 |
|
Smashing Bottles (PC) by jp (May 30th, 2026 at 18:16:28) |
Heard about this one recently and got stuck playing the demo on itch (though it's also available on Steam) for a few hours until I got to the final (demo) ending!
It's an incremental game with some interesting things going on - you have a bat and smash bottles, but you have a limited time to do so (in seconds, like max 25 or so after all the upgrades?). When time runs out you can go again or go to the shop to buy upgrades. As expected you want to get more money from smashing bottles and there's ways to do that - spawn golden bottles, champagne bottles (when they smash the corks fly out and can smash other things), and even molotov cocktails (that explode, smashing other things).
There's a few things I thought where nice/clever:
a. The game has two distinct phases (once you unlock molotovs, everything changes, really) - the "you smash" and the "maximize money in the time allowed". In the latter, the game mostly plays itself as the molotovs keep everything getting smashed.
b. The "you smash" has rotating bottles, and since the smashing can take a few hits, there's some interest in smashing champagne such that the cork flies in a certain direction for more damage.
c. The champagne corks are pretty clever - since it gives you a reason to, in the short time you have to smash, choose what to smash a little more carefully. Go for golden or champagne hoping for a productive chain reaction?
Of course there's also a prestige/reset mechanic - from which you can lock a separate bat that smashes.
I'm curious how far things will go once the full game is out - and what the nature of the upgrades will be. I'm really hoping for more variety in the experience beyond the simple "number go up" - in that sense the molotovs seem like they're capping the experience in a detrimental way (even as they were super fun to smash when I first unlocked them.
read all entries for this GameLog  - read comments (1) 
- add a comment 
|
|
Donkey Kong Bananza (NSW2) by jp (May 30th, 2026 at 18:07:32) |
Still playing!
It has an interesting structure in terms of its levels and such - the core metaphor is that you're going deeper into the planet with each level, and they're both thematic and numbered. I got to a point where there's a bifurcation - go right into what I thought was "jungle land" or left into "snow land". I went right did a few more levels, cleared the boss (it was plant/poison land) and in order to continue going deeper I was then told to go back to "snow land"! There's a fast travel/teleport system involving giant worms that can move your around, so it was easy enough to do this, but I was surprised to learn that the fork was just a "choose what order to do these" situation... and also, the entire "fork" makes little sense thematically so I'm curious to see how it's explained and communicated in the interface - will it look like a fork in the "hole" going into the planet's core?
The titular ability (bananza mode!) was a bit underwhelming - you turn into a bigger DK and can now punch things you couldn't before - it lasts a limited amount of time. But, I've since unlocked a new one - DK-bird - where you can glide around (and after paying to unlock) and drop an egg on enemies. The gilding around was important/necessary in the plant/poison levels, and I'm expecting it to be similarly required in the snowy ones. We'll see!
read all entries for this GameLog
- add a comment
|
|
Hollow Knight: Silksong (PC) by dkirschner (May 13th, 2026 at 14:58:07) |
Kicking myself for not writing an entry when I was playing this 6 months ago. I am cleaning up my wishlist, backlog, and etc., and the FEELING I get when I see Silksong "in progress" is anxiety. I had jotted a few notes in December, as follows:
"It’s true, Silksong is hard. Like, really, frustratingly hard. Like punishingly difficult. I hit a wall at the end of Act 1 trying to beat the Last Judge. The game likes to place benches far away from boss fights, such that retrying boss fights involves slogging back through tough platforming and other sections of the map."
I did kill the Last Judge and complete Act 1. I remember that took a very long time, and that after the Last Judge, I died a few more times and, probably, with shaking hands and rapid heartbeat, said, "I can't do this anymore." Actually, it may have been in one of those rooms with waves of enemies. This innovation is new and unwelcome to Silksong, rooms that lock upon entering and spill several waves of challenging enemies at you. Yeah, I think that is what got me, just being pummeled over and over in one of those rooms, getting tired of exploring the maze-like map, tired of dying, tired of corpse runs, just exhausted. The game became a chore.
Besides that, I loved it, haha. I was definitely into it for a while. It was sublime until it wasn't.
read all entries for this GameLog
- add a comment
|
|
Turnip Boy Robs a Bank (PC) by dkirschner (May 12th, 2026 at 17:20:35) |
I meant to quickly beat this back in April so I could have a "completion" for the month, but I got really busy after spending barely an hour one afternoon with Turnip Boy Robs a Bank, a bizarre little twin-stick shooter about a turnip...who robs a bank. The game builds off previous games in the series, which I have never played, in which Turnip Boy commits tax evasion and, according to this game at least, seems to have started a war. Work has slowed down for the first time in nearly two months, and while I wait for my next contract to begin, I figured I'd knock this out.
The whole game is silly. The world is populated by sentient fruits and vegetables. You are employed by a pickle / mafia gang leader to rob a bank of a garlic bulb / bad guy / killed your dad. You have a base, where you can get new weapon loadouts by bringing weapons from the bank (always try to return with something new or high-powered!), purchase progression items from the "dark web," and upgrade stuff at another vendor. You go on "runs" to the bank, which are timed (starts at 2 or 3 minutes, goes up to 5 or 6 with upgrades). Runs are over when you die or when you exit the bank. Die and you lose half the cash you accumulated in the run. Survive and you are handsomely rewarded. Upgrade stuff. Go back to the bank. It's a roguelite too.
The bank has a specific layout of rooms, but you'll encounter some randomized areas too, and enemies and treasure are somewhat randomized. Throughout the bank are tons of NPCs with little fetch quests that usually reward you with pictures (fun/ny to look at) or hats (fun/ny to equip). A blueberry might want you to find its wedding ring, a lime wants you to get divorce papers from her lemon husband, a scientist pineapple wants you to find a philosopher mango and ask it an ethical question about experimenting on fruits, etc. I had some good laughs.
In each corner of the bank is a boss. Boss fights were fun, but the most challenging were early on. Once you start upgrading stats, the game becomes easy. It definitely ends up being an "upgrade everything and go nuts on all the enemies!" type game, experience being overpowered.
I haven't played a twin-stick shooter in a while, and while this wasn't revolutionary or anything, it was fun and scratched the itch. I gotta get back to Divinity: Original Sin 2. I might have some extra time till my next gig, so maybe I can boot it up, remember what I was doing, and make some progress this week.
read all entries for this GameLog
- add a comment
|
|
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (DS) by jp (Apr 27th, 2026 at 22:04:52) |
I got to that point where I hit a monster/boss that just wasn't that much fun, and then I got a bit lost in terms of where to continue making progress, and the backtracking started to get a bit tiresome...as I explored and searched for different paths. So, time to bail!
read all entries for this GameLog
- add a comment
|
|
|
|
|
GameLog hopes to be a site where gamers such as yourself keep track of the games that
they are currently playing. A GameLog is basically a record of a game you started playing. If it's open,
you still consider yourself to be playing the game. If it's closed, you finished playing the game. (it doesn't matter
if you got bored, frustrated,etc.) You can also attach short comments to each of your games or even maintain a diary (with more detailed entries)
for that game. Call it a weblog of game playing activity if you will.
[latest site fixes and updates]
[read more]
|
view feed xml
|
 |
|
2323 registered gamers and 3358 games. 7895 GameLogs with 13390 journal entries. 5126 games are currently being played.
More stats
|
 |
|
Magic: The Gathering (Other) by Coolchrono |
| No comment, yet. |
|
most recent entry: Thursday 11 February, 2016
|
Magic the Gathering is a multiplayer, card based game that can usually played in 1 vs 1, 2 vs 2, or 3 vs 3 players. The game is based on different elements such as fire(red), water(blue), forest(green), light(white), and dark(black). These elements are usually used in combination with creatures, spells, and equipment. Card decks can be made out of these items and the minimum is 60 cards in a deck. Usually these colors have themes associated with them. Red decks are usually used to destroy, blue decks are usually used to counter spells, green decks usually can bring more creatures out in a turn, white decks usually are associated with gaining life, and black decks are focused on destroying or poisoning.
----Game Setup----
A basic 1 vs 1 game (in which how the sessions were conducted) starts with each player having 20 life. Each player draws seven cards for their first hand and if the hand is bad, they have one free draw and each draw after that, they draw one card less. Each player then rolls a dice for the highest number to see who goes first. The player with the highest number usually picks to go first or second. If the player goes first, they get to make their first play. If the player goes second, they get to draw a card on their turn. Each player draws a card from their deck on each of their turn. Before a player plays a creature, spell, enchantment, or equipment they have to put down a land. A land acts as "mana". If a player wants to play a creature, spell, enchantments or equipment, they have to have enough land or mana to play that card, which has the cost of the card in the top right corner of the card. Also, they must have the right land to play that card (ex: A card may require a white land and a blue land to play). Each player is only allowed to play one land each turn, unless they have a special card that allows to play more land or have more mana. Mana is reset at the beginning of the players next turn. Basically, each player is supposed to play creatures, spells, and equipment in order to deplete the opposing players life. If a player plays a creature, they will be able to attack on the players next turn because that creature has summoning sickness unless they have an ability called haste. Haste is apart of many abilities that are included in Magic the Gathering in which haste can bring in creatures without summoning sickness.
There are abilities such as deathtouch(which if a creature has this ability, it can kill any creature of any power), lifelink(creature that does damage can gain the player life which is equal to its power), hexproof( creature can not be a target of spells) and etc. If each player has a creature out, whomever turn it is, that player can choose to attack or not. The opposing player can choose to defend or not. Creatures usually have a power and toughness in the bottom left corner of the card. If the defending players creature has a toughness higher than the power of the attacking players creature, they can defend their life points and keep their creature. If their toughness is lower, they will lose their creature but, still not have their life points affected. If the player chooses not to defend, they will lose as many life points equal to the attacking creatures power.
Creatures can have different types of abilities as mentioned above which can change the strategic planning in each game. Flying creatures can't be attacked or blocked by non-flying creatures. Creatures can also be enchanted with different abilities and/or power and toughness increments. Spells can be played against another player in order to stop a certain effect. Instants can be played at anytime before a player does a spell which can cause the opposing player to do something before the other player does anything. Counters can be used to stop spells. Equipments are like enchantments but, can be moved to another creature and do not require a creature to be on the battlefield. Once a creature dies, it is sent the the players graveyard and can not be used again unless the player uses a spell to get that creature back. If a creature is exiled, it is permanently out of the game. Spells, equipment's, and enchantments can be destroyed at anytime.
----Game Play----
First session: I played with an experienced friend. He had a mixture of red and green cards while I played my main black deck. We both put down land on each of our turns until I was the first one able to put out a creature. On his turn, we both had three lands and he was able to play a creature on his turn. His creature had an ability that caused him to attack me and I could not use my creature to defend. He attacked my life points for 4 points and i was down to 16 while he was at 20. I then drew land on the next two turns as he put out another creature (which allowed him to draw an extra card on his turn) and he enchanted that creature to make it stronger with 2 power and 2 toughness. He hit me for 8 more points and my life was now at 8. I then drew a creature that had a power and toughness equal to the number of lands I have, which was 6. I put this creature out on the battlefield. On his turn HE EXILED my creature and he attacked again with both creatures. Since the one creature I had out had 1 power and 3 toughness, I was able to block his 2/2 (2 power, 2 toughness) creature but not the 4/4 once again. I was down to 4 and it was my turn again. I drew a land and was able to put a seven mana cost creature out on the battlefield which was a 6/6 creature. On his turn, he put down an enchantment that prevented my 6/6 creature from defending or attacking on my turn. In turn, I wasn't able to block is unblockable creature and I lost on the next turn.
Second Session: I changed to my white and black deck while he changed to an exclusive white deck. We both drew our hands and just like the first session, I was able to put out a creature first. He then put out a 1/1 creature that had lifelink while I had a creature that was flying and was a 1/2 with lifelink. While we exchanged attacks on each of our turns, I was able to put out creatures with the ability to extort (any spell or creature I play, I can pay one land to gain a life and make the opponent lose one life). I basically put out 4 creatures with extort and used the ability to my advantage by extorting the extort creatures I put in the game. Meanwhile, he puts out an enchantment that, on his fifth turn, he can make all his creatures stronger by plus 5 on power and toughness, which is crap. At this point of the game, he had a two 1/1 creatures and one 2/2 creature while I had three 1/2 creatures and two 2/2 creatures. His life was at 3 and mine at 28. This was the fifth turn and he used his enchantment to power his creatures and then he gave two of those creatures lifelink. At this point, he gained 14 life while i defended with my weak creatures and they died to protect my life. On my turn, I put out an enchantment to destroy every creature on the board on my next turn. On his turn, he attacked again while I blocked and killed off the rest of my creatures to protect my life. On my turn, he pulled out an instant that protected his creatures from dying from my enchantment and I basically lost since I had no way to defend for the next turn.
----Overall----
Magic the gathering can be a fun quick or long game depending on the situation. The game can be severely broken by basically having an opponent who spends a lot more on the game than you, thereby, having better deck and better cards. Sure, strategy can work in most outcomes, but there are MANY magic cards out there that can break the game easily. Also, counters can be abused since a player can build a deck out of mostly counters and basically stop you from doing anything in the game, which is boring.
[read this GameLog]
|
|
|
