September Sum-Up

Well, I was planning to end my subscription last month, but it turns out that the Game Pass app and the Windows Store has different expiration date, and I blindly followed the Game Pass’ expiration which was slightly longer. My sub was extended without me realizing it until one day before the Game Pass’ expiration date ends, so I have to stick for another month. Well, at least they have 2 new additions that I’m looking forward to play (which you can guess from the list below).

New Super Lucky's Tale

1000 of 1000 gamerscore

A nice collecthaton game. Levels are varied from each other so it doesn't feel repetitive, and the difficulty is easy enough for casual players.

Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling

675 of 1000 gamerscore

I didn't expect it to be this fun tbh. I only tried it since I was eyeing on it and it was about to leave the Game Pass. It's a turn-based RPG with QTEs on its attacks. The battles can feel slow because of it, but it's still fun nonetheless. What I liked the most is that you can customize the characters for different builds easily.

Tinykin

805 of 1000 gamerscore

Another collecthathon. I think I might be starting to like them. This one is unique. You are a small kin going around in a huge house. The background looks like the house setting, but there are some stacks of objects to make it easier for you to traverse the area with your small size. You need to explore 1-2 huge rooms in each level, finish the quests, and find some collectibles to proceed. The bad thing is that it can be hard to 100% it since the game has no item tracker, but there are some video guides that can help you if you don't mind spending some time for it.

Bugsnax

1000 of 1000 gamerscore

The only word that reminds me of this game is: gross. I know, the game looks cute and all (and it is). You are traveling to an island that has "food monsters" (aka living foods). It starts as a photography game where you can snap a pic of them to get their info, but it's more focused on catching the monsters at the end. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed playing the game, but I just don't like seeing some of the monsters. Imagine a carrot walking like a snake, a burger having legs that can bump you several meters away whenever they see you - I think I got PTSD from that. Moreover, the game took this "you are what you eat" motto… literally. Your body can literally change based on what you eat (yes, you eat the living monster food). Now, imagine again of you, but with a popsicle hand, a gummy body, a popcorn leg… okay, I'll stop there.

Again, don't get me wrong. The game is fun. See how I 100% it? That's because I liked it. But it ends up more creepy and gross than I thought. I'll still recommend it to people since it's really fun to play, but I don't think I have the courage to play it again… The game is more of a one time thing for me.

Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony

290 of 1000 gamerscore

I was very excited when I saw V3 came on Game Pass last month. I heard that it can be treated as a standalone, and seeing that the game has always been more expensive than the other 2 (which is reasonable), I still can't justify a reason to get it, especially since I haven't bought the first 2 on Steam. FYI, I already played the first game and watched the whole anime ages ago so I already know about the lore to some extent.

Well, the game gave me so much despair - there are a lot of likeable characters in this game and they die easily… I don't think I ever felt this when I played the first game. The trials are fun and the twists always get me interested. I couldn't predict on who is who before the trial starts. I also liked how the game tries to guide your thoughts to understand the thinking process. There are some that I had to brute force, but it's not as much as when I played the second one (more on that later).

The last chapter kinda ruins it though. I don't like how the revelation came out to be, but since the game is kinda open ended, I'll just let it slide and forget whatever happened (and pretend that they are all having a happy ending). Plus, the last trial is stretching it too much.

Lastly, the game can be super grindy if you want to 100% it, so I hope you are not playing it for that… I wonder why they keep on adding these grindy minigames to a visual novel game…

Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair

360 of 1000 gamerscore

Yes, I know it's weird that I played V3 before 2. I only planned to play V3 before, but I wanted to play more after what happened. Plus, I haven't played this game and only watched the anime, so I thought that was fine. I didn't realize how many spoilers that I got before I played it though…. The revelation at the last 2 chapters doesn't give as much impact as I thought since I already know who and what happened. All things aside, it was still a nice game. I didn't know who killed who so the other trials took me by surprise.

However, compared to V3, 2 is just… lacking. I know that it's weird to compare a third series with the second one, but since I heard so many backslash on V3, I thought that it was way worse than 2. The UI is the first one I noticed. It's hard to figure out whether it's the MC or the character in front of me that is talking. Plus, most characters are not likeable. They all seemed to be foreshadowed by 1 character with their craziness. The rest feels like extras with a unique trait in each of them. And then the trials. Unlike V3 that has a clear motives, this one is more… unrealistic. It's also harder to figure out what the game wants when the game ask me something since there are more than one evidence that can lead to the same answer. Well, if you manage to get past it, it's still an enjoyable game. It still gives that nice twist and surprise, but just don't expect too much.

Beacon Pines

1000 of 1000 gamerscore

It's another visual novel. If you like to read books and interactive fictions, well, you'll like this game. You'll spend half of the time reading a book and half of it moving your characters to a certain point to talk. I was surprised that all lines are voice dubbed, tbh, and the voice dubber did her job well. The game feels like reading those CYOA book that require you to flip to a certain page to see what happened based on your choice - it branches itself at some point based on your decision, and you need to get info from all branches to figure out what happened. However, since there is only 1 good ending, it can feel odd sometimes. The epilogue has people know everything that happened despite it not being explained in the branch you are in.

Well, since I mistook my Game Pass expiration date, I joined some PA giveaways and won one of them, so I ended up playing a Steam game from my backlog.

Abyss: The Wraiths of Eden

8.2 hours

18 of 20 achievements

Full review

Funnily enough, I got a feeling that I have played it in my phone years ago. Still, I don't remember most of it though so it's like a brand new experience to me. It's another Artifex Mundi game, so you know how it is. One achievement seems to be broken though (or maybe bugged in mine). I already tried to play the game several times but I still can't get that one.

The dropped list:
Aragami 2. I always wanted to play stealth game (used to play it in the past and enjoyed it), but Aragami 2 is just… too much for my completionist self. The map is just too vast so it can be hard to finish the level without being caught. I know that you don’t need to do that to finish the game, but I just can’t help myself doing it in a stealth game. At the end of the day, I ended up getting more frustrated with it and since I can’t seem to figure out how to eavesdrop in one of the levels without being seen, I decided to drop the game for my sanity.

IMMORTALITY. It’s a game that I wish I can keep on playing, but I just can’t. You need to spend hours to click an object in a video to find a new video clip until you find them all, in which you can finally start to watch the video and understand what happened. It’s a very tedious process. I just decided that it’s not worth it and dropped it until the game somehow decide to add an option to show all videos at once (which I doubt will happen).

Day of the Tentacle Remastered. I think I got spoiled by Game Pass games. I suddenly don’t find point and click games that attractive anymore, or maybe it’s just this game. I just don’t like it when I can’t progress the text and have to wait until the voice dub finish talking before reading the next line - it breaks my concentration. Plus, it can be hard to figure out what you are supposed to do - since I’ll have to use guide to finish the game with a story that I don’t find captivating, I decided that it’s not worth it.

Ni no Kuni Wrath of the White Witch™ Remastered. I tried to like it, but I just can’t. The game has too many touch encounters with a high respawn rate. Plus, the combat is too weird. It tries to be a semi active turn-based with you able to walk and choose a command, but you can’t walk after you choose a command despite you having to walk to the enemy to attack several times. Plus, there is a mechanic where you need to defend if the enemy does something, and I can’t seem to do it fast enough with the control scheme. I might be more interested in playing it if the game is in an action RPG style with me slashing the enemies instead of giving command, or maybe stick with either a traditional turn-based style or make it a command-based like in Digimon World but with dumber enemies.

As for next month, I’ll be playing Game Pass games until my sub ends, and then switch to my Steam backlog. I would try more of the Game Pass’ recent additions if my sub doesn’t end this soon, but with my mood wanting to get back to my Steam backlog ASAP and tired from checking out games that didn’t work for me, I think I’ll play it safe this month.