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.
May 12, 2023 - Day 132 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 148
Game: Everspace
Platform: Steam
Release Date: May 26, 2017
Library Date: Aug 15, 2022
Unplayed: 270d (8m27d)
Playtime: 42m
Everspace turns out to be a 6DOF roguelike space shooter.
The worst thing about it is that it's been sitting in my pile of shame for almost 9 months before I discovered it before work this morning; I was very nearly late to start work.
I've always been a fan of space combat games. From Descent, and X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter, to Star Wars Squadrons, and Chorus, many hours and more than one joystick were lost as I spun and turned and tried to shoot before I was shot.
A roguelike space combat game? Turns out it works, really well.
I have yet to see if it will works with my joystick and throttle, but even with keyboard and mouse, I feel like I'm going to lose quite a few more hours.
November 21, 2023 - Day 324 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 344
Game: Starpoint Gemini Warlords
Platform: Steam
Release Date: May 24, 2017
Installation Date: Aug 15, 2022
Unplayed: 463d (1y3m6d)
Playtime: 20m
Starpoint Gemini Warlords is part third-person space combat, part 4X strategy, and part RPG.
I'm unable to review the 4X strategy & RPG elements, because I couldn't get past the utterly dire ship controls.
Going into the game blank, I had no idea it had space combat elements, which is pretty much "OK, joystick time".
I tried using the keyboard controls, and the ship handled like a stoned snail. Switched over to the Xbox controller, and that was actually worse, because while the ship still seemed to be handling like a stoned snail with the left stick, the right stick had the camera whipping around like a hummingbird on speed.
I went into the options to try and see if I could adjust the settings, and with the controller turned on, it just completely blacked out the options, so it's buggy too.
After 15 minutes of fighting with the game to try and get it to the point it was somewhat playable, I pulled the pin.
There might be a reasonable game buried under all that hassle, but am I going to put any more time into Starpoint Gemini Warlords to try and find it?