Holidays almost over for me, and I got to burn through a bit this time.
July progress:
*Won on SteamGifts
| Game | Completion | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth2 Sisters Generation | 37% (15 of 41) | Playing (Unfinished) |
| Sherlock Holmes: The Devil’s Daughter* | 100% (25 of 25) | Closed (Completed) |
| fault milestone two side:above* | 100% (9 of 9) | Closed (Completed) |
| Ame no Marginal -Rain Marginal-* | No achievements | Closed (Completed) |
| Last Days of Spring Visual Novel* | 100% (9 of 9) | Closed (Completed) |
| Last Days of Spring 2 | 100% (7 of 7) | Closed (Completed) |
| NightSky | 59% (13 of 22) | Abandoned (Unfinished) |
| Dear Esther: Landmark Edition | 90% (9 of 10) | Abandoned (Unfinished) |
| Lumino City* | No achievements | Closed (Completed) |
| Echo Tokyo: Intro* | 100% (6 of 6) | Closed (Completed) |
| Wanda* | 100% (12 of 12) | Closed (Completed) |
| You, With Me - A Kinetic Novel | No achievements | Closed (Completed) |
| One Last Chance | 100% (7 of 7) | Closed (Completed) |
| Catch a Falling Star* | 60% (27 of 45) | Abandoned (Unfinished) |
| Edolie | No achievements | Abandoned (Unfinished) |
| Rage Parking Simulator 2016 | 100% (466 of 466) | Closed (Completed) |
| Mortifero Motus* | 100% (11 of 11) | Closed (Completed) |
| Immersion* | No achievements | Closed (Completed) |
| Score a goal (Physical football)* | 100% (1 of 1) | Closed (Completed) |
| Space Beret* | 100% (3 of 3) | Closed (Completed) |
| Ace of Words | 100% (18 of 18) | Closed (Completed) |
Got to chew through a bunch of my backlog VNs with fault milestone two side:above and Ame no Marginal -Rain Marginal- as the superstars from Sekai Project, which did not disappoint. fault continues to be as gripping and touching with its sequel and I can only hope that they continue holding on to their high standards as the series progresses. Ame no Marginal is an older VN with a poor interface but still a nice albeit slightly dark, medium-sized and slow-paced story that could be used as an introduction of sorts to the genre.
Last Days of Spring (one and two) as well as One Last Chance are interesting, unique slice-of-life indie VNs with one core developer with a message (one of them has the Developer’s Commentary included). They’re short, simple and not really that good at all, but thanks to the unique approach you’ll still be left with a feeling that they manage to convey something different than what you usually see in VNs. I wouldn’t know whether to recommend them though as the interface and pacing is fairly poor.
Echo Tokyo: Intro is a mini VN with two short stories set in a dystopian future and was apparently supposed to set up for something bigger, but essentially remains a demo. The stories are quite gruesome and dark for Dharker Studios usual productions, but are also more interesting. Worth playing through if you get it for super cheap or free.
You, With Me is another bottom-tier VN from a bundle I got, and despite big issues with layout, it manages to tell an interesting story with sufficient deepness centered around a victim of cancer. The quality might be deterring to many people though, and there was clearly zero playtesting before release. It is completely playable, though.
NightSky is an old platformer that recently got achievements so I replayed it, though I had to give up at the ‘alternative mode’ (essentially: hard mode) which really cranks it up from casual to merciless difficulty and reminds me why I hate platformers in general. The casual version is recommended for its lovely scenery though.
Dear Esther credited as the first of what would become the Walking Simulator genre (crappy name for a genre btw) recently released a new version with achievements, so I went through it again and listened to Developer Commentary along the way. Unfortunately, the last achievement is tied to a normal playthrough and is mutually exclusive with the commentary, and I didn’t really feel up to playing through it for the third time, so I’m leaving it there.
Lumino City, the succesor to the old short Lume, is a very unique and beautiful puzzle game that I’ll easily recommend to everyone who appreciates that genre. Simple and linear and you’ll like it till the end.
Edolie is one of my old RPG Maker wins that I finally got around to trying out, but unfortunately it’s quite generic and I can’t bring myself to continue. Even the ‘Strategy Guide’ DLC that I found on the internet is a huge hoax as it includes almost no information about the game other than the main quest. The game is slow-paced with no logical side quests that barely reward anything at all, it’s almost purely story driven but doesn’t offer any compelling story. Would not recommend.
Catch a Falling Star is a nice casual arcade-ish game though calm and relaxing, and I just stopped after a while since I couldn’t see myself pushing it to farm for the remaining achievements. It’s very repetitive, so it might appeal better to other people that want a breather from action-filled games once in a while.
The final games are all crappy achievement-farm games that I thought I might as well farm while I was at it. Immersion is an exception - that game is simply completely broken and makes no sense, so I consider it ‘completed’. A single screenshot in the Community Hub suggests more progress is possible, but if so, I have no idea how to unlock it.
That’s it for this time - I managed to finish the Sherlock Holmes game as well despite the no sound-issue, and I’m now on to my second batch of VNs, a Saint’s Row Third win from PA as well as my stack of Neptunia games backlog (just increased with VII being 80% off in the Humble Store today). Phew!