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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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Denshattack! (PC) by dkirschner (Aug 17th, 2026 at 10:40:12) |
This game is bananas. Do you like skateboarding games? I don’t, unless there’s something really novel about them (the recent Skate Story being one). Do you like racing games? Yes. Do you like being punk rock and sticking it to the man? Yes. Do you like fast speedrunning games and challenging platformers? Sometimes. Neon White was awesome. Do you like Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio? Sure, I like Sega-era nostalgia. Did you enjoy the style of Hi-Fi Rush? Yeah, that was a colorful, super creative game with a kickass soundtrack that came out of nowhere. If you said yes to any of those questions, or maybe to two of them, you might become obsessed with Denshattack.
Denshattack is all those things mixed into one. Except instead of a skateboard or a taxi or running, you are driving a train (and on one later track your train rides a skateboard, lol; know your inspiration). This is future Japan. An environmental catastrophe has happened. Everyone lives in secure domed cities managed by the Miraido corporation. Most everyone. Some people—rebels—live outside…in trains? No, I don’t know where they live. But they drive trains. They are Denshattackers…gangs of mostly young and always cool people (gangs are themed around baseball, cute fashion, rockabilly, goth/horror, whatever other subcultural or The Warriors-esque group) who…drive around fighting other gangs by racing them, out-tricking them, and apparently sometimes literally going to war and killing them. They also dislike Miraido, despite Miraido’s cute, funny (evil) mole mascot, and they enjoy tagging and destroying corporate property. Denshattackers and/or Miraido have laid train tracks all over the place for…reasons.
You play as Emi, a ramen delivery girl who learns about Denshattack through a random encounter with a Denshattack fan. Long story short, she becomes a pro, defeats all the gang bosses, and together they take on Miraido. The story is absurd, fun, and oddly heart-warming.
The game is broken into 9 chapters, each of which takes place in a different gang’s territory. Each chapter has a handful of tracks. Most of these involve just getting to the end, but there are also occasional races (place in the top 3), score attacks (get x score in 2 minutes), and boss fights. Each track also has additional objectives, like picking up x collectibles, doing specific tricks in specific locations, doing things to affect the environment in some way, smashing 10 opponents in a race, etc.
One thing I loved about Denshattack is that it has minimal gatekeeping. Most racing/speedrunning/platformer games gatekeep like crazy. You have to get x stars or gold medals to unlock the next area…that kind of thing. There really isn’t gatekeeping in Denshattack. The only thing that came close for me was those score attack tracks (until I learned how to rack up massive combos and easily beat them). I imagine the races are tough for some people, too, since you have to place in the top 3, which means that you can’t crash hardly at all. If you finish the track and meet its main objective, you can proceed. But if you want to strive for perfection, getting gold medals, finding all collectibles, completing additional objectives, you can go nuts replaying tracks. There are some incentives for doing this, such as buying cosmetic items for your trains, buying new trains with different abilities, and filling out Emi’s “book”, which is a fun little way of learning more about the world and Emi’s adventure. I just went straight through though.
So, in each chapter, Emi confronts a new gang, and in each chapter, she learns a new skill. Because of these constant additions, Denshattack never got old. First, you learn how to do all the regular tricks. Then it introduces rails and you learn to grind. Then it introduces tunnels and you learn to go off-track to do halfpipes. Then it introduces hanging rails and you learn to swing. Then it introduces magnets and you learn to flip upside down…and so on. The tracks are fast, and once more and more of these elements are added, the tracks become insane. I mean, that’s how I would describe the whole game—it’s insane. Tracks are fast, obstacles everywhere, you’re pulling combos, jumping, dodging, spinning, grabbing, choosing directions, switching tracks, nabbing collectibles, smashing enemies. Reacting constantly as Emi zooms around. Many tracks have big set pieces, so there might be a tsunami, kaiju, wrecking balls, a sawmill, all sorts of stuff going on around you that you can often interact with. And the boss battles are wild, multi-phased tracks oozing with creativity. You might think, “how can they do a boss battle in a skateboarding game?” That’s what I thought about Skate Story too, and it was badass the way it handled bosses. Same with Denshattack, but…insane.
The whole game is creatively stunning, the entire time. I kept thinking, “at some point, this will get repetitive” or “wow, no way they can top that,” but it never gets repetitive and nearly every track—certainly every chapter—contains awesome new things that you haven’t seen before. Finally, I appreciate how user-friendly the game is. Taking a cue from hard-as-nails platformers like Super Meat Boy, checkpoints are generous. Usually if you crash, you are set back just a few seconds, so you can fail, try again, see what you did wrong, fail, try again, fail, and succeed, and feel like you overcame something difficult. The game provides the feeling of mastery. Or if not mastery, at least solid proficiency.
This gets a strong, strong recommendation from me. So glad it was a day one release while I had a month of Game Pass!
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Monstrum (XBONE) by dkirschner |
| Rather dull horror roguelike. Still Wakes the Deep vibes. Wishes it was Alien Isolation. -------- Reliably scared Patrick, but also bored and frustrated Patrick (and me). |
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most recent entry: Wednesday 15 January, 2025
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Been playing this with Patrick, but we called it quits last night. I'd never heard of it when he pitched playing it. He likes to dig up old Xbox games. This one is from 2015 and is like a survival horror game. It's pretty basic and reminds me of several other games, but doesn't do any of its elements as good as they do.
The premise is that you're on a ship. Y'all have found something. Now the "something" y'all found (monsters, I guess) are killing everyone aboard. You need to escape. That is all. The story and setting reminded me of Still Wakes the Deep. There are three monsters, and you'll get one of them randomly each time you play. There seem to be a few randomized starting locations on the ship. So, you start, pick up a fuse and a flashlight (always in the first room), and head off wandering through the ship to find materials to get off board.
We found a life raft, a submarine, and a helicopter, but never got everything we needed to get any of them working. The monster always kills us before we get too far. All three monsters act the same, as far as we can tell. They regularly appear if you make noise (run, or a security camera spots you and sounds an alarm, slam doors). Usually you can hear them stomping around or breathing, but several times we turned a corner and there one was, quietly there to kill us.
The ship looks really dull, the environments are not interesting at all, I didn't find the gameplay to be much fun. The one thing that was fun was watching Patrick jump and scream when a monster would appear from nowhere and kill him. To Monstrum's credit, it produces some good jump scares and some tense moments before your inevitable death.
But these "hunter" monsters reminded me of the alien in Alien: Isolation. Not a fraction of the intelligence, so I never felt "stalked." I never felt that I could outwit the monsters. They are big dumb things that you avoid. And the "escape" goal reminded me of something like Friday the 13th, where you are trying to survive a rampaging Jason and find the keys and gasoline for a car so you can drive away. So, Monstrum is a hard pass, but it's got me wanting to revisit the games I've played that have some similar elements.
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