Golf Story is 317's favorite game, too bad he will never see this.

Summer 2022 time. Time to play some games this summer and get that list smaller. Re-did the list. Took the games I played last year off and added the new games.

Current List

Switch
Mario and Rabbids
Starlink: Battle for Atlas
Crash Bandicoot: N Sane Trilogy
Bug Fables


PS4
Uncharted - A Lost Legacy

Steam
The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit
Batman Arkham Series
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel
Dyscourse
Inside - Complete
It takes Two
Kentucky Route Zero - In Progress
Life is Strange 2
Life is Strange: Before the Storm
Limbo
Ori and the Blind Forest
Portal
Portal 2
Psychonauts
Telltate: Game of Thrones
Telltate: Guardians of the Galaxy
The Stanley Parable

Already checked one off of the list.




So this game is apparently a successor to Limbo but I didn't realize that until after I finished the game. Seems like its not really that related so I don't think it ruined Limbo for me. Inside is an atmosphere heavy 2D side scroller that is pretty heavy on puzzles and trial and error. It is not an overly long game (took me about 4 hours from start to finish).

The atmosphere is beautiful. It was such a creepy and unique world and there was always a story being told in the background even if it didn't relate to what you were doing in the game. Such a dark world full of mystery and honestly that is such a big part of the games popularity.

The gameplay was fine. It wasn't clunky or anything, the puzzles were pretty clever but not overly hard but sometimes you had to be creative to come up with the solution. Nothing felt unfair but it never got that complicated either.

In the end I enjoyed the game and would recommend it, but I think it may have been a tad bit overrated.

Minor Story Spoilers	+
I think there could have been a little more digging into the story. I am not sure the connection from the beginning chase scenes to the final discovery in the lab.

Excited to get back to gaming. not sure what I am going to play next. Leaning towards Rabbids or Crash for the Switch. I got about 1/2 way through Kentucky Route Zero last year but not sure if I'll finish it. It was kind of dragging.

Holy shit I have opinions about so many of these games, some really great times ahead of you!

N Sane Trilogy - this has been covered a bunch in Vern's thread, but I LOVE this series! It has a ton of nostalgia for me. The first game is definitely the hardest, while still doable, and all three are very fun.

Life is Strange things - Before the Storm is fantastic! Really beefs up Chloe's character and maintains the emotional resonance without overstaying its welcome. LiS 2 isn't as good as 1 overall, but still enjoyable. The ending of 2 hit harder for me, though. Captain Spirit is fun and improves the main game experience, so definitely play it when recommended in the narrative.

Arkham Series - the combat is so fucking fun. Asylum is much more linear, but worth playing in order to appreciate the mechanics improvements over time (plus some of the boss fights in Asylum are fantastic).

It Takes Two - I'm maybe 2/3 of the way through (playing with Goblin) and LOVE the variety of gameplay and levels. It's wild how many different mechanics they've included, especially since so many are around for such a short time. Story is cute, fun to play with a partner so hopefully Nicole's into it.

LIMBO - definitely a "masterpiece" of game design. I didn't get super into it but can't argue with how well made it is. Pretty short.

Ori - FANTASTIC game! Not too hard outside of the escape sequences if you platform and just so absolutely beautiful. Ori feels wonderful to control.

Portals - I like 1 more than 2 which I think is controversial, but these are some of the best games ever made with fantastic level design and genuine humor. Make you use your noggin.

Psychonauts - I'm assuming this is the second? I enjoyed it, but less than I expected given all the hype. The controls are a bit wonky and having to constantly switch abilities is annoying. Some pretty creative level design and good writing/story.

Stanley Parable - honestly, just download this now and fuck around in it. It's great to pick up and play for 20-30 mins to explore everything it has to offer.

If I were you and getting to play all of these for the first time, I'd run straight for Portal, Ori, and It Takes Two, but damn you really can't go wrong.

Might make one of these too! Would love some recs from all the unplayed games I have and somewhere to track and review.

Yeahh I'm in the same boat with Kentucky Route Zero, it really only gets less accessible with every chapter. I got through 4/5 chapters but couldn't be bothered to finish the last one, the game is just way too abstract for me

Some great games on there! Think you'll def enjoy Before the Storm especially

So many good games

This was how I felt about playing Crash 1. Play Stations big platformer mascot, one of Nicole's favorite games I was pretty excited about it. And I am going to harp on some of the things that drove me absolutely nuts about this game but overall it was fine. There were definitely times I enjoyed playing it and enjoyed the challenge but growing up loving easy baby mario games, this was not exactly my cup of tea.

I played this game as part of the N-Sane Trilogy on switch so the graphics were upscaled and looked pretty good. The first couple levels were good but then it felt like the difficulty fell off of a cliff. I think my biggest frustration with this game was the lack of depth perception when it came to the jumps, specifically when you were going forward (towards the screen), the bridge levels were some of my least favorite and jumping forward was such a pain. The side scrollers were great and I didn't mind the challenge as much on that. The other thing was the hit boxes just seemed so inconsistent and the fact in a lot of cases you died after one hit caused for a lot of frustration deaths that I felt were unfair.

The world progression was fun, Starting in the jungle, going through the village, and Cortex's factory before climbing the mountain all felt fluid. The story was okay, the story as a whole made sense but I feel like it could have benefitted from a few more cut scenes, especially when introducing the bosses. Of course I don't think the cinematography of video games had really taken off yet because even like Mario 64 didn't have much in the way of cut scenes either.

The bosses were fine. I thought they were all pretty creative characters but it was really just trial and error. Especially with only one life, though on a lot of them I sucked so much I eventually got an additional hit, they got kind of annoying dying quick. The final boss was a little underwhelming (though again the hit boxes were whack on those potions) but still felt satisfying to finally "beat the game".

My original plan was to try to 100% everything, or atleast get all the gems. For those who have never played it, you earn a gem by breaking all the boxes in a level. Except there is another caveat, you cannot die on the level at all. This makes things very difficult considering the levels are on the longer side with 2-3 minutes being on the lower side. I had gotten 5-6 gems when I finally got all the boxes on a 4+ minute level only to die on the last jump. I was still in the first island "easy levels" so I decided that I was not going to get the gems. Part of what makes it even more frustrating is there is no way to "restart" the level. In order to satisfy the requirement for the gem you have to exit to hubworld and re-enter the level for it to be your first try. I think I would have been more willing to attempt it otherwise but the 30 seconds to re-load the level really adds up. It made me think back to Celeste. This and the forward jumping were my two biggest gripes of the game. Thankfully as I have started playing two, this requirement has switched back to only getting all the boxes.

Overall, I am happy that I played the origin story to Crash as I am enjoying number two so far, but anyone that wants to play it I recommend just playing the base game and not focusing on getting it to 100%. It is a fun series with unique ideas like the boxes, and the 2D/3D hybrid that make it a good time.

I'm a fan of the Uncharted games and I have played all four.

Haven't played A Lost Legacy, but if it's good I might actually want to play it.

Dyl you pretty much said everything I said about Crash 1 haha. I’m glad I finally beat it but what a bitch. Getting all the gems seems like an absolutely grueling and un-fun impossible feat so I think it’s totally justified to not go for it. Neither did I. Just accept that and you’ll have more fun. I don’t even go for all the boxes. I just get as many as I can but don’t stress if I missed one. Crash 2 was a lot better than 1.

I’m on Crash 4 now which I’m enjoying so far too!

Finished Crash 2, will post something this weekend on it. Much better. Gonna start 3 soon (Nicole stole my copy)

Started Mass Effect, only about an hour in but the story seems super fun and lots of dialogue options to enhance the story. Unfortunately the legendary edition has shitty controller support so I have to play on mouse and keyboard which has been challenging.

are you playing with an xbox controller? I don't remember having any problems with that

I rly should pick that game back up at some point

I think part of the issue is it being on origin. I looked up the problem and it seems to be pretty common. There seemed to be a fix where you can bring it in to steam and do it that way but I haven’t tried it yet.

ahh yeah I launched it via Steam