It is no secret to anyone who knows me that I really like my metroidvania games, and I'm a fairly big fan of cats, so when I saw this game putting the two together in what seemed like an adorable and lethal combination, I knew I had to try it. Sadly you don't like everything you try.. and this is one of those times where the game just didn't reach the standards I can even begin to recommend when there are so many better games in the genre.
When I was a little kid in the late 80s, my little brother and I, like many other kids, loved playing Nintendo. Enough so that our parents would not only get us a few games once in a while, but even a subscription to the now immortal Nintendo Power magazine. And it is in here we would learn many of the tips and tricks I did actually use to beat several of those games, but for me, it would do something more. Within the first few articles was a guide to find your way through the first part of a little title known as Shadowgate. I read through this guide top to bottom untold amount of times, excited to see the arcane tricks of the castle it wanted to show everyone how to survive. Enough so the game was a birthday gift that year...
I fell in love with this game as both a puzzle game that could be tough as nails and my first taste of horror gaming, and I even learned to speed run it before speedrunning was a thing before putting the cart away forever. But I never forgot the living castle and made a point to play every new entry in the franchise I could get my hands on, and even the 2014 remake. Now, nearly 40 years later, the perfect storm has happened and the original team who wrote the first game got together to make the sequel they were never allowed to way back then. It was worth waiting for. Welcome back to Kal Torlin!
Hello and once again welcome to our regular updates for Extra Life! If you do not know what Extra Life is, welcome to the site. (Seriously I make a point to keep a post about it on the main page so you've gotta be new.... nothing wrong with that, in fact the welcome is VERY heart-felt... welcome indeed.)
But to answer the obvious question about it, Extra Life is a charity event that takes place every year. Run by the Children's Miracle Network, they handle all the details so we can focus on what we do best! If you want to join, the process is VERY simple:
Those are words I never though I would say, but here we are. I also never thought I would consider Nintendo not just a terminally old-style company, but something I now straight up despise. But I'm getting ahead of myself. For those of you who do not want to read, Nintendo has finally done it. I already planned to skip the Switch 2, but I'm basically packing up my original Switch till the day I can hack it and play the games I already have for it on my PC where they will play better anyway. Nintendo can officially fuck off.
I will have to admit now, I didn't plan on picking this for myself. Rather, I have a brother who is a huge fan of the series. Not that I objected to it, but I just got a vibe that, much like the main game, Blizzard's asking price was going to be way too much for me to be interested. So when it up on the Winter sale, I decided was time to pull the trigger and get started. And while I did enjoy myself, I really am glad I got it then and not at full price.
It's usually a bit exciting to reach the end of not just a game, but an entire series and say "yeah, I finished it" but I knew that wasn't gonna happen here. The Christmas episode for Jazz Jackrabbit 1 set about what I expected from this game: with a very short session that does little new but draped in snow... yeah, that's exactly what I got.
Having absolutely loved the first game and it's DLC, I was honestly very excited to get back to Red Barrels' horror series. And while I can't say it's the best they have offered us, that doesn't make it bad. In fact this is yet another masterpiece in it's own right. Just not in comparison to what came before.
And here we are. After a trilogy of titles we have reached the original ending of the Deponia Saga. I will not lie to you and tell you I was a big fan of this, but this is one of those rare cases where the story alone is enough to want to see how it ends... and.. wow... yeah... step inside.
Hello everyone and welcome again as we take a moment to stop and look at what is going on in the realm of Extra Life! For those of you new here, welcome aboard! If you don't know what Extra Life is, it's a charity event where gamers come together to use our hobby to help sick kids in our local hospitals. If the idea of playing video games to help sick kids sounds like the perfect win-win to you, well, you're not alone. (Hint, I'm here with you.) So how does it work? Well it's very simple:
I know so many players who the moment this was announced were already ready to throw money at the screen. Maybe too many as I honestly expected to be playing just about nothing else for months between everyone I know who wants to play. But at the same time, my only real concern was being trapped in a single game for far longer then I would like as I do love my variety. The game itself already looked great. In fact my only real delay was that as a rule I wait a month to play anything with a major publisher behind it. (Don't blame me, blame how many games release as broken messes.) However, once I decided the game had enough time to bake I was in.... and for once, the AAA world made something I shouldn't have even waited that long on.
BROTHERS! TO BATTLE!
And we finally have reached a point where in order to show off something new for Extra Life over the weekend, I had to roll the dice over my backlog. It has been a while, but the dice were kind and offered an handful of titles that looked pretty good for the most part. And when this one came up, I was intrigued. After all, I do still have to play the main games, so a little window into what's to ultimately come sounded pretty good. Well the window was certainly small... but through it I can see some real potential.
We have come full circle with the first Phantasy Star game I ever played. I did not play this on the Sega Genesis like so many others, however. Back in that day, I was much more of an SNES fan, so I missed this game until I had left consoles for PC entirely for a streak. Back then, I had stumbled on a CD-ROM called the Sega Smash pack which I picked up with the intention to play with Altered Beast more then anything else. But this game was also on the disc, and I fell in love with it the moment I started playing. So is it everything I remember it to be? Well, it's still pretty good, but... let's talk on it.
After the first game (and it's Christmas shareware episode) I can not say this is a franchise that started on the right foot with me. Between being way too zoomed in to run at the speeds the game wants you to and "clever" level design that served more either bounce the player around to take damage or send them a ways backwards, it just did not feel like a good game. However, it seems Epic Megagames learned from their mistakes the first time and released something that, while not spectacular, is certainly MUCH better this time around. Come on in.
As soon as I finished the first game, I knew I was coming back for more. It would be serendipitous to make this choice as gog put the whole series on sale, however, and a twist of fate I was NOT going to say no to. Now another chapter is complete, and this series is on an upswing! Come inside!
It has been a LONG time since I played a Deponia game. Back then I had not yet reached a point of giving series I was in the middle of priority to continue, and to be fair, I'm honestly not 100% sure I would have had I been in those early days. But that did not mean a sequel would be bad... would it? Would it? Well... yes and... no.... kinda... you know what? This time, it actually is kinda complicated.
No I do not care how old this reference is... it fits the way we do this every year and now, we may truly begin. The Red Sector now has a team page on the Extra Life site, so yeah, our hat is officially in the ring. I still have a little tweaking to do since there is little customization on the page itself, but functionally we are up and my quest to show off games you might see on the big day continues.
This will take the form of two weekly games, though the times may vary (I'm sorry, I work and I have rather chaotic schedules for the most part:
If you've been with me during my gaming journey you know I have enjoyed my time with this franchise. The previous two entries were both amazing, mixing the perfect blend of detective investigation and pure anime-esque madness to be something special. Even when I wondered if they could capture lighting in a bottle a second time, I had to ultimately say, yes. But this time? It looked like it just might pull a hat trick with the trilogy. At least until the very end.