The one where I try a few new games and return to a couple older ones.
Intro
I'm in the mood to try something new, then chase it with a few games I've forgotten. It's variety time!
Hacknet
Team Fractal Alligator's Hacknet (2015) is the best hacking-themed game I've played that isn't an outright "programming game." I'm returning to it a few years after my 100% runs of the base game, this time just to mess around and remind myself just how good this game is, and how much I've enjoyed it. With great effort, I'm stopping myself from writing way too much about Hacknet here--probably a sign that I'm due for a full recommendation or review soon.
In short, Hacknet is a hacking game with all the trappings of the cool Hollywood hackerman aesthetic but at its core is a compelling puzzle game controlled largely through the command-line interface (CLI). The CLI adds a touch of realism, letting you perform basic GNU/Linux-inspired actions in uncannily similar fashion to real-world commands, making for an exciting feeling of both novelty and authenticity. As a burgeoning Linux power user myself nowadays, returning to Hacknet feels almost quaint, but when I first played, it was pure wizardry. And that'll be the experience for most other players as well.
Hacknet manages a fine balance, offering you a power fantasy but still making you earn it. You feel like a badass hacker while all of the convoluted and tedious part of it are stripped out, replaced with some impressively flexible problem-solving challenges reminiscent of immersive sims.
If you're at all interested in the hacker aesthetic, please do check out Hacknet. Don't worry too much about the command-line stuff: it's all very approachable, with a lot of the complexity relegated to simple set dressing. It's a game that keeps me coming back for more, long after all the achievements are won, just to feel how fun it is once again.
Slay the Spire
Playing Slay the Spire alongside my on-and-off love-hate relationship with Balatro has had me thinking a lot about roguelike deckbuilders lately. I've been wanting to write about my Balatro experience for a while, and Slay the Spire offers some interesting comparisons, despite the two games being so foundationally different. No, it's probably because they're so different that they get me thinking so much.
Slay the Spire came up mentioned in Localthunk's devlog-esque "Balatro Timeline" as an inspiration for some of the poker roguelike's design. I'd had Slay the Spire in my Steam games library for a while now, but this incidental mention was just the push I needed to finally install it and give it a try. Immediately it grabbed me. On Bluesky I described my initial experience as low-friction and effortless to keep coming back to. After my tutorial run, I dove into the Daily Climb mode and got my first basic game clear with the Silent (the vaguely rogue-archetype character), turning an "oh, I get it now" moment to an "ohhh.... okay I think I really like this" one.
As of writing I'm a little over five hours in, and that number will doubtless grow. Learning how the developers designed the game to be accessible and effortless to play has made me appreciate all the more just how easy it is to enjoy Slay the Spire. Especially after 24+ hours with Balatro, where maintaining that golden balance of fun took much more effort.
We'll see where both games lead me as I keep playing...
Round-up
Towaga: Among Shadows
Towaga is a multiplatform wave defense/shooter that was recently made free before being delisted from Steam at the end of January. Its hand-drawn cartoon style is detailed and looks great in motion, giving it a "playable cartoon" feel a la Cuphead.
The gamplay itself is more of a mixed bag, alternating between a turret-style wave shooter and a free-movement twin-stick shooter, both very straightforward. After the two hours it took for me to clear the game's first(?) main story and experiment around with some of the alternate modes, I'd had my fill for now.
Gunman Clive
I have slowly but surely changed my opinion on Gunman Clive over the years. It's a Wild West-themed jump-and-shoot platformer that feels like one big Mega Man homage, and today, I can earnestly say I feel it lives up to its inspiration.
The movement is a bit floaty and the presentation is sparse, but it offers solid platforming challenges made spicier with combat and obstacles. I was never good at Mega Man or any of its platformer brethren, but I'm coming back to Gunman Clive older, more patient, and maybe even a little more skilled, which has removed much of the frustration. What remains is respect for this bite-sized platformer.
It's fun to revisit older stages once you know their tricks, challenging yourself for a cleaner, faster, more optimal run. Yes, I can now say I actually sort of enjoy Gunman Clive. Even though I'm still stuck on the final boss.
...and more!
- I got the recent PC port of Wizardry Variants Daphne working on my Linux system! I love classic dungeon crawlers / blobbers but I haven't played one in years. Hopefully Variants Daphne won't destroy me too hard.
- NIGHT-RUNNERS PROLOGUE is VHS found-footage 90s Japanese street racing and it pleases me in pretty much everything in does. Per the name, it's a prologue/playable demo for an upcoming game presumably called NIGHT-RUNNERS. I need some more time with it but I really enjoy what I've seen so far.
- A few more sessions of Vampire Survivors for some more of that endless stream of unlocks and better game knowledge. My next step is to unlock Arcana, which will open up the game so much more. In the meantime I'd also like to get better at clearing the game with Hyper Mode and Curse stacks, as I love the faster pace of these modifiers.
- We have just a few more weeks until Atelier Resleriana's global version shuts down for good, so I'm fitting in moments to progress the story and see more of the game when I can.
- Ridge Racer Unbounded is a game that annoys me so much that I'm all the more determined to figure out how to enjoy it. I thought holding down the Drift button like that Eurogamer review said would fix my problems, but it didn't. Not in the all-encompassing way I would have wanted, at least. But it's a start to understanding the rather finicky way each car controls, and ironically the late-game challenges seem to be easier and more fun...
- Installed Puyo Puyo Champions to try and get back into Puyo. I'm way worse than I was a decade ago, and I wasn't even good back then. But I'm determined to train up that Puyo skill, one way or another. Just not sure how long that'll take...
Outro
With how busy real life has been, my gaming life is all kinds of blurry. But I'm glad I have games as a way to relax--that's why I'm so passionate about writing about them!
Maybe next time we'll talk about my triumphant(?) return to Car Mechanic Simulator 2018 or my ever-evolving thoughts on Ridge Racer Unbounded as I approach the six-hour mark.
Whatever comes next and whenever it happens, I hope you have some fun this week!