Indie

This Is My Final Form?

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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!

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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?)

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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

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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.

Kid Just Rages For a While

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Spent the evening conquering more trials in Bastion, and advanced the plot a tad bit. I’ve unlocked another proving ground that I’ll have to force myself to finish before hunting for the final shard. It took me awhile to win First Place on all of the other trials, but you’d be amazed at what you can achieve with the right power-ups and tonics.

I can tell this is made by the same team responsible for Hades. It has a specific level of hard that you can eventually overcome with enough practice and the right load-outs.  Usually I play it with a controller, but every once in awhile I felt the need to switch to a keyboard and mouse for some of those moments that called for proper precision. Though the winner is usually the controller, with the downside being that my hands cramp up after a good fight. Probably why it’s taken me awhile to advance things along, and why tomorrow I’ll probably play something else. 😛

A Game Ends and a Weekend Begins

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Finishing Shantae and the Seven Sirens wasn’t what I planned to do to kick off my weekend… but here we are! I still need to go back to 100% the game, but somewhere between my Desktop and Steam Deck I finally beat the game. When I left off months ago I didn’t realize how close to the end I was!

I still need to go back and 100% the game (only got 80% on my first playthrough), but much like Half Genie Hero I had a great time playing. My only complaint is the 60 FPS lock, but on Steam Deck it doesn’t really matter, and to me anything above 60 for a Metroidvania is cherry. Since I’ll have to replay it to get the remaining achievements and missing items I may consider streaming this one, when I can finally be bothered to stream! 😛