mellific

Unearthed this from my Tumblr drafts... last year I kept a list of all the games I played and really wanted to find a use for it. Will probably also do a 2021 one! Asterisk for unfinished.

Overland - Baby’s first turn-based tactics game! It's a little clunky (often feels like the random elements--dog superpower, car stats, etc--entirely determine the outcome of a run) but as an intro it’s short, atmospheric & looks great

Celeste - Just, like, the perfect platformer. Feels SO good to play, phenomenally balanced, someone described this as “a very hard game that really wants you to win” which is absolutely its core ethos. Did not do the B-Sides.

Later Alligator - Collection of minigames glued together with charming flavor text and art. Negged me for being bad at 15-puzzles

Ace Attorney* - I’m (*2021 edit: still) working on it!!

Endless Express* - Short walking sim, marking as DNF because I couldn’t find the way out, I also do not know if there is actually a way out... see title?

A Short Hike - Played this like a year after everyone else because I was pretentiously certain it couldn’t live up to the hype but it really did. I didn't super love Frog Detective, which is similarly a chained series of fetch quests with nice art and dialogue, but I am a sucker for good platformer physics and leveling up for the big setpiece ending was so, so fun

Mutazione - Not a fan! Writing was kind of a letdown, wish they'd mechanically integrated... just, anything to do with their "balance" theme, wasn't sold on the Kai-grandfather relationship initially and never quite managed to get on board. Did enjoy the bean-shaped startup guys!

If found... - Visual novel, loved the art, played it on my laptop which was A Mistake the core mechanic is rough on a touchpad

Kentucky Route Zero - Renewed appreciation for the interludes on... both... replays

Tiny Echo - Short point and click, I just REALLY love playing a character whose head is an eyeball and is also a sympathetic crier. Not much to this but I was into the aesthetic & so didn’t mind the fact that instead of “anything coherent” they just used aesthetic to imply a bunch of things and never followed through

Wide Ocean Big Jacket - “You’d rate Tiny Echo over this?” Yeah, I am objectively wrong but, terrible taste, will never change, etc

Monsters Expedition - I wasn't sure I liked this through the first... four to six hours and then I feel like my brain unlocked the way to look at these puzzles and it ruled. The title sequence is probably one of my top ~game moments~ in 2020

Hades - Baby’s first rougelike??? Like Celeste, the game & level design is so invested in helping you succeed, like Celeste, the mechanics just feel great. My primary Hades emotion is “oh yeah, games are fun”

Known Unknowns - Charming YA high school fantasy IF. Breezy!

Tenderfoot Tactics - Tied Hades for “most hours logged”, I... really like turn based tactics games. This is probably my personal goty, it's got some rough edges both mechanically (middle grindy stretch can be unfun and is basically required to get any of the good classes, I hate the map decisions they've made) and narratively (not sure their method of delivering a story in an "open world" works & imo they don’t quite bring it home, also why not more spirits :( ) but.... I loved the writing and the visuals and bopping around the ruins of a civilization built on the ruins of another civilization, and also truly deeply enjoyed the nitpicky fine tuning required to win battles

Heavens Vault - Translation mechanic A+, have several overworld complaints, thought the overarching story was... fine. Supposedly the story is really designed for new game+ in terms of information revealed, etc, but I wasn't motivated enough for multiple playthroughs

Pendragon* - My problem with Pendragon is that it’s not..... fun...............

Into the Breach* - Just started, briefly had a very bad time, now having a pretty good time!

I should probably play Inkle's award-winning universally lauded indie darling instead of............ "not that game", huh