Escaping the Underworld || Hades [PC]

 "I to die, and you to live. Which is better God only knows." -- Plato

    First, an apology. I had promised to write every Wednesday, but since this game came out it has eaten up the majority of my gaming time. Rogue-like games are not really my forte, but something about this game mixing with my love of Greek mythology really drew me in. I have recommended this game to everyone. I got my husband addicted to it, I've gotten my friend to start playing it... and I'm going to recommend you play it too, but I guess I'm putting my cart before the horse here. I haven't even said  what game I am talking about. Let's start over.

    We're talking of course, about Hades. Hades is a rogue-like game by SuperGiant where you see yourself as Zagreus, son of Hades who wishes to leave the deep depths of Tartarus and find his mother on the surface. This is no easy task. Hades refuses to let you leave, and will do everything in his power to stop you, including giving you a smack down himself. I have yet to make it past Hades yet, the two times I have made it there, but I continue to try. As you make your way through the reaches of the Underworld, the other Greek Gods will offer you boons and power ups to aid in your escape. There's a lot of variety so you can power up Zag to suit whatever your play style is. 

Don't tell me what to do, DAD! 

    One of the biggest pluses of this game for me is the style. The artwork is beautiful, the environments are lush and vibrant, and the characters are nice to look at too. The game is full voiced, and all of the voices really fit the characters that have them. My friend TK who started playing said she "could listen to Zagreus talk all day" which I have to agree with. The music is also wonderful, and I don't mind re-listening to it all every time I die and have to start over (about 15 times so far).

    Every time to die, you lose your boons and gold, but you get to keep the darkness gems you earn to power up Zagreus's base stats a bit, including a skill that revives you so you can continue your run. There are many different variants of bosses, so you never know what you're going to end up with. Except Theseus and the Minotaur. It's always them, and I HATE Theseus and the Minotaur. It's such a relief when I beat them though, like an adrenaline high. Now if I could just get past both of Hades phases..

Elysium is so pretty, this is even the background on my PC.

    As I mentioned before, rogue-like games are not my forte. Hades, however, with the variety of weapons and the boons that you can gain from the gods, really helps to level the playing field and lower the skill ceiling so that winning ti attainable even for weaklings like me. I think this is a great way to help get players into a game, and build skill. Not every run is going to be great. Sometime you can't get the boons you really want and it means trying a little harder to get through those rooms. This will inevitably help build some skill for this type of game. 

    Overall, I feel like this game can appeal to a wide variety of people for a variety of reasons, and would highly recommend giving it a try for yourself. You can get Hades on Steam HERE for 24.99, and I believe it's also available on the Switch. If you have played Hades, what do you think of it? Have you made it through Hades himself yet?

Aw, thanks Dad. 

    Thank you, as always, for spending some time with me. I hope you're staying safe and healthy, and if you live in the North East of the US like I do, I hope you're staying warm because it's getting chilly. The leaves are changing and it's absolutely gorgeous out here in the country. Grab a cup of hot coffee or hot cocoa and take a breather. I'll see you all next week! 

Bell

Relaxing in a Dream || Ruya [PC]

 "When you cease to dream, you cease to live." - Malcolm Forbes

Ruya is a peaceful matching game created by Miracle Tea where you have to match the same colored heads in a dictated pattern. A story told in pictures, combined with a surreal landscape and a deep relaxing soundtrack create a calm and serene game experience. I’m a little shaky on the lore, and I have to be honest—I didn’t complete the game. The music is SO relaxing and chill that it actually made me sleepy. I played in short bursts and made it through 4 of the worlds. The music alone makes this game worth it, but let’s talk about the rest of the game too.

I wonder if this game was designed to be mobile, because the style seems very mobile with simple controls that just involve drawing a line through matching colored heads in a particular pattern given to you. As you match the heads and they disappear, you then get the chance to place new heads in their place, so be mindful to place them where you can create the correct patterns. As simple as that sounds, it can become difficult since you’re only working within a small space and it’s easy to block yourself from being able to create the pattern you need.

I love the soft aesthetic of the game, from the character you play as, the sound design and lack of dialogue all add to this soft and calm atmosphere that draws you in, wraps you in a blanket and gives you a nice mug of hot cocoa. My child watched me play some of the game and they were entranced, and loved the flowers that decorate Ruya when you make a color match. The little details really add to the overall feeling of love in the game.

The downside, I feel, is also one of the things that is good about the game. For me, the game is so simple that it feels boring. Each level feels the same, just with a different back drop and sometimes with a little bit of story at the end. I recommend playing the game in short bursts to keep it from getting that way. Play just enough to unwind for the day, enjoy the experience, and then go about whatever else you needed to do.

I will probably continue to play this game until I finish, as a way to unwind after a hard day of work and to relax. The game is simple enough to not require an intense amount of thought, so you can relax and really enjoy the music, which I feel is really the highlight of this game. I believe you can even purchase the soundtrack through Itch.io, which I might actually do.

Overall Ruya is a lovely experience with beautiful music that leaves you feeling relaxed and accomplished. The simplicity of the game won’t be a strain on you, and at only 3.99 it’s not a strain on your wallet either. You can get Ruya through Itch.io HERE or you can purchase on Steam HERE. Either way I highly recommend if you’re looking for a lovely little game to play in your down time.

Thank you, as always, for spending some time with me today. I hope your day is going well, remember to hydrate, take a nap if you need it, call a friend. This year has been stressful, so find happy moments when you can. Hang in there, friends. I'll see you next week!

Bell

Believe Your Dreams! || Arcade Spirits [PC]

 

“Success doesn’t mean something was or wasn’t worth the effort.” - Ari Cader, Arcade Spirits

Chapter title Screen

Arcade Spirits is a coin operated, filled with neon lights visual novel style game about romance and arcades by Fiction Factory Games. You play as Ari Cader (or whatever you choose to change the default name to), a down on their luck friend who has just lost another job and is struggling to get back into it. Their friend Juniper recommends a digital life coach to help them get back into the scene, and it sounds pretty sketchy… but what have we got to lose? We end up at an arcade, which is full of nostalgia and gum stuck in weird places (thanks little kids), but it feels inviting and… maybe we belong here after all?

I really likes the ideas in Arcade Spirits, both in the arcade setting and with IRIS(the digital life coach). The games presents choices as any other visual novel style game, but each choice has a personality type attached to it. Your responses can be Quirky, Logical, Caring, Bold or Neutral and those personality traits can effect your relationships with other characters. I found myself really enjoying all of the characters available for romance as well. You have the cold-on-the-outside-but-maybe-warm-inside Gavin, the loavable teddy bear Percy, fun tech guru Naomi, cosplay aficionado Ashley, smooth talking dancer Teo, and tough as nails gamer Queen Bee.

I mean, what would you do when faced with a gigantic flamingo?

I was immediately drawn to Percy, who’s affable personality and sad story tugged at my heartstrings in a relatable way. Gavin was a close second, followed by Naomi and Teo. They all have great points, and as much as I wanted to date them all, that’s not really a possibility in this particular game. I played through the game twice, once I romanced Percy, and then Gavin the 2^nd time. Honestly, I’m curious about all of them, but I don’t have that kind of time, unfortunately. Aside for the characters themselves, I was impressed with the choices and branches of the story overall. Do you want to build the next chuck-e-cheese? A Barcade? A retro gamer paradise? Do you focus on experience or profits? The arcade is yours to manage!

We actually have a Barcade that I’ve been to, the 16-Bit in Cleveland, Ohio. A group of friends all went and my friend Robyn and I marathoned Golden Axe while we were there. It was a fun time. If you ever get the opportunity to visit, I suggest you do.

That is one way to go...

Back to the game, while it is a romance game in a way, the focus of the game is much more on the arcade itself then it is about the romance. It feels like the romancing itself is a very small part of the game—which is fine! I might even enjoy it more that way. I both love, and am terrified of the idea of IRIS, a sentient AI program helping me sort out my life and even find my soulmate, but I still love the idea. As technologically advanced as we have become, it didn’t feel like it was a too far out possibility. There were a few customization options for Ari in the beginning, such as hair and eye color, clothing colors, and skin tone, although I especially appreciated the inclusivity of having the option of they/them pronouns. It feels like this is becoming more popular in these types of games and I love it.

The only real trouble I had with the game was the music level. I had to turn the music down to almost nothing to be able to hear the voice acting when it was present, which was a shame because I like ths music and I thought the voice active was wonderful and fitting for each character. You can, of course, alter the sound levels in the preferences, but I wish I could have been able to hear both. Even at 100% the voice acting was still quiet.

Gavin and Ari, looking dapper.

Overall, the game follows a rather classical formula for visual novels, with enough twists and additions that it feels fresh and interesting. The characters are well developed and have unique personalities and back stories, so there is something relatable for everyone. I really enjoyed playing through the game. The story was engaging, I love the characters, and it left me wanting to find an old arcade to play at. Unfortunately, little country towns don’t have arcades. I wonder if they could really make a comeback someday—outside of malls and movie theaters.

Thank you, as always, for stopping in and sharing some of your time with me today. If you’re interested in Arcade Spirits, you can find it on Itch.io HERE for $20 or on Steam HERE, for $19.99. I wonder why the difference in price, even if it is just a penny. If you’ve played the game, let me know what you think about it. Do you remember visiting any arcades when you were a kid? What was your favorite game? Let me know in the comments below!

Until then, take a deep breath, drink your water, have a snack, and remember that bad times will pass, and we’re all in this together. Hang in there my friends, and I will see you all next week!

Bell

Live Your Best Life || Kynseed (EARLY ACCESS) [PC]

"All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make, the better." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Good morning, fellow Gamers! 

Full disclosure, I know I already posted about Kynseed once -- but that was back in 2017! I picked the game back up to check what's changed a couple weeks ago and boy howdy have things changed! I'm really invested and interested in the Kynseed game so I wanted to talk about it again. Let's see what has changed! 

Previously when I played, it was just the prologue and didn't have a ton to do. The prologue is the part of the game where you're a child, living with your adoptive father and sibling. You know... before you start selling years of your life for nifty gadgets. The graphics are just as charming as I remember, and I love the bouncy animation style everything has. The colors are bright and vibrant, and the world is fun to explore. Notes that are found read like little poems, which I find endearing, and the NPCs are interesting and make you want to get to know them -- although dialogue feels limited at this point, I hope it expands as the game continues development.

The Mummers playing in the local tavern (Source:Steam)

Since the game is still in early access, it is not without its share of bugs and frustrations at times. I believe the newest patch fixed this issue, but I received quests to retrieve items in an area where the items would not generate, making the quest unable to be completed. I also had a lot of trouble getting the hang of fishing, and thought a little more direction in that area would have been helpful. I've clipped out of bounds, or run into invisible walls where it didn't make sense for them to be there. Nothing that really ruined my experience in the game, just minor inconveniences.

In my game, I saved up my brass and bought the blacksmith shop in Candlewych and I was surprised at the depth of running the shop. I have to hire people if I plan to not be there all day, ensure that materials for crafting are present, keep up with a constant stream of villager requests, and keep the shop monetarily afloat until we actually start making money. It's very interesting, and I'm almost to the point where I don't need to hover over the shop constantly and just fill a few orders at the end of the day. Crafting in the blacksmith can be repetitive, but I'm running a blacksmith shop so of course it is when I'm doing it 5-10 times in a row. 

Crafting a bucket for a villager

There have also been some updates in relationship building, and I've been trying to date some villagers. I don't believe at this point we can move very far beyond that, but the dates are fun. As you explore, you'll find date areas where your date may request to go. I do wish that the dates were more involved. You could learn something about the person on a date, such as one of their likes or dislikes, or something else relevant. Right now, you just walk them to the area and they say "This was fun, bye!" which feels lackluster. I do appreciate the variety of bachelors/bachelorettes though, and the ability to have same-sex relationships. I'm curious if you can be a homewrecker? I should try go invite someone's husband on a date. We'll see how that goes.

Overall, the game feels like a crossroad between Stardew Valley and Fable, with the aesthetic and relationship building of Stardew Valley, and the branching narrative of consequences vs reward system of Fable. Frankly, I think that's fantastic. I love the humor of the game too, as a lover of puns. I love when I tell a joke and my child rolls their eyes. It fuels me. 

The colors of the Fae world are especially pretty

My largest concern is with the scope of the game. PixelCount Studio has promised quite the game, a mix of Fable and Stardew Valley with a plethora or choices and paths to take, as well as continuing the path on through your descendants. So far I am loving the game, and I have sank about 30 hours into it. I'm rooting for PixelCount to make the best game they can, I can't wait to see the finished project!

Please check out Kynseed, the early access is available on Steam HERE, I'm sure you'll find something you can enjoy here. I'll be following the game as it continues to develop, I hope that you will too. Thank you for being here and for sharing some of your time with me. Times are tough, but you're tough too, so hang in there! I'll see you all next week.

Bell

Wow, So this is 2020, huh?

 Hello fellow gamers, 

It's been a while, huh? My last blog post was July of 2019. Oops. Suffice to say that keeping up with any regular task is difficult, and the end of 2019 saw me getting sick a lot and coming into 2020 was a league of it's own in terms of "How bad can things get?" I've gotten your emails and concerns about how I hadn't been writing, and I'm sorry if I didn't reply to them all as I wasn't sure at the time what I wanted to do. I've been struggling for motivation and energy to do anything, and while I have been playing games I wasn't thinking critically about them as much as just trying to fill some time and make myself feel like I was accomplishing something.

So here's the plan. I'm going to start writing again. Why not? I miss doing it, and I miss getting to be involved in the gaming community in a different way. Starting next week I'll pick up blog posts again and I'll return to the circles of people I have missed so much. Thank you everyone for your concerns. 

While I haven't been posting, I have been attending to my other crafty interests, like knitting and cross stitch, as well as spending extra time cuddling my dogs. I'll share some pictures below if you're curious how any of that is going. 

Thanks for sticking around, thanks for visiting, and I'll see you all next week! 

Bell

A beautiful shawl on the blocks

The cutest dog isn't he?

Hey... Nice cock

Who doesn't love the fat chocobo?

Taking Artistic Liberties || Shapeless (PC)

"Art is an experience, not a formulation of a problem." --Lindsay Anderson

Title Screen

Shapeless is short artistic puzzle game about a creature fixing paintings that have somehow been altered in a nefarious way. Created by ISART DIGITAL ,you play as a creature composed of what looked like a painters palette and copious amounts of paint. The creature is rather cute in their own way. This creature has the ability to enter paintings like a magical portal.

During the game you solve short puzzles involving objects that belong in the paintings, then you return the objects to the paintings to restore them to the full beauty. The puzzles are not too difficult. They involve rotating different parts of the object in order to line them up properly. My spatial reasoning isn’t top notch, but I was able to get them together. The light bulb was the hardest for me, but it still only took about a minute or 2.

This light bulb....

There isn’t really a story given about the gallery you are in or what is happening, you’re just sort of thrown in and you see a rather nefarious looking vortex form over the exit. I wasn’t sure what was happening at first, but figured it out pretty quickly. You can make up your own narrative about why this happened. I’m going with evil wizard, that seems like a good bet.

The visuals in the game are just astounding. I love the multitude of paintings around the gallery, even if some of them are a bit unsettling. The colors are vibrant in the paintings and the gallery itself is somewhat dark an ominous—this may be in part due to all the rather off putting paintings of creepy eyes. Stylistically the game does a great job. When our creature enters the paintings, they become is sort of blue haze with eyes. I think that a small touch that would have really make this game shine would have been if our little creature took on the style of whatever painting they jumped into. The body colorful style of Van Gogh? The quiet realism of Edward Hopper? It would have been phenomenal.

Feel like you're being watched?

In terms of game design, everything worked as it was supposed to. The controls were smooth and I didn’t have any issues. I was really just sad that the game was so short. Before I knew it I was at the end and I wanted it to just keep going. I was hoping this was just a demo, but I don’t see any indication on the Itch.io page that this game is being developed any further, so we will just have to enjoy what we have.

Something small that I also appreciated in this game is the gallery, where the developers provided information on the paintings that you help to fix in the game. It seems like such a small thing, but being able to read a little of the history on each painting made the art nerd in me really happy.

Restoring my favorite painting. 

Overall, I felt like this game was really something special and could most certainly be expanded into a full length game. Everything about this game felt enjoyable and I can’t really think of any negative experiences I had while playing. Definitely grab the game for yourself, you can download free from Itch.io HERE.

Do you have a favorite painting, or a painting that you would have liked to see in this game? Let me know in the comments below and I will see you all next time. Until then, happy gaming, friends!

I just wanna fly! || Cloudtrail Island (PC)

"Once you have tasted the taste of sky, you will forever look up." --Leonardo Da Vinci

Title Screen

Cloudtrail Island is a relaxing game of exploration created by a small team of people known as Wing It Games. You play as Wendy, a young lady who, it seems, is moving to Cloudtrail Island from Obscondia. The world of Cloudtrail is a world of disconnected floating islands that require some form of flight to travel between them. Wendy does this using a glider, and there are also these large almost blimp like airships that travel between the islands.

I really love the concept of this game, the disconnected sky islands, with the air travel and a view of endless blue skies. When I was younger, I played a game called Skies of Arcadia that filled me with such a sense of wonder. It had a similar concept, you had an airship and you traveled between floating islands that were different towns and cultural representations. There was a lot more to it, but the idea of living in the skies is similar.

Ah, the age old fetch quests! Bring it on!

The controls for this game are not stellar. The movements feel floaty, you get caught on the terrain when walking sometimes (especially bridges) and Wendy will jump into the hair when she hits a bump. To use the glider, you hit space twice, but in the platforming sections Wendy would whip out her glider when I was just trying to jump, which caused issues and got a little frustrating. The gliding was considerably smoother and I had fewer issues. 

The graphics style of the game is really cute and the music is nice as well. I didn’t seem to run into a lot of characters, but it might have been a result of the day/night cycle and I just wasn’t getting there at the right time to see them. The characters that I ran into seemed charming, if a bit generic. Also, I wish there was a house for me. I kept trying to go into houses but couldn’t find one that I could enter. I feel like the game was trying to go for a relaxing Animal Crossing vibe, but I felt like it needed more to get there, and a house would have added to that.

There is a large variety of items to collect in the game, and you would use them for fetch quests I imagine. There was a shop set up on the main islands, and he said he was a shop but I didn't get any options to buy or sell so it seemed pointless.

Flying is admittedly fun, though.

Overall, there is a decent amount of space to explore, the graphics are cute, and it is fun to soar around through the air. I love the idea of this game, and I feel like with some extra work and tweaking to the design and execution, it could really be a fantastic game to spend time in. As it is right now, it’s still worth a play to experience soaring through the air and to have a relaxing jaunt around the islands. You can download the game for free from Itch.io HERE.

There was a surprising lack of fencing for living so high in the air. I would be concerned about losing my children or pets off of the edge. Do you think you would enjoy living in the sky on a floating island? Would you want to live in a community like the Cloudtrail Island, or off on your own little hunk of floating rock? Let me know what you think in the comments and I will see you all next time. Until then, friends, happy gaming!

I'm worried about this cow. Are they okay?