La Volpe

The Second Post!

Who would have thought I have enough energy or time to write another Backlog Report? Not me I guess :P
Played some good games and removed two games from my SG wins, slowly reaching 100% SG completion!

Vanquish

30.5 hours, 50 of 50 achievements

Fast-paced third-person shooter by the legendary video game studio, PlatinumGames! And the only game I managed to 100% this month :P
Originally exclusive to PS3 and Xbox 360 consoles, it was later re-released for PC on PlatinumGames' 10th Anniversary along side Bayonetta with additional features like Cloud Save, Trading Cards, Unlocked resolutions and framerates and more graphical options.
Vanquish can be best described as an anti-cover shooter; while it's advised to take cover once in a while to avoid projectiles, its focus is more on moving, its fast firefights and the sliding-boost mechanic. Speaking of slide-boost, this game was the first to use it in a 3D setting and it inspired a fair bit of games like Bulletstorm and Titanfall.
The story is kinda simple, not as deep as other PlatinumGames' works, but it's still fun and characters are interesting. As you probably guessed, gameplay is where the game shines! It's fun, weapons are varied and meleeing enemies never gets old. Believe me, it must be played because words can't do enough justice how fun it is!
I still had a minor problem: The game is super short, you can finish it in 3-4 hours on easy difficulty and 8-10 on hard mode, but that kinda turned out to be in favor of the game since gameplay doesn't change and it is mostly same throughout the game.
Also, after you finish each Chapter, you unlock one Tactical Challenge. There is a total of 6 Tactical Challenges, last one unlocks after you finish the first 5. These challenges are the ultimate test of your skills and patience, and your only obstacle to achieve 100% achievement completion. Took me like, 10 hours to beat them :P
Overall a fun game, worth your time if you like fast-paced shooters!


Magic of Autumn

4.7 hours, 9 of 32 achievements

Minimal card game with exploration on an overworld.
You are the Imperial Warden, the most powerful conjurer of the Eight Kingdoms, or at least you were, before your soul was stolen and you became an immortal phantasm. You searched years for your soul and finally found it on a distant island, just during the Autumn, the season of decay.
That's pretty much the summary of the story, there isn't much into it and nothing much changes, so don't expect a deep, meaningful one. Its focus isn't on story though, it's on cards!
Your opponents are "Runes", stone obstacles that block your paths to other parts of the island. If you want to get new cards and access other parts of the island, you must break them. Not all runes are like each other, one might have high protection while another one uses only offensive cards. That adds a layer of puzzle into the game on how to defeat each rune. Some runes are optional though, and there are challenge runes if you want a harder challenge for your skills.
The process of collecting cards is where the exploration comes into play. Any object on the overworld can be turned into cards. Trees? Yes, Ghosts? Yup, Even runes? Absolutely! Cards can be divided into two groups: Idols and Wishes. Idols are your main cards that remain on the board until their health reaches zero. Wishes are single-use cards with special effects.
You and your opponent start with 2-3 cards on hand and a certain amount of warmth and health, you always start with 10 healths. Warmth is used for playing the cards on the board and each card needs a certain amount of warmth. The round goes on until you or your opponent's health reaches zero. There are no consequences for losing, but if you win you can proceed further into the island.
In short a fine card game, and it's only 20 MB!


Psychonauts

35.4 hours, 36 of 37 achievements

Double Fine's classic action/adventure platformer and by far the most acclaimed one. Is it as brilliant as people say it is? Yes, and maybe even more than that!
I played it because Psychonauts 2 was about to release and I wanted something different to play. Shame I didn't play it sooner ^^"
Characters are incredible, the story is fantastic and the gameplay has aged like fine wine! Still enjoyable to this day.
Something that bothered me the most is that the game has permanently missable collectables and you can't access the camp after a point of no return. You still can go back to the camp using an exploit to collect remaining collectables there, but a Golden Statue on one of the worlds is inaccessible if you finish it first, making you to replay the whole game just for that! There is also a Christmas Event achievement, you can get it by changing your system's date, but I want to get it legit, so you will see this game again on December's backlog report :P
If you haven't played it yet, what are you waiting for!? It's a blast! Heard Psychonauts 2 is even better, I will get to that one day!


Runo

1.3 hours, 13 of 22 achievements

A short, free walking simulator about Finnish folklore, moving on from the past and finding your path.
Graphics and visual presentation are pretty great! There were still some graphical bugs around, like brightness suddenly going up after a transition x_x Also some textures look very flat around the areas.
The story is nice, I probably need to play it again to connect some dots, but It's nice. It's about starting again with your life by getting drunk on sauna, accidentally drowning yourself and meeting a weird oak tree, with the help of your grandma's birdy ghost.
I recommend it! It's pretty good to learn something about Finnish tradition, culture and folklore while reading a story most can relate to ^^


TimeShift

8.4 hours, no achievements

First-person shooter with time manipulation mechanics set in a dieselpunk alternative timeline.
It is inspired by Half-Life 2 so there is no running or talkative protagonist, but unlike Half-Life you can carry only 3 weapons and 6 grenades at once. There is driving and open levels as well!
Story is meh and characters are forgettable, but gameplay is very fun! You can slow, reverse or slow time with your suit and use it to your advantage (No, you can't do that with the Shift key, missed opportunity :P). Weapons have good variety too, you have your standard pistol, carbine assault rifle and combat shotgun and then you have more interesting toys like crossbow with explosive bolts, automatic submachine gun with incendiary thermite bullets and electromagnetic cannon! Most weapons also have an alternative fire mode so combat never gets repetitive.
The game also has a multiplayer mode, but sadly I could not play it since it only supports LAN connection. There were plans for a sequel as well since the story ended on a cliffhanger and the credits also mention it's not over yet. Saber Interactive is still active, but unfortunately we might never see another TimeShift.
It's a good game if you just want a shooter or like time manipulation in games.
I won the game on SteamGifts.


S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky

22.0 hours, no achievements

The second installment in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series and a prequel to the first installment, Shadow of Chernobyl, and the shortest of the trilogy.
Well, it's Stalker, an euro jank :P So expect unusual bugs/glitches, unstable engine, questionable level design, incredibly intelligent zombies (well, you only see this kind in Stalker) and lots of crashes. But beneath all these ugliness and jank, there is an atmospheric game with almost realistic firefights, rich lore and story and an amazing world to explore.
The game has a habit of despawning Important NPCs, usually it can be fixed via loading a save, but sometimes you have to exit the game. My save also got corrupted once, but the game auto saves so I didn't lose much.
Surprisingly, servers are still up for online play, you can find a few matches to play, if the game doesn't crash.
If you're a fan of post-apocalyptic games and like atmospheric shooters, I recommend it! Make sure to look for fan patches as well.
I won the game on SteamGifts from GG Players.


Shrine

2.6 hours, no achievements

First-person shooter set in a Lovecraftian inspired gothic world. Originally a total conversion mod for Doom 2, now available as a standalone version on Steam!
Story is as much as important as it was in earlier Doom games, just an excuse to slay otherworldly eldritch monsters.
Enemies and weapons are like their equivalent in Doom. You have guns like Chainsaw, Pistol and Shotgun and then you have enemies like Imps, Lost Soul and Cacodemons, not much difference.
It's a fine game, but Steam version has a problem: It has no music until half-way into the game, only ambient music. Another problem is on design: You get most guns very early in the game, makes first levels very trivial compared to the last levels.
It's an alright game, and it's free! Like some of the dev's other games. Give it a shot!


Jurassic Survival

1.3 hours, no achievements

Asset flip shovelware, and not even a good or complete one.
Trust me, just avoid this, forget this game existed.


Wargroove

1.6 hours, 1 of 23 achievements

Strategy game and a spiritual successor to Advanced Wars.
First time playing something like this, need to play it more to give a detailed review or first impression.
It also has a free coop DLC, that's pretty great!


Muse Dash

0.4 hours, no achievements

Rhythm game! That's all you need to know :P It's a fun game with cool songs and aesthetic. It also has no story so it's basically endless.


Tadpole Tales

1.1 hours, 0 of 4 achievements

A cute Hand-drawn "Clean 'Em Up" game about a tadpole cleaning the river.
It's your standard Shoot 'Em Up game with 3 bosses and enemies in-between them.
Still need to finish it ^^" Only managed to reach the second boss.


Magrunner: Dark Pulse

2.2 hours, 13 of 24 achievements

Think with portals, think with gravity and now, think with magnetism!
First-person action-puzzle game in which technology confronts the Cthulhu Mythos! By Frogwares, developers of Sherlock Holmes.
So far so good! Story is very interesting, puzzles are brain teasers and voice acting is pretty good. Something that bothers me is that opposites don't attract each other, it messes with my muscle memory a bit x_x But it's not really a problem.
Just finished Act 1, will write more when I finished it!


What's Next?

I'm kinda busy with tests for at least two weeks, so I'll play less games or short games for now. I also don't feel that good so I might take a break from everything if I felt worse. Anyway, wish me luck and I hope you have a nice month! 🧡
ninglor03

Yay, for getting closer to 100%. I currently move the other way somehow O.O

Good luck with the tests!
Hope you find some time to relax a bit with games? xD

La Volpe

Thank you! I think I can play a bit between tests :P

ninglor03

\o/

Elvidur

Totally agree with Psychonauts, amazing game! I can’t wait till next month so I can play 2 in my new laptop :D. Congrats on the good progress!

La Volpe

Thank you! Hopefully it’s as good as first one, if not better! ^^

Eleonora Falcon

Very nice looking report!
I’m glade you found some energy and are getting closer to 100%

Good luck with the tests! I believe in you! 💜

La Volpe

Thank you Nora! 🧡