I am Zach, AKA AceFuzzLord, AKA Dizzy Devil Ducky!
They’re gonna be in my backlog for a while, but earlier I got Kerbal Space Program 1 ( with DLC ) all for less than $15USD before tax and the Steins;Gate visual novel for something like $3.99 before tax. Would have gotten S;G Zero as well, but I am low on funds as of now.
I personally think smaller scale 2000s collect-a-thon games like Ty the Tasmanian Tiger hold up pretty well. Never knew that specific series existed until maybe a year or two ago and I gotta say, it’s pretty good and runs real smooth on Dolphin on my Steam Deck ( and coincidentally better than the legitimate PS2 copy I have ).
I personally also think the PS2 Star Wars Battlefront games still hold up well enough. Love the lack of monetization and lack of online play because I hate competitive play as a more casual player.
Those games are definitely pass my recommendation checklist due to the amount/quality of content, and/or replayability level.
Another couple games that pass that checklist would be Final Fantasy X ( I never finished it, but had been enjoying it all the way ) and Sly Cooper 1 ( due to the time trials for each non-boss level adding a good amount of challenge and length ). Both on PS2.
In my opinion ( haven’t played or really seen the DLCs, so I’m just talking about base game ), Pokemon Scarlet and Violet.
Definitely had ups and downs when I did my only playthrough. Absolutely middle of the road compared to the official games ( completed gen 3, part way through gens 4-7 ) I have played and still even middle of the road compared to some of the fan games I’ve played over the years.
Technically I don’t think there’s a tutorial level per say as much as there is a tutorial set of levels, but Baba Is You.
The game starts off with only the controls on how to move and teaches you about how you can change the rules of the level to beat it if it isn’t possible normally, without explaining anything. Just from you exploring and testing different things. The only other time you’ll ever see any other form of level hint is maybe in the level names or if you end up in a position where you have to undo or restart the level from breaking the " [ object ] is you " rule in some way.
A lot of the game before you escape the testing track, minus maybe the point you are told about momentum jumps, feel like one big tutorial without even realizing you’re in one. It’s done very well.
I personally make a guess depending on certain games as to how long I’ve played them. I’ve definitely lost track of how long I’ve played certain games ( especially on console ) like Borderlands or Sonic Unleashed on xbox360. Especially since I never wrote any of that kinda stuff down in middle/high school because I didn’t care how long I had been playing in total.
Though, I will say that I like and dislike how Steam tracks your progress in playing games. I was roughly 4-6 minutes off of playing for 2 hours in order to buy some game related account themes but now I’m 2.7 hours in accoring to them because I ended up leaving it on in the background. In the future, I’m not gonna remember I did that, so I’ll assume I actually played all that time. There’s no nuance in their monitoring. If the game runs, so does their meter of how long it’s been on, regardless of you playing or not.
Though, I assume a good solution would be using any form of note taking program and jotting down your play times and dates and any other notes you want. Or using a spreadsheet with that same information. As long as you don’t lose that/those file(s), depending on what solution(s) you choose to take, it should be fine as long as you actually remember to do it and aren’t lazy about that, like I would be.
That is absolutely egregious. 200GB game with a 45GB update? You’d be lucky to see me installing a game that’s around 20-30GB max anymore because I consider that to be the most acceptable amount of bloat for a game anymore.
I cannot recall any specific programs besides a game called Feudal Tactics, but I swear I’ve seen software while looking through EasyFlatpak that surprised me.
I got to start a furry visual novel I found on itch(dot)io called Promises to Keep. It’s not complete yet, but so far I’m loving it. The character art is nice and the backgrounds are pretty good and I’m really liking the music.
I am absolutely glad I randomly found it on itch.
• Sonic the Hedgehog ( Genesis/Mega Drive )
• Chuzzle Deluxe
• Borderlands
• Baba Is You
Those would be some picks I would say are objective masterpieces, but that’s subjective, I guess.
Ever since I first heard it a few months ago, it has never left my mind for even a second.
Free by Crush 40
Sadly this great song was tied to a spin-off series killing game.
I don’t trust those at all because I look at games like Balatro and it’ll probably sneak in a suggestion like Sonic Frontiers. I swear it’s because I just happen to have 3 Sonic titles and the April Fools visual novel in my library rather than Balatro players heading over to play Elden Ring. Especially sinceI hardly ever play games even remotely like Elden Ring on Steam, the new Ratchet and Clank not included.
Yeah, definitely gonna stop those pirates who soft/hardmod their systems and never connect to the Internet/run updates in order to dump their games or play pirated copies or whatever they wanna do! That’ll stop them!
/s
Edit:
This seems to be more about their online account services and their updated privacy policy than anything else, but I still think my point stands, just not for this article.
An EA published game series for the first 2 entries, but Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 1 and 2. Still on entry 1, so I’d like to avoid spoilers, but they definitely feel indie compared to every single triple AAA game that’s come out in the past well over a decade due to the passion you can tell had to be out in for the game to have sold well.
Also learned the 4th game wasn’t even available on PS2 because of its’ 2015 launch, so if I ever get around to finishing the first 3, I gotta get it on PC because there ain’t no way I’m buying a copy for switch.
Edit:
Saw a trailer for the 4th game on Krome Studio’s website and I’m probably gonna skip it because it looked too much like a mobile game for my tastes.
Ever since the switch to 3D, I knew they would never look back. Biggest reason why fan games are so valuable to me. The only thing I like about the upper half gens (not including 5) are the pokemon (case by case and not including regionals) and the terastal mechanic, in terms of the games and their mechanics. Gens 6-9 I really don’t have almost any care for any of the important characters outside of the designs for characters/character art for characters like Geeta, Diantha, Brasius, Kiawe, and Rika. Those are pretty much the only characters who’s names I could even remember.
That’s mostly due to, in my opinion, when I think they started absolutely dumbing and watering down the story and characters so they could start focusing on nostalgia baiting people to keep them coming back while also completely dumbing down exploration as well. I think two of the only characters from gens 6-9 I really care about were Lysander and Kiawe because I thought Lysander’s genocide plot was interesting enough and Kiawe only because of the episodes of the anime I saw (which is kinda cheating since the anime is where they put every ounce of character into 99.99% of all important NPCs).
Pretty sure a large amount of fans would absolutely love returning to an older form, at least aesthetically, myself included, but good luck convincing Sintendo of anything without getting their corporate legal open secret stasi (lawyers) getting involved.
One of my all time favorites right now is Brok The Investigator.
It’s a game by French company COWCAT Games that is describes as a point and click beat’em-up game. Has lots to do because there are multiple endings. It has a free visual novel made to essentially showcase a vn engine that can be used to make BTI fan games or your own creations and has an upcoming DLC (apparently only gonna be $9.99) that focuses more on the combat side of the game.
It’s currently available on PS4/5 (vita planned but scrapped), xbox (don’t know if they mean one and series x/s or just series), switch, steam, itch(dot)io, and even epic if you hate yourself.
With the amount of content the main game of Baba Is You comes with, alongside the level editor and custom modded level packs people have made for it, would 100% recommend it.
Finding Paradise is absolutely an amazing game. Would absolutely recommend a blind playthrough of it, or at least a no-commentary walkthrough if nothing else.
Just wait 3 months after switch 2 releases. If you already have a gaming computer, I can almost guarantee that you’ll be able to play launch titles at 10-20fps on an emulator, so long as sintendo do such a piss-poor job of antipiract measures in their consoles (like they’ve always done).
There are definitely some good pokemon fangames on PC that aren’t super difficult from what I remember.
Most other fan games I could think of are either too long, have a good amount of difficulty, or have some sort of QOL thing preventing me from recommending it.