MOAR
Good: Escape from Castle Claymount, BOXES
Meh: Detective Ridelle
Bad: 12 Memory Lane
Author Archives: Act
Detective Games: Escape Room Edition 1
I’ve been on a kick within a kick.
Good: The early Cube Escape/Rusty Lake games, Rusty Lake: Roots, Escape from Mystwood Mansion
Meh: Escape Simulator, The Inheritance of Crimson Manor, Escape First Alchemist
Bad: Escape Academy, Havsala
More Underwhelming Bullet Heavens
Some of these (Goobies, Keeper’s Toll) were “meh” while the others (Gacha Fever, Scarlet Tower, Cozy Space Survivors) ranged from baffling to awful.
QuickPans: Roguelikes
Yin and Yang.
Inside: Nomad Survival, Boneraiser Minions, 20 Minutes Till Dawn, Blazing Beaks
QuickRecs: Roguelikes
I’ve been on a big roguelike kick lately (well, more than usual).
These are largely three subgenres — 2D bullet heavens, twin-stick dungeon crawlers, and roguelike deckbuilders. These are the three genders, actually.
These are gameplay-first, not narrative, largely because I’ve been very, very tired but also because sometimes you just want games to be fun.
Inside: Dogpile, Army of Ruin, Pesticide Not Required, Machick, DunHero, Juicy Realm
Detective Games, Part XI
Paradise Killer was amazing, go experience it.
Recs: Paradise Killer, Neo Cab
Meh: Star Apprentice: Magical Murder Mystery
Pans: Black Closet, Soulslayer
QuickRecs: Shop Sim Edition
I love shop sims. I do sometimes wonder what it says about me that I write about like, marxism for work and then go roleplay business for fun, but frankly I don’t have the time or energy to unpack that. Though if we could reconfigure things so that capitalism was only in video games I would call it a win for everyone.
Anyway, here’s some trading and shop games I enjoyed. Capitalism, ho!
(I waited too long to write these so some of them will be quite brief. Alas.)
Inside: Final Profit, Potion Permit, Winkeltje, Weapon Shop Fantasy, World End Diner, Potionomics, Amber Isle
Detective Games, Part X
Good: Karaski: What Goes Up, NUTS
Bad: Dahlia View, Lucifer Within Us
I was really irritated when I wrote the Dahlia View piece. Not wrong, but angry, lol.
MURDERED: SOUL SUSPECT (TM)
(Airtight Games & Square Enix, 2014)
I haven’t done any AAA games yet. Honestly can’t even remember last time I played one that wasn’t Nintendo. Do they all title themselves so obnoxiously in Steam?
This is a bad game, and while for a while it was entertainingly bad, I ultimately DNFed it when it got boring under its own self-seriousness. It’s also textbook copaganda.
Detective Games, Part 9
+: Detective Di: The Silk Rose Murders, Later Alligator, Lockheart Indigo
-: Why Am I Dead at Sea, The Raven, Night Call
Blacksad: Under the Skin
This is a thoroughly mediocre game that is probably most appealing to those who are already fans of the comic.
I came in knowing nothing about the IP other than that it existed, so something to consider.
I also just realized the subtitle makes no sense. It doesn’t relate to the story in any way?
Detective Games, Part 8
Bless the furries, fuck ICE.
Good: The Flower Collectors
Mehs: The Painscreek Killings, Detective Gallo, Senna and the Forest
Bad: Return of the Phantom
Lamplight City
I enjoy bad games, which is good because I play a lot of them. But even if I didn’t, playing a thousand terrible indies would be completely worth it to me just to find one this brilliant.
Detective Games, Part 7
+: Duck Detective: The Secret Salami + Duck Detective: The Ghost of Glamping, Eye 4 Eye
-: The Final Print, Kona, Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers
The theme for the pans this time is “cultural appropriation.”
Tokyo Dark
Split this from the group detective posts because I ended up having way more to say about it than I thought I would!
CW: Tons of mental health stuff in the game, including PTSD, sexual coercion, and suicide attempts. FWIW it’s not explicit and I think it’s handled pretty well, but it might be worth having someone screen it for you if those are normally triggers.