August 2025
Well, I meant to get far more done this month but then I got distracted by several beaten games that I pushed myself to go back to complete. Dead by Daylight being one that is not listed below as it is still releasing content and frankly… it’s just not in a very good state right now. Gonna try to see what I can accomplish for the remainder of the year, but hoping by the start of next year I can really start hammering these out.
Once a major demon player in the demonic war, you have now settled down with your two companions to maintain a bar. Serve drinks and talk with your various patrons in this bar sim. You start your day by going to the market to either by affection growth items for your companions or scents to lure specific monster girls. You’ll then pick the piano music you want to play for that session and take orders from various beings. They’ll either tell you a flavor, a “type” (manly, girly, etc.), or some other identifier that you’ll have to use to identify and mix their drink. Of course you’ll then need to select the correct mixture of various liquors and shake it right or you’ll have to start the drink over. The gameplay loop is a little too simple yet your main character feels the need to guide your hand for every single drink you make despite how far along you are. Paging through the menu is a bit annoying especially when they could have at least had just a list of all the drinks before you sort it by the various types. Successfully giving out drinks nets you money and in some cases romance progression. Every few days a new chapter will auto trigger that brings in characters and lore drops. The story is fine but not particularly engaging.
The scenes you do get are pretty basic and alternate between 2 or 3 pictures, though it is all voiced. As diverse as the potential partners can be, the scenes just aren’t engaging enough to have consistently caught my appeal. You can unlock account rewards that carry over saves… but this comes with a danger. If you use those and don’t save… they are gone forever (or until you unlock them again). Even if you load a save before using them, they are used up and you’d have to re-earn them though I don’t know if that is possible. Going through the game again is a slog if you missed any content and the chapter select only shows you that specific story instead of continuing from that general time frame.
Recommend? Not particularly. The diverse selection of monster girls is nice with decent voices, but the gameplay loop is pretty bare bones and lacks engagement.
You play a recent amnesiac. You are not only trying to attend his first year of college but also find out information about not only his past… but what happened to his missing father. Along your journey you encounter various women that become involved in your life that you can romance. Maybe it’s the college setting, but this game reminded me a lot of a less in-depth and shorter “Becoming a DIK”. It shares quite a few tropes (Crazy best friend, missing/lost parent, surviving your first year of college, etc.) with a focus on a serious story. Though it does not reach the same quality as DIK, it does have a few things going for it. Most notably, most characters are voice acted and have fairly good performances considering this game’s genre. There aren’t any minigames and there’s almost no exploration so most of the game is the typical VN choose your choice. Choices almost always felt pretty obvious what the “correct” choice was so you’ll rarely have to worry about romancing any and/or all of the female cast and some choices will feel less like… well choices as some outcomes appear to be pre-determined (though that is just how it goes sometimes).
The story actually isn’t too bad and the interactions between characters feel more or less genuine if not a little tropey at times. There are a plethora of animated scenes, all very well done with excellent looping and the voice acting really selling each scene. Though it’s probably setting up for the next “season”/DLC there are a few notable characters that kind of just feel under utilized, thrown in, or have fairly unresolved encounters. It’s nothing crazy major but it does leave you to wonder if we’ll touch back on a subject or if the character may be dropped altogether. I’m also not quite a fan of the main character’s look. Though not as wimpy as some of the other protags of games like these, he could still use some touch ups.
Recommend? Honestly, yeah. It does lack the crazy amount of diverse content and quality as DIK but it’s fairly priced and there’s still a lot of great work within this game much to my surprise.
Sometimes you see a game that is so ridiculous and stupid… that you have to try it. Hachishaku involves your main character returning to the village he was sent away from as a child. Traversing the dark streets trying to find the secrets of his past, he finds it abandoned and haunted. This mostly plays like Slender where you must find and relocate Jizo statues (instead of notes) and instead of avoiding a tall thin man you must avoid a tall overly voluptuous spirit. The spirit in question is based off of Japanese yokai (spirit/demon) called Hachishakusama (meaning 8 Feet Tall) which was basically a really tall woman spirit that would abduct children/people. Though this tale once meant to be a story of caution and terror has been much perverted over the years which is what leads us to games like this. We’ve seen other video game characters based on this yokai such as Lady Dimitrescu (Resident Evil Village) and a spirit labeled “Tall Woman” in Fatal Frame 5: Maiden of Black Water. Both of which share similar physical and clothing characteristics of the Hachishakusama and we all know how the internet felt about Lady D…
If it wasn’t obvious enough already the game is fairly ridiculous in every regard even dismissing the curvy nemesis hunting you down. The notes you find from the various villagers refer to your character as if they are the embodiment of a god walking this Earth, whose name of which I should note is… “Chado” (Yes as in The “Chad” meme). Though you may be tempted to stay and be caught (or even run towards) the tall spirit chasing you, you can sprint, slide, hide, or stay in sanctuaries to evade her. You’ll want to do so if you mean to finish the game as there are no checkpoints and you’ll have to start over. Aside from story notes, statues, and temporary power ups (though they often kill your frame rate and obscure your vision), you can also find clothing for the Hachishaku and money to buy clothing to customize your pursuer in various scantily clad outfits/styles. There are a few other secrets and modes, some of which have yet to be released, and I”ll leave that to the player to find out. The performance can be a bit rough. Some transitions take a while to load, various stuttering, nauseating first person, and wonky hit boxes.
Recommend? Though I’d say it’s currently worth only half the price… it is admittedly a decent and humorous run through that I found oddly wholesome in the end. (Surely this doesn’t reveal or awaken anything within me)
Note: Despite the game’s immediate impression, there is no nudity or explicit scenes.
Beaten to Completion
Hours this month: 2
Long have I awaited for this game to finally stop updating so I can clear it out once and for all. With just two more maps of achievements I was finally able to lay this 100 Gb bloat of space to rest. Substation was pretty meh and easy to get lost in as a lot of it looked the same. While Castle Volter did have a more neat aesthetic but wasn’t anything particularly special. For the most part… it is just more Killing Floor 2. I have no current plans to play KF3 due to it’s current state and lacking gameplay but maybe one day if it is on sale and receives major updates.
Beaten to Completion
Hours this month: 29
After needed to fill a brief streaming time slot and using this, I was surprised to find that there is a (somewhat) active (and fairly gatekeeping) community. So, I decided to do what I had thought previously impossible… grinding to get the completion. If you ever attempt this foolish task, you may be met with long wait times (especially if you are the Master Mind side), cheaters, overleveled players who never stopped playing, and people who will disconnect at the mere sight of a new player. Needless to say it was an arduous journey. What made me originally quit this game? Well, it was a needlessly tacked on Multiplayer stand alone that copied the asymmetric games (like Dead by Daylight) with the slightest veil of what we really wanted… which is to say a RE: Outbreak game. That plus there was horrible balance issues. You’d need to have fairly leveled Masterminds to stand a chance against the most basic and new survivors and it was almost always at least a 30 min. Wait time just for you to lose to said survivors until you got the right gear/cards unlocked and/or brain dead survivors.
As I would bash my head hoping the specific scenarios would come up in my favor requiring specific players to play specific ways I would never recommend anybody attempt this. It only becomes more impossible as time passes, though if you had enough people you could theoretically rig a match for your favors… I couldn’t imagine trying to do the same for Umbrella Corps or any of the now defunct RE multiplayer games/modes.
This one started with promise. You are a shapeshifting detective who must solve a murder. The game randomizes the killer and you shift and shape to get your answers. Unfortunately, the truth of the matter is the game is far less deduction with far too much forced encounters. Meaning even if you can deduce some key information, you still will have to exhaust several points of dialogue as/with several different suspects even with how useless it is. Believe me, you go through some redundant and boring information. I also ran into the issue where I had trouble getting the game actually switching the killer when starting a new game.
Recommend?
Not really. The idea is great. The execution, not so much.
Beaten to Hard Completion
Steamdeck
Hours in the last two months: 75
This has been the worst Yakuza game to complete thus far, no doubt. Though it should be noted I went for full completion/hard completion meaning I did not just go for all achievements but also filling out the entire in-game completion list (though the game’s achievements will have you go through most of it anyways) so this will slightly differ from someone going for just the achievements/soft completion. It’s already pretty bad that the combat and flow of this entry is pretty bad, and it has some of the worst iterations of minigames within the series, but man did it feel like I was being ground down trying to do this. I even picked up and dropped it several times over months.Notable Grievances:
The general combat sucks where enemies often block most of your attacks and it feels like most of your moves are useless.
Hostess Maker is at its worst, especially if you are coming to this game after the best Hostess minigames in the Kiwami entries. Effectively you have to dress up, teach, and motivate a hostess to meet the expectations of customers over three periods within a session. When you doll up your hostess it doesn’t tell you what each item, makeup, color does for the style, you only get the results and certain combinations will severely alter these stats. Only for you to slowly waltz around the club to see what people want and go back to the drawing board to figure out what shade of eye color will boost the cuteness with her hairstyle, if at all. It’s so mind-numbingly boring especially with how long it takes. This on top of that every physical item needs to be bought with the club’s money, not your own, in which even on your best nights will net you very little. Tedious… it is just tedious incarnate.
Golf is also kind of just generic and boring though there is a close-to-the-pin minigame which has a bit more appeal. Still getting the -5 point can be a challenge until you get the game down.
Baseball. Baseball is fairly standard, hit the home run target… until you get to Extra Hard. Extra Hard makes the targets smaller, separated, AND TURNS YOUR CURSOR INVISIBLE. I tried to brute force it the best I could until I put a piece of jewelry on my screen to mark where the cursor is supposed to be. Without that I don’t know if I would have ever effectively passed the completion score.
Pool. Also fairly standard, but the AI on harder difficulties can be brutal.
Pro Tip: Turn down the volume and put something on in the background so you can watch a movie or show while the AI scores several turns in a row.
Substories can be easy to lose track of or difficult to figure out the triggers.
I think the last note is just the fact is if you played the game on Normal (which I highly recommend due to the lackluster and tedious combat), you’d have to play the game two more times to get an achievement. One to beat hard so you unlock Legend, and then again on Legend to get the achievement. This isn’t too bad if you get certain items but I find this game’s pacing in story to be god awful where several sections just slow down to a crawl.
Overall the game plays decently on Steamdeck though it does run the fan loudly and your system hot.
Alpha Protocol
A tactical espionage RPG is a great idea… it’s only a shame this game doesn’t perform particularly well. It felt like I was playing a mixture of Mass Effect, Splinter Cell, and a dash of Metal Gear. So, what’s great? The RPG element is great and mostly well implemented with several paths of upgrading skills. When the gameplay works as intended it’s a fun adventure and each level feels well designed. There are different mini-games between lock picks, hacking, etc. Note: You should play with a controller as the lock picking mini-game uses pressure sensitive controls. The characters you meet can be shockingly standout and eccentric compared to some of the more military/secret agent side of things. Though I suppose 007 had his share of unique individuals as well.
So, what’s the issue? Well, the game has several performance and gameplay issues. Stutters, lag, sudden speed ups, visual glitches. Gameplay wise… the stealth focus… well let’s say it is problematic. Sometimes you can stealth around like a mouse. Others an enemy will see you through several walls. Even at times I have been a shootout with an enemy while another enemy is blissfully unaware in another or the same room. It’s just really a mess and a shame it’s unrealistic to have a full stealth playthrough especially considering there is a skill tree associated with it.
Recommend? Overall it is fairly enjoyable when it’s not a mess and I’d almost wish for the impossible sequel just so they can fix all the issues.
Yet another grotesque adventure into the world of Little Nightmares, though we find ourselves as a new protagonist. If you’ve played the first game, you’ll understand the general gameplay loop of this which is very limbo like. However, this does have a few more mechanics including the ability to wield weapons among others which relate to the overall theme. Overall it felt pretty great though it doesn’t quite have the same impact and shock as the first. Some parts don’t feel as smooth and with one section in particular there seemed to be poorly designed rooms (the flashlight, iykyk).
Recommend? If you enjoyed the first, you’ll more than likely enjoy this as well. It brings just as much dark and dreary as the first with the same enjoyable gameplay.
Note: I didn’t math out the overall score of the collection, so just understand I scored it on feeling instead of taking the average.
MMX
8/10
Some consider this the best game of the series, and I can mostly understand why. It was a more serious, darker, and advanced Mega Man. A first of it’s kind. Levels are great, the game is challenging, and the new dash offers greater movement. Secrets were now also all the more coveted as they could apply permanent upgrades to not just health and backup tanks, but also permanent upgrades to your abilities… though some require pixel perfect jumps. However, I was baffled at how much the various bosses almost need to have their weakness weapon used against them. Not only will your other weapons do almost no damage (sometimes just two ticks of health) but their added gimmicks can make it near impossible. This makes the final gauntlet all the more brutal. What really pained me most his defeating the final boss and getting the ending will not net you the beaten achievement… nor does going through the normal credits. Instead you have to wait several seconds after the “Thank you for Playing” screen for a message to appear. So, if you aren’t expecting this and leave the game before that… you’ll have to redo the entire final gauntlet again and wait it out.
MMX2
8.5/10
Much like MM2, this improves on the original greatly and in what way? Well, bosses don’t seem to strictly need their weakness weapon used against them, several of which can be reasonably fought with just the buster weapon if you manage to follow their patterns closely… and I like that. I do remember that some of the levels can be a bit challenging and there is some easily missable content with how the optional bosses work. Yet, it has one of the easiest final bosses I have faced so far.
MMX3
6.5/10
Well, it looks like the game took a little too much recommendations and not only made the bosses nearly a joke, but the levels are now far emptier and easier as well. Using the bosses’ weakness against them will turn them into complete incapable jokes making the final gauntlet the easiest by far. Apparently you could switch characters at any point, but I didn’t realize that until the very last set of missions where I was looking for secrets and had to look it up. Despite how laughably easy this game is, it had a fairly enjoyable and challenging final boss… with a little bit of an annoying post fight encounter.
I was skeptical of the praise this game got. Having played it finally, I get it. The increased pixelation giving us smoother and more detailed sprites. Dedicated stories to both X and Zero who you can pick at the start of the game. Each boss and level feel very unique and have the perfect balance of challenging, though some of their weaknesses still put them in fairly easy loops. Some of the armor upgrades are at their best. We even get anime-like cutscenes and voice acting both in scene and in game. This is a bit of a double edged sword as I disliked X’s wall jump grunts. Though the animated scenes are brutal featuring heavy action and some blood. We also get a great Maverick fight with a character that is effectively just a Street Fighter character. There were some stutters with the more advanced map designs and the vehicle sections can be more than rough. The final fight can be a bit much, but this game does very well at just about everything else. I did genuinely try a Zero run, but found his gameplay against bosses to be ridiculously boring and difficult even against the easier bosses.
Overall a great collection and even the worst game of them is fairly enjoyable.
Despite this being what is likely going to be my favorite game played this year, I had passively avoided this much recommended game for some time. Though many games take inspiration from the classic survival horror genre… this one really gets it. The claustrophobic interior of the building you traverse screams Resident Evil while the grotesque monsters and various transitions give off true Silent Hill vibes. In short, it’s everything I want. You even have the static cameras and option for tank controls. Even with the campy voice acting the game does well with creating a dark atmosphere and eeriness. The main character has a nice original design, though you can swap it for a more generic jeans and jacket if you so chose. Her weapons are just as unique as they consist of tools rather than actual guns. Oh, and the puzzles. Challenging puzzles that will require more than just pulling a lever or leveling water… genuine thought provoking challenging puzzles that remind me of similar games like Silent Hill.
So, one might ask if I have such love for this game… why doesn’t it get a 10/10. Well, for one I probably should just give it the solid 10 regardless, but it does have it’s issues. The biggest of which is jank. Jank in how wonky things work. The main menu can get misaligned especially if you use a controller, a poorly implemented dodge mechanic (granted RE3 had this issue too to some degree), enemies will sometimes have weird hit and hurt boxes, and funky movement glitches that can cause your character to suddenly jump 10 feet in the air when colliding with certain obstacles. There’s also random load times between various transitions. This may contribute to the issue where entering through doors causes your character to pause a moment before movement though a nearby enemy does not have such restrictions. A potentially dangerous problem as this means you can get attacked before you have a chance to move, granted that situation was exceedingly rare.
Recommend? Very much so. The incorporation of interesting ideas using a classic (and beloved) medium makes this an instant favorite of mine. I only hope the soon-to-be-released sequel will fix some of the jank while expanding on everything Tormented Souls had built so far.
Congratulations on all of your assassinations!!!! ᓚᘏᗢ
Did you check out the Demo for Tormented Souls 2 yet? I went to go look at it on Steam, but the very first frame in the store video had me noping out and exiting faster than I anticipated! Needles, ugh.
Thank you kindly.
The first game has sold me enough where I don’t really feel the need to play the demo. Unless the demo is particularly unique, in that it isn’t just an isolated section of the game, I normally have enough in my library to keep me distracted where I don’t bother checking them out.
At the very least, your reaction to the video is proof enough that the sequel will be good.
I read somewhere that Mega Man X3 was secretly licensed out to a third-party developer (like what they did with Mega Man 2 on Game Boy) which would explain the empty levels, easier bosses, and why Neon Tiger’s theme manages to sound so awful in both the SNES and PS1 versions.
I didn’t know that but certainly believe it. It really stands out compared to the other X games so far and even the originals in terms of quality drop.Definitely feel like I spaced out on the music on that game in particular too but listening to them on YouTube now… yeah it’s not great.
Wow that’s a lot of games beaten, congratz !
Thank you, thank you. Hoping to keep up this momentum and average 10 games a month… though that’s a bit unrealistic. ^_^’