Life's been busy. I've been busy. Playing games. Here's a few.
Hexcells
Hexcells was (mostly) a good time. I enjoy a good puzzle game that takes advantage of the interactive nature of video games, and while I won't accept any slander of classic standbys like sudoku or crosswords, there's something special about a puzzle game that can only work as a video game. The difficulty ramps up rather quickly from the tutorial puzzles and there's a pretty solid line between "you get the puzzle" and "you don't." I can respect that, but it occasionally means you'll hit roadblocks where your only option is to review the available information the puzzle gives you yet again to make the connection you're missing (or risk going for broke and guessing your next move, which is not the intended way to play).
The puzzles are never shuffled or randomized, and solutions never require any guessing, which is a nice touch. I lack photographic memory so I can absolutely see myself returning to this title in a year or so to enjoy some of the tougher puzzles again. I went for the 100% achievements here and that process was patently unfun, but just solving the puzzles normally as intended is a good time, if a little lacking in guidance. I have Hexcells Plus in-progress and waiting for me.
Forza Horizon 4
Forza Horizon 4 has, in the past few months, become one of my favorite games as of late. I have put well over 170 hours into the title so far and while most of that was an enjoyable experience, I have enough time with the game where the flaws grow more distracting or annoying. All that said, FH4 is still an incredible experience and I regret nothing about my purchase of the Ultimate Edition.
Can I complain a little bit? This racing game needs more races. Sometimes I'll spend a night breaking in a new car by racing it in every race available in the main game and DLC maps. It's fun, but sort of telling that I can even do that in a single session. I had similar issues with Need For Speed Heat, a title I similarly love but would be ecstatic if there were just... more of it to love. Look, this game is still awesome, plays smoothly on a controller, looks beautiful, and has a roster of cars that's diverse and honestly excites me at the prospect of trying every single car out. And it gives mile after mile of open world road to do so.
NEO Scavenger
Yep, NEO Scavenger continues to kick my ass. It's a game I play for short bursts and I feel myself growing very, very slowly better at it as I figure out what works and what doesn't... the crux of the roguelike experience. I wouldn't say I love the game yet, but it's definitely satisfying feeling yourself get a better handle on a world where the odds feel stacked against your favor.
I understand that crawling your way out of the pit and overcoming seemingly unwinnable scenarios is part of the draw, but after a few back-to-back deaths where everything quickly goes from "swimmingly" to "all wrong," working up the motivation to boot up the game for another run and make the slow progress from scratch again is a bit of a hard sell. I'm still working on strategies to save time and move expediently, which is probably part of the point.
WRC 4 FIA World Rally Championship
WRC 4 FIA World Rally Championship is a mouthful and even then I have to specify that it's the 2013 game from Milestone and Nacon. Funny story behind this one... I went through the trouble of setting up my sim racing wheel only to find out that I couldn't get it working with this game. I ended up just playing F1 2015 instead. But when the wheel was all packed up and put away, I decided to give this game a spin using a regular-old gamepad. And would you know it, the game actually plays decently well.
There's a few minor quirks with controls... and actually, with the entire game. The engine feels shaky and unstable, unoptimized, and not particularly good-looking in the graphics department to boot. Audio is also a tight-lipped-smile of "acceptable" with kind-of-annoying vehicle sounds, flat UI SFX, and generic "cinematic" orchestral music that ironically just pops in and out without much fanfare. This is to say I'm glad I didn't buy this game at full price, because as a title that's just been sitting in my library for a few months from a deep sale, WRC 4 is pretty fun.
My suggestion to any prospective player is to try cycling through your camera views until your steering and controls feel natural. I personally felt that the 3rd-person chase camera and cockpit views were nauseating, lacked visibility, and/or just felt wrong while using a gamepad. (And I say this as someone who generally plays racing games 50/50 cockpit and chase!) But the bonnet cam feels just fine, and is the main way I'll be playing through this game.
WRC 4 is currently my go-to when I want to lock in for some serious racing for 20-40 minutes, focusing just on the Special Stages. No distractions, no other cars on the road, just me, the car, and the course. It's meditative.
Aperture Desk Job
This was a good one. Maybe I'll write a dedicated post. Very solid tech demo for the Steam Deck in the vein of The Lab for VR. This is the experience that convinced me that the Steam Deck's capacitive sticks and gyro aiming are more than just gimmicks, and might actually be worth the time to set up.
Coffee Talk
Another one warranting a dedicated post. Solid game with some caveats, but I think if you see the Steam Store page's screenshots and think you'll like it, you probably will. The short version: I think the first hour or two of Coffee Talk are by far its strongest, and the game leaves a great first impression. I personally think that the writing fumbles the ball in the resolution; the journey is worthwhile, but the destination is more up to question.
Raining Blobs
North Macedonian Puyo-Puzzle-Fighter Hybrid wasn't on my bingo card but here we are. Raining Blobs is a game I'd like to get better at. There's a decently meaty little system under the hood that drives the PvP falling-block puzzle gameplay, with some key differences to its lookalike counterparts that means you have to play Raining Blobs like Raining Blobs. Example: the game features a singleplayer Puzzle mode that ostensibly functions like a Puyo Puyo Fever puzzle chain, but the unique rules of Raining Blobs means I was constantly fighting my Puyo muscle memory to distinguish solutions that might work in one game but not in another.
Raining Blobs is a very focused game. No frills, plentiful options and QoL, and easy access to the action. There are some rough edges and and some process of re-learning "falling blob game" but I'm happy to stick around for a bit more and git gud. This is one of those games that I'd love to try local multiplayer with one day.
Inertial Drift
Okay, this game looks, sounds, and feels like it was made for me. Dedicated post incoming. So much of this game just feels right to play, and it makes even simple time trials a joy to try, retry, and retry yet again. There's a lot of replay value to be had here with the variety of courses with different demands, and spread of vehicles that all handle uniquely (sometimes dramatically so). Not a whole lot of variety outside of those factors, which makes for an arcade-style experience that knows what it wants to be, and gives you plenty to try and perfect, within its confines. It's great news that the core gameplay is so, so solid. and that soundtrack. The soundtrack. Golden.
The Zachtronics Solitaire Collection
Have you ever heard complaints about games that "make dumb people feel smart"? If that's so, Zachtronics games seem designed to "make smart people feel dumb." They demand a higher standard and cross their arms and turn their head if you don't yet meet them. That's why I love them, but also why I need to take Zachtronics in small doses, far below LD50.
The Zachtronics Solitaire Collection is, in the grand spectrum of Zachtronics Dark Souls Gigabrain Challenge, relatively merciful in some of its easier game variants. You have ports of six solitaire games included as minigames in other Zachtronics titles, plus a seventh wholly original game made just for this collection. Like everything Zachtronics, these games are precisely, no, fastidiously tuned. Even games that resemble traditional solitaire games will differ with trademarked subtlety and efficiency. The devil is in the details.
Using Sawayama Solitaire as an example, it ostensibly looks and plays like Klondike, but has received adjustments to speed up game pace and actually stack the odds in your favor in terms of more consistently winnable games. All cards in the tableau are face-up from the start. You draw from the stock three cards at a time, but no repeat passes through the stock. There is no hint button, no undo function, and no fail/lose screen. What results is an experience that, while punishing, is very intentional and, to borrow Zachtronics' words here, "more strategic."
My personal favorite so far has been Cluj Solitaire. I love the striking visual identity with its beautifully harsh retro computing flair. The game itself is similarly unforgiving in its lack of hand-holding or make-things-easier QoL, but as a result forces me to think several steps ahead and employ the built-in "cheat" mechanic to make some satisfyingly tight maneuvers.
I'll let you in on a secret: I actually kind of hate solitaire. I hate the slow pace, the frustration of making mistakes or getting stuck, the build-up of investing time into a game only to work yourself into a corner... or realize that the setup hasn't been technically "winnable" since my mess-up on Move 2. Despite all that, The Zachtronics Solitaire Collection is a joy to play. It's tough, especially for me, and it might require more attention than you're used to in a solitaire game, but it's all the more satisfying of a challenge because of it.
Just... give me a little time before you ask me to learn some of the tougher variants. I need to emotionally prepare myself.
Closing Thoughts
Believe it or not, there are still a few other games I haven't mentioned yet. But I'll wrap up here for now.
The past few months have been incredibly busy but I've found plenty of fun trying out new, smaller or simpler experiences to try out for a couple hours. One of the draws of having, and working through, such a giant games backlog is the prospect that "the next game you try might become your new favorite."
What has fallen to the wayside are the more expansive, more-involved, and just longer games that I have currently on hold. I'm still in the middle of Blue Reflection Second Light/Tie, and have about 8-9 hours into Tales of Vesperia. That's not even mentioning my in-progress saves for Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Pokemon Legends: Arceus, and a very old save in Yakuza Kiwami that at this stage I might just restart.
On paper, I love these kinds of games, but it seems my schedule doesn't. There's definitely a way to get these games to fit again, but I'll have to mull over exactly how to do it. This may require cutting into my Forza time...