ShandyAndy

Long Overdue Update

Well it’s been a while, around 4 months since my last update!

I completed Dear Esther in a single sitting the day I won it on Steam Gifts. I really enjoyed it. Stunning graphics & interesting story line. I really enjoy short games I can finish in one sitting. I'll probably revisit it again for another play through as I'm sure I probably missed some things along the way. Anyway highly recommended if you like "walking simulators"

After just over 6 months & 22 hours playtime I've decided to call Blockwick 2 beaten. I've completed the 9 Blockwick 2 "standard" chapters (total of 144 levels) but not the bonus chapter. I've only done 1 of the 9 basic chapters. I've really enjoyed it and can thoroughly recommend it if you like sliding block puzzle games. I might return to it at a later date to complete the basic levels and try and get illumination on all levels but for now I'm Blockwicked out ;) Some of the levels towards the end were taking up to 30 minutes to complete with multiple attempts required.

After playing a number of point and click games I didn't really enjoy (I mainly find them a bit restrictive & rather boring) I finally found one I liked and finished it. I think I mainly liked Jolly Rover for it's sense of humor and the excellent cookie hint system which meant if I got stuck I could quickly find out the answer and move on.

I’ve actually played “a fair bit” of Borderlands 2 since the last update, mainly because I had a gaming weekend with some old college friends and on the odd occasion both my wife and myself are in the mood for some gaming this our turn to game.

I also played a bit of Secret World as it’s a game I can easily play remotely with my old college friends. A good but not great game :)

However, the game I’ve played the most is Plants vs. Zombies GOTY Edition which is slightly bizarre because it’s a game I don’t own. It’s a game I bought my eldest son for Christmas 2015 but he didn’t really get into it until the Christmas just gone when both he, my youngest son, myself & my wife have all been “addicted” to it, playing in via family sharing. It’s a fantastic game and one of the few games (well OK actually the only game) I’m achievement hunting. I’d really recommend this as a great family game.

Current Batch

  • The Witcher: Enhanced Edition
    The Witcher: Enhanced Edition

    26 hours playtime

    no achievements

  • Outland
    Outland

    12 hours playtime

    3 of 12 achievements

  • Hexcells
    Hexcells

    32 minutes playtime

    3 of 6 achievements

Continued progress with The Witcher. I'm just starting to find it a bit repetitive as I've been stuck in the main city for a while now and could do with a change of scenery, which hopefully the quest line will introduce soon. My main issue with the game has been a sudden steep increase in difficulty which meant I found myself unable to complete three quest lines. Investigation into the use of potions has helped although I find the potion system a bit cumbersome. Anyway I'm persevering for now in the hope I'll make a break through shortly.

Steady progress continues with Outland, a platform game I'm still really enjoying and still intent on finishing (one day!)

I've added Hexcells to my current batch as it's a game I can just fire up for just 2 minutes and clear a level. Very enjoyable casual puzzle game with nice incremental difficulty and enough added functionality to keep it interesting. This type of game has come a long way since minesweep!

For The Future

I've also spent quite a bit of time actually installing, performing a short test play of and then categorising my SG wins. This has proved pretty successful and currently I am down to less than 33% (down from over 75%) unplayed which I intend to continue to reduce as an ongoing task and report back with some more regular updates on this.

Thyreos

Good to hear from you Andy! Outland is proving to be an epic quest - I remember you talking about it ages ago :)

Douglas

I have The Witcher gathering dust in my library for a long time by now… started it last year, and just stopped. The reasons were: weird combat and slow progress (a friend recommended me to just play the main mission instead of try to do everything and ending up doing nothing). Hopefully I can finish it this year, in some point :D

Ohhh, Outland… I remember of you talking about it… One day! Yes, I believe you can finish it one day! The game is really good and beatiful!
Good luck with your backlog :D