The new #soulslike bundle from Humble includes some awesome #SteamDeck games like Tails or Iron, Strayed Lights, and the first Remnant! It’s definitely a fantastic deal, especially since soulslike games are great on Deck.
Greatsword/Motivity builds forever. Unlike #FromSoft games where i insist on running a Str+ Dex = Quality build with a Curved Greatsword, here I'm running pure Str(Motivity) and bringing the pain and stagger
Two terms in #VideoGames that I can’t wait to see die are #Roguelike and #Soulslike. It seems to me most games have either roguelike or soulslike in the tags or descriptions somewhere regardless of whether it is warranted or not. The terms no longer mean anything to me any more.
It’s annoyed me to the point that I’m starting to actively avoid games that have those terms associated with them.
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.
November 14, 2023 - Day 317 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 337
Game: SCP: Secret Files
Platform: Steam
Release Date: Jun 2, 2022
Installation Date: Nov 14, 2023
Unplayed: 0d
Playtime: 20m
Souldiers is a 2D pixel-art Metroidvania Soulslike platformer, and the last of this months unplayed Humble Choice bundle games.
It has a fantasy setting, which involves being saved from death due to machinations within the kingdom by a Valkyrie only to have to fight in the land that you're taken to, and I didn't get much further than that in 20 minutes.
The devs have put a lot of thought and effort into the backstory, but it's not one that grabs me.
Once again, I'm staring at a fairly average Metroidvania in a year when I've played such excellent Metroidvanias and Soulslike platformers, that a game really needs to bring something different to the table to grab me.
Unfortunately, Souldiers didn't, and it's just kind of:
January 26, 2024 - Day 391 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 427
Game: Elderborn
Platform: Steam
Released: Jan 31, 2020
Installed: Jan 26, 2024
Unplayed: 0d
Playtime: 22m
Rating: 1 - Nope
Elderborn is a first-person Soulslike slasher melee-combat game.
The game opens with a bombastic monologue from the lead character (at least you can choose their gender), who lays out a brief history of how you got to the point of entering the locked-down city of doom, but there was nothing unique about it that grabbed me. It was just... filler.
(Sidenote: If your game supports 3440x1440 ultrawide, you need a FOV slider. Playing a first-person game through a fisheye lens is not fun.)
The graphics and design feel average. It feels like they forgot the narrative part of a Soulslike that gives you a reason to press on.
Ultimately, the biggest problem with the game is that it's just boring. Run to room. Cut down undead. Run to next room that looks like previous room. Cut down undead. Rinse and repeat.
Afterimage is the seventh game six in the March Humble Choice Bundle; it's a 2D sideways-scrolling Metroidvania, with some Soulslike influences.
You play as a girl named Renee who wakes up with amnesia, and finds that her village has been destroyed. You set out to recover her memories and find out what happened.
I had to Google the details of the game, because writing this review four days later, it strikes me as not particularly memorable. Not bad, just... average.