Most Recent Platinum

[percy547389126yv]

#2,402 PS5 Japanese version of Dodge the Ball

[Larzz]

 

Platinum # 222

 

Kena: Bridge of Spirits

 

Phenomenal game, would’ve been a real GOTY contender for me, had I played it upon release. 
I was a bit worried that it would be all style and no substance, but not only does it look and sound great, the gameplay is pretty good too. 

There’s nothing too bad trophy wise, except for the dreaded “Master Spirit Guide” trophy, which requires you to finish the game on master difficulty. 
And master difficulty is hard, like Soulsborne levels of hard. 
Despite that I decided against using (the still working!) glitch and play the game on master to obtain the platinum legit. 
And about 75% into the game I said fuck it, I’m doing the glitch. 
It wasn’t even the bosses that made my change my mind, because those are actually pretty fun on master difficulty and really give that sense of relief and accomplishment the From games give after defeating them. 
No, it was the regular mobs I kept dying to that made me take this route and frankly I don’t regret it.

With the beautiful environments, chill music and fun little puzzles, the post game collecting was actually pretty fun and relaxing to do.

 

All in all a great game and I’m eagerly awaiting Ember Lab’s next game, because they really have the potential to become a great studio. 

 

[RotatingCube]

#140 Chronos: Before the Ashes

 

This a relatively short Souls-like game. From what I read, this game is a console port of a game that was originally made for VR systems. That probably explains why the game isn't that long or why it doesn't really have a lot of substantial stuff in it. There aren't that many different weapons or abilities and there isn't a large variety of enemies either. It does have an interesting death/aging mechanic though. With that said, this game is passable enough but they really needed to improve the controls (some janky hit detection issues and input lag).

[Redgrave]

 

#279: Haven Maven - Life is Strange: True Colors

 

Back into the odd world of Life is Strange where kids and young adults unexplainably gain superpowers this time featuring a girl who can read emotions. I actually liked this more than I was expecting since while I did like the first one in its own way a lot of it came from it being dramatic in a really funny way while True Colors has drama that felt more nuanced and not over the top. I read the reason is it was written by a different team and they did a pretty good job handling subjects of loss and grieving without it feeling half-assed or making a weird joke about it. I also really liked the comfy small town of Haven and how everyone knew each other which reminded me of the one in Alan Wake. There's a lot to like about this game and without saying too much one of my favorite parts is in the third Chapter where there's a roleplay session ? The song choices were pretty good too and I liked there were moments where you could have Alex sit down and look at scenery with a certain song playing. Below is basically the ending I got.

 

Spoiler

In the end I wound up having pretty much everyone in town side with Alex and like her and even forgave Jed. I probably shouldn't have forgiven him but at the same time I guess it kind of made him feel guilty anyway. I also had Alex choose to stay in Haven so she can date Ryan and hopefully at some point in the future become a loving mother with potentially psychic children.

 

As far as trophies go it's mainly just collecting things and nothing is missable if you have a guide or at least look around before progressing the story. The game does give you a heads up if you are going to progress at a couple points so you can at least go back to see what you're missing before moving on. But yeah, I thought it was good and if the same writing team could make another Life is Strange game like this I think I would be down for it.

 

 

#280: Cuz Boredom Kills Me - Resident Evil 4 Remake

 

I don't have a big attachment to the original game but I do respect it for what it is and consider it a pretty timeless classic. So seeing that Capcom were remaking RE4 I figured they would have a hard time topping the original. It's a really good game on its own but it's obviously no replacement for the original especially since they do cut some things out, particularly the one of those things being a boss fight that I imagine they will put in a Separate Ways DLC. The other changes are hit or miss with I think one of the weirdest ones being Saddler isn't really all that present in the story until like right near the end. He does talk to Leon through the Plagas at a couple points but he doesn't talk with him over the radio and Leon shit-talks him. The same kind of goes for Salazar as well where it feels like his voice actor was almost going over the top but it kind of felt like the voice director told him to hold back. On the other hand, Krauser is hammed up a bit to where he's yelling a lot and kind of gives "TEN YEARS IN THE JOINT" kind of energy. I don't think these changes are awful but I do question why it felt like some things were toned down and others hammed up. Probably the worst one though is Ada. I don't have anything against the voice actress but she just sounds really bored and some of her lines like the "A girl doesn't kiss and tell" were changed because God forbid the femme fatale say things that sound flirty.

 

On the other hand I thought Leon was pretty good even if he's not as much of a sass master like the original. I also liked Ashley and the moments they had together where Ashley was being inspired by Leon. It was also nice to have Ashley cheer me on while doing the shooting range mini-game ? The best I would say is Luis though since they flesh out his character more and you even have a moment where you team up with him. Initially I wasn't a fan of his design but I think it was because the screenshots weren't very flattering. I do think it's kind of funny they had Carlos in RE3 Remake be a pretty boy but not Luis though, but I grew to like it the more I saw it.

 

As far as the gameplay changes go it's almost the same as the original except you can parry with the knife, craft, and can duck which is something I felt like was the only thing missing from the original. It's pretty satisfying blowing limbs off the infected and I like the extra detail where you would see the parasite wriggling out of their limbs or torso ? It also feels really badass when you parry the chainsaw with a knife. It's all pretty satisfying though and like RE2 Remake it's funny to hear Leon talk to himself depending on what happens.

 

Initially the Platinum made you do a Professional run without using bonus weapons for the handcannon but with the Mercenaries update you don't have to. I just opted to do Mercenaries because I felt like a no bonus weapon run would have been really stressful. But yeah, shoutout to Hunk for getting me S Rank in the Mercenaries maps due to being overpowered. Beyond that Hardcore S+ and Standard S+ are just a matter of being fast and knowing ways to get past some encounters or make them go quicker. I don't think there are any other trophies I consider to be really difficult apart from the shooting range one being kind of tricky since you have to know when to reload and when to switch weapons.

 

Overall it's a good remake even if it doesn't replace the original and I had fun with it despite some very tense moments with the Regenerators that even on repeat playthroughs made me anxious because those bastards freaked me out back in the day even from just watching my cousin play it. But it was fun going through the game with the infinite rocket launcher or the Chicago Sweeper. It often felt like this when trying to kill an enemy that refused to stay down and when it came to the Regenerators it felt like this except extended for like 30 more seconds to a minute because they tend to flop around and not leave their stomach spots exposed. Basically, I loved using the Chicago Sweeper and it felt really badass when you just unloaded on all the enemies that made me anxious the first playthrough.

Edited May 16, 2023 by Redgrave

[percy547389126yv]

#2,403 PS4 version of Beat The Clock: Hardcore

[Ala-Arska]

Diablo III: Reaper of Souls (PS4) (+100%)

 

Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Platinum Trophy

Collected all other Diablo III: Reaper of Souls trophies

 

Rootin’ Tootin’ Lootin’.
I assume by now everyone on planet Earth knows about Diablo series.
Best played with bunch of like-minded gaming addicts, Diablo III is a festival of looting stuff, killing masses of evil beings

and shaping your character into a goddamn war machine.
I went solo the whole way, because I ain’t got time for “fun”.

...And also because my online connection isn’t the most stable one these days. Gotta fix that, I suppose.

......Buuuut mainly because no trophy required it 
I played the first and second Diablo when they came out (a dozen or so hours, maybe)

and I remember them being more gripping and, in a way, challenging, than this. Especially the first one. Ah, the simpler times.
Diablo III was still great to play, but it felt like a “family friendly” version of previous ones.
It’s exhilarating to loot to your heart’s contents, though. Just what a gaming addict like me needs,

hours upon hours of grinding. And forgetting to eat. Or sleep.
Definitely worth your time, if farming for anything Legendary tickles your fancy. Go get some! 

 

“You're semi-evil. You're quasi-evil. You're the margarine of evil. You're the Diet Coke of evil. Just one calorie, not evil enough.”
 

[R123Rob]

Platinum #1500 - Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered

 

[Motik_UA]

#1870 -Dead Island: Riptide Definitive Edition PS4

• Difficulty: Easy - 4/10
• Enjoyment: 5/10
• Time: 10+ hours

 #1869 - Dead Island: Definitive Edition PS4

• Difficulty: Easy - 4/10
• Enjoyment: 5/10
• Time: 20+ hours

 #1868 - Back 4 Blood PS4 + 100% DLC 

• Difficulty: Easy - 6/10
• Enjoyment: 7/10
• Time: 40+ hours

Edited May 15, 2023 by Motik_UA

[greggors95]

Platinum 57- Telling Lies

 

Saw this game mentioned in here a few times and decided to give it a go. I enjoyed the narrative of clicking through the different videos and piecing together the ending. Most frustrating bit was the solitaire as like most card games it's all about the luck. It's a straight forward game that you can sit back and enjoy

[Motik_UA]

6 hours ago, percy547389126yv said:

#2,403 PS4 version of Beat The Clock: Hardcore

 

You're a monster. ? It must have taken you an hour to click the X. Is the button intact? ?

[PakaloloPlant]

Platinum 18 - Killer Franchise 

 

 

 

Edited May 15, 2023 by PakaloloPlant

[iinzane]

#37 Star Wars: Jedi Survivor 

 

[Robee2k2]

                                #23 Detroit: Become Human

                Difficulty: 2/10

                  Rating / Enjoyment: 10/10

                  Time:26 hours

                  PSNP Rarity: 13.64%

 

I know some people couldn't enjoy the game that much because of the platinum and I understand that.. I mean you have to do at least 2 playthroughs and a lot of chapter select, but I honestly loved every moment of this game. Did the pacifist playthrough first and it was awesome, then i did the violent playthrough and some choices really made me feel bad and then you get the rest of the trophies through chapter select and I enjoyed those so much because there were some things i really wanted to do in the first 2 playthroughs but couldn't because it would ruin it. 

If you're a fan of telltale games you should definitely give this game a chance. 

And some advice: if you start this game, just forget about the trophies, do a blind playthrough so you can enjoy the game at it's maximum and then start getting the rest of the trophies you need.

[Legchomper]

On 12/05/2023 at 0:31 AM, RebelsHeart said:

 Platinum #115  -   Tiny Tina's Wonderlands

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a year of not having played this I finally managed to get the platinum with help of @Legchomper and his friend!

Which I'm very grateful for

 

I dropped it cause of not being able to progress through the chaos trials.

But they seemed to have made those easier in recent updates and you get to do 5 levels at once instead of progressing 1 at a time.

 

 

For some weird reason my complete save file got reset and claimed I hadn't beaten the last 2 main missions yet.

Sadly had to replay those, plus reintroduce my main character to the concept of the chaos trials again.

 

It was easily fixed by just re-doing all of that.

 

It's been a lot of fun going back to the Borderlands universe and play more Bunkers and Badasses with the gang.

 

I give the experience and overal enjoyment a 8/10

Hehe  

[Nelson_]

 #473 - VA-11 Hall-A

 

 

[Burritoprime]

- Platinum 248


- Valkyrie Profile

 

 

- Platinum Valkyrie 

 

* Really a gem from the PS1 era, love this game to bits.

 

Edited May 15, 2023 by Sunnyburrito

[AgentSmiz]

Platinum 166: Fashion Police Squad



Heard good things about this from a couple of Youtubers I watch and decided to pick it up in the recent sale. Played through two thirds of the game and was enjoying it but I couldn't work out why the platinum rate for the game was ridiculously high. Like high 90's. Maybe all the good things were true and the people who played it were so hooked that they went for the platinum...

Then I found out about the debug menu.

In what has got to be a major oversight by the devs, the debug menu is not only in the game but very easily accessible. Just press all the shoulder buttons on a menu and you can get invincibility, unlock the secrets on the maps and straight up get the trophies. You could find it out by accident. At first, I wasn't going to do it. I was going to earn the platinum honestly. Then I couldn't do a trophy tied to a sniper section of a mission and I cracked. I also cracked badly and selected the wrong trophy to unlock, getting the one for the final boss instead. Played through the rest of the story and then got a few more of the trophies via debug, as well as some genuine.

If you can avoid the sirens call of the menu, there's a solid throwback FPS in here with a twist on the genre. Think Doom meets Queer Eye in terms of gameplay and tone. Each enemy is committing a different fashion crime and will only be affected by certain weapons. Blasting away with the shotgun isn't going to get you through combat encounters so there is an element of strategy to them. Do you take out the numerous weaker enemies or the tougher single one? There's references to pop culture galore and I stuck with the game for the humour. Your mileage may vary with that but there is a decent shooter here regardless. 

[StraightVege]

 

Reborn

 

  #333

 

Largely a return to form for the series, after The Chinese Room's A Machine for Pigs, which was certainly interesting from a story and writing perspective, but didn't have enough happening in the gameplay or scares departments. This particular nightmare begins inside the wrecked fuselage of a plane crash in the sweltering Algerian Desert, where amnesiac Anastasie Trianon is now struggling to maintain control against a mysterious illness that takes over her body in response to fear or anger. It's 1937, and as a French drafting technician of substantial skill, she and her companions were journeying to an expedition in colonial Africa, when unexplainable events occurred outside the aircraft, bringing it down hard. According to a voice on the mostly intact radio, the crew's doctor is still among the living, having taken refuge in a town several hours walking distance away, so Tasi's immediate goal is to reach him for assistance with her strange sickness.

 

Along the way, she'll remember bits and pieces of what actually happened there, and learn the fate of her missing husband. Make no mistake, though, this isn't merely a straightforward desert survival game: it takes place in the same Amnesia universe of Lovecraftian magic orbs, otherworldly dimensions, and people being tortured to extract a life-extending substance known as Vitae, so events get pretty wild before long. Using an unknown device fastened to her wrist, Tasi soon begins to explore portals leading to another world, which seems to be in a post-apocalyptic state. I quite liked the bleak environmental design in these blasted wasteland sections, and getting lost in them contributes another type of anxiety to an already tense experience.

 

Now, I think the game has been out long enough for me to discuss this, but it is a bit of a spoiler: after traversing a cave system early on, Tasi suddenly recalls that she's surviving for two—she's pregnant, which not only has major implications for the story, but becomes a gameplay mechanic, requiring her to periodically check on her unborn child's well-being (hold circle to feel belly, basically), reducing her fear level. I'm just a dude who doesn't enjoy the company of kids much, so it was tough for me to truly sympathize with Tasi's predicament, or care deeply about the baby character, but the game is definitely at its best in those desperate moments when you're cowering in a pitch-black corner, holding your stomach as a monster sniffs around to find you. This is a game with a strong narrative about motherhood, loss, grief, and staying calm in immensely difficult circumstances for the sake of someone else. Not exactly a common sort of horror video game protagonist, so I think the concept is praiseworthy.

 

Frictional continue to be the masters of playing devious mind games, via impeccable sound design, clever interplay between shadow and light, and slow burn pacing. Trudging through thick darkness, with only the dim glow of a lit match for illumination, you'll hear potentially threatening sounds, reactively swing your camera to glimpse a vaguely human-shaped object partially obscured by the shade, and convince yourself that something must be hunting you, even when you're totally safe in reality. It evokes that familiar fear of the unknown you might've experienced when creeping through your dark home at night in childhood. Indeed, the shadows are your worst enemy in Rebirth, not bloodthirsty beasts, since fear makes Tasi lose her composure. Thus, you must carefully ration your matches and lantern oil to navigate through gloomy interior areas, such as a dusty old fortress, or flooded cistern.

 

Of course, this slow accretion of stress only intensifies the instances of real danger, when a ghoulish creature eventually does slither out of its den to pursue you, and the chase music swells. One problem horror generally struggles with is how finally getting a good look at the goofy monster can ruin the fear, but Amnesia at least attempts to reduce this issue, by encouraging you not to stare directly at enemies, since it causes sanity loss. By and large, these games do a better job than most of instilling a sense of unease, dread, and hopelessness. Like the original game, the occasionally uncooperative physics puzzles can result in some annoyance that kills the tension, but it's not as big of a hindrance in Rebirth. For my taste, there's also a few too many forced slow walking segments for dramatic effect. Yes, I understand that Tasi is heavily PREGANTE; now let me get back to sneaking past spooky guys already!

 

While I still think SOMA is their overall finest work, Rebirth is nonetheless close to The Dark Descent in terms of quality first-person horror, so I'll surely be checking out The Bunker at some point. How is babby formed?

 

[Kishnabe]

 Platinum #580:Star Ocean: First Departure R (PS4)

 

Takes 2.5 playthroughs if carefully planned. Easily do 3-5 playthroughs if you head in blind. 

 

The enemy encounter rate is the only thing I disliked. No items to get any relief. There is a skill that you can learn to avoid (Skill only works after multiple uses to learn the trait to accompany the skill) enemies just helps a bit.  Thankfully, the game can be cheesed with easy exp/coin. Duplicate items as well (damage affection level of party)

 

You can create books with a certain skill to bring back affection to near max (needed for an ending trophy)

 

Difficulty: 3/10  

Enjoyment: 6.5/10 

Time: 60 hours

[JEDI_BROTHERS]

Far Cry 4

Platinum #111

The game, despite being 9 years old, still hold up with the beautiful graphics, lovely world, and exciting gsmeplay. Although there is a lack of variety in the game, I enjoyed the 51 hours (according to my ps5) I put in the game. I plan to return to the far cry series with far cry 3 remastered one day

[Mr_Fluffy_Pants_]

 

 133 - The forgotten city PS5

 

Decent walking sim type game. Short and sweet, with nothing that was overly hard or tedious. Would recommend this to anyone who wants a quick and easy plat that isn’t shovelware.

[LastMinuteSavior]

A.k.a. Kurushi (Europe)

 

 

 

 Great Success
Unlock all trophies in I.Q Intelligent Qube.

 

 

It seems like only yesterday I was playing a demo disc of this on the ol' PSX. It aged pretty well. Still a fun and interesting puzzle game.

Short and sweet Platinum too.

 

But I just can't get over how epic the soundtrack is at times. It sounds like something out of a Star Wars film.

 

 

 

[percy547389126yv]

#2,404 PS5 version of Beat The Clock: Hardcore

[Elvick_]

Platinum #285

Clash Force

Platinum Force
Get all other trophies.

 

Didn’t realize it was a Rata game until I started it. ?It’s alright, particularly for what I paid for it. It made me somewhat walk back Metagal saying it needed a static jump height. It needed at least this, where it has a base height, but you can hold for more. That would’ve been a nice compromise. It’s annoying that Rata can’t be bothered to at least have a requirement to finish the game. When I glanced at the list before buying I assumed it did and was just short, but it kept going. ?of course when I saw Rata’s logo I had already figured it out. Kinda kills the motivation

 

Platinum #286

Kena: Bridge of Spirits (PS5)

All Trophies Obtained 
Obtained all Kena: Bridge of Spirits trophies.
 

For a “PS5” exclusive you’d think they’d have at least given the platinum a more unique name… but I loved it, mostly. The flaws don’t take away from the whole. I’ll be honest I used the glitch to do the hardest without actually doing it. And from what I see I’m glad I did as playing NG+ with those new enemies seemed like a nightmare. And it was just enough on normal for me, or hard, I might’ve chosen wrong. Lol

 

If Kena could animation cancel out of everything I wouldn’t mind as much trying. Or the parry wasn’t so tight. And despite my time with the combat I couldn’t get comfortable with the button mapping. And buying that ground pound actively makes the game worse since you’ll often do that on accident trying to do a slowmo ranged attack from the air. 
 

The swimming is sloooooooow, and some areas I couldn’t even figure out how to get out of the water so had to swim off a cliff to reload. No jumping in water. Lame. And no pulse when jumping, also lame as I would’ve loved that added to the movement kit. You can use the bow to cheese a few jumps and do some neat stuff or save your ass, it’s nice. And double jump and bow don’t stop you dying from fall damage or doing the hard land animation which is very annoying imo. 
 

but the gameplay for the most part is fun, and good. Well, apart from rot needing to see stuff to heal or do it’s other mechanics, It makes a certain boss fight annoying near the end… I died solely because it wouldn’t let me use my rot on it because my camera moved too far one way to do it.

 

The story is awesome. I cried a few times. It’s very touching, but I would’ve liked to get to know more about Kena. It felt a bit underdeveloped. Which would’ve been fine had they not brought attention to her and her past at all. But they did and then never touched on it again. 
 

The art design is stellar, every area is gorgeous. Most animations are awesome. I wasn’t impressed booting the game up the first time and seeing the run and walk animations. Compared to the rest it’s just so uninteresting to see. The music is especially awesome. If loud as shit, I even turned it down and had voices to max and for some reason music still drowned them out. I think some voice lines are treated as sound effects or something.

 

I will definitely platinum it again later on PS4. It’s a very good game. I just don’t look forward to the collectibles. Doing them normally is fine, but the cleanup was super annoying since you can’t fast travel at all times just from the points. After beating the game that restriction should be removed imo.

 

Oh and the puzzles were interesting and for the majority it didn’t feel the need to hand hold you, I don’t even remember it telling me about a lot of things it just let me figure stuff out. Which was nice. But it does have some very annoying tutorial pop ups too.

 

I tried the added challenges and they just aren’t fun to me. I could see watching speedruns or pros play this game be a very fun experience.

 

Really happy I decided to play something I had been wanting to for awhile that I figured would be good. Not that LEGO HP was bad, but I wasn’t in the mood, and the rest of my recent stuff has been either bad, tedious (both) or brainless. I think I’ll replace this with that meme’d to death Final Fantasy game. The memes put me off so hard. But I kinda feel like it now.

Edited May 16, 2023 by Elvick_

[DrBloodmoney]

  569

 711

 

 

 

A Monster's Expedition Through Puzzling Exhibitions

 

A charming puzzle game from Draknek, developers of A Good Snowman is Hard to Find, and serving as something of a pseudo-sequel to that game, featuring, as it does, the same gentle, puzzle-solving monster as the player character (as well as featuring the same snowmen for hugging as the optional puzzle rewards,) A Monster’s Expedition through Puzzling Exhibitions is one of those games that really shows what a game can do with a simple premise, when good puzzle designers sink their teeth in to it.

The gameplay features a relatively simple concept - the eponymous monster visits the Museum of Humans - an archipelago of little islands, many of which feature exhibits showing various artefacts of humans, and the (usually amusingly incorrect) explanations of what they are - but actually traversing through this Exhibition is... well... puzzling.The monster needs to cross from one island to another as he moves through the exhibits, and doing so requires him to knock down trees, roll or flip them over and manoeuvre them around, in order to create a bridge (or a raft) to walk (or sail) to the next island.

Trees can be two or one "square" long (indeed, the entire game is designed on a massive, single grid, complete with X-Y Co-ordinates visible for each island,) and logs either roll to the next interfering object (if pushed width-wise,) or "flip" up on their end and over, moving by a single square (if pushed long-wise.)

 

It's a super simple concept (and, indeed, one that has formed the backbone of a lot of puzzle games, notably things like Cuboid, or Steven's Sausage Roll,) but, like most good puzzle concepts, it is one that is so fundamental and basic, that it allows for a huge amount of variation in the actual puzzle design.

There are some specific nuances in play - for example, a tree cannot be "flipped" from its starting position, as the stump left will cause the monster to jump on to the log rather than push it - two logs laid in the same plane together will form a tied "raft", or a tree can only knock another tree over if it has already been pushed once to "loosen" it...
...but these additional concepts are introduced slowly as the player progresses, and considering the game has a huge number of possible paths, shortcuts, alternative routes and secret solutions, it's genuinely surprising just how well the developer manages to properly drip-feed these increasing levels of nuance and new concepts to the player.

While the game looks, initially, to be quite a small, simple one, it is also of note just how much game there is in A Monster’s Expedition through Puzzling Exhibitions. The game has somewhere in the region of 700 islands, and while a few of these are simply "spacing" islands, with no real puzzle involved in them as a singular entity, there is still something in the region of 400-500 individual, island-specific puzzles to be solved.

 

This potion of the game - the "main path" as it were, is great. 
The puzzles are clever and varied - often challenging, but never truly fiendish, and pitched perfectly over the course of the game, in terms of increasing, slow-staggered challenge increase. 
Each one is satisfying to solve, and each one slowly teaches new, specific techniques, forcing the player to familiarise themselves with new concepts and tricks to look out for, before layering them smartly, and working towards a final section where they have the full breadth of techniques under their belt, and are solving quite difficult puzzles.

These island-specific puzzles are particularly smart in how they layer information. Initially, it can feel like the actual parameters of the puzzles are difficult to define - exactly where the player is supposed to be creating a bridge or a raft can be difficult to discern, since the "fog-of-war" effect clouds the visibility of surrounding, un-walked islands, however, the game does do a pretty good job  of revealing just enough information on the adjoining islands, to show the player roughly what they should be aiming for. 
There is also a neat "hint" mechanic, whereby the player can hold a button, and see what the "main-path" final position of the logs should look like, giving them the ability to at least see what they should be aiming for, should they really be at a loss.

 

The game at this point is a relatively challenging, but sedate and perfectly pitched one. 
The issue with the game, however, comes once the Monster has made it through this lengthly "main path", seen credits, and is dropped back into the Museum, with the goal of solving the optional additional puzzles - to access the remaining undiscovered islands, and find the hidden collectible - in this case, "friends" in the form of snowmen.

These optional puzzles are, quite frankly, some of the most obtuse and difficult ones I have encountered in games!

The issue is, that unlike the main puzzles, they almost all involve moving logs between islands. Islands in this game can be "reset" at any point. This immediately "respawns" all trees on that island. In the main game, this is used primarily as a "start over" mechanic - it is there to let the player have another go a the puzzle. However, in these later puzzles, it serves as a new mechanic - as logs on an island, but not native to that island, don't reset. 
As such, the solutions to a lot of these puzzles involve moving a log from one island, onto another island, resetting that second island, then moving that log to ANOTHER island, resetting THAT island, then returning to the first island... and, well, you get the picture.

 

The problem is that aside from the rough indication of an undiscovered island's broad direction (based on the lack of cleared "fog of war", and a very rough "hint" indication of a broad area to consider revisiting... there is no indication of what these puzzles are. 
There is not really any kind of guidance as to where the puzzle resides, where to start it, or what the final "goal" of it is. Because some involve multiple resets and manipulations of multiple islands multiple times, I struggle to imagine anyone managing to solve them all, without either simply stumbling into half a solution, (enough to see there is something there, and pick up a loose trail,)... or getting hints as to which island they need to start on, and which island they are trying to get to.
In my case, it was generally the latter.

 

I enjoy puzzle games, and am relatively good at them... however, something that does irk me, is when puzzle games fail to adequately set the parameters of a puzzle, to the extent that the player is reliant on simply stumbling into them via perseverance and/or blind luck. The curious thing about A Monster’s Expedition through Puzzling Exhibitions,is that while the "main path" of the game never once relies on this kind of design in its puzzles, in the optional, post-game, it almost exclusively relies on it. 

 

The specific issue with this game is, that the optional puzzles generally involve "breaking" the original solutions to the islands. In order to stumble upon one of the optional puzzles, or try something out, the player will need to destroy the solutions they have already created... and if they then fail to solve that puzzle - or were simply wrong about it being a secondary puzzle at all - they will likely have broken their path to other islands, and will often need to repeat the original solutions, just to afford themselves the ability to go ant try somewhere else. This means that the post-game tends to feel like busy-work: the player is constantly re-doing solutions they already did, as a matter of course.

While there was some fun to be had early on in the post-game, simply stumbling around, trying things, as there are so many optional puzzles still unsolved, that happening into one is still possible, even a patient player like myself was soon simply forced to concede that looking up hints as to which island to begin at least looking for puzzle was a virtual necessity. 

That is, of course, problematic, because the issue with looking on the internet for partial help, it's difficult to avoid accidentally seeing the full solution... so multiple times I found myself coyly trying to half-read, or half-look - to establish the location of a puzzle, without accidentally seeing the solution to it.

In some ways, A Monster’s Expedition through Puzzling Exhibitions actually reminded me of another puzzle game I played relatively recently - Manifold Garden. Both have brilliant, very smart and very well pitched challenges in their main game, but both house "secret" optional solutions that are SO esoteric and obtuse, as to smash their own difficulty gradient to smithereens... and which I would wager the vast, vast majority of players end up simply googling.

 

I'm in two minds as to which of those two games ends up being the more egregious example - Manifold Garden has a single, long-form, game-spanning 0% run, whereas A Monster’s Expedition through Puzzling Exhibitions has 60 brutal, individual esoteric solutions, but the end result (and frustration) is similar. 
In the end, I'd probably argue A Monster’s Expedition through Puzzling Exhibitions is the lesser evil - after all, at least some of these 60 optional solutions can be reasonably worked out by the average player (more so towards the end of the challenge, as once there are fewer undiscovered islands, it becomes more simple to evaluate at least where to begin to look for the solutions,)... but neither is particularly welcome. 

Both, also, could have been made much more palatable by the inclusion of a little more indication of the puzzle parameters. There is nothing wrong with having some very difficult puzzles in a game - in fact, it shows real puzzle-game design skill to mask so many additional, higher-level puzzles disguised within the regular ones - but puzzles are only puzzles if one knows it is there to be solved. The parameters of the puzzle need to be more clearly defined, to allow the player to  know they are trying to solve it... and to get satisfaction from solving it. 
If they are so well hidden, that the player has to simply bang their head against every wall in the area, and stumble into a solution eventually, that is not really satisfying... it's just a relief when it's done.

That post-game silliness aside though, A Monster’s Expedition through Puzzling Exhibitions is a game with a lot going for it. 
It is charming as all hell. The monster is a cool, cute looking dude, with his no-face and his backpack, and he moves around nicely, in a jaunty skipping stride that is a tonne of fun. 
The puzzle concepts and designs are fantastic, and the game looks great - there is a pastel colour palate to the game that has a somewhat iOS iPad flavour, and it looks really nice. 

The rewards for traversing the main islands - the exhibits - are good too. The descriptions of human items, misinterpreted by "monster archeologists" are often good jokes, and the game is filled with humour that works more often than it doesn't. Describing an stationary bike as "a human-powered laundry hanger, which the human would re-power twice a year by clearing off the laundry, and pedalling furiously for 10 minutes" is the kind of "seagull from The Little Mermaid" style joke most of the exhibits fall into, and they work well - adding incentive to the puzzle solving, without interrupting it.

Audio is fine - it's not stand-out, but the breezy, pleasant score is what is needed for this kind of relaxing puzzler, and it works. The sound design around the moving of logs, falling of trees etc is basic, but works fine, and adds without subtracting or becoming grating.

 

Overall, A Monster’s Expedition through Puzzling Exhibitions is a pretty damned good puzzle game. 
It is fun, smart, simple in concept, yet clever in execution, and the main path through the game is fun and challenging without being brutal. It is filled with good humour and relaxing, satisfying puzzling. 

For the trophy-hungry, I do have to warn though - the final act of the game, in the post-game, optional section - is brutally difficult to the extent of being simply obtuse, and even for a puzzle-game kind of guys, I ended up having no qualms about looking up some help, because even finding the puzzles can be an accidental puzzle in itself...
...and those are nowhere near as fun or satisfying as the deliberate ones!

 

 

 

(For original review and Scientific  Ranking see HERE)