2018 Wrap Up!
didn’t 2018 just start? Where did the time go!? Happy 2019 everyone!
This year didn’t start so great for me… My computer is broken again! Turns out my last fix was just temporary and now I have to save up to get an actual professional to fix it. The worst part is that I won a few great SG games recently and I’ll have to wait to play them D:
This does give me the chance to play some of my smaller underappreciated games like the ones below, so there is a silver lining!
END OF THE YEAR STATS!
- In 2018 I beat 65 steam games.
- Favorite games beaten in 2018: The Witcher 3 and Stardew Valley
- Least favorite game of 2018 is Draw Your Game
- Most hours spent in 2018: Dead By Daylight (456 hrs)
- Least hours spent in 2018: The Grandfather (37 mins)
- Favorite BLAEO theme of 2018: Team Assassins
Last minute games:
Braid
7 hours, 11 of 12 achievements
3.5 out of 5 ⭐
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I finally found the motivation to check this game out thanks to the Play or Pay group. Braid has been recommended to me for a while but I never got around to it.
Braid is a puzzle platformer with an interesting gameplay mechanic… you can manipulate time. At first, it's just rewinding time, but you discover more gameplay mechanics as you play.
I both loved and hated this game. The art and soundtrack are beautiful and I enjoyed the innovative gameplay. The little bit of story kept me interested and the level designs were creative.
On the other hand…
I'm absolutely terrible at puzzles! Braid has driven me to madness with these puzzles! I tried solving several of them before admitting my flaws and turning to a guide. This isn't really a game that holds your hand when it comes to puzzle solving, so if you enjoy a challenge then I recommend Braid.
If you do play, make sure to collect all the puzzle pieces for a very interesting ending! Overall I give Braid a 3.5 out of 5⭐
Don't Make Love
1 hours, 15 of 44 achievements
2.5 out of 5 ⭐
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Don't Make Love is a Text-Based Visual Novel where you have a conversation with your significant other in an open field… Except you play as a praying mantis… and the conversation is about your natural instinct to make love and be murdered by your mantis girlfriend. :P
This game has interesting ideas. You can choose to play either the male or female mantis. Then you type in the chat what you want to say and the conversation should shape itself to fit your dialogue. Sadly, it doesn't really work that well. There is a response to what you type, but it's pretty limited and it repeats a lot. I tried turning the conversation in many ways and kept getting the same responses. Also there are different endings but you have to sit through almost the exact same dialogue each time.
Another problem is that the other mantis doesn't really say anything that warrants a response half the time. It's like they didn't finish their sentence but I have to type something in between phrases. Half the time it was just me going "ok." "yep" "go on…"
From the reviews, it sounds like most people enjoyed the conversations and the overall deeper meanings. I tried to get a few different endings but overall the game was just okay. I wanted to feel some kind of emotion but I just felt boredom.
I'll give Don't Make Love a 2.5 out of 5 ⭐
Cook, Serve, Delicious
34 hours, 40 of 52 achievements
4.5 out of 5⭐
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Well, this game used to be on my "Won't Play" list so I'd call this the biggest turn in my steam library.
I usually don't enjoy games like this but Cook, Serve, Delicious is so addicting! The game is about managing a restaurant by serving the customers the correct foods, the correct way, and on time.
I played strictly with the keyboard, and the controls felt great! There is an option to remap keys which is very helpful. The game can also be played on mouse and controller, but the keyboard felt the best to me.
There is a fairly large variety of foods. Each one has a different way of cooking and being served. Some easy, and some a lot harder (I'm looking at you, Soup.) I was afraid the game would be too difficult for me but after a while, the muscle memory just kicks in. It feels so satisfying to just listen to music while dishing out food like a world famous 5-star chef.
When you aren't serving the food you're improving your restaurant. You can buy equipment for your restaurant, attend events, generate buzz to get more customers and receive emails. It also has multiplayer and a few other modes to try when you aren't playing the campaign.
Overall I really enjoyed this game. I'll definitely be coming back to it a lot. I'll have to grab the sequel next time it's on sale!
I'll give Cook, Serve, Delicious a medium rare 4.5 out of 5 ⭐.
ayyy I’m glad you liked the theme \o/
Oh no sorry to hear about your computer! :( I’m your PoP picker this month so let me know if you want me to make any changes. I was terrible at Braid’s puzzles and never managed to finish it, I wish I’d looked up the guide instead of giving up on it as I agree there’s a lot of positives!
I’m especially upset because your picks were really good! If you don’t mind, could you pick a small game to replace any of them. Hopefully, my computer gets fixed this month but if not at least I’ll have an easy to run game to fall back on. I appreciate the offer!
I’m glad I’m not the only one terrible at braid! It was even stressful with the guide so I understand why you quit.
didn’t 2018 just start?
I had the same impression. Maaan, how the time flies.
My computer is broken again!
I feel you. Mine broke down this year (I mean last year? uugh transitions are confusing) and I had to buy new parts, lost a lot of vital data too. I hope that the repair will suffice in your case.
You played a lot of nice games in 2018. Quick question: Cook, Serve, Delicious or Battle Chef Brigade? Which did you like better?
Dang, sorry to hear about your computer. It’s even worse when you lose things in the process.
Cook, Serve, Delicious or Battle Chef Brigade? Which did you like better?
I was just comparing these two games to a friend because both are addicting cooking themed games that I happen to play with my computer broken. They are both so addicting, how dare you make me choose :P
I think I adore battle Chef Brigade more because of it’s charm. It has a cute story that keeps things fresh and interesting and makes the new gameplay mechanics flow easier. It’s also a great game to relax to because it’s pretty easy. I just wish it was as long as CSD, because it feels very short when you play it.
Maybe I should check out more cooking games, I’m noticing a pattern lol
I hope you get your computer fixed soon!
I can only recommend CSD2. I just picked it up again today after half a year or so and man I forgot how great it is. It doesn’t focus much on your own restaurant (although it as an absurd amount of options to visually customize it) and more on working on other restaurants with preset themes and levels, but you can also set up your own levels/challenges. Also if you are like me and hated the robbery “events”, there is no more of that :)
Talking about CSD2, time to play some more before going to bed :)
I’m glad you like it. I haven’t heard much about it even though a lot of people enjoyed the first one. Now I’m definitely excited to grab the game.
Also if you are like me and hated the robbery “events”, there is no more of that
ugh yes, I did hate it. Thank god it’s gone :P
I think I might be wrong about the robbery events. I just finished a day and at the end of it there is a stat for “justice served” or something like that. But I have 55 hours in this game and I have yet to get a robbery so if it actually exists it must be very very very rare.
I just read a review that says the robbery part is more fun than in the original game. So it sounds like they made it much more manageable this time.
Robberies are still present in CSD2, but they are much, much better now. Also, they’re more common than in CSD1 - I usually get one every 6-8 days.
Wtf I have yet to see one in 55 hours and being level 70 o.o
I get them every 6-8 days as well, though in the first game I only got 1 robbery after like 70 hours (without ever upgrading the anti-theft thing) so it doesn’t surprise me that there’s issues for some people not getting ‘em still. In CSD2 it’s just a matter of hitting the highlighted letters in a recipe format, so I agree it’s much, much simpler.
I got them maybe 5-7 times in 33 hours in the first game, never successfully completed it. The Linux version of the second game seems to be a bit busted (the time in the game also seems to run a lot slower for me that it is supposed to and the sound settings used to refuse to save, but that was fixed at some point) so that might be a reason why. But not having robberies show up doesn’t bother me enough that I would bother looking up a fix. Glad to hear they made it simpler at least.
Kudos on your assassinations for the year! Sorry I picked your least favourite game to play, though you did me a solid by having me remove it from my WL. :P
I was surprised at all the positive reviews for Don’t Make Love, definitely left me underwhelmed (and confused what everyone else saw). It was pretty funny for the first 10 mins, but I don’t think it was meant to be funny after seeing the direction it went.
That’s awesome that you gave Cook, Serve, Delicious a shot and it was a pleasant surprise! I’ve seen it on so many people’s “won’t play” lists and am like “but it’s so gooood!” When I first played the sequel I was kinda disappointed, I enjoyed it but also thought it missed the same charm. The dev has improved it quite a bit since release (and was really good with adding updates to the original too), I recently really got into it again. It’s just different from the original where it feels a bit too broad for it’s own good but also has some improvements.
That’s okay, I did have Draw Your Game on my wishlist before someone gifted it to me. Glad I helped you remove it from yours :P
Yeah, I think Cook Serve Delicious doesn’t look special or appealing on the outside but once you get the hang of it it’s very addicting. Maybe they tried to make the sequel a little too ambitious. I’m glad I’ll know what to expect going into it.
Happy New Year to you too! Sorry that it starts with your computer being broken :( That’s such a bummer.
I can’t believe it was already a year since Team Assassins, it was such a fun theme.
Congrats on your progress in 2018 by the way, 65 games is a lot, especially when it includes things like The witcher 3 and Stardew Valley. I hope you can get your computer fixed again and play more great games in 2019 :3
Thanks! I played Stardew Valley for a while before 2018 but I finally beat it in 2019, which felt like a great accomplishment.
I just read your recent post and you’ve played some really great games last year too! Hopefully we have the same luck in 2019.
2018 feels like it was both three weeks and eight years long.
You got a lot of long games completed, which is great. I’m sorry to hear about your computers - I hope the repairs are fast and inexpensive!
If you do play, make sure to collect all the puzzle pieces for a very interesting ending!
You probably don’t know, but Braid actually has two endings. Unlocking the second one requires you to collect eight stars which are a super secret collectible - their existence is only mildly hinted by one thing in the main hub. They are also super hard to find (even though I’ve beaten the whole base game by myself I had to use a guide for locations of 7 of them and full-on solutions for like 4). Collecting them is absolutely not for you if the base game was already too hard for your taste, but perhaps you might enjoy watching the star puzzle solutions, second ending and some fancy “story interpretation conspiracy theories” on YT ;)
I did not know that. I’m terrible at the game so I might just watch a youtube video on that. That’s very cool, thanks!
Damn was Team assassin really in January 2018, where did the year go? Thanks for getting through Bioshock Infinite with me, I do have the DLC as of the last sale, so I’ve got a 1999 mode playthrough dialled in for this year sometime. Time to 100% this bitch.
Yeah, it’s crazy how time flies. I had a lot of fun beating the game together.
Good luck with the 100%! The DLCs are fun but 1999 mode does not sound so fun lol
Yeah don’t worry, I’m pretty sure I’m going to hate it, but I’ve done quite a few hardcore challenges in my time, so this will probably be more of the same cycle of frustration, self-loathing, rage-quitting and repeating until eventual triumph, followed by brief euphoria and then a crash while I look for my next fix… :-)