'Devil Engine' on the Switch is a horizontally scrolling shoot 'em up that I play lamentably poorly, but with joy. Sound and visuals are bang on, which makes the fact that the guys responsible for that are threatening to sue the programmer. Oh dear.

Also picked up '1943' for free as part of the Capcom Arcade. I enjoy being awful at that too.

I played a lot of Among Us over quarantine. Fun at first. Terrible now with all the hackers and people chatting on Discord. Still, can be fun if you are playing with friends and like to lie to them.

Hollow Knight on the Switch really saved my sanity in the last year. Incredible Metroidvania side-scroller. Just did a second run through on it. I will never be able to solve the Trial of the Fool or the fucking Radiance.

Just picked up Hades and it's a blast.

andyman wrote: Wed May 19, 2021 5:38 pm Reinstalled noita. I'm stressed already.

That's the spirit!

My other fierce infatuation was with 'Bangai-O Spirits', which I bought along with a used DS on whim a couple of years ago after reading a convincing rave on it, before ignoring it after getting confused by a tutorial level. God's rod, this is a mad gem of a game. It is ingenious, every level accessible from the start, most with some puzzle or gimmick that's fun to work out and glorious to watch. One of the few games that has a replay option that I treasure, it uses jank and glitch as a mechanic. Even the in-game tutorial characters refer to it. Here's some shaky iPhone footage of a level playfully breaking the machine:



Up with 'Hades' as one of the best games I played last year. One of the best ever, maybe, when I'm in the mood for ecstatic mayhem.

Its odd and silly humour is charming, and this half-hearted nod to an ending screen brought a chuckle for the wrong reason:

Omg that looks so good. Here's to hoping it gets ported to something other than the DS some day. Doesn't seem likely just by that short vid.

I am broke so I am going through game pass games and old things I have purchased and never really enjoyed. Assassins Creed Odyssey is such junk. I feel sorry for everyone who clearly invested a lot of time and money into this game. How can something so bloated and full be so...boring and shallow. I might persist and see if it gets any better but this is the second time I've given it a go and ugh.

On a whim I started playing Snow Runner last night. What a game! How does this work so well?? I only got an hour in and I'm super excited to get back to it later tonight. I hate cars and trucks and stuff! This game rules!

Haydon wrote:Omg that looks so good. Here's to hoping it gets ported to something other than the DS some day. Doesn't seem likely just by that short vid.

Yes, I think the unique way that certain levels play on the DS might be fussy to emulate. Most levels don't have much stutter, but when it happens the joy is in knowing that the game is trying to force more on screen than it is supposed to, battling its very medium. If a port tried to replicate that on a more powerful system, I imagine it would become an annoying pretension.

I'd like to play 'Snowrunner'. I fear it would end up on my pile of good intentions.

Into the Breach lunchtime sessions at the moment. One of the great strategy games, and so good to relax with.

A friend gave me his copy of NO MAN'S SKY a few weeks back and I'm not sure if I should be thankful or angry. What a game, exactly up my alley. Space exploration in a practically infinite universe, and it all looks like a gorgeous scifi paperback cover painting

scott wrote: Thu May 13, 2021 2:50 pm Minecraft. Not enough hours in the day for it.

I always said I would never play Minecraft because I could tell that if I started I would die within a short period of time, cause I would stop going to work and stop eating and sleeping and all that and just play 24-7 until I was toast. Then there was a global pandemic that completely shut down my industry and made work not an option, so, I figured FUCK IT!

Easy to see why it’s the most successful game ever.

What I find very cool about Minecraft is that the whole game can be played via console and they're using that as a vehicle to teach kids to code.