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Dishonored 2 (PS4) by jp (Aug 29th, 2026 at 12:35:25) |
Finished the Dust District - and yes, it took me a while because I discovered a (to me) fun new ending. Since I've been trying to play non-violently, I've been focused on trying NOT to kill the main characters - just render them unconscious.
The setup for the Dust District is that your trying to get into this house with a crazy puzzle lock. There are two factions in the area and if you deliver the leader of one to the other, the other will help you out. Well, I solved the puzzle - so I could have moved on to the house, but I thought I'd take out both leaders! And then I came upon this additional plot to send some people hidden in these crates - and I got a new objective, pack up the leaders of each faction instead! I thought this was pretty fun and funny...so I did that.
Now, this area wasn't small - and I was taking a long time, but it turns out the house is another level entirely! So, not like the Clockwork mansion where you make your way through other parts of the city with the mansion at the end. Here, the house is another level entirely.
I'll see if I can finish that one some time soonish!
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Smashing Bottles (PC) by jp (Aug 29th, 2026 at 12:30:49) |
I've really been enjoying this - I had even played the demo (finished it, in the sense of unlocking everything there was to see, unless there was some secret stuff?). It's basically an idle game about smashing bottles...so, lots of chaos on the screen.
What I've found most interesting are two things:
a. There are two ways to play the game, and they're interleaved to an extent. There's an "active" mode - where you do smashing until a timer runs out, then spend what you earned on upgrades, rinse and repeat. The other mode is a more standard idle mode, where most of the smashin is automatic and you sort of let it run and buy upgrades as they become available. However, the upgrade tree in the idle mode has elements you need to unlock in the active mode, which I thought was kind of interesting.
b. Most idle games have a meta loop that's the "prestige reset" - for some games, it's a way to extend the gameplay experience. In my mind, when it takes a really long time to get to the prestige update, then it's sort of like "you beat the game but can continue playing if you want". But this game has a really tight/short prestige upgrade loop - so, you do it a lot and it helps charge up the regular update loop. This felt new/fresh to me, and it was fun to have toflip between upgrading on the regular tree and deciding when to reset and upgrade the prestige side of things.
At this point I'm in the final final(?) grind - which feels a lot longer than everything else so far, but we'll see. I'm not expecting much more from this point, so I might just bail? I mean, I think I've seen what's most interesting about this design...
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Routine (PC) by dkirschner (Aug 25th, 2026 at 20:04:54) |
This game nails the claustrophobic space station genre in terms of atmosphere. It’s in the vein of Dead Space, Observation, Deliver Us the Moon, etc. A good, tense space station mystery. The game looks great and has a visual style meant to effect like a 1970s/1980s analog vibe. It feels very “manual,” if that makes sense. You run around with your scanner tool, find and load modules into the tool, select modules, and use the tool to interact with the environment. You manually switch modules (no pressing “1” to switch). You actually need to bring up the scanner tool, click around to open/close/activate whatever module you need, aim the scanner tool at whatever you need to interact with, and interact. So, when you quickly need to disable a hostile robot, you aren’t going to quickly switch modules and disable it. You go through the whole manual process, and that robot can very well kill you in the meantime. You also manually interact with computer terminals, actually moving an on-screen cursor to click on emails and whatnot, and some other objects too.
The game is split into six chapters, but it feels almost like two similar games. The first half is more Observation—rogue computer system, killer robots, etc. This will feel more standard to players. The second half veers into more alien sci-fi/horror territory, and the gameplay accordingly becomes both more tense and frustrating. Both halves are plagued by shitty stalking/roaming enemies that can be extremely irritating (especially those in the second half). In both halves, you explore a lot, walking around looking for new places to go, looking for a specific place you’ve been (a locked door, a terminal with a keycode), scrutinizing the environment for clues. These two halves are also linked by the narrative, but the story is…forgettable? I mean, it’s weird and kind of interesting and requires some unpacking at the end, but in practice, at least, I wasn’t thinking about it. Like, I found myself focusing on the moment-to-moment tasks of survival and exploration on the base, figuring out where to go, avoiding enemies, trying to solve the puzzles, etc. The story—your goals—get lost in the micro moments of gameplay. You do have to pay a lot of attention to your surroundings, which ties in with the manual/retro 1970s sci-fi horror aesthetic.
As such, the puzzles were often complex, and sometimes the visual retro film grain effect and/or UI design choices complicated exploration and puzzle-solving, too. For example, I looked up the following in walkthroughs:
• How do you use CAT tool’s infrared scanner module? This was counterintuitive. This module is like a little VHS tape. When you load a VHS tape, you put the tape in the compartment and close the compartment. So that’s what I did. The module didn’t work. I messed with everything I could find on the CAT tool. I re-read the manual, messed with the tool again. Nothing. Turns out you DON’T close the compartment. You…leave it open…to activate it.
• Where do you find the dang server elevator? There is an elevator that you can’t open because it requires a higher security clearance than you have at the time. And there is a server room that you solve a series of puzzles to enter. But I couldn’t connect the two. How do I get the elevator to open? I powered it. I opened the server room. I just don’t have the security clearance. Where do I get that? Turns out that the door to the server room leads to a different elevator, whose buttons are f a i n t l y visible on the lefthand side of the room, gray buttons on gray wall. Lots of people had this problem.
• How do you solve the dang bathroom sink code puzzle? This was legitimately tricky. I thought I figured out the code, but it wouldn’t work. Remember, if text is on two sides of a paper, it’s like a mirror! What’s on the left is on the right when you flip it. Lots of people got stuck on this one too.
And these two, I figured out, but saw that a lot of other people had trouble with:
• Where is the first security terminal? I did everything I was supposed to do on the computer and was prompted to scan the security terminal for level 1 access. Couldn’t find the terminal anywhere. I was about to look it up when I…looked up. For some reason, the security terminal was like 10 feet up on the wall.
• How do you unlock the vents? Early in the game, you have to unlock a vent to crawl through it. The vent has a red light indicating that it’s locked. When you unlock it, either the red light goes away or it turns green, the vent slides open, and you can crawl through. All other vents in the game don’t have any lights or locks like that and they don’t automatically slide open, so it’s understandable that players get stuck the next time they have to enter a vent. You actually have to crawl into it, like press W against the vent, and it’s like a flap that opens. Why have two types of vents?
So that’s Routine. It was interesting. Unique aesthetic. Suspenseful. One good jump scare and one cheap one. But could be tedious, counterintuitive, and frustrating. And the story lost me. Overall, I liked it. Took me just shy of 9 hours, plenty of which was spent lurking through hallways and figuring out puzzles and directions, so it’s not too long. If you like a good sci-fi horror game, especially one that feels a little authentic, cerebral, and challenging, you’ll find something to like here, too.
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Mixtape (PC) by dkirschner (Aug 24th, 2026 at 16:51:40) |
This immediately hooked me, has a great first chunk, kind of lulls for periods through the middle, but regularly surprises with creative segments, wonderful juxtaposition of music (huge licensed soundtrack), visuals (absolutely beautiful), and gameplay, and just a fun and nostalgic story.
The story takes place in the mid-90s and follows three teenagers on their last night together before the main character, Stacey, goes off to NYC to follow her dreams of being a film music supervisor (aka an expert in matching the perfect song to the perfect moment). The other main characters are Slater, an artistic stoner type of guy, and Cassandra, a formerly straight-A student turned rebel, who is also daughter of a local police officer. They've got great rapport together.
So, on their last night together, they plan to attend a big party. You spend the first half of the game trying to find booze to pre-game for the party. Maybe you didn't spend your teenage years full of ennui and/or rebelliousness, trying to get drunk and high and find meaning in your middle-class suburban existence. I didn't, not really, and though I was an angsty teen, I was also enamored with BEING an angsty teen, and collected associated cultural styles and practices, such as performing "the skater" (though I didn't skateboard) and "the pothead" (though I had never smoked pot), being angry about religion, wanting an eyebrow ring like the guys in Korn, and telling people I didn't anticipate living to 30. Wow, David, wow. So, these characters spoke to the teen that I imagined being.
Anyway, finding booze turns out to involve a lot of sitting around in characters' bedrooms talking about how to find booze. In so doing, though, you look at objects in the bedrooms and learn about the three friends. Picking up objects can prompt flashbacks, mostly playable sequences depicting memories they've had together. These range from straightforward cutscenes to really fun segments where you might be skateboarding, breaking and entering into a dinosaur museum (I broke and entered into so many places back then to hang out), trying to rent videos from a Blockbuster while stoned (I used to hang out on top of a Blockbuster, climbing the utility ladder on the back of the store), running from the cops in a shopping cart (my favorite sequence), and so on. Technically, in the main story, not much happens, but there is a lot of reminiscing that enriches the current plot.
Now, the game is called Mixtape. Why? Because Stacey likes to make mixtapes. In fact, she's made a mixtape for their last night together. She's mostly into alternative, grunge, post-punk, shoegaze, that kind of stuff. You'll hear Portishead, Smashing Pumpkins, Silverchair (a fun segment), and a whole lot of stuff I never heard of. She speaks directly to the player, breaking the fourth wall, introducing songs as they begin, giving the player brief lessons in music history from roughly the late-60s through the mid-90s (leaning toward the 80s and 90s). As a hopeful future film music supervisor, this is her passion. And she picks the perfect song for every moment. She has their last night planned out and her mixtape is the soundtrack. Except, the last night doesn't go as planned, and so her mixtape adapts. What you get is like a soundtrack that evolves with the narrative. It's really interesting to think about. What song does she pick in the moment when the night's plans unravel? When she learns about her older sister's legacy? When one friend gets mad at another? How does she use music to make sense of her experiences, to cope with (or construct) emotions and situations?
Given the centrality of music to give form to and shape the narrative, it makes sense that there is some magical realism. Trippy synth tracks might accompany your car floating off the road into the sky; the drum beats of a track might coincide with exploding fireworks that you can orchestrate; and so on. Really creative stuff, and really enjoyed the game. It's not long either, playable in an afternoon. Highly recommend even if you didn't hang out on top of a Blockbuster in your Jncos.
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Slay the Spire 2 (PC) by jp (Aug 23rd, 2026 at 09:46:33) |
Despite the long hours I've put in already, the game feels a lot less like a sequel and a lot more like...an add-on. Which feels like a mean thing to say, but still...
The first, I don't know how many hours, was basically playing the same characters as the first game. It's possible, actually probable, that there are some new cards and that the numbers might be a little different and that sort of thing. But, it feels like the same game in the fundamentals.
That would be the summary of my experience until I unlocked everything. And now, with more hours in and that sort of thing, I still feel like it's not quite a sequel even if the experience does feel somewhat different - mostly from some of the new (to me?) artifacts and how they interact.
I'll be fair, the new characters are fun and different and I've enjoyed messing around with them...but the game still feels the same? And this isn't a bad thing - I mean, I really enjoyed playing the first one for sure....
I guess there's no reason to go back to it at this point?
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Syberia (PC) by dkirschner |
| The setting draws me in. Looks beautiful. Story is intriguing. Voice acting not very good, which is too bad. ---------- Enchanting game, truly unique. Loved the story, intriguing. Doesn't *quite* wrap up in the detail I wanted but ok. |
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most recent entry: Monday 29 April, 2013
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Finished up Syberia today, which has been a long time coming. I really enjoyed it. I described the beginning of the game in a previous entry, but essentially you find out that Anna Vorelberg, the woman who dies in the beginning and who is supposed to sign away the toy factory, has a younger brother named Hans who is still alive. Thus there is an heir to the factory and you have to go search for him to get him to sign it over. There is a lot of mystery surrounding him and a lot of backstory that you uncover as you travel from place to place on a train with a lovable automaton train engineer named Oscar.
Without giving a lot away, Hans is a mechanical genius of sorts and has laid a path for Kate (your character) to follow to find him, although he hoped it would be his sister, Anna. The path takes Kate from the initial French Alps town of Valadelane to a university where Hans studied to an old Soviet factory where Hans used to work, which is now overseen by a madman and a drunk ex-cosmonaut, and an old resort spa. Each of these locations is a character unto itself. They are absolutely beautiful, stunning, and always have an edge of eeriness to them because of the automatons, the passage of the years, and the general uneasy feeling that Kate is getting closer not only to Hans, but to danger. I can't quite identify it, but the game creates a very unique feeling.
I loved the artwork in the game. The visuals look excellent, practically every object looks lovingly crafted, there is a lot of attention to detail, the orchestral score is simple and elegant. The interface is quite good. The only thing that bugged me a little bit is that Kate takes stairs very slowly and if you click to move over some stairs, she always only walks to the top and then you have to click again. She won't just keep going. She never runs up stairs!
The puzzles usually were easy, though I was stumped a handful of times and always had a walkthrough handy. The downfall of adventure games for me are when things don't make sense according to David logic. This one did a pretty good job of making sense to me though. A couple solutions I scoffed at. One, which was easy but time-consuming, was to find some grapes to feed some cuckoo birds that were standing at the base of a ladder blocking my path. I never understand animals blocking your path in adventure games, unless it's like a bear or a mammoth. These were 3 little birds. Shoo them away! Why do I need to go on a 30-minute hunt for grapes to feed the birds? Just go up the ladder and they'll move out of the way! Then once you get up the ladder, you have to get a bird's egg, but Kate says "It's too far away. I'll never reach it." This egg looks clearly within reach. Anyway, you eventually find a test tube holder to use to pick up the egg. As anyone remembers from chemistry class, test tube holders are maybe 6 inches long. Kate could have stretched to reach the egg!
So the game played up this 'change' element in the main character, Kate. Supposedly she was unsure of herself in the beginning but confident in the end. I didn't really see much of a change in her besides that she got real absorbed in finding out more about Hans and just got deep into the detective-y story. Where the imputation of change really came from were Kate's significant others who kept in contact with her through cell phone. These characters were SO STUPID. All the other characters, the face-to-face ones that she met along her journey, were cool, many were excellent, but those through the cell satellites were irritating. There was her mother, who kept calling her to dote and talk about being rich and the man she was dating (who turns out to be a famous singer who knew some other famous singer that Kate ends up having to track down - small world...), Kate's terrible boyfriend Dan, who is one of the most annoying romantic others I've ever had to listen to in a game. He calls her up and whines that she isn't home yet, doesn't like her going on an adventure, gets pissy at her, and then whines some more. Every time she says she won't be home another day he flips out. Finally they get in a fight because he is an idiot. Then she has a friend, Olivia, who isn't too bad until she sleeps with Dan, which was both dumb and funny at the same time. Luckily by this point I think Kate was tired of them all too as she heroically blows Dan and Olivia off at the end. And her boss too. He just called to yell at her every now and then. I mean they all called her 10 times each throughout the game. Like, she's working, leave her alone, what are you all doing to be calling so often?
That's about it. I'm real glad to have played this and look forward to Syberia 2. This game was...enchanting. That might be the closest word to accurately describing it.
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