I'm not one for "New Year's resolutions", but I am one for overly ambitious projects.
For 2023, Project365 is "One New Game Per Day".
Given that I have 634 unplayed games in my Steam account and {mumble} unredeemed bundle Steam keys, there's a reason my unplayed collection is tagged "Pile of Shame".
I'll pin this to my profile, and give a brief summary here each day (or x, if I miss x days due to work or stuff).
I'll play 15-30 minutes of (at least) one new game I've never played before (or played less than 15 minutes of). I'll give every game at least 15 minutes, even if I hate every minute of it.
I'm also open to suggestions; if you reply to this thread with a game, I'll schedule it, or tell you what I thought of it.
One of the things that's come up is that I have a bunch of games that I've played once, and not touched again.
Jan 1, 2023 - Day 1 - Bonus Review
Total NewPlays: 2
Game: Prey
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: May 5, 2017
Library Date: July 20, 2019
Unplayed: 1261 days (3y5m12d)
Playtime: 2.1h
I bought this on a whim when the Digital Deluxe edition was on special for about 75% off. Then I read a little more closely, and realised it was survival horror, and I don't DO horror.
Except... recently, I have started playing games I never would have touched before. I'm not sure why, but for the first time in my life I'm actually finding some enjoyment in that type of game, instead of uncontrollable anxiety.
I've also realised that I really seem to dig Arkane Studios games. I started playing Dishonored for the first time a few months ago, I've been playing through Deathloop, so I thought I might take Prey out for a spin for half an hour. 2 hours of jump scares, frantically smashing mimics, and trying to stay alive later, I saved out to write this up, and grab some dinner.
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Feb 9, 2018
Library Date: Dec 24, 2019
Unplayed: 1105 days (3y9d)
Playtime: 19m
This game came in a Humble Choice bundle, and it had two things going against it:
Pixel graphics
Platformer
I was there for 8-bit & pixel graphics the first time around. My first "gaming" computer was a PC XT clone with an amber monochrome monitor. Our only gaming was a pong clone.
I think these are the reasons I lack rose-coloured glasses for that era of gaming.
It's a 2D platformer. Like many #autistic folks, my fine motor control is not the greatest, nor is my hand-eye coordination. Platformers have been one of the major sources of frustration for me over the years, as I regularly mashed the wrong keys on the keyboard.
Which turned out to be a part of the problem.
When I got to grips with an Xbox controller to play Forza Horizon 4, it was an eye-opener, not just in terms of racing, but also for platformers.
Aegis Defenders is a 2D platformer mash-up with a Tower Defense game. Explore, find the target, defend it, upgrade, rinse and repeat. It remains to be seen whether I'll want to come back to it repeatedly, so for now I'm giving it a rating of:
Jan 2, 2023 - Day 2 - Bonus Review
Total NewPlays: 4
Game: SOULCALIBUR VI
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Feb 9, 2018
Library Date: Nov 30, 2019
Unplayed: 1129 days (3y1m3d)
Playtime: 29m
SOULCALIBUR VI was the headliner game for the last "Humble Monthly Bundle" before it became the "Humble Choice" bundle in December 2019, which also lead to the odd side-effect of getting two December" bundles that month.
Unfortunately for SOULCALIBUR VI fighting games are just below platformers on my "categories of games I do not play", and the game went unplayed.
Again, hand-eye coordination is at play, as well as "remember this string of buttons you need to press". I know the Konami Code exists, but I couldn't quote it to save my life.
But here I was loading it up this morning, and... it has a storyline? Character development? Not just punch punch kick kick punch duck block?
I actually enjoyed it enough to reinstall Injustice: Gods Among Us to see if I still hate it as much as I did the last two times I tried playing it.
SOULCALIBUR VI gets a rating of:
3: OK.
ps. I don't actually hate Injustice as much as I did. Go figure.
Jan 4, 2023 - Day 4 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 6
Game: Marvel's Midnight Suns
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Dec 2, 2022
Library Date: Jan 3, 2022
Unplayed: 0 days (see below)
Playtime: 2.4h
I use gg.deals to keep track of all the games I want, for when they go on special at historical lows. Yesterday I woke up to an alert for Midnight Suns. It's currently 41% off on Green Man Gaming, and 33% off on Steam.
Yesterday afternoon, I decided to jump on it, and loaded it into my cart, and at the last minute, I balked. Literally sitting there with my finger over the mouse and the mouse pointer on the purchase button.
FOMO vs NOMO. Somehow FOMO won. I didn't click the button. I'm certain. Almost certain. In any case, I found myself staring at the "Purchases" screen.
[shrug] Now I own Midnight Suns. Started downloading it immediately, and got stuck in.
The reason this says "Unplayed: 0 days." is that I started playing just before 10pm, and finally realised I had to log out and get some sleep after midnight, or I'd be playing until ridiculous o'clock.
I'm not sure quite how to describe it. A tactics-RPG-roguelike? With an undercurrent of snarky MCU-style humour.
Anyway, I love it. I'll love it more when they patch some optimisations in for the occasional stuttering, but Marvel's Midnight Suns still gets my first "Excellent" for 2023.
Jan 5, 2023 - Day 5 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 7
Game: Homefront
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Mar 15, 2011
Library Date: Dec 8, 2017
Unplayed: 1854 days (5y28d)
Playtime: 25m
Not to be confused with "Homefront: Revolution" (which is, apparently, a "re-imagining"), Homefront is a FPS set in a apocalyptic post-invasion America in 2027, after North Korea has re-united with South Korea, and Korea has become a superpower.
The montage showing North Korea's movement from pariah state to world superpower, includes a "OMG 6 MILLION DEAD FROM AVIAN FLU!", which at the time of release probably felt apocalyptic, but with 6.7M dead of COVID, and counting, feels both a bit on the nose, and also a bit "and?"
The initial setup with one scene that would require a CW if I described it; once things kick into motion, so far it's a pretty average run & gun shooter; the AI seems to like one-shotting, so it's kind of slow making forward movement.
Apparently there's a serious storyline, but I didn't manage to progress far enough through the prologue to find out. Ehhh. I might go back to it.
Jan 6, 2023 - Day 6 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 8
Game: Gardens Inc. - From Rakes to Riches
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Mar 26, 2014
Library Date: Sept 23, 2017
Unplayed: 1931 days (5y3m14d)
Playtime: 3.9h
I've looked at this game sitting there in the 2017 group a few times, and bounced each time.
"A gardening game?" Another day. Today was that day. It's an almost nine year old game; classed as a "casual strategy" game, when they go into 800x600 and get blown up to full screen, with no options for high res, you know you're going to have a bad time.
I figured I'd suffer for the 15 minutes, and then write up the review.
[4 hours later]
I can't believe it sucked me in like that.
It's got a typical casual/mobile game cheesy storyline, with staged levels feel. You're running against a clock, and you've got to fix a few things in each garden, and you need to do some upgrades, and managed resources, and I'll just play this level one more time to beat it.
My initial rating for Gardens Inc. is:
4: Good
The only thing that stopped this cartoonish casual game getting an "Excellent" was the low-res graphics and resolution shift.
Jan 7, 2023 - Day 7 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 9
Game: The Metronomicon: Slay The Dance Floor
Platform: Steam PC
Release Date: Mar 29, 2016
Library Date: Mar 12, 2018
Unplayed: 1762 days (4y9m26d)
Playtime: 36m
It looks like I picked this up in a Fanatical BYOB deal, and added it to my collection. I quite like rhythm games on my mobile.
It then sat there unplayed for almost five years.
It's very colourful, and a little bit cheesy. Almost feels like someone came up with the play on words for Necronomonicon and thought "That should be a game!"
However, trying to set this up to play almost felt like a speedrun of the five stages of grief.
Denial: Why isn't this working with a controller?
Anger: Who puts a game like this out for it not to work with a controller??
Bargaining: OK, I'll turn off Steam's controller management and set it up in game, like the steam discussion says.
Depression: This is terrible to play with a controller.
Acceptance: I'll use the keyboard.
Once I used the keyboard, things made a lot more sense.
It's definitely "I'd need to be in the mood" game, but it scratches an itch nothing else in my Steam library does.
The Metronomicon: Slay The Dance Floor gets a rating of: