Popular Post Nauticus87 Posted April 30, 2023 Popular Post Share Posted April 30, 2023 I play too many games. A lot of games. I also have a bad memory, which as you might expect is not conducive to remembering playing a lot of games. In other aspects of my life I've written short stories about memorable occasions. It helps me go back and remember the details, which can quickly fade even when I try to cling to them. Which is where the idea for this checklist came from. Each month I'm going to list the games I played, pick three of my favourites with a brief description why, followed by my game of the month and a more detailed explanation for my choice. My hope is that I can come back through this thread and see the games I've enjoyed most each month, remembering the details why. If you would like to join the game of the month club please pick up a membership card at the entrance and fill-in the totally not invasive personal details section. All are welcome, for discussion is the whine of opinion. The music on the stereo for this opening month is Parius - The Signal Heard Throughout Space. Tea (PG Tips) and coffee (Arabica), as well as Jammie Dodgers and Jaffa Cakes, are available. So without much further ado, let us get this inaugural circle of jerks started. The games I played this month are as follows: Amazing Princess Sarah Life Is Strange 2 Owlboy She Sees Red Life Is Strange: True Colours Cat Slide Tiles Eternal Hope Spirit Roots The Wanderer: Frankenstein's Creature LocoRoco Midnight Carnival Elex Save Room Cathedral The Innsmouth Case (twice) Almost My Floor Lila's Tale & The Hidden Forest Castle on the Coast (twice) Every game was completed to 100% of trophies and all games finished as far as story (if applicable) and main content goes. From the longlist the finalists are... Castle on the Coast Kaleidoscopic, meromorphic, hallucinogenic trines! A surreal snapshot of 90s collectathon bliss. None of it makes sense. Why are you a giraffe? Why are kids stuck in a castle? Why is everything so perfectly platformery when the kids can all seemingly teleport? Why are there cars; do they even have licences? Either way, a hugely fun game if you're into the genre. Cathedral Beaten down to the stone. They’ve atomized and carbonized every last bone Take Shovel Knight and turn it into a metroidvania. Add in a trophy that prohibits upgrading your armour, turning the game into a brutal NES-era old-school difficult game where everything kills you in 1-3 hits. Yet it never feels unfair. Puzzles have logical solutions. Enemies have patterns to exploit. Bosses can be beaten without taking a hit. A hidden gem. Elex The end has never seemed so near, but wait—don’t you see a glint of hope inside the gleam? A lovingly crafted blend of Fallout and Elder Scrolls with tons of content. My first foray into Piranha Bytes games and it won't be my last. You can tell this game was made with a passionate team. It provides an open-world, tons of quests, and enough dialogue to fill a George R. R. Martin novel. AND THE GAME OF THE MONTH IS... ELEX Ceaseless I will roam in this monochrome sublime You have your AAA adventures, you have your indie darlings, then you have the ones in the middle, the AA games, silently carving their own path without the big budget or the indie gathering. Enter Piranha Bytes who, according to my research, have made the same game a dozen times, yet fans will eat up each offering because the core game provides a quality lacking in major games these days: Personality. My comparison in the opening few hours was that of Morrowind. Here I had an open-world where I could go anywhere I wanted, nothing was gated off, the sense of adventure was both grand and overwhelming with the map being quite large. Yet the world wanted to kill me. I felt incredibly weak, under-skilled, ducking into a house was as likely to yield treasure as it was to get me killed by an angry radioactive mutant chicken. This comparison to Morrowind would continue with the world-at-large as I found unique weapons that had been hand-placed, areas that were diverse. Sure you saw the odd bit of repeated textures, re-used assets, but the world as a whole felt as if the team behind it had not just copy-and-pasted ad nauseam, instead they had taken time to craft each area, fill it with loot and danger alike. Much like Morrowind, if you had the inclination and knowledge you could find some of the best weapons in the game straight away, though you'd be gated off from using them as they all require certain stats. So I needed to level up to improve, but combat was not fruitful, so it was that you find the main core of Elex: the quests. There are hundreds of them – of which 300 are required for a trophy – and they run the full gamut from quick fetch quests to ethical conundrums, puzzles and mysteries, right up to massacres of wildlife and humankind. A lot of quests can have multiple outcomes with different ways to go about them, as well as a moral system with a lot of grey areas, where you can be an emotionally-driven human or a cold-blooded machine. Going for the trophies puts you at a disadvantage, in that you will have to purposefully horde skill points and focus on completing quests until you have stockpiled enough to save – get a trophy – reload – get a mutually exclusive trophy to that previous one, and so on. A few trophies are like this, such as which faction you join (of which there are three) and the multiple endings (of which, again, there are three). However, persevere through these opening dozen hours or so and you will find a massive upswing in power. There was a moment when I picked my faction, used my skill points (without reloading), improved my gear, and was suddenly killing things in 2-3 hits when before they were the spongiest of bullet-sponges. This game truly gives you a feeling of improvement. By the end of the game I was a walking beacon of chaos, murdering anything in my path. Alas, the game does not take into account a trophy-hunter mindset and thus has a trophy for playing 80 hours. This is under the assumption you'll play three times to pick a new faction and ending each time. If, like me, you don't do this then you suddenly find yourself with a spare 50 hours on hand and only one trophy left to show for it. Those are when you either rejoice with joy, as I did, at having a spare PS4 to take the brunt of those endless hours. Or you buckle down and knock those hours out while hoping your PlayStation doesn't overheat. Or you could ignore the trophies altogether and become a battle-god, rampaging through the game to get one ending with one faction without the stress of a few extra trophy dings. Either way, the game is memorable and worth playing to any fans of Elder Scrolls, Fallout, or the old Gothic series of games 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dieselmanchild Posted April 30, 2023 Share Posted April 30, 2023 Hey I play lots of games and have a bad memory too. Let’s be friends. ☺️ I think a monthly game journal is an awesome idea! After trophy hunting for 5+ years there are now many games I look back on with a general fondness, but as the gap between playing them and the present time gets further every day, I find myself forgetting more and more of the details and little memories that helped make them a special experience to begin with. Having a place to record your thoughts and feeling about whatever you’ve been playing helps keep those memories alive, and will be really neat to read through years from now when you feel like revisiting them and seeing how far you’ve progressed since then. This should be an interesting read for any trophy hunters who are on the lookout for new games to discover as well. I know you’ve got a unique taste in games and play heaps of really obscure titles most of us have never heard of, so I’m personally looking forward to checking in from time to time and combing through the list looking for new titles to discover. Being insufferably nosy like that and finding hidden gems on other people’s list is one of my favourite things about this site. ? Good luck with the journey! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannyswfc9 Posted April 30, 2023 Share Posted April 30, 2023 Great thread nauticus. Keep up the great work. So many great recommendations ive got from you. Im sure this thread will help so many people on their trophy hunting journey. You are one of the goats in hunting imo 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nauticus87 Posted May 1, 2023 Author Share Posted May 1, 2023 Thanks guys! You're both awesome. 11 hours ago, dieselmanchild said: After trophy hunting for 5+ years there are now many games I look back on with a general fondness, but as the gap between playing them and the present time gets further every day, I find myself forgetting more and more of the details and little memories that helped make them a special experience to begin with. Exactly! There's the occasional game that I don't forget no matter how long it's been but those are few and far apart. I mean I'm well over 1,000 games now, it's impossible to keep them all in my head. Most games become a feeling rather than a memory, Oh I enjoyed that, but I couldn't tell you why in any great detail. It's the details I want to preserve. 11 hours ago, dieselmanchild said: This should be an interesting read for any trophy hunters who are on the lookout for new games to discover as well. I know you’ve got a unique taste in games and play heaps of really obscure titles most of us have never heard of Unique is one way to describe it! lol. I have trophy hunting to thank for it. Before that I still played a wide range of games but not as much. With trophies I'll give almost any genre or game a chance. It's led to some unexpected games I never thought I'd enjoy, like the Dragon Quest Builders series. One of my favourite activities these days is going through a new sale and trying to find obscure or hidden gems. Doesn't always pay-off, but I'll really give anything a chance. Fun fact: the PlayStation store sorts by popularity so if you open a sale and scroll all the way to the bottom, work your way up from there, you'll see the unloved and unknown games very few are playing. 11 hours ago, dieselmanchild said: Good luck with the journey! Thanks! 9 hours ago, dannyswfc9 said: Great thread nauticus. Keep up the great work. So many great recommendations ive got from you. Im sure this thread will help so many people on their trophy hunting journey. You are one of the goats in hunting imo Cheers again mate! Too kind there. You're one of the few who likes being subjected to the random stuff I suggest even when the games look terrible lol Here's to more hidden gems being found! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HelixNebula_x Posted May 2, 2023 Share Posted May 2, 2023 This is one of the only 'reviews' I've ever read of ELEX that makes me interested in playing it. Will definitely have to give it a go next time I see it on a good sale, as it sounds right up my street. Castle on the Coast sounds fun as well, but my backlog can't take too many hits at the minute, it's already piling up to ridiculous levels. Glad to see a new trophy checklist, and I like the spin you're going for with this. Keep up the good work! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannyswfc9 Posted May 9, 2023 Share Posted May 9, 2023 On 01/05/2023 at 7:55 AM, Nauticus87 said: Here's to more hidden gems being found! I will drink to that mate ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Nauticus87 Posted June 1, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted June 1, 2023 Welcome back to the game of the month club. It's time for May, the month of – in the UK at least – bank holidays, Eurovision and increasing temperatures. You'll see that we've upgraded the seating arrangement. Gone are the portable, foldable deckchairs and in are the plush, reclining armchairs, we're setting up for the long-haul. If you previously availed of the first-time membership programme you can grab a seat and put your feet up, if not you'll need to take our modernised, improved membership application programme. Using state-of-the-art AI technology we will track your brainwaves and auto-complete all the application fields without you having to so much as speak a word. Don't fret over the invasiveness embrace the convenience. The music for this meeting is Wilderun – Veil of Imagination, one of my albums of the year from 2019, providing all the bombast that May deserves. Our selection of biscuits has expanded to include homebaked M&M cookies, with the usual tea and coffee facilities offered as standard, grab a cup any time. Going forward new members will be expected to bring some kind of tasty treat for the rest to try, with a voting system in place on which are most popular. There will be relegations for disliked items, looking at you Greg no-one likes your jam tartlets stop putting so much salted caramel in them. The games I played this month were: To 100%: Regions of Ruin Light Up The Room (twice) Assassin's Creed II Surface Rush My Brother Ate My Pudding! GhoulBoy Doom & Destiny A Tale of Paper VirtuaVerse Neon Blast (twice) Minigolf Adventure The Complex Miles & Kilo Kid Tripp Mushroom Heroes Lake SwapQuest Deadly Premonition: The Director's Cut (partial replay) Don't Destroy The Rocket Golf With Your Friends (DLC only to get back to 100%) Collab Ball Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom Not to 100%: DJMax Respect (twice, DLC only to get up to 95%) Beyond: Two Souls (42%, not going for trophies, doing a playthrough with partner) I Am Setsuna (13%, only started) The games this month threw up a curveball when it came to picking both a top 3 and an overall game of the month. On the one hand DJMax Respect is one of my favourite games ever and easily top 3 this month, but can I really include it when I only did a couple of DLC packs rather than the full game? Same with Golf With Your Friends with a solitary DLC course. Deadly Premonition too wasn't a full playthrough as I had a completed save, only needing to go back through a few specific chapters, so although I love the game can I really include it for this month based on 8-year old memories? The answer to all of these was a resounding no. To keep the integrity of the list I needed to impose a new rule: Top 3 games for each month can only be if I've played through the game that month. That doesn't necessarily mean I need to 100% the trophies, just so long as I can say I experienced the game fully. With that in mind, my top 3 this month are: Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom But there’s a spark made of sleep, remembering when time held its mystery A metroidvania mixed with a colourful 90's action platformer. Nothing it does is entirely original but it does everything right and to such a high polish that it's impossible not to love this game if you're a fan of the genre. Regions of Ruin Consuming every minute of the day A strange mix of 2D platforming/RPG/hack-n-slash/town building which I wasn't originally grabbed by, yet by the end had completed it in one day because I kept coming back to it. The gameplay loop is addictive and the journey is interesting. There are a few repetitious moments and zero real story but the gameplay more than makes up for it. Doom & Destiny Is this meant as a twisted cure? While everyone else was going crazy for the Pixel Remasters of Final Fantasy I-VI – which admittedly I do want when it's cheaper – I was playing this £2 (on sale) knock-off. It takes the gameplay of the original Final Fantasy and the humour/writing themes of Unepic, leading to a surprisingly fun old-school RPG. AND THE GAME OF THE MONTH IS... Monster Boy! You can almost taste the second that you are living in As soon as this game was announced to the PlayStation Catalogue I knew I was going to play it and it went straight onto my list of games to play next. This game is perfect for newcomers to metroidvanias, rivalling Guacamelee when it comes to easing players in, with a visual style that reminded me of Shantae. Nothing in this game is missable, the entire map remains accessible at all times, beating the game allows you to restart from before the final boss room should you wish to go exploring for anything you missed, and there is always at least one NPC who can advise you on where you're supposed to be going, alongside a nice green icon on the map so you can't get lost. Outside of one massively obscure puzzle to unlock a secret mini-dungeon/trophy, the game is accommodating to all skill levels. I'm not a fan of games that don't let you annotate the map, yet don't annotate it themselves, meaning you're forced to keep a separate track of which specific rooms have items to come back to; thankfully Monster Boy avoids this pitfall. If you find something, such as a chest, but can't grab it, the game has a habit of sticking down a ? on that square of the map. Later on you can find a shop that will sell you the location of items/rooms you haven't found. This takes away a lot of the frustration of scouring the map for that one exit/room you've missed. Each of the unlocked powers, in this case animal forms, are varied enough to justify using each of them at different times. The game does a great job of not relegating original animal forms to the obsolete pile, giving them unique powers you'll need to use throughout the map. Each unlocked animal form gives you a more broad range of movement, starting out slow but eventually allowing you to dash and fly your way around the map. Speaking of the map, it's a joy to explore. You are rarely far from a warp point and later on unlock a weapon that allows instant fast-travel to these warp points, allowing you to zip around grabbing those missed items. There are secrets and puzzles throughout, most of them with logical answers. The map itself isn't massive, I would say it's on the smaller side of metroidvanias with games such as Hollow Knight or Monster Sanctuary having more to explore, but this isn't to its detriment, each area is stylistically interesting (if derivative of your standard zones: forest, ice, fire, dark, etc.) and it doesn't overstay its welcome. One downside is the random difficulty spikes. This is more-so if you're going for 100% and all the optional items. Mainly due to a baffling decision to restrict your health recovery upon respawning. After failing in a room you could find yourself doing your second attempt with 1/3 of the health, in some instances meaning one hit and you're done. Your choices then are to go running off to find a shop/healing save point then return, or persevere through some frustration until you succeed. It felt counter-intuitive to punish failure by making further attempts more difficult. Overall though the game is not too difficult, and the controls are responsive. If you lose it's because you made a mistake, not because of the controls, so anything in the game is surmountable. The bosses are varied and interesting, the regular enemies for the most part are pushovers but are well-designed, and the environmental hazards shouldn't pose too much trouble for anyone versed in platformers/action games. Took me 15 hours, though How Long To Beat has the average for a completionist at 25 hours, so expect to take anywhere from 10-30 hours depending on your skill level. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HelixNebula_x Posted June 5, 2023 Share Posted June 5, 2023 On 01/06/2023 at 9:02 AM, Nauticus87 said: Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom But there’s a spark made of sleep, remembering when time held its mystery A metroidvania mixed with a colourful 90's action platformer. Nothing it does is entirely original but it does everything right and to such a high polish that it's impossible not to love this game if you're a fan of the genre. I started this being that it's on PS+ Extra after reading your review, and I've got to say I'm having a blast with it so far. Just a really tight Metroidvania, that's packed with character and a gorgeous art style. Think I should have it wrapped up this week, but definitely an underrated gem! I was wondering if you were going to treat this checklist as a bit of a call and response thing, have people comment on their own games of the month as well. Could be a good way for everyone's backlogs to get overloaded with great games, but thought it could be a bit of a fun idea. Obviously though, it's your checklist so your rules! Anyway, congrats on all the completions, and thanks for a great recommendation! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nauticus87 Posted June 5, 2023 Author Share Posted June 5, 2023 6 hours ago, HelixNebula_x said: I started this being that it's on PS+ Extra after reading your review, and I've got to say I'm having a blast with it so far. Just a really tight Metroidvania, that's packed with character and a gorgeous art style. Think I should have it wrapped up this week, but definitely an underrated gem! I was wondering if you were going to treat this checklist as a bit of a call and response thing, have people comment on their own games of the month as well. Could be a good way for everyone's backlogs to get overloaded with great games, but thought it could be a bit of a fun idea. Obviously though, it's your checklist so your rules! Anyway, congrats on all the completions, and thanks for a great recommendation! Thanks! And happy to hear my comments led to you trying it out and enjoying it. I'm content with both discussing my games of the month and hearing other people's games of the month. I see this as being for anyone who wants to chat about their favourite games they played each month. Doesn't just have to be about my picks, I like recommendations and no-matter how big my backlog gets I keep checking out sales and suggestions. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nauticus87 Posted July 1, 2023 Author Share Posted July 1, 2023 Welcome one, welcome all, to the June month of the game club, your one-stop gaming month for June where we play all the months all the time to find the best month of the game. What a month June is, truly a gaming month more than many months such as February which is statistically less monthly than other months, only second to November when the month months and gaming months... ...apologies, the person hired to write this opening blurb has been fired for silliness and has been replaced by a much better writer. Welcome all to the June game of the month club, the quintessential commonsensical extravaganza, where we elucidate on games with ebullient reverence akin to amativeness in pursuit of the pinnacle of monthly gaming excellence, now come let us tantalise your taste-buds with... ...apologies again, the person hired to hire the person to write a replacement for the replaced writer has been fired, but fear not I think I've found the perfect young man who was very cheap and told me he could find a nice mix between verbosity and absurdity. Wilcumian lecgan duguð huntnoð of dôð mônað casebill ...you know what maybe I'll just stick to doing this myself. As always all are welcome to pull up a seat, grab a cup of tea or coffee, and enjoy a bit of peace and quiet as we talk about our favourite game of the month. Home-baked treats are available and encouraged, please feel free to try one of those chocolate caramel shortcakes I brought, no really please, there's so much of them and I can't stop eating them because they're so nice, save me. Music and lyrics for the shortlist/GotM this month is Phoxjaw – notverynicecream, currently one of my favourite albums of 2023 and, in my opinion, a marked improvement over their debut. The games I played this month are: To 100%: I Am Setsuna Don't Destroy The Rocket Collab Ball Tails of Iron Shiro Amaze Inspector Waffles Hero Express Pinku Kult: Hex Mortis Sir Lovelot Blasphemous Matterfall Paw Patrol: Mighty Pups Crazy Chicken Jump'n'Run Traps and Treasures Tacoma Double Pug Switch DC League of Super Pets Dandy & Randy DX Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Dry Twice Distraint (twice) Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion My Friend Peppa Pig And not to 100%: Beyond: Two Souls (68%; finished playthrough with Partner) Given how many games I sometimes play in a month, I feel some might go under the radar and be ignored in place of the top 3/GotM so I've decided to add in a quick honourable mentions list of recommendations from the long-list. This month my honourable mentions are: Double Pug Switch – Would be top 3 if not for technical limitations including slowdown/stuttering. Fun auto runner which gets surprisingly difficult. Amaze – You'll like this if you enjoy those ice puzzles found in a lot of games where you can only move in one direction at a time. Only issue is how repetitious it gets, if you spread it out it can be a lot more fun. Crazy Chicken Jump'n'Run – Similar to Croc's World or Dumpster Bear, games that look terrible but play surprisingly competently. Personally I enjoy them, you might too. Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion – As I feel the high completion would put people off it, this is a fun game with a lot of charm, worth a few hours of your time. On to my top 3 for June 2023: Tails of Iron Times goes slow; And I’ve found a way to leave the planet for a day I struggle to call this a metroidvania even if perhaps it is, although you do revisit areas it's more for the story and there are very few areas you can't explore the first time. What it does have going for it is a great combat system in the style of Salt & Sanctuary and a ton of charm. Blasphemous Could you add some colour? Or a lighter shade? Now this, however, is a metroidvania through and through. A brilliant mix of tough combat, enjoyable exploration, and a visual aesthetic that is second-to-none. Matterfall When it’s the third day in and I’m covered in thick black chalk A 2D side-scrolling bullet-hell with some light platforming. No real story to speak of but who needs one when you're having a blast blasting through the hordes of enemies. The three bosses are brutal if going for the platinum but the satisfaction of success carries this far in my eyes. AND THE GAME OF THE MONTH IS... Blasphemous! Gore me like a bull, stick that fucking knife through my skull This was really close between my top 3, I honestly could have picked any of them to write about. Where to begin with Blasphemous, a game I've now completed twice (digital and physical stack). How about the art-style, a distinctive and instantly recognisable murky mix of browns and greys, interspersed with sudden visceral reds as you put on a bloodied helmet, gruesomely stab and stomp an enemy into the ground, ripping others apart in uncompromising executions. You are thrown in to the deep end with Blasphemous, the first enemy you fight is a boss; this is a game that wants you to know it's not going to be kind. Overall enemy variety is interesting though not too taxing, with most enemies put into one of a few categories (melee attack, ranged attack, magic attack), though every so often you will get a surprise, such as a bell-ringing enemy. Combat is methodical. I wouldn't call it slow, nor is it a fast hack-n-slash affair, more a middling mix of parry and riposte, expecting you to figure out enemy patterns, take your opportunities when they present themselves. Or learn to jump-attack instead of staying on the ground where attacks leave you more exposed. Taking the Dark Souls approach, NPCs are cryptic and confusing in their requests, with quests easily missable or failed with one misstep - literally in the case of a man merged with a tree, leave the area before you talk to him and you've missed a quest. The overall story is, admittedly, lost on me, I don't fully understand the religious allegory and don't profess to being interested enough to delve through all the confusing dialogue in order to figure it out. However, if you're interested in religious iconography then you'll love this. I came back for the exploration, with a beautifully put-together map with lots of secrets and hidden rooms. There is very little wasted space on the map with most rooms having something, and with the ability to unlock shortcuts and fast-travel, uncovering 100% of the map is highly encouraged. In addition, a lot of free DLC has been added over the years, expanding the map even further, expertly woven into the main map to connect areas together; none of this is required for the platinum but it's welcome none-the-less. There's even a surprising crossover with Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night which I was not expecting. If going for the platinum it's all doable in a single playthrough,even if all the trophy and achievement guides try to tell you otherwise: Don't use health flasks during any boss fight Aim for Bronze Medal (Bridge of Cavalry in less than 3 hours) while ensuring you don't miss quests that can fail along the way, most notably Mediterranean Diet. Progress Ulteria Et Suseia until Redento is at Patio of the Silent Steps, continue game until you get all 3 marks at Archcathedral Rooftops for Cleofás – back up your save – do steps for Crossing Souls – reload save – do steps for Rebirth Get ending B – reload game (no back-up required here you get put before the final boss again) – Do steps for Ending A Overall it took me about 10 hours as I explored some of the optional content, though HowLongToBeat and the trophy guide here has it closer to 20 hours so depending on if this is your first time and your skill level you may want to consider this as a 10-20 hour platinum. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nauticus87 Posted August 1, 2023 Author Share Posted August 1, 2023 (edited) Welcome one and all to the game of the month club for July. The summer months are flying in, not that you would know it half the time if you lived where I lived, here it's a turbulent time where you go out with sun-cream and an umbrella, never quite knowing how much use each is going to get. Still, we're all here for games, not outdoors activities, so grab a seat, some biscuits or a big slice of cake, a nice cup of tea, and join me on my continued journey of playing too many games. Musical accompaniment to this month is provided by Beardfish, with their excellent third album from 2007, Sleeping In Traffic Part One. The games I played this month are: To 100%: Night Book Thy Sword [Twice] Demoniaca: Everlasting Night Umihara Kawase BaZooKa! Sackboy: A Big Adventure Catmaze I and Me Umihara Kawase Fresh! Hell Pie Escape From Life Inc. My Little Pony: A Maritime Bay Adventure The Wild at Heart Nine Witches: Family Disruption Robby's Adventure バースデー・オブ・ミッドナイト Carto Cat Quest + Cat Quest II Sofiya and the Ancient Clan And not to 100%: DJMax Respect (95% - Platinum + DLC) Hideboh タップダンス Hero (54% - still playing) Honourable mentions: Cat Quest + Cat Quest II – Very easy to pick up and play action RPGs; addictive gameplay loop. Carto – A cute and inventive puzzle game about moving pieces of the game-world to suit your needs. Nine Witches: Family Disruption – For those who enjoy point-and-click games, this would be a stellar addition to your gaming catalogue. Catmaze – A fun metroidvania that lets you fight enemies while wielding a vicious cat. Escape From Life Inc. - A short metroidvania, the game looks basic but has heart. The Wild at Heart – A charming pikmin-esque game with some light crafting and exploration elements On to my top 3 for July 2023: DJMax Respect More, more, just give me more One of the best rhythm games I've ever played, with a ton of content and musical variety; the only issue is the price, with the combined game and DLC costing about £70 on sale (and into the hundreds when not on sale). Still, for the amount of hours you can potentially put into this, even spending full-price could be worth it. Sackboy: A Big Adventure You smile like someone I once knew A charming, beautifully made platformer. I hadn't played a LittleBigPlanet game since 2016 but this brought me right back. Doing it together with my partner made the experience all the better, though she rightfully ran away when it came to getting the platinum, which was surprisingly difficult. Still, a game full of fun and variety with seemingly endless imagination when it came to changing up the levels. Hell Pie Shout out loud, dark poet full of sight Essentially a modern-day Conker's Bad Fur Day. It takes the 90's N64 collectathon – such as Banjo-Kazooie or Donkey Kong 64 – and slaps on an immaturely mature sensibility. This game will not be for everyone: the humour is crass, the levels are at times knowingly obnoxious, and the characters intentionally unlikeable, but I really enjoyed this game. AND THE GAME OF THE MONTH IS... DJMax Respect It's not a choice anymore Full disclosure to start off: This month was rigged. There, I admit it. You may leave if you so choose or you can hear me out. See, I knew as soon as I started this game that it would win whatever month it was in. There was no hope for any of the other games, which was a bit of a shame for Sackboy who, looking back, would have won June (over Blasphemous) or April (over Elex). This isn't just my game of the month, it's one of my favourite games of all time. This was the third time I've done the platinum and DLC up to 95% and with the three stacks combined I've put about 250 hours into it. I see it as one of the pinnacles of rhythm gaming, one of the purest experiences of its genre. DJMax is not a game that wants to hold your hand. It pretty much expects you to know what you're doing there, which means at first it can be overwhelming. You have arcade mode, in truth a pointless mode as you already have Freeplay, which is like an infinite arcade mode, and mission mode. Beyond that you also have a comprehensive statistics section, worldwide rankings (based on overall score/accuracy across all songs), and online mode. The game can be played in local co-op and online, though outside of Asia it doesn't seem to have much of an online presence. Local co-op allows two people to play the same song at the same time, going so far as to allow you to each pick your own difficulty, allowing people of any skill level to play together, which is something I've never seen in any other rhythm game. With the base game you get 100+ songs, but with DLC (of which I believe there are currently 15 packs available on PS4) you can bump that up into somewhere around 400 songs. Note that this is not the definitive version. I'm not sure what happened with the console versions but they weren't updated as much as the PC version was, to the point where they are named differently. Should you not care about trophies, consider getting DJMax Respect V, which is the definitive version. The difficulty in this game is insane, to say the least. Songs range in difficulty from 1-15*. As a complete beginner with no rhythm game experience expect to hit a roadblock as early as 3-4*. And that's only talking about 4b mode, which is where you have four different buttons to hit. You also have 5b, 6b and 8b. Should you end up going for 100% there are actually a few 12b songs too; even watching a video of that hurts my brain for how complicated it is. The same difficulty spike can be said for missions, which start deceptively easy yet become noticeably harder as early as the 6th mission onwards. Given that you need to clear 50 for a trophy, and the base game has 50, the DLC becomes essential if you want to drop the difficulty from a 10/10. Even then I'd recommend the DLC just for how fun they are. My personal picks are Clazziquai and Deemo (shout-out to Deemo, another beautiful and brilliant rhythm game), though depending on your taste in music you might prefer others. The predominant genres are (J-/K-)pop and electronic, though there's plenty of rock, hardcore, classical, some jazzy stuff, and even a few punk and metal songs. Getting 100% of trophies might as well be placed alongside games such as Crypt of the Necrodancer. The amount of practice needed to get good enough can't be understated. You truly need dedication and patience. Personally, I tap out at 95% because that's my skill-ceiling, and with a few physical ailments (old man eyesight, busted wrists) I don't like to wreck myself too much. In truth if I stuck to one stack, had put a few more hundred hours into it without taking such long breaks, I might have got good enough, but I would have lost my happiness with the game and might have done myself more harm than good. Instead, I like to dust it off every few years (when there's finally a sale) and pick up a new stack, getting to replay all the songs, even if redoing things on lower difficulties likely hampers my overall improvement, it's not a concern when I'm having so much fun. Only the JP stack left, so join me sometime in 2025 when DJMax is once again my game of the month. Edited August 1, 2023 by Nauticus87 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nauticus87 Posted September 1, 2023 Author Share Posted September 1, 2023 Welcome one and all to the game of the month club for August. What is usually one of my least favourite months of the year – I'm not a fan of sun/heat or my birthday – has turned out in 2023 to be the best both with regards to trophies and in my personal life. This month I celebrated my birthday with people who cared about me and made it meaningful and memorable, spent my first anniversary with my partner in the woods and in a hot tub, and spent so many happy weekends and days doing activities I've lost count. Yet through it all I somehow managed to still have a record-breaking month. 822 trophies. First time I've ever surpassed 800, nearly 100 higher than my previous best month (723 in July 2022), multiple fastest achievers. It's all downhill from here! So make yourself a nice cup of tea/coffee, grab yourself a comfy seat, bring along your opinions and join me in the Game of the Month club. Musical lyrics this month are supplied by Major Parkinson, specifically their debut, though really their entire discography is stellar and highly recommended. The games I played this month are: To 100%: Will You Snail? Umihara Kawase BaZooKa! McPixel 3 Morbid: The Seven Acolytes Rogue Legacy 2 I am Dead Death's Door Flatland Vol.2 Yooka-Laylee My Name is Mayo 3 Railway Islands A Frog Game PJ Mask: Heroes of the Night Pyramid Quest Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York Goat Simulator SEGA Mega Drive Ultimate Collection The Helper oOo: Ascension Moon Raider (twice) Loud: My Road to Fame Duck Souls+ Rise of Fox Hero Alteric Miles & Kilo And not to 100%: Hideboh タップダンス Hero (62% - I'm done, didn't enjoy this one) The Sun and Moon (52% - I think I'm done) It Takes Two (81% - playing with partner, plan on getting 100%) Battle Chasers: Nightwar (88% - going through NG+ for 100%) Honourable mentions: oOo: Ascension – A brilliant precision movement platformer Rogue Legacy 2 – I didn't find it as fun as the original but still well worth your time Railway Islands – A relaxing puzzle game to wile away an afternoon On to my top 3: Will You Snail? I'm the sick manipulator of the beauties that you find A brutal 2D platformer with predictive AI that tries to ruin your day. A deceptively simple start expands into almost metroidvania'esque exploration as you learn about intentional glitching and start exploring the levels for secret areas, including an area that turns every single level into an alternate version to beat. Tons of content and fun for those who enjoy a challenge. Loud: My Road to Fame Honey, we were nothing but a love affair An impulsive purchase that I didn't regret. Rhythm games can be hit-or-miss but this one is a definite hit with an original soundtrack that rocks. If you've played Persona Dancing you'll know the set-up, and it's not as hard as some rhythm games, though if going for 100% there are definitely a couple of difficulty spikes to overcome. SEGA Mega Drive Ultimate Collection She drank me up two bottles of bliss / and when she stopped she gave me a kiss This was supposed to be my 900th platinum but I got impatient. For those who grew up with them the nostalgia will be strong, for others this will be an ignorable collection of old games. Given that I've done the SEGA PS4 collection too, and have a few non-plat 100% such as Shinobi, I'm definitely in the former camp. A fantastic collection of old games. AND THE GAME OF THE MONTH IS... SEGA Mega Drive Ultimate Collection Yes, I've been in love with you baby / Ever since I was a high-school boy This was such a tough month to pick from, I'm almost glad I haven't finished It Takes Two or I'd have had a headache deciding. As it stands, this month was between this or Will You Snail, with Loud a comfortable yet distant third. People sometimes ask me when I plan on getting a PS5. When they do I'm going to point them to this post. You see, I haven't quite let go of the past to be able to move into the future. I rarely buy new games. I'm still playing PS3 and Vita games (though more rarely these days due to the lack of sales), I'm still finding obscure stacks such as the Korean version of Yooka-Laylee or my recent foray into the Japanese market, and I'm still using my PS4 to play a collection of Mega Drive games and making them my favourite game(s?) of the month. This collection isn't for everyone, I've mentioned that already, if you didn't grow up with these you likely won't care, none of them are groundbreaking nowadays, but putting that disc in and starting up the first game transported me back to my youth. I was four years old when I got my Mega Drive. My parents, wanting to teach me prudence and appreciation, told me that I had to exchange my current toy (some kind of knock-off game and watch) so Santa could bring me a reward. I gladly did. My first game was Sonic. Eventually I had the Sonic and Knuckles attachment where you inserted Sonic or Sonic 2 into it and could expand upon all the games. I spent so many happy evenings playing through every new game I could get my hands on, until eventually I would move on to the N64 and build up a core collection of games that would continue to define my young gaming tastes. Back to the collection on PS3. The first game I played there was Alex Kidd, which I hadn't owned. I felt no nostalgia and quickly knocked it out. Moving on to Alien Storm, another game I hadn't- wait no as the character selection screen appeared I remembered I had, I knew this! The game flooded back to me and I gleefully flew through the three levels required for the trophy. Altered Beast, Columns, Ecco, Golden Axe, Kid Chameleon, Ristar, Shinobi, Streets of Rage; every game a fresh burst of nostalgia, the music ingrained in my deep subconscious (fun fact: I used to have Ristar music as my morning alarm), the enemies so instantly familiar I could have picked them out of a police line-up, controls as familiar as a warm pair of gloves on a cold day. My smile was plastered on my face for all to see. Trophy-wise this isn't going to challenge, given that you can create save-states at any point in time. Cheat codes can be used to circumvent some of the longer trophies such as Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine or Comix Zone. You could comfortably knock this platinum out in a day if you were so inclined. It's almost a shame the trophies aren't more involved, if SEGA decided to release another collection with a platinum that required you to beat every game I'd be right there waiting for it to go on sale to purchase. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nauticus87 Posted September 22, 2023 Author Share Posted September 22, 2023 To all members of the Game of the Month Club, Please note that a recent decision from the club's founder, Nauticus87, has caused some changes on the way the club is handled, namely the importance of trophies when deciding on a game's viability, and these changes will be implemented from September's edition of the Game of the Month Club onwards. See below letter issued on behalf of Nauticus87 on the reasoning behind this decision. Hey all, After 8 years I've decided to curtail my trophy hunting. It's been a long time coming. What started out, I realise in hindsight, as a coping mechanism for a failing marriage turned into a love-hate affair as trophies consumed every facet of my gaming habits, sometimes for the better but a lot of times for the worse. Year by year, I've battled against the allure of trophies versus the actual enjoyment I get from earning the trophies, with diminishing results. For every Shovel Knight or DJMax Respect, where trophies enhanced my experience, there would be a dozen games where I got the trophies just because I could. As the numbers have went up I've found my apathy increasing, no longer as excited to see the dinging of a trophy notification, barely even registering a platinum has been achieved before I'm on to the next. There are moments but they are fewer and further between. Nearly every game I have picked over the last 8 years was decided based on trophies. Every game I went back to was to increase my overall completion percentage, reduce my E ranks, whatever arbitrary reason. If a game had trophies that I for, whatever reason, couldn't - or didn't want to - do, I avoided the game, even if I knew I'd have enjoyed the game. For every fun trophy stack I wanted to do again, such as Sleeping Dogs, Runbow, or Castle on the Coast, there were multiple stacks I went for simply because I could, because why not knock out a second stack if it only takes a couple more hours, forget about whether I enjoyed the experience or not. My backlog became insane, simply because I could spend an entire week doing re-runs of extra stacks of games that 'only take a day'. How I played games was dictated by trophies: If there were collectibles I had a guide to follow, if there were missables I was constantly double-checking that I hadn't missed them, if I could go for fastest achiever I was waiting until specific times to start a game, leading to entire mornings where I was frozen with indecision on what to do; so much story and gameplay was reduced to background noise as I looked on my phone for the hundredth time to make sure I was following the trophies. This really hit hard recently when I played It Takes Two with my partner, how she was carefree in running around exploring yet I kept holding us back as I checked for the next minigame, the next miscellaneous trophy. I ruined the experience for myself and likely diminished it for her. That, alongside a few other recent gaming events one after the other and my general desire to break free for quite a while now, was what led to finally deciding I needed to change. So I'm done. Going forward I've set myself some rules: I will pick a game to play based on the game first. Once a game is picked I can do a cursory check of the trophies or trophy guide (unless I know it will spoil the experience) but I won't follow any guides. This check is simply to allow me to see if trophies will enhance my experience or not. Trophy notifications are turned off when playing. Once a game is finished I'll check what trophies I'm missing and decide then if getting them is actually worthwhile to me. For example, if a game requires multiple playthroughs I'll only do it if I enjoyed the experience and want to play again. I will not needlessly play a game more just for trophies if it impacts me negatively. Of course these rules are not necessarily set in stone, there are exceptions. As mentioned above, something like DJMax Respect (or any rhythm game really) are enhanced by trophies as they give me a goal to aim for. Ultimately I'll decide game-by-game what I want to do. On top of this, I've decided to play at least one non-trophy game at a time alongside any trophied games. I feel like this will help me to continue to stick to my desire to play for fun more than trophies. These games will have equal eligibility for being the Game of the Month. I'm not sure if this is going to lead to me playing more or less games each month, but I've decided to change the process and write a short review/opinion of each game I play in the month, rather than only for the top 3, followed by the overall winner. This may or may not include thoughts about the trophies and their fun factor, haven't fully decided there yet. Either way, I hope to see you all at the next Game of the Month Club post at the end of September and thank you for reading. Regards, Nauticus87 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nauticus87 Posted October 3, 2023 Author Share Posted October 3, 2023 September 2023 Welcome one and all to the game of the month club for September. Autumn is blooming, Christmas stockings vie for attention on shopping shelves next to pumpkin candle holders, objects in red and green and orange adorning windows as far as the eye can see in the hopes of guilting you into one more early purchase. If you read my last post you'll know that I recently shook up my trophy-hunting ways. As a result I needed to review how I took this club forward, given that 100% of trophies wasn't always going to necessarily be the benchmark. I have settled on a simple review of the game and trophies separately, followed by the usual top 3 and overall game of the month. I hope this satisfies all members, though feel free to fill out a comment card on your way out. Musical accompaniment and shortlist lyrics provided by the UK-based rock band Frost* with their sensational album Falling Satellites. So without further ado here are the games I played this month: Battle Chasers: Nightwar Game: Enjoyed A fun, if slow, turn-based dungeon crawler/RPG. Combat is the most fun aspect, though it does tend to drag as the game goes on and enemies become damage-sponges. Trophies: A mixed bag A NG+ playthrough adds no new content and the RNG lottery of finding all the monsters for the bestiary adds hours of frustration, souring the end of an otherwise enjoyable trophy experience. Unit 4 Game: Enjoyed One of those games that looks terrible, but surprisingly isn't. A platformer based around utilising four different abilities, one per member of your team (hence the name of the game). It gets a little tough at times but never too frustrating. Trophies: Enjoyed Most of the comes naturally, though I'm not quite sure how to unlock new levels and had to replay older levels a couple of times for the last level to unlock. This was a small deterrent and didn't affect my overall enjoyment of getting the platinum. Newt One Game: Indifferent A trippy 3D platformer. Very basic and not much to say about it really beyond the visuals. Can be beaten in a couple of hours without much effort. Worth a play if you can get it really cheap in a sale and have no other platformers in your backlog. Trophies: Effortless In fairness, you're probably only going to play this for the trophies and quick platinum, the game itself hasn't got enough going for it. Lucky for you they are exceedingly easy. It Takes Two Game: Enjoyed A brilliant experience marred by my trophy hunting proclivities. When I look back here I get annoyed at how often I was staring at my phone, making sure I didn't miss the next miscellaneous trophy or minigame, while my partner messed around and (im)patiently waited for me. I feel like I can't properly review the game because of this. Trophies: Hated (for reasons stated above – my own fault) I wouldn't recommend following a guide for this until after you've had fun playing through the game, all trophies are related to miscellaneous tasks/finding mini-games and can be easily moped up afterwards. You'll likely find a good chunk of them just exploring. Dysmantle Game: Enjoyed I loved this game. Originally saw it on a YouTube video from Iron Pineapple, who does 'Steam dumpster diving' for any souls-like game, which weirdly included this even though it has nothing at all in common with a Souls game. The gameplay loop is simple: Smash things, use smashed things to craft things that can smash bigger things. It's like Katamari Damancy meets Project Zomboid. Trophies: Enjoyed The trophies are pretty much guaranteed by 100%'ing the game, which was a joy. Grinding was a natural part of the game and never felt superfluous, exploration included varied locales, and the occasional quest kept things fresh. I feel the trophies add to the overall gaming experience here. Journey of the Broken Circle Game: Enjoyed Second time I've played this and second time I've enjoyed it. A platformer that occasionally mixes things up combined with a depressing story of existentialism, self-worth, and our need for connections. Trophies: Mostly enjoyed This was before I changed my view on trophies and I'm trying to review based on my current views, so it all depends on two factors: Do the individual levels register the missed mushrooms? If the game doesn't track missing mushrooms then you need to follow a collectible guide, which I feel detracts from the game and I admit I wouldn't do again here. Your mileage may vary with the first bonus level, which is a short-but-frustrating homage to Getting Over It, but personally I enjoyed the challenge. Runbow Game: Enjoyed An incredible platformer based around colours and rhythm. The screen changes colour in a myriad amount of ways, which affects which platforms/obstacles/enemies you can see. Trophies: Enjoyed It's mostly skill-based; the local multiplayer-based trophies take all of 15-20 minutes. Trophies give you a reason to tackle the Bowhemoth challenge and practice enough to beat it under 20 minutes or 10 losses. Degroid Game: Hated with a passion that could only be described as visceral This could have been a decent game. A single-screen precision platformer, one of my bread-and-butter games that I often recommend. Instead, what I experienced was one of the worst performing games I've ever played. By level 20 I was seeing severe stuttering. By level 24 I was seeing something I'd never seen before: Frame-skipping. You could try to jump between a gap but instead the game would skip a frame and throw you into the spikes above. The audio frequently cut out. You would silently be murdered by ghostly frames. It became impossible to play and I grew so frustrated. Trophies: Meh In truth it's an easy list, but the performance of the game is a severe issue. If the game works okay on a PS4 pro/PS5 then consider going for it, but on a base PS4 avoid this game at all costs, it's not even in a playable state. Quantum Storm Game: Enjoyed at first, grew to dislike This is a classic paddle brick-breaker game. There are 300 levels and for what it's worth this is a decent game, so long as you play on very fast or fastest, anything below those speeds makes the game look like a slide-show and is almost painful on the eyes. My main problem with this game was how quickly it started wasting my time. Minutes would go by with you watching your ball bounce pointlessly off indestructible bricks, hoping for it to squeeze through a pixel-perfect gap with controls that didn't allow for precision aiming. Trophies: Indifferent I could have easily got fastest achiever on this, but I would have been so bored doing so, and really would anyone care I was fastest on this? Really I can't even recommend considering this unless your idea of fun is 20+hours of the old PC screensavers where you'd watch and hope for the text to bounce perfectly into the corner. Beat all the levels and the platinum is yours, the only effort required is on your patience. True Fear Part 1 Game: Enjoyed If you're a fan of Artifax Mundi games then this is a slight step above in quality, while being everything you'd come to expect. There is a choice between hidden object scenes or turning them into 'adventure' scenes, which was a nice touch. The story is terrible, but that's also to be expected in these kinds of games unfortunately. Trophies: Avoided Would have required a collectibles guide (though I only missed two) and possibly a game guide if you got stuck on Expert. I didn't want that and wouldn't do another playthrough for the trophies I didn't get. Struggling Game: Enjoyed Oh man this game is wild. You control an abomination (its words not mine) with two arms, each independently controlled, and must traverse through dangerous levels filled with traps and obstacles, all while trying to figure out the physics-based movement. Every time I got stuck I found myself rethinking how I was playing, trying new approaches, loved how organically the game upped the difficulty. The game made me want to explore and I found great joy when it led to a new collectible (and wearable) hat. The levels are extremely varied and I kept wanting to push on to see what crazy idea would be thrown at me next. I would highly recommend this game, though with the caveat that it is incredibly difficult and you need to accept a certain level of frustration at repeating sections. Trophies: Avoided Ignoring the collectible hats, of which you would need to be extremely fortuitous to find without a guide, there is a trophy for beating the entire game without a single loss. For reference, I lost about 250 times during my playthrough and felt like I did alright. Having to back up your save at every checkpoint, reloading that save every time you lost, it would ruin the flow of the game and would honestly add so much frustration to your experience. LittleBigPlanet 3 Game: Enjoyed Classic LittleBigPlanet. Not quite as good as Sackboy, much shorter too, but filled to the brim with inventiveness and interesting visuals. Given the short length it's an easy recommendation to fans of platformers. Trophies: Mostly enjoyed This game was the experience I wanted to have with It Takes Two. I had originally played it in 2016 so I had a lot of the trophies, meaning I could play through the story with my partner without even thinking about them. Beyond that I found acing the levels to be a fun challenge. The only trophy that annoyed me was the 4-player one for a single quest, but I managed that solo. Indivisible Game: Enjoyed This is a fun lite-metroidvania with an active turn-based battle system. At times the backtracking is excessive, and every area – as pretty as they are – is essentially a different coloured maze, but the combat is frantic and has a good bit of variety and the exploration movement is incredible once you get the full arsenal of moves. Trophies: Indifferent. The trophies pretty much came as you played. There are collectibles but you don't need them all and they reward exploration, even if the collectible itself barely has any use beyond increasing your attack or defence. Unpacking Game: Enjoyed This was a game I'd wanted to play for a while, something to unwind to. Genuinely therapeutic at times and unwavering in its simplicity, I was drawn into a silent story that unfolded house by house, room by room, as I got mildly flustered at not realising it was a dish-rack and was supposed to be in the kitchen on the sink. Perhaps some labels of what I was picking up would be useful in the sequel! Trophies: Avoided until after completion of each area They reward unusual acts, though most times I didn't even realise the objects were intractable as the game does a poor job of explaining things. Still, quick and not bothersome so I did them and got a bit of enjoyment. Cat Quest II Game: Enjoyed Between them Cat Quest I and II have 5 overall stacks, which I have now done all of. That should tell you what I think of these games. Light entertainment, easy on the brain, fun on the fingers, like eating some takeaway as a treat. Trophies: Enjoyed Pretty much requires 100%'ing the game, which if you're enjoying is pretty much the end-goal anyway. Nothing is missable, nothing needs a guide, just go off and enjoy. DJMax Technika Tune I haven't played this enough yet to comment. Pokemon Unbound Game: Enjoying, though it's waning I was curious how the franchise was doing. I had started with Pokemon Gold and played every generation up to Black/White, caught every Pokemon along the way, but grew disheartened at how the series was repeating itself. That's when I discovered this rom-hack and decided it would be my first non-trophy game in who knows how many years. At first I loved it, it does everything right, but as the game went on I realised I wasn't having as much fun as I thought I would. Most of the new Pokemon didn't interest me in the slightest and I found myself being led by nostalgia. I'm 10 hours in and I might keep trying to go a bit longer, but I may have to accept that the Pokemon craze has passed me by and, much like trophies, I no longer need to catch them all. Trophies: N/A Always Sometimes Monsters Game: Enjoyed* *Enjoyed may not be the right word here. ASM is a game that doesn't want to be a game and revels in mundanity, yet compelled me to continue right up to the end. The story falls flat at times and the gameplay really does drag (whether intentionally or not) but I still would recommend this if you're looking for a different experience. Took me 8 hours to go through. Trophies: Irrelevant Getting the trophies involves beating the game, you'll get 100% along the way, there's no need to look at the trophy list. Phew! Okay, that took a bit longer than expected to write up every game, I may have to once again consider the approach for the next club meeting. But anyway that's a month away, for now let us get to the top three contenders for this month's coveted award. They are: STRUGGLING You're a tumble of the dice / You're a living sacrifice RUNBOW Lights out, lights out / I just want the chance to see before / Lights out, lights out DYSMANTLE I dream of an open field / Where I bury big ideas AND THE GAME OF THE MONTH IS... Runbow Pull your heartstrings / Trying to run, but you just stand still / Fill your lungs with air Another month and another tough decision to make whittling the many down to few then one. Dysmantle could have won for the sheer consistency in engaging me for 50+ hours, Struggling could have won for being a purely joyful gaming experience, but in the end there's a runaway winner with the others having to bow out, because with Runbow I had the single most exhilarating gaming moment of the month. I first played Runbow in January 2022. It was, and remains, a brilliantly executed platformer with a unique concept in how it uses colour and rhythm. It's hard to explain without visuals, but essentially you could have a level where every two seconds the colour of the background changes from red to orange to yellow, then repeats, and the level has platforms/obstacles of these colours. When that colour is the background i.e. red it hides the platform, making it unusable, but also hides the obstacle meaning you can get past it. From there it branches out with how many colours might be used, the direction the colour change comes from, or some levels where you have an entire roaming rainbow and have to try to stay in the correct colour at the correct time. There is no real story in Runbow. There is justification given to why you're doing the levels but it's really not very interesting. As for the levels there are dozens of them, with DLC adding more, most of which are beaten in 30-60 seconds, though you'll take many attempts on some if going for the three medal time limits on each. The climax to your single-player journey is the Bowhemoth, a true test of skill and the reason this became my Game of the Month. The Bowhemoth is a multi-level event where you must overcome about 40 levels in a row, with the ultimate aim to complete it with either less than 10 losses or in under 20 minutes. The first time I did this I ended up dropping the game for a few days because I was struggling, came back and finally did it, it was a moment of relief more than elation. This time, while going for 1st 100% achiever on the JP stack, I knew I had to redo the Bowhemoth, was mentally preparing for the turmoil. My partner asked to watch my attempts, having enjoyed an hour of my patient frustration when doing the last Sackboy Knitted Knight trial, and I agreed because I do tend to like showing off my gaming skills from time to time (how the world has changed when being a gaming nerd can now get you the girl! Follow your dreams kids). I decided to go for a practice run by myself, to see how far off the pace I was, got a nicely respectable 27 minutes and 50-odd losses. Maybe it wouldn't take me a dozen attempts over multiple days this time. Cut to the afternoon, post-lunch, and it's time. Partner is sitting beside me, I've got my game-face on, first attempt I'll be running commentary to give her an idea of what's going on... ...And I immediately butt-dive into the first room acid. Oops, need to move right. Let's restart, pretend that didn't happen. Anyway, so as I'm explaining the intricacies of the levels I explain how a good run needs to do well in the first 5 minutes, you don't want any slip-ups as you'll be trying to make up time later and oops I made a mistake and lost 20 seconds. It's fine, first run and I'm doing commentary so it's natural I might not be as tuned in and this level here with the rotating platforms I can never get a consistent line on so I go on instinct and oops my instinct got me killed. And again. Look it's fine this is just a fun-run you didn't really expect me to do it on the first attempt, right? Right?? So we go on, and at the midway point I'm about a minute behind my practice run that morning. A few minutes later and we get to no-mans land: 3 levels, I explain, where I am doomed to failure, could never consistently stay on these. Stupid. Platforms. And. Red. Blue. Same colours every time. Yellow. Commentary as jagged as my heartbeat. Lost minutes this morning you see. Red. But then you do it first attempt just like that and suddenly I'm back on pace. My heart, realising the predicament I put myself in, decides to mess around, causing me to start failing at a stupidly easy level. I know it's easy because it's easy, I'm just not making it look easy because I'm an idiot, but trust me, I say, it's easy. Watch. No not that attempt the next one. Have I seriously lost a minute on this stupid level how is it so stupid look seriously you just jump here and here and look see it's easy and there done onwards. Nostrils are flaring. There were only about 6 levels left, and so little time. I knew to even stand a chance I needed 40 seconds for the final screen, I'd need to be near flawless. Continuing to provide commentary, of what substance I couldn't tell you but speaking words kept me centred, I made it through one after another, very little mistakes, at the final screen, up that final hill. There's still one jump, and even then is it actually 40 seconds long, is it, did I make that up, one final jump, I make the jump, I smash the trophy, and I see my final time... 19 minutes and 43 seconds. 26 losses. I had done it with 17 seconds to spare. We hugged. I whooped. Got a drink and tried to calm my racing heart. I had done it on the second attempt; inconceivable. Pure elation. And that's why Runbow is my game of the month. 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