Cold Dreams

9 hours playtime

7 of 9 achievements (0%)

Decided to pick this one up again, with a walk through this time. Definitely made it easier. Turns out, I had just missed a note that told me what to do next. Go figure.

Not a great game, but not horrible Takes about a half hour, maybe? It’s really easy to get lost, though. Which is why I neglected one of the achievements that required me to go into the woods - I tried, and couldn’t find it, and didn’t want to get lost so close to the end. Honestly, wasn’t worth playing through again for the bad ending.

But at least that’s one less abandoned game and one more beaten!

I’m curious - what do you guys do when you have a SteamGifts win that you’re just… really not enjoying. I already have 4 that I’ve abandoned, and I feel very bad about it. And now I’m on a fifth that I just… ugh. I feel like I should go back and try to plow threw all of them. All of their premises looked cool when I entered the giveaways, but… in gameplay, less-so.

On Earth As It Is In Heaven - A Kinetic Novel

2 hours playtime

no achievements

I wasn’t sure I would enjoy this VN based on the reviews. Maybe it’s because I went in with such low expectations that I enjoyed it. Or maybe it’s just that I have low standards. (Probably both).
On Earth As It Is In Heaven is a Kinetic Novel, meaning no choices are made. It’s basically a picture book where the characters can blink at you. It tells the story of a heavenly scribe, life, death, and everything in between.
Let me forewarn that the grammar is… sub-par. Nothing horrible, exactly, but also not something that looks like it was read over.
However, I enjoyed the story itself, and that made up to it for me.
While I think that the price tag of $15 is very steep for this game, it’s something that would be worth picking up if you happen across it cheap or free.

Squidlit

36 minutes playtime

no achievements

Squidlet was a game I’d had on my wishlist for a while that I finally snagged in a bundle.

Squidlet is a cute little platformer that mimics original gameboy games. Play as a squidlet named Plip, whos goal is to defeat Skwip Skwop whos evil plan is so masterful and beautifully detailed, I shant spoil it here. Goofy dialogue, short but sweet game, with a nice blast to the past.

I will say, in my opinion it plays better as a small window than full screen. Full screen hurt my eyes a bit :,)

Drawn: The Painted Tower

2 hours playtime

15 of 30 achievements (50%)

A nice little point-and-click game about a young girl with amazing powers to bring her drawings to life.
Your job is to save her. From what? Who knows. Maybe I just missed that bit, but I don’t think it says.
Solve puzzles in the paintings she’s visited to find her hidden away at the top of the tower.

Overall, pretty average game, but damn did I love that art style. It’s a trilogy, so I do plan to pick up the next 2 when they’re on a pretty good sale.

Tick Tock Isle

1 hour playtime

no achievements

A short little game (~1 hour) about time travel. Play as Spike, the clock repairman, who has arrived on Tick Tock Isle to repair an old clocktower. However, not all is as it seems… jump through different time periods to solve everyone’s problems and get the clock up and working, as well as back to your own time!

Overall, an interesting game that felt more like a point-and-click even though it’s all played with the keyboard. Typical problems with it that I have with most games of this genre - lots of back and forth. Run across the map for one item, and then back across for another that you have now unlocked. Only made worse by the jumping between timezones :P Overall, though, it’s a small area, so nothing too bad. Definitely a fun little game to try out :)

Old Man's Journey

2 hours playtime

no achievements

(Actually took me closer to an hour but I left the game up a bit whoops)

Old Man’s Journey is a textless story about an old man and, well, his journey. At the start of the game, he receives a mysterious letter, and sets off. Learn more about him and his life through flashbacks along his journey.

The gameplay in this game is very simple puzzle solving of moving terrain around so that you can cross. The only thing that really bothered me were the puzzles with the sheep, and mostly it was just that I didn’t want to deal with their slow movements :P

Overall, it’s a good, short game. The art style is amazing, very painted and soft. The end of the story is beautiful in my opinion, and you get to learn a lot about the old man just through some pictures along the way.

Ablepsia

57 minutes playtime

38 of 38 achievements (100%)

I have a ton of work I need to do. Instead, I’m playing some games. I’m an adult :))

In Ablepsia, you play as a blind man who somehow has the ability to turn on the street lights. Avoid obstacles and light up the cities. An interesting premise, but not executed amazingly, and definitely not worth a $12 price tag. This game took me 57 minutes to beat, and I’m horrible at timing (which this game requires a lot of). It includes 6 levels that add no additional challenges aside from increasing the frequency of the obstacles. I think the only time a new obstacle gets added is barbed wire in chapter 2, but still. Every obstacle is handled the same way aside from the spikes. Click it, and you’re good.
Hence why my big issue was the spikes.
Press the space bar to stop, and time right when to move again.
I also feel like they could have added more depth to the game. Even just a bit more dialogue at the end of each chapter. You get the same line at the end of every chapter, with very minor difference on the last chapter. Each one is only one line of dialogue thanking you for lighting up the streets again.

So yeah, maybe worth a shot playing if you have it in your library, but save your money otherwise.

Don't Sink

4 hours playtime

15 of 15 achievements (100%)

A short little game about being a good pirate. Help other people out but also murder and pillage to run all of the islands? I don’t know, everyone seems to think you’re a good guy. You do some nice things to help people out.
The game’s pretty easy. Permadeath is optional, and you really don’t get anything extra for doing it I think.
It has nice pixel graphics, and just a few bothersome factors such as you have to stand to a certain side to talk to people, you don’t know what you can interact with until you get into that certain spot, and that there’s a lot of just sitting and waiting while you sail. Overall, I enjoyed it!

Play Time: 10 hours

Steam doesn’t count this as a real game but I enjoyed it so I do.

In Cheeky Chooks, collect your own little chooks and make a wonderful chook farm! I love chickens. Chickens are great. So I love this game. It’s got rainbow chooks, chooks that look like peacocks, heart chooks, you name it. Make sure you’re chooks are happy, well fed and watered, and watch their little dance parties in action as they have fun around their farm! They all come with names but can be easily renamed at their menu if you so wish. So many different chickens to collect.

Upgrade your farm with the money you earn from their eggs. More chickens = more eggs = more money = more things to make them happy = even MORE money because egg quality goes up. However, with each thing you buy, it’s price goes up. Eggs start super cheap but my last gold egg was maybe 8 million or something like that? And takes longer to hatch with time.

I hope steam gets their act together and marks this as a real game, because I enjoyed it a lot.