Not the kind of game I'd normally go for just reading the description on the Steam store and the preview videos, but I read a lot of good things about this.

Puzzle golf game. You are given a set number of 'cards' that hit the ball in different ways, normally different distances or chipping the ball. Then you need to negotiate the course and put the ball. Simple idea. As with all puzzle games, I did what I could and checked guides when I was stuck, so it's a semi-legitimate completed game.

There's a warning on the store page of this game not to expect too much and that it's not really a 'game' as such and more a 'digital toy'. It's nice that the creator added the warning to prevent people expecting too much.

I think it's fair to call it a game, just a short and simple one. I picked it up during the Steam sale and think the reduced price was fair for what I got. It took me just under an hour to 'complete' the game and get all the achievements. It does feel more like a way to just zone out a bit and not really chase achievements, so in that way maybe a 'digital toy' is a better description. You have the rhythm-type control of pressing and releasing a button at the right point to build up speed and the pretty standard combination of directions and buttons for grabs and tricks. Nice to pass a little time and if you don't feel like getting stuck into another game, it's something nice to dip into every now and then. Good music too

I remember seeing the first 'episode' of this being released years ago. It looked interesting, but I wasn't really convinced. I'm kind of glad I didn't dive in early as it took a very long time for all the parts to come out. I think about 7 years on Steam (9 years of production including the Kickstarter days).

So, does it feel like a game that took 9 years to develop? In many ways, yes. There are a lot of great things in the game and it's very polished, it's just not really my thing. I don't spend a lot of time writing my comments (I don't think I can really call them 'reviews'!) on BLAEO, but I did think about this one a bit because it's not really like many other games I've played. I've settled on drawing a parallel - KRZ is, for me, like a Wes Anderson movie. It's artistic, stylish, kind of hipster-ish, there's good music, and it's been carefully and thoughtfully put together to create a very polished final product. There are parts where I think, "that's clever" but at the end of the experience I didn't really enjoy it and it all feels a bit pretentious. It could be that I just don't get it, but I didn't really understand what the 'deeper meaning' of the game was and after looking up ideas online, it feels like a bit of a stretch. So, anyway. It looks great (see below for some poorly formatted screenshots) and the scenes and angles are directed like a movie, but aside from the visuals, I didn't enjoy it. Completed.

Played this a few years back on a friend's system, Playstation maybe? And quite enjoyed it. I have the first in the series but haven't bought anything since.

I'm sure everyone is pretty familiar with this series. I see it as kind of a mix between Hitman and Just cause myself. Option for stealth but not as important as Hitman, with a slightly more open world and collectibles like Just Cause. I beat the main game and DLC missions, got all the secondary objectives, and the optional objectives in the main missions. Also picked up quite a few extra achievements as I went, so sitting at a respectable 55%. It's unlikely I'll every get 100%, as there are ones for the highest level of difficulty and no saves, which I don't have the skill/patience for! I might come back and pick up a few more in the future though, collectibles and things. Beaten.

A Point and Click Adventure game, which I normally steer clear of but this one had overwhelmingly positive reviews and I could pick it up in a trade.

Better dialogue than a lot of similar games, and there were a few funny bits in there. The puzzles weren't too obscure either. I dipped into guides when I was a bit lost and to clear up achievements at the end, so at times I was treating this a bit like a visual novel rather than a game. Probably won't get the sequel, but not gonna count it out. Fun game, and it goes into the completed pile.

Pretty similar description to the game above! Another Point and Click Adventure game. I got this one from the Guardian Bundle at Fanatical.

Pixel graphics for this one, very blocky, but the cut scenes were all cartoon style and much more detailed. A bit strange that there was so much of a contrast between them really. The story in this one was more complex than Darkside detective, there were also some slightly more obscure solutions to puzzles. I had a similar tactic with this game in that I dipped into guides when I was stuck rather than thinking too hard! I did have to load from a save point and replay quite a big section as I missed a collectible card needed for a secret ending and achievements. Pretty good overall, and good dialogue again, but I preferred Darkside Detective. Completed.

Not the kind of game I'd normally go for just reading the description on the Steam store and the preview videos, but I read a lot of good things about this.

The story did feel a little..how can I put this, cute and kid-friendly... kind of like it was trying too hard to teach you about the environment. Aside from that, I really liked it. Taking photos was a fun change to catching or shooting things and the story was kind of fun. Pretty relaxed game and something that most ages could enjoy. Pretty short game and easy to get all achievements, so this one goes into the completed pile.

City building, but without the management aspects, hours of gameplay or stress! Basically removing all the things I can't deal with very well in regular management games.

I guess this was more like a puzzle game. Find the best position for different parts of the city based on how close you put them in relation to other elements. It felt like there was a little bit of luck involved in getting a good island layout, but not too bad. Nice relaxing game to dip into and I managed to 100% it, so another 'completed' game!

I should really play this more, but getting the achievements seems to require a lot of playthroughs and the game doesn't really change much. There's quite a lot of reading on your first couple of playthroughs, but in most subsequent games it feels like you're just clicking through to get to certain points where you can make a particular choice that will affect the story.

I guess it's a kind of political choose your own adventure kind of game. Whenever you play the game there's an 'ending' to the story, so it's difficult to know when you have 'beaten' it. I got 3-4 endings, but every time I played after that I seemed to get the same ones even though I made different choices. There are a lot more achievements available, but I'm not keen on going through the same story again and again to get them. There are guides that give you general advice on what kind of options to choose for specific endings, but I didn't find any specific playthroughs. Probably because there are so many choices in the game. Anyway, kind of fun but it gets old after a couple of runs as it's the same basic story each time. So, a pretty low 36% and into the beaten pile for this one.

I'd been after this for a while but it hadn't turned up in any bundles or possible trades. I finally just bought it when there was a decent sale this month. Glad I did. It's a great game!

The art, music, gameplay all worked well to create a really nice game overall. It was just about the right difficulty for me too. Some parts were tough, but I felt like I was making just enough progress each time to come back again and again until I got past that particular section. I picked up quite a few achievements, but there are at least 2 that require me to do another run through. No matter how much I like a game, that's pretty unlikely. So, 'beaten' for now. There's a chance I might come back to it but so long as I have a backlog it's pretty unlikely.

I didn't want this enough to get the Humble Monthly it was in, but was intersted enough to enter giveaways on SG. My thinking being that If I won it would be nice to try, if not I wouldn't be too bothered! There were a lot of people giving this away, so after a month or two of entries I managed to win.

I briefly tried the very realistic/difficult settings but soon reverted to normal/easy. It was nice having the game set up so that it was more relaxing than a real challenge or source of frustration. I often mention games that are easy to drop into for an hour or two and this was another. No real surprises, I mean it's a golf game so you know what you're getting! The commentary was a little repetitive, but not enough for me to search the settings to see if I could switch it off.

I got most of the achievements. The remaining ones involved multiplayer games (always dead when I tried), legend difficulty, and the only one that I had a go at but never managed, holing the ball from a bunker. Still, 86% and 24 hours of play for a game I wasn't sure about is pretty good! Into the 'beaten pile it goes'

There seemed to be quite a bit of hype around this game, well, I heard about it quite a bit. People I knew seemed to be playing it and it came up in a few feeds. Enough to get me interested and it looked kind of fun. I didn't watch any videos as it looked like the kind of game that had a story you could spoil by finding out too much.

When I bought and tried it I was a little disappointed to be honest. There wasn't much to the story and the gameplay was pretty simple. The best part, for me at least, was the 'Limitless Line' section after you finish the main story. I think it might have been a free DLC added to the game after it was released. Anyway, after playing for a while, I decided to dip into a guide to ensure I got all the achievements. Overall, not a bad game, but not one I'd recommend. Completed.

Not sure where my interest in this game came from. I guess it looked a bit different and seemed pretty relaxing. Basically you dismantle things, fix them then put them back together. It was pretty relaxing and although there were a few slightly trickier parts, it's a pretty simple game overall. I wasn't keen on the story to be honest, it was a bit too 'touchy-feely' for my liking. I just wanted to fix things! Anyway, short game, relaxing, okay overall and a nice change but it didn't make me want to find similar games. Completed.

This was on my watch/wish list for quite a long time. It looked interesting, but I was a bit put off by the 'horror' tag on the store page. It was made by the same team as 'Yuppie Psycho' which I have played and thought was pretty good, so when I found a deal I decided to take the plunge.

There was a similar feel to Yuppie Psycho and some of the game elements (crawling to avoid enemies, in particular) are basically the same. I preferred this game though. The story was much better in my eyes and I was more involved in the game. Enough to load earlier saves and get all the endings and 100% it in fact. Only 6 hours in total, but a nice game and I'm more likely to see what other games this team release now.

My run of 'pretty relaxing and short' games continues with this one. Place structures on an island in particular positions in order to get a high score. There's not much else to say! It looks nice, and there was something very satisfying about building a community. The achievements weren't too tricky to get and most came through playing the game naturally. There were just 3 that I had to make an effort to get. Another game that I could dip into when work was quiet and didn't need to think about too much. This was my favourite game this month, even though it only took 10 hours to 100%. Short and sweet! Into the completed category it goes.

Very similar to the old Commandos series and Desperados. Pretty good overall, but a little buggy. I had characters getting stuck in bushes and a few other glitches. There was also this strange feature where enemies would kind of walk into position upon loading a saved game rather than starting from their saved position. This meant I was instantly discovered whereas I wouldn't have been if I wasn't loading from a saved game. Luckily, it was quick and easy to save so I could just start up from an earlier save when this happened.

I like it, but it got a bit boring towards the end. The last mission was a bit frustrating too. I had to find a key which was in a bit of a strange place compared to where you'd find keys in all the other missions. So, I won't be going back to try and complete this, I don't think. Into the beaten pile with a decent 58% of achievements. </p>

I tried a demo of this game about 4-6 months back during one of the Steam events and liked it enough to add it to my wishlist. It's not something that I wanted enough to pay full price for, but I managed to get it in a trade.

Simple game, but it looks good and has a nice atmosphere. The voice on the radio in the background got a little annoying as I kept playing, but I could just turn that down. It was another good game for when I should be working as each hole (or attempt at a hole) would only take a few minutes so I could play between tasks. Some very tricky holes in there, but quite a few of them have a kind of shortcut which you could learn through looking around carefully or trial and error.

As I had previously installed the demo, there was a bit of an achievement bug. A few of them including ones that should pop the first time you play or finish a hole didn't pop. Others were fine, so I had some later more difficult achievements but not those first, basically unmissable, ones. I didn't notice at first and after a bit of googling found that I needed to delete my save data (with leftover data from the demo) and play through again. Actually, I had to play through 3 times to get all the basic achievements which I think should have popped in one run. Then, once that was done, I did the Iron Man game mode. Basically, you can't make a mistake or you start the whole 35 hole course again. So, a game that probably took me 2-3 hours to beat actually added up to 15 hours! I did 100% it though, so a rare 'Completed' game.

I've had this for a long time, but never really got into it. I played it a bit but didn't really know what I was doing or got stuck and gave up. Put more time into it this time and found it pretty enjoyable.

Rougelike with hand drawn graphics. It reminded me a little of Dust: An Elysian Tail. It's a lot darker and the art is a different style, so maybe just the hand drawn aspect? It took me quite a while to get past some bosses, but as it's a game where you can level up and return to bosses, it always felt like I'd get there in the end. Pretty satisfying to finish it. There are more achievements, but they require complete run throughs with different choices (unless you have strategic saves, which I didn't make!). So, not 100% but a satifying 'beaten' game nonetheless.

I played a demo of this a year or so ago and was interested in it, but was put off a little by reviews. Finally picked it up and while not perfect, it was a lot of fun.

Team 17 is a development team I'm very familiar with, having owned an Amiga in the '90s. I'm pretty surprised that they're still going, to be honest. They're not as well regarded today as they once were, but they still put out a few good games and the cartoony graphics have been a pretty similar style throughout. This was one of their better recent efforts in my opinion. The control/inventory system isn't great, so I ended up using a controller most of the time but a mouse for the inventory. Using the monkey's was a bit hit and miss too. There were a few repetitive tasks that they were helpful with, but most of the time it was easier for me to just do things myself. I found them most useful to help me in battles or just hanging around with a multitool to make things once I dropped the required materials off.

These small problems didn't put me off playing for 100%. It took quite a while, but never really got boring. Rebuilding the galleon at the end was a bit of a pain, but aside from that, I had no major complaints. The multiplayer achievements were a bit of a pain. It took me a long time to find online games open to me which I wasn't booted from almost immediately. Finally found an open game and got them. There were some issues though, it seemed laggy which affected combat and I had to rely on the monkeys to beat enemies. Might be better if you set up a game with a friend in the same part of the world, I guess. All done now though, 100% and 'Completed'.

Simple game but done pretty well. I'm not sure about the Overwhelmingly Positive reviews, but it was enjoyable enough.

Kind of a retro, 80's action-movie style, pixelated, platform shooter (let's seem how many descriptors I can put in a row!). Not too bad to beat the game, but there are some achievements which involve getting through levels without dying and collecting everything. I started going for this (on normal difficulty) but have given up at about the 75% mark. Struggling! I'm not that good at the game, trying over and over again on the same level is removing the enojyment and there's no way I'll do the higher difficulties so I'd still be under 100% anyway. So, just 'Beaten' and onto the next game.

I played a demo of this a year or so ago and was interested in it, but was put off a little by reviews. Finally picked it up and while not perfect, it was a lot of fun.

Open world kind of game, but in the sea. Actually, much mroe repetitive than other open world games as sharks are kind of limited in what they can do compare to humans!

I enjoyed it enough to play through all the achievements in the base game, but it did get very samey - eat these people, kill this animal, collect these things - in every area. There's a story, but not much to it to be honest so don't expect any twists and turns. I menion this a lot, but it was another of those kind of mindless games that it's easy to drop into for 30-60 mins at a time and easy to pause. Great for when I should be working! The remaining 12 achievements are all in the DLC which I'm not going to get, so although I completed teh base game it's gonna be in the 'Beaten' pile as officially I'm only at 72% of achievements.

My most recent Steamgifts win. I'm pretty picky about the giveaways I enter so I win about one game a year.

A very cheap game that I had my eye on before it appeared in a recent bundle. The graphics and music appealed to me and the reviews were positive. I wasn't disappointed. Much more relaxing than I expected. The runs were short but it wasn't frustrating at all. Loved the music too. A lot of the tracks seemed very similar to real 80's songs.

Once I decided to go for 100% achievements, it did get a little grindy but that was partly my fault too. Generally, I don't look at guides unless I'm unsure how to get something. Initially, I thought the money achievements were career earnings (i.e. including what you have spent), but actually, you need to have that figure onscreen. I probably added about 5 hours to my gameplay by spending recklessly early on. Really, I should have only bought new cars and upgrades after hitting the money achievements. Never mind a rare 'completed' game is my reward for all those hours of play!

Picked this up in a trade a month or so ago, then pushed myself to play it when it appeared in the Humble Choice December pack.

Not sure what drew me to it actually, maybe the story/setting/reviews. I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't a point and click game. The story was interesting and kept me interested for the duration of the game. I went back to get a few extra achievements after finishing it too (rare for me). Overall a pretty short game. Good in a bundle, okay with a deep discount, I don't think it's worth the full price (purely based on playtime and my own tastes). A high 72% of achievements and into the beaten pile.

I played Just Cause 2 a while back and enjoyed the mindless exploration and gradual progress as I played in short bursts. I felt like doing that again and was pretty busy at work, so grabbed JC3 and played it over the last month or so.

Pretty much more of the same if you've played JC2. Better graphics, a wingsuit (not in 2, if I remember correctly but I'm not interested enough to stop writing and check!). I initially only got the base game despite the fact that the XXXL version is often on sale. That's because I rarely play DLC as I'm usually satisfied with just the main game and, at first glance, a lot of the DLC seemed to be additional weapons that I wasn't interested in. I don't think the XXXL version was actually available in my region, which was another problem. So, I started with just the base game then picked up the "Air, Land and Sea" DLC separately. I'm still working on the DLC, so my achievements my increase a little but I doubt I'll get to 100%. I've jumped from 48% to 59% using the DLC, so I guess I could get another 5-10%. I like the fact I can just dip into it and complete one or two bases at a time though. *Update* I finished the main stories in the DLC and jumped to 66%, I think that's enough for now.

Another recent acquisition. I think I tried this on Gamepass and wasn't particularly impressed, but don't think I really gave it enough of a chance. That, good reviews, and the fact that it was bundled fairly recently made me interested again and I'm glad I went back to it.

Lots of fun. Some very difficult parts (for me at least) and I spent a decent 26 hours working through it and searching for collectibles. The most difficult parts for me were the chain dash sections. There were a few rooms with enemies that were tough, but that was mainly because I arrived with no health packs. The bosses were tough but doable and it was satisfying to gradually learn patterns and edge closer to beating each boss. Not many more achievements I think I can get, so it'll be going into the beaten pile at 56%.

Overwhelmingly positive reviews and very cheap, I think it was the equivalent of less than $1. It's not really a game. I guess a very, very short visual novel. There are options, but even with a few playthroughs I only spent 11 minutes on the game and got all the achievements. The subject is ok, graphics are a bit difficult to make out at times. I wouldn't really recommend it. I think the subject matter could have been incorporated into something a bit longer. But, on the positive side it's a rare 'completed' game in the backlog!

Very fun game. I didn't know a lot about this but the trailer looked fun. I wasn't disappointed. Simple parts, but the game changes quite a lot and is pretty high paced. It's difficult to describe, but kind of plays like an action movie. There are different parts where you work through a train, on top of a train, in a car, on a motorbike, and in a plane. Pixel graphics and the gameplay was kind of retro too, pretty simple. I died a lot but beat the game on both easy and normal before picking up a few extra achievements. Well over my average at 75% and into the beaten pile.

Had this on my wishlist on and off for a while. It's only available through the Steam store, so was looking to pick it up in the Winter sale and then I was gifted it, so no more procrastinating! Fun game. A little...hmmm...edgy kind of humour. Think along the lines of South Park. There were a surprising number of different paths through the day at Kindergarten to get the collectibles. I found some myself then used a guide to help me. Lots and lots of restarts of complete runs and 'rooms' within a single run. I thought I'd played for longer than 6 hours, but I guess each run was pretty short. Anyway, fun cheap game so would recommend it if the kind of humour is what you like. A rare completed game.

I tried a demo of this during a Steam event earlier in the year. Very simple concept but great fun to play. Also, although it is very difficult in parts it didn't feel like I would never be able to get past a particular room. You basically avoid spinning discs that kill you in each room and as you progress there's a greater variety of discs with different effects. There are some power-ups to help you as you go. Lots of trial and error and a little luck for some of the rooms. I beat all the regular rooms and saw the game credits, then discovered there is a 'hard' set of rooms. Struggling with those a little so will mark this as 'Beaten' for now and see how I go. An easy game to dip into every now and then.

Got this game earlier this year. I had been interested in it for a while but thought it might be a game I suck at! Looked like a fast paced arcade game that needs youthful reactions, which I no longer have. Thankfully, it wasn't that difficult. I played it on normal difficulty and finished it in about 11 hours before going back to pick up a few extra achievements.

It's not a particularly new game, released in 2017, and to be honest the graphics have dated a little. It's also very Japanese - the style of robots, movements in quick time events etc. Even the fact that your character smokes a lot and there is an action to light up a cigarette seems pretty Japanese (pretty late getting onto the whole no-smoking thing). There wasn't much of a story, think of your typical action movie and you'll be pretty close. It was fun to play though and the fact that I went back to get extra achievements shows that I was quite into it, I guess. Still, not into it enough to play through again in hard or do the challenges that would get me closer to a completition. So, another beaten game but at a very repectable (for me at least) 72% achievements.

Not sure why I stopped playing this, maybe I got stuck. It's a very fun game! I actually started a new game as I was attempting it on 'Insane Mode'. Not something I would normally do, but it was a challenge on a Discord Server I frequent.

Starting off, it seems strange that there are different difficulties for the game as it is more of an adventure platformer than anything. There aren't many enemies and even on insane mode they are pretty easy to kill. Once you advance a little, that changes, and you encounter quite a few bosses. I think there are about 17 in total in the game. Some are optional, as you don't need to beat them to complete the game. There were about 3 that I really struggled with. Took me a long time to learn the patterns and the best way to avoid attacks for two of them. The third seemed more like luck than anything! I know that I spent over an hour on two of those.

Played a demo of this recently in one of those indie game showcase things that Steam had. It interestyed me enough to follow the game and then I saw it for a decent price this month.

Cute, chill, and pretty simple game. You play a chick helping his grandmother restore and maintain camping areas. You run around collecting resources, fixing things, and building parts of the camp. It's been compared to 'A Short Hike', which I think I have on itch.io but have never played! Anyway, a nice easy game to drop into and relax with. Only took me about 5 hours to complete and I wasn't pushing myself to finish it. A nice little distraction and worth it if you can find it cheap.

Bit of a strange game. Reminded me a little of Yuppie Psycho, but to be honest it wasn't as good. The story was decent but it played more like a visual novel than a game. A lot of the time, you followed a set path and read the dialogue. There were times when you had the freedom to travel to different areas a little but to advance the game you needed to do a specific action or speak to someone. Some unnatural English in the translation and in my opinion, slightly bad taste to link the game story to real-life terrorist events (1995 Sarin gas attacks in Tokyo). I'm not grossly offended or anything and I'm sure there are much more blatant links to real-life crimes in other games, I guess the fact that the name of the game development company suggests it's Japan-based made me more conscious of it (actually a Chinese company). Anyway, overrated in the Steam reviews but was worth a play and I got all the achievements so it's a rare 'Completed' game for me.

Bought in 2018, I played it a bit but was put off by the creepiness. I was pretty early in the game, walking around getting suprised and smacking everything with a wrench. I tried it again this month and had no idea what was going on at my save point, so I restarted. This time I persevered a bit more and was pleasantly surprised when I found a tool to let me identify mimics pretty quickly.

Not the easiest game to get a lot of achievements on. Some require full playthroughs (killing everyone, killing nobody, linked to alien enhancements, linked to no enhancements). I played being a nice guy and grabbed a couple of extra at the end but still only managed about 30% :( So, it's into the beaten pile and onto the next game.

Bought in 2017, I got pretty far in this and then got stuck. I think I was 3-4 levels from the final boss. Took me a long time to get past that part and I struggled with the controls a lot. Initially I couldn't work out how to use Relics, then I was using them accidentally all the time. Total amount of time in the game is pretty low and It's a terrible achievement rate, but there's no way I'm playing through that again as other characters or trying to get more collectibles. I'm just too bad at it!

A pretty embarrassing 9% of achievements dragging down my average, but it's heading to the beaten pile so I can forget about it!

I had the original Dead Island already and beat it way back in 2013, so why did I pick up the definitive edition? Well, to be honest I only wanted a DLC which isn't available separately anymore. I bought the definitive edition hoping it would just add the DLC to my existing game, but it created a completely separate entry in my library. So, anyway, I beat the game again, got a few extra achivements and played the DLC that I wanted. So, beaten again!

The impetus for all of this was a kind of challenge. I'm in a Discord group that has 'bounties' posted. which are basically game achievements. If you get the achievement and prove it with screenshots and the achievement on your account, you get xp in the channel. There's no real tangible reward for all this, but it's fun. When I first joined the server, they were all bounties for games I didn't have and wasn't intersted in but recently more interesting ones have appeared. I got a few for games I own and missed out on a couple as other peopler picked them up. It got a bit addictive and while this wouldn't get me to play a lot of games and I certainly won't suddenly become a better player and magically get difficult achievements, it is an incentive to play games I already own and sometimes pick up other games if I can find them cheap. Which leads me on to...

In a Humble Choice recently that I didn't get but there was an achievement posted on the bounty board (see Dead Island post above) that looked doable and the game was reasonably interesting to me. I did a trade and picked it up without having to buy it.

Not really a difficult game. I only have one other racing game in my library (Wreckfest) but still managed to win most races on my first try with the standard car at intermediate level. There were some tricky tracks and as I got further in the game I found myself buying some cars just for variety and to get past a few races I struggled with. Overall pretty repetitive. There are a limited number of tracks that keep coming up. The achievement I was going for was to race every event, not necessary win or get on the podium. Seemed a bit strange, so I added the additional element of getting on the podium or the equivalent for time trials. Took me 16 hours overall, but it was pretty fun. I should add that it got quite mixed reviews. I'm not sure how many of those were from people who played earlier Dirt games, but this was my first game in the franchise and while I might not buy any more soon It wasn't a bad game. 45% of achievements (could probably get 2 more if I did some grinding and got better at one of the events) but the majority of those remaining are related to DLC. Into the Beaten pile it goes!

In a Humble Choice recently that I didn't get but there was an achievement posted on the bounty board (see Dead Island post above) that looked doable and the game was reasonably interesting to me. I did a trade and picked it up without having to buy it.

Had this on my wishlist for a while and managed to get it for a good deal. I haven't played any of the other Desperados games, it reminded me of the old game Commandos a little. Not really a story-driven game but the story was more prominant that I thought it would be. I also quite liked the different skills that the characters brought to the game, although to be honest I tended top use the same one or two characters for most of the levels as I found them easier to use. Beat the game and managed to get 63% of achievements in the process too. Beaten and onto the next game!

Another Humble Choice game that I skipped over then picked up later. The main thing that put me off was the setting, the same thing that put me off Skyrim for a long time. When I first started playing, I thought I'd made a pretty big mistake actually. Controls were very difficult with mouse and keyboard and the start of the game was 90% cut scenes. After switching to a controller for 90% of the game (still used the mouse for a few parts) things improved a little.

The next issue was combat. No guns (as expected) and the only ranged weapon is a bow and arrow - no crosshairs, hand wobble and the arrow dips. All very accurate, but difficult to use. The majority of combat was hand to hand, also very difficult. It did make my improvements in combat more satisfying, but even by the end of the game I felt like I didn't really have a good command of it. One more criticism - bugs and glitches. I redid one quest 4-5 times because it didn't go the way I expected for no apparent reason. Then there were a few quests that seemingly stopped working. There was no dialogue or warning to say that the quest couldn't be done, I did what was asked but the quest giver wouldn't take the goods after I'd got them. Very annoying!

Onto the more positive parts. There were a lot of parallels to Bethesda/Fallout games, which I like a lot. Some aspects they improved a bit, like the pickpocketing and lock picking. The side-quests were much less repetitive than other similar games, and probably the most impressive part was the story and voice acting. After the initial cut-scene fest at the start of the game, there were far fewer interruptions but they were all interesting and built oin the story. A few twists and just overall really good. Graphically, the scenery looked great. Clipping in the distance was a problem and annoying, but generally the background looked great. Even down to small things like rain, thunderstorms and butterflies fluttering past looked great.

Let's start with a good one. Very simple game, but great fun. It's surprisingly relaxing too, even though I'm not very good and failed a lot it didn't make me angry. What kind of magic is this!? Basically, you design metro lines in different cities to cope with the number of people wanting to reach different destinations. The graphics are very simple, just lines and shapes really. As more people appear, you need to cope with congestion and try to see the busiest routes to alleviate them before a station becomes overcrowded and you lose the game.

I beat the main challenge on every level which is to deliver a certain number of people to their destinations. There are additional challenges for each level that add extra conditions like, only use one bridge, use 3 or fewer different lines etc. I can't do most of those, so it's just 'beaten' not 'completed' for this one. I may leave this installed and dip into it now and then as it's easy to have a quick game.

I think this was in a Humble Choice but I didn't get it, had my eye on it as a possible purchase and managed to get a good trade. Glad I didn't spend money on it! It's okay, but not great. It's a little like XCOM, but there's a timing element to it. You mapy out where your soldiers will go and get time stamps for how long each action will take. Planning effective attacks means getting your soldiers into the correct positions at the correct time.

It's an interesting idea, but I don't think it quite works. One annoying factor is that you don't seem to be able to see the time withoutactually mapping it. So, I plan out one move, see the time, plan out another move and the time is too far off for me to coordinate my attack and I need to cancel both and start again. It would be better if there was a 'live' indication of the timing as you move your mouse around. The story was okay, but didn't really grab me and I found I didn't really care what the end result was, I just wanted to finish it. It seemed to be a bit of a resource hog too, strange for what doesn't look like a particularly demanding game. There are multiple endings, but I just got one then played for a few more achievements and stopped at a respectable 62%. Beaten and moving on.

A rare completition! I only went for this as it was a pretty short game. Once I beat the main story, I had to use a guide to get the remaining achievements and it added a few hours to my playtime. Glad I did it, but there's no way I could be bothered to do this for more games. Even with a short game like this, it felt like a bit of a chore. The game itself was great. Looks beautiful, simple game at the core but it plays really well. What it's about? no idea really, but that doesn't matter too much, does it :)

One of those games that I really enjoyed but got stuck on and stopped played, then forgot about it for years. Bought in 2014, I last played this in 2017. A pixel graphics, platform shooter. On the surface, it looks a bit like Broforce, but the game mechanics are much more innovative. It's difficult to explain, but you use time travel. Each level you have a set number of time travel opportunities. Each time you use one, you can spawn a number of different characters. The simplest way to use these is to spawn again when you die, but as the original you is still running around and shooting when you travel back in time, it can help to increase your firepower. There are even opportunities to shield your past self.

Aside from that novelty, another positive point was it was funny. I guess they were puns and kind of dad jokes, but I liked them! Rare for a game to actually make me chuckle, but this one did it regularly. I found this pretty difficult, hence the years away from it. I managed to beat the main story, but I didn't get all the additional characters and couldn't do some of the puzzle/challenge stages that are also available. So, beaten for this one and another assassination.

Bought this in 2017 and liked it a lot but, as with a lot of games, I got stuck and stopped playing. It's kind of a puzzle game and reminded me a lot of Lemmings (1991 release, so a game I was playing when I was 10!). You guide zombies around a level to reach different goals. Often infecting a certain number of people, but there are other goals like escaping, destroying something, beating an enemy, or surviving hordes of enemies. There's quite a range of level types which keeps it interesting.

I managed to beat all the levels in the original game (which has an achievement) and the levels in a free expansion that was added after the main release (no achievement for that unfortunately). There are still quite a few challenges, but I'm a long way off kill 10,000 humans and I don't think I could get the extra challenges on each level so I'm sticking with what I think is a respectable 76%.

A recent game! Unusual for me :) I got this in 2020. Not sure if I bought or traded for it. I'm sure everyone has heard of it. Simple graphics, fairly simple concept. A good game with logical puzzles but very difficult. Did I like the idea? Yeah. Was I good at it? Hell No! Was it frustrating? Yes...very. I just don't think my brain really works in the logical way needed to do most of these puzzles. Here are my 7 stages of "Baba is You Hell":

1. Oh, I see what to do. That's pretty clever.

2. Hmmm. Not sure what to do. I'll try..oh, I get it! haha, I feel smart.

3. I'm stuck. I'll check a hint. Oh, Okay. I can do it now.

4. I'm stuck. The hint doesn't help. I'm gonna have to watch a guide. Oh, I should have guessed that. I see now.

5. I'm stuck. The hint doesn't help. I'm gonna have to watch a guide. Hmm, I guess that makes sense.

6. I'm stuck. The hint doesn't help. I'm gonna have to watch a guide. What? I don't get that at all.

7. I'm stuck. The hint doesn't help. I'm gonna have to watch a guide. I have no idea what just happened. I'm gonna have to watch that again, and again and keep pausing.

So, I beat the game (only because I had guides!). I did not get 100%. By the time I completed the main levels, I was over the game. Also, I checked and there are a LOT of extra levels. So, I have 61% of achievements thanks to other people posting help on the internet and it's going in my beaten pile.

Picked this up in 2020. It's not a full game, just a teaser for what's to come. The main appeal was the graphics and the fact that it's being developed by one person. Actually, that's kind of an appeal and a detrimental factor. Development has been very slow and there have been long periods with very little communication, leading to some people complaining in forums that it has been abandoned. When updates do appear, the developer assures people that the full game is coming and every who has bought this limited version will get the full game for free.

The appeal, to me, of a game developed by one person is that they can do exactly what they want to and take the time to make it just how they envisage it. The comments I read before getting this were generally positive and I bought it based on that (it was pretty cheap too). It looks great and it's impressive that one person has done all that work. There are problems though. The story is all over the place, the voice acting is terrible, and there are a lots of things that feel like they've been thrown in there that don't really gel very well. It's a FPS but there are additional 'powers' like throwing people into the air, hurling kind of energy blades at them, and other energy type attacks. I always play FPS with the keyboard and mouse. I find aiming an absolute nightmare with a controller. These other attacks are difficult to pull off with keys though. That's why I'm missing the final achievement. I'm not able to pull of the moves fast enough to get it. I should probably try with a controller, but after 3 playthroughs to get the other achievements I'm sick of it so it will go in the beaten rather than completed pile. I hope the full game is more of a complete package, but I'll probably still struggle with the controls.

A 2019 purchase. Not sure how to feel about this one. It was okay. I think it's primarily designed as a two player game and I imagine it would be a lot easier with another human. You fly a spaceship with different stations for guns, steering the ship, shields, and a special weapon. Character can run around and man these different stations as you work through the level. There is a single player option where the computer AI controls the other character at the station you post it at. While it's good sticking to that one station, it's up to you to move them around to different places as they're needed. Also, the AI can't fly the ship.

It didn't take me long to beat the game once I sat down and focused on it. The usual story with achievements for me, I got the low hanging fruit and I'm not motivated to try for the others in this game. I might be able to get one or two more but unlikely to 100% it. So, it's tossed onto the beaten pile and I move on!

I picked this up in 2016, but didn't really play it and it was given away free a year or two later. I put off playing it as I try to play games with sequels in the order that they were released. I had the original CoH but never really got into it. Also, it's a RTS. A genre that I was really into as a teen but these day I find a massive time sink and not very rewarding. Not sure if I bought the game based on the positive reviews, the low price, or I was trying to get back into the genre.

So, it's a good game but I still have the same RTS issue. I play for hours at a time to beat difficult levels and while there is some sense of achievement, the reward for that amount of time seems pretty small. I tried to avoid this a little by playing the game on easy difficulty. The main campaign missions weren't too bad actually. I got through a lot of them fairly steadily even with my style of play, which I think is overly cautious. The DLC missions (Theater of War) were another story though. Even on the easiest difficulty setting, these varied a lot. It took me a lot of attempts with some of them. I was checking tactics online, reading about the missions and still struggling. I had to deal with the solo missions myself and finally managed all of those, then I called on BAEuro for some help to finish off the remaining multiplayer ones that I had been using an AI companion with up until that point. So, a ridiculously low achievement percentage (103 out of a massive 452 available!), but I've beaten all the missions available to me so this gets classified as 'beaten'.

I still had the original Company of Heroes in my backlog with some DLC at this point. There are no achievements in the original, it's older, and all the time I spent in COH2 hasn't made me keen to go back and play that. If I was going to play it, it would be now. I don't think I'm going to do that and I can't mark it as beaten, so I've removed it from my library. A bit sad, but I bought it in 2012 and haven't put any real time into it. I'm not going to force myself to play games I don't really enjoy, life's too short!