August 2021
“How many more bones will you crush? How many lives will you destroy in pursuit of what you call justice? You are the product of everything you fear. Violence… Darkness… Helplessness… All that remains is for you to watch as I drag your beloved Gotham into oblivion.” - Batman: Arkham Knight
“You’re a third rate duelist with a fourth rate deck!” - Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links
I’m not particularly sure what to say for this update. I’ve been pretty busy on self improvement. This includes losing 10 lbs, gaining muscle, and learning new skills (such as animation). Naturally this has taken away from my general game and backlog killing. Despite this, October is sure to be a very busy month and excited to see what it has in store.
After a lot of criticisms and (understandably) poor release for PC, it was a little hard to start this game despite having played and enjoyed it on console. Even with a lot of the negativity behind this, I can still say that playing it again was very nice return to the end of the series. If you aren’t aware, this is game 4 of the Arkham series and direct sequel to game 2 Arkham City.
Gameplay is very much consistent with the series as you will largely deal with freeflow combat and use various gadgets to do so. When you are not fighting, you will be using said gadgets to traverse various areas. The biggest addition to this is the Batmobile. You will not only use this to travel across the city, but solve some puzzles, participate in tank battles, and even assist in regular hand to hand combat with remote actions. The batmobile was probably one of the most controversial aspects of the game outside of any performance issues. The issues I have heard are the amount of batmobile gameplay you will need to incorporate, specifically tank battles. It didn’t bother me too much, but if it isn’t something you don’t like it may cause some weariness.
The story is pretty solid and fairly dramatic with the high stakes Scarecrow has provided the city along with being the final entry. Graphically, the game does look amazing as It is still pretty recent. There were some issues with minor clipping but fairly unnoticeable if you are not looking for it. I’ve only had one crash and that was due to my trying out some NVIDIA settings.
DLC: The dlc contains a few additional stories. Some of which are accessible in main game while others are standalone. They are all incredibly short and generally okay, but I did really enjoy the Cold Heart story. Every other DLC addition is either cosmetics (costumes/batmobile skins) or challenge room/characters for AR challenges. These challenges are either predator missions with the goal to sneak and take out the enemies with cunning and silence. The other challenges are pure combat where you must dispatch your foes while maintaining high combos and scores with variations. If you are going to get any of the DLC, I do highly recommend getting the Season Pass as you will get all the DLC available for the game for a steal.
Lewd? Nope, save for a few spandex or leafy butts. ;)
Recommend? Yes, especially for those who enjoyed the rest of the series or Batman in general.
A puzzle game that gives you a goal, some set pieces, and a tray of tools that you can use in order to achieve said goal. The pieces you can get sometimes be rotated or flipped depending on the piece type as well offers a button to inform you what each piece does. Puzzles are grouped in packs that tend to dictate a theme or difficulty, though I felt some puzzles in harder difficulties were easier than ones in previous packs.
This game is pretty decent but got old pretty fast. The actual puzzles and physics work fairly well. Graphically, it wasn’t to my appeal as the cartoony designs just didn’t suit my taste.
Lewd? Nope
Recommend? Not really, at least for my tastes. It is a genuinely decent puzzle game, but can look pretty chaotic and messy with everything set in place.
A classic beat-em-up in the modern day. If you are new to the Double Dragon series (just as I) it tends to center around two playable twins fighting against opposing forces. In this case the Shadow Warriors gang, led by super-lich Skullmageddon, who steal Marian (a love interest?). This game is pretty much a nostalgia trip of the 80’s and classic beat-em-ups as it has all the tropes and very self aware. You’ve got your 80’s synth wave music, neon lights, classic dojo settings along with over the top transitions and map variances, cassette tapes, etc. Even Skullmageddon is easily a reference to Skeletor.
The combat is solid and the dialogue and scenarios, comedic.
Lewd? No. There may be a cast of Dominatrix, but they are here purely for business of beating your butt.
Recommend? Yes, especially for those who have an appreciate for Beat-Em-Ups and the 80s.
1-4 player action RPG. This game pits you to face a set of trials. There are 4 unique weapons that dictate your available skills along with basic attacks as well as control an orb by drawing it to you in order to solve puzzles or activate buffs. Essentially you have to complete a set of triasl before facing a boss, defeat the main bosses of the game to face the final champion and gain a sort of freedom for your tribe.
Gameplay is pretty simplistic and definitely urges co-op functionality. Despite this, the game is very completable on your own, so no need to worry if you have no friends available.
Lewd? Nope
Recommend? Yes, this game offers an enjoyable experience in both combat and puzzles.
Episodic SHMUP that centers around a surviving pilot that gained access to an experimental ship and must work with the remaining survivors to get back to Earth. Combat largely revolves around your ability to fly your ship and shoot at opposing space bugs, bandits, and enemy factions. There is a dodge functionality, boost, and an array of upgrades for your ship including the ability to mod your ships bullet spreads, effects, etc. Find scrap to purchase these upgrades (when available) or find them out in the field. The biggest grievance to this is that you can mostly only purchase between chapters and you can only buy 1 health restoration per unique visit. If you have a rough time, you are really going to need to play more careful because there is not much getting back. You can find health out in the field, but it is rare.
Despite being a space pilot, you will seldom actually be in open space as you will enter various “dungeons” which will either be giant space rocks or destroyed ships. Once you enter, the areas will provide a segmented map with a rough area of where you are and maybe a destination. If lost, you will have a cursor pointing you in the correct direction.
Each episode consists of several chapters, and every episode has you starting with your upgrades wiped, but reimburses somewhat with scrap to get them back. The story, for the most part, is whatever. It really does just service as a way to give reason for you to go through the missions. Dialogue is pretty well done though along with the writing. The animation leaves a little bit to be desired, but it does seem to be an artistic choice rather than just a lack of effort.
Lewd? Nope
Recommend? Yes, genuinely enjoyed this game and it offered refreshing surprises to limit the games staleness. It is to note the game feels as if it ends somewhat abruptly, though the game did not overstay it’s welcome at least.
My distaste for Painkiller simply does not cease. This is another fan-made addition to the series still on the original engine with a new protagonist. You play Bill, a hired assassin who gets a guilty heart and ends up dead from his own deeds. Stuck in Limbo, he must battle to try and find his way out with the help of an angel on his shoulder.
The gameplay is much of the same as the rest with some slight adjustments to the order of guns he carries which more reflect Daniel’s kit more so than Belial’s. The story and cinematics are very close to that of Max Payne as they are done in a comic book style with gritty visuals and heavy monologues. I experienced a lot of the same issues I had in the previous expansion with insanely long load times and crashes. The maps were far bigger than the previous games, a little too big, and had a major issue where spawning into the 4th chapter caused me to fall through the map.
Recommend? Nope, once again I failed to enjoy an entry in the series. Both gameplay is okay at best with a lot of performance issues.
Same old engine, same old problems. Initially, this game showed promise as the load times and performance issues seemed to be nil an issue. However, a new problem arose, the gameplay. Previously the games were relatively horde based, but they varied in their spawns, enemies, and map designs. This game has you flooded with enemies from very few spawn points, in tight but very plain areas. To make matters worse, once you deal with that horde you take a few steps and another horde event initiates. This continues throughout the entire level, for every level of the game. This repetition not only got ridiculous and boring, but was far too cruel and unenjoyable.
The story takes place after the events of the previous games where now Daniel and Belial work together to fight the demonic armies. All the story is told through words on a static background before throwing you back into the mess of the maps.
Recommend? Nope, same dislike of the games, new problems.
This game sort of happens in tandem of Redemption, but we return as Bill from Resurrection. Betrayed and alone, Bill must face his betrayer. This game is pretty much the exact same functionally as Redemption and thus has all the same problems. Can’t walk two steps without initiating a horde sequence. Horde events confine you to small areas with repeating limited spawn points, generally boring map design. See Redemption review for more details.
Recommend? Nope.
It’s hard to believe we actually got a Painkiller game on a new and different engine than the last 5 titles. Yet… the game is effectively a remake of the first original despite continuing the story. We once again play as Daniel who must go through most of the maps of the original, facing most of the bosses from the original while working for Death.
Graphically and performance wise, this game looks and plays well… well mostly. The designs of the characters still looks a bit rough. We do get a new addition to our arsenal. A gun that shoots saw blades, absorbs souls, and can possess enemies to fight on our side.
Recommend? Despite being the best in the series, I am going to say no. For the most part, this game still lacks so much and remains very unimaginative with the story and gameplay.
A nice little comfy game to lose track in as you suck in happy little slimes of many varieties and imprison them on your ranch. Not that it seems they mind. You are a newly formed rancher who seemed to have crossed the galaxy to find new beginnings on this farm. Your general goal is to build fences to house slimes, store slimes, grow/collect food, and feed slimes so they give you special slime gems to sell. Repeat ad nauseum. The more money you get means the better containments you can build, abilities for yourself, and unlock new areas with new slimes.
Feeding slimes other slime gems can cause them to mutate, but beware as feeding an advanced slime a third gem can cause them to turn to a horrifying blob that threatens you and your slimes. Each slime has their own preferences for food, and attributes including water, lava, fairy, etc. Each one produces their own kind of gem which vary in value. However, the gems work like a stock market and selling to much of a specific gem can lower it’s value over a short period of time.
There is a deeper story to this and you will learn as much as you receive emails and explore the land. To be honest, I couldn’t really care for it especially for the background romance story of your character that it was trying to force on you. I don’t care if my ex misses me, I’m here to farm some slimes dammit. Without this, and even with it, the gameplay loop can get pretty old pretty fast. As you start to hit critical mass, there isn’t much for you to do and maintaining the ranch can seem taxing. The game does try to refresh and create new opportunities once it introduces fabrication. Fabrication allows you to use gems and newly introduced resources to create a number of inventions. This gives you new venues to sink your money and resources into. Unfortunately, I could care less what most of the inventions did, and the time and rarity of the new resources was too much of a hassle to make any of it worth it.
Recommend? Generally yes, but it (for me) was very much of a short term game as the repetition gets old fast.
Though there is some catharsis release in planning out a cleaning routine for each map you visit. I gotta say, I still don’t like cleaning much even in the virtual world. As I progressed, I slowly formed overall strategies on how to take on each viscera filled horror map, and felt somewhat satisfied at a job well done. However, this quickly turns into a sickness as you feverishly use the sniffer to find the last few spots you overlooked.
My issues with the game revolve largely around some of the surprise mechanics of the game, likely my solo play, and just some general map design. The surprise mechanics include randomly getting body parts out of dispenser machines for your water buckets. It’s entertaining at first despite the frustration, but once your on your 10+ map, it’s just an inconvenience you wish you could turn off (especially when it occurs 5 times in a row). I’m sure this game is far more enjoyable with friends as you can laugh off someone spilling a bucket of dirty water or making a mess along with just having a potentially more efficient session. Lastly, some of the maps are just god awful to deal with, especially when it wants you to meld bullet holes off of low-resolution rock walls/cliffs. Who cares if there is a man-made crack in a cliff? It’s going to affect my rating if I don’t fix it though, so let me just stare at it until I can finally figure out which crack is the one I fix and which one is going to cause me to accidently burn the area again. I did however really appreciate the classic slasher horror map completely filled with obvious references.
Recommend? Kinda? I’d probably play it with friends if available and there is undoubtedly good maps that you can get a good cathartic release, but it really wasn’t something I could constantly return to after cleaning each map.
First game of the series remade with mechanics and more focus from Yakuza 0. Unlike 0, you will be playing solely as Kiryu as he walks the streets 17 years after the events of 0. With this being more focused on Kiryu, we get a much more streamlined story. We, of course, get the return of Majima as a sort of rival for Kiryu as he has nothing better to do but to find ways to get into Kiryu’s way. Though I would not say as impactful as 0, the story is still pretty tense with plenty of heavy dramatic scenarios and events. Oddly enough, there is a lot of relations this game’s story has with the movie Die Hard.
Combat is pretty similar to that of 0. Kiryu still has his 4 available styles of combat and most fights are done in a brawl sort of format. The skill tree to unlock skills is much more simplified as we no longer require exorbitant amounts of money to level up, but rather experience points you get from fighting or completing quests. The one bad trade off is that there are some skills that are kind of hidden, but the game gives you a tutorial on them at the beginning of the game. This lead me to believe they were unlocked considering they seemed to be a part of a crucial mechanic involving heat actions. Heat actions are back to offer great heavy hitting finishing moves both with and without objects. On this topic, the heat gauge is much more manageable as skills no longer require crazy precise circumstances to use.
Of course, Yakuza is very much about the side quests and minigames. There are a lot of returning minigames, including bowling, bat cages, and most importantly pocket car racing (among others). If the main quests have you feeling a bit down, there are plenty of side quests as well that often lead to either crazy, humorous, or just plain wholesome events.
Lewd? Kind of yeah. Between the Mesuking minigame (video game girls dressed in revealing bug costumes), and some risqué live actions scenes (side quest) this could make a nose bleed or two. Plus you do have muscled out Yakuza shirtless fighting in the streets. Something for everybody
Recommend? Very much yes. Despite having a more straightforward and somewhat lesser impactful moments, the game is still amazing in both combat and story. Very excited to start Kiwami 2.
Once again, we return to the virtual game of South Park. Sequel to Stick of Truth, this game returns with a focus on character customization, RPG elements, open world exploration, and the South Park humor we have grown with and love. No longer are we in a world of fantasy and myth, but that of superheroes. You get to pick your class of hero which gives you your set of moves. The cool thing is later you get to swap out moves for the potential multi-class system.
Despite continuing RPG based combat this game does not use the same simplified turn-based combat from the previous game. Instead it’s more of a tactical turn-based RPG as you must maneuver your team on a board and execute your moves to both deal damage without exposing your units to get destroyed in return. Some moves can cause status effects as well as push/pull enemies to execute more damage if they hit another character in the process. Additionally, your character has a secret power, the power of farts! These time bending farts give you the extra edge in battle and can consist of a multitude of abilities.
It really is nice to come to these kinds of games from time to time. It has the interaction of a game, but I also get to turn my brain of and just enjoy a comical established show. It really helps that the transitions between gameplay and cutscene are seamless. Combat is so much more enjoyable this time around since it is more than just single moves and pure QTEs. The tactical movements and attack areas give you something more to strategize.
Lewd? Somewhat, but nothing explicit.
Recommend? The story does seem to waver a bit more and I could care less for the crafting, but still enjoyed this through and through.
I didn’t realize it until I played this game, but SEGA did a lot of retro games as promotional material for their current series. This is one of them. A Streets of Rage-esque beat-em up that allows you to play varying characters through three small areas. The game technically takes place through Yakuza Kiwami and so I recommend not playing this until you play that. You will face an onslaught of enemies and three bosses. There are some pickup weapons and beneficial items. This probably takes no more than 30 min to beat and you can do consecutive playthroughs to get a high score. The gameplay is fairly similar as you can either do combo attacks, grabs, and a special that costs some of your own health.
Recommend? If you are able to get your hands on it, sure. It’s nice to see this reskinned beat em up as Yakuza, also it is free!
A puzzle game that gives some vibes of Portal, general aesthetic speaking. You are awakened from cryo sleep to figure out what happened to the missing crew. You and your AI must work your way through puzzles in order to figure out the mystery. These puzzles act as a Turing test, which is why the AI is in need of your creative and cognitive solutions. While you enter each area, and solve each puzzle, you will interact with the AI often speaking of philosophy and the perspectives between a human and AI. This helps fill some of the dead air while world building. Most of the puzzles were not too difficult, while some of the more difficult ones were often just due to not noticing a certain part of the puzzle.
Onto the bad w/ some slight suggestive spoilers:
Like most media with AI, this game is absolutely determined to make you think AI are evil. It’s not to say that it is or isn’t in this game, but holy heck does it try to pit you against it. It doesn’t even seem like there is that comparable of a reason either. I understand the points some of the characters try to make, but literally end up being absolutely unreasonable.
Recommend? Yes, a genuinely well-made puzzle game that tries to explore the differences between humans and AI.
Some time ago (years?) I wanted to get back into the children’s card game and could only find this for something that assured multiplayer availability. Very much a mobile game, but ported to Steam, I was able to enjoy it at my computer without an overheating battery drained phone. Due to being a mobile game, the classic card game has been modified to be a little bit more fast paced. This is done by removing two of the card columns, limiting some of the future mechanic expansions (this means no link summons), and adding in an ability mechanic. Though I’m fine with some of the limitations, I’m not so agreeable on the abilities. Essentially, you pick a character and slowly unlock skills. These skills give you an incredible advantage in battle. Anywhere ranging from a 1,000 point life point addition to things like seeing all face down cards on your opponent’s field or swapping out cards. Least to say, some abilities are just far superior to other’s especially if you are like me who doesn’t like using them period.
There is a huge catalogue of cards, both old and new, to customize your decks with. Cards are unlocked via packs which are unlocked by either using gems, your credit card, or both. Though you can certainly use actual money, gems are actually pretty common and plenty of events will make it rain on you with both cards and gems. So, no payment is every really needed if you put some time into this. Here comes the second grief of this game… the meta. Of course this goes true for most multiplayer games, but meta decks are real and they are coming. This mostly means that you are going to be facing 3 out of 5 people with Blue Eyes decks, while the other two will be some other meta deck, and if you are lucky you might find something semi-original. Other than a lack of variety in enemies, is the issue that you need to be able to counter any of this, despite only having a 20 – 30 card deck. It really gets to be unreal and there are some decks that unless they get their 1% brick, you are just going to lose.
Note: Accounts are transferrable between mobile phone and Steam, which is what I ended up doing due to a dislike of the mobile platform.
Recommend? Despite the issues, it still is an easy way to enjoy a nostalgic game. Plus, it is always being updated with new events, cards, balances, and mechanics.
This is certainly not what I thought this game was going to be. A visual novel without visuals, and an RPG maker game with a limited RPG aspect to it. The game starts off pretty interesting as you get to pick a couple characters from a literal party at an apartment. Each one has their own backstory and date. Once you pick you cast… it quickly goes downhill. It is at this point you now get to enjoy being at risk of evicted, barely getting by and having to find a way to get to your ex’s wedding. This, of course, is only made worse by the fact that inflation seems to be a thing and any job you do is not only mundane, far too long, but pays so little. First and foremost, your character has to eat like 10 burgers to be able to go to sleep and not die. These burgers are like $10 each, and some jobs will hardly pay you enough to do that. I didn’t even realize that fishing was an option until I sunk hundreds of dollars for food and I haven’t even gotten to the first bus yet. When I say the jobs are mundane, they are mundane. Factory jobs that require you to do well… factory work. For example, tofu allows you to work as much as you need until either you leave, or it depletes for the day. If you want to even dream of coming out positive for the day, you can very easily spend half an hour real time doing this. The story developments really are not that exciting, and the characters are okay at best.
Recommend? Absolutely not, I understand wanting to give a realistic simulation of life, but this truly was egregious and boring.
I pretty much dropped this out of pure lack of skill and general disinterest. Top down, rogue-like, pixel game that has you going from teleporter to teleporter while shooting/stabbing the oncoming zombie-like and robot enemies. There also is apparently a crafting system, but I could never figure out how to do it, which would have probably helped me greatly as all my resources would deplete.
Recommend? Not really, I’m barely sure what the story was either so I couldn’t use that to keep me going.
EDIT: Just realizing I missed a game because I could not get the generator to pull it.
N++ (NPLUSPLUS)
Status: Beaten
I really did not think I was going to get through this. I would like to note that I only beat the base game, there are still the additional legacy and ultimate addition packs that I am just not even going to attempt.
This game is a physics and momentum-based platformer that stresses you be quick, agile, and accurate with all your actions. Despite your only actions literally being run, jump and wall slide, it is very challenging.
You are on a timer to get to the exit gate. Often times you will need to hit a switch to open said gate and enter it. There are a surplus of obstacles including other switches, platforming, mines, rockets, lasers, and much more. If you run out of time, get hit, or fall too far/accelerate too quickly into a wall then you die and must restart the map. Collectibles are also stationed around the map which are there to tempt you, but also can extend your time slightly upon collection.
It’s very important to note that this game will cause high frustration, again this game is very challenging. It’s a little more complicated than that though. Each tab of levels has many packs of maps. Each pack has about 5 maps, and the maps must be completed in sequence in order to actually beating the pack. This means if you exit out for any reason, you will have to start over the entire pack. This has lead to me extending my play much more than I wanted to just because I did not want replaying a previously completed map. It is also very important to note that your time carries over from previous maps. This means you can effectively softlock yourself out of beating later maps if you are too slow to complete a previous one. This is not something I found out until about the last map pack… so many packs I beat with a shred of a second to spare… so much suffering.
Lewd? Nope
Recommend? I cannot deny that this game performs well. The music is great, and ability to switch color schemes keeps the visuals refreshing. I do recommend this game with a warning of much frustrations for your future.
Congrats on the weight loss and your completed games! I loved playing The Turing Test Although I wish there was a third option at the end. I tried to give warning shots but no dice.
Woah that’s a ton of hours into Yugioh. I liked the anime when I was younger but never really got into it or finished any seasons.
Thank you kindly.
I completely agree about your Turing Test comment. I did the same thing.
It’s definitely not the Yugioh only game I have sunk hours into (not to mention mobile hours). I do think it is time I put this one down. Maybe stop back every major update or so.
Back in the day, I only really watched the first iteration of Yugioh, but definitely was absorbed into the card game. Funnily enough, I somewhat recently (maybe 6 months ago?) decided to watch through all of the series. Partly due to wanting to buy and open packs for some nostalgia trips. It’s very interesting to find what all gets censored or change when they dub it over to English for the US.
The only one I’ve seen was the one where the mc had brown hair. I think he went to a school? I don’t remember the entire plot but he shot a card up into space. I think if I ever get into the game series I’ll figure out what movie/series that was and check it out again. I remember liking it because he looked more normal than other main characters with wildly colored hairstyles.
Anyway, I hope you reach your goal weight (If you haven’t already) and lifestyle, it’s hard at first but it’s worth it.
That would be the second series, Yugioh GX. He certainly looks more normal. It starts out light hearted enough, but gets super twisted at the end as he has to face a sentient yandere card from his past.
I appreciate it. Nowhere near my goal (140 lb/15% body fat) as I am only hitting 175 give or take muscle mass. Definitely slipped up this week, but forcing myself back in the groove.
Good luck in your backlog and any ambitions you hold!
Dang thats a lot of hours on yugioh
It probably doesn’t even include the hours I played on my phone (I should have probably mentioned accounts are transferrable between mobile and Steam).
I probably could have reduced the hours had I been smarter and more consistent on getting the last achievement. Still, I enjoyed it most of the way through!