Bangledeschlers Completion Addiction. Bangledeschler’s profile
I’ve always been a completionist, and that remains true to this day. Amassing a large mountain of backlog to defeat I shall witness everything, save for the end…
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March -A Bitter Taste-
All gaming aside, this sure was a mess of a month and certainly won’t miss it. That being said there were still some great moments. Such as the release of Devil May Cry 5! Hmmm, I’m pretty sure there was more than that though. Oh well.
The better part of this is the detailed portion of the character designs. Other than that it is your standard adult VN with wildly different (or not so in some respects) paths. Overall this game isn’t worth mentioning.
I had beaten this game in the previous month (somewhere around 43 hours I believe). Completing this though… oh my. Although the rpg element refreshes this game. It’s drop rates for skills are atrocious and grinding out all the skills was a test of patience and determination. Luckily there are still a few players online willing to help with the otherwise impossible multiplayer based achievements. ^_^
A game that tests your ability to clear rooms of enemies quickly and as stealthy as possible. Fairly simple in design and the story is mostly assumed as you assassinate against those you seek revenge on. My biggest issue with the game is that its mechanics aren’t very consistent. For example stealth killing near another enemy causes them to scan the area. However some offset of speed is there where sometimes (repeating the same exact scenario) you will be able to jump out of line of sight, or be seen on sight. This can cause some levels to be very painful.
Simple and challenging gameplay involving you getting higher as a kill floor rises and blocks fall from the sky. You are challenged to collect currency and destroy enemies including bosses. You can acquire various items that provide skills to further you along your path. After each run you can go to the shop to either customize or give your character an advantage or start higher.
As a Devil May Cry fan I was not disappointed with this release in the series. The story is interesting, the characters likable, the gameplay engaging and satisfying and just overall a solid entry. I really wanted to spend more time on it, but its definitely a game I would prefer to set time aside for instead of playing whenever I can catch a breath. There are still plenty of challenging modes as is the staple of the series and even Bloody Palace made its return. Now only to wait for the inevitable DLC characters that I’m honestly excited for and potentially expanded co-op play that they touched base on.
Somehow, after taking the 2nd or 3rd most interesting character in the series and you made a bad spinoff game focused on them. Although I appreciate the fact that Billie Lurk is set with a number of skills and is set to kill a god-like being there are a number of designs flaws with this game. The gameplay overall is uninspiring with abilities that don’t do much for the player. Furthermore, the speaking to rat ability that supposedly reveals information proves useless. Unlike the previous games there are no real targets, aside form the Outsider, and killing important people of the world (despite giving you an assassinated message) gives you nothing more. In the end, only a bad taste in the mouth was left after finishing this game and doubt I will return to it anytime soon.
Difficult and simple sidescrolling bullet hell that has an 80’s action feel/story to it. Overall good, but perhaps a slightly bit to expensive at full price. Command a ship and recover the space machine.
Hmm… I’m even kind of dissatisfied with my reviews, but I need to move on. So let’s continue to look forward to the future as we pave paths to our own destinies.
February - Yawwn… It’s March Already!?
I’ve been insanely busy and so I wasn’t actually able to get much done gaming wise. Any free time I do get is often used sleeping. As a partial disclaimer, due to my late post a lot of the hours played is from this month, and only really just barely got a chance to beat them last month. Oh well, on to the report.
Dragon Ball Xenoverse
43.0 hours, 38 of 50 achievements
Overall it's your typical Dragon Ball fighting game (3D flying, with huge roster). A fighting game with an rpg element where you create, play, and level up your own character as the star of this semi original story. You'll essentially be going through the key plot points of the Dragon Ball Z history with a new dark twist and new enemies waiting in the shadows. You'l unlock more abilities as you play, and more characters to unlock. The two big draw backs of this game is that embraces the worse part of the rpg element is a potential need to grind (particularly if you want to get all achievements), and the fact that the game is essentially dead in the multiplayer department. Otherwise the gameplay is fun enough and tends to scale up in difficulty later game.
Resident Evil 0 HD Remaster
33.7 hours, 46 of 47 achievements
In excitement for the new remake of the Resident Evil series I decided to replay the earlier entries that I had played over and over again. Resident Evil 0 gets a lot of flack, which is understandable as it is does have its share of flaws and is considered the worst entry in the series. Although most of this is true, I'd still say that it is a good game in a series of fantastic games so it is pales in comparison, but not so much to totally throw it out. Unlike the previous entries you play two characters relatively at the same time as you discover the origin of the dreaded T-virus. Due to its smaller inventory, and lack of magical item box it can be quite frustrating to play the first time around. However, after your first playthrough this game really begins to shine with it's various extra modes and experience gained as a player. If you enjoy the earlier games in the series definitely check it out. I myself look forward to getting to the next entry and finally getting to Resident Evil 2 remake.
*Non-Steam Games
Kingdom Hearts 3 Long awaited I have for this game and overall it did not disappoint. Though it could be pretty demanding from its player as it covers information from all its entries as part of the story, and honestly I loved it as the lore is my more favorite part of the series. The combat was enjoyable and satisfying, following a similar aspect to the second game, however there were a lot of mechanics add that if used made the game far easier than I would have liked. This game was largely a Disney experience much more than the mix of Final Fantasy and Disney that one might be used to. Kind of like a giant Disney ad which could be annoying, and the main story doesn’t actually get rolling til the final segments of the game. There were a lot of missed opportunities and I would have liked to see more action and opportunity from the other characters. Still, a lot of the worlds held a lot of fun and much more massive than previous entries and the gummi ship sections have been the best they ever have. Particularly some scenes were particuarly well executed and could get a critical hit in the feels department.
Overall I would give this game a 7.5 and hope they continue to update the game to have more content as they did with the battle gates (optional battles).
I apologize if my review is all over the place, the series means a lot to me and it’s hard to create an efficient review of such a thing.
Epilogue
I really wish I had more time to play more and continue my newer hobbies, but until I can reach my next milestone my time is a prisoner. On other news I had been working on a costume last month and despite the various obstacles and set backs I ran into it actually turned out pretty great. It was a pretty simple one though, but I am already looking towards my next project that will be pretty demanding. Unfortunately I lack the time, resources, and skills peers nervously at the sewing machine at the time, but I’m hoping that in a few months I retain this motivation and excitement to initiate said project. Hmm… looks like it’s time to sleep again yawwwn Thanks for reading, as per usual you all are great. ^_^
January - Reconnect. Kingdom Hearts
Devil Daggers is a unforgiving, unrelenting, survive as long as you can shooter (likely not very long). You wield a single weapon (I only assume the Devil Dagger) in which allows you to fire a shotgun or machinegun styles as you mow down various demonic spawners and their spooky summons. My average right now is about 90 sec. It’s only achievement is to survive 500 sec. and is not easy to say the least. A good way to pass short amounts of time, very challenging.
Compared to it’s previous entry, Grid 2 makes a lot of improvements and stands closer to it’s other major racing counterparts. Major graphical improvements, focused car system, car types displayed (grip, drift, and balanced), no noticeable “rubberbanding” (getting so far ahead that other cars get an unnatural speed boost), rewind mechanic, and interesting story mode. It’s not to say it doesn’t have it’s flaws, I have encountered multiple bugs that despite some drivers being disqualified still got first while I had ended in first place. Luckily it was rare enough to only hinder a singular race. Some of the flaws of the first carried over as well, the statistics for each car still mean almost nothing and you are better of testing it, and the view from behind the car is just a little too low, a couple of races do not seem very likely to get first without luck, and DLC cars seems like it would be annoying in online play. Otherwise definitely suggest over the first game, and it is just above average if you are looking for another racing game.
A simple side scrolling game that involves you surviving through every level the only way you know how, skateboarding. Utilizing grinds and a plethora of easy to do skateboarding tricks (all while trying to land them) you can complete challenges, get high scores and move onto more challenging variations of each level. Other than grinding each trick has the same effect so you don’t necessarily need to do more than one ( I resorted to Olli’s as I’m not that into skate culture). I very quickly found myself not even able to think about using varieties of tricks or completing challenges as the games difficulty ramps up pretty quickly and brings quite a lot of obstacles you must traverse/pass. I enjoyed it okay enough and liked the zany things to grind in various levels, but the theme doesn’t really resonate with me, so I’ll likely just kickflip it to my beaten and let it remain there.
A very simple style puncher game that only involves left or right in order to defeat incoming enemy waves. I believe I already played the much simpler Kung Fury reskin of this game. Various enemy types, weapons, and fighting modes increase the variation in gameplay. Completing levels (especially perfectly) causes the world to increase speed, which is only reduced by losing levels and (oddly enough) exiting the game. If the main story isn’t enough there are also various challenge modes such as endless, no indicators, and “No Luca No” (a digital cat comes up on your screen that you have to push aside, I suggest having a physical cat do that as well to increase difficulty :3). A good time passer, though be wary you will likely realize you haven’t blinked during some levels, and I suggest to not get hung up on not perfecting every level to avoid frustrations as there are many levels and multiple difficulty worlds.
A beat-em up with a lot of wasted potential. The enemies and background have an old Japanese stylized and mythology look (in which it is loosely based on) to it and story was okay, but the gameplay was not very enjoyable with more than a few annoying enemies. Completing difficulties does not waterfall down to lower difficulties, which good luck anyways as making it through a whole level on hard becomes very unlikely due to nearly unavoidable damage. You are equipped with a kendama (for close encounters) and a bow and arrows (for distance) along with supers. I’d probably avoid this one or at least get very very cheap.
To be honest, I don’t really understand the clicker game genre other than trying to get you to break your left mouse button (if of course you aren’t just using an auto clicker). I had previously played a mobile clicker (10 Billion Wives I think) and it just doesn’t do anything for me. Regardless I feel a duty to go through the Sakura series and this is certainly one of them. It’s greatest influence is from the Sakura Dungeon game where it features scantily clad monster girls that you must defeat through clicking and hiring heroes. There is a ridiculous amount of DLC that does nothing more than aesthetics. Beating it standard was getting to the rebirth power that traded the current progress for spirit currency used to increase carry over stats. My current “complete” standard will be getting and maxing out all hired heroes. Free-to-play (thankfully…)
I believe I was gifted this almost a year ago, started playing and never finished… until now. I really don’t know why I didn’t either, I love this game. It’s got that great Miwashiba story telling to it, a stylish art style, and a bomb (stylish amazing) soundtrack. The gameplay itself is primarily Ace Attorney-esque where you talk to people and find contradictions or inconsistencies in order to solve various mysteries. Very much recommend especially if you have enjoyed Miwashibas other works. The only issue is that it’s real easy to miss an ending (I didn’t have the issue, only because I forgot about being able to do certain things), but otherwise filled with a wide variety of diverse characters and interesting stories.
Another “Ace Attorney”-esque game except… well you are an attorney. The more interesting quality of this game is it’s detailed realistically drawn art style between both it’s scenery and it’s animal people characters. It has a France setting, with a Sherlock and Holmes protagonist pair, and an Ace Attorney gameplay which makes for a pretty enjoyable game. During your investigations for the trials you are met with a bunch of terrible(ly funny) puns coming from your sidekick while you often play the straightman. Eventually the game comes to a crossroads the offers various endings differing in quality. Despite being an Attorney game it brings a time mechanic where travelling between places takes up a day with only so many days before each trial. This can be a little frustrating in case you are not sure which locations to cover, but each chapter and day can be reloaded from the main menu. Definitely get this as it is often found insanely cheap and generally enjoyable.
It’s kinda seeming like they are pumping these games out like a factory as of late… I suppose simple gameplay and same formula makes it pretty easy to do this. Still my love for 80’s synthwave soundtrack and bullet hells have brought me to it again. Continuing from DSW: Fantasy you are now in charge of taking in cats… well catgirls. As per usual this game brings forth the ability to shoot the clothes off of the targets, of course there is a gentleman mode where you will lose if you do so. This time instead of choosing between bikes for shooting styles it introduces two playable characters, a female catgirl, and Leisure Lion (sort of played as a Seducer god). A single playthrough will prove short, but it’s multiple difficulties, modes, and styles offer more.
A sort of mini novel based on the Nekopara series that focuses on the early years before La Soleil (the pastry business you run) was even a concept and simply owned catgirls. It’s definitely more slice of life i.e. no real plot and touches upon some Japanese and Universal Holidays and traditions. The game is only like 45 min. long and only ran 7 hours just to get all the cards. Only suggest if you are a big fan of the series, but really doesn’t add much otherwise.
My favorite of the series simply because it takes a huge focus on how society views catgirls, how they are treated differently, and how it affects the catgirls themselves with their self image, goals, and dreams. This game definitely gets a little deeper than just having cute catgirls everywhere and puts a lot more emotion into it. As per formula you focus on the last two catgirls of your “nekopara” (i.e. coined by your little sister who rejoices in creating this “Neko Paradise”). Feeling much longer than the previous title I found a lot more humor strewn about and just generally enjoying the story much more.
Other than being the usual Sakura game, there’s not too much to add. The theme this time is game programming, in particular visual novels. In which Winged Cloud seemed to take the liberty of jabbing at themselves for their own formula as well as promoting their other games into the mix (various posters of Sakura characters as well as Sakura games can be found in the background and dialogue). Probably leave this somewhere in the average or below in the Sakura game tier list.
A simple little puzzle adventure game. Daughter is looking for her father at some spooky historical house and finds the ability to “go ghost” to help solve puzzles. A generally less challenging game as I found the puzzles on the easier side, but the world building and story were pretty good. There are some enemy types which I found more annoying and in some areas can limit backtracking (not that it would affect story progress).
Where to start… a quite outdated game that is probably better with mods (such as Open Xcom), though I took it at vanilla form. Strategy and tactical gaming combined in order to protect Earth from an invasion of aliens. You must build bases, research, and combat aliens. This game is very unforgiving as you find that you are quite outmatched and outclassed and even if you rank up your people, all it takes is a simple crit blast to bring them down. I also had the displeasure of experiencing two big issues with the game. One being a ship reached an asymptote of running out of feul on it’s way back and never returned, but also was never destroyed. Not only did this take up a Hangar spot that I could not replace, but the ship itself wastes money over time. The second is an easy to do soft lock on the game involving researching something in the wrong order which means you can’t progress the story, thus having to research the particular thing again which isn’t as frequent as one would like. Other than the misgivings and frustrations I relatively enjoyed the experience and look forward to playing Terror From the Deep. I don’t necessarily suggest this game unless you can handle older games.
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Metroid: Zero Mission- Gameboy Advance
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Metroid: Samus Returns- Nintendo 3DS
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Other non Steam changes
KHII: Final Mix (Beaten to Completed)
Metroid: Zero Mission A remake of the first game made for the GBA with a bonus scenario that takes place between the first two games. Very enjoyable and is definitely the reason Metroidvania is a genre of gaming that is so well known today. It even has the original game available to play after beating it. Pretty sure I had beaten this in the past, but I didn’t really remember the last segment, so it’s hard to say. Largely influenced to play this series again by the hours put into the latest Super Smash Bros game.
Metroid: Samus Returns This remake is of the second in the series, which not only offers better graphics, but also a new counter mechanic as well as a cinematic-like gameplay experience. I feel I might need to go back and play the original second game, just because this remake feels like such a dramatic change in gameplay. However, still really enjoyable and going to continue to Super Metroid very soon.
Last Words for the First of the Year
A pretty productive (in some perspective) start to the new year. I am glad to have been able to catch up on the Kingdom Hearts series before playing Kingdom Hearts III (which I am quite enjoying at the moment and doing my best to hold back this excitement). It’s been a pretty hectic month too, had to take a temporary lead position in my job (so glad that ended, the stress…), starting my final semester for my degree, and had to bare the polar vortex for a few days (it got to be -20 Farenheight (-17.7 Celsius) to -35 F (-37.22) with windchill). Luckily that’s all over and things will start warming up (kinda).
Also! I having been working on a costume that I am getting pretty excited about, starting off with a simple one. Always have been putting it off whether I should bother doing it, or what kind I should make. Still, getting a little bit nervous on the sewing sections, and buying the supplies has not been as cheap as I would prefer… Hopefully this will inspire me to make more though!
Well other than all that, I suppose I look forward to what the rest of the year has to offer and all the updates you all will post! ^_^
November
Pyre
7.7 hours, 19 of 51 achievements
Pleasantly surprised with this game, despite it being a sports game in hiding. The gameplay was enjoyable while still being quite challenging. What really made this game was the world building, character development, and illustration of the game. Every character had levels of depths you could dive into, the lore was as deep as the exiles land, and the designs were all so amazing. Jodariel having both my favorite character type and design. 
Tiki Man
2.5 hours, no achievements
A very very simple game mostly comprised of hitting left or right keys to keep chopping at a never ending tiki totem pole while avoiding hazards. As you get higher scores and meet other criteria unlocking different characters (purely cosmetic). There is no other gimmick or modes, decent and cheap for killing time.
Non-Steam Games
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Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep Final Mix- PS4
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Kingdom Hearts Re:coded- PS4 (Movie)
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Castlevania- NES
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December
Accounting+
3.0 hours, 15 of 15 achievements
(VR Game). If you have every played a Crows Crows Crows game or ever listened to a scripted Justin Roiland ramble on then you probably know what to expect by this point. A lot of very random circumstances, and a very ad lib script. This game is has quite a few funny moments and a surprising number of routes and varied situations.
However, this if you are trying to fully experience the game most of your time spent will be standing (better to be sitting) while you wait for each dialogue to be exhausted. This can not only be time consuming and exhausting. The games tutorial also caused me to be facing the opposite direction of the trackers which caused problems for picking up most movements. If you enjoy Rick and Morty or enjoy non scripted comedy then get this, preferably at a discount.
Epistory - Typing Chronicles
12.1 hours, 55 of 55 achievements
A typing game with a well developed narrative and interesting origami-esque art style. As the girl riding a giant fox you will explore a world in danger typing away enemies and obstacles with various powers and abilities.
A cooler part of this was that it generally uses words associated with the object you are typing at. Rocks/minerals have associated rock and mineral words, wind power objects use associated wind words, etc. As well as the achievements where typing 1% of a certain books total word count grants you an achievement (including Harry Potter, Lord of the RIngs, etc.)
Now for the bad. Any skills that don't directly power up an ability type can cause problems with the game (teleportation can cause an inability for inputs to work).
Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality
5.1 hours, 18 of 18 achievements
(VR Game). A self contained game that has you explore the garage of the Rick and Morty universe completing objectives or just experimenting with everything you can do. These things can include following the main story, messing with a me seeks box, powering a battery mini-game, combining various items together, listening to secret cassette tapes, play Troy, and various other things.
Overall the gameplay is short and limited. If you enjoy the Rick and Morty series, than you more than likely will enjoy this as well. Though with the limited gameplay it is much suggested wait for a discount.
Non-Steam Games
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Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance- PS4
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Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A fragmentary passage-- PS4
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Kingdom Hearts χ Back Cover- PS4
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A Quick Heart to Heart
Oh my god do I love Kingdom Hearts, how can it be deep, complicated, yet so simple and clean. As I dive into another entry in the series after another I can’t help but fall deeper and deeper in love with the series and only wish I had more chances to experience them as they released. I seriously can’t wait for the third official major installment later this month. \o/
Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep
Shying away from our main protagonist, Sora, it revolves around three Key-blade wielders ten years before the first game. Terra, Ven, and Aqua are the three playable characters as you play each side of their story, and unravel the secrets behind the events of the first few Kingdom Hearts games. As per usual the story is well constructed and answers a bunch of questions the series has left open. It does switch out the gameplay from two to a more customized deck building format (a sort of middle ground between Kingdom Hearts II and Re:Chain of Memories).
To fully complete the game, you will have to replay the minigames through all three routes which out of all the minigames of the series are easily the least fun and unlikeable. (Who really likes their cheap kart racing game, cheap rhythm game, or mario party/100% Orange Juice game). So be prepared for a lot of that both across each playthrough and within themselves. I definitely can see where the multiplayer had existed back in the original release, but in the final mix version it is unavailable and creates issues with entertainment for these sidegames/arena.
Kingdom Hearts Re:coded
This is a movie of the Nintendo DS entry. It’s overall purpose was to be a remaster of the original Kingdom Hearts and Chain of Memories, while still adding to the series with more story that follows the second game. The theme and energy follow a similar simple purity of the first game before the series started to get really deep and dark. Unfortunately it was only offered as a movie in the final mix, but will definitely find it to play through it officially.
Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance
Kingdom Hearts does Pokemon is the mechanic of this game. Your partners are no longer Donald and Goofy, but rather various spirits (Dream Eaters) accompany you to fight other spirits (Nightmares). The gameplay is much like Birth By Sleep (which is a mix of KHII and Chain of Memories). It even includes a mode to pet, customize, and play with your spirits to gain more affection and abilities (Much like Pokemon Amii originating in Pokemon X and Y which released a year after Dream Drop Distance). The biggest change to this game is that your abilities aren’t permanent, but rather depend on the spirits you have equipped. This game bridges KHII and KHIII, and serious hype was built after this game.
Kingdom Hearts .2 Birth By Sleep -A Fragmentary Passage-
A sort of demo of the KHIII engine while following Aquas story after Birth By Sleep. Very short, but a nice sample to help get by until the next entry! Probably my least favorite of the series just on the fact that it was so shorty and only really answered on or two very small questions with no real story progression. Still really enjoyed it though!
Kingdom Hearts χ Back Cover
A movie representation of the Kingdom Hearts mobile app. I would almost suggest watching this prior to even playing the game as it gives a much better basis of the story, and enjoyable way to experience compared to its mobile counterpart. It takes place long before any of the games in the series and serves as the instance that serves as the true beginning to it all.
October Could have been spookier…
Objectively I would have to say this month was not very successful. I was hoping to get much more into the spook, which granted I put a lot of time into spooky game events (Monster Hunter World, Dead by Daylight), but played very few spooky games otherwise. Luckily I don’t need a month to define when I get my spook on :3 still would have liked to embrace festivity of it. In a slight tangent I did get to finally watch the Halloween movies with Michael Meyers being the only slasher series that I haven’t seen. Looking forward to checking out the recently released one soon! Onto the games!
DEEP SPACE WAIFU
4.3 hours, 69 of 69 achievements
A surprisingly good bullet hell shooter. It's strength is the gameplay itself and the soundtrack, everything past that is situational to the players preference. The premise is that you are "bear" looking to get a waifu and a job. Solution? Go on a tinder app, go on dates with girls/waifus where you shoot enemies while trying to shoot clothes off the girl.[spoiler] As it turns out, this is not the way to do things as you find the date never goes well afterwards. [/spoiler] Though this is geared towards the male agenda, there is a "True Gentleman's Mode" which puts you through the same levels EXCEPT if you shoot off ANY piece of clothing, you lose.
DEEP SPACE WAIFU: FLAT JUSTICE
3.0 hours, 69 of 69 achievements
This is basically just an expansion of the original game. This time you are "bear" the employed undercover cop to exploit corruption and waifus alike. Very much more of the same with some graphical and mechanical changes to some enemy types.
DEEP SPACE WAIFU: FANTASY
2.0 hours, 69 of 69 achievements
For some very odd reason, this game never synced to my BLAEO account. Anyways, a sequel to the original, it follows the main protagonist into a fantasy universe where you battle/date monster girls on a noble ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) quest. Further changes to enemy graphics and some mechanics to fit the fantasy setting were done. Still very much more of the same, though quite buggy this time around. As always I appreciate the gameplay and soundtrack.
NEKOPARA Vol. 2
5.1 hours, 20 of 20 achievements
Continues soon after Vol. 1 and you move your focus from the first two codependent catgirls (Vanilla and Chocola) onto two more sister-like in-fighting catgirls (Azuki and Coconut). This generally felt much shorter than the first and is your standard romance VN (with catgirls). Again, as with the rest of the series, there is a lot of budget put into animation and voice acting which only increases its quality as a whole.
Sakura Cupid
3.9 hours, 16 of 16 achievements
Again I return to this cursed series. Why do I return? These reasons are not entirely clear, but I've made my journey through the majority so I may as well continue along this path… This… uh… this lacked a lot. Perhaps it was playing this alongside Nekopara, but it didn't feel as though there was a whole lot of progression or resolution for most of the endings. Furthermore it constantly went back to and hinged on a joke, which felt forced and repetitive. Definitely ranks lower out of the series as a whole, but what did I really expect overwhelming shrug
Unreal Tournament 2004
11.0 hours, no achievements
This was originally my very first introduction to the series, fond memories. Still the tournament style gameplay and modes only with a team builder mechanic added on. Recruit members, play in battles, fight other teams for their members (or for your own). Generally didn't have a problem with this addition in the series. Decent maps, bunch of different modes, with my only qualm being that the enemy AI always seemed much better than my own (regardless of teammate), and some bugs that could potentially lose you a match depending on the situation.
Betrayer
7.8 hours, 16 of 21 achievements
I believe I got this for free way back, and started a while back but lost some interest. In theme with the spooky month I decided to pick it back up again. The artistic choice of having a map have two different realms was interesting as the main one had everything be black and white (with some red on enemies) an interesting choice that got old all too fast. Being oppressed with a bright light near constantly is a little hard on the eyes, so definitely play in short bursts. Though I appreciate exploration the areas were a little too large with very little in it. Sure there are semi-roaming enemies, but they don't offer a whole lot else. The story itself was long, a little confusing and mostly uninteresting. There were a bunch of mysteries along the way to find out what happened, but it isn't always clear how to progress them correctly and are often short lived. Furthermore finding key items can be a hassle, or take far too long.
Not a terrible game, but leans more on "just alright."
Roundabout
6.5 hours, 27 of 40 achievements
Oh FMV games, how I love you so. Even when the acting is bad, it is still so good, maybe the bad acting makes it better. Aside from my love of live action cut scenes, this games provides a bit of a unique (and mostly corny) gameplay/mechanic. You are a one of a kind limo driver whose shtick is that she is constantly revolving her vehicle with no regards to anybodies safety besides her and her client. The acting and jokes are bad, the gameplay can be challenging, and not for a second will this game take itself seriously AND THAT'S OKAY! It's a fun short little game, that lets you finish early and continue to hone your skills further if you wish.
Recommended with a grain of salt.
Unreal Tournament 3: Black Edition
11.6 hours, 6 of 57 achievements
With this game I will have finished the Unreal series, an interesting experience to say the least. The most peculiar part about this game was that it through out the tournament style setting and put in an actual story with war, but still tried to incorporate all the tournament modes into it. This made me very uneasy. This game also reused a lot of resources from its not so distant relatives, Gears of War. Character models, textures, even the effects and cinematic were nearly identical. Past all that the gameplay is still relatively solid with a new kick, "hoverboard". Seeming pretty cheesy it was actually pretty fun getting around with the new gimmick and playing the game felt smooth. Unfortunately there is still a huge issue (possibly bigger now) with AI where your own team can lose you a match very easily in certain maps. Another odd choice was to have choices in the story, this would affect what type of game mode you took immediately and possibly what available options later. Nothing drastic, just different maps and modes.
**After Thoughts*
I genuinely enjoyed it, only made better by my extreme clutch in the final mission. Recommend at a discount.
With this all being said and done, I feel my momentum weakening in gaming. Not that I have a whole lot of time lately anyways, but no game has particularly piqued my palette as of late either. Hopefully a short lived problem as I need something to go to when I’m not constantly working and schooling ;-; Ever so nearing the end of my business I look forward to reading all your updates. ^_^
September
With my last year started I am finding much less time to do anything and honestly feeling a little burned out between academics and work. So, as things have been late, my reviews and posts will be lacking any quality. Hopefully my games speak louder than words :3
The Heiress
4.0 hours, no achievements
Holy Potatoes! A Weapon Shop?!
29.7 hours, 50 of 50 achievements
This game gets a little mind numbing as you are mostly managing workers on constructing weapons. If it weren't for the humorous references, and having a show go on in the background, it would have tired me out much faster. I will be hesitant to buy any more of the holy potatoes! series, but will still consider. If you want to complete it, you will not only need to buy the DLC (it doesn't add a whole lot), but also make A LOT of weapons.
Mirror
14.5 hours, 114 of 114 achievements
With the DLC fully released I was able to change from beaten to complete.
Poker Pretty Girls Battle: Texas Hold'em
13.5 hours, no achievements
I can't say I really understand the appeal of this game. The girls are grossly over proportioned, and the texas hold'em factor leaves much to be desired. For every level you face four girls. You only get their and random character portraits to whom you face. Every level higher you have to face them that many more times (level four you have to beat each table four times.) Choose Poker Night over this, at least it will be more aesthetically pleasing.
Sound of Drop - fall into poison -
5.7 hours, 21 of 21 achievements
Probably my first real horror VN (Russian Horror story doesn't count). The opening drags on a little as does the end, but the middle really does well on the horror aspects considering. I only wish they had more unique CGs for the bad endings. Still good overall.
Unreal Tournament: Game of the Year Edition
12.8 hours, no achievements
I had played a later game in the series, and had a bit of higher expectations. Generally it's good, the dodge system set itself from the other arena shooters and most of the modes were enjoyable. However Deathmatch as well as many of the maps were quite unpleasant…
Unreal II: The Awakening
9.2 hours, no achievements
The sequel to Unreal leaves much to be desired. Enjoyable, but much to be desired. It lost much of the appeal of the first game, which includes removing the unique dodge system. The graphics suffered from being caught in between graphical evolution, and the story is not interesting in the slightest. It's biggest flaw is the enemies, more creature enemies and the "Skaarj" were good to fight, but anything with a standard military weapon was not. (auto aim and high damage makes you exploit game flaws in order to continue)
Unreal Gold
17.3 hours, no achievements
Much like Quake and Doom, Unreal brings you to a world mixed with Sci-Fi and Fantasy. It's more unique quality is the dodging system, tapping a direction twice lets you jump. Great for dodging attacks and getting yourself killed! :D I'd still say you are better of going for the other two greater games in the genre, but this was still good as well. An expansion was made that included voice acting from your main character, though it didn't add much, and the experience in the expansion was not great. Probably the best part was the feeling of upgrading your starter weapon (dispersion pistol, regenerates ammo, shoots slow) which not only makes a wackier designs each time, but more powerful and useful at the end.
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition
23.1 hours, 34 of 52 achievements
Another enjoyable entry in the Witcher series, playing it prior on GOG and getting it for free on Steam. It is however the most clunky in the series, it is sort of the awkward teenage years for the series. It advances and modernizes graphics and combat compared to the first, but not quite perfect like the third. The story is still great, though I never really felt the choices were difficult to make.
With all that’s said and done, September is finally over and we can progress into more important things. Things like getting SPOOKY, lets welcome the only month that matters to me Spooky Introductions
August: My Time of Dying
This month felt rather unproductive. Largely due to the release of Monster Hunter: World, which became a vortex to suck all my free time away. Not to mention I had the unfortunate pleasure of becoming infested with scabies (not fun whatsoever). Luckily I gained my freedom from their bug tyranny and resumed my normal schedule. Anyways here is my progress update. I apologize in advance to any of the writing, I’m still feeling a little uninspired and lacking the motivation to write much. So be prepared for much typo and grammatical inconsistency… ugh.
The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit
1.8 hours, no achievements
I'm a little bit confused by this game. Mainly because it is not directly (or possibly indirectly) related to Life is Strange 2, which then makes it stranger as it seemed like there could be more coming for our little Captain Spirit. I do suppose the creators said Life is Stranger is more than a person or place, it is a universe and thus little stories could easily happen for no real relation to the rest… still would have liked to see this further. Otherwise an enjoyable little story with a lot of realistic family situations and how a young child may deal with this. Oh and it's FREE!
BIT.TRIP Presents... Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien
21.9 hours, 26 of 26 achievements
IT. IS. DONE!!! I finally Triple Perfect+ every level (this means you need to get a perfect plus on every level on EVERY difficulty). very tedious.
Dark Elf
5.9 hours, no achievements
RPG Maker, adult, very uninteresting.
NEKOPARA Vol. 1
4.5 hours, 14 of 14 achievements
After playing Vol. 0 and getting catgirls shoved down my throat, I had some worry about playing the rest of the series. That worry was soon washed away as Vol. 1 more eased in the catgirl situation and only focused on two of the several that I had seen earlier. There are also plenty of great references thanks to Vanilla (one of the catgirls) It is still sickly sweet and still concerns me how catgirls are not equals to humans, but still allow odd relationships with humans. If you can handle the sweetness, like romantic VNs, and more obviously like catgirls, then this is a recommend. (I'm obligated to like this game after they made a very subtle Jojo reference shrug)
Otaku's Fantasy
6.2 hours, no achievements
This VN game is trash, I am trash, it is now completed trash. (To translate: Pretty bad story, Bad translations, purely Adult)
Otaku's Fantasy 2
5.0 hours, no achievements
This VN-ish game is trash too, I am trash still, it is now completed trash as well. (To translate: Pretty bad story, Bad translations, purely Adult, now incorporates a more RPG Maker scenario where you run through and fight monsters, you are forced to lose every first fight with the boss and will likely lose repeatedly until you win [you grow stronger the more you die])
Genital Jousting
5.2 hours, 26 of 28 achievements
What a very odd game this was. Everything and everyone is a genital with a sphincter, there is a short story filled with many metaphors, puns, and references… all pertaining a certain phallic organ. The real reason to play this game (as if there was one), is to play with friends in a bunch of minigames and modes. I played alone, so I didn't get that perk, but it looked good for a short laugh. Unfortunately two of the achievements are broken for now.
Hitman
9.6 hours, 17 of 69 achievements
I've been waiting a while to play the reboot of the legendary series. Though not as directly strange as it's immediate predecessor (Hitman: Absolution) it retains the ability to go through each mission the way you want and kill your targets in a large variety of ways (I'm certainly not as creative as some of the other assassins I have seen). Luckily, if you are not as creative, the game offers "opportunities" which you can follow to find more interesting ways to eliminate the target. Perhaps it's due to the new "season" way of releasing the game, it was rather short, the story was minimal and left it quite open for much more before the sequel actual happens. However, I believe it was/is cheaper than your typical AAA title, and each level offers a lot of replayability due to the many ways to go about your "business". As a bonus there are various challenges and creatable contracts to offer more time to spend being, the ever elusive, Agent 47.
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
14.6 hours, 24 of 60 achievements
Platinum Games taking the time to change the Tactical Espionage Action series of MG/MGS from a stealth based game to a hack slash Devil May Cry esque style of game. Throughout my playthrough I was very mixed. I love the DMC style of gameplay, and this game delivered very near quality to that, however it centered it's importance around a parry mechanic that felt just a little bit off. (Slightly skill based, but seemed to not always work the way desired.) The game still retains the oddness that we know and love of a Hideo Kojima game, great battle music and overall great battles (as well as a mechanic that allows you to slice virtually anything into tiny pieces with free form swinging). It also offers free content which includes alternate mini stories of other characters, that I only wish you could bring to play the main story as well. Still a high recommend if you love the original series and moreso if you love games like Devil May Cry or Bayonetta, just beware of increased difficulty.
There are achievements for beating bosses without being damaged… I will attempt this… at another time.
MONSTER HUNTER: WORLD
89.2 hours, 33 of 50 achievements
From the PS4, and now again I return to the World of Monster Hunter. I think I spent about 180 hours on the ol' Sony4, and about to spend, likely, as much on Steam. Out of the series, it is definitely the easiest, but not so much that it takes teh fun out. There are still plenty of dangerous monsters, along with various events, and challenges to hunt, kill and capture… repeatedly. It gets to be grindy, but if you can enjoy the hunt, then it will be hardly noticed or bothered by it. Various armors and weapons offer individualized play style, and supports multiplayer (though it has the occasionally server issues at the moment.) Love the game, and wish they would hurry up on some of these events (looking at you Giant Angry Pickle and Golden Fashion Dragon) 
Street Fighter V
3.9 hours, 4 of 45 achievements
On release, this game was disgraceful. Now that we have reached Arcade Edition, we now get a story mode, first two season of characters, and varied V-Triggers to better customize our preferred characters combat. A shame I bought it before the Arcade Edition update… still the fighting is probably the best it has been, and I must retrain myself to become a hopefully great Street Fighter once more. It's been far too long… 
TEKKEN 7
6.0 hours, 20 of 42 achievements
Probably one of my favorite fighting series of all time. 3D fighting is excellent and they bring back a nice amount of characters back from the series including some new additions (including Akuma from Street Fighter). My only real qualm is the amount of customization available seems limited, and where they took the time to create a useless VR mode, they could have likely put that time into any number of areas including more characters, customization, maps, etc. Still I love this game, and will likely get all the DLC when I feel my fighting ability has regained to its prime and more.
With my final year of college around the corner, I will likely not be doing much for the next few months, backlog wise. Hopefully I can finally complete it, get my degree and advance to my next choice of career (so done with the one I have now). Not much to say otherwise, until I regain higher spirits, I will see you all around, fellow Assassins.
July
I’m writing this review late. I am tired, overworked, undermotivated, and feeling the burden overtaking me, but I struggle on hoping for better days and feeling of progress (whether in games or in life).* As my stress grew, my focus on games grew thin and wide. After taking a look, I found out I had over 80 games installed takes a breath… (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ … At least this newfound knowledge inspired me to finish off some of the ones that have been sitting incomplete for some time. I lost some of the will to write much more than this, so here is this months progress.
Bullet Witch
28.7 hours, 14 of 14 achievements
After playing playthrough after playthrough (and eventually just idling for that the playtime achievement.) I finally secured the last of the Bullet Witch achievements.
Dishonored
56.6 hours, 80 of 80 achievements
Finally cleared the last of the achievements for Dishonored and moved onto Dishonored 2. Oh, how I loathed the Dunwall City Trial achievements….
Dragon Knight
4.8 hours, 42 of 42 achievements
Cleared up the achievements, from beaten to complete. Took a lot of playthroughs.
I, Zombie
2.2 hours, 13 of 13 achievements
Dishonored 2
28.7 hours, 39 of 50 achievements
Dishonored 2 builds off of Dishonored 1 in all the right ways. More world building, evolving environmental dangers to be more concurrent with the issues of the sequel, more non-lethality options (thank you!), level diversity, more ways to individualize your playthrough, and much more.
My first playthrough was a very hard, non-lethal, no powers, with Emily and it was surprisingly fun and challenging. As soon as I clean up the last of the achievements, I'll move onto Death of the Outsider.
Left 4 Dead 2
13.8 hours, 38 of 70 achievements
A valve classic that includes levels and characters from the first game ontop of the games base levels. Though it does include Versus modes and the such, Co-op survival is its main flavor. Unfortunately I have not had much luck with the multiplayer, and have been consistently been kicked in the first few minutes in all modes (besides campaign). Seems the community is rather exclusive and don't like new players joining their games… (internal screaming) and so I don't believe I'll get a solid chance to actually get all achievements… (internal screaming INTENSIFIES!!!)
Overcooked
6.3 hours, 11 of 12 achievements
A surprisingly fun couch multiplayer game, which often ends up in yelling, frantically trying to dish orders out, and creating a very Hells Kitchen environment. Unfortunately, I don't have enough willing couch potato friends, so I ended up having to finish most of the game on my own D:< 
Epilogue
As stated earlier, my will and ability to write has near diminished, so I don’t have much left to say. Keep on killing assassins, may the next month bring a greater bounty, higher spirits, and a bloodlust to take down the mightiest of backlogs.
June
I really need to stop writing this all last minute… and then taking another half a month to finish it. Furthermore my experiments with formatting have been unwell. All my tests take too long to code for each individual game, and I can’t quite get an aesthetic I quite like, maybe next month, so I apologize for the inconvenience, length and drab writing I am currently presenting. bows head
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Ame no Marginal -Rain Marginal
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Ame no Marginal -Rain Marginal-
3 hours playtime
no achievements
Elven Love
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Elven Love
2 hours playtime
no achievements
Fault – milestone two side:above
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fault - milestone two side:above
13 hours playtime
9 of 9 achievements
Idol Magical Girl Chiru Chiru Michiru Part 1
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Idol Magical Girl Chiru Chiru Michiru Part 1
4 hours playtime
no achievements
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Idol Magical Girl Chiru Chiru Michiru Part 2
4 hours playtime
no achievements
Idol Magical Girl Chiru Chiru Michiru Part 2
Highway Blossoms
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Highway Blossoms
51 hours playtime
20 of 20 achievements
KARAKARA
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KARAKARA
3 hours playtime
7 of 7 achievements
Memory’s Dogma CODE:01
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Memory's Dogma CODE:01
9 hours playtime
0 of 9 achievements
NekoPara Vol. 0
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NEKOPARA Vol. 0
2 hours playtime
13 of 13 achievements
Sakura Sadist
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Sakura Sadist
2 hours playtime
13 of 13 achievements
Beaten
Beat Saber
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Beat Saber
3 hours playtime
no achievements
Borderlands 2
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Borderlands 2
33 hours playtime
35 of 69 achievements
Bullet Witch
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Bullet Witch
9 hours playtime
11 of 14 achievements
Castle Crashers
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Castle Crashers
4 hours playtime
4 of 12 achievements
Dragon Knight
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Dragon Knight
3 hours playtime
33 of 42 achievements
Mahjong Pretty Girls Battle
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Mahjong Pretty Girls Battle
4 hours playtime
no achievements
Mega Man Legacy Collection
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Mega Man Legacy Collection
5 hours playtime
1 of 24 achievements
Ruiner
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RUINER
6 hours playtime
18 of 33 achievements
May Sony
Metal Gear Solid 2: Son’s of Liberty
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
May Sony End
Ame no Marginal -Rain Marginal- A very melancholic VN, that is structured a little bit like the movie Memento. Two lives from different times, connected by a single room. You go through two routes simultaneously as their tale is told and the mystery unravels. I quite enjoyed this story, the world building felt concrete, and characters develop nicely. There isn’t a lot of action and is entirely focused on the narrative between the two characters with very little interaction from others.
Elven Love …okay, I am going to need some forgiveness, this game is bad. This is the kind of game that should be free as it delivers more of an developers experimental beginner’s feel to VR rather than a full experience. Whatever my reasons may have been, DO NOT GET THIS GAME.
Fault - Milestone Two side:above The Fault series has become my favorite non-romantic VN game series thus far and cannot wait for the next installments. This is the second of the fantasy series that delves into worldly and personal matters among the characters and their environment. Worldbuilding is excellent and the depth of characters is so deep you don’t even realize they are just 2D anymore… :3 Just like the first game, my expectations were completely blown away. It’s direction went yet another way than expected, and far exceeded the greatness I could ever ask for. My only qualm is in the beginning it did a sort of immersion breaking thing that felt a little bit forced, though it is quickly over and never touched on again. Seriously recommend these games.
Idol Magical Girl Chiru Chirum Michiru Part 1 & 2 Are actually two separate games, but no real reason just to get one without the other, as it is fairly essential to understand the story and actually get anywhere. Don’t get me wrong, this VN has a decent enough story, It’s animations and art are fairly well done, and is set up episodically in each part, which is a few frames away from being another typical magical gril/idol anime. There is plenty of humor (some admittedly got a chuckle or two, particularly that the main character is a piece of trash to everybody else). I did have problems viewing the ending and opening animations after viewing them the initial time, otherwise generally recommend. Though don’t put yourself in any rush to get it.
Highway Blossoms Can love bloom on the battlefield? Who’s to say, but it seems it can be found on the open road. A yuri VN, where a singular person road trip soon turns into a treasure hunting adventure that crosses many borders, other people, and the purest love. This VN made me feel… a little too much honestly. For the most part, the feelings between characters were genuine with minor questionable choices. Although some left me angrier than others, wondering what the hell the main characters were thinking in that situation… then again I suppose it is easier to see from the outside looking in rather than being the in the situation yourself. Perhaps those are feelings we all need to feel at some time or another. The start is pretty slow, and overall not very exciting, but still a very genuine romance.
KARAKARA What’s a quality that makes a great VN (for me)? World building. This game takes altogether one second to set up its fragile world building, followed with a very boring and predictable romance. There are animal girls because reasons, almost to no humans because reasons, and a newly formed American and Japanese formed town that was created as they tried to reform humanity/life. It’s even more confusing than it sounds, as almost no explanation is given and instead given more animal girl fan-service. I’ll likely dip into the sequel, but I really don’t suggest much and don’t recommend.
Memory’s Dogma CODE:01 Firstly, don’t mind the lack of achievements… they aren’t activated yet… so once they are available I will get them quick. Until then, everything that could be done has been. It ever so reminds me of Ghost in the Shell with its futuristic technology and ethical issues/concerns. It takes a bit to develop, but it quickly turns into a futuristic sci-fi/action and ends up being a decent enough story, but nothing exciting or overall amazing.
Nekopara Vol. 0 I don’t know if this is the one I should have started with, but wanted to do the entire series in order. I know it’s a game about maid cat girls, but I never expected it to be so sickly sweet… like way too sweet. Cute cat girls being shoved down your throat sweet. The only other problem I felt is a lack of context (which again might be the reason you don’t start with Vol. 0) as all the characters, which there are many, are present with each having their individual personality traits to define them. Overall nothing happens, as the catgirls have the day to themselves while the master (you) is away, and what shenanigans they get into.
Sakura Sadist Again I delve into the Sakura games, after experiencing so many I can only question my sanity when I return to the series… I suppose someone has too… Overall it carries the torch and qualities of the previous installments. Average to low writing, decent but generic art, fan service galore, etc. The only couple things I can give credit to this game is a little bit twist it has and the ashamed face the character uses quite often. No real need to recommend or not as you’d already know if you want to play it or not for… reasons. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Beat Saber I have been highly anticipating this rhythmic VR game, and although not on sale, I am totally happy with this purchase. Still quite in the early access stage, the 8 enjoyable songs and various modes it supplies are top notch and have already secured a few hours and then some of my time. The better news? They are keeping their fans updated that they are working on getting more licensed music and even created their own label! If you own a VR I would say this is a must have.
Borderlands 2 After putting countless hours on the 360 I return to this game on Steam and soon remember why I put so many hours into it prior. The character classes it offers, are a unique experience with plenty of humorous dialogue, and plenty of room to co-op with friends. I did take the time (and spend the money) to try out the mini DLC that don’t add too much other than a missions worth of activity. Some are certainly better than others, particularly Torgues WattleGobbler and Son of Crawmerax have very interesting dialogues that could inspire the third installments premise and character development (I can only hope.)
Long ago, we got a gun toting witch killing biblical entities that endanger humanity. No, this is not Bayonetta. This is before that great game. This is Bullet Witch, a game that came before, that was not nearly as refined and held many many flaws (Most of your own ultimate spells can kill you, and the slowest smallest floating debris can kill you instantly, etc.). Seriously, who decided this 2007 game needed to be ported to Steam in 2018. As my favorite review of this game said, the company that decided to pick up this job has some serious moxy. The bugs and glitches are vast, the story is mediocre, the game is short (I beat all 5 difficulties in less than 10 hours, with some speedrunning), and the gameplay is uninspiring, but I play it due to the nostalgia and a sick sense of enjoyment of this terrible game (even though it is home to one of my least favorite levels in gaming history).
Castle Crashers Another game I played prior and returned to on Steam. A game much better played with friends, but this side scrolling beat ‘em up stands pretty decent as a single play as well. It’s got low hanging jokes, and simplified combat, but enjoyable non-the-less.
Dragon Knight I was genuinely surprised on how decent this game was. Despite its revealing clothing the combat provides an entertaining trip, with a variety of weapons, attack styles and items to use as you set on your path. That being said, the story is weak and ending is questionable and unsatisfying. At the very least it starts you at the beginning with your current gear to start another run. Average all around, but still decently recommended at a cheap price.
Mahjong Pretty Girls Battle Only after 20 games of Mahjong was I finally able to win ONE game. Seriously, despite the simple concept, the AI seems to be stacked against you. You will need to learn Mahjong on your own as there is no real tutorial in game. The ideal game of Mahjong is fun, though I can’t help but feel the AI has advantages you don’t. In order to complete this game, you will need to keep winning games until you finally unlock all sets of characters.
Mega Man Legacy Collection… Pt1 Okay, so I only really finished the first of the Mega Man games, and I will likely post about each one as I make them through each installment. The first game is unapologetically difficult with no good way of giving direction. You can play the final level without the required weapon to finish it, and not realize it til it’s too late. Which it is located in a level you have to revisit in order to get. I do have an appreciation for it though, as I started on Mega Man III as my first game… ever. Can I recommend this first game? Not really. It is just about pixel perfect difficult with no real gratification, but certainly something to visit for greater appreciation for the series on it’s development.
Ruiner Ever since Devolver revealed it a year ago at E3, I had been psyched (with a little help from Skeletons & Sidewalks) to play this game, and finally I got around to it. A little bit different than I expected, but a fun action-packed cyberpunk kill fest that I thoroughly enjoyed. The story is a bit on the weak side, but not a real issue as the gameplay is its main component. I recommend this twins stick shooter/melee, now go get ‘em puppy <3
June Epilogue
Ooph, that was all atrocious. Well thanks for taking the time to skim over it, and reading this.I am working hard to provide an efficient and pleasant experience to my future posts. Considering the lateness of this, I don’t have much left to say. Goodluck next month Assassins! ^_^
May: A Month of Progress and Degeneration (Part 1)
With freedom from academics I have been able to focus down my backlog for a bit. I did have some semblance of a plan, but then the Steam Spring Cleaning Event happened and now my plan and downloaded games are in disarray! Though there is chaos I will certainly thrive and kill, and I think my current update shows that. There are also plenty of influence on my recent backlog activity from the recent Steam debacle involving Japanese VNs with “suggestive themes”. There is plenty to post, so I will post my non-steam games in a part 2 post, and as always I will likely have a little bit to say at the end of each post. One day I will finally implement a drop down feature, so that my posts are shorter and you all can click the game you wish to read about, but I am too lazy have yet to implement that and save the template for future posts, but today is not the day, c’est la vie
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A Bird Story
5 hours playtime
1 of 1 achievements
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Cibele
57 minutes playtime
no achievements
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DEUS EX MACHINA 2
61 minutes playtime
no achievements
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Dragonia
3 hours playtime
46 of 46 achievements
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Frisky Business
4 hours playtime
20 of 20 achievements
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Gun Metal
2 hours playtime
no achievements
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Pixel Puzzles 2: Anime
25 hours playtime
27 of 27 achievements
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Receiver
9 hours playtime
no achievements
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Super Star
7 hours playtime
32 of 32 achievements
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Batman: Arkham City GOTY
19 hours playtime
22 of 64 achievements
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Beat Hazard
6 hours playtime
26 of 63 achievements
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Dead by Daylight
31 hours playtime
15 of 101 achievements
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Depth
26 minutes playtime
0 of 40 achievements
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HunieCam Studio
3 hours playtime
3 of 16 achievements
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I, Zombie
53 minutes playtime
10 of 13 achievements
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Mirror
6 hours playtime
69 of 86 achievements
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Serious Sam 3: BFE
17 hours playtime
35 of 62 achievements
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Tattletail
3 hours playtime
10 of 11 achievements
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War Thunder
4 hours playtime
1 of 40 achievements
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Eaten Alive
43 minutes playtime
no achievements
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Minimum
36 minutes playtime
0 of 7 achievements
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Unknown Battle
3 hours playtime
no achievements
A Bird Story At first, I didn’t think I would like the game as it seemed like it played itself more than anything, but as the story went on I soon appreciated it’s visual storytelling. Relatively short with a strong narrative, and enjoyable.
Cibele I would like to say this is a game with a strong narrative, but the narrative wasn’t all that poignant. It had “gameplay” where you would click on enemies to auto attack while you listened to the chat happening in the background, but the gameplay wasn’t engaging enough, while the story wasn’t engaging enough. I do have some bias, where I had experienced something similar, but still could not keep enough interest. I do give the game a lot of props for trying to tell its story, particularly something that can be easily relatable, but not very talked about.
DEUS EX MACHINA 2 A random game I picked this month, and honestly, I did not know what to expect from it. Nor did I expect to have Sir Christopher Lee (Rest in Peace) be the narrator throughout this kickstarted indie game. Definitely an experience more than an actual game, as it is essentially an hour long interactive album. Still highly recommend as it was an experience that I enjoyed, with great music.
Dragonia Steam had recently targeted Japanese Visual Novels with “suggestive themes” and threatened to take them down. Thankfully it did not actually come to pass as I am against most censorship that could possibly inhibit freedoms to access certain or any games. In response to this I decided to go through a few in my library, though this isn’t quite a VN. Dragonia is a bullet hell, though a bit of a weak one. You become more powerful the more power ups levels you pick up, so at high level it is easy to stay up top, but if you get hit you get lowered a level, and later on it becomes very difficult as it is easy to stay stuck at a lower level once there. You are a “dragon” who must “cleanse” other dragons in your secret dragon society on behalf of your “dragon” witch.
Frisky Business Another game I played due to the steam crackdown. A more “western” VN, that despite its looks held some sort of promise with me. Unfortunately, it did not live up to that promise as it kind of stumbled around and left vague routes to get the true ending. You have to be nice to your partners, but despite my attempts the first time, could not get it. I tried. No really. Although it is most definitely Americanized and took inspiration of the clown sprees that happened not so long ago, it still felt uninspired and boring. To boot there was no real way to skip/fast-forward through parts of the game you have already read, and would often break through certain segments.
Gun Metal One of the games I randomly selected this month, and it was surprisingly pleasant. An older game that was kind of like Transformers, but as a mecha. You controlled the “Gun Metal” a mecha that could transform into a Jet plane and back at will and considered the ultimate weapon. The missions were short, but engaging. Messing with different weapon attachments allowed different ways to go through the game and flying felt smooth enough and satisfying. My only complaint is that it has an odd height restriction despite some of the enemies that fly and using the mecha seemed less useful as the jets mobility reigned supreme.
I, Zombie It definitely holds the feel of a mobile game put onto steam. Quite short, and not very challenging. You are essentially King of the Zombies, where you need to direct you and your zombie horde to the resisting humans that remain.
Pixel Puzzles 2: Anime My second Pixel Puzzles game, I had to slowly pick through these while having a show in the background. The last major puzzle is kind of mean in that its piece shapes are more or less a jagged mess that are hard to identify their connections, especially with a chaotic picture as it was. The real unfortunate part is I will likely have to do them all again in Pixel Puzzles Ultimate…
Receiver Probably one of my greatest achievements was this game. Spawning into seeds of randomly generated rooms and enemies with a randomly generated starting kit which includes a hand gun, bullets, and possibly a flashlight. The goal: to find 11 tapes for you to learn, “awaken”, and reveal the lore of this game. You face against turrets and drones as you progress through the game, and can be quite frustrating as one hit is all it takes for you to fall and restart. One of the more intriguing parts of the game is the level of complication for using the gun. Instead of just pressing “R” to reload, you have to eject your magazine, fill the bullets, put the magazine in, and the slide the lock. Praise the gods that after 9 hours that I was able to get all 11. Such a relief and cathartic release from finishing this game 😊
Super Star Despite the implications this game was surprisingly tame in its “suggested themes”. You are a manager who picks up a sort of dream girl that is determined to become the greatest star in every field she can (music, various acting, screen writing), while you are destined to make it happen. As you manage her lessons and what gigs she picks up you will soon find out it is a balancing act, and nearly impossible to make it happen on your first run. Finishing the game gives you special currency that transfers into further runs, and exploitable if you save at the end, as they are used to make your future runs easier. Various challenges and interactions throughout the game keep up the engagement and level of immersion. I particularly enjoyed all the references and costumes for the movies you can have her play in. Management game lovers would enjoy, otherwise it might feel quite a bit tedious.
Batman: Arkham City GOTY One of the greatest batman games of all time, particularly of the Arkham series. Featuring an open world, a believable story, improved combat, interesting side mission, and nearly endless references along with featured villains for any fan of Batman fans to enjoy. However, one of my favorite parts are all the collectibles. They aren’t the usual meaningless items to pick up like in most games, they often give you lore on characters in game and in comics and come in various forms without being excessive. My first playthrough was on console and now it is beaten on Steam. Although I do not look forward to all the challenge missions ahead, as there are MANY. A game that will not likely be completed any time soon…
Beat Hazard Mixed feelings on this one… On one hand I enjoy games that incorporate music into their gameplay, on the other this game can easily be a visual overload as bright strobing is excessive. Essentially a game of Asteroids, but with enemy ships and the effect of your blasts change by the beat of the music. The core songs are enjoyable enough, but the real nice part is you can use music from your library as well. There are also various ships and upgrades that offer different gameplay and bullet effects.
Dead By Daylight Thanks to the Spring Cleaning Event I was able to try this game out. I had been skeptical of it for a very long time, largely because of its Twitch fan base. But, I gave in when I heard Freddy Krueger (one of my favorite slashers) was being included as DLC. Now that I started playing it, I can’t seem to stop, both as survivor and Killer. The gameplay is a little more basic than I would like, but not anything that has deterred my enjoyment. The bigger bonus is that, for the most part, the community has been inviting. Not the usual cancerous environment I usually find with most Multiplayer games.
Depth Another game from the library that I played due to the Spring Cleaning Event. Rather disappointing as the game felt like a mix of Killing Floor and Dead By Daylight, but without either enjoyable aspect. Furthermore, I have been having trouble getting a pvp game, and bot games don’t unlock achievements. :/
HunieCam Studio Despite its predecessor, this game was surprisingly tame. An intense(?) management game, where you try to become the most popular camgirl business in 21 days. As of now I only got the lowest trophy… You must be able to hire, manage, and focus your girls to gain both popularity and money. The girls you hire, you may recognize, stem from the Huniepop game and completing the game offers you currency to purchase styles of hair and costumes.
Mirror Does my degeneracy know no bounds? Yet another “suggested themes game”. Essentially a match 3, much like Hell Girls, where you go down various stories involving maidens, and often their inevitable “corruption”. Not much more to say.
Serious Sam 3: BFE Where Serious Sam 2 did not take itself seriously enough, this game felt like it took itself ( and I know how silly this sounds, but) too seriously. The graphics had been updated once more to look realistic, and it takes place before the first game, which I don’t think anyone asked for. The game grows on you as you go, but it certainly did not feel like the Serious Sam game we I wanted. The events of the DLC take place somewhere in mid game, which is never a good idea as it feels like it should have been there or never created to begin with. Lastly a few new mechanics were introduced, particularly attaching items (C4) to enemies and walls. Both final bosses are defeated by this, and did not hold the intrigue that the developers may have intended.
Tattletail A game that likely stemmed from the Five Nights at Freddy’s craze. 80’s inspired, with jump scares galore. This game quickly became predictable and tedious, not to mention the very annoying from tattletail. I can’t really suggest this game to any one, so buy at your own risk.
War Thunder A F2P that I partially played due to my friends. A war game that centers around tanks and airships. Nothing crazy good or bad, except for the fact that there is a level of pay to win in here.
Eaten Alive Back2Basics brought me an enjoyable experience in Crawl unfortunately every other game they made seems to be incomplete and trash. This one in particular is seemingly lacks the ability to progress. A zombie game that once you die, you restart everything. The controls are wacky, and the death scene takes far too long. In distaste I removed this from my library and presenting it to hopefully help you all avoid.
Minimum I guess this is a multiplayer only game that is really REALLY dead. I believe it supports bots, but was unable to create a room, and thus this game is both unplayable and removed from my library.
Unknown Battle I can get past something as bad as poor audio quality, but the controls to progress through this game are non functional. You are essentially meant to escape through hallways littered with traps, unfortunately you get to a point where you have to jump across onto pillars and the jump ability does not function well and will likely kill you. Trying to fight against this issue, I continued, but it is near impossible due to this handicap. I will likely remove this from my library as well.
Final Note
The end for now. Although this has been a great backlog killing start to the Summer, I am quickly feeling a bit fatigued from it. Also, quite recently, my office chair’s back has been completely broken off :’( and it is taking a toll on my back already, yet too cheap to buy a new one quite yet… Hopefully with graduation etching ever closer I can get a better job and indulge into getting a new office chair. The time is late and my brain is going blank, so before I am finish I will offer questions for those with interest.
What does it take for you to remove a game from your library? Is the reason of it being horrible enough? I believe the only game I have kept that was broken is Clergy Splode only because I made quite a bit a progress and time spent, but I may change my mind later if absolutely no solution is found…
Do you let people ruin multiplayer games for you? In particular those who show bad manners or excessively talk trash?
Does the prospect of censorship bother you?
Finally, do you know of any good chairs to use at the computer? Preferably one that won’t bankrupt me and break frequently ^_^
Thank you and see you next post!
| 1184 | games |
| 58% | never played |
| 7% | unfinished |
| 16% | beaten |
| 17% | completed |
| 1% | won't play |