cyrribrae

This saga is not over yet.

As someone who has completed the full campaign of PowerWash Simulator and quite enjoyed the story and where it goes - I ABSOLUTELY DO NOT RECOMMEND PLAYING THIS GAME FOR THE CLUB. Took me 70 hours (of quiet concentration, mostly) yo.

(if you intend on finishing it, that is. you could always look up the story online I guess)

1. Paradise Killer
2. Escape Academy

I played Graveyard Keeper on Game Pass a while ago, and really enjoyed it! I played it for quite some time, but I do agree that things do feel kinda drawn out in that game. I actually prefer the gameplay of farming organs (though, there's plenty of other stuff - including farming, if you want) to farming proper. There was an interesting push/pull in decision making with each corpse. I wish there had been more of them lol. I didn't finish the game, though (I have finished Stardew, which is the only one of these games I've actually completed, I think) I do remember being intrigued about where the game was going. Just.. man.. these games are long and slow lol.

I personally bounced off of My Time at Portia, which felt more aimless to me. I maybe just never hit the right point, but while I enjoyed pieces of it, after a couple days of playing it (and many hours), I decided I was done waiting for it to go anywhere and get fun. That's probably harsh, but iono. I have a generally negative view of that game overall, even though I can recall specific parts of the game that I thought were 'good'.

@allthedinos: Well shoot, if the world is terrible, might as well try to tackle it with friends. Lesson checks out. Now if only I could remember where I left my friends... or... hmm..

First experience with this game was with Game Pass. From all of the *wink wink nod nod* conversations "there's more than you think going on!" around the spoilers, I had figured there would be some sort of twist on the nature of Bugsnax coming (I mean, hell, even the initial trailer was a bit like hmm...). Didn't expect it to play out exactly the way it did, but yea.

For all the discussions on the overarching story and even on the character writing (like Jess fangirling over Chandlo in the Big Snax expansion QL), I found them to be good but not genre definingly-so. Not that anyone expected that, but the characters were solidly good (I liked all of them in their own weird ways), the story was suitably engaging, the overall vibe was succinctly fun.

As opposed to Ben's thoughts on the matter [IIRC], I thought the mechanical nature of the puzzle of catching each bugsnax was the draw of the game for me. Finding each one, figuring out how they worked, and working out a solution (then failing, then trying something new) was super fun. I think I had to look up one solution - I was too successful at catching the sundae and didn't realize it even broke up into smaller pieces that I could catch lol.

Would have liked more information on the lore. The Big Snax DLC does fill in some of the gaps re: where some of this started and some of the forces at play behind the scenes. The weird triangle cult area.. The end tease with the newpaper editor being in on the conspiracy is all juicy stuff. But still many unanswered questions.

I did all the achievements, caught every bugsnax in the game and the DLC (though I did tap out at some point on the mailbox quests... those starting getting tedious and they kept replenishing and sapped my will to continue. Overall, really enjoyed my time with it. Not sure if they're planning on doing a sequel. Would be cool if they are. But I also wouldn't mind seeing them move onto something else. I'm a bit bugsnaxed out for a while now haha.

@warpr Oh.. I didn't realize that either.. Interesting. Are they back to their normal selves, free of Bugsnax? Or..

My standard MO is to choose the two 2nd place finishers XD [which actually happens to be my preference again haha], but I'll refrain. Unpacking sounds good to me. Telling Lies has been floating near the top of the other GP club I do, but has yet to break out.

1) Paradise Killer

2) Unpacking

@warpr:Haha probably. Honestly, color me shocked you saw an ending without ever engaging with that mechanic at all hahaha. That's unfortunate, but yea, the UI for it is kinda not obvious. You are likely not the only person who made that mistake. Kinda cool that you could do what you did, but definitely a suboptimal experience.

Well, maybe give it another try in a year or so lol. There are some very cool stories that are behind all of those mechanics. I especially liked the Vend and Hunter stories.

@warpr: Ah, did you ever find the digital world with the nodes, "behind" the real world? On an Xbox controller, it was the Y button (the top face button) IIRC. If you need keys or data, you would have to hack various nodes there to get it. And some missions take place on that board. Not 100% sure that was the issue, but maybe?

______

One of my favorite games of the year. Either this or Tunic. Maybe this. Loved the writing and the atmosphere of this. It was tense in the beginning, and that really helped to drive forward the plot, but you eventually settle into a rhythm where I was never really pressured at all (though, I may have had a helpful glitch and also did a bit of save scumming early on XD) anymore. Some people didn't like this tonal shift and the relaxing of tension, but I LOVED it. It kinda felt like a reward for getting through that sketchy bit, like the character had earned a breather from their hard work and that they had something to actually work TOWARDS.

I enjoyed all of the endings, though I didn't go back to see all three Lem and Mina endings (I should have gone with a different one). One of the best bits is that as long as it's not that one, you can continue on from last save after hitting an ending and keep progressing the other threads until you're all done.

My one complaint at the endings is that there's no "I'm going to stay here with my friends ending". There's no end card for all of that, despite not only creating a life for yourself, but potentially being on the path to a significant system-wide social power shifts that might allow you to create an escaped sleeper utopia - and.. also mushrooms and beer and mushroom beer purveyor. But.. you don't get an ending for that XD.

The mechanics and gameplay were simple and straightforward and satisfying. The upgrades end up making the end game fairly easy (the one to use scrap to repair your condition by 2 is incredible). And once again, the characters and scenarios were well-written and interesting and unique, even the ones you really only see briefly.

It's so good!!! I will have to try to set a reminder to come back and talk about this in a couple weeks XD

@nameredacted: But.. how so? "Haha! We're gonna label your game an INDIE and put in on SALE!!!! OOOoooo How does it feel that we've extended this promotional spot in a way that we don't extend to many developers even though they beg us for a spot in our upcoming sales because we hold an iron grip on who gets to be invited to sales!!!!!!!"

Heh. I think this is less about indies being disrespected [though I do understand bigsocrates' points and I agree that indie game is a term that has lost much of its meaning - practically almost anything that is not AAA nowadays], and more about PlayStation's sales and promotion whims overlooking something (and/or finding excuses to fill out a sale).

...... It's good yo.