whatchu playing now

i beat the normal game. i need to continue, obviously.

games with similar cryptic quests: environmental station alpha did a similar thing with an optional post-game quest. Both games tiny spoiler: it had parts of a code written on the walls too. And ESA has an area directly inspired by La Mulana. Axiom Verge 1 also has a small well-hidden quest. Tunic and Fez are other ones.

finally playing case of the golden idol and yeah this is the sort of thing i like

yeah it's great

'little kitty big city' is fun so far. sort of like 'untitled goose game'

oh i got to the point in animal well where it just fully becomes fez-style ultra-cryptic codes and i think that's enough for me.

it was pretty good up until that point, though finding the last few eggs was a bit too tedious. it was really really good for a bit but that didn't really last long enough and now i'm slightly underwhelmed.

i really love the la mulana type of cryptic puzzle but not the fez type, in short

i like both style of puzzle.
I still need to find 7 eggs. i solved one of the big puzzles without looking at hints, which i was proud of the one with the symbol pillars. i think I've found 4 rabbits, which seem to do nothingness. haven't looked at any big discussions of the game yet.

finished case of the golden idol, good stuff, glad they're making a second game, i will be there day 1

next up in my 'well-regarded indie games that snuck by me' queue is void stranger

i finished obra dinn earlier this month. started it years ago but got stuck. looked up some general game tips and that was enough. great game, 10/10.

I tried a little bit of Animal Well last night, the lack of hand-holding is not sitting well with me so far.

I've also been playing Hexcells, soothing ambient Minesweeper-like but without ever needing to guess. I'm not as gaga about it as this guy but it's nice.

hexcells does rule, i have dumped many many hours into it

Tametsi is, I think, better, though Hexcells Infinite is good because a) it's actually (practically) infinite, and b) it's the right length for "about ten minutes", whereas for Tametsi it might take you ten minutes of scribbling to lock down the first move (not often!)

I beat the second phase of animal well then looked up spoilers.

Around half of phase 3 is doable by a single player -- but the other ones aren't. One can't be done on steam deck because you need to shake the window of the game. another wants your computer to have a printer connected, but there's a very hidden alternative way to get the code. Phase 4, involving the poster, is completely impossible solo. I wish they had put in clues for harder parts of phase 3, then put all of the ridiculous stuff in its own restricted area.

I was right that Fez and Tunic were inspirations as there are codes to turn your character into the characters from those games. (These are just for fun and aren't a part of any other puzzle.)

All in all I loved the game.

High praise for Lorelei and the Laser Eyes: https://www.polygon.com/reviews/24156442/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-review-steam-pc-nintendo-switch

saw that one the ohter day, looks cool

Cryptmaster also looks cool whatever it is - word game based first-person dungeon crawler?

cryptmaster has a steam demo which i have now completed. seems like a good laugh

Animal Well question: I've gotten the flute and I'm gearing up to do the m disc shrine but I don't know how to fast travel. I've seen the code online and I've input it while holding down the whistle button but nothing happens. I've played the song right next to the fish and all.

You need to hold the direction you want and tap the button. Wasn't what I was expecting either.

Thanks! Would never have figured that out myself.

I just realized that Hexcells is a horror game.

Like.. existential?

I'm terrified of clicking the wrong cell, and I physically react every time I do!

i was enjoying case of the golden idol but it has a pretty serious save bug on switch, in that if you exit the game it doesn't save your progress. you click continue game and it drops you back into the first level. i googled and their workaround is a button combo that allows you to skip levels to get back to the level you were on, but that doesn't help if you were near the end of one of the more detailed levels (as i was) because you have to decide whether to redo all the work or just skip it. anyways, fun game and i'll just deal with it but it seems like a big problem that the developer should fix

I hit that bug on Idol too. It wiped my entire save. I never went back after that despite really enjoying it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6b4dY6LmDI

If I was going to make a video game it would probably be something close to this GTA clone

So is Animal Well fun apart from all the meta/community puzzle stuff?

Also, is Balatro fun if you're not that into Poker?

Balatro is fun if you are a human being. It is extremely fun if you are a human being with an addictive personality

IDNGAF about Poker and Balatro took over my life. Make of that what you will.

I'm kind of feeling like I've gotten to the point of diminishing returns south Animal Well, especially now that I'm constantly retracing my steps.

both great games

there is a complete game in animal well before the cryptic stuff. it's completely optional.

To be clear, I'm closing in on 50 eggs, so I'm onto the next phase of the game.

Dude, you ran out of eggs
Would you like to buy
an 80 pack of eggs?

"That one egg was 40 eggs?"

the precinct looks way better than any Police Simulator-type games i've been a little interested in. anything like Police Quest and I'm in! (the shot of pulling out of the station parking lot made me think of it - just don't make me restart the game if I forget the circle check)

For some reason I've let different people I know talk me into playing Minecraft and DayZ for the first time ever. It's 2013 all over again.

I played a bunch of Helldivers 2 yesterday. I wish I liked the humor of it more tbh... it kind of grates on me. It's a pretty fun Starship Troopers simulator though.

Tunic is pretty dope, PS+ freebie from last month I was curious about. Love whole "found Japanese NES game" gimmick. It took way too long to figure out how to do upgrades, and holy moly the boss fights are brutal!

Got back into playing Mad Max. Fun to motor around in the Wasteland again, but I don’t know how long the gameplay loop will keep me around this time

Finally getting more active in playing my switch (which I got ~2.5 years ago) and my co-workers want to play Super Smash Bros Ultimate, so I've been trying to grind through unlocking characters.

I've also been playing some more SMT5 and I also recently picked up Advance Wars for the switch, which I hadn't played since high school.

anybody else playing demos from steam's next fest? the gimmick is that they are only available for one week.

early interesting ones:
blue prince -- escape room house where you draft the next room to go to.
exographer -- platform puzzler that also has point & click puzzles based on particle physics

I picked up Dave the Diver (and a few others) in the Steam sale and it's awesome.

dave the daver

dave the diamond

i'm playing octopath traveler for the first time. I got bored with most of the story scenes -- the ones involving children are the worst, so mawkish -- so I've been skipping them. I finished all the chapter missions. Now I'm onto the side stories which I hear lead to a final dungeon.

Master Key - completed
Save me Mr Tako
Void Stranger

Three monochrome games with Gameboy aesthetics. Master Key is Zelda, Mr Tako is Kirby. Void Stranger is something new -- a sokoban-like game with a real story and some cryptic puzzles that aren't fully clued. I peeked at spoilers and apparently I am just starting the second phase of the game. I don't want to look up more.

Credit where credit is due. Square took the worst game genre of all time (ubisoftopenworld), threw money, nostalgia, (subjective) a lot of heart at it.... and ended up making a good game!!!

Ff7 rebirth, for those not playing along

thank you i was about to ask

lego harry potter games with my daughter. I hate them.

Condolences. They're so bad

the distance between save points is absolutely fucking criminal.