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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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Slay the Spire 2 (PC) by jp (Aug 23rd, 2026 at 09:24:27) |
This is probably the most I've ever played a game in early access. Kind of embarrassing really, but I don't think I've been playing it all THAT much? When I first started, I wanted to complete a run with each of the main characters, especially as I unlocked them. And since then I'll occasionally play a daily run. Those have been fun, and my success rate seems pretty high?
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Dishonored 2 (PS4) by jp (Aug 23rd, 2026 at 09:07:28) |
I've been sitting on this one for what seems like forever - more like five years - and I've enjoyed getting back in the world of Dunwall, though this game takes place in other locations too, as I soon came to know.
I'm playing it on the PS4, and you would think this would be bad/awkward given how old the game is (10 years!), but the art direction is so good (IMO) that, other than long loading times, it really does hold up. As I write this I realize I need better language for this - the idea that it's great and timeless regardless of the technological foundation underneath it. I mean, I don't think people watch Disney's Snow White and say "oh, it really holds up".
I was surprised, going in, that I had to pick a character for the rest of the game and I wonder what will happen once I beat it. Will I then be able to pick levels to play from a menu, with either character available to me? Or will this be a "play the entire game all over" kind of situation? I don't really want to play it all over again, mostly due to other games I'd rather get to, but we'll see. I guess ideally I'd like to try a few levels just to see how different the characters are?
So far my only real gameplay-related disappointment has been that I misunderstood the structure of the game. The first "real" level was one that had lots of thing to find/pick up - and I assumed that most would only be accessible once I had acquired a few powers and abilities. For example, there was a rune in the water next to the boat where you start, I went for it and died to some carnivorous fish. Oh, I'll try again later when I can turn into a fish (I though), or when I can attack them (maybe I could already, I realize in hindsight). No worries, I'll come back to this later. And, there was no later. So I missed that - and many others as well.
People who say the Clockwork Mansion was an amazing level are correct. It is. Very interesting and clever and, I'm sure, I technical nightmare to put together and test. I wonder if there are any GDC talks or such about it? I need to make a mental note to look around.
Anyways, I'm currently in the Dust District - interesting because there's a sandstorm that blows in periodically, giving you a chance to sneak past or silently take out enemies. I've been trying to be silent - rendering enemies unconscious - with the occasional "oopsie", and I've had mixed success. This mostly means that it's been taking me forever to make much progress. So, I wonder if I played more shooty-killy, could I then get back and re-play sneaky-sneaky?
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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)
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Zelda II: The Aventure of Link (NES) by Okashii |
| Fun, but too difficult if you don't want to spend a lot of time on it. |
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most recent entry: Tuesday 29 March, 2011
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Zelda II: The Adventure of Link Saturday, Mar. 26th (both games)
Zelda II is the sequel to the successful The Legend of Zelda title. Both games are for the Nintendo Entertainment System. This game is similar in play to the side scrolling Castlevania games from the same era.
Genre:
Zelda II is an action game at heart, a role playing game in its execution, and a platformer in practice. The action element stems from the players limited inventory. The primary weapon that the player uses is the sword (which looks like and is used like a dagger for whatever reason). The player must be quick at the controls to hit his/her enemy in the weak spots while dodging incoming blows. However, the player has three primary stats that can be leveled which give it an RPG element: health (effectively defense), magic (reduces cost of using spells), and attack. In addition, there are stats which can be modified: defense can be modified with spells that the player may find, and max health and max magic points can be increased by collecting items. Most spells modify the character, such as the Jump spell (which increases the height of Links jump). Some spells, however, modify nearby enemies, such as the one that kills all enemies on the screen. Experience points are gained by killing enemies and by collecting EXP bags, and the points can be spent on a stat or saved for a different stat. In the end, though, this game is a platformer. This game is side scrolling like the original Mario and Castlevania games, and because of this, the player must often jump across ravines or traps and must dodge enemies.
Initializing play:
When the player first loads the game, he/she can name his/her game/character and begin the game. The game can be saved via a combination of buttons that will stop the game or by dying and running out of lives which also causes the save screen to come up. A player can resume his/her game on the load screen by selecting it. Unfortunately, he/she will start out at the very beginning of the game with the only differences being that his/her stats will be updated to whatever they were when the player saved, and his/her items/spells will remain as well. However, any experience points used to level up stats disappear, which can be very annoying, so it is best for the player to spend his/her experience points when he/she is about to lose the last life.
The hero/the plot:
The story is not very fleshed out. Supposedly, Link is the same hero from the first Zelda game. In the first game, Link was a traditional hero in that there was really no reason for him to have gone on his journey to save Zelda save that he is just a nice guy and could. His motives in the second game are rather unclear. Zelda has been put into an eternal slumber by Ganons followers who remained after his death. They are trying to resurrect Ganon by using Links blood. This introduces a second motive for Link; if he sits around and does nothing, then Ganons followers will eventually kill him and succeed.
The world:
The game is spatially segmented with an over world. In this top-down view, Link journeys across the world looking for towns and dungeons, neither of which are necessarily easily discovered. Enemies appear after a certain time period and roam around the screen. If Link comes into contact with an enemy, he enters into an area with the traditional side view. This area is small, but it is filled with whatever types of enemies are native to that location. Once Link makes it to the end of the area (the boundary) on either the left of right side, he returns to the over world.
The over world divides the world up in two major ways. First, it spatially separates towns, dungeons, and caves (and often caves are two-way and divide the over world). Second, various obstacles, such as water or large rocks, separate one part of the map with another, requiring Link to obtain a specific item to continue. This divides the game into some linear pieces, requiring some levels to be beaten before others. Otherwise, any level can be beaten in any order.
Towns in this game have residents, many of which who will talk with you and tell you next to useless information. In addition, some of the younger women will let Link inside of their homes to heal him, and the older women will do the same but restore his magic (and who knows how this is accomplished). Also, a select few inhabitants have items to give, spells to teach, or sword techniques to teach Link so that he can become more powerful/continue on his journey.
Caves generally separate areas of the over world, but they may also contain items (some optional). Heart containers increase max health. Bottles increase max magic. And finally, little trophies shaped like Link increase the players number of lives by one. Caves generally contain enemies, and most of them are pitch black unless the player has obtained the candle.
There are many dungeons in this game. All of the dungeon bosses of the first six dungeons (also called palaces) must be defeated to unlock the entry to the final palace. Dungeons are mazes full of enemies and are progressively harder (by type/frequency of enemies and by complexity of maze).
Game play:
In my first session, I played through the first level and part of the second level. My strategy was to primarily level up my attack. Each level up in attack halves the number of hits that it takes for an enemy to fall, and I knew that I would not need as much health if I could kill the enemies quickly. I learned anew that the little blue blobs that are able to lunge at your character are extremely annoying, even if they are easily dispatched. This is due to the mechanics of controlling the game. It is very difficult to jab their small hitbox, especially given the speed at which they jump at you. I remember them being easier, probably due to the ability that the player gets further into the game which allows him/her to jump and stab downwards exactly as Link does for his in the air downward smash in the Super Smash Brothers series.
I have never done well at killing iron knuckles in this game, and this was especially true during this play through given that I am really rusty on the controls. The action element of this game really comes into play fighting these things. I know that there is an easy way to kill them (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9yhg7_zelda-ii-how-to-kill-a-iron-knuckle_videogames), but timing my jumps and strikes is difficult. The alternative though is to watch whether or not it will strike at your head or your gut and to try to block it and attack in the narrow timeframe between attacks, which I certainly cannot do.
My second session was nothing short of a disaster. I finished up level two easily enough, but level three was just too difficult. First of all, there was an abundance of enemies with high health that could jump and throw stuff at you. Second of all, there was an abundance of high health iron knuckles which I have yet to be able to kill easily.
The primary reason for failing at this dungeon, however, was the introduction of the blue iron knuckle. This thing can throw his knives at you at a very fast pace. I just cannot control my character well enough yet to kill these things effectively. What was worse though was that the first blue iron knuckle was placed immediately following a dark red one (similar to the regular iron knuckle, but with more health). Once I did finally manage my way through these enemies, the boss was none other than a supercharged blue iron knuckle. Its first phase is on horseback where it tries to gore you with a lance. Once I made it past this form, I found that it turned into a regular blue iron knuckle which then killed me. Out of frustration, I ended my gaming session.
Overall:
Overall, this game is enjoyable, albeit incredibly frustrating and difficult. I played this game years ago and never could beat the final level because I would lose most of my lives travelling from the beginning (since this is the location on the map it puts you when you load a save) to that level. If the developers had just added a few more spells or reduced the number of enemies, the game would be more enjoyable. As it is, you should not play this game unless you want a real challenge and have the time to overcome the timing issues for executing moves properly. Also, you need some time to level your characters stats up. Good luck staying alive long enough later in the game to get the number of points necessary to level your stats.
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