Why read Ukrainian? Says it's also available in English, French, German, Spanish, Czech and Polish, isn't it?
And also on Itch for those who want DRM-free.

That's just a demo though. Says so on the site, and in dev comments (in Ukrainian) on Itch. So I guess that's why the saving feature, because the full game will need it.

Thanks, I didn't know. It's just what I found in my steam library when I installed the game I found for free on Steam: the game in Ukrainian (maybe there's an option to switch languages that I didn't find?). And I wasn't aware it's a the first part of a full game still in development, but I'll keep an eye on that itch.io page to get it when it's done.

Call of the Sea (XSX Game Pass)

Very good puzzle adventure game. Small studio game but with high production values, looked and ran really well, decent music and voice acting.
Puzzles were about the right difficulty for me in a story based game. You had to do some thinking and explore the world for clues- but as long as you do that the solutions come. With one exception...the final puzzle to finish chapter 4 had me stumped as to how to logically solve it without brute forcing...I'm sure I must have missed a clue as there seemed to be a blank spot in the journal- but I couldn't find it. But that was the only serious interruption I faced to the overall pacing.
The story was good enough to keep me wanting to keep going. You play as a woman searching for her husband on a strange island in the 30's and features an occult sort of angle...a bit of H.P. Lovecraft influence for sure.
Worthy of a 6 hour play through, both endings can be done from a final save and little reason to replay after that unless you insist on collecting any missed journal entries.

The Count Lucanor I was eager to play for some months, I was wating for a sale but the sale was beaten by the generosity of a giveaway. So, I approached this game as a surprise, and it was actually a bit different from what I expected. This pixel indie adventure has some Zelda influence but the main character, a 10 years old, can't fight. So there is a minimal but important stealth component. There is an inventory system which isn't bad, but it's possibile to complete the game and still not know what all the items were for. There are multiple endings, that compensate a little for the shortness. I played the game in German and would like to have another go at it in Japanese in the future. The story is interesting enough, but it's up to you to find out what is going on or reach an ending in which things are not clear. The interactions with the NPCs are fun and there are a few choices to take. The horror atmosphere works well in opposition to the pastoral setting of the beginning, there aren't many monsters but they are interesting and dangerous enough, and the AI is stupid enough that you can survive if you pay attention.
What I had a problem with was the bad designed saving system. I don't know how the devs could think that having to use coins to save, that are also needed to buy needed items, could be a good idea. Also, sometimes you die and lose progress with the result that you're not sure anymore of what you have done, I spent some time trying to figure out what was missing since I had progressed and died. I would have preferred to be able to save at any time, also to make the exploration of all endings nicer and without many repetitions. It sucks that it doesn't have the achievements on GOG. And the devs have decided not to bring them on GOG for their new title as well. I wish GOG would care more for these things that making CP2077 commercials every other hour.

I have recently finished playing Metro 2033 Redux. Well, Metro 2033 Redux is honest to goodness, genuine remaster. A collection of tweaks and polishes, do-overs, and rejigs that elevates the game to even greater heights, this is a full visual revamp that brings it in line with Last Light in terms of graphical tech. I loved it. I even actually did some youtube videos on it using a screen recorder. By the way, if you struggle with choosing a good software read this blog post https://movavi.io/best-free-screen-recorders-no-watermark-en/.

I have played Tukoni as well. The art and atmophere are enchanting and professional. What I wasn't ready for it's how it abruptly ended, expecially for such a detailed 3 gb game with achievements. Really too soon, you barely have the time of thinking that you like it and it's over. If you want to relax or have a child to play something for a short time it's a good choice! There's no text and all conversations happen with drawings like in Pilgrims so you don't even need to be able to read any language to enjoy it.
As for the Ukranian menu, just go in options and change the language, but the game is so short I didn't even use any menu option.

Just beat Resident Evil 5 on PS4. I actually first beat the game all the way back in 2009 on PC but this time I beat it entirely in coop with my wife.

RE5 is together with RE6 one of the most polarising Resident Evil games. Sure, it's even less of a horror game than Resident Evil 4 BUT it's still hell of a good game. It may not be eerie but it regularly gives you a good adrenaline rush. It may be too goofy to be taken seriously in any way but as far as I'm concerned the gameplay is all in all top-notch. It's easy to accuse RE5 of being too clunky and gamey (and yeah, there's quite a dissonance between this AAA military shooter façade and gold coins dropping out of enemies) but as far as I'm concerned most of these quaint things totally serve the gameplay. Stuff like the slow turning and being unable to move while aiming does contribute to the game being actually quite tactical and stressful - it makes positioning more important and regularly forces you to make these small decisions and execute risky manoeuvres. I love it. Admittedly I feel that most of the later levels get too ridiculous and have worse level design than the early ones but the first half of the game alone makes it a ride worth taking.

Then there's of course the fact that it's a coop game. Even in single player the game emulates coop and you're always accompanied by Sheva, who is then AI-controlled. Always having a partner by your side is surely a big factor in why the game is so much less terrifying than most other RE games and who knows, maybe as a single player game RE5 would be better if you were going alone. Personally I always appreciated having this partner by my side, though - it helps that Sheva is a very likeable character and the AI is in my opinion actually pretty good. Anyway, what really matters is that as a coop game RE5 is perhaps one of the best games out there. There have been barely any AAA story-driven coop games since RE5, especially ones where the coop is an integral part of the game. Don't get me wrong: RE5 doesn't do everything it could have to be the perfect coop game (probably to some degree because it still had to be playable in single player) but it does a lot, whether it's the need to exchange items due to the limited inventory space, occasional branching paths, the ability to save your partner whenever they take lethal damage, enemies who need the players to spread out or combo melee attacks. And once in a while the game inserts something very fun like a sequence in a dark tunnel where one player must carry a heavy lamp which makes him unable to attack. All of that makes RE5 one of the best coop games I have ever played - especially in split screen (!) - and I'm willing to ignore most of the game's shortcomings due to this.

Some words about the PS4 port: all in all I'm rather happy with the port, though the developers missed a bunch of opportunities to update the game. One thing is that the local coop still does not use multi login, as a result only one player will get trophies and progress. It didn't matter in our case but it IS quite archaic. The other thing is that the game still uses that weird split screen where the image is simply downscaled by half and the two screens are placed diagonally - so the FoV is the same in split screen as in single player but the picture feels ridiculously small even on a 50" TV and we had to bend forward to see what we're aiming at a lot. I always assumed it was due to performance issues (effectively the game renders only half as much in coop this way) though Capcom stated that it was a creative decision. Whatever the reason, IMO it friggin' sucks but I can live with it.

Finally: the graphics. Honestly, the game holds up very well. It was one of the best-looking games on the PS3 and X360 so even such a straight port still looks pretty good. HOWEVER: one of the reasons the original game looked so great was its brilliant use of motion blur. Whenever people say that motion blur generally sucks I tell them to check out RE5 which used blur very strategically to make dramatic moments and enemies seem much more realistic - the blur literally made me flinch whenever someone almost struck me. Well, not anymore! In these PS4/XBO ports the effect was either removed or downscaled so much that it's pretty much gone (and ironically it was apparently ADDED in the newest ports of RE4). I'm sure that many will appreciate this change, given the reputation of motion blur, but personally I'm very bummed out by this and they should have at least left it in as an option (if it is: I didn't find it).

Anyway, RE5: still a very fun and exciting game, as far as I'm concerned, and to this day one of the best coop games out there. And soon we're finally gonna play the DLC content for the first time. Can't wait!

Ring Fit Adventure (Switch)

I write this review, lying in my bed with aching legs and arms, for I was a fool, and thought going for a daily walk counted as 'regular exercise' and so the game punished me for my hubris by increasing the difficulty way up. Ring Fit Adventure was the Switch's attempt of Wii Fit, the game that encouraged older non-gamers to buy a games console. However whilst Wii Fit was a series of minigames, Ring Fit is a combination of turn based RPG and Rail Shooter where the movement and attacks are all performed by exercising in real life. Instead of the Balance Board, you get the 'Ring-Con' a Pilates band with sensors attached which presumably allows a greater variety of exercises and more accurate readings. This does mean the game is expensive and that they take longer to manufacture, which is why it took me 2 months to get a copy.

The main aspect of the gameplay is the adventure mode, which see's you find a magical artefact that you, being a protagonist, accidentally use to release a great evil on the world. This evil is Drageaux, a buff leotard wearing dragon corrupted by something called 'The Dark Influence', probably a reference to real life Body Dysmorphia amongst gym goers, that forces him and others to constantly exercise and turn into those annoying guys in gyms who constantly show off and demeans others. You basically visit lots of different worlds which consist of dungeons, gyms, minigames and a boss battle. You clear the world by beating the boss and you get to the boss my clearing dungeons and gyms. Dungeons are split into two parts. Travelling, similar to a rail shooter, where you jog to move on a fixed track and can blast air at obstacles, suck in coins and perform various exercises to zipline or break boulders. And Battles, their turn based and you face between 1 and 5 enemies, each of your attacks is a different exercise which you execute by doing a certain amount of reps. Gyms are either 3 - 7 rounds of battles or performing a series of exercises that train a certain part of your body.

For those who like their locations and enemies in a game to be varied, this isn't the game for you. Dungeons can be stunning landscapes or abandoned obstacle courses, but about 1/5 of the way through the game you start to go "Hang on, this looks familiar", that's because all the dungeons are reused repeatedly. Basically their going "You enjoyed this dungeon, but how about you try it... at night, or in the rain, or in the fog, or make it purple". However the nature of the game means this would be expected as they want to try the main focus is to get exercising. The final boss of each world is also almost always Drageaux, at least until 1/3 of the way through, after which is only Drageaux about 60% of the time.

You learn new exercises that you can use in battle as you level up, you eventually unlock one of those skill point grids as well that you can increase your stats and gain new exercises with. I didn't like the grid however, as you just beeline through the leg skills to get to the highest damage dealing leg exercises and suddenly you spend your battles only exercising your legs for the next few days. There are also side quests that give you various rewards, these quests are mostly "Hey you know that minigame you just got an S rank in, bet ya can't get a B rank in it" which stretch out the game massively. There are a few side quests that are "100% this minigame" which are a pain in the ass because the motion controls aren't great, you may find certain exercises may require you to perform slightly different to the demonstration because the console doesn't register you doing it correctly.

As an RPG, I'd compare it to Candy Crush, the story of each world is usually influenced by a fairy tale, movie or gimmick but the new exercises eventually start becoming the old exercises but doing more damage and it does require some dedication to keep going. I spent 70 odd days over a period of 4 months playing this game on a difficulty level that I probably shouldn't have been playing at but stuck with as I thought it'd be better for me. It is kinda of frustrating watching other people play on lower difficulties though, seeing that they have to perform 4 reps per exercise and you get given 25. I know a few other people who have this game and I'm the only one out of them whose beaten the main story so I suspect this game might have a lower completion percentage than Dark Souls. Of course once I beat this it goes "Good job, but I bet you can't 100% it", and I'd done every side quest so I assumed I was close, but apparently not cause I'm not even at 30%.

Okay now for the main selling point of the game, did I lose weight? I'm not overweight so it wasn't a selling point for me, but I did lose 1 st 2lb's. Jogged a total of 60 miles and burnt over 8000 calories (My brother whose a personal trainer and my friends fitbit both say the calorie counter undercounts by quite a bit).

Caesar 3.

It only took 22 years! Beat the final military level Lindum, so now I only have to finish the final peaceful level Massilia. Then I can truly put vanilla Caesar 3 to rest and move onto Pharaoh with a clear conscience :D

The Haunted Island, a Frog Detective Game A very short adventure in minimalistic 3D. Simple language with cheesy humour and basic puzzles,suitable for children. You can use WASD + mouse or controller. You have an inventary but don't need to select items, they are used automatically. You need 30 minutes for the actual case, that is just going aroud to ask questions to the other animal characters and looking at a few things with the magnifying glass (right click or controller trigger). I don't think it's worth the asking price unless you play it with a child or really are into cheesy cutey things for children, but it's a cool diversive if you got it from the HB or a giveaway. The ending can be too long and tedious for an adult, but children might enjoy the animal dance competition as a reward for having solved the puzzles. The pace is relaxed. The Steam achievements simply mark progress in the story. The second game in the series is a short game as well.

Finished a few ones since last time:
- The Samaritan Paradox: An ok point'n click but not much to say about it.
- Fossil Echo: A nice, short and enjoyable platformer.
- Q.U.B.E.: A portal-like with a story that didn't need to be there and enjoyable puzzles.
- Bad North: Island defense game. Fun but the last mission was too much.
- Pillars of Eternity: The White March (part 1 & 2): More of the same, very good. I still have to finish the base game now.
- Call of Juarez: Gunslinger: An excellent FPS with a very good story and gunplay. Highly recommended.

Full list here.

Congratulations are in order, then. Finally closing the book on a game so long after first starting it must feel quite nice.
Was it a goal to try to do it by the end of the year?

Thank you it certainly did and it was indeed my goal :) Technically I still have Massilia left, but that might have to wait till 2021

Just beat Yakuza 6: The Song of Life on PS4. As I've noticed thanks to this very thread that makes it the fifth Yakuza game I have beaten this year and the seventh one in total. Yes, my brain is complete mush at this point.

So, all in all I loved it. I always suspected that it would be one of the best in the series since it's fairly recent and not held back by being a remake. Not as good as Yakuza 0 but probably in my top 3, somewhere between Kiwami and Kiwami 2.

I won't say too much about the story as 1. barely anyone here knows the series well enough to care and 2. those who care surely don't want any spoilers from such a heavily story-driven series. Without saying too much: this story starts out with something extremely personal and that in itself makes this one of the most engaging games in the series. There's of course once again some highly convoluted yakuza plot that Kiryu gets involuntarily drawn into but at its core the story is about something that anyone who cares about the main characters will also immediately care about.

Famously this is the conclusion of Kiryu's story. I assumed that would mean that it would be a celebration of all the popular characters and locations in the series. I was wrong. Oddly enough most mainstays of the series are barely featured here and some do not appear at all (it pains me to say that Majima is virtually absent here). Instead much of the game takes place in a new location, Onimichu, and the plot largely revolves around a whole bunch of new characters. The good news is that this new cast is very interesting and likeable and luckily their story ties very nicely into the aforementioned highly personal plot. Even though I was a bit disappointed by the absence of some of my old favourites, I think that Yakuza 6 has one of the best plots in the series and I enjoyed it immensely.

Besides that: this was the first game in the series developed specifically for PS4, so in terms of technology and also many mechanics it's quite a huge leap over Yakuza 3-5 (and to a slightly lesser degree 0 and Kiwami). Now, the odd thing is that I already knew Yakuza 6's technology and mechanics from Kiwami 2 but playing Kiwami 2 I had not quite recognised how big a leap it was - probably because Kiwami 2 stuck with a bunch of standards from the original Yakuza 2 on the PS2. Yakuza 6 looks much better and has better animations and physics and seamless connections between locations and so on - albeit at the cost of 30 FPS only, even on the PS4 Pro. That made the action feel a bit "floaty" and the controls a bit unresponsive to me at first but I actually got used to it after a few hours and I appreciated what I got in return. Yakuza 6's Kamurocho is just so much more gorgeous and alive than anything in the earlier games.

Another thing is that the game was downscaled a lot but all in all I feel that it was for the better. You only play as Kiryu here and his set of attacks is quite small but more meaningful and combat feels a bit more "organised" here - importantly the set of heat actions is heavily reduced here and you won't inevitably get a chance to use those every couple of punches. Likewise, access to healing items has been heavily restricted (I haven't found a single shop that carries the most powerful ones). As a result I felt that I had to put a lot more effort into actually fighting enemies here - just spamming consumables and destroying enemies with heat actions non-stop was not an option here. A major improvement is also that the lock-on of enemies was heavily nerfed and Kiryu's was improved - as a result the game doesn't suffer from the often annoying issue of the series that there is no way to get behind enemies while they can do so just fine. I'm not sure I'd say that all of this makes Yakuza 6's combat the best in the series but it certainly feels more polished than in most entries in the series. Oh yeah, and I think it's the only series where you can't equip any weapons (only pick up ones that are lying around) which I did not mind at all as I found the equippable weapons weird and unfitting all along.

Finally, the optional stuff: shockingly this is the one game in the series (at least up to 6) that is fully voiced. Substories finally barely differ in style or production value from the main story stuff. I kinda always wanted that in a Yakuza game and while it's pretty neat I also kinda miss how it was before. I actually always loved how the substories offered a very different mood and pace than the main storyline and the voiced dialogue ironically isn't nearly as expressive and funny as the terribly produced optional stuff from the earlier games - so I'm honestly not sure that I'd rate this as an improvement all in all. And generally the substories are actually quite mundane here. I guess it kinda works better with the mood of the main story but the truth is that I always appreciated the comic relief that the substories gave me - that's largely gone here.

Besides that there's a whole bunch of minigames with stories here. There's a new fishing game in the form of a rail shooter, there's the Clan Creator which is practically a small RTS (and plays very much like the Majima Construction thing in Kiwami 2, albeit a bit less refined), there's a weird thing where you make friends in a pub by drinking with them and finally there's a pretty advanced baseball management game here which I left for after the main story as it's a tad complicated and I don't know jack about baseball. And of course there's a ton of smaller stuff, be it classics like picking up girls in a cabaret club, playing SEGA classics in an arcade and all sorts of gambling games as well as new stuff like a workout minigame and the ability to participate in live chat with cute girls in live motion video. There's also a whole lot of other things, some of which I probably haven't even discovered yet. Bottom line: it's probably one of the most extensive Yakuza games in terms of side activities. I beat the game in "only" 36 hours but I'm sure that I can get at least a dozen more hours out of this game without getting bored.

Anyway, I really like Yakuza 6. It isn't all that I expected but it's a bunch of other cool things that I did not expected. I feel that the game isn't quite the big ending to Kiryu's saga that I was hoping for but it's hell of a good Yakuza game nonetheless.

That's seven games down, four more to go including spin-offs (and another three if they ever decide to finally translate the three Yakuza games that remain Japanese-only).

I've just finished Halo 3: ODST (Xbox 360)

I really expected more from something this hyped