For the week of July 22 to 28
The summer lows of a few new releases allow me another week to try some back-catalog games.
Check out what I played last week
July 22 – Flock
Flock’s been out for a few weeks and it’s available on Game Pass. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I started it up. For the most part, I’m quite enjoying the start of the game. You create a character and bird companion, and then you can set off on a world of adventuring.
It’s not quite an open world. The start of the game is very linear in teaching you the basics of flying. After that, you get introduced to your relatives and they get you straight to work. Your first task is to start researching the different wildlife that exists in the world.
For the hour I spent, I’ve opened up the world more and begun looking at what else I can discover. I also learned that there are specific species that only come out at certain times of day. Now, I’m trying to time my flights so that I can discover some of those nocturnal ones.
I could see myself coming back to this from time to time. It doesn’t feel very long. This is the kind of game you can play while listening to something else (like a podcast). You can fly around and just like the time pass you by.
July 23 – Thirsty Suitors
The reason I tried out Thirsty Suitors was after hearing some music from its soundtrack. There is a tune early in the game that hypnotized me and I wanted to see/hear more of the game. Unfortunately, while this is a lite-RPG, I’m not interested in the content to play more.
Part of why that is, I’m not feeling the story. This is a woman’s perspective Scott Pilgrim scenario. Your character is returning to her hometown after many years away. Part of coming back is “reuniting” with past friends and lovers who she’s not seen in years. The intro/prologue and first chapter are boring and I don’t see the appeal of my character.
The combat is not fun. You “fight” against potential boyfriends. The fights are long and drawn out. You have to act, such as a taunt or flirt, then you can attack for extra damage. But the fights go on for so long because it wants you to try every action. Sure, the quick-time actions of the fights are interesting, but it gets old super quick.
I’m not the intended audience, even with my openness to trying RPGs. This is one of those games that critics gush about. But, when it comes to the mainstream, there isn’t enough to get people to play it.
July 24 – Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess
Since its reveal, I’ve been eager to try Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess. Like a lot of people, I didn’t know what this was going to be. It felt like a new period-action game from Capcom, so it would be the next Onimusha. But this isn’t anything like that. Thankfully, this is an incredible game that I want to spend more time with.
At its core, this is a tower defense game. Instead of building structures, you assign roles to villagers. Then you can place those units around the stage. Once the enemies arrive, they’ll fight alongside you against the demonic creatures. I’m still early in the game, so I’ve only unlocked the ability to assign woodcutters and archers. Even with only two units, I’ve been successful in the early stages.
I am curious how many more unit types you unlock and how it impacts the strategy of future levels. There is also a lot of replayability. Each stage offers bonuses for completing and achieving specific goals. Although the story isn’t memorable, it might be something that gets revealed the more you play. This doesn’t ruin the game, but I am curious to see if we get more details as we progress in the story.
I am putting Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess on my list of 2024 releases I want to spend more time playing. If my enjoyment continues to grow, this will be an easy consideration as one of my favorite games this year.
July 25 – F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch
This week’s free game from the Epic Game Store is one they’ve given away before. But, it was one that I didn’t play. As with most free games from EGS, I tend to go into them blind and learn as I play. F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch surprised me. While I don’t always enjoy anthropomorphic characters, the action won me over.
This was developed by a Chinese studio and it tells. The world feels like a gritty/futuristic Hong Kong. Your lead character, a Rabbit, is looking to rescue his friend, a Bear. The story is ok, but the early parts have you slowly learn about this world and your characters. There is a lot of backstory to discover.
I love the combat. It’s your standard side-scrolling action game. But the skills your character unlocks early on are impressive. The key aspect here is your cybernetic arm attached to your body which gives you extra strength. Performing grabs and executions with it is fun and I’m curious what other unlocks for it.
Again, this surprised me. The first hour has enough upgrades, combat, and story to keep you engaged. While I don’t know if I’ll continue playing after this, I am still happy that I tried it out.
July 26 – Buckshot Roulette
I heard about Buckshot Roulette while listening to the Giant Bomb Revengeance Podcast. This has been out for a while through itch.io but it’s also now on Steam, so I picked it up for a couple of dollars. I only spent about 15 minutes with the game, but this is already one of my favorite games of 2024.
This is a straightforward game. You’re playing Russian Roulette with a shotgun. You’re trying to outlive a mysterious character. The bullets are randomly put into the shotgun. On your turn, you have the option of either shooting yourself or the dealer. This goes through many rounds before reaching the end. If you lose, you restart and try again.
On my first attempt, I died quickly. But on my second run, I managed to survive, defeat the dealer, and earn the cash prize. What’s crazy is that while it only took me 15 minutes to “win”, the game doesn’t quite end there. You unlock “double or nothing” and I suspect things start to get even more diabolical.
I plan on going for it on “double or nothing”. At the same time, there appear to be a lot of secrets to discover. I began watching a YouTube “essay” on the game and it seems like there are things I missed on my playthrough. Now I am even more curious to see what else there is. In any case, I can’t recommend this game more.
July 27 – Sid Meier’s Civilization VI
When it comes to the Civilization series, I am always a few years late to the party. I remember trying Civ II (or III) back in the 90s at some older kid’s house. I never played IV but I did enjoy Civ V. I skipped on Civ VI until now, but not for any reason. With both V and VI, you don’t have to buy at launch because these are such evergreen experiences. You play how you want and experience it your way.
Civilization VI is always on sale, and you can get it for less than 10 dollars with all its expansions. I started a random game using its most recent expansion, Gathering Storm. This one incorporates weather and natural disasters into your playthrough. In mine, we just had our first flood of a nearby river. It hasn’t affected my development, yet. I’ve also built a town not too far from a volcano. I’m curious if that thing will erupt and what ramifications I’m going to have to deal with.
There isn’t much more for me to say here. I know I’ll have fun with this regardless if I only play for an hour or 100. I am curious what’s in store for Civ VII next year.
July 28 – Squiggle Drop
To end the week, I decided to jump into Apple Arcade and see what they had. I got a free three-month subscription and it’s been a while since I was a subscriber. The first game I tried was Squiggle Drop. As a fan of puzzle games, this one looked like it could be a lot of fun. While it is fun, it’s also pretty limited and the novelty runs out quickly.
I did 30 puzzles and for most of them, a simple squiggle is more than enough to solve the puzzle. You need to draw something to complete a puzzle. You may need to do something as simple as flip a car (so, you draw a big rock to drop from the sky). Or it might be more complicated, like forcing a draw bridge down so cars can cross.
But in almost every puzzle so far, you don’t have to draw anything specific. It can be a piss-poor object that does enough to trigger the action. There are a few challenges because you may have to draw a more obvious shape to trigger the physics. It’s nice that you don’t have to do a perfect drawing, but it doesn’t feel creative. It’s trial and error until you get it right.
