For the week of August 5 – 11
Check out what I played last week
A few surprises and one notable disappointment for this week.
August 5 – Einhänder
After last week’s trial of Racing Lagoon, I wanted to try a few more Squaresoft games that I missed out on. Even with my love of the publisher during their PlayStation era, I wasn’t able to play all their releases. So, this week I finally got around to play Einhänder.
This is a side-scrolling shooter. Like others in the genre, one hit and you’re dead. So, there is a bit of a learning curve, especially for your first few attempts. Once I got the hang of it, I’m having a lot of fun. I kept it on normal difficulty and got far enough before using up all my continues. For a game that’s a couple of hours long, I may have only reached the halfway point.
I dabbled with a few of the available ships you can play with. The differences are subtle. The only thing I noticed was their use of weapons and how many secondary ammo types they can use/store. I suspect the further you get or after you win the game, you unlock extra ones to play with.
It was nice to finally play this. I could see myself coming back to when I’m looking for a quick game to play. It does tempt me to look for more shooters to play on my Steam Deck or Nintendo Switch. Funny enough, this is the first of two games from this genre that I tried this week.
August 6 – Valorant
For whatever reason, I thought Valorant was a team-based shooter like Overwatch. It was only during the game’s tutorial that I learned that this is more like Counter-Strike. When I was younger, I enjoyed CS, even if I wasn’t that good at it. For me, Valorant is not fun. The biggest problem I find is that it’s not friendly to newcomers.
Unlike CS where every character is the same, Valorant focuses on character abilities. There are four character classes: Initiator, Sentinel, Duelist, and Controller. But in the tutorial, you only play as one and you don’t get to see how these classes vary first-hand.
For your team to be successful, you need to balance. It’s imperative to have the right team for the fight. When I played, I was making sure our team was not lacking a specific class. But, when you’re new to the game and trying a character for the first time, this isn’t always the smart move.
I don’t see myself investing more time into Valorant. Sure, I could get better the more I play and invest in learning the characters. But, considering it’s a few years, I don’t know if I can catch up to those who have been playing since launch.
August 7 – Creatures of Ava
When I try any game, I try to put in enough time to give it a fair assessment. For some, I can tell if I like or dislike the game right away. I can’t say too much about Creatures of Ava because I’m stuck. Unfortunately, my playthrough encountered a game-breaking bug. Now, I’m wandering around a world where my story is unable to progress. What’s most disappointing, I was having fun until I learned that I could not recover.
Had I known sooner, I could have loaded up a previous autosave. But, foolishly of me, I started wandering around and seeing what else I could explore. I used my time finding new locations without the need for a goal. I managed to open up two other fast-travel sections and take photos of the flora and fauna of the planet. To me, I thought the game wanted me to explore before something would trigger to advance the story.
The developers of the game have acknowledged this bug, but no timeline on when the fix will come in. Because of that, I don’t see myself playing more Creatures of Ava. I wish I had better things to say, so I’ll just end it there.
August 8 – CYGNI: All Guns Blazing
This week’s free game from the Epic Game Store is CYGNI: All Guns Blazing. I had no idea this was 2024 release. It’s rare for EGS to offer a free game that’s also a new release. This is especially rare considering the game costs $30 CDN on other platforms. At first I wasn’t feeling this, but after jumping into the tutorial, it started to click.
Because this was the second shooter I tried this week, I thought I could go in cold. Most shooters like this are easy to grasp. But with CYGNI: AGB, I am experiencing some new things that I wasn’t ready for. This game has targets you need to fire at in the air and on the ground. So much so, that you have one weapon for each type. Without playing the tutorial, I wouldn’t have realized that. I was getting frustrated because I didn’t realize that wasn’t properly shooting foes.
On top of playing the tutorial, I lowered the difficulty. Normal was too much for me, but Easy still offers a challenge. At the time of writing down my thoughts, I’ve completed the first three stages. I fully expect to go back later this week and attempt to finish the game.
The game isn’t perfect. The story is unremarkable and the orchestral soundtrack doesn’t fit the sci-fi setting. Thankfully, the frantic action and the massive boss battles are keeping me engaged. I want to see what the other stages have in store for me. For now, CYGNI: All Guns Blazing surprised me and it’s an easy recommendation.
August 9 – Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers
Right about now, my game of 2024 is Balatro. Even if it’s not the game I’ve spent the most time with, it is the one that’s left the most lasting impact this year. Because of that, I’ve been curious about the other games like it. One that caught my eye was Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers. This time, the focus is on the game of Blackjack. Like Balatro, it takes the popular casino game and puts a roguelike spin on it. This starts strong. Unfortunately, the lack of meaningful randomization is disappointing.
This is a variation of head-to-head blackjack. Unlike standard blackjack, each character has a deck that they play. You attack your opponent based on your score. The one with the better value attacks. So, if you have 20 and your opponent has 17, you attack for three damage. You start with a basic deck of 10 or so cards. After each win, you can add a new card. While there are standard cards, there are also special ones. In most cases, those special cards can impact both you and your opponent.
The story so far is unremarkable. Also, there isn’t too much randomization, especially early on. You always face off against the same foes. You need to beat the Janitor before you can play the Manager. On the lounge floor, you always have to beat the Parapazzo, before you can face off against the bouncer. The randomization is around the cards you play and the bonus cards you can earn.
That’s why Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers won’t have the same appeal as Balatro. After two hours of playing, the lack of variety in the early rounds is dull. I’m stuck facing off against the same few foes every time, getting stuck at the same point. I’ll keep at it for a bit more, but I can see myself dropping off if my luck doesn’t turn around.
August 10 – Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure
I bought Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure based on what I heard from others. On the podcasts I listen to, they’ve been vague about the details around the gameplay and I’m glad they did. This has one of the most creative systems I’ve ever encountered, and I don’t know another game quite like it.
The key here is that the environment exists on what I can best describe as “moving platforms”. Your character and the world don’t move on their own. Instead, you’re moving the ground to get around. That’s where the puzzle aspect of its name comes in. They do a good job of highlighting this way of traversing. It might not be that easy to explain on paper, but once you grasp what you need to do, it adds such a cool element to the game.
I’m still early on, but I’m having a lot of fun so far. I went through the intro section, which gets you used to obstacles and how you engage in combat. Now that I’m into the main story part, I’m curious how elaborate the puzzles start to get. I can see this going one of two ways: the first is where the novelty runs out of ideas. The other is that they throw in a steady pace of varying mechanics that force creative results. I’m hoping for the latter.
August 11 – Disney Speedstorm
I’ve had Disney Speedstorm as a game I wanted to try for a while now. Although I’m not a Disney Adult, I enjoy kart racers, so there was still something for me here. I will give it credit for the fan service, but that’s all it offers.
My biggest problem is that the early races are both too short and repetitive. In the handful of races I’ve done, most were a single lap on the same course. Yes, the track designs are large and offer some branching paths, but they don’t last very long. You can expect to finish a race in under two minutes. Yes, this is a mobile-focused game, but I crave longer races.
Because of the mobile nature, that also means constant ads. They are trying their hardest to get you to buy content. I’ve had so many pop-ups about spending real money so I can unlock a different Disney character. There is also a battle-pass, featuring content from Inside Out 2. They do let you try some of the racers from the film, and they are fun. Even with that, I don’t see myself spending real money to unlock that content unless I was a diehard fan of the films.
For a younger audience, this might have value. The racing is standard and easy enough to grasp. With the limited options early on, I don’t know how much time you need to invest to get better and longer races. This was nice to try but I think that’s all for me on this one.
