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thelureking · 2 years ago

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I had this idea to make a list of all the games I played in 2022, half as a recommendation list, and half because I struggle to remember when I played what. I have a really bad time ranking stuff, so I'll just list them chronologically (or, as chronologically as I can remember).

Note: Sometimes I dont have a lot to say about a game, but that doesnt mean I didn't like it or that it isn't good.

So, with that being said:

1) Our Life: Beginnings and Always

This game has put visual novels on another level entirely. How must I go on knowing that I will never be treated like royalty by any other game like this did. Our Life tells the story of your friendship and/or romance with Cove Holden, your new neighbor. This Visual Novel remembers an insane amount of stuff you choose, and it can put you in the state of mentioning something you did as a kid that you completely forgot about. I actually really liked how you can go the entire game as just friends, or choose when your character develops romantic feelings. I cannot overstate how well made this entire thing is. Can't wait to play the DLCs and for the sequel to be released.

Absolute recommend.

2) Iron Lung

If you have a computer, you can play it. It is not an option.

Claustrophobic above all, this game captures the pure dread of the unknown, building tension and atmosphere as you travel through this unknown planet's red sea. Highly recommended.

3) An Outcry

Amazing game that I don't see enough people talking about. The first game that made me actually physically ill while playing an alternative route. I don't know what hit me the most, the subject matter or the type of person I played in that route, a person I know exists and maybe I've met, a person I hope I never become. I knew what the game was specifically referencing, but I found it good that it was able to trigger that response on someone who lives in an entirely different place, with different historical events, but with enough similarities that made the feeling of dread and disgust that much real. Its message is clear and loud as it should be, and one that I think maybe now more than ever needs to be heard. I cannot recommend this game enough.

4) Stillwater

Now this is a Visual Novel that I really liked and would have loved for it to be longer, but I love it as it is. It left me wanting more about the world and its characters, and I think that's a good thing. It feels unfair that this is the one I typed the least about, knowing how much I liked it. It's really worth the read/play.

5) The Caribbean Sail

Have you ever wanted to be a sailor or a pirate? Have you ever wanted to grab a ship, sail into unknown destinations, encounter supernatural phenomenons and watch as your fellow crew members die of disentry five seconds after leaving your first port? Because if so, I have the perfect game for you. It's inspired by the Oregon Trail game, and that's literally what the gameplay is like, except on the sea. Which was enough of a selling point for me.

6) Carrion

My child, it has every disease. Loved the concept when I saw the trailer, forgot I can actually buy games now, and then proceeded to do that. Being able to live my fantasies of being a flesh creature that destroys and eats everything in its path was a delight. The creature is my child and I love it very much.

We need more games that let you play as the monster, I'm serious.

7) The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante

This game is both my beloved and the thorn on my side. Who would have thought that in a game like this you would proceed to suffer through life? I said to myself as if I hadn't known what I was getting into. You'll experience loss, you'll struggle to make a name for yourself, your family will fall apart, and you may never kiss your best friend Tommas who gave you a totally platonic ring to commemorate your friendship because the game doesn't want you to.

Or you'll have a different experience than me on my first playthrough.

You follow the titular Sir Brante from the moment of his birth to his last breath, exploring the world he lives in, full of injustices that at times made me go "I do not care about the lots, give me a fucking gun so I can take you to the fucking Twins". There are many branches regarding life paths, the fate of your family and that of the entire city you live in. But don't worry about it now, keep looking at those toy soldiers at the store as a little kid, I'm sure nothing will happen in the future.

8) Princess Maker 2 Refine

And apparently I didn't get enough of walking a kid through life.

Who looks at a game about raising a little girl by managing her monthly schedule and balancing her stats, health and money and says "yes, this is the game I'll play to destress"?

I do that. Don't ask why.

I have only reached two endings, in one my beautiful daughter became the royal painter, her art held as the most beautiful and inspiring in the entire world. In another, my girl made a name for herself by exploring the lands surrounding the kingdom, so fast on her feet nobody could even scratch her; she married a dragon prince and became the teacher of her own fighting school.

And even with all of that, her goddess mother was not happy.

So yes, this is the "divorced dad who got custody" experience.

9) Planescape: Torment

What can change the nature of a man? That is a question posed by one Ravel Puzzlewell, night hag of the Gray Wastes. It is one of the many questions that this game asks, intertwined by the many philosophies it presents. Planescape Torment does not stick to one question, it asks many, and it lets you answer.

It is a beautifully written game, one of the best I have ever read. There is one moment that I do not wish to spoil, but it still sticks to my head months after I experienced it. As a writer, I found myself fascinated by how a certain event was told, all because of the way it was presented.

It feels like an injustice to not talk in length about Planescape: Torment, but I seriously don't want to spoil anyone who hasn't played it yet. A blind experience is fully worth it. All you need to know is that this is the game that made me post for the first time here, two dumb memes for myself and one short analysis that sometimes reminds me that yes, people can interact with it. Shameless link to it here

10) Growing my Grandpa!

If I had to describe this game without saying too much, I would say it's "heartwarming horror". Two words that don't usually go together, but that they perfectly fit here. The story is, like the title says, about growing your grandpa, more like helping a girl grow her grandpa, but still. Strangely sweet and unnerving, I was tense the entire time, and even when I had to replay it to get the second ending (this was entirely my fault, since I could have gotten it way easier) that tension never left.

11) FAITH: The Unholy Trinity

I don't remember how I found out about this game, but I remember waiting patiently for it to get a steam release so I could buy it and play its three chapters all together. The day finally came, and all that waiting was worth it.

The gameplay is simple, yet the developers found a way to have me both crying in fear and frothing by the mouth out of anger every time I saw the game over screen (affectionately). In terms of difficulty, I would say the game is easy until it isn't, looking at you Chapter 2 and 3 Final Bosses, you bastards. Then again, I saw people say they struggled in places I didn't, so I would say it depends on the player.

The story is so interesting and it's still marinating in my brain please I need people to talk about how the prologue of chapter 2 and the one note in chapter 3 relate please. The cutscenes are also so well done, and I had to restrain myself from using one as a second picture because I didn't want to spoil any of them.

All in all, a must play, fully recommend it.

And remember:

GARY LOVES YOU

12) Inmortal Mantis

This is a tricky one. On one hand, the game starts off by basically spelling out every action you have to do, and suddenly it goes full on "fuck around and find out" mode. On the other, the game implements some interesting mechanics that I would love to see developed on a longer game, but I am not going to put the length against it while knowing how hard it is to make a game. And maybe being short plays in its favor.

13) Who's Lila?

This game is my King in Yellow. I cannot stop thinking about it. I finished it with all endings and achievements in a day, and it wont leave me alone. It is always there, forever crawling at the back of my head, stretching itself over my brain and weaving my thoughts into a spiral as easily as a spider weaves its thread. It made itself a home in my mind and I won't kick it out any time soon. I played it because the concept of controlling a character's face in place of a dialogue wheel was interesting, and the story and the way it's presented (hand in hand with the gameplay) lured me deeper and deeper. I cannot even describe it without giving it the praise it deserves. It takes full advantage of its medium. Playing this game is an experience that I can't recommend enough, and I'm surprised it hasn't gotten the recognition it deserves.

14) Someone stole MY LUNCH!

This visual novel is pure fun. The humor is so good I found myself reading the entire thing out loud while wheezing. I actually found out recently that it's made by the same people that made Stillwater, which, looking at it now I should have known. It's good and I'm not still over not seeing that one joke coming; well played.

15) MILK INSIDE OF A BAG OF MILK INSIDE OF A BAG OF MILK INSIDE OF A BAG OF MILK INSIDE OF A BAG OF-

... INSIDE A BAG OF MILK is a short visual novel about a girl going to the grocery to buy milk, and the challenge this seemingly small action can be. It is your responsibility to help her through this.

The steam page description perfectly summarizes it: "This is an artistic manipulation with word and form, only then - a game."

Reblog with more games

Or, you can jump to the 2023 list!

#already reblogged with three more games!#game recommendations #our life beginnings & always #iron lung #an outcry #stillwater visual novel #the caribbean sail game #carrion game #the life and suffering of sir brante #princess maker 2 #planescape torment #growing my grandpa #faith the unholy trinity #inmortal mantis #who's lila #whos lila #someone stole my lunch visual novel #milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk #lilium post

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iamumbra195 · 1 year ago

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!Spoilers for pretty much all of Teenage Mercenary!

I just need to get my facts down about some of the things going on in the background cause it's confusing to me and I have shitty memory. This is pretty much how I've interpreted everything that is going on, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong

Iron is the head of the whole organization that Camp and Forest were a part of. They take in jobs and send them down as orders to either Camp or Forest. Forest was formed after camp and considered inferior to the numbers

None of the numbers know where these orders are coming from and they are currently investigating

They are likely the ones who killed those 26 numbers Ijin disabled during his escape, ordering someone from Forest to do it or directly ordering a traitor number (my theory) to do it because Mad Dog didn't seem to know who killed them that day. They probably killed them because they were becoming too uncontrollable and there was no real leverage they had over them to keep them working for them the way they were doing to Alice with her little brother and Ijin's escape was their best bet to get rid of them all as they were incapacitated and unable to protect themselves

The Camp has completely dissolved at this point in the story and of the 14 still living, we only know 9 so one of the missing five is likely a traitor. Maybe all five of them are and they've been integrated into Forest. 002 doesn't seem to care much about them so it's possible. Or maybe they just died. Who knows?

SW is one of Iron's competitors and is growing relevant in the world of weapons export and war. When Jiye's brother reached out to them to kill Jiye, they were more than happy to do so as that would be a blow to their competitor and would give them a way to destroy SW from the inside if the brother signed a contract with him like he initially wanted to. Ijin obviously ruined this.

The Vorrei Family (which consists of Sophia the blond girl, her brother, and Chairman Andrew) is currently in a contract with Iron but is heavily considering signing a contract with SW and their subsidiary SW defence and whether or not this happens will help with the growth of their weapons export business

This obviously angered Iron and they sent Anna to kidnap Sophia and her brother under the care of SW which would of course ruin the relationship between Chairman Andrew and SW but Ijin ruined this. This created a very good relationship between the Vorrei Family and SW

Alice has infiltrated SW because Iron wants insider information on SW so they could effectively ruin them from the inside, however the mess with the numbers and 004 being a presumptuous little prick (I love him regardless lmao) ruined everything for them

Now the timeline of Ijin's backstory

The plane crashed ten years ago when he was nine (Korean age so technically he was eight and is currently eighteen)

The Camp picked him up from the plane crash and patched him up, forcing him to join the whole training with no memory of himself or his past while speaking in a foreign language. He was trainee #982 out of the initial 1000 ppl that were at the Camp

He met 005 almost immediately after joining

Inhumane training and missions had to have continued at least until he was twelve or thirteen before the initial 1000 was whittled down to a measly group of 40.

During that training, he constantly went against the Camp's teachings, never leaving behind anyone who was injured and taking those who were dying to a peaceful area for them to pass away in rather than dying in the middle of a battlefield. He was punished for it a lot but it made most of the other trainees trust him and see him as their leader. Some of them admired 002 and regarded him as the leader and were later upset when they saw that Ijin was granted the number 001 but 002 was fine with it and followed Ijin's instructions

At some point, Mad Dog assigned him as leader of the numbers and went to kill 016 because he collapsed during a roll call of some kind but Ijin got in his way. They got into a fight and that's when Ijin gave Mad Dog his scar. Mad Dog has hated him since

He remained at camp until he was fourteen and at some point, he had killed a mother and daughter, a memory which stuck with him and traumatized him in a certain way. I believe it also provoked his 'betrayal'.

He disobeyed orders from Camp and Mad Dog sent most of the numbers after him. He incapacitated 26 and some of the other numbers like 006 turned a blind eye to let him escape however they became angry when they were told that he killed the 26 numbers even though he didn't

He was heavily injured and passed out in a river where he was found by Lucas, the mercenary village chief.

All the stuff in the village and the looters (Immortal and his gang) happened and then he became Jin for the next five years. He briefly ran into 018 and that one girl who tried to kidnap Jiye during this time and saved Sophia from her kidnapper. Saving Evelyn and her mother also helped jog his memory and remember his mother telling him "--Jin, I love you" and while the plane was crashing with an oxygen mask on his face, his parents hugged him and told him "--Jin, Mommy and Daddy love you very much." I love the fact that he started to remember after he saved Evelyn and her mom, it's such a nice detail man.

Also, someone thank Grandpa Lucas for trying to protect Ijin from the horrors of being a mercenary despite already knowing he was a child soldier. He bandaged him up after he got injured and told him to take better care of himself, gave him a lot of food and practically raised Ijin for a good chunk of his teenage years. His last message to Ijin (Chp. 163) and Ijin crying for the very first time hit me right in the feels

Ijin met Yeona's dad during his time as Jin and after the dad died, word got back to the Head of SW about Ijin.

Major Kang was attacked six months before canon and because he was Jiye's fiance and this was clearly an opportunity to meet his son's savior (and a potential asset for his developing weapons subsidiary but that's another topic -__-), he hired Jin to save the Major and his troop

I do believe SW was involved in finding Ijin's family both in order to fulfill Yeona's dad's last wish to get Ijin out of the warzone he lived in and because Grandpa Shin is shady af and probably wants to use Ijin. I don't think he's a bad person but he doesn't really have Ijin's best interests in mind. He's a businessman, after all. Good men don't make good businessmen.

Ijin being there has also brought him a ton of opportunities and prevented him from losing his granddaughters and a fuck ton of opportunities if Ijin hadn't been there to save the day so it makes sense that he and Jiye as well, are so adamant about keeping him by their side

But anyway, that pretty much concludes my info dump with a mix of my personal interpretations for now. Like I said before feel free to correct me if I've said something wrong

Now take this random badass panel of my children :)

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