Smythe’s profile


  • Super Blood Hockey

    24 hours playtime

    33 of 33 achievements

  • The Last Campfire

    7 hours playtime

    22 of 22 achievements

  • Witcheye

    5 hours playtime

    13 of 25 achievements

  • Wildfire

    20 hours playtime

    40 of 60 achievements

  • OlliOlli World

    22 hours playtime

    31 of 54 achievements

January

Another new year begins and the continued war on my backlog continues. After a brief period at 48% completion I dropped back to 47% during January as I started a few new games that have dragged my stats down. I’ve been using BLAEO since 2017 and while there is a clear improvement in the percentage of beaten and completed games over the years, recently I’ve been adding more games too and the number of unplayed/unfinished isn’t changing much (I update the stats in my BLAEO profile each month/year so it’s easy to see).

Today was a mixed month. Time off work and access to the Deck increased my playtime a bit, so I was able to beat/complete quite a few games, but I also added to my library. The most surprising of these additions came from BLAEO itself! I voted in the Game Awards 2022 on the site as I do every year and then kind of forgot about it until I was informed that I won a game from the winners list. So, thank you again Skanda. I opted for Hardspace Shipbuilder, a game that I’ve been interested in for a while but never took the plunge and bought.

Work is about to get busy. There’s be at least 2 weeks with lots of work and probably quite a lot of unpaid overtime (working from home while there’s construction going on at the office and overtime won’t be logged!). Hopefully, I can take a few breaks during the day to balance things a little, but I imagine my gaming time will drop a little. My side jobs are busy at the moment too - Good for my wallet but not for gaming.

Onto this month’s games:

Steam

Backlog Additions

A perfect storm of sales, gifts, wins, and trades means I added nine games to my account!Two of these are in my list of assassinations this month, but still a bad start to the year.

The games are - Hardspace: Shipbreaker, Rebel Cops, Imposter Factory, BattleChef Brigade, Witcheye, OlliOlli World, Grounded, Zero Sievert, and Travellers Rest.


  • Cyberpunk 2077

    97 hours playtime

    34 of 44 achievements

  • Eldest Souls

    12 hours playtime

    27 of 50 achievements

  • Terminator: Resistance

    14 hours playtime

    26 of 36 achievements

December

Finished off the main story of Cyberpunk 2077 this month, which took me a while. I spent the remaining time beating the other two games below and playing Super Blood Hockey. I’ve almost got all the achievements in that game, but a few more to go. Hopefully, it’ll be part of next month’s report. A decent month of assassinations but no completed games this time.

I received my Steam Deck this month. Japan was way behind Europe and the USA with the release, but there are still a few countries waiting, I think. Australia for one, maybe a few other Asian countries. Anyway, good so far. I’m trying not to allow it to lead me into gaming in every free minute! So far, I occasionally play on my commute (but still try to use most days for studying) and will sit in the living room playing a bit while my partner watches TV. Still not very social, but I chat between games and she’s doing her own thing anyway. It’s just nice not to be locked away in another room all the time.

I’ve done my usual statistics update in the profile section of this site. I bought a lot more games than I have in previous years, so my progress as a whole with my library on BLAEO doesn’t look great. The fact that I added 55 games to my account and my stats look pretty similar to last year is good though, I think. Also, I’ve resisted the urge to just play new games and have cleared some older titles, and my overall completion percentage on Steam is up to 48%. Hopefully next year I can clear 50%!

Anyway, onto this month’s games:

Steam

Backlog Additions

I think the only game I picked up this month was Sleeping Dogs. An old game that I had a feeling I have a key for somewhere but not sure where. I’ll probably find it now I’ve bought it! The Steam Sale is still going on and other are a few games I have my eye on, so maybe I’ll cave and get a couple in January. For now, though, limited additions, which helps my stats!


  • TOEM

    7 hours playtime

    48 of 48 achievements

  • Sheepo

    7 hours playtime

    12 of 18 achievements

  • Tinykin

    12 hours playtime

    43 of 43 achievements

  • UNSIGHTED

    35 hours playtime

    26 of 42 achievements

November

I spent quite a lot of time playing Cyberpunk 2077 this month. Enjoying that so I’ve been doing mainly side missions and taking my time. Other than that, I cleared 4 games from my assassin’s hit list! I really enjoyed all the games too, so a nice month of gaming overall.

Had my 5th Covid vaccine this month. The usual day or two of headaches and achy limbs after but nothing too bad. I’ve felt a bit coldy aside from that recently, so not much exercise. Instead, I’ve been watching the World Cup and drinking beer! Getting lazy so I’ll have to get back in the gym soon and build my good habits again.

Anyway, onto the games:

Steam

Backlog Additions

I won Eldest Souls on Steamgifts and picked up Cozy Grove at the end of the month, so not the worst of months. I resisted the sales and so overall this month my backlog is -2.


  • Buddy Simulator 1984

    7 hours playtime

    22 of 30 achievements

  • Nuclear Blaze

    4 hours playtime

    20 of 20 achievements

  • Narita Boy

    11 hours playtime

    34 of 34 achievements

  • Mayhem in Single Valley

    7 hours playtime

    34 of 40 achievements

  • Celeste

    70 hours playtime

    28 of 32 achievements

October

A more successful month, 5 games assassinated and 2 of them completed! Whoop!

A few days before the end of the month as I’ve just finished Narita Boy and I don’t want to forget to upload this. I’ve been pretty slack in recent months.

Aside from gaming, not much going on. Kind of surviving rather than living life to the fullest. Just going through the motions at work, gaming and doing stuff locally on my days off. I’m looking into a trip back to the UK now that Corona restrictions are pretty much lifted in Japan (pretty slow compared to other countries) but the flight prices are putting me off a bit. It’ll probably be next Summer.

Steam

Backlog Additions

I finally took control of the buying and just got one game this month - Dying Light Enhanced Edition. Pretty difficult to get a good deal on a version of this that runs in Japan, but took the plunge. I’m sure it will sit unplayed for a few months and will be free somewhere before I get to it!


  • art of rally

    19 hours playtime

    42 of 43 achievements

  • Skullgirls 2nd Encore

    29 hours playtime

    25 of 45 achievements

  • Webbed

    11 hours playtime

    16 of 19 achievements

  • My Time At Portia

    130 hours playtime

    57 of 91 achievements

August - September

No monthly post again and I’m almost at the end of a couple of games but thought I’d best not delay for another month, so here’s a brief update.

Steam

Backlog Additions

Bad month again, although I have beaten two of these - My Time At Portia, Sheepo, Webbed, The Last Campfire, TOEM, My Time at Sandrock, Terminator: Resistance, Tinykin, The Tenants, Scrap Mechanic.


  • Golf Peaks

    3 hours playtime

    12 of 12 achievements

  • The Ramp

    51 minutes playtime

    12 of 12 achievements

  • Kentucky Route Zero

    9 hours playtime

    24 of 24 achievements

  • Sniper Elite 4

    36 hours playtime

    47 of 85 achievements

  • The Darkside Detective

    5 hours playtime

    30 of 30 achievements

  • Inspector Waffles

    3 hours playtime

    15 of 15 achievements

June-July

A bit disorganized in June and I didn’t make much progress in many games, so I went for the two-month report. It does bring the problem of not remembering what I played, but I think I got everything!

I had a weekend away to another area of Japan and stayed near the beach. Still difficult to travel internationally and the prices are crazy, so this was the best I could do for now!

Not much other news. bought a few things for my apartment and did quite a lot of extra work (which helps pay for those things!). My real job has been quiet for a week or so. There will be a very busy period late in August, but for now, I’m enjoying being at a bit of a loose end. That’s given me a bit more time to play games, but this month was not a good one for cutting down the backlog as I bought far more than I beat!

Steam

Backlog Additions

Where to start. I’ve had a decent amount of money sitting in my Steam account for about 3 years that hasn’t really decreased much, so I splurged all that on a few games. Also did some trades… so I bought a silly number of games, 15 in total!
Here they are: Art of Rally, Unsighted, Cavity Busters, Courier of the Crypts, DYSMANTLE, DEATHLOOP, ATOM RPG Trudograd, Olija, Golf Peaks, Necesse, Cyberpunk 2077, Sniper Elite 4 Deluxe Edition, Black Mesa, Wildfire, The Ramp.


  • Alba: A Wildlife Adventure

    3 hours playtime

    9 of 9 achievements

  • ISLANDERS

    11 hours playtime

    26 of 26 achievements

  • Suzerain

    15 hours playtime

    31 of 86 achievements

  • Death's Door

    18 hours playtime

    17 of 24 achievements

May

I usually keep a note of games I’ve played and bought during to help me write this, but was a bit disorganized this month. I think I managed to work out the games I beat/completed though. A few days late with this update too as I was close to beating Death’s Door.

Aside from gaming, what did I do? Hmm….I started Japanese lessons again, online this time. I’ve dipped into them over the years I’ve lived in Tokyo but not been very consistent. My Japanese is ok but not as good as it should be for the amount of time I’ve been here, so this is another attempt to improve a little!

I also signed myself up for some additional health insurance. Coming from the UK, paying for healthcare is always a bit strange (basically it’s free there and paid for by your taxes. While there may be a waiting list for some things, overall it’s pretty amazing). Here I’m in a policy with work where I only have to pay about 30% of treatment costs, which is fine for most things, but if there’s ever something big (touch wood it won’t happen!) then it can get very expensive. As I’m getting on a bit, I thought I should probably be sensible and sort that out. Anyway, that was pretty difficult in Japanese and kind of pushed me back into the lessons a bit too.

The final bit of news, I joined a kickboxing gym again. I’ve been doing it on and off for about 18 years. Most recently, I spent about 2 years just practicing myself with a sandbag in a regular gym. I moved to a different area of Tokyo earlier this year though and Couldn’t get there very easily, so after about 6 months off I’ve joined a place with instructors again. I’m not competing anymore (had an eye operation a few years back, may have partly been down to getting punched for years but can’t say for sure) but I missed it enough to search out a gym and am trying to go at least once a week. Aside from that, busy at work but that’s not new, so onto the games!

Steam

Backlog Additions

After a bad couple of months where I added a lot of games to my library, I was more restrained in May. I only picked up two games, Death’s Door which I’ve already beaten, and Outer Wilds.

  • PGA TOUR 2K21

    24 hours playtime

    25 of 29 achievements

  • Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion

    4 hours playtime

    37 of 37 achievements

  • Assemble with Care

    80 minutes playtime

    14 of 14 achievements

  • The Count Lucanor

    6 hours playtime

    32 of 32 achievements

  • ISLANDERS

    11 hours playtime

    26 of 26 achievements

April

Lots of short games this month, so I could 100% some of them and increase the number of games I’ve completed. Whoop!

Hard to remember what happened this month. I continued to buy small things for my apartment (after moving in January), work has been steady (lots of overdue deadlines but at least there have been no new projects suddenly appearing!), I had my third Covid vaccine, and I turned 41. Aside from that, just the usual gaming, going to the gym, trying new restaurants. Oh, I’m trying to get back into studying again. I go through stages of working on my Japanese and times when I don’t really bother, so we”ll see how long it lasts this time!

Steam

Backlog Additions

Once again, I bought more games than I assassinated! This month saw me add these to my library: Dorfromantik, Inspector Waffles, ScourgeBringer, Eastward, Alba: A Wildlife Adventure, Core Keeper, and Suzerain. As The Bethesda launcher closed, Fallout 76 was moved across to Steam. I had only put a few hours into it on the other platform, so gonna try and give it a go now it’s on Steam and I feel bad for not playing it!

I've put a bit of time into Scourgebringer and have realized that it's one of those games that I like but am unlikely to ever finish! I've also put some time into Suzerain. It has many different endings. I have a few but am unsure if I'll keep playing to get the others or not at the moment. The others are sitting in my backlog waiting to be played.

  • Partisans 1941

    26 hours playtime

    18 of 31 achievements

  • Golf Club Wasteland

    15 hours playtime

    27 of 27 achievements

  • Sundered: Eldritch Edition

    27 hours playtime

    16 of 20 achievements

  • The Survivalists

    60 hours playtime

    42 of 42 achievements

  • Huntdown

    25 hours playtime

    16 of 19 achievements

  • Maneater

    14 hours playtime

    32 of 44 achievements

February-March

So, I wrote a February post and saved it on my PC but never uploaded it! Getting old and forgetful. At least I still had the draft and could add to it for this post.

I had to use up holidays before the end of the business/academic year at the start of April, so took quite a bit of time off in March. I did a little part-time work and some real-world stuff, so not that much time on gaming but more time than usual. I played Wizard of Legend a lot and collected a lot of achievements, but am still falling short of beating the game. I think I need some luck as I’m not gonna get there on skill alone! Also picked up Back 4 Blood and have been enjoying that in the last week or so. L4D2 vibes which I loved back in the day.

Played quite a lot of demos during the Steam even that was on in February. The two games I was most interested in were Tinykin and Restless Soul, which made it onto my wishlist. Anyway, onto the assassinations…

Steam

Backlog Additions

Oh dear, let’s get this over with shall we…Darksiders Genesis, Curse of the Dead Gods, The Darkside Detective, Batman: Arkham Knight, Borderlands 3, Buddy Simulator 1984, Celeste, Huntdown (beaten), Back 4 Blood, PGA Tour 2021.

  • Retrowave

    30 hours playtime

    44 of 44 achievements

January

Work, work, work! I want to get out of the recent habit of posting every two months though, so even though I haven’t played much I’m doing a January post.

I moved apartments successfully. My commute is a little longer, but aside from that things are good. Bigger place, slightly faster internet and cheaper rent. I’ve been here for about a month now and while there are still a few things to do, everything is out of boxes and it is reasonably tidy.

One assination and a lot of new purchases (-.-;)

Steam

Backlog Additions

Another naughty month, I’m getting worse! Picked up 8 games - Maneater, Noita, Assemble with Care, Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden, Golf Club Wasteland, XCOM: Chimera Squad, Partisans 1941, and Dead Estate. I haven’t beaten any of them either. 2022 can’t continue like this!

Statistics