Let's Beat Some Games!
The new year is the perfect time to surf that wave of fresh motivation and clear some video games. Here are a few notable titles I've beaten, along with where I've written about them...
- CalorieMate LIQUID FOR GAME CREATORS is in fact the title of a real video game: a 3D platformer advergame where you play as a literal can of liquid CalorieMate. I don't (yet) have anything about it on the BLTN blog here, but I did post a little about it on Bluesky!
- Speaking of Bluesky specials, I also posted there about a very short anime tie-in game called Is It Wrong to Try to Shoot 'em Up Girls in a Dungeon?, a short-and-sweet sidescrolling shmup by MAGES. A single playthrough takes around 20-25 minutes, but there's a decent-sized cast of support characters and a wide range of difficulty options, so this is one title I'll be happy to revisit soon.
- Driven by stubbornness and empowered by some advice on the Steam forums, I claimed the clear in sidescrolling shooter ENDLESS Zone. I talk about it and the tank battle party game Armor of Heroes in Part 1 of my retrospective of the delisted SEGA 60th Anniversary games!
- Naturally, I also have to mention Part 2! I played through quite a few loops of the Street of Rage 2-inspired Streets of Kamurocho, plus took some time to explore the playable prototype Golden Axed, both of which are covered in the history-heavy Part 2!
- Kannagi Usagi, stylized as 巫兎 - KANNAGI USAGI -, is a surprisingly capable reproduction of Sekiro combat in the form of a focused, no-nonsense boss rush game. Hot off the presses, my recommendation of the game is here. Don't let the Steam content warning scare you... the game's not actually R18!
- (Also Doom (2016), which I'll get to in the next section!)
This eclectic mix of games is not at all what I thought my first game clears of January and February would look like, but that's what makes things interesting! As for some of the larger experiences that are a little more in line with with expectations...
After finishing DOOM, let's play some Doom
Earlier this month I rolled credits on DOOM (2016)! I'm happy finally have seen this game through, especially since my progress in the back half was slowed down significantly with generous interruptions for Chop Goblins and DUSK.
With DOOM (2016) officially done for now, I can refocus on wrapping up DUSK and getting back into classic Doom. I've been taking a break from my WAD write-ups for my Grand Tour of DOOM / Ten Years of DOOM, opting instead to play newer WADs, total conversions, and gameplay mods to mix with some fun, easy slaughtermaps made with the Obsidian procedural map generator.
My latest Doom-flavored obsession? The Final Doomer + mod (Doom Wiki) (ZDoom forums). Featuring eight new player classes plus the original Doom II guy, unique/original weapons for the new additions, and overhauled weapon mechanics to fit, Final Doomer + keeps me coming back for not only its variety but also its incredible polish. After over four years of development the mod has reached its final v3.4 incarnation and is packed with awesome. Each player class is chock-full of new weapons to learn with their own quirks and traits. Some even have gimmicks that you'll need to read the in-game tooltip (accessed with the [R] key) to fully take advantage of.
I'll be honest, I was afraid that I'd fall out of love with classic Doom, but the ear-shattering boom-crunch of the Hellbound class's Brigand SSG reassures me that if that day ever comes, it won't be anytime soon.
Wrap-up of Blue Reflection Tie / Second Light
The worst part of being in the late-game of a JRPG is not being able to talk about much without spoilers. In non-spoilery terms, I'm coming up to the end of Blue Reflection: Second Light, the final entry of the Blue Reflection franchise I've yet to fully experience. With a brief detour for the DLC content, I'm back on the main story path, and it's very clear that everything is coming to a close.
I'm determined to eventually 100% this game's achievements, and after handling the worst of the game's missables, I felt a sense of relief as I closed out of the Barrel Wisdom page I was using to track my in-game exploration progress: a seven-month effort.
There are a few loose ends that I won't be able to fully tie up until my second playthrough, so the 100% badge will elude me for a bit more, but the pressure is off for the most part and I can cruise for the rest of the journey.
Oh, the game? Yeah, it's good.
Interested in some spoiler-free thoughts? Here's a rather substantial piece I wrote about Blue Reflection: Second Light, meant specifically for new and interested players. It includes advice and resources, such as the excellent Barrel Wisdom mentioned above, so if you'd like to give this game a look, please check out the post!
Playing Wolfenstein: Youngblood
I've always thought Wolfenstein: Youngblood looked kind of cool. I didn't mind the concept of a grindy co-op FPS with bullet-sponge enemies, since I enjoyed Borderlands. I figured Youngblood would just be a Wolfenstein-flavored version of that looter-shooter formula.
As the negative reviews kept rolling in, I upgraded my interest level in this game from "passively intrigued" to "fascinated." How bad (or good) was this game really? I'd only know if I played it for myself. And a few months ago, my wish was fulfilled in the form of a deep, deep sale of Youngblood.
Six hours later, and.... yeah, I can kind of see the issues. Bland and repetitive game structure: boring objectives in samey environments fighting the usual suspects of enemy types. Oft-unsatisfying gameplay with grindy level-based damage, clunky weapon weakness system, and design that's co-op first at the cost of solo-worst.
That said, I'm not done with Youngblood yet. Despite the game's flaws, I'm still having fun, although it's a different kind of fun than I'd find in either Borderlands or Wolfenstein: The New Order. Youngblood, for better or worse, is unique. I'll stop playing when I stop having fun. Whether that'll carry me to the end of the game or not, we'll just have to wait and see.
All Right, Put a Lid On It!
Wait, I haven't even talked about what's next-...
door slams shut
(muffled) There's this cool tool called ShaderGlass that just hit v1.0, and v1.0.2 just dropped a couple days ago; you can find it on GitHub here and there's a cool video demo of it in action on the dev's Bluesky post here...
latch clicks
(muffled, desperate) It's really cool, it uses the same shader library that RetroArch does to emulate scanlines, CRT effects, VHS distortion...
blinds pulled down
(still muffled, urgent tone) You can capture the effects with OBS, I actually posted my own video demo showing foobar2000 filtered through some heavy VHS visual effects...
pneumatic blast doors hiss closed
silence
...
obnoxious knocking on metal
YOU CAN EVEN HAVE A BEZEL-