noboners

Great write-up. I wasn't as fond as this one as you were, but it was a solid little romp nonetheless. I think I just judged its shortcomings harsher than I needed to because of how much I enjoy the SteamWorld games.

But I really wish they had just removed combat all together. Because the enemy variety never changes, I would end up just groaning my way through so many of the battles. If sucking up the gunk wasn't so satisfying (especially, as you mentioned, the way the world returns to its lush state once gunk is removed), I don't think I would have even bothered to finish it. I also found the jump to be similar to the Kingdom Hearts jump that is notoriously bad. But even with all those negatives, I would probably still rate this game a solid 7. It still keeps me excited for whatever Image & Form does next, and shows that they are perfectly capable of making games outside of the SteamWorld Universe.

I'd like to throw out a single nomination for the next voting cycle:

The Legend of Tianding: Castlevania-like with a pretty slick looking style that reminds me a little of Viewtiful Joe, hltb lists it at 5-8 hours

@borgmaster: the fake ending got me too, to the point that I had actually decided to stop playing for the night right after. So I selected quit game and left the room to go grab a snack, before coming back to my PC and the game being mid cutscene. Considering how much time was still left in the game, I'm kind of surprised it happened so early? And I definitely missed the point, story-wise.

Also, did you know you could change your radio station outside of the menu? It didn't help much in those fights with the enemies that require you to tune to identify them, but i found that it made those puzzles you mentioned a little bit less tedious.

I just finished this right now so my thoughts are a little scattered. Overall, I really enjoyed my time with it, but the 6 item slots really made the back half of the game a little tedious. Especially in the last area where you're collecting the tarot cards. It always felt like I only had two inventory slots free when I'd start exploring, so that just ended up making me backtrack more than I would have liked. I'm sure I could have played differently and pushed my luck more when exploring, but I didn't.

I got the ending titled "Memory." Looking at the other endings online, I'm kind of expecting most people to get that ending too, but I'd love to hear if someone got something else.

The vibes of this game were definitely the star of the show for me though. The enemy design is creepy and the sounds throughout help create a great atmosphere. I even think the CRT filter was effective, though I only turned it on briefly to see what it looked like.

All in all, I'd score this an 8/10 and I think it was a great first game of the year.

1. Tinykin

2. Olija

We've still got another week before the discussion opens, but I gotta say I'm thoroughly enjoying my time with this so far. I'm just a couple hours into it but the style and sounds are great and the breadcrumb trail of story so far has kept me going.

On a separate note, I purchased myself an XSX last week and this is the first new release I'm playing on it. I think my involvement in the UUGPGC is going to rise significantly with the addition of a dedicated console instead of trying to play on a computer after spending all day working on the same computer.

I'm sure at least some of it's been fixed, but some of the bigger quests were busted or not fully implemented on launch. So, I only completed a few of the bigger ones. I definitely looked up how to start a couple of them though. I don't think there's anything wrong with looking up quest tips if you don't want to miss something. It sure beats replaying a 100+ hour game.

@rorie: I haven't started yet, but I remember seeing some talk of comparison to Ghost in the Shell & Evangelion. So it's at least some type of anime?

@bigsocrates: no, I ended up just gifting them to friends for Christmas. So it wasn't too bad in the end.

I noticed an error in your list @bigsocrates, so I made one of my own. Perhaps you can look it over and fix the obvious mistakes in your own with this superior OFFICIAL list of the best games we played in the club:

Did not play:

Metal Hellsinger - I like FPSes just fine, but the idea of having to be in sync with the music was not something my brain could handle.

Raji: An Ancient Epic - I really wanted to play this, and still hope to (I never uninstalled it).

As Dusk Falls - Could not get past the art style despite this style of game very much being up my alley.

Telling Lies - I started this prior and just knew it wasn't for me.

Midnight Fight Express - Was chosen right when I started my new job.

Norco - Need to play this but hadn't been in the right headspace.

Citizen Sleeper - See above reason.

Quick ranks (I did not finish a lot of these games, but still feel like I can speak on them some):

15.) Exo One - One of the most boring games I have ever played. I fell asleep with the controller in my hand at one point.

14.) Scorn - Gross? Boring? Squelch.

13.) Procession to Cavalry - I thought this game was going to be an appetizer to Pentiment and it ended up being a completely different meal that I was just not ready to enjoy.

12.) Superliminal - It was fine. I sometimes couldn't figure out how to progress. As far as making things big and small, it was better than Marquette.

11.) Infernax - I enjoyed this but played it with the Contra code and feel like I got a very different experience that I wouldn't had enjoyed if I didn't have a gun.

10.) The Pedestrian - Solid game that has me pretty excited to see what the studio does next.

9.) Signs of the Sojourner - I enjoyed this a lot. I have a hard time talking to people, and the card "game" provided is really kind of how it feels to talk to people for me. It just clicked, but I did not see it through to completion. If I had, it probably would be higher.

8.) Trek to Yomi - This felt like one of the first games of the club that had a decent discussion, so that bumped it up, even if the gameplay was pretty one note.

7.) Gorogoa - I love this game. I think the art is beautiful and was lucky enough to never get stuck.

6.) Record of Lodoss War-Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth - This was the surprise of the UUGPGC for me. Friend of the site, Michael Higham had played one of the other games on stream a while back and it seemed cool, but I just wasn't aware how cool it was. Just a perfect bite-sized metroidvania.

5.) Paradise Killer - This game kicked ass. Killer soundtrack, killer look. I was definitely hoping it would receive a complete VO patch a la Disco Elysium though.

4.) Inside - I played this outside of the UUGPGC, but it is just such a solid experience. I do think it still suffers from the occasional instance where traps are unavoidable if you didn't already know they were coming, but the checkpoint system allowed me to never be upset by a sudden death.

3.) Pentiment - Still only on Act 1 but I can tell this game is for me.

2.) TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge - Played this through in one sitting with some buddies over one night. My girlfriend had never really played a beat em up outside of the Simpsons & X-Men arcade games, but she loved this one. And my other friend was a die hard TMNT fan, so he would point out all the easter eggs and give us backstory to the bosses. That night was definitely one of my favorite gaming moments of 2022.

1.) Unpacking - I have played through this on Xbox, PS5 & Switch now. I own the limited run games of the switch version. I just think it tells it's story perfectly. I am a sucker for the sounds as well. I've spent hours just moving objects onto different materials to hear the variation. Nowadays, I just turn off the setting that forces objects to be in certain areas and see what kind of relaxed chaos I can get up to.