The First Time In Infinity

After cycling through my library to see what my brain would fancy I stopped on Infinity Runner. One of the many games in my library that went unplayed… until tonight.

A large monitor showing an even larger space ship called The Infinity.
The Infinity.

You awaken aboard a spaceship that you’ll later on learn is called The Infinity, and your job is to go streaking throughout the spaceship without dying in an attempt to escape. The only time you’re able to control your character is when you need to jump, slide or press left and right to get over certain obstacles or pick up data packets. So far I’ve only played it with a keyboard and mouse, next time I’ll see how a controller performs.

A large display with a woman on the left explaining that you're a werewolf, with a rotating picture of a werewolf on the right side of the screen.

Once you have a basic rundown of how the controls work, you’ll start to learn that you’re actually a werewolf. Anytime you come in contact with a syringe gun you’ll automatically transform. This doesn’t really mean much though, other than you no longer have to press buttons during cutscenes, at least until you revert back to your human form.

Overall the story is pretty basic, but has a certain charm about it. Every time I’ve glanced at the store page on Steam it always has a status of mixed reviews. I bought it during a sale for about how much it goes now, so I can’t really complain about what I’ve experienced so far. One of the commonly reoccurring complaints I’ve noticed is how short the game is. We’ll see how long I can drag this one out!

Come Chill By Da Fountain

It’s Oct 1st, and you know what that means? IT’S SPOOKTOBER!!! The month where I knock the cobwebs off of the spookier titles in my library in an attempt to finish them., or at the very least put a dent in some progression. I spent the final hour of my evening immersing myself in Amnesia: The Dark Descent, where I’ve managed to successfully outrun the invisible Water Creature and arrive in some unexplored territory.

Found multiple journal entries and notes, helping to further along the story. I’m currently trying to get some sort of elevator working, just found a key to the machinery room before calling it a night. I found a few cogs, but there are a few other parts of the machine that will require another evening of proper investigation. There’s a reality awaiting me in the morning that I must return to, the Derp Descent awaits.

This Is My Final Form?

Every night before I go to bed. I’ve been playing some form of Castlevania, or Shantae. There’s just something about playing these games at night, during the witching hour that brings out the perfect mood in me to commence the grinding. I even got an achievement/trophy the other night for destroying a druid at midnight! I didn’t even know that was a thing! Now that I’ve achieved Shantae’s final form for this game (that I know of) I’ve been circling back and looking for all additional items that can only be received with the proper abilities and power-ups.

If I finish this before they release Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution I’ll probably have to shell over a few schmeckles on launch day.  The release date has yet to be announced, so who knows? If I finish the game and it still hasn’t been released I still have plenty of other Metroidvanias to tie me over. 😛

Shantae Sunday

Spent some time in bed today with my Steam Deck to keep me company. Finally getting around to playing Shantae: Risky’s Revenge. One of the many games I kept starting but never really did anything with it. I used feeling unwell in bed as a good reason to delve into it. 😛 So far I’ve unlocked the Monkey Dance, and a couple of other buffs from the item shop.

It was a toss up between this and Pirate’s Curse. But since I’ve barely touched this one, and I’m a good ways into Pirate’s Curse I wanted to explore new territory. It looks like it follows a similar playstyle to Half Genie Hero, in which you collect different power dances to explore new areas. My only complaint is remembering to press the B button to confirm menu options, usually it’s A. I’m guessing that’s because it was originally released for the DS? Either way it’s not a deal breaker for me.

Atop The Mountain Of Outland

Gave my Steam Deck some much needed love tonight after I got home. I haven’t been taking it to work much, and even when I have I haven’t really been playing it. I either don’t have time during lunch to play, or have been so interested in reading on my tablet that all gaming activities can just wait until I get home. It just felt nice plopping down on the bed and playing a bit of Outland. The last time I played was back at the start of the year, my how time flies…

I gained a couple new abilities, and even thwarted a boss battle. I only died a couple times, then continued to die multiple times more during my adventures. Tonight I finally unlocked the launchpad ability! I’m looking forward to visiting past areas to see what I’ve missed. Might find more hearts and orbs to make me stronger, who knows?

Looming In Fog and Shadow

My weekend of zen is going great. Cuddled with an orange cat this morning, made a healthy Japanese style breakfast, sorted through some video footage and played a little bit of Aragami 2 while enjoying the last of my sakura green tea (it’s almost like there’s a theme going on, or something). I haven’t played since July, but it was easy to pick up where I left off, controls and all. Completed an assassination mission without any detection.

My latest success means that I’ve finally unlocked a forge! The visit alone gave me a couple achievements. I bought a few support items and crafted another mask, but instead of wearing it I went with the old tried and true, for old times.

While they have changed a whole bunch since the previous game I do admit I like the new features. They still have the Classic mode option, which I’ve yet to play. That will have to wait for a future session. I’m thinking of making this one of my October games to play – it would be perfect for spooky season.

Whisker Tango Boxtrot

It’s been awhile since I’ve checked in with Whisker Squadron Survivor, they’ve changed quite a bit since I’ve last flown. They added some more power-ups, tweaked the level design and added some new character art (for Gigi at least). I wasn’t successful in tonight’s run, but I made it to the 2nd tier of the campaign before getting annihilated by an elite swarm.

Time To Go Nuts!

Ever since the idea was conceived of a squirrel wreaking havoc using a gun (and other handy items) I knew I had to get in on the action. Squirrel with a Gun finally released today and I was there for it! Already spent a couple hours learning the controls and doing some squirrely crimes against humanity.

You start off in a top secret facility where you steal your first Golden Acorn, that’s how you know shit is serious. Afterwards your only exit opens where you’ll meet your first Agent who is none too happy to see you. Not that it matters, he dropped his gun and he was nothing more than a funny ragdoll to kick around the room once I was finished.

Eventually, you make your brilliant escape you make your way to the surface, where you don’t have to be so secret anymore. This game has everything that you would never think of; a house where you literally have to play Hot Lava, holding up human victims to make them drop their acorns, a cookout to disrupt, a minefield to traverse and a tank that I’ve yet to steal among whatever else I’ve yet to discover.

Of course, it’s not all crime and violence. I did make a sad human happy by stealing a birthday cake and giving it to him… after using it to make a propane cylinder in a BBQ grill to explode. I also let some humans take pictures of me when I found out I didn’t have to resort to violence to get their nuts. Overall it was a fun couple of hours. My only complaints with the game so far are the inability to use a mouse in the menus, and the severe lack of photo mode. I’m looking forward to seeing what the modding community delivers!

I Finished Bastion! (Or Did I?)

Finally finished Bastion! Well, got one of the two endings at any rate.Now that I’ve unlocked NG+ I’ll have to go back and get all the other swag and achievements I missed. Not even half of them are unlocked, something I’ll have to grind on an evening where I feel less tired.

Essence Of The Shadows

Ending my zen weekend with a zen game. Finished a mission in Aragami 2 without any detection or murders whatsoever, plus grabbing additional in world booty (not what you’re seeing in the photo). Only had time for one mission tonight, but I made it count! I’m one achievement richer.We’re still having nice warm summer days, so when the evening hit it felt nice to feel the cool wind drift through the window as I drank some cherry blossom green tea. Needless to say it helped with the atmosphere a bit.

Meanwhile, on Steam Deck last night I started Aragami in NG+ to set myself up to gather more achievements. On my first playthrough I did a mix of stealth with a bit of killing here and there. This time around I’m going to go for the murder medal. Surprisingly killing all the enemies is harder than you might think, especially when you’re trying not to get detected. There’s also an achievement for killing 100 enemies, all in due time.