Platformer

Don’t Eat The Messenger

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It's a lovely day to be a ninja.

Another evening, another metroidvania to try! Tonight I decided to play The Messenger! You play a ninja that has to carry a scroll to its destination, while slaying demons along the way. In some ways the controls are pretty basic, and the boss battles aren’t over the top hard, but still leave room for error if you die. What I like most about it though is the writing. It has a brilliant sense of humor that ties it all together.

After defeating the evil sorcerer they say: It's over, this evil thing is clearly not working out for us, no matter how many skulls we slap onto ourselves.

On the surface this game looks like a typical old school platformer from pixel art all the way to music, but then you read the dialogue provided by the characters and it takes you by surprise. From the shop keeper to boss battles – The Messenger shows its sense of humor.

In an otherworldly looking shop, a mysterious shop keeper tells the end of a tale: I don't know, it's a fairytale for kids, I just thought the idea of death trapped in a pear tree was interesting.

Throughout your adventures you can pass through a portal to the shopkeeper, where you can not only purchase upgrades, but listen to some odd stories as well. The shopkeeper can also give you (not so) valuable advice on boss battles. So far I’ve destroyed two, and only died during the first boss battle. Oh yeah! That’s another thing…

The Messenger meets a tiny demon that saves his life. They say: The ghist if it is, I have a magic ring that allows me to control space and time.

When you die you’ll meet this tiny demon by the name of Quarble who saves your soul, for a price. They save your life in exchange for however many points they decide to steal from you, they’ll even follow you around with a notepad until they’re either satisfied or bored.

The Messenger standing in the trees, waiting to pass a large spiky ball and chain.

I’m pretty happy with it so far. In fact I might continue the party on Steam Deck before calling it a night. There’s just something relaxing about curling up in a blanket with some tea to slaughter a few demons, or at the very least convince them to be less evil.

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!

Last Bit Of Weekend Wonderland

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I thought about continuing my journey through Alice: Madness Returns, but ended up deciding to travel even further back in time to play the game that started it all. American McGee’s Alice. I never knew that it ran on idTech 3! The same engine Quake 3 ran on! What they did with it was impressive, for the era it came out in.

Made it to Skool before calling it quits. It feels a little janky to play, but I am getting used to it. I also played a bit of it on my Steam Deck earlier. It does a weird glitch where the game window is larger than the screen, it’s also upside down and backwards. Binding the alt and enter keys to one of the back paddles fixed it though, and it handled controller play quite nicely.

There’s something about the darker setting of Alice in this old engine that makes it even creepier than the sequel, in a good way. It gives it a darker, grittier feel.

A Whole Other Wonderland

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Alice arrives in wonderland.

I never played any of American McGee’s Alice games, and that changed this evening! I never bothered making an EA/Origin account, and didn’t feel like doing so. But several years later when EA returned to Steam and a few sales later I ended up getting it, but never got around to playing it until now. It released in 2011 but the graphics hold up really well!

Alice standing inside a giant teapot.
ALL ABOARD!!!!

I also installed it onto my Steam Deck! Unfortunately it doesn’t offer cloud saves, which means unless I manually update my saves in between my systems I’ll have to play two separate saves. Other than that it runs really well on a hand held, controls and all.

A Waltz Through ZombieLand

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This level will fist you if you’re not careful…

Finished ZombieLand in Bloo Kid 2! Had to defeat an Altered Beast. I’ll have to go back and kick its ass again so that I can get an achievement for defeating it without taking any damage. I can see what I have to do, it’s just a matter of timing – something this game relies on. The next world is a winter wonderland, which means I’ll be taking a break from it until the winter vibes come around.

Feeling Bloo

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Most of my friends are playing Starfield. Me? I’ve been playing Bloo Kid 2 on a 4K screen because I have priorities! One of the many games I keep meaning to finish, but never seem to get around to it. But unlike previous attempts I finally made it to the 2nd Chapter! I can already tell this will require multiple playthroughs if I want to figure out how to find all the stuff hidden in the levels. I’m only a couple levels away from the next boss fight. Now the question is: When will I pick up on it again? :v

One fair bit of warning: You CAN play this with one hand. So if you’re a youth pastor you should probably stay away from this game.

WAHOO! It’s The Weekend!

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Chilled with some Klonoa 2 tonight! I finally got to the level that tries to be Sanic, and it actually does a good job. Afterwards I made it to the land of dreams and mirrors before calling it a night.

It gets surprisingly harder in some of these levels. You have to destroy your enemies in a particular order in order to progress. There were some moments where I had to sit back and think for a minute. I’m sure part of my own stupor has to do with some slight sleep deprivation… something I hope to heal tonight.

Steam Deck Sunday: Legend of Kay Anniversary

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Once upon a time, I started a game called Legend of Kay Anniversary – and like many other games before and after it, I never got around to finishing it. Today was the day that changed, and it was all thanks to some hot weather and a Steam Deck. It isn’t Verified for the Steam Deck, in fact at the time of writing this it is currently listed as unsupported. But I can confirm that it runs like native via Proton, and it was playable on battery for about 4 hours. It’s perfect on the SD Card!

Legend of Kay Anniversary is a remaster of an old Playstation 2 game about a young cat boy named Kay, who lives in a village that is slowly being taken over by Rats and Gorillas. If you ever go to play this, – you have to keep in mind that this is a game from 2005. It’s the combat is going to be clunky, and the voice acting has no qualms about going from corny to terrible. Once you get past that, it actually has a nice charm to it.

I’m three chapters in so far, and gained several achievements by the time evening fell. So far I’m satisfied with my progress. I’m sure I’ll be back to helping some Wabbits next time I pop in to play!

Another Retro Evening

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Think I rode out the last bit of my DOS Gaming kick with some Commander Keen 2. Didn’t get very far though – kept dying in Mountain Dew. Thus ending my DOS Gaming Spree… for now. I’ll probably play something slightly less retro tomorrow. 😛