On Sat, 01 Aug 2026 11:41:22 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
Hello August! Goodbye July! Not that I'm celebrating the end of that
month; it actually wasn't so bad a time for me. But a new month means
a new opportunity for new games... and a chance to talk about the ones
just played. Yup, we're back with another 'what have you been playing' >thread. So... um... what have you been playing? I'll give you a moment
to remember while I tell you what my playlist contained.
Superbrief
---------------------------------------
* Forza Horizon 4
* Alone in the Dark (2024)
* Pan'orama
* Metal Wolf Chaos XD
* Carrion
* Doom: The Dark Ages - Revelations
* Sheepy
Maximum Verbosity
---------------------------------------
* Forza Horizon 4
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1293830
I haven't really played a Forza game since the second one, and
honestly I don't even remember that one very well. But after hauling
cargo so long in various truck simulators, dutifully obeying the speed
limits and doing my best _not_ to hit other cars, I figured it was
time for a change. And since "Forza Horizon 6" is in the news now, and
I still haven't played the previous two, I decided to give "Forza
Horizon 4" a chance.
For a game that came out eight years ago, FH4 still looks remarkably
good. You can see how the years are catching up with it --the lighting
is just a bit too flat, the textures just a bit too low-res-- but the
game remains quite pretty. That it runs at >400FPS on my machine
despite all the settings being maxed-out is pretty neat too.
Technically, the game is out-of-support. Its no longer available for
sale, and its multiplayer aspects have been shut down. However, the >single-player aspects remain fully playable, so if you want --like I
wanted-- just to whiz around the map and pick fights with the AI and
play the campaign races, all that is still possible.
The racing is satisfying. "Forza Horizon 4" is mostly what I call a
'pinball racer'; an action game light on simulation. You can tweak the >settings to make things a bit more realistic, but Forza is never going
to match up to games like BeamNG or iRacing. But that's okay because
what I wanted was a game that let me bounce across the street, driving
like a madman as I recklessly pushed my way through the pack of cars
ahead of me in a careless dash to first-place. In this regard FH4 was
great.
Less pleasing was everything surrounding the races. The conceit behind
the game is that a year-long racing festival has settled upon a >not-very-realistic depiction of Great Britain. Upon this map are
numerous individual events, ranging from traditional tracks, 'sprint
races' on public roads, various challenges (like maxing out your
velocity as you dash by a speed-camera), and more. Individually, these
are all well-and good; as mentioned earlier, the racing is fun. But I
found the entire 'festival' aspect of the game --and its connected >characters, game-play loop, and just the general tone of the whole
thing-- to be incredibly annoying. Part of the issue was the
presentation, with the announcers endlessly gushing about how awesome
and cool everything is. And they go on about it forever, without any >opportunity to skip past their dialogue. Starting a race has you going >through four or five menu screens; when you win, you have to watch
another three or four result screens. No, those can't be skipped
either. Racers are incrementally unlocked --each one with an announcer >telling you about it as it appears on the map. Mess up a race and want
to restart? There's no opportunity to jump right back to the starting
line; no, you're thrown back to the menus again. You can't even
quick-travel to the start point of each race. There's just so much
wasted time in this game. Can't I just, you know, race?
Throw into that all the sponsored events (Top Gear! Lego! probably
more I didn't look at), the endlessly and tiresome amounts of rewards
(skill points! influence points! credits!). There are 750 cars in the
game you can collect; each one can be tuned and upgrade (using skill
points) individually; there are dozens of emotes and skins to be
found. It's just too much. The game just becomes tiresome really,
really quickly.
It's a shame, because the core of the game is fine. Speeding around
the beautiful landscape is a joy. The races are as challenging as you
need them to be. The cars are nicely modeled. But damn if there's just
too much chaff getting in the way of the fun bits. Maybe this was
something that could be avoided when the game was still a live-service
thing; perhaps you could jump ahead of the queue and unlock all the
cars and races through the judicious use of a credit card. I honestly
don't know. But I don't have the time or patience to keep at it very
long. I love speeding through the English downs, sure... but not so
much I'm going to dedicate months and years to get all the neat cars
and races. There are too many other games out there that don't waste
my time that I still need to play first.
* Alone in the Dark (2024) >https://store.steampowered.com/app/1310410/Alone_in_the_Dark/
I'll admit, this game was something of a pleasant surprise. Early
reviews had been mixed about the game, and I wasn't expecting much
from it; an average horror game at best. In truth, when it comes to
the gameplay that's still mostly true. AITD doesn't really impress me
there. But I really loved its connection to the original 1992 game.
In that old game, Jermey Hartwood's suicide sets off the action that
leads to the protagonists exploring the haunted Derceto mansion. In
this 2024 reboot, Jeremy's suicide is averted, setting off a 'what
if?' scenario involving many of the same characters. It's not a
one-to-one correspondence between the two settings, but there are
enough references and call-backs to keep things interesting.
The game has some terrific atmosphere that sets up some genuinely
creepy moments. There is a pervasive feeling of dread and paranoia
throughout the game, as you not only doubt the other characters, but
your own protagonists' (you have a choice of playing as Emily
Hartwood, Jeremy's niece, or as Edward Carnby, a private investigator
hired by Emily) sanity. This isn't a novel concept for horror games,
but it is well done. All the more so since this game doesn't use
anything so crude as a 'sanity meter' or overt hallucinations to
indicate your (possible) slide into madness. The game just makes you
wonder if the thing you just very clearly saw actually happened.
Unfortunately, for all that "Alone in the Dark" manages tone and
atmosphere excellently, the rest of its gameplay is fairly poor. AITD
uses a mix of puzzles and combat to move you through the game, and
neither are particularly satisfying. The puzzles are all incredibly
easy, often down to the point of 'use the only item you can pick up in
this room with the only interactive object in the room', making you
wonder what the point of the challenge was. The combat is equally >unfulfilling; the monsters all move slowly, can be taken down with
several shots, and ammunition is in easy supply. Higher difficulty
levels throw in a few more monsters that can absorb a few more shots,
but this doesn't really make the game any harder; it just makes the
combat more tiresome. And it doesn't effect the puzzle difficulty in
the least.
Another disappointment is that --despite there being two characters to
play as-- the adventure is largely the same between them. You'll hear
a few new comments depending on whether you play as Emily or Edward,
and each character does have a very brief chapter dedicated to their
personal trauma, but overall you'll be following the same footsteps
and seeing the exact same maps regardless of which character you play
as. There is really very little reason to play as the second character
once you finish the first; you won't be learning or doing anything
new. That said, if you do play the game, it's strongly recommended you
play as Emily first, since Edward's reactions to the supernatural seem
to be intended to mirror those of the player; he takes it all in
stride without question. Thus, Edward's campaign seems intended more
towards players who already know what's going to happen. But I suppose
you could always use a second playthrough to enjoy the optional
Director's Commentary.
When "Alone in the Dark" released, it was dinged heavily for being a
buggy mess. I can't speak for how bad it was back in 2024, but overall
the current state of the game was playable. It's not completely
without problems; several times I experienced a bug where items and
pick-ups couldn't be interacted with; a few times enemies didn't seem
to register damage despite being obviously hit. There were also the >occasional non-serious visual glitches.
The setting and production values of "Alone in the Dark" are
top-notch. I just wish there was the same effort put into the
gameplay.
* Pan'orama
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1730250/Panorama/
There really isn't much to say about this game. You're given a bunch
of tiles --each representing a different type of terrain-- and lay
them down on the map. Depending on where you place each tile, you get
a certain number of points. Those points award you new tiles. Keep
playing until you run out of tiles. There's a certain amount of
puzzle-logic to keep the points rolling in, but mostly it's about
building a pretty landscape. Except the randomness of the tile
distribution (and the limited variety) means you can't always create
the landscape you want. So "Pan'orama" is a builder game where there's
no game and no real opportunity to build. Not a good combination, in
my book.
Honestly, I can see this working better as a mobile game; the sort of
thing you tap away on for a few minutes on your phone while waiting
for the train, and then put away after a few minutes. Played like
that, its lack of challenge or consistent creativity isn't so
bothersome. But it just doesn't have what it needs to keep me engaged
for any longer than that.
I got this game as a (semi-) freebie from Prime Gaming, so I don't
feel to bad having spent a few hours playing this... but I sure am
glad I didn't pay for this game. It's just not worth it.
* Metal Wolf Chaos XD >https://store.steampowered.com/app/820630/Metal_Wolf_Chaos_XD/
I think the problem was that I was expecting more from this game than
it ever had to offer. It is, after all, a 22 year old game, and even
when it was new it wasn't particularly good. But I was hoping it was
still at least half-way interesting.
A big part of the problem, for me at least, was the awful voice-acting
and the even worse dialog. I know it's all supposed to be
tongue-in-cheek; a cliche of action tropes wrapped up in explosions
and giant robots. But the writing and dialog would make even the worst
80s toy-cartoon blush. It's not that I don't grok that it's poking fun
at American exceptionalism and its love of using violence to solve its >issues, but it's all so clumsily done and without any real enthusiasm
by its actors that it lacks all charm and humor. With better
voice-overs and writing, I'd have happily laughed along with the game.
As it was, there was nary a chuckle. It was /boring/.
The gameplay is marginally more satisfying, although the too-tiny
levels and simplistic combat did little to entertain me. A few levels
were better than others (I particularly liked the one where I was
running away from a giant robot spider); some --especially those where
I had to jump over instant-death pits-- were a lot less enjoyable. At
best, the game was workaday and unexciting. It never really impressed
me.
Which is a shame, since the whole conceit of the game seems like it
would be right up my alley. Riding around in a giant mech-suit
spouting action-movie quotes? It should have been a sure-fire hit. But
in the end, "Metal Wolf Chaos XD" felt uninspired and trite.
* Carrion
https://store.steampowered.com/app/953490/CARRION/
I had a surprising amount of fun with this one. At its heart,
"Carrion" is a metroidvania; a side-scrolling action-adventure where
you explore a mazelike series of interconnected rooms, many of which
are blocked off until you find the appropriate power-up that lets you
bypass the barricades. But while metroidvanias typically have you
enter the maze to kill the monsters within, in "Carrion" you /are/ the >monster within... and your ultimate goal is to escape the maze so you
can continue your rampage in the outer world. Or, at least, I presume
that's the end-goal. Being nothing more than a mass of teeth and
tentacles, it's not entirely clear why you're such a murderous beast.
The pixel-art visuals are impressive, if you like the type. I'm not
usually a fan of the style, but in this case the blocky graphics
probably work in the game's favor; the lack of detail leaves more to
the imagination, and the ultra-saturated colors juxtapose nicely with
the horrific scenes on display. The monster's animations --crawling
across floor and ceiling with its blood-drenched tentacles-- are very
well done too (oddly enough, the stilted animations of the human
characters make them seem more inhuman than the monster itself).
The gameplay itself is evenly distributed between exploration, light
puzzle solving, and combat. The combat isn't too difficult. The
monster is extremely lethal killing machine, and once it gets its
claws on an enemy, its foes isn't long for this world. Balancing this
out, however, is its vulnerability to attack; the monster is something
of a glass cannon and even the earliest enemies --armed with little
more than a pistol-- can kill you with only a few shots. Much of the >challenge is maneuvering around the map trying to get into a position
where you can strike from behind, or utilizing hit-and-run tactics to
strike from above (or below), grabbing an exposed target and dragging
them into a vent where you can quickly kill your target without being
exposed to enemy fire as you do so.
The puzzling and exploration aspects -- the two are pretty
intertwined-- are less fulfilling. Much of the puzzling is figuring
out how to get into locked rooms, which usually requires you to
slither around until you find the appropriate switch. Often pulling a
switch opens one door and closes another, and you have to find the
right combination to pass through to the next area. This requires a
lot of backtracking, and got pretty repetitive as the game progressed.
The exploration wasn't helped by the fairly small rooms, nor the lack
of an in-game map... or, really, any sort of guide to where you were
supposed to be going. Especially near the end, I wandered the world
for an ungodly amount of time trying to figure out just what area I
hadn't yet explored that would let me progress. The map itself is
incredibly intertwined, with numerous links between different regions
and it isn't always clear where you're going to end up when taking
one. Some better direction would have made the game much more
enjoyable.
Still, on the whole I had fun with the game. It's not the greatest >metroidvania, but its combination of gore, good visuals, fun combat
and a unique concept make it an enjoyable romp. I just wish the
exploring had been more satisfying.
* Doom: The Dark Ages - Revelations >https://store.steampowered.com/app/3469450/DOOM_The_Dark_Ages__Revelations/
It's only been a few months since I first played "Doom: The Dark
Ages", so I admit I'm still a bit burned out on the game. But I got
the new "Revelations" DLC for free (apparently I bought the premium
edition; who knew?) and I was feeling an urgent needs to shove a
shotgun in a demon's face, so I guess I'm playing the game again.
I wasn't all that enthralled with "The Dark Ages" when I played it in >February. It's not that I thought it a bad game --I even gleaned some >enjoyment from my playthrough!-- but I felt it was a weaker (and very >different) game from the earlier 'nu-Doom' titles. Mostly I disliked
the level design and the heavy clunkiness of the protagonist; it felt >radically different from the speedster of the earlier games. Still,
the was some appeal to the implacability of the DoomGuy; it was hard
to deny the power-fantasy of being able to take on all of Heaven and
Hell and coming out on top. But the gameplay was never the most
satisfying part of the experience for me.
"Revelations", unfortunately, does nothing to change my opinion of the
game. It feels very much like 'cutting-room floor' leftovers; content
that was yanked from the original game because it wasn't up to the
same level of quality as the maps that actually shipped, repurposed as
DLC. It's nothing too terrible, but even compared to the main game the
levels feel tedious and unexciting. I will give the developers this
much credit though; aside from the first and last maps, the levels are
fairly large and the load-times are incredibly fast. The programmers
may not be Carmack-levels of genius, but kudos to them for optimizing
the game as well as they did.
The big hook of the game is the new 'Chain Spear', a melee-weapon
which adds some extra (and, in my opinion, much needed) mobility to
the protagonist. Target an enemy and you're yanked across the arena,
landing with a thundering impact. While wielding the spear, DoomGuy
can also dash and swing from floating targets, which means there's a
return (albeit not an emphasis on) the platforming puzzles from
earlier games. And... it's fine.
Frankly, I found the addition of the spear to be a bit cumbersome >--especially with all its combos-- in addition to the already large
move-set from the base-game. It does make DoomGuy a much more
melee-focused character. My usual arsenal of guns were always a
secondary consideration, and I only switched between them when they
ran out of ammo, usually with little thought as to which gun to use.
Between the shield, melee (mace) weapon and the spear, the usual
ranged weaponry seemed superfluous. It's not really
Doom-as-we-know-it, but it made for an okay change of pace.
The narrative and characters were --even more than usual for a
Doom-game-- completely forgettable, and there was little in the way of
new lore or, really, anything new to see. The "Chasm of Xal'Goroth"
was the most enjoyable map (if a bit heavy on the platforming) but
overall, there were no big surprises in this game. It was just a lot
of combat against the usual cast of monsters.
Honestly, I found the entire thing a bit tedious, and by the end I was
mostly playing just so I could say I finished the main campaign.
Again, this feeling of ennui may be in part because I still hadn't
recovered from my earlier playthrough, and had I waited a bit longer I
might have been more receptive to its gameplay. But I don't think I'd
have ever found this DLC all that great. As a freebie, it's fine; it's
more "Doom: The Dark Ages", and if you liked that game, this one won't >disappoint too much. I just don't think it will really impress either,
and wouldn't recommend anybody actually PAY for it. It's an utterly >forgettable expansion.
* Sheepy
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1448600/Sheepy/
This was a recent freebie offered on Steam. I grabbed it because...
well, why not? As to why I played it? Well, ignore all those
scurrilous rumors in the local Scottish newspapers. The real reason I
played it is because I like exposing myself to new things. [Strange,
that's what those newspapers said too!]
More seriously, this is not a good game. Honestly, it's the sort of
game I'd expect to see if you asked ChatGPT "Hey, can you write me a >platforming game with a cute baby sheep as a protagonist". It hits all
the expected marks of that request, but lacks any charm or challenge
with its gameplay. Even for a 'casual' game, it isn't very good.
Despite being only two maps long, it still felt over-long and tedious
to finish.
[To be fair, I'm not saying this was created by AI. Just that it feels
as lacking in imagination and effort as something that might have used
a LLM algorithm to create it.]
The best I can say is that it lives up to its description: it's a
platforming video-game where you play as a sheep. You could jump, run
and shoot (well, spit) enemies, and collect things. It does everything
you expect from this sort of game.
It just isn't fun or worth playing.
---------------------------------------
Huh. I played a lot of games this month. I'm sure it had nothing to do
with the fact that it was abysmally hot outside, and that the PC is
situated right next to the air-conditioner! No, I'm sure it was only
because the games were all just that good!
And how about you? Have you figured out what games you played last
month? Because we're at that point in this post where I ask you:
What Have You Been Playing... IN JULY 2026?
What Have You Been Playing... IN JULY 2026?
Hello August! Goodbye July! Not that I'm celebrating the end of that
month; it actually wasn't so bad a time for me. But a new month means
a new opportunity for new games... and a chance to talk about the ones
just played. Yup, we're back with another 'what have you been playing' thread. So... um... what have you been playing? I'll give you a moment
to remember while I tell you what my playlist contained.
Superbrief
---------------------------------------
* Forza Horizon 4
* Alone in the Dark (2024)
* Pan'orama
* Metal Wolf Chaos XD
* Carrion
* Doom: The Dark Ages - Revelations
* Sheepy
Maximum Verbosity
---------------------------------------
* Forza Horizon 4
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1293830
I haven't really played a Forza game since the second one, and
honestly I don't even remember that one very well. But after hauling
cargo so long in various truck simulators, dutifully obeying the speed
limits and doing my best _not_ to hit other cars, I figured it was
time for a change. And since "Forza Horizon 6" is in the news now, and
I still haven't played the previous two, I decided to give "Forza
Horizon 4" a chance.
For a game that came out eight years ago, FH4 still looks remarkably
good. You can see how the years are catching up with it --the lighting
is just a bit too flat, the textures just a bit too low-res-- but the
game remains quite pretty. That it runs at >400FPS on my machine
despite all the settings being maxed-out is pretty neat too.
Technically, the game is out-of-support. Its no longer available for
sale, and its multiplayer aspects have been shut down. However, the single-player aspects remain fully playable, so if you want --like I
wanted-- just to whiz around the map and pick fights with the AI and
play the campaign races, all that is still possible.
The racing is satisfying. "Forza Horizon 4" is mostly what I call a
'pinball racer'; an action game light on simulation. You can tweak the settings to make things a bit more realistic, but Forza is never going
to match up to games like BeamNG or iRacing. But that's okay because
what I wanted was a game that let me bounce across the street, driving
like a madman as I recklessly pushed my way through the pack of cars
ahead of me in a careless dash to first-place. In this regard FH4 was
great.
Less pleasing was everything surrounding the races. The conceit behind
the game is that a year-long racing festival has settled upon a not-very-realistic depiction of Great Britain. Upon this map are
numerous individual events, ranging from traditional tracks, 'sprint
races' on public roads, various challenges (like maxing out your
velocity as you dash by a speed-camera), and more. Individually, these
are all well-and good; as mentioned earlier, the racing is fun. But I
found the entire 'festival' aspect of the game --and its connected characters, game-play loop, and just the general tone of the whole
thing-- to be incredibly annoying. Part of the issue was the
presentation, with the announcers endlessly gushing about how awesome
and cool everything is. And they go on about it forever, without any opportunity to skip past their dialogue. Starting a race has you going through four or five menu screens; when you win, you have to watch
another three or four result screens. No, those can't be skipped
either. Racers are incrementally unlocked --each one with an announcer telling you about it as it appears on the map. Mess up a race and want
to restart? There's no opportunity to jump right back to the starting
line; no, you're thrown back to the menus again. You can't even
quick-travel to the start point of each race. There's just so much
wasted time in this game. Can't I just, you know, race?
Throw into that all the sponsored events (Top Gear! Lego! probably
more I didn't look at), the endlessly and tiresome amounts of rewards
(skill points! influence points! credits!). There are 750 cars in the
game you can collect; each one can be tuned and upgrade (using skill
points) individually; there are dozens of emotes and skins to be
found. It's just too much. The game just becomes tiresome really,
really quickly.
It's a shame, because the core of the game is fine. Speeding around
the beautiful landscape is a joy. The races are as challenging as you
need them to be. The cars are nicely modeled. But damn if there's just
too much chaff getting in the way of the fun bits. Maybe this was
something that could be avoided when the game was still a live-service
thing; perhaps you could jump ahead of the queue and unlock all the
cars and races through the judicious use of a credit card. I honestly
don't know. But I don't have the time or patience to keep at it very
long. I love speeding through the English downs, sure... but not so
much I'm going to dedicate months and years to get all the neat cars
and races. There are too many other games out there that don't waste
my time that I still need to play first.
* Alone in the Dark (2024) https://store.steampowered.com/app/1310410/Alone_in_the_Dark/
I'll admit, this game was something of a pleasant surprise. Early
reviews had been mixed about the game, and I wasn't expecting much
from it; an average horror game at best. In truth, when it comes to
the gameplay that's still mostly true. AITD doesn't really impress me
there. But I really loved its connection to the original 1992 game.
In that old game, Jermey Hartwood's suicide sets off the action that
leads to the protagonists exploring the haunted Derceto mansion. In
this 2024 reboot, Jeremy's suicide is averted, setting off a 'what
if?' scenario involving many of the same characters. It's not a
one-to-one correspondence between the two settings, but there are
enough references and call-backs to keep things interesting.
The game has some terrific atmosphere that sets up some genuinely
creepy moments. There is a pervasive feeling of dread and paranoia
throughout the game, as you not only doubt the other characters, but
your own protagonists' (you have a choice of playing as Emily
Hartwood, Jeremy's niece, or as Edward Carnby, a private investigator
hired by Emily) sanity. This isn't a novel concept for horror games,
but it is well done. All the more so since this game doesn't use
anything so crude as a 'sanity meter' or overt hallucinations to
indicate your (possible) slide into madness. The game just makes you
wonder if the thing you just very clearly saw actually happened.
Unfortunately, for all that "Alone in the Dark" manages tone and
atmosphere excellently, the rest of its gameplay is fairly poor. AITD
uses a mix of puzzles and combat to move you through the game, and
neither are particularly satisfying. The puzzles are all incredibly
easy, often down to the point of 'use the only item you can pick up in
this room with the only interactive object in the room', making you
wonder what the point of the challenge was. The combat is equally unfulfilling; the monsters all move slowly, can be taken down with
several shots, and ammunition is in easy supply. Higher difficulty
levels throw in a few more monsters that can absorb a few more shots,
but this doesn't really make the game any harder; it just makes the
combat more tiresome. And it doesn't effect the puzzle difficulty in
the least.
Another disappointment is that --despite there being two characters to
play as-- the adventure is largely the same between them. You'll hear
a few new comments depending on whether you play as Emily or Edward,
and each character does have a very brief chapter dedicated to their
personal trauma, but overall you'll be following the same footsteps
and seeing the exact same maps regardless of which character you play
as. There is really very little reason to play as the second character
once you finish the first; you won't be learning or doing anything
new. That said, if you do play the game, it's strongly recommended you
play as Emily first, since Edward's reactions to the supernatural seem
to be intended to mirror those of the player; he takes it all in
stride without question. Thus, Edward's campaign seems intended more
towards players who already know what's going to happen. But I suppose
you could always use a second playthrough to enjoy the optional
Director's Commentary.
When "Alone in the Dark" released, it was dinged heavily for being a
buggy mess. I can't speak for how bad it was back in 2024, but overall
the current state of the game was playable. It's not completely
without problems; several times I experienced a bug where items and
pick-ups couldn't be interacted with; a few times enemies didn't seem
to register damage despite being obviously hit. There were also the occasional non-serious visual glitches.
The setting and production values of "Alone in the Dark" are
top-notch. I just wish there was the same effort put into the
gameplay.
* Pan'orama
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1730250/Panorama/
There really isn't much to say about this game. You're given a bunch
of tiles --each representing a different type of terrain-- and lay
them down on the map. Depending on where you place each tile, you get
a certain number of points. Those points award you new tiles. Keep
playing until you run out of tiles. There's a certain amount of
puzzle-logic to keep the points rolling in, but mostly it's about
building a pretty landscape. Except the randomness of the tile
distribution (and the limited variety) means you can't always create
the landscape you want. So "Pan'orama" is a builder game where there's
no game and no real opportunity to build. Not a good combination, in
my book.
Honestly, I can see this working better as a mobile game; the sort of
thing you tap away on for a few minutes on your phone while waiting
for the train, and then put away after a few minutes. Played like
that, its lack of challenge or consistent creativity isn't so
bothersome. But it just doesn't have what it needs to keep me engaged
for any longer than that.
I got this game as a (semi-) freebie from Prime Gaming, so I don't
feel to bad having spent a few hours playing this... but I sure am
glad I didn't pay for this game. It's just not worth it.
* Metal Wolf Chaos XD https://store.steampowered.com/app/820630/Metal_Wolf_Chaos_XD/
I think the problem was that I was expecting more from this game than
it ever had to offer. It is, after all, a 22 year old game, and even
when it was new it wasn't particularly good. But I was hoping it was
still at least half-way interesting.
A big part of the problem, for me at least, was the awful voice-acting
and the even worse dialog. I know it's all supposed to be
tongue-in-cheek; a cliche of action tropes wrapped up in explosions
and giant robots. But the writing and dialog would make even the worst
80s toy-cartoon blush. It's not that I don't grok that it's poking fun
at American exceptionalism and its love of using violence to solve its issues, but it's all so clumsily done and without any real enthusiasm
by its actors that it lacks all charm and humor. With better
voice-overs and writing, I'd have happily laughed along with the game.
As it was, there was nary a chuckle. It was /boring/.
The gameplay is marginally more satisfying, although the too-tiny
levels and simplistic combat did little to entertain me. A few levels
were better than others (I particularly liked the one where I was
running away from a giant robot spider); some --especially those where
I had to jump over instant-death pits-- were a lot less enjoyable. At
best, the game was workaday and unexciting. It never really impressed
me.
Which is a shame, since the whole conceit of the game seems like it
would be right up my alley. Riding around in a giant mech-suit
spouting action-movie quotes? It should have been a sure-fire hit. But
in the end, "Metal Wolf Chaos XD" felt uninspired and trite.
* Carrion
https://store.steampowered.com/app/953490/CARRION/
I had a surprising amount of fun with this one. At its heart,
"Carrion" is a metroidvania; a side-scrolling action-adventure where
you explore a mazelike series of interconnected rooms, many of which
are blocked off until you find the appropriate power-up that lets you
bypass the barricades. But while metroidvanias typically have you
enter the maze to kill the monsters within, in "Carrion" you /are/ the monster within... and your ultimate goal is to escape the maze so you
can continue your rampage in the outer world. Or, at least, I presume
that's the end-goal. Being nothing more than a mass of teeth and
tentacles, it's not entirely clear why you're such a murderous beast.
The pixel-art visuals are impressive, if you like the type. I'm not
usually a fan of the style, but in this case the blocky graphics
probably work in the game's favor; the lack of detail leaves more to
the imagination, and the ultra-saturated colors juxtapose nicely with
the horrific scenes on display. The monster's animations --crawling
across floor and ceiling with its blood-drenched tentacles-- are very
well done too (oddly enough, the stilted animations of the human
characters make them seem more inhuman than the monster itself).
The gameplay itself is evenly distributed between exploration, light
puzzle solving, and combat. The combat isn't too difficult. The
monster is extremely lethal killing machine, and once it gets its
claws on an enemy, its foes isn't long for this world. Balancing this
out, however, is its vulnerability to attack; the monster is something
of a glass cannon and even the earliest enemies --armed with little
more than a pistol-- can kill you with only a few shots. Much of the challenge is maneuvering around the map trying to get into a position
where you can strike from behind, or utilizing hit-and-run tactics to
strike from above (or below), grabbing an exposed target and dragging
them into a vent where you can quickly kill your target without being
exposed to enemy fire as you do so.
The puzzling and exploration aspects -- the two are pretty
intertwined-- are less fulfilling. Much of the puzzling is figuring
out how to get into locked rooms, which usually requires you to
slither around until you find the appropriate switch. Often pulling a
switch opens one door and closes another, and you have to find the
right combination to pass through to the next area. This requires a
lot of backtracking, and got pretty repetitive as the game progressed.
The exploration wasn't helped by the fairly small rooms, nor the lack
of an in-game map... or, really, any sort of guide to where you were
supposed to be going. Especially near the end, I wandered the world
for an ungodly amount of time trying to figure out just what area I
hadn't yet explored that would let me progress. The map itself is
incredibly intertwined, with numerous links between different regions
and it isn't always clear where you're going to end up when taking
one. Some better direction would have made the game much more
enjoyable.
Still, on the whole I had fun with the game. It's not the greatest metroidvania, but its combination of gore, good visuals, fun combat
and a unique concept make it an enjoyable romp. I just wish the
exploring had been more satisfying.
* Doom: The Dark Ages - Revelations https://store.steampowered.com/app/3469450/DOOM_The_Dark_Ages__Revelations/
It's only been a few months since I first played "Doom: The Dark
Ages", so I admit I'm still a bit burned out on the game. But I got
the new "Revelations" DLC for free (apparently I bought the premium
edition; who knew?) and I was feeling an urgent needs to shove a
shotgun in a demon's face, so I guess I'm playing the game again.
I wasn't all that enthralled with "The Dark Ages" when I played it in February. It's not that I thought it a bad game --I even gleaned some enjoyment from my playthrough!-- but I felt it was a weaker (and very different) game from the earlier 'nu-Doom' titles. Mostly I disliked
the level design and the heavy clunkiness of the protagonist; it felt radically different from the speedster of the earlier games. Still,
the was some appeal to the implacability of the DoomGuy; it was hard
to deny the power-fantasy of being able to take on all of Heaven and
Hell and coming out on top. But the gameplay was never the most
satisfying part of the experience for me.
"Revelations", unfortunately, does nothing to change my opinion of the
game. It feels very much like 'cutting-room floor' leftovers; content
that was yanked from the original game because it wasn't up to the
same level of quality as the maps that actually shipped, repurposed as
DLC. It's nothing too terrible, but even compared to the main game the
levels feel tedious and unexciting. I will give the developers this
much credit though; aside from the first and last maps, the levels are
fairly large and the load-times are incredibly fast. The programmers
may not be Carmack-levels of genius, but kudos to them for optimizing
the game as well as they did.
The big hook of the game is the new 'Chain Spear', a melee-weapon
which adds some extra (and, in my opinion, much needed) mobility to
the protagonist. Target an enemy and you're yanked across the arena,
landing with a thundering impact. While wielding the spear, DoomGuy
can also dash and swing from floating targets, which means there's a
return (albeit not an emphasis on) the platforming puzzles from
earlier games. And... it's fine.
Frankly, I found the addition of the spear to be a bit cumbersome --especially with all its combos-- in addition to the already large
move-set from the base-game. It does make DoomGuy a much more
melee-focused character. My usual arsenal of guns were always a
secondary consideration, and I only switched between them when they
ran out of ammo, usually with little thought as to which gun to use.
Between the shield, melee (mace) weapon and the spear, the usual
ranged weaponry seemed superfluous. It's not really
Doom-as-we-know-it, but it made for an okay change of pace.
The narrative and characters were --even more than usual for a
Doom-game-- completely forgettable, and there was little in the way of
new lore or, really, anything new to see. The "Chasm of Xal'Goroth"
was the most enjoyable map (if a bit heavy on the platforming) but
overall, there were no big surprises in this game. It was just a lot
of combat against the usual cast of monsters.
Honestly, I found the entire thing a bit tedious, and by the end I was
mostly playing just so I could say I finished the main campaign.
Again, this feeling of ennui may be in part because I still hadn't
recovered from my earlier playthrough, and had I waited a bit longer I
might have been more receptive to its gameplay. But I don't think I'd
have ever found this DLC all that great. As a freebie, it's fine; it's
more "Doom: The Dark Ages", and if you liked that game, this one won't disappoint too much. I just don't think it will really impress either,
and wouldn't recommend anybody actually PAY for it. It's an utterly forgettable expansion.
* Sheepy
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1448600/Sheepy/
This was a recent freebie offered on Steam. I grabbed it because...
well, why not? As to why I played it? Well, ignore all those
scurrilous rumors in the local Scottish newspapers. The real reason I
played it is because I like exposing myself to new things. [Strange,
that's what those newspapers said too!]
More seriously, this is not a good game. Honestly, it's the sort of
game I'd expect to see if you asked ChatGPT "Hey, can you write me a platforming game with a cute baby sheep as a protagonist". It hits all
the expected marks of that request, but lacks any charm or challenge
with its gameplay. Even for a 'casual' game, it isn't very good.
Despite being only two maps long, it still felt over-long and tedious
to finish.
[To be fair, I'm not saying this was created by AI. Just that it feels
as lacking in imagination and effort as something that might have used
a LLM algorithm to create it.]
The best I can say is that it lives up to its description: it's a
platforming video-game where you play as a sheep. You could jump, run
and shoot (well, spit) enemies, and collect things. It does everything
you expect from this sort of game.
It just isn't fun or worth playing.
---------------------------------------
Huh. I played a lot of games this month. I'm sure it had nothing to do
with the fact that it was abysmally hot outside, and that the PC is
situated right next to the air-conditioner! No, I'm sure it was only
because the games were all just that good!
And how about you? Have you figured out what games you played last
month? Because we're at that point in this post where I ask you:
What Have You Been Playing... IN JULY 2026?
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