Game of the Month - August 2020

How does one play it? Abandonware only?

Yeah I’m very excited about it!

Well you can get an older version through abandonware sites, but it’s now back under active development, and a ton has been added and fixed just in the past several months. We do need more playtesters to help us bring it to Steam and GOG, if you’re interested. ;)

This month didn’t have a clear winner for me, unlike the previous months. The one game that captured a lot more of my time than I imagined it would was Chronicon, an excelent RPG I had a great time playing, so I’ll go for that one.

I also played a lot of Horizon: Zero Dawn, Spiritfarer, and Factorio.

September will probably be like that, too. Lots of great games coming, opening with the excellent Crusader Kings 3. But there’s also games like Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning, Star Renegades and Ostranauts, and DLC for Total War Three Kingdoms, and DLC for Control that just came out, so it should be a busy month, if all goes well. ;)

Pathfinder: Kingmaker easily. I bounced off it originally despite BG2 being my favorite RPG of all time, but the turn-based mode even with a few bugs is like a whole new game. It’s not perfect, and it’s certainly not BG2, but it’s a ton of fun and pretty much just what I was in the mood for.

Yeah, I started a new game with turn-based and first impressions are fantastic! Looking forward to playing more.

Woah. Pathfinder is going turn-based? Might be worth looking into the game now. I really can’t stand Real Time with Pause.

Maybe once I’m done with Wasteland 3. That probably wins my Game of the Month even though it came out so late in the month, and I’m only at the start. It’s been a while that I felt absorbed by a game.

Yeah, we’ve been talking about it in the thread.

Some smart guy wrote thus:

Fallout 4. Its been sitting in my backlog pile for a long time, kept hearing it isn’t that good so I had no desire. I’m really enjoying it ! I’m the type of person that loves to explore and am not picky about story. This game delivers for my play style.

Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen
Every year I put a couple more hours into this one. I always love the time I spend with it, but eventually I’ll get to some quest that will involve a bunch of walking and I’ll never start the game back up when I want to play something “now,” and it will just sit there neglected because I’m too lazy to start it up and do the walking part.

But last month I put a whole bunch more hours into it and, once again, had a blast. I’m still in the first 1/3 of the game, too, so I have a lot ahead of me. But hey, I think I’m actually gonna push through and finish the game this time!


Forza Horizon 3 & 4:
Man oh man I drove a lot this month. I split my time equally between these two because I picked up 4 on sale, and I’m glad I did.


Approaching Infinity:
Steam says I played this for 15 hours so it belongs on this list. 15 hours was enough for me, so on to the next game.

Two months of stuff:

Serious play:

We Happy Few: Everything this game sold itself as during crowdfunding, I did not like. The procedurally generated zones were way too large, survival management with multiple stat-balancing was fiddly and pointless, and the crafting was generally pointless. What they tried to turn it into was interesting, the dystopian story with solid voice work, the side stories, and the sequential characters gave the world some life. But the melee combat was bad, your characters are resource-starved starting out and thanks to randomization you have no way of knowing where to get what you need, and the story falls apart if you think about it too much.

I can see why MS bought the studio, there’s talent there. But they need to pick a genre and excel within it rather than smearing themselves across them all.

Neon Abyss: I sank a bunch of time into this and knew the whole time this was not a good game. It’s got to be tough releasing a 2-D roguelike knowing Dead Cells is out there showing you up. Dead Cells does procedural generation, combat, weapons, and progression better. Neon Abyss is grindy, revels in withholding resources from the player, and has steep and random difficulty bumps. The progression unlocks are mostly pointless, the alternate characters are mostly useless, and failure is usually not due to lack of skill but because the random assortment of stuff in the level didn’t include what you needed, or placed it behind a wall you could not pass. Yet I played it a bunch because it was easy to listen to podcasts while playing it.

Maneater: Lots of busy-work but eating stuff so I could eat MORE stuff never quite got old. Definitely buggy, plenty of missed opportunities to explain the progression and mechanics, lots of jank when trying to get stuff on land or well above water. But I was still sorry to see it end. Hiring Chris Parnell to narrate the show within the game was a nice choice, otherwise playing with the sound off would have been my default.

Far Cry 5: replayed on the PS4Pro, still a great looking game with an uneven tone. This time I didn’t do the final mission, so I guess I saved everybody.

Toe-dipping:

Donut County: I knew this was a short game with simple mechanics, but damn. I spent more time clicking through conversations than playing the “game” parts. Still, it’s cute and probably won’t waste too much more of my time if I finish it.

Yakuza Zero & Kiwami: re-starting on the Xbox, and really chasing down those sub-stories this time. This time I had the stop-and-search policeman at friendly before I let the game switch over to Majima.

Overcooked 2: just as good as the original, same lack of interest in playing it anyway but in co-op.

Cluster Truck: fun while progressing, but the designers put in some brutal mechanics in the second half.

Carrion: neat, but not quite compelling. Sea Salt is not in the same genre, but did being the bad guy a little better.

Been meaning to check that out, it looks really cool.

NBA 2k20, even though aspects of it infuriate me. Last part of the month was mostly Chronicon, which is a ton of fun and cheap.

There is no other way to play it.

This month has been insane for me. Look, I don’t ever play this much.

  • Wide Ocean Big Jacket - I loved the spirit of this game and its down to earth characters and dialogue. What a treat.

  • Inside - I didn’t particularly like Limbo but this was terrific with so many great moments and little details. That ending is among my favourites.

  • Ape Out - It’s Hotline Miami with an ape and a wonderfully chaotic jazz soundtrack. There were a few frustrating bits but the final level/epilogue is amazing and tense unlike any of the others.

  • The Dark Mod - Dishonored and Gloomwood sent me. As a Thief nut, this is a seriously impressive love letter to the first two games. After all that badass Outsider magic and lethal vs. nonlethal nonsense it’s good to fear guards again and have to use your eyes and ears–and run and hide if you get caught.

  • Hunt: Showdown - I returned to this when a friend picked it up recently. We managed to play some games together but I think it was too much for him so he got a refund. I, on the other hand, got the bug again. Playing Bounty Hunt solo or with randoms isn’t much fun, but the Quick Play/battle royale mode is fantastic once you get over the steep difficulty curve. I’ve just found my stride for the first time and loving it more than ever.

  • The Riftbreaker: Prologue - A seriously impressive pre-alpha demo. It’s Factorio-lite, Helldivers, Defense Grid and Revenge of the Titans rolled into one, and that’s a very exciting mix to me. I had a blast with this.

  • Dishonored + DLC - I played through the whole game and The Knife of Dunwall again to play through The Brigmore Witches (I don’t have time for this, seriously). It was worth it though. For whatever reason The Knife of Dunwall didn’t click with me first time but I really enjoyed Daud’s story and denouement this time around. Looking forward to play Dishonored 2 at some point.

Do it!

Thanks for mentioning this. I enjoyed Ape Out (especially the sound/music), but didn’t feel compelled to get through some of the tough levels to get to the end. If the finale is worth it, I’ll set aside some time for that!

Homecoming: City of Heroes (if I have their new name right) sucked up most of my time because it was easy to pick up or ignore. Wasteland 3 put in a good showing but wasn’t around long enough to get the nod.

Wasteland 3 and Rebel Outlaw. Yeah, I know W3 was released late, but it got its hooks into me fast.

Remnant: From the Ashes is mostly successful at hybridising Souls DNA with a random-loot shooter. Had a lot of fun running through it and learning the bosses.

Nowhere Prophet is like a nifty cross between Neuroshima Hex and Slay the Spire. Making each card in your deck a character that can be individually wounded or killed gives it a very different vibe than other deckbuilding roguelikes, and I’ve been really enjoying it.

Ori and the Will of the Wisp follows up the original very nicely. Really satisfying set of movement mechanics to play around with. And it doesn’t hurt that it makes for a gorgeous HDR showcase on OLED.

On release, I remember reading how too easy the game was and the developer was making post about how a stupidity bug had made its way in and was easy to fix.
Of course reviews had been released, and it was bashed for that.
Now with the release of the Switch version, I was glad to read how unforgiving the game was, and how it was being bashed for that now.

I’ll get it someday, but right now I’m trying to get my brains around One Step From Eden oO

I forgot to respond to this! The last level is very hard but I think it really showcases Ape Out’s strengths. I didn’t find it frustrating like I did some of the shorter segments earlier on. I think my least favourite chapter was the ship one, which felt very monotonous and at times downright unfair. Let me know how you get on with it if you reach it! :-)