i play games

i like to play videogames, board games and tabletop rpgs

i am currently playing

Cassette Beasts!

I have mixed feelings about this game.

I’ll start with the positives. The thing I liked the most was the fact that it’s a game that is not afraid to take risks. It’s a monster collector, but it doesn’t try to be Pokémon. It proudly is its own thing. It experiments with moves and abilities, has mature and deep characters, has actual songs as battle music?! With LYRICS???!!!

I also like that it doesn’t try to be everything. It is focused. The map is small and there aren’t many biomes, but that doesn’t make it less interesting to explore.

Last but not least: as a theater kid who has played in both the twelfth night and an adaptation of the dream, I could not appreciate the Viola arc more. I hope something similar comes back in the sequel.

Now, for the reasons why it can’t be amongst my favourite games: for one, it is really technically insufficient. At least on the Switch, where I played it, it could not keep a steady framerate for more than 3 seconds. I don’t think I’ve seen a single capture animation without frame drops during the entire playthrough. Same for the apparition of archangels. It crashed twice, froze the entire switch once, there are too many loading screens for a game that shouldn’t have any. Objects in the world pop-in in a really ugly way, the physics is extremely buggy, and even the menus are slow sometimes.

The other negative factor is the creature design/spritework. Some monsters are really cool, many are really ugly, most are cool in concept but the in-game rendition doesn’t make them justice. Finally, fusions are some of the ugliest fantasy creatures I’ve seen in my life. The best fusion is leagues worse than the worst individual beast. I know they are generated, but that doesn’t make them less painful to look at.

Should you play it? YES! If you like turn-based combat, interesting characters, cool monsters, and an epic soundtrack, arm yourself with patience and forgiveness and give it a shot.

The Messenger

I’ll have something to say about it when I’ve played more of it. For now I can say the dialogue is pretty funny and the aestethic is amazing. I just wish I didn’t have to rely on external tools for controller support.

i have played

• undertale
• deltarune
• Celeste

I have been going on hikes since before I could walk. The Alps are my happy place.

One common experience of going on hikes is the moment you have been walking for 2 hours and you meet someone else on the trail, and you ask them how much time is left till you reach the destination. They usually point to a very high spot on the mountain and say "10 more minutes". At that point you say "thank you", but you’re secretly thinking "wait, you're telling me I have to go all the way over there? There is no way it’s 10 minutes, that’s at least another hour. I can’t do that." But you take courage and continue walking, and after a few turns you look up again and realize that the top is a lot closer that it looked. "They were right, it was 10 minutes, I can totally do that."

Playing Celeste has been the same experience. Say I’m in the middle of a chapter, and I get to one of those long rooms, the ones with the binoculars that let you see ahead. "You want me to do all that, without dying? You're crazy." But then you play for a bit, and after a few attempt you realize that it’s easier than you thought. "It’s actually not that bad, it’s totally doable." And then you do it.

Celeste is really special for me. It reignited the passion for making videogames, made me feel less alone and gave me something to listen to when I just want to feel something. I finished it 3 times, and I might go for a 4th. After all, I have never finished Farewell. I got to that point before I had to give up, then I went back and tried to do all the C-sides. I’m stuck on the last room of Summit C-side, but that can’t be the only obstacle preventing me from seeing the end of Farewell. I guess I just have to git gud.

I might also start to look into mods. Strawberry Jam is the only one I played, and only got to a couple of levels in the intermediate lobby. I doubt I will go much further though. When it comes to difficulty, community-made levels are beyond my comprehension.

• braid
• The Witness

There was a time in my life when all I did was listen to people talk about games instead of actually playing the games myself. Video essays, interviews, retrospectives, game design analysis. Sometimes these videos had spoiler warnings, but I didn’t care, because I didn’t believe that playing a game blind was all that different than playing it while knowing some stuff. I grew up with Mario, Rabbids, Pokémon and Wii Sports – games not exactly famous for their revelations and twists – and that’s all I thought games could be. Besides, if I wasn’t planning on playing the game anyways, why bother.

It was boring, completely average afternoon when I stumbled on a YouTube video that talked about The Witness. I don’t remember which video it was, I don’t even remember if it was just about this game or puzzle games in general. It had a spoiler warning, I watched right past through it. I didn’t know anything about The Witness, and I got hit with the harshest spoiler of them all. Something so big it made me immediately drop the habit of watching videos about games I know nothing about.
I thought "Man, I really would’ve liked to find out myself."
And then "I wish I could forget, I wish I could go back and play the game blind."
But one can’t do that, can they.

I decided I wanted to play the game, but not immediately. I wanted to see if, by waiting some time, I could forget about that realization even just a little. But it was too late. I guess the name of the game says it all. Once you are a witness, there is no going back. Once you know how to read, you cannot stop reading. Once you know the magician's secrets, you will never be fooled again. When I finally gave up on trying to forget and played the game, it was really hard to pretend to not know. I found the secret ending immediately, not intending to. I restarted the game and played normally, carrying with me a bit of sadness. Disappointment maybe?

If you have not played this game and know nothing about it, I implore you. Do not watch anything. Do not even look at images. If you like puzzle games, just play it. No, watching someone else play it is not the same. No, looking up a walkthrough is not the same.

I don’t think there will ever be another game like The Witness, at least not for a while. I have pictures of my phone of things I saw around that remind me of it, and every time I take one, I think I’m proving the game’s point.

I did get lots of motion sickness playing it though. I’m not sure if for the framerate, the visual artifacts or the lack of a walking animation.

• the legend of zelda: breath of the wild
• super mario galaxy
• dungeons and dragons 5th edition
• kids on bikes

i want to play

• cassette beasts 2002
• order of the sinking star
• earthbound
• omori
• nine sols
• ori and the blind forest
• monsterpatch
• one shot
• life is strange