Most Recent Platinum

[Dantes_994]

THE WALKING DEAD 

A NEW FRONTIER

A New Frontier
Completed The Walking Dead: A New Frontier

DIFFICULTY: 1/10

FUN: 9/10

PLAT NO. 18

Spoiler

I don't really see why people dislike this game so much. I liked it more so than I did Season no.2 The characters were fun and the voice acting was S U P ER B especially on Javi's side. He's also a badass character, I really cared for him. Although I do wish that characters from previous seasons were explored more, plus Lee barely gets a mention. 

All in all, I would highly recommend this season it was a blast. A different kind of adventure compared to previous 2 seasons, but awesome none the less!

 

 

[percy547389126yv]

#1,242 PS4 version of Memories Off -Innocent Fille-

[Yoey_666]

#558 - Axiom Verge 2

[Janire1911]

Agatha Knife

  Goddess of Trophies 

# 396

 

I loved this game! It's got great quirky, dark humor, nice art style, good music and overall it's just a really charming game. 

[Akechi_Lokii]

Platinum Number #19 Watch Dogs (PS4) 

 

 

Fun: 10/10

Difficulty: 2/10

Originality: 8/10

 

I played Watch Dogs when it first released a few years ago and I was a lot younger than I am today so I didn't remember much of it so I didn't know what to expect from the game this time, I buyed it on sale and to be honest I'm really glad I did, I loved every second of it. 

 

The story talks about a depressed man named Aiden Pearce who is disturbed by the death of his niece, she died in a car accident with Aiden, an assassin was contracted to kill Aiden but the assasination went "wrong" and the one who died was Lena his niece not Aiden, after that Aiden adapted into himself a Vigilante persona of some sort to investigate and coexist with the pain of losing his niece and find who ordered the hit on him, he goes around Chicago (by the way Chicago on Watch Dogs is really beatiful) punishing criminals and destroying gang hideouts, and then you see what kind of impact that has on the story and even on Aiden himself, and I think in story aspects the game is just genius Aiden truly is a unique protagonist. 

 

The side quests can get a bit repetitive especially if you're going for the platinum but the awesome gameplay makes up for it, the gunfights on Watch Dogs are really incredible, as for the hacks they are really fun but it's a shame they are more of a "tool" than they should be, compared to the gunfights they pale a bit in comparison, as for the soundtrack it's surely an underrated soundtrack it's REALLY good, the radio songs, the chase music they are really well made and they combine perfectly with game.

 

As for the trophies prepare for a time consuming platinum (for the main game and the bad blood dlc) while they are really easy you have a lot to do: gang hideouts, mercenary contracts, collectibles, just to main a few, but other than that you should be able to do it with relative ease. 

 

I surely hope you do give it a chance and don't sleep on it like I did all those years back I'm sure you won't regret it, it's truly and underrated game and I think it deserves a lot more recognition for it's incredible and unique story and it's badass gameplay, the game is surely on my top 10 favorite games of all time.

 

PS: I'm really excited to see Aiden again on Watch Dogs Legion I miss him already! 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 31, 2022 by Akechi_Lokii

[NorthPaul93]

#71

Resident Evil 7

 

 

Took me three whole days to get the platinum and the trophies for the DLCs.The game wasn't hard, but the DLCs were kind of a pain in the ass.

Edited May 31, 2022 by NorthPaul93

[DrBloodmoney]

  513

 652

 

Road 96

An unusual indie Narrative Adventure-Lite game, Road 96, from French studio DigixArt, takes some inspiration from 70's Euro avant-garde cinema, blends it with a very 90's Linklater-style teenage sociopolitical worldview, and wraps it all in a more digestible, somewhat Life is Strange, (or more specifically, Life is Strange 2,) style of road trip gameplay and adds a head-fake towards rogue-like elements, to sometimes mixed - but often curiously winning - effect.

The narrative takes place in the fictional totalitarian state of Petria, in which a (seemingly rigged and purely for show,) election between the dictatorial ruler President Tyrek, and his revolutionary rival Florres is pending. The player takes the role of multiple teens across the story, who are part of a nationwide epidemic of teen runaways, all trying to head for the border, to flee Petria ahead of the election. The outcome of each of these short journeys is fraught with danger, and the overall narrative continues, whatever the outcome of any individual teen is - escape, imprisonment... or death.

Along the way, the player will encounter various recurring characters - among them a politically conflicted policewoman, a couple of revolutionary (and moronic) criminals, a fellow runaway (and daughter of the totalitarian regime's Minister of Oil,) a shady killer, a slightly crazy Trucker, a boy-genius tech-savvy runaway, the vapid anchor of a governmental mouth-piece propaganda show and a few others, most of whom's stories each teen will only see a small sliver of. An overall "Completion meter" for each main NPC is shown across the whole game, letting the player know how much there is still to uncover of each character, and this fills in based on these semi-random encounters.

The game structure is interesting and quite fun. The player will, over the course of the game, play between 6 and 9 different 1-2 hour "journeys" towards the border checkpoint leading north, out of Petria.  Each of these journeys is with a new (unvoiced) teen as the player-controlled character, and their route towards the checkpoint at Road 96 is different. Each one encounters different locations and events along the way, which are part randomised, and part player-influenced, depending on how they choose to leave the previous one. 
If, for example, the player has little money, or choses to spend it (on food, for example, to raise their health meter,) they may need to walk or hitchhike from a location. That means their next event will be in someone else's car, or on foot. 
If, on the other hand, they pay for a bus ticket, the next event in that journey may be on a bus. If they manage to find a set of car keys, they might steal a car, and the next event will play from that eventuality.

It's a nice idea, as the randomness mixed with player influence gives both a freshness to each journey, and a feeling of some player control and agency within the the story. 

There is an obvious flight of fancy for the sake of gameplay, in the sense that the same NPC characters are constantly being encountered at different stages of these journeys by the different teens, however, this is perfectly forgivable as a narrative device, given that following these other characters - seeing their arcs (albeit out of order,) and piecing together the narrative of Petria, the election and the nature of the totalitarian state's relationship with the "terrorists" through them, is the meat of the game.  

The game also contains something of a contrivance - again, a forgivable gameplay one - in the sense that the player has cross-journey, cross-teen "power-ups". If the "Lock Picking" skill is unlocked by the first teen, it is available to all subsequent ones. This makes little narrative sense, but does allow for increased replayability in the game mechanically. When replaying, certain abilities will or won't be available depending on the random order different teens experience different events, requiring different methods to be employed to solve the problems presented along the way. I, for example, dod not unlock the ability to "hack" until near the end of my final play-through, but I had seen countless moments when such a skill could have been employed up to that point. Had I encountered that event earlier, it would have markedly changed the outcome of much of my previous experiences. 

What is a little less forgivable though, is the way the game undercuts its own narrative contrivances with something as simple as its "map" loading screen. While it's perfectly acceptable to have each character constantly running into the same eclectic bunch of NPCs (one could argue, since there are - according to the fiction - thousands of teen runaways making for the border, that this narrative is only concerning itself with the few who did run into these specific people,) it makes less sense because the game loading screens shows the routes these teens take. 
Because each teen is shown as coming from  wildly differing locations, from far and wide across Petria, and only crossing paths at the very end of their journeys, it feels a little odd that they all constantly run into the same people along the way. 
Contrivances for narrative sake are one thing, but something as simple as a map screen causing such a narrative problem is a little bit of a silly mistake. All it would have taken to completely alleviate this problem, would have been to show that all these teens are starting out from roughly the same area of Petria, and so are all journeying along a similar path, seeing similar areas, and meeting similar people!

Visually, the game is relatively basic in design, but works quite well. Locations are simple but evocative, and characters are broadly drawn and caricaturish in nature, but work fairly well given limited screen time. The overall effect is quite stylish, and lent extra visual flair by some very nice lighting effect, stylish camera angles, and a nice treatment on the UI and indicative elements, which do a lot to paper over the sometimes blocky character designs or simplistic elements of interactivity. 

Music is pretty great across the board - Road 96 is another game in the (now quite long) list of games I've played this year who's original soundtracks have been added to my Spotify rotation. It's a mix of electronica and folksy indie, and actually forms the game's only "collectible" - the player can find cassette tapes of the songs scattered throughout the game (in randomised locations,) and can change the background music in many scenes by playing these tapes in one of the many tape-players to be found around the locations.

Voice work and writing is - it must be said - a little hokey... however, Road 96 is a curious case.
Because the tone of the game is consistent and quite well done, the combination of the caricaturish visual style, the oddly B-movie writing and voice work, and the eclectic mix of music and eccentric characters, the overall effect is quite winning. 
While individual lines of dialogue or deliveries did make me chuckle on occasion, or even roll my eyes, I cannot deny that the overall pastiche of eccentricity won me over. I looked forward to seeing different stages of each of the NPC character arcs, and piecing together their journeys - even if these individual characters would probably not have worked as well if seen for longer periods, in a more straight, linear progression.

Because of this, I think Road 96 is actually one of those rare and peculiar cases, where I question whether a higher quality of writing or more subtle, realistic voice work would actually be a benefit. The unusual tone of the game is, I think, actively aided by the B-game trappings, rather than hindered by them. 

That's a difficult thing to define exactly - on paper, it might seem odd, considering the very same issue that hurts recently reviewed Last Stop helps Road 96, but I cannot deny that it feels the case. 
The salient difference is as indefinable in description as it is clear in experience: "Charm". 
The hokey aspects of Last Stop's writing and acting were grating.
The hokey aspects of Road 96's writing and acting are charming.

 

The "why" of that discrepancy is difficult to quantify - having to do with some combination of the overall presentation, style, tonal consistency and player engagement - but the fact remains, the effect is markedly different... in Road 96's favour.

 

 

 

(For original review and Scientific  Ranking see HERE)

[DrBloodmoney]

  514

 653

 

 

Unpacking

A strange little soft-puzzle game from Witch Beam Studios, Unpacking takes a task everyone is familiar with - unpacking boxes and sorting out personal items in a new living space, and turns it into a relaxing, meditative experience through which the player gets not only to indulge in the satisfaction that comes from such an endeavour without the physical exertion, but also comes to see the oddly specific and well drawn story of a young girl from childhood to maturity.

Essentially, gameplay is broken down in the different phases of the girl the player takes control of's life - from first getting her own room in her parental house, to moving into dormitories, then flat-sharing, moving in with a boyfriend and onwards, working towards her "forever home". In each vignette, the player's task is simple, unpack items from the boxes piled in each room, find a good spot for everything, figure out how best to store everything in an orderly and sensible fashion... and (if you are like me,) spend endless amounts of time sorting and re-sorting these items to give the best look to the room!

Once a room is fully unboxed, any items not in an appropriate place are flagged, and must be properly stored before the game allows the player to "complete" the level and move on, however, there is a lot of leeway in this determination. The game takes pains to ensure it only flags items for being in completely inappropriate places - a toaster in a bathtub for example, or a toilet roll in the kitchen cabinet - there is a fair amount of freedom in the actual laying out of each room, meaning the player feels a sense of attachment to the rooms they organise, and the life they are controlling.

Visually, the game is playing in a lovely looking pastel-shaded pixel-art.

Each room is viewed isometrically, and there is nothing in the way of fancy graphical flourishes or graphics-card-testing modern tech, however, the game is actually one of the very best examples around of pixel-art being able to evoke specificity, without the luxury of fine detail. Each item the player pulls form a box must be identified (there is no "item descriptions" to help,) but it's remarkable how few items there is ever any real question about. Not only are DVDs, Gamecube games, Books etc. identifiable as what object they are, but often what specific game or movie they are is discernible too! (The girl has pretty good taste from what I could tell, as displayed by her beloved copies of Donnie Darko and Jaws, among others, which followed her through her life!)  While there were a few items I struggled to identify, often these were more as a result on my being a man playing as a woman, than as a result of visual limitations.

(As it turns out, identifying boxes of sanitary products is not in my wheelhouse... who knew?!)

The whole game is presented as a picture photo-album, and it's a nice visual touch, lending selection of levels to replay exactly the odd nostalgia that recalling big moments in real life has.

The music of the game is quite pleasant and relaxing - for the most part, that is all the music is - a nice, cheery background to the simple game, though tonally, there is something there - when following the narrative of the girls life, moves that are exciting and happy do have an auditory tone to match, and moves that are perhaps less happy, and more forced by circumstance have a slightly more wistful score to accompany them.

The main point of discussion for a game like Unpacking is not these visual and auditory components though, it is the conceptual aspects, as those are where the game is most unusual.

The idea of the game feels, it must be said, like it couldn't possibly have enough variety in gameplay to sustain a game. After all, the act of unpacking and filling out a new house is varied only by the relative size of the available space, vs the amount of personal items to put there, right? 
Well... no. Not really. 

If you actually think about the different times in a person's life where they are unpacking their items and moving into a new space, they all have their own eccentricities that go beyond the space limitations.
When unpacking a room in your parents house, you only need think about that one room, but the space is entirely your own.
When moving into a shared dormitory or shared apartment with roommates, unpacking is less about making a space your own, and more about adding your signature, while not infringing on your room-mates.  In that scenario, the space is already filled, and touching the other peoples items is not allowed.
When moving in with a romantic partner, however, there is more freedom to alter their space, but consideration still needs to be given to their space needs, and their own preferences.

That lends the actual mechanical "puzzle" part of the game at least a little variety to distinguish each phase of the game. I'd hardly call Unpacking a difficult game, but there is enjoyment and occasional challenge in figuring out just how to fit all these items into a space either too small, or already lived in, and occupied with other peoples personal items.
Still, it must be noted that mechanically, Unpacking is very slight. 

What is much more impressive though, is the narrative.
Yes, you read that right.
The really fascinating thing about Unpacking is just how much of a story the game manages to have, given that it ostensibly doesn't have one.

There are game out theres like Dishonoured, Bioshock, Hitman and The Last of Us which make extremely effective use of "environmental storytelling" - of having the state of a room or a location tell the story of the occupants, simply through good design and placement of the contents of it. That's impressive, but for all that those games do that well, each one is still reliant on a robust main narrative to hold the players attention. The environmental storytelling additive, not the whole kit and caboodle.

In Unpacking, however, the game has no narrative other than environmental storytelling. There is no story, characters or cutscenes, nor is there any dialogue. Indeed, aside from a year that is given to indicate the girls age, prior to completion of a move there is never even any indication of what precipitated her move or whom she will be living with. 
Aside from what is shown in the rooms, and what items she brought with her, the player is left to infer that information. It is therefore incredibly impressive that not only is there a very clear through-line to the narrative of Unpacking, but that more than simply understanding the beats of the girls life, I also came to have quite an emotional connection to her, and to have genuine opinions about her choices.

As she got older, and moved and re-moved a few times, I felt a pang of sadness that she seemed to let her artistic side dwindle - then happy, when later in life she rediscovered it, and there were more art supplies and more desk space to make use of them. 

I knew the holidays she had taken, based on travel books and chachkis she had collected, I knew which childhood toys were the most meaningful to her, and that she held onto the longest. I had specific items I though she should let go of (hon, that fucking Brevel sandwich-maker is going to be the end of us! There's never a space for it, and you'll never use it!) and I was left asking "Hey, where's your little Transformer dude?", or "What happened to your Donnie Darko DVD? Did that messy roommate steal it?" when they disappeared in the shuffles.

 

When she moved in with her first boyfriend, I knew nothing about him at all... but by the time I had finished unpacking, I already disliked him. He hadn't made any space for her. He hadn't even tidied up - and I already felt uneasy about her relationship with him. She was happy enough to tidy his unkempt sock drawer (she had to, to make space for her lady-pants,) but when it came time for her to hang her prized, framed diploma, there was no space among all his rock band posters, and she didn't want to move them. Frankly, I think it says a lot about a relationship if the girl is uneasy about moving some of his posters to make space for something that meaningful!

Despite that though, I felt bad for her when the next move was back into her old room, with her parents. The same bittersweet feeling of nostalgia that accompanies such a move in real life works in Unpacking too - seeing the old items she once cared about, but not enough to take with her, still there, and having to move them into cupboards to make room in the too-small space for the necessities she brought back.

It's moments like those ones that make Unpacking much more than simply a too-easy puzzle game, or a frivolous home decoration game. Through gamifying a simple real-life task that is common to all people, in all walks of life, and which is repeated multiple times through any life, the developer is able to effectively tell the entire story of a life. 
Like seeing a painting with none of the lines, but all of the colour, by "checking in" at these key points in that life, we get almost none of the details of the girls circumstances, but almost all of the emotional baggage that comes with them.

Unpacking captures the feeling of those "big Life" events with a specificity and a sharpness that I would never have imagines a simple pixel-art sorting game could - and that's incredibly impressive. 

After all, when key moments in life precipitate a move, we are packing up more than things. We are packing up our life. 
When we unpack, we are not just finding a place for our stuff, we are finding a place for ourselves.

 
I'm just surprised a game managed to capture that.

 

 

 

(For original review and Scientific  Ranking see HERE)

[DrBloodmoney]

  515

 654

 

 

 

Doki Doki Literature Club+

 

NOTE:

Doki Doki Literature Club+ is predicated on some big reveals.  I'm not going to discuss them. 
There will be some references to the broad nature of them, and to the mere fact that they exist, but for the sake of avoiding spoiling anyone's experience, I'm only going to talk about the effects of these reveals on the players' relationship with the game, not on the specifics of what they are. 
That's going to make this one probably feel a little non-specific to those who haven't played the game, but I think it's necessary here.

 

 

Originally released in 2017 as a freeware game for Mac and PC via itch.oi, Doki Doki Literature Club, from American Team Salvato, gained a quick and large cult following via word of mouth, largely built on its reputation as one of the small handful of truly meta-contextual, mind-bending games to follow in the Frog Fractions design, of having a game be "hidden" within itself - one genre of game masquerading as another, with the revelation of the type of game being played forming a significant part of the narrative of the game.

The expanded re-release - Doki Doki Literature Club+ - was released for all platforms in 2021, adding new side content, and reworking the game, adding a fictional OS, to allow for some of the more meta-elements (which in some cases involved actually manipulating the game's directory files,) to work on platforms where the "back-end" directories are inaccessible to the player.

The game begins as something of a cross between a dating sim, and a Japanese visual novel, wherein the player - a school aged boy - is encouraged by his female childhood friend, classmate and neighbour Sayori to join a "Literature Club" as his extra-curricular school assignment. When he reluctantly accepts, he meets the three other girls who form the group - insular pseudo-goth Yuri, firecracker Natsuki, and competent and popular, (if slightly bland,) Monika. 

Throughout the initial part of game, the player gets to know each of the girls, and the interactive element - a poetry writing mini-game, in which specific words are chosen to form part of a poem, each of which appeal more to different girls ascertained personalities - allows them to tailor their playthrough to favour one girl or the other, with the game using this element to select different paths of dialogue to suit.

That is the crux of the game... at least, on paper. 
However, to use the games ancestral progenitor - Frog Fractions - as a protracted metaphor, that is only what is above the lake. After several hours of following the game straight, with the game only loosely and vaguely hinting at anything deeper, eventually, a specific incident violently pulls the player below the surface, to reveal the broken pieces of fractions lying among the silt... and the game heads into space!
(Sorry to anyone reading that who hasn't played Frog Fractions and who therefore could not make head not tail of that analogy, but if you are among them... 
...what are you doing reading this?! Go play it!  It's free, and you can play in a browser for goodness sake!)

It's interesting playing Doki Doki Literature Club+ for the first time, so soon after revisiting The Stanley Parable. Both games share similarities in their subversion of game tropes and expectations to carve out their bait-and-switch gameplay, but in some ways, they do it via directly opposing methods.
The Stanley Parable subverts a "serious" genre by going comedic.
Doki Doki Literature Club+ subverts a comedic genre by going serious.

In both cases that subversion toys with the player, taking shots at their motivations and their expectations, and usurping the traditional player-to-game relationship the "fake" genre each game comes disguised as traditionally invokes, however, the purpose of that subversion is starkly different. 

In the case of The Stanley Parable, it is more meta - the players desire for game elements like player choice, reward, challenge etc is being confronted directly. The actual effect on the narrative is purely by way of the player's relationship to the game itself. For all the ridiculous things that happen, the actual "character" of Stanley is never someone we are emotionally invested in particularly - all the emotional or cerebral connection is between The Narrator and the player, with Stanley the hapless cypher caught in-between. 

In the case of Doki Doki Literature Club+, however, the game makes much more hay out of manipulation of the player via emotional connection to characters. The game masquerades not as a Walking Sim (which is an inherently "solo" genre,) but as a Visual Novel and Dating Sim (two genres entirely predicated on emotional investment to characters.) Because of that, and because the amount of time spent prior to any "Meta" reveal, or even particularly unusual or outlandish behaviour, is so much longer in Doki Doki Literature Club+ than The Stanley Parable (around 2 hours go by before there is any real hint that something is afoot, as opposed to mere minutes,) the player has ample time to form some kind of emotional attachment to all 4 of the girls in the club.
In fact, because the game masquerades as the type of game where picking your "favourite" of the girls is the raison d'être, it is more than likely that virtually the ONLY part of the game the player is really concentrating on at that point is learning about the girls, and forming those emotional attachments. 

The game is actually something of a masterclass in slow build horror - and manages to enact it in a way that many straight horror games fail to capture. 
Part of this is only enabled due to the genre conventions of the games it is masquerading as, of course. 
Because dating sims - specifically Japanese dating sims - have certain cultural elements that can already feel a little uncomfortable to western gamers, (the heightened sexualisation of young-looking girls, the tendency to "categorise" girls into specific archetypes, the borderline obsessive tendencies female characters show towards male ones, and the assumption of perversion in male ones with regards to females, along with the over-emphasis on explaining in minute, almost painstaking detail, characters innermost feelings to one another,)  Doki Doki Literature Club+ is able to slowly wrong-foot the player into feelings of quite extreme unease, even before fully playing its horror hand. 
The first "act" of the game (which consists of a mostly "straight-played" dating sim, is constantly pushing the boundaries of acceptability with its narrative (no matter which girl the player chooses to favour,) but because of the genre, they are never really able to pinpoint exactly where it crosses the line, until it's already far behind them. 
Each girl has their own serious issues (and they are serious,) and in retrospect, upon repeat playthroughs, they are made obvious, but because the genre is one that steps into heightened and uncomfortable territory as a matter of course, the first time through, the player is likely to simply keep rationalising them. They are more than likely going to continually chalk these instances up to simple culture clash, rather than genuine red-flags.

That means that when the first truly horrific incident occurs, serving as a catalyst for the more meta elements of the game to take over, the game to go "full horror", and the first point at which the player can be left in no doubt as to the outlandishness of Doki Doki Literature Club+ within the genre to which it purports to belong, the moment has incredible impact. 

Not only is it horrific and obscene to see such a scene within the confines of a "cute", "sweet" looking game like the one played up to this point, but there is also something of an inverse catharsis - all the unease built up in the preceding hours by these red flags that the player has constantly been disregarding or rationalising or justifying in their mind are suddenly refocussed. The bubble of that unease is allowed to burst, and the player gets to finally say "Oh, God, I was right!  This is NOT okay!  IT NEVER WAS!"

From that point, the game becomes something quite different. It becomes the meta-horror that it always was, but now in the full light of day. The game works incredibly well on that level. There are multiple moments throughout the narrative after that which I won't even allude to, but will simply say still managed to wrong-foot me, and really have impact, even knowing what I was now playing... but I do think that nothing ever quite lives up to the sharp refocus that first big moment has. Not because they are lesser, but simply because that one is so good!

Visually, the game works very very well. The art-style is, of course, driven by the purported genre - the girls are all manga stereotypes, with genre-appropriate big-eyes and over-sexualised figures, but the actual art is very nicely done. It's not unique like something like Steins Gate - there isn't specific deviation from common visual novel tropes (as there shouldn't be, given that it is a facade,) but the example of the general art-style of the genre is very good. There a bit of similarity in the character and location designs (an in the UI, in fact,) to the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney games.

Audio follows suit - the main music in the game is cheery and upbeat and catchy as all hell - with borderline schmaltzy elements that are almost deliberately grating. 

Both of these elements are, of course, serving a specific purpose - by aping the genres Doki Doki Literature Club+ is pretending to be so well, it keeps the game from revealing its hand too early - but both are masterfully used upon those reveals too. The incessantly cheering music is absolutely the perfect foil for the dark direction the game dives into at times, as simply playing the same style, but dissonant, or in a minor key, or out of tune is so jarring and off-putting that it can feel positively queasy. When, during the Act 1 catalyst, for example, a character theme is played slowly and out of tune, and the "pink and fluffy" visual style is shown muted, through static interference, it gives a nightmare effect that is really jarring, effective and impactful.

On the changes to the game to account for console porting, some issues do need to be addressed - as I think that element is pretty much the only area where a few minor negatives seep into the game.

It's something of a shame that the nature of console gaming requires Doki Doki Literature Club+ to reveal a little of its hand ahead of time. While I think the games slow, awful reveals are handled very well, console conventions mean that reveal cannot have quite the impact they might, simply because there is a fairly strenuous Content Warning upon first loading the game. 
That does mean the player is likely aware something is coming to subvert the cutesy, twee visuals and gameplay, and it undercuts the game to the extent it will never be fully able to pull a total Frog Fractions... 
...though on the other hand, someone like myself, who is the perfect demographic for what Doki Doki Literature Club+ actually is, would likely not have ever played it if the only information available was what it masquerades as.

I do also think that while I am very grateful for some of the changes made to the game in the "Plus" version that allow the game to work on console, and I think most of these are very cool and cleverly done... I do find the addition of the "Side Stories" to be a little baffling. 
These are prequel sections of narrative, which are used to show the formation of the Literature Club - the initial meetings of the girls, and their friendships forming... - and really, these feel wildly out of place. Because the whole point of the main game is not the narrative, but the tearing down of the narrative and the horror behind it, the fact that the side-stories only unlock to be played post-game is kind of strange. By the time the player is able to play them, they are fully aware of how meaningless they are - the narrative on the surface is only there to be destroyed, and so adding context to that surface narrative feels a bit redundant when there isn't a meta-horror element to add to them.

Overall though, Doki Doki Literature Club+ is a hell of a package - a great version of what is a really original, clever and wildly entertaining ride. The game works well enough prior to the reveal, and works incredibly well after it, and the whole experience is something quite unlike virtually all other games on the market.
Yes, the game has lost some of its surprise impact over time - I came into the game knowing there was more to it than meets the eye, as virtually any new player will now, so of course the rug-pull change of genre is not all it might have been to someone simply stumbling across it - and yes, the requirement on console to put up content warnings, and to feature the fake OS does somewhat limit the ability for the game to feel as immersive as it might have on PC. 
However, even accounting for those "softening" elements, the game still manages to have really impactful moments of horror, really smart and off-putting elements of surprise, and to really shake the core of a player, even with some prior knowledge of what they are in for.

 

 

 

(For original review and Scientific  Ranking see HERE)

[DrBloodmoney]

  516

 655

 

JETT: The Far Shore

A Sci-Fi exploration mystery survival game from the Superbrothers - the team behind seminal 2011 iOS indie RPG Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery - JETT: The Far Shorecontinues the Superbrothers signature taste for large, mysterious open worlds to be explored, but this time applies to to a much more cinematic and grand narrative, and a polygonal, 3D environment.

After Sword and Sworcery, the Superbrothers team had quite a lot to live up to. That game was arguable the most instrumental in proving the viability of the iOS platform as a venue for more than simple time-wasters or minor puzzle games - featuring the kind of exploration and mystery that, up to that point, had been largely absent in the iOS/ Android arena.
Whether their success was due to the strength of the game in a vacuum, or whether the iOS platform had magnified it - whether Sword and Sworcery benefitted from a "biggest fish in a small pond" mentality - was a source of debate.

Personally, I fell on the the "no" side - I found Sword and Sworcery genuinely interesting and fun, and I believe I would have, regardless of the platform of delivery, however, even I have to admit that my initial curiosity with the game had a lot to do with the general absence of meaty games on that platform at that point. The intro sections of Sword and Sworcery give little indication of the depth or scope of it. Were it not for the lack of alternative options, and the generally lower level of expectation the iOS platform landscape of 2011 provided, perhaps I would not have stuck with the game long enough to come to realise how good it was. 

That element, at least - the requirement for a console game to get its hooks in early - is something the Superbrothers were clearly aware of when crafting their true "console first" game in JETT: The Far Shore.
There are some issues with JETT: The Far Shore, but none of them are its opening gambit. While I will get into some of the problems the game has (and there are a fair few,) I will say this: As introductory hours of games go, JETT: The Far Shore's is unimpeachable. 

That intro hour contains all of the strongest elements of the game, and so let's first discuss those - starting with the art-style.

The art-design of the game - of virtually all aspects - is as fascinating and unique as it is beautiful. The term "style over substance" is generally a pejorative, but in the case of JETT: The Far Shore's visuals, it is both apt and a compliment. JETT: The Far Shore is not a game reliant on graphical or technical prowess - indeed, in terms of fidelity and technical graphical capability, I would guess the game is on the lower end of 3D visuals, however, the design work, and the use of that limited technical palette is wonderful. Character designs are unusual and highly stylised, almost resembling pottery or dye-cast models, and the universe they inhabit is vast and grand and beautiful. The game concerns itself with a fictional race of humanoids with their own scientific / religious culture, and their technology, their architecture, their crafted objects and their clothing - everything is both unusual and interesting to look at, while still adhering to a common cultural design ethos set by their belief systems. 

Their society is driven by teachings of an ancient scientist, and deeply concerned with something called the Hymnwave - a sort of deified radio signal that they see as a calling to a better world for their people. The symbolic representation of the Hymnwave, as a geometric DNA strand, permeates their design ethos, and is found all throughout their created architecture and decorated objects.
 
This belief system - codified in the scientific teachings of Tsotsi, and collected as a spiritual set of dogmatic guidelines for their lives,  has been both the ruin and the salvation of the civilisation. In racing to devise spaceflight, in order to seek the Tor (the ancient pyramid emitting the Hymnwave,) the people have pushed their society to the brink of collapse, spending all their natural resources and decimating their home world. 

When, during the introduction to the game, the player takes the role of Mei - one of a small group of specially selected and trained scouts destined to be the first to establish ground-presence on the new world to set the table for the rest of the space-bound portion of their society, the overbearing grandeur of that narrative is really felt. The gameplay consists of little more than walking slowly forward, but that is immaterial really - the visual and audio elements are of such superior quality that they feel more akin to certain strains of sci-fi cinema than other videogames. Think Gravity, or Interstellar, or Ad Astra or Arrival, but featuring characters from Coraline or underrated animated movie 9.

In addition to the more Walking Sim or audio-visual elements in Mei's journey from her tribal home, to being praised in the cradle of religious and scientific glory, to the spaceship, to the 1000 year journey across the galaxy, to the vast, beautiful parachute drop into the new world, the intro also features a taste of what will become the primary gameplay mechanic - flying the small exploratory Jett. 
This can be a little deceptive however, as the intro demonstrates exactly what the game is great at, and no more. In the intro, the jett is simply required to be flown around at speed, and the different in-flight manoeuvres conducted. These are great fun to do. They remain so throughout the whole game - flying the jett at speed is really well done, and feels great.

The problem though, is when the player slows down.

JETT: The Far Shore, regardless of what the intro would have you believe, is not primarily a narrative game. Yes there is narrative - very good narrative, but the crux of the gameplay isn't narrative, it's exploration in an open-world sandbox. These elements do not work nearly as well at the narrative does.

The jett that Mei pilots has a fairly obtuse and often very fiddly control scheme. Whenever it is required to perform intricate interfaces with ground object (scanning, grappling, lifting etc,) or whenever tight evasive action is required, the game slows in pace dramatically, and becomes quite frustrating. There is a scanning and puzzling element to the gameplay on the foreign planet, whereby scanning the various things to be found reveals more and more interconnections and ways to affect them, and this is used to some light puzzle effect. For example, a particular resin, when flown near an activating ion pool, will become volatile, and can be used to break destructible elements. 

This is a cool idea, however, the actual controls required to do these tasks are often so finicky and convoluted - and occasionally downright irritating - in the jett, that I can't help but suspect the developers chose to limit how much of this puzzling gameplay is actually in the game, to avoid it completely throttling the pace. While all the pieces are there to make a sandbox game with a huge amount of secrets or inter-connecting or inter-playing objects, the actual use is limited to a few, relatively guided sections. There are so few, in fact, that the player may well be led to question the point in even filling out the world with such a litany of inter-operable elements. While scanning a majority is required for a trophy, this is, in fact, the only reason to do so. The information gained about which creatures, objects or elements affect which others, and how, is almost never used outside of those few specific, guided instances. 

That guidance brings up the other major issue with the game - the subtitles. 
The entire game is voice acted, however, it is all in a fictional language, and subtitled into English for the player. This element is actually really immersive and evocative in the first-person narrative sections - the fake language is well done, and clearly a lot of thought went into it. Picking out certain words or inflections within it has the same feeling as with deciphering a real language, and that has a cool, immersive effect on the whole game - and particularly helps alongside the unusual terminology that underpins the societal belief system of the people. It also adds to a "grown-up sci-fi" feel the game has, and works very well in that context. 

However, in the jett, all guidance is vocal, and similarly subtitled... and this is a HUGE problem. 
Piloting the jett is complicated. There is a lot of visual information on screen - fuel gauges to be managed, terrain to be read, navigation and tertiary elements to be constantly viewed and adjusted to... and so when the narrative and guidance is done in subtitles, it is simply not possible to read them all at the same time. This leaves the player either having to stop the action to read them, or ignore them, hoping they will be repeated when things on screen are demanding less attention.
I was constantly finding myself at a loss for what to do, and having to wait until the co-pilot would re-state what he had already told me, but I hadn't been able to read as I was avoiding a hostile enemy, or navigating rough terrain, or completing a puzzle element. 

This is dismaying, as it is a problem that feels entirely predictable, and could have been somewhat alleviated. If the game had some kind of "text log" where the player could pause and read back recent dialogue, for example. The game does, on occasion, slow the on screen action down to allow the subtitles to be read during frenetic action, but this is inconsistent, and appears to only happen when the player is being repeatedly scolded for exploring when there is a narrative beat to be done... which, by the way, is all the time. 

Exploring in the game is one of the primary elements of the game, but the narrative rarely ever gives the player permission to do so. Almost all exploring has to be done with the co-pilot constantly reminding the player of what the narrative wants her to do, and distracting from that exploration intermittently.  
It has the effect of really feeling like the game is pulling against itself - working towards opposing gameplay forces at all times. 

The strongest element is the narrative... but the game pushes that away with its much stronger focus on exploring.
The ship controls are best at speed... but the game want's fine control and slow movement most of the time.
The sandbox elements are neat... but the game focusses on guided use only.
The language use is cool... but the game trips over itself in the implementation. 
The audio visual elements are fantastic... but the game hampers enjoyment of them with over-complex controls, and by pushing the player not to engage in exploration.
 
It's a real shame, as JETT: The Far Shore actually has far more genuinely fantastic elements than most games that have this many problems. In fact, it has more great elements than a lot of games better than it.
The game ends up feeling mediocre, but not for the reason most games do. Most mediocre games are mediocre because all, or at least most, of their individual elements are mediocre. Nothing in JETT: The Far Shore is mediocre though. It becomes mediocre by average - because half of its elements are fantastic, and the other half are straight up bad.

Overall, JETT: The Far Shore is really a strange beast. It's a game with a huge amount to love in it, but undercut by fundamentally disappointing core mechanics, and a tendency to undermine good elements, in favour of elevating bad one. 

It is often visually stunning, uniformly auditorially excellent, and with a narrative that is both simple and effective in the immediate, and based on a core of well thought out and interesting background lore. It manages to convey complex and curiously alien societal ideals without the need for over-long info dumps or expositional cul-de-sacs, and is so interesting, in fact, that the promise of its continuation is often enough to propel the player through the less interesting mechanical side of the game.

 

While the fundamentals are never truly awful, they just aren't able to cope with the gameplay requirements when fine control is required... and in many ways, that is a metaphor for the whole experience of the game.
When it is moving at speed, and all coming together, it soars like an eagle. 
When it hits a rough patch though, it shudders and stutters to an undignified crawl. 

 

 

 

(For original review and Scientific  Ranking see HERE)

[Lordguwa]

platinum #615 Agatha Knife (ps4)

completed in 17 hours and 16 minutes

platinum rarity 67.49% common

platinum name: Goddess Of Trophies

favorite trophy image: Payday (picture of a meowth as image)

 

gotten that game finished. the next game is a repeat of what i platinumed a month and a few weeks ago. it's going to be witcher 3 complete edition. going to use the gwent guide. start on death march difficulty and only target what i need to gain on crowns needed to progress parts of the game and DLC.

Edited May 31, 2022 by Lordguwa

[Deluziion90]

#507 - Sniper Elite 5

 

Sniper Elite
Obtain all Trophies.

 

 

Status update review:

Fun: 8/10

Difficulty: 5/10

 

My first SE game and what a fun enjoyment this game was. Lots of gore, lots of stealth and lots of tense moments where I actually had to think my way out of some sticky situations. I tried to play everything as stealthy as possible and it went.. meh 50/50 overall sometimes I was in a horrible spot but what a fun game!

Now it's time to get rid of Hitler and his trophies!

 

Also really happy with the platinum screenshot I managed to grab for this one:

[Jamescush147]

  Platinum 321 

Platinum
Collect all trophies

84.92% Common

 

She Sees Red

 

The first live action game I've played in a while. Pretty good but much shorter then the Wales Interactive/D'Avekki Studios games tend to be.

[MidnightDragon]

#82

Unpacking

 

This is a cute, relaxing game which involves you unpacking boxes and putting stuff into place as you move around throughout your life and there are clues about your life everywhere you go, though it doesn't go crazy in-depth. It's pretty straightforward. You unpack the boxes and you place the things. Once you've unpacked and placed everything, the game will show you where there's anything that's incorrect. It can be a bit frustrating trying to figure out where things go in the later levels when you have multiple rooms, but it doesn't take too long to figure it out. The miscellaneous trophies are also super easy to get as well. While I think that it should've been a bit less for what it was, it was still a very enjoyable game.  

[percy547389126yv]

#1,243 PS4 version of Flower Shop: Summer In Fairbrook

[No longer here]

#156 - Evil Dead: The Game [PS5]

 

Enjoyment/Rating:  9/10

Difficulty: 4/10

Time: 95 Hours

PSNP Rarity: 2.65%

PSN Rarity: 0.1% (Nice)

 

I am a fan of the movies and show they had on starz. I was very excited waiting for this to come out and when it did I nonstop played it for a bit (Called out of work for a day lol). Even after platinum, I still play it with friends cause I found the combat and whole layout of the game still really fun even 90+ hours in. The lore, the demons, and the characters with their abilities make so much sense in regard to the movies/show. (Warrior Ash is OP) It is a 4v1 game survivor vs demon but really well done and thought out by the devs. Playing as the survivors or as a demon is like two different games with different strategies but all events happen in the same game. Games can go on for 20-30 mins so be prepared to sit and play for a while. I could go on how I much I enjoy this game from a fanboy, but I will keep it simple. If you like asymmetrical horror games like Dead By Daylight or Friday the 13th, I suggest giving this a try. This is the next gen version of these type of games, so I hope it gets more popular. Let's hope for DLC soon!

 

#157 - Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt [PS5]

 

Enjoyment/Rating: 8/10

Difficulty: 4/10

Time: 70+ Hours

PSNP Rarity: 2.54%

PSN Rarity: 0.1% (Nice again)

 

I had really a lot of fun with this game in the beginning with some friends as I felt the gunplay was fun (while clunky sometimes) and abilities of characters were pretty crazy and infused some skill into using it. Game focuses more on movement while also aiming/shooting, so you can say it's a fast paced game but with vampires lol. The mechanics were interesting in that you would eat people to gain some points towards attributes and depending on the person you ate, it adds to your stats.  There was a big grind to level 50 and a glitched trophy I had to work around but eventually got it. The rest of the trophies were straight forward but required using everyone and every gun, which made me get used to the combat more and enjoy it. The game got harder a few weeks in, so I knew I had to plat this solid BR soon, I really wanted it so I started playing it more serious and eventually it paid off. I recommend this game to anyone who likes BRs and third person shooting/movement combat. Keep in mind the trophies are online only, so unless you're interested in multiplayer trophies, it can be a turn off for some.

 

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk!

[DesmaBR]

Platinum #170

 Utawarerumono
Acquired all trophies.

 

I remember back in 2017 when Mask of Deception was about to release.

I was told by people online that I should watch the anime of the original game that aired in 2005.

And that's what I did back when, and I gotta say, that was a pretty cool anime. I'm glad I've watched.

But I couldn't help but feel like playing the actual game would've been better, y'know?

So when they announced a remake of it, I was planning to get it, but since I had watched the anime and knew the plot, I've though to just wait for a sale on PSN.

And so I've picked it up on the last sale it was, and boy am I glad I did.

 

This really ain't as good as the sequels. I'd advise anybody to just watch the anime myself.

The SRPG in the Mask games was serviceable, but here it's really bad; the maps are small, and there isn't any strategy for them.

The final boss took me a goddamn hour to beat, fucker just had way more HP than he should.

 

The game is also really ugly, running at 720p and 30fps even on PS5.

I sure hope this is the last 720p game I play.

It also doesn't help that the assets weren't even made for 720p in mind, most likely made for 480p since this was a 2002 game.

They even cropped the CG images to fit in a widescreen when they were 4:3 originally, which I hate when they do that.

 

The plot is really why you'd play this game, and it's not as good as I thought it would be.

I remember watching the anime and thinking it was skipping stuff from the game, but nah, that's just how it was.

The world they made is pretty cool, and I wish I could've seen more of it, but the plot just jumps around with nothing really tying it together.

It's kind of an issue with older anime stuff, and I guess I can't be too harsh on this 2002 eroge game.

 

I was actually impressed by how much the main character fucks

like, sexual intercourse.

Of course, you don't see actual sex in this, but I though they'd just cut those scenes outright, but they just cut right when the sex happens I guess.

One thing for sure, I didn't need to see how Kuon was conceived haha.

 

I am glad I have all 3 plats now, but the first game is a bit rough. I'd recommend just playing the sequels.

 

Platinum #171

 

 

 Living Legend
Obtain all trophies.

 

Took advantage of a ps store glitch that was giving the game for free on PS4, and upgraded that for the PS5 version.

Told myself that, just like any AAA game, that I'd just wait for a good sale or pick it up on PS+; and me getting the game for free made me want to just upgrade.

Like, why not? If I'm gonna play it, might as well be the best version there is.

 

And I'm glad I did, because the PS5 version is divine.

The graphics are divine, and the dualsense implementation is the best one from what I've tried.

Crossing a wooden bridge on your horse is simply divine, makes me want every game to use it like that.

 

...

 

Too bad I don't like the game.

Honestly, the first 10 hours and so it's pretty hype, but after that you've seen everything the game has to offer.

It gets so tiring uncovering all of the ? on the map. Definitely was forcing myself to play this one.

 

The first time you see a fox inviting you to follow it, it's hella cute.

But when you're doing it for the 100th time, I was just sick of it.

 

I don't think I'll be doing the multiplayer DLC, at least not for now.

It was a reminder that I am really not into these kinda games.

[Hanzoadam]

 #799 One Night Stand (PS5)

One Night Stand
Get all other trophies

 

 #798 Cosmos Bit

Platinum Cosmos
Get all other trophies.

 

 #797 Beats Souls

Beat Power
Unlock all other trophies.

 

 #796 Waifu Impact

Waifu Collector
Unlock all other trophies

 

 #795Rouge Explorer (PS4)

Rogue Master
Unlock all other trophies.

 

 #794 Super Onion Boy (PS4)

Platinum Onion Boy
Get all other trophies.

[Mizz]

Plat 52

nhl legacy raise your banner 0.73%

[Hoopdahoopla]

MAY ROUNDUP

 

#104 - L.A. Noire (PS3) (10.57%)

 

#105 - Resident Evil 6 (PS4) (12.27%)

 

#106 - Resident Evil 5 (PS3) (14.34%)

 

#107 - DIRT 5 (PS4) (25.98%)

 

[JoaLoft]

 

#285 - The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story

 

If you played Erica or you remember really old games from decades ago which also used FMV's, you'll definitely know how this next game is designed.

 

The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story is a mystery-adventure game published by Square Enix (yes, that one big Japanese game company that is mostly well-known for J-RPG's) which consists of a lot of live-action scenes and several interactive deduction sequences to progress the story. It revolves around the Shijima family and the mysterious murders which have plagued their family for 100 years. With one main theme connecting everything: eternal life. When skeletal remains are uncovered underneath the cherry blossom tree on the Shijima estate grounds in 2022, successful mystery writer Haruka Kagami is invited by one of the Shijima sons she's collaborated with for her newest book, to come and investigate the discovery of the remains in secret under the guise of an unrelated article. Her research leads to multiple murders having taken place in the family for 100 years, all linked to the Fruit of Youth called the "Tokijiku", which supposedly grants eternal life. As she uncovers the truth step by step and the links between all ostensibly unrelated cases, deeply buried secrets emerge and the lives of all involved are forever changed, delivering answers they've been pursuing for many decades.

 

First off: the production quality of all the scenes and script (and there are hours upon hours of live-action scenes!) is top-shelf quality. The actors and actresses all bring very credible performances, the writing is solid throughout, the camera work is executed professionally, the soundtrack is great, and the pacing is pretty consistent. With an ending and epilogue that washes over you as a cascade of huge plot twists and revelations, throwing your perception of certain characters completely upside-down. It's also written with many small details strewn throughout, making you rewatch scenes after you finish your first playthrough and realizing how many hints you've been subtly fed (and never realized). Also known as that feeling when you rewatch a great show or movie and go: "oh my God, of course why didn't I see that detail the first time around!"

 

Chapters take place during different time periods to tell the entire story, but the majority of the actors in the present are used in each past era. Officially to reduce on costs, presumably, but plotwise it has been woven into the story that Haruka reads about the cases in the present and uses people she knows in the present to help visualize the past characters and murder cases she reads about. This works surprisingly well, without going into too much detail to prevent spoilers. Because of the amount of narrative content to tell, you can expect a game that lasts from ten to fifteen hours.

 

The actual game here is paper-thin. During live-action scenes you collect clues and once you are ready to form hypotheses, you will need to fill in these hexagonal clues into a grid of sorts, to fit clues to mysteries (questions) to form hypotheses. This is also the spot where you can rewatch scenes to notice extra clues in terms of what's been said, the behavior of characters, etc. However: it is an embarrassingly easy process. Hovering clues over spots in the grid give away where they are supposed to go, and the symbols drawn on the hexagonal clues always match up with the same symbols on the edges of the mysteries in the grid. The game is essentially pointing in your stead and visually saying: "hey, that clue fits here, and that one fits there". Once you have completed this process and come up with potential solutions, the live-action scenes continue and you're asked to finish sentences of Haruka (or investigating characters in the past) by means of multiple-choice answers to solve the murders.

 

Most cases give you a clear path to the correct answers if you just follow the path of logic (including the last one). And botching up a question is followed by a short scene showing your choice was incorrect and a screen welcoming you to repick a different choice from the last question. In other words, the game doesn't want you to redo the entire process of filling in the grid again and going over clues - unless that's what you prefer; there is an option to go back to the deduction process to get your thoughts in order. This makes The Centennial Case a game with almost zero challenge when it comes to the process of linking clues to questions, even though it never stops being fun to piece together the scenarios which are never straightforward. On the other hand, this keeps the pacing at a very forgiving level in these sequences. You'll want to keep digging for more story and answers, but at a cost of satisfying gameplay. And considering there can only be one right answer for every question, it does mean that there are no branching storylines. There is only one ending. However, given how the story is built up and its length, this works in its favor. Having to sit through the same scenes for ten to fifteen hours just to reach another ending would become a discouraging chore, despite there being fast-forward and rewind buttons in practically each scene.

 

How to even rate this? As a full-fledged "game": it's straight-up bad. There's hardly any "game" here to speak of. L.A. Noire is a far better detective "game" in that regard, containing a plethora of interactive bells and whistles.

 

But! That is not how this was marketed. So that analysis would be unfair to the material presented. This was always portrayed as a mystery-adventure game with live-action scenes from start to finish. The game aspect is regrettably limited and holds your hand too much in some cases. As such, you need to approach this as an interactive viewing experience, where the story takes up most of the room on-stage.

 

As a viewing experience, I had so much fun. I love a great mystery, and these past days I continued booting up the game to see more and dig more, to get to the climax. And as stated before: the acting performances, the actual filming, the soundtrack, the sets and backgrounds, the outdoor shots, all executed expertly. If this was a TV series on Netflix for example, I would've not been able to stop watching. As a suggestion: play with original Japanese audio. The English dubs lack proper emotion and diminish the experience.

 

This is a niche experience. And it will only appeal to a select audience. Pick it up on sale if you love a solid mystery story and if you have an affinity for oriental culture. If you love both and don't mind watching most of the time with the occasional button press here and deduction sequence there, you're in for a well-written interactive TV show (in terms of length) which doesn't know its equal. Erica is the only other game that comes close, but that one is much shorter, its story lacks the same narrative punches that The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story offers, includes many branching paths and outstays its welcome before you get its platinum trophy because of some of the trophies. Erica is by no means a bad game - admittedly, I was a bit more forgiving because I got to experience it for free on Plus. The Centennial Case is just better and provides a more satisfying and consistent story and conclusion.

 

If Square Enix had released this as an actual TV show with just a slightly bigger production budget, it would have definitely garnered more success than as a game.

 

Let me rephrase that.

 

Square Enix, publish this as a TV show on Netflix, and I will watch it again. Not being cheeky or sarcastic, I mean it.

 

Most frustrating trophy - ...

 

NONE!

 

If you're paying attention, collecting all the clues - which are literally appearing on the screen and only require the press of a button - and devising all possible hypotheses, there's almost no way you can miss this platinum trophy. And even if you do miss a few clues or hypotheses, there's always Chapter Select after you finish the game for a quick clean-up session.

[VSBroN87]

 

#109 - Beyond Two Souls

 

Decent story, as you can expect from Quantic Dreams. But completing this couple of times to see all endings is tedious and takes too much time...

But it was fun during 1st playthrough.

[StraightVege]

 

Master of Mornia

 

  #284

17th Fastest Achiever (22 hours, 21 minutes)

 

Throw an isometric action game like Jotun into a blender with Bloodborne, and out comes this grimdark hack 'n' slasher. The most brutal challenge Morbid offers is the constant struggle to stay awake, as you aimlessly wander in circles around cluttered environments, thanks to the lack of a proper map feature. It's almost like there's a reason why so many games with this perspective have a mini-map. Being lost might not be so bad if the combat was any fun, but it's unfortunately a shallow, repetitive slog, where you'll generally strike an enemy once, before immediately rolling away to avoid their painful counter hit.

 

To make fights more irritating, there's usually some barely visible little bat creatures present, constantly blocking and cheap-shotting you. They've also shoehorned in quite unfitting stealth and sanity mechanics, which can be all but ignored, and totally fail to spice up the drab gameplay. At one point, I happened across an optional boss, which appeared to be nigh unbeatable normally; in order to stand a chance, I had to lure it into getting stuck on some scenery. That's when I realized Morbid would unquestionably be among the worst games I'm likely to play in 2022.

 

It's disappointing narratively as well. Morbid is yet another of the countless indie titles to imitate Souls, by dropping the player into a world post ambiguous calamity, and expecting them to piece together something coherent via clues in vague NPC dialogue, item descriptions, and menu lore entries. "You must slay the all-powerful Acolytes, chosen one!" Except, this stuff has become so trite that I don't care to bother reading it anymore. Just tell me a damn story already.

 

I will give it some credit for visual style, because the pixel art is impressive and suitably grotesque. There's a forest area populated by cannibals that is particularly cool; shame it's such torture to actually navigate through.

 

[Arzoden]

PLATINUM #61 - inFAMOUS: First Light

[Cmndr_Yoshi]

Hey guys, long time no post. Hope you're all doing well.

 

So a few weeks back, I was trying to grind my way through Dying Light 2 on PS5 and managed to clear all the trophies minus the distance traveled trophy. Due to there being no way of tracking distance, and by that time I had completed 2.5 playthroughs of the game, I decided to hang up my hardcore parkour shoes for the time being as I didn't feel like wrapping rubber bands around my over-priced PS5 controller. For whatever reason, at that point, I decided to go on a LEGO run...and LEGO run I did! I just, five minutes ago, finished off the last of the LEGO games I had access to (for now), but I'm all LEGO'ed out to even play another one even if I DID have access. I will spare you the run-down and the scroll wheel on your mouse and just list them.

 

Plat #171 - LEGO Movie: The Videogame - Rarity 24.59%

Plat #172 - LEGO Movie 2: The Videogame - Rarity 40.20%

Plat #173 - LEGO City Undercover - Rarity 18.37% (side note: STILL one of the best, if not THE best, LEGO game)

Plat #174 - LEGO Jurassic World - Rarity 25.39% (side note: okay...also one of the best)

Plat #175 - LEGO Harry Potter Collection: Years 1-4 - Rarity 28.20%

Plat #176 - LEGO Harry Potter Collection: Years 5-7 - Rarity 40.17%

Plat #177 - LEGO Ninjago Movie: The Videogame - Rarity 22.75%

Plat #178 - LEGO The Incredibles - Rarity 30.18%

Plat #179 - LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (PS5) - Rarity 10.54% (side note: spent a massive amount of time on this one. Gets fairly repetitive towards the end, but a very good experience nonetheless)

Plat #180 - LEGO DC Super-Villains - Rarity 15.67%/7.57 DLC

 

So, not a lot of difficulty in the last ten plats, but if you've ever played a LEGO game, you'll know it's still a lot of work and time getting each game to 100%. Suffice to say, I'm glad the LEGO "block" is done for now. Only problem...I have NO IDEA what to start up next.

 

Take care, all!

Edited June 2, 2022 by Cmndr_Yoshi