Finally got around to unwinding more of the plot for Horizon Zero Dawn. I almost thought I finished the game… but there’s more! Which is good because if it ended here it would still feel too soon, even after the several hours I’ve poured into the game. It has the same effect as Skyrim, once you start playing it’s hard to put back down. I have to keep telling myself there’s a real world to return to that may someday achieve the amount of sheer stupidity that human intelligence can pour into their autonomous creatures.
Adventure Games
From Our Kingdom of Pals
It’s hard to believe that I’ve already captured 30 Pals this evening! Even took down some larger ones, and a boss! We also crafted an incubator, we’ve found quite a few unhatched Pal eggs in our travels and this allows us to hatch them and get new Pals in the process. Our base did get invaded, but we had enough Pals to destroy them! A nice carefree way to end the evening, and my time off.
Making Nintendo Cry
We spent part of our vacations on the Palpagos Islands of Palworld tonight. This game is surprisingly good! I went into this thinking this would be a direct troll to Nintendo but actually came to find a proper game instead! I can only go by what my friend Yutram said: That Palworld feels like a cross between Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Pokemon Arceus. You’re stranded on an island where you have to gather materials, kill and/or befriend Pals who are the Pokemon of this universe. We’re still early into the development of our home base, but we made it to Level 10 tonight!
We both explored the land together quite a bit tonight. Though Yutram did most of the base work I did forge clothes and gathered materials we could both use for the base, and for food. I’m surprisingly having even more fun than expected! No wonder Nintendo is suing Pocket Pair.
Indika Is An Interesting Game
One day while doomscrolling through the Fediverse I came upon Indika; A game about a young girl named Indika, who happens to be a nun in an alternate 19th century Russia. She goes on a journey of self discovery, and meets an unlikely companion along the way. Indika is an indie title with a team so dedicated to finishing their project that they (10 out of 14) had to flee their homeland of Russia in order to finish it. That alone made me curious to see what this game had to offer.
When you start the game it doesn’t take too long to realize that Indika is an outcast amongst her own. She’s forced to reside along a coven of bitchy babushka nuns, and performs tasks her sisters give to her. All the while she is narrated by The Devil himself, who is also a voice in her head. Eventually Indika has to leave the church to go on a journey of self discovery. When Indika isn’t wandering the frozen lands looking for items for basic puzzle solving, she relives childhood flashbacks in a more pixelated environment.
When the game starts she actually falls through space, and later she has a flashback with her father and their oven powered bicycles. The game also gives you the option of collecting points that don’t do anything… or do they?
So far it has been a interesting, unique adventure. Like if classic Resident Evil centered around a nun who goes on regular acid trips. It has the right level of intrigue and horror for me to recommend checking out during Spooktober!
Overcoming The Heart Of Darkness
Finished American McGee’s Alice tonight, overall I had a good time with it. Some of the game mechanics haven’t aged well, but the story, music and overall weapons made it all come together. I think my favorites were the deadly jacks. They did an incredible job with the idTech3 engine, I kinda wish they had a multiplayer deathmatch mode. 😛
Now I can properly begin Alice: Madness Returns next time I need to get my fix of Alice. Not sure if I’ll start a new game, or if I’ll continue on from the save I already had. Might be a good idea to do the latter to refresh myself on the controls. Save that for another time though, tomorrow I have a few digital science experiments to tackle, and maybe continue a video project.
The Red Queen Awaits
What’s this? A game that isn’t Resonite? Apparently I still play other games? I finally made it past the Royal Rage in American McGee’s Alice. The boss was a total thorn in my side until I figured out what I needed to use to thwart the bastard a second time. Now I’m on my way to the Red Queen… who knows how long it’ll take for me to get there. I’m close to the end, but how long until I decide to play it again? At least I got through the boss battle…
The Hunt Was Strong In This One
I traded getting pummeled by an annoying corrupted spirit for running trials and other adventures in Horizon Zero Dawn. Killed 10 Frostclaws, made it to Level 58 and have most of the trial awards. It would be nice to get that wrapped up before continuing the main story line. We’ll see what happens on the next playthrough. 😛
Another Adventure At My Fingertips
According to Steam; Tomb Raider Underworld is not supported on Steam Deck, even though that’s where I took this screenshot! It felt weird playing it in my hands, especially since I remember having to upgrade my hardware just to get it to run back in the day… and I STILL never finished it. I’m hoping to make good on that, given that I’ve already finished a couple other games. Sadly, Tomb Raider Underworld doesn’t offer cloud saving, so if I decide to play this on desktop I’ll have to either have a separate save, or manually transfer the save in between PC’s.
I’m not very far in, only finished the underwater portion thus far. Next time I play I’ll have to infiltrate a boat full of assholes. I know I’ve played this portion before, but it’s been so long that what’s old feels new again!
To Kill A Mocking Stormbird
Earned a few achievements tonight! I’ve climbed all the tallnecks, plundered all the bandit camps, found every Banuk figure, and I only have one metal flower left to find. There’s still quite a lot of the main questline to do, plus I still have more proving grounds to conquer… but I have 56 out of 79 achievements/trophies claimed. In fact I like this game soooo much that I may consider trying to platinum it! Obviously not tonight, and definitely not this month, and most probably not the next few.
Pacing, it’s important.