Charles Nonsens’ profile

Personal gaming thoughts

With my limited time for gaming, a game has to be enjoyable to be played. I already have enough grinding in real life and would rather shelf an unsatisfying game than waste time on it. I don’t care much for achievements, unless they expand or improve the gaming experience.

Priorities for unfinished games

  1. Games won on Steamgifts a fair amount of time ago
    Well-reviewed games from mid-aughts and later
    Games started and enjoyed but not finished
    Games with sequels also in the backlog

  2. Recent Steamgifts wins
    Newer games

  3. Older games

Off-Steam Game Library

Title Status Platform
Assassin’s Creed II Beaten Uplay
Bulletstorm Beaten Amazon DL
Crysis Beaten GOG
Dragon Age: Origins Beaten Origin
Driver San Francisco Beaten Uplay
Fallout Beaten GOG
Fallout 2 Beaten GOG
Full Throttle Remastered Beaten GOG
Gone Home Beaten Amazon
Grand Theft Auto V Beaten Rockstar, Epic
Indigo Prophecy Beaten GOG
Jade Empire Beaten Origin
Mass Effect 2 Beaten Origin
Mass Effect 3 Beaten Origin
Medal of Honor Pacific Assault Beaten Origin
Metro Last Light Redux Beaten Epic
Mirror’s Edge Beaten Amazon DL
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Beaten Uplay
The Saboteur Beaten Origin
Trine Beaten Amazon DL
Valiant Hearts Beaten Uplay
Velvet Assassin Beaten Amazon DL
The Whispered World Beaten GOG
Title Status Platform
STALKER Shadow of Chernobyl Unfinished Amazon DL
The Witness Unfinished Epic
Torchlight Unfinished GOG
Title Status Platform
10 Second Ninja X Never played Amazon
12 is Better than 6 Never played Humble
2064: Read Only Memories Never played Epic
20XX Never played Epic
3 out of 10: Season 1 Never played Epic
3 out of 10: Season 2 Never played Epic
A Normal Lost Phone Never played Amazon
A Plague Tale: Innocence Never played Epic
A Short Hike Never played Epic
A Total War Saga: Troy Never played Epic
Absolute Drift Never played Epic
Adventure Pals Never played Amazon
Aegis Defenders Never played Amazon
Age of Wonders Never played GOG
American Fugitive Never played Amazon
Amnesia: Rebirth Never played Epic
Among Us Never played Epic
Anarcute Never played Amazon
Anodyne 2: Return To Dust Never played Epic
Antichamber Never played Humble
Antihero Never played Amazon
Ape Out Never played Amazon, Epic
ARK: Survival Evolved Never played Epic
Assassin’s Creed Chronicles China Never played Uplay
Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag Never played Uplay
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate Never played Uplay
Assassin’s Creed Unity Never played Uplay
Assassin’s Creed III Never played Uplay
Assassins Creed Syndicate Never played Epic
Automachef Never played Amazon
Aven Colony Never played Epic
Avicii Invector Never played Amazon
Axiom Verge Never played Epic
Aztez Never played Epic
Bad North Jotunn Edition Never played Epic
Barony Never played Epic
Batman Arkham Knight Never played Epic
Battle Chef Brigade Never played Amazon
Battlefield 1 Never played Origin
Battlefield 3 Never played Origin
Battlefield 4 Never played Origin
Battlefield V Never played Origin
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Never played Origin
Bejeweled Never played Origin
Blair Witch Never played Epic
Bomber Crew Never played Amazon
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel Never played Epic
Borderlands 3 Never played Epic
Braveland Never played Humble
Bridge Constructor: The Walking Dead Never played Epic
Broforce Never played Amazon
Broken Age Never played Amazon, Humble
Burnout Paradise Never played Amazon DL
Carcassonne Never played Epic
Cave Story + Never played Epic
Celeste Never played Epic
Chicken Assassin Reloaded Never played Amazon
City of Brass Never played Epic
Close to the Sun Never played Epic
Cluster Truck Never played Amazon
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 Never played Origin
Conarium Never played Epic
Consortium Never played GOG
Costume Quest 2 Never played Epic
Crashlands Never played Epic
Creature in the Well Never played Epic
Crossing Souls Never played Amazon
Crusader Never played Origin
Crying Suns Never played Epic
Cultist Simulator Never played Amazon
Cursed Castilla Never played Amazon
Daemon X Machina Never played Epic
Dandara Never played Amazon, Epic
Darkest Dungeon Never played Epic
Darksiders 2 Never played Amazon, Epic
DARQ Never played Epic
Dead in Bermuda Never played Origin
Dead Space 2 Never played Origin
Dead Space 3 Never played Origin
Death Coming Never played Epic
Death Squared Never played Amazon
Defense Grid: The Awakening Never played Epic
Deponia Doomsday Never played Amazon
Desert Child Never played Amazon
Devil May Cry HD Never played Amazon
Distraint Never played GOG
Double Cross Never played Amazon
Downwell Never played Amazon
Dragon Age 2 Never played Origin
Dragon Age Inquisition Never played Origin
Draknek & Co Puzzle Bundle Never played Amazon
Drawful 2 Never played Epic
Dubwars Never played Amazon
Dungeons 3 Never played Amazon
Earthlock Never played Amazon
Elite Dangerous Never played Epic
Enter the Gungeon Never played Amazon, Epic
Epistory - Typing Chronicles Never played Amazon
Etherborn Never played Amazon
Europa Universalis IV Never played Epic
Faeria Never played Epic
Far Cry 3 Never played Uplay
Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon Never played Uplay
Farming Simulator 19 Never played Epic
FTL Faster Than Light Never played Epic
Figment Never played Epic
Football Manager 2020 Never played Epic
For The King Never played Amazon, Epic
Fractured Minds Never played Amazon
FRAMED Collection Never played Amazon
Frostpunk Never played Epic, GOG
Furi Never played Amazon
Galactic Civilizations III Never played Epic
Gato Roboto Never played Amazon
Ghostbusters Never played Epic
Ghostrunner Never played GOG
GNOG Never played Epic
Godfall Never played Epic
Gods Will Fall Never played Epic
God’s Trigger Never played Epic
GoNNER Never played Amazon, Epic
Grim Fandango Remastered Never played Humble
Guild of Dungeoneering Never played Amazon
Gunpoint Never played Amazon
Headlander Never played Amazon
Heave Ho Never played Amazon
Hello Neighbor Never played Epic
Hellpoint Never played GOG
Her Story Never played Amazon
High Hell Never played Amazon
Hitman: Absolution Never played GOG
Hob Never played Epic
Horace Never played Epic
Horizon Chase Turbo Never played Epic
Hotline Miami Never played Amazon
Hotline Miami 2 Never played Amazon
Hover: Revolt of Gamers Never played Amazon
Hue Never played Amazon, Epic
Hyper Light Drifter Never played Amazon, Epic
I, Hope Never played Amazon
InnerSpace Never played Amazon, Epic
Inside Never played Epic
Insurmountable Never played Epic
Into The Breach Never played Epic
Ironcast Never played Epic
Jackbox Party Pack Never played Epic
Jalopy Never played Humble
Joggernauts Never played Amazon
Journey to the Savage Planet Never played GOG
Jurassic World Evolution Never played Epic
Just Cause 4 Never played Epic
Kabounce Never played Amazon
Keep in Mind: Remastered Never played Amazon
KID A MNESIA Exhibition Never played Epic
Killing Floor 2 Never played Epic
Kingdom: New Lands Never played Amazon, Epic
Kingsway Never played Amazon
Knockout City Never played Origin
Layers of Fear Never played Epic
Layers of Fear 2 Never played Epic
Legends of Eisenwald Never played Humble
Lego Batman Trilogy Never played Epic
Lifeless Planet Never played Epic
Lightmatter Never played Amazon
Little Inferno Never played Epic
Loop Hero Never played Epic
Mable & The Wood Never played Amazon
Madden NFL 08 Never played Amazon DL
Madden NFL 22 Never played Origin
Mages of Mystralia Never played Epic
Majesty Master Collection Never played Amazon
Manual Samuel Never played Amazon
Massive Chalice Never played Humble
MDK Never played GOG
Metal Slug 3 Never played Amazon
Metro: 2033 Redux Never played Epic
Minit Never played Epic
Moonlighter Never played Epic
Mothergunship Never played Epic
Moving Out Never played Epic
Mount & Blade Never played GOG
Mr. Shifty Never played Amazon
Mudrunner Never played Epic
Mugsters Never played Amazon
Mutant Year Zero Never played Epic
My Time at Portia Never played Epic
Narcos: Rise of the Cartels Never played Amazon
NBA 2K21 Never played Epic
Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Never played Origin
Need for Speed Most Wanted 2 Never played Origin
Neverwinter Nights Never played GOG
Next Up Hero Never played Amazon, Epic
NHL 09 Never played Amazon DL
Night in the Woods Never played Epic
Nioh Never played Epic
Nuclear Throne Never played Epic
Obduction Never played Epic, GOG
Observer Never played Amazon, Epic
Oddworld: New and Tasty Never played Epic
Offworld Trading Company Never played Epic
Old School Musical Never played Amazon
Orwell 2 Never played Amazon
Outer Wilds Never played Epic
Outlast Never played Humble
Overcooked Never played Amazon, Epic
Overcooked 2 Never played Epic
Overload Never played Amazon
Pankapu Never played Amazon
Pathfinder: Kingmaker Never played Epic
PC Building Simulator Never played Epic
Peggle Never played Origin
Pikuniku Never played Amazon, Epic
Pine Never played Epic
Planet Alpha Never played Amazon
Plants vs Zombies Never played Origin
Plants vs Zombies: Battle for Neighborville Never played Origin
Poi Never played Amazon
Prey Never played Epic
Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands Never played Uplay
Prison Architect Never played GOG
Pumped BMX + Never played Amazon
Pumped BMX Pro Never played Amazon
Q.U.B.E. 2 Never played Amazon, Epic
Rage 2 Never played Epic
Railway Empire Never played Epic
Rayman Legends Never played Epic, Uplay
Rayman Origins Never played Uplay
Relicta Never played Epic
Remnant: From the Ashes Never played Epic
Republique Never played Amazon
Retro City DX Never played Humble
Rising Storm 2 Vietnam Never played Epic
Riverbond Never played Epic
Rocket Arena Never played Origin
Rocket League Never played Epic
Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 Never played Epic
RUINER Never played Epic
Saints Row 2 Never played GOG
Saints Row the Third Remastered Never played Epic
Salt and Sanctuary Never played Epic
Sang Froid Never played GOG
Sanitarium Never played Amazon
Second Extinction Never played Epic
Serial Cleaner Never played Amazon
Serious Sam: The First Encounter Never played GOG
Shadow Warrior 2 Never played Uplay
Sheltered Never played Epic
Shenmue III Never played Epic
Sid Meier’s Civilization VI Never played Epic
Silent Hunter 5 Never played Uplay
Slime Rancher Never played Epic
Smoke and Sacrifice Never played Amazon
SNK Bundle Never played Amazon
Solitairica Never played Epic
Soma Never played Amazon, GOG
Sonic Mania Never played Epic
Speed Brawl Never played Epic
Splasher Never played Amazon
Splinter Cell Never played Uplay
Splinter Cell Blacklist Never played Uplay
STALKER Call of Pripyat Never played Amazon DL, GOG
STALKER Clear Sky Never played GOG
Star Vikings Forever Never played Amazon
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order Never played Origin
Star Wars Battlefront 2 Never played Origin
Star Wars Squadrons Never played Origin
Starseed Pilgrim Never played Humble
Stealth Bastard Never played Amazon
Stealth Inc. 2 Never played Amazon
Steamworld Dig Never played Amazon, Origin
Steamworld Dig 2 Never played Amazon
SteamWorld Heist Never played Amazon
Steep Never played Epic, Uplay
Stellaris Never played GOG
Steredenn Never played Amazon
Stick it to the Man Never played Epic
Stikbold Never played Amazon
Still Life 2 Never played GOG
Stories Untold Never played Epic
Strafe Never played Amazon
Stranded Deep Never played Epic
Stranger Things 3 Never played Amazon, Epic
Strife Never played Amazon
Subnautica Never played Epic
Sundered Eldritch Edition Never played Epic
Sunless Sea Never played Epic
Super Meat Boy Never played Epic
Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery Never played Epic
Superhot Never played Amazon, Epic
Sword Legacy Omen Never played Amazon
Syberia II Never played Origin
Symmetry Never played GOG
System Shock Never played Amazon
System Shock 2 Never played Amazon
Tacoma Never played Amazon, Epic
Tales from the Borderlands Never played Amazon
Tales of the Neon Sea Never played Epic
Terraforming Mars Never played Epic
Tharsis Never played Epic
The Alto Collection Never played Epic
The Banner Saga Never played Amazon
The Banner Saga 2 Never played Amazon
The Bridge Never played Amazon, Epic
The Crew Never played Uplay
The End is Nigh Never played Epic
The Escapists Never played Amazon, Epic
The Escapists 2 Never played Epic
The Fall Never played Epic
The First Tree Never played Epic
The Flame in the Flood Never played Amazon
The Jackbox Party Pack Never played Epic
The King’s Bird Never played Amazon
The Last Blade Never played Amazon
The Little Acre Never played Amazon
The Messenger Never played Amazon, Epic
The Metronomicon: Slay the Dance Floor Never played Amazon
The Pillars of the Earth Never played Amazon, Epic
The Red Strings Club Never played Amazon
The Spectrum Retreat Never played Epic
The Swords of Ditto Never played Amazon
The Textorcist Never played Epic
The Hunter: Call of the Wild Never played Epic
Thimbleweed Park Never played Epic
Ticket to Ride Never played Epic
Titan Souls Never played Amazon
ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove! Never played Amazon
Tokyo 42 Never played Amazon
Tomb of Annihilation Never played Amazon
Torchlight Never played Epic
Torchlight 2 Never played Epic
Tormentor X Punisher Never played Epic
Total War: Warhammer Never played Epic
Totally Reliable Delivery Service Never played Epic
Train Sim World 2 Never played Epic
Transistor Never played Epic
Treadnauts Never played Amazon
Trine 2 Never played Humble
Tropico 5 Never played Epic
Turmoil Never played Amazon
Turok: Dinosaur Hunter Never played Amazon
Twinkle Star Sprites Never played Amazon
Tyranny Never played Amazon
Urban Trial Playground Never played Amazon
Uurnog Uurnlimited Never played Amazon
Valhalla Hills Never played Humble
Verdun Never played Epic
The Walking Dead: Michonne Never played Amazon
Wargame: Red Dragon Never played Epic
Wasteland 2 Never played GOG
Watch Dogs Never played Uplay
Watch Dogs 2 Never played Uplay
What Remains of Edith Finch Never played Epic
Wheels of Aurelia Never played Epic
When Ski Lifts Go Wrong Never played Amazon
Where the Water Tastes like Wine Never played Epic
while True: learn() Never played Epic
Whispering Willows Never played Amazon, Humble
Whispers of a Machine Never played Amazon
White Night Never played Amazon
Wilmot’s Warehouse Never played Epic
Windbound Never played Epic
The Witcher 3 Never played GOG
Witcheye Never played Amazon
Wizardry 8 Never played Amazon
Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap Never played Amazon
World in Conflict Never played Uplay
World of Goo Never played Epic
World War Z Never played Epic
Yoku’s Island Express Never played Amazon
Yono and the Celestial Elephants Never played Amazon
Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair Never played Epic
Dungeons 2 Won’t play GOG
Omertà Won’t play GOG
Sim City 2000 Won’t play Origin
The Sims 2 Won’t play Origin

Report #28: July-December + 2022 Afterword

New Year’s Eve and my first post in six months. I haven’t had much free time and consequently haven’t played much. It’s alright, I don’t mind.

Metro Exodus which I finished in July was probably my favorite game played in 2022. I also enjoyed Yakuza 0, but at 76 hours to finish, it was way too long for my tastes. I expect 2023 to shape up similar to how 2022 ended, so I’ll try to focus on titles I really want to play. I’ll keep going with Fallout 4 and will start The Wolf Among Us. After that, who knows!

Wishing all you assassins an excellent new year. Stay frosty.

Beaten

Also Played

Added

Favorite Gaming Moments 2022

Steam Library Snapshot

End of 2022

12% (56/459)
24% (109/459)
5% (21/459)
55% (251/459)
5% (22/459)

End of 2021

12% (54/440)
22% (95/440)
6% (26/440)
55% (243/440)
5% (22/440)

End of 2020

12% (47/408)
20% (82/408)
6% (25/408)
57% (234/408)
5% (20/408)

Report #27: June 2022

Summer is coming.

Beaten

Also Played

Report #26: May 2022

Happy to report I finished two titles plus made significant progress on another big game. Also, no new additions to my Steam library, so another net negative month for the backlog! Hope to squeeze a couple of more games before summer begins for real.

Beaten

  • Blacksad

    16.3 hours playtime

    20 of 39 achievements

  • Metro Last Light Redux

    16.3 hours playtime

    no achievements

Working on

Report #25: April 2022

I’m posting this monthly report a bit early, since I’ll be going out of town and don’t expect to play any more until next month. Unexpectedly got some extra free time this month and put some of it into the backlog. The result: five titles moved to the Beaten category, including two that had spent a lot of time as Unfinished. Whoop.

Heaven’s Vault is a an interesting, modern take on the point&click genre set in a decaying galaxy (which for some unknown reason is referred to as a nebula). You play a space-faring archaeologist tasked with investigating the disappearance of a colleague at the university. Solving linguistic puzzles, you little by little uncover what happened to your colleague as well as the truth behind the extinction of long-gone civilizations and how it all connects to a current threat to the galaxy. A slow burn, but I enjoyed learning the ancients’ language and history.

Keeping with the archaeology theme, I have to admit I really enjoy the last Tomb Raider reboot, including this month’s Rise of the Tomb Raider. I love running around spelunking in caves, climbing trees, hunting animals, collecting resources, and crafting better equipment - it’s a great balance between excitement and relaxation. The story is the typical hodgepodge of myth, magic, and power-hungry antagonists, but the pacing is pretty good as are the set pieces, and it contrasts nicely with the freer inter-mission moments.

I recently realized I’ve collected quite a few racers that I rarely play, so I’m making an effort to move some of them off the backlog. I picked Grid first as is it is one of the oldest games on my Steam account. As far as the racing experience goes, it’s a good game, but there’s a limited number of circuits, perhaps fifteen in total, so progressing through the game gets a bit old with the same tracks appearing over and over.

Full Throttle Remastered is vintage LucasArts and together with The Secret of Monkey Island probably the pinnacle of the golden age of point&click. It’s got a short, fun story around a murder framejob, great voice acting, a couple of action sequences, but most importantly… no $%&( inventory puzzles! Pretty dated, but still enjoyable for a couple of hours.

You may know that Full Throttle was designed by Tim Schafer, who later founded Double Fine, where he designed the humorous open-metal-world game Brütal Legend. I imagine that if anybody with a lower standing in the gaming industry had proposed a major release based on the music, imagery, and fandom of heavy metal, they would have been laughed out of the room, but Schafer got it done. The gameplay is a mix of hack&slash and RTT and is… fine, but what makes this a game to remember is the love for its music genre. The voice acting is top notch: Jack Black is great in the lead, and the cameos from people like Lemmy, Ozzy, and Rob Halford are pretty cool.

Next month I’ll try to tackle Metro Last Light and Blacksad, mixed with some Don’t Starve and Yakuza 0. Til then!

Beaten

Chipping Away

Added to Backlog

Report #24: March 2022

With this post, I celebrate my two-year anniversary as a backlog assassin. Cake will be served on the patio.
The good news of the month: I finished two games. Cheers to me!
The bad news: I added four games (of which I finished one). Boo!
Amazing how I’ve put over twenty hours into Yakuza 0 and almost all of it is cutscene-watching.
Stay deadly, assassins!

Beaten

Chipping Away

Added to Backlog

Report #23: February 2022

February didn’t see all that much gaming from me. At the beginning of the month and somewhat last minute, I decided to finally go ahead and take a professional licensing exam that I had originally planned to take two years ago but that I postponed because of our dear friend Corona (there is international long-distance travel involved). Because of that, and once travel plans were made, I spent all of my free time studying. Before that, though, I played through walking sim The Painscreek Killings and was pleasantly surprised. You play as a journalist traveling to an abandoned village before it goes on the auction block, in an attempt to uncover the murder mystery that caused its demise. Gameplay is simple enough, you move around the village, trying to find either documents that expose the village’s secrets or keys that unlock hiding spots or new areas. The writing, however, is quite evocative, and I frequently found myself moving through the game’s deserted houses and streets with a chill running down my spine. Recommended if you don’t mind a slow burn.

Completed

Also Played

Added to Backlog

  • Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak

    0 hours playtime

    0 of 48 achievements

  • Runaway: A Twist of Fate

    0 hours playtime

    no achievements

Report #22: January 2022

This month I managed to put away four titles - more than I had expected - although, to be fair, one I had already played halfway through and two were very short. I also reached a milestone of sorts - 150 Steam games beaten. (I did not bring cake. :sadcat:)

Metro 2033 had languished in my Steam library since 2012, when I bought the THQ Humble Bundle, and it is the first game from that bundle that I’ve actually played… Overall, it’s a pretty dated FPS, and the voice acting in the English-language version is hammy and exaggerated. While I find the Moscovian underground setting interesting in theory, I am not fond of dungeon-crawling in general. The few missions where you have to venture up above ground are a welcome relief both in setting and gameplay - the underground levels play mostly on rails (sometimes literally) whereas the outdoor, above-ground ones are much more open to exploration and challenge as to where one needs to go. One more note about this game: Where are the women? The game depicts an already bleak future filled with war, disease, and radiation; if there are also no women, I’d just as well give it to the mutants.

I suppose Amnesia: The Dark Descent qualifies as a classic by now, being one of the first titles that popularized survival horror gaming aspects and that aimed to put the player in a state of intensely experienced vulnerability. In some ways, the goth-like setting of Amnesia’s medieval castle felt like a continuation of Metro’s repurposed subway, but of course, we do not have the option of pumping the monsters full of lead. This game too is rather dated, and it never feels like you are inside an actual castle, as opposed to a video-game dungeon. Also, isn’t it time to retire the overused memory-loss trope, as well as the torn-pages-from-a-diary-spread-out-over-several-levels one (it may technically have a different name)? I am not a fan of horror in general, but I have to admit that Amnesia contained a few delightful “OH S##T!” moments of pure adrenaline. It’s also fairly short, so I don’t regret playing it.

The Room is a relaxing, short, and sweet puzzler. The objective is to explore a few pieces of elaborate machinery to uncover the secrets hidden inside. This game knows what it is and doesn’t try to be anything else.

My final assassination of the month was walking sim The Fidelio Incident. You take control over the protagonist after a small-plane crash on Iceland and are tasked with finding your missing partner. There is a whole backstory to discover (also by way of torn-pages-from-a-diary-spread-out-over-several-levels), but thankfully there is no amnesia to battle - the player gets to uncover truths that are already known to the playing character. Some puzzles, nothing hard. Its achievements are bugged and didn’t unlock for me.

I don’t expect much gaming in February because of work obligations, so it was nice to be able to put away a few titles in January.

Stay pretty until next time, assassins! (Only a month away, you can do it!)

Beaten or Completed

Also Played

Report #21: December + 2021 Afterword

Happy New Year, assassins,

I had moderately high hopes for my December backlog-clearing and holiday gaming, which ended up dashed, mostly because one chosen title took a lot longer to finish than I had anticipated. I started the month by 100%-ing RiME, which I had already played to the end back in 2019. As far as gameplay goes, it’s not a deep game, but it’s has a bittersweet story, and as the sucker I am I always let myself be moved by tales of children in distress.

Each year, I try to figure out a game or two to play during the Christmas-New Year period that go well with that particular season. My requirements are a bit hazy, but I’m generally looking for titles that are story rich and adventure-y, with a touch of escapism and emotional hook. To give a few examples, games that I have previously picked out for this occasion include Beyond Good and Evil, Tomb Raider (2013), and Ori and the Blind Forest. I had originally planned to play Baldur’s Gate, but when I won Planescape: Torment on Steamgifts, I figured it might be a good swap. I do try to play my wins in a somewhat timely fashion. Torment, like Baldur, is a D&D-based, stats-focused roleplaying game, but has quite a different setting. Instead of the conventional high fantasy world of Forgotten Realms, it mostly takes place in a grimy city that lies at the center of a multiverse and that sees the tensions from being surrounded by all these various planes of existence. At the beginning of the game the protagonist wakes up in a morgue, having failed to properly die, and starts investigating the reason for this predicament. Parts of the story are great, and there’s a fair amount of freedom to play the character, which is cool, but it does not seem to me that the choices matter very much in the end. Also, what’s up with introducing a character that completely shapes the ending five minutes before you get there? I’m happy that I played this game and appreciate the work that went into it, but for me it has too many storytelling flaws to reach the expectations I had on it. And honestly, it’s a bit on the long side…

Overall, 2021 was a disappointing year for quality gaming for me; nothing like the glories of 2020, when it seemed I played a masterpiece every other month! Going through my list of completed games (twenty, a pretty good number!), I only find four memorable ones, which is way too few considering the time I put in. The meager result makes me wonder if I should maybe reduce my gaming time even further, or possibly change my game-picking criteria. Also a bit discouraging: I added 32 new games to my Steam account during 2021. Oh well, no need to bother you with all this, fellow assassins. I wish you a magnificent 2022 with plenty of backlog-crushing successes and gaming derring-do!

Be well.

Beaten or Completed

Also Played

I Am Weak, I Need Help (New Addition)

Favorite Gaming Moments of 2021

Steam Library Snapshot

2021

12% (54/440)
22% (95/440)
6% (26/440)
55% (243/440)
5% (22/440)

2020

12% (47/408)
20% (82/408)
6% (25/408)
57% (234/408)
5% (20/408)

Report #20: November 2021

Season’s greetings, assassins,

This month I did something I rarely do - went back and 100%-ed a game I had previously retired. Now, Everything is not a game you beat - it’s debatable whether it is a game at all - but its Steam achievements are an encouragement to explore more than anything. I got to hear all the Alan Watts clips and reached my zen, only to figure out I now have to unlisten to them! Jiminy. I also finished the more conventional The Secret of Monkey Island, one of the better point-and-clicks from the genre’s heyday. Its story and gameplay are often silly, sometimes funny, and only occasionally annoying (Hello Stan, used-ship salesman), so it was a somewhat successful choice and a decent counterpoint to the weightier Planescape: Torment, which I hope to finish in December.

Stay warm, friends! (or cool, for you southern-hemisphere individuals)

Beaten or Completed

  • Everything

    65.0 hours playtime

    36 of 36 achievements

  • The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition

    15.4 hours playtime

    no achievements

Also Playing

The Curse of Sisyphus

Report #19: October 2021

I keep making a push on my Steamgifts wins; not that I will finish them anytime soon, but I’d rather not have a bunch of untouched year-plus-old wins. Up this month was XCOM 2, which entered my library in June 2020. :cryingspacecat: Last year, I played XCOM and loved it, so I already knew there was a good chance I would enjoy the sequel - it turns out I was correct! As with one of my favorite games from last year - Ori and the Blind Forest - there’s not one particular thing XCOM 2 does amazingly well, but it’s more that it doesn’t have any real weaknesses and that it all comes together to form a brilliant playing experience. I would definitely consider playing the campaign again, or maybe more likely, buying War of the Chosen DLC and play that campaign. That’s pretty high praise in the backlog-challenged community, I think you agree.

Stay beautiful, assassins!

Yes, I Finished a Game

Already Got a Leg up on my November Pledge

Stupid Steamgifts