【Game Log: Mid-March 2025】


I spent much of the last fortnight with a sinus infection/mild pneumonia. I've spent that time either playing too many video games, or none at all.

Major Timesinks and Finished Games

My major achievement in this period was that after 630+ hours of gameplay, and Nearly 10 years after I bought it on Steam, I finally finishing Caves of Qud. I've only ever played classic mode (ie, proper roguelike, \"permadeath\", etc) so this is naturally very difficult. I will not discuss specifics of the ending, other than to say it is both beautiful and fitting. It expands the scope and concept of the game's world exponentially, without a second of it feeling out of character.

I put more time into Old-School Rally, and I've nearly finished what's available in its current version. The game is still very good, but I've noted a big negative. The later tournaments drive on the newer tracks in the game, where stuff like the (rather terrible normally) in-game navigator is generally greatly improved. But there are also a few terrible navigator advices that can only be explained by being deliberate deception. Which IMHO fucking sucks, and makes me think less of the game.

I also went back to Parking Garage Rally Circuit, the fake Sega-Saturn game about drifting around parking garages, and finished off most of whats available. The physics and style of the game are still great. But I probably won't go back to it for a while, purely because there's also not that much there so far.

Completing the trifecta of faux-retro arcade games, I also returned to Super Polygon Grand Prix. A take on Virtua-Racing with a distinctive style, but fairly barebones. In the months since I've played it, the opponent AI has greatly improved and also become insanely difficulty. But in a way I find very satisfying. The physics of the cars is also notable, which somehow nails an arcade take on an F1 car that is not complicated, but still feels like it gets out of control in the right situations and in the right way. Absolutely delighted with its progress.

Expelled! is the latest game by Inkle, and also a sequel to Overboard!. In this game you play a day in the life of a student in an English girls boarding school post-WW1, attempting to exonerate herself after being falsely accused of pushing another student out a window. I've mostly had a lot of fun with this, the premise is a lot of fun and the writing is excellent. The wit in this game is some of the driest and darkest I've seen in games. However it also has a bit of a slow start, with a mechanical bait and switch, that doesn't really land. Additionally I'm about 60% through the game (it breaks down several sub goals for you, many of which I've achived,) and can see a few paths to progress, but thinking of the mechanical progress of getting that far in a run is enough to make me want to play another game.

Nubby's Number Factory is a game where you fire balls at pegs and hope to collect enough points to progress to the next round. Then several interacting power-ups become available and things become exponentially crazy. The game seems to be broken and crashes a lot, or the maths don't work as advertised. But also it's completely insane and amazing.

I saw the game Lingo 2 mentioned, so I immediately went and played the original Lingo. It's a first person puzzle game where the answers to assorted puzzles are entered into text boxes. The introduction of the vagueries of language (and more importantly spelling) are risky in these games, but so far I haven't run into any major problems. Granted there are a few seemingly big puzzles I've skipped right by so far, so I imagine the game lives and dies on how satisfying these are.

Tried Out or Revisited Briefly

Botany Manor another puzzle game, this time about replicating the growing conditions for plants in a large mansion so that seeds may bloom. Interesting concept, but I found it a bit grating. Particularly the contextual clues in the world seem to be drowned out by \"noisy\" ephemera that looks like it should be an interactable clue but isn't.

ULTRAKILL had a big update. So I played it some more. It's as hectic as ever, and the graphical updates look good without ruining the style. I've completely lost the muscle memory for it though.

VVVVVV is still excellent. I felt a bit rusty with the controls, but they are still good. The empty area in the middle of the world is much larger than I remember.

Ostranauts seems to be slightly less of a mess, and doesn't randomly pause so much.

I tried replaying a bunch of the Cruelty Squad levels I'd finished when I first played. The games still got whatever made it work in the first place. But interacting with the insane mess of disparate side-mechanics (stock trading, fishing, organ harvesting, etc) just made it even more perfect.

Midnight Margo is an experimental game from Faravid Interactive. It depicts mental health management using RPG mechanics. It's a neat concept with some really good voice acting. I found it a chore to even get out of the first room. It's only $AU1.50 though.

Blobun is a cool puzzle game where you play as a slime bunny and have to stretch your body to cover all squares without overlapping yourself. Cute style and very neat. I'm looking forward to playing more.

Wanderstop is about a burnt out warrior who is rescued by a country tea shop owner. I've tried twice to get into this game and just can't for whatever reason. While the style and music are neat and the plot is at least potentially interesting, the pace is excruciating and the tutorial feels like three tutorials fighting each other. The best I can say is that it had \"I'd literally rather do anything else\" as a dialogue option right as I wanted to save and quit the game.

The Final Earth 2 is a SimTower-like game about building vertical cities on floating islands. It works well enough, even the goal-oriented nature of the stages is paced well enough that it doesn't feel that dissimilar from open-ended city building. This is still not my preferred setting for a builder though.

Classic Recommendation

VVVVVV

It's a retro-platformer from 2010 in the style of ZX spectrum games, where instead of jumping you flip gravity. It has simple and precise controls, but a lot of challenge. One of the best soundtracks ever.

All Games Played


Caves of Qud: GREAT (Notable)


Old School Rally: Good


Parking Garage Rally Circuit: Good


Super Polygon Grand Prix: GREAT (Notable)


Expelled!: Good


Nubby's Number Factory: Good


Lingo: Good


Botany Manor: OK


ULTRAKILL: GREAT


VVVVVV: GREAT


Ostranauts: GREAT


Cruelty Squad: GREAT


Midnight Margo: OK


Blobun: Good


Wanderstop: Mediocre


The Final Earth 2: Good

Game Log: Mid-March 2025

I spent much of the last fortnight with a sinus infection/mild pneumonia. I've spent that time either playing too many video games, or none at all.

Major Timesinks and Finished Games

My major achievement in this period was that after 630+ hours of gameplay, and Nearly 10 years after I bought it on Steam, I finally finishing Caves of Qud. I've only ever played classic mode (ie, proper roguelike, \"permadeath\", etc) so this is naturally very difficult. I will not discuss specifics of the ending, other than to say it is both beautiful and fitting. It expands the scope and concept of the game's world exponentially, without a second of it feeling out of character.

I put more time into Old-School Rally, and I've nearly finished what's available in its current version. The game is still very good, but I've noted a big negative. The later tournaments drive on the newer tracks in the game, where stuff like the (rather terrible normally) in-game navigator is generally greatly improved. But there are also a few terrible navigator advices that can only be explained by being deliberate deception. Which IMHO fucking sucks, and makes me think less of the game.

I also went back to Parking Garage Rally Circuit, the fake Sega-Saturn game about drifting around parking garages, and finished off most of whats available. The physics and style of the game are still great. But I probably won't go back to it for a while, purely because there's also not that much there so far.

Completing the trifecta of faux-retro arcade games, I also returned to Super Polygon Grand Prix. A take on Virtua-Racing with a distinctive style, but fairly barebones. In the months since I've played it, the opponent AI has greatly improved and also become insanely difficulty. But in a way I find very satisfying. The physics of the cars is also notable, which somehow nails an arcade take on an F1 car that is not complicated, but still feels like it gets out of control in the right situations and in the right way. Absolutely delighted with its progress.

Expelled! is the latest game by Inkle, and also a sequel to Overboard!. In this game you play a day in the life of a student in an English girls boarding school post-WW1, attempting to exonerate herself after being falsely accused of pushing another student out a window. I've mostly had a lot of fun with this, the premise is a lot of fun and the writing is excellent. The wit in this game is some of the driest and darkest I've seen in games. However it also has a bit of a slow start, with a mechanical bait and switch, that doesn't really land. Additionally I'm about 60% through the game (it breaks down several sub goals for you, many of which I've achived,) and can see a few paths to progress, but thinking of the mechanical progress of getting that far in a run is enough to make me want to play another game.

Nubby's Number Factory is a game where you fire balls at pegs and hope to collect enough points to progress to the next round. Then several interacting power-ups become available and things become exponentially crazy. The game seems to be broken and crashes a lot, or the maths don't work as advertised. But also it's completely insane and amazing.

I saw the game Lingo 2 mentioned, so I immediately went and played the original Lingo. It's a first person puzzle game where the answers to assorted puzzles are entered into text boxes. The introduction of the vagueries of language (and more importantly spelling) are risky in these games, but so far I haven't run into any major problems. Granted there are a few seemingly big puzzles I've skipped right by so far, so I imagine the game lives and dies on how satisfying these are.

Tried Out or Revisited Briefly

Botany Manor another puzzle game, this time about replicating the growing conditions for plants in a large mansion so that seeds may bloom. Interesting concept, but I found it a bit grating. Particularly the contextual clues in the world seem to be drowned out by \"noisy\" ephemera that looks like it should be an interactable clue but isn't.

ULTRAKILL had a big update. So I played it some more. It's as hectic as ever, and the graphical updates look good without ruining the style. I've completely lost the muscle memory for it though.

VVVVVV is still excellent. I felt a bit rusty with the controls, but they are still good. The empty area in the middle of the world is much larger than I remember.

Ostranauts seems to be slightly less of a mess, and doesn't randomly pause so much.

I tried replaying a bunch of the Cruelty Squad levels I'd finished when I first played. The games still got whatever made it work in the first place. But interacting with the insane mess of disparate side-mechanics (stock trading, fishing, organ harvesting, etc) just made it even more perfect.

Midnight Margo is an experimental game from Faravid Interactive. It depicts mental health management using RPG mechanics. It's a neat concept with some really good voice acting. I found it a chore to even get out of the first room. It's only $AU1.50 though.

Blobun is a cool puzzle game where you play as a slime bunny and have to stretch your body to cover all squares without overlapping yourself. Cute style and very neat. I'm looking forward to playing more.

Wanderstop is about a burnt out warrior who is rescued by a country tea shop owner. I've tried twice to get into this game and just can't for whatever reason. While the style and music are neat and the plot is at least potentially interesting, the pace is excruciating and the tutorial feels like three tutorials fighting each other. The best I can say is that it had \"I'd literally rather do anything else\" as a dialogue option right as I wanted to save and quit the game.

The Final Earth 2 is a SimTower-like game about building vertical cities on floating islands. It works well enough, even the goal-oriented nature of the stages is paced well enough that it doesn't feel that dissimilar from open-ended city building. This is still not my preferred setting for a builder though.

Classic Recommendation

VVVVVV

It's a retro-platformer from 2010 in the style of ZX spectrum games, where instead of jumping you flip gravity. It has simple and precise controls, but a lot of challenge. One of the best soundtracks ever.

All Games Played

• Caves of Qud: GREAT (Notable)

• Old School Rally: Good

• Parking Garage Rally Circuit: Good

• Super Polygon Grand Prix: GREAT (Notable)

• Expelled!: Good

• Nubby's Number Factory: Good

• Lingo: Good

• Botany Manor: OK

• ULTRAKILL: GREAT

• VVVVVV: GREAT

• Ostranauts: GREAT

• Cruelty Squad: GREAT

• Midnight Margo: OK

• Blobun: Good

• Wanderstop: Mediocre

• The Final Earth 2: Good