October Roundup and Plan for November

Out of all of Supermassive's "choose your own adventure" style games, I found The Quarry to be the weakest entry (although I admittedly haven't played Until Dawn or the final installment of the Dark Pictures Anthology). If you are familiar with any of these games, you know basically how the genre works: you switch between several different playable characters, making dialogue choices for them and completing some QTEs. These characters can either survive or die based on the decisions you make and what QTEs you pass/fail.

The Quarry's plot was entertaining (although there were some fairly significant plot holes you have to overlook), and was a fun take on the typical 80s slasher film. The characters felt more well-rounded than those in most of the DPA games, and the dialogue was both well-written and well-acted. Unlike the DPA games, there weren't any characters that I desperately wanted to kill off within 30 seconds of being introduced to them. The characters actually seemed to mostly remain focused on the life-threatening danger once it was introduced rather than get constantly sidetracked by romantic entanglements that really shouldn't have mattered in the face of supernatural horrors (looking at you House of Ashes).

All that being said, The Quarry undoubtedly has the least "game" of any of Supermassive's games. It is mostly a series of unskippable cutscenes, interspersed with an occasional dialogue choice or an even rarer QTE. Granted, you expect this to some degree just due to the nature of the game but The Quarry took it to excessive levels. That combined with a dumb scene selection system (you can only scene select from a completed save and it automatically wipes your progress once that save is selected rather than give you the option to start in a new save slot like the DPA games do) made for a frustrating 100% completion. For all but my initial playthrough, I brought something else to entertain me while going through the motions. By my final playthrough, I just rested the controller on one knee and read a novel for the bulk of the game, only looking up when I realized a QTE was occurring soon.

Overall rating: decent fun for a single run albeit more as a movie than a game, but hellish for achievement hunters.

A horror-based walking simulator, KHOLAT is a mechanically simple game that relies heavily on atmosphere. As is the case for most walking simulators, the story unfolds by you finding and interacting with objects--primarily newspaper articles, medical reports, and diary entries in this game. There is a single type of enemy which can only be dealt with by running away or hiding (running is somewhat stymied by the player character's truly embarrassing stamina level) but it doesn't pose much of a threat.

It's a short game that doesn't overstay its welcome. Not particularly frightening but it has a pleasantly dark atmosphere that made it feel appropriate as an October game. Not a bad way to spend a couple hours.

An adorable indie gem, Hue is a puzzle platformer that can be easily completed in an afternoon. You play as a young boy--Hue-- slowly gathering additional colors to brighten up your black and white world. The more colors you gather, the more complex the puzzles you can solve are and the more hidden areas you can explore. None of the puzzles are overly challenging, which is good for the relaxing nature of the game, but a few of the later ones add just enough complexity that you don't feel you're getting nothing out of playing.

Not a lot to say about this old classic. I had previously played about halfway and then forgot about it. I restarted it from the beginning last month and played through to completion. It's a game with its tongue very firmly in its cheek which helps it from showing its age too much. That being said, it is definitely a product of its time with some aspects aging better than others. Overall, it's a classic RPG with easy to learn combat mechanics and a decent story, well worth the time if you are a fan of the genre but can otherwise be skipped.