Unoriginal and Uncreative["<p><span>【】<br>【</span><b><span>Game Log: Post-March 2025</span></b><span>】<br><br><br>Back in a too many random games mood again. My short-term health improved while I simultaneously required assorted tests for more serious issues (all negative thankfully).<br><br></span><b><span>Major Timesinks and Finished Games</span></b><span><br><br></span><i><span>ENA: Dream BBQ</span></i><span> (chapter 1) is an absolute work of art. It's a (completely free) surreal first person adventure game, where you wander around talking to people and interacting with things. It's based on a popular youtube series (though with a different \"ENA\" to the one in the videos) by the same creator, and absolutely nails everything that makes the videos great. Except it's about four times as long as the entire length of all the videos. There's a fairly decent narrative through-line for a game where the non-sequitirs are the point. The art and sound are incredible, but the animated cutscenes are a step above that. There seems to be a lot of alternate paths/replay value too.<br><br>I've rediscovered the joys of </span><i><span>Bombe</span></i><span>, the Minesweeper clone you solve via algorithmic policies. which appears to now have an autosolving background robot that melts my CPU but saves a lot of time. At least it did until my set of rules became so complex they all hang.<br><br>I managed to get a Gamemaker crash screen in </span><i><span>Nubby's Number Factory</span></i><span>. It's still a weirdly fascinating game. The extra bonus challenges are all garbage though. And every single \"boss\" in the game beyond the default is locked behind those. So I guess I'm done with it.<br><br>My timesink of choice has been </span><i><span>Cosmic Collapse</span></i><span>, the pico-8 </span><i><span>Suika Game</span></i><span> clone themed around the solar system. Still good frivolous fun.<br><br>Having successfully finished </span><i><span>Caves of Qud</span></i><span>, I decided to try rerunning the game with a bizarre and unbalanced character build like I did in the early versions. I'm really enjoying experimenting and poking at the edges of the game now. Still ended up disintegrated by an esper hunter while trying to alternately freeze and scorch a bunch of poison emitting giant ants though.<br><br>I've put a couple of hours into </span><i><span>Rosewater</span></i><span>, the latest point and click adventure from Grundislav Games, makers of </span><i><span>Lamplight City</span></i><span>. Like Lamplight City, it's set in Vespuccia, an alternate universe America where the British Crown still rules. Though in the frontier west this time, and much more of a traditional point and click adventure this time. It has extremely high production values, great characters, and I'm heavily invested in the storyline. Which is why I'm so annoyed my game has been ruined by a having an undocumented feature where the right mouse button skips entire cutscenes AND autosaves after to really make it hard to go back and see what you missed. (Apparently this will be patched out)<br><br></span><b><span>Tried Out or Revisited Briefly</span></b><span><br><br></span><i><span>Khimera: Puzzle Island</span></i><span> is a perfectly fine nonogram (picross) game with cute characters, that commits the unforgivable sin of requiring me to replay puzzles and/or do them at speed to unlock things.<br><br></span><i><span>SPELLHACK!!</span></i><span> is a deckbuilding game set on a non-specific British microcomputer (rendered in a 3D room on a monitor) that has a neat, if uncanny, style. The games system is neat, but also progresses in real time, which is a bit awkward.<br><br></span><i><span>ROGUE LIGHT DECK BUILDER</span></i><span> is one of those games where you control a hand in 3D and try to use it to do things, in this case build a deck under a failing light. Good fun gimmick.<br><br></span><i><span>Look Outside</span></i><span> is an RPGMaker Survival Horror game set in an apartment building where you die/become a horrible monster if you look outside. The game seems to be as much about uncovering the story, as it is about survival/combat. Much like Rosewater it has a game ruining design choice (In this case, dialog menu options only appear after a lengthy delay, so you press the button to advance text and accidentally choose an option from a menu you haven't seen yet).<br><br></span><i><span>Psycho Patrol R</span></i><span> is just as inscrutable, fascinating, and horrifying as </span><i><span>Cruelty Squad</span></i><span> is, and then some. I want to play more, but control bindings are not saving currently.<br><br></span><i><span>Rain World</span></i><span> attempts to tell a story without words, and then immediately plasters words all over the screen as the tutorial completely fails to tell you how to play. Also apparently the slugcat can jump higher and further over plot relevant gaps. The poor initial critical reception for the game aligns with mine.<br><br>Either I've forgotten how to play </span><i><span>Flywrench</span></i><span>, or it's way less responsive in it's current form than initially.<br><br></span><i><span>TRAINPLANNER</span></i><span> is a fun gamejam game where you arrange train tracks to connect an increasing amount of stations, and put signals down to prevent arbitrary train routes from causing crashes. Simple, but effective. I hope there's a more fleshed out version in the future<br><br></span><b><span>March Game of the Month</span></b><span><br><br></span><b><span>ENA: Dream BBQ</span></b><span><br><br>An absolute triumph. Yume Nikki combined with cdi-Zelda-But-Good aesthetics. A must play.<br><br></span><b><span>All Games Played</span></b><span><br><br><br>Caves of Qud: GREAT (Notable)<br><br><br>Nubby's Number Factory: Good<br><br><br>ENA - Dream BBQ: GREAT (Notable)<br><br><br>Bombe: GREAT<br><br><br>Cosmic Collapse: Good<br><br><br>Rosewater: Good<br><br><br>Khimera - Puzzle Island: OK<br><br><br>SPELLHACK!!: OK<br><br><br>ROGUE LIGHT DECK BUILDER: Good<br><br><br>Psycho Patrol R: Good<br><br><br>Look Outside: Good<br><br><br>Rain World: Mediocre<br><br><br>Flywrench: Good<br><br><br>TrainPlanner: GREAT!</span></p>", "<p><strong></strong></p><p><strong><strong>Game Log: Post-March 2025</strong></strong></p><p>Back in a too many random games mood again. My short-term health improved while I simultaneously required assorted tests for more serious issues (all negative thankfully).</p><p><strong><strong>Major Timesinks and Finished Games</strong></strong></p><p><em>ENA: Dream BBQ</em> (chapter 1) is an absolute work of art. It's a (completely free) surreal first person adventure game, where you wander around talking to people and interacting with things. It's based on a popular youtube series (though with a different \"ENA\" to the one in the videos) by the same creator, and absolutely nails everything that makes the videos great. Except it's about four times as long as the entire length of all the videos. There's a fairly decent narrative through-line for a game where the non-sequitirs are the point. The art and sound are incredible, but the animated cutscenes are a step above that. There seems to be a lot of alternate paths/replay value too.</p><p>I've rediscovered the joys of <em>Bombe</em>, the Minesweeper clone you solve via algorithmic policies. which appears to now have an autosolving background robot that melts my CPU but saves a lot of time. At least it did until my set of rules became so complex they all hang.</p><p>I managed to get a Gamemaker crash screen in <em>Nubby's Number Factory</em>. It's still a weirdly fascinating game. The extra bonus challenges are all garbage though. And every single \"boss\" in the game beyond the default is locked behind those. So I guess I'm done with it.</p><p>My timesink of choice has been <em>Cosmic Collapse</em>, the pico-8 <em>Suika Game</em> clone themed around the solar system. Still good frivolous fun.</p><p>Having successfully finished <em>Caves of Qud</em>, I decided to try rerunning the game with a bizarre and unbalanced character build like I did in the early versions. I'm really enjoying experimenting and poking at the edges of the game now. Still ended up disintegrated by an esper hunter while trying to alternately freeze and scorch a bunch of poison emitting giant ants though.</p><p>I've put a couple of hours into <em>Rosewater</em>, the latest point and click adventure from Grundislav Games, makers of <em>Lamplight City</em>. Like Lamplight City, it's set in Vespuccia, an alternate universe America where the British Crown still rules. Though in the frontier west this time, and much more of a traditional point and click adventure this time. It has extremely high production values, great characters, and I'm heavily invested in the storyline. Which is why I'm so annoyed my game has been ruined by a having an undocumented feature where the right mouse button skips entire cutscenes AND autosaves after to really make it hard to go back and see what you missed. (Apparently this will be patched out)</p><p><strong><strong>Tried Out or Revisited Briefly</strong></strong></p><p><em>Khimera: Puzzle Island</em> is a perfectly fine nonogram (picross) game with cute characters, that commits the unforgivable sin of requiring me to replay puzzles and/or do them at speed to unlock things.</p><p><em>SPELLHACK!!</em> is a deckbuilding game set on a non-specific British microcomputer (rendered in a 3D room on a monitor) that has a neat, if uncanny, style. The games system is neat, but also progresses in real time, which is a bit awkward.</p><p><em>ROGUE LIGHT DECK BUILDER</em> is one of those games where you control a hand in 3D and try to use it to do things, in this case build a deck under a failing light. Good fun gimmick.</p><p><em>Look Outside</em> is an RPGMaker Survival Horror game set in an apartment building where you die/become a horrible monster if you look outside. The game seems to be as much about uncovering the story, as it is about survival/combat. Much like Rosewater it has a game ruining design choice (In this case, dialog menu options only appear after a lengthy delay, so you press the button to advance text and accidentally choose an option from a menu you haven't seen yet).</p><p><em>Psycho Patrol R</em> is just as inscrutable, fascinating, and horrifying as <em>Cruelty Squad</em> is, and then some. I want to play more, but control bindings are not saving currently.</p><p><em>Rain World</em> attempts to tell a story without words, and then immediately plasters words all over the screen as the tutorial completely fails to tell you how to play. Also apparently the slugcat can jump higher and further over plot relevant gaps. The poor initial critical reception for the game aligns with mine.</p><p>Either I've forgotten how to play <em>Flywrench</em>, or it's way less responsive in it's current form than initially.</p><p><em>TRAINPLANNER</em> is a fun gamejam game where you arrange train tracks to connect an increasing amount of stations, and put signals down to prevent arbitrary train routes from causing crashes. Simple, but effective. I hope there's a more fleshed out version in the future</p><p><strong><strong>March Game of the Month</strong></strong></p><p><strong><strong>ENA: Dream BBQ</strong></strong></p><p>An absolute triumph. Yume Nikki combined with cdi-Zelda-But-Good aesthetics. A must play.</p><p><strong><strong>All Games Played</strong></strong></p><ul><li><p>Caves of Qud: GREAT (Notable)</p></li><li><p>Nubby's Number Factory: Good</p></li><li><p>ENA - Dream BBQ: GREAT (Notable)</p></li><li><p>Bombe: GREAT</p></li><li><p>Cosmic Collapse: Good</p></li><li><p>Rosewater: Good</p></li><li><p>Khimera - Puzzle Island: OK</p></li><li><p>SPELLHACK!!: OK</p></li><li><p>ROGUE LIGHT DECK BUILDER: Good</p></li><li><p>Psycho Patrol R: Good</p></li><li><p>Look Outside: Good</p></li><li><p>Rain World: Mediocre</p></li><li><p>Flywrench: Good</p></li><li><p>TrainPlanner: GREAT!</p></li></ul>"]