyboard and mouse. Even ones that are much better suited for controller. This game should be played with controller. It was my stubbornness and laziness that drew out my suffering. I was led into a false sense of security when it started, but once I learned the gravity flips, it was downright painful.

Driving games are also not really my thing. Even with it being one of my disliked genres, I do really think Distance had a unique quality and spin to it that separated it from other driving games.

Would I recommend this? No. I was very bored and frustrated. Reviews are good though, and I don't think it's a bad game at all.

007 First Light is an action adventure game, where you play as James Bond before he becomes 007.

This game was crazy fun. It reminded me a lot of Uncharted, which is one of my favorite game series. I've never played Hitman, but apparently it plays similar to that series as well. Every mission has multiple paths you can take to complete it. You can also stealth or go in guns blazing, and the game doesn't penalize you or try to shame you on your playstyle. As long as you have that license to kill.

James Bond is a fun character. He does remind me a lot of Nathan Drake, or like the many other snarky charming wise cracking characters you see in media. I've only seen the Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan films, but I enjoyed how different he was to those Bonds and how he stood out.

There are so many different ways to stealth through the game. You can even use gadgets to aid you. The settings and action sequences were top notch. I thought the story was incredibly engaging. You can also just walking up to any random npc and they are probably having a detailed conversation with other npcs. The world feels lived in.

I really loved First Light. Loved the characters, the story, the production value, the settings, the gameplay, the variety of gameplay styles. I'd highly recommend it.