Yen's Pop('d) Plats

[Yen-Pop]

inFamous  inFamous Platinum Trophy

March 24, 2021

 

And the award for most creative platinum award goes to...! But hey, it was the wild west of 2009, what could we really expect? I almost wish I would have held off until June to finish off the last trophy to make it a flush 10 years, but it feels good to knock this out of my Pile of Shame none the less. It's a classic, let's be honest with ourselves - it holds up pretty well and it's still a lot of fun, though at the tail end I was ready for it all to be over (especially since I didn't manage my ability points smart enough and had to play for longer to get all negative upgrades). Though, I'm sure my opinion would have changed if I had accidentally deleted my original save from 2011 and had to get all those blasted shards all over again. Feels good! Hopefully I can knock out AC Revelations soon, though, not holding my breath on that one.

 

Oh what up fourth page. Extra accomplishment!

Edited March 25, 2021 by Yen-Pop

[Yen-Pop]

Astro Bot Rescue Mission  Star Lord

April 4, 2021

 

I mean, I love any reason to dust off my seldom used PSVR and this really revitalized my love for it! It's a really fun, visual experience that was just really enjoyable to play, even during it's difficult moments especially in the challenge missions later in the game. And it was free which is even better. Honestly if you have a VR, if you haven't played it already you really should, especially if you love platformers. I absolutely cannot recommend it enough! Plus it helped me keep avoiding the AC Revelations Multiplayer or Life is Strange 2 ?

[Yen-Pop]

Concrete Genie  The Artist of Denska

April 22nd, 2021

DLC  VR Trophies

EDIT: Well sonuvabiiiiitch I complete forgot I plat'd this game, which is really too bad and not at all a statement about the game's worth because it really was such an enjoyable, unique experience. I loved this game, and it was so wholesome and comforting! I loved being able to "graffiti" the town with beautiful images of greenery, stars, and whatever else was needed to make it beautiful! You can do as little or as much to progress, but there was something very beautiful about combining your favorite images to progress through a level, and I loved being able to customize all of my Genies to make each one unique and beautiful. The VR trophy DLC was... fine? but it was free, so how much can I really complain, and to that end the whole game was free thanks to PS Plus! If you downloaded it and have thought, is it for me - at least give it a shot. Also I totally thought it was VR required, but only for the DLC!

 

Lair of the Clockwork God  Ben There, Dan That

June 13, 2021

Hey, guess who hasn't made any progress on Life is Strange 2 or AC Revelations Multiplayer? Welllll you see what had happened was... I started playing AC Valhalla and then I started playing Borderlands 3, and then I joined the latest iteration of Gaming By Numbers, and I just so happened to have a great game in my purview that I super wanted to play and just needed a reason to buy. Thank God for great Community Events and videogame sales! And Holy shit, if this isn't an intersection of all my favorite things, I don't know what is - platforming, point 'n clicks, and humor that just takes the absolute piss out of everything that's happening. And, I get to have the PSNP honor of being the 12th person on the site to plat it! And the 5th fastest? Two things I never anticipated seeing my virtual name associated with! I really do highly, highly recommend the game - just make sure that if you're wanting to do it in one go that you follow a guide - but once you know what you're doing, it's a breeze to get through! And even the hardest platforming puzzles can be solved with determination and practice. I feel rewarded all the way around for completing it, and I hope they bring the previous games in their series to PSN; if not, even one more reason to get a good computer to play games on!

Edited June 14, 2021 by Yen-Pop

[Yen-Pop]

Vampyr  Time is On My Side

June 20, 2021

 

Took a little bit longer than it should have if I had kept a backup on my save before the point of no return, but I done did the thing! But even with having to play it through a second time, it was so enjoyable and fun that I really didn't mind. Vampyr was free last October for PS Plus and if you haven't played it yet, I highly highly highly recommend you get on that immediately. The voice acting, the story, the atmosphere, the time period, the intrigue - even though I knew exactly what was going to happen I was just invested the second time around. It's sad to know there's no way this is ever getting a sequel, but hopefully Dontnod makes something like this again; you wouldn't think the same people who make Life is Strange could make combat that works, but damn did they ever. Maybe this will be the push I need to finish up the misery porn that is Life is Strange 2. Well that and Gaming by Numbers ? But still, if you're looking to just collect those delicious, delicious trophies make a back up save in Chapter 6. Just trust me on that one. 

 

Also, turning all the districts hostile is ironically my 666th gold trophy and that feels amazingly appropriate, especially since having to do that made me feel like the actual spawn of evil. 

Edited June 20, 2021 by Yen-Pop

[Yen-Pop]

The VR Playroom  Master of VR!

June 24, 2021

 

I mean, Astro Bot rescue is by and far a better game, and it's a complete game with a narrative, but this isn't bad for being free. I could have beaten the whole thing solo in a sitting, which was cool but being able to cheese a couch co-op game so easily sort of takes the satisfaction out of the whole thing. Not that cheesing games ever feels satisfying, but ya' know what I'm going for. But it helped me catch up on my yearly goal, and it gave me something to do while I drink beer in this god awful heat wave Oregon is in right now ? 

[Yen-Pop]

Moss  Together We're Twofold

July 1, 2021

DLC  Twilight Garden

 

So I remember forever ago hearing about this game being made, specifically that it featured a mouse that speaks to you in sign language and how innovative and neat it was, and I was determined to play the game from then on. I got a VR pretty late in the game (budum-tss) and Moss was never something on sale, or when it was on sale it still wasn't cheap enough in my mind to justify it. Well, imagine my excitement when it and a bunch of other cool VR games were free! I finally started playing it this last weekend because it got to 117F in my area and God I just needed something to distract myself from the fact that my apartment was 90F+ even in the AC, which made playing VR hard, but man was it worth it. What a gem! I loved the story, I loved the platforming and combat, and I really loved that it took full advantage to the field of vision/VR aspect of it - specifically that you could really move around, and peak around the environment for secrets and collectibles. And even the hardest trophies were still extremely enjoyable to get, and I'm really glad that I played through it blind the first time around because it made the no death run so much easier; I'd been there, done that two times already. I definitely recommend that strategy because the last run took under two hours and I only had to save scrub twice. Thanks PS Plus for those cloudsaves! All in all, I loved it! But then again whose surprised? A platforming indie VR game with fantastical elements is something that Yen loves?? Talk about headline news ? 

Edited July 2, 2021 by Yen-Pop

[Yen-Pop]

Papo & Yo ?

July 4, 2021

Well I completely forgot about this game. It wasn't terrible, or unmemorable, I think my brain was like 'mkay well that was a thing'. I already had it on my hard drive, and it fit the Gaming By Numbers event, so I played it. It is absolutely not a game I recommend going back to the PS3 for, but I didn't hate the time I spent with that game. I have nothing against indie games with a deeper message but this was sort of a heavy handed metaphor having you run from a beast while thinking about your dad. I wonder what that's all about. 

 

Prince of Prince  Katamari Damacy Reroll

July 28, 2021

God damn, I loved this game when I was younger but I was just so bad at it and it frustrated me endlessly. And then I never played another one. But between a couple comedy gaming channels my love of and want to play a Katamari game was reignited. And then a sale came along and I found out that hot damn they actually remastered the game! And no matter how hard or annoying I would absolutely play it. And other than Ursa Major and Taurus, it really wasn't as brutal as I remembered - hell I played through all the levels at least once in almost a day! Collecting the presents and 100% of the item catalogue was pretty tedious at the end, especially with some of the rarer items, but it was still fun and I really felt accomplished when I'd finally roll up the god damn crayon or giant cow I needed! I really hope that this means we'll see either a new or more remasters of the previous games, but we'll just have to wait and see! 

 

Platinum Trophy  Suicide Guy

August 8, 2021

I mean... It's fine. I've played better trophy fodder games by far; the platforming isn't satisfying, the puzzling isn't satisfying, the controls leave a ton to be desired, and it just all 'n all isn't very fun. But it was cheap. And I guess that counts for something ??

[Yen-Pop]

WELP.

 

Been awhile since I updated - had a lot of life changes happen sort of all at once, that didn't lend itself to a ton of free time. So let's do a little catchup!

 

Leave Possible?  Oxenfree

August 27, 2021

An undeniable horror game classic, for certain - the kind of game I recommend that everyone who has the ability to play video games to at least go through once. I played it back when Moses was a boy, but I had wanted to play it again to get the full experience - and Gaming for Numbers was that opportunity! And even though I knew what was going to happen - especially on subsequent playthroughs - it never failed to be shocking and enrapturing. And if you have played it, but never did new game plus, I can't recommend it more; it genuinely adds another layer to the experience, and makes the Mark Twain line, "and soon it'll be that the only things I remember are the things that never happened" even more cryptic. Plus now there's a sequel that's coming out! Which, let me tell you, I'm extremely jazzed for. 

 

Platinum  Psychonauts 2

November 3, 2021

Psychonauts came out when I was in 8th grade - arguably the absolute most awkward, weird time in anyone's life, and it was no exception for me. And I latched onto that game, and pretty much everything Double Fine did from then on like my life depended on it. So when the announcement for the Fig campaign happened, I wept I was so extremely excited. And this game didn't live up to the hype. Motherfucker it exceeded. Every time a game comes out that I've been waiting for, I have my Fanboy's ending moment where I think to myself "hey what if this sucks?" just as the download finishes, but I knew that Tim Schafer was not going to disappoint. 

 

I think one of the things that is so poignant and beautiful about this game is that it really understands how excited the fans were and how beloved the franchise is to them, and even pokes fun at the fact we all waited for a sequel for fifteen years. It also has some of the most honest and vivid depictions of mental illness that I have ever seen in any media; I worked in mental health/health care for several years, and I wished that those depictions, even if fanciful on the surface, could be shown to professionals or anyone who loves or knows a person who lives with those things as their reality. It's not just the best game of 2021, but probably one of the best I've played in a long time. 

 

And it got so snubbed at the Game Awards. I just really hope that even though Double Fine is now a subsidiary of Microsoft that they keep making beautiful games, and that I keep being able to play them. I still have my fingers crossed for a Brutal Legend sequel.  

 

Borderlands 3 DLC  Moxxi's Heist of the Handsome Jackpot | Guns, Love, and Tentacles | Bounty of Blood

November 23, 2021 | December 2, 2021 | December 12, 2021

I feel like I've been playing Borderlands 3 for about seventeen years, and I'm still really enjoying it, but that one trophy where you have to do the gun range is giving me Jak 2 gun range flashbacks and it's holding me back from that god damn platinum so in the mean time I've been playing the hell out of the DLC. And I like 'em! I think they're more consistently good than the Borderlands 2 DLCs - they're all serviceable, but completely overshadowed by Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep - and all actually feel like an add-on instead of just a couple more quests and loot. They all get better and better too, Bounty of Blood being my favorite so far, but they've all been fun and worth the time. But I will say, I maxed level in the first one, so I've been completely overpowered for everything I've come up against so far. There's still three packs left I need to play/finish, and that gun range but we'll see if Borderlands 3 is my first platinum of 2022. 

[Yen-Pop]

Perception is Reality  Superliminal

January 6, 2022

 

Ahhhhhh the first platinum of 2022! A trippy, puzzle game with weird humor. Who would have thought! I bought this game like... September of last year, and lord knows I didn't really have nor make a lot of time for videogames at that time, especially because of the speedrun trophies, but I have to say they really aren't that bad. Even if I did squeak it out at 34 minutes and 28 seconds; PSNP says 30 minutes, but PSN says 35, so it must have changed at some point. But I really enjoyed this! There's a lot to explore if you want to and it's pretty quick if you'd prefer it to be. It's been awhile since I sat down and didn't play a game while I listened to something at the same time - it genuinely earned my entire attention which is saying something. I'm working on the free DLC trophies now, but looking at it there's a chance the challenge mode is glitched? But even so, I'm not mad about a chance to play through this game yet a fifth time. 

 

I will say for the speedruns, incase anyone sees this and cares, but there's an IGN Dev's React to the - at that time - speedrun world record that doesn't use glitches, and it had a lot of great suggestions for cutting time, but honestly after a blind and a collectibles run, you'll pretty much have it down ? but damn that friggin' bouncy house for real. 

 

EDIT:

DLC  New Modes Added

January 7, 2022

 

Just kidding, turns out you can totally 100% it now. Must have been fixed in the last few days, or maybe you have to do it in one sitting like I did, but here we are.

Edited January 7, 2022 by Yen-Pop

[Yen-Pop]

Platinum  Solo: Islands of the Heart

January 11, 2022

Solo: Islands of the Heart's tagline should be "Cheaper Than Therapy!" because this game asks you to answer questions about the current state of your love life and shapes its follow up questions, world, even the collectibles around your answers. And while the game is only a few hours long, it really does try to cut to the 'meat and potatoes' of the thing. I picked up a letter than ended with "It was perfect for you and me, until it just wasn't, nor will it ever be" and like... Damn man, I'm just trying to relax and get invisible videogame points, I didn't need this. For $2, it was a fun puzzle game with satisfying platforming, it's quick, the atmosphere is really interesting especially since your actions and answers change the feel and color of the landscape, and it's absolutely the kind of game where you get out of it what you put in; I saw a review say that it didn't have a story, which sort of feels like they massively missed the point. You are the story. I'd had my eye on it for a minute since it's come up in the last few sales last year, and for $2 I'm happy about what I got out of it. But I like mindful adventures that hold a mirror up to your choices like that. 

 

Vacation Maximized  A Short Hike

January 13, 2022

I don't normally go for the cottagecore comfort game types, but something about this just seemed so charming and I couldn't stop myself from picking this up while on sale. And I'm genuinely glad I did, because god damn this game was so cute, charming, and genuinely fun. I definitely had things I needed to do today, and I'll tell ya' what none of those things happened because I couldn't stop playing it. Flying around, racing people, fishing, collecting feathers, it was kinda like Animal Crossing on a much smaller scale. Nothing about it is particularly difficult, nothing is missable, and it makes for an extremely laid back, mindless time. 

Edited January 14, 2022 by Yen-Pop

[Yen-Pop]

Unleash the Light  Steven Universe: Unleash the Light

January 23, 2022

Weeeeeee are the Crystal Gems! And I'm legally obligated to consume any content that Rebecca Sugar slaps her brand on - I don't make the rules, I simply follow them. And while yes, elephant in the room, it was definitely optimized for table/mobile gaming, it's somehow more and less complex than Save the Light. You don't do any movement other than scrolling through rooms and moving the cursor to collectibles and what you want to attack, but the Side Missions don't feel out of place or like you're going out of your way, and by leaning into the turn-based combat system your team heavily relies on the composition of your party and their styles. Needless to say, if you role into a difficult fight with the wrong composition, you're all getting poofed pretty quickly. And for that alone, it really does feel a little more adult (??) though still difficult to explain to strangers when you say 'ah yeah, I play games'; "ah you play a kid whose the offspring of a hippie and another rock, fighting with more rocks, to keep two other rocks from taking over the world - it was a really popular Cartoon Network show" is never going to be a cool sentence. But if you love Steven Universe and you like turn-based RPGs, it's a must!

 

King of the Trophies!  The Procession to Calvary

January 28, 2022

There are so many screenshots that I could share that perfectly encapsulates the perfect absurdity of this God damned game, but I feel like this one really sums it up pretty succinctly. I absolutely love point and click games, but this really felt like a throw back to games like King's Quest and the ilk by being completely ridiculous, a lot of fun, and extremely tongue-in-cheek in a Monty Python kind of way. The site gags are hilarious even if you aren't familiar with the art works being used for every single asset of this game, but there's definitely an additional flavor being able to recognize that the lady selling commemorative t-shirts and the woman selling sea shells are both depictions of the Virgin Mary. Absolutely cannot recommend more - it's the best game I've played in ages.

 

ALSO the PSN Rewind Year in Review came out, and surprising absolutely no one:

I didn't achieve (trophy? ehhhh?) too much, but I played an ungodly amount of Borderlands 3. Here's to another year of trophy hunting fun!

[Yen-Pop]

All Trophies  Yaga

February 5, 2022

 

Knocked this fella' that's been sitting in my pile of shame for a long time, just waiting for it's moment - and that moment was the 2022 Bingo when I needed a game that started with Y ? But honestly, even if it didn't fit an agenda, I would have fully enjoyed it! It's a fun, Slavic mythology-based rogue-lite with the jammiest soundtrack I've heard in awhile. 

And if nothing else, it kept me from dying of boredom while being snowed in under 12 inches of snow and ice for just under a week! There's six endings, that technically do require six playthoughs, but it can be cheesed in two - and two playthroughs felt really satisfying, especially to see how your different choices affect the game, the world, and the ending. But six? Six would have been too many. It's the only game that Breadcrumbs Interactive has released on PSN, but I hope to see more from them in the future!

[Aceterix]

On 1/29/2022 at 4:31 AM, Yen-Pop said:

 

 

King of the Trophies!  The Procession to Calvary

January 28, 2022

 

 

I saw some stills of this in YouTube a little while ago and liked the idea but hadn't seen anyone mention how it played since so thank you you've piqued my interest in it some more!

 

I've never heard of Yaga but am intrigued so will also have a look at that so a double thank you.

 

Looking through your thread it seems we share a strong like of, or maybe an enthrallment to assassins creed, I haven't 100% all of them but I certainly try - have been putting of starting Odyssey as it's just so huge, but the fact it kept you chipper through to 100% is a good sign and I might just try to get on with it soonish. Thank you.

[Yen-Pop]

5 hours ago, Aceterix said:

 

I saw some stills of this in YouTube a little while ago and liked the idea but hadn't seen anyone mention how it played since so thank you you've piqued my interest in it some more!

 

I've never heard of Yaga but am intrigued so will also have a look at that so a double thank you.

 

Looking through your thread it seems we share a strong like of, or maybe an enthrallment to assassins creed, I haven't 100% all of them but I certainly try - have been putting of starting Odyssey as it's just so huge, but the fact it kept you chipper through to 100% is a good sign and I might just try to get on with it soonish. Thank you.

I'm glad I could help! I bought Procession To Calvary on a complete whim, and I absolutely do not regret it at all! But I'm also a huge dork for history, which also explains the amount of Assassin's Creed I've played ? 

 

I'd say Odyssey is probably one of my favorites! There's a lot of humor to the main character, and the story was really interesting. I hope you like it as much as I did!

[Yen-Pop]

Well dang! Turns out when your entire life changes in a year it doesn't free you up for a ton of video game time. Probably the least amount of video game progress I've made since college, but honestly it was worth having the social life for a change. I don't see too much being completed between now the the 1st, but just as a catch up:

 

All Done  The Artful Escape

May 30, 2022

Not only did this have a really interesting a cool art style, the soundtrack absolutely slapped ass and the gameplay was pretty enjoyable. This came so highly recommended to me that the people who wanted me to play actually offered me money to do so ? and I liked it so much I turned the money down. It was fairly short, so I do recommend getting it on sale versus paying full price for it, if that sort of thing matters to you. But overall, it was lovely and I really enjoyed playing it!

[Yen-Pop]

Viking Legend  Assassin's Creed Valhalla

January 10, 2023

Absolutely my Andy Dufresne, arms up in the rain moment of the year so far. The game wasn't bad - it's Assassin's Creed for God's sake and if you've played one you've played them all - but considering I started this game in April of last year, after buying it new, full price shortly after it came out, I'd say it was time for me to put this game to bed. It feels like this really was the only game I played last year considering how little time I had to dedicate to gaming between all my many, many life changes in 2022. I'm glad I kept at it, and finished it up, but me and Eivor are taking a nice long break for a while. 

 

The Chicken Police  Chicken Police

January 11, 2023

I'd been wanting to play this game since I found out about it, because it ticked a lot of boxes for me - detective noir, point and click, puzzle solving - and the fact that you play as an anthropomorphized chicken is hilarious. It gave me Blacksad vibes but way less cartoony and more stylistic. And I wasn't wrong! And what a damn gem. I'm glad it's available as part of one of the fancy tiers of Playstation Plus so that more people get a chance to enjoy this game, and even if it isn't a sequel I really hope the team that made this game is hard at work on something new because my God did they put their backs into this one. I mean the amount of lore building they did that they didn't have to do, but that made the story and the setting feel like a real, breathing thing really just added to the excitement to see what you could learn next about Sonny, Marty, the plot, or even just Clawville in general. I had this one in and out of my cart a million times, and I'm glad I finally got a crack at it this year!

 

Total 2023 Trophies Earned: 

2  7  18  25

[Yen-Pop]

Thanks For Not Reading a Book Instead  Afterparty

January 16, 2023

 

If a magic genie appeared to me and offered to make me go back to my early 20s, I would absolutely refuse. The second puberty that comes with the awkward transition from childhood to adulthood, especially after graduating from college, is just so weird. You're an adult now, but not really - you don't even have your own insurance and you can still get away with sleeping until 12p. I had no idea who I was, what I wanted, or where I was going but some random day in May it was time for me to figure it out. Afterparty really plays on that idea, with a healthy smattering of trauma and substance abuse sprinkled in. Let's be honest, the 'hello fellow kids' writing left something to be desired especially since a lot of it smacked of lol random humor - which is disappointing, considering how great Oxenfree's writing was for people who were younger - and there was something about the game on the whole that felt sort of empty (other than the fact you're literally in Hell). It wasn't my favorite. Night School can and has done better. It wasn't all bad, and I enjoyed my time with it well enough, even if doing a second playthrough for the plat felt like an annoyance more than a treat. But hey, I'm on my second respiratory infection in 6 weeks, so at least it gave me something to do. 

 

Total 2023 Trophies Earned: 

3  13  29  31

[NZBigC]

On 1/13/2023 at 3:18 AM, Yen-Pop said:

 

The Chicken Police  Chicken Police

January 11, 2023

I'd been wanting to play this game since I found out about it, because it ticked a lot of boxes for me - detective noir, point and click, puzzle solving - and the fact that you play as an anthropomorphized chicken is hilarious. It gave me Blacksad vibes but way less cartoony and more stylistic. And I wasn't wrong! And what a damn gem. I'm glad it's available as part of one of the fancy tiers of Playstation Plus so that more people get a chance to enjoy this game, and even if it isn't a sequel I really hope the team that made this game is hard at work on something new because my God did they put their backs into this one. I mean the amount of lore building they did that they didn't have to do, but that made the story and the setting feel like a real, breathing thing really just added to the excitement to see what you could learn next about Sonny, Marty, the plot, or even just Clawville in general. I had this one in and out of my cart a million times, and I'm glad I finally got a crack at it this year!

 

Total 2023 Trophies Earned: 

2  7  18  25

 

Ohhh good to know! I'll give this one a go in the near future. 

[Yen-Pop]

All Done  Twelve Minutes

January 30th, 2023

 

Usually games with cool or interesting mechanics have a luke-warm story at best; it's cool and fine, but it's not the absolute best. But considering it was made under Annapurna Interactive, I should have known better. Twelve Minutes was shockingly good in both mechanics and story - and star power also weirdly enough? Willem Dafoe could read the phone book and I'd listen, not to mention the emotionality James McAvoy and Daisy Ridley brought to their parts; but if I never hear her say 'best night ever guess who made desert' again it'll be tooooo soon.  It was a fairly quick but fun game, and I love anything that plays with the well established point-and-click genre. Definitely a recommend! I bought this early last year and I can't believe how long it took me to finally play this gem, but I'm very glad I did. 

 

Total 2023 Trophies Earned: 

3  20 27  29

[Yen-Pop]

Ah dang, I didn't realize it'd been so long since I updated here. Well, better late than never:

 

Internship Complete  Going Under

February 16, 2023

Such a cool, funky rogue-like dungeon crawler that absolutely takes the piss around tech-bro, start-up culture. The music, the story, the gameplay all come together in such a fun package that made it difficult to put down, even though it's only three levels (six levels if you count the fact the three levels have two different levels of difficulty half way through the game). It makes the grind get kinda same-y, but it was genuinely such a fun experience it was easy to keep going back. 

 

All Trophies Obtained  Horizon Forbidden West

April 8, 2023

I really liked the sequel - I avoided it because I wasn't sure it could hold up to the first one, but I had a great time playing in this world again. Especially since everything you did in the first game isn't magically undone. It was awesome to learn more about the world, and I'm just a huge sucker for future, post-dystopian fiction. It definitely leaned into the sci fi aspects of the lore built in the first game, mostly in throw away lines (right as I was finishing up the game, my boyfriend finished the first one so I got a nice primer), but all 'n all I liked it. Some of the platforming was really wonky and there were a fair share of graphical glitches, but I blame that on playing it on a PS4 and not a PS5. 

 

The Whole Picture  Chicory: A Colorful Tale

May 1, 2023

It ain't fair that such a cute game with a colorful gameplay mechanic can be such a heart-wrenching experience. It takes a very honest look at imposter syndrome, depression, executive dysfunction, and the inky, debilitating feeling of failure in a way that I wasn't prepared for. It feels like the kind of game that anyone could play, and honestly I think more people need to - and thankfully it's part of the Playstation Plus Extra catalogue so they can! It's not terribly challenging, and the game also offers a lot of options for ease of playability; I adored the fact that you could get hints for what to do next and where to find collectibles by calling your parents at home. Overall it was a really enjoyable play, and a smidge of free therapy so a win all around ?

 

 

Yaga DLC  Roots of Evil

May 8, 2023

This game is criminally underrated and the fact that more people haven't played it is just a travesty - and of all the games I expected to have DLC, it was not this one. And my God does it give me hope of maybe a sequel, or at least more from the developer. It is kinda bleh that there's no post game so you do have to play through the game a bit to be able to be a high enough level/have enough gear to be able to play through the DLC without getting absolutely pummeled, but it's not like the game is terribly long, and it was easy to pick up again even after not playing it for about a year. There's not a lot online as far as guides go, but the ending of the DLC can be save scrubbed just like the main game and everything else can be divined naturally or by looking at the one guide out there that's in Russian. I loved going back to this world, and highly highly highly recommend this game to everyone. 

 

Total 2023 Trophies Earned: 

6  39  51  130

Edited May 10, 2023 by Yen-Pop

[Yen-Pop]

Since I am out of town and am using a Mac, which I so truly and really don't know how to use (life time PC/Android user), and I have just so many updates, I'll just make an update and pictures in it later. Or maybe I'll learn how to use my boyfriend's damn laptop. Probably not that one.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla DLC  Tombs of the Fallen

May 12, 2023

&

Assassin's Creed DLC  Tombs of the Fallen: Buried Knowledge  

May 17, 2023

One day I will be done with this game, and then I guess I'll be ready for the next one. I don't know man, I really like the Assassin's Creed games but it's starting to feel like Stockholm Syndrome, ya' know? Origins was a welcome departure from the formula, and Odyssey had so much charm and character in the characters and environments but fucking Valhalla is so grey and brown and Eivor is so stiff. Which happens - you absolutely can't compare the next game to the last game. Maybe going back to someone who is actually an assassin instead of being tangentially related to the Order will be a welcome breath of fresh air. Or just being somewhere that isn't grey and brown  

The Piece of Resistance  LEGO Movie: The Videogame

May 28, 2023

Geez louise, it's been so long since I updated that I actually forgot I played this game. It was free, it was easy, it was mindless - and sometimes that's all you need for a videogame to be an enjoyable time. And let's be honest, the Lego games are great games for kicking back and listening to music or podcasts while you just run around collecting bits. Not the best Lego game but definitely not the worst either. Serviceable! 

 

Steven Universe: Unleash the Light DLC  Updates DLC 3

June 16, 2023

God I would love for there to be another Steven Universe game of this ilk, though I wouldn't be terribly surprised for that to never happen. There's just so much joy that a turn-based dungeon crawler brings me, especially when it's just chock of lovable characters like these games are. And who can be mad about FREE DLC? Def not me. It was a nice return to the game, and despite the trophy requirements and time taken it definitely was not as difficult as the previous DLC - though two of the trophies are definitely still glitched (a fix also being very unlikely). Thankfully it's a simple matter of closing and reopening the game AT THIS TIME to get them to pop. And I'm really discovering this year that rogue-likes are my jam, who would have thought?

 

Saved the World  Sam & Max Save the World

June 27, 2023

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Went Beyond Time & Space  Sam & Max: Beyond Space & Time

July 5, 2023

Look I know Telltale is back, but if they went back to this model I would buy everything they make. And that's coming from someone who is all right (if not a little burned out on) the current Telltale story telling model. But episodic point and click games? With really dark humor? Is it my birthday?! I'm lumping these together since they are very similar to each other and actually blend into each other so well that it just felt like one long game instead of two shorter games - but short they are not. I haven't done much research into it, so I'm sure there's probably some overlap in workforce, but it was so much like LucasArts/Double Fine's style that I was hooked from jump. And who doesn't want to help a murderous white rabbit become President? 1000/10 for ole Yen. 

 

All Done  Stray

July 11, 2023

Nothing like a game no longer being free to encourage you to pick it up again! I've been out of town which is the only reason I was able to play this, because my own cat was way too invested in the well-being of the little kitty friend in this game. She doesn't jump up on stuff but she definitely tried to hurl her body into my TV more than once to keep the little guy safe. So just in case you had any doubt about the emotional impact of the game, it's definitely too real for little furry friends irl haha! That being said - what a gem! Despite putting it down so close to the end, I definitely recommend this one, especially since it's only free of PS Plus Essential for a few more days before it goes away; funny enough it and Chicken Police are the reason I got PS Plus Essential in the first place. The two hardest trophies are still totally doable with a little determination and a fair amount of save scrubbing, and there's Chapter Select for the rest - which I recommend doing instead of following a guide for the first playthrough, especially since it's only a few hours long anyway. I'm glad I got the push to finish this one up!

 

Total 2023 Trophies Earned: 

11  73  72  185

Edited July 14, 2023 by Yen-Pop

[Yen-Pop]

Thomas Was Alone 

July 14, 2023

 

And just like that I beat another game, though I wouldn't say this classic is terribly difficult to finish in a few hours, even with getting all the collectibles. I've fielded exacerbated "WHAT YOU NEVER PLAYED"'s for awhile, and like twice in the last two weeks alone, and when I noticed it was free in the  Essential catalogue, my boyfriend insisted that I download it and give it a play - even though he himself never finished it. And I see why it's so beloved! How could you not absolutely fall in love with anthropomorphic parallelograms (all squares are rectangles but not all rectangles are squares but they're all parallelograms? I think? I don't know I stumbled through every math course I ever had to take) who are feeling feels for the first time? If you're like me and somehow haven't played this and need the push, consider this the push! 

 

Total 2023 Trophies Earned: 

11  74  73  198

[Yen-Pop]

Platinum Garden  The Gardens Between

July 17, 2023

Did I play it because it was free? Yes. Did I play it because it matched the color I needed to complete in the Kaleidoscope challenge? Also yes. But did I enjoy it? Absolutely! A cool, quirky puzzle game with amazing music and a sad story? What can I say, I'm an absolute sucker for that shit. 

 

Godhood  Cult of the Lamb

August 5, 2023

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DLC  Relics of the Old Faith

August 3, 2023

I should have known this game would be amazing based on all the hype and the community that's grown around the game, but I couldn't have anticipated how much I would absolutely love this freakin' game. But I knew as soon as I saw the Devolver Digital logo I was in good hands. And I think I have to finally admit that dungeon crawlers/rogue-likes are my new favorite genre because here we are again with a quirky, procedurally generated indie game that I couldn't put down. The loop between the dungeon crawling and the resource management is pretty tight, but that just makes it so much easier to get completely consumed by it for hours; there was one day I no joke played the entire time my boyfriend was at work and didn't even notice time pass. I will say with the bonus content, it does change the requirements for some of the trophies for the base game and two of the trophies in the DLC are absolutely missable if you're not careful. But man! It's been since Wattam that I played a game that I wished was 1000 hours long so I could just keep playing and doing more things. 

 

Paper Beast Master  Paper Beast

August 6, 2023

Probably couldn't have chosen a better game to get me back into actually using my VR. Games like this, that rely on and are enhanced by the use of VR, are such gems especially with the amount of VR games out there that could have just as easily been a regular game but they decided to put it in VR for whatever reason (cough The Impatient cough). Not an especially long game, which is also great for VR depending on how sensitive you are to it, and flatly just a stunning experience. There were so many times I would catch myself just sitting there slack-jawed just awed by what I was seeing. THAT SAID it has probably one of the most God awful ballache waste of time trophies this side of that one for collecting panties and pizza boxes in one of the Borderlands DLCs. Good lord, I almost ruined the game for myself going for that one first, lemme tell ya'. Play the game first, then go back for all the trophies - it'll make you appreciate the game more I promise.

 

Total 2023 Trophies Earned: 

14  93  111  220

[Yen-Pop]

Endling  Endling

August 10, 2023

I don't really know why I would think that a game about a fox mother wouldn't just completely break my heart, but it absolutely gutted me in a way I wasn't prepared for - though to be fair, there were many things about this game that I wasn't prepared for. Going in mostly blind, I really didn't anticipate this to be anything more than a glorified walking sim. All of sudden you're running through a burning forest and being shot at by dude's in gas masks. There's a lot to miss if you don't know what to look for, and it was so tense I genuinely feared missing anything because the idea of having another day where I had to run through a horde of survivors to make sure the pups made it another day was anxiety inducing. The background story of human slowly draining the resources of the area they're in for their survival made the echo of 'okay babies just eat this trash because it's the only thing I can safely get to while looking for your sibling' ring even louder. And man what a gut punch. 

 

Doctor Who: The Edge of Time 

August 13, 2023

It says a shitton about a game that it can be beat in an afternoon and it got put off for almost two full fucking years. At first I just figured like oh I was a hater and Psychonauts 2 came out and then I didn't have my VR plugged in for ages, it couldn't be that bad. And then I started playing it again. Good Lord a'mighty friends, what a miserable experience. It could have been something cool and interesting but it wanted to be too many things and do too many things. Playing it, I couldn't help but think who the hell was this game made for? It was too bland and general to be a die-hard fan, and too niche and unexplanatory for a new comer to the series. The only good thing I can say is that it's over and now I want to play a better VR game to make up for it. 

 

Total 2023 Trophies Earned: 

15  101  122 240

[Yen-Pop]

This game broke me so much I didn't even want to talk about it, apparently.

 

All Roads Traveled  Life is Strange 2

September 10, 2023

GOD THIS FUCKING GAME. I wanted to love it so badly, I wanted it to be good. I wanted the reason I couldn't sit myself down and just play it to be because of the climate of the world in February '21, and the turns my own life had taken up to that point. I didn't have the stomach for 'misery porn' and Sackboy Adventures just gave me much more of a brain break than watching two young boys endure some of the worst things a person, nevermind a young person, can go through. And I put that shit off for years because I just didn't want to. But I could no longer let it rot in my Pile of Shame. You know in Harry Potter where Dumbledore is like 'Harry Potter make me drink this horrendous shit and if I beg to stop force it down my throat'? That was me to my boyfriend every time I wanted to just do something else. Of course he was like 'yeah just don't play it' but no I was determined to Dumbledore my damn self through it. Truly the biggest problem for me is the illusion of choice - which is a two-fold issue. On one hand, you can influence how your brother turns out but those decisions are pretty far from subtle: do you want to be a monster to your little brother who is in crisis and has these powers he can't control or understand, or do you want to be a human person? Maybe if I was younger, I would feel more conflicted about how to speak to a 9-10 year old boy, but like... nah dog, I'm gonna comfort and protect the little kid. And two, even if you do everything right, it doesn't actually matter because the story has these canon points that cannot be avoided so it's like why even make me feel like I had a choice. The god damn safe at the pot farm is the perfect example. Maybe there's something about the inevitability and futility of life, but fuck man. When there are game companies doing it better (Supermassive) it's kinda like why the hell would I play the next Life is Strange when I could make time for more and better, you know? 

 

That said I did make time for

All Moved In  Unpacking

September 21, 2023

Especially since this was just made a free game through PS Plus Extra, I can only imagine everyone and their mother played it right away, and I know just about every streamer on the planet has made time for it. And usually cozy games like this are just not my jam. But as someone who is probably going to be packing their life up again to move in the next six months, and is pretty familiar with having to do so on an annoyingly regular basis these days, there was something really soothing and nostalgic about unpacking, relocating, and organizing stuff coming out of those boxes. It was also really cute to see what kept making the journeys through all the living situations. There is a small puzzle aspect to the game - you gotta make sure kitchen things are in the kitchen, etc - but mostly it was just a lovely little experience and brain clean. 

 

Total 2023 Trophies Earned: 

17  110  146 320

Edited October 5, 2023 by Yen-Pop