#first metroidvania i've ever finished

[transgender-battlekukku]

I've finished playing Tails Adventure here's what i drew while playing

[itsbenedict]

Games I Played In 2023 And Whether Or Not I Thought They Were Good (Part 3/4)

Well, it's 2024 now, and I'm still at these mini-reviews. Definitely gonna be four parts, I think.

[1] - [2] - 3 - [4]

Pikmin 4

I've already posted my thoughts about this one, but... I think this one's my game of the year. Tunic or Disco Elysium would have it, except they didn't come out this year- which leaves Pikmin 4, which is just such a tour de force of good interaction design. There's so many QoL improvements and bits of time-saving polish in it- I can't remember the last time I played a game with so few interface frustrations. (And they nailed all the usual good things about Pikmin, too.)

Master Detective Archives: RAIN CODE

Man, this fuckin' thing... so this is the new IP from Kazutaka Kodaka, the Danganronpa guy, who decided he didn't want to keep making Danganronpa games. So obviously the first thing he did was just make another Danganronpa game.

It's mechanically almost identical. A murder happens, you spend some time combing the crime scene for evidence, then you go into an extended deduction segment where you use evidence on contradictions and play tangentially-relevant minigames to break things up. It's very the same thing- you go to the Class Trial Mystery Labyrinth and use Truth Bullets Solution Keys to attack wrong statements in Non-Stop Debate Reasoning Deathmatch, spell the word "knife" in an obnoxious hangman minigame (except this time it's an anime girl striptease), mind-snowboard down multiple-choice quizzes, and even do the exact same fill-in-the-blanks-of-the-comic-pages-to-recap-the-case finale thingy.

This isn't a bad thing, necessarily! (Except the stupid spelling minigame, my beloathed.) Danganronpa's formula works, and (with one egregrious exception in the form of the awful case 3 with the resistance guys) the deduction is all pretty solid. Rain Code falls down where it deviates from that, mainly. The new things it's trying almost universally don't work.

Firstly... it's sort of inverse Danganronpa in that instead of a fairly stupid and contrived setup and ending that don't really matter and bookend some satisfying and dramatic cases in the meat of the game... it's a satisfying and dramatic setup and ending that bookend fairly stupid and contrived murder cases that don't really matter in the meat of the game. Rather than having a core cast that develops and interacts throughout the story, the core cast (really bad, incidentally; Halara is the only good character, and the obligatory comedy pervert boy is the worst he's ever been in any Kodaka work) is totally ancillary, and all the cases involve random sometimes-nameless NPCs introduced specifically for that case. You could cut the first four chapters of the game and leave just the prologue and finale, and you'd have a better game. The central plot mystery is actually really cool! Shame you have to faff about with Junko Enoshima Shinigami for four boring cases in between.

Special shout-out to the mini-mystery sidequests the game is crammed with for you to do between cases- they achieve the impressive distinction of not-having-a-single-one-of-them-be-interesting. If you play this game, skip them entirely- the only reward is EXP to spend on a thoroughly useless skill tree.

Ori and the Blind Forest

Already posted about this, so I'll just copy-paste what I said when I finished it- it's a very polished and enjoyable little metroidvania! I kind of love how saving the game is an anytime action you cast with mana like any other spell, that’s a fun little gimmick- and the “bash” power that lets you use enemy projectiles like boost pads is so fun. The story’s very simple and straightforward but accomplishes what it set out to do, with a very effective final moment, emotionally speaking. Not a game that’s going to really stick in my brain for longer than a couple hours after finishing it (e: yeah nope I'd have forgotten I played it if I hadn't been keeping a record), but very pretty and very pleasant.

(Except those godawful instakill gauntlet escape-the-dungeon sections, oof, those are overlong and so pointlessly mean. Why the hell would you give the encroaching wall of instant death rubberbanding so no matter how fast you go, you never win any breathing room and you’re never more than one slipup away from having to restart the damn thing?)

Raft

I posted about this one a couple years back:

It’s a survival-crafting game like so many others, except instead of a big empty asset flip wilderness, you’re on a raft drifting through the wreckage of an apocalyptic flood that destroyed civilization. The basic loop of “reel in trash” -> “expand raft” is pretty satisfying, and the islands you can visit to progress the story have some pretty fun things going on. I’m waiting to play it in a group with some friends before I finish it.

and I finally got a chance to do that this year. I get the feeling it would've been substantially more annoying solo, since the engine and fuel logistics that become necessary lategame are so complicated and time-consuming, and the later islands are gigantic and want you to pick up like a dozen tiny collectibles scattered across them.

Then again, maybe it would've been substantially less annoying if I didn't have to keep CONSTANTLY CRAFTING BLUE PAINT because SOMEONE thought it'd be FUNNY to keep REPAINTING ALL MY SHIT RED, PYRO

Grounded

Likewise, I got to finish Grounded with a group, too- again copy-pasting my take from when I finished it:

Grounded overall has good voicework and a simple but well-executed story and does a lot with the Honey I Shrunk The Kids concept- but I think it was substantially dragged down by all the gear crafting nonsense, grinding for parts to upgrade the best armor sets that have slightly bigger numbers so you can survive hits from bigger bugs. Subtract all the pointless crafting of globs and plating and whetstones for marginal stat bonuses and just balance the game around the base weapons and armor, and you’ve got a much tighter experience, I think.

Also- small thing with an outsized impact- the base-building element is fun, but building a new base requires a specific array of crafting materials that just aren’t available in most regions of the yard (egregiously, acorns, which seem to find their way into every crafting recipe but only exist at the oak tree.) Building materials for anything except grass/weed bases are way too scarce (and necessary for other things) to have much fun building bases in remote parts of the yard, where earlygame starting resources (nonetheless fundamental to building anything) are harder to find.

Also dandelions shouldn’t take up the one accessory slot and thereby make all other accessories mostly unusable because they implicitly come at the cost of You Die If You Fall Off Stuff, in a game with a ton of verticality. They’re so indispensable that they basically lock off all the most unique rewards in the game.

There’s a lot to praise (Wendell Tully is a very fun character, the setpieces are super cool, the way a little backyard becomes a world of adventure is the core concept and does a lot of heavy lifting) but it’s a game that’s weirdly choked by a handful of very small nuts-and-bolts game-design-level decisions that seem to have been made thoughtlessly and could’ve been easily fixed. Mixed feelings, overall positive.

Pokemon Too Many Types

It's a Pokemon Emerald mod that does three main things:

Randomizes the parties of non-gym NPC trainers

Allows you to see the summary page of enemy pokemon

Adds a shitton of extra types to the game, and retypes a bunch of pokemon (including extra mon from up through gen 8) and moves to use those new types- often giving pokemon three types at once.

It is... fucking wild. And one thing I didn't realize I was missing from Pokémon in general is... not already having the types and type chart memorized introduces this fun element of guesswork, trying to determine what types are probably weak to other types. Do we think "Furry" is weak to "Gender"? What happens if you hit "Crab" with "Guys"? Was that "Angy"-type attack super-effective against "Baby", or "Gun"? It's hilarious and injects a lot of life into an old game.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder

Just managed to finish 100%ing this one December 31st. It's... uh, it's a 2D Mario game. People are freaking out about it because the art style is slightly different, but it's really just a 2D Mario game. Nothing to write home about. It's got this gimmick where each level has a hidden "Wonder Flower" that makes the level into something crazy and wacky, but it's really nothing that couldn't have just been... its own normal level in a different 2D Mario game. Like, they hold back on the level designs so they can hype them up when you get the flower. Some of them are cool but mostly they're just standard fare.

The main thing of note is that this game has a badge system, where you can equip one of a selection of unlosable powerups for each level, which can sometimes break the game wide open. Maybe you get an extra wall jump, or you can use your hat to glide, or you start each level full-size, or... well, none of them are as good as the one that just straight-up gives you a double jump, so it hardly matters in the end.

(Also, all my hate for that fucking super-duper secret special double-final bonus level where it keeps switching up what badge you're using. Why would you make the final segment the one where you have the invisibility badge on so you have no feedback on how exactly you fucked up and died?! You can't get better at it with practice, because you never have any idea what you did wrong! You just have to get lucky!!!)

Cuisineer

Another one I have a more in-depth post on- it's a roguelike action game crossed with an arcadey restaurant sim game, which I have mixed feelings on. It's very visually polished, and if you use the right weapon and approach it the right way the combat is pretty fun, but its level design and upgrade economy kind of force you into playing it that one specific way. The restaurant management half of it is a lot better than the dungeon-crawling half, IMO.

Cavern of Dreams

This one's a retro-looking N64-style collectathon platformer, and it's just a really nice time. The dragon's various movement abilities feel satisfying, there's all kinds of fun shortcuts and secrets to discover... and it does this cool thing that you wouldn't expect from an N64 game, where items you can pick up in levels can be carried through loading zones and used in other levels. There's just a lot of very clever level design, charming creatures, and good vibes. Not too long, either- I put in about 7 hours. Very cute, very polished, worth a look.

-

Going to finish up these reviews in a bit with a fourth post, which is going to be all the games I played but didn't finish.

[1] - [2] - 3 - [4]

[canadiancryptid]

So, I did a poll like a month ago seeing if people wanted to know a little more about me, and then I forgot to actually do anything with it. Completely forgot what sort of things I was going to say but I have a couple things here.

9 People I'd Like to Know Better Game!

@msbadatnamingthings tagged me in a "get to know you better" game like 2 months ago that I kind forgot about. I had a few questions answered and then it just kinda got lost to the void of my drafts pile like so many other things. Sorry about that, but I'm remembering now!

last song: Deltarune the (not) Musical - The Field of Hopes and Dreams

favorite color: purple

last movie/last tv show: just finished The Ghost and Molly McGee :(

sweet/spicy/savory: savory

relationship status: single

last thing i googled: I think it was something about how the education system works in Minnesota. Trying to work on a fic around a certain character. Probably not hard to guess which one.

current obsession: Infinity Train never went away and likely never will, but I've recently been obsessing over Deltarune again

I also got a couple questions on the original poll from @keliana856! Finally getting to them! Whoo!

1: Lake and the entire concept of the Mirror World. The entire concept is so interesting to me, and I feel like it really doesn't get talked about enough. We get the basic premise of how it works in Book 1, but other than that, most of it is left unexplained. We learn some more from Lake when she's talking to the Flecs and answering some of Jesse's questions, but that's about it. We don't even know if the existence of the Mirror World is connected to the Train or not. Its such a cool concept and I love thinking about it.

Lake is my favorite character in the whole show, BY FAR. Her story is amazing, her dynamic with Jesse is incredible, and her introduction and entire first episode were one of the best things I've ever watched. I love thinking about her complicated relationship with Tulip and what might happen if they ever saw each other again. The finale of Book 2 was the first show that made me immediately want to go on Ao3 just to see more of her adapting to life on Earth. I already loved the show, but Lake and her story were what cemented it as my favorite show.

2: I've always been a fan of the supernatural. Fantasy, Modern Fantasy, mythology, and to some extent Sci-fi. (Still love it, just think I generally prefer the other stuff) It's a lot of fun to think about and see explored in fiction. I was a huge fan of mythology and Rick Riordan's books as a kid, so seeing Percy Jackson being adapted into a show has been AMAZING. The movies were frankly terrible, but that's a rant on its own. Outside of that, I like stories with a mystery to solve and twists that you COULD have seen coming with what was provided but probably didn't. It's fun seeing how communities can come together to find secrets and discuss things. Found Family is another one of my favorite themes. Not sure I need much of an explanation there. It's just an amazing trope to see.

When it comes to video games, I love RPGs, metroidvanias, platformers and puzzle games. I play a lot of different types of games, but those are my favorites. I don't talk about it much on here, but I'm a programmer. I'm still learning, but making games is my DREAM. There are so many ways to tell a story through the medium that you can't get anywhere else. The interactive nature of a game allows for so much exploration of the characters and world at large, and I love it. Rather than just watching the story play out on screen, you get to be a part of it. I love games that get a little meta. Games that make the player a part of the story like Oneshot, Deltarune and Undertale. I like games that take the established mechanics of a game and make it a part of the world. Underhero is a game that does this well. Pretty much every part of the game has some in-universe explanation as you progress through the amazing story. The game is incredibly underrated; I highly recommend it.

So, yeah. When it comes to games, I love stories that embrace their nature as a game and make it a part of the world. Video games are truly unique among storytelling mediums, and I love seeing it used as such. You don't really see any other mediums doing things like that, but it's always cool to see.

In no particular order, some of my favorite stories recently have been: Infinity Train, The Owl House, Steven Universe, Gwenpool, Nimona, Spy x Family, Spiderverse, Fionna and Cake, Oneshot, Undertale, Deltarune, Underhero, Epithet Erased, and the Percy Jackson series as a whole.

I think that's it for now. If anyone has anything else they'd like to hear me talk about, my ask box is always open!

[transgirl-gaming-thoughts]

My Favorite 3DS Downloads Before the eShop Closes

If you follow Nintendo news, you've most likely already heard that the 3DS and WiiU eShops will be closing by the end of March 2023, and if you're anything like me, you're making a list of games to buy before the eShop goes out of business. Sadly, a lot of great exclusive games (and a truckload of shovel-ware) will be lost forever. Here's some downloadable games I've bought before they're never available on the console again!

5: 3D Sonic the Hedgehog / 3D Sonic the Hedgehog 2 ($6 each) Sonic the Hedgehog is a classic; no one can deny this. While many people look at the original 16-bit games with love and adoration, many also look at it with a critical lens. It's true that the first three games & Knuckles haven't aged entirely gracefully, but they're still amazing games, and the Sega 3D series is here to help you relive them in all their glory! Developed by M3, these games are native 3DS ports of Sonic 1 and 2 from the Sega Mega Drive, support emulator options such as save states to save your progress, but also lots of special options like choosing between the Japanese and US releases (always always play the Japanese version btw); choosing whether the stereoscopic 3D pops out of the screen, or falls in; or, my personal favorite, turning on/off the "special" mode which features a level select and the ever-famous Spin Dash. That's right; Spin Dash natively in Sonic 1. 3D Sonic 2 features much the same, except the Spin Dash is already there, so it's basically just level select, but it also features a "Ring Keeper" mode that allows to start an act with 10 rings if you finished the last act with 10+ rings. Unfortunately, M3 never got to Sonic 3 & Knuckles, so you'll have to go elsewhere for that masterpiece. These two games are fantastic, and my favorite way to play Sonic's first adventures on the go.

4: Rhythm Heaven Megamix ($30) This is one I haven't gotten around to playing for myself, however, I've been working through Rhythm Tengoku on the GBA, and Rhythm Heaven on the DS. I absolutely love the Rhythm Heaven series! I've never been good at rhythm games, but Rhythm Heaven makes it so accessible! Megamix features returning games from past titles alongside new games. If you're a fan of rhythm games, pick up this one for your 3DS!

3: Cave Story ($10) Cave Story is a classic Metroidvania originally developed for PC. It's recieved numerous re-releases, fan ports, translations, etc. Most people will probably tell you to get Cave Story+ for Switch or PC. While that version looks amazing, I would highly recommend the eShop version of the game. It's a unique combination of the original gameplay/artwork, but also introduces some of the updates from things like Cave Story 3D and Cave Story+. It's actually listed on the Cave Story Wiki its own unique version! Cave Story is an incredible game, and the 3DS eShop version is my favorite way to play it handheld.

2: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Spirit of Justice / Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Duel Destinies ($30 ea.) The Ace Attorney series is by far one of the most popular visual novels ever. Originally released on the Gameboy Advance in Japan, and on the DS internationally, these games have spawned a series of 6 total games in the main series. The last two games in that series are Duel Destinies and Spirit of Justice. As an Ace Attorney fan, it would have crushed me if I couldn't get these after the eShop closes. As of June 2022, these games are exclusive to the 3DS eShop, with no known plans to port/re-release them on any other platform. If you're a fan of the Ace Attorney series, you are in desperate need of purchasing these games before they're gone.

Honorable Mentions These next two items don't exactly fit the criteria of a "game recommendation", but I felt it was right to mention them here nevertheless.

First, DSiWare. The DSi was ground-breaking, as it featured Internet access for the first time on a Nintendo handheld. When the DSi released, there was also a series of software released exclusively to be downloaded from the DSi Shop called DSiWare. Some DSiWare games are still well-known, like Shantae: Risky's Revenge and Wario Ware: Snapped. Some of the games were actually ports of mobile games, like Plants vs. Zombies and Cut the Rope. Regardless, DSiWare is available on the 3DS eShop, given second life on the newer handheld. However, these are going away for the second time when the 3DS eShop closes, this time for good. If there's any DSiWare you're even remotely interested in, now's your time.

Second, Virtual Console. The Nintendo Virtual Console series started on the Wii, but continued on the 3DS. Essentially, it's individually emulated retro games. There's games from the NES, SNES, Gameboy, Gameboy Color, Sega Game Gear, even the TurboGrafx-16! There's a lot to be gained here, and for some gamers, it's the only viable way to emulate SNES on a handheld. If you're interested in retro games, then for the love of Arceus, get some Virtual Consoles!!!

Alright, enough honorable mentions. Onto the top spot on my list...

1: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy ($30) That's right, another Ace Attorney game. Only this time, it's three! The Ace Attorney Trilogy is a compilation of the three original Ace Attorney games from the DS, this time featuring stereoscopic 3D! For the most part, you're just saving money on three individual DS cartridges, but there are some little changes, for example the writing of Case 5 in the first game was edited to make it flow better with the over-arching story of the Ace Attorney series. While yes, this same Trilogy is available on all new-generation consoles and Steam, the 3DS eShop version is the only way to experience it in the original DS format. It was a big deal for gaming at the time, and I just don't think it's the same to play it on one screen (which sounds weird reading that out loud to myself). If you get the chance, I highly recommend getting this on 3DS, even if you later buy it on a new-gen console.

And that's it! What did you think of my picks? Do you agree or disagree? Would you have recommended anything different? Let me know in an ask on my blog!

Thanks for reading! The DS and 3DS hold some great memories for a lot of us, and I hope we can continue to hold onto that experience, even when the eShop closes. It really feels like the end of an era. I hope everyone gets a chance to pick up all the games they're after before the deadline gets here! For now, have fun, stay hydrated, do what you love, and God bless!

~Alex

[veebs-hates-video-games]

I'm not entirely sure what to say about Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow. It's good?

I first attempted to play it forever ago, but I only made it like 70% of the way through. I never had a GBA or anything else I could play GBA games on, but my ex had gotten me a Dingoo. Picture basically a GBA Micro, except with four face buttons and an SD card slot, and also it had emulators for basically every 2D platform from the NES through the GBA (and there was a third-party PS1 emulator you could install that worked ok with a decent number of games too).

It worked pretty well for most stuff I played on there, and it seemed to be going perfectly with Aria of Sorrow too, but I eventually managed to get it stuck in a weird state where no matter what I did it would crash ~30 seconds after loading my save. I never could figure out why or how to fix it, and I just kind of gave up after a while and never touched it again even though it had been a lot of fun.

And then finally a couple years ago Konami took a break from releasing shitty low budget spinoffs of formerly good series and making pachinko machines and put out the Castlevania Advance Collection, and then finally more recently the Switch version was on sale when I wasn't in the middle of a bunch of other stuff and felt up to playing through the entire game again.

It's still one of my favorite metroidvanias (and definitely my favorite Castlevania) up there with stuff like Super Metroid, and it holds up pretty well. I did a 100% souls run and had a good time with it. I know I've complained multiple times recently about Squenix trying and kinda failing with their attempts at proper real time combat that actually feels good in stuff like Harvestella and NEO: TWEWY, but here's this GBA game from like 20 years earlier running on a potato that feels tight and crisp and has good feedback on stuff.

I can tell something does that stuff well when I start picking up on things like noticing you can cancel out of the recovery lag from attacks if your attack is a few frames before you land from a jump, letting you attack again almost immediately. I never figure things like that out when they're so mushy that it's not obvious or hardly makes a difference.

And of course the pixel art still looks good and the music is still fun, and the writing is obviously still complete nonsense just like it's always been in Castlevania games. I probably won't ever get around to the other ones in the collection, but this one is still definitely worth it after all these years.

And just to show how far behind I get on making these posts sometimes, I screenshotted that when I saw it on Steam because it was almost the same day that I got it, and I saved it as a reminder to poke @ion-somnia about it because it was a funny coincidence and I hadn't in a while. And then obviously I didn't, and then even more time passed after I finished the game before getting around to this, so I'm totally doing great at doing all sorts of things before I half/completely forget about them, which is really useful when I try to write these posts so I can remember later what I thought about things when someone asks me. Might work better if I remembered to write them before I forget playing them...

Oh also the fake out intro for the Balore boss fight is too good:

[thrilly23]

Games Complete 6 + 7

Two more games complete, here they are...

Game Complete #6: Children of Morta

Rogue-lite, and the first one I think I've ever finished. I've played a few over the years, and at some point I always lose interest before getting to the credits. That was different with Children of Morta. Here, I didn't feel like every run was the same but with different equipment. Here, a story is being told as your progress further. Not the greatest, but still one worth the while. I've played most of this of the final months of 2022, but returned to it recently to finish it. Great game overall, highly recommend it.

Game Complete #7: Castlevania Harmony of Dissonance

The Castlevania Advance Collection has been one of my best purchases. I've been addicted to this second game as much as I have been to the first. This was a bit harder in some parts since the game doesn't really tell you much if you don't look for it specifically. With that, I've spent a good amount of time being lost, but eventually finding my way back. I really enjoyed the story, the few 'cutscenes' in between, which didn't overstay its due. I did not so much enjoy the timing of getting the items that help you progress. There are few, and I only got one of the coolest ones right before the final boss (whom I didn't enjoy as much as other bosses), so the ending somewhat surprised me. I've still got another game in the collection, as well as some other ones, but I won't get right into the next one. Give it some time, especially since another Metroidvania in "The Last Case of Benedict Fox" is releasing on GamePass in just a week. I might have to continue watching the Netflix series soon, though.

[ponett]

here's all the games I beat in 2021 for those curious. I've been making an effort in recent years to get better about actually finishing games, and this appears to be the most games I've beaten in any year since making my Backloggery account. (although like a third of them are Metroid games because I played(/replayed) basically the whole series ahead of Dread lol)

JANUARY

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Switch)

FEBRUARY

Sackboy: A Big Adventure (people slept on this but it's a solid Mario 3D World-like and the licensed music levels are fun)

Hitman (2016)

MARCH

Streets of Rage 4

Cyber Shadow (I'm glad I stuck with this one because WOW this is a whole different game when you get all the upgrades)

Spark the Electric Jester (had never beaten this despite being a Kickstarter backer and having my name in the credits oops. soundtrack still owns bones)

Alwa's Awakening (100%)

APRIL

Donkey Kong '94

Touhou 8: Imperishable Night (I played several Touhous this year but this is the only one I beat lol. I mean I beat EoSD on easy but I wouldn't count that since it cuts out the last stage)

MAY

Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age - Definitive Edition (FINALLY returned to this after stopping near the end of Act I shortly after it came to Switch. longest game I've ever beaten, and also one of the best RPGs I've ever played)

JUNE

Rivals of Aether

JULY

Metroid: Samus Returns (100%)

Super Metroid (I'd gotten near the end as a teenager but never beaten it, inexplicably)

Metroid Fusion (ditto)

Metroid Zero Mission (I'd beaten this one before though)

Metroid Prime (Wii)

Metroid Prime 2:Echoes (Wii) (the only one of these Metroid games I'd never touched before, but now it's probably my favorite of the Prime trilogy)

AUGUST

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

Psychonauts (started several times before but never finished due to lengthy PS2 load times. it's a whole different game without them)

SEPTEMBER

Psychonauts 2 (100%) (probably my GOTY)

Deltarune Ch.2 (the only reason this isn't my GOTY is we don't have the whole game yet)

OCTOBER

Metroid Dread (100%)

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (another one I'd started several times but never finished. I was still in a Metroidvania mood after Dread)

DECEMBER

Animal Crossing: New Horizons - Happy Home Paradise DLC (I did the main story sequence with the first 30 vacation homes and got the performance with DJ KK, I'd consider that "beating" the DLC)

WarioWare: Get It Together!

Halo Infinite

biggest omission here is Chicory: A Colorful Tale, which I'm pretty far in but I still need to beat. been taking my time with it because while it's absolutely phenomenal and a GOTY contender for me, coloring in all those top-down maps can quickly start to feel like... well, my actual job. which isn't always the most relaxing for me. but it's fantastic

[leirin]

I wanted to apologize that I haven't been able to update Midnight at the Cathedral for a long time (despite it just beginning to get into its first major arc), or stay on top of projects and make art actively in general. Even patreon updates have not always been on time. Keeping things up regularly is very difficult, and even though I moved out, matters like my significantly limited space present a lot of their own challenges. There is no room for my paintings anywhere besides under my bed, which doesn't incline me to paint, because I won't have anywhere to put it...

I am more settled in now than I was a month ago, but I have still basically been coasting by just trying to get what's required of me done every day, mostly in terms of my job and housework. In terms of projects, I've mainly spent my downtime working on revamping my website and designing new keychains, which I hope everyone will look forward to. The problem is I feel so phony when I can't immediately make good on longform projects, especially when I start so many different ones and the scope of a lot of the things I want to do is very big. I have several of these things planned out in detail, but get overwhelmed by how much there is to do with any one thing and that stifles progress. I get to feeling like people are looking at me like I won't ever actually get them done - only say I'm making something big and not ever finishing it.

Some of these expectations might really only be my own expectations for myself rather than what everyone else is thinking, but I still feel deeply frustrated about it in a way i can't exactly put into words. I don't want to be someone whose output stagnates, or who only achieves the bare minimum of their aspirations. It feels pathetic to say, but at this point with how much stress i'm under, I'd rather think of some of my projects as what I will work towards finishing throughout my life instead of as things that need to be finished within the next few years. The pressure is just too much and I don't see a point in personal creations operating on a schedule. They will suffer in the process if I do them that way.

So, both for my sake and for yours, here is something of a calendar of projects, ordered by size and scope (along with an estimation of progress), that I am 100% fully committing to completing, even if this means you may have to wait years to see any of them get finished:

Small: - Paperdoll sheets, stickers, and more paper-based goods. Many of these will be the kind you download digitally like the 2022 calendar. - Keychains. - Add more character profiles to the site - a lot more.

Medium: - Music video animatic. I'd estimate the completion on this to currently be around 65%. - More site-exclusive content. This includes picture stories, small games and interactive stories. The 2022 Calendar's December image teased two characters from one such interactive story I have conceptualized.

Big: - Finishing Midnight at the Cathedral. I estimate the final product to be somewhere around ~200 strips. The story outline is done being drafted. "Finished" also means doing chapter art. - Starting and finishing Magical Millennium. This is a webnovel about the life of Yona and it will have watercolor illustrations periodically. This is my most truly ambitious work and it will need a lot of time, because I want to be as satisfied with it as possible. In the planning stages. - Starting and finishing Gingham Skies. This is a GB Studio game regarding April, May, and other denizens of Cottonwheel. A short metroidvania-style game with rpg elements. This is in the conceptual stages; some graphical elements have been created.

[blindrapture]

Cannot believe I finished Empty City. That was in some ways the most rigorous puzzle I've ever had to solve. I worked consecutively from like July to September, then took a long break (with the game frequently on my mind), and worked again consecutively for the last week. So it wasn't like egregiously challenging, but I mean, this is my first game, I was building from scratch. It was at least challenging.

There are things I wanted to do with the game and was not able to. Small examples are like "implement elevators," I seriously tried that in many ways for several days straight and it just.. was not happening, not with the way GBG physics works. Also "an actual health system," I got one working and even had it implemented up until the last days, but there just weren't any danger scenarios that got that complex, in fact the existing danger scenarios were designed around one-hit death. Big examples include "substantial Metroidvania progression," which was the plan for a long time but the 'narrative flow' settled in a different looser maze form. Also, "25 maps instead of 5." Aside from the more obvious reasons I stuck with 5, there's also GBG's natural limitations: you can only have 78 games saved onto your console, period, including your own. A 25-map game would certainly be more substantial, potentially very ambitious if Game Swap Nodon are incorporated with sufficient complexity, but that's.. nearly half of a player's space taken up by one game.

So. That's stuff that Could Have Been. But then we have the Empty City that is.

(As this is where I talk about the game i just released, I will put this under a Read More.)

It started with the thought, "can I make a game I'd love to play?" That game would have to be first-person. GBG has lots of tutorials but does not cover first-person. Luckily, within the first weeks of its release, players had figured out and released various attempts at first-person engines. I looked to them for inspiration/to wrap my head around the concepts (particular credit goes to a Desert Simulator, a big desert walking sim), but in the end I designed my engine myself. It had to feel right, and so I had to have my finger on every single element. (Spending most of my time baked actually helped in this regard. I was in the perfect headspace for tediously tweaking and then testing and Internalizing/Evaluating The Feel of movement, atmosphere, perspective.) Seriously. If you play Empty City, take the time to goof around in the first map and really sense the feeling of movement. Your character has weight and a presence, and that was not by default, that took countless iterations. (Example: Holding RT shows you your hand, which is an Adventure Game sorta UI mechanic, but in this context it's like you're consciously extending your arm in front of you. This is how you interact with objects. And it just feels right, like spreading your wings in Untitled Goose Game.)

So. A first-person engine, one that feels.. "feel-y." What game would I love to play from that? Well, my mind drifts to a few staples: Half-Life, specifically secretcity (the aesthetic of my subconscious!). Something like a blend between secretcity and Metroid, but not overtly Metroid, more like emergent Metroid. What if it started like The Witness, but as you explore the maze around you, you start picking up some visceral (basic) combat, and the game gradually opens up to become like Metroid? Like a Metroid slow-burn, with a crowbar, set in secretcity. The aesthetic is surreal: an "endless" inexplicable maze of brick wall and broad space. There are no humans anywhere, but there may be things that resemble humans around the corner. Writing on the walls suggests you are not the first to have gotten lost here. The barrier between "realistic city" and "checkerboard floors floating in a black void" is just a few wrong turns away. It is not a horror game. It is a game with a poker face that may get scary. And then go back to the safety of long stretches of nothing.

Yeah. That's Empty City. That's the kind of game I made. I was under many limitations, including my own patience but also GBG's restrictions. These set the boundaries for my canvas, and if/when you play the game, you may notice ways I worked around them. Sometimes with notable success-- this technically being five games, but they connect to each other and even transfer items from one game to the next. I figured out how to do that. I did not have any examples to work with at the time. I also "hand-drew" and often "hand-wrote" art for this game……. with a joystick. Yeah. Maybe I should have led with that one.

What I'm trying to say here is. Temper your expectations, but also get perspective. I have reason to be proud of this.. strange ambitious evolution of a walking sim.

Empty City is here. It has been made manifest. On a Nintendo console.

I want people to play it and be surprised.

[latin-dr-robotnik]

Favorite games beside Sonic?

Oh, a ton actually, dear anon!

Celeste, because of its story (I didn't relate on a personal level, but a close friend of mine did, and that game made me realize a couple things) and that tough yet very fair and accessible gameplay. I pushed through and 100% it just out of sheer love and determination (Chapter 9 broke me though)

The Messenger, because it's a great 2D sidescroller mixed with a whole Metroidvania second half. Good levels, good lore to explore, great gameplay, amazing humor and some of my favorite videogame tracks of all time. I love this little game and I always recommend it (this is a little spoiler, but A Melody to Break the Curse is one of my all-time favorite songs to ever use Genesis instruments)

Shovel Knight, old favorite of mine, and I played that game until I got sick and tired of replaying all campaigns (about 135 hours lol)

Super Mario Bros. 3, this may come as a shock to most, but I actually played Mario first, before becoming a Sonic fan lol and Mario 3 is just one of those games I couldn't ever stop playing as a kid. I love it so much.

Mega Man 6, out of all the classic MM games, I love 6 the most because of the stage selection, the refined formula and the sole fact it has Mr. X Stages. What a wonderful game.

Spark the Electric Jester 1 and 2, I love the first one because it's a very fun 2D action sidescroller with some amazing levels (Sunfire Forest, anyone?), and the second game is a perfect show of how a 3D Adventure-based Sonic could work. Seriously, the level design in Spark 2 is insane.

Not exactly an "all-time favorite", but right now I'm having a lot of fun with No Straight Roads. The story confused me with some mixed signals right at the end, but the gameplay and bosses more than make up for it. The music, too.

So far I've listed games that are either platformers or have the smallest bit of relation to Sonic, but I swear I play a lot more games :P

For example, the original Bioshock is a goddamn masterpiece. I love the atmosphere and the ideological clash that comes with Andrew Ryan's vision of the ideal city, in comparison to Atlas' own purposes or whatever you the player think of it, seeing how the entire place ran itself into anarchy and complete inhuman chaos once shit hit the fan.

Fallout New Vegas. Out of all western ARPGs and Fallout games, I placed my trust on this one, and my goodness it was a pretty incredible experience. Every little story, every dialogue choice, every path you can take and moment that fundamentally changes the world... it's janky as hell, yeah, but the writing is stellar.

The Witcher 3, I played it a while after the initial hype went away and after playing the other games in the series (still haven't finished reading the books, though), and what I got in return was a game that made me laugh, cry and lose myself in its world. Moments like Priscilla singing The Wolven Storm, or walking around Kaer Morhen and taking in the breathtaking views, doing sidequests in the world, the great Dettlaff boss fight, or the sheer brilliance of Hearts of Stone and quests like Scenes From A Marriage. Best 150 hours of my life.

Age of Empires 2, first PC game I played as a kid, and one of the biggest reasons why I study History today. That game forever changed me and nowadays it's the only esport I watch, catching some live tournaments from time to time.

Yakuza 0, speaking of games that changed my life, this one. I love everything about this game (well, except escorting Makoto), it's so full of stuff to do and great stories to experience. Incredible game.

Yakuza Kiwami 2, on the same note as Y0, Kiwami 2 has some of my favorite moments in the series. One of my favorite stories, my all-time favorite final boss fight of any Yakuza game and one of the greatest final boss themes of any damn videogame I've ever played. And I'm speaking as a Sonic fan, I'm not even joking.

I could list some more (racing games, other types of shooters and stuff) but I think I overextended enough as of now. Thanks for the ask!

[ewzzy]

Time to do my 2021 GOTY list. I played A LOT of games this year. The big change here is I got an XBOX with Game Pass. 12 of the 23 new XBOX games I played this year were on Game Pass.

Starting off big my AAA game of the year is Psychonauts 2. Best environments I've ever seen in a game plus an incredible story, music, and fun platforming.

I finally got into Hitman, was surprised by Forza and Guardians, and felt right at home with Halo.

My Indie GOTY is Chicory for a million reasons. To pick one, the dialogue feels so natural in a way that games almost never are.

Say No! More you probably missed. The vibe is perfect with sharp writing and visuals that are exactly what I want a game to look like.

I hate to say I bounced off of Skatebird at first, but coming back to it a few patches later I found something special.

Lost in Random and Good life I have to go back and finish but they left big impacts on me.

Maquette = Anapurna polish with mind bending gameplay.

Game Pass changed how I played games this year. All short experiences that I loved sampling.

Forgotten City gets top marks for its brilliant looping design.

RecordOfLodossWarDeedlitInWonderLabyrinth (so long) gets that SotN style better than any Metroidvania since.

This was also the year I finally beat Myst and Quake. Two all time PC classics and it took XBOX Game Pass for me to finish them. I own both on CD on PC from the 90s but here we are.

The Mass Effect trilogy is imperfect but I played the whole thing. Did it all for your Garrus.

Some truly great collections this year from M2 and Digital Eclipse. Castlevania I bought because I knew I loved the games but Disney and Blizzard I bought because I knew Digital Eclipse would give them the special treatment.

SNES Aladdin the the better version BTW.

This has been a real XBOX year for me and almost entirely digital, but I did buy some physical Switch games. I love those little carts.

These game were all great, but Metroid Dread is an instant classic. I never thought I'd see a direct sequel to Fusion.

That new XBOX meant playing a bunch of games that I had skipped before. Some Switch and PC in there too.

Most shocking is Sonic Forces. This is the first time I've completed a 3D Sonic game. It's messy but better than its reputation.

So that's my 2021 gaming in review. Just the ones that were new to me and I spent at least a couple hours with. I swear in 2022 I'll create a letterboxd so I can keep track of my movies half as well.