73/52
1-17
18-29
30. Escape Goat (PC): 3:23, May 20th.
Escape Goat is basically a puzzle platformer game in which you play as a goat and rat. So right away the game's off to a good start with some creativity. It's also fairly easy and forgiving, really, until the last level of the main part of the game, which is just an exercise in frustration. I'm not really a fan of platforming you have to get in quick succession, and luckily there's only a few levels with that in the main portion of Escape Goat; when it's there, though, it is slightly irritating to me. Graphically, the game is really beautiful to me, it's a really well done take on an art style that's been done numerous times. The soundtrack is decent, but nothing really catchy other than the song I linked to, but that's just my opinion. I tried the All Intensive Purposes area and gave up rather quickly, because as I've said before and will say again, extremely difficult platfomers just aren't my cup of tea. It was a relatively enjoyable game, but nothing that I would go out of my way to recommend. 6/10
31. Always Sometimes Monsters (PC): 8:16, May 26th.
ASM is deeply flawed game that I somewhat enjoyed. I was planning on doing a third playthrough of the game before giving my final impressions on the game, but I don't feel like playing it again. I'll use a comparison that some people aren't going to agree with to demonstrate why. In the past, I've played, and seen playthroughs of, the post-Omikron David Cage/Quantic Dreams games multiple times, and I've got the same reason behind never wanting to play any of those ever again that I have with ASM. The reason is that they're filled with non-choices that don't really matter, which in turn sort of devalues the real choices that truly make a difference to the game's unfolding plot. Case in point for Heavy Rain: During the first scene between Shelby and Lauren, a client of Lauren's begins to abuse her. Shelby can either leave and let the client beat her, or go back into her apartment and do QTEs to battle the client. The only difference long term wise that this scene brings is that Lauren will have a black eye if you didn't go back, while if you did go back, her face will be fine. So it's basically nothing, and there are a lot of other examples in the Heavy Rain, and more prominently in Indigo Prophecy, of this occurring. ASM tends to do this a lot as well, and if you play the game more than once, you can tell the differences between choices that actually matters and non-choices that really have no impact on the overall story. That being said, I very much prefer the writing of ASM to any David Cage game I've ever played because it doesn't really go batshit insane by the ending, though it still sort of falls flat. The writing still isn't top tier quality, but at least it's not too terrible. It's not littered with spelling and grammar mistakes, nor is it terribly voice acted by French children poorly pretending to be Americans. It does have excessive swearing that really doesn't add anything to the game, though, which might be a turn off for some people. It's also filled with referential material, as in, there's a small cameo by Jim Sterling in the game, etc.. And before you ask, yes, there is a title name drop in the game. And yes, the characters that it is said to are also just as baffled as you by how dumb it sounds. But that's the entire point of the game. ASM focuses on philosophical thinking regarding the human condition, and at the very least it will make you think about life. It also has this great character select scene that I won't ruin for anyone interested in it, but trust me, it's pretty neat. After that, it goes downhill. You're given introductions to characters that you probably won't feel attached to at all, and the writing really doesn't flesh them out much. They're just sort of, for a lack of a better term, there. A lot of the choices only affect small things rather than the overall story,; you smashed a guy's car, so you won't get that free ride another guy promised because he was going to borrow guy a's car, so now you have to take a bus, which costs money, which you can get pretty easily. And that's another thing. The game can be gamed. You can save at any point, so you could get super rich off lottery tickets by save scumming with no consequences. Plus you don't have to do terrible things to get money otherwise, which is a big deal later in the game. The individual parts of the narrative are sort of interesting, but they really don't add up to the whole narrative, if that makes sense. Then there's the gameplay. If you don't like what are colloquially referred to as "walking simulators," you probably won't enjoy ASM. I like walking simulators though, so it wasn't too much of a problem for me, though it was pretty dull. One of the most memorable parts of the whole game is one of the most boring parts; at one point, you're given the choice to move boxes, a choice that I followed, moving 100 boxes. You move one at a time, back and forth slowly across the screen, and it's not even in a straight line. Only afterwords did I find out that you only had to carry like ten boxes and the rest didn't matter.
Memorable for all the wrong reasons. The pacing is also sort of off. The first city you play in takes 5-7 of the thirty days, the second city takes a little less, and the third "city" lasts for as little as 2 or 3 days to 5+. And then you finally reach the last area in under 30 days, the game's time limit, and suddenly time progresses to the last day. So you can take as long as you like to reach your destination as long as you get there within 30 days. The background music is sort of good, but gets annoying after a bit, visually it's fine, nothing special. And by visually it's fine, I really mean, it's visually fine if you like RPG Maker games etc. If not, you might not tolerate the visuals as much. It's not an advanced game, nor does it try to be, and this point cannot be stressed enough. I get really passionate about this game, and I really don't know why. The experience of playing the game felt better than the game itself. It's sort of hard to recommend, but if anything I've said interests you in the game, check it out when it goes on sale. 6.5/10
32. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (3DS VC/NES): 10:52, May 28th.
I'll start by saying that I get why people like this game so much. It's really a preference in style. I just prefer LoZ's style to Zelda II's style. Combat is heavily emphasized, the side scrolling sections take up much more of the game than it did in later installments like Link's Awakening, and there's a bigger emphasis on spell usage. There's also the leveling system. I must have missed something with that, because it never really felt like it did a whole lot. It felt like there was a little bit of change toward the end, but the final dungeon made those stat changes feel unimportant. The spells being this game's equivalent to the other's items was an interesting change, but I preferred the original's items. It felt a little out of place being unable to use items like bombs and arrows. The towns were another part of the game that I've got mixed feelings about, though they do make the game feel like a populated world, something that the original LoZ lacked. The gameplay itself was frustrating at times, like the early section's Death Mountain and the path to the final dungeon, as well as the final dungeon itself. There were a few moments were I just gave up for a while and played a different game because it just wasn't that fun to me when it was frustrating. A lot of the enemies require memorizing their movement patterns, and it's easy to screw up even after a long time spent memorizing the pattern, for me at least. I understand that some people love the game for its extreme difficulty in comparison to other Zelda games, but the difficulty was mainly just frustrating to me; I still enjoyed the game, though, and it's definitely a game that people should at least try. 7/10
33. Harvester (PC): 4:30, June 1st.
Harvester is a really interesting product of its time. Filled with FMV cutscenes, it's part of a niche in gaming that featured a lot of absurd games, like Phantasmagoria and the Ripper, among many others. And like those games, it stands out for being bizarre. The puzzles are mostly terrible. The combat is horrendous, slow, it's difficult to aim, and it's my least favorite part of the game. In the middle between good and bad is the narrative. It's weird, filled with strange tasks to do, all leading up to a painfully obvious twist that the game hints at several times. Basically the first two third's of the game are where it shines and then it just becomes gore for little reason. Speaking of gore, there's gore everywhere, gore on a scale rarely seen during its time. It is there for a reason, but the final part of the game kind of takes that reasoning into overdrive. The gore is often used for over the top dark humor, but there's a lot of stuff that really crosses the line into unsettling and disturbing. Then there's the characters. Steve as a player character with amnesia kind of works and at the same time doesn't. The supporting cast is bizarre and really the highlight of the game, with the first two thirds being great because of the interactions between Steve and the odd characters, each one warped by the town of Harvest. All of the characters tend to come off as comedic at first but then get really dark over the course of the game, which really highlights the overall theme of Harvester. Unfortunately, the last third of the game kind of ruins most of them, sort of? That part gets a little hard to discuss without ruining the game though. It's a game that I definitely recommend experiencing somehow, even if you just watch videos of it. It's just that interesting of a game to me, even with its plethora of problems. 8/10
34. Millennium: A New Hope (PC): 13:14, June 3rd.
Should probably mention, thanks to JaseC for raffling this game. The first thing that is glaringly obvious is that the dialogue and overall writing of the game feels a little out of place. The reason for this is that is an Aldorlea Games production, a developer that only has one developer and is French, from what I've been told. So the translation is a little iffy. It also makes the characters really forgettable, for the most part. Gameplay wise, it's a pretty standard RPG Maker game. Actually, that's a good way to describe it in general. The same can be said for the music, the graphics, the settings, the scenario; they're all pretty standard for an RPG Maker game. The main difference between this game and others of its type is that it's part of a series, and you can transfer your save from this one to the next game. You've also got a fairy that you can summon. But that's really it. That's not to say it's bad though; it's just mediocre, but fun mediocre instead of agonizingly painful mediocre. 6/10
35. Noir Syndrome (PC): 2:31, June 5th.
This has been updated since I played it, so apparently some of the things I didn't like about it have been fixed. Well, maybe. It does show that the devs intend to keep improving it, which is good. I think one of the main problems I had with it, your hunger going down too fast, was fixed, for example. Anyway, Noir Syndrome is a procedurally generated murder mystery game, which sounds great in concept, but sort of dull in execution. Playthroughs are short and generally last 10-15 minutes max. The noir theme is well done when it comes to both the graphical touches, though it's definitely not the prettiest game that uses this art style, and the soundtrack, which has some really catchy moments to it. The basic story of every game has a cool premise in which you have to stop a serial killer inspired by Egyptian mythology from killing the mayor. The mob may or may not be after you depending on what difficulty level you choose, or if you rob them later in the game when given the opportunity. You can lockpick doors, find evidence, and talk to people to find suspects. It should be fun. It sounds like fun. But it wasn't really that fun for me. Tapping Z and walking around are the main things you'll do in this game. You go through the same areas every time, everything feels almost the same each time you play the game, but with a little variation. The other mode, the dinner party mode, that's a little more engaging since guests go mad and try to kill you, which becomes more frequent on higher difficulties. Costumes and some of the in game achievements, called "badges," feel too grindy for me to even feel like going after. I just didn't have a lot of fun with it, but it's a promising base for a game, and I'd like to see more attempts at something like this. 5.5/10
36. The Longest Journey (PC): 15:24, June 8th.
So, nostalgia based bias incoming. I had a lot of fun playing this when I was younger, and it sort of holds up today. Kind of. The dialogue, the narrative, and the characters hold up well, and are all pretty brilliant. The ost is great. Graphically, it really doesn't hold up that well, there's jaggies all over the place. The puzzles sort of hold up, but some are a little overly complex if you've never played it before and don't remember looking up guides for the game when you were younger. It also doesn't provide the most friendly user experience anymore, since it's riddled with bugs for modern systems. Really, though, the game's atmosphere is excellent and worth it for that alone. There's not a whole lot else to say about it other than what everyone else has said countless times before. 8/10
37. Mega Man III (3DS VC/NES): 3:02, June 12th.
Not gonna lie. I was really disappointed. I think a lot of that disappointment stems from the nearly ever-present lag in this version of the game. There were a few laggy sections in II, but III, at least the 3DS version of it, is filled with sections that slow down while you play them. It just sort of killed the fun for me. And it's a shame, because there's a lot of things I really like about III. The return of II's master robots is a great callback, even if their levels aren't as enjoyable as the others. Proto Man is a neat addition, the slide is a cool addition. Graphically it's beautiful. Although I like II's soundtrack better, III's is still good. Some of the different weapons aren't really that good, like the top power being broken. Some of the level design is bullshit, with running out of power for Rush Jet in one particular stage spelling your doom. That was pretty bullshit. I guess that's why the restore points are there, but it doesn't really feel right using them. This particular impression is rather short, I admit, but there's not a whole lot to talk about for me. The lag ruined my experience. 6/10
38. Heileen 1: Sail Away (PC): 1:25, June 14th.
So. Winter Wolves. Not a big fan of this particular dev's games, and this is one of them. If you pay $5.99 for this and don't buy it in a bundle, you are literally throwing money away. This is an instance where I'm not really sure how a game got on Steam in the first place. It's a visual novel, and just finishing one path takes an hour or less. The background music, when present, is very forgettable and loops. Artistically it's okay, nothing special. Now that that's out of the way, the main part of a VN, the part that the VN lives or dies by, is the writing. And wow, the writing is pretty bad. It's an early WW game and, considering that most WW writing is pretty bad anyway, it really shows. The narrative portion is sort of fine, but the dialogue is just not good. And it's certainly nowhere near $5.99 good. I could understand that price, or a higher price, if all three Heileen entries were put into one cohesive product, but they weren't. So you get a really short VN. There are only three achievements, one for each of the three paths you can complete. And you might think that it's not worth it if it's really that bad, but Playfire money says that it's worth it. On the bright side, you can skip text that's already been on screen and fast forward to new stuff, so it's not that hard to 100%. It's also got cards, so that helped get back some money. The writing, along with everything else I mentioned, is so bad that I don't recommend ever buying it though. It just feels so unpolished and devoid of content that it's hard to believe it's an actual release on Steam. 3/10
39. Volt (PC): 4:42, June 15th.
Right, so this is more of a platformer than it is a puzzle game. It's still got a lot of puzzle elements to it that you have to figure out, but most of the game is just a platformer. Your main abilities are very weakly hopping, it's not much of a jump, and tethering to different surfaces. It's sort of obvious that it's a mobile game just from the way the tethering works; to cut the tether, you have to slide your pointer across the screen, you know like Cut the Rope. Volt's also one of those "hardcore frustrating platformers" that I'm not a big fan of, so naturally I wouldn't enjoy it as much as someone else. And I really didn't enjoy it. The controls felt a little clunky, the tethering didn't feel as precise as I would have liked it to. The music is atmospheric at its best and boringly dull at its worst. It looks okay visually, though the blur-esque effect gets annoying after a while. I just didn't really enjoy it.As an addendum, I went back and unlocked some stuff. My opinion hasn't changed in the slightest. 4/10
40. Dragon Warrior/Quest (GBC): 11:38, June 20th.
A real classic, DQ I feels a bit outdated, yet completely playable. It's a straightforward basic RPG that really doesn't do anything to unique, but that's fine. The main thing is that it's not boring. There's some aimless wandering around, but most of the time you can find where you're going relatively easily.The battle mechanics are simple, but it keeps the game from becoming too slow. In fact, grinding in the game is actually not that bad. It's sort of fun because it's fast, easy, and painless to do. The plot is barely even there, but it allows for a more open experience. The music and graphics are basic too, but not basic in a bad way. Other than that, there's not much to say about the game. I enjoyed my time with it. 6.5/10
41. Another World (PC): 2:34, June 30th.
Yet another classic game, this one really innovative as well. Honestly, it feels like the blend between cutscene and game at times is better than in some modern games. It's also a great way to explore how game design has slowly evolved over time, since it's still as frustrating as ever at other times. Graphically, its really uniquely charming when you realize that it's an upgrade of a game from 1991. The story telling is really great too, the entire story relayed with barely any dialogue or text. Then there's the downsides. Yeah, the lack of text is cool for the story, but you're kinda just thrown out there. You've got no idea what to do. And that can be a fun thing when exploring is entertaining, but it's not really that fun in AW. And you do have to explore in AW, or else you'll miss important things. I had a lot of frustrating deaths in the game because of one object that I was supposed to shoot that I missed, for example. You've also got to go to some areas in specific orders or checkpoints seemingly won't activate. Maybe it's because I'm bad at the game, but there were points where I had to stop for a bit because I was just stuck doing the same repetitive sequence of events. Though despite its flaws, it's a piece of gaming history that I think people really invested in gaming should at least try. 7/10
42. The Adventures of Shuggy (PC): 6:41, July 4th.
I'm not really great with giving impressions of platformers, so I'll try my best with this. I got it for free during the Steam summer sale, when the devs gave it away, so that might partially be why I sort of enjoyed my time with it. It feels and plays like a basic flash game, though I can't help but admire it for trying to include so many different gameplay elements into one game. And that's both it's strongest point. There's a ton of variety in levels, ranging from normal platforming levels to levels in which you must rotate the level geometry, while others have you trying to outrace yourself via having past Shuggies that follow your path, touching one of them instantly causing a game over. Needless to say that the last type of level in that sentence can get very frustrating. Combined with level types are different abilities Shuggy has in various levels, including using a grappling rope, which was pretty rad, shrinking and enlarging, controlling a zombified character and forced to time your jumps, having infinite jumps, and a wide variety more. Some of these are handled much better than others. Other than the variety, there's not really much to talk about. The OST is entirely forgettable, the visual style is decent but nothing special, the difficulty undergoes a random spike here and there, the jumping feels a bit too floaty, and movement feels much too loose. All of that just makes it less enjoyable for me, but as I've said before, I'm not the biggest fan of platforming/puzzle games. 6/10
43-56
57-70+
