I don't have much to say about this one so it will be a short read ;) The story barely connects to the previous titles in the series and, as expected, is full of nonsense. You only need to think about what to do next as you very quickly lose track of why you're actually doing it. The puzzles are all very easy and the hidden objects scenes provide no challenge at all. The only upside is that the game is pretty and you can tell a lot of effort was made in that department. Another good thing is that I played it with my kids and it was good family fun!

DoW is undeniably a great game and was very refreshing when it came out. Unfortunately, while the gameplay is still very solid, it hasn't aged well and the resolutions offered by default all make the game blurry with added black borders. That sucks because apparently, the last two expansions for this game were updated to run with modern resolutions. Aside from these remarks, the game is really punchy and I really like how you control entire squads rather than individual units. I didn't get to the end of the campaign as I'd rather spend my time playing something else but I'm still looking forward to playing its sequel.

Night Call is a very nice VN in which you play a Parisian taxi driver on night shift forced by a twisted policewoman to investigate a series of murders. You get clues by talking to 50+ passengers (randomly generated on the map), listening to the radio, reading the newspaper and the few police reports you're given. While talking to the passengers, you get conversation choices which will make them share more of their personal story. You also have to manage your money and your petrol level if you don't want to lose your job. There are three investigations to solve but they take place in alternate realities: if you've met passengers during another investigation, they won't remember you and you won't remember them. Their personal stories are very good but get repeated quite a bit. The film noir atmosphere, on the other hand, is excellent. Unfortunately, the three investigations follow the same pattern and it's never hard to figure out who the murderer is. Besides, I noticed a few technical bugs and sometimes, the destinations in the conversations and the locations on the map don't match (I know as I'm a Parisian myself).

Many of you older players heard about this game when it originally came out 20 years ago. Well, I hadn't until recently and while action/RPG games have progressed a lot since then, it's still nice to play today despite being a little too hardcore. I really enjoyed the minimalistic UI, the radial menu system which forces you to be precise when you switch abilities, items and spells during combat sequences, and how the way you swing your sword is reflected by how you move the mouse. Pretty innovative at the time. The story is alright but quite generic. What I didn't like however, and why I wrote it's a little too hardcore for me, is that there were many points in the game where I had no idea what to do next. There is no journal or quest list. Sometimes you get a clue but most of the time you don't, which forces you to explore every nook and cranny hoping not to miss anything. I didn't have the time or patience to do that so after a while, I used a guide which made the experience a lot more pleasant. Many thanks to Lilith for gifting me this game.

A superb VN which has left me speechless. A grim tale in the tradition of 18th- and 19th-century gothic fiction, the intricate stories as well as the great character development make it a must-play for anyone interested in good stories. It starts a bit slow and the art style takes some time to get used to but the writing and the music are phenomenal. It's long but carefully reading everything and seeing all endings is worth it. Steins;Gate was my favourite VN but this one, though very different, is better in every way. On to The House in Fata Morgana: A Requiem for Innocence now!

About a week ago, I received my New PocketGo and I was very excited to be able to play SNES games on a handheld console. The first game I decided to sink time into is Super Tennis, one of the release titles here in Europe back in June 1992. While the game is very simple by today's standards, it was phenomenal back then and still is very pleasant today. Playing against the CPU is often a bit too hard as its reaction time is too fast and it never misses easy shots. The ball also hits the top of the net way too often (falling on my side, obviously). I think it's best enjoyed with a human opponent so I may upload it to my SNES Classic Mini to play it with my son.

Well, the first game of 2020 wasn't a good one. I was expecting a cute racing game and I got a bad Mario Kart clone. In fact, I wonder why Nintendo hasn't taken this game down with the sheer number of ideas stolen from the MK series. The game is ugly and you can tell it's a mobile port. The controls aren't tight, there quite a few graphical bugs and if you don't tweak the launch instructions to force OpenGL, it runs really bad. There are upgrades to unlock but the high number of "coins" needed (you get them by playing) to get them makes me think this "feature" is left over from the mobile game where I suspect you can buy coins packs with real money.

2019 stats

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Steam additions: 104 finished: 21 unfinished: 1 never played: 608 (+83) Favourite: The Elder Scrolls Online

Origin additions: 5 finished: 4 unfinished: 0 never played: 15 (+1) Favourite: Unravel

Uplay additions: 8 finished: 3 unfinished: 0 never played: 21 (+5) Favourite: Steep

Battle.net additions: 1 finished: 0 unfinished: 1 never played: 4 (+0) Favourite: -

Wii additions: 0 finished: 1 unfinished: 0 never played: 11 (-1) Favourite: -

SNES Mini finished: 1 unfinished: 2 never played: 14 (-3) Favourite: -

3DS additions: 60 finished: 7 unfinished: 5 never played: 48 (+48) Favourite: Super Mario 3DS Land

Emulation DS: 2 GameCube: 1

Well, the backlog has grown again this year but I'm still very happy about 2019. I got to experience many great games, had fun building a nice collection of physical 3DS titles and got into emulation again. I guess the main reason I didn't beat as many games as last year is because I've spent a lot of time on The Elder Scrolls Online (430 hours and counting) and because I also played through many long games.
I've promised myself not to spend any money on gaming next year. Let's see if I have the will to do that. Anyway, I wish you all the best for 2020!

Sometimes, my interest gets piqued by very simple games and Devious Dungeon is one of them. Redeemed last night on Chrono.gg, I wasn't expecting much but got pleasantly surprised. Basically, it plays as a very simplified Rogue Legacy. You explore levels, get keys to open portals, accumulate XP to level up and coins to buy upgrades in the shop. At the end of each "world" you face a boss. Nothing new here but like I said, this is a casual game. The pixel art and the animations are pretty good and the controls are tight. The enemies are quite varied but the game never gets hard if you're careful and take your time.

First, all the praise for this game is well-deserved. It's a superb blend of light stealth, exploration, treasure hunting and good story-telling. The graphics are so beautiful that I stopped moving many times to admire the stone textures and the beautiful shadows. The NPCs are interesting though most of the time, they'll just send you on fetch quests. I really liked how the different areas are interconnected. The story is nice but I thought the end was a bit meh. What I didn't like is how one game mechanic is not explained (you can steal stuff from walking guards) which in turn lead me to waste over an hour looking for a particular key needed to continue the main quest. Finally, the game is resourse-heavy but it's not surprising considering it was made in Unity. And while I'm here, I wish you all a merry Christmas :)