I’m replaying Shogun Showdown. It’s my favorite turn-based roguelite. It turns out that a one-dimensional game can be incredibly tactical and engaging. I also appreciate that it’s not ultra difficult like turn-based games have a tendency of being. The difficulty feels nice to me.

I went through a fucking spree earlier this week. Finished Metaphor: ReFantazio last weekend. It’s an RPG from Atlus, basically a fantasy Persona. Would recommend if you like those games. I also played through Lunistice, which is a short little platformer game. Only has a handful of levels, but fun and worth it for $5. Then I went into Mouthwashing blind and finished it in a single night. I knew absolutely nothing about that one except that I had only heard good things about it. Very good, but holy fucking shit is it heavy. Wanna recommend it, but it’s one of those games where you need to stare at a wall for a couple of hours to process everything it throws at you. And I’ve since started Shapez 2. An automation game like Factorio or Satisfactory, but it’s just Shapez. It makes the good chemicals in the brain go brrrrr. Would also recommend.

Assassin‘s Creed: Rogue

I‘m playing some AC Rogue and while I like the AC4 style gameplay… I had completely suppressed the memory of the shaking sprint camera, it bothers me sooo much

I’ve been playing a lot of SilkSong but I took a break today.

I loved Hollow Knight and I really really enjoy parts of Silk Song, but I am struggling with how punishing some of these fights and death runs are.

I’ve been playing through Jedi: Survivor. It runs poorly on PC, but is sometimes tolerable enough. It sucks to have that drawback, because the core game is expansive and a lot of fun once it gets going, with tons of exploration, tricky platforming, a variety of bosses, etc. I especially like that they managed to give one Jedi an even more bizarre set of combat stances even after the last game gave both double-edged and dual blade modes.

I’m also planning to pick up the Trails in the Sky remake. I played that game long after it came out and it somehow instilled a late sense of nostalgia in me. I tried recapturing that feeling with other JRPGs but few were living up to the story highs.

I just beat Scarlet Nexus, and it kinda sucks? I haven’t fully formulated my thoughts on it yet, but it’s probably one of the weirdest action and RPG blends I’ve played.

Like, you get that soulslike thing where enemies can two-shot you if you’re not careful, and you take damage while you’re stunned and lying face down (maybe this one is not a soulslike thing, but it belongs to the same absurd family tree) but you also get a lot of attacks and abilities, which kind of gives combat a somewhat DMC-like feel—mechanics like juggling, quick recovery, slammers, air dashing, and a mix of ranged and melee abilities.

The story is kinda ass, so the combat is simultaneously its selling point AND its undoing.

The by-the-numbers enemy encounters and levels don’t help, and neither does the length. That fucking final level felt endless—long corridor after corridor stuffed with enemies, then a 4-phase boss fight, then more corridors reusing environments from previous levels, then a drawn out boss fight that’s probably like 3 long phases sandwiched between a bunch of weird short phases and cutscenes.

Combat has innovative and cool ideas, but the whole package is too messy. I may come back to get the 100% at some point because there’s another character to play with, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

Titan quest 2! I love the genre but more recent titles have been lackluster or unengaging. I know it’s only in early access but I’m already liking it more than I liked D4 at any point

I’ve been playing Monster Sanctuary. It’s a Metroidvania Creature Collector that works surprisingly well.

I’m trying to get through the game before picking up Aethermancer, with is a Roguelike Creature Collector made by the same dev, and it launched a couple of weeks ago

Playing everything that just came out except Chronos.

Frogslayer, a touhou project game. Basically an very simple turn based jrpg with timing element. It’s cheap and fine but I probably won’t finish it

Strange Antiquities, the sequel to Strange Horticulture, this game is more logic puzzles than anything else, but is very satisfying for a certain type of gamer. I’ll finish it

Silksong, I beat the first real boss. I’ll probably shelve it for a while, I never beat Hollow Knight and it’s a bit harder than that. Excellent game but a bit much for me at the moment

Danganronpa V3, I’m working my way through the Spike Chunsoft catalog of games after the recent release of No time to Sleep for Katane or whatever it’s called, the AI Somnium Files spinoff. Dv3 is one of two spike Chunsoft games I didn’t finish. I replayed the first two games, they’re both great, second is better than I remember. Third doesn’t quite measure up but I will. Then it’s on to the Nonary games trilogy.

428 Shibuya Scramble, another Spike Chunsoft game but a standalone, also a pure VN as iposed to the others. Unique and wonderful but I’m stuck at the end, hard even with a walkthrough. I’ll finish it within the next week or two

Metal gear solid delta remake, it’s mgs3 with better graphics and modern controls, it’s not perfect but it’s great. Only cried three times. Game is also incredibly funny if you listen to all the codecs. I just climbed the epic ladder to the torchsong music so I’m in the last 25% or so. I’m deliberately drafting it out. I’ll finish it this week.

Fairy tale survivors something something, I think it’s a Chinese survivors game tsking inspiration from fairy tales, specifically Pinocchio. It’s ok, I need to put more time into it, God knows I’ve never actually finished a survivors game

Dead break, a FMV time loop scifi horror game, it’s pretty solid for 12 bucks, but I do have nostalgia for both FMV games and outrageously gory low budget mid 90s scifi schlock which this clearly references. I’ll finish it soon, I’m just dragging it out.

Monster train 2, it’s the best current card game thingy I think, I dunno, I play it to come down from the drugs cause it doesn’t require much from me. I’ll never finish it.

I dunno there’s probably some more I forgot.

Currently playing Tokyo Xtreme Racer on PC and doing another playthrough of Ghost of Tsushima on PS5

I’ve been playing BAZR on my steam deck. A rom hack of Super Mario 64 that turns it into a roguelike deck builder. The B A Z and R buttons, instead of doing their original things, now activate corresponding cards in your hand for actions like jumps, punches, etc with a limited number of uses. It was initially very intimidating and difficult but after a few runs I’m starting to get wins in and unlocking new decks and characters. That being said I 120 starred (100%) the original, and the same for SM64DS, so I’m quite familiar with the stages, and the game expects you to be.

Every run gives you a random starting stage, which you can change away from by collecting every star or paying coins to change stages (higher cost the more stars remain). Ideally you want those coins for buying and upgrading cards. Getting a star gives you 20 coins, plus whatever you collected along the way, plus a bonus/penalty based on how long it took you. Collect 16 stars and you’re taken to a final level consisting of all three bowser stages, back to back. Don’t run out of jumps!

For the price of free I’d recommend it for anyone who has previously played SM64. I don’t think it would be a good introductory version of the game. Link for the curious

CyberpunkDreams. It’s a text-based RPG about dealing crack in cincinnati to avoid doing honest labor (honest labor suuuuucks). It’s got the shitty f2p energy model but honestly I find that I can do pretty much whatever I set out to do (with the exception of entire questlines) in one session, with the caveat that I store actions as part of my IRL morning routine.

I just hustle grinded my way into some pipe bombs to fuck up the day of two goons out in the badlands who broke my ribs and made off with my employers money. My genuine hope is that this leads to steady employment as an enforcer, (to have something to put on my resume beyond crack dealer) but who knows.

Rift breaker. It’s Factorio but better looking. And probably not as complex or well loved, but it’s not shallow either!

Currently testing my aging reflexes against Furi, and kind of loving it. I’m up to the fourth fight, and each new fight throws something completely new at you. Love the art style and atmosphere as well.

I’ve been playing Noita, it is difficult but great fun so far. I don’t think I’ve really even scratched the surface of what there is either.