I highly recommend this game to all those who bemoan that all games are the same and nothing new gets released.

Gorogoa is best described as a really pretty puzzle game with a gameplay mechanic I haven't seen anywhere else. The puzzles are non obvious at first, but at the end you get an eye for them, a little bit similar to The Witness. You have 4 different panels of a comic and you have to align and combine them in a way that they interact to solve the puzzle. It's easiest to understand if you look at a trailer or let's play, since it directly works with the visual medium of comics (but don't watch too long or same problem with every puzzle game, you will know the solutions already).

The developer started in this direction by cutting up comics and rearranging the panels. This gave rise to the idea to incorporate a similar mechanic into a video game.

There is even a story being told in the panels without a word in the roughly 2 hours of puzzling. But you will probably not understand it completely till a second play through, since the story is told in the background pictures and isn't chronological, but disjointed, as fits the games central mechanic of rearranging panels. But this anachronistic storytelling style in combination with the pastel color and very ornamental graphic style is the reason I compared this game to an LSD trip. A highly enjoyable one.

Several Star Trek licensed games are on Steam, now at a significantly discounted price for the annual Star Trek Day celebration.

These include the MMP Star Trek Online, but also single player games Star Trek Bridge Crew and Star Trek Resurgence (a choose your own path role play game).

We’d waited until Resurgence came to Steam, because we did want to buy it from Epic, but decided to be even more patient and wait for a sale so we could get it for our teens as well. I’ve been playing in parallel with one of our teens and debating the impacts of our very different choices.

I have had Bridge Crew since 2022, but we got copies for the teens yesterday. One is into it. It requires running an Ubisoft account synched to Steam which can be annoying, but otherwise G2G.

The Longest Journey takes apparently 17 years, because that is the time span between the release of the original game in 1999 and the last game of the series in 2016, which finally finished the story. The Longest Journey is a classic point and click adventure game, meaning it has a wonderful story and world but sometimes really, really, REALLY stupid puzzles. But luckily only sometimes, often they are both entertaining and brain teasing, but you should still keep a guide nearby to not get frustrated.

You mainly play as April Ryan, a college student in a low futuristic SciFi world. But as it turns out, there is not only one world, but two. There is Stark, where April and technology (as usual, mostly defined as electricity and higher) lives and Arcadia, the world where magic lives. And as it turns out, April is a shifter, somebody able to travel between the worlds. Which is sorely needed, because you need to travel between the two worlds and try to bring balance back, since certain forces try to destroy this balance and forcefully merge both worlds.

That is the basic premise and starting point of a long adventure through two worlds, where you meet a lot of colourful companions, first and foremost "Crow". He is a speaking, well..., crow that follows April after she freed him and always has a comment regarding the situation but sticks to April trough everything and is a true friend and companion. The story starts a little more on the whimsical side, especially when you first reach Arcadia, but the more you progress the more dire the situation becomes and towards the end it leaves the humor completely by the wayside and rather chooses drama as a traveling companion.

While the original game is a full story from beginning to end, it created a fascinating world where many more stories could be told in. So they did and in 2006 they released Dreamfall: The Longest Journey, which tells the continued story from three perspectives: Zoë Castillo, a stark resident, Kian Alvane, from an theocratic empire in Arcadia, and April Ryan again. The sequel was no longer a point and click adventure, but rather a 3D adventure. Sadly, it released in the mid 2000s, which meant it of course had to have stealth and some basic combat sequences. While not disastrous, it still was not really necessary. This time the story is much more melancholic and darker than the original game. Kian is part of an invading empire in Arcadia, April is part of the resistance against them and Zoë tries to find out in Stark why people disappear and a new VR headset+drug combo turns many people into zombies. While I did miss the more whimsical nature of the first game, I still highly enjoyed this game and its story. Walking again through Arcadia and Stark felt like visiting old friends, especially when you meet characters from the first game. I was invested into the player characters and always wanted to know, what happens next. Especially if you remembered a certain name from the first game, you couldn't help but wonder how 2 characters will come together. But sadly the game ends on a big cliffhanger.

... Which wasn't resolved for 8 very long years. In 2014 they finally released the first of Dreamfall Chapters, which concluded with its fifth episode in 2016. As the name suggests, the gameplay was again rather a 3D adventure like in Dreamfall, but this time they cut out the combat & stealth, which was the right call. The story that mostly began in Dreamfall finally got its ending and also the framework story around The Longest Journey in general. Albeit partially in a very quick way at the end where I would love to play 2 or 3 games in that in between time that is only mentioned with a "ah remember that time...".

The problem I have with talking about these 3 games is that I mostly enjoyed them for the story, which I don't want to spoil, and the world, which takes a lot of words to explain. While the concept of two worlds with magic and technology is by no means unique, Arcadia is for sure unique with a lot of love and care taken in creating it and its characters. The gameplay is okay, nothing I would recommend playing the game for.

Let's talk about a more well known game this time. Bioware is most known for their 3D RPG series Mass Effect and Dragon Age nowadays, but in the past they created isometric RPGs like the Baldurs Gate or Neverwinter Nights series. So how did that transition happen? Well, they published 2 games between those periods that helped them find their formula for 3D RPGs. While the first one was Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, which fits more to Dragon Age:Origins due to the pausable real time combat system with multiple party members (which I couldn't play till now due to gamebreaking bugs), I want to talk about their second intermediate game today: Jade Empire.

Many of the elements found in Mass Effect were implemented first and tested in Jade Empire: RPG character development but real time action combat sequences, a group of companions of which a few are romancable and a great epic story with many twists, where the player can influence the outcome somewhat.

#Combat

The combat and character development was build around 3 ressources: health, chi and focus. Health is self explanatory, chi is mana and focus is a third ressource for activating time slow mode or special weapon styles. You can choose between different weapons and magic attacks (ranged or melee) and also later transformations, which were really awesome. Nothing like transforming into a giant golem and smashing the ground to attack all enemies around you. You can also select one companion to follow you around and into combat.

#Companions

The companions are one of the highlights of Jade Empire. By fighting with them side by side they will reveal their past to you and also comment on your actions regarding their own orientation regarding the Way of the closed Fist or the Way of the open Palm. For example The berserker like Black Whirlwind will congratulate you on a well done ambush but will scoff if the solutions don't involve at least 2 murders. The characters are all a joy to experience. They even included a romance for three of the companions.

#Way of Fist/Palm

The way you could influence the main and side quests is also with a unique twist: You have the Way of the Open Palm, which stands for friendliness, understanding and helping each other BUT it could also mean you just want to squeeze a little higher reward out of people with problems by being chummy with them. The opposite concept is the Way of the Closed Fist, which stands for autonomy, strength and doing things YOUR way, but also for teaching people to stand for themselves instead of cowering. Both paths can be used selfishly or for helping build a world more fitting to your ideology. I haven`t really seen that concept elsewhere, in that the normally "evil" way is not only selfish, but rather wants to instill strength in everyone worthy.

#Story

While Jade Empire is set in a faux east asian world, it is an amalgam of many different concepts and best described as east asian counterpart to standard kitchen sink western fantasy with sword, magic, orcs & elves. You are a young spirit monk and after the destruction of your order in the tutorial actually the last one of your order. Due to your training you can interact with the spirit world, which is a highly sought after ability, since the spirits of the recently departed don`t leave the world any longer but linger around. Your goal is to find out why your order had to die and how you can help the spirits move on. The story contained some great executed twists which give the story a nice flow. And it is I think the first game I played, where you can agree and join the antagonist in lieu of a boss fight at the end.

While this game is by no means a forgotten gem, I don't really see a lot of discussion about it online. So if you haven't played it yet, I highly recommend it, especially if you like Mass Effect.

This time I want to put the spotlight on a free game called Iji, named after the main character and developed by Daniel Remar. As the titular character, a nanomachine enhanced human, you are the last hope in the fight against alien invaders to rescue the last bits of humanity that survived the alien invasion. It is mostly a 2D action game with a little bit of platformer & RPG elements. You put ability points gained by finding them or killing enemies into different stats. Thereby you gain more health, more attack/kick power or can even use the weapons of the enemies against them. There are multiple difficulties for those who seek a challenge. The gameplay consists of you running and jumping through the levels and fighting against the enemies via weapons, kicks or tricks (like making enemies fight against each other by dodging a rocket and letting it hit the enemies behind you).

The game may not look like much at first glance graphic-wise, but it shines with its personality in world & story and the action game play. The characterization of the invading aliens is really well done for such a small game (~5 hours per playthrough). While they have destroyed most of humanity, you can kind of understand them with time, as you read their logs and see their side of the story. So it gets a bit more interesting then the DOOM like beginning. This game uses the video game medium in an interesting way to tell a story about violence and revenge.

What I also enjoyed about this game besides the story and game play is the level design, which is surprisingly complex but well thought trough. You need to learn to navigate the levels and you often have keys and buttons to search for to be able to continue. Another high point are the boss fights. Except the first, who is just to teach you a bit more, all others feature special mechanics and are nice orchestrated tests of skill, especially the final boss fight.

The developer updated this game for 13 years after publishing it in 2008, showing his determination to make it a great game. He incoporated player feedback into the story and switched some things around in order to even make a total pacifist playthrough possible, albeit with the caveat that I needed a guide to make it through a certain situation. But Daniel is merciful and also provides a complete game guide on his website for the game.

The Vale is a game like no other game I played before, because you see it through the eyes of a blind woman. Meaning you won't see shit. Instead you rely on your ears to navigate and fight. The game was developed based around the thought to create a video game for blind people. This meant that at minimum a stereo speaker system (so at least a headset) is necessary, since the attacks will come from left, center or right. You have to block and counter them with the correct timing by listening to the sounds your enemies are producing. Menues are also visually presented in addition to being read by a narrator, so that you don't need to select each option in order to know it, if you are not visually impaired.

According to the comments on steam, a lot of people directly refuse this game, just because it has no visuals. Which is a shame, because when I played it and closed my eyes, I was strongly immersed in the game world after a few minutes. The voice actors of the two main characters, Alex (a blind princess who got attacked by foreign enemies and wants to travel back to the capital as fast as possible in order to warn her brother, the king) and Shepherd (a shepherd who found Alex after her entourage got killed by an ambush and helps Alex get back & is her eyes) do a wonderful job of bringing those characters to life. When Alex gets another bad case of CHS (chronical helper syndrom) while Shepherd gives off cynical quips as answer, but helps nonetheless, it shows the nice dynamic between these two. Since there are no visuals, the whole game happens in your head. Which was a great experience, because it made it pretty easy to imagine to be the protagonist. Listen to your right, don't your hear the laughing of playing children? And on the left your companion is murmering to finally continue on and not just stand in the village square.

You also orientate yourself on the village maps by sound (e.g. go to the hammer hitting the amboss for a smith, a merchant will cry out their good wares, the pub will have laughing and music, etc.), but I couldn`t translate that into a mind map. But luckily the village maps were not complicated, but mostly on a central plaza, meaning everything was around you and nothing was in your way. The fights are of course not on a dark souls level, but I still lost some times, because I wasn't paying attention.

For me I could immerse myself best into the game by playing with closed eyes. But since my brain was not used to all that navigating by ear, I played it in 30-60 min bursts, because I got mental fatigue from it. If you have a blindfold to put over your eyes, it will make it easier, since you can relax your eyes and can also play with opened eyes while not being distracted by your real surrounding.

The main highlight of the game are the two main characters, but I still liked the world and the immersion it offered. And playing a game blind was an experience I didn't had yet, so the novelty factor was also there. The game is not very deep mechnically, but I hope the developers will learn from this beginner step and build more complex and even better games for the blind, because I enjoyed this one. If you want to try this game, there is a demo on steam as well.

Since I have time at the moment and in order to put a bit life in this community, I will post some recommendations for older games in the coming days.

This post here about a demake of Katawa Shoujo reminded me that I wanted to make a post about the original for a long time and maybe I could interest someone in trying it out (it's free! and good!).

What is Katawa Shoujo?

It is a dating sim at a high school for handicapped students. Made by Four Leaf Studio, some people who found each other on 4chan. And before those of you, who know that board only for its edginess and strange green texts, close this post: what might go through your head at this moment couldn't be further from the truth. This game handles the topics around being handicapped in my opinion very respectfully by portraying all the cast as what they are: teenagers at high school first, with admittedly unusual circumstance second. But it is not the main driver of drama, only just a part of it that sometimes complicates their coming of age. While this game was made by people originally from an internet forum, it is not full of nowadays old pop culture references or other typical internet humor you might associate with it. And it also isn't a pity party for the students. Your protagonist isn't that strong of a character admittedly, but he develops with the route's female main character and also helps them overcome personal problems. But if you play different routes, you will see that they also develop without your presence as teenagers normally do.

A Visual Novel lives from its main characters and those in KS are all memorable and didn't felt like one dimensional ones to me. And no, it's not just for the erotic content. The developers even released a cut version on steam without the naughty bits and people still praise it a lot. Because the stories are just that good. Does it have some clichéd situations? Sure. But a literature tool can be interesting or boring, depending on the skill of the writer. Each route/female main character was written by a different team and while that is recognisable in the different writing styles (and sometimes in how certain characters behave a bit different in different routes), I did not feel that one is weaker than another. I like certain character routes more, but that is because I can identify far more with them. The heart to heart talk with Rin, the armless painter, was something I did not expect and which made me felt understood, because she spoke about how she felt in a way that I also experienced, that I myself couldn't really put in words before. That changed my opinion of this character from simple comic relief to a much more fleshed out person I can identify with. Other main characters are Lilly, the blind tea drinking proper lady; Hanako, her shy friend with burn and emotional scars who befriended Lilly because she couldn't see the physical scars; Emi, the energetic runner with leg prostheses and friend of Rin and finally Shizune, who is mute and deaf but doesn't let that stop her from being the most forceful and stubborn character in the game.

The game idea started with a single page by doujinshi artist RAITA about the idea of disabled girls at a school for handicapped teenagers without any deeper thought into it. Years later the picture surfaced again on the internet and 4chaners began talking about "wouldn't it be funny to develop that game?" And from there it evolved over years into the finished product. In the end the original draft by RAITA only provided the characters visual basis (their handicap so to say), character wise it was a completely original concept by the developers themselves.

And honestly, it is free (Steam version as well), I highly recommend that you try it at least, if the concept of visual novels doesn't put you off.

And if you got the manly picnic at first like me, just start again and more strongly commit ;)

Let's try to give the spotlight to some smaller games, so that maybe they find some new players:

This game was developed by Abbey Games, who also created Reus and Reus 2, not to be confused with the abbreviation of this game: REIS. First I will explain a bit what makes it special and then why I like it so much.

What is REIS?

It's a Roguelike in which you select a team of 3 Adventurers and go on a grand adventure tour with them Indiana Jones style. The game consist of mainly three parts: world map, adventure map and the encounters. First the world map between adventures where you use your found treasures to e.g. buy tools, train your team or research technology.

Then you select from the available adventures one to go on. These adventures can be for example on a tropical island, in Egypt or in the Himalayas. When you enter the region you go on a map with a randomly generated network of points of interest. Each point of interest is embedded into a little story (similar to Heroes of Might & Magic 3), either because your team find something, fight someone in an encounter or solve some problem. You need resources to move during an adventure, which makes planning your route necessary to still reach the goal, but explore as much as possible. For each map there are also some connected stories to discover, Who you choose for your team and how you evolve them determines the skills you will have and which problems they can solve. You have a mechanic, a linguist or a sailor? Then you might get a special solution for a certain problem (similar to FTL), but if you don't, you can still try to solve the problem with a certain chance which is influenced by the level of your characters in the necessary skill.

Finally the encounters are tactical and round based, but what makes it special is that the fights have a Mood, which is affecting all characters abilities, and those abilities are part of one of three categories: friendly, aggressive or devious. Instead of HP, characters have fighting spirit and you lower that with all 3 categories. When it's 0 the character either doesn't want to fight their opponents any more because they like them now, they are KO or because the other side was really, and I mean really, mean to them.

The moods are influenced by which category of abilities is mostly used: if everyone is friendly, those same mood abilities will be a little less effective, but an aggressive ability will do double damage, but that betrayal of course destroys the friendly mood and now devious abilities are enhanced. This rock paper scissors relationship between the three moods makes it necessary to focus on a certain tactic but still be able to counter the opposites counter to your tactic.

Why do I like REIS?

I like this game for its atmosphere and also for its mechanical depths. Those endorphins you get when you have a special event and you have the correct skill/item with you to solve it in a special way is simply marvelous when first experiencing. And due to the different layers (world map, team composition, abilities, etc.) and interactions between the layers your playthrough will feel different every time. And it will take a while before you have seen most of the possible interactions on the maps. The atmosphere is best described as Saturday morning animation. Yes there is violence and "bad people", but all in all this game is kid friendly in a positive way. It doesn't feel dumbed down, it simply isn't as cynical as so many other games. And that honestly feels refreshing from time to time.

And the turn of the 19th century gentleman (& gentlewoman) adventure is something I'm always a sucker for. And when you beat the enemy by being friendly and they leave the encounter area with a big smile on their face? It gives me a big smile myself

How is it in 2024 now that it’s finished? A lot of reviews I see are based on when it originally came out but I’m curious about the current state of the game. With it being on sale now it seems like it’s worth it even with flaws.

For some context, I’m not a huge city-builder guy (I’ve played some here and there) but the sci-fi setting and the narrative are what interest me here. I don’t really care about replayability as long as one play through is entertaining enough.

Any thoughts?

Then I get back into the game with my heart pounding.
It's my first time.

Earlier this year I posted some thoughts on the games I'd been playing. Here are the ones I've completed recently.

Paradise Killer

As a fan of the Danganronpa series, I’d heard great things about Paradise Killer. And the ways in which this game was inspired by the former are obvious, with an eclectic mix of characters embroiled in a complex murder plot. It heavily leans into the vaporwave aesthetic and soundtrack, often crossing that border into the satirical (Hypnospace Outlaw springs to mind). Unlike Danganronpa, it’s quite open ended and allows you to draw your own conclusions about the true resolution to the case. On the whole I enjoyed my time with this game, though I didn’t feel quite as drawn in to the story or attached to the characters in the same way as other detective games.

Inscryption

I don’t really want to say too much about this game for those who haven’t yet played it. Please go in blind if you intend to play it! But at the most basic level, it’s a card game that plays with and bends its rules in very interesting ways. Undertale vibes in the best way possible. If that sounds at all interesting to you, I beg you to give this one a go.

Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart

A few years back I played the excellent Ratchet and Clank (2016) and had a blast. It was just pure, classic gaming fun with lots of silly weapons and scenarios in which to use them. Rift Apart continues this formula in a beautiful sequel that shows off the capabilities of modern hardware while refining the nostalgic gameplay style of the series. The introduction of a new Lombax didn’t necessarily add much to the game (she’s essentially a reskin), but it made for an interesting story in a range of unique, beautiful locales. As always, the weapons are great fun to use and the game encourages you to swap your arsenal constantly, keeping things exciting throughout battles. I was able to 100% the game relatively quickly, but doing so was a real joy.

God of War

Many people have recommended God of War to me following the game’s release in 2018. And wow, now I can understand why! This was simply an incredible experience in terms of gameplay and story, with deep characters and plenty of customisation that has a significant impact on your moveset throughout the game. By the end of it you really feel like a god. I got the impression that Santa Monica Studio had taken notes from the Last of Us and Uncharted (in terms of a large open world with puzzles and character development), and from that they crafted something incredible. Impressively satisfying to play and I can’t wait to give Ragnarok a try.

Dave the Diver

This is a wholesome game that doesn’t take itself too seriously as you alternate between diving to catch fish and then selling said fish at your sushi restaurant in the evening. I enjoyed my time with Dave the Diver, though I couldn’t help comparing it to Stardew Valley throughout. Yet it never quite scratched the itch and hooked me in quite the same way as Stardew. I think the issue is that the many faces of DtD (fishing, cooking, growing vegetables) all felt like separate disconnected systems or minigames, whereas Stardew was much more holistic. This is probably why I had no motivation to continue playing once I’d completed the main story. But don’t get me wrong – this is a charming game with a fun gameplay loop and beautifully hilarious pixel art cutscenes.

Ghost of Tsushima

A friend of mine described Ghost of Tsushima as an Assassin’s Creed clone. And I totally see what he means, but I don’t think that does it justice! Let me just get this out of the way: this is an absolutely stunning game to look at. I was constantly using the game’s photo mode to stop and take screenshots of, say, a golden sunset, the glint off Jin’s katana in the moonlight, the mist over the hills and many other gorgeous environments. The way in which the game captures the different weather changes is incredible, really providing the backbone for the atmosphere during my journey. Whilst the story didn’t do anything ground-breaking, I liked the exploration of honour in a world where the protagonist has to be dishonourable in order to survive. The combat was fun and varied, with a range of different sword techniques and tools at your disposal. Playing stealthily is a big part of the game and it would have been nice to see a bit more variation in the gameplay here (press square to assassinate etc.) but despite this I found myself enjoying these sequences until the end of the game. I’ve just finished playing the DLC content too, with which I was pleasantly surprised at the way certain gameplay elements were remixed and expanded upon. This was an excellent game which I'd recommend to anyone.

Obligatory GOT screenshot collection below!

spoiler

Has anyone played any of the games above? Let me know what you think :)

Mostly referring to the release of the latest WoW extension which isn't discussed anywhere (or maybe I missed it)

This is the Ultimate HD version on Vita, and man it has been my goto for just relaxing strategy games. I just wished it explained the controller better, like pressing Square to drop bombs if you have 5 gems.

It's available on Steam and I can only image how good it'll be on a Steam Deck, as the game was fantastic on the Vita and PSP.

I have added 2 Steam and 1 GOG game libraries to my HLTB account. Then I have categorized the games based on completion/pad controller usage etc.

Afterwards due to long backlog of games I have sorted the list by main story completion time from the shortest and began playing one by one. Of course not all are worthy/interesting enough to finish, but most are.

Having the list and the goal of going through these titles let me focus what I already have instead of grabbing another title, which will stay in library for the next months or years.

Also you wont have to worry about new releases, because you have already something to finish with certain goal in mind, will effortlessly wait until the price drops significantly with nice cut, all dlcs, packed in Limited/Definitive/GOTY edition.

Team Fortress and Counter Strike too. It's nice to jump on and play every once in a while and not have to deal with all the mobile game crap.

***Edit: deux ex

So I have access to the ps plus catalog. I'm really excited they have disco elysium the final cut, and dues ex mankind divided

My brain has muddled these two awesome franchise pop culture knowledge where I feel like I'm more or less able to go into either blind and I wanna preserve that! The thing is it's not really clear to me for either title if I'd be playing a sequel (or something that is better enjoyed with prior context)

So I guess my question is for these two games, what should ideally be the order placement? Even if I just watch a yt essay on a previous game I don't have access to just to have some good groundwork context.

I also am curious what games you discovered that is available through similar subscriptions. Were you pleasantly surprised? Just meet average expectations?

I have very fond memories of the first Halo on the OG Xbox. It was very cool to be able to do the campaign together with a friend.

Finally time to pull the trigger on this one!

EA has a big sale on lots of other titles, too.

I am having so much fun with this one. The systems are super polished and everything feels so smooth. If you are into platformers and somehow missed this one too, watch me play for a bit. It seems to have everything.

If you have any pointers that aren't blatant spoilers, I would love to hear them. Thanks in advanced.

Stumbled upon this video, which kind of summarizes the issue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJxaIP8F3K8

In summary

• lack of risk taking by the industry
• lack of creativity
• industry prioritizes profit by making games compatible with the previous consoles generation
• removal of split screen
• outdated voice communication compared to PC Discord
• disabled voice communication by default

For people here who have a current console, what do you think about this?

Another video on the topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61lX2mixdKQ