Charles Nonsens

Report #22: January 2022

This month I managed to put away four titles - more than I had expected - although, to be fair, one I had already played halfway through and two were very short. I also reached a milestone of sorts - 150 Steam games beaten. (I did not bring cake. :sadcat:)

Metro 2033 had languished in my Steam library since 2012, when I bought the THQ Humble Bundle, and it is the first game from that bundle that I’ve actually played… Overall, it’s a pretty dated FPS, and the voice acting in the English-language version is hammy and exaggerated. While I find the Moscovian underground setting interesting in theory, I am not fond of dungeon-crawling in general. The few missions where you have to venture up above ground are a welcome relief both in setting and gameplay - the underground levels play mostly on rails (sometimes literally) whereas the outdoor, above-ground ones are much more open to exploration and challenge as to where one needs to go. One more note about this game: Where are the women? The game depicts an already bleak future filled with war, disease, and radiation; if there are also no women, I’d just as well give it to the mutants.

I suppose Amnesia: The Dark Descent qualifies as a classic by now, being one of the first titles that popularized survival horror gaming aspects and that aimed to put the player in a state of intensely experienced vulnerability. In some ways, the goth-like setting of Amnesia’s medieval castle felt like a continuation of Metro’s repurposed subway, but of course, we do not have the option of pumping the monsters full of lead. This game too is rather dated, and it never feels like you are inside an actual castle, as opposed to a video-game dungeon. Also, isn’t it time to retire the overused memory-loss trope, as well as the torn-pages-from-a-diary-spread-out-over-several-levels one (it may technically have a different name)? I am not a fan of horror in general, but I have to admit that Amnesia contained a few delightful “OH S##T!” moments of pure adrenaline. It’s also fairly short, so I don’t regret playing it.

The Room is a relaxing, short, and sweet puzzler. The objective is to explore a few pieces of elaborate machinery to uncover the secrets hidden inside. This game knows what it is and doesn’t try to be anything else.

My final assassination of the month was walking sim The Fidelio Incident. You take control over the protagonist after a small-plane crash on Iceland and are tasked with finding your missing partner. There is a whole backstory to discover (also by way of torn-pages-from-a-diary-spread-out-over-several-levels), but thankfully there is no amnesia to battle - the player gets to uncover truths that are already known to the playing character. Some puzzles, nothing hard. Its achievements are bugged and didn’t unlock for me.

I don’t expect much gaming in February because of work obligations, so it was nice to be able to put away a few titles in January.

Stay pretty until next time, assassins! (Only a month away, you can do it!)

Beaten or Completed

Also Played

robilar5500

The women are in Last Light. You’re almost there.

Charles Nonsens

Thanks, I may try to fit that in soon then!