Manburger

@kone: I am seriously fond of your 'shops and edits, so if you feel slighted I am very sorry!

Yes! Everyone, please support a important, pressing cause and get some sweet games!

I'll second the current recs, and add: wonderfully heartfelt ode to a grandma, Lieve Oma, and mysterious, unsettling narrative exploration game Fatum Betula.

Yes, this rules, thanks for sharing! Did not find it cringeworthy at all. Also, man, I've gotta commend your handwriting — miles more legible than my current inscrutable scrawlings.

(Un)fortunately(?) I don't have any artifacts like this. Just recall being quite enthused when my dad showed up with our first console, the N64, and Mario Kart 64. Played that to heck with friends & family. Vaguely remember just exploring tracks and eventually making up our own weird rules for balloon battle.

Don't have a lot to add: agree with your points — though overall I think I enjoyed this more than you did. But yes, it does indeed feel like it is certain tweaks and additions away from being something special.

I tend to prefer wordless storytelling, and dug the etheral and mysterious feel of Hyper Light Drifter. (A lot of credit to the intensely atmospheric Disasterpeace soundtrack for empowering the mood, of course) In that regard I don't know if Solar Ash is a improvement, exactly.

Pretty curious about Hyper Light Breaker, which, you could say, combine the learnings from Hearthmachine's previous games.

Botany Manor and Lil Gator Game are two delightful, concise games (aprox. 3 hours) and I would like to nominate 'em for the next cycle.

Yo, this rules — welcome back! Endless respect for Endurance Runners. Good luck! ✨

I adore the Trine series, wonderfully charming and aesthetically lovely experiences. My comfort games for sure. 5 is something of a 'Greatest Hits' in terms of mechanics and puzzles, so it might feel repetetive if you've played the others. Frozenbyte'd need to switch it up if they're going to continue the series. Though I'm enough of a mark that I'd automatically pick up Trine 6: All Outta Tricks anyway.

Great goof, and you always commit to the bit!

I wouldn't say I'm part of the Ghoul Defence Force, but I did actually play a bit of it last year and was struck by how well I felt it held up, aesthetically. The combat, while simple, did flow decently and felt alright. Though obviously I was not sufficently Clutched by the Cojones since I did not finish it, and I'm sure I would have noped out later anyway, when it got as frustrating and repetetive as you describe.

I assume X in 10 is next up.

Great write-up, thanks for documenting these last days of The Crew! I've only played a bit, but I was similarly amused/bemused by the set-up of "Avenge your brother's murder by driving a car real good."

Tangent: Going into Motorfest is probably something of a tonal whiplash, (though you could say it is at least still stupid/inane) as it is more of a Horizon-style milquetoast celebration of all these hip brands of metal monstrosities/joy of racing. I suppose I can appreciate their attempts at paying lip service to the local culture (Hawai'i) as you rip and tear through the local landscape in planes, trains boats and automobiles — also in a Horizon-fashion. Overall, it's hard not to constantly be reminded of those games, but! I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the handfull of hours I played it. The seamless transition between vehicles is neat, and... the multiplayer might actually be kind of cool!? If you want to plow across a scenic landscape you Could Certainly Do Much Worse™. (...though, of course: if you already have Horizon 5, it's hard to recommend this over that.)

Driver San Francisco is one of the most creative and best car games in the last 15 years.

Oh man, yess!! This activated me. What a game! Glad I still have this available.

At this point it is hard to keep up with the cadence of games dissappearing... it'd be sad if we end up here again with Motorfest. Hopefully this proposed legal action by Ross Scott can set some sort of precedent against killing games. The current state of game preservation remains mostly dire, outside of dedicated enthusiasts. (And they can even be punished for their efforts, at times.) There's already been digital only games that have vanished.

At least you can still... acquire classics like Driver: SF and the other motorGOAT, OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast.

A swan sandwiched between two boys?? I thought this was a family establishment!

I wondered if you were doing a bit when explaining Meitantei Conan — I foolishly assumed it was yer olde Nancy Drew/Hardy Boy/Kid Detective situation, but of course that's much too basic for a classic manga.

Another fab feature on the books, looking forward to these continuing wonderventures/swan shenanigans!

@alianger said:

Oh yes, for sure! On a purely visual level, I'm fond of the differentvarieties found in Sea of Stars, for example. And while I enjoy the fact that you unlock warping to certain bonfires upon claiming the Lordvessel in Dark Souls, it would be Quite Good if all fast travel happened via Frampt or Kaathe.