Backbone (XSX Game Pass)

After AC Valhalla, I needed something short and something that basically just plays itself. This fit the bill just fine. A side scrolling, entirely story driven experience. What surprised me most about this one was how effective the developers were in setting the mood, dark and depressing, and drawing the player along because you just have to know the answers to what is going on in this Noir adventure mystery. I can tell a lot of people will not like the ending which expects the player to do some deep thinking by themselves. But I liked it. It's on GOG as well but, even though I liked it, I'm not sure it's short length and lack of any replay value are worth the price- it's a sale game for if you want a depressing narrative adventure.

Recently I checked out a bunch of games I got in bundles, just to see whether I could safely skip them or whether I'd find them interesting enough to put them aside and play at a later date. Two of them seemed short and intriguing enough that I actually ended up playing through them in one go (both about an hour long, at max):


What Comes After

This was nothing to write home about in the end, so I don't have a lot to say. Cute graphics and story, if somewhat simplistic or naive, maybe, in touching themes like depression / suicidal thoughts and life and death in general. I guess it's more of a feel-good game for anyone not directly affected by the topic. As other reviewers have noted, dialogues can be a bit repetitive sometimes, but I did enjoy them in their simplicity, and the game ended when it started to wear out its welcome. Gameplay was reduced to walking and (auto-)talking, more like a story to click through than meaningful interactions with the game environment. The animation for running was weird, like mincing steps in fast-forward mode, and the text in the bubbles only appeared gradually with accompanying monotonous sounds for every letter or word, like in some JRPGs, which was a bit tedious and counterproductive to the mood. The game was okay, but I'm unsure whether I'd recommend it to anyone.


Dominique Pamplemousse and Dominique Pamplemousse in: Combinatorial Explosion!

I guess this won't make much sense if you haven't played Dominique Pamplemousse in "It's All Over Once the Fat Lady Sings" and it's probably tough to appreciate if you're not familiar with or interested in the developer (Squinky) and their outlook on life. I could imagine a lot of people hating on it even, due to that, and apparently so could the developer themselves, as they screen the player with a quiz beforehand in order to determine whether this game might be for you or not (a bit tongue-in-cheek, but some might already get offended by that). So this definitely isn't a game for everyone. Personally, I've considered myself kind of a fan of Squinky's work, ever since their freeware games like Cubert Badbone, P.I. (2003), and I enjoyed the first Dominique Pamplemousse game for what it was. So I don't know why I put off playing the second one for so long. I guess I was afraid it might be even weirder, in an awkward way, and it was weird, but in an absolutely positive and delightful sense of the word. I thought it was pretty original and funny. It feels more like a bonus to the first game than a sequel, as there is no actual story and there are no puzzles either, just a couple of random scenes (with minor choices occasionally) that allow the developer to comment and joke on various things from videogames to gender identity, in the form of an off-key musical (with pretty catchy songs though, I have to say :D). I liked that apart from some optional parts during the ending, and despite the dev being pretty open about their opinions, it didn't feel preachy or judgemental to me most of the times, just personal, humourous and thoughtful (though I'm sure some would heavily disagree regardless). Technically, I was a bit disappointed that the game ran in a window and I found no way to switch to fullscreen. But I appreciated the scene selection menu and the option for erasing the save data which made it easier for me to review some parts after the ending, without me having to replay the whole game. In order to recommend this to anyone, I'd have to know who they are, but I, myself, really enjoyed it.

lol what the...

Tormentum: Dark Sorrow

I have mixed feelings about it. It very much reminded me of Hidden Object Games, just without the hidden object screens, in other words a casual adventure game with a simple story, very easy puzzles and an overabundance of kitschy imagery, except here the imagery is morbid and grotesque, something like a crossing of HR Giger and Heavy Metal album covers. It's a distinctive style that makes it stand out a bit among other adventure games, but at the same time there is so much of it that it felt rather haphazard to me and not really creepy or immersive. The easy puzzles made for a smooth playthrough without me actually getting stuck a single time, and even though there was hardly any challenge to it, I kind of enjoyed that.

Tormentum doesn't have any hotspot button or any other indication that your mouse cursor is hovering over something you can interact with, so you have to resort to clicking around the screen to find out; although the really important spots often glow a bit to draw your attention to them. Another thing that may be confusing is that characters often announce that they are now giving you something, like a key, but then it does not go straight into your inventory - instead it appears on the ground as a tiny sprite and you have to click on it to pick it up.

The most interesting aspect of Tormentum is that contrary to most classic adventures and HOGs, there are actually a couple of choices and consequences here. You don't always have to do x in order to achieve y, even if characters tell you so. But there is no manual saving, so you can't go back on any of your decisions. Which does suit the game, but you have to be ready to roll with it. And IMO, despite this C&C aspect, it doesn't really have much replay value because most of the puzzles would just stay the same and feel like busywork to repeat. And what I found disappointing is that ...

*SPOILERS* while the choices are not always that easy due to everything being presented as ambiguous and untransparent, they are actually revealed as clearly good or bad in the end and you are judged accordingly, and harshly. The general direction of the story was a bit predictable, my hopes for something more interesting proved in vain, but I did not expect that, like, 5-6 good decisions would not be enough to counter two bad deeds that I had committed more or less accidentally before. And it did not help that in the summary at the end, those two bad ones were listed before all the good ones, which made the verdict at the end seem even more arbitrary. I mean, at least tell it the other way around, like "you have done so much good, BUT you also did these unforgivable things, so I can't give you the good ending". Not "You did two bad things, but then also so much good! Bad ending." /*SPOILERS*

Not that it really matters though. Nothing about the story really had an impact on me, it felt just as superficial as any other HOG. Enjoyable enough to play through once, but also easily forgettable, the junk food equivalent of videogames (except that the taste of this is more rancid, not the usual saccharine ;P).

First game of the year : Wasteland 2. A good game but too long for me (>50h). Also, I wonder in what state it was release as there were lots of quests bugs in the Hollywood zone and I was playing the DC version.

Visage (XSX Game Pass)

First person psychological horror. It's difficult to think of a horror game that succeeds as much as this one in setting the mood and level of unease. These developers realize something that no others seem to have worked out- you should not be trying to scare the player constantly, or else it just becomes predictable and the player is soon desensitized to the tricks. In Dead Space games you just know that every time you flip a plot point switch or an item, a hoard of enemies will come out of vents, every single time- if you don't see it coming after the first 30 times you must have a learning disorder.
In Visage, most of the time nothing much happens...you soon start to relax...you're getting used to lights turning off. It doesn't hurt. Then you will be looking in a cabinet and just happen to glance up and there's Dolores peering at you around the corner, just one eye leaning around and then ducking back, and you panic and run like hell! The game is the master of building up suspense.

It also looks outstanding, bordering on photo realism in some aspects- except maybe animations of people, which is often the bugbear of small studios. It also has decent story that isn't spoon fed, you need to work a lot of it out yourself.

Visage does have one issue for me though. Honestly, I think the progression puzzles are too convoluted and difficult in way that comes from the sign posting being just too vague at times. You will spend lots of time just aimlessly wandering around trying to work out what to do. I used a guide a few times just to get me back on track- luckily I feel it's not the sort of game where using a guide detracts much from the overall experience- it's not a puzzle game. Highly recommended, it's on GOG as well.

Champions of Krynn

I've just finished the game. My party is Human Knight, Dwarf Fighter/Thief, Kender(Halfling) Ranger, Human Cleric, Human Mage, and Half-Elf Fighter/Mage.

I used the Gold Box Companion program for auto-map and healing all members after battles, otherwise, I couldn't have enough patience for finishing this too old game (and other Gold Box games).

Also, I didn't read the manual and forgot the level max rule for non-human races. My Kender couldn't level up after 5th level, but I liked this guy and didn't want to abandon him, so I used Gold Box Companion's level-up function for him.

I'll keep the save file for the next game of the series, Death Knights of Krynn, but I'm not going to play the game soon.
I'll return a postponed Wizardry 7 game, which I got stuck, but this time I will not hesitate to use the clue book.

The Henry Stickmin Collection

A massive Choose-Your-Own-Adventure package that wipes the floor with Mass Effect 3's or even Telltale's choices & consequences. ;) Although there isn't much more to it than choose between a few random options on what to do next, I got about 5 hours of fun out of it because it was quite funny, varied and rather epic in the end. There are a lot of references to other videogames and movie tropes, too, so it's geek heaven, and in this wacky slapstick game it actually works. Music and sound effects were great, the voiceacting was done by the developer himself plus a few friends, so it's not all that professional, and yet I quite enjoyed it as well.

I hadn't heard of Henry Stickmin or PuffballsUnited before (apparently the dev's most recent game is Among Us), but I understand this collection is a remaster of 5 old flash episodes from Newgrounds (2008-2015) in which you get several different paths and endings each, and it is topped off with a massive, all new episode that presents further paths and endings based on almost any combination of the endings you can get in episodes 4 and 5.

As I said, the gameplay is just "pick a choice and see what happens", occasionally a little QTE, and a collectables mini-game of unlocking bios of every single character in the game by clicking on them when they appear on screen. But I found this highly entertaining to play - or watch.

The only fault I could find with it is that its fullscreen mode can lead to crashes and the dev advises against using it. I played in fullscreen anyway and did indeed experience two crashes during those 5 hours, but it wasn't a big deal; a price worth paying.

The Gunk (XSX Game Pass)

Third person action adventure game that focuses on platforming and light puzzle solving. It does have some combat, but that is the games weakest aspect. The story is what Eric Cartman would describe as "Tree Hugging Hippie Crap", you basically have an industrial strength vacuum attached to your arm and you adventure around a planet sucking up a parasitic waste product. Along the way you learn how it came to be and learn that you're a lesbian for some reason.

Game play is actually quite decent and fun, but it doesn't advance much, so luckily it's only about 7 hours long. But for that time it was fun, the platforming is definitely the games best aspect. The worst aspect was the dialogue of your lesbian lover- who comes across like a nagging grandmother. It ran really well, and is a well polished game for a small studio.

LOL!

She was also completely useless lol

Lara Croft Go (Steam)
My first Go game I've ever played. It was fun and challenging; artwork was beautiful. Didn't play the expansion levels as I think I've gotten everything out of the game. Only really recommend if you're a die-hard Tomb Raider fan or love puzzle games as there's no story.

I'll eventually play Hitman Go; shame Deus Ex Go is unlisted now and UWP only. Emulating the Android version on PC takes too much effort.

Jurassic Park: The Game (Steam)
Was able to buy a legit Steam key from Play-Asia. Dear lord this game has the worst QTE I have ever seen in a video game. I only played this because I'm a die-hard TellTale fanboy and love the IP. The game is stuttery, the story is only ok and the QTE do not make any sense. They definitely improved the formula with The Walking Dead Season 1. Avoid like the plague.

Only remaining TellTale games I have left to play are the Sam & Max Trilogy and Walking Dead Michonne (which I will play inside the Walking Dead Remastered)

Zen Chess: Mate in One (2018) (Linux/Proton)

Interesting game – we have not enough chess-related games! :)
This one offers 300 positions and your role is to find mate in one move. Most of the puzzles are quite simple, some of them are really smart, using quite advanced/complex ideas (I guess it's also the reason some people say there're a lot of errors in the game – not exactly; when I've checked solutions they're often correct and people simply miss some bindings or cannot see moves that are still possible and make their solutions invalid).

What I don't like is:
– no chess rules applied here - you can make any move you want, even a wrong one
– you can change color themes, but no dark ones available
– music is nice and relaxing, but very monotonous
– the game feels slow, it's kind of frustrating

Played on Steam. Works perfect with Proton.

List of all games completed in 2022.

Pinstripe (2017) (Linux)

Worth the time and money – especially than it was about $2 and about 3 hours of gameplay ;)
Wonderful little game with charming graphics, interesting and emotional story, some simple puzzles and kind of platformer gameplay. One of these unique games that you probably should simply know, it's worth it. Thanks, devs, for native Linux installer.

List of all games completed in 2022.

Sherlock Holmes The Awakened Remaster, Jan 22 (GOG)-I liked this game but I feel like I had some serious problems with it. From early in the game I often felt like I didn't know where to go or what to do. And frequently when I did know what to do I struggled with pixel hunting. I also seemed to try to solve puzzles out of order and Sherlock would say things like "I don't need to do that" and then after a certain plot point I'd have to do it anyways. I played the first hour or so in third person view which was terrible but once I figured out that I could switch to first person navigation got a lot better. Interacting with the environment was a little more difficult in first person because you could look everywhere whereas the fixed perspectives in third person directed your view to the main areas of interest. The plot was interesting and a little ridiculous at times. I feel like there were occasional leaps of logic for some of the plot points. Something about the ending felt a little rushed with 3 bad guys dying in the span of 5 minutes. The in game hint guide was generally good although there were a few times when it assumed I had found an item or met a character before I had. The graphics and voice acting were a mixed bag with some high points and really silly things (the imposter's accent at the institute was particularly painful). I also really struggled with the quizzes. But overall with frequent usage of the in game hints and occasional usage of a separate walkthrough it was still an enjoyable experience.

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