cobysev

Long time no see! I really need to stop promising to write about specific games. I get too in my head about it, then I feel obligated to write instead of wanting to write. This is supposed to be a fun personal writing project, not work!

But enough about me. This is a space for discussing games! And as promised, today's discussion is on Black Mesa, a fan remake of Half-Life that was officially sanctioned by its creator, Valve.

The Black Mesa project was started in late 2004, shortly after the release of Half-Life 2, using Valve's new Source engine to rebuild the original Half-Life game from the ground up. It would be 16 years before the game was fully completed, although you could play most of it online for many years.

With new advancements in the Source engine over the years, the fan team kept rebuilding and enhancing sections of the game. Eventually, Valve stepped in and allowed them to sell the game commercially so they could afford the commercial license for their newer Source engines. The fan team never intended to make money off this game, but a source of income did help them keep building and improving the game.

Black Mesa is still available on Steam for $20, and I highly recommend supporting the team and buying it over the original game. Valve makes tons of money with their Steam store; they don't need the income from their old game.

So let's get into this game. Apologies in advance; I played this in 4K resolution, which resized everything appropriately except for subtitles. If there are subs, they're really tiny near the bottom of the screenshot. Open the image in a new window to see its full resolution and read the subtitles.

Black Mesa opens with you riding a tram line deep into an underground research facility in the New Mexico desert. You're playing as Gordon Freeman, a Theoretical Physicist with a PhD from MIT. You're running late to work today.

Side-note: I always saw Gordon as a much older man (I was a teenager when Half-Life first released), but now in my early 40s, finding out Gordon is only 27 makes me feel super old. He's so young! >_<

This game's opening was revolutionary for early games, as it played out like a film. You're stuck on this single-car tram for a few minutes, just taking in the sights of the research facility while opening credits slowly fade in and out. This was unheard of for a game in the late '90s and really pulled you into the world of the game. And this remake has so much more detail than the original game! Here's the same scene shown from Half-Life and Black Mesa, respectively:

In a "blink-and-you'll-miss-it" scene, you pass by another tram on the left with a creepy-looking government man, or "G-Man" staring at you. He's wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase. With all the scientists and security guards running around this place, this one G-Man stands out. This mysterious figure is important later in the game, but I'll let you discover that story for yourself.

If you're trying to find G-Man in the opening, you'll see him right before you approach a hazardous chemical spill. If you see this, you just missed him:

Eventually, you'll reach your stop where a security guard will come to let you off. He'll make a comment about you running late. If you linger around other scientists and security guards at the beginning of the game, you'll hear some interesting and funny chats. You can also interact with everyone, although some people won't have time to chat with you.

You enter the research facility (see main screenshot) and are instructed at the front desk to hurry up and get ready. Everyone's been waiting on you. You go to the locker rooms and don the H.E.V. suit, or Hazardous Environment Suit. This orange and black suit will protect you from most damage, heal you if you're injured, and will give you a HUD (Heads-Up Display) with some information about your health and weaponry.

Its protection status is on a scale of 1-100 and you can recharge it at H.E.V. charging stations. You can also find Health charging stations, which will recharge your suit up to 100 health. Think of H.E.V. as armor and Health as... well... health. You'll be fine if your H.E.V. drops to zero, but the game is over if your health runs out.

After making your way deeper into the research facility, you run into several other scientists who give you more information on today's research project. You are doing an analysis on a sample and are instructed to go down to the test chamber to get started.

One of the scientists leads the way, where the two of you run into Eli Vance (on the left below). Eli wasn't in the original Half-Life game, but he is an important character in the sequel who apparently worked alongside Gordon at the Black Mesa Research Facility, so Black Mesa chose to introduce you to him before the game gets rolling.

There's a malfunction in their equipment, so Eli and the other scientist stay behind to fix the machines. They complain that there's been so many issues lately and they can't explain why. They instruct you to go ahead without them.

You run into two more scientists at the giant blast door to the test chamber. They're eagerly awaiting your arrival, but are also worried about the test potentially going wrong. They have the utmost confidence in your abilities though, and encourage you to do well today. They use dual retinal scanners to open the door for you.

You find yourself in a giant room with a Mass Spectrometer filling the center of the room. Once inside, a voice over a loudspeaker instructs you to get up on the catwalk and start the rotors from a computer so they can get the test going.

The sample is brought into the room through an elevator in the floor and you're instructed to push its cart into the beam of the Mass Spectrometer.

Once you add the sample to the beam, everything goes haywire! A Resonance Cascade occurs! The scientists feared this was possible, but the chances were so slim, they didn't think it could actually happen. And yet...

In a flash of green, Gordon finds himself in an alien world. The Resonance Cascade has opened a portal to another dimension!

Some intelligent alien creatures approach Gordon, speaking in an unintelligible language. We'll later learn these creatures are called Vortigaunts.

In another flash of green, Gordon finds himself back inside the test chamber, which has been destroyed by the Resonance Cascade. People are dead, the lab is destroyed, and all sorts of alien creatures are portaling through the dimensional rift to Earth. You run into Eli and he instructs you to get to the surface so you can contact someone and let them know they're all trapped deep underground.

As a scientist, you're not especially trained to fight with heavy weaponry, so you make due with a crowbar you find on the ground, fighting through invading alien creatures on your way to the surface. Along the way, you'll come across the infamous Headcrab, which leaps at people's heads and munches on their brain, turning them into walking zombies.

There are also Barnacles, which attach to the ceiling and drop a super-sticky tongue of sorts that will grab you and drag you up to their awaiting mouth. Be careful; their lure is hard to notice if you're running around in dark hallways.

Then there's the Houndeye, a multi-eyed alien dog of sorts with a super-sonic bark that will injure you, even from a distance. And many more creatures to find along the way!

If you're paying attention, you might just run into G-Man again, who observes you curiously before calmly disappearing down a corridor. Who is this man?!

Once you get close to the surface, you learn the military has arrived and has orders to clean the entire site - terminating aliens and humans alike! They're intent on covering up the Resonance Cascade! If you manage to hold your own against the Marines, you'll earn yourself a nasty reputation and the military will call in Black Ops to take care of you once and for all. These guys are extremely fast and deadly:

Having nowhere left to go, you fight your way back into the underground facility and search for other survivors...

Why am I playing the fan remake instead of the original Half-Life game? Well, because Black Mesa was built not only to be easier to play through for modern gamers, but it also fixed plot and story inconsistencies, and flows better than the original. It's not just a visually-improved version of the game, but they rearranged parts of the story and gameplay to better introduce modern gamers to the world of Half-Life.

'Cause let's be honest, back in the late '90s to early 2000s, before games had standardized controls across platforms, FPS games were kind of the Wild West, with their control schemes varying from game to game. They were great fun in my childhood, but playing them nowadays is difficult and frustrating when there are much better controls in modern games.

So if you want to get into the Half-Life franchise and you're not sure where to start, Black Mesa is a great introduction to the series! The main games are Half-Life, Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode 1, and Half-Life 2: Episode 2. The other games in the series are either expansions, multiplayer-only arenas, or spin-offs.

One could argue that the new VR game Half-Life: Alyx is part of the main series, but you spend the entire game playing as Alyx Vance, a side character from the series (and daughter of Eli). However, from what I've heard, it does advance the plot of the Half-Life franchise a little bit, so that sounds like it could be main game content to me.

Also, as I mentioned in my last post, the Portal games are set in the same universe as Half-Life. Their Aperture Science company is the competitor to Black Mesa; although the Resonance Cascade led to events that would negatively affect both companies. Portal and its sequel take place after the first Half-Life game.

I was actually in the middle of a Half-Life review (spoiler for my next post!) and I got a new Steam Deck in the mail, which thoroughly distracted me for the past few days. That, and I threw my back out, so sitting comfortably at my gaming PC has been impossible lately. Instead, I've been lying in bed, enjoying some of my Deck-ready games like the free Valve game Aperture Desk Job. The screenshots for this post will all be 1280x800, the default resolution for the Steam Deck.

As you may know, Steam (and the Steam Deck) is owned by Valve, the company behind the Half-Life and Portal games, which both take place in the same universe. Aperture Desk Job is a short Portal-esque game they made for the Steam Deck, which teaches you all the controls and functions of the new portable gaming device. While also having a fun, comedic game to play.

The game opens up with a pre-recorded speech from Cave Johnson (voiced by J.K. Simmons), the owner of Aperture Science, welcoming you to the company. That's a portrait of him on the right:

Your view traverses down through various floors of the company as he espouses all the wonderful things that you can do for Aperture Science. After all, you are a gifted scientist who will save humanity with your genius!

...Or not. Turns out they were playing the wrong recording.

It turns out, you're just a lowly product inspector. You're introduced to Grady, a personality core overseeing your new position in the company. Grady is excessively chatty.

He says you're going to be inspecting... something. It's not written on his chart, so he moves on to your inspection desk. Look familiar? It has all the same buttons and joysticks and touch pads as your Steam Deck, including the four buttons on the underside of the device (the L4, L5, R4, and R5 buttons)

Your first product comes down the line and it's a puke-green toilet with a white lid. (Incidentally, it looks EXACTLY like the toilet in my childhood home, right down to the color scheme!)

The board in the back seems pretty self-explanatory, so you start pressing buttons in sequence to go through the whole testing cycle. You fill the tank with water, test pressure on the seat, flush the toilet, then move it down the line.

Grady notices one of the toilets is burning and decides to ignore it and continue testing regardless.

Shenanigans ensue and the burning toilet ends up filled with live ammunition, firing rounds all over the room. Which gives Grady an idea.

Six months later... Grady returns to show off his new invention: the Aperture Science Turret! (See first screenshot) It almost immediately breaks, but he claims that was just the initial prototype and brings out the actual turret he's been working on - the Mark Two. He asks you to take a picture of him with it, for the history books. Which teaches you how to take screenshots with the Steam Deck.

Grady aims it away from you and asks you to test it out. He opens up all the panels on your desk and tells you to go wild, pressing absolutely everything.

You proceed to shoot up the entire warehouse, with enthusiastic encouragement from Grady. Once all the ammunition is spent, Grady comments on how 90% of the features didn't even work. Then police sirens can be heard in the distance...

Grady quickly assigns you to take the blame for the whole incident, while he runs off to "streamline" the turret.

18 months later... you're released from prison on probation, and Grady shows up to claim you. Note that this is an "Aperture Incarceration." Meaning that Aperture Science has their own in-house prison that they can keep law-breaking employees locked up in.

You're required to sign a prisoner release form, which requires 3 forms of identification - vocal recitation of your name, typed name, and signed name. Again, showing off more features of the Steam Deck, including the microphone, on-screen keyboard, and touch screen.

Oh, and it turns out, Grady is now licensed to be a probation officer. He studied for his license while you were incarcerated. So he takes you under his charge and escorts you, and your desk, back to your station. He's very excited to show off the Mark Three version of the turret.

When everything seems to go off without a hitch, Grady informs you he arranged a meeting with Cave Johnson to show off the turret. If all goes smoothly, the two of you could be rich beyond your wildest dreams!

But when does a plot with Grady go smoothly? I'll let you play through the rest to find out what happens.

I enjoyed this little sub-plot going on between the floorboards, where a bunch of praying mantises discover electricity, then rapidly advance as a civilization over the months this game takes place.

Even though Aperture Desk Job is the latest game in the Half-Life/Portal franchise, it actually takes place in an alternate universe. Valve has confirmed that it happens in the "Portal expanded universe," a concept created in the "Perpetual Testing Initiative" DLC for Portal 2. As far as a time frame goes, it's been speculated that it takes place sometime in the '80s-'90s, if this universe's Aperture Science lines up with the main timeline.

Which is kind of a shame, because it was a great opportunity for Valve to introduce more lore to the Half-Life universe. But at least they're continuing to write new stuff for their famous franchises instead of completely abandoning them. COUGHHalf-Life3COUGH

Still, this was a fun little game with plenty of comedy, an opportunity to control an Aperture Science turret to shoot up stuff, and also taught you all the various functions of the Steam Deck. The whole game took maybe 40 minutes to play through, so it's a pretty decent tutorial for the Steam Deck without being a nuisance to sit through.

My first Steam Deck came with this game already at the top of my library, but you can find it on the Steam Store for free. I don't know how well it would play on the desktop, since it's reliant on Steam Deck specific controls, but if you can re-map all the buttons to a controller or keyboard, more power to you!

On the surface, MiSide looks like a dating simulation game. And I very nearly passed right over it in the Steam store. But then I caught the "psychological horror" tag and thought, 'That's an odd tag to put on a dating sim.' At worst, maybe it's commentary on dating sims as a whole; letting you experience a loving relationship with the perfect partner that you may never find in the real world. But at best...

This game just released on December 10th, just over a month ago, and it was currently for sale on Steam, so I figured, why not? I'll give it a shot and see what it's all about. And it's even better than I imagined.

By the way, I want to apologize in advance for the subtitles in these screenshots. They moved so fast, they were already swiping away at the beginning of the line as the end of the line appeared. So some of these subtitles might not be very legible. Hopefully you'll still understand the context.

MiSide starts out a little meta; you're hanging out in your bedroom when you get a text from a friend, suggesting you download this cool new game. As a former IT guy, I was internally screaming at the fact your character just installs a random file someone texted him, especially with a vague clickbait message like "check this new version!" But... there wouldn't be a game if you didn't. So you install the game and check it out.

You boot up the game on your phone and are greeted by Mita, the protagonist, who asks for your name. You can type any name you want and she'll use it to address you throughout the game.

She asks for help tidying up her home a bit, and you assist her in a mini game.

You play more mini games with Mita, helping her cook, find lost items, and even earning money in-game to buy her nice things. Time passes in the "real world," and after about a month of playing this phone game, Mita suddenly shows a desire to meet in person. After a dramatic pause, she just announces that now you're together! Huh?!

You look up from your phone and you're no longer in your bedroom, but in a familiar apartment...

You can explore the empty apartment if you like. I especially enjoyed the "Love Note" notebook; a cutesy version of the Death Note. Also, some of the books on the bookshelves were a bit concerning...

In Mita's bedroom, you find a machine hooked up to a platform. The whiteboard on the wall gives you directions to get it updated and functioning.

You get it running and it opens a portal on the platform. Having nothing else to do, you step into it...

You find yourself in a creepy, dark bedroom. The machine tells you to go hit the breaker in the living room, then track down four batteries to get the portal back online.

Things start to get a little weird. The rooms have a nasty habit of changing when you go through doorways, and creepy scribblings start appearing on the walls.

When you get the machine working again, you jump on the portal pad and find yourself in a normal bedroom. When you step away from the pad, you might find yourself jump-scared by Mita suddenly being right behind you.

She's so grateful to see you! She explains she built the machine to bring you into the game world with her, but you accidentally ended up in another version of the game. But none of that matters now, because you're finally here!

At this point, you start getting some different paths you can follow. I tried my best to explore every option, but some choices required you pick one of two options and forced you down that path. So my gameplay may not be exactly the same as yours, but the overall game probably went down the same path. Probably.

I helped Mita cook some food, got drugged by some "love sauce" which made me sick, and Mita forced me to take some pills to help me recover.

She also wanted to play games with me. I picked a card game, but I kept hearing an unsettling banging noise coming from her wardrobe.

I wouldn't drop it, and when I went to investigate, she threw herself in front of the closet door, desperate to change my mind.

Finally, Mita grows tired of everything and her personality shifts. She decides, with an evil grin, to let me check out the wardrobe... if I dare. She snaps her fingers and the room goes dark.

Suddenly, I found myself in a horror game, terrified of what's lurking in the dark. The wardrobe had a door inside it, but it was locked, so I grabbed a flashlight and explored the dark apartment, looking for a key. All while terrified of being jump-scared by Mita.

I found the key and unlocked the door in the wardrobe, to find stairs leading down into a basement. In one small room, there's a studio with a camera, where it looks like Mita was broadcasting herself on an overlay of the apartment for the mini games. You can see yourself on the screen when you step in front of the camera.

And in a locked cage under the stairs is... Mita. Except not the same Mita.

You help this Mita escape (dubbed "Kind Mita") and she sends you on a journey through multiple versions of the game and its backdoors, trying to find a way to stop "Crazy Mita" and get yourself home. You even run into many other versions of Mita, some that are exceptionally fun...

And some that are quite terrifying...

...As well as a variety of different looks and personalities. Cool Mita, a.k.a. "Cappie" (because of her cool cap) is by far my favorite Mita. She's funny, playful, and a bit flirty.

This was a unique twist on the horror genre. I haven't beaten it yet, but I've been enjoying it thus far. I'm still not sure where the plot is heading, but I've heard that there are at least three endings that have been discovered, so it will be interesting to see where my initial run lands me. Here's hoping I can survive and escape the game world!

Don't worry, I'm alive! I took the holidays off and traveled to visit family, then had a hard time getting back into posting about the games I've been playing, so I apologize for my nearly 2 months of silence. I actually have a bunch of games lined up that I want to write about, so hopefully you'll see more posts in the coming weeks.

Despite setting this game to 4K resolution, it apparently only stretched to 1080p, so these screenshots are smaller than my usual ones. I'm sure 90% of you won't even notice a difference, but I'm sorry for the 10% who like my 4K screenshots.

A Way Out is a brilliant 2-player co-op game about two inmates escaping from prison and seeking revenge against a common enemy. To be honest, I originally thought the whole premise of the game was just to work with a partner to devise an escape route from prison. But there's an actual story with some deep lore and intrigue, and escaping from prison is only the first chapter of the game.

This game is ONLY 2-player, so you'll need a partner to play. It's been sitting in my Steam library for a few years now, until I finally convinced a buddy of mine to play with me. The first thing you do is pick which character you want to play as. It just so happens that Vincent's personality mirrors mine perfectly, and Leo's personality mirrors my friend exactly, so this was an easy pick for both of us.

The game opens in 1972, with Vincent arriving to prison while Leo looks on from within the fence.

The first thing you'll notice is that you get a split-screen view, even if playing online with someone. This allows each player to explore their area independently, while also being able to see what the other is up to. Which is very convenient when you need to work in tandem from different locations. You also end up occupying cells right next to each other, which is advantageous for working together to escape.

Almost immediately, Leo is cornered by some thugs in the yard who were paid by a guy named Harvey to kill him. While trying to see what's going on, Vincent finds himself thrown into the action and he ends up helping Leo fight off the thugs until the guards come to break it up.

Later in the cafeteria, the leader of the thugs makes another attempt at Leo's life, this time landing Leo and Vincent in the infirmary. While there, Leo tries to convince Vincent to cover for him while he sneaks around the offices. Vincent wants no part of it, but begrudgingly helps to avoid getting them both thrown in the hole.

Leo manages to steal a chisel and toss it onto a ledge outside the window, then crawls back into his hospital bed before being noticed.

Later in the yard, Vincent approaches Leo, asking him what his plan for escape is. He asks what Leo plans to do to Harvey, which sets off Leo.

Turns out, Vincent also has a bone to pick with Harvey, and he's willing to escape with Leo if it means they can help each other track Harvey down.

The first step is to retrieve the chisel from the window ledge. Leo gets himself and Vincent on roof repair duty, then distracts the guards while Vincent climbs to the window ledge.

Chisel in hand, the two go back to their cells, where they take turns chipping away at their cell walls. Turns out, there's a hole in the wall behind the toilet, covered with metal bars. Some quick chipping at the concrete around the bars (while one person keeps an eye out for the patrolling guards) and you're both free from your cells!

You come across a drop that's way too far to jump, and too dark to see. With no way forward, you return to your cells to prepare the next step in your escape plan.

Soon, you're both volunteering for laundry duty, where you cause a commotion so you can sneak into a back room and throw some sheets through the vents. Now you can make a rope to climb down!

You also grab a couple flashlights. Now you're ready to continue! That night, you sneak out again and climb down the deep shaft into the sewers.

On the other end of the tunnels, you find your only way out... a tall narrow shaft upwards.

Vincent convinces Leo to climb it together with him by interlocking their arms and walking up the shaft. This can be tricky if your game partner isn't very coordinated. I highly recommend doing a countdown for each step or you're likely to fall.

The two get to the top... only to find a metal grate over the hole. No way to get through this without a wrench. So... you go back to your cells once more.

The next day, you volunteer to help in the workshop so you can sneak a wrench out. Again, you need to work together to sneak a tool out without being caught.

Later that day Leo gets a visit from his wife. He lets her know he's about to escape with Vincent, reassuring her that Vincent is legit and they're both going after Harvey together. It's only a little longer until they can be together again, along with his young boy who doesn't yet know his daddy is in prison.

Vincent is also waiting for a visit, but no one shows. Asking to make a phone call, he calls his very angry and very pregnant wife, who is pissed he's still planning to go after Harvey when he's about to become a father. Now we're getting some emotional stakes for each character!

That night, the two plan their final escape attempt from prison. It just so happens to be storming out, which provides some noise cover in certain areas.

The two are almost free when they're spotted! Sirens blare through the night and the prison goes on full alert! Vincent and Leo run off into the woods, where a mad foot chase (and car and boat chase!) ensues. And so ends the first chapter of this game...

This was truly an incredible game! Escaping from prison was fun, but also the slowest part of the game. The story gets more intense as you go on, and the stakes for both characters get higher and higher as they bond while plotting revenge against this Harvey guy.

The game has two endings and it's up to you and your partner to decide how it ends. I wish I could gush about the ending because it's just fantastic storytelling, and the gameplay is so intense and emotional. I was in tears by the end! It's definitely one of those games I wish I could wipe from my memory so I could play it fresh again.

You can play this online with strangers, but I highly recommend playing with a friend, as the personal connection makes the game much more interesting. Only one of you needs to own the game; the other person can install the trial version, then play through the entire game with the person who owns the full game. You will only earn achievements if you own the full game though, so if that's your thing, you should buy it.

Another great game by Hazelight Studios is It Takes Two, which I will probably be reviewing soonish. It's also a 2-player co-op only game, about a divorcing couple who are forced to work together in a fantastical version of their home when they find themselves transformed into tiny dolls!

Their studio is also about to drop a new game in March called Split Fiction, which is, again, a 2-player co-op only game. Sounds like it's about two writers who get trapped in their own fantasy/sci-fi stories and have to work together to escape with their memories intact. I'll need to check that out when it drops!

Get To Work is a tongue-in-cheek game about climbing the corporate ladder. But it's more metaphorical than literal, as you spend the game on your hands and knees, rollerblading your way up difficult obstacles (and falling back to the ground level) just for the slightest recognition in the workforce.

It's one of those climbing games, like Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy, or Only UP!, or A Difficult Game About Climbing, except you're on rollerblades instead of climbing with your own two hands. This game just released two days ago, so it's very new.

I like the title screen of this game. It's designed to look like a business magazine, while showing off the main character and your game options. Your character reminds me of the political activist Charlie Kirk, with his tiny face on a large head.

I also love the article call-out for Sam Bankman-Fried. In case you're not familiar, he was considered the poster boy for all things crypto, having founded FTX cryptocurrency exchange. That is, until FTX went bankrupt and he was arrested and charged for fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering. As of this year, he's serving 25 years in prison and was forced to pay back $11 billion.

Get To Work opens in your bedroom, with you staring at a poster encouraging you to climb that corporate ladder. So you set off, with rollerblades on your hands, feet, knees, and elbows. There is no walking or standing in this game; you rollerblade everywhere.

You reach your first room of obstacles, with the goal being to show up for your first interview. You may notice that there's a clock in the top left corner, giving you a subtle tracker for how long you struggle throughout this game.

A narrator explains the jist of this game for you, essentially claiming that NFTs were more far-fetched than a game about rollerblading up the corporate ladder. If you can't read the narration subtitles at the bottom of this screenshot, open the image in a new window to see its full 4K resolution.

Hidden around each room are these spinning logos for The Grindset, a podcast about business. They have short (usually funny) discussions about corporate life and what you need to know to succeed in today's work climate. As if the climb wasn't hard enough, most of them are in hard-to-reach areas. But there are three achievements for collecting these, so grab every one you can find!

Here's an excerpt of unprompted narration. It sounds silly and preposterous, but is also real in America and kind of sad. Two of my close friends are in this exact situation right now, having spent the past year job-hunting and still not having any luck being seriously considered. And one of them has a Harvard degree!

I'm almost to the interview...

You finally get to your first interview, only to find that it's not going to be that easy. We've gone so far metaphorical now, it's wrapping back around to literal!

You finally get an offer letter!

...Only to be rejected and fall all the way back to the start.

Thankfully, you have a family member who can hook you up with a warehouse job in the meantime. So you set out again to climb a new corporate ladder.

The game starts to get really sassy at this point. I got stuck in this room for about an hour, and the more I fell to the ground, the more the narrator had to say about it.

Eventually, the game gave me a GIVE UP button to press, for when I'm "feeling like this game is too much and it's time to give up." They also started mentioning shoes a lot, claiming it would probably be in my best interest to buy a pair and just walk my way to the top instead.

I finally made it to my first pay raise! ...Only to learn it wasn't feasible at this time and instead I received a pizza party. Goddamn, that's too real. But at least there's a manager role that I can promote to, so I'm not done yet, right? RIGHT?

I finally made it to the promotion to manager! Woo!

Only to have a brick wall literally pop up in my face, proclaiming that a college degree is required. Which I apparently don't have.

This was the first time my character seemed to be in real despair. Normally if he fell, he'd immediately pop back up and be ready to go. But after this one, he just lied there, unmoving. I had to jiggle the controls to get him back up.

There was a hallway off to one side that led to an unpaid internship, the only option left for a warehouse worker with no degree. Sigh.

After climbing this next room of obstacles and getting accepted for the unpaid internship, I finally had to call it a night. This humor in this game was starting to get too real and painful. And I spent an hour and a half just to get this far! You will eventually work your way up to CEO before the game ends, so I still have a long way to go.

By the way, I couldn't resist making this. 🤣

LocoCycle, despite its appearance, is not actually a racing game, but an action/adventure fighting game that happens to take place on the open road.

LocoCycle opens with a live action B-movie cinematic. We get a few of these cinematic cutscenes throughout the game. We see important military leaders from China, Russia, Africa, and America, along with a ton of other guests in elegant formal wear, gathering at a secret formal event in Nicaragua. It's a gallery held by the arms dealer Big Arms, to show off two new motorcycles: the sentient combat bikes S.P.I.K.E. and I.R.I.S., with advanced AI and powerful weaponry. The bikes will be auctioned off to the highest bidder.

Yes, that is James Gunn in the background. He plays the host of this event, showing off the two bikes. The girl in blue (Lisa Foiles) actually performed the AI voice for I.R.I.S., and S.P.I.K.E. was voiced by Robert Patrick, the guy who played the T-1000 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

A thunderstorm starts brewing and the party is moved indoors. Some armed guards are asked to move the bikes to the garage, but while one steps away to take a call, I.R.I.S. is hit by lightning!

We're then introduced to I.R.I.S.' mechanic, Pablo, who is asked to repair her. Her circuitry is fried and she needs to be fixed up before the auction begins. Pablo only speaks Spanish throughout the entire game, which makes it impossible for him to communicate with I.R.I.S., whose database of 5,000 languages is now corrupted. If you don't know Spanish, make sure you turn on subtitles!

While Pablo is fixing her up, I.R.I.S. scans the magazine he was reading, then watches a commercial on the nearby TV about a Freedom Rally being held at the fairgrounds in Scottsburg, Indiana. She's inspired by the ad's tagline: "Live Free. Ride Alive."

She decides she needs to find this rally in Scottsburg, IN and she invites Pablo to tag along. Problem is, Pablo's pant leg is caught on I.R.I.S.' rear wheel frame. When she takes off, he finds himself dragged along!

The rest of the game is I.R.I.S. racing to find Scottsburg, IN while dragging Pablo on the pavement behind her. That trip is over 3,000 miles long! I hope Pablo is wearing some durable britches.

I.R.I.S. breaks out of the Big Arms facility and is quickly pursued by men in black suits and heavy firearms.

You'll quickly notice that I.R.I.S. drives on her own, and you only control her other functions. You can steer her back and forth, attack with front or rear wheels (Pablo himself usually being the rear-wheel attack), shoot unlimited rounds from her forward guns, and boost forward for a limited time.

Despite occasionally aiding I.R.I.S. in combat, Pablo insists that he's being dragged along against his will. He begs for help from anyone who comes after them, but is mostly ignored as they do everything they can to take down I.R.I.S.

There are several types of enemies you'll encounter. The armed men in black being the most prevalent, but there are also guys with jet packs, helicopters, and even rocket launchers. I.R.I.S. can counter all their attacks with quick-time events, including throwing rockets back at their launcher.

S.P.I.K.E. himself will come for I.R.I.S., but she refuses to go home with him. So he resolves to take her out and you get a boss fight with him.

When S.P.I.K.E. realizes that Pablo is a "powerful human ally" in I.R.I.S.' escape, he decides to get his own human companion. He grabs the first lady he finds at a campground, who willingly goes along with him despite being dragged on her back for miles of gravel and pavement.

Oh, and I'm pretty sure I.R.I.S. is just holding onto Pablo; he's not actually stuck. Because she can throw him like a ninja star to attack ranged enemies! He always boomerangs back to her and ends up with his pant leg "stuck" on her again.

Because I.R.I.S. is technically malfunctioning, there are times when she might shut down completely and stop in the middle of the road. Then Pablo has a limited amount of time to fix her up before a pursuing semi truck catches up and runs them both over.

It's a little tricky moving Pablo around until he finds problems to fix, but the various fixes themselves are relatively easy to complete.

This is an extremely campy and silly game, but very fun to play! Combat is mostly button-mashing and swerving around obstacles on the road, with some quick-time events to either counter an attack or dodge an obstacle. There are three skill trees to improve I.R.I.S. and Pablo's abilities, and the more stuff you unlock, the easier the game becomes. The whole game is 5 levels with 3 missions per level, plus a final boss fight level. You could probably beat the whole thing in a few hours of gameplay.

Here's a shot of S.P.I.K.E. eating a sweet corn and black raspberry buttermilk ice cream cone:

Good morning! Today I'm going to be looking at the latest game in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise: Sonic X Shadow Generations. This game is a 2024 remake of the 2011 game Sonic Generations, which itself was a modern tribute to Sonic's past games fighting against Dr. Eggman.

Side note: His name was Dr. Robotnik in the old American version of the games, but he's always been known as Dr. Eggman in the original Japanese. The game Sonic Adventure fixed the discrepancy by making "Eggman" a teasing name Sonic called Robotnik. Robotnik liked it enough, he made it his official moniker and he's been known as Dr. Eggman ever since.

The original Sonic Generations inspired the creation of new games in the classic side-scroller series, including Sonic 4 Episode I and II, Sonic Mania, Sonic Origins (which was an updated collection of Sonic 1-3 & Knuckles, Sonic CD, plus 12 Game Gear games), a cameo of "Classic Sonic" and his side-scrolling adventures in Sonic Forces, and recently, Sonic Superstars.

Sonic Generations firmly established in the canon that the 2D side-scroller Classic Sonic was a younger Sonic. Every game since his redesign in Sonic Adventure is the 15-yr old "Modern Sonic," whose 3-dimensional third-person games continue to this day.

Today, though, I will be focusing specifically on Shadow the Hedgehog's story in Sonic X Shadow Generations, since this is the "Year of Shadow" according to SEGA. He's going to be the new villain in the live-action film Sonic the Hedgehog 3, which is releasing late next month.

I do my best not to spoil the games I review, but I need to be extra careful with this one, as the opening cutscene basically explains Shadow's whole tragic past. For those unfamiliar with Shadow's games and don't want his story spoiled before they see the live action film, I will be avoiding any revealing details concerning his past.

Shadow Generations starts out with a brief glance at Shadow's past aboard the space colony ARK, a massive station orbiting Earth. This was where Shadow was created 50 years prior, by Professor Gerald Robotnik, Eggman's grandfather.

Shadow lived on the space station, alongside Gerald's young granddaughter Maria, who was a constant ray of sunshine; the only beacon of optimism and light in Shadow's life. The two of them were the best of friends.

Long story short (skipping a lot of revealing backstory), Shadow ended up captured and contained in a cryogenic tube for 50 years, where he was awoken by Dr. Eggman in the game Sonic Adventure 2. After losing a half century of time and everyone he's ever known in his life, the despairing hedgehog agreed to team up with the grandson of his creator to fight Sonic and destroy the world that ruined his life. Later, he realized he was fighting for the wrong side (and for the wrong reasons). He eventually teamed up with Sonic to save the world instead, then went off to become an anti-hero, searching to discover the truth about his dark past.

Cutting back to modern-day Shadow, we find him exploring the ARK because of an unusual bio-signature detected aboard the space colony. He's contacted by his partner, Rouge the Bat, who claims he's missing Sonic's birthday party. This was the opening for Sonic Generations, showing that Shadow's story takes place at the same time.

Suddenly, Shadow comes across a creature from his dark past: Doom's Eye! This tentacle starfish alien creature is an extension of Black Doom, a world-conquering alien from the game Shadow the Hedgehog. Even though Shadow defeated him in the past, he's somehow back!

Doom's Eye can warp reality, trapping Shadow in a Doctor Strange-esque mirror dimension of sorts.

Shadow fights Doom's Eye and after giving him a solid poke in the eye, Doom's Eye runs away through a portal, exclaiming that they'll meet again soon. You receive an alien-looking artifact that's in the shape of the Black Arms symbol, the mark of Black Doom's alien army. If you ever played Shadow the Hedgehog, you'll recognize this symbol as part of the game's logo.

As if there weren't enough trouble, the Time Eater from Sonic Generations shows up, trapping everyone at Sonic's birthday party in a time anomaly!

This was the latest plot by Dr. Eggman, to control the Time Eater and thus control time itself. He planned to rewrite past events and erase Sonic from existence! Shadow finds himself caught up in the anomaly, although he lands in a barren land of his own past which is frozen in time. There is a floating orb in the sky with eyes surrounding it, which awakens from the Black Arms symbol you collected. Every one you collect throughout the game brings it more to life.

Having no way out of this "White Space," you start exploring various stages, reliving places and villains from Shadow's past. Every stage has two acts, which bring life and color to the area as you complete them.

This area is different from Sonic's White Space in Sonic Generations. Sonic explores a 2D White Space, where all the frozen stages are lined up in a row. Shadow gets more of an open map to explore, like the recent open-world Sonic Frontiers game.

Eventually, you find others who have been trapped in the time anomaly, like E-123 Omega, Shadow's other partner; Orbot and Cubot, Eggman's robot lackeys; Big the Cat, a friendly fisherman whose looking for his best friend, Froggy; and... Maria and Gerald Robotnik?!

These two familiar faces from Shadow's distant past are a sight for sore eyes. Vowing to protect them, he runs off to save more of the time-frozen realm and stop Black Doom, the main villain of Shadow's past. Black Doom plans to use the time anomaly to accelerate his plans and destroy the world before Shadow has a chance to stop him.

Shadow, as the "ultimate life form," has his own powers, including Chaos Control. It's a way he can use chaos emeralds to warp time and space, which he usually uses to teleport. In this game though, it freezes time for a few seconds while Shadow continues moving. It's used as a way to freeze impossible obstacles so Shadow has a moment to cross, destroy, or escape them. It also freezes your game clock, giving you a few spare seconds to complete an act without dropping to a lower final grade. Destroying enemies fills the Chaos Control gauge at the bottom center of the screen.

You also unlock Doom powers for Shadow, allowing him to use the dark energy for new abilities. But the stronger Shadow gets, the stronger Black Doom gets, making your inevitable fight a tough one.

There was an act in Sonic Generations where Sonic goes back in time to a race/fight with Shadow in Sonic Adventure 2. This fight was retconned in this remake, where modern-day Shadow runs into Sonic in the time anomaly and they chase each other into the past act where they originally raced. Sonic is looking to take the Chaos Emerald that Shadow has on him, because he needs it in order to stop the Time Eater. But Shadow needs it to perform Chaos Control, so he has an advantage against the Black Arms. Who do you think will win this fight...?

This game was a masterful remake of a tribute to the classic games in the Sonic franchise. Not only modernizing graphics and gameplay, but also adding more lore, exploring Shadow's past games, and introducing his gameplay to elements of more modern games, like Sonic Forces and Sonic Frontiers.

The gameplay is fantastic, seamlessly blending action and speed with the controls so you actually feel like you're moving at mach speeds while controlling Shadow. And the visuals are just incredible for a Sonic game! Like in the Kingdom Valley stage, where you ride an eagle several times throughout the two acts! This is a throwback to the game Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), where the eagles provided characters transportation throughout Kingdom Valley.

This game is full of references and updated levels of older Sonic games, but you don't need to play the previous games to get enjoyment out of this one. There is plenty of story and lore to fill in the gaps, so you don't feel left out. The important details are fully covered, while also giving you a new full story to enjoy. The only thing that might stop you from playing it is Shadow's backstory, which might ruin parts of the live-action Sonic the Hedgehog 3 film that's about to release. But that film series is already deviating quite a bit from the original games, so you probably won't spoil much of the film if you play this game.

As a huge Sonic the Hedgehog fan for over 30 years now, I can say that I really enjoyed this game! So much so, that I'm actually going to go back and re-play some of the older Sonic games from my childhood. I wish I could play Shadow the Hedgehog, which introduced Black Doom and his Black Arms, but it only released for the PS2 and it never got a port to any other console. We need a modern port and/or remake, SEGA!

How do you do, fellow gamers? I'm back with another set of video game screenshots! And today's game is a simulator game. I actually love simulator games; I have a whole category in my Steam library dedicated to them. It's the only library collection I've made that's specifically for a genre of game.

I got Tavern Manager Simulator on sale yesterday, and whereas there are probably better simulator games in my collection, I did enjoy this one in particular.

It opens with you acquiring a run-down tavern just outside a large castle. The place is boarded up and you need to remove some planks in order to get in the back door and open up the tavern.

The place is in disrepair and you spend some time picking up trash and cleaning stains on the floor before you can open the place.

The large piles of garbage are too much for you to deal with right now, so you just throw a cloth over them to get the place open and running.

You have a small private room just off to the side of the bar room. There's a bed in here where you can sleep until 6 AM the next morning. There's also a desk where you do all the "paperwork" for the tavern. This desk is where you can upgrade your tavern and its amenities. The more you level up your tavern, the more variety of foods you can sell, and the larger the tavern will grow. Literally; it will actually expand into a proper dining hall if you upgrade it enough.

Although the most important category is the Delivery tab, where you can order resources (food), furniture, and decorations.

You will need to make regular food orders as your supplies dwindle. You can place an order anytime and it will be at your back door in less than a minute. You can actually watch a horse-drawn cart show up down the road as soon as you order. Almost half the wait time is just watching it turn in a loop before stopping for you to unload it.

Next, you need to fix your sign out front. This is what you will use to signal when you're open.

When it's facing the tavern, you're closed. But when it's turned to face the road passing by your tavern, you're open. You can switch it anytime, day or night, to start or stop the flow of customers. You can also customize your new sign. Here is my tavern's sign, turned to signal that I'm open for business:

To start, you'll only have ale. Pouring ale is a bit of an art; you have to hold the pour button until it fills to the green line on a bar. Any less and it's just a "good" ale. In that green, it's a "perfect" ale and will have a sparkle to it. And if you go over, you will spill on the floor (requiring a clean-up) and it will be a "bad" ale, with a puke-greenish tint to it.

Make sure you hand out as many good or perfect ales as you can to customers! You're earning reputation to help improve your customer base and upgrade your tavern, so keep those customers happy! I don't know what the customers will do if you serve them a bad ale. I've just been dumping them in the trash and taking the financial loss so I don't hurt my reputation. Here was my very first customer:

You have a limited supply of dishes, so make sure to clean them as often as you can in the kitchen sink. You can get water from the well behind your tavern, and every dish you scrub counts for 2 cleaned dishes. It's super easy to clean, just swirl it in the soapy water for a few seconds and all the gunk will disappear from the dish.

You also have to clean your tavern as you go. Most patrons will leave a mess on the table when they leave. Collect their coin and dishes, but also don't forget to wipe down the tables as needed. Some customers will also leave footprints all over your floors. Don't forget to sweep them up!

Most customers will only make a single food/drink request, then leave when they're done. But this guy kept requesting more beers until he passed out on the bar. You can literally pick up these drunk customers by the scruff of their neck and toss them out. You can also ask anyone to leave anytime you want, but it's more fun to throw them out while they're black-out drunk. Plus, you collect a ton of coin from all the booze they consumed.

There are also beggars who might come into your tavern. You can give them what they ask for, which will give your tavern a boost in reputation, or you can tell them to scram. Later, you acquire a frying pan, which you can brandish as a weapon against unruly patrons or beggars.

This beggar lady came by pretty often. I had one guy come by saying he was dying of thirst and just needed some water. I went to the well out back and got a pail of water and he was very satisfied with that.

Over time, you start to expand the menu; first to sausage, then vegetable soup, and then grilled meat. It gets more complicated as you go on, because you now have to pay attention to customer's requests and not just hand out ale to every customer. Eventually, your kitchen gets fixed up as you level up your tavern and expand your menu. It starts to look like a nice place to work!

You will also unlock fairy helpers, whom you can assign jobs in the tavern. Which is nice when you have to cook soup, grill meat, chop firewood for the stove and grill, pour ale, clean the outhouse, and do dishes. PLUS ensuring customers are getting the food they want in a timely manner, cleaning up after them, and ordering more food when your supplies are getting low. It can get intense. Thankfully, I have not been completely swamped with customers yet. I got maybe 1-3 orders at a time, so I have a little time to balance everything. Just having a fairy to do dishes is a huge relief during open hours.

When you're closed up for the day, if you explore the grounds outside your tavern, you'll find hidden tributes to other medieval fantasy series. So far, I've seen references to Zelda, Dark Souls, Shrek, World of Warcraft, and Lord of the Rings. Let me know if you find any others!

If you catch a break (which I rarely did), you can chat with your customers, which gives you a +1 to your reputation. Although they usually just have either something weird to say, or a medieval dad joke.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable game. I had fun running back and forth, trying to keep food and drink prepared and dealing with customers as they came in. I had to make a lot of orders in the middle of the day to keep my stock up initially, but as I got used to the game, I was able to more effectively plan my food and drink and I was mostly able to make an order at night and be ready for the entire next day. It helps that none of the consumables ever went bad, so I could prep a bunch of stuff and leave it sitting out until customers ordered it.

I always felt there weren't enough hours in the day, though. Every minute of the day was a real-time second, so I basically had 24 minutes max to host customers every day. I'd run my tavern until I was almost out of everything late at night, then I'd spend the last few hours of the night/morning restocking and prepping for the next day. If I went to bed, it was usually with only an hour or two of sleep before getting up the next day. So far, I don't think sleep deprivation is a thing in this game. I ran my tavern for 3 days straight without any side effects at one point.

So if you like restaurant managing/waitressing games, this was a pretty fun medieval spin on the genre. Come grab a pint and enjoy!

Happy (belated) Veteran's Day! Sorry for posting this so late; I'm a recently retired veteran, so yesterday ended up busier than I expected.

And speaking of busy... I started these daily posts as 1.) a writing challenge for myself, 2.) a way to geek out about the games that I've been enjoying lately, and 3.) with the hope of adding some interesting and unique content to /c/games. But my ADHD/hyper-focus has been taking the wheel lately, and I've been taking longer and longer to write these up, not counting the several hours of gaming I do every night to acquire screenshots in the first place.

I was trying to find something to play the night before last and I ended up bouncing between several games that I just couldn't get into. Then I found Remember Me and it was so much fun, I didn't want to stop playing to write about it. I stayed up until dawn playing, then had so much on my schedule for that day, I didn't have time to write until later that night.

Basically, I've been spending most of my free time preparing these posts (which is a lot, considering I'm 100% retired now), and as much fun as it is, I need to cut back a bit and focus on other stuff in my life. Like actually finishing some of the fun and interesting games I've been writing about. I can't complete most of these games in a single night, despite my best efforts. But I don't want to make multiple posts about the same game several days in a row; I want to provide new and interesting content for you to read.

I'm not going to stop writing detailed (and spoiler-free) posts about video games, but I will cut back a bit on my posting schedule so it's not eating up all my free time. I never promised to do daily posts anyway; that was just a personal writing goal of mine and I've made it to 50 posts with only 3 days missed (including this one), so I'd consider that a win. I'll try to aim for an absolute minimum of a post a week; although I may post more often as I find and play interesting games. I still have a list of games I want to write about, so there's still plenty of content to come.

All of my screenshot posts have been archived on a blog, which you can find here. I draft them on the blog initially, then copy/paste to Lemmy and post both simultaneously. I have another blog where I review movies, although I've been ignoring it for over a year now and would like to get back into it; another reason I want to slow down these gaming posts. You can find a link to that blog on my blog profile if you're interested.

And now back to today's game...

Remember Me is a fascinating cyberpunk game taking place in Neo-Paris in the year 2084, a dark future where people have merged their brains with technology and can now have their memories accessed digitally. This has created a market for buying, selling and trading memories. This has also led to a surveillance society, where corporations can access memories and either wipe or replace them as they desire.

You play a French woman named Nilin, a memory hunter who can not only access memories, but has the extremely rare skill of editing details within them to give a person false memories. She's part of an underground resistance movement, fighting against Memorize, a corporation trying to create a monopoly on human memories. She's classified as an Errorist, which is not only the name for people who can create "error" or false memories, but is also a brilliant take on the word "terrorist."

I'd like to point out that this is a game developed by a French studio, the story takes place in Paris, and the French language is written on signs and billboards and graffiti throughout the game's world, so I felt it was appropriate to play this game in French with English subtitles to get the full effect. It's such a beautiful language and it felt wrong to play this game in English. Especially when Nilin has a British-English accent in the English version.

Unfortunately, this game originally released in 2013, so it wasn't designed for 4K displays and despite having that resolution option on the Steam version, the subtitles don't scale to the size of my screen. They're extremely tiny in these screenshots, so I apologize in advance for that. If you see a fuzzy white line across the bottom of a screenshot, open the image in a new tab and you can zoom in to read the subtitle.

Remember Me opens with Nilin squirming on the floor of a prison cell as her memories are erased. When the procedure completes, a doctor approaches her and asks her name. Surprisingly, she's able to remember her name! She doesn't remember much else though, so the doctor consults the head of the department, Dr. Quaid, and Nilin is scheduled for a more detailed memory wipe to scrape out any remnants.

Barely able to stand, she's directed to follow an orange line down the hallway, where she joins a queue for another memory wipe. While waiting in line, a voice pops into her head. A guy by the name of Edge, who claims he's attempting to rescue her.

The power goes out and a blast door next to Nilin raises a little bit, exposing a small gap. She's instructed to slip through the doorway. Her escape is detected though and she's pursued by a large robot, which she's barely able to stumble away from in her dazed state.

Eventually, she falls down an air vent and stumbles across a machine loading up bodies into caskets. She's told to climb into a casket, which she does begrudgingly. The machine seals her in the casket, then launches her out of the prison facility and into a river.

Edge explains who Nilin is and why she's had her memory wiped. Apparently, their resistance movement failed and everyone was rounded up except for their leader, Edge. Nilin was his best fighter though, so he's rescued her so she can help recover their resistance.

Her casket drifts up to Slum 404, a garbage-filled slum of Neo-Paris. She's freed by some scavengers known as Leapers. The correlation to lepers is not lost; deformed and monstrous, they're the corrupted and insane remnants of citizens whose memories have been edited too many times. Their instinct is to attack Nilin when they find her.

Suddenly remembering some basics on how to fight, Nilin is quick to take them down. Her memories start coming back a little at a time throughout the game, although only enough for her to remember key details. Edge informs her to travel to Tommy, her best friend and former memory hunter who is loyal to their cause. He runs a bar in the slums called The Leaking Brain.

He is grateful to see her, even though she doesn't remember him. He rescued her glove that she uses to manipulate memories, as well as her combat skin. He comments that it's a good thing they caught her on her day off, or else they would've gotten their hands on her high-tech gear.

But just as soon as she's suited up, a bounty hunter jumps out of the shadows! Olga Sedova, one of the best in the business, and she's out to collect the bounty on Nilin's head.

Before she can secure her though, Nilin gets her glove close enough to Olga's neck to grab hold of her memories. We're transported into her memory from three hours ago, when Olga was at a hospital watching Dr. Quaid tend to her husband.

Her husband had deleted too many memories over time, causing a syndrome that is breaking down his mind. It's implied that he may be turning into a Leaper. Dr. Quaid promises he can fix it; although it will be very expensive. A bounty for Nilin pops up and Olga promises she can pay, heading off to hunt Nilin.

At this point, you're able to fast-forward and rewind the memory, finding small glitches that you can edit in the details, like unfastening the husband's mask or removing one of his wrist straps. Changing these little details leads to a different outcome for the memory. Your goal is to find the right edits to make Dr. Quaid appear to have killed Olga's husband instead of saving him.

This part may take a while and some tinkering with various details until you find the right combination of edits, but once you figure it out, Olga is forced to watch as her husband dies a violent death due to Dr. Quaid's incompetence. Snapping out of the memory, Olga suddenly decides to side with you as revenge against Memorize for killing her husband! She offers to give you a lift to your next objective.

From here, you carry out missions for Edge, fight more people from your past whom you barely recall, return to the prison to regain more of your memories from their memory backups, and along the way, question who you really are and what you're actually fighting for.

This game is kind of like a cyberpunk version of Assassin's Creed. You're part of a shady underground organization, sneaking around, climbing all over the structures of Neo-Paris, and fighting the controlling organization ruling over the land, all while stealing and/or editing people's memories.

You can't free-roam like in Assassin's Creed though; you're stuck on a singular path toward your objective, which prevents you from back-tracking even a couple rooms as you progress forward. It does help keep you focused on the story, though. I've played nearly 7 hours and I just finished episode 4 out of 8 total. So the lack of exploration doesn't make this a quick story to burn through.

The combat is extremely fluid, too! You have combo streaks that you can build yourself from various types of attacks (power, healing, cooldowns for special attacks, and chain abilities). Completing combos will grant you points to eventually unlock even longer and more powerful combos, which can make defeating even the toughest enemies no effort at all.

Not to mention, Nilin is extremely light on her feet. Every time an attack is incoming, you can just press your jump button and she immediately cartwheels out of the way, or even flips over enemies' heads if she's up close in combat. You can weave and dodge in and out of a dozen enemies without taking any damage because they always indicate when they're about to strike.

You can also find collectibles in each level called Mnesist memories, which are cultural memories of Neo-Paris, preserving actual history so corruption from edited memories doesn't wash away what actually happened. These are more background lore, if you're interested in world building. They give a history of the fall of Paris during a global war in the 2040s and how Neo-Paris and its current social and economic structure sprouted from the ashes. As well as many other detailed bits of lore to flesh out the world.

One of the only things I didn't enjoy about this game is the camera controls. They're a bit dated and erratic. It is an older game, so it doesn't have smooth modern camera controls. It keeps trying to default the camera to a position that doesn't give a good view of your surroundings, so I found myself constantly adjusting the third-person camera, which didn't want to move smoothly and precisely most of the time.

Also, the shadows and lighting effects are pretty bad. There were tons of dark scenes where I could hardly make out Nilin or others. Her skin tone is so unnaturally dark and shaded in this game, it looks like she spent way too long in a tanning bed. The only time she looks halfway normal is when her face is directly illuminated in a bright space. But if the light wasn't directly on her face, even in bright sunlight, she was unnaturally shadowed.

But again, those are problems due to the age of the game. Physics engines have evolved a ton in the past decade, and if this game was remade today, it would look absolutely stunning. Even for its time, this is a gorgeous look into a future cyberpunk Paris. And the story is captivating and kept me engaged for hours. This is an incredible game, it just needs some tune-ups to the graphics and controls to be perfect.

The orchestral soundtrack gives this game a very cinematic feel, too. I wish they released the soundtrack on Steam so I could listen to its music outside of gameplay.

Say No! More is a relatively short but comical game about empowering people to say "no" more often. It mostly plays itself, with you interacting enthusiastically at key points throughout the gameplay.

The game starts with you creating a character. You can pick one of their 16 presets, or create your own. I modeled mine after my wife, because she's really good at saying "no." 😅

Next, you pick the way you say "no." There are 17 languages, with both a masculine and feminine voice to choose from. I think my favorite is Irish Gaelic. Instead of a 2-letter word, theirs is long and super complicated sounding.

Then the game opens up on a video game called "Wizards of Nay," where you play as a wizard who fights imps and a Devil King by using the word "nay."

When you get a game over, it zooms out of your cell phone to show your character sitting on a park bench. Your roommate approaches you and offers you a custom lunchbox he made, with a home-cooked meal inside. How nice!

But was he just buttering you up? Because the very next thing he asks is if you can cover the rent this month... AGAIN. He has all sorts of excuses as to why. He's short on cash, still job hunting, etc. You try to respond to him and all you can muster is a "..." Which he takes as "we'll discuss it later" and he lets you run off. It's your first day of work at a new company!

You arrive at work and meet up with two other interns, who are already waiting with your new supervisor. He reprimands you for being late and when you can't respond with an excuse, he threatens to fire you before lunch if you don't learn to speak up. But he's one of those supervisors, who tries to play off all aggression as just a joke.

He instructs all three of you to say "yes" all the time if you want to promote within the company. The other two interns are motivated and on board, but again, all you can muster is a weak "..."

He decides to have a practice run. He claims he's hungry and wants your lunchbox. What do you say to that...?

When you can't give a straight response, he laughs it off, saying it's just a joke and no one will take your lunch. At least, not yet...

You and the other interns go off to the tiny cramped corner behind the vending machines that has your new desks. After the other two interns are called away, your supervisor pokes his head around the corner and claims he actually forgot his lunch and really needs one today. So...?

Unable to give a response, he takes it as a "yes" and runs off with your lunchbox. You bang your head on your keyboard, defeated.

That is, until a cassette player drops on your head from somewhere. Inside is a cassette tape labeled, "NO!" You put on some headphones and listen to it.

You're introduced to the confident voice of a motivational speaker! He instructs you to have confidence in yourself and speak one magic word: NO!

He has you practice using the word a few times, then shows you how to laugh at people, to confuse them and break their confidence so your "no" is that much more powerful against them.

You chase down your supervisor in the office and use the new word you just learned against him. It's super effective!

You relentlessly pursue him through the office, throwing your powerful word at him, attempting to shake him so he gives your lunchbox back. All your coworkers jump in your way to ask you to do menial "intern tasks" for them, but you can knock them back with the word "no!"

From here, your lunchbox gets passed around to various levels of leadership in the office, while you continue to chase after it.

Thanks to the motivational speaker on your cassette tape, you learn how to say no in different ways to affect different types of people. You have the standard angry no, but you will also learn a cold no, bored no, and wacky no. On top of that, you learn an add-on response to shake your target and make your "no" more brutal. You start with laughing at them before hitting them with a "no," but you will also learn how to slow clap, nod in agreement before saying "no," and a sarcastic "hmm" before landing that solid "no."

Eventually, your coworkers notice you speaking up against management and they start rallying behind you. You go out to lunch together and teach them all how to say "no" as well. Before you know it, you have a whole crowd of employees willing to say the word "no."

The game gets more wacky and outlandish as you go on, with all sorts of hilarious twists and turns to the plot. It's a fun journey through a day in an office where the word "no" is banned. Like I said, the game mostly plays itself and you just shout the word "no" at every opportunity you can. You can probably beat it in about an hour, but it's so much fun, I've already played through it a few times.

Despite all its silliness, this game comes with a pretty decent moral at the end about standing up for yourself, but also knowing when to say "yes" too. So take charge of your life! Learn to say "no" instead of caving to social pressure! And empower those around you!

Note: I set this game to display in 4K resolution, but it enabled a resolution scale and wouldn't scale larger than 1080p for some reason. After I beat the game, I realized I was in borderless windowed mode. Changing it to fullscreen granted the full 4K resolution. So these screenshots are all going to be 1080p instead of my usual 4K.

Death From Above takes place in the Ukrainian town of Nenatsk during the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War. You play a Ukrainian drone operator who is captured by invading Russian forces. But you're freed by a little old lady whom the Russians took for granted.

You grab a drone and a bunch of grenades and set out to clear the region from Russian invaders.

You can customize your drone and its pilot. As per usual, I switched to a female drone pilot. I also chose a camo pattern for my drone with Ukrainian colors and a Ukrainian flag trail behind it. Not very good camouflage in real life, but colorful and fun for a game!

You set out to restore communications with your military unit. There's an antenna nearby, guarded by several Russian military members, so you move to engage them. You can switch between your pilot and your drone, and for the most part, you only fight with your drone. Your pilot can't pick up a weapon and engage the enemy, so you want to keep them tucked away somewhere safe. Your drone has some seriously good range on it though (and unlimited battery life), so raise it high enough in the sky so as not to be seen by enemy forces and go scope out the target area ahead.

You can also turn on thermal imaging to make people and vehicles show up easier. Good for finding those stubborn forces hiding in the woods.

An interesting detail is that every time you kill a Russian combatant, their body immediately sprouts sunflowers. The sunflower is Ukraine's national flower, and if you haven't heard the story, there was a Ukrainian woman recorded on video who approached an occupying Russian military member and offered sunflower seeds to put in his pockets, so his dead body would blossom sunflowers. (Source)

Once you restore communications, you receive a message from Special Forces HQ, asking you to clear out Russian forces in the nearby village. From this point, you'll receive messages from HQ after each mission, directing you toward your next mission.

Also, you'll see a wanted poster of Putin on the wall in this room. Make sure you improve the poster for a huge score bonus. There are several of these posters to be found around the map. Don't forget to deface all of them!

To take out enemy forces, you switch your drone to a bomb view, giving you a target reticle directly below your drone. In this mode, you can drop your grenades on enemies.

Also, you can ask troops to surrender using the drone.

I've only had one guy surrender to me so far, but I got blown away by a tank before I could accept his surrender. The tanks just sat there idly, unmoving. I didn't realize they were armed and ready to target my pilot as soon as she wandered close. Oops.

The Russian troops were looting washing machines from homes, but after you clear out the enemies, you can pick up the washing machines with your drone and drop them onto designated pallets for homeowners to reclaim when they move back in. It doesn't matter which pallets in an area you drop them on; they get beamed up into the sky every time you drop one off, as well as giving you a score bonus.

Once you take over a Russian command post, you'll find the FPV drone. It acts like a guided missile; when you launch it, it shoots rapidly in the direction you're facing and blows up whatever target it hits.

You have some control over its direction, but it needs space to make big turns and it has a very short battery life that will drain in seconds, so make sure you're prepared when you launch it toward a target.

I should mention that you have unlimited ammunition in this game. Despite blowing up the FPV drone on each use, it will respawn in your inventory after a few seconds. Also, your regular drone can only hold 6 grenades at a time, but every time you fly it close to your pilot, it automatically refills all your grenades. So go nuts and take down as many enemies as you can from a safe vantage point!

By the way, the soundtrack for this game is awesome! Starring all Ukrainian bands. You can download it on Steam. The title song, also called "Death From Above," was made and performed by the band Antytila. They have three versions of the song: an English version, Ukrainian version, and a 21-minute instrumental version. I've been playing this song on repeat for months now; it's my favorite on the soundtrack!

There's also the band Surface Tension, who released their single "Завтра (Tomorrow)," both the original song and an instrumental version.

The band Odarka Zyrko released their single "за тобою (Behind You)," also the original version and an instrumental version.

Finally, there's GO_A with their single "Kalyna," which is the Ukrainian name for the guelder rose. It's a prominent symbol in Ukrainian culture, showing up in a lot of their media. This is probably my second most favorite song on the soundtrack.

You can hear "Death From Above" playing on radios scattered all throughout the game. But in the first village you come across, if you follow the sound of music, you'll find the actual band jamming in a house! Sadly, you can only watch from a single window. I had to take 2 screenshots to get all the band members in there.

This game actually benefits Ukrainian forces in their ongoing war. The publisher, Lesser Evil, claims that 30% of their proceeds are donated to two organizations helping the Ukraine war effort: "Come Back Alive" and "Army of Drones." Once they've earned back their production costs, they'll change their donation amount to 70%, using the remaining 30% to continue improving this game.

So if you want to show support for Ukraine (while also experiencing what it's like to operate a combat drone in occupied territory), I highly recommend playing this game. It's only $10 on Steam, or $16.46 for the supporter's edition, which includes this rockin' soundtrack and more skins for your pilot and drone.

If I had anything to complain about, it's that the controls currently can't be changed. I'm used to using Shift and Ctrl to go up and down in helicopters in other games, but you use E and Q to fly your drone up and down in this game. It took me a while to adapt to their controls, and I kept getting them confused and dipping into enemies instead of flying away. Developers, please let us change the controls!

Also, the game is relatively short. The whole game takes place on a single large map, but you are directed toward missions in specific regions of the map. There are 8 missions in total (plus a secret warship mission!). If you rushed through it, you could probably beat the whole game in an hour or less. But you earn points toward your total score for every little thing you accomplish in game - every enemy you kill, every vehicle you destroy, every flag you raise or propaganda site you discover. Heck, every washing machine you return gives you a boost to your score. So if you were to run around doing everything you possibly can... well, it took me about 4 hours to complete, and I know I missed a bunch of stuff.

Your total score gives you a global ranking, which you can see on the main menu. I started last night at #5,549 (I had previously played the first mission then quit), and by the time I beat the game, I was #194 globally.

So long story short, this was an extremely fun game with an amazing soundtrack, if not a bit short on gameplay and clunky controls. I hope they continue to improve on it and make it much more enjoyable. Lesser Evil, on their Steam page, claims, "We are uncompromisingly anti-authoritarian, anti-prejudice, and pro-democracy. We publish video games with clear political or social intent and messaging. We publish games that take a stand." So even though it's a short game, it's meant to deliver a message against fascism. And I think it did a pretty good job in getting that point across in the span of its gameplay. Slava Ukraini!

Cult of the Lamb is a cute game about building, maintaining, and running a cult in order to overthrow the four Bishops controlling the Old Faith. But is there such a thing as a good cult...?

You play as The Lamb, about to be put to death by the four Bishops. They've eliminated all of your kind to prevent a prophecy of "The One Who Waits" returning. With your sacrifice, the prophecy will be impossible to fulfill.

As soon as the blade lands, you wake up in a strange land, in front of The One Who Waits. He's imprisoned by four chains. He says that the Bishops, in trying to keep you from him, ended up sending you directly to him. He claims that he will grant you life again if you would start a cult in his name. Your choice is either "yes" or "absolutely." No middle ground option, I see.

He gives you his Red Crown, which revives you and grants you the power to command the loyalty of your followers and strike fear into the hearts of your enemies. You awaken at the sacrificial grounds, renewed with life, and fight your way out, taking out some of the Bishop's cultists along the way.

On your way out, you run into Ratau, a former vessel of The One Who Waits. He was instructed to help you with starting your cult. He will pop in and give you advice and guidance from time to time.

He also instructs you to save a poor soul about to be sacrificed. The grateful sacrifice will be your very first convert.

From here, you learn how to build your own cult grounds. It takes some work! You can't just leave your cult members to their own devices; you need to check in on them, provide food and shelter, task them with jobs, and overall just ensure they're happy and loyal so they continue to praise and worship you.

The more loyalty they have, the more power you build and the larger you can build your cult. Placing a shrine in the middle of your cult grounds will give your followers a place to pray and grant devotion, a sort of currency that you can use to upgrade various aspects of your cult.

You will also need to build a temple in order to give sermons, enriching your followers and also collecting more devotion from them.

Cultists can be tasked with collecting resources, which are needed to build up your cult grounds. But you also need money and more followers, both of which can be obtained by fighting your way through the lands of the Old Faith.

You ultimately need to end the lives of the four Bishops in order to release your imprisoned leader, so working your way through each of their lands is your overall goal. But it takes time to build up a cult and gain power, so you will slowly work your way up to each Bishop. As you gain more followers, each of the four lands will open up so you can travel through them for resources, money, followers, and power.

Good luck in building a faithful following! And remember: