Skiah

August Update:


I didn’t expect to get too much done because I had a house guest through a good portion of the month but surprisingly, I can cross quite a few off. Not all good by any means but at least they are complete! Also it balances out because August was the month I played the best game of the year so far, and probably the best game I have ever played. The bar, its high from now on. :)

August was a great month in general though, I got my remodeling done and when my guest got here we had a blast alternating between reading Lovecraft and Poe out loud, playing games (in both our inventories), watching Whose Line and making really good food. He’s coming back in November and I’m hoping to get some decent local co-op games in my inventory by then (and if anyone has really good recs on those please let me know).


  • SOMA
    SOMA

    22 hours playtime

    10 of 10 achievements

  • Mandagon
    Mandagon

    29 minutes playtime

    5 of 5 achievements

  • CUPID - A free to play Visual Novel
    CUPID - A free to play Visual Novel

    6 hours playtime

    67 of 67 achievements

  • Entschuldigung
    Entschuldigung

    46 minutes playtime

    no achievements

  • Plantera
    Plantera

    13 hours playtime

    29 of 29 achievements

  • Crystal City
    Crystal City

    3 hours playtime

    6 of 6 achievements

  • Discouraged Workers TEEN
    Discouraged Workers TEEN

    8 hours playtime

    14 of 14 achievements

  • Euclidean
    Euclidean

    7 hours playtime

    10 of 13 achievements


Soma [completed 08/07]: ★★★★★★★★★★ x100 ?!
Even though I have stated before that all my mini-reviews on BLAEO are to be taken with a grain of salt, biased and without any objectivity… I really do not know how I can possibly talk about Soma without deteriorating into a blathering idiot and rambling way past my limit of a single small paragraph. So I’m going to force myself to be as brief and blunt as possible. This is not a game, its an experience and its the best story I’ve ever encountered. In anything. Its like it was made for me. I still don’t get it. Its stuck in me now, I can’t stop thinking about the story and all its possible implications and meanings. I almost passed on this title because Frictional Games made it, and everything Frictional I have ever touched, while being next level, broke me in half and in the case of that once series, gave me nightmares without pity or compassion for like 2 gd months. Whatever it is, I know if it’s Frictional its gonna hit me, hard. I don’t know why, but Soma is their masterpiece. There were a few times I was unnerved and terrified but for the most part I wasn’t scared because I was too busy openly crying the entire time I was playing and I fully admit I sobbed openly when it ended. I expected what I got in the end but at the same time I was praying it didn’t turn out that way… and of course it did. Then again, after the credits rolled I got a little bonus that was the only other end I could see, so both happened. And I cried even more. Its glorious. Existential. Hopeful and hopeless. Simple and deep. I just. God. I love this game.

Guess I should have known a story that boils down to “sci-fi laced existential void horror about what it means to be truly alive, sentient, and human (bonus: with robots and eldritch tentacles)” would be everything I ever wanted in a story, but Frictional’s name had me so spooked I couldn’t even bring myself to play it without my best friend here with me. Note: Said friend called every single reaction I had and also said I shouldn’t play it without someone nearby to hug, anyway. Lol. Legit.

Mandagon [completed 08/21]: ★★★★★★★★✰✰
Short and sweet with a somewhat vague but cohesive enough story. A little platformer than takes place in a Tibetan Buddhist temple. Gorgeous pixel graphics and worth the hour or so I spent in it.

Cupid (VN) [completed 08/23]: ★★★★★★★★✰✰
Oh… my god. I saw this game in a SG thread about some of the best free games. This is a gothic style visual novel set in Victorian era France and my god, is it dark. I suppose it could be classified as erotic horror, and its a slow burn story with payoff. A lot of psychological horror aspects too. I really did like this game a lot and I don’t feel the sexual aspects (while certanly graphic enough to earn the adult rating) were just shoehorned in and actually moved the plot along and strengthened the impact. There’s an option to tone it down some too but I’m not sure how different the entire game is with it selected. There’s also a great deal of emotional abuse in the theme and lots of taboos broken. I don’t mind this kind of stuff in fiction especially if the story is well done, but I think anyone who is truly bothered by these sorts of things, should uhhhh… maybe pass on this one. Yeah. Also I spent the whole time wondering WHY its called Cupid. Well, now I know. Haha.

Entschuldigung [completed 08/25]: ★★★★✰✰✰✰✰✰ [SG Win]
It was so good! Dark! Brooding! Tense! Kinda terrifying!! …Until the end. What the fuck was that? What was the point? Not to mention awkward, seemingly out of character and without any sort of repercussions??? A total wtf letdown, and I’m not even getting into what that action actually implies and probably is. Yuck.

Plantera [completed 08/26]: ★★★★★★★✰✰✰
A really fun little idle/clicker game with nice music and really cute graphics. I wanted this one for a long time and finally got it in the sale. I’d give it more than seven stars sheerly because of how cute and fun it is, if there was more content towards the end. The last 75% of it is mostly just logging in and out again. There’s nothing to really do at the end but wait, hence knocking off a few stars. Still enjoyed it though.

Crystal City [completed 08/26]: ✰✰✰✰✰✰✰✰✰✰ [SG Win]
Between Cupid and the game after this one on the list I want to make it clear that I am not aghast when it comes to sexual content as a general rule (though I mean more in a plot/story setting, I want NOTHING to do with that wank simulator category of games that belongs on the anime version of porn hub) but this game is a mistake. If I can be completely honest I sort of cheated my way to 100% because at a certain point I put it on my small monitor with auto advance on and watched British comedies on my larger screen and just sort of ignored the game as it plodded along. I knew my interest in visual novels would one day lead me to the rubbish bin, especially some of those obviously meant for a male audience. This is one of those trash games that’s meant to be racy and nothing more. But the writing is so atrocious all I did was groan and roll my eyes until I couldn’t take it anymore. If you’re gonna be brave enough to write blatant smut, knowing how to write first would be a suggestion. The plot is garbage too (shocking I know).

Discouraged Workers (Teen) [completed 08/27]: ★★★★★★✰✰✰✰ [SG Win]
This one was much more of a heavy hitter than I expected. Really good, and at the sad end, I realized I was a lot more invested than I thought I was. And I really wanted to work for a better resolution for the characters. I’m actually really interested in the adult version now. I know it has sex scenes that are cut from the teen version, and its a well written VN so I expect those scenes to heighten the story in some way. Also this game deals with some difficult themes like depression and suicide, so I wonder if that area is more detailed in the adult version too. I’ve only docked some stars because its really boring in some areas (I don’t mind slow burn at all but it was losing my attention at times - though there was definite payoff). I wonder if the other version overcomes this fault. Its entirely possible the boring areas were simply filler or linking content to bridge gaps in the teen version. I’m considering getting the full game if it ever goes on sale substantially or gets bundled.

Euclidean [completed 08/29]: ★★★★★★★✰✰✰
Simple and at first, very frustrating. But once you figure out what the game expects of you, its pleasant to play. Surprisingly, this is one of the most Lovecraftian things I’ve ever played, and I loved it. Creepy as hell. YMMV on the actual “gameplay” but I wouldn’t have wanted it to be more than it is – helplessly falling into oblivion. The eldritch abomination/elder god? thing? that talks to you the entire time is surely what makes this game. I wish there was more (giving myself a “completed pass” on this because the remaining achievements include things like dying 500 times and not dying at all and I don’t have time for that nonsense).


As nice as it is, I think I’m going to permanently abandon the idea of having a final monthly stats part down here, because while its nice to see perfect games and more achievements, its worse having to stare at how much my library continues to grow because I can’t resist a good bundle (like the current bundlestars dollar bundle). :)

GiseIIe

I’m glad you liked Cupid, one of my favourite western visual novel 💗
I’m waiting for the devs to make a new game, they have all my support.

Skiah

Me too, I’d gladly support them on a paid project, wow! I don’t know what I expected but it wasn’t that lol. A great game indeed!

kiseli

Wow, what review about Soma :D I am speechless :)
I liked their other games Penumbra and Amnesia, and i must say Soma looks way better then them :D Sadly i missed the game while it was part of HB Monthly, but looking forward to playing it one day :D

Skiah

I missed it in the monthly too but I bought it when it was pretty heavily on sale and its definitely worth the money. The writing, the mood, the aesthetic… all just stellar and it all works so well together. I really can’t say enough, but on the other hand I can’t say anything at all because its honestly one of those things where going in totally blind is best. :)

kiseli

Well there is huge discount now too, but sadly i know that this PC i am currently using won’t be able to run it. So will have to wait better days :)
I know the basic story and heard only that there is way more then that :D And saying for a game that it is a masterpiece is more then enough :)

Belmas

Great progress!

Soma is sitting on my wishlist for a while and it looks great. But I still haven’t beaten Amnesia or the other Frictional games on my account so I will wait a bit longer :)

Euclidean caught my eye a couple of weeks ago but that VR tag put me off. Do you own a VR set or is the game also satisfying without it?

Skiah

I’ll just say that its very different from the other frictional games as far as the totally horrifying factor goes and for pure “god this is horrible I REALLY don’t want to open this door or move ever again” nothing will ever beat Amnesia most likely. Soma is very different as far as the form the horror elements take.

Nope, no VR here and I still loved Euclidean. Like I said in my review though, keep in mind its not the most active or gripping as far as actual gameplay goes, but I was captivated by the mysterious…. void horror fellow lol.

Kap

I had my eye on Soma already, but you just completely sold me on it! :D

Skiah

I can’t recommend it enough if you like a good story. <3 If you do play it I really want to know if you liked it afterwards!