I know we're a couple days into October, but here are the games I played and completed in September and my thoughts on them. After a pretty feels-heavy August, I tried to get some variety in September and lean into some relaxing and upbeat games.
AquaNox - Gifted to me by
@hanzo.1.2 - A post-apocalyptic adventure game where you pilot a sub through missions to save the underwater world Aqua your character loves to hate. I wouldn't say I hated it, too, but I didn't like it. This was one of those games I was relieved to reach the end of. An actually interesting plot, lore and world design was drowned out by repetitive levels, cringey voice acting, writing bogged down by exorbitant amounts of techno babble meant to make it "Futuristic and edgy", and controls that make you cry. I'm pretty disappointed, because this seemed like a hidden gem from the early 2000s. Sadly, it just doesn't stand the test of time and isn't worth yours either, in my opinion.
Badlands Racer - Gifted to me by
@henry-hunry - What are the Badlands? What made them so? Who is the Badlands Racer? Why do they race? What are they racing from? I have time for one more go, right? Is this the best I can do? These are the deep questions that will confront you as you play this endless racer, and many of them are questions that will remain unanswered. What you
will find out is how on point your reflexes are. I think mine could be better... The environment, as gray as it is, has some various obstacle patterns that keep things fresh but as hard as I tried, I could never get more than around 6000 in one run. Yet, it always kept me coming back trying to one-up my previous round until eventually I unlocked everything and walked away, leaving the Badlands Racer to race on to that unknown destination alone.
Beasts of Maravilla Island - A past game with Prime - This is an homage to Pokémon Snap set on an exotic island where you travel through forest treetops, along jungle rivers and up rocky mountains to snap pictures of creatures yet unknown to the world aside from you and your grandpa. But not all is peaceful on the island in the story, and in gameplay. I enjoyed taking photos of the animals and reading the lovely journal entries, but there were moments where the game let me down. It freezes repeatedly when viewing photos, a major aspect of the game, to the point where you have to force quit. The controller mapping is shoddy, and the game kept switching the config, so I just played with keyboard and mouse. I think I'd still recommend this because the world really does feel alive and that's what matters in a game like this. If you do play, take good photos so you can enjoy the credits
Samorost 1 -
Free on Steam - I'm hooked and I TOTALLY need to play the 2nd and 3rd games! I'm not usually a big point & click fan but the art of this game intrigued me, and I'm so glad I took a chance on it. You play as a cartoonish space elf thing trying to divert an "asteroid" hurtling towards his home. The game looks like someone took photos of their back yard, cut them up, and made them into collage-like levels. It's fantastically unique! It's not hard at all and you have no chance of dying or doing the wrong thing, so honestly, this is more of an experience than a game. You can beat the whole thing in like 20 clicks of the mouse but, if you're like me, you'll take your time, click everything and pore over every detail to find all the hidden easter eggs.
Skye -
Free on Steam - I really enjoyed this game! It's short, relaxing, and beautiful. It's the result of a school project from Breda University students and you can feel the care they put into it. You run quick errands as a pilot around a picturesque ocean island in your seaplane. The quests range from escorts, races, supply runs, and searches, but the most fun I had in it was just flying around the island and taking in the sights of the rock cliffs, villages, ruins, and other topography. There's a vivid paint effect over the graphics that works very well. Give it a whirl!
Woodle Deluxe - Won from
@kisher - A cute, colorful platformer with levels that are superbly designed. The game had a tech-demo/first-game vibe to it, which was noticeable. Biggest areas of improvement could be the camera and movement. The camera tracking is bad where it becomes a constant frustration to try and get a good view of what's ahead. Woodle controls a little sluggish and floaty, but you get used to it. The music is enjoyable, except for one damn song (level 5, I think) that drove me bonkers. Overall, regardless of its polish I had fun, and I loved the unlockable headband
Hopefully it brings everything you'd expect in a positive way! 
