Jinxed Thoughts

Blue Prince (2025) - Review

noreply@blogger.com (Zinn) — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 13:58:42 +0000

I've played some good games based on board games, and I've played some bad games based on board games. But I don't think I have ever played a game where I thought "this would probably be better as a board game". But Blue Prince, released in 2025 by Dogubomb, might just be such a game.

The premise immediately caught my interest. As the sole heir of some wealthy, and also slightly crazy bloke, I am about to inherit a huge mansion. The catch however is that in order to inherit the mansion I need to find a secret room within the mansion. The next catch is that I only have a day to do it, otherwise I have to start over. The day is translated into 50 steps, and each room requires a step (by default) to enter. Oh, and the biggest catch is that the rooms don't stay the same from one day to the next.

Some times all your choices are bad. Just like in life.

So Blue Prince is actually a build-your-own-mansion rogue-like, which is a very cool idea. Each day you start out in the big entrance hall and each door you open lets you draft a room from a pool of three to enter. These rooms can do all kinds of things, some are beneficial and some have drawbacks. To make your way through the mansion you are going to need a couple of things like keys, coins and diamonds, and you are going to be greatly helped by other things like sledge hammers, shovels and oranges. The rooms you draft have doors of their own, except some don't and are dead ends. Some give you buffs that last the day. Some give you debuffs that ruin your day. Blue Prince is a decently funny pun on the word "blueprints", and it makes some sense once you've understood the schtick of the game.

Just like any roguelike worth its salt, Blue Prince can award you permanent buffs. Once you've found the code for a safe, you've got it. Once you've unlocked certain parts of the estate, they stay unlocked. Certain rooms even allow you to move things over from one day to the next. You soon discover a lot of variables to take into account. Some rooms are more common in certain parts of the mansion and other rooms are more common in the later stages of the game.

In the beginning of the game a lot of enjoyment comes from trying to explore the mansion and trying to uncover as many new rooms as possible, discovering what they do and how they some times can interact with each other to form buffs. As the days go by (because there is no chance you can beat this on the first day), you will manage to get further and further, and unlock weirder and weirder rooms.

This image will haunt my dreams.

Once you've played past your first week however, it can feel a bit like retreading the same old path since the first couple of rooms are usually fairly similar. There is the closet, and the bedroom and the nook. Even the observatory and gym hall quickly become old hat. Another feature of Blue Prince that irked me somewhat was what feels like a fairly high reliance on good RNG to get anywhere. It is a lot about trying to pry luck out of the RNG numbers through good choices, just like any good card game. There is no one to bluff here however, the game is ice cold and will suddenly thrust you into a corner even though you feel like you had a really good run leading up to it. All it takes is a streak of locked doors or drafted rooms with too few doors, and you have to click that dreadful "call it a day" button and start over.

Part of the problem is the walking itself. Walking through the same rooms over and over, and having to backtrack constantly, trying to keep track of the correct turns so you don't waste any precious steps, becomes more tedious than I want it to be. I end up wanting to get past the first third of the game quickly so I can continue building on the later stages, but the early rooms are just as important as the later ones. Rooms you have drafted tens of times are just as important, because each room taken out of the draft pool doesn't return (by default). That influences future draft pools and future choices. So I have to slow down and think about the parts I want to rush. It reminds me of early video games, where dying on the boss sent you all the way back to the beginning of the stage that you had already mastered rather than allowing you to practice more on the boss. It's almost like the game can sense this, because it keeps the pace and interest up by introducing new concepts just when you thought you were just banging your face against the same locked doors.

Every now and then a completely new room will be draftable, maybe even some changes to the mansion that turn out to be permanent and that give you an advantage the next time you get in there. At some point I end up in that weird spot of wanting to /flip desk and thinking I am done with it all but then also thinking that I am not letting this dang game win over me - I am going to beat it!

Some times, diamonds really are a girls' best friend.

The game likes to keep its cards hidden, and after a while I wonder if it even gate keeps some of its secrets. Some are obvious, I can't open a special room unless I have found a special key. But when a new room suddenly is available for drafting, I can't be sure it was always in my draft pool and I have just been unlucky so far, or if the game wants me to fail my way through the house a few times before they bring out the big guns. Learning according to Mr. Miyagi if you will - Blue Prince will have you wax on, wax off for a while before you realize you were actually learning karate all along.

The graphics serve the game well, on the right edge of cartoonish it will make things difficult to find only when it wants to, and never because of bad design. Even though walking through a huge mansion like this would definitely freak me out in real life, I never ever felt threatened in Blue Prince. The threat is also completely inanimate, you'll never get hurt or die, just pride damaged when you build yourself into a dead end for the fourth time in a row. The music manages to find the same level of atmosphere without ever feeling the urge to make me feel stressed or nervous. The experience could've easily veered into a furnitured version of Cube, instead it always feels like nice stroll through a park you walk past on the way to work.

So much about the game works and the core idea is brilliant. So how do you keep the fun of drafting out the mansion, and eliminate the tediousness of having to actually literally walk through the whole thing? A board game of course! I really think Blue Prince would work even better as a card game where you draft your way through the house and build it out in front of you. It would eliminate the annoyance of backtracking and just keep the best parts of the game available. Writing this text I actually thought the connection was so obvious I had to search to see if someone else had had the thought - and of course they have. I've got my money ready for when it happens.

Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine (1999) - Review

noreply@blogger.com (Zinn) — Sun, 30 Aug 2026 07:03:14 +0000

Kids today don't even know the pain of not having WASD controls (even though I have encountered some PC ports of modern games that try to emulate double joysticks, I assume, by forcing you to play with WASD and IJKL - yes I am looking at you Moonlighter and Katamari Damacy). Every time I try out a game from pre 2005-ish I worry about this. The main issue is the simple fact that it can differ so much from what you are used to. Until creators have agreed on the way to do it, they all throw things at the wall to see what sticks. A lot of the things that are thrown are simply not good. But most of it just takes some getting used to. The controls of Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine manages to be both of these things.

Off to a great start

IJatIM, as I am going to shorten it, was released in 1999 to PC - and Nintendo consoles interestingly enough. So back then, you could choose to play this either on N64 or on the computer and I really wish I had an opportunity to try the console version to see if the PC version is just another bad port.

Just like everyone else I am a big fan of Indiana Jones and unlike everyone else I actually really enjoyed the most recent movie, The Dial of Destiny, which also sort of happens to tie in nicely with this game. After I had seen the movie I sort of felt like I had to experience ALL of the Indiana Jones stuff I had missed out there, especially game wise, knowing there to be loads. I had already played The Fate of Atlantis a bunch of times, but there was so much more to explore. So I bought a whole bunch of them on GoG and pure randomness made me decide on trying this one first. Why not in chronological order? That is just not how my brain works.

If you've seen any N64 game, you know the graphics. They're blocky, but right up my nostalgia alley and definitely nothing that bothers me. In fact, I go back to these old games to experience these kind of graphics. They can be frustrating some times though, as it isn't always entirely clear which objects you can interact with and which not, or where you can move to. The camera angles can be a problem too, and I often felt stuck not knowing what to do next simply because my objective was out of my visible frame, the only way to see them was to free-look around. It's difficult to explain to some one who is only familiar with more modern games why this is even a problem, because we are so used to being able to take in most of what is around us at all times when playing a game. But back then games were designed around fixed visual frames and it annoys me when the creators put things outside of it, unless they're supposed to be hard-to-spot special secrets.

Indy gets around

The plot is familiar if you've seen any of the movies. Indy basically goes about his business when he gets thrust into trying to avert the bad guys getting their hands on some mysterious trinket and taking over the world. In this game that trinket is the Infernal Machine, a device so similar to the Antikythera Machine in the Dial of Destiny that for a while I thought they had genuinely rehashed the idea. In this game he gets joined by Sophia Hapgood, and I loved seeing her again after having visited Atlantis with her in The Fate of Atlantis. I always wondered how she and Marion would get along, though Sophia and Indy seem to be more digging partners than anything else.

In IJatIM you control Indy by using the arrow keys - something that used to make perfect sense until game makers realized that was a horrible place to have your hand if you also wanted to use the mouse. That is not a problem in this game though, the mouse isn't used. You press alt to jump, ctrl to interact/shoot, space to take out your weapon and shift to run (the only one that came intuitively to me).

So far it all seems pretty straight forward, it felt like something I could learn. Though the first fifteen minutes I thought it would be impossible for me to get used to it. The controls are tank in the most tank way possible, and it's not so much the individual buttons but the combination of actions that get frustrating. Indy just doesn't do what you want him to do unless you do it exactly right and it is so slow. Running toward an edge will have Indy drop over it (some times killing him) but just walking towards it he'll stop. You have to move right up to a ledge and press jump for Indy to grab onto it and some times you have to move about a bit to figure out where the sweet spot is. To move down a ladder you have to back up to it. It doesn't help that there is no quick and easy way to spatially orient yourself. There is a way to go into first person, a feature that is some times absolutely necessary to use, but just as everything else it is slow and clunky.

But there are redeeming decisions as well, Indy controls surprisingly well under water and he will auto aim when using guns (though this also works only half well). You can also change the difficulty setting to off set some of the damage the enemies do. But unfortunately it's not enough. In the end there just is a lot of having to redo sections because Indy fell down instead of jumped, or got needlessly hurt because he wouldn't move behind cover fast enough, or turn fast enough, or go up the ladder fast enough. It was a long time since I save scummed as hard as I did in this game. And honestly it just ends up being stressful and feeling unfair in a way that is not fun.

The villains are the Soviet this time around.

There was a particularly horrible section of rafting down a river, trying to avoid rocks that would sink your raft. Wrestling that little boat in the currents felt like wrestling a baboon over a banana. When I had finally gotten through the section I also realized there was in fact a slightly easier way to do that I had overlooked, so that's on me. But the frustration left a sour taste in my mouth and this was just one of many frustrating moments.

It's unfortunate, because with slightly more comfortable and responsive controls I think I would've had some good fun with the game. Indy visits some interesting set pieces and the atmosphere is definitely Indy enough to make you get into the adventure feeling. Indy will spout some one-liners and the occasional cut scene will move things forward at a good pace.

This is the right way to do a game with the Indy franchise, it's just hampered by frustrating controls that end up making you regret exploration and regret trying to look for secrets. There are secret areas on every level where Indy can ~~plunder~~ collect treasure which he can use to buy useful items between stages. Things like antidotes, first aid kits and bullets that are absolutely necessary to get through a stage.

The game ran fine and I didn't have any weird bugs or glitches playing it, until I did. Trying to boot it up one time it suddenly decided to crash my screen, leaving it black and unresponsive. I had to connect a second monitor to get myself out of that pickle and at that point I decided the game actually wasn't worth the stress. The stress of trying to get Indy to move where I want him to, the stress of doing the exact same thing but getting completely different result, the stress of very slowly inching your way through hazard only to realize it was the wrong way and all wasted time.

I only got about a third through the game before I gave up - a good game completely reduced by the very clunky controls.

Alien: Fate of the Nostromo - Board Game Review

noreply@blogger.com (Zinn) — Wed, 08 Jul 2026 12:12:48 +0000

Whenever someone tries to make a board game out of one of my favorite IP's I pray that they've managed to recreate and capture some of the magic from experiencing that IP.

Well, do you like the Alien movie and enjoy playing board games? Then look no further, as I can present to you one of the best board games based on a movie that I have ever had the pleasure to try.

Let's boil down the boxes that this game has to check - the Alien movie, released in 1979, is one of my all-time favorites and manages to build up an atmosphere and create a world building in its confined spaces rarely outdone before or since. The slow build up of realization among the crew and understanding just how much they are in over their heads is a master piece that I return to often. I am a big fan of all the first four Alien movies as they come in very distinct flavors, and the flavor of the first Alien movie is "what even is this and how do I survive it?". Sheer panic from the moment the baby alien rears its ugly-cute head until the very last scene.

How do you recreate that feeling in a board game, when the people playing it are sitting comfortably around their own table with friends and absolutely nowhere near the silence of space? I don't know how they did it, but probably with a lot of love for the source material. It hits you as soon as you open the box, but since I don't want to spoil it I am not going to reveal more than that. Let's just say that little touches of Easter eggs here and there give you the impression that this is not some cash grab trying to exploit a name, but a genuine attempt at bringing the full Alien experience into your own hands.

In Alien: Fate of the Nostromo you and friends step into the shoes of the crew of Nostromo at the moment when the Alien has just become fully grown and is stalking you through the corridors. You get a chance to rewrite history, because unlike in the movie (spoiler alert), you can make it so that more than just Ripley makes it out alive.

Each of the five characters, Ripley, Brett, Dallas, Lambert and Parker, are distinct from each other and depending on which setup you play with your tactics will have to accommodate the skills of your crew. This is a cooperative game, where you all try to beat the odds and survive the last few moments on the Nostromo. Each game you draw a certain amount of objectives you need to complete before you can move on to the final objective, which is also randomly drawn out of a pool of possibles. This means that the variables from one game to the next can change quite considerably, but one thing stays the same - the sheer panic of trying to navigate through the ship without being jumped by the Alien.

The game has a set of mechanics that allow the Alien to move around or randomly attack you from a vent. Because of this, each move has to be carefully calculated and risk-reward is always highly present. The ratio between the knowledge that the players have, and the randomness of certain events is very carefully balanced so that you never feel truly safe in a choice but also rarely feel completely cornered. Let me stress though, this is not an easy game - the odds definitely feel stacked against you but that just means success tastes that much sweeter.

Each character has a certain amount of actions they can take each turn, for instance moving about, picking up/dropping/crafting or using items. The items are useful, even necessary in many ways as they allow you to avoid or move the Alien which becomes extremely handy. The Alien is never far away on Nostromo and seems to constantly drool down your neck. Everything is designed faithfully around the original movie, the tools you can use are incinerators, flashlights or electric prods to mention a few and even Jonesy the cat plays an important role.

The board itself is a beautiful replication of the Nostromo with little details from the movie. You have to move about to complete the objectives, but every move you make also brings the Alien closer. After each players turn the Alien gets a turn, in which it can move about the ship - always moving to the nearest player. Because of this it almost felt like the game got more difficult the more players you added, because each extra player gives the Alien another shot at moving in on someone.

Because the players control the Alien they're free to make the tactic choice if two players are equally close to the Alien. It is hard not to make choices for the Alien that benefit the group, but in the end it rarely matters. The Alien has the upper hand and every single game I have played so far we have made it out at the skin of our teeth.

You can choose to make it even harder on yourself by introducing Hard Mode, also known as the Ash character. Ash is another hostile force on the ship that moves around according to set rules, where he just messes up your plans in general. We have yet to try this mode since we find the game is difficult enough without him!

Because you play the game cooperatively, there is a lot of room for younger players, or players with less experience in board games, to join in on the fun. I can see how my son (12 yrs) loves being an integral part of the success of the group and he contributes with a lot of tactical ideas that allows us to beat the game. For my daughter (8 yrs) the game is too stressful however and she takes each set back (as in, being attacked by the Alien) very personal. Whenever the Alien catches one of your crew you lose morale and have to run away. Lose enough morale and the game is over. But set backs are definitely a part of the tactics in Alien FotN, some times you will end up in situations where throwing yourself against the Alien is part of one of those calculated risks I mentioned earlier.

Each crew member has a nice looking figurine.

There are situations where you are just at the moment of success and suddenly feel like you've been thrown back to square one by an unlucky draw of a card. It's a frustration that feels fair however, and it never truly ruins the fun of the game. It is easy to want to go "oh, well let's pretend I didn't move this way" when you realize that is where the Alien was hiding all along. There is no one policing your game but yourself, so whether you want an "honest" run or not is up to you.

There is a bit of setting up with this game as you have to start by placing a lot of tokens and drawing things like objectives. But once you're started the game doesn't let up, it absorbs you and it is immensely fun to discuss moves with your friends, trying to find the most efficient way to solve the objectives without getting caught. One runs off in one direction, another tries to lure the Alien in a different direction while a third runs in with an incinerator to burn out the Alien nest. Carefully laid plans come crashing down and you have to scramble to come up with a plan B. It is immensely fun and fascinating to see how well they've captured the feeling of the movie and make you really feel like you are a part of it.

If feeling like you're always on the brink of disaster is not your cup of tea, this game might not be your thing. Otherwise, I can't recommend this game enough because whether you are an Alien fan, a board game fan or both - I can almost guarantee you are going to have a good time.

X-COM: Terror from the Deep (1995) - Review

noreply@blogger.com (Zinn) — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 20:52:32 +0000

I have mentioned this before: When jumping into a game series I haven't tried out before there is always the question as to where to begin. The first game? The reboot game? The best game? With Assassins Creed I just picked one at random (Unity), and that was a mistake. With Saint's Row I picked the one that looked like most fun (IV) and that worked out pretty well. With Star Control I started from the beginning and that ended very quickly...

Here I am, doing it again. I decided it was time to check out X-COM even though I am no big fan of strategy games (except Settlers 2 which I love, and this odd little game I tried ages ago called Steam Marines), but I have heard so many good things about these games that I figured I needed to find out what the fuss was all about. What caught my interest was talk about how you invested in your fighters, always worrying that you would lose them. Then, of course, Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle really put X-COM in the forefront as being its inspiration. While I never wanna lay my eyes on a Rabbid ever again, it only further increased my curiosity towards X-COM.

So I looked in my library to see which games I owned and it turned out I had the first five to choose from (skipping First Alien Invasion). The very first one, UFO Defense looked too old-style for me, so I opted for the second oldest - Terror From the Deep, released by MicroProse (famous game developer also known for Sid Meier-games, the Civ-series and MtG: Duels of the Planeswalkers to mention a very few) in 1995 for MS DOS.

As I boot it up I am immediately thankful that I can control it using my mouse, and not some odd keyboard combination of keys. Off to a great start, because with these old games from the 90's it really is the wild west when it comes to gameplay controls and I never know what it's going to be like. Unfortunately it can be a big reason that some of the older games are difficult to play. I am greeted by some great, creepy music that sets the tone right from the start. I am a sucker for some good atmospheric tunes and XCOM TftD does it well. There is a threat lurking, somewhere, and I need to root it out.

The game starts me off by asking me to pick where to build my base. It has to be somewhere underwater, which makes sense based on the title of the game. Clicking around in the menus I can access a "Geoscape" which allows me to look around on the surface of the Earth. At first I have no idea why I would want or need to do this, because as will become very clear, the game doesn't explain a single thing to the player. I am assuming this is because it originally came with a thick manual, but unfortunately the version on GoG doesn't (old games on GoG in fact often come with the original manual, but for some reason this one doesn't).

For that reason I decide to simply learn as I move along. Best case scenario I will learn by doing, worst case scenario I will fail horribly without knowing why. In this Geoscape scene I can choose to "Intercept". It's the first button on the menu so I click it. Apparently I have submarines that I can launch around the globe, so I give it a go. It seems straightforward enough and I can also ask my subs to do things like patrolling, though at this point I have no idea what will happen if I do. The subs need to refuel and do so automatically, it also seems like my base can't run out of fuel. I also discover the time buttons, which allow me to choose at which speed time moves forward. The options are plentiful, I can move at 5 second increments - i.e very slowly - up to1 day increments, which is the fastest. I stick to 5 sec for quite a while before I dare try to move faster, and it's not until I do that things actually start happening, because TftD is a game that values its slow pacing. As soon as something does happen though the time moves automatically back to slow, so that you have plenty of time to make your decisions - a very welcome game mechanic.

She's a beauty, she is.

Continuing my exploration of the menus I find where I can actually go to my base and do some good old base-building. The menu here is pretty self-explanatory and familiar even if you're mostly into more modern games. I can choose to do research and allocate researchers. I can choose to manufacture and allocate technicians. I can expand my base, gear up my team, recruit more people and a bunch of others things that I am not sure of. I am in fact not sure of anything, I just click around and see what happens.

Suddenly I get the message that an alien sub has been spotted. I can send my sub to intercept, which of course I do. I get the mission briefing that I need to neutralize the alien threat and try to find alien technology if possible. I can always choose to abandon the mission if I feel like but I guess that isn't something I should strive for.

Intercepting aliens moves you into an isometric, top-down view of a more classical action strategy style. I've got my squad of marines that are ready to move out and a bar of buttons to order things around. Yet again I have no idea what any of the buttons do, but figuring that none of them are likely to cause me to explode I try them out at random. They do the obvious things, open up inventory (which also lets you pick things off the ground like in many CRPGs, move between characters and between layers of the battle field (layers being height differences). I move my characters simply by clicking on them and then where I want them to go. They both seem to have something similar to action points, dictating how much they can perform within a turn, and something similar to stamina, which I think is affected by the quality of the terrain. It also seems my marines get tired after some fighting (who'd have guessed?!) and start walking extremely slowly. Or maybe they are weighed down? It is anyone's guess.

Underwater, no one can hear you scream.

I frankly love the graphics of this isometric view though, it's for the most part clear what I am looking at and the sprite work is beautiful. All my little marines are named and I can see what gear they are hauling, though I have no idea how useful any of it is. I can without much trouble see that none of them are wearing much more than a pretty basic weapon and what I think are throwing weapons (they all automatically wear what they need to be able to breathe underwater), so no armor.

I move my characters around the field and notice that if I move a character that is out of screen view, it will teleport into position. It is only when I look at them they go through the full motion of animating their movements. This is also a welcome function since this saves you from just looking at a screen waiting for your marine to get into position. Once all my characters have moved and I end my turn, the aliens get to do their turn, hidden from me. Unless I have spotted them of course. Just like in Heroes of Might and Magic.

The first aliens I encounter are tiny things that I one-shot with trouble. They also aim like Stormtroopers so I make quick work of them. My son suggests I shoot some stuff inside the alien space ship, which makes things blow up and incapacitate two of my marines. Thanks kid. But it is cool that the environment is interactable, I really like that because I am thinking it can probably be just as easily used to my advantage.

Not for the claustrophobic.

Hyped on my easy win over the little aliens and coming back with some alien artefacts to research on I quickly set out to discover more aliens to kick back into space. But then I learn that TftD is not as gentle as I first thought. Wrestling my subs turns out to be tricky, I am unclear whether I have to boat around the oceans and patrol to come across aliens or not. When I do my subs inevitably have to come back to refuel, and that is also inevitably when the aliens show up. The nations of the world who decide on my funding each month aren't happy that my subs sit back in the base refueling instead of coming to the aid of the people of the world. Neither am I!

Then, when I finally catch up to another alien sub, I come across some other aliens who definitely don't play nice. Maybe they realized that sending their weakest troops didn't do them much good, because whatever they're sending out now can easily one-shot all my marines as soon as I see them. There is just no chance for me to fight them, and so I rather flee than send my troops into an early grave. The tables have turned. So I start to think. My marines clearly need more of everything to fight those guys - armor, better weapons and health packs. So I start researching those things. And maybe I can try to grind some of those weaker mobs when I come across them, for materials, or whatever they drop.

The game can feel a bit unfair at times. Just stepping out of my sub I get murdered by something off screen. Good bye Malory, it was nice knowing you. I guess that is the harsh reality of alien warfare, but it is difficult to know what I could've done differently. In another mission I find out the hard way that the weapon I decided to bring only works underwater, which I happen to not be. Well... that sucks. In some missions you are supposed to save civilians which seems like a fairly impossible task, as I hear them getting slaughtered in the distance.

But otherwise there isn't much I don't enjoy about XCOM TftD, and the things I don't like are because I don't know the mechanic yet. For a game that's over 30 years old it plays surprisingly modern. Nothing is explained, but it's also quite welcoming to just try things around and see what happens. It is also a very slow paced game, which requires you to tinker, add a thing here and there. I was already expecting to have to do a few restarts to get the hang of it, but I have in fact survived longer than I thought I would. Usually money is the first thing that goes out the window but the slow pace semi-tricks me into thinking I am doing ok although only a short amount of time has actually passed in-game. In this it is similar to one of my all-time favorites - Settlers 2 from 1996.

This is how you do it.

Fortunately, nowadays a manual is only a quick AltaVista search away. The manual is actually really instructional, showing how to get through the different parts of the game step-by-step, just like a tutorial. An IKEA manual would be proud. It is to the games credit that I got most of the steps from the manual just by trying things out dynamically in-game.

To modern sensibilities the feedback-loop is probably too slowly tuned on XCOM TftD. Even though there is always a feeling of something to do, the sense of real successes are, at least initially, far in-between and hard-earned. If this sounded like it could be your thing, but maybe want something with a quicker turn-around, I can highly recommend FTL: Faster Than Light. It retains the same feel of tinkering and micro-managing, and high level of failure (in a good way!). But for a game from 1995, X-COM: Terror from the Deep is a banger.

Disco Elysium (2019) - Review

noreply@blogger.com (Zinn) — Sun, 24 May 2026 19:42:50 +0000

Some times I try to get through things even though I have a niggling thought at the back of my head that keeps telling me that I don't have any idea what is going on. More often than not that thought transforms into the realization that maybe this isn't the kind of experience I want to spend my time on. But some times not understanding what you're doing is actually part of the experience, part of what keeps you moving forward, looking for that one piece of information that will make it all come together...

Disco Elysium has been lauded by pretty much everyone since it was released, and so it wasn't odd that it ended up on my radar. What all those reviews didn't prepare me for though is that it is a novel camouflaging as an RPG with DnD inspirations. If you don't like to read (or listen to a lot of talking), this is not the game for you. Fortunately I love to read, so should be all good, right?

You play as an anonymous drunk, who quickly realizes he is supposed to be a cop trying to solve a case. A murder case no less. Your buddy cop tells you this as you struggle to comprehend where you are, who you are and why life has to be so complicated. It is a little bit comforting that the main character seems to be as lost as I feel most of the time. I literally just run around talking to random people I come across, but that is my job so it works out.

It starts off RPGy enough, you get to create a character by allocating points. This just means that you can't be really smart and really strong, you're either or. Or somewhat half-bad at both. I decided this was the game where I could finally go hard-core smartass, like I've always wanted in the Neverwinter Nights and Baldur's Gates. Those game tease you with the possibility to roll those kind of characters, without actually making a game that allows you to play that way. But Disco Elysium, surely, would treat my brains differently. I was hoping this was the kind of game where I could talk myself out of a gun fight if needed.

Mostly this turned out to be true, though my brainy-ness at first just seemed to mean that I talked a lot to myself without actually accomplishing much of anything. Of course, I haven't had a brawny playthrough so I don't know how much more efficient that playstyle is, though I strongly suspect all the talking is unavoidable regardless. The fun consequence of my lack of physical prowess is that I create a character that legitimately seems like he can die if he stubs his toe hard enough. I've heard of people who have rolled DnD characters that ridiculous, but it was an interesting experience to play it myself. It keeps me on my toes (!) because I literally have no idea what will do damage to me. Beside being shot to death at one point, which seems like a predictable albeit unfortunate work hazard when you're a cop, I'm also at one point close to dying because I kick a door to hard. I guess such is the path I chose to wander.

The stakes are somewhat offset by the fact that you can save and quick save whenever you like. Before long I know to quick save before any conversation or pretty much any choice of consequence. Then I realize I have no idea which choices will end up having major consequences and I just end up quick saving before pretty much any interaction with anything. All the inner voices give you hints towards what dialogue choices are beneficial to go for, and I actually really like the system where the game doesn't necessarily outright tell you which is the "good", "chaotic", "evil" or "neutral" path but just hints at it. Even then you can still mess things up with a misinterpretation or a bad dice roll. It makes for dynamic but confusing dialogues, as much entertaining as they are difficult to try to master.

There is however a disturbing discrepancy between the cleverness of the writing/dialogue/game system and the fact that other parts of the game feel so very... game-y. People will stand in the exact same spot throughout the day and onto the next. That makes sense for the bartender at the inn, even though he is looking at the same broken taxidermied bird for days, but less so for the woman outside the book shop trying to figure out which book she wants to buy. Or pretty much most of the people you interact with. This makes them seem a lot less like people, and a lot more like sign posts, there more to offload information and exposition than to make the world feel like a real place. Maybe this intentional? You do question reality a lot in the game, and the way the game is designed I question the game a lot as well.

It also doesn't help that the people you talk to are such caricatures, it just emphasizes their roles in the game as The Thing That Tells You Where To Go, The Thing That Stands In Your Way, The Thing That Has The Next Answer. They all have their one schtick and they schtick to it, pardon my pun. I don't know if I put my points in the wrong things, but this kind of one-themed conversations is exactly what I wanted to avoid when I went with the brainy guy. While there is options to talk people out of things, threaten them or confuse them (you can even talk a door into opening with enough rhetoric skill), it rarely makes it feel like there is any development in their thought processes. It might be an effect of the somewhat limited scope of the script (I mean in narrative, not depth), you are only there to solve a murder mystery over a handful of days after all, but I've played games like that before that never came close to feeling like talking to robots as much as this does some times (ironically one of them is literally about talking to robots, Primordia).

Disco Elysium unfortunately also ticks one of my biggest no-no's for games, which is that the art design never ever should hamper the playability. It doesn't matter how fancy or artsy your game looks, if it makes it harder to navigate in any way, you have still failed in what is supposed to make a game fun. Disco Elysium looks like it's been painted with an oily aquarell (water painting is apparently the English term for it but I prefer the Swedish one - it sounds posher) in rainy gray and brown colours. Pressing Tab highlights interactable objects around you, and the game would've probably been completely unplayable without it, because even with this feature I frequently struggle to figure out where my character can move to. I even at one point had to look up where to go next because I couldn't identify a passage as walkable from looking at it. As you walk around you can look at certain things that are highlighted, but the information serves no other purpose other than world-building, as if they had to label the things lying around because they're too hard to make out with the eye. "It's a broken window with some dust on it" or "there is some gravel on the ground here". I am making those ones up, but they would fit in the game without trouble.

Most of the game feels like a dream sequence where things only make sense on a surface level. As soon as you start to think about it you realize that none of this can really be for real. I think this is entirely intentional. Just like in a dream things seem to just happen and I rarely get a feeling that I figured something out or was an instrumental part of the world. Time moves on as you move around, and the game just decides it's ready for the next scene to play. Suddenly the game tells me I can quick travel, but not how to do it. I am still wondering. Maybe several play throughs would open up the inner workings of the game for me, right now entire game mechanics make no sense to me - like the "inner thoughts" that you can "research" and appear seemingly at random. I don't know what purpose or benefits they serve, and since they cost ability points to research I entirely opted out of investing in them.

The voice acting is overall good, though I chose to skip through most spoken dialogue and read the text on my own instead (and I definitely didn't read all of the text because there is so very much of it). That is nothing on the game though, I am simply not a huge fan of spoken dialogue (the Yakuza series being a huge exception!). Otherwise there is some passable music playing in the background and the odd sound effect here and there. Overall the game feels very quiet and you'll mostly hear a lot of talking. It just adds to that weird sensation of everything being unmovable around you.

By in-game day 3 I am starting to feel fatigued. Fatigued by the constant gray, the constant sadness, the constant nothingness. Fatigued by being someone so pathetic everyone seems to laugh behind my back and I have no idea why I am this way. Fatigued by running the same route, trying the same doors and speaking to the same people saying the same things. The sense of achievement is too close to zero at almost any given time and it almost feels like being stuck in a hamster wheel.

Disco Elysium tries a lot of things and I especially found the exploration of the main characters inners thoughts to be interesting. This is something I haven't seen done in this way before, and a lot of the time it worked well. I liked that enough points in the right skills would allow me to know if someone was telling the truth or even suggest dialogue options for me. Too few points in other skills could result in some hilarious situations like dying from kicking a door frame too hard.

Unfortunately the rest of the game feels like a wet, smelly blanket. The characters leave me uncaring because I understand too little of what is going on or why anyone is motivated to act the way they do. No one feels like an actual person with feelings and thoughts, they all feel like mannequins in what is possibly just a big hallucination. My character and me clearly just go through the motions, trying to pretend for long enough to maybe awaken a feeling of purpose, that just never comes. Everyone says they love Martinaise yet I can't shake the feeling that everyone I talk to would actually rather be somewhere else. And so it turns out, would I.

I will miss Kim though.

Mad Max (2015) - Review

noreply@blogger.com (Zinn) — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 21:06:00 +0000

Having a good time in the Mad Max world means you are going to sound like a right lunatic. So when I say things like "throwing a thunderpoon at a war boy to make them explode is so satisfying" and "aw nice, I found some maggots to eat", please don't think that it in any way represent my actual values outside the gaming world.

The world of Mad Max is not a nice place. I actually tried to compare it to some similar post-apocalyptic universes - you've got things like Fallout, The Witcher (not post-apocalyptic per se, but considering you can't set foot outside your bed without being beset by monsters, I still consider it a hell-hole) and Judge Dredd to mention a few off the top of my head. And compared to a lot of them, Mad Max is a pretty bad place. Everyone, and I mean everyone, is a piece of shit. No one tries to do nice things. There is barely any semblance of civilization going on and it's a dog eat dog world at every corner. Add to that, there is nothing but desert as far as the eye can see, so you can't even shack up in some nice meadow somewhere and try to live your life on your own. The Mad Max world just doesn't have nice things.

The main character, Mad Max himself, is in fact also not a nice guy. The few times he ends up doing nice things, it is almost like he has to pull his own teeth how much he seems to dislike it. The game makes a good job at conveying that Max only ever does something for someone else if he also benefits from it. Altruism is something that is truly dead in this sandscape.

To replicate that in a game then, without making the player just behave like an absolute monster, is no small feat. To be fair, Max doesn't go out of his way to ruin the life of the people he meets, unlike a lot of the people he meets. So there is a starting point for an anti-hero, and we all love our anti-heroes.

To make things harder for themselves, the game developers also make you kill off the final bad guy in a cut scene right at the start of the game. Yeah, no need to warn for spoilers here I think, you are literally offing what should be the final boss in the first few minutes of the game. You as a player are just watching these things unfold, but they also set the stage really nicely for what is to come. They immediately explain what a bad guy Mad Max is and you will realize quickly that there is still much work left to do.

Making a game from an established universe definitely seems to be a double edged sword. On the one hand you have characters, lore and story lines all for free. On the other hand you have an army of loyal fans that are going to nitpick every choice you make. The universe has to feel right, and whatever feels right differs from person to person. But when you get it right it can work so much in your favor. Play your cards right, and part of the reason people will want to spend time in your game is because they can pretend to be part of that universe.

I noticed the difference when I compared a game like Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and Mad Max. I like the Lord of the Rings movies (and books), but I am by no means a big fan and know little about the universe beyond the abovementioned movies and books. I enjoyed M-E:SoM because it was a well crafted game, not because I was thrilled to be running around in the same world as Frodo and Sauron (not that anyone would be thrilled to hang out with Sauron, but you get my meaning).

With Mad Max I suspect the opposite however. While I am not necessarily a huge Mad Max fan either, I am a huge fan of the Fury Road movie, which this game is clearly heavily inspired by. And while I find the game to have other qualities, which we will get in to hopefully, a huge draw for me is simply being able to run around and pretend to be a little part of the world in that movie.

Even if you don't like anything else about this game, you have got to hand it to them - they've really succeeded in building up the Mad Max atmosphere and just crazy stuff that goes on in those movies. People are suitably disgusting, both morally and literally, and the world is fifty shades of sand. But it works, it works so well that I absolutely love running around punching Scrotus' hordes in the face and setting things on fire in fifteen different ways.

Mechanically it works too. They've put focus on the two things that need to feel good - the melee and the driving. You'd think I'd steer clear of a game that takes place 90% inside a car, but ripping through sand dunes and throttling yourself off a cliff never gets dull. I am endlessly impressed that they've managed to build a world where a car can go completely mad and you never feel stuck or lost. There are of course loads of different vehicles to unlock, that all handle differently. Since I am no particular fan of driving I quickly opted to perfect the feel of one vehicle and stick with that. That worked well for me throughout the entire game, but there are many options if you prefer to tinker around. Now, I've never driven like a mad man through a desert with five other vehicles filled with maniacs on my rear hellbent on blowing me up, but I would dare to guess that Mad Max makes a pretty good simulation of how that would feel.

Some more words about the punching then. Maybe it's telling that it took me about 15 hours of gameplay before I realized I could upgrade Max's melee abilities. Up to that point I still had had all the fun in the world. And yes, that probably also means that the game is a bit on the easy side - especially since it doesn't take long to figure out how to outsmart most creatures you come across, though that still feels suitable to the lore of the universe.

Max's punching has weight to it and you will swing yourself through hordes with some easy button presses. It takes some timing to get it right, but I rarely felt like I took a punch to the face unfairly. Upgrading Max means you can add some tricks to the mix which requires you to keep out for other cues. Yeah it's basically QTE, but it feels chunky and satisfying. It's straight forward, there is no sneaking about here. Max can attack from different vantage points, but there is definitely going to be battle. The shotgun and knives at his belt do a good job too, everything feels deliberate and useful.

Some things took some getting used to for me, though I'll say they are actually good design decisions. To interact with most things you need to press and hold your interact-key (E on PC), which took me hours to get right. But it makes sense, this way Max won't accidentally interact with things because I accidentally press E. Also, I actually had to search the internet how to get through certain sections because it turns out Max has a jump button, it's just a weird one - Left Ctrl. Max will roll on Space, and it makes a lot more sense in the game because jumping is almost never used whereas rolling is used a lot.

If you don't want to follow the main story you get a whole world to explore or more importantly, purify from the hordes of Scrotus. The world is littered with enemy camps to destroy, races to win, mine fields to clear out and scrap to collect. The scrap allows you to improve your own vehicle but also the main hub friendly camps that you come across. Upgrade the friendly camps enough and they will also allow you to regain water, health, ammo and fuel. I use the word "friendly" in the loosest of ways here. The camps are lead by people who only decide not to shoot Max in the face immediately, because they recognize that he can be useful to them. People like Jeet, Pink Eye and Gutgash are definitely not nice people. They are just slightly less horrible than the terrible bottom-feeders that inhabit most of the wasteland.

You'll come across a lot of interesting characters, for sure. But none as interesting and easy to love as Chumbucket. Chumbucket sets you on your path from the start of the game and comes with you on every mission in the car. He won't fight, but he will fix the car and the car will need a lot of fixing. Chumbucket is a great character and the MVP of this game besides Max himself. Max tolerates him, but Chumbucket basically reveres Max as a prophet at the altar of the gasoline and even calls him "Saint". He will comment on things that happen around you and I never got tired of him hanging around. Chumbucket wants you to help complete his lives work of building the Angel - the best car the wasteland has ever seen. Honestly I had so much fun driving around doing all sorts of things besides the main story, I sort of didn't pay attention to what that was all about. The main story gives you a reason to explore more areas of the game, but playing around in the world felt like the main draw.

The villains will have lovely names like Stank Gum, Gut Noose and Stump Grinder. Encountering them is overall quite forgettable affairs, a lot of them are even re-skins of each other. A bit of a lost opportunity there, but a minor gripe in a game otherwise filled with both character and characters.

There is plenty more to mention, like Griffa, a mysterious stranger who will blow dust in your face and allow you to improve certain skills while musing about your future and your past. Or that the map is great and I never got lost even though pretty much everything looks the same. Or that there are sandstorms that are terrifying and last literal minutes unless you take cover? Or that the soundtrack uses a mouth harp, one of the most underrated instruments ever?

All in all, there is a lot to see and do in Mad Max. I've spent over 44 hours on it, and I am not done yet. I was a bit surprised and sad to read that it wasn't all too well received though it seems to have since gained more recognition. Maybe your mileage will vary, I am sure an interest in the world of Mad Max will increase your enjoyment. There are repetitive parts, for sure. But mostly the game oozes respect for the source material and an eye for detail. In the end, there is a very competent and fun game underneath all that sand and oil.

Field Report #32 - I Am A Fan of KPop Now

noreply@blogger.com (Zinn) — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 21:23:00 +0000

Having kids is, as anyone with kids knows by now, a pretty life-altering experience. In some tiring ways, in some difficult ways, mostly in some awesome ways. What I didn't expect however was that my kids would bring me into whole new hobbies.

Usually it is the other way around, or so I thought. As an adult you already have your hobbies, and you will do your darndest to make sure your kids love your things too. I am no different, I have tried to get my kids to love things like Pokémon (that wasn't so difficult), board games (that hasn't really worked so far) and hiking (they are converts). But it turns out my kids are their own people, with their own interests.

So it is that when my son turned out to be interested in birds, I started to get interested in them too. Now we regularly go on bird-watching events together, and I might even be more into birds than he is.

My daughter has turned out to be into singing and dancing, which I don't mind doing every now and then either. But then we ended up watching a movie called KPop Demon Hunters (KDH), I am sure you have heard about it by now. It seems impossible to have missed it, it has been a complete (K)pop culture phenomenon and a huge success for Netflix and the Kpop community.

Prior to KDH I had heard of Kpop, of course. I had even listened (a lot) to Psy, and of course the awesome Bar Bar Bar by Crayon Pop, so I wasn't completely unknowing about what it was about. I knew there was a band called... BTS? I had never heard any of their songs, knowingly, and overall I didn't think most Kpop was my thing.

But the songs in KDH got me bopping my head. And normally I would've probably just seen the movie, thought it was better than I had expected and moved on. But my kid didn't allow me to let it leave my headspace, constantly singing and listening to the songs from the movie.

Eventually my brain gave in and I thought to myself - ok, let's find out a little bit more about this Kpop stuff, there must be something out there worth listening to, something similar to KDH.

So I looked up videos on Youtube listing "best Kpop songs of year so-and-so" or "top 100 Kpop songs".

Almost none of them appealed to me. Out of all the songs I listened to I ended up adding only two to my regular playlist - Very Nice by Seventeen and Mirotic by TVXQ. They are... ok. Slightly above the rest, but nothing special.

Then a new song with a new band popped up in my feed. Ready 2 Rumble with All (H)ours. I clicked it, as one does and... I liked it. I liked pretty much everything about it. The song was good, the energy from the group was great, the dance routine was awesome. This group had piqued my interest. Next time they showed up in my feed, with another song, I decided I wanted to listen to that too, Gimme Gimme Gimme. And that was even better, in almost every way. Ok, they were 2 for 2. Then I found another song, Shock, better again.

My daughter loved them too, so it became a thing we could listen to together. We love pretty much every song they've released in their short 2 year existence. And maybe I get it now. I never used to be a fan about much when I was a kid or a teenager. I had Legolas as my desktop picture and I used to swoon over Vincent Valentine in FFVII, but I had no idols or stars on posters on my walls. I sort of skipped that phase, and definitely didn't think I would find a new thing to fan about at the age of 40. But now I can see it through the eyes of my kid and it is quite enjoyable.

Long story short, you should go out and watch birds and definitely listen to All (H)ours while doing it.

Other must listens by All (H)ours;

Livin La Vida Loca
Good Job
Graffiti
Psycho Mantra
Bout That Issue
Blah Blah
Wao Wao
Racer

Top 4 Roblox Games (As Judged By An Adult)

noreply@blogger.com (Zinn) — Thu, 01 Jan 2026 22:05:00 +0000

If you have someone in your vicinity under the age of 15, you've probably not been able to avoid the phenomena that is Roblox, one of those rare things that manages to unify and engage children of all ages and all backgrounds, just like Pokémon did back in my day.

As someone living with a 12 and 7 year old, I am of course deeply steeped in Roblox-ness, having had to not only watch and listen to my kids play, but having had to play a fair share of Roblox myself. It's just one of those sacrifices one does for the little ones, like singing Baby Shark for the hundredth time.

But just like I found that building Lego's, playing TMNT's vs Dinosaurs and some children's board games can actually be quite fun, I've found that Roblox too can be fairly entertaining. And because we're all into gaming in this family, we often end up spending our allotted screen time playing games together. This has included more or less Roblox for years now. But, let's start by clearing up what Roblox is and what it isn't.

Roblox, from what I've understood, is not ONE game - but rather a platform for anyone to create games. Because of this, saying you're playing Roblox is nowadays pretty much the same as saying you're going to listen to music or watch a movie. It tells nothing of what exactly it is you're going to enjoy or indeed the quality of what you're about to enjoy (or not enjoy so much). As a parent it helps to know that a Roblox game can range from utter garbage, both content and gameplay-wise, to some that are very well done. It's wise to invest at least some time in knowing what it is your kid likes to play - and it also helps to try to not be too judgmental. My 7 yo especially enjoys playing simple, cookie-clicker type games that I barely deem worthy of being called games nor worthy of spending anyone's time on. But I also understand that people can be different kinds of gamers, and as long as it isn't offensive or inappropriate I try to nod and smile when she tells me about how high her Labubu can jump in Bubu Jump Clicker.

A vast amount of Roblox games are these kind of simple, power-level-stacking style games where little skill or brain power is required. Another big chunk of games are something called "Obbies", short for Obstacle Courses. Think of them as ugly versions of Mario Games, but usually with a lot less quality. I am not a fan of the Obbies, mainly because I am often stuck playing the Ipad when we play together, and the precision just isn't great. We often end up playing different kind of SIM-lights (simulators), like handling a garden, a zoo, an aquarium or a gazillion capybaras. There are more antagonistic games as well, like Rivals which is a PvP shooter, but we often stay clear of them because we are all very bad losers in this family.

Overall though there is just such a massive amount of games to sift through that it can feel impossible to know which are good and which are bad without having to trial and error your way through them. To counteract part of this, Roblox has a voting system in which people can score games which allows you to at least get a general idea of the quality of a game. As I suspect that the voting system is easily fooled by bots and algorithms, I find that the best way to find good games is simple word of mouth or asking other Robloxers what games they like to play.

So here is my public service, a list of some good Roblox games worth checking out. I want to start out by saying that there are plenty of OK Roblox games, that I don't mind spending half an hour playing here and there. With this list I have tried to find games that I think are a step above the rest in terms of quality and fun. One criteria has been the amount of Robux-in-your-face they've got, and all on this list keep it at a level that gets thumbs up from me. Finding five out of the thousands of games out there wasn't easy though, which either says a lot about the general quality of Roblox games or perhaps more about my age... And you know what, I didn't succeed in finding five Roblox games worth recommending so I guess this isn't exactly my regular top 5 list. Sorry. But I blame Roblox.

4. Work At A Pizza Place
This is the first game I remember playing on Roblox, with my son. He must've been 7 or 8 at the time so this is years ago now and full disclosure, I haven't played it recently. But I remember quite liking this one. In it, you get to choose one of several different roles to take in a pizza place - you can either be the cashier, make the pizzas, deliver them and so on. Team work is the key, which in all fairness I should add is something that is encouraged in a lot of Roblox games, or at least the ones I end up playing.

The title really says it all on this one, you work at a pizza place and try to do your best job to make sure the place succeeds. It's a bit like Overcooked if you've played that, but without the added mayhem. There are no wrenches in the works here or rats stealing your food. The only thing that can go wrong is people intentionally misbehaving, and that is likely to happen if you play with certain people of certain ages. Because it's a joint effort, you mileage will wary with this game and that is pretty much true for all the games on this list. If you play with a good, fun group or even better, friends, you are going to have a good time.

3. 99 Nights in the Forest
You and a group of people need to survive 99 nights in the woods (but you can go on after that). It starts out fairly easy - you need to gather materials like wood for a fire and iron for crafting more useful things to help you survive. Scouring the woods around you, you will also find helpful tools like weapons and axes and you can craft yourself armor by killing animals and getting their fur. You'll have to kill animals for food as well, or forage for carrots and berries. You also have a task to rescue some kidnapped children that are stuck out in the woods.

It gets increasingly more difficult as the nights pass however, as you very soon realize you are not alone. Most animals will fight back, but they are the nice enemies, The forest is also inhabited by "cultists" who attack your camp every now and then and worst of all, various kinds of supernatural beings that hunt you in the darkness. You want to make sure to be close to your fire when night falls, and to keep the fire alive at all times...

This is another fun co-operative game - everyone pitches in by gathering all the things that are needed and saving each other from trouble. It's game over when everyone in the group has died, and each run is somewhat randomized, keeping it fresh for "just another go". When I played this with my kids we ended up distributing tasks, based on skill level, so that everyone felt like they were contributing. I think my record is somewhere around 70 nights, but only because we ran out of (screen)time.

2. Feather Family
This has been the long-runner in this family, me and my son keep coming back to it and have been playing it for years on and off. It's a role-playing game with birds, and that is pretty much it. It has a large and faithfully crafted selection of different birds to choose from, from the very basic like pigeons to the more obscure like the ʻōʻō.

Not only can you learn a bit about birds, you can play around with them too and give them new colours if you like. Then you run, or mostly fly depending on bird, around in the world together with other players who feel like being a swan for an hour. How much you want to roleplay is up to you, but since it's an open world you are free to just use it as a playground for other things too. Me and the son play things like hide-and-seek for instance. Or family, since you can choose to play as a chick, and the other one can play as the adult collecting food, building a nest and so on. To get new birds you mainly only need to spend time in the game, with some requiring a very long time indeed... but there is plenty to do while you are waiting for that.

It's a very nice and pleasant game that even the most obnoxious video game hater would smile at.

1. Rainbow Friends
This is probably the game I've personally had the most fun with in Roblox and it switches the stress factor from the previous game in this list up by 110%. Don't let the title fool you, there is nothing friendly about the Rainbow monsters in this game.

Rainbow Friends is a game of hide-and-seek, in which the players all hide from the monsters of the game. Together the players need to complete certain tasks to make it through the stages, without being caught by Blue, Green, Orange and so on. The game starts with just Blue chasing you, but each task you complete also introduces you to another monster. The monsters all have different M.O's and tells so as long as you keep vigilant you are mostly ok. It's when you start takings risks you get caught.

There are two games so far that each play a bit differently. The first one is more enclosed and the second one has open areas that allows you to get a better overview of where the monsters are, but they are both fun to play. Matches are quick and usually smooth, they've got functions to prevent players from "ruining" runs - it's a fun, quick thrill that I recommend for slightly older players.

Alpha Protocol (2010) - Review

noreply@blogger.com (Zinn) — Thu, 13 Nov 2025 20:09:00 +0000

Some times games don't manage to make you feel as much as you or the developers hoped for. Alpha Protocol has a lot going for it, but falls a bit short of being a good game. As it is now, it's ok. Good enough to waste some time on, if all you were going to do was scroll through Youtube Reels anyway. But probably not something you're going to think too much about once you've turned it off.

Which is unfortunate because on paper Alpha Protocol has a lot going for it. Developed by Obsidian ( Knight of the Old Republic, Fallout: New Vegas, Outer Wilds) and published by SEGA (needs no introduction) in 2010, it presents itself as an action role-playing shooter and could fool anyone that it was picking up the baton from Deus Ex after Deus Ex sort of fumbled and lost it.

It's clear that is what it is trying to do, with the main character introduction and gameplay being very similar. You play as Mike Thorton, and at the beginning of the game it's not entirely clear why you are where you are. But you are quickly thrust into the action as you run, stealth and shoot your way through different set pieces. After only a handful of missions you end up embroiled in a plot twist, Bourne-style, and need to keep working to figure things out. It's a story about corporate greed, shifting alliances and plenty of backstabbing, if you choose to. The pacing is high and the story cuts back and forth between the present and the future.

The game allows you to tackle missions in a variety of ways - when you start the game you can choose what kind of agent you want to be, and it affects how your agent will be able to solve different problems and presumably more or less how you are going to play through the game. Each time you level up you can choose to improve different weapon skills, stealthing, technical aptitude and more typical RPG stuff. You also unlock skills on cooldowns which you can trigger to improve your situation in different ways. I found some of those skills absolutely mandatory, like the skill that allows you to track enemies even when you can't visibly see them. That skill starts out on a cooldown but if you invest enough points into it, it becomes permanent and made the levels way easier to get through.

A big reason for this is because the stealth sections aren't very well realized, but that could also be because I didn't put many points into this. I found it hard to judge how visible Thorton was in any given moment, and often found myself confused when I was spotted by someone. After having played games like Thief and aforementioned Deus Ex, I just know there are much better ways to inform your player of these things, but on the other hand games like Assassins Creed struggle with this also.

Running and gunning works fine however. Your weapons have different recoil, different bullets and different addons you can attach to improve their stats. You can take cover behind things and throughout the levels there are a lot of computers to hack and locks to pick if you want to. All of these things usually give you some sort of small upper edge, like disabling cameras or extra loot.

The game has a neat, optional, tutorial in the beginning - which I completely butchered. The people assisting me were delicate about my lack of skill however. The game never felt hard though, and even though I often messed up because the controls aren't always precise enough, it was usually not difficult to get myself out of the situations I had put myself into. Enemies are often contained in segments, even within a level, meaning that once you've shot off a certain few in an area, the rest will be just as unaware as ever.

In fact, let's talk a bit more about this part. I played this on PC with keyboard, but it really felt like the game was made for a control pad, the way you're supposed to interact with the environment and even with menus just was a bit unintuitive and clunky. For instance, to select between different cooldowns or gadgets (grenades, first aids) you press Z or C and choose from a radial menu as default, rather than them being bound to different keys. And the interface doesn't always react to where the mouse cursor is, in that weird way that you only understand if you've experienced it.

The AI is not the best, actually among the most stupid I have seen in a game of this time. Several bosses I managed to unintentionally cheese simply because their heads were poking out behind some cover and they wouldn't react when I laid in to them. I guess the AI thought they were behind cover and just couldn't figure why they were still taking damage. And when I shot someone, it didn't matter where it happened, everyone in the vicinity knows my exact location immediately and run through corridors and up and down stairs to find me without trouble. What is up with the homing tracking? Then they run towards me like lambs to slaughter, so some times it will work in my favor. And this is not the kind of game where you have to worry about leaving bodies visibly anywhere, AI does not react to this at all.

Obsidian has put a lot of effort into making a slick feeling game in other areas though. The game tracks your reputation with most of the characters you meet, which in turn affects how they react to different situations and conversations. It's explained early on that a good reputation isn't always beneficial, because a bad reputation can make someone annoyed with you which in the world of covert operation can be used to your advantage. When they explained this I was intrigued by how this was going to showcase itself in the game. Often during conversation a wheel of reactions will pop-up. You have a few seconds to choose how Thorton is going to react to what is being talked about. The options are often only described with an adjective, "angry", "flirty", "professional", and it's some times difficult to predict exactly what each option means. It happened fairly often that I chose something only to feel like that wasn't what I was going for at all.

Between missions you spend time in a base of operations which allows you to tinker with your gear and otherwise prepare for your mission. One interesting feature is the option to buy "intel", that will give you different benefits in your upcoming missions. This can be everything from a map of the area you're going to, information on the characters you're meeting or even giving you optional ways to go around the place. You can choose in which order you play through missions which in turn affect how some people around you react. There are a lot of variables to play around with and they feel like they matter. Your choices are some times very weighty and not always easy to make.

I've only played through the game once, but it definitely gives you the impression that the choices you make and the way you handle situations impact how you move forward, meaning you can have a wholly different experience on a second playthrough. I can't say how well this is realized, but it felt impressive and enticing. After a few hours with the game I couldn't help but see the layered onion that it was trying to be, and I liked it.

It's really too bad the main character is such an uninteresting sausage of a person. The poor guy doing the voice acting sounds bored half the time and confused the other half, like he doesn't really understand what he is saying. And unfortunately this goes for most of the characters of the game, where pretty much all of them sound like they are phoning it it. The only guy who sounds like he is having fun is Steven Heck, but then Heck is a special kind of psycho. I rarely even react to voice acting performances, even less complain about them, but in this game it is so bad it actually detracts from the overall experience.

Overall, and to reiterate, Alpha Protocol has some interesting highs and lows. It's almost like two different teams worked on it, or they ended putting so much effort into the writing that they didn't have any money left for the gameplay. It's far from a bad game, and easy enough to rarely annoy you. In the end it's just kind of... forgettable.

El Stompo (2014) - The Spectrum Game Review

noreply@blogger.com (Zinn) — Sun, 02 Nov 2025 20:11:00 +0000

In my quest to review the games on my The Spectrum in fairly random order, I have gotten to El Stompo. El Stompo was released in 2014 and as such is a another "modern" game for the ZX Spectrum, just like my previous review game TCQ. In El Stompo you play as a frog-like creature who works as a TV repair...frog. The only way it knows to repair things is by stomping on them. Of course!

What follows is 35 screens of puzzle solving, in which you need to avoid enemies, obstacles and traverse tricky levels to get to stomping all those TV's.

El Stompo is a pretty game. It's colorful, has some really cute sprites and as soon as you figure out what the different blocks and items do, everything is easy to understand and play. The puzzle solving really ranges from fairly simple to fiendish but El Stompo nails the "just one more try"-feedback loop and I never felt frustrated when things didn't go my way. Some variables can feel like they are on the edge of too random and some times you are required to do some good old waiting just for circumstances to be fruitful, but never to the point where it would detract from the fun. My only gripe with the game is that the jump button (A) and restart level button (B) are right next to each other on the controller and I miss clicked this way more than I would've liked.

The controls take a little bit of getting used to, it's easy to overshoot a step which often means death, especially on later levels. But once you know, you know.

El Stompo doesn't have any music, which I actually didn't mind as much as I thought I would. I realized while playing that not having any background music could actually be quite nice. I guess as a creator you'd reason that silence is better than something that would annoy, though I have no idea if this is the reason game creator Dave Hughes omitted a soundtrack. The game does have a few sound effects though, and they are suitably scrappy and bloppy.

El Stompo is really fun and a great addition to the Spectrum game library. If you have the opportunity to try it out I recommend it. I've only gotten to level 20 so far, but I am definitely not giving up.

TCQ (2022) - The Spectrum Game Review

noreply@blogger.com (Zinn) — Sun, 19 Oct 2025 18:40:00 +0000

Where is a good place to start when setting out on the endeavor to review all the games on my new The Spectrum? Alphabetically? Chronologically? All orders have their benefits, but me and my kid (Ed, 12 yo) decided to just go with whatever game we felt like playing.

So first out is TCQ (Triangle, Circle, Square), released in 2022 by Portuguese developer Amaweks. But hang on a minute, 2022? Isn't this supposed to be a ZX Spectrum game? Yeah, apparently a lot of older systems still have thriving indie-developer scenes, where modern games are still being released for systems that are several decades old. And I love that. While I am definitely not in the know of these indie-scenes, I think the idea of these systems still being kept alive through sheer passion (since I really doubt there is any big money in it), is human creativity and love for a craft at its best.

So TCQ is maybe an odd game to start out on when reviewing games for a system that is older than myself (ZX Spectrum was originally released in 1982). But maybe all those decades have allowed game developers to really see new and interesting ways of utilizing what makes the Spectrum so unique. I think TCQ definitely proves this to be true - the creative mind behind the game, Paulo A.M Villalva, didn't actually know about the ZX Spectrum until quite recently. Learning more about it he came to embrace one of the quirks that makes the Spectrum memorable - the color clash. Back in the day this was considered a big short coming of the computer, and something developers tried to hide as much as possible, hence the rather unique graphical style of the ZX Spectrum.

I don't really understand the technical aspect of color clashing (you can read more about it here) but I realize that just like Amaweks it's something I never considered to be a bad thing, but rather something that appealed to my eye. Paulo took it one step further and realized he could utilize this quirk and incorporate it so that it became the focal point of a game, and TCQ was born.

TCQ was inspired by paintings from artists like Piet Mondrian, Wassily Kandinsky and maybe Joan Miró, artists whom I myself happen to quite enjoy the works of.

The game itself is simple enough, you control one of three shapes through different stages and need to solve some simple platforming to make it to the end. You can only be one shape at the time, but different shapes can get you through different obstacles. The shapes can be acquired in different areas, meaning you have to backtrack certain parts to be able to reach new parts, in what could be called a very simple form of Metroidvania. The circle allows you to jump, the triangle can shoot through objects and the square allows you to remove certain blocks. The stages are varied and fun, the music is absolutely great (unfortunately I couldn't find a single good video of it on Youtube). The controls are simple since all you need to do is move left-right and jump/shoot occasionally. I tried this both with the keyboard and the gamepad and both worked fine.

The game is very short though, and after five stages that you can clear quite easily once you know what you're doing, you're done. The big star of the game is without a doubt the graphics, which you might have to see in action to truly appreciate. Images might make you think it is headache inducing, hard to navigate or just aesthetically horrible. But seeing the little shapes move around in this world, and see how they visually interact with the shapes around them is just... interesting. It is like a living work of art.

It's definitely a game worth checking out and fun to play while it lasts. I would've loved to see more from this!

Ed's commentary:

I think the music was great but found the graphics a bit difficult to navigate. It can be hard to see what makes out the background and foreground when you are going to make a jump or moving around, so there is some trial and error involved in that. The gameplay is fun and easy to learn though. I enjoyed it and have already replayed it a few times.

The Spectrum - ZX Spectrum Retro Game Remake

noreply@blogger.com (Zinn) — Wed, 15 Oct 2025 19:06:00 +0000

I am an 80's kid, but didn't really have video games when I was young. I grew up with a little bit of SNES and mostly N64. The very first console I owned myself was an N64 and I always had a hard time with anything older than that. SNES and NES games were just too difficult, too unforgiving, too confusing. Don't even get me started on games for consoles I had only heard about like the Commodore 64 and the Ataris. What about the consoles I had barely even heard about, like the Spectrums, the Vic-20, the TurboGrafx-16 and the Odyssey? Why would I ever care about that?

Somehow I managed to have an interest for all these old things even though I had to accept that I was probably never going to be able to play the games successfully. Reading about old consoles and old games, and especially reading stories about the way these things came to be (and came to crash down in many cases) still fascinates me, even though I never got to live and play with these consoles when they were the coolest thing around.

But I can't really explain why it's the ZX Spectrum specifically that really got its hooks into me. I can't remember when I first heard about it or when I first started to become more curious about it, but it happened somewhere, and I just couldn't stop thinking about it. Retro Games have done the world a favor and released remake-versions of a lot of old home computers, like the mini-commodore 64 or the mini vic-20, but I would just register and move on. But not so with the Spectrum. With this one I stopped and my brain went, "hey... I need this".

Then my brain went "but hey... why though? I've never played a single ZX Spectrum game, I know basically nothing about this console. What is it that draws me in?".

Yeah, like I said I can't explain it. Is it the unique graphics? Maybe. It is true there is something about them that have always drawn my eye. But that is a poor reason to spend 100 euro on a console. Yet here I am, proud owner of a "The Spectrum". Don't think I did this on a whim. I first heard about the remake Spectrum about half a year ago or so. I immediately wanted it but decided it was a stupid thing to buy. But I couldn't stop thinking about it. So after a few months of not being able to let it go I just ended up buying it.

It's beautiful, and the box it comes with just oozes attention to detail and love. I've read and been told by actual ZX Spectrum owners that is a spot on replica of the original one. The first thing my daughter said when I opened it was "oh it smells lovely". And it does, it smells just like opening a new board game. This one comes with the possibility to run 64 bit and 128 bit. You can either run it in the "Games Carousel"-mode or in the "Classic"-mode, which is how the original ZX Spectrum booted and which allows you to do some BASIC programming if you know anything about that. The Spectrum itself is a keyboard, but also supports joystick-controller, D-Pad and other options I haven't explored. The Spectrum is plugged into the TV with an HDMI cable (one is provided in the box) and powered with a simple v5 adapter, same as any mobile phone uses. The box comes with a cable, but not the adapter. Not a problem, as 99% of people will already own a handful of those.

The instruction manual in the box only covers the very basic stuff, like how to start the console. To get to the good stuff, there is a QR-code to online manuals, both a more in-depth one (66 pages) for the console itself and for each and every game as well. These will be necessary as it can be quite tricky to figure out the control schemes on your own, though I found that once you'd tried a few games you at least had an idea of where to start guessing. For someone used to the modern way of mapping keys, the layout doesn't really make sense to start with. Hitting M to start a game? Ok. Most of the games will have similar keyboard layouts but far from the same, so you need to learn differently for different games. Some features I haven't been able to access in the games because I just can't figure out the key for it, even with the help of the manual. Maybe this will work better with the D-Pad that I haven't been able to test yet. But other than that, the Games Carousel mode works just like you'd expect and looks great.

Each game allows for four save slots and rewind gameplay if you mess up (which you definitely will). If the preloaded games aren't enough, the console can read games from a USB as well. There are more options and features that I haven't explored/understood fully yet and I might get back to them in the future as and if I figure them out.

So what better way to celebrate me joining the ZX Spectrum family than to review the 48 games that the console comes with? Completely nostalgia free? Well, that is the intent anyway, we'll see how long-lived this ZX Spectrum fascination is once I actually try to deep-dive and properly play the games. Because I know myself I intend to enlist the help of my 12 yo son who is already a better, and especially a more patient, gamer than me. To be continued...

Atom RPG (2017) - Review

noreply@blogger.com (Zinn) — Mon, 29 Sep 2025 20:52:00 +0000

I am always on the hunt for something to scratch that old Fallout-itch, especially the Fallout 2-itch (which explains why I haven't played Fallout 4 or Fallout London yet, they're not isometric enough).

Wasteland 2 turned to be a waste (pun intended) of my time. A gameplay system that is too penalizing also ends up being boring quite quickly, at least for me. And I don't recall Fallout 1 or 2 being in any way cruel when it came to chance of success. As long as you played it smartly you'd make your way through. Be smart about which odds were in your favor and you'd survive. And maybe that was the main difference, in Wasteland 2 I rarely felt like the odds were in my favor. Or it felt like I was always betting on the wrong horse, in terms of which skills and stats I decided to improve.

That's fair, not everyone should try to straight up copy the Fallout formula, it might just mean what you're serving isn't my cup of tea.

Time to check out another contender, then - Atom RPG. It calls itself a "post-apocalyptic indie game" and says it is inspired by Fallout (and Wasteland, in fairness), among others. So far, off to a good start.

An RPG is only as good as its stories and characters, for some reason I find that almost to be even more important when it comes to post-apocalyptic RPG's. The sci-fi and quasi-futuristic setting lends itself especially well to memorable experiences in the hands of good writers. Fallout made good use of this with their different explorations of the human condition inside the vaults, the consequences of the idealistic factions taken to their extreme and who could forget the tragic story of Harold and Bob?

Atom RPG seems to have been trying to get this right, and for the most part it does. Even though the player is a nobody with a cliché starting quest (find a group of people who have been lost), it sets you on the track to talk to and experience the waste which is far from empty. People have created small societies of all sorts out here and all kinds of religions and ideologies have had an opportunity to find footing. It is as it should in the apocalyptic world.

You get plenty of opportunity to makes decisions on whom to help out, as different factions and people looking for power will ask for you help. It is far from obvious which is the best course of option, which I appreciate. You'll have to go by gut feeling, and some times you won't be happy with the end result. Yet I don't feel cheated or like I've missed out on something important. Rather I feel like I got to leave my mark on the world and it's not supposed to be easy.

There is a starting direction to motivate you into going out into the wastes and it won't take long before you get a whole bunch of other quests. They will range from eradicating wolves, picking up a library book (Lord of the Rings) and infiltrating bandit gangs. These quests will in turn make you discover new quests or maybe a quest that seemed straightforward will branch out in front of you and become a lot more complicated than it first seemed. I started to collect all the quests I could and talk to every person I met in the hopes of completing some quests almost by accident. It can feel overwhelming or be just the kind of thing you're looking for. Personally I felt like I had to start focusing on a few quests before I got too confused. It gave me a bit of FOMO, where I was worried I travelled to new locations without having all the appropriate quests for the area, but I kept telling myself it was ok. A lot of the quests are memorable too. I stumbled upon a tiny side quests clearly inspired by the movie "the Thing" and that one will stick with me.

At one point some clearly not-so-nice guys convinced me to go down a dangerous looking bunker to grab all the loot I wanted. It sounded too good to be true and as I expected, they robbed me of all my stuff when I emerged again. I thought I could trick the game, reloaded and unloaded all my stuff inside the bunker. I go out the door and think I am being smart when the robbers have nothing to rob. Only I am the fool when the robbers realize I am trying to trick them and decide to kill me instead. The game is a lot more clever than you expect at times.

Even though we're living the post-apocalypse, there is a lot to see and do. With more quests in my log than I know what to do with, finding my way around feels a bit tricky. Even though each area has a map, there are no annotations nor the possibility to add any, meaning I still don't know where anything is located. Every building and alley looks like another shack. I guess it is difficult to make the wastelands to look anything but that, and maybe it's a bit much to ask for, but all the gray and brown does get tedious after a while.

On the other hand, Atom RPG makes a decent job at sprinkling a variety of locations around the Wasteland for you to discover. Everything from a mutant circus to a roaring forest, not just the regular derelict vehicles and worn down wooden buildings. The people who inhabit the place are equally diverse. From someone with an "outside" perspective, they almost seem oddly un-bothered by the fact that the world has gone down the toilet, metaphorically and aesthetically. But maybe this is exactly how people would react? They'd just accept the new reality of things and eke out their existence.

Your stats make a big difference to how you can achieve your successes. But where Wasteland 2 constantly made me feel like I was the underdog, or two steps behind, Atom RPG gives me options. Maybe I can choose to solve a situation with barter, speechcraft, personality or strength. The end result might differ, or maybe several options are useful to reach the same solution. Either way this means I will never feel like I've put points into the wrong things, it just means I can choose which way I want to be able to solve my problems. This ended up being an absolutely crucial difference that turned a frustrating system in Wasteland 2, into a fun one in ATOM Rpg.

There is a talent system. And it took me almost 15 hours of game time to discover it. Either that says something about how little Atom intends to hold your hand, or probably a lot more about my eye sight. The talents feel useful and allow you to further niche your play style down certain paths. Some balancing choices mean some skills seem less useful, but that could also just be me not understanding the game properly. It's probably the latter.

The waste is also surprisingly a lot less hostile than the average post-apocalyptic game. You are far more likely to encounter friendly traders than mutated wolves. And the traders are actually friendly, rather than turning out to be mutated wolves in disguises. Almost a disappointment that. Traders can sell you all kinds of things, and you can find useful stuff lying around all over, especially in people's cupboards. As long as they don't have line of sight of you doing the thievery, they won't care.

A crafting system allows you to put things together into mostly useful things, like various equipment. This turned me into a veritable hoarder as any little piece of toilet paper you pick up could turn out to be a crucial part in something you want to craft. Filling up my bags did not take long and I soon had to realize I couldn't run around picking up everything I saw like a 3 year old on a sugar rush.

You get experience for most things you do, lockpicking, saying the right things in some conversations and of course combat. But each level requires a lot of experience to reach and after a few hours I started to feel under levelled for the quests I had gained. Guess it's not a real RPG unless you've got to do some grinding.

There seems to be a lot to say about a game that is mostly brown/beige, running around smacking mutant ants and talking to semi-alcoholic people. But I keep having fun with Atom RPG. There is a lot to tinker with and every little achievement feels like a big success, because the game is just the right amount of stingy with its praise. It's not a difficult game, but it also doesn't hold your hand. It opens the doors for you to explore it, and never badgers you to stay. In a world where the gaming culture is all about catching your attention and not allowing you to leave, it feels refreshingly pleasant.

Katamari Damacy REROLL (2018) - Review

noreply@blogger.com (Zinn) — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 20:58:00 +0000

The Katamari Damacy series has always existed in my mind as the best kind of video game that I never intended to play. It would've probably stayed that way if my then 5 yo son hadn't seen it somewhere and loved the concept. I decided I would get it so we could play it together. So I did get it, but we ended up playing something else together instead.

Katamari Damacy stayed in my game log untouched until I had one of those days when you go "Eh, why the heck not" with a shoulder shrug. It's not that I don't like the idea of Katamari Damacy, like mentioned I think it seemed like a brilliant game concept. Make a huge ball out of random stuff just because? You couldn't make a movie or book out of that, that idea could only exist in a video game.

The game was originally released on Playstation 2 in 2004, but as you can see I am playing the Reroll release from 2018. As far as I read up on it is about the same as the original but with updated graphics, but if you happen to be curious to know more details there is a great video on Youtube about it.

You have probably heard of Katamari Damacy before but if you haven't, you read that right - the core concept of game play is to make a huge ball of random things lying around on the ground. You play as the little prince who has to clean up the mess his father, the almighty King of All Cosmos, has made when he accidentally destroys all the stars in the sky. Apparently, balls made of random stuff can substitute for stars in the sky if you don't think too hard about it.

And really, you could make up any excuse here because why wouldn't you want to roll things up into balls anyway? It's just plain fun, that's why, you don't need another reason. Each level comes with a minimum ball-size requirement and a time limit. Rolling things into balls isn't as easy as it first might seem. You can't just grab any old thing immediately, for things to stick to your ball they have to be smaller than your ball. Larger things will at best make you bounce off, at worst make things fall off your ball. So you have to be smart about how you go around collecting things, trying to avoid the things you can't pick up just yet and get back to them later. There is definitely a kick to get from finding a good path through the random items (they are very random and can even include living things like cats and dogs) and a high level of annoyance when you screech to a halt from something that you can't pick up yet.

As your ball grows the area you're in will grow, revealing more items for you to pick up. Everything that attaches itself to your ball makes a satisfying ploppy, bloppy and shwoppy sound, for lack of better description. And let's talk a little bit about the music. It is great. From the intro song to the stage themes, each tune fits perfectly and makes it a joy to fail, because fail you will.

The game is a joy to look at as well, and the items scattered around are clearly organized in a way to entice you to move around the levels in certain ways. I want to mention it again here that the items you get to pick up can really be just about anything, but every now and then you get special stages where the Almighty King wants you to create a ball made up of some certain item - swans for instance. It all makes perfect sense when you play the game. I'm kidding, it doesn't, but rolling a ball of flapping swans around is equal parts hilarious and disturbing.

Knowledge of the places you go around in seems crucial to be able to make the time limit because despite the games best intentions to give you control and overview, it fails somewhat on that.

The game designers have really tried to think hard and clever when designing the controls, realizing that a game like this above all requires this to work well. To wrestle your ball around you have to use both control sticks, which allows you to get more control over things like speed and turning - absolutely essential to be able to cut corners and avoiding rats that are trying to ruin your ball. (On the keyboard it is a double-WASD setup, using JIKL as the other "stick", and I actually had more success with playing it this way).

Shoulder buttons allow you to get an overview but for all the good things they've thought of I can't help but feel like they've missed a huge point - how to control the camera. This problem becomes very frustrating when you try to get your ball the way you want it to, but you can't even see what is around you. The overview button, which gets your character to jump up in the air, doesn't solve this issue at all. As I wrestle the control sticks I literally feel like I am rolling a big ball of garbage in front of my face, and plus points for realism I guess. Unfortunately it takes a lot of the fun out trying to doing a good job when you feel like you are constantly being resisted. The ball at times doesn't feel cooperative in the slightest, making any bumps and knocks you take a lot more frustrating than they should be, as you see your hard worked bits fly all over the place.

The timer continues to tick down as you find yourself stuck in a corner, or trying to get up a tiny ledge, and it takes way too many precious seconds to try to find a way to move forward. There is a lack of control and cooperation that feels unforgivable for a game like this, despite what seems like their very best efforts to avoid these problems.

Maybe I am just getting old and slow, I am noticing I have a hard time taking good turns in Mario Kart 8 as well... But whatever the reason, and however much I think Katamari Damacy in many ways can stand as the perfect example of something that a video game can do that other media can't, I end up struggling too much to have fun. And yet, when I am not playing it I find myself thinking it would be nice to load it up to roll some more balls. There is something about it that is simultaneously relaxing and frustrating. It seems I am not the only one who thinks this way, the comment section on the OST on Youtube is full with similar sentiments like "Katamari Damacy is the most infuriating, frustrating, stressful, stress-reducing, enjoyable, satisfying, joyous game ever made" and "the katamari franchise is simultaneously the least stressful and the most UNGODLY STRESSFUL game i've ever played.",

I've decided to uninstall it several times, but I haven't. I am having more success when I am not trying to use a controller, so maybe Katamari will get to stick around a while longer still... there is just something appealing to the idea of rolling up garbage.

There is a two-player mode that works quite well since there can be some fun to be had from sharing the pain of trying to build the bigger ball. You can even roll each other up if you manage to get that much bigger than the competition. For all the frustrations I still want to recommend checking it out, if nothing else than to experience something truly unique. And then I am going to do something as horrible as recommending a mobile game if you want a better version of this style of gameplay. Check out the Tasty Planet series - it's fun.

Field Report #31 - End of an Era, Again

noreply@blogger.com (Zinn) — Wed, 16 Jul 2025 07:37:00 +0000

About a month ago I decided it was time to quit World of Warcraft, again. This time it happened without too many emotions and fanfare however. In all honesty it all just sort of fizzled out. The final couple of months of my play time I noticed I was only logging on a few times a week to do a raid here and there, and the urge to do pretty much anything else in the game was completely gone. I used to love leveling alts for instance but couldn't even muster the energy to do that. That was a big sign that it was time to move on.

It was difficult to justify the fairly high subscription cost for what in the end turned out to be very little play time. And with the "new" expansion (Mists of Pandaria) coming up the thought of leveling my characters to the new max level didn't entice me at all. I just sort of realized that I had gone bored with World of Warcraft. But it had been another fun run, a fair few years of the usual Guild drama and highs and lows. Overall I really enjoyed that they brought classic back and I don't doubt that I will get back into World of Warcraft in the future again.

So what do I fill my days with now? Well, as I mentioned I had lost interest in most things in WoW even before I finally pulled the plug and as I have a huge backlog of games to get through there is never want for things to fill my time with. Some of these things I have posted about on this blog. Right at this moment however I am mostly playing Yakuza 0 which I am having tremendous fun with. Yakuza has turned out to be a series of games that seems fully suited for my likes and I enjoy every second of it. Yakuza 0 has turned out to be the most lecherous part in the series so far, an aspect of the series that I've always giggled at more than I've fully enjoyed it. For the first time I might be feeling that they've actually taken it too far but fortunately most of it is optional content.

Summer vacation has just started for me and the rest of my family with the regular challenges of agreeing on what to do. Me and the SO agree on most things - we enjoy the same nerd culture (Pokémon, Godzilla, certain manga/anime, certain video games, martial arts movies and B action movies from the 80's and 90's to mention some) and we both love being outdoors in the forest. The rest of my family doesn't share my passion for board games and no one shares my SO's passion for Dragon Ball, but no one is perfect.

My kids couldn't be more different however. My younger one is outgoing and loves running, dancing, singing, sporting, playing with toys. The older one hates all of that and pretty much only enjoys video games. So there is a real challenge trying to find something that everyone will enjoy. Most of our days include a bit of both if possible. First a few hours doing something outside, and then playing some sort of video game together afterwards. That usually works well for everyone. It gives us old folks a chance to dig out some gems too, playing things like Bomberman on the SNES, Golden Eye and Mario Kart on the N64 (Golden Eye has become a real favorite among the kids, Diddy Kong Racing was a disaster), Pokémon battles and Tetris on the Game Boy to mention some.

My older kid loves playing almost any game, I would say that is a trait I really like about him. Doesn't matter if the game is 30 years old and in black and white, he will play the hell out of it if he gets the chance. He is completely open-minded when it comes to video games. My younger one has no patience with video games at all, so if we want to play something together we have to choose something where she can get some sort of special treatment or handicap (Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is good for this, and in Golden Eye she can get +10 health).

In a few weeks we're going hiking for a week and then all we'll have to entertain us with is a deck of cards. We'll see how that goes.

SteamWorld Quest - Hand of Gilgamech

noreply@blogger.com (Zinn) — Tue, 20 May 2025 20:11:00 +0000

Writing this post my first thought was to start out with something along the lines of "this game might not blow your mind but...".

But... I don't actually want to say that, because I don't actually think it's a fair way to start a text on my feelings on SteamWorld Quest.

So let's begin somewhere else. The SteamWorld games seem to be a franchise in which the core idea, i.e steampunk style robots in a cartoony aesthetic, has been crammed into a variety of game genres. It started out with SteamWorld Tower Defense, which I had never heard of before researching for this post. I, however, started out with SteamWorld Dig, which I loved, and that brought me to check out more games in the series. SteamWorld Quest looked like my cup of tea and suffice to say, it definitely turned out to be.

SteamWorld Quest may disguise itself as a role-playing game, but don't be fooled. This is 95% a deck building game. You move your characters around and you find treasure (almost exclusively more cards) and can buy things (more cards). You can equip yourself with some gear, but other than that the game revolves pretty much entirely around cards. I didn't know this going in, but fortunately I am a closet super-fan of deck builder games. I have tried a fair few, from the regulars like Magic the Gathering (2013 is the best edition) and Hearthstone, to more obscure ones like Card City Nights and Runespell: Overture.

Making a good card game is not easy, but few things can hypnotize me like a well-designed one. Maybe it's the board game nerd in me. SteamWorld Quest dresses all the card playing up in a story that starts out with friends Copernica and Armilly out doing nothing particularly important. They quickly get involved in a much bigger story and joined by a few more heroes as you move along. The story is simple and a reason for all the card battling you're going to do. I am actually happy they put the money, time and effort on the gameplay here because I would've accepted any excuse to get on with my cards.

And the way the card playing is designed is just pure fun - SteamWorld Quest manages to get gameplay that feels both snack-sized and more-ish, it's easy to jump in and difficult to put down. It has no ramp-up time to get into, and the rules are simple to learn yet so much fun to proper dig into.

Combining cards certain ways unleashes combos and each turn is a joy to figure out which cards to play. You can combine cards between characters or try to build chains, it all comes down to what you want to achieve a certain turn. There are buffs, debuffs, weaknesses and resistances to take into account. Between fights it's fun to tinker with your decks and try to optimize combinations, there are many fun and interesting cards to play around with.

Though I rarely got game over in my playthrough on normal difficulty, I rarely felt completely safe either. There isn't a sure-fire setup, but I do recommend that as soon as you find a combination of cards that feels good, you try to keep things fresh by swapping in one of the other characters. The balance of the difficulty is pretty spot on, some times I even wondered if enemies leveled along with me, though I never grinded for levels. You can return to already completed segments of the map, but that also meant re-watching any and all cutscenes so I quickly decided against that and just played onwards.

For better or worse it is difficult to prepare for a match before-hand. Theoretically you could, since you can see your opponents on the screen before you engage with them. This means you could go into your decks and tweak the setup before starting the fight, to avoid fighting fire with fire, literally. Practically this isn't something you're going to do though. There are some foes that have really annoying skills, like despair which prevents healing or bleed which makes you take damage for every action. You might want to equip something to counteract that, and the game throws gear at you that offers protection against or boosting of a lot of different stats.

The game doesn't really provide you with much information around debuffs and what they do, mostly this is not an issue since you can deduce them fairly quickly. I would've loved more information about what the different masks of Orik do however. There are some that I am still not sure of.

None of that takes away from the fun of setting up combos and trying new cards though and it's so easy to slip into the "just one more"-mindset. I pretty much "just-one-more"-myself through this game, and it was a long time since I played a game so hard as I did this. It really speaks to the fun gameplay that it feels fresh and engaging all the way to the end, which I reached in just under 20 hours. I accidentally engaged the final boss without a solid healer and only managed by the skin of my teeth. But that only shows to the strength of the decks that no one character or type of cards is absolutely necessary, but it all comes down to the abovementioned combination and chain building.

The music is another good thing about the game, and the battle themes are even quite banging. Which is good, since you will be hearing them a lot. Apparently the composers (Erik Gudmundson, Pelle Cahndlerby, and Oscar Rydelius) are all from Sweden, which is a bit extra fun for me.

I briefly mentioned the main characters Armilly and Copernica - as mentioned they will be joined by a handful of other heroes before long and each new hero comes with a new deck of cards. They've done an excellent job of keeping each deck distinct from each other, and while I had my favorites I felt they were all useful and fun to play, if you make sure to make them work towards each others strengths and weaknesses. The characters are trope, but lovingly so. Their personalities also fit their decks and I not only enjoyed playing with all of them, I wished for more. It's almost crazy to say, but even after 20 hours I almost felt like the game was too short.

It is fortunate then that the game comes with a generous New Game +, in which you can try the hardest difficulty which not only makes enemies stronger, but also gives them new skills. I tried this for a bit and yeah... I was steamrolled immediately.

If you got this far and only end up remembering this final conclusion I am going to leave you with this: SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech is a solid Deck Builder game that makes time fly. It does one thing and it does it excellently. Play it.

Top 5 Eurovision Songs 2025

noreply@blogger.com (Zinn) — Sat, 03 May 2025 19:46:00 +0000

I haven't done a top 5 list in a while and what better way to get back to it than to celebrate the craziness that is Eurovision. If you're born somewhere in or near Europe, you've probably not been able to miss Eurovision but for everyone else out there here is a short explanation: Every year most European, and some that usually don't count as European, countries compete and celebrate in a singing contest. This has been going on since the 50's and started careers, like ABBA's. The quality of the songs is generally quite low, honestly, when compared to mainstream music. But it often has charm. And some je ne sais quoi.

I think the European countries care about the competition to varying degrees. Some take it very seriously. Sweden is one of those countries (where I am from). The UK is usually considered not very bothered, and for some reason their entry almost always ends up in the bottom ten. Some countries come and go, depending on politics (though the competition is trying very hard to be non-political) and funding.

As someone who grew up in Sweden it has been very hard to avoid Eurovision, and though I have always loved the concept I have honestly not given it much attention most of my life. I never follow the national competition to pick an entry, and only glimpse at the end result to see if there is a song or two worth listening to. Out of 35-40 entries, there are usually only a handful that are any good. But for some reason it has grown on me. The idea that different areas compete in something as joyful and completely subjective as music, I think it is great.

Sweden is sending KAJ with Bara Bada Bastu (Just Doing Sauna) this year. I don't personally think it's very good, but it's caused a bit of an upset for being out of Sweden's comfort-zone. Sweden usually sends pretty predictable entries, and Bara Bada Bastu is at least not that. For one it's a humorous song and it's sung in Swedish which isn't something that has happened in over 20 years I think. I respect the song for that at least.

I usually joke that Eurovision songs all fit in one of three categories;

1. Ballads

2. 90's eurodisco

3. Generic pop (this is where Sweden often falls).

But let's get on with the list. If you want a medley of all the entries this year to make your own mind, Youtube will provide. Obviously this is completely subjective, and my tastes are rhythm-heavy and high energy which is probably going to be reflected on the songs I have chosen.

I've got to start with some honorable mentions though:

Azerbaijan - Mamagama - Run With You: There isn't really much wrong with this song. It's slick and makes me bop my head, this could've been made by someone close to Pharrell Williams. It gets minus for not singing in their own language.

Croatia - Marko Bosnjak - Poison Cake: The song changes up things throughout, rhythms and style and keeps itself interesting and fresh. Minus again for not singing in their native language.

Spain - Melody - ESA DIVA: It was a close call between this one and my number 5 entry. This song starts off a bit slow but has as cool breakdown towards the end and it has been growing on me.

5. POLAND - Justyna Steczkowska - GAJA

Did I mention I like rhythm-heavy and high energy? Well, this is kind of exactly what I mean by that. This sounds a bit like the UK band Juno Reactor that I quite like. And you've got to respect anyone who can sing and dance with that energy (Justyna is over 50).

4. UKRAINE - Ziferblat - Bird of Pray

Ukraine have had a few good songs the last couple of Eurovisions. And Ruslana's "Wild Dances" from 2004 is considered a Eurovision classic. Bird of Pray tells a story and I love the way it meanders back and forth between more forceful and more gentle. It also feels very sincere and from the heart.

3. ALBANIA - Shkodra Elektronike - Zjerm

Great beat on this one. Songs that give me a glimpse of where they come from, structurally and instrumentally, often fall high on my lists. I find one of the great strengths of Eurovision (and Europe) are all the different cultures that have different ways of seeing and doing things. Albania gives me some of that feeling with this song.

2. GERMANY - Abor & Tynna - Baller

Full disclosure, I am part German. That has never made me like any song from Germany however. No, not even the Satellite one. But finally Germany sends an entry in German! Melodic and rhythmic, it fits the language great. And she has a voice you want to hear more of.

1. AUSTRALIA - Go-Jo - Milkshake Man

Ok so my number one pick is Australia this year. The fact that Australia is even competing in a competition literally called EUROvision is worthy of an explanation. But long story short, Australia have been huge fans of the show for decades, probably more than most European countries. Apparently they get up in the middle of the night over there to watch it. For the anniversary in 2016 they invited Australia to take part and it was such a success they have been invited ever since. They always have good entries, but none that have been my favorites. But this year they have it, the one I think should win Eurovision 2025. It's fun, has a good beat and I could listen to it all the way to Eurovision.

It'll be interesting to see if any of my favorites make it high on the lists this year, they usually don't. Käärijää with Cha Cha Cha was an exception, and that song definitely should've won over Tattoo.

Saint's Row IV: Re-Elected (2013/2022) - Review

noreply@blogger.com (Zinn) — Sat, 12 Apr 2025 20:06:00 +0000

If you're not around to play a game series from the beginning for whatever reason, after a few years you'll be stuck with the first world problem of trying to figure out where to begin. The internet is shock-full of lists asking "which Castlevania is the best?" and "Which Super Mario game should I start with?". There are a lot of thing to factor in here - the series might have crossed over platforms you don't even have access to anymore. It might have evolved through different genres, meaning you have to figure out which ones suit your tastes. It might be unclear how much the games reference each other, meaning you have to start from the beginning to enjoy later parts more.

I've managed to end up having to make this choice recently with not just one but two games I am currently playing. Taking on the Assassin's Creed series I had over two handful of games to choose from (you can click the link to see how that went). Looking at the Saint's Row series I fortunately had less than half of that to choose from, but for some reason I went with the latest one (not counting the reboot).

What was my reasoning? Maybe it wasn't deeper than simply being the game that was on discount when I was looking to try it out. When investigating the older games (1 and 2) they also looked a little more serious and a lot more ugly than what I was after. So the choice for me was really between 3 and 4 in the end. 4 won out for unclear reasons and here I am, wondering whether I made the right choice. Can I ever really undo it by playing the third instalment afterwards?

Either way, the fourth game (this being the Re-Elected version, which includes all the DLC) has not been a bad experience. And maybe it could be interesting to read what the game is like for someone who has no previous knowledge of the series and judges it on its own merits alone. If you think so, read on.

Trying to explain the story of SRIV is not easy. Right off the bat it was pretty clear that things had been going on in the earlier games and this was a continuation on that, or at least so I think. There is going to be a lot of assumptions from my side moving forward here, assumptions and straight out guesses. But here we go; You play as a character who is the president of the world. But pretty quickly you learn that there isn't much world to preside over. Alien forces have destroyed it and caught you and your posse, the eponymous "Saints", in their mind game of a simulated world. It's unclear who they are, where they come from or what their motivations are, but these things honestly don't matter so much. In all the confusion one thing stands out clear as day - everything is just an excuse to allow you to try out crazy gameplay.

It's a very dark game, with the occasional neon.

And in this regard SRIV delivers. I am not generally a fan of games that make it their main goal to be weird, games like Goat Simulator for instance, which seem to be designed mainly for those special Youtubers who get their money from screaming a lot on screen.

But I do enjoy a game that takes an odd premise and still manages to build a somewhat interesting story around it, a game like Octodad: Dadliest Catch is a good example of this. While SRIV might lack a bit in the story department, in the sense that you get the feeling that everything is just a "free-for-all"-excuse for more mayhem, it does deliver on heart and character. SRIV has a lot of both.

The character controls well, and I would even dare say excellent when comparing it back-to-back to Assassin's Creed: Unity, which I as mentioned played simultaneously. You get super powers that allow you to jump very high, run very fast, throw huge objects in people's faces and run up the side of buildings. And that is just mentioning a tiny fraction of all the skills you can play around with after a handful of hours into the game. The skills you get can be unlocked with currency, you can unlock other attributes with other currency. Some are found on the stages, some are got by completing quests. There is a lot to keep track off, but it manages to stay fairly easy to understand and use.

The map of the virtual city is littered with objects to interact with. I didn't understand the purpose to having fifteen shops where you could alter the look on your rides, buy a new t-shirt or load up on more ammo, especially not after a short while into the game where it becomes easy and quick to get around the city. Convenience, maybe? There also seem to be quests that are specifically designed for multi-player, somehow, I didn't get a chance to try these.

The game is overall never a challenge on normal mode, probably veered more towards having fun than giving you a real challenge. When I died it was mostly to fooling around and not caring, than genuinely trying to solve something. The only time the game made me scratch my head and reload over and over, was during a quest where I had to fight Giant Paul the Giant Soda Can. That guy blasted me with a laser that was essentially a none-dodgeable one-shot, even on normal difficulty.

You can tell that your character and their gang has a long backstory together, a lot of the quests allude to that. I often felt that it would've been fun to have played the quests and scenarios that this game references first, but the quests often hold up gameplay wise on their own, at least enough to be entertaining even if you don't get that extra oumph from fan service and nostalgia.

And there is a lot of whacky shit to do, that's for sure. I love that the game designers have not held back in the brainstorming sessions. Even character creation allows you to create something with pink chrome skin, if you like that sort of thing. In order to interrupt the virtual world that the alien Zin (as they are called) have created you need to break the code like some Neo on crack. You get to hurl your body, literally, against objects, save Santa from Evil Santa, use all kinds of weird weapons and have a gang of Gingerbread Cookies be your sidekicks. I can't emphasize enough that the pitch document for this game probably just had the words "MORE IS MORE" written in big, bold, red letters.

But generally it works, I am entertained. I like the characters, though I barely know them, and I have fun with the insane things that we get to do. Until at some point I can't help but feeling that even this golden treadmill, is still nothing but a treadmill. Am I asking for a sense of direction in all this mayhem? Maybe. There is just so much to do, so many characters to help and so many virtual pedestrians to run over that it actually manages to feel a bit... empty. When I am given these many toys to play with, I end up feeling like none of them are fun in the long run.

I don't want to tell SRIV to get a grip or to calm down. I think SRIV is doing exactly what it should and it is doing it well. But for us mere mortals it gets a bit overwhelming in the long run. SRIV is an all-you-can-eat buffet where after ten minutes of browsing you realize you're really just interested in the baguettes.

Limbo (2010) - Review

noreply@blogger.com (Zinn) — Sun, 06 Apr 2025 18:38:00 +0000

I personally think the indie game landscape is one of the best and freshest things to happen to the video game world. It was looking quite dark there for a while in the mid 00's, with triple A developers only hinging their money on the safest of bets, ergo the most predictable of games. The video game industry seemed to be caught in a loop of trying to predict and deliver exactly what video gamers wanted, which only led to games that no one fully enjoyed. Things were glum indeed and suddenly, almost as by design, developing tools became accessible and user friendly enough that any basement game designer could give it a go. It was a beautiful full circle back to the very dawn of computer and video games, when most of them were made by people just playing around on their machines, trying to create something that they themselves wanted to play and not necessarily make the most money out of.

Limbo, released in 2010 by Playdead, wasn't among the very first indie games, but in my mind it definitely belonged to the first batch of games that showed players what indie games could accomplish that triple A developers were missing out on or were overcomplicating. It was a game that dared to be simple and concise, something that video game designers seemed to have almost forgotten the art of. Instead of moving towards even more content, even more open world, even more customization, Limbo was a game that removed all of that and told the simplest of stories with the most straight-forward of gameplay, like the darker twin of Super Mario Bros.

I was deep into my World of Warcrafting when Limbo was released and had little interest for it at the time. And in all honesty, the only reason I decided to eventually check it out was simply because it still lingered in the back of my mind as a game that was part of a big moment in video game history, and as such at least something I should know a little more about than the name and that it seems to have huge spiders in it.

Puzzle platformers are really not my thing, I must admit. I also tried Braid and didn't like it, so I didn't have high expectations for Limbo either. I also suck at Mario games, but those I still enjoy playing every now and then. My problem with indie puzzle platformers have often been that focus has been so much on making interesting puzzles, that it seems that the most important part - good platforming - has been lost on the way. Nothing is more frustrating than trying to solve a puzzle and constantly failing because your character doesn't control well enough. This was one of my issues with Braid.

I found this to be part of the issue in Limbo as well. The character, who seems to be a young child lost or running through dark woods, controls just fine until you get to parts that require timing. The controls are super simple, you can go left, right, up and down and with "ctrl" (on computers at least) you can grab things. The child will automatically cling on to ropes and edges if you're close enough. That's all there is to it. But it doesn't always work well enough and your character will suddenly do a short jump where you needed a long one, or fail to climb over an edge in time. I'm not saying the controls are badly programmed, but they are not tight enough for what is requested.

So you have to be prepared for a lot of trial and error. Limbo will throw traps at you that reverses the rule of a previous trap, which just feels devious. Or maybe hilarious, depending on your mood for the evening. Some times the puzzle is on a time limit for varying reasons (rising waters being one) and you don't get much time trying different ideas. Some times you know exactly what you need to do but fail at execution for unfair reasons, see above.

I am not entirely sure what Limbo is trying to tell with the atmosphere, but there must almost be a subgenre of games that has the "lonely in dangerous woods"-feel. If you like the feeling of being alone in the world, everything out to get you and nothing making sense (and why would you, it literally sounds like a nightmare), while solving puzzles, I can recommend checking out the games Rymdresa and Year Walk as well. The black and white in Limbo really works in its favour, and it probably helps hide the fact that Limbo itself feels like only half a game.

Because something struck me as interesting while playing Limbo - I am not so sure Limbo would've been noticed at all if it had been released in todays indie landscape. I am in fact sure it wouldn't be. Limbo in itself isn't much of a game, really. You run in one direction and But what it represented when it was released meant a lot more than the game itself. It was what the game industry needed at the time. But now that we have indie games galore, we're spoiled with out of the box ideas and underdog design choices and a game like Limbo doesn't seem like a game that's out on a limb(o) anymore. In todays indie world Limbo seems a bit simple and tame.

But it wasn't back then. Back then it represented fresh and daring thinking, and no one can take that away from it. If you're like me, a bit curious about gaming history and gaming milestones, you could give Limbo a few hours of your life. Otherwise I think it's enough to just know what it once was, and enjoy the fruits of what it sowed.

Assassin's Creed: Unity (2014) - Review

noreply@blogger.com (Zinn) — Wed, 26 Mar 2025 21:00:00 +0000

The Assassins Creed franchise has been actively lingering in the back of my brain ever since the first one was released in 2007. For some reason I never really got into it, even though the gameplay looked like something that I would enjoy - stealth and parkour. Since the first game came out the series has grown to a veritable smorgasbord of games and maybe it's taken me so long to get into it because I didn't know where to start. My hesitation has only added more games to the list.

Do I start from the beginning? The first games can be full of dubious gameplay and game design choices that make them difficult to enjoy with modern eyes and quality of life-wants.

50 shades of brown

Do I start in the middle? Where did they iron out the most kinks, where did they nail the story?

Do I start with the latest? Who knows what good games I miss jumping the line all the way to the end? I could've made the smart thing and checked some list of "best games in the Assassins Creed series". But instead I did a pick of a handful with cool sounding names from a Steam sale a while ago, and decided to start with the oldest one out of that bunch. That game was Assassins Creed: Unity.

While I didn't know much about the game going in, I knew enough to have a general idea and expectation. The game largely fulfilled those expectations. The game is mostly about stealthing and parkouring. What I didn't expect however were how badly designed the game would be in those core areas specifically.

It seems clear that Unity expects you to be a returning AC player as it doesn't explain much about the premise of the AC game series. Because of this I can't really say much about it either - you play as a guy named Arno during French Revolution Paris. From being a sort of nobody you somehow become part of an assassinations guild, it is never explained where Arno gets his superhuman capabilities of climbing buildings. In actuality however, you're some guy in present time, hooked up to some machine that allows you to control Arno in a sort of virtual reality time travel. Some evil corporation is after you in this virtual world, though during my 20 hours with the game that never came to matter. Some of the quests and stages are centered around this fact that the world you run around in is actually inside a computer, or something like it, but that's the most you'll ever notice. Mostly you spend your time running up and down the streets of 18th century Paris, scaling walls and trying to complete different quests and tasks given to you.

And this is both one of the best and the worst things about AC: Unity. I love the detail of Paris and as someone who is quite interested in history it was fun to just run around and pretend to be there. I've heard that Ubisoft overall has tried to be as historically accurate as possible, while also trying to make a fun game and on one of these things I find that the game excels. Even though the game is now 11 years old it's beautiful and feels alive. They've made a lot of nice little scripts running throughout the city that make it feel like all the NPCs moving about are minding their own business, or mostly reacting appropriately to your often weird behaviour.

The story also has the potential to be interesting. It starts with a sequence about the Templars in the 12th century (or something like it) and this is continued in a struggle between the assassinations guild and somewhat unclear antagonists in the 18th century. There is a lot of optional information about things you come across and they were always a delight to read, with in-depth texts about characters, locations or situations. Some of the quests are quite interesting, like the murder mystery ones where you have to figure out who is the culprit and accuse the right person to receive the best reward.

A lot to do, not much of it fun though.

Combat is serviceable, with a possibility to block or dodge enemies and use different tools like smoke bombs and arrows to increase your advantage. Being able to jump people from above and stealth kill multiple targets is fun and useful.

Unfortunately it is all ruined by the one thing that needed to really work, the controls. If you're going to make a game that is so much about handling yourself, jumping from one building to the next, climbing up the side of clock towers and hiding from evil guards, those things need to not constantly be what you fail to do.

After having played other games that have some element of climbing, stealthing and jumping through hoops (Shadows of Mordor, Dishonored) I can say this game is by far the most poorly executed. In fact so bad that after 20 hours of playing, and a particularly frustrating sequence trying to kill the Beggar King but having to restart the mission around ten times because Arno wouldn't do what I wanted him to, I decided I didn't want to play this anymore.

It is clear that Ubisoft bit off more than they could chew. Or maybe the game was just exceptionally poorly optimized to my setup. I played it with keyboard on PC, and I toyed with the idea of trying to use a controller. But the problems I had with the controls didn't seem to stem from the control scheme, but how Arno interpreted my input and interacted with the world around him. It seemed almost arbitrary whether he would jump on to the next object or just randomly hurl himself off the wall and onto the street. Hiding behind objects to avoid being discovered I often ended up being stuck. Don't get me started on trying to get through windows, which was practically impossible. This quickly gets extremely frustrating when you have a handful of guards behind you shooting you in the backside.

And it doesn't end there;

The menu system is incredibly obtuse, trying to find information about the quest I was on was way harder than it should be.
The minimap is littered with symbols indicating things you can do, but the overview map doesn't always correspond or contain the same symbols (I am aware you can filter), making it confusing to use.
It's way too unclear how you gain currency to unlock skills or improve your weapons.
Even though it is supposed to be a stealth game, it is in no way clear how visible you are at any given time. While you get a good tool in the "hightened senses" that allows you to see enemies through walls, it was impossible to judge if someone was going to spot you based on light sources or distances. Some times I crept around in a fully lit church having absolutely no idea why some guards spotted me and some didn't.
I really don't like Ubisoft Connect...

I just felt like for every moment I got to enjoy, the game had to give me two moments where I was extremely annoyed. That is just not a good enough ratio. It also doesn't help that a lot of the side quests got repetitive and I decided to try to get through the game quickly by focusing on the main story. But after the above mentioned harrowing experience of a complete communication failure between me and Arno I knew that it wasn't about me getting comfortable with the controls and it wasn't going to get any better.

This doesn't mean I am giving up on the AC series however, I still have a few games from that sale to check out eventually.

Day of the Tentacle Remastered (2016) - Review

noreply@blogger.com (Zinn) — Thu, 06 Mar 2025 20:18:00 +0000

Deciding to revisit some childhood memories by replaying old Point & Click (P&C) Adventure games with my kids has turned out to be a blessing and a curse. I'm always happy to see them enjoy "real" games, as I like to think of anything that isn't just clicking and combining random stuff (wait a minute, that describes the average P&C game).

But it turns out they enjoy them a lot more than I expected them to. Maybe more than I ever did when I originally played them, probably fueled by the fact that we get to complete the games unlike what I managed on my ownsome. Especially my 6yo daughter loves the experience of sitting together and trying to figure out the puzzles. Now she nags me every day for us to play some more. A blessing and a curse.

Unlike my memories of Secret of Monkey Island, I remember clearly not getting very far into Day of the Tentacle as a kid. Having replayed it now as an adult, I really can't blame my child-self for failing at this. Day of the Tentacle epitomizes everything that I worry about when playing a P&C game i.e the puzzles being obscure to the point of almost being impossible to solve. Day of the Tentacle requires some next level out-of-the-box-thinking to finish without a guide and there are puzzles in there that will haunt me forever. Oh and just a warning here, I will give some examples of these puzzles so if you haven't played the game and don't want any tips, beware.

Day of the Tentacle is technically a sequel to Maniac Mansion, a game I have never played. Fortunately it only vaguely references that game (at least to my knowledge) and it doesn't feel like you need to know anything about Maniac Mansion to fully enjoy this game. Because even though Day of the Tentacle is a P&C game that is hard as nails, it is very fun and probably one of the best examples of the comedy from writers Tim Schafer, Dave Grossman and Ron Gilbert who also made the beforementioned Monkey Island game and the sequel to that.

The original Day of the Tentacle was released in 1993 and the remastered version adds some updated graphics and a very enjoyable commentary track that runs throughout the game as you play it. This style of updated graphics worked so much better than the one they used in The Secret of Monkey Island, as they've basically kept the original style but smoothed out the pixelated edges which makes things a bit easier to see.

You control friends Bernard, Hoagie and Laverne as they get thrown across time to stop the evil purple tentacle from taking over the world. Hoagie gets stuck 200 years in the past and Laverne 200 years in the future, while Bernard stays in the present. A big part of the gameplay is adjusting the timeline so that whatever Hoagie does in the past changes conditions in Bernard's or Laverne's timeline. This is a very fun concept and used brilliantly throughout the game, it also ups the ante for your guesses on how to solve different problems. One of my favorites is when Bernard puts a sweater in the tumble dryer for 200 years so that when Laverne gets it in the future she can use it to warm up a hamster that has been frozen for 200 years.

The controls are the good old SCUMM controls with the option to use different verbs with different objects in your surroundings, verbs like "push", "open" or "pick up". In the remastered version you get a wheel of options that works very well, much better than solution they went with in the remastered version of the Secret of Monkey Island.

When I played it as a kid I never got further than getting Laverne out of the tree. Finally getting to play through the game properly was exciting and fun. I remembered some puzzles in the beginning but very quickly we got stuck and we pretty much had to use a walkthrough for 80% of the puzzles in the latter 3/4 of the game.

Like any good game, a good P&C game needs both a good story and good gameplay. Day of the Tentacle delivers. I usually get annoyed when I constantly have to consult a walkthrough, but the characters and the story of Day of the Tentacle kept me curious and I didn't mind checking lists.

But how hard are the puzzles anyway, you might wonder? Let me give you one example...

*deep breath* In the future, Laverne needs a tentacle to move from the place he is guarding. To make him move she needs to make him chase after some humans. To let the humans out of the prison you need to remove the prison guard. To remove the prison guard you need to give him a dinner invite. To get the dinner invite you need to win the human exhibition contest. But Laverne has no human to compete with. So you get a mummy in an upstairs room and put roller skaters on him so you can roll him around. You also need a name tag that you get from one of the other guys. Then you need Hoagie to send you pasta that he finds in a cupboard, use it as hair on the mummy and comb it with a fork. All this is to win one of the three competitions needed.

There are definitely puzzles in this game I would've never been able to figure out or even guess at. Maybe not even figure out with the old and tried tactic of just combining everything in your inventory with everything you see. Since you play as three different characters, in three different setting and with three different inventories, it just makes the variables so much larger. I don't feel dumb playing this game, I just accept the whackiness of it.

But fortunately everything else about the game is so well done and written, you forgive it and you want to continue trying. I definitely did as a kid, I threw myself at the problems many, many times and I even managed to figure out that you needed to paint the Kumquat tree fruits red so that Washington will think it's a cherry tree and chop it down, meaning it disappears in the future and Laverne falls down.

But then I couldn't figure out that Laverne needs to send the diagram of a tentacle to Hoagie so that he can give it to the woman who creates the American flag, turning a flag in Laverne's timeline into a tentacle costume so that she can move around freely. Yeah... I never got past that part. Until now.

If you tell me you've played through Day of the Tentacle entirely without help, you have my eternal respect. It is probably the most difficult P&C game I have played, simply because of the somewhat random and jokey nature of the puzzles.

But the game is full of memorable characters and gaming moments that will make it worth your time and frustration. The game manages to stump you but make it all the more rewarding when you figure something out. It deserves its place as one of P&C games finest, especially considering when it was released. There have been many good P&C games since then, but few as fun and funny as this one.

Grape Escape - Board Game Review

noreply@blogger.com (Zinn) — Mon, 03 Mar 2025 20:23:00 +0000

What's in a name? That which we call a board game, by any other name would be as fun.

Or would it? I am guessing I am not the only one who has once or twice pondered, what even counts as a board game? In Swedish we make a distinction between games played with a board, i.e literally board games (brädspel), games played with cards (kortspel) and other type of table top games (sällskapsspel). My brother was annoyed when I called Arboretum a board game, because even though you'd might think it would count as a card game he thought of it as a table top game.

Semantics, one could say. And one would be correct, in a way. In the end all that matters is that it is fun. But maybe not, because when I tell my family I want to play a board game and we end up playing Mouse Trap, I feel cheated. Not because it is bad, and it is quite bad, but because it doesn't feel like a board game to me, but more like a toy.

I realize a lot of the board games I wanted as a kid were actually these semi-toys like Mouse Trap and Ghost Castle. And Grape Escape. For some reason I never really got to play them. They were always out of reach. Some friend might have had them, maybe I saw the ad for them. They seemed to so cool, like so much fun. So when I saw Grape Escape in a Second Hand store I had the opportunity to give in to my inner 10- year old. Of course I had to do it.

I should've known better though, having tried Mouse Trap and knowing what a disaster that is. Mouse Trap is neither fun as a game nor as a toy. While the idea of a Rube Goldberg machine that you can set off to trap your fellow players is an interesting one, the execution is extremely poor. The slightest cough or vibration sets off the trap meaning you spend a lot more time trying to set everything up than actually playing, or having fun. I guess this explains why I never got to play them as a kid, adults around me felt the same way then as I do about it now. When my kids asked to play Mouse Trap I had to work really hard not to let out a huge sigh of boredom. I am glad they did not ask for it often.

Grape Escape, released in 1992 (this Swedish version in 1993) has a simpler machine, for better or worse, and instead you get to cut, saw, crush and mangle little grape figures made out of clay. The game itself is beyond simple - roll a dice and move on 1-4. One side allows you to jump ahead on the board and one side lets you operate the grape crushing machine. Getting through the board takes no time at all and often you just end up trying out the different ways of maiming your grape instead of actually playing the game - forget teaching your kids right from wrong with this game, it's just about having fun destroying things.

Once you've done that though, there isn't much more to it. Yet again it is way more hassle setting up the machine than you'll end up having fun, and I doubt that there is much longevity in the concept even for the most evil little child. One of the main issues is the instability of the structure itself. It's probably not an easy thing to design something that is supposed to work with some few plastic parts and be able to cut through clay grapes without harming any actual fingers. But it's also not easy enough to put together for young kids to play with it on their own, unless they literally just play with the parts. Putting the whole machine together and making sure things don't pop off every three seconds takes some brain power and steady hands. Kids get just as frustrated as adults trying to operate the thing.

The end result is something that is prone to fall apart and not really good at the one thing it is supposed to do - smash grapes. But it does it somewhat well enough, especially if you give it a helping hand here and there and so it provides some 20 minutes of chuckles.

Is it worth keeping around the huge box for though? Definitely not, like Mouse Trap this game is not a keeper.

The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition (2009) - Review

noreply@blogger.com (Zinn) — Thu, 06 Feb 2025 19:35:00 +0000

You've probably had the experience of watching a movie and realizing half-way through that you've already seen that movie and just completely forgot about it. Have you ever had the opposite though? Where you are certain you've already played a game and realize you definitely haven't, half-way through? No? Just me then I guess.

The original The Secret of Monkey Island was released all the way back in 1990, and while I am old now I was too young then to play it at launch. No matter, I definitely got around to playing it at some point while growing up. I remember the bar with all the pirates, the word-fencing, the annoying boat salesman. Yeah I pretty much remember finishing The Secret of Monkey Island.

So when I decided to introduce my kids (6 and 11 yo) to this little gem I thought I basically knew most of the puzzles and we would breeze through. I felt like I remembered all of the game even though many years had passed since I last properly played it, though my memory of the actual ending was a bit hazy. True enough, we got through all the way to Stan without much trouble - sneaking through the forest, getting shot through a cannon and feeding rabid poodles rancid meat (don't worry, they're not dead, just sleeping).

The game puts you in the shoes of Guybrush Threepwood, an up-and-coming wannabe pirate. As he goes around trying to prove to the real pirates that he has what is needed to be one of them, the bad guy LeChuck (the meanest pirate and also a ghost) kidnaps Threepwood's newfound love Governor Marley. The story might be whacky (in all the good ways!), but the gameplay is straightforward. While this wasn't the first game to use Lucasarts famous SCUMM system (Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion) it works great here. Maybe some young-uns don't like the idea of having to choose a verb with an item to solve puzzles (which was a novelty then, before this you had to type the verb yourself which was a guesswork in and of itself), I personally quite enjoy this system. Newer P&C games will automatically choose the right verb, but that is making things a bit too easy I find.

You can't beat the original. Can you?

Ok, it's probably more of a time consuming gimmick nowadays, but I like it, ok? Unfortunately the version we were playing was the Special Edition, which means they added voice acting and completely revamped graphics. Unfortunately because, old trout that I am, I also definitely prefer the original graphics. My kids did not however, and two against one the revamped graphics won out.

They're ok and in some parts, in all honesty, they make it easier to make out which things you can interact with. But they're just... ugly... compared to the lovely pixels of the original. The Special Edition also provides background music, which was quite nice, I must admit. While the voice acting was perfectly serviceable, a character like Stan works best as a silent antagonist if you ask me. He really grates after 10 seconds. The Special Edition also keeps the verbs, but hides them and your inventory behind buttons ("I" for things in your inventory and "Ctrl" for using verbs), clearing out your screen. I actually found this less user-friendly, but maybe that is just me.

The revamped graphics adds quite a touch.

After we had dealt with Stan and Guybrush leaves the island with his ragtag team I slowly start to realize something. As he sets foot on the beach of Monkey Island it hits home. I don't recognize any of this! I am having a proper Berenstain Moment as we start to make our way through the jungle and make friends with Bob and the Cannibals.

I knew that the game takes place on Mêlée Island and never thought to question why the game was called Monkey Island. But half the game actually takes place on Monkey Island, a half that I don't have any memory of playing. The memory I have of playing and finishing the game, is actually of me playing the first half over and over. I never actually made it to Monkey Island as a kid!

So while the first half of the game went swimmingly and I still knew most of the puzzles, I had no clue what to do once we got to Monkey Island. Me and the kids managed to figure out quite a lot of the puzzles on our own, otherwise we resorted to a walkthrough for some of the trickier ones (both the boat sections for example).

Actually getting to Monkey Island felt... wrong. It felt out of place. It felt like it was tacked on and didn't fit the atmosphere of the rest of the game. While Mêlée Island is dusky, moody and piratey, Monkey Island is its polar opposite with sunny beaches and literal monkeys running around eating bananas. I always loved the perpetual night time of Mêlée Island and didn't feel comfortable running around getting a sun tan on Monkey Island. Most importantly, it didn't fit the internal feeling I had of the game. An image I now have had to severely revise.

This doesn't mean I think The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition is a bad game. I still think it is one of the best P&C experiences I've had and probably one of the best P&C games there is. The writing is just superb, Lucasarts at its height of funny and whacky. There are many memorably characters, scenes and puzzles in this game and I thoroughly recommend it.

But the Secret of Monkey Island from my childhood memory is gone. And that stings a bit.

Maize (2016) - Review

noreply@blogger.com (Zinn) — Sat, 25 Jan 2025 22:32:00 +0000

Are "weird games " a genre? Maybe they should be. It's hardly a new phenomenon, just look at that fish person game for the Dreamcast. I think games just allow themselves better for exploring some really odd ideas, for me the interactivity of the game medium seems to mean I have a lot more patience with the shenanigans of other people's minds. I am the complete opposite with literature and film, where I find whacky or seemingly arbitrary story beats tiresome. But there is something about being part of the crazy, not just observing it, that makes it a lot more interesting to me. Suddenly I am ok with whacky and seemingly arbitrary.

You'll see a lot of corn, and a lot of gags.

Coincidentally (?) I've ended up playing two fairly weird games simultaneously, Saint's Row IV and Maize. But where Saint's Row IV is shock full of crazy things to do, Maize is a much more straightforward and simple game, I'd even like to call it a walking simulator in how scaled-down it is in its gameplay elements. In that way it has been interesting to play these two games side by side, since they've chosen to approach the idea of whimsical from opposite ends of the gaming spectrum, and both have succeeded with that goal in their own ways.

In Maize you wake up in a corn field and make your way around. You initially find and explore areas like a farm house, a silo and a barn. The atmosphere is suitably creepy, you have no idea where you are, who you are or why you're doing what you're doing. In the initial part, before you find your choleric side-kick, you feel like it could go either way and just as well be the setup for another Resident Evil game.

But it doesn't take long before you realize that the theme of the game seems to be "stupid", you will hear and read a lot about it. Almost everyone you encounter, either directly or indirectly, are referred to as stupid or idiotic at several points in the game and none more than yourself.

You'll end up picking up the oddest things, like a cut-off hand, a chair or a water cooler, some times just to collect them or put on your head, some times to put them in places and/or combining them with things to advance the story. The game blocks your path when needed in not very subtle ways (perfectly fitting with the theme though) so you won't spend much time running the wrong ways and it is by no means a difficult game.

You rarely pick up things that make sense.

It's probably easy to think it's barely worth your time - the puzzles are rarely more difficult than finding an item and putting it in the right place, and the right item and right place are always very clearly marked. There is no danger at any point, nor risk to fail. There are almost no mini games that require timing or anything that requires much of any thinking - maybe this is also intentional to fit the theme of the game.

So what's left is the writing - the story and the characters. And it's a story so charmingly odd it keeps you curious and smiling the entire time. Or not. I feel this game could probably go either or with most people. Either you go along for the ride, or you find the humour neither funny nor interesting. I guess it was my kind of chuckles however, and definitely that of my kids (6 and 11 yo) who ended up loving this game.

The game seems to be set in the 80's.

The character roster is small, you won't come across many... things... to talk to. But your side-kick Vladdy makes up for that, a smart choice to not make the game feel too lonely and silent as you mostly run through areas that seem to have been abandoned not too long ago. Figuring out what has happened and what was going on in these abandoned rooms and corridors is part of the mystery, and it will keep you interested throughout the roughly 4-5 hours the game takes to play. The less said the better, this is one of those games where you want to go in knowing as little as possible for the best experience.

I just got to respect a game where the creators had an idea and decided to run with it even though it probably made little sense on paper. It's one of those "you get it once you see it" kind of things. The end result is entertaining enough, and worth your time if you want something unexpected that might give you a chuckle.

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes (2024, PS4)

noreply@blogger.com (Zinn) — Fri, 10 Jan 2025 21:47:00 +0000

The algorithms of the internet probably knew how I felt about Suikoden I and II when it suggested a Kickstarter of its spiritual successor Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes for me back in 2020. I played the first Suikoden back in 2016, and Suikoden II not long after - really enjoying both of them, so when I saw that "the old team" was getting back together to create what essentially was another Suikoden, I was hype.

After having thrown my money at 505 Games I started to eagerly wait. And wait. I already covered this in another post - but it took 4 years for Suiko... I mean Eiyuden Chronicles: Hundred Heroes (ECHH, yeah the name might not be the strongest point) to finally be released. Just to quote myself to save some breath;

"To their credit, the development team were very informative and transparent about the ups and downs of the developmental process. So much in fact that I stopped reading the steady flow of updates that came to my inbox not long after I had backed the project. I realized that the game would either be a thing or not be a thing (as is the way with Kickstarter) and basically stopped thinking about it for a year. And another year."

Long story short, the game arrived eventually and I (almost) immediately started to play it. Was it worth the wait?

Firstly, it is worth noting that if you wanted more Suikoden, ECHH delivers. The story themes, the gameplay elements, the character developments - they're all there and handled just as well in most cases as their inspirations. You can tell that a lot of the same people have handled the design and that the game comes from a source of genuine love for the material and the originals.

You play as Nowa, who goes out to vaguely seek fortune but quickly sees himself embroiled in something much larger. Before long you control whole armies against Dux Aldric who threatens to become the new dictator of the lands. The story is epic in its own way and just like Suikoden (1 & 2) always managed to stay on this side of far-out, unlike series like Final Fantasy (where I am often not entirely sure what is going on), the story in ECHH feels grounded and urgent. If you're worried that political intrigue will bore you (but how could it, have you not seen Game of Thrones?) don't be worried - the politics is just a backdrop for exploring all the characters that fill these games.

And while ECHH has some flaws (which I will get back to) I must say that the characters is where it absolutely excels. The thing that made Suikoden different from other JRPGs back in the day was the promise of being able to meet/collect over a 100 characters and build a home for them all. ECHH is no different. And you'd think that with a gallery of characters that large, most of them would feel underdeveloped, uninteresting or bland, but they don't. It's of course practically impossible in one playthrough to get to really know every single character, even if you don't run around and seek out all the optional ones, but ECHH manages. Every single character I came across made me want to know more about them, try them out in battle (when possible) and seemed like they had some thought behind them more than to fill a roster.

The characters fill different roles in the games - a lot of them will be able to join your group as fighters. Some will help boost your characters with combat buffs or give you new features in different ways, like faster run speed, bigger bag space or fewer random encounters. Some will improve your castle that you get not very far into the game (by JRPG standards), with everything from theaters to hot springs to vendors. There is a mini game TCG, Beyblade (though called Beigoma in the game) and egg racing to mention a few.

The game is shock full of content to explore when you don't feel like taking part of the politics of the main story for a while. The mini games are of varying quality and while I didn't get around to trying all of them, I enjoyed the ones I did (the card game in fact reminded me a little bit of the card game Shotten Totten 2). You can tell that a lot of these were probably after thoughts in the sense of stretch goals rather than content originally meant for the game, but I still found they added to the overall experience and to the atmosphere of the game.

While I had fun exploring the different characters and learning more about them, I found the world they live in lackluster and empty. It's varied enough with the standard desert, forest, mountain and ice areas. But both the cities and surrounding areas feel cramped and uninspired compared to the characters you play with. I tried to think of an RPG where I love the settings and remember them fondly years later, places like FFVII and FFIX. What is ECHH missing that these games have? I realize that it's a matter of details, nooks and crannies, little areas that you want to explore, the people you meet, objects that hint of lives being lived. In ECHH every house you enter looks the same as the next and you can't even go up to the second floor. People say and do nothing of interest and just feel like backdrop. I usually run around and explore everything in towns I enter, talking to everyone. I quickly lost interest in that in ECHH, only interested in finding the inn and the armory and moving on. There are some exceptions though, Castle Hirganthia towards the end is really cool and some cities hint of interesting concepts, like the Sand Shark people the Shi'arc (took me way too long to get that word pun too).

Doesn't this look like a place you want to live in?

But the world settings aren't really something I remember fondly, or at all, from the original Suikoden games either. There too the strength was in the story and the characters driving it forwards, so maybe it makes sense that that is where ECHH would put its focus as well. It definitely doesn't make ECHH (nor the Suikoden games) any less fun to play, but I still can't help wondering what if...

That being said, I loved the graphics and especially the character sprites. My kid couldn't stop commenting on how much it annoyed him that the player characters didn't have the same graphics as the surroundings, them being regular 3D, but this never bothered me. Would it have been even better with full sprite work or faux/modern style sprite work like in Octopath Traveler? I think so, but the design they chose to go with works too.

The combat in ECHH is something I never grew tired off. You've got six characters fighting simultaneously (though some characters count as two because of their size) on screen, their stats deciding things like combat order, crit chance, physical damage done and taken, magical damage done and taken and so on. Some times your choice of action changes your order of execution, and I found it confusing that I had to do the inputs based on party order rather than speed. This meant that whoever was first in your party was the one to receive action input first, even if they were the last character executing them. This never stopped being confusing to me, even though it probably is the most logical way of handling it.

Fortunately everything else about combat is fun and easy and doesn't outstay its welcome. It helps that there are literally scores of different characters with completely different fighting styles to explore, and even though they're not all equally strong and useful, they're all interesting. Add to this different "hero combos" in which certain combination of characters can unleash extra strong attacks together. Every character also have a varying set of runes that they can equip, which can give new skills, new magic or extra stats. There is even an "auto" feature in which you, sort of FFXII style can program your characters to fight according to certain parameters. While this works well, I enjoyed combat enough to always want to keep control over what was going on. And in case you're curious, my main party consisted of Nowa, Zabi, Gieran, Yusuke and Kogen. The final character was most often Seign for the Hero Combo, but I ended the game with Yuferius.

Add to this that all these different characters come with different voice actors and that you can choose freely between English or Japanese spoken dialogue (ok, some actors voice several characters, but the credit list is looong).

They even got Motoi Sakuraba himself to do the score. While I am not as huge a fan of Sakurabas' as some people, there is no denying he is a skilled composer and he does a good job here. The battle tunes, always a litmus test of good composing in my book, are doing a good job at getting you pumped while not getting annoying after the 100th time.

As mentioned ECHH is essentially a carbon copy of the original Suikoden, in all the good ways. But also in some of the bad ways. The loading screens (on the PS4) are so plentiful and long that I started doing exercises during them to offset some of my sitting and to feel like I was at least doing something useful rather than just waiting around. The inventory is also so confusing that it must be copied from the older games, though I don't remember it, because otherwise what the heck is this system doing in this game. Items stack in completely random numbers, meaning some will stack up to 2, some 3 some 5 and so on. It doesn't help that you start with an extremely underwhelming bag size and throughout the entire game I struggled to fit items that I came across, constantly having to decide which items to keep and which to throw.

The duel system from the Suikoden series is also in ECHH, in which a certain character is pitted alone against an enemy. The fighting consists of trying to match the right type of attack based on the dialogue the characters are having, in a rock-paper-scissor way. Sounds cool on paper, doesn't work so well in reality. I don't recall it being a problem in the original games but it feels completely random and arbitrary in ECHH. I managed the first few I came across but towards the end I got sick of having to trial-and-error my way through them and just used a walkthrough for those fights specifically. Other than these situations, ECHH is not a particularly difficult game, and I only rarely struggled.

This next point wasn't a problem for me personally, but some times it was quite far between save opportunities. I clocked close to an hour at one point. If you're old-school this won't faze you, but it does mean that your playing sessions require a little bit of planning and timing.

While I feel like these are things you might want to know going in to the game, I really don't want anyone to avoid what is otherwise a great game over these flaws.

So in conclusion, Eiyuden Chronicle is a game made with pure love for the genre and especially the inspirations Suikoden 1 and 2. While it has some flaws, everything else works so nicely that I fully enjoyed my 60 hours with it. The characters, the story, the gameplay - it made me just flow through the game and I never felt bored. And I feel like I haven't even mentioned half the stuff the game throws at you yet, there is simply so much to do. So when the credits rolled I knew I was really going to miss all the crazy creatures and people I had come across and I could finally conclude that yet, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes was worth my money and it was definitely worth the wait.