Digital Down-Low for 06/04/2021: Don't Give me No Truths, I Want All The Lies

[Octopus Prime]

This might get me a target of The Libs with their cancel culture, but I just have to say it; I have a hard time telling a mouse apart from a rat.

So we're kicking things off with a licensed anime game this week. And while it's from a series that lends itself very well to video games of all genres (and think started asa visual novel), I really can't say with a straight face that "Cooking Sim" was high on that list; but here we are; a Fate spin-off by name of Everyday Todays Menu for Emiya Family. Which also doesn't have the word "Fate" anywhere in its title, and I only recognized it for what it is by merit of recognizing Saber. Anyway, this here is Cooking Mama, if Momma was the spiritual embodiment of the greatest warrior to ever live.

Which she might be anyway, I guess. Mothers are multi-faceted.

Wing of Darkness is another anime game, but that refers to general aesthetics rather than what it's based on. You've got yourself a cyborg girl with an iron man suit and a hankerin' to drop some 'splode on a whole whack of space jerks. Don't you hate jerks?

I know I do, especially when they live in outer space, and wish to visit explosions on them.

Astalon: Tears of the Earth is in the running for being the game I'm most excited for this week, but another one lent itself to a title better, so HERE WE ARE. This is a Fake NES-y style troid-em-up that's got a bit of La Mulana, a bit of Legacy of the Wizard and art from the guy what made Dragon Half, continuing the unintended theme of anime games this week!

Take control of a group of Adventure-types with distinct skills and have them use those skills to make their way through a gross monster tower that's gunked up the drinking water!

Ordinarily, I don't cover visual novels, since there's a bunch every week and I don't have enough enthusiasm for them to come across as anything but condescending towards them, but I will mention Winds of Change, as it appears to be more of a choose your own adventure/point and clicky type of deal, and also it's a sprawling fantasy epic with a bunch of talkin' varmints instead of being about that one wonderful summer in Japan when everything... changed, so it's got some variety setting it apart from the ones I usually disregard.

Also diverging from Anime based games is something based on American comic books instead; DC Superhero Girls: Teen Power, an open-world beat-em-up based on the cartoon, based on a toyline focused entirely on female DC characters; splitting your time between busting the junk out of BAD GUYS and also doing Teen School Stuff.

Honestly, just from the trailer, it looks like its in the upper echelons of "Video games based on cartoons based on toys".

Next up, if you're looking for something a bit Metal Sluggier, we have the unfettered goose game, Mighty Goose. Which... like I said... kind of looks like Metal Slug, just with a goose, instead of a bespectacled/lantern-jawed gun guy.

Look, sometimes I don't have anywhere else to go with these blurbs.

Finally, we have Griftlands; which alternates between Slay the Spire-esque deck building combat and deceptive manipulation of people using dialogue trees and MORE deck building in order to make them fight your battles for you! And it's from Klei, who is really good at mushing up genres like that!

 

[Jeanie]

And while it's from a series that lends itself very well to video games of all genres (and think started asa visual novel)

I mean, technically, yeah Fate Stay/Night was a type of visual novel.

 

[gogglebob]

And likely for that reason, this reminds of me of the Senran Kagura cooking/rhythm game. And, oddly enough, that makes me... weirdly interested? I am not lining up here, but I can't remember the last time I wanted to see a trailer of what a Fate game actually had up its sleeve. It might be fun! Or a porno! Or both! I don't know!

 

[muteKi]

It might be fun! Or a porno! Or both!

nowhere have I seen the fundamental nature of the fate series put so eloquently

 

[jpfriction]

If it’s an itty bitty squeaker crawling up your sneaker, that’s a mouse in your house.

If it’s a big and tough, chewing through your stuff, best grab a bat as you got a rat.

 

[Octopus Prime]

Well, I don’t see Griftlands mentioned in the official eShop updates I usually check, but it’s official release date is still set for June 4.

So keep watching this space, I guess

 

[Octopus Prime]

Regardless of Griftlands' existence this week, and the conesquent possible nonsense of my Jamie Commons lyric as a thread title, there is some other SNEAKRET SURPRISES

Most significant of which being Overboard! Which, somehow, is even more morally dubious than the film Overboard, in which Kurt Russel kidnaps and then marries an amnesiac Goldie Hawn. Here you're a fancy lady what dunn just murd'd up a guy and now have to plant evidence and suspicion to drive attention AWAY from you before a Cozy Mystery detective figures out you did a crime and should be locked up.It's from the same peeps what made Heavens Vault and 80 Days, and those are also purportedly very highly regarded adventure games and danged if just the idea of this doesn't make me smile.

Also up is Stonefly which is an action RPG of a game where you've got some ROBUGS to pilot to swerve and dash around with in order to knock down all THE BUG BADDIES, then turn their bug bits into MORE STUFF for your custom bug tank.

BUGS! and BOTS!
Together at last!

And speaking of animal/machine hybrids, we have this weeks arcade release; HACHA MECHA FIGHTER. Which I keep thinking is "Hachi Machi Fighter" which would also be very fun. This one is a shmup and all the planes are pilotted by animals; like Talespin or Pom Poko.

Except with more lemurs.

 

[Jeanie]

Most significant of which being Overboard! Which, somehow, is even more morally dubious than the film Overboard, in which Kurt Russel kidnaps and then marries an amnesiac Goldie Hawn. Here you're a fancy lady what dunn just murd'd up a guy and now have to plant evidence and suspicion to drive attention AWAY from you before a Cozy Mystery detective figures out you did a crime and should be locked up.It's from the same peeps what made Heavens Vault and 80 Days, and those are also purportedly very highly regarded adventure games and danged if just the idea of this doesn't make me smile.

 

[Octopus Prime]

For the sake of posterity, the demo for Astalon is the kind of demo that builds an entire seperate mini-game, instead of just covering the opening section of the full release.

 

[Torzelbaum]

For the sake of posterity, the demo for Astalon is the kind of demo that builds an entire seperate mini-game, instead of just covering the opening section of the full release.

And how true is the demo to the gameplay / gameplay loop of the full game?

 

[Mightyblue]

Saw this rather comprehensive (negative) review for it on Steam:

Spoiler: Review

Despite the great art direction, atmosphere, and level design, this game is held back by "tunnel vision" in game design around the game's gimmick.

In this game, when you die, you are sent in some demonic realm which serves the purpose of the game's shop, and after your shopping spree is over, you come back to life. In theory a very good concept, but the execution is awful and ruins the entire experience. The game's progression revolves so much around "farming, dying, buying upgrades" loop, only made extra tedious due to absurd game design decisions such as being unable to restore health in any way other than dying and respawning, shop upgrades not telling you what they do until you buy them, and you always respawning at the beginning of the dungeon no matter what.

In practice, this quickly makes you hate the good level design because you will end up doing the same rooms dozens of times due to forced backtracking, campfires are seemingly useless as you cannot use them to heal on demand, and even if you use them as save points, they don't work as respawn points. Every single chip damage from enemies is devastating, as you will not be able to be full health where you last died, often resulting in your completing about two extra rooms, and taking a death again, repeating the rooms you just did again. In the 90 minutes I spent playing this game, I probably spent 20 minutes exploring new rooms, and 70 minutes redoing rooms I've already completed.

The last straw for me was when I blind purchased an "upgrade" in the shop with my hard earned and scarce money, only to find out I just increased the enemy's damage output. Yeah I'm out.

This game features so many questionable game design decisions which I feel could have been fixed if they didn't host the beta test campaign I was a part of just a mere week before launch. I cannot recommend this game in its current state.

 

[Torzelbaum]

That does match my impressions from playing the demo yet is somehow worse than I thought.

 

[Octopus Prime]

In the first 90 minutes I played the game I unlocked a fast travel that lets you teleport around the dungeon more easily and lots of shortcuts designed to reduce backtracking significantly.

Though spending cash on upgrades that make the game harder without Warning is... inadvisable.

 

[Nodal]

In the first 90 minutes I played the game I unlocked a fast travel that lets you teleport around the dungeon more easily and lots of shortcuts designed to reduce backtracking significantly.

Though spending cash on upgrades that make the game harder without Warning is... inadvisable.

Yeah there's tons and tons of shortcuts and checkpoints. If this person spent that much time not progressing...they probably should have returned the game. If you're a little more used to 2d platformers I think you'd have a better time, or at least be able to tell if you enjoy it within the Steam 2 hour window.

 

[Octopus Prime]

OKay, so phew, Griftlands IS out on Switch this week.

MY THREAD TITLE IS STILL VALID

 

[Octopus Prime]

Also, in Astalon, you can get health pickups form enemies, but only if you buy the Bloodlust upgrade in the Creepy Skeleton-heap shop. Also, the Candle Light upgrade restores the candles that contain health refills, but its not cheap.

...should probably make a thread for this game. It lends itself to communal play, like La Mulana does

 

[gogglebob]

And, oddly enough, that makes me... weirdly interested?

Turns out Fateing Mama is priced at $50, so I'm not that curious.

DC Superheroines is super fun, though, so I enjoyed the first chapter of that.