samwise84

Update 145: May 2025

Nearly half the year already done and gone.

Half-Life 2

Duskers

6.5/10
8.0 hours
3 of 16 achievements

Duskers is a tense and atmospheric sci-fi strategy game where you explore abandoned ships using command-line controls. Its minimalist design and procedurally generated missions create a uniquely immersive and suspenseful experience.

While the gameplay is engaging at first, missions can start to feel repetitive—often following the same pattern of powering up systems, scanning for threats, and collecting scrap. Combined with some RNG-heavy achievements ( I couldn't find a pattern to which log files were found), it can wear thin over time.

Half-Life 2

Mythic Ocean

7/10
4.5 hours
12 of 33 achievements

Mythic Ocean is a relaxing and charming visual novel-style adventure where you explore underwater realms and guide gods in shaping a new world. The focus is on thoughtful conversations and light exploration, with no combat or failure states.

Its art style and engaging character dialogue make it a cozy, feel-good experience. While the gameplay loop can feel repetitive, the narrative choices and serene atmosphere make it a unique and heartwarming indie gem.

Half-Life 2

The Bookwalker

7/10
10.5 hours
22 of 37 achievements

The Bookwalker is a creative, story-driven adventure where you dive into different book worlds to recover mythical artifacts. Each chapter has a distinct setting, with some more engaging than others, leading to an uneven—but overall interesting—experience.

The mix of exploration, light puzzles, and simple turn-based combat supports the narrative well, though the gameplay can feel a bit shallow.

Half-Life 2

Color Pixel Heroes

6/10
95.6 hours
no achievements

Color Pixel Heroes – Expansion Pack 2 offers a sizable collection of new pixel art images. However, the expansion's quality varies, with many images differing only by minor details, such as a raised eyebrow, leading to a sense of repetition. This lack of distinctiveness can make the content feel bloated and less engaging over time. While the core coloring mechanics are still smooth and relaxing, the expansion doesn't significantly enhance the base game's experience. You might find it underwhelming.

Half-Life 2

ESCAPE

7/10
12.7 hours
12 of 18 achievements

Escape offers an engaging narrative filled with mystery and intrigue, drawing players into its unfolding story. The game's atmosphere and plot twists keep the experience compelling. However, progression can occasionally be unclear, leading to moments of confusion about the next steps. Also there was one monument that when trying to read it had each letter appear one by one. It took nearly 20 minutes for the whole text to appear. And I tried it twice. Though that was the only time this happened in the game it was annoying. Could not quit out of that and had to hard quit the game.

Half-Life 2

Venba

7/10
1.9 hours
9 of 15 achievements

Cute Visual Novel about an Indian immigrant family in Canada, about their struggles finding a job and how it is hard to adjust to life in a new country and how the second generation has it hard, trying to adjust the new identity with their more traditional family values. Overall a fun game that has little cooking sections breaking up the story.

DLC's I finished:
  • Coloring Pixel Jungle Pack

    0 hours playtime

    21 of 21 achievements

  • PPU Variety Pack 24

    35 hours playtime

    27 of 27 achievements



Overall Backlog Progress: -0,05% change to last times unfinished/never played games (57,25% unfinished games)

22.46% (393/1750)
18.80% (329/1750)
3.14% (55/1750)
54.11% (947/1750)
1.49% (26/1750)




Overall SG Wins Progress:+0,12% change to last times unfinished/never played games (44,68% unfinished games)

30.09% (235/781)
24.84% (194/781)
1.54% (12/781)
43.15% (337/781)
0.38% (3/781)
Here are the games I'm currently working on. Reviews will follow once I'm done with the games:
I've won 9 games. I've beaten 6 games, so that makes a total of +3 for the month of May. So my yearly count is at +19 games. I did not beat a game that is at least 10+ years old, so my count on beaten old games is still at +4 for the year. Need to beat some more old games.


SG wins:

Games I want to play within the next few weeks:

PoP: thanks to droha & Realschrambo for challenging me Working on DLC's: Trying to compelte another playthrough:
Zelrune

Congratulations on all your assassinations!! ᓚᘏᗢ
How are you liking Dragons Dogma? Also, congrats on picking up Clair Obscur! I’ve heard a few people say it’s GOTY material!

“Nearly half the year done and gone.” Don’t say that, I feel like I’m still 3 months into 2025.

samwise84

hahaha, I like Dragon’s Dogma, just need to pick it up again to finish the DLC content
And yeah looking forward two Clair Obscur

Arbiter Libera

I tried the Bookwalker demo and it’s been on my to-play list ever since. Glad to hear it’s good. How prevalent are those first-person bits?

samwise84

The game mainly consists of two different parts. One is your char in the actual world. He is a writer that due to some crime was shackled and can’t write anymore. He gets an offer that if he goes into other authors works and steals specific artifacts a “benefactor” will remove the shackles from him. So you usually start each chapter by answering the phone and they will tell you that another contract is there, then you go to your door and pick up a suitcase and bring it to your desk. There you can dive into the “book” that the chapter is about (the second type of world), which are different settings like a magic school or a factory or a desert town etc.
Every now and then you have to return to the real world to pick up some tools and once you have completed the contract you go back into the real world and bring the suitcase down the stairs to the front door.

Arbiter Libera

Got it. Something to definitely play then.