[EVENT] PSNP Kaleidoscope Challenge! 2023 [ENDED]

[Shivora]

Finished Chorus, but hard to figure out which color is best for it. It kinda gives me a greyish vibe, so that's where I've put it, but I'm open to discussions  

 

[Platinum_Vice]

Hello all. I've finally found an opportunity to get to my PC so that I can do my first Kaleidoscope update. And I have ticked off a massive... two... games. 

Well, at least I'm here, anyway. ?

 

For White: WipEout: Omega Collection.

For Blue: Astro's Playroom.

 

 

[diskdocx]

Update - Brown complete

 

 

Finished FIST for Brown. Hard game to rate - I wanted to enjoy it more than I did, but at the same time, I probably shouldn't like it as much as I do.

 

FIST is a Metroidvania, which I really enjoy. It has an excellent map. Perhaps one of the better ones for this type of game. It makes backtracking and finding the myriad of collectibles much easier, and notes locked areas with color barriers so you get a pretty good sense of what abilities you need to progress. And it is a pretty big game, with a solid 20+ hours and 15 large maps.

 

But...the story is pretty generic and the combat is really let down by the controls. They aren't bad, but rather too ambitious. This is reflected in the fact that one of the rarest trophies in the game is for completing the combo training. The game has set up some amazing combos, and if that's your jam then maybe you can master them, but mostly (even with a training dummy) you are messing them up because you're just a tiny bit too early...or too late...and the game tries to start a different combo. It would have been better to simplify the controls and have longer combos as opposed to using timing to recycle the same buttons. As an example, circle is execute. But also grab. And launch. It just doesn't work when enemies clump up and you are trying to execute one, but they game keeps grabbing another.

 

Advanced combos where you have to switch between various weapons while in air and using dash and jump - they are really amazing when you pull them off, which will be one time, in training, after half an hour of trying. It's disappointing as it wastes so much potential.

 

It is also worth noting, that because of the ambitious control scheme, the game doesn't have a dodge function. Which is criminal for a combat Metroidvania. You unlock dash part way through the game, and close to the end you unlock phase dash which lets you pass through enemies and attacks, but probably 75% of the game will have you playing with no ability to block or effective dodge enemy attacks, short of using jump.

 

Lastly, the game has the worst healing function of all time. You have to hold R2 to drink and restore health. This is annoying enough as it is, as in combat (esp boss battles), you need a quiet location for 5 seconds to actually complete the health restore, and if there's a lot of combat going on, you keep having to move or get hit, which cancels the health restore. It further complicates things that R2 is also your bomb, gun and shock baton function, which you switch between with the right stick. Again, overly complicated controls, so at the end of the day, most of the other R2 functions just don't get used because it's too time consuming to switch up on the fly.

 

Despite the rants, I did enjoy the game. Probably enough to do the free PS5 upgrade. At some point. Shame the game got in it's own way far too much.

 

As a last note, for collectors this game has one of the nicest steelbooks I've seen for a game. ?

[Yuber6969]

Finished Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- for my red game!

 

[Fenrirfeather]

In the second month of the year the second colour is now down with Russian Subway Dogs: a cozy shade of red!

 

 

Here’s a game “with dogs doing things”, based on those actual real life Russian street dogs that have made the Moscow Metro their living and hunting grounds. They commute, they steal food and they nap on benches. If you've never heard of them, you could look on Wikipedia here…but you can also go ahead and play this game for fun or for a redish tile. Or orange, pawhaps. 

 

You may have heard of Russian Subway Dogs in the past and that may have been so because it was one of the last few VITA games to see the light of day, courtesy of the seemingly passionate developer Spooky Squid Games.

 

So what tree you barking up in Russian Subway Dogs? You're but a hungry dog in an arcade game but you seem to have swapped your stomach for a bottomless black hole. A hole that is never full but needs to be filled constantly to battle the ever decreasing food/life bar that dictates how long your hunt for edibles in the underground Metro lasts until it's game over for you. 

 

Food tastes better when cooked so you will want to juggle some vodka in the air first in order to then fry your snack in a blasting explosion. Cooking is mandatory even with raw fish that you will need to steal from the babushka that just love to whack you with her massive catch. Most foods you will want to run for and shallow without a second thought but do remember not to give the dog chocolate to avoid turning him into a poisoned fluff of purple. Instead, I recommend the hot sauce to acclimatise your pupper with the fine art of spewing fireballs!

 

Life would be great if only you wouldn't need to compete for your food against a ragtag band of other subway dwellers that seem to exist solely to make your life harder. The dobermans are likely your least worry. And while the elks and bears patrolling the platform might not faze you for long and you're usually shifting through all your options to quickly get rid of them by fire or poison, the pesky pigeons and abundance of jumping poodles are sure to make you question your love for either. Good thing there's a trophy for mega blasting a cheeky poodle into oblivion with a fine bottle of vodka! 

 

Unlockable guest characters (that do in fact differ slightly from one another in playstyle and the details of their bottomless stomach) are welcome additions especially for the endless mode, so if you pick this up, you might find yourself going a lot for the Rad Shiba from VA-11 HALL-A or do some just-for-fun runs with the... uh, Question Hound from... am I supposed to know that creature? 

 

Most importantly, you can play as a cat. (And then some more animals that don’t all meow.) 

 

There's quite a few of stages, an endless mode which makes for some good fun and no full trophy guide to speak of that I know of (but some handy tips for multiple achievements are found on steam). 
 

It's great the game's on VITA, shucks it's not on PS4/5 and thus fails to attract more people. It is, however, on Steam if the idea of playing some hounding action aracade game on your compawter tickles your fancy. Betcha it goes on sale there on occasion too.

 

[candicejean]

First couple boxes ticked off - The Turing Test was a quick 100% I knocked out before it left PS+, fun puzzle game akin to something like Portal. Picked up Cat Quest II because I enjoyed the first one a lot but I wasn't a big fan of the dual chars in this one. Probably would be decently fun in co-op but just felt kind of cumbersome solo. I definitely missed having flying for post-story cleanup. Easy plat, although the last 2 dungeons definitely took me a few tries ? Was on the fence with whether this was yellow or orange, decided on yellow for now but if I end up playing something yellower I may move it.

 

Edited February 27, 2023 by candicejean

[ORIGINAL_BEERON]

does anyone have suggestions for my missing colors?

 

thanks in advance

[Heather342]

17 minutes ago, ORIGINAL_BEERON said:

does anyone have suggestions for my missing colors?

 

thanks in advance

What sort of games do you like?

 

For purple I was gonna do Guacamelee 2, and for deep purple Soul Hackers 2. But e.g. if you like simulation games then Two Point Campus could also be a contender for purple. Sayonara Wild Hearts is another good pick for deep purple ?

 

For green I did Two Point Hospital, but my light green I'm gonna do Tunic. As you already have light green covered, maybe Tunic would work for you in the green spot ?

[NerdRage04]

Hello Friends!

 

Thank you all for keeping up with your updates. I enjoy reading them at work. It is really fun to see what games everyone is picking/swapping/completing for their lists. Whenever I see perfectly colored games I always think to myself, "Dang do I have that?" Then I ask my wife if I can buy it and she says, "No you already have a million games" the struggles of life am I right?

 

Anyways. I wanted to check with y'all what colors the following games would be appropriate for.

 

- Dungeon Munchies - I honestly don't know where to start on guessing

- Wild Hearts - Does Tan Work

- My big project for the year is Deep Rock. I am thinking of doing Orange for that beautiful beard.

 

Let me know what y'all think.

[Squirlruler]

13 minutes ago, NerdRage04 said:

Dungeon Munchies - I honestly don't know where to start on guessing

black or green

13 minutes ago, NerdRage04 said:

Wild Hearts - Does Tan Work

Yes

13 minutes ago, NerdRage04 said:

My big project for the year is Deep Rock. I am thinking of doing Orange for that beautiful beard.

Godspeed

[NerdRage04]

2 minutes ago, Squirlruler said:

black or green

Yes

Godspeed

 

Honestly Deep Rock isn't THAT bad. It is just time consuming. I have a majority of the trophies, just need to keep promoting. I may be a little biased because I have a buddy that is ALWAYS down to play. I always chuckle to myself in the forums in that game when people are asking how to quickly get the collectable and it's like... just play brother you got a long road ahead.

[Squirlruler]

29 minutes ago, NerdRage04 said:

 

Honestly Deep Rock isn't THAT bad. It is just time consuming. I have a majority of the trophies, just need to keep promoting. I may be a little biased because I have a buddy that is ALWAYS down to play. I always chuckle to myself in the forums in that game when people are asking how to quickly get the collectable and it's like... just play brother you got a long road ahead.

yea, just know it is super time consuming lol Glad you are knocking it out though

[Beyondthegrave07]

57 minutes ago, ORIGINAL_BEERON said:

does anyone have suggestions for my missing colors?

 

thanks in advance

For either purples:

 

Spyro Reignited trilogy

Saint's Row 3 or 4

 

Green:

 

Day of the Tentacle: Remastered 

 

 

[ORIGINAL_BEERON]

22 minutes ago, Beyondthegrave07 said:

For either purples:

 

Spyro Reignited trilogy

Saint's Row 3 or 4

 

Green:

 

Day of the Tentacle: Remastered 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Heather342 said:

What sort of games do you like?

 

For purple I was gonna do Guacamelee 2, and for deep purple Soul Hackers 2. But e.g. if you like simulation games then Two Point Campus could also be a contender for purple. Sayonara Wild Hearts is another good pick for deep purple

 

For green I did Two Point Hospital, but my light green I'm gonna do Tunic. As you already have light green covered, maybe Tunic would work for you in the green spot

 

thank you both for the suggestions. I will look them up and download the one i think i'll like the most.

 

thanks alot guys.

[Yen-Pop]

 

Five whole colors down! Finished off Black with Going Under - a shockingly colorful game for how boring the game image is. Which lemme tell ya' is a bummer. But if you're looking for a fun Rogue-Lite that makes fun of the tech start up scene and is genuinely enjoyable to play - even if, like me, those games aren't usually your thing - then I definitely recommend it!

 

Spoiler

 

White: 

Yellow: Yaga: Roots of Evil

Tan: Twelve Minutes

Orange: Stray

Red: Feudal Alloy

Pink: Paper Beasts

Maroon: Pyre

Purple: Afterparty

Deep Purple: Doctor Who: The Edge of Time

Blue: Horizon: Forbidden West

Light Blue: Spiritfarer

Green:

Light Green: 

Brown: Assassin's Creed Valhalla

Grey: Chicken Police

Black: Going Under

 

 

[Duke_Ryle]

I was going to start Resident Evil 2 for my light blue color but I need to make room on my console first so I completed Oxenfree for my fifth game.  I think I'll make this one my green color.  

 

I bought this game for 99 cents when it was on sale a year and a half ago and I finally got around to playing it.  I had been meaning to play it for a while (as I had downloaded it onto my console) but it got pushed back.  I'm sure you all know how that goes.  It's a neat story game with differing dialogue options and choices.  As with most of these types of games a lot of the fun comes with multiple playthroughs and making different choices.  The platinum takes 3 playthroughs, 4 if you complete a blind playthrough and are unlucky.  One of the playthrough requirements was quite fun and I laughed out loud at the dialogue, which is unusual for me.  Unfortunately, this was balanced out by another playthrough requirement I found quite boring.  The game takes about 3-4 hours for each playthrough.  There is a new game+ feature that will unexpectedly change a couple of things here or there that keeps things fresh.  The are few collectables and they are easy to find so you do have to worry too much about missing anything.  I also really enjoyed the art style and music. 

 

I would recommend this game.  It was a relaxing platinum experience with an enjoyable story and characters.  It has peaked my interest in checking out the other Night School Studio game Afterparty (which looks like it will fit into the purple color very nicely) and Oxenfree II scheduled to come out later this year. 

 

Next up is probably either House of Ashes for brown or the Rift Wanderer DLC for Stranger of Paradise for red.

 

Completed Colors:

Tan- Little Hope

Orange - The Medium

Deep Purple- Gone Home

Grey- Skyrim

Green- Oxenfree

 

 

[JungleCat20]

Adding Maroon and Light Green...

 

[Xylobe]

 

Bingo!

 

Wait, sorry, wrong event. For this final update, I moved Plants vs. Zombies to light green to accommodate Moss on green, and added Dark Cloud for purple, Firewatch for yellow, and What Remains of Edith Finch for white.

 

Moss is, of course, a VR staple, and the perfect game to break in my new PSVR2 on launch day (given the lack of any Astro's Playroom equivalent). The superb environment art and character animations look better than ever! A must-buy, especially if you never had the chance to play it on PSVR1.

 

Because I simply cannot stop making enemies, I don't have much to say about Dark Cloud that I didn't already say about Syphon Filter in my last update. Playing old games that I don't have nostalgia for is always a sobering experience. This game is as old today as Space Invaders was when it first released, and you can tell.

 

My expectations for Firewatch may have simply been too high due to its cult status, but I found it pretty disappointing. I don't have anything against walking simulators (look at my trophy list for literally 2 seconds), but Firewatch felt like walking the same loop a few times for a mystery that didn't land for me in terms of setup or payoff. I'd have much preferred for the premise to be played straight. At least the environments were nice?

 

What Remains of Edith Finch, on the other hand: good stuff! I've always been heavily critical of minigames in basically all contexts (I'm looking at you, Sly Cooper), but Edith Finch's reimagining of a walking sim as almost a narrative-driven minigame collection is a great twist on a genre that, by definition, ends up being quite same-y. I only wish they were a bit more consistent-- some character stories are lengthy, involved, and multi-stage affairs, while others last under a minute with minimal interaction.

 

Just for fun, I thought I'd go ahead and rank all 16 of the games on my list:

Spoiler

1. Heaven's Vault
2. Axiom Verge 2
3. Moss
4. Princess Farmer
5. What Remains of Edith Finch
6. Call of the Sea
7. de Blob 2
8. Catmaze
9. Firewatch
10. Red Matter
11. Axiom Verge
12. Wild Arms
13. Plants vs. Zombies
14. Tokyo Chronos
15. Dark Cloud
16. Syphon Filter

I'd put Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising, which I originally had as my light blue, around 13.5. Backfirewall_, if I'd been able to finish it for my purple, would have been fighting Call of the Sea for 6th (assuming it doesn't fall off a cliff in the third act).

 

I think I'll wait until later in the year to decide whether I want to think about starting a second list. For now, I look forward to reading the updates from everyone else!

[Priorum2]

I'm down, I'll try to complete as many games as possible this year.

[Keen_Chriss]

 

4th Update

 

 

Tan - Axiom Verge 2

Sequel to Axiom Verge, which I never played, and was free in February for PS Plus members so I said why not!?

Especially since its a Metroidvania type game, I knew instantly I was going to thoroughly enjoy this game. Boy was I wrong though! Because man, I loved it

Cant speak on if it was better than its predecessor, but this one was plain out stupid fun. Its challenging, puzzling, and most importantly, has accessibility options. Meaning you can 

buff or nerf enemy damage or simply become a god. You will definitely want to bump up enemy damage on a game like this to feel that Metroid/Castlevania vibe. But no shame if you want to nerf everything to get an easy plat! I certainly did to mop up the last couple of trophies.

 

 

 

Green - Psychonauts 2

First and foremost, hats off to Xbox and Double Fine for making this incredible game.

What an improvement this was from Psychonauts of 2005, which should go without saying since it was from the PS2/Xbox era. Regardless, the graphics are top notch, controls were drastically improved, more story driven with a good story I should add, super creative, and overall a must play! If you ever tried psychedelics, you will truly appreciate this trippy game and I reaaaally feel like they were on some good shiii too while making this game lol. Dont want to spoil too much, but take my word for it!

Those metacritic scores are a lie too! Easily a 95/100 game

Quick advise: always try something for yourself and never let anyone smear your own opinion. Especially when we get examples like Last of Us 2 ?

Edited February 28, 2023 by Keen_Chriss

[DrBloodmoney]

? Congrats to @Xylobe for being the first Rainbow Elite in the event! ?

 

 

 

 

 

Your name has been added to the glorious list (of 1!), and all that remains is to determine...

...shall you be resting on that throne...

...or aiming for Prestige Status, by going around the rainbow once again? ?

 

 

 

After all... when it comes to Badge time at the end of the year, there must be something for those who can say:

 

Edited March 1, 2023 by DrBloodmoney

[gamer_darkly]

Update No.2

 

 

Got a yellow, blue, brown, and maroon done.

 

Yellow - Mortal Kombat 11

It’s like, how much more yellow could this be? And the answer is none. None more yellow.

 

Blue – The Gardens Between

Blue. Like the colour I felt after finishing the game.

 

Brown – Kiai Resonance

It’s more skid mark than chocolate but brown, nonetheless.

 

Maroon – Foreclosed

Foreclosed is kind of red around the edge and purple in the middle but the overall feel is kind of maroon if you squint your eyes.

 

Any objections, please let me know.

 

[Taruta13]

5 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said:

...shall you be resting on that throne...

...or aiming for Prestige Status, but going around the rainbow once again? 

 

With my luck, I'll probably be prestige this year because I will probably swap out Maroon for an exploitable classic and the remaining three RPGs are not that impossible to platinum. I did platinum the original Ni No Kuni several accounts ago and I did platinum Disgaea 4+ Complete several accounts ago, so I know what's going on there.

[BlackSquirrell1]

Well, I finished Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas.  This game was HIGHLY recommended by a friend (now a Nemesis?) @GT__Jedi (AKA LEEEERRROOOYY Jenkins), and I'm sure I could hear her wicked laugh as I struggled through this game.  You will definitely get value for your money if you equate hours played calculated for the cash spent. Hidden chests, riddles, puzzles, a couple of bosses and guiding your own yacht from island to island pretty much sums up the game. 

 

 

[diskdocx]

Update time - Orange

 

 

Stray knocked out, completing Orange. Great game. Would definitely recommend it for anyone that hasn't yet tried it. The guides on here are great. I hate speed runs, but this one is really not bad. I was at 1 hour 45 and wasn't exactly blazing. Definitely the game gives you 20-30 minutes leeway.

 

This will be my last update for a while. I'm going to start Horizon FW for the Playstation Stars collectible, then will be away on my Vita only for a bit. I'm aiming to do a second full set of completions using only PS3/Vita games, so no more for my main board til later in the month