Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light

Climbing Mt. Backlog: 2023

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2023 was by far the most productive year of gaming I’ve ever had. During the work weeks I would always find time to at least play anywhere between an half an hour to a full one at the end of each evening, just to unwind a little before bed and MAYBE entice my imagination a bit for dreamland. Here is a list of games that I FINALLY got around to finishing, and possibly some ideas for any readers that happen to pass by.

Commander Keen: Episode 1

I’ve been wanting to play this handheld style for almost as long as I’ve been alive, and I only had to wait my whole life to finally achieve it. What’s really interesting is that it has Steam Cloud Support, meaning you can play this in between your other gaming PC’s. I made a custom config for saving, and using DOS commands with the touchpads. I’ve put this one off for far too long, but at least after all this time I can say that I finally finished it. I recommend it for those who have an interest in old school DOS games.

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light

Some adventures are best with friends – Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is amazing both for couch co-op or with a friend elsewhere in the world. Apart from a few bugs it was fun to play! To celebrate finishing it we even made a video about it:

Shadow Warrior 2

This was another game I put off playing for a long time, but I savored every moment of combat and the large selection of weapons and elemental combinations you could put together. They added Photo Mode to showcase how beautiful the game is, something they would take away in Shadow Warrior 3… Overall I enjoyed it just as much as I did the previous installment. It had all of the elements of the Shadow Warrior reboot, with a little bit of Borderlands sprinkled into the mix. If you’re looking for an FPS with a mix of Hack n Slash you need not look any further.

 

Sayonara Wild Hearts

A birthday gift from a good friend! It was short, but sweet. It tells the story of a girl who fell out of love and goes on a musical journey to find it again after fighting all of her demons that prevented her from wanting to love. I had fun playing this one in between Desktop and Steam Deck. I still go back to it from time to time, the music in it is perfect to vibe to. It’s basically an interactive album.

 

Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands

Bought in 2023, and finished in 2023 in a matter of months. This was one that scratched an itch after finishing Borderlands 2, and gave us the incentive to puck up Borderlands 3 again after we completed it. The ending was anticlimactic, but the journey along the way was as fun as it was photogenic.

Okami HD

 

Another game that took me forever to finish, mostly because it originally released on a platform I didn’t have. When Okami was announced for PC I was there on day one for it! But due to going between too many game worlds at the same time I never got around to finishing it until the Steam Deck. Thanks to Steam Cloud Saving I was able to play this delightful title between Desktop, TV and on the go. At the same time though, I’m glad I didn’t rush it. It’s an extremely large game, especially for the era it released in, but once I finished it I felt that melancholy sensation knowing that the adventure was finally over after all this time. One of these days I’ll have to return to it to get straggling achievements.

Cloudpunk

A gift from another good friend! This one I finished pretty quickly. It’s a great game to play when you just wanna chill, fly around and absorb an interesting story. It was also another fun game to play between the desk, couch and Steam Deck.

 

Abyss Odyssey

Another one I had fun with between Deck and Desk. When I first played this in the beginning I found the controls to be clunky, but after spending some quality time with it on Steam Deck, and playing other Metroidvanias I finally up’d my game enough to finish this one! At least on the Katriana playthrough. This one was a fun grind to play during my lunch breaks.

 

Shantae: Half Genie Hero

I mostly played this one on Steam Deck, and I even got the good ending! Shantae has been one of the Metroidvanias to really help get me into the series. I love the art, the sense of humor and overall creativity this one brings to the table! I even started Shantae and the Seven Sirens not long after finishing this one, maybe I’ll finish that one in 2024! 😛

It was a wonderful year for finishing games ranging from old to new, indie to AAA, and all from the comfort of wherever I happened to be at the time. What games will I finish next year? I can already predict a few…

Another Successful Adventure Completed

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Another weekend begins, and another adventure comes to an end. I can add Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light to my finished games list – just have three achievements to find and I’ll be completely done with it! That I’ll have to save for another time. It’s installed on my Steam Deck for future achievement hunting, and the best moments have been caught on film! I already have a video planned to release in a couple weeks from now! Sadly it doesn’t feature any animation, but there are lots of explosions and other fun bugs, plus lots of falling into pits and spikes.

Here is a link to my Steam Review.

That’s One Hot Dinosaur

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We made it a few more levels into Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light! Together we solved a few challenge tombs, and died everywhere else over and over again in a variety of comical ways that may hopefully provide some potential footage! There’s also a sliiiiight chance that we might have also solved areas in ways we weren’t supposed to… I’ll have to look up some gameplay footage just to compare. 😛

It’s looking like we’re not far from finishing the game. I only have a few more achievements to get and then I can add another one to my completed list! It feels so strange finally being able to say that I’m actually finishing some of these games. Between my Steam Deck and our Weekend Jam sessions I’ve been completing a large selection of stories, and setting myself up for plenty of new ones. More pics can be found over on Mastodon!

Sunday Digital Adventures

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Decided to play Shadwen this afternoon. Made it to Chapter 4! Trying for the non violent route for my first playthrough.

Since we’ve pretty much finished Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands; Yutram and I ventured off towards the Temple of Light. We were a little rusty, but persevered like we usually do. There’s also some promising footage that I’ll have to go through. I forgot how fun this one was! Even when we were accidentally screwing each other over.