June 2023 - Open For Extended Hours

Games played this month

Broken Sword 1 - Shadow of the Templars: Director's Cut

11 hours playtime

no achievements
Placid Plastic Duck Simulator

33 hours playtime

25 of 32 achievements
Among Us

8 hours playtime

5 of 33 achievements
Dino Run DX

77 minutes playtime

8 of 49 achievements
Gunfire Reborn

7 hours playtime

18 of 120 achievements
Victoria 3

80 minutes playtime

no achievements

Gameplay Summary

June was a good month for gaming time, with more than double the gaming hours of the last two months combined. This allowed me to make good progress on a few games and play around randomly with a few others. My personal life was relatively relaxed last month, allowing me some time to push through some gaming that would be otherwise difficult to complete. Granted, one game was mostly idling, but even so, I was able to dedicate several hours of active gameplay that I was not able to in previous months.

Completed: Broken Sword 1 - Shadow of the Templars: Director’s Cut

As part of Play or Pay, I was able to squeeze in a third game for the event. Broken Sword 1 was a fun point-and-click mystery game, filled with witty humor, challenging puzzles, and an interesting story. I was pleased to be able to complete it within the month with very minimal hints. I highly recommend the game to point-and-click fans.

Beaten: Placid Plastic Duck Simulator

I had taken a break from this title, but the calling of the ducks (and newly released DLCs) pulled me back in. I was able to “earn” all the base game achievements, as well as all the achievements from the Quacking the Ice DLC. A few other achievements were also unlocked. I had fun playing hide and seek with the ninja, but most of the time was spent idling for the random unlock achievements. Later I will unlock the remaining achievements for the other DLCs, including the recently released Hippospace Download DLC.

In Progress: Among Us

This was one of the titles I only played for a short time on one day, but it was fun. As one of the titles my friend and I played together, it was good to unwind with a social deduction game. Unfortunately, he killed me twice in a row, which was amusingly frustrating, but it was fun nonetheless. I sometimes come back to the title periodically, so it may pop up on occasion in my BLAEO reports in the future.

In Progress: Dino Run DX

Another game with limited play time, Dino Run is a classic which I originally played on Kongregate during the height of Flash gaming, and I periodically play it when I feel like experiencing a bit of nostalgia… and earning a few trading cards. Despite my low play time, I was able to earn some achievements to make progress.

In Progress: Gunfire Reborn

Returning to games with longer playtime, I had a wonderful experience after purchasing Gunfire Reborn based on my brother’s recommendation. This co-op shooter is an absolute blast to play, especially if you have friends to play with. I have played many sessions with my friend, and my brother who recommended the game joined in on the fun for one play session this month. This is a title I will be returning back to frequently over the coming months, and I can say it is one of my favorite FPS games.

In Progress: Victoria 3

At long last, after pre-purchasing the game and proceeding not to play until multiple major updates were released, I finally had the joy and nostalgia of playing this fun Paradox game. Though I did not play too much of it, and no achievements were earned since my friend and I were in multiplayer, it was amazing to step back into some familiar but different gameplay. I previously played Victoria II years ago, and this new iteration has some familiar mechanics, but I had to learn as I went. I started off as the Papal States, and my friend started as some low-tech, poor west African country. By the time we logged off for the night, he was ahead of me. Go figure. A small nation battling with sticks was beating one of the largest religious institutions of the time period.