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Finished Dredge. Picked this up in the bundle with Dave the Diver after wanting to get to it in 2023 but never quite finding the right time. I enjoyed myself for the most part, but I can't help but feel a little bit disappointed with this one. From the way that I'd heard the game talked about, I think my expectations for what this was going to be like were a bit miscalibrated. I certainly enjoyed the 8 hours I took getting to the end of it, but at the same time I felt like the core mechanical loop of the game was wearing a bit thin for me by that point. The core concept of the game is that it's a Lovecraftian horror fishing game, which is a phenomenal pitch right from the get go. Puttering around in your cute little boat, you'll roam around the map finding fishing spots and harvesting fish via little timing based minigames. When you catch a fish, you then place it into your hold - different fish are different shapes and sizes, and there's a very satisfying space optimisation puzzle that ensues as you try and stuff as many fish as you can around your equipment and other materials you've dredged from the sea. But quickly you'll discover that some of the fish are you pull up are.... strange, and townspeople will warn you not to stay out after dark when the fog rolls in. When you inevitably ignore them, you'll find yourself rapidly getting more and more weary, your sanity slipping away. Rocks seem to jump out at you (a very cool effect where rocks will suddenly literally melt into existence in your path), strange sounds echo in the dark, and are those eyes you can see beyond the lights of your boat or is it just your mind playing tricks on you? Dredge is at its best, I think, when it's trafficking in mood. It's fun juggling happy-go-lucky daytime fishing adventures with the night time spooky shenanigans, and there were definitely moments while I was out on the water at night that resulted in some tense and startling moments. The main game loop of going out, catching fish and dredging up materials, coming back to port and selling them and slowly upgrading your equipment and boat starts off satisfying but the tuning of it seems all over the place. Early on I felt like progress was pretty slow, but once I eked out upgrades around the middle of the respective upgrade paths I felt strong enough that I pretty much coasted through the back half of the game with thousands of dollars sitting around but no desire or impulse to pursue upgrading myself any further. There's also nothing really mechanically new after the first two hours or so, so if the gameplay loop hasn't grabbed you by this point then there's not really going to be anything else that will change your mind. I also wish the game forced you out at night more - there's so many cool little touches to things that can happen out at night, but if you want to play it safe and hop from port to port it's very possible to barely ever have to go out after dark. I wish that there was more reason to do so. The story was a competent enough Lovecraft pastiche, generally happy to be told through little bits and pieces of notes pickups and dialogue. I didn't do all the sidequests so I might have just missed it, but I never really felt like there was a big "and now here's all the exposition" moment and the game is stronger for that. I'm also happy that for the ending you're not getting out alive in either instance; either you complete the ritual and doom the world or you throw the book back and right matters, but not without sacrificing yourself in the process. It feels much more appropriately Lovecraftian than a lot of other attempts at that sort of cosmic horror manage. For someone who is grabbed by the gameplay more than I was, there's certainly no shortage of content - I left a couple of sidequests incomplete, and there's a fishing encylopedia to fill out that could keep someone busy for quite a while, not to mention the DLC. Hell, a friend of mine who has been playing this has 28 hours in it - I haven't asked him yet what the hell he was doing for all that time (fishing I guess), but I'll be curious to hear his answer. At this point though I've definitely had my fill. Screenshots!  Many things near Dredge will burst out of the water near you. Some of them are even nice!  Perfectly filling the cargo hold is an extremely satisfying feeling.  The moody, dense and twisting mangroves were probably my favourite area - finding a clear path at night can be tense.
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Jan 6, 2024 12:49
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| # ¿ May 10, 2024 09:12 |
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I finished the base set of levels for Escape Academy. I don't know that I have too much insightful to say about it - it does pretty well at replicating the feel of an escape room but in virtual form, both in terms of the general feel of looking around for items/clues but also a suspiciously high number of those puzzles translating into 3 digit codes to put into tumbler locks to get the next piece of a puzzle. A couple of puzzles had me thinking for a bit as to what the solution was, and on one or two of the levels I came pretty close to a time over but I made it through the game without failing anything or having to resort to hints or a guide. There does look to be a built-in hint system though which is always nice to see. The story premise is engaging enough though there's very few character interactions or background elements and as a result the entire Academy seems to consist of like, 3 faculty members, a groundskeeper, one (1) other student, and you. The only sin I think the game really commits is that it was released in the year of our lord 2022 and has a loving Tower of Hanoi puzzle in it. All of this probably comes across as me being more down on this game than I actually am. I'm glad I played it on Game Pass, but it was a pretty fun way to pass an evening.
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Apr 23, 2024 14:08
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I just beat Hades, I suppose? I played it back when it hit 1.0 and absolutely loved it, got successful runs a number of times but eventually moved on to other games. With Hades II launching I figured I should go back to it and just play a run or two for old time's sake, had a first run that petered out in the second biome as I got my feel for the game back, so to speak, then promptly took a 1-heat spear run through to the end which triggered the last chunk of dialogue and the credits. Turns out I'd only been one more victory away from the end credits the entire time. Welp!
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May 7, 2024 06:42
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Tortolia posted:How many total victories do you have? There may actually be quite a bit more game ahead of you. 10-ish. Enough to trigger Persephone’s return to the Halls and the end credits which is a “clear” as far I’m concerned I know there’s more post-credits stuff but I’ll probably just look it up on YouTube, too much other, newer stuff to play to want to grind out Olympian relationships.
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May 7, 2024 14:06
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