The Mind Of OverlordTomala
Gaming

Steam Next Fest! Metroid Monday

It’s Steam’s Next Fest! That amazing time of year when indies release demos for the masses to play with! (Well, technically these games get released all the time… but for a short time we get to see them shine in the spotlight!) I’ve already found a few metroidvanias to pack onto my Steam Deck to try!

A Sister’s Journey

Violet inside of a beautiful pink cave.
Screenshot From A Sister’s Journey

The first Demo I played was A Sister’s Journey; A colorful pixely Metroidvania where you play a young girl named Violet, and you’re on a journey to find your sister! (Duh!) Run and gun your way through enemies, climb beautiful pixelated landscapes and dart around to avoid dangerous spikes and pits. It did lag a little bit on my Steam Deck by a couple of the waterfalls, but with a little bit of tweaking the game runs much better. It even has settings for the Steam Deck in mind as shown above.

Trinity Fusion

Three of your alternate selves preparing to do battle.

Standing atop some kind of space station.

Another Metroidvania that caught my eye was Trinity Fusion. Unlike the other demos I downloaded today; this one uses 3D graphics! You have three parallel selves that you can control, each containing different abilities. Trinity Fusion also makes use of procedurally generated levels, meaning a different experience each time you die and restart. You can also gain different abilities and weapons along the way. It should go without saying, but my love of my life so far in the demo is the lightning katana!

Grim Guardians: Demon Purge

Shinobu (Left) and Maya (Right)
Shinobu (Left) and Maya (Right)

Last and certainly not least is a Metroidvania that gives vibes of the old school Castlevania games. In Grim Guardians: Demon Purge you play as two demon slayers; Shinobu and Maya. Shinobu packs a gun and daggers to protect herself while Maya carries a sword and a Shinigami barrier. You can swap between both characters at any time. In fact, it’s a good idea to switch regularly as you start to lose health on either one. You also have a chance to revive your other self should you get skull-fucked by a bunch of enemies.

Maya climbing underneath some unsuspecting demons.
Maya climbing underneath some unsuspecting demons.

Maya is also capable of climbing into smaller areas, unlike her taller counterpart. I like being able to switch between two different play styles. Out of the three demos I played I think this one has my most attention. I might pay it another visit tomorrow!

Have you tried any demos during Next Fest? Feel free to share in the comments!

Gaming

Spacing Out In 8 Bit

aaaaaannnnnddddd scene!

I finally finished it! It only took a few decades, but I did it! Onto the next episode!

Why don’t they melt?

The Second Episode in the series is very similar to the first. Aside from new food and candy sprites, we have climbable soda and robots you can hitch rides on. You’re aboard a Mothership hovering over Earth, and you’re tasked with saving the cities that are on board. So far I’ve saved one and completed a couple of levels. It’s nice being able to play these on the Deck!

Gaming / Hobbies

Evening Open Thread

It’s looking like the weather will be wet and stormy this weekend. I’m already contemplating the after work PJ’s tomorrow! I’m thinking about trying a couple more things from my Skyrim cookbook over the weekend. There’s a recipe for spiced milk with honey, and it sounds like it could be a good drink on its own, or a nice addition to chai. I might even try to make the Honey Pudding, or if I’m up for it the Sunlight Soufflé! Minus the entire cup of fucking nutmeg!

RIP that one Pepsi can

My after SFM treat tonight was more Commander Keen. I swear, this game is the Dark Souls of its platforming era. It starts off easy and then the level design really starts to show itself, and then it becomes fun, then a pain, and after a break more fun again. It’s a viscous cycle. I might consider playing one of the other hundreds of games in the ol collection instead. We’ll see what the nostalgia meter says.

Gaming

Same Shit Different Game

Today’s choice for Steam Deck, Klonoa: Lunatea’s Veil from the Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series! I was happy when they finally ported them to PC last year that I bought it just to play on Steam Deck! After all these years of playing the console roms.

I’m making sure to play something at least an hour a day. The project I’m working on will probably take a couple months to do, and if I want to do it right I need to have some chillaxation time.

All in an Overlord's day / Hobbies

Set An Open Course For The Virgin Space

Last week I mentioned that I’m taking a bit of a hiatus from YouTubing. I’m currently working on what originally started as an ordinary GMod gameplay vid, and turning it into a full SFM animation based on the recording! We’re currently heading towards destinations unknown… the French side of the moon perhaps?

Gaming

Spooky Games I Played Over The Weekend

Last night I tried something different from my humungo games library, and opted for the 2016 version of Layers of Fear. It’s 99% jump scares, but I suck at being scared of them… I just keep thinking what would happen if the creators of The Stanley Parable wrote their own jump scares. Relaxing game though!

I remember trying to play BloodRayne: Betrayal years ago, but couldn’t get the hang of skidding to do a backflip properly. I seem to be doing fine with it on my Steam Deck though, in fact I made it to Chapter 4! I noticed there’s a more remastered version of the game that features voice acting and higher resolutions and framerates (oh my). Might consider getting it during an upcoming sale if the price is right.

It gives me something to talk about with my gaming co-workers when I return. We always swap stories about what games we played over the weekend, and knowing them these will be two more obscure games they’ve never heard of. 😛

Food/Drink

Sunday Breakfast With The Seasonings Of Skyrim

Felt like making a Quinoa Bowl for Breakfast! Chopped up some bacon, fried an egg, and made the Mushroom Sauce recipe from the Skyrim Cookbook I picked up over the holidays! I’m using more cream than the recipe called for, and I also added some Parmesan cheese, because cheese.

For the Skyrim Cookbook and other gaming cookbooks check out The Video Game Library!

Gaming

I Did It!

After all these years, many attempts and many breaks in between… I finally defeated the fucking warlock! WOO!!! HUZZAH!!! EXCELSIOR!!! That doesn’t mean that I completed the game – I still have a couple pages to find of the Warlock’s diary, and more achievements to grab, but I made that bastard wake the fuck up long enough to kick his ass!