Videogames. 3/18–3/24.
I record every game I play and I post them weekly. Here are links to one, two, and three.
I’ve got an odd relationship with Steam. When I first discovered it in 2015, it was the most amazing shiny thing for my PS2/GBA-obsessed brain. I ended up with a butt-ton of games because I was suckered into the big sales.
I don’t buy anything from there anymore, but I have a pretty large backlog that I’m digging through. Occasionally, like this last week, I’ll play more of those games than those found on my itch.io to-do list. And I’ll start up again with bartering Steam keys, adding more to the pile, until I realize I have 111 games that I ought to be playing before I acquire anymore. But I’m human, ergo, I’m an idiot.
Free Games
10000 Years by Heather Robertson
If you are not aware of Heather Robertson, then now is a great time to become familar with her because anytime is a great time to be aware of her. I am a proud owner of Heather’s Halloween Horror, a bundle that contains 10000 Years.
I know history is important and shit, but I just don’t have the patience to care about it. There’s just so many incredible things to experience in the present and I prioritize that in my limited, perforated brainspace. However, I have made room for the content of 10000 Years because it’s pretty wild. I highly recommend purchasing the bundle because it has a nice little Creator Commentary.txt file that isn’t included with the standalone game.
Cat Bandit by eggnog
Look, if you’re not already convinced by the screenshot and the title, I’m not sure what to tell you. You could be playing this within a few seconds of clicking the link. It’s cute and has a nice difficulty curve and avoiding breaking vases is a great game mechanic.
Ludus Antioch by trouv and Zatherdon
This was made for the Collab Jam on Glorious Trainwrecks and it’s quite clever despite its simple appearance.
I think boardgames are great in theory, but I don’t really enjoy competing with other live humans—the concept of a “winner” and a “loser” is just awful to me and I can’t help but feel bummed out that an inequality is required at the end. Ludus Antioch is perfect because it gives me a taste of board games whilst only playing against an AI. I generally don’t mind vanquishing virtual foes unless they are beautiful bears.
No One Lives Forever by Monolith Productions
I tried this one out because of this Rock, Paper, Shotgun article that suggested the readership to do so. It seems wonderful, though I only played long enough to start shooting other virtual human beings which I don’t enjoy doing. I don’t know if I’ll go back to playing this even though the dialogue is pretty neat. I’m not actually sure how good the voice acting and story is, because I’m one of those suckers who just loves British accents of all kinds, so I tend to ignore the flaws.
Paid Games
Devil Daggers by Sorath
It’s been awhile since I played this and I was inspired to revisit because of an analysis by matthewmatosis. I immediately booted this up and acquired a high score of 199.6952 seconds, which is great but also disheartening because I’ve been trying to push past 200 seconds for a few months now. T___T.
Do you know about emotional contagion? It’s basically learning by observing and storing that information. Watching videos of professionals does actually help you improve skills, whether it’s video-game or miniature golf. My undergrad instructor in one of my Human Communications classes was doing research on it. I forget her name but sort-of had a crush on the boy in that class named Chris.
If you don’t know this game: you try to survive on a tiny island by shooting bad boys until you die.
Lowglow by Rockodile
It’s difficult for me to deny neon colours, bouncing balls, and luscious shaders. It’s sort of a goal-oriented lava lamp in that it’s quite pleasing to just stare at, though Lowglow comes with the bonus of musicality from collisions. It’s been a great cooldown for bedtime, and I would recommend using it as such.
MirrorMoon EP by Santa Ragione
This game is perfect for those who love poking around unfamiliar systems to figure out their purpose. I’m two hours into it and have hit a brick wall, hoping for a revelation to occur. Yet, I’m happy to continue with my attempts without consulting a guide for however long it takes, which cannot be said for several other games I also loved.
N++ by Metanet Software
It’s quite addicting, just like the web-based N 2.0 I had been playing for years.
Though of course I love the colours and added features and vast amount of levels, I was really impressed by the soundtrack. Many, if not all of the songs fall into an IDM/ambient/minimal techno realm that I’ve only started to dive into.
Most games with an electronic soundtrack tend to incorporate EDM, probably because it’s high-energy and creates a bombastic atmosphere. However, I find it mostly fucking awful because it just pushes way too hard for my taste, like a shitty clown trying to hoard all of the attention to itself with all disregard to nuance.
Metanet Software is bang on with differentiating the use of maxmimalism (the content) and restraint (audio/visuals).
Not the Robots by 2DArray
It’s a genius concept: you’ve got to destroy the cover that protects you from the enemies’ sight in order to progress.
You play as a robot that eats furniture, of course. Not the Robots is a Roguelikelikelikelike with a perfect soundtrack, excellent sense of humour, and plenty of variations on the base game that adds more content on top of the “unlimited” replayability inherent to its genre.
I highly recommend this brilliant work of art. No, it’s better than art, superior to every artwork ever made by man, because art is boring compared to videogames, especially this one.
Paratopic by ParatopicTeam
I cannot deny that I purchased this as a result of its hype, which is something I normally never do. What grabbed me was the janky graphics and Lynchian surrealism, both of which have been trending for awhile now. I’m skeptical of work that uses hot material, wondering if it’s simply capitalizing on the moment or a standalone piece that will age well. I’m hoping for the latter, but regardless, low-poly abstraction and weird shit always have been and always will be dear to my brain.
Paratopic is a curious game, combining several different mechanics and settings, a bit off from the norm, though not completely unexpected. I never really asked myself “What the fuck?” like I have with Oikospiel or Smithee, though maybe it wasn’t meant to be completely nuts…? I think I set my expectations into a zone that was completely different than what was delievered, probably because I read too much about it before playing. Oh well, at least I had a lovely time!
Rain World by Videocult
My good friend Wael and I decided to play the Outlast series together—we both wouldn’t do it alone. Oddly enough, they became some of my favourite games solely because my experience playing it side-by-side with him. I never thought romping through a horror game without headphones alone in the dark would be any good, but shifting my mindset to cooperating with another scaredy-cat was an unexpected treat.
He wanted to gift me a game, so I chose this because I knew deaths are frequent and might do well in the same space that Outlast existed for us. After an hour or so of play, we probably screamed and panicked just as much as the actual horror franchise, a surprise to both of us. Success!
It’s a 2D platformer survival game with a cute protagonist, eerie creatures, and gorgeous graphics. It’s worth picking up if you don’t mind a little frustration!
I also played Desert Golfing and Eldritch, which I have covered in previous weeks.
