Well, August has certainly been a productive month... I'm now up to 50 games, so all being well, I'l hit 52 during the course of September.
40
Teslagrad (PS4) - 7 August 2017
Platinum trophy; 36/36 scrolls collected; true ending.
Teslagrad is a physics-based puzzle-platformer, tending towards a 'Metroidvania' in some respects. The game's puzzles are largely based around a magnetism mechanic and manipulation of attraction/repulsion of differently/similarly magnetised objects - including the player character himself - with a small range of tools. There are certainly some clever ideas here, but unfortunately my abiding feeling about
Teslagrad is of frustration, as I found many scenarios to be very fiddly, with behaviour not readily predictable - it was a case while it became clear what was needed, actually doing that was far from easy... but not for what felt like a lack of 'skill'.
Puzzle mechanics aside, while the game takes place almost all within a single building, there's a reasonably decent variety of environments. Graphics are simple but functional and the background music, while again simple, is catchy in a positive way.
Teslagrad is a short game - if you know what you're doing (and are able to pull it off!), it could be completed within a couple of hours or less, but I wouldn't see that specifically to be a negative here, especially as the games feels like it pretty much exhausts the types of puzzle scenario that the magnetism mechanic allows, without a significant shake-up.
Overall, while I wouldn't go as far as to call
Teslagrad a
bad game, I couldn't really rate it anywhere better than average given the feelings of frustration that it leads to.
41.
Transistor (PS4) - 14 August 2017
Platinum trophy, including completion of one full recursion. The recent release of
Pyre provided an overdue reminder for me to go back to
Transistor, which I'd previously tried briefly but didn't make much progress on - and I'm very glad that I did! I don't think that I've played any other games quite like this game, with its innovative mix of real-time and turn-based overhead-perspective combat - the game's key mechanic is the protagonist's "Turn()" ability, which pauses the action, allowing a series of actions to be queued up. There's an extraordinary extent of customisability available within this system, with each of the game's 16 combat abilities able to be combined with any of the others for a supplemental effect, or assigned as a passive ability for a related persistent effect - and it all adds up to a system with a huge amount of tactical depth
Alongside this, while I didn't get as absorbed in the lore of
Transistor's futuristic setting as I perhaps could have done, but there's some fantastic world-building here for those to whom that appeals. The final word, though, has to go to the game's stunning soundtrack and, taking its cue from Supergiant's previous game
Bastion, the well-implemented narration provided by the 'intelligent' sword that's your constant companion throughout the game.
42.
Hollow Knight (Steam) - 14 August 2017
100% in-game completion, 'true ending', all achievements unlocked aside from for speedruns and Steel Soul mode. I had high expectations for
Hollow Knight, having seen it widely praised, and particularly given that I enjoy "Metroidvania" games in general, but what Team Cherry have pulled off here really is stunning. The game world is impressively coherent throughout, populated (sparingly) with interesting NPCs and very satisfying to explore, with intelligently-hidden secrets and upgrades supplementing your journey through the game - all the more impressive when the world is as *huge* and diverse as it is. I could see the dark theming being a turn-off for some, but for the most part I'd expect this to be easily ignored if that element of the game's not for you.
Controls are tight and, while the game has a deserved reputation for difficulty, it never feels unfair; even against the most challenging of bosses or in the optional gauntlet 'trials', any damage taken felt like my fault and avoidable - which makes besting a tricky scenario all the more satisfying.
Hollow Knight's beautiful hand-drawn art and memorable soundtrack also deserve a mention, rounding out the complete package... all-in-all, I have no hesitation in recommending
Hollow Knight to anyone with even a passing interest in "Metroidvania" games and it's up there as one of the very best games of 2017.
43.
Mega Man (PS4) - 15 August 2017
44.
Mega Man 2 (PS4) - 15 August 2017
45.
Mega Man 3 (PS4) - 16 August 2017
46.
Mega Man 4 (PS4) - 17 August 2017
47.
Mega Man 5 (PS4) - 17 August 2017
48.
Mega Man 6 (PS4) - 18 August 2017
With the release of
Mega Man Legacy Collection 2, I felt that it was finally time to get stuck into the first collection of these classics, which I have little to no experience of playing previously - filling a notable hole in my gaming history. As a newcomer to the original games in the series, their reputation for difficulty is clearly well-deserved, though at times this comes from scenarios which aren't especially 'fair' - the hidden instant-death pits of the first game come particularly too mind, alongside the questionable requirement to have collected an 'optional' power-up to be able to progress through the final levels, without any signposting - though of course, this will primarily be a sign of the games' age and changing design trends. It would have taken me much longer to get through these games without the luxury of save states! Difficulty aside, there's some well-designed platforming challenge here for the most part and while I don't have the benefit of nostalgia to draw me to these games, I enjoyed my time with them overall. I think that I'll need a bit of a break before I move on to
Legacy Collection 2, but I'll get there!
I think that
Sonic will have to be the next 'retro' series that I spend some time with now.
49.
Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight (Steam) - 22 August 2017
Beaten with true ending, 100% map completion, all non-missable items collected. While it can't match up to
Hollow Knight's gold standard, this is another great 'Metroidvania', living up to the recommendations that I've read from various quarters. Brutally hard at times, but never unfair - while insane difficulty (in which one hit is fatal) isn't for me, I can understand how it's feasible - the game is great fun throughout, with satisfying movement and combat being the core of the gameplay. There's less here in the way of ability upgrades to collect than I typically enjoy, but the game's fairly short which is probably a limiting factor there. Having enjoyed my time here, I'm definitely going to have to seek out the earlier games in the series before too long.
50.
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (PS4) - 31 August 2017
Platinum trophy, including completion on Crushing difficulty. Naughty Dog pull off another stunner with
The Lost Legacy - while the central mechanics don't deviate much from the previous
Uncharted games, that's not really a bad thing and The Lost Legacy presents a compelling story and character relationship dynamics between Chloe and Nadine, previously only secondary characters in the series. The game's fairly short length leads to a tight, well-paced experience, with a good balance between exploration and combat and, without any specific spoilers, the final chapter brings perhaps the most impressive set-piece encounter that the series has been to date. This will definitely be up right there among my favourite games of the year so far!
Final team: Skarmory, Gardevoir, Lanturn, Exploud, Sandslash and Blaziken.
