Happy Thankful Thursday everyone!
I can't say that my day was very happy, as I got rejected for a promotion to Manager I was really trying to get
, but at least I have the community here to give thanks and cheer up with.
My deepest thanks to
@henry-hunry,
@hoangmarcel2001,
@jaromir-krzyszczak, and
@loco.1.2.3 for gifting me games over the week
I can't stay bummed for too long with generous friends like you!
Also, it's the first of the month, so I'd like to share the games I played in August! Still crunched with time and money as I balance working and caring for my disabled/elderly parents, so all the games are comfortably under 10 hours and were all free (thanks in part to this lair!). This month was filled with games that played with emotions.
Calico - Was a free game with Prime - Admittedly a girly game, but I'm a big cat fan so I had to try it
It's like if Animal Crossing met Goat Simulator Physics. I had a ton of fun yeeting myself off mountains while riding everything from bears to cats made of black holes. The game is not hard, quite shallow, and you check off the quests/errands quickly, so don't expect anything other than some laughs and relaxation playing it!
Labyrinthine Dreams - Won from
@bird567 - A short puzzle maze game made in RPG Maker where you navigate through a girl's subconscious as you outwit and outrun her depression. The gameplay was varied through the levels which kept it fresh, though it finished quickly once you got the hang of each area. The concept is unique, and I enjoyed it, but the writing was wicked stiff at times.
Marie's Room - Free on Steam - A brief exploration into the past that centers on close friendship, the struggles of emotions in high school, and the fragility of trust. The story felt smooth and natural. Though the entire game takes place in one room while you piece together memories, there was a lot of character in that small space. Kinda felt Life is Strange-ish.
Nanotale - Typing Chronicle - Was a free game with Prime - I loved this game
! I'd never played anything like it - where you interact through typed words - and it consumed me while I unraveled the story. The graphics are beautiful, and I found just as much joy reading the journal entries as I did traversing the land. My only gripe is some of the words you key are arbitrary, repetitive, or just left me confused how they related to the target. I love the end credits, btw!
Paper Beast: Folded Edition - Was a free game with Prime - A first-person puzzle romp through a trippy origami world. I can't say I quite understand what just happened, but at least it was pretty. Maybe it would've been better playing in VR as originally made. The controls were frustrating at times to efficiently grab and interact, some of the actions dependent on the animals of the world wouldn't trigger consistently, and the ending left me unfulfilled as to what the whole point of the journey was.
The Old City: Leviathan - Gifted to me by
@forsaken - Ugh, what a pretentious game. This walking sim attempts to navigate a post-apocalyptic world of tribes aligned with differing psychological perceptions of truth. It falls well short of a key factor in games as art - fun. It failed to establish the intersection of perception and the fractured mind in any meaningful manner and any fun was overwhelmed by confusion. It's inaccessible to a common player and it took me a lot of effort to follow the story, leaving me tired and relieved to finish.
Trauma - Gifted to me by
@graycreatureberserk - A melancholy little point and click puzzle game that takes you on a journey of healing and awareness through an injured mind. Bit by bit you gain back the character's sense of self. The writing is moving and there are lots of little treats to find. THIS game is an effective presentation of games as art.
Tulpa - Gifted to me by
@defaults-channel - A dark platformer in a surreal world full of puzzles and entrancing art. Make sure to play this at 30fps as it is unplayable at 60fps. This game is beautiful, but a quick 5 levels. The puzzles weren't much of a challenge, but the game left an impression on me in its simple approach to grief and sacrifice.
Type:Rider - Another gift from the legendary
@forsaken - This game is something else, man. I cannot recommend it enough! It's an educational platformer that takes you through the history of written word and fonts. I honestly was left speechless at how much fun I had playing through essentially a visual textbook on typography - and how much I learned from it! I love games that take a risk artistically, and this is a shining example of the new kinds of experiences that await us through games.
What Never Was - Free on Steam - This also had Life is Strange vibes, but because of the mystical aspect rather than emotional like Marie's Room. You play as a girl who learns more than expected about her grandpa while exploring his attic. It's a short experience that ends in a whopper of a cliffhanger. It kind of felt like this was a playable teaser trailer for a game that never was. But that mystery of what could have been actually adds to the charm of this game.
Kind of an emotionally draining month with personal stuff, so in Sept I aim to play more lighthearted games.
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