December 2023 Progress Report
Wow. Ok. End of the year!
In total for 2023, I finished 55 games, go me! This December was very nice, I wrapped up Sandrock and now have a craving for Portia. I failed my New Year’s resolution to have 20+ games than I added - I only got to a net positive of 17 - but I’m going to blame Secret Santa and my lovely PAGYWOSG discord group and go for 23 in 2024.
My Time at Sandrock was a long time coming, I knew I was going to beat that before New years, but the most unexpected game and dark horse was Landlord of the Woods, which I spontaneously purchased yesterday and now I’m going to be picking up another game from the developer, of which there is only one. One person made Landlord of the Woods, and it was really, really nice! The Dishonored game series is now neatly wrapped up in a messy bow, Death of the Outsider was a good way to end the series and after that ending, I don’t expect any more games from them. Alekon was cute, I won’t be replaying it but it was my first on-rails photography game. The Gunk was shaping up to be a really good game, but unfortunately, your mandatory crewmember was determined, and successful, in sucking all the joy of it like a vampire.
Looking forward to next year! I’m cautiously optimistic.
Happy New Year!!
Total games added to backlog: 5
Total completed: 5
From the verdant Highwind to the desert town of Sandrock, Builder arrives! Start up your own workshop and start taking commissions to give this dried-up town the life it so desperately needs. The town of Sandrock used to be a lush, sprawling oasis that supported plenty of fruit, plants, and wildlife, but after a group of prospectors discovered a sunken metropolis triggering a relic rush, there was tragedy. With little regard to the environment, it was exploited and polluted until the prairie was void of trees, its wildlife hunted, and the oasis barely a puddle of what it used to be. With a new mayor who refuses to leave and remaining hopeful, stubborn citizens, restore the oasis, reforest the desert, and give Sandrock back its lost title – The Jewel of the Eufaula.
90-160+ hours to complete, My Time at Sandrock is a post-apocalyptic desert-restoration reforesting RPG sandbox farming sim with a sprawling open world, dungeons, and town-building. 20 romance options, LGBTQ+ friendly, with optional children that grow up. Build your own home with generous sizing limits, make or purchase furniture, create your own gardens, take on multiple dungeons with varying difficulties, and explore a huge open world full of forgotten treasures and hidden dangers. This game is genuinely incredible and I loved every single hour I put into it. There is so much world-building and content that’s available, farms can be as efficient and high maintenance as you please, or very chill as farming and gardening is encouraged but completely optional.
Dishonored®: Death of the Outsider™
Billie Lurk, formerly known as Meagan Foster, captain of The Dreadful Whale and a rather talented killer. After the events of Dishonored 2, Billie seeks to reunite with her mentor, the legendary assassin Daud – only to be offered one last job, killing The Outsider himself. Together with her teacher, seek out artifacts and a cult known as The Eyeless to rob them of a weapon that can kill the entity, and discover a way to reach him in the endless void… if that’s even possible.
6-20+ hours to complete, Dishonored: Death of the Outsider is a first-person stealth game in which you play as a supernatural assassin in a story-rich setting where your choices matter and you can very much play how you like, with mercy or otherwise. With a variety of weapons, gadgets, abilities, and bone charms granting you perks, explore the beautiful city of Karnaca. As usual for the Dishonored series, the level design is exceptional and I rarely used doors to get anywhere, the combat and stealth is fantastic, the music is immersive, memorable, and enjoyable. Death of the Outsider doesn’t have a high or low chaos system like the previous games, and instead of NG+ there is Original Game+, in which nothing is carried over except your powers get switched out for ones in Dishonored’s previous series, giving you new ways to interact with the environment.
The Gunk
Rani and her crewmate Becks stumble upon an unusual energy spike on a dead planet. Curiosity getting the best of them, Rani heads down to investigate, only to find life on its last legs and something strange, something that looks like it’s smothering anything that tries to grow; Rani calls it what it is – The Gunk. Follow the energy readings and clean up The Gunk to allow life to flourish once again, and hopefully get rich while doing it too!
5-7+ hours to complete, The Gunk is a linear action-adventure nature restoration game with super simple mechanics, easy puzzles and gameplay, and unchallenging enemies. Graphics are beautiful, and for a while I was having a pretty fun time! Rani is very optimistic, while Becks is a pessimist, which made for some interesting back-and-forth dialogue as you explore an alien planet and go on an adventure. However, becks gets more negative as the game goes on and at one point she just straight up becomes hostile and extraordinarily annoying. Despite the angst and the various areas you can softlock yourself into, I was still planning on rating The Gunk positive! However, the ending was abrupt, disappointing and nonsensical. With no spoilers, it made me feel like the entire game I just tried to enjoy was pointless.
Alekon
Enter Dream’s Doorstep, the world of your imagination, and meet the fictions that live there. Dull and empty, you are greeted by Japley, the Fiction of Guidance who asks you to share your inspiration to make the world bright again and to find Alekon, the missing Fiction of Creativity! Take photos of Fictions in different poses to gain creativity points and introduce that Fiction to Dream’s Doorstep to unlock their minigame and sidequests, the more creativity you gain and Fictions you take photos of, the more you can change the world around you.
5-13 hours to complete, Alekon is an on-rails first-person photography game with photo editing and creature collecting. There are 4 maps to explore with 3 on-rail pathways and a wander mode where you can freely explore the secrets of each island. Taking a photo of a creature unlocks their minigame in Dreams Doorstep, the “hub” world, a place where you can edit things freely. Nearly everything can be changed, including the color of the grass, adding constellations, making snowflakes, dressing up fictions, and adding more fireflies. Overall I’m impressed that this was made by a fairly small team, and I think pretty much anyone of any age could find enjoyment in Alekon.
Landlord of the Woods
Feeling like you’re wasting your life away and falling behind your peers, you respond to an advertisement and apply for a new, hopefully more meaningful, career path as Landlord of the Woods. Much to your surprise, you get the job! Play minigames and collect rent from your bizarre tenants.
40 min – 1 hr+ to complete, Landlord of the Woods is a physics-based point-and-click puzzle game with hand drawn graphics and more impressively, made entirely by one person. Light character creation is available. Admittingly I wasn’t expecting much out of a game I purchased for barely 50 cents, but I fell in love with the art style, the unique tenant design and the slightly macabre story, and encourage you to give it a try.
Good luck on your new year goals! I saw in Discord you had a lot of fun with Sandrock. Any pointers on how to get through the game? It’s in my backlog, but I am scared to put 160+ hours into the game when that equates to almost my entire playtime of 2023.
“Get through the game” As if you won’t have your hands full with the main quest, side quests, managing relationships, taking commissions, exploring, building literal bridges, dungeon diving, and bandit wrangling. You got this!
I agree on The Gunk. A missed opportunity there. I have no idea about the background, but at least for me, it was somewhat ironic to find out a positive female lead game (not sexualized visually nor thematically) where core gameplay mechanic is vacuuming. If their original idea was to showcase woman doing cool stuff, they could have implemented something better than literally cleaning space dirt.
So you haven’t played My Time in Portia yet? Have had Sandrock on my list for awhile and seems that it is now finished. Perhaps I’ll play it someday as Portia was enjoyable.
I have 100-ish hours into it, but I never got very far before making a new character or dropping it and picking it back up again. Time-sensitive questlines are my enemy. Sandrock was, from my memory, much more fun - but now that I’ve bitten into such a lovely farming sim I’m already wanting to pick up another one, hence, craving portia.
Congratulations on a very successful year of assassinations! And an even happier and more successful 2024 to you!
Wooo! What a way to end the year! Also, it’s a shame to hear “The Gunk” was ruined by some annoying character for you. I was looking forward to playing it sometime in the future, but annoying characters really kill a game for me…
I hope you have a better experience than I did. Keep a couple save files!
Congrats on that great finish!! Sandrock is definitely on my “must play in 2024” list even though I just started Dredge, but it’ll certainly come soon after. Best wishes for 2024 to you too :)
Just finished it!! Dredge was amazing!!! I’m super happy I got a chance to play it.
Congrats! I’m still in the middle of it and I’m really loving it, it’s excellent.
Very nice. :)
Thank you!!! Super excited to end the year off like this.