Alright. August is in the books. I was actually busy IRL, and it shows with my month of gaming, lol. Amerzone and Lil Gator Game were this month’s standout titles. Mostly though, I went completely off script as far as what I thought my gaming plans were going to be in August.
August Completions
Dustwind: Resistance
20.2 hours, 22 of 38 achievements
This was an enjoyable real-time with pause isometric tactics title with a neat post-apocalyptic setting and a cool cast of characters including a dog who enjoys lobbing grenades. Not the deepest story imaginable, but certainly more than good enough to help carry the game forward. Gameplay was the star of the show as it should be in a game like this.Worth a look for sure.
Amerzone - The Explorer's Legacy
10.0 hours, 21 of 29 achievements
I really enjoyed this remake of a classic adventure title. Excellent story, excellent set pieces, fun puzzles, stellar setting. This was a quality game and probably the one I enjoyed most this month. That retail price is outrageous, but on sale, this feels like a must buy must play title.
Serious Sam Fusion 2017 (beta)
4.0 hours, 12 of 76 achievements
My friends and I played Serious Sam 3: BFE via Fusion 2017, which is a super convenient hub for all the Sam games up to 3. Features enhanced MP options including 16 player co-op, and plenty other upgrades besides. Anyway, Serious Sam 3: BFE was a lot of fun co-op and only took about four hours to complete. Difficulty does scale to the size of your group, which was three and four players depending on the moment. Definitely worth playing co-op. Probably far less so playing solo.
Clue/Cluedo
2.7 hours, 2 of 32 achievements
It's classic Clue with the classic mansion setting. Definitely fun for a couple hours. Nobody is really playing it these days, so I didn't have an opportunity to play against real people. And all the non-classic boards are locked behind pretty expensive paywalls, so I was content to simply enjoy the base game for a minute. This was also a public SG win, so it was good to clear it off the docket. Worth a look when heavily discounted. YMMV as far as whether buying the other boards is worth it or not. I didn't personally think it was.
Lil Gator Game
5.2 hours, 16 of 22 achievements
Definitely one of, if not THE most charming game I've ever played. Just a good feeling, light-hearted adventure that does not in any way disappoint. Very glad to have played this one.
The Chess
0.7 hours, 6 of 6 achievements
Realistically, even on the most difficult setting, the matches vs bots were waaaayyyy too easy. This isn't challenging chess by any stretch of the imagination. What it can be however is a convenient hub to play against friends or maybe even host tournaments. And the selection of chessboards and chess pieces available was very nice. Plus, it's ftp, so it's hard to really dog on it too badly for its way too easy bot matches.
Currently playing into September
Serious Sam 4
4.3 hours, 22 of 54 achievements
This was the next one on my little group's co-op list. It's quite a bit better than Serious Sam 3 in pretty much every way. And also, the cheese factor has somehow increased with this entry as well, lol. I think we have one more session left to wrap this one up.
Beyond Galaxyland
12.7 hours, 15 of 31 achievements
This has been a pretty fun side scrolling CRPG meets JRPG. Quirky cast of characters, cool collection of planets, interesting quests, decent story. I'm just wrapping up some side quests before jumping into the endgame. I think it's worth playing.
August Retirements
- Forever Skies - Consensus between my co-op partner and I for this survival base builder is it’s just very meh. It’s okay but doesn’t really do anything to make us really want to finish it, and some of the gameplay mechanics are unnecessarily annoying as well. Might actually be better solo, but I’m over it.
- CONCRETE - I didn’t really ‘get’ this one. Very trippy for the sake of being trippy. Refunded.
- Twelve Minutes - Actually, this is an excellent game with an all-star VA cast. But it’s also quite difficult and you actually need to complete your actions very fast in real time or be doomed to repeat the same outcomes over and over. I think this is one where I’ll definitely watch the movie, but I’m kinda over the gameplay.
- Quantum of Hope - Really, really needs a save system and less screen clutter.
- Picklock - I can’t take fighting the camera angles, which is what this game offers. It is otherwise a decent stealth game.
- Rolly - Basically a marble physics puzzle game. I suck at it, but it’s competent. And about to be delisted in two weeks.
- Qume: Echoes of Sand - Almost forgot about this one. It has the promise of being something cool, but it’s not fit for consumption at the moment. Almost nothing has been implemented properly yet.
Plans for September
Outside of finishing Beyond Galaxyland and Serious Sam 4, I’m not sure. Wanderstop almost for sure, and probably finally Cyberpunk 2077. I’m gonna leave everything else up in the air. It’s going to be a very busy month IRL, so it’s probably best to not get too far ahead of myself with gaming predictions, lol. Lot of work, lot of working on songs as well, quite a bit less gaming time.
Congratulations on all your assassinations!!! ᓚᘏᗢ
Also played lil’ gator game last month, I was surprised how whimsical it was and I got fondly remember of my first time playing A Short Hike. Using cardboard bits to make weapons and use as paper money was absolutely adorable. I wonder if I should play Cyberpunk this month.
A Short Hike is probably the closest comparison. And thanks. :)
You might as well play 2077. I need to finally do so myself, lol.
The Autumn sale is 29 this September, I wanna do more POP picks but it sure WOULD be a good time to beat the main game then go for Phantom Liberty, huh…
Congratz for your month ! Don’t forget to update the status of your beaten games on your blaeo profile ! ;)
The chess… didn’t know this one. You like playing chess ? :D
Thanks!
Good call. I’ll have to do so tomorrow.
I do enjoy chess. I’m pretty rusty, but I’ve basically been playing my entire life.
That’s exactly how I felt about Picklock. It was a shame to abandon it since it had been gifted personally by gus and I tend to love stealth games, but the camera is such a prick, and in some of the later levels the enemy routines become such a chore, you have a lot of waiting only to then be forced to squeeze through tight gaps in a very short time before waiting another really long time. The passive stealth is the worst when you have no agency over the enemies. Never looked back
Yep. Those are the games that kind of make me a little sad, because they could easily be so much better than they actually are.