Recently Played: A Normal Lost Phone

This one’s going to be on the shorter side, since many of my feelings about the game would result in spoilers!

Recently Played: Forgotten, Not Lost – A Kinetic Novel (Summer Sale)

Prepare to be hit in the feels because this game does not sugarcoat anything. It takes the truth and dresses it up in a tomato costume.

That’s right, a tomato costume.

Forgotten, Not Lost is a visual novel (“kinetic” – I’ll explain later) by Afterthought Studios, a small dev team composed of five people who have made a number of titles, including A More Beautiful World.

The story is centered around an old man who lives with his wife, Madalene, in a small house in the village of Memoria (symbolism!). Right off the bat, we are treated to a short series of depressing revelations and events in the same vein as Up and The Notebook. The old man has immense difficulty remembering aspects of his life that are so significant that even he feels awful not having the ability to recall them. Heck, the story opens with his inability to recognize his wife’s face. Yeah, that’s an immediate hit to the feels.

Recently Played: VA-11 HALL-A (Summer Sale)

Do you like bartending? Do you like visual novels? Well, I’ve got a game for you.

VA-11 HALL-A: Cyberpunk Bartending Action is a game that combines mixing drinks with all of the cute anime girl cyberpunk aesthetic you need alongside some infuriating minigame cruelty.

If you’re curious about the “Holy shit” surtitle, it’s because the game spent a long time in development and was only *just* released this past June (2016). The prologue version, which came first, will supposedly be released for free on Steam at some point.

In VA-11 HALL-A (“Valhalla” being the pronunciation/”actual name”), you step into the shoes of Jill, a relatively lonely and depressed bartender working at one of many franchise bars in Glitch City. The year is sometime after 2070 CE (AD in-game, but I like to keep with the times).

Recently Played: Cat President ~A More Purrfect Union~

This game was purrrrrchased for me by a very kind friend who shamelessly encourages my love of visual novels and dating sims. Thanks, friend!

A game like this couldn’t have come at a better time. Hot of the presses (released on Steam just yesterday), Cat President ~A Purrfect Union~ (by Oh, a Rock! Studios) contains both playful political parody and adorable cat pictures.

Perfect.

Or should I say … purrfect.

Recently Played: Aviary Attorney (Summer Sale)

I’d like to start off by announcing that THIS is my HUNDREDTH POST!

Hurrah! I had nothing special planned for my hundredth post, so let’s carry on, shall we?

Before we go any further, I would like to say that while my desire to buy this was mostly stemmed from my intense love of Hatoful Boyfriend, the games are nothing alike and are two very different kinds of experiences.

This is what Les Miz taught me.

Aviary Attorney is a visual novel-style mystery game set in 1840s France where you, the wonderful genius player, take the role of Monsieur Jayjay Falcon, a lawyer. If this sounds kind of like Phoenix Wright, you’re probably on to something. I haven’t played anything in the Phoenix Wright franchise, but a number of the Steam reviews cited similar vibes.

The game sends you romping around Paris gathering clues to assist you in your case before launching you beak first into dramatic court scenes. If this doesn’t sound awesome to you, I don’t know what else to say.

Recently Played: Season of 12 colors (Summer Sale)

Season of 12 colors is a game that had found its way onto my wishlist some time ago. The reviews are hard to read in terms of accurately grasping the good points of the game without showing much bias, but I took a chance and bought it. I am so, so happy that I did.

Announcement! Steam Summer Sale Series

Try saying that five times fast.

Awful alliteration aside, I’ve got a series of reviews coming your way as I play through all of my Steam Summer Sale impulse buys (that I made very responsibly by limiting myself to a $100 CAD budget).

On our roster (so far) we have, in no particular order:

1. Influent*
   
2. Aviary Attorney
3. VA-11 HALL-A
4. Forgotten, Not Lost – A Kinetic Novel
5. A Little Lily Princess
6. Season of 12 Colors
7. Learn Japanese To Survive! Hiragana Battle

*I’m playing the Korean language-learning version, as I wanted to refresh my knowledge and learn new words.

I’m very excited to finally have more games in my library that I will get around to playing whenever I can/feel up to it. I know that this selection is pretty much half visual novel, half language learning, but I’m pretty stoked to play all of these and share my thoughts with you!

I’d love to hear about the games you’ve recently bought in the sale or are planning to pick up. Leave a comment!

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On a more personal note, life has been hectic lately. I know I say that a lot, but this time it really is.

Right now, we’re dealing with a broken water heater that was leaking and flooding the basement (we opted to shut off the water altogether and have had to walk to McDonalds to use the bathroom for *ahem* no. 2s), a house guest arriving this weekend, as well as an upcoming move to an apartment! That doesn’t even include the other stuff going on for my co-dictator of the universe involving college preparations.

After we’re set up in the apartment, looking for work will be my top priority. So, I’ll likely opt to play the smaller games/VNs for stress relief. Thankfully, I’m well-stocked in that department now.

In a fit of excited graduation feelings, I decided to take advantage of the post-graduation credit offered to me by the university. Alumni get a sum of money to put towards any School of Continuing Studies course they wish, provided the money covers the cost of the course. Since I am a language nerd, I’ve decided that I’m going to take a course in beginner Dutch, starting in October.

When it comes to stress levels and having too many things on my plate, as with dessert buffets, my eyes are bigger than my stomach. Let’s see how all of this goes. Wish me luck!

 

Recently Played: Kingdom

I have a soft spot for three things: pixel art, resource-based strategy games, and fantasy RPGs.Thankfully, Kingdom encompasses all three of these categories. I set out into the world as a queen clad in a yellow dress and tiara, riding on the back of my lovely horse for what would be the first of many attempts.

Recently Played: The Silent Age

This was a game I hadn’t heard of before my friend picked it up for me in a Steam sale. He knows I like point-and-click games (as well as anything with a good story), so he was very kind and got it for me (thank you!).

Recently Played: Stardew Valley

When I was first told about Stardew Valley, my friends claimed it was better than both Harvest Moon and Rune Factory. For those that know me, Rune Factory 4 is my JAM. So, naturally, I knew that I needed to play this game. To my dismay, it was not Mac-compatible. Thankfully, after acquiring a Windows computer courtesy of my co-dictator of the known universe, a friend of mine gifted it to me as a birthday present. I promptly started a new game, made myself and away I went.

Stardew Valley was made by an astonishingly small development team of one person, ConcernedApe (Eric Barone) and published by Chucklefish. For the amount of content, I’m really amazed that Barone accomplished all of this in just four years of development, honestly. He did all of the code, pixel art, and sound that you hear in the game. Let’s just take a moment to appreciate that. I’ve already spent roughly 40 hours in the game and I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface.

One thing I found very notable right off the bat was the establishment of the narrative’s tone. Your character sits by their very old grandfather’s bed as he rests and he gives you a mysterious envelope with instructions on when you will be ready to receive the gift inside it. After that heartbreaking start, you transition to what is likely the worst office building ever, where you sit at your disgusting cubicle while your supervisors sit up in separate rooms with viewing windows (how Aperture Science of them). Disheartened with life, you open the envelope from your grandfather and discover his gift to you is a plot of land in a town far away from where you live. So, you accept the present and hop on a bus to Stardew Valley, where you can remake yourself and find meaning and purpose to your life.

How, you might ask? Farming, of course!