Game #04 - Pokémon Picross [3DS] (50 hours, finished in January 15)
My only experience with picross games, which I love to death, was from mobile games. So when I heard that I could have a picross game on my 3DS, and it's Pokémon themed, I immediately jumped on it.
It's an easy, cute but unfortunately free-to-play game. You spend energy to play maps, and unlock the next "route", which has other pokémons, and that energy is only recharged through real time or daily challenges. Once I realized I had to play daily challenges for +10 days to unlock a single route, before getting angry with this approach, and knowing that I would play it for a long time, I bought $20 dollars of energy that was almost completely gone by the time I beat the game.
Addicting, I played Pokémon Picross at every small free time for the past weeks, and managed to beat all normal stages, and unlock both 80x80 puzzles. It's an amazing game if you don't care about the f2p part.
Game #05 - SteamWorld Heist [3DS] (17 hours, finished in January 13)
See, a SteamWorld game but tactical, what?! Yup, it's a turn-based shooter, but I got way more a Dig vibe than a FE or a XCOM one. It's not complex like those games; you're mostly fighting robots in small rooms, and controlling not more than four characters at the same time. It isn't unforgiving too, there's no permadeath and I've never failed a stage.
The part that I loved so much, and made me beat the game a second time leveling all characters to level 10, is that there's a looot of variety in it. You could pick that fish guy who's good at melee and give him gloves with stun chance and toy with every enemy, or pick that bomber who fires two shots in the same turn and give her a fucking bazooka to obliterate one of the bosses. Or even equip goggles with critical chance on a sniper and make a bullet ricochet off the walls 5 times before hitting a dude's head. I encourage you to see what all characters can offer.
That said, it's a SteamWorld game. You'll be at home seeing the same themes, humour and art style. If that's why you loved Dig, I think you'll love this one too. (Just know that its strong part is the gameplay. It feels great shooting someone in it)
One advice: don't be afraid of this game tactical approach. The first time I played, I was slowly walking with all my dudes together, afraid that I'd get killed if one of them went in a separate room. By the second time I knew how quick-paced it was, and was blazing through every map spreading them in as many rooms as possible to kill everyone, grab all loot and get off quickly.
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