Spectrobes: Origins (Part 3)

Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4

On to the next planets!

Sure, if you Slayso!

…I should have stones thrown at me for that pun.

While I'm preparing to attack this spider alien with a robot
in it, my shoes Spectrobe is kicking it left and right.
This is a weeeeird game sometimes.

After the stop by Wyterra to present the latest shard to Radese (and reporting on the planetoid-sized Krawl coming), Rallen and Jeena head over to Slayso, the fifth planet of the system, permanently covered by a sandstorm. Its only building is a thousand-floor memorial tower built right after the Great Krawl War, many millenia ago. Only two residents: Tidy and Scout, the robots who take care of the tower. On the ground floor we encounter a spider Krawl with a robot stuck in its body; after it escapes, the officers meet Tidy, who says that Scout was captured by that thing. It fled upwards, so we must go up the floors to rescue the robot.

Go on, lil' Spectrobe doggo! Fetch that elevator! Good boy!

No other NPC in sight, so this chapter is low on story events. We climb the floors using elevators. On several floors, there’s a puzzle to solve. On others, there are seven rooms with elevators, only one of which works, while the other rooms have Krawl encounters. Other times, an elevator is located out of reach, and so we send a child Spectrobe to bring it down after following a maze of pathways. So much of this tower feels like padding that an entire hour’s worth of floors could have been cut. The only perk is that, if you force yourself to do it, there’s a lot of options for level-grinding. Your beasts will need it.

There's a couple of decent puzzles in this tower. Lots of
fights, too. But damn, it's so freaking linear.
And so... damn... long...

Spectrobes: Origins (Part 2)

Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4

We’re continuing this quest in the Kaio planetary system!

Doldogo

Call it a hunch, but the river being turned into
Purple Drank isn't a great sign.

Eeyep, these Krawl are plants. Jeena, bring the flamethrower!

Rallen and Jeena land their ship near a village, only to see that the river going through it has run purple and poisonous. Upon meeting Gretta, the village's chief, we learn that her daughter has gone missing after going up to the Tree of Life, through the forest from the Verdant Village. The NPP officers head towards the Tree to investigate. They find Gretta’s daughter Salia, near the tree, attacked by plant-property Krawl. These aliens do adapt to the environments they invade! The monsters are defeated, and the girl is taken back to her village safe and sound.

These battles introduce status effects to battle, like poison,
or later, freeze, stunned, and so on. These are really annoying
because they impact your ability to fight, and there is
NO WAY to heal yourself from them, you can only wait for
them to pass. Poison will cause your character to stumble at
every couple seconds and lose HP as well. Augh!

Flying Spectrobes are only useful like this twice. Also, good
thing one species like it is so common on this planet! Or
else we would get stuck pretty badly!

However, the water remains nasty. Heading deeper into the woods, the heroes find large Krawl polluting the waters and harming the Tree of Life. The first two are dealt with, but the road to the third goes by a chasm they cannot cross. Jeena gets the idea of sending a flying child Spectrobe to the rocks above the cliff to break them and create a bridge. Using the C button, you can control child Spectrobes outside of battle in specific situations, to explore or solve puzzles like this one. Most Spectrobes are on the ground, but some are capable of flight. Later in this chapter, we control a walking child form through smaller holes in walls to activate mechanisms to open doors to new areas. The flying Spectrobe creates the bridge, and the officers carry through.

Little Komainu goes on a journey. Come back,
but only after you've opened the path!

Spectrobes: Origins (Part 1)

Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4

Steam alone lists four digits' worth of 'Mon Games.
Oh, excuse me, "Creature Collectors". (Not all of them
are about using them to fight, so...)

Beyond Pokémon, I consider myself a fan of the ‘Mon genre. It's all about collecting animals and using them for battle – with the where, how and why changing. Game Freak’s beloved franchise sits atop them all – if you follow the leader, you stay behind them. But a lot of single games, and even smaller franchises, went for a slice of that pie – on Steam alone, I can think of tons of ‘Mon games, some of which have made the news for, ahem, reasons. *cough*PalWorld*cough* Franchises include Fossil Fighters or Spectrobes.

In the latter, we find new creatures and add them to our team by unearthing fossils, cleaning them, and reviving the creature inside. Oh, and an alien invasion is involved.

…what? No, I’m not talking about Fossil Fighters. What makes you think that? I’m talking about Spectrobes. This series developed by Genki and published by Disney Interactive Studios takes a more action-RPG approach to ‘Mon battling and collecting, with the franchise’s main character joining their creatures on the field, both in combat and in finding more beasts to add to the team.

(Let’s Play by KillinCat)

Today’s game, Spectrobes: Origins, is the third game in the series despite the name, and was released in North America on August 18th, 2009 for the Wii only. The continuing adventures of Rallen, an officer of the Nanairo Planetary Patrol (NPP), his colleague Jeena who serves as mission control, and their pet Spectrobe Komainu.

Lost in Space

Look at Rallen, acting serious and dorky all at once.
(P.S. The screenshots were taken from this Longplay
by KillinCat. Go check it out!)

The Nanairo System is endangered by an alien species known as the Krawl, who cause devastation everywhere they go. Little is known of them, other than their leader is someone named Krux. This nefarious kind is planning to use portals to spread across the universe, and thus, the Officers are tasked with protecting those portals from the threat. Rallen and Jeena are sent to investigate an anomaly in Sector W. Despite warnings that this anomaly could be dangerous, their superior, Commander Grant, is confident that they can overcome any threat.

Movie Review: Final Destination Bloodlines

You know all those horror movies I reviewed on this blog, usually 1-2 days after coming back from theaters? Well, every horror fan has either that one movie or that one franchise that brought them to the genre. Me? It's Final Destination. I had gotten the first three from my godfather who burned DVDs and- ...uh... ...I'll stop there before the FBI knocks. Once I started having disposable income, I started buying my own DVDs, so I've helped the Hollywood machine plenty. ANYWAY... 

This series was my introduction to horror, and with Death itself being the antagonist, more of a force than a defeatable entity, it felt a cut above having the bad guy be a serial killer or some monster. This allows the filmmakers to get really damn creative with the killings, doing things you could not reasonably see in other franchises. Everyday items acting together into deadly Rube Goldberg contraptions leading to gruesome ends. I'll spare you the details on the events of the first five films, you'd have to see some of those scenes to believe them. I just know I could write an entire essay about them. These movies will make you paranoid of everything for a little while.

Final Destination Bloodlines is the sixth film in the series, and released about fourteen years after the previous entry in 2011. That's a long-ass gap! The end result had to be worth the wait. And boy was it!

The story

This one begins, as tradition, with a massive disaster where lots of people die. This time, it's in the 60s. Iris (Brec Bassinger) is brought by her boyfriend Paul Campbell to a date at the Skyview, a restaurant/dancefloor at the top of a tall tower looking like Seattle's Space Needle. He intends to propose at the top. She has a secret of her own; she's pregnant with his child. These plans go to waste when the glass floor shatters under the dancers, an explosion sets the place on fire, and the whole thing falls down, with Iris being the apparent last to bite it.

You'd think it was a premonition, but when we cut back to reality, we're in an advanced math class. Stefani Reyes (Kaitlyn Santa Juana) had dozed off and had the same nightmare that's been plaguing her for weeks now, ending with her waking up screaming in terror. It's too real. All she does know is that the woman in the nightmare is her grandmother Iris, estranged from the rest of the family. Not the only woman to do so; Stefani's mother, who is Iris's daughter, also left when she and her younger brother Charlie (Teo Briones) were younger.

Asterix & Obelix XXL: Romastered

"Netflix? Never heard of him. Is he from Lutecia? Is he
a distant cousin of Danceremix? Or Pockystix?"

I am a huge fan of the Asterix series. Up here in Quebec, that franchise is such a part of our collective nostalgia that its movies are the must-watch non-Christmas movies around Christmas. I won't defend all of them, some of the older stories and movies haven't aged well. But the franchise is still alive and kicking, even getting a full CGI series released on Netflix on April 30th this year! Even the new books have kept their flair, lampooning modern events.

There are many Asterix video games out there, though if you’re American you may not have heard of most of them due to the series being much more popular everywhere else. Today’s game is Asterix and Obelix XXL: Romastered (also available on GOG), released on October 22nd, 2020 for PS4, XBOne, PC and Switch, and a remaster of a game from 2004 originally released on PS2, GameCube, PC and GBA. This one is more of a platformer, so let’s see how that goes!

Village in Peril

Free knuckle sandwiches for every Roman!

After a day hunting wild boars in the forest, Asterix and Obelix return to a village invaded by Romans and all the villagers gone! One weird guy at the entrance, wearing a Gaul mustache and Roman robes, claims he's a former spy for Julius Caesar who has chosen to help the Gauls. He knows Caesar’s secrets, and will help the two. The villagers have been sent to other places conquered by Rome.

You play as both Asterix and Obelix, but you don’t choose which one you play at any specific moment; most of the time, you’ll be Asterix, unless the situation requires Obelix’s permanent enhanced strength. Base controls on PC: Moving around with WASD, moving the camera with the arrows, and attacking with E. Dash forward with F, or grab a stunned Roman with R and use him to hit other enemies. You can press X to send Dogmatix out to bite an enemy's ass, stunning them.

The game is as classic an early 2000s platformer as can be; jump around, defeat enemies, collect “money”, find hidden secrets. Alright, let’s explain these one at a time. Jump around, well, both Asterix and Obelix can double jump.

In all fairness, it would be weirder if this was an early-00s
platformer where the characters DON'T double jump.

Exploring The Itch.io Collection #3

Even more of this! I promise, it's the last one this month. With this article, we've reached the games that can be finished in 10 minutes.

Experiences

Just kids becoming friends, regardless of species.

Summer Gems: Two young kids, one human girl and one frog, meet on the seaside beach. They share gifts, your character writes to the other, then receives the response. It’s cute, raises a good point about environmentalism, but stops at showing this budding, momentary friendship over three scenes.

Arigatou, Ningen-San!: In this game partly developed by USC Games (of WereCleaner fame), you just arrived in the neighborhood and are tasked by a bird to befriend all the local animals… by petting the Heck out of them with the mouse. No real goal past that, and the only funny thing to this one is how the animals get squished as you “pet” them.

Dawndusk Dream Sewer: In this isometric experience, your character is going down some dream sewers and speaking to the people trapped within. All the way down to some sort of chaotic deity. I didn’t feel much for the esoteric, absurdist discussions in there.

Miles of endless corridors, and not a single bathroom in sight.

Hotel Paradise: Look for your room in a seemingly endless hotel. There is no rhyme or reason as to where the rooms are located, so don’t try to figure it out with logic. Just keep walking through the halls until you finally spot your room number. Apparently, each number is completely personal, no other player will have it (though considering there’s a maximum of 999 rooms, I personally doubt that statement). Very basic gameplay, intriguing concept (and finding your room WILL take a while), but this game doesn’t offer a lot else.

No Wheels Racing: A parody game about a race where none of the cars have wheels. Pick a driver! Pick a car! (There’s only one.) Pick whether you want wheels (not available) or no wheels! Then, it’s off to the races, and all you can do is stay in place, honk, or press Escape to get disqualified! …Yeah, it’s just a quick joke, especially with the build-up to the “race” or how racers honk their horns louder the longer you wait. Silly thing.

And then, of course, judgment gets passed on what you've
made of Heaven based on which folks you've let through.

The Political Compass: Devil’s Labyrinth: A visual novel in which you’re the new hire who must choose whether to send souls to Heaven or to Hell… the latter, with EVISCERATION! The “practice souls” you get are all a bunch of exaggerated stereotypes: The crypto bro, the ultra-rich, the app developer, the reality TV watcher, y’know. Guess the game tries to be comedic, but I didn’t feel like it was particularly funny, and any commentary felt wasted.

for|rest: In this walking simulator, you visit a completely grey, lifeless forest. You can click the mouse button to wave your hand at transparent thorny vines to make them disappear, which causes colors, plants and fauna to reappear in the area. Sometimes, though, a girl may appear instead… can you hear her story? While I appreciate the concept, I think I missed out on the ending because at some point I could no longer find any vines to erase, and so I was seemingly stuck. It’s a good and meaningful idea presented in a very artistic (if low-poly) manner.

All things you can do with ropes and little spheres.
Hey, that's creative!

Il filo conduttore: Italian for “the common thread”. In this experience, all you can do involves strings and little balls. Activate things, make music, see what odd interactions happen. Every scene is something different. You could be excused for thinking most of this was done with live-action objects. Nice little thing, good for at least one playthrough.

Otherside: Is supposed to be a trippy, puzzle-based experience with psychedelic visuals (the page describes it as Myst meets the ending of 2001: A Space Odyssey), but I tried playing it thrice and each time, I either got stuck because puzzles were unclear, or a new screen just failed to load (with no way to leave using, say, the Esc key). Ain’t trying it again, nope. Hard pass.

Not sure what this machine is supposed to be, but...
it's all very ominous.

please: A horror/environmental storytelling game in which you are the repairman in a building in an odd… place and setting, is the best I can say. You’re asked to “please” repair stuff downstairs, always machinery that's left unexplained. We never quite know what’s going on, but we do hear sounds by the doors, and we’re left wondering. The ending doesn’t help either, mking things even more ambiguous. Sound design’s great here, graphics are low-res 3D but work great for the desired effect. Recommended!

Conversations With My Anxiety: A visual novel in which the player is on their first date with a woman named Gina, and the date isn’t going entirely as planned; thus, the player’s anxiety butts in to make things more difficult, especially to weigh in on what’s going on. You always have the option to let anxiety win, but there are different bits of text to read depending on which option you select. Accurate depiction of living with anxiety. I bet there’s quite a few possible endings, too. Do check that one, I liked it.

I'm too honest, my response would be "it's a first date, of
course I am." But I'd still have hope the date goes well.

Self-care

Take your time - I know I'll need some time myself to
write down what I want to leave behind.

little boats of farewell: A point-and-click story in which a ghost participates in the ritual of leaving paper boats to float down the river at the end of the year with what the memories they want to leave behind. Along the way, you can talk to the others there, hear what they’re willingly forgetting on the dawn of the new year. You can even pick things off the ground to decorate your boat. At the end, once you’re ready to let your paper boat go, you’re encouraged to write down your own message. Feels therapeutic. For a 10-minute game, this touched me more than I thought it would.

Social reach

A HerpWitch and their weird little critter.
No matter which one it will end up being.

To Be A HerpWitch: A riff on Pokémon created for a Nonbinary Game Jam, you play a nonbinary character who dreams of becoming a HerpWitch, AKA a trainer of Familizards. They are first seen dreaming of the classic “boy or girl?” question from early Pokémon, choosing neither. They get ready for work, then head out. They weren’t set to get their own Familizard, but an unlikely twist of fate leads to them getting one regardless. It’s cute, and I get that it’s short because it was for a game jam, but it does leave one wishing there was more.

down.: Self-described as “a short, somber atmospheric experience about depression, anxiety and the inability to forgive oneself”, this game is just the character walking towards the right and finding notes from her own mind that belittle her and push her to suicide. …I get the point, dealing with those thoughts is rough, but there's almost nothing to gameplay, nothing to interact with, so it feels otherwise uninspired. Maybe don’t play that one if you’re already struggling on that front.

Misophonia is decreased tolerance to certain sounds or what
causes them, hence why the character is struggling to
get past someone blowing their nose.

Escort Yourself Out: An autobiographical game about suffering from eating disorders, anxiety attacks, misophonia, and other trauma-born issues, and learning to live with them. The author made this game for a university thesis, and most of the game is a discussion on her part about how these issues affect her day-to-day life and her studies. The more game-like portions are the author escorting her younger self across a busy store, and you hold down a key to offer comforting words to help her get through all these encounters.

Plain games

Beat that evil witch! You can do it! Good boys!
You're gonna get treats if you win!

Dogs Throwing Swords II: Three Barks To The Wind: A shmup with a clever concept. Three dogs are chosen to fight the witch that has corrupted the woods and the desert. Each dog has a type of attack, the three go through the stage as a group, and you can change their position with Left-shift or their order with Left-Ctrl. Each doggo has their own health, which depletes when they’re hit specifically. Two worlds of two levels each, and two boss fights. With its 16-bit look, this game is adorable. And fun, too! Makes me wish there was more of it.

Bunflower: A Game Boy Color-style game in which your player bunny must collect three pieces of food (namely, plants) before a blizzard hits. You obtain them by helping people around bunny town. It’s super easy, but neat and just the kind of game you could give a kid that’s starting their journey in gaming.

Well, I need food! Just watch me, I'll be back
before the storm. Promise!

Filing this one under "disappointments". Might have
enjoyed, if it didn't bazoo-krash constantly.

Bazookrash: ACAB, am I right? Morlando the bear wants to sleep, but the damn sirens in the distance keep him up. Time to grab the firearms and unleash Hell on the night noise. First-person shooter, aim for the pink cars, leave the civilian blue ones alone. You have a rifle, a gauss and a bazooka. Decent idea and concept, it could have been fun, but the damn thing kept crashing on me.

Stophat: You play as a rich jerk’s hat and must try to land on your owner’s head as many times as possible, though he will start moving to avoid you. A and D to move left and right, S to descend. As another quickly-made GameJam entry, this is as basic as it gets, but… yeah, feels rather meh.

It's got the basics, so there could be a larger game
in the same genre made by the same person someday.

Gigabit: In this 2.5D platformer made in 16 days for a Halloween game jam, you play as a little robot who has to get through six stages with Halloween theming. Each time the robot hits the floor or a wall, little debris come flying out. If you get stuck, hit R to restart the level. Move with A/D or the arrows, jump with W, Up or Space. While enjoyable, it does feel like someone’s first attempt at 2.5D platforming, as some platforms aren’t defined well and there are slight issues with lighting that make some threats hard to spot. But it’s a commendable product, especially if made in this short a timeframe.

INDECT: A platform game about a cyberpunk future. Or, rather, a demo for such a game, as it only contains a tutorial and two levels, the second of which already ramps up the difficulty. Your character can move with the arrows, jump with Space and shoot with alt. Not a lot to get immersed, though it looks promising. Notably, in the second level, new enemies appear when backtracking over a path that didn’t have them before. Unfortunately, the project is on hiatus.

Nigel: A game that homages Nigel the gannet, a real bird with quite the history. You play as Nigel, who becomes a matchmaker for the couples of animals on Mana Island, solving simple puzzles to make them meet. After solving all the puzzles, Nigel gets to pick a partner of his own... a concrete bird statue. Very easy to finish, but it’s the thought that counts.

Now, how to get the two kiwis together...
Kiwi! Kiwi, c'm'ere! There's another kiwi for you!

She's gonna have her step count through the roof
once this night is over.

Night in the Storm: Help Vera the lighthouse keeper seagull through the night in a very faulty lighthouse. Gotta keep the boats safe! Close the window so the bottom floor won’t flood and short-circuit the generator, change the lightbulb every time one burns out, and repair the engine that rotates the light when it also stops. It’s a stressful stormy night! This one is fun, and I thought it was a good thing that you could zoom out to see the whole place at once to keep track of what you must work on. Great-looking sprite art, too.

We're so devoted to the job, we'll even try selling to your dog!

This Call May Be Recorded: You’re a new telemarketer/scam caller annoying people over the phone. Gameplay is split in two parts. The first part has you click the “Stop” button and trying to land into the blue areas over a green bar. The more successful hits you get, the more annoying your pitch is to the person called. They respond with spite, and the second part has you blocking the words from your ears by clicking where they’re coming from: Up, down, left or right. Five callees, with an increasing difficulty level. The last one is GREAT. Loved that game.

A spider in the bathroom. Someone sampling the
wines for free. The homeless guy at the door.
Truly, even for monsters, retail is Hell.

Vampire Night Shift: Designed to also work on Game Boy emulators. You play a vampire who works a night shift at a store. Help the rude customers, stock the shelves, and deal with other supernatural events. Your boss tells you early on to do everything to avoid getting fired, but that never comes up again, as far as I know – though I do suspect some events can happen differently based on your actions. Fun one, I liked it. I love the GB aesthetic, it’s cozy nostalgia.

Akuto: Showdown (formerly, Akuto: Mad World): An isometric multiplayer game (with extra options for single player) where your character must kill every other character in the arena. You can move in eight directions, throw your sword at opponents and NPC enemies alike, try to kill more than you get killed. There seems to be a whole bunch of different environments to fight in, and hazards to encounter, but I lost interest real fast when the NPC and hazards turned out too good against the player.

There's chonk, then there's C H O N K.

Fat Bear Week: A bear awakens for the yearly bingeing before going back to sleep. The bear starts off normal, but after eating enough it’ll turn round and roll around the stage to eat, then keep growing as it eats more. Each stage has a special flower hidden in it, and keeps track of how many of each kind of edible item you caught. There are five bears available, the last of which is unlocked only by eating everything in each of the three stages. This is harmless and easy enough, and I could see this as a quick game for younger kids.

Laser Paddles: Pong, with powerups and lasers! And by lasers, I mean it; the CPU paddle is programmed to shoot as soon as it can, tearing holes into yours. There are lots of powerups on the screen, and those cause balls to bounce around the screen with various effects. There are multiple balls, but all that matters is which side the last ball gets through. Tons of modes that switch up gameplay, possibility for multiplayer, etc. It’s not my cup of tea, but it’s exactly what it set out to do, so it’s fine.

This game gets hard fast, AND both the bounce mechanics
and hitboxes are kinda wonky. Nothing to help our pumpkin...

Pumpking: A platformer in which you control a pumpkin along a lengthy continuous stage still split into levels for simplicity. Stomp on opponents, or jump even higher by bouncing on their heads; collect coins, extra hearts, and later down the line, look for keys to unlock the path going down. Nothing too groundbreaking, just a decent quick thing with a Halloween theme. Though I did think the bouncing ability was hit or miss, and that some sections were a little cheap here and there.

And... that's all for now! Might not seem like much, but over three articles, I covered exactly 80 games. Proper long reviews will be coming up soon!

Exploring The itch.io Collection #2

I've already got three articles' worth of stuff from itch.io, so you know what, I think I'll get through them right away. Still very short games here, all requiring under 10 minutes to finish.

Experiences

One of my biggest issues with these itch.io articles, right
now, is how I keep having the reflex to say these games
are short. They still take under 10 minutes to finish
at the moment!

Good Morning Hon: A game that I believe was made on RPG Maker. The story of Ash, who lives in her apartment with her fiancée Eve. That morning, she cannot shake the feeling after getting up that something’s not quite right. Sweet, yet with a devastating twist. “Why do I feel like I’m forgetting something?”

Homing: A 3D game about how carrier pigeons always find their destination. The letter being sent is recited as we follow a pigeon on its journey towards the letter’s recipient. You can control the pigeon to fly left and right, but once you let go it will always course correct towards the goal. You can get new bits of text based on which blue buildings you fly over. Clever!

It may be low-poly, but it's still looking nice.

HubWorld: In first-person view, you travel around four hub “worlds” (hence the title) while accompanied by vaporwave-ish music. The worlds are dubbed Island, Forest, World and Sky, and moving around is all you can do. Want to see the next level? Just left-click, and you’re there. The game ends after the fourth level. This one kind of hurt my eyes after a moment, and the lack of interactivity with anything meant I didn’t feel a need to spend much time playing it.

This one is a classic, for a good reason!

The Majesty of Colors: I loved this one! You play as someone’s dream, in which they were one giant underwater creature with three eyes. You control its lone tentacle, and it becomes aware of the human world after grabbing a balloon. From there, you can choose to befriend humans, rescue people or toss fish into fishermen’s boats. Or you can be hostile, kill people by dragging them underwater, and see the armed response with bombs and torpedoes. I’m told this is a remake of a classic web game? This one has five possible endings depending on your choices, so although it can be finished in five minutes, there’s enough to discover by replaying and trying different avenues to make it worth coming back to.

I spot a light in the distance. Must be relevant.

What Happened To Survey Team 4?: A walking simulator in which your character is investigating the disappearance of a team in the wilderness. All you can do is follow the path. Occasionally, you can find data cards with text from those you’re looking for, or glowing balls that you (ironically) can’t use to light the way as the night falls. This game has a horror vibe to it and offers good ambiance. For a game allegedly made in less than a day’s worth of time, it’s not bad, but it is a little empty.

Equaboreal 12.21: Set at the Winter Solstice in a world of sentient plants (that somehow wear clothes… don’t ask), the village is worried as a coming shipment of light, their main source of nutrients, has gotten lost in the woods. Basic controls moving around, not a ton of gameplay to be had. Putting aside the slightly absurd tone, the story didn’t feel all that interesting. Still, its creator likes the project enough to have made additional chapters.

Self-care

Yeah, just a "look out the window while listening to
vaporwave" simulator.

…might just ditch this category if I fail to find enough games for it, and add it to Social reach instead.

VIRTUA BLINDS: Blinds simulator. Not blindness; blinds. Watch the skies change as the day comes and goes outside, turn on the lamp, get rid of the clutter of post-it notes on the desk, turn on the TV and its vaporwave music, and relax. That’s all. Not much else to it. It can be soothing, but chances are that unless you’re big on vaporwave you won’t give this one much of a chance beyond 5, maybe 10 minutes.

Social reach

Well, Mrs. Goldman, I didn't expect to meet you
at this point in time!

Conversations with Emma: Your character encounters in Toronto the ghost of Emma Goldman, a famous anarchist who conducted leftist activities in the U.S. The conversation veers into the issues of modern hyper-capitalism and how bad things have gotten. Despite having parts with apparent choices, none lead to different results, so I think that was a bit of a missed opportunity. Hey, at least it spreads awareness of a historical figure that’s seldom mentioned otherwise.

falling is not the same as dying: A story told through text about the struggles of being a Chinese teenaged girl who's into girls, presented from the point of view of that character, a student playing tennis at PE class. Particularly brutal is the commentary on the preference for parents to have boys rather than girls in Chinese culture, and the impacts of growing up as a girl with that baggage – even if said girl isn’t even growing up in China. That's before even factoring in the LGBTQ aspect.

In My Friend Carrie’s Car: A text-based game in which the protagonist is reflecting on her life dealing with eating disorders, OCD and depression, and how they affected her life through school and until now. You make choices by pressing the key of the first letter of the choice you want; you can “stay in the car”, or you can divert towards other thoughts to learn the full story. This one does hit, it shows the impacts of those issues, and some of the ways in which they impact life.

Shut up, anxiety!

1365: Made at the end of its creator’s time through high school, with the title reflecting the number of days spent in high school. And how a struggle with mental illnesses – mainly overbearing anxiety, which ends up working as a vessel for other issues such as dysmorphia, depression and suicidal ideation – made it a particularly tough couple years for them. It’s a tough subject, but the integration of mechanics into the story, such as being able to keep going even after what only looks like a Game Over, is especially clever.

Okay, Nic... try to think of a funny joke... no... not that...
fuck, that one's too dark... oh Hell no... neither... ...Nope,
every joke I wanna make will reference real-life events
and I'll hate myself for making it.

The Night Fisherman: This could be just a narrative, but considering all that’s going on right now, it feels so much more fitting here. The only controls are the mouse to go through dialogue, and the left/right arrows to change the camera angle. On English waters, you play the eponymous character, who is accosted by a shadowy boat led by someone in search of migrants passing the frontier in hiding. Unfortunately, your boat hides one such migrant under the tarp, a young child. And your choice inevitably boils down to handing the kid over to that racist monster, or keep protecting the child and get murdered for it. nICE. Very nICE. It’s tense, it’s scary, and… well, right now, it will hit really damn close to home for many people.

Plain games

And the end result is pretty, too!

Central Limit Theorem: A shmup in which you control the circle at the center of the screen. Enemies come from the edges, in three different patterns. Learn the pattern and shoot fast to beat them? Oh, it’s not so simple. Each enemy leaves a color trail behind them. If an enemy weaves through that trail, it learns that other enemy’s pattern. The challenge turns into fighting enemies that constantly evolve the longer you play. I got all the way to 55 kills, not bad for my first time. Very clever idea, though I don’t know if it could ever be expanded into something larger.

Looks cool, and I don't say that just because of the field
of ice we seem to be driving on.

Derpy Deep Drive: Drive your bus as far as possible into an endless(?) field of ice with obstacles. Everything is done with the mouse – both driving the bus and controlling the camera. When you hit an obstacle, you lose health, which is regained by driving without hitting anything. The further you go, the more common obstacles become. How far can you get? I got to 2,200m. This could make a fun minigame in a larger product.

Falling Skies: Feels like somebody’s first shmup. You control your ship, destroy enemy vessels gather power-ups, get better, go through an asteroid field, then beat up the boss. All over five levels, the total of which can be beaten in under 10 minutes. It’s not reinventing anything or being super creative, but it’s just fine for a quick shmup pick-me-up.

LAZA KNITEZ!!: A game that’s more interesting for its context than for its content. Play alone or with up to three friends, and control a knight in space that shoots lasers from its spear. Kill the other knights by shooting at or ramming into them. Solo Mode calculates your number of kills, while multiplayer is more about depleting every other knight’s health bar until only the winner stands. It’s fine as far as minigames go. Just don’t buy it at its current 100$ price tag (see link as to WHY it’s now at that price).

Dunno how to describe the look of that game/animation,
but I do know I like it.

Out The Window: a car trip sim: A game about a child watching the world through the window of a car. You have an “imaginary friend” which you make jump over obstacles. If you get a good score by keeping a streak going, you earn tokens, which can be spent on snacks in gas stations. It looks cute, and dips into that odd, shared experience we’ve all had as kids imagining stuff in the world outside during long trips. This one’s sweet.

No doggo shall escape my petting hand!!

Pet The Pup At The Party: Your social batteries are running dry so you fall back on your old tricks of seeking the nearest dog and petting it instead of doing small talk. You explore the procedurally generated houses, looking for the good boi or good girl. You can look for little “Arf”s on the screen or listen to guess where those sounds are coming from. You start with a 2-minute timer that replenishes by 30 seconds at each puppy petted. There are more than 52 dogs to meet! I liked that one, it’s got a very funny tone and it’s quite challenging if you get lost easily!

Guppy: Play as a little guppy looking for flies to eat. You don’t have a ton of control in your motions, alternating between the Left and Right keys (or A and D) to move around. Find flies and eat them, then hide from predators. Repeat, go for a high score. This game looks relaxing but gets quite tense at moments. I think there may also be a few secrets and scenes to look for.

Making a moon was easier than I thought. Just a click.
Also, wow, that'Ms a funky planet.

Petty Puny Planet: Play God! Here’s a brand-new planet, now add something new to it. After every decision, you rest for 100 years. How does the world change on each cycle? Do you lead them its inhabitants to wealth? Do you advance them to the point of leaving? Do you lose them all to natural disasters? Or do you take a fantastic twist to things, ending into a Lord of the Rings-style world at best, a zombie apocalypse at worst? So many possible endings. This one was fun!

The crowd is growing, better not disappoint all these
folks. Just focus! ...if the game lets you.

Stage Fright: An odd mix of rhythm and horror, you play the piano in front of an audience, using the S/D/F and J/K/L keys. However, your character is dealing with intense performance panic, and so your playthrough of each song (there’s only 4) will change depending on how well you perform. Doing badly? The screen will blur or flip upside-down. At its worst, you can expect a jump scare. But if you do well, you may see your audience in the room grow. Decent idea on paper, but the screen effects make it harder to learn a song you may already be struggling with, not to mention you need great coordination and an eye on both sides of the screen. No way to tell which notes are to be hit at the same time, either.

Stealth Fishing: You’re fishing in a marine theme park tank to rescue fish. The owners, obviously, don’t want you there. Steer the boat left and right with Z/X, control your hook with the arrows. A hooked fish will fight as you pull it up; you can let go of a fish by pressing Space. You can’t let your boat or hook be spotted by the searchlights – instant game over! You get points for staying alive, 10 for fishing out coins, and 25 or 50 for a fish. Can you survive all the way to 1000 points? It’s gonna be tough.

Stay tuned, there's one more of these coming up next Friday as buffer while I work on actual, larger reviews.