For the week of June 23 to 30
Check out what I played last week
We’ve reached the halfway point of the year. I can’t believe that I’ve managed to keep this going for six months. It’s been a challenge and I’m impressed with the variety of games I’ve had the chance to try. The next six months will continue to test my ability to play different games. I’m still encountering days where I’m grasping at a new game to try. Thank you for checking out this feature and I hope that this encourages you to try different games.
This week is more backlog stuff. I got around to playing a few 2024 releases, including two notable releases from earlier in the year. I also finally played a game I’ve been longing to try for decades.
Of the games I’ve played the most this week, I got hooked on Honor of Kings after starting it last week. I finally see the fun in MOBAs and I’ve slowly gone up the game’s rankings. I’m at Gold IV, which isn’t much, but higher than I thought. I doubt I have the skills to get to in the higher ranks but I’d like to see how much more I can improve. If I keep playing, I’ll write more about it.
June 24 – Rolling Hills: Make Sushi, Make Friends
I was looking for something light-hearted to start the week off. I went into Game Pass to see what was out there when I saw the game, Rolling Hills: Make Sushi, Make Friends. That title alone made it pretty clear this wouldn’t be a difficult game. It’s a fun game, but a bit slow at the start.
You play as a robot who opens a Sushi Restaurant in a small town. Your job is to not only manage and improve the restaurant but to help grow the town into something more. For what I played, I spent most of it serving people at my restaurant. The gameplay is straightforward. You need to pay attention to what your customers want and deliver it to their table in a timely fashion.
The only downside early on is that it takes a while to improve your restaurant. The first main goal is to get it to level 5. It took me well over six services before I reached the goal, which felt too long. I improved my ingredients and was getting five-star reviews from customers. Not sure what else I could have done to make this process go faster.
Even though I was having fun, the novelty does wear out its welcome after an hour or so of playing. Some sidequests get you out of the restaurant. Unfortunately, they don’t need you to do too much, which makes them too easy. I get that this isn’t meant to be a difficult game. Yet, it’s one that I don’t think I will play much more after this.
June 25 – DOOM Eternal
Earlier this year, I played the mobile game, Mighty DOOM and I had fun with it. But, I don’t have a huge love for the DOOM franchise. Back in the 90s, I played the original games on PC. But that was in Computer Cafes/Lounges where LAN matches were possible. 2018’s DOOM was something I played but I couldn’t get into. I wasn’t planning on playing DOOM Eternal until the DOOM: The Dark Ages reveal. In all honesty, I’m surprised how much fun I’m having.
Part of the enjoyment is the combat. I love the weaponry and frantic action sequences. With my limited experience with the 2018 release, I can’t say what’s new or different. But every firefight I’ve gotten into has kept me on my toes trying to maximize my damage. I’ve died a few times trying to progress, which hasn’t discouraged me too much.
The only frustrating thing is the jumping/platforming sections. For the life of me, I don’t know why there are so many parts where I need to climb walls or use momentum to cross hanging beams. Those parts feel out of place and take away from the solid combat. I hope those don’t become more frequent in later stages.
June 26 – Snatcher
For the longest time, I wanted to play Snatcher. Of Hideo Kojima’s gameography, it’s hard to find and play his older games. That means the only real way to play them is through emulation. With my recently purchased Miyoo Mini+, I was able to get the Sega CD version of Snatcher. I’m so glad I got to finally play this, and I’m looking forward to spending more time with it.
Snatcher is a cyberpunk visual novel that was first released in 1988 for the MSX. The first English version came out on the Sega CD in 1994. For a game that’s 30 years old, I can’t believe how much depth this game offers. This has an incredible score and quite a bit of voiced dialogue. Sure, that might be commonplace in 2024, but for 1994, that’s unbelievable.
While I am a bit frustrated with the lack of subtitles for the voiced sections, the score makes up for it. I should be playing this with the volume (or headphones). There is a section early in the game that asks you to turn up your volume. It’s a great moment since your companion is telling you to raise the volume to hear a faint noise in the background. If you know Hideo Kojima’s work, this is an incredible fourth-wall moment that he’s done in future games. I only hope there are more as I continue playing.
Without question, this is a game I want to see to the end. I’m only an hour or so into the story, so there is still more to go. I’m hooked and I want to see how it unfolds. I’ve avoided spoilers for decades, so everything I encounter is fresh. We may never see this game released or modernized but thanks to emulation, I’m glad I finally got to try it out.
June 27 – Sunless Skies: Sovereign Edition
This week’s free game from the Epic Game Store is yet another one that I went into not knowing what to expect. Sunless Skies is hard to describe on paper. It’s kind of an RPG, with Rogue-like elements and some combat and exploration. To be honest, I was bored and I didn’t spend too much time with it.
The RPG elements are all text-based, and depending on your character, you can progress the story in a few ways. You’re riding a “train” in what looks to be an underwater, steampunk world. Unfortunately, the story isn’t that interesting and there is a lot of nothing. It wasn’t fun exploring because there wasn’t much out there. If there is more to explore, then the developers did a poor job of front-loading the content to keep you engaged.
Also, the rogue-like element entails starting a new adventure with a new captain. You don’t have to explore from the beginning, so what you already explored stays with you. I wanted the opposite. This should be a randomly generated world. I think had there been a new world of discovery with each run, then I’d be more invested. As it stands, I don’t want to continue exploring a world I’ve already seen in a previous run.
June 28 – State of Decay
As I’ve mentioned in the past, I don’t play horror games too often. Yet, with the eventual launch of State of Decay 3, I thought about trying the series out. At first, my thought was to jump into State of Decay 2. But from what I’ve heard from people familiar with the series, the first game is a good place to start. It’s focused more on a single-player experience in comparison to the co-op focus in the sequel. For a campy game that’s riddled with bugs, it’s entertaining.
State of Decay feels like a studio’s first game, which it was for Undead Labs. There are a lot of awkward bugs and glitches. The audio/voicework feels amateurish. Meanwhile, the storyline is what you’d expect for a one taking place during a Zombie apocalypse. But even with the predictability, I’m surprised and how engaging it is. I love the combat. From running down zombies with a car to smashing them with a cricket bat, it’s a lot of fun.
Honestly, I won’t play too much more. That’s only because I’m curious about State of Decay 2. I’d like to see the improvements. I doubt I need to know the plot of the franchise to have fun. At this point, I just want to kill zombies.
June 29 – Dragon’s Dogma 2
Dragon’s Dogma 2 was one of the many games I was looking forward to playing in 2024. But, its release was at a time when I didn’t have the time to dedicate the many hours it needed. That’s still the case. After learning there is a timed trial for it on Steam, I downloaded it and began playing. If the first 90 minutes are any sign, I need to find the time to play more of this.
The first part of the game doesn’t reveal too much. I stopped playing after reaching the capital. I’m slowly learning my history as the Arisen and the politics taking place in the world. As I love being an archer in RPGs, my character is an Archer who’s already at level 7. I love the combat, especially when paired with my Pawn who I made a Mage. We also recruited a Warrior along our travels who have been smashing goblins with their Mace.
This two-hour trial has me hooked. I’m now considering getting this during the Steam Summer Sale. I saw “mixed” reviews on the Steam page, but I don’t know why. The performance on PC is good, with the only drawback being the long loading times to start the game. If this game launched poorly, then they’ve done a good job of optimizing it since.
June 30 – Tekken 8
Back on the PlayStation 1 and 2, I loved the Tekken franchise. From Tekken 3, I’ve played every game in the franchise; some more than others. So, I’ve been looking forward to playing Tekken 8 for quite some time. I finally got around to getting it for PC. This is the first time I’ve ever played a Tekken game not on a PlayStation. The experience on PC has taken some time to get accustomed to, especially as it doesn’t feel too optimized for it.
When it comes to the fighting, Tekken 8 is still incredible. I played using their simplified controls in story mode. These are fine but take some getting used to. Being familiar with Tekken’s general button controls, I admit this new setup is easy to grasp. Unfortunately, I’m so used to the traditional controls, that I’m still leaning on it. When playing Arcade mode, I went back to the standard control scheme.
As I mentioned in the first paragraph, the PC version feels odd. For starters, loading seems long. It takes a good amount of time to load into the game and the different modes. I’m running it off an external HDD, so that might be part of it. Other games run fine from it, which is puzzling. The other issue is with audio. I’m facing a noticeable delay in dialogue. There is a noticeable syncing issue. I’m playing the game on the graphics setting it deemed best for me, so I’m not sure if this is a problem with my setup or the game.
After playing the first four chapters of the story mode and fooling around with a few more modes, I want to play more. Even if I only stick to the single-player content, there is more than enough to keep me playing for a long time.
