#Hard Games

[alexgrin]

I'm thinking of going back to DST...

[arconinternet]

The Fool's Errand (In-browser, Classic Mac/DOS, Cliff Johnson & Synergistic Software, 1987/1989)

You can play it in your browser here.

Tips: the Mac's version's cursor will move faster than your Windows one - if it looks like it's acting weird, it's because the emulated Mac is loading. The DOS version's copy protection seems to have been disabled. You can view the DOS version's prologue but selecting the Quit option, then typing 'prologue' (without quotes). You can read the Mac version's manual here.

[smbhax]

Mickey's Dangerous Chase (GB)

(Red color changed from default gray in Mesen)

Session: https://youtu.be/qVstY_tOFJk

This might be the hardest game I've ever played = OO

[vel-sig-gaming]

Short form reviews x7

Might make longer reviews of some of these but here's a rapidfire of some games I consider truly exceptional (that you probably havent heard of already.) Because a lot of these are too good to not know about for even a day longer.

[Sifu]: First person fighting game about getting revenge with kung fu, Insanely hard game, very hard to master, very rewarding. Get it if you like fighting games or hard games, Single player only, 8/10.

[One step from eden]: Usually deckbuilder roguelikes are more slow paced. This one turns it into a FPS where if you don't have high APM you're dead meat. The execution is steller, the character options are great, the difficulty is nightmarish, and the music is amazing. Also it just came out with a multiplayer fighting game spinoff. 9/10

[Balatro]: Another roguelike with a twist, this one is poker themes but your hands deal damage. Kill the enemy in a limited number of them by grabbing muultipliers, modifiers, and special effects. One of the best designed ones i've seen lately, just go try it now. 9.5/10.

[Luck be a landlord]: This one is a much shorter game, but it's very hard to stop playing once you try. the demo for this one is free on steam and of a good size. Only about 4 hours of good gameplay though so get it on sale maybe. 6/10.

[Cassette Beasts]: It's a monster catching game but with a good plot and good combat that isn't just "Oneshot them with your strongest attack move" looking at you, pokemon. Also it does that thing where the artstyle changes and the music adds vocals during tough encounters. Fucking love that shit. 9.5/10. it's like pokemon if it were actually good.

[Sunless sea]: This one is hard to evaluate. The writing and worldbuilding might actually be the straight up BEST I'VE EVER SEEN. However it does NOT mix with roguelike gameplay very well as you'll sometimes end up re-reading the same slow encounters 10 times. However the gameplay as a whole is a mastah fucken peece. 6/10, but if you turn on savepoints and lower difficulty, 8 or 9/10.

[Tangledeep]: This one is a only semi-randomized roguelike and it's more of an adventure game/dungeon crawler. But the real draw of this game (besides the amazing music) is HOARDING ALL THE LOOT. 10 Cooked chickens, a potion that gives you 50 buffs, legendary armor and weapons made of tree bark, Shark swords, Giant bombs, it all goes in the bag. Fucking love it. 8/10. it's a bit unbalanced though.

Some games are too good to not play in my opinion. That's why i'm here to let you know of the better ones just a little bit sooner, at least I hope so.

Make sure to enjoy. More in depth reviews later.

[burninghideoutgiver]

I love the style of this game

[eldritch-midnight]

Fuck these guys fr

[mikeyisbrooklyn]

I think it is very funny that I just had this conversation with myself (I’m a voice actor, of course I talk to myself) earlier today. Specifically, how the idea that “devs should be able to make the games they want” is a valid rebuttal to “games should be made more accessible”. So I’m taking this as a sign to pop off, so this is gonna be a rant. Buckle up.

So first things first, no, game devs should not be able to make the games they want if it makes their game less accessible intentionally. Hot take, right? Nah, it isn’t actually and here’s why.

Video games are a form of entertainment and a form of art, and while normally I’m of the opinion that artists get to make whatever they want, video games are different. Cause they’re

✨Interactive✨

Follow my train of thought here. Interactive media is defined by the way an audience can, well, interact with it. Specifically, if you interact with a work and it changes, or reacts to your action in some way, then it’s interactive. Books, movies, shows, music, etc. all those art forms aren’t interactive. You can engage with that kind of media— that goes into how your perception of it may change over time or if how your analysis of it may impact how the themes and messages translate for you blah blah blah, different rant for a different day. But you can’t interact with it.

Video games, however, are interactive. That means, in simpler terms than stated above, you can do things to/with them and they will react. You can’t read a sentence in a book wrong and then it suddenly closes on you, but one mis-input in that platformer leads you straight to a GAME OVER screen. To bring up OP’s point, you can pause a movie or TV show with ease and just come back to it if you’re suddenly swept away. But if you can’t pause a video game without risk of losing progress, but you need to put your attention elsewhere, well then that’s just inaccessible game design.

And now we circle back to the main main point: Accessibility.

Taking into account what we just talked about, it’s obvious to connect the need of accessibility in interactive media, but I will gladly spell it out to anyone who hasn’t picked it up yet.

Interactive media (video games) requires audience (player) input to convey its themes and tell its stories. No ands, ifs, or buts about it. If you’re still not following, let’s make up an example turning non-interactive media interactive. Let’s say there’s a mystery novel that has a secret passages throughout the story pages that can only be seen using a blacklight, and each copy of the book is sold with a pen that doubles as a blacklight when you click it. Sounds cool, right? Now imagine that instead of selling the pens with the book, the author doesn’t, and they also never even elude to the exist of the secrets. Now, the only way anyone is going to be able to interact with entire sections of the book is if they already have a blacklight lying around (what are you? a cop?) or they go out and buy one once the secret’s been spread around the internet.

In the example, you can try and say that “that makes it fun and challenging” and if you do say that, I seriously cannot help you understand the difference between challenging and inaccessible, because those two things do not need to be mutually inclusive. If people literally cannot interact with your interactive storytelling, then something has gone wrong. When you’re making something with the explicit purpose that people need to interact with it, then you need to make sure they actually can. And if the only way you can imagine making it difficult is by making it literally impossible to do (at least, for large groups of people), then maybe it’s not actually challenging, it’s just frustrating and you’re conflating the two.

All that to say, no game devs can’t make games with poor design choices and cover it up with “cause I wanna!” unless they are literal toddlers, I guess. Accessibility is not some annoying extra step that takes away the challenge from games. It should be something you consider from the very inception of game development so that you’re able to tell your story, no matter who’s picking up the game. Then you can leave it up to them on how they feel about said story, and hey if you do it right, they be clamoring for a sequel!

TL;DR

All, yes all, games should be accessible. It’s literally the point of video games to interact with them, so it’s on the devs to make sure players can.

Unpopular opinion: All games should have the option to enable pausing.

And to save almost everywhere.

Yes even in soulslike games.

I am an adult who has a full time job and responsibilities. I get to play maybe an hour a week. I do not want to lose that hour of progress because devs decided 'pause' was not allowed in their game and I had sudden unexpected things come up that meant I had to quit the game without saving/leave it playing and hope enemies wouldn't respawn.

Also it would massively increase accessability. I have fully working non-injured hands and they still need a break after a tough boss fight. I can't imagine how frustrating it must be for people with joint pain, arthritis, etc, etc.

[cardo-de-comer]

the devil you know

[thehappinessmachine]

i had a great and lovely time with the indie game known as mouthwashing (me simultaneously sobbing into hands and staring at wall and chucking back shots of mouthwash at the same time)

[hazzieandnord]

This is such an unconventional Metroidvania. Don't let's the unassuming name fool you because it's a challenge! Time to test Nord's patience. lol

[godmindedgaming]

[arconinternet]

Chaos: A Fantasy Adventure Game (Windows/Classic Mac, New York University's Tisch School of the Arts & Gray Matter Studios, 1996)

You can download it here.

You can run it on modern systems by dragging the .iso file onto the emulated Classic Mac desktop here. You can read a couple of full solutions for the game here.

[smbhax]

Q*bert (NES)

Session: https://youtu.be/JAavuapDuIU

3rd hardest game on NES? = o http://electricfrankfurter.blogspot.com/2011/07/top-30-hardest-nes-games-ever.html

[lmaverick123]

You Are So Boring (A response to Steve Shives)

This has to be the lowest of the low-hanging fruit.  The absolute peak of easy targets who are probably beneath me.  But dammit, this is just too fun!  I honestly thought that I was done with Steve Shives.  I thought this dude had reached the point that he wasn’t fun anymore and I would move on.  I left responses to social justice behind a long time ago, and I thought that Shives would be among…

[ytcomments-archive]

[eldritch-midnight]

Dread mode is kicking me in the behind