#it's available on ps4 and steam I think

[seeminglyseph]

it is frustrating sometimes watching anime youtubers talk about isekai, and bring up Sword Art: Online, and talk about it in a way that makes it clear that like... the existence of .hack and the fact that like... it was pretty fucking huge and well known and from what I have seen of SAO must have been influential because like. I have not seen or read SAO, and so like, even if the creator of SAO has not played or watched read an entry in the .hack series, he's clearly consumed media influenced by it, right????

like I know .hack didn't create the like... 'trapped in a video game' genre, and I'm not saying all anime in the like... 'quasi-isekai, but it's an MMORPG' genre are .hack inspired, or owe something to .hack as a series...

I don't know exactly what point I'm trying to make specifically. But so much credit goes to SAO, and clearly it inspired a lot of the modern interest and web novels. I understand it's responsible at least for the resurgence of the genre.

But. I also feel like the way some people talk about SAO it's like... "How do I make people become fully aware of this other thing I feel is much better???" which I think is probably very self serving but also like. ugh the .hack series was really cool. I really wish we could bring it back and give it the credit it deserved. Sure not every entry was great, but I loved it. I think many anime fans would be happier with .hack as a reference point instead of SAO...

[ellies-enrichment]

(game tlou anon) I HAVE SOOO MANY HOURS IN RDR2 i really want to play the tlou1 remake but i don’t have a ps5… cries.

RDR2 is my whole entire life it's not even a joke, I'm so glad we're in the same boat with this. I need constant horse enrichment. rdr1 was incredibly addicting to baby me so rdr2 is perfection. however rdro has had me in a chokehold for the last like 3 years i'm on a 6 month streak of daily challenges (despite the reset after a month rip)

I almost didn't get one it was a constant battle of them selling out in literal seconds & I was like "I'll just buy a ps4 like who cares" but my dad stopped me. he was like "let me try to get one for you" and then he ended up getting it in his cart before it sold out so if he didn't do that then i wouldn't have the remake either.

the ps4 though has a feature i'm so jealous of where you can like set a background on your console (i saw someone make it abby) and i can't do that i tried :( also apparently ps5 games can't go to external hard drives if you want to be able to play them which is dumb but i get it. ALSO the motion sensor in the controller feels better in ps4 like i've not played until dawn since getting my console but i feel like the "don't move" part is scarier on a ps4 controller

[burningfaith]

it still makes me laugh that in Metaphor: ReFantazio Zan/Garu skill got renamed to Cyc, because in polish it means tit (no, not like a birdie) 💀

but overall the demo was 🔥🔥🔥 to such an extend that I had to play it on Steam instead of our ps4, because it almost flew away...

WE WILL BE PLAYING I'm not sure when or on what device BUT WE WILL BE PLAYING

[insertdisc5]

Devlog #17: Certifications and Tiny Things

Hello everyone! Welcome to this month’s devlog!

If you just stumbled upon this, I am Adrienne, also known as insertdisc5! I’m the developer, writer, artist, main programmer, etc of the game. The game being In Stars and Time, a timeloop RPG, which is also the next and final game in the START AGAIN series, following START AGAIN: a prologue (available here!).  You can find out more about In Stars and Time here!!! 

LET’S GET TO IT. This month is certifications updates, and a teeny tiny little teaser for a little something something that will be available sometime.

I’m very happy to say ISAT has passed certification for PS4 and PS5 AND Nintendo Switch!!! My devlog was stuck on “but we’re still waiting on Nintendo” for the longest time. But today (August 30th), we are free.

“Adrienne what in the hell do certification and lotcheck mean” Babe you’re so right to ask. 

So, when you want to release a game on consoles, you need to send your finished build over to the consoles, so they can approve it. And that process is called certification (for Sony) and lotcheck (for Nintendo)! This process means they’ll play the game, and make sure the build you sent them follows their specific terminology. So for example, if you have a tutorial, they’ll make sure you use “Press the O button” for Playstation, and “Press the A button” for Switch! If you fail, they send the build back telling you why you failed the certification, and you have to try the process all over again. Their goal also isn’t to get your game bug-free, although they might let you know if they encounter a bug (PS4 found a minor one).

Funny thing though. We did fail the Switch lotcheck once. 

“Well why on earth did you fail it? Did you forget to update the button names or something?!” No. We failed it because one of the visual options in the game is titled “Screen Shake & Flash”. 

“Well what does that option do?” It enables or disables screen shakes and flashes of bright light in the game. 

“And why is the title of the option bad?” They said the use of the word “flash” was, and I quote,  “problematic”. 

“What. What does that mean.” Well see here’s the thing.

WE DON’T KNOW!!! Everyone from Armor Games to our porting company Ratalaika is just a big ol’ ????? over this. Nintendo did not give us more details either. This is just so funny to me. Do they think this is an option where you can enable a character flashing you. If you turn it on the King shows you his pecs. I DON’T KNOW?!?!?! Anyway we changed it to a general “Screen Effects” and we’ll rely on the option’s description to tell you what it does. That was the lotcheck theater minute, thank you for tuning in.

In other news, uh, that’s it? Now that the certifications are done, we’ll be working on a couple of issues left, doing some playtesting, preparing secrets, etc. Yep, that’s it for sure. Nothing teeny tiny to show.

That’s all I have to say for today! Let me know if you have any questions, or if there’s any aspect of the game development struggle you’d like me to talk about! See you next time!!!

…Huh? What? I forgot the tiny little teaser? Oh, alright, fine. 

Here it is.

What on earth could this be…?

Alright, bye for real <3AND DON’T FORGET TO WISHLIST THE GAME ON STEAM ALSO IT REALLY HELPS BECAUSE STEAM’S ALGORITHM IS MORE LIKELY TO SHOW OFF GAMES WITH A HIGH AMOUNT OF WISHLISTS THAT’S THE REASON WHY GAME DEVS ALWAYS ASK TO WISHLIST!!! OKAY BYE!!!!

[miracletails]

you seem to really like puyo puyo. and it seems to have an actual story as well. how do you think one would get into it?

I absolutely LOVE Puyo Puyo, I'll gladly help you out!! This is going to be a very long post, because I really really have a lot to say!! So under the read more:

Personally, game-wise I think for newcomers, Puyo Pop Fever is a fun easy starting point, it's very short and I'd say pretty newcomer friendly!

Puyo Pop Fever (PC) (Abandonware link, go ham)

This game is fairly light on story, however is the start of the Sega era of the franchise, so you could consider it as a soft reboot, very short and fun. It's one of the few games that have an official english version, as half of the franchise is JP only. The game oozes charm!!!

The story mode this game has is basically an arcade mode, Easy mode(Run Run Course) is 3 stages, Normal mode(Waku Waku Course) is 8 Stages, same with Hard mode (Hara Hara Course)

If you're looking to try some of the games that are officially translated, and still up for purchase, Puyo Puyo Tetris is a pretty good place to start!

Puyo Puyo Tetris (PC) - Steam [Also available on Switch and Ps4! That's for the english releases, there's 3DS/WiiU/PSVita versions, but those are JP only]

There's a sale going on, so you can get it for a pretty good price, nice starting point, although if you don't know any character, you might miss what some things mean. GREAT game, pretty fun! A lot longer than Fever as well, story mode is a fun time! (Great with friends!)

Story mode is something you don't have to do on one sitting, it's stage based, so if the arcade-y story mode of Fever is not your thing, then this might be better for you!

Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 (PC) - Steam [Also available on Switch/PS5/Xbox]

This one is also on sale atm! This one is somewhat of a direct sequel to PPT2, however characters act as if they don't know eachother, plot stuffs. It adds more modes, more characters, more balanced-ish in the Puyo v Tetris matchup, personally play it more than PPT1. Still a great game! (ALSO great with friends!!!) (Basically better than PPT1 but if you care about story do both)

Story mode is stage based once again! Has a bunch of side stuff, pretty fun!

Puyo Puyo Sun (PC) [Abandonware link, go ham]*

This is a fan translation, worth checking out, another fun time with silly character interactions, story mode is arcade-y! Each mode has it's own protag, very fun!!

Puyo Puyo Champions [PC] - Steam [Also available on Switch/PS4]*

This game has No Story Whatsoever, this was originally a game for people to use on tournaments, has a bunch of challenges for single player stuff, basically Puyo reduced to it's bare basics, has only Tsu and Fever as ruleset! It's very cheap. Like, Very Very cheap. It's on sale too, so depends on if you want something just to vibe.

Puyo Puyo Tsu [SNES] - Nintendo Switch Online [Also on many consoles but hey official release for free, technically]

It's not translated, but a very fun game, there's an english patch online if you look for it, I recommend looking for that to enjoy the silly cutscenes, fun game, revolutionary for the Falling Block Puzzle Genre!!!

SEGA AGES Puyo Puyo 2 [Switch]

Thought I'd also add this, it's the same as the previous mentioned, however it's a port of the Arcade version of the game! A nice option tbh!

SEGA AGES Puyo Puyo [Switch]

Similarly to the last one, enhanced port of the original arcade Puyo Puyo 1, it has an english translation too! Much more dificult IMO due to early game weirdness, no offsetting/countering, pieces kinda lock in into rows, a lot of technical stuffs ya know! It's a completely different ruleset and beast tbh

Puyo 1 bonus:

Kirby's Avalanche/Kirby's Ghost Trap [SNES] - Nintendo Switch Online

Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine [SEGA Genesis/Megadrive] - Nintendo Switch Online+

These two are just Puyo 1 reskinned for different consoles, so thought I'd add them!!

So, now to get into games that are Not officially translated:

Puyo Puyo 20th Anniversary (NDS/Wii/PSP/3DS/PS3) - [English Fan Translation Available for the NDS Version]*

My personal favorite game of the franchise, every character in the roster has their own story mode, lots of unlockables such as music, alt voices, modes, characters. Has a BIG selection of modes and genuinely some of the best features, such as an Endless mode for practicing, that helps you to know where your chain trigger is + how long it'd be, AND let's you rewind time to fix mistakes and such.

Story mode is more arcade-y too, each match on the story allows you to pick what ruleset you want to play, very very comfy! Has a bunch of silly gimmicky modes

It's my favorite game, so so SO good.

There's a fan translation made by @/presicemuseum for the NDS version, worth checking out if you're interested on the stories featured.

Now, quick rundown of what games have fan translations that might be worth checking out as well!!!

Super Nazo Puyo - Rulue's Roux (SNES) : GREAT GAME, focused on a single player experience that's more of solving puzzles, I 100% recommend it. Recent fav tbh.

Puyo Puyo 7 (Wii) : Recently re-translated to have more accurate dialogue, a fun lil game, have to go through it again for funsies! Introduction of the Current(? KINDA?) Puyo protag, Ringo!!

Puyo Puyo 15th Anniversary (NDS) : Pretty neat game, fun story and interactions! Similar to 20th with having various different rulesets, def also worth checking out!!!

Puyo Puyo Fever Chu! (PS2) : Partial translation, all of the story modes have been translated, by far one of, if not, the most lore heavy Puyo game, pretty interesting and fun! One of the few games to have the gimmick of being able to use items for matches!

For other fan translated Puyo media, I recommend looking at:

@/Precisemuseum : They have translations for the Light Novels released, as well have been making several patched, some being part of the previously mentioned, definitely worth checking out. They also have a page dedicated to translations made by other people, very useful.

@/primptownlibrary : They also have translations for some of the light novels, worth checking out as well!!! Not as active, but def go take a look

@/nenilein : They have many translations for several Puyo media, such as character profiles, audio dramas, and other info directly related to the series!

Either way, I hope this helps you out!! I am a massive fan of this series and love talking about it, am always here to help and give input o((>ω< ))o

I hope I made enough sense!! English is not my native language so sometimes I might mess up my wording :')

[talesfromthebacklog]

Are you looking to click with a new game and want something genuinely different?

I am always hunting for new titles to reinvigorate that click I feel with video games. Not all video games will click but when they do they can be something truly special. I wanted to go over some of my favorite games I’ve played in recent years that are available on current gen consoles. I’m not covering anyone upcoming, these are titles you can pick up today. Cheaply at that. Several of which are on sale on Steam right now as of writing this.

So. Enough chit chat. Lets’s start with an easy one:

Paradise Killer:

PC Switch PS4/PS5 Xbox

I just finished this one and am in the middle of writing my review on it. Painfully stylish with a killer vaporwave soundtrack this game oozes aesthetic. Kaizen Game Works understood the hauntology assignment and took it to the MAX. You are an investigator trying to solve an immortal god-like council’s murder in a dystopian society. You’ve returned to this gorgeous open world parasite paradise from your exile of 3 million days (about 8219 years)! If you’ve played Outer Wilds this is among that same vein. (And I will caution you, while not hard, the game relies on you wanting to just explore. It will provide hints but it won’t hold your hand.)

This is an Ace Attorney-esqe collectathon mixed with open world and exploration. There is no combat. Both the writing and the world are spectacular. Don’t deny yourself something this wonderful, because it is.

This has quickly risen among my gaming ranks as a favorite and it hits to being as close of a favorite as my number 2 suggestion…

Outer Wilds:

PC Switch PS4/PS5 Xbox

This is perhaps one of my favorite games of all time. I wanted to talk about this second because Outer Wilds has received more of the notoriety it deserves in recent times and I wanted PK to get the main spotlight. Don’t get it twisted though If it wasn’t for UpIsNotJump’s video (<— Spoilers) I would have never realized what I was missing. And I still think a lot of people don’t understand what they’re missing too. It is an absolute masterpiece. And seeing it getting released physically again is a god send. I want people to play this game. (And it’s DLC Echoes of The Eye)

No combat. You are a scientist exploring your local solar system in your spaceship in an open “universe” instead of an open world. The sun explodes every 22 minutes which sends your memories back in time. Again, I will caution you that the game relies on you wanting to explore. It will not direct you.

Eastward:

PC Switch Xbox

Too much exploring. Let’s reel it back with Eastward. A Zelda-like where you control an older man and a little girl with psychic powers in a post apocalyptic world. If you’re looking for those fun pixel games that pack that quirky feel this is it. A bit existential, a great sense of humor, and fantastic writing are all part of the Eastward package. (You startin’ to see a theme here? Ha ha)

All while boasting a seriously killer pixel soundtrack. The original Iron Carbine trailer for the Nintendo Direct had an immediate impact on me as a gamer. I knew this was a game I would fall in love with. Sometimes you just know when something is special. This game is beautifully pixelated and packed with lovingly crafted content. Puzzles are the right amount of challenging and there is so much fun side stuff to do. Including a Dragon Quest-esqe game inside the game! It also received DLC via Eastward Octopia! Which I also love.

Moon: A Remix RPG

PC Switch PS4/PS5

I do play games with combat. I swear. Several of these games just don’t have it! (Ha!) This will perhaps be the hardest game to sell to you on this list. I have a soft spot for quirky games like this, but know that this was a PS1 Japanese exclusive game in the 90s. And it sure acts like it. Slow to start, weak tutorial, and doesn’t provide a ton of direction. This game was ported into English for the first time in 2020 and I love it. It is a trial and error experience though.

This cult classic is one of the games that inspired Undertale and when you play it becomes wildly apparent. I dare say it reminds me more of Undertale than its other main inspiration Earthbound. You are a little boy that’s been fallen into his video game and you have to save the souls of monsters the hero has killed using love. (Sound familiar?)

Light hearted and weird this game also has a great sense of humor as it pokes at classic RPG tropes. And that slow intro comes into play providing a unique perspective as you journey through the game befriending people. It won’t be for everyone, I would research this one before sinking the… $18.99 on the purchase. But I think it is worth experiencing if you love Undertale.

I think I’ve yakked enough. If folks like the post I’ll follow up with a part two with a little more genre variety! I wanted to the first post to include my top favorites. So. I hope there’s something in there that invigorates you the way these games did for me.

[refractstudios]

Distance Launches on PS4 & PS5 July 19th!

Today I have a very exciting announcement for everyone...

Distance: Console Edition has a release date for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5! You can get it July 19th on the PlayStation Store. Wishlist to get notified when it goes live!

Watch the exciting trailer with brand new music here:

Here's a quick overview of what you can expect in Distance: Console Edition:

Melding the intensity of arcade racing with the agility of parkour, Distance catapults you into a neon-soaked world shrouded in mystery. Adapt quickly using your car’s abilities to jump, flip, and fly to overcome deadly hazards and survive.

Campaigns: Dive into the Adventure campaign, an immersive single-player story that takes you into the heart of darkness. Afterward, return to Nitronic City in Lost to Echoes and take on a brutal challenge. Finally, visit the mysterious flying islands of Nexus (a short companion to the Adventure campaign).

Arcade Modes: Earn medals to unlock over 150 diverse tracks in modes like Sprint, Challenge, and Stunt.

Leaderboards: Race ghost replays to take on the leaderboards' best (both online and local).

Endless Tracks: With Trackmogrify, enjoy never-ending challenges with randomly generated tracks using advanced seed modifiers.

Couch Multiplayer: Challenge up to 4 opponents in high-stakes split-screen races, or try unique arena-based modes like Reverse Tag and Stunt.

Unlockable Cheats: Earning PlayStation trophies unlocks cheats like motorcycle mode, bubble car, and many more.

And a bunch of other cool features including…

Customizable controls

Level playlists

Multiple unlockable cars

Car paint job customization

Main menu level selection

And more!

What's new on PlayStation?

There are a handful of exciting new additions exclusive to PlayStation:

Haptic Feedback: The PS5 version features a completely new haptics integration. It allows you to feel the details of each impact, scrape, skid, and the abilities themselves in a whole new way. Since the haptics are largely audio driven I had a ton of fun working on this and it’s easily one of my favorite aspects of playing on PS5.

Activity Features: Easily track campaign progress from the control center, jump into a mode directly from the home screen, and see in-game help on campaign levels if needed.

Controller Lighting: On both PS4 and PS5 the controller lights with the glow color of your car. This helps to see overheat status as well as identify controllers during split-screen.

Regarding performance, Distance targets 60 fps across all single player content. On PS4 the game utilizes 1080p, and on PS5 it runs at 4K resolution. The PS4 Pro and PS5 version have both been enhanced with higher graphics quality and smoother performance. While there are dips here and there on the PS4, overall I think it runs pretty well, and it's even better on PS5 despite running at 4K.

Differences between PC and consoles

For those of you who’ve been enjoying Distance on PC, you’ll find that the core gameplay experience and overall features are extremely similar on PlayStation. There are of course some differences so I’d like to discuss them here.

I’ve talked previously about the technical limitations regarding Steam Workshop and the level editor, so at this time those aren’t available in Distance: Console Edition. Instead, we decided to officially include our favorite community-created levels directly into the base game for everyone to play. For example, our recent Kinetic Update (v1.5) on PC included 15 incredible new levels from the community and these will also be available on PlayStation!

Regarding online multiplayer, I completely understand that for some it might come as a shock to see it not included on consoles. While we have collectively spent a ton of time working on online multiplayer for PlayStation consoles, a series of unfortunate technical hurdles have led to it not being feasible for release at this time. Split-screen multiplayer is included however and allows for couch multiplayer in Arcade modes. For those curious about the behind-the-scenes technical info, please see below for a more detailed breakdown explanation.

With all that in mind, Distance: Console Edition is at a reduced price of $19.99 / €19.99. While it is possible that future updates will enable more content and features, please purchase with the assumption that the base game will not massively change in the future.

Getting into the technical details

If you’ve been following Distance for a while you’re probably aware that the PlayStation version has had a fairly long and tumultuous development. It was our first time developing anything for a console, and it’s been an incredible learning experience throughout.

Many years ago around the v1.0 launch we had a version of Distance using Unity 5 working somewhat reasonably on PS4 with several multiplayer features functional (though certainly not finished). After launching v1.1 I spent a lot of time implementing all of the various technical certification requirements for online play on PS4. This included things like parental chat restrictions, online ID consistency, etc.

As I was preparing to send a new build to Sony, I came to realize that to pass certification Distance needed to update to a much newer PS4 SDK version required by Sony. Unfortunately, this version of Unity 5.5 we used to develop Distance for years was locked to a very old PS4 SDK version, and the only option was to port Distance (yet again) to a much newer version of Unity. To comply with Sony's requirements, we needed to upgrade Unity from version 5.5 to Unity 2020. This unfortunately wasn’t negotiable and, as you might imagine, it took months to repair the various graphics and physics issues that came along with it.

The biggest hurdle was that our multiplayer system was completely dependent on the old Unity 5.5 version. The newer versions of Unity had fully abandoned their old multiplayer integration, meaning I basically had to start from scratch. One possibility was to attempt to replicate the custom RakNet backend we had relied on, but Unity’s version made several changes under the hood and without source code access it was challenging to emulate it. The other possibility was to simply rewrite everything from scratch and utilize an entirely new multiplayer system.

In short, I attempted both routes. After spending quite some time attempting to essentially rewrite all of Jason’s multiplayer tech, I realized doing this on my own will take an incredibly long time to get fully functional and properly tested. Between this issue, complications due to COVID, and my own personal issues with recovering from burnout, this was honestly a really frustrating time and one of the big reasons I decided to take a break from Distance development. As I mentioned in my September 2023 blog post I decided to go on a short hiatus to work on Project 2, and of course I enjoyed working on Project 2 so much that my short break soon became much longer.

Upon returning to Distance last year with a fresh perspective I made the incredibly tough call to disable online multiplayer for now. I would then focus on wrapping up all of the other features and content we have and get it into players’ hands as soon as possible. Of course it still took significantly longer than I expected to wrap up that last 1%, but at long long last we’re finally here.

Looking ahead

I really can’t say enough how much I’ve appreciated everyone’s patience and support during these challenging times. I’ve truly been blown away by the enthusiastic response to the Kinetic Update, and I’m so excited to keep creating and sharing stuff with you all.

To all of our new PlayStation players, welcome to the Distance community! I can’t wait to see which players take the top times on the new leaderboards. Please note that the best way to connect with other players is on the Distance Discord server.

You also might have noticed that there is a new remix of Isolation in the PlayStation release trailer. I’ve been developing a lot of new music for Project 2 and intend to release some songs officially soon, so please be on the lookout for more information about that. I’ll also be posting here and on social media when updates are released for PC and PlayStation.

Thank you all again!

Jordan

[paleopinesofficial]

PALEO PINES FAQs

What consoles are you on

We are available on Steam, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Nintendo Switch.

How can I support the development of Paleo Pines?

We are so excited you want to get more involved! The best way you can support us is to follow us on social media @PaleoPines or grab the game on any of the platforms available!

Will the game have co-op/multiplayer?

Paleo Pines is a single-player experience! We’re definitely keeping them in the back of our minds, but it won’t be part of this release.

Will the game be in real-time? Will I lose my dinosaurs if I don’t play for a while?

In Paleo Pines, dinos will only run away if you neglect them during active gameplay, so please be nice to your dino friends!

Is there any promotional content?

Not yet, but we hope there will be!

Will the game have mod support?

Currently it is not in our plans to include mod support for the game.

Will Paleo Pines be available in other languages?

Paleo Pines will be available in English, German, French, Italian, Korean, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Russian, Japanese, and Brazilian Portuguese.

Is this game identical on all platforms, including the Switch version having an in-game achievement system?

Currently platform-specific features/meta features are only supported on a per-platform basis. Specifically, there is* not* an in-game achievement system for Switch.

Are there any bonuses for having save data from a different video game?

There are no bonuses for other game saves at present.

How will taming work?

A collection of cheeky dinosaurs roam the wild areas waiting to become your friends, as well as ranch helpers. Get their attention by mimicking their calls with your flute, then seal the deal with a tasty treat and trustworthy nose boop! Then gain their trust by creating cozy pens and learning what keeps them happy. Dinos might leave your island if they’re not happy - don’t worry though, you can always find them again and regain their trust!

Will Paleo Pines be free?

Paleo Pines is a premium game experience. We haven’t announced a price yet but will as soon as we can!

Will Paleo Pines have dating elements or relationships with the NPCs?

We are not currently planning on adding dating elements to the game. However, you can complete questlines for the NPCs and affect a positive change in their lives!

Will Paleo Pines also be available on Mac?

In the current plans, Paleo Pines will not be available on Mac.

Are there plans for early access?

There will not be early access, but we have a free demo on Steam!

Will there be seasonal changes in the game?

There are three seasons in the game which can affect the weather, available crops, and dino migration patterns. Triassea is a time of new crops and new life, where pleasantly cloudy days are broken up by occasional light and pleasant rainfall. Jurrasos is a hotter, more tropical time of year. It is rarely cloudy, and never stormy, perfect for beach picnics! Cretumnus is the blustery time of year, normally cloudy with rain showing up a bit more frequently.

What do you think the appropriate age to be able to play Paleo Pines will be?

We want to have the game accessible to as many people who want to play it as possible. We will try to keep the controls simple and intuitive to make sure everyone has a playing experience that is fun whilst still giving you lots of options and things to do in the game.

Will we have to build up the ranch from scratch?

You start with a simple ranch and a little bit of land, and as the game progresses you can turn the neglected land into a beautiful and friendly home.

What will be customizable in game?

Paleo Pines is a place where you can express your individuality and creativity; no two ranches are the same! You can use decor to build a romantic garden, give your ranch a cozy woodland vibe, or go full-on-farmer with rows and rows of tilled soil. You can decide where to grow produce, or which spaces to dedicate to your dinos, including how big and what shape you want their pens to be. Your dinos can move around freely, so feel free to make communal areas too! Furthermore, you can customize your character as you like with a variety of features, curate a colorful collection of clothing and change your style using the wardrobe!

Will dinosaurs be adjusted if their depictions are drastically updated?

We love the latest science as it unfolds. Natalia, our paleontology adviser, is a key part in keeping us in the loop. If something exciting is revealed, we'll try to incorporate it if possible!

Can dinos at the ranch get sick?

The dinos cannot get sick, but if you forget to feed and take care of them, they might decide to leave your ranch.

Are dino genders fixed or randomised?

Most dinos do not have genders, except what you choose to imagine. However, some of the NPCs have their own trusty steeds who at times are referred to by their gendered pronouns.

Will the dinos come in different colors/patterns?

Yes! Each dino will have a pool of colours, and some dinos will have multiple patterns. These different colors/patterns will be spawned procedurally or under certain conditions!

Can my dinosaurs die? What happens if I forget to feed them?

Dinos will never die or kill each other. If you do neglect your dino, it will simply leave your ranch.

Why was Lucky chosen as the main dino?

We wish we had a better answer other than it's always been Lucky and we've never for a second considered another dino as she has always just felt perfectly right. She is an embodiment of what Paleo Pines is all about - friendship and exploration. Even after years of developing the game, we still feel happy when we look at her and that's the emotion that we hope is shared by others when they play!

Do the dinosaurs have varying personalities or all pretty much the same depending on their species?

There are a few different personality types, and any species can have them. But the species themselves have got bags of personality in their animations!

Is there a limit to how many dinos the player can have on their ranch?

You can have as many dinos on your ranch that you are able to keep happy! But keeping a dino happy in the long term requires a dreamstone, and there are a finite number of dreamstones in the game.

Will there be a chance of random mutation?

Since there is no breeding in the game, dinos will not mutate. However, there are various combinations of dino patterns and colors, some that are more rare than others.

Can we name our dinos?

Yes! All dinos can be named and renamed, except Lucky.

How will the dinos sound? Realistic or more cute?

It’s going to be more cute than realistic or terrifying. For example, large dinos have big low honks and small dinos might have chirps or trills. We’re also designing for melody to be important in the game, which will tie in to the sound design of the dinos.

What is Pippin’s Gender?

Pippin is a non-binary character who uses they/them pronouns. It has always been our vision for Paleo Pines to have a diverse, inclusive community with characters that may reflect any player’s identity or orientation.

Which game engine is the team using?

We are developing in the Unity game engine.

Will there be controller support?

Absolutely! Actually, this is how a lot of us are testing the game already.

What program do you use for 3D modelling?

We use Blender for our 3D work.

Is there anything permanently missable, even rewards for fulfilling specific conditions?

Nothing aside from cases where this is desirable. For example: Granny comes to your ranch the day after you receive your farming tools.If you haven't used the tools yet, she will give you a farming tutorial, and give you seeds. If you have already used them, she comments on how you seem to know what you're doing, and gives you seeds. Either way you get seeds. But you can only see one of the two possible dialogues - the other is missable.

[cupidsgamingblog]

Cooperfields

I recently tried out the demo for Copperfields. If you haven't heard of this 2D platformer Indie game, no worries. You can just head to their Steam page and download the demo if it's still available.

I'll be showing some pictures in this review, so spoilers ahead.

When I watched the trailer for this game, I thought it looked interesting. You can play it on your preferred controller. I used a PS4 controller. This story begins when we wake up confused and alone.

Afterward leaving the comfort of the sunshine, I venture out to find help. Solving some puzzles along the way, I finally make it to the outside.

Into a beautiful colorful forest. I see only one way to go. And that is down. I try to make my way carefully but I take a few falls. As I fall, our little plant head robot loses his leaves causing damage to his health. Finally, we are on the lower floors. I move forward but run into a problem. A puzzle, perhaps?

Is it a door or an elevator? In front, all I see is a gear.

How do I open it? There isn't a keyhole. I start to explore my surroundings and find ~

A gear attachment. It's an upgrade for a little plant head robot.

Making my way back to the closed door, I put the gear attachment to work. This upgrade will be super useful, I think to myself. I go through excited to see where we are going.

Into the Crystal Caves. Though this cave looks amazing it is also very dangerous for us. The crystals are very sharp and pointy. Again I take a few falls and have figured out the best way around these dangerously beautiful gems.

After I was able to successfully make it out of the crystal caves, we ran into another hazardous area. A place with toxic waste coming out of the pipes. How am I supposed to make it through the pipes that do not stop pumping out their toxic sludge?

The picture above is just one of the puzzles in the game. Solving this one came with a very useful and needed upgrade.

The Umbrella attachment

Now I could just walk or rather roll on through this pipes into our next challenge.

As I journey on, I find this odd place. What is it used for?

It started to glow, so I rolled our little friend onto the platform.

Here's a closer view of the magic that was about to happen.

A third leaf. An upgrade to our lives. Now we could take three points of damage. Now I don't want to spoil too much of this game in case you want to try it out for yourselves. I have just one more picture for you.

Rockets. Flower Rockets, that's right. You read that right. Flower rockets.

This may not be your regular video game demo review. It's more like a letter of approval. I don't have a video on my YouTube of my gameplay but I was impressed with the games, movement mechanics, beautifully colored levels, and the upgrade options. The link to this game is above. I hope this review is helpful to you. Until next time everyone Be kind and keep safe.

[soupct123]

I saw a post the other day about “the Portal renaissance” basically about how new people consistently come into the fanbase due to Portal 2 going on sale on Steam every so often. That’s probably the actual explanation for a whole lotta people, but that wasn’t for me, and it got me thinking about my introduction to it. So I decided it would be fun for me to reflect on the story of how I discovered it, and then post about it because blebityblehbleh parasocial strangers’ approval blibbityblooblah

In 2017, Lego Dimensions sets started showing up at 99 cent stores. I was 15, and I still liked legos but I knew how expensive they were so I always looked for bargains. I really wanted the Jurassic World set, but I never found it. I still got quite a few, and one in particular sorta stuck with me.

The other sets all ended up used in miscellaneous ways for like brick built dinosaurs and transformers and stuff, but I decided to keep the cube and Chell built. Every so often I’d look at them, they lived on a shelf with my lego clone troopers, and I’d think “I should look up what those come from, it seems pretty cool” but because I was a dumb ass adhd teenager I never got around to it.

Then in 2020 I discovered RTgame’s YouTube channel through his Minecraft videos, he was my #1 fav channel for a few months, so I started working through his backlog. My favorite videos were the ones where he played with CallMeKevin, so I looked for those videos specifically and found out they played Portal 2, that thing that the lego things were from! So I watched it, and it looked fun and stuff, I liked the robots and the sci fi aesthetic, but through the screams of these Irish idiots I heard snippets of the most heavenly voice that ever graced my ears.

And something in my gay little brain just clicked and I just needed to hear her more.

Luckily, this video popped up in my recommendations thanks to raniel and kev, and it gave me fucking hives, and I became a GLaDOS junkie

I started eyeing the fandom from afar, but I very rarely ventured outside my niche, that being Portal 2 GLaDOS voice line compilations on YouTube. If I ever needed cheering up or had trouble sleeping I listened to her, I didn’t need any context because she was funny and had the most radiant beautiful voice I ever heard, and it stayed that way for a while.

I built a lego glabos late 2020 that I’ve consistently upgraded, but I’ve decided not to stray for 100% accuracy because I’m just not skilled enough.

That was it for like 2 years, I had the lego, I liked the GLaDOS voice, I was happy. Then in January 2022 I was looking for a Blu-ray DVD player since I started living on my own. Then my little brother suggested I get a video game console, and I realized there were a few older games that I really wanted to play, so I took his advice and looked up what consoles had Transformers: War For Cybertron, Fall of Cybertron, and Lego Jurassic World.

X box 1 had them but x boxes cost like $300. Ps4s had them and were a bit cheaper but still over $100.

Then I saw that all 3 games were available on PS3. So I looked up the prices and I found some used for like $70.

On January 6, 2022, I got this PS3 from a used games shop for something like $40, and War For Cybertron to go with it.

I wanted to find a co-op game to play with him since he had the idea, but he found one for me on January 20th. He said “my friend told me this is about robots, a lesbian computer, and a creepy facility, so I thought you’d like it. Plus it has a two-player mode so we can play it since you still haven’t found Lego Jurassic World”

I hadn’t even checked if Portal 2 was on PS3 previously. After my first play through of the singleplayer campaign I cried my ass off and told him it was the best gift ever.

It was the thing that triggered me to actually start getting into the community, and I luckily started in the right place: looking through the GLaDOS tag on Archive of our own. Then I became a Chelldos addict and now I feel like I’ve been here for years.

Later I found the Orange Box to play Portal 1 and then everything came full fucking circle

Basically, the reason I got into Portal is because I’m a cheapskate who watches twitch clips on YouTube

[werewolf-cuddles]

what version of persona 3 would you recommend?

Honestly, that's a tough question.

As it stands, I feel the best way to experience Persona 3 for the first time is through Persona 3 FES. Unfortunately, that game has been out of print for years, so you're gonna have to find an NTSC PS2 ISO of it online somewhere and play it on an emulator.

And you'll definitely want to play it on an emulator, because then you can add a cheat code that will allow you to control your party members during battles. (An absolute necessity, because this feature is not available by default, and the AI has a tendency to be somewhat braindead)

It also contains an exclusive epilogue chapter called The Answer, which is not found in any other version.

Not to mention, there are also mods available that upscale the graphics to HD and convert the game over to a widescreen aspect ratio, though I wouldn't bother with those unless you really hate seeing stretched or pixellated graphics.

Your only legal option to play Persona 3 at the moment though is through Persona 3 Portable, which saw a "remastered" re-release on PC, Xbox One, PS4 and Switch earlier this year.

If you're going with that version, get it on Steam so you can mod it, because that port has a bunch of issues that fans have already made fixes for. I made an Essential Mods list a few weeks after launch, but it's outdated now and I haven't had a chance to remake it yet.

Really, it all depends on whether you think the addition of a female protagonist route is worth sacrificing animated cutscenes and 3D overworlds. Persona 3 Portable basically turns the story presentation into a visual novel.

Or if you think an RPG from 2006 is a little too dated and janky for your tastes, you could just wait for the remake next year.

[dragon-pawz]

I think everyone should play Okami. It’s a gorgeous game with a great story and you play as a doggie (who is also a god)

It’s very easily accessible too since it got an HD remaster recently. It’s available for CHEAP ($20 or less) on Switch, PS4, Xbox, and Steam. Imo the Switch version is the best experience tho because of the motion controls making the drawing mechanic more fun and responsive

[its-sayaka606]

Otome Games in Languages Other Than Japanese / English

Being a fan of otome games and a passionate language-learner, I am here to present a small list of games that are available in other languages than English or Japanese, as those are rather easy to find. :D

Games like Hakuouki actually helped me improve my English a lot when I was younger, so I highly encourage you to practice your reading-skills as well!

Some games are more well-known than others, so I hope you'll find something new no matter how long you've been reading otome games!

I know it's a lot of Beemoov but I really like their games lol

-----------------------------------

French (originally):

Amour Sucré (app, website) - A Lighthearted story about a high school girl (sequels in uni and working life) and her adventures with friends and crushes.

Eldarya (app, website) - A girl ends up herself in a magical world with elfs and vampires.

Henri's Secret (App, Website) - Lyla (name not changeable) gets close to the new student Henri who turns out to have some kind of secret.

Moonlight Lovers (app, website) - MC visits a manor that she inherited from her parents only to find out that it's inhabited by vampires. She ends up staying there to reveal the manor's secrets.

Uncoven: The Seventh Day (app, website) - Spending 7 days with their friends at a mysterious house, Nyx (gender undefined) unveils the truth behind the strange occurrences taking place.

French (translated):

HoneyMagazine (app) - A collection of visual novels by Okko in diverse settings, including a few short extra stories in which a female character can be romanced.

How to Take Off Your Mask (Remastered) (Steam, Switch, itch.io, PS4) - MC turns into a cat and gets to know a new side of her childhood friend as they are taking off each other's masks as e.g. 'big sister' or 'little bother'. There is only one love interest.

How to Fool a Liar King Remastered -> Part of the How to... series (Steam, Switch, itchi.io, PS4, PS5, Xbox) - MC suddenly appears in Eroolia, where she meets the mysterious Juli with whom she travels to a country which is inhabited by cat people while finding out more about Juli and the reason she ended up in Eroolia.

How to Sing to Open Your Heart Remastered -> Part of the How to... series (Steam, itch.io) - The princess of Laarz wants to improve the relationship between her country and Eroolia with the help of her song, however, Ludovic, the imperial guard captain, thinks the relations between the country of cat people and the country of humans should be cut off.

First Kiss at a Spooky Soirée (free to download on itch.io, Play Store) - On this special night, the witch Marzipan gets her very first kiss.

Spanish:

Mystic Messenger (app) - MC joins the charity organization RFA to help plan a party for the first time since the founder Rika passed away, all while discovering dark secrets involving Rika and a mysterious person called 'Unknown'.

How to Take Off Your Mask (Remastered) (Steam, Switch, itch.io, PS4 ) - MC turns into a cat and gets to know a new side of her childhood friend as they are taking off each other's masks as e.g. 'big sister' or 'little bother'. There is only one love interest.

First Kiss at a Spooky Soirée (free to download on itch.io, Play Store) - On this special night, the witch Marzipan gets her very first kiss.

Amour Sucré (app, website) - A Lighthearted story about a high school girl (sequels in uni and working life) and her adventures with friends and crushes.

Eldarya (app, website) - A girl accidentally ends up in a magical world with elf and vampires.

Henri's Secret (app, website) - Lyla (name not changeable) gets close to the new student Henri who turns out to have some kind of secret.

Moonlight Lovers (app, website) - MC visits a manor that she inherited from her parents only to find out that it's inhabited by vampires. She ends up staying there to reveal the manor's secrets.

Uncoven: The Seventh Day (app, website) - Spending 7 days with their friends at a mysterious house, Nyx (gender undefined) unveils the truth behind the strange occurrences taking place.

German:

RE:Alistair (free to download on Itch.io) - The gameplay involves stat raising. Merui is a gamer whose rare item was stolen in her favourite MMORPG by a player called Alistair, so she wants to take revenge in real life despite not knowing who he is. The gameplay involves stat raising.

How to Take Off Your Mask (Remastered) (Steam, Switch, Itch.io, PS4) - The MC turns into a cat and gets to know a new side of her childhood friend as they are taking off each other's masks as e.g. 'big sister' or 'little bother'. There is only one love interest.

How to Fool a Liar King Remastered -> Part of the How to... series (Steam, Switch, itchi.io, PS4, PS5, Xbox) - MC suddenly appears in Eroolia, where she meets the mysterious Juli with whom she travels to a country which is inhabited by cat people while finding out more about Juli and the reason she ended up in Eroolia.

How to Sing to Open Your Heart Remastered -> Part of the How to... series (Steam, itch.io) - The princess of Laarz wants to improve the relationship between her country and Eroolia with the help of her song, however, Ludovic, the imperial guard captain, thinks the relations between the country of cat people and the country of humans should be cut off.

First Kiss at a Spooky Soirée (free to download on itch.io, Play Store) - On this special night, the witch Marzipan gets her very first kiss.

Amour Sucré (app, website) - A Lighthearted story about a high school girl (sequels in uni and working life) and her adventures with friends and crushes.

Eldarya (app, website) - A girl accidentally ends up in a magical world with elfs and vampires.

Henri's Secret (app, website) - Lyla (name not changeable) gets close to the new student Henri who turns out to have some kind of secret.

Moonlight Lovers (app, website) - MC visits a manor that she inherited from her parents only to find out that it's inhabited by vampires. She ends up staying there to reveal the manor's secrets.

Uncoven: The Seventh Day (app, website) - Spending 7 days with their friends at a mysterious house, Nyx (gender undefined) unveils the truth behind the strange occurrences taking place.

Polish:

How to Take Off Your Mask (Remastered) (Steam, itch.io, PS4) - MC turns into a cat and gets to know a new side of her childhood friend as they are taking off each other's masks as e.g. 'big sister' or 'little bother'. There is only one love interest.

First Kiss at a Spooky Soirée (free to download on itch.io, Play Store) - On this special night, the witch Marzipan gets her very first kiss.

Amour Sucré (app, website) - A Lighthearted story about a high school girl (sequels in uni and working life) and her adventures with her friends and crushes.

Eldarya (app, website) - A girl accidentally ends up in a magical world with elfs and vampires.

Moonlight Lovers (app, website) - MC visits a manor that she inherited from her parents only to find out that it's inhabited by vampires. She ends up staying there to reveal the manor's secrets.

Uncoven: The Seventh Day (app, website) - Spending 7 days with their friends at a mysterious house, Nyx (gender undefined) unveils the truth behind the strange occurrences taking place.

Russian:

How to Take Off Your Mask (Remastered) (Steam, Switch, Itchi.io, PS4) - MC turns into a cat and gets to know a new side of her childhood friend as they are taking off each other's masks as e.g. 'big sister' or 'little bother'. There is only one love interest.

How to Fool a Liar King Remastered -> Part of the How to... series (Steam, Switch, itchi.io, PS4, PS5, Xbox) - MC suddenly appears in Eroolia, where she meets the mysterious Juli with whom she travels to a country which is inhabited by cat people while finding out more about Juli and the reason she ended up in Eroolia.

First Kiss at a Spooky Soirée (free to download on itch.io, Play Store) - On this special night, the witch Marzipan gets her very first kiss.

Amour Sucré (app, website) - A Lighthearted story about a high school girl (sequels in uni and working life) and her adventures with friends and crushes.

Eldarya (app, website) - A girl accidentally ends up in a magical world with elfs and vampires.

Henri's Secret (app, website) - Lyla (name not changeable) gets close to the new student Henri who turns out to have some kind of secret.

Moonlight Lovers (app, website) - MC visits a manor that she inherited from her parents only to find out that it's inhabited by vampires. She ends up staying there to reveal the manor's secrets.

Uncoven: The Seventh Day (app, website) - Spending 7 days with their friends at a mysterious house, Nyx (gender undefined) unveils the truth behind the strange occurrences taking place.

Italian:

Amour Sucré (app, online) - A Lighthearted story about a high school girl (sequels in uni and working life) and her adventures with friends and crushes.

Eldarya (app, website) - A girl accidentally ends up in a magical world with elfs and vampires.

How to Take Off Your Mask Remastered (Steam, itch.io) - MC turns into a cat and gets to know a new side of her childhood friend as they are taking off each other's masks as e.g. 'big sister' or 'little bother'. There is only one love interest.

First Kiss at a Spooky Soirée (free to download on itch.io, Play Store) - On this special night, the witch Marzipan gets her very first kiss.

Hungarian:

Amour Sucré (app, website) - A Lighthearted story about a high school girl (sequels in uni and working life) and her adventures with friends and crushes.

Eldarya (app, website) - A girl accidentally ends up in a magical world with elfs and vampires.

Ukrainian:

First Kiss at a Spooky Soirée (free to download on itch.io, Play Store) - On this special night, the witch Marzipan gets her very first kiss.

Turkish:

First Kiss at a Spooky Soirée (free to download on itch.io, Play Store) - On this special night, the witch Marzipan gets her very first kiss.

How to Take Off Your Mask Remastered (Steam, itch.io) - MC turns into a cat and gets to know a new side of her childhood friend as they are taking off each other's masks as e.g. 'big sister' or 'little bother'. There is only one love interest.

How to Fool a Liar King Remastered -> Part of the How to... series (Steam) - MC suddenly appears in Eroolia, where she meets the mysterious Juli with whom she travels to a country which is inhabited by cat people while finding out more about Juli and the reason she ended up in Eroolia.

Brasilian Portuguese:

How to Take Off Your Mask (Remastered) (Steam, itch.io) - MC turns into a cat and gets to know a new side of her childhood friend as they are taking off each other's masks as e.g. 'big sister' or 'little bother'. There is only one love interest.

How to Fool a Liar King Remastered -> Part of the How to... series (Steam, itchi.io) - MC suddenly appears in Eroolia, where she meets the mysterious Juli with whom she travels to a country which is inhabited by cat people while finding out more about Juli and the reason she ended up in Eroolia.

Amour Sucré (app, website) - A Lighthearted story about a high school girl (sequels in uni and working life) and her adventures with friends and crushes.

Eldarya (app, website) - A girl accidentally ends up in a magical world with elfs and vampires.

Henri's Secret (app, website) - Lyla (Name not changeable) gets close to the new student Henri who turns out to have some kind of secret.

Moonlight Lovers (app, website) - MC visits a manor that she inherited from her parents only to find out that it's inhabited by vampires. She ends up staying there to reveal the manor's secrets.

First Kiss at a Spooky Soirée (free to download on itch.io, Play Store) (Brazil & Portugal Portuguese) - On this special night, the witch Marzipan gets her very first kiss.

Korean (originally):

Mystic Messenger (app) - MC joins the charity organization RFA to help plan a party for the first time since the founder Rika passed away, all while discovering dark secrets involving Rika and a mysterious person called 'Unknown'.

The Ssum (app) - MC downloads an app that connects her to her to a special person that she gradually falls in love with. It is a chat simulator that you can play every day for (as of now) 200 days.

Nameless - The One Thing You Must Recall (Steam) - MC collects and speaks to dolls who come to life, helping her escape from her loneliness.

Dandelion - Wishes Brought To You (Steam) - One morning, five animals appear in front of Heejung Kim's door, bringing new excitement in her school-grade-focused life.

Korean (translated):

How to Take Off Your Mask (Remastered) (Steam, itchi.io) - MC turns into a cat and gets to know a new side of her childhood friend as they are taking off each other's masks as e.g. 'big sister' or 'little bother'. There is only one love interest.

How to Fool a Liar King Remastered -> Part of the How to... series (Steam, Switch, itchi.io, PS4, PS5, Xbox) - MC suddenly appears in Eroolia, where she meets the mysterious Juli with whom she travels to a country which is inhabited by cat people while finding out more about Juli and the reason she ended up in Eroolia.

How to Sing to Open Your Heart Remastered -> Part of the How to... series (Steam, itch.io) - The princess of Laarz wants to improve the relationship between her country and Eroolia with the help of her song, however, Ludovic, the imperial guard captain, thinks the relations between the country of cat people and the country of humans should be cut off.

First Kiss at a Spooky Soirée (free to download on itch.io, Play Store) - On this special night, the witch Marzipan gets her very first kiss.

Chinese (simplified):

First Kiss at a Spooky Soirée (free to download on itch.io, Play Store) - On this special night, the witch Marzipan gets her very first kiss.

Chinese (traditional)

Dandelion - Wishes Brought To You (Steam) - One morning, five animals appear in front of Heejung Kim's door, bringing new excitement in her school-grade-focused life.

Thai:

First Kiss at a Spooky Soirée (free to download on itch.io, Play Store) - On this special night, the witch Marzipan gets her very first kiss.

Extra:

First Love is an app available in English, French, German, Russian, Portuguese, Korean and Indonesian but as the German and English versions have a few errors, I assume that is also the case for the other language options. However, I read some really good reviews and I like the art style, so I still want to put this game on the list. Having played the beginning of Asahi's and Chitose's route, the errors in the German version seem to be minor, with misplaced commas, for instance. Keeping that in mind, I think the game can be useful to at least acquire new vocabulary. It is about students who meet in their 2nd year of high school and fall in love. There are otome, yaoi and yuri options.

If you are interested in visual novels that are not otome, you can check out Roseverte (How to Take Off Your Mask), whose games are all available in multiple languages.

-----------------------------------------

If you've played any other games that fit into this list, feel free to leave your recommendations! :)

[gaymer-hag-stan]

Okay, to my fighting game fan followers, I'd like to present: River City Girls!

The series is a spin-off of the Kunio-kun series, a beat 'em up game series that has apparently existed since the 80s and I had no idea about until recently.

The original game was released back in 2019 and stars Kyoko (the ginger) and Misako (the brunette) who are trying to rescue their boyfriends, series' protagonist Kunio and Riki (Misako is Kunio's girlfriend and Kyoko is Riki's)

The game is endlessly charming with amazing pixel-art-style graphics, a killer soundtrack and very cool boss fights! It also has a great sense of humour, you're gonna love it! You can even check out a bit of gameplay from Matt McMuscles, a favourite YouTuber of mine, through whom I got introduced to these game by a video he uploaded on the second game a few days ago on his other channel and made me look into these games. Apparently he's voicing a character in the second game and JackSepticEye is even voicing one in the first one!

Be warned though, the first game, the bosses in particular, can be challenging if you're playing alone. The game seems to have been made with 2-player co-op in mind so it's recommended that you get one of your friends to play with you, it's generally more fun this way. The first game however features no online multiplayer meaning that you actually have to depend on your real-life friends and mine are all STUPID and don't wanna play this with me so I'm stuck trying to beat the bosses on my own 😭😂

If you're feeling retro, the 1994 SNES game where Kyoko and Misako first appeared in has also been localized in the West for the first time ever this year as River City Girls Zero and serves as a prequel to the original and a second game, River City Girls Two, has just been released as well. All three games are available on Steam, PS4 / 5, Xbox One / X / S and Switch so I trust you'll have no problem getting them on the platform of your choice. The 2019 game which I got today seems to be on sale until the 22nd of December so you'll be saving up money and I think the sequel is also around 40€ and it just came out so even on full price the games aren't expensive.

According to Matt the second one, which he played solo, without his friend Liam who's playing with him on the video I shared above, is less challenging and it also features online multiplayer this time.

If you're a fighting game fan I think you're gonna have tons of fun with River City Girls because the games feature TONS of references and Easter Eggs to many popular fighting games and beat 'em ups. I've even seen pics of Sol Badguy and Jam Kuradoberi from Guilty Gear making cameos in the sequel, ArcSys is the publisher of both series.

Anyway, let me know if you actually end up playing any of the three games as I just started the first one myself and I'm really pumped!

[misterborax]

My Game of the Week #1 - HUMANITY

My first Game of the Week will be HUMANITY! It's a challenging puzzler where you play as a dog, guiding humans to the light. In this thread, I'll explain some more, and give my thoughts. 1/15

You may have seen this game before in a PlaySation State of Play. The game is availible on PS4/5, PSVR, amd Steam! Well deserved advertisement for an amazing game. So what's this game all about? 2/15

So what is this game? Well, you have to create a path for the humans using your commands and the environment. I've heard comparisons to Lemmings, though I'm unfamiliar witht hat series. To me it's more like Mario vs Donkey Kong series with the mini robots. 3/15

At the start, you have the "Turn" command, which as simple as telling which way the humans should go. Things get more complicated from there, and the game gives even more commands for you. It should be noted, what commands you have access to depends on what the map allows you to have. 4/15

It's a straightforward puzzle game, but then they throw Goldies into the mix. Think of these as collectibles for 100% completion. On the path you create for the humans, they need to run into the Goldy to "collect" them, and they need to be escorted to the goal. 5/15

Goldies can unlock bonus things like cosmetics and other features. Some levels may even requiere you to collect a Goldy to unlock the goal. It's a very nice bonus for those wanting do more than what's requiered. 6/15

This game has an awesome feature that I haven't seen another puzzle game implement yet - Solutuion Videos! Feel like looking up a guide? You can view this video in the pause menu that'll help you complete the level - no guides needed! 7/15

My favorite part of these videos is that they never reveal how to collect the Goldies (unless requiered). Even if you follow the video 1-to-1, there's still room for you to use your brain! Every puzzle has more than one path to the solution. 8/15

There's also no punishment for watching the videos, meaning this game is one of the most accessible puzzle games out there. There's a stat counter that shows how may times you watched solution videos, but that's it. 9/15

Spoliers - Towards the end of the game, they throw combat into the mix! While it's satisfying to watch thousands of guys shoot each other, I feel the puzzle implementation is a bit lacking in the final quarter of the game. 10/15

Spoliers - You gain a command where the humans will directly follow you. Combined with combat, the puzzles place more emphasis on timing and precision rather than planning. Perhaps a welcome change of pace for some, but it was lacking for me. 11/15

It's not all bad though! Even if you struggled with the last quarter like me, the solution videos got your back. I was able to complete all puzzles and (almost) collect all Goldies with no YouTube. 12/15

Don't think a few hard puzzles at the end make the game bad - this is a very satisfying puzzle game that I recommend to all puzzle fans, and especially newcomers to the genre. 13/15

Almost forgot, the custom stage builder! There's plenty of great puzzles made by the community and staff members, and you can build your own puzzles. I expect to find some hard ones out there! 14/15

The game is on sale for $23 on Steam, and is free on PSN Plus Extra! Perfect time to jump in and check it out. Fantastic puzzle game for everyone to enjoy. 15/15 (End of thread!)

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1581480/Humanity/

PSN: https://playstation.com/en-us/games/humanity/

Check out the Twitter version of this blog! https://twitter.com/Eman59x/status/1677369555495051271

[shioaoi]

Every game I played & beat in 2022 and my thoughts / opinions.

Ai: The Somnium Files

While released a few years ago, I finally got round to playing it due to NirvanA Initiative being released and an acquaintance of mine adores these games. I'm a sucker for mystery based games, and the whole mental fuckery mixed with the somnium gameplay and eccentric characters just ticked all of the boxes for me. While graphicly it's nothing spectacular, I didn't really care because everything else kept me hooked and I'm very much cemented in the 'this is a highly underrated game' camp

Hours played: 27

Trophy Achievemnts: 45/45

Ai: The Somnium Files - NirvanA Initiative

This was not a sequal I was expecting to get, considering how the original game flew under the radar. Guess the creators were like, fuck financial success we want to make what we want - and I appreciate that. While I don't think the mystery is as tight as the first game, NirvanA Initiative wacked mental fuckery up 10 folds. I loved all the new characters; the gameplay tweaks and new additions made it even more enjoyable to play than its predecessor.

Hours played: 32

Trophy Achievements: 49/49

Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp

This game only can exist and sell because us Danganronpa fans are starved for content following the five year dry spell since V3 release. It's basicly a repackaged version of the mini game you unlock when you beat the main game. Was it nice returning to my DR2 children and seeing all the new interactions? Yes. Did I cry over my best girl Mukuro getting some validation and recognition? Yes. Would I recommend? Absolutely not.

Hours played: 20+

Final Fantasy XIV - A Realm Reborn & Heavensward

This year was the year I finally fell into the rabbit hole that was FFXIV. As an avid Final Fantasy fan, I tried playing a few years back but I didn't bite. I then tried again after my girlfriend switch servers out of solidarity and I got hooked. I found a great group of people to play & bard with and began to fall in love with the world and story. Unfortunately, I've not made a lot of progress further then part way through the post Heavensward updates because my completionist nature means I refuse to move onto the next expansion before I've done all of the available content & side quests. It's an on running joke about I will never get to Endwalker.

Hours played: 600 - 700

The Great Ace Attorny Chronicles

Last year I began to properly get into the Ace Attorny franchise. I played through Phoenix Wright Trilogy, and Apollo Justice on mobile & the first half of Duel Destinies (plz Capcom port them to console). I brought The Great Ace Attorny on sale and over the course of a few months played through all episodes. It took some time because heavy visual novel games takes a particular mindset as it required a lot of reading and I'm permanently tired. I loved the visual style and setting (Steam Punk Victorian London is a weak spot of mine - see Code Realize). I loved all the characters, from the main cast to the individual chapter characters. I didn't know all of the twists that were coming even if some I accidently spoiled some for myself. Just a pleasant roller coaster and places the Ace Attorney as one of my favourite video game franchises.

Hours played: 128

Trophy achievements: 19/30

Horizon Forbidden West

Horizon Zero Dawn was one of my favourite PS4 Games and one of the only western open world games I actually care for. For the sequal, I enjoyed the gameplay lots and explored every nook of the map. Unfortunately the story wasn't as engaging as the first, mainly because Aloy didn't develop and grow like she did in ZD. I loved the supporting cast a lot, particularly Beta, Kotallo and Alva. The gameplay will keep my coming back, though I hope they don't drag the story out until its just becomes empty.

Hours played: 70

Trophy achievements: 59/59

Jump King

Did I play this because many content creators did? Yes. Did I reach the top? No. I still had a blast chilling for a month or so playing this as a timekiller and seeing my progress and improvement.

Hours played: 10+

Life is Strange: True Colors

Think this was released in 2021 but I only got round to playing it in January. The first Life is Strange and Before the Storm had a very big impact on me, but I never played LiS 2. When True Colors was announced as a full game and not being released in parts, well I was intrigued. Playing it was like slipping into a cosy jumper you long forgot about the back of the closet. The gameplay and corniness was familiar but welcoming. The quality improvements in the graphics and controls was nice and made the whole experience better. I don't think I enjoyed the story and characters as I did the first game & prequel, but I also am happy to see this franchise that I have a soft spot for evolve and try somthing new.

Hours Played: 12

Trophy Achievements: 41/41

Minoria

I brought this indie souls like on my switch for under £5 in a sale. I had been missing a game I could just pick up and play for half an hour or so. Its a 2D souls like and while there isn't to much to the story, the setting was enough to grab me in and I had fun exploring the map; I never got to frustrated with dying because 9/10 it was because of my own stupidity. For somthing I brought on a whim, I had fun.

Hours Played: 10

Pokemon Legends: Arceus

This game I played in two halves. As a longtime pokemon fan I brought it on release and I put a good number of hours just running around catching pokemon and trying to fill the pokedex. I actually didn't progress the story because my completionist nature made me want to complete the pokedex in each area before I moved on to the next one. I eventually just sorta fell out of playing, having not even made it half way through the game. Then during the peak of the UK heatwave in the summer I was hospitalised with acute pancreatis and had to have emergency surgery to prevent me from dying. When I returned home it was to hot for me to stay in my room so I was downstairs a lot with only my switch and - since I had no money at the time - I picked up Arceus again and not only beat the story but also 100% the Pokedex, which I had never done before in a Pokemon game. It was a fun experiment by Game Freak and I hope we get another, expanded version of this game style in the future.

Hours played: 100+

Resident Evil Village: Shadows of Rose DLC

Now, I'm not a big RE fan - outside of the RE 2 Remake, Village was the only real RE game I had played (I had watched let's plays of RE7). For the most part I had a lot of fun with Village so when Halloween rolled around and I had no plans, I brought the DLC Shadows of Rose for some horror fun. And again, like with the first game, I had a lot of fun. Exploring the Castle again was a lot of fun, and they somehow made the Doll House even scarier like jfc. I liked Rose a lot and I cried at the stories resolution. A very enjoyable evenings entertainment.

Hours played: 3-4

Spiritfarer

Another game that came out a few years ago and I am only now just getting around to playing. It had been on my radar & wish list for a while and I finally picked it up during the time I underweather but not yet diagnosed with pancreatis and hospitalised. This was by far my favourite game I've played this year and the one I think back to constantly. The visuals are gentle yet stylised; the soundtrack soothing and the gameplay and story to well intertwined together. It was just such a chill game to play - I loved building my ship and recognising the whole thing every time I constructed a new building. I loved all the characters and their stories, and each one impacted me in different ways and I would get genuinely sad whenever I had to let someone move on. It one of those games I wish I could erase my memory of and replay blind all over again.

Hours played: 45+

WILL: A Wonderful World

An interesting little visual novel I brought during a sale. The premise is you have to move around pieces of the characters situation / dialog to change the outcome and progress. Some of the stories were kinda wierd and one that even kinda disgusted me, but the core gameplay was interesting enough that I played through to the end. It isn't a particularly long story, but I enjoy Visual Novel that add elements in so you aren't just clicking the continue dialog button.

Hours played: 10 hours

Honourable shoutouts to games I've started but not yet finished.

Persona 5: Royal

Pokemon Violet

Ruined King: A League of Legends Story