HurrJackal1’s profile

Hurr Jackal on Steam HurrJackal1 on SteamGifts
  • Afterimage: I had to undervolt to get this to work - only game I’ve had this problem with, and not one I’d expect to need to given it’s a 2d game. It’s a good soulslike metroidvania, though a somewhat overlong one - the game just kept going and going. I completed the main endings, but not the New Game Plus one (a 5+ minute run back to a difficult boss is not fun). Lots of variation in combat styles available.
  • Chants of Sennaar: Stealth/Linguistics puzzle game. Very nice imagery - like a Mœbius graphic novel. The language puzzles were made easier by not only locking in terms when you matched them correctly, but giving the official translation (which in a couple of cases I was slightly off)
  • Mad Max: You can tell that this game was made by a people who really love the series - I wasn’t expecting it to be as good as it was. Side areas – and there were a lot of them – felt individual, though collectables have the usual Ubisoft/Warner/Rockstar problem (they could cut them by 40%, lose nothing except busywork, and make the collectables more meaningful). It could definitely use difficulty settings because combat is too easy and the snipers are almost never a threat. One achievement is no longer able to be completed because WBPlay went down - companies really should have a plan/patch ready for that. Bottom line: Strong recommend. (SG win)
  • The Legend of Tianding: Good combat, some soulslike/metroidvania elements, but it’s ultimately pretty linear. Bosses can be pretty difficult - I picked this up again this after previously bouncing off the final boss, lowered difficulty, and finished. (SG win)
  • The Bookwalker: Thief of Tales: Adventure/RPG game where you jump from the 3d real world into isometric worlds within books. The book worlds were interestingly weird and varied. In theory there’s some choices and consequences but it doesn’t feel like it mattered much.
25 days ago* 0 comments

May 2024

  • Arcade Spirits: A Visual Novel - and one I really didn’t enjoy very much. Writing, story, characters, art weren’t bad, per se, but I didn’t find it particularly realistic/true/verisimilitudinous. In theory one would need to play much of it 8 times – even with strategic saves – for achievement completion, which sounds beyond grim to me.
  • Balatro: I wish that BLAEO had an extra completion setting for marking games designed to be beaten multiple times; this is one of those. I got it because a lot of people loved it … but I ultimately didn’t. I had much the same reaction to Roll. Narrowing it down, I don’t think I particularly like abstract Roguelites - Binding of Isaac > Slay the Spire > Ring of Pain > Balatro > Roll
  • Botanicula: Old-school (early 2000s Flash) point-and-click adventure from the folks who did Samorost. Quirky, charming, and mostly enjoyable apart from the maze-iness of Chapter ?5?.
  • Machinika Museum: Adventure game where you rotate and fiddle with weird alien objects to get them to work. Enjoyable, and things build nicely to the final chapters.
  • Supraland Six Inches Under: Pretty good exploration 3d metroidvania – I should go back and play the original.
about 2 months ago 0 comments

Gomo: Ok puzzle adventure game, with only occasional need to notice the necessary detail as a blocker making it difficult.
The Gunk: 3d puzzle platformer - overall pretty good, but not so mad about the character interaction or the pace of gunk removal (a little frustrating even after upgrading)
9 Clues 2: Enjoyed this well-implemented HOG, but it was very gentle on standard difficulty (and I did a quick run on easy afterwards to pick up the remaining achievements) - there appears to be no driver to do it on Advanced difficulty other than the satisfaction of having done so.
Red Dead Redemption II: Far more enjoyable than I was expecting. I played RDR Online a while back (the achievements ported over to RDR2), and found it very sterile, and have never particularly enjoyed the quests in the GTAs. The single player on this game had a fairly vibrant world, mostly non-annoying quests, and lots of short contextual conversations available. Actual gunfighting was relatively easy with autotargetting, and the ability to skip on failure during missions was a reassurance (though never used). Lots of game still available if I feel like getting completionist (but I probably won’t – HLTB is saying another ~130 hours for a complete run!)

3 months ago 3 comments

March 2024

Lots of semi-complete/incomplete games this month, and quite a few SG wins are likely to remain frustrating non-completes, either because of difficulty (Legend of Tianding hardcore mode; Remnants of Naezith) or un-funness (Eidolon, There is No Light). As for the completes:

  • Sniper Elite 4: Completed on Sniper Elite difficulty, which is really an arcade mode with its nice red targetting reticule. The Authentic and Authentic Plus modes are far more brutal. I bounced off this the first time I played it, really enjoyed Sniper Elite 5, and went back to this… and also really enjoyed it.
  • Carto: Reasonably good puzzler based around shuffling map tiles.
  • Omno: Impressive work for a 1-man indy developer. Pretty fun 3d puzzler/explorer
  • Teacup: An adventure game that was more charming than fun or good.
4 months ago 1 comment

February 2024

5 months ago 7 comments

January 2024

  • 12 Is Better Than 6: Pretty good top-down shooter/puzzle game marred by a somewhat stingy visible area.
  • Roadwarden: Solid as interactive fiction but very gentle as an RPG (I managed to get a lot of the rarer achievements in my only run ). Deals with a bunch of issues including colonialism and displacement.
  • Who Pressed Mute On Uncle Marcus: FMV game, apparently shot during lockdown. Quite funny at times, acting pretty good, but limited branches, and it is improbable that Uncle Marcus wouldn’t have more-present medical attendance given his state.
  • Eventide 3: Legacy of Legends: Enjoyable enough but rather unmemorable Hidden Object game.
  • Sea Legends: Phantasmal Light: Better puzzles than Eventide 3, but would have been a bit friendlier with a map.
  • Monument Valley II: As with the first game it had great style, but a little slight as a puzzler - most levels were pretty straight-forward.
  • 5 hidden Cats games: All were free on Steam, and quick fun at that price, but not worth much more. The Cats Hidden in… series disguises the cats better than the 100…Cats series does.
6 months ago 2 comments

November & December 2023

Steam - November

  • A Juggler’s Tale: Some original puzzles with slightly clunky physics. The rhymed narration – doggerel – was rather irritating, even if justifiable. Phillipe Genty did it better wordlessly.
  • Dream Walker: A terrible match-identicals game that uses assets and story from Dreamscapes 2: Nightmare’s Heir. Some variation in rules, but no sense to what art assets are used in a particular level.
  • She Remembered Caterpillars: Stylish colour-gate puzzler. Good puzzles, though only a few were particularly tricky.

Game Pass - November

  • Jusant
    Jusant


    7h28m playtime

    12/21 achievements

  • Jusant: Climbing exploration game – mostly more meditative than challenging thanks to very generous energy consumption.

Steam - December

  • Sunlight: Excellent meditative walking simulator.
  • Rusty Lake Hotel: Weird but very enjoyable Flash-style adventure game. Left me wanting to play the sequels (and went back and removed a couple of their earlier games from my blacklist)
  • Professor Lupo and His Horrible Pets: Good to excellent puzzler, at times exceptionally difficult, and occasionally cruel with timings.
  • Camelot II: The Holy Grail: Mediocre Adventure/Hidden Object Game
  • Batman: Arkham Origins: (previously completed on normal) Completed New Game Plus, and the Cold Cold Heart DLC. More different from Arkham City than I recalled, and probably the best boss fights in aggregate of any of the Arkham series, although the AC Freeze fight was clearly the pinnacle.
  • Dreamscapes 2: Nightmare’s Heir: A so-so HOG, with hotspots occasionally overly hidden, and broken handling of high res monitors. Story was not great, puzzles were pretty ordinary, and I was already put off by the horror of Dream Walker from November.
7 months ago* 0 comments

October 2023

Steam

An enjoyable set of games this month

  • Blue Fire: Zelda meets puzzle platformer. Combat is a bit anaemic. Platforming mostly feels good – a bit like the Mario Sunshine packless levels – once you get the additional movement apart from the rather brutal last few optional levels.
  • Munin Solid puzzler, occasionally brainbending towards the end.
  • Hue Solid puzzler marred by an insistance on narrative tell-don’t-show during walking sequences.
  • Tulpa Stylish weird puzzle game. I have some suspicions about what some of it means, but it is deliberately mysterious.
  • Batman: Arkham Asylum GOTY Finished on hard (previously finished normal). Good, but the improvements from Arkham City were repeatedly missed.
  • Batman: Arkham City GOTY Finished on NG+ (previously finished normal). Still great, but surprisingly short because you start with previously collected Riddler trophies and upgrades (including max gliding speed).

Game Pass

  • Cocoon
    Cocoon


    5 hours playtime

    12 of 17 achievements

  • Cocoon: Started out strong, but I came to like it less than Inside and Limbo, with later puzzles more devious than fun.
9 months ago* 0 comments

September 2023

Tried a handful of games this month (Lies of P, Baldur’s Gate 3, Starfield, Arcade Paradise, Gemcraft - Frostborn Wrath), and progressed a bit more with the previously-beaten Nilumbra and Neon Abyss. but the only game I finished was Shadow Tactics, which I’ve been working on for a while. I like this style of puzzle game, but take ages to get through levels (particularly the one where I decided to finish it without any fatalities).

10 months ago* 0 comments

August 2023

Steam

  • The Uncertain: Last Quiet Day: Short sci-fi adventure - fairly straightforward, stretched by some unfun but short driving sequences, and finishes a bit abruptly with a “To Be Continued”. Rating: 5.5/10
  • Eternal Threads: Good adventure/visual novel where you work to “fix” events in a timeline. Very enjoyable, and technically written well though the characters always don’t quite ring true (and I’m not convinced that female flatmates would be in their underwear only in some of the interactions… robes … robes). It’s somewhat in the Tacoma/Her Story/Obra Dinn region of detective puzzlers, but friendlier/easier to work with. Sequel-hungry true ending, which I’d happily play. Rating: 8.5/10
  • The Way Home - A Typing Adventure: Type random sequences chosen from a letter set in the available time. Hit space between words to shoot things flying overhead and collect runes. Rinse, repeat. I finished a few levels and stopped forever. Rating: 0.5/10

Gamepass

  • Outriders
    Outriders


    1d 21h 9m playtime

    32/52 achievements

  • Broforce
    Broforce


    11h 19m playtime

    4/15 achievements

  • A Short Hike
    A Short Hike


    1h 31m playtime

    3/12 achievements

  • Celeste
    Celeste


    17h 52m playtime

    14/30 achievements

  • Outriders: Completed 3 player co-op campaign; endgame content continues. Solid co-op cover shooter with a good variety of powers and ability mods. I was surprised to see a mixed rating on Steam. Rating: 7.5/10 (3 player co-op – it’s probably not great solo)
  • A Short Hike: Fairly simple exploration game, with a lot of optional activities for shortcuts and cash/items. Sweet, but not much more (unless I’m missing something major in the sidequests) Rating: 7/10
  • Broforce: Absurd and constantly inventive shmup with destructable terrain, which makes some bosses easier because one pre-prep. Played solo, but I expect that 4 players is ridiculous. Rating: 8.5/10 (solo)
  • Celeste: Platformer, and at times a rather difficult one, but very fair controls. Much like Super Meat Boy, I’ve a bunch of uncollected optional collectables and levels that have broken me. 9/10
11 months ago* 0 comments
Statistics
659 games
15% never played
48% unfinished
16% beaten
10% completed
11% won't play
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