slicknick3822's Attempts to Hold Himself Accountable

slicknick3822 · December 1, 2022

Hi All, this is my first post on the forums so I'll provide a little bit of backstory.

This is actually my second account that I didn't know I had. My main account that I've used since I got a PS4 in 2015 is slicknickd3822. And you may be asking why is the d in there? Well cuz I couldn't take the slicknick3822 name because someone else owned it! How could anyone other than me own the name I've been using for years?! That's crazy! I then find out last week, that I own the name on this account which I have apparently never used.

I decided to take this opportunity to do something that I always went back and forth on on my main account which is trophy hunting. I have a clean slate and I could try to clean out my backlog of games and also achieve a ton more platinums. One of the things that deterred me from trophy hunting on my main account was that I had a PSVITA that I used to play Persona 4 Golden but never ended up finishing it before trading in my Vita. Well Gamestop never reset my Vita (I learned my lesson and now reset consoles myself before trading them in) so whoever got it after me was playing Vita games on my account for a good while before I changed my password. But now there's like 4-5 Vita games on that account that I would probably never finish. Plus the mass amount of sports games that I play on my main account and don't go for trophies on.

So without further adieu I will post my first platinum on this account, which I'm sure is 90% of people's first platinums on PS5.

Edit: I have updated the layout of this, mostly inspired by @PraiseTheFluppi

Platinums

#1-10

Spoiler

#1 Astro's Playroom | 22^nd November 2022 | Completed in 1 day, 6 hours

Spoiler

Difficulty 1/10

Enjoyment 7/10

Platinum: You've Only Done Everything

I'll keep this one short. Astro's Playroom is a fun, little game and really shows off the controls of the PS5 to the point that I don't think any other game has come close to. I think this is a good little starter game for anyone who buys the PS5 and I'm honestly surprised this game even got a Platinum. Seems like the perfect game to have only like 12 trophies and 1 Gold, but it was nice of PS to make this a full trophy list. It was fun going back through time with all the different PS accessories.

#2 Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight | 12^th December 2022 | Platinum in 1 week, 5 days

Spoiler

Difficulty: 3/10 (Only because of the grind and the early learning curve)

Enjoyment: 8/10

Platinum: Dancing in Moonlight

I started this game on a whim because I enjoy the Persona series (and haven't beaten a single one of them yet ). The story is interesting but since Persona 3 is one that I haven't touched I probably missed a lot of what was going on between the characters. I also made the mistake of starting the game on normal which is usually fine with most games but since this is a rhythm game and that's not usually my genre I STRUGGLED in the beginning and fought through all the songs on normal. I then moved backwards to easy and realized I should've started on easy. But by the end I was completing songs on Hard with ease and I was having a lot of fun with the game itself. The songs get repetitive and stuck in your head constantly. The trophies themselves aren't hard besides the few songs that you have to do on All Night difficulty to get the pair trophies but you just need to see their fever time and you can use modifiers and still get the trophy. The only problem I had was the grind for Akihiko's story because he needs a cumulative combo of 17,000 which doesn't sound bad but as someone who hasn't had a lot of experience with rhythm games my max combo was like 2-300 until I got better at the game towards the end where I finally hit a 935 every note combo (with GOOD counts as combo modifier) on Hard, something I would've never fathomed doing when I first started the game. But doing that song a few times helped me get the Akihiko story done and finish off the game for my second platinum. I'm very excited for P3P and P4G to come out next year to PS5 so I can start tackling the actual Persona games.

#3 Life is Strange | 13^th December 2022 | Platinum in 22 hours, 9 minutes

Spoiler

Difficulty: 1/10 (With Guide, 3-4/10 without)

Enjoyment: 7.5/10

Platinum: What If?

To preface this, this is the old PS4 version of the game NOT the remastered version, so I'm hoping that some of my gripes with this game were fixed in that newer version. Unfortunately, I did have this game spoiled for me years ago, and while I didn't remember every detail I knew the major twist of the story. However, I don't think that altered my enjoyment of the game's story at all. I find the story to be intriguing and I love point & click/visual novel type games where I control the character's choices so this was right up my alley. My major gripes with this game are with the performance. It's possible because I'm playing on PS5 and this game was not optimized for PS5, that it makes it worse, but I have seen similar complaints from the original. The lips don't sync, at one point in Episode 5 Max's mouth wasn't even moving for a whole scene. The screen would tear and pixelize, especially during scenes with the storm. I think the performance issues would take me out of the game every once in a while, but I still thoroughly enjoyed the story being told. The trophies are not hard at all, especially if you use a guide which I did. If you don't use a guide and you're an explorer of every nook and cranny and option then you will definitely have an easy time. I, however am not like that and pass up things right in front of my eyes, so I would have missed a lot of the optional photo's otherwise. I have heard that the first one actually may be the weakest of the series, so I do hope to check out the others at some point down the line!

#4 Save Room (PS4) | 22^nd December 2022 | Platinum in 55 minutes, 16 seconds

#5 Save Room (PS5) | 22^nd December 2022 | Platinum in 44 minutes, 37 seconds

Spoiler

Difficulty: 1/10

Enjoyment: 6/10

Platinum: Heh heh heh... Thank you!

I promise this will be the only game close to shovelware that I will do. The reason I chose to do this one is because I am a big fan of Resident Evil and also love the idea of organizing the attache case in RE4 as it's own game. It's a nice little puzzle game with obviously very easy achievements. Was able to knock both versions in under an hour each.

#6 Donut County | 22^nd December 2022 | Platinum in 2 hours, 45 minutes

Spoiler

Difficulty: 1/10

Enjoyment: 8/10

Platinum: All Done

Another very easy platinum, but a game with a lot more story. I've heard a lot through the years about Donut County and how fun it was and I have to agree. It has a nice little story that's easy to follow with some pretty good dialogue, especially some of the things BK and Mira say to each other. The gameplay itself has an oddly satisfying feeling. Gathering everything into your "donut" and watching it grow is fun. Very similar style to the Katamari games in that sense. I would recommend anyone who hasn't played this yet to spend a couple hours and knock this one out. May not be for everyone but I think it's pretty fun.

#7 Ratchet & Clank | 5^th January 2023 | Platinum in 1 month, 1 week

Spoiler

Difficulty: 3/10 (1/10 if you can get Death by Disco/Max All Weapons on 2nd playthrough which I did not)

Enjoyment: 5/10

Platinum: The Hero of Heroes

My first negative review, and this review was going to be more on the negative side before Death by Disco but that has added to it even more. I have a lot to say about this game so let's start from the beginning. I will preface this by saying I never played a R&C game before. None of the originals. This was my first one, so I have no idea how R&C fans feel about this game.

Starting with the story, I thought it fell a little flat. In the beginning I was intrigued, story being told by the villain from prison. By the end I was left disappointed and maybe it's because I don't have prior experience with R&C, but I didn't care about any of the villains and Ratchet didn't seem all that alluring as a main character to me in this game. In fact, Clank was way more human and alluring as a character to me and my favorite storyline was actually between him and Victor as simple as it was (Bad robot hates good robot because he's bad). I also hear nothing but praise about the humor in R&C games, and maybe it's more true to the originals, but I didn't find anything particularly humorous about the dialogue in this game. There were a few lines that made me chuckle but nothing memorable. So the story for me gets like a 6/10. Nothing horribly bad, but nothing great either. I felt like there was a chance for it to be a better story but it didn't really work.

Onto the gameplay, I actually really enjoy the gameplay loop of the game. The only part I dislike is during the areas where you play as Clank, he moves noticeably slower than Ratchet and it kinda feels like a slog to get through. It also doesn't help during those parts, and one Ratchet part, that you don't have any of the gadgets that help make you move a bit quicker. I will say after multiple playthroughs you're really OP and the combat is more of a chore. But during the first and second playthrough it's fun especially getting new weapons and trying to figure out what works best. So the gameplay is probably a solid 8.5-9/10.

I'll quickly touch on other things, I love the music in the game and the atmosphere of the planets you visit. I have no problems with any of them but they're not overly memorable either other than the music when you open the game and load up, that always gets me pretty hype to play even when I was on my 4th playthrough.

The trophies are super easy and you will get 90%+ naturally. So my first problem was with upgrading weapons, it actually took me almost 3 full playthroughs because I didn't upgrade my weapons to level 5 by the end of the first playthrough which is basically a must to get level 10 in playthrough 2. There's only a few farming areas and there's absolutely none in post-game. My main issues with the trophies come with Death by Disco in particular and part of that is my own fault, but I also think the game doesn't do a good job of helping you track it and isn't clear on the actual trophy description. The description reads as "Hit every enemy with the groovibomb" what it doesn't tell you is that it needs to all be done in one playthrough. So I went through my first playthrough. Looked at a guide to see which enemies I missed (tentacle, swimming and non-swimming fish), the usual you would miss. So during my second playthrough I made sure to hit those ones specifically but didn't try to hit every enemy in that one playthrough. The trophy didn't pop. Okay well I'll just watch the guide and go through the game a third time. Well I did that and I missed the fish in Rilgar, but no problem there's a spot in Pokitaru, well I did the one in Pokitaru and tried to groovibomb every other enemy in the guide and I must've missed one. Because I got to Dr. Nefarious and it still didn't pop. Then I took a break. I was so unbelievably frustrated with this trophy and (Correct me, if I'm wrong but I double checked), there's no in game tracker for this trophy. So if you get all the way through the game and miss one enemy, that sucks, do it again. Having to basically do this trophy 3 times made me massively dislike going through this game, and it's not even fully the games fault, I'll admit I didn't understand the trophy at first and I tried to get by without a guide at first too, but there was no reason this trophy should've been this hard for me to get, it's not a hard trophy. Maybe I just suck at this game but man I think it should've been a lot easier.

I have heard nothing but good things about Rift Apart and my experience with R&C 2016 has not stopped me from wanting to play Rift Apart as well. So hopefully when I get around to it it's a much better experience. I do also want to go back and play the originals at some point, I believe they're on premium which I don't have but maybe in the future.

#8 MLB The Show 22 | 9^th February 2023 | Platinum in 12 hours, 51 minutes

Spoiler

Difficulty: 1/10

Enjoyment: 9/10

Platinum: King of the Diamond

Amount I thought I would need to spend to platinum this game: $0, the amount I actually spent: $48. For context, my main account (slicknickd3822) has PS Plus Premium so I thought I could play the trial on both accounts. I could not. For some reason game trials are the only thing that you can't do on both accounts. I did a test run on my main account and I was able to do it in 2 hours, 21 minutes. I was feeling good I was like okay that wasn't even an optimized run so I could probably get this thing closer to 2 hours. So I decided to spend the $18 for one month of premium just so I can platinum this game. Then RNG hit. I probably spent my whole platinum time on my main account just trying to get the Comin' in Hot trophy. By this morning I was down to 24 minutes with 2 trophies left. With time dwindling I said fuck it I can't leave this game with 2 trophies left that I know I can get. So I splurged the $30 on MLB The Show 22, a month before 23 comes out to get the platinum probably about 30 minutes over the trial time. How did I justify it? I already played the hell out of this game on Game Pass over the past year so they deserve to get a little bit out of me. I just won't buy MLB The Show 23 right away this year.

#9 TOEM | 7^th March 2023 | Completed in 1 day, 2 hours

Spoiler

Difficulty: 1/10 (with Charizarzar's Guide)
Enjoyment: 8/10

Platinum: And that completes the list!

This is exactly the type of game I was looking for at the moment. Between the action heavy games of Yakuza 0 and LAD: Ishin, I needed something calming and quick on the side. Now the guide says eight hours but with Charizarzar's 100% guide, it only took me like four and a half including the DLC. However, I wish I took my time with this game, because I really enjoyed the world and the characters. It's a little silly and I can't remember the one line, I wish I wrote it down, but it had me dying of laughter. If you're a fan of calming puzzle games with some humor and story sprinkled in, I highly recommend this game. My only gripe is it was too quick but I used a guide and I think if I didn't I would've spent more time in the world. I hope there's a sequel or spiritual sequel to this game in the future!

#10 Everybody's Gone to the Rapture | 14th May 2023 | Completed in 2 days, 22 hours

Spoiler

Difficulty: 2/10
Enjoyment: 4/10

Platinum: This Pattern is Mine

Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture is an indie Adventure game from the Developers The Chinese Room. It was published by Sony and released in August 2015. In the game, you play as an “unknown” character going through a town after all the inhabitants are wiped out. Through glowing lights re-playing the townspeople’s lives, you relive their experiences and thoughts in the final moments leading to their demise.

This game is a walking simulator, unfortunately for me I had no idea there was a run/jog button so I walked throughout the whole game and this game has the walking pace of a snail. I don’t think the jog is much better, but it had to be better than the walking. While I don’t mind walking simulators and adventure games like this, the story really has to grab me and this one just didn’t.

The story focuses on a set of characters that inhabit a town and their lives leading into the final moments of an apocalyptic event that wipes out the whole town. You learn their thoughts and feelings of other inhabitants. The main character you follow around is a scientist named Stephen. He seems to be the one at the center of all of this and you see how he interacts with his wife, mom, and his ex-girlfriend (who everyone thinks he should get back with) among others. It’s also heavily implied this town is racist and his wife is a person of color.

SPOILERS

It turns out this apocalyptic event is some sort of alien force that wipes out the town. It seems to be consensus (and my thoughts as well) that you play as Stephen’s wife Kate as she was the one most open to this “alien force” and that it most likely used her as a host as it walks around the town to see the remains.

As I said before, this story just didn’t grab me at all, but I can see how it might grab some others as it is sort of interesting but maybe it was the walking pace that just took me out. From a trophy standpoint, it’s not much better. Technically you could finish the story and only get one trophy. Without a guide, there’s not really any way to tell where to get the other trophies and most are arbitrary. The collectibles are some of the worst as there is no interact button so for a lot of the collectibles you just have to stare at them for about 30 seconds and hope it registers otherwise you have to go through the whole game again.

It’s an easy enough platinum with a guide, but it is a painfully slow walking simulator with an underwhelming story and I wouldn’t really recommend this game to anyone unless it is really your style of game or you’ve heard enough of the story that you want to find out more, even then you’re probably better off just watching a playthrough.

#11-20

Spoiler

#11 Life is Strange: Before the Storm | 2nd June 2023 | Completed in 1 week, 4 days

#12 Twisted Metal | 7th August 2021 | Completed in 20 hours, 17 minutes

Spoiler

Difficulty: 2/10

Enjoyment: 8/10

Platinum: Twisted Champion

Twisted Metal is an update of the PS1 version of the game for PS4/PS5 that was released this year in July on PS Plus. As a kid, I played Twisted Metal (mostly 3 and Black as I owned them), but didn’t understand the game and didn’t get very far in them. So now, I got to play them and actually get to understand the meaning of the story and how to play the game to its fullest.

The game itself is a car shooter where you take control of a character and have to survive a “tournament” of sorts in order to get a wish granted to you from the great Calypso. The gameplay is relatively simple, drive, shoot, pickup different guns, and some health stations scattered throughout the levels. However, in the simplicity is a lot of fun. There is nothing more satisfying than seeing the opposing cars explode after you take down their health with a variety of different rockets.

While there is not some great overarching story in the game, there are individual stories for each character. Each character has some motivation for winning this tournament and getting their wish granted from Calypso. Their wish gets granted at the end of each of their stories and you see how it affects them afterwards, most are positive although there are a couple that end up being negatively affected.

The trophies in this game are relatively simple, the worst part is having to complete the last level with every character so it kind of gets repetitive, but it isn’t awful as you also get to experience the end of each character’s story which is at least somewhat rewarding.

With that said, I’m not sure if I’ll play the updated version of TM2. 1 was fun, but it’s not really my normal style of game that I would play, but I’m glad I got to experience it as an adult compared to when I was playing these games as a kid.

#13 Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart | 15th August 2023 | Completed in 1 month, 3 weeks

#14 Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered | 10th September 2023 | 100% 11th November 2023| Completed in 6 months, 6 days

#15 Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy | 19th October 2023 | Platinum in 4 months, 1 week

#16 Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales | 12th November 2023 | Platinum in 1 month, 2 weeks

#17 Unpacking | 15th November 2023 | Platinum in 4 hours, 36 minutes

Spoiler

Difficulty: 2/10

Enjoyment: 6/10

Platinum: All Moved In

Unpacking is an indie Puzzle game from developer Witch Beam that was released in 2022. The name is the game, as you spend your time unpacking boxes in each of your homes over the years and it tells a story.

The gameplay is very simple. Unpack boxes and place items where they belong. Where Unpacking excels is in its unique style of storytelling. There is no dialogue or voice acting in unpacking, all you are doing is unpacking boxes. But in that, the items tell a story. You have items that follow you throughout the whole time, items that come and go, and new items that appear. It also tells the story with each new setting, where you are and assumedly how old you are in each move. The jarring setback of moving out and then having to move back home with a melancholy melody playing showing that you have been in a breakup and had to do the always embarrassing thing of moving back home with your parents (I’ve had to do it a few times myself). But then moving past that and finding new chapters in your life until ultimately you are in your own large house with your own family.

The trophies are nothing special. Completing every level and a few missables for each level that are easy to keep track off and then also making sure you flush every toilet. Simple enough.

This game isn’t going to wow people with gameplay or graphics or even seem all that interesting at first. But I do advise if you have a few hours, just sit down and play through it. If not for the platinum, just for the story. It’s a relaxing game to play and has a great story to tell that actually feels good by the end of the game.

#18 The Artful Escape | 16th November 2023 | Platinum in 3 hours, 51 minutes

Spoiler

Difficulty: 2/10

Enjoyment: 9/10

Platinum: All Done

The Artful Escape is an indie Adventure game released in January 2022, developed by Beethoven & Dinosaur and published by Annapurna Interactive, who have had a lot of success with publishing indie games including award winners like Outer Wilds and Stray.

Artful Escape is a lot like the rest on this list as it is not going to wow you with gameplay or graphics, but it has a great story to tell. However, it does have the added bonus of great music and incorporating that music into the gameplay.

I’m going to start with the trophies on this one and then jump into the story. Trophies here like the rest are nothing crazy. Complete the game and there is like 3 “missable” trophies but a lot are hard to miss. Easy platinum.

Now for the story, from the main menu you can feel the music. The main overarching song of the game is played to you as soon as you open the game. The story is of a young man/teenager, Francis Vendetti, who unfortunately lives in the shadow of his uncle, Johnson. A famous folk singer, born in the town where Francis grew up, Calypso. Francis has basically been forced to follow in his uncle’s footsteps after his uncle to play folk music, however Francis is much more into rock music and shows a knack for playing it. He is approached by a mysterious woman, Violetta, who tells him to look for a place called Lightman’s. He asks around town but no one has ever heard of it.

One line hit me hard and it’s an optional line so many may not even hear it. When you arrive back to your home, you speak with your mother before going back to your room. On the way you go through the kitchen and there is a picture of your father and uncle on the fridge. Francis talks about how his mom said they were always close and that he misses his dad “but no one ever asks me about him.” Holy shit. That line hit me hard. This poor kid is constantly egged on to be a folk musician because of his uncle and then basically has to be constantly reminded that no one cares about his dad, because his dad wasn’t famous like his uncle.

After going to sleep you wake up to a commotion outside and you realize that you don’t find Lightman’s, Lightman’s finds you. An alien comes to lead you to a man named Lightman who will take you to his ship. This is also where you play your guitar to now light up everything around you. After boarding Lightman’s he tells you you will open for him on his intergalactic tour.

I won’t just do a plot synopsis from this point, but essentially you travel through alien worlds and defeat bosses until you are more beloved than Lightman and you are the new captain of the ship. You then have to defeat one final boss in order to be sent back home where you can make it to your concert (late) and play the music you REALLY want to play. Rock and roll!

The characters and story of this game are what make it, and while the gameplay is a simple platform/music player?, the music is so expertly woven into the gameplay that it makes more interesting than just a normal platformer. I would advise anyone to go ahead and take the 4-5 hours to play this game, because it is honestly such a great story and fun game to play and I really loved it.

#19 Marvel's Spider-Man 2 | 16th November 2023 | Platinum in 3 weeks, 6 days

#20 Life Is Strange: True Colors | 20th November 2023 | Platinum in 2 days, 2 hours

#21-30

Spoiler

#21 Lost Words: Beyond the Page | 22nd November 2023 | Platinum in 17 hours, 31 minutes

Spoiler

Difficulty: 1/10

Enjoyment: 9/10

Platinum: Platinum Guardian

Lost Words is another indie Adventure/Platformer from developer Sketchbook Games that was released in April 2021. Very similar gameplay to Artful Escape (minus the music) it has another unique take on the Platformer, using words as your ability throughout the worlds you travel.

Lost Words has two parallel stories that go hand in hand. The first story follows Izzy, a young girl that has a love for writing fantasy stories. She spends a lot of time with her family, mostly her grandma. Izzy receives a journal from her grandma and then uses it to write her thoughts but also to write her newest fantasy story, which is the second story we follow. Taking place in a fictional Estoria, your character must save the fireflies from a dragon who terrorized the town and set them free.

SPOILERS

The story of Lost Words carries this thing through to the end in a magnificent way. Izzy’s story is about coming to terms with the health and eventual death of her grandma.The real life tragedy then affects how she writes the story of Estoria. You go through the 5 stages of grief the same as anyone would. At first Izzy is hopeful and so is the character in Estoria. It’ll get better/We can save the fireflies. This then turns to anger and then bargaining. Maybe if I clean grandma will get better. Eventually, her grandma passes away and that is when we hit depression. It’s seen even more clearly in Estoria when your character is brought to a black/white/grey space with nothing but a whale that keeps repeating (going through the motions with depression, not changing routine) until you speak to the whale enough to learn that life goes on.

Eventually in the Estoria story you reach the dragon and demand to fight them, but you can’t really. It would end in a stalemate every time. The dragon explains “sometimes things end.” This is where we see acceptance. Izzy accepts her grandma’s death. In Estoria, your character accepts that it is an end to her town, but understands that it can be rebuilt and life moves on. You eventually see a grown up Izzy, returning to her journal and speaking about her life and how her daughter is also close to her grandma and hopes that they can have the same relationship that she had with hers. Showing that while some things end, the memories live on.

The trophies as with all these games are very simple. Beat the game, collect all the fireflies and black asterisks (although these are much more simple than the fireflies and hard to miss).

This game was my indie game of the year and for good reason. The story hit me more than the others and I think it’s because of my own past dealings with loss and grief. I felt like I could relate throughout the whole story and see what was happening in Izzy/Estoria’s story as the same thing that was happening in my life. I think the gameplay is unique enough, although not crazy, that it warrants a high rating from me. If these themes speak to you, I urge you to play this game and experience the story first hand.

#22 It Takes Two | 2nd December 2023 | Platinum in 2 weeks, 4 days

#23 Ghost of Tsushima | 3rd December 2023 | Platinum in 6 months, 1 week

100% Games:

#1-10

Spoiler

#1 Overcooked | 25^th February 2023 | Completed in 1 month, 3 weeks

Spoiler

Difficulty: 2/10
Enjoyment: 7/10
Hardest Trophy: All The Trimmings

I started playing this game on my own and quickly realized how hard it was to get 3 stars by yourself (at least for me). Switching between characters, especially on some levels, just isn't ideal and it's much better to have two people doing two things at once. So I called upon my friend and we don't get to play together often so it was nice getting to play games with him again and complete this game with him. Just for that reason, I think Overcooked was a very enjoyable game. Some certain things about the game can get annoying, but it's more user error on my part than anything (such as getting stuck on surfaces or moving too fast and constantly picking up the wrong thing). Overall getting 3 stars was a little tedious with 2 people but most levels won't take more than a few tries (the ice levels are the worst!). I enjoyed this game, but I'm not sure if I'd go through playing the other ones.

Finished Platinum but Need DLC:

Ghost of Tsushima | 52 of 77 Trophies

Finished the Story but Not the Platinum:

Yakuza 0 | 44 of 55 Trophies

Like a Dragon: Ishin | 43 of 56 Trophies

Working On The Story:

Horizon Zero Dawn | 20 of 79 Trophies

Saint's Row IV: Re-elected | 6 of 71 Trophies

Persona 4 Golden | 15 of 50 Trophies

Psychonauts | 14 of 38 Trophies

The Ones That I Didn't Finish:

None yet

Backlog:

if someone wants to suggest any of them to me to play next!

Spoiler

Under Construction

Edited December 4, 2023 by slicknick3822
Update

GothGirlMaxine · December 1, 2022

Nice start with Astro's Playroom! (Although my first PS5 platinum was Miles Morales, Astro was second), and I am so glad to see Life Is Strange in there too! (Top tier game!)

slicknick3822 · December 1, 2022

8 minutes ago, StygianWolf4 said:

Nice start with Astro's Playroom! (Although my first PS5 platinum was Miles Morales, Astro was second), and I am so glad to see Life Is Strange in there too! (Top tier game!)

Thank you! Yeah, Life is Strange is a game I've had forever and just never got around to playing it, despite being a big fan of those style of games when it came out.

slicknick3822 · December 13, 2022

Platinum #2

Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight

Difficulty: 3/10 (Only because of the grind and the early learning curve)

Enjoyment: 8/10

I started this game on a whim because I enjoy the Persona series (and haven't beaten a single one of them yet ?). The story is interesting but since Persona 3 is one that I haven't touched I probably missed a lot of what was going on between the characters. I also made the mistake of starting the game on normal which is usually fine with most games but since this is a rhythm game and that's not usually my genre I STRUGGLED in the beginning and fought through all the songs on normal. I then moved backwards to easy and realized I should've started on easy. But by the end I was completing songs on Hard with ease and I was having a lot of fun with the game itself. The songs get repetitive and stuck in your head constantly. The trophies themselves aren't hard besides the few songs that you have to do on All Night difficulty to get the pair trophies but you just need to see their fever time and you can use modifiers and still get the trophy. The only problem I had was the grind for Akihiko's story because he needs a cumulative combo of 17,000 which doesn't sound bad but as someone who hasn't had a lot of experience with rhythm games my max combo was like 2-300 until I got better at the game towards the end where I finally hit a 935 every note combo (with GOOD counts as combo modifier) on Hard, something I would've never fathomed doing when I first started the game. But doing that song a few times helped me get the Akihiko story done and finish off the game for my second platinum. I'm very excited for P3P and P4G to come out next year to PS5 so I can start tackling the actual Persona games.

Platinum #3

Life is Strange

Difficulty: 1/10 (With Guide, 3-4/10 without)

Enjoyment: 7.5/10

To preface this, this is the old PS4 version of the game NOT the remastered version, so I'm hoping that some of my gripes with this game were fixed in that newer version. Unfortunately, I did have this game spoiled for me years ago, and while I didn't remember every detail I knew the major twist of the story. However, I don't think that altered my enjoyment of the game's story at all. I find the story to be intriguing and I love point & click/visual novel type games where I control the character's choices so this was right up my alley. My major gripes with this game are with the performance. It's possible because I'm playing on PS5 and this game was not optimized for PS5, that it makes it worse, but I have seen similar complaints from the original. The lips don't sync, at one point in Episode 5 Max's mouth wasn't even moving for a whole scene. The screen would tear and pixelize, especially during scenes with the storm. I think the performance issues would take me out of the game every once in a while, but I still thoroughly enjoyed the story being told. The trophies are not hard at all, especially if you use a guide which I did. If you don't use a guide and you're an explorer of every nook and cranny and option then you will definitely have an easy time. I, however am not like that and pass up things right in front of my eyes, so I would have missed a lot of the optional photo's otherwise. I have heard that the first one actually may be the weakest of the series, so I do hope to check out the others at some point down the line!

Ratchet & Clank Update:

I've completed the story and challenge mode and I am 4 trophies short! I didn't use a guide to get Death by Disco (mistake), but I believe I'm only missing one enemy, maybe a few others so can hopefully get that quickly. I also only need to upgrade the Sheepinator and Ryno to full level and upgrades so I should be able to knock this out with like half a playthrough more, but definitely more than it should have took. Oh well, I will get it done.

Edited December 4, 2023 by slicknick3822

slicknick3822 · December 23, 2022

Platinum #4 + #5

Save Room (PS4 + PS5)

Difficulty: 1/10

Enjoyment: 6/10

I promise this will be the only game close to shovelware that I will do. The reason I chose to do this one is because I am a big fan of Resident Evil and also love the idea of organizing the attache case in RE4 as it's own game. It's a nice little puzzle game with obviously very easy achievements. Was able to knock both versions in under an hour each.

Platinum #6

Donut County

Difficulty: 1/10

Enjoyment: 8/10

Another very easy platinum, but a game with a lot more story. I've heard a lot through the years about Donut County and how fun it was and I have to agree. It has a nice little story that's easy to follow with some pretty good dialogue, especially some of the things BK and Mira say to each other. The gameplay itself has an oddly satisfying feeling. Gathering everything into your "donut" and watching it grow is fun. Very similar style to the Katamari games in that sense. I would recommend anyone who hasn't played this yet to spend a couple hours and knock this one out. May not be for everyone but I think it's pretty fun.

Edited December 4, 2023 by slicknick3822

slicknick3822 · January 5, 2023

Platinum #7

Ratchet & Clank (2016)

Difficulty: 3/10 (1/10 if you can get Death by Disco/Max All Weapons on 2nd playthrough which I did not)

Enjoyment: 5/10

My first negative review, and this review was going to be more on the negative side before Death by Disco but that has added to it even more. I have a lot to say about this game so let's start from the beginning. I will preface this by saying I never played a R&C game before. None of the originals. This was my first one, so I have no idea how R&C fans feel about this game.

Starting with the story, I thought it fell a little flat. In the beginning I was intrigued, story being told by the villain from prison. By the end I was left disappointed and maybe it's because I don't have prior experience with R&C, but I didn't care about any of the villains and Ratchet didn't seem all that alluring as a main character to me in this game. In fact, Clank was way more human and alluring as a character to me and my favorite storyline was actually between him and Victor as simple as it was (Bad robot hates good robot because he's bad). I also hear nothing but praise about the humor in R&C games, and maybe it's more true to the originals, but I didn't find anything particularly humorous about the dialogue in this game. There were a few lines that made me chuckle but nothing memorable. So the story for me gets like a 6/10. Nothing horribly bad, but nothing great either. I felt like there was a chance for it to be a better story but it didn't really work.

Onto the gameplay, I actually really enjoy the gameplay loop of the game. The only part I dislike is during the areas where you play as Clank, he moves noticeably slower than Ratchet and it kinda feels like a slog to get through. It also doesn't help during those parts, and one Ratchet part, that you don't have any of the gadgets that help make you move a bit quicker. I will say after multiple playthroughs you're really OP and the combat is more of a chore. But during the first and second playthrough it's fun especially getting new weapons and trying to figure out what works best. So the gameplay is probably a solid 8.5-9/10.

I'll quickly touch on other things, I love the music in the game and the atmosphere of the planets you visit. I have no problems with any of them but they're not overly memorable either other than the music when you open the game and load up, that always gets me pretty hype to play even when I was on my 4th playthrough.

The trophies are super easy and you will get 90%+ naturally. So my first problem was with upgrading weapons, it actually took me almost 3 full playthroughs because I didn't upgrade my weapons to level 5 by the end of the first playthrough which is basically a must to get level 10 in playthrough 2. There's only a few farming areas and there's absolutely none in post-game. My main issues with the trophies come with Death by Disco in particular and part of that is my own fault, but I also think the game doesn't do a good job of helping you track it and isn't clear on the actual trophy description. The description reads as "Hit every enemy with the groovibomb" what it doesn't tell you is that it needs to all be done in one playthrough. So I went through my first playthrough. Looked at a guide to see which enemies I missed (tentacle, swimming and non-swimming fish), the usual you would miss. So during my second playthrough I made sure to hit those ones specifically but didn't try to hit every enemy in that one playthrough. The trophy didn't pop. Okay well I'll just watch the guide and go through the game a third time. Well I did that and I missed the fish in Rilgar, but no problem there's a spot in Pokitaru, well I did the one in Pokitaru and tried to groovibomb every other enemy in the guide and I must've missed one. Because I got to Dr. Nefarious and it still didn't pop. Then I took a break. I was so unbelievably frustrated with this trophy and (Correct me, if I'm wrong but I double checked), there's no in game tracker for this trophy. So if you get all the way through the game and miss one enemy, that sucks, do it again. Having to basically do this trophy 3 times made me massively dislike going through this game, and it's not even fully the games fault, I'll admit I didn't understand the trophy at first and I tried to get by without a guide at first too, but there was no reason this trophy should've been this hard for me to get, it's not a hard trophy. Maybe I just suck at this game but man I think it should've been a lot easier.

I have heard nothing but good things about Rift Apart and my experience with R&C 2016 has not stopped me from wanting to play Rift Apart as well. So hopefully when I get around to it it's a much better experience. I do also want to go back and play the originals at some point, I believe they're on premium which I don't have but maybe in the future.

Edited December 4, 2023 by slicknick3822

slicknick3822 · February 9, 2023

Platinum #8

MLB The Show 22

Difficulty: 1/10

Enjoyment: 9/10

Amount I thought I would need to spend to platinum this game: $0, the amount I actually spent: $48. For context, my main account (slicknickd3822) has PS Plus Premium so I thought I could play the trial on both accounts. I could not. For some reason game trials are the only thing that you can't do on both accounts. I did a test run on my main account and I was able to do it in 2 hours, 21 minutes. I was feeling good I was like okay that wasn't even an optimized run so I could probably get this thing closer to 2 hours. So I decided to spend the $18 for one month of premium just so I can platinum this game. Then RNG hit. I probably spent my whole platinum time on my main account just trying to get the Comin' in Hot trophy. By this morning I was down to 24 minutes with 2 trophies left. With time dwindling I said fuck it I can't leave this game with 2 trophies left that I know I can get. So I splurged the $30 on MLB The Show 22, a month before 23 comes out to get the platinum probably about 30 minutes over the trial time. How did I justify it? I already played the hell out of this game on Game Pass over the past year so they deserve to get a little bit out of me. I just won't buy MLB The Show 23 right away this year.

Edited December 4, 2023 by slicknick3822

slicknick3822 · February 27, 2023

100% #1 Overcooked Added!

Karl-Kai · March 5, 2023

This thread of yours was a good read, thank you for it! Your style in sharing your thoughts is very enjoyable. You have seen some setbacks on your gaming journey, and for that I feel for you, but if nothing else, at least it spices up your stories and hey, you seem to be taking it in stride. That is admirable in and of itself. Plus, your planned games list looks like an interesting one; it'll be nice to see whatever gets chosen as your next one to play.

Keep up the good work, Nicky, and I'll keep reading your posts! Cheers!

Edited March 5, 2023 by Karl-Kai

slicknick3822 · March 7, 2023

Platinum #9 TOEM added!

On 3/4/2023 at 9:51 PM, Karl-Kai said:

This thread of yours was a good read, thank you for it! Your style in sharing your thoughts is very enjoyable. You have seen some setbacks on your gaming journey, and for that I feel for you, but if nothing else, at least it spices up your stories and hey, you seem to be taking it in stride. That is admirable in and of itself. Plus, your planned games list looks like an interesting one; it'll be nice to see whatever gets chosen as your next one to play.

Keep up the good work, Nicky, and I'll keep reading your posts! Cheers!

Thank you so much for the kind words! And yeah, I'm not one to get too angry about any obstacles in gaming (or anything at all for that matter). I appreciate you checking this out!

slicknick3822 · November 27, 2023

1 Year of Trophy Hunting

November 22, 2022 I earned my first platinum on this account with Astro's Playroom. Since then, I have completed 22 games. And my name is slicknick3822. I did not plan that, that is all purely coincidental, but 22 is one of my favorite numbers so it makes sense.

There's a lot I want to say about my 1st year and I'm not sure exactly how to say it. I have loved doing this and it has really scratched that itch, but also had me play games that I otherwise wouldn't have played. Now I'm more excited than ever to complete certain games in my backlog or games I find on PS Plus. My internal goal in my first year was to complete 20 games and keep my completion percentage above 90%. I came close. I did complete over 20 games, but my percentage is at about 82%. This isn't bad especially considering I immediately ran into issues, mostly with Yakuza 0 and Psychonauts. In Y0, as much as I love the game, I have not been able to complete the dancing for Kiryu and I haven't touched it since completing everything else. Which in turn has stopped me from continuing on the rest of the Yakuza games because I want to make sure I complete it before moving on. For Psychonauts, however, it has nothing to do with the game or my skill, but I get sick playing the game. Eventually I will go back and beat the story at least, but it does suck only being able to play for 30 minutes to an hour before feeling sick. I have had this same thing happen with the Borderlands games, but I was able to beat those games so I'm sure I can do the same here.

One of the things I find so lovely about this place is the community. I haven't really put myself into the community as so many others do, but I have tried to do some of the community events and contests throughout the year and have met some lovely people. One of my favorite things to do is actually just read through everyone else's posts on those events and in these trophy checklists. Seeing the games that everyone else is playing and what they think about certain games. It gives me games to add to my wishlist or check out. Some of you have some deeper understanding of video games I may never have. You see it a lot in these Trophy Checklists, long posts detailing their adventures and exact things that they like and dislike about each game. I'm more just like a caveman: "I like play game, so game good." But I thought I would still take this opportunity to appreciate some of the games I've played over the last year with "Awards" of a sort. Then at the end of the post I'll put my plans moving forward as well relating to this checklist.

slicknick3822's Awards for the Year

Achievements that are not Awards:

Games Played: 29

Completed Games: 22 (21 Platinums, 1 100%)

Completion Percentage: 82.88%

Total Trophy Count: 963

First Platinum:

Astro's Playroom

10th Platinum:

Everybody's Gone To The Rapture

20th Platinum:

Life is Strange: True Colors

Fastest Platinum:

Save Room (PS5) - 44 minutes, 37 seconds

Rarest Platinum:

MLB The Show 22 - 15.49%

Rarest Trophy:

All The Trimmings (Overcooked) - 10.07%

500th Trophy:

The Six Assemble (Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered)

Now onto the awards...

Favorite Game Tile/Cover

Like a Dragon: Ishin

I think you're lying to yourself if you don't think this is one of the most beautiful game covers to exist. Not only the red/orange/yellow color scheme, but also the pose with the gun and sword is just perfect. I love it and it's one of my favorite covers of all time.

Coming in at second, is True Colors which does a great job of showing Alex (the main character) but also has a beautiful pink/purple color scheme.

Runner Up: Life is Strange: True Colors

Favorite Trophy Icon

Turnabout Goodbyes (Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy)

For some reason, in the original Ace Attorney, they use the in-game episode art for the trophy icons, but for every subsequent game in the trilogy they use just the characters. However, my favorite icon from the original Ace Attorney game is the penultimate episode. Showing the looming character of Manfred von Karma grasping at a dejected Edgeworth (and also the key witness and his bird is there I guess) shows how this episode goes right off the bat and does a great job of telling a story of the episode in a simple trophy icon.

As for the runner-up TOEM's Platinum comes a close second. I just like the color shining through the gray.

Runner Up: And that completes the list! (TOEM)

Hardest Trophy

Death by Disco (Ratchet & Clank)

While it is mostly my own fault, I will also complain that not one guide said this all had to be done in one playthrough and made it sound like it could be done through multiple (maybe Challenge mode? But I screwed that one up anyway). I followed a guide 3 times before I could finally get this trophy. It's not even hard, just annoying and extremely sensitive on whether it decides to count the enemy that you threw the disco ball at.

Coming in at second, All The Trimmings from Overcooked, my rarest trophy. Though it isn't that hard, I do advise playing co-op for Overcooked. There's no way I would've been able to do this alone. I played through about half the game alone and couldn't power through, it's extremely tough for me, no idea how some people do it.

Runner Up: All The Trimmings (Overcooked)

Favorite Side Content

Yakuza 0

Despite the annoying dancing mini-game, there's no denying not only the quantity, but the QUALITY of Yakuza 0's side content. From singing and dancing to serious crimes to dating to goofiness, Yakuza 0 has it all. And beyond that, some of Yakuza 0's side content directly ties into future games, which makes it even more worth it to go out of your way.

In second, we have Ghost of Tsushima, which I haven't completed all the side content for, but that's because there is just so much of it. My least favorite is liberating towns, while I think its a good idea, there is just a lot of them and that's why I think this gets bumped down here. But all the different side missions or "tales" all have deep meaning and a great storyline, while the collectibles and map markers all help you to continually upgrade your character and tell stories of their own.

Runner Up: Ghost of Tsushima

Favorite Trophy

...I Did it For the Trophy (Yakuza 0)

Don't worry about why I like this one the best.

All jokes aside, this trophy is obviously about watching one of the gravure idol videos at the video store. Luckily for all of us, you have to do this to get the 100% anyway.

As for the runner up, the story behind me getting it is more why I like this one. There is an ability in Ghost of Tsushima that allows you to kick someone with full force so they go flying. This trophy suggests you need them to fall off a cliff of a sort while performing this move. However, that is not the case. I performed this move, the dude fell two feet in front of me and the trophy popped. I couldn't stop laughing at the absurdity of calling it a "fall".

Runner Up: Have a Nice Fall (Ghost of Tsushima)

Favorite Story

Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered

I had gone back and forth on this one. Yakuza 0 is one of my favorite games of all-time and largely in part due to it's story and ability to tell that story through its characters and world-building. However, Marvel's Spider-Man does the same and for me, it invoked a lot more meaning than Yakuza 0 did. Having to play through Spider-Man twice for the 100%, I found myself on New Game+ still having the same reactions I did as the first time the story was told, despite knowing what happens. The ending fight between Peter and Doc Ock is one of my favorite fights in video games, mostly due to the story its telling. For those reasons, Spider-Man gets the slight nudge past Yakuza 0 as my favorite story I've played this year.

Runner Up: Yakuza 0

Most Helpful Trophy Guide

Persona 4 Platinum Walkthrough by ARKPhoenix

I won't tag these people, because I don't want them to be confused as to why they are being tagged in some random person's trophy checklist, but I do need to give shout outs to the most useful guides I've used this year. ARKPhoenix's Persona 4 Walkthrough makes it incredibly simple to play that game, it's not able to tell you how to beat every character or boss, but it helps you plan out the days perfectly to get the platinum easily. Obviously I haven't done that yet with this game, but using ARKPhoenix's guide will make it a breeze when I do.

As for second place, I would not have been able to do all the substories and friendships without Undead_Wolf_N7. Again, it lays everything out for these and makes it incredibly easy to follow through on all these substories, especially the harder to find ones.

Runner Up: Yakuza 0 Substory and Friendship Guide by Undead_Wolf_N7

Hardest Platinum

Ratchet & Clank

I won't waste too much time talking about this one as it's the same reasons as the Hardest Trophy award. I had the benefit of not really playing any hard/ultra rare games my first year, so the one that gave me the most fits was Ratchet & Clank. Overcooked was a solid second, but like I said, the game became much easier once I played it in co-op with my friend so Ratchet & Clank gets the "win" here.

Runner Up: Overcooked

Favorite Character

Jin Sakai (Ghost of Tsushima)

There are so many great characters I've gotten to play as this year, but I don't think anyone comes close to the story and characterization of Jin Sakai. Jin's story from honorable samurai to living by his own code to make sure to protect his country is great. Leaving you with choices that you have to make in dialogue and especially at the end that will affect how Jin moves forward.

A might close second is Goro Majima who is one of my favorite characters. A man who wants nothing more than to get back into the Yakuza fold has to make a choice of protecting an innocent girl from the people trying to kill her or be the one to do the deed himself. A story of ups and downs and twists and turns shows Majima slowly turn into more of the character we know in the future Yakuza games, but this is one of the most phenomenal prequels for a character ever. However, I like Majima in future games even more, so for now Jin, gets the nod.

Runner Up: Goro Majima (Yakuza 0)

Favorite Soundtrack

The Artful Escape

From the very beginning, The Artful Escape's music captivated me. I was intrigued from the menu screen just based off the song that was playing. A song that would echo throughout the game to show the main character's connection to his past. However, what's even more amazing is how the music entwines with the story and gameplay. Yes, when you're playing it's just basic chords but the fact that you are literally lighting up the world as you play and captivating an audience makes you feel more connected to the music than any other game. Artful Escape's soundtrack and just music in general was an easy choice for me to make here.

In second, we have Persona 4, which is no surprise as the Persona soundtracks are iconic for how well they fit into their games and how catchy their tunes are. I think I could listen to the opening sequence all day if I wanted.

Runner Up: Persona 4 Golden

Favorite Indie Game

Lost Words: Beyond the Page

Coming in at the last second with a win, Lost Words. My 22nd platinum, exactly 1 year from my 1st, Lost Words surprised me with it's story. While I saw this as an easy platinum to grab with people talking about how much they loved it. I thought, oh maybe it just has a decent little story or some good gameplay mechanic, but no this has an AMAZING story. A story of how a young girl deals with death not only by writing about what's actually happening but also by writing parallel with her own "made up" story. It's an incredibly thoughtful tale that reminds us of how we first dealt with death in our lives. You see all 5 stages of grief sprinkled throughout the game to finally end with not only acceptance but also moving on while keeping the thought of those who have passed with us.

The Artful Escape comes in a close second for me, with a great story about how someone deals being linked to the past and being born into a life that they did not want for themselves. While this has a very meaningful story as well about coming of age and being yourself, I think Lost Words just had a much more profound impact on me.

Runner Up: The Artful Escape

Most Anticipated Game of 2024

The Wolf Among Us 2

I swear if this game doesn't come out this year, I will be driven up a wall. 10 years it's been since the first Wolf Among Us and my favorite TellTale Game series. During this time, TellTale has been shut down, bought out, and gone through many changes, but I am just praying and hoping we can get this second game out this year as planned and it is just as good as the first. High hopes I'm sure, but I've been waiting since high school for this.

I'm probably in the minority, because it is a Ubisoft game after all. But from what I've seen, Star Wars Outlaws has me hyped and actually looks like a very fun Star Wars game to me and I hope it does capture that Star Wars magic.

Runner Up: Star Wars Outlaws

And Finally....

Favorite Platinum of 2023

Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered

Could it be anything else? I've platinumed all three Spider-Man games this year and none of them come close to the experience I had with the first. The story, the side content, the combat, the web slinging. All of it comes together for a near perfect game and a great platinum experience. It was actually harder choosing a runner up for this category.

Another one of the Spider-Man games? Miles Morales was much too short and somehow Spider-Man 2 felt even shorter (it's not, but I think the two Spider-Man thing actually made it feel like two half-games at times). A majority of my platinums have been easy grabs and while their stories are great like Lost Words/Artful Escape, they're just much too short and the platinum experience itself is nothing. So then second place comes to this, a game that wasn't featured anywhere else on the list, but I think does a great job of giving a platinum experience that's solid all around and that is Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. It improved on it's 2016 predecessor 10 fold and the platinum itself is easier to obtain (no dumb disco trophy). It could have used a few more harder trophies but all in all Rift Apart was a great experience and good enough for Runner Up.

Runner Up: Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

Thank you all for reading through my awards for the year (if you did, if you didn't, shame on you). So now onto how I want to do this moving forward. I haven't updated my trophy checklist in a long time, but I have updated the games in the main post. I think going forward I want to catch up on my reviews so I can talk about these games more in depth. I may combine some of them into one post (especially the shorter games). But have bigger posts for like all the Spider-Man games. It may not start until after the New Year, but I do want to catch up on that. As for my goals, they were all internal last year, but this year I'd like to post them.

For November 22, 2023 to November 22, 2024 here's what I would like to accomplish:

Completed Games: 30

Completion Percentage: >90%

Total Trophy Count: 2,000

I would like to get some of the games that I haven't gotten done yet completed like Yakuza 0, P4G, GOT, and Horizon Zero Dawn. I also want to get some harder games done. Right now it feels like my Platinums aren't really anything special. Not that I'm not proud of any of these, I'm actually proud of quite a few and enjoyed getting them, but I know that I can beat "harder" games or more "rare" games so I would like to get some of those done within the next year. Yakuza 0 will help with that if only I can learn how to dance!

Last but not least, I want to post more! Obviously here in the trophy checklist but everywhere else too. I'd like to put my thoughts and opinions on things more in the forums going forward and being part of this wonderful community.

Thank you all for reading and I hope to talk to you soon!

slicknick3822 · December 4, 2023

Platinum Roundup

Platinums #10, #12, #17, #18, and #21

Platinum #10: Everybody's Gone to the Rapture

Difficulty: 2/10

Enjoyment: 4/10

Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture is an indie Adventure game from the Developers The Chinese Room. It was published by Sony and released in August 2015. In the game, you play as an “unknown” character going through a town after all the inhabitants are wiped out. Through glowing lights re-playing the townspeople’s lives, you relive their experiences and thoughts in the final moments leading to their demise.

This game is a walking simulator, unfortunately for me I had no idea there was a run/jog button so I walked throughout the whole game and this game has the walking pace of a snail. I don’t think the jog is much better, but it had to be better than the walking. While I don’t mind walking simulators and adventure games like this, the story really has to grab me and this one just didn’t.

The story focuses on a set of characters that inhabit a town and their lives leading into the final moments of an apocalyptic event that wipes out the whole town. You learn their thoughts and feelings of other inhabitants. The main character you follow around is a scientist named Stephen. He seems to be the one at the center of all of this and you see how he interacts with his wife, mom, and his ex-girlfriend (who everyone thinks he should get back with) among others. It’s also heavily implied this town is racist and his wife is a person of color.

SPOILERS

It turns out this apocalyptic event is some sort of alien force that wipes out the town. It seems to be consensus (and my thoughts as well) that you play as Stephen’s wife Kate as she was the one most open to this “alien force” and that it most likely used her as a host as it walks around the town to see the remains.

As I said before, this story just didn’t grab me at all, but I can see how it might grab some others as it is sort of interesting but maybe it was the walking pace that just took me out. From a trophy standpoint, it’s not much better. Technically you could finish the story and only get one trophy. Without a guide, there’s not really any way to tell where to get the other trophies and most are arbitrary. The collectibles are some of the worst as there is no interact button so for a lot of the collectibles you just have to stare at them for about 30 seconds and hope it registers otherwise you have to go through the whole game again.

It’s an easy enough platinum with a guide, but it is a painfully slow walking simulator with an underwhelming story and I wouldn’t really recommend this game to anyone unless it is really your style of game or you’ve heard enough of the story that you want to find out more, even then you’re probably better off just watching a playthrough.

Platinum #12: Twisted Metal

Difficulty: 2/10

Enjoyment: 8/10

Twisted Metal is an update of the PS1 version of the game for PS4/PS5 that was released this year in July on PS Plus. As a kid, I played Twisted Metal (mostly 3 and Black as I owned them), but didn’t understand the game and didn’t get very far in them. So now, I got to play them and actually get to understand the meaning of the story and how to play the game to its fullest.

The game itself is a car shooter where you take control of a character and have to survive a “tournament” of sorts in order to get a wish granted to you from the great Calypso. The gameplay is relatively simple, drive, shoot, pickup different guns, and some health stations scattered throughout the levels. However, in the simplicity is a lot of fun. There is nothing more satisfying than seeing the opposing cars explode after you take down their health with a variety of different rockets.

While there is not some great overarching story in the game, there are individual stories for each character. Each character has some motivation for winning this tournament and getting their wish granted from Calypso. Their wish gets granted at the end of each of their stories and you see how it affects them afterwards, most are positive although there are a couple that end up being negatively affected.

The trophies in this game are relatively simple, the worst part is having to complete the last level with every character so it kind of gets repetitive, but it isn’t awful as you also get to experience the end of each character’s story which is at least somewhat rewarding.

With that said, I’m not sure if I’ll play the updated version of TM2. 1 was fun, but it’s not really my normal style of game that I would play, but I’m glad I got to experience it as an adult compared to when I was playing these games as a kid.

Platinum #17: Unpacking

Difficulty: 2/10

Enjoyment: 6/10

Unpacking is an indie Puzzle game from developer Witch Beam that was released in 2022. The name is the game, as you spend your time unpacking boxes in each of your homes over the years and it tells a story.

The gameplay is very simple. Unpack boxes and place items where they belong. Where Unpacking excels is in its unique style of storytelling. There is no dialogue or voice acting in unpacking, all you are doing is unpacking boxes. But in that, the items tell a story. You have items that follow you throughout the whole time, items that come and go, and new items that appear. It also tells the story with each new setting, where you are and assumedly how old you are in each move. The jarring setback of moving out and then having to move back home with a melancholy melody playing showing that you have been in a breakup and had to do the always embarrassing thing of moving back home with your parents (I’ve had to do it a few times myself). But then moving past that and finding new chapters in your life until ultimately you are in your own large house with your own family.

The trophies are nothing special. Completing every level and a few missables for each level that are easy to keep track off and then also making sure you flush every toilet. Simple enough.

This game isn’t going to wow people with gameplay or graphics or even seem all that interesting at first. But I do advise if you have a few hours, just sit down and play through it. If not for the platinum, just for the story. It’s a relaxing game to play and has a great story to tell that actually feels good by the end of the game.

Platinum #18: The Artful Escape