Finished the Underrail at long last

But first for some smaller titles:

• There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension
  

  8 hours playtime

  34 of 34 achievements

• Carto
  

  9 hours playtime

  20 of 20 achievements

• Underrail
  

  224 hours playtime

  55 of 55 achievements

There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension: Man, it has been long since I played the game. Let’s check what I remember. There is no Game: Wrong dimension is a puzzle game where you are currently looking for a game only to be led astray by the narrator voice. The puzzles are diverse enough but often take a bit longer than it should and sometimes either being obnoxiously trial & error or taking to long (remember the P&C section and the credits section which were to slow for my liking). Story-wise it is mostly shallow but picks up pace at later point and is certainly a bit moving while staying on the silly side. Overall a good enough game and there was at least one very memoriable scene when the most important and best song in the whole game sets in. I also smiled as the game over and over fades away when the big bad explains his evil plan so that you never really learn it.
Achievement-wise not to complicated as you can replay chapters after beating the game. But as said, some sections are kinda slow which makes it more tedious than necessary. Puzzle-wise a refreshing experience though.

Carto: A neat little puzzle game centered around finding map pieces and rearranging them by swapping position and rotating them. Starts simple enough with just finding new pieces and arrange them, with slightly increasing difficulty of forming specific formations (found by in-game dialogue) which reveal new locations. For example a sheep is in the middle of the flower field so you have to rotate and place four map pieces around an imaginary middle piece which will promptly appear if everything is placed correctly. There are also some navigation puzzles where you have to leave the map piece in the right direction and arrange the same piece to a new place inbetween. Actually there is not really that much difficulty to find here. Story-wise it is a short tale with a child dropping down from an airship where she lived with her grandma and then tries to reunite with her, meeting and helping new people while doing so. It is a fun game for a short break from longer stuff. Most stuff is straightforward with only the “secret” puzzles needing some personal input and can be easily missed.
Achievement-wise it is okay with most being story achievements. There are some secret achievements tied to the puzzle pieces and some minor other stuff. After finishing the game, chapters can replayed separately although I would have wished for a function in my finished game to revisit earlier locations.

Underrail: Mankind is doomed. Living on the surface is no longer possible and giant corporations use their power and scientific knowledge to create a world inside earth. Times pass, history is forgotten and you are now in the Underrail (actually all of this is a slight spoiler but nothing severe). You start as a new resident in the South Gate Station and begin with doing your typical RPG tasks by helping out here and there, only to get dragged in a confusing and large story of powerful artifacts, deception and strange creatures all mingled in a pseudo-science package.
Underrail is a RPG with a large and complex world where you can form your character to your will, although it quickly pans out that you need to skill certain stuff to live a halfway easy life. The world is to large and complex for my taste and the story parts and sidequests took longer than necessary. I mean it is great that you can always discover something new. But it takes so long until you get this feeling of finally having accomplished something. On the good side, there are no clear sides in the game. You often have to decide on personal feelings and informations for whom you should do quests, how you should end quests and what you maybe should avoid because there is not always a clear good side. Difficulty-wise the game is hard and that already on the second difficulty (I have no idea how anyone should beat the final boss on Dominating). If you want to see most of the stuff available you can easily plan for about 120 hours with lots of interesting lore, partially explaining how the world came as it is. The game is good, interesting, complex. But it slightly overwelcomes all these points.
Achievement-wise there is mostly grind by using certain skills or weapons and accumulating kills, hacks, etc ….. with a few story-achievements. There are however some story achievements which need you to go to the end as well as the “optional” side-end. Lots to do, like really lots to do. I am glad that I am finally finished.

And now I have space again to activate some new keys. Next will be Plague Tale - Innocence and Okami which I have already bought on Gamersgate (strangely enough often cheaper for Germans). I will also have to revisit No More Room in Hell as they recently added some new achievements which should be doable for me. Would also like to finish After Hours where I am stuck on the final puzzle. I could look up the answer but that is boring. Issue with that game is the feast or famine approach. You either know what to do or are tapping in the Darkness as there is no Trial&Error approach to the puzzle. Have a similar issue with Baba is You where I am also stuck (and here I would have to wrap my head around the game again).

Other than that, enjoying my vacation and trying around that photo enhance software. And since we are close to the new year, well: Happy New Year to all.