December Update

I hope you all had a nice time during the holidays so far :3

I beat a really good amount of games this month (17 according to BLAEO), although most of my backlog progress was easily wiped over the past week due to gifts :P

As the year comes to a close it’s time to look back and see how the backlog slaying went. I wish I had the foresight to keep a full log of my data to make comparisons and graphs like other BLAEO members did, but unfortunately I only know the number of games I’ve taken off the backlog this year.

130.

Although it includes a decent amount of very short games it still looks impressive to me, as if I were asked how many game I thought I’d beat it this year I would have probably guessed half of that ^_^

I’ll only write about some of the games I’ve played as I don’t have enough time to write about every single one of them, maybe I’ll address the rest in a follow up post or in the comments if anyone’s interested in a game from the list. Have fun and happy 2018 ^_^

From Key, the masters of tear-jerking VNs, comes Harmonia, a tear-jerking VN ^_^

While reading I kept thinking “whatever Harmonia is doing, Planetarian did it better”.

While I can’t exactly refute that thought after completing the novel, I have to admit that it picked up a bit of steam in the second half.
I’m not sure if that warrants a recommendation though, as I honestly think there are better novels in the sub-genre like the aforementioned Planetarian and eden*

“This game is not suitable for children or those who are easily disturbed.” Kind of a weird warning for a dating sim ain’t it? :3

I didn’t know much going into it but I saw a lot of hype about it. I initially thought that I would end up disappointed by a merely ok game, hyped out of control thanks to word of mouth and its 0$ price tag.

While those elements certainly played a factor in the success of the game, I definitely think every praise DDLC is getting is well deserved, and if you haven’t already you should probably check it out. Just take that warning seriously if you don’t think you can handle it and go into it without too much research. Also stay away from the fandom, it gets really weird :3

Home is Where One Starts… drops you in the middle of a lifeless and non-descript country place, and as you aimlessly wander around you sometimes get some audio when getting near “plot items”. I usually enjoy Walking Simulators, even bad ones, as long as they have a story that interests or touches me in some way; this one definitely didn’t have an interesting story.
It’s hard to even find words to describe how dull of an experience it was, but at least it was short >_>

It would have been good for last month’s theme as it’s completely devoid of text… Oh well :3

Weird, dark, gross, funny, disturbing. These are some of the words that can be used to describe Bulb Boy, which at its core is just a pretty average point-and-click game with some action-y boss sections.
It’s short and unique enough that I can easily recommend it to people looking for something unusual, despite some shortcomings in the gameplay department.

Another short and weird game that was brought to my attention thanks to the recent bundles.

The titular Sarah is a girl currently in a coma and the game is supposedly going on in her head (thus “Dreaming” Sarah :P).
The game is a non-linear puzzle platformer at its core, with its level design being the absolute star of the show.

The devs really did a lot with the “dreaming” theme, giving you a nice amount of differently themed levels which explore Sarah’s mind, with surreal and sometimes a little disturbing imagery which lets you piece together her story.

I followed a guide to get through it as there’s a bit of backtracking involved at times, but it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out where to go next even without one.

I signed up for the “1$ for 1 year” OnePlay deal and I was wondering when I’d finally decide to start playing some of their games.
A friend of mine saw the sequel to “A Normal Lost Phone” in my wishlist (I had removed ANLP when I saw it on OnePlay :p) and they decided to gift it to me, so I guess it was time to tackle both!

I actually need to take the word “sequel” back as the 2 games have nothing in common except their name and core mechanics.
In both games you are presented with the screen of the titular “lost phone” and you have to look around notes and conversations to find out more about the life of the phone’s owner.
The novel idea (which would admittedly work best when playing on an actual mobile device) is executed well, and the stories of the owners are pretty unusual for the videogame medium even though they are told with the subtlety of a sledgehammer, which ticked me off a bit.

…more like BAD VN amirite? -.-
A mysterious phone game that promises you’re gonna die in real life after making a wrong choice. A bunch of people seemingly kick the bucket after playing and you as the main character decide to look into it.

With a plot device like that, which at this point can be considered extremely cliché, BAD END needed to do a lot to stand out and be considered good.
Unfortunately I can’t say it succeeds at doing that, and the result is a simply boring experience.