Eric

Wishlist Walrus Run on Steam! https://store.steampowered.com/app/2687610/Walrus_Run

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Walrus Run on Steam

Walrus Run is a 2D Action Platformer, compatible with conveniently-shaped bongo controllers. Slide, dash and eat through obstacles to get a

Hey all, I just announced my new game Walrus Run! It's a 2D platformer compatible with Bongo-shaped controllers. Check out the Steam Page to learn more!

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My Game of the Week #5 - Need for Speed Carbon

My Game of the Week is Need for Speed: Carbon! This is a racing title released in 2006 by EA, and is my favorite entry in the series. The presentation, characters, environments, and gameplay mechanics separate this game from its counterparts. I also grew up with this one, so this will be my third playthrough! 1/12

Let's talk about my favorite mechanic first. In modern racing games like this, cutting tight corners at high speed is very difficult, requiring you to slow down to make the turn. In kart racers, this is alleviated by complex drift and boost mechanics. So what's Carbon's solution? 2/12

The ability to slow time. The "Speedbreaker" affects your car in a unique way, where you can make quick adjustments while retaining your high speed. Not only can you use this to squeeze through tight passageways, but also outmaneuver the cops! 3/12

Paired with your acceleration stat and nitrous boost, you can speed through the entire map with little slowdown. Obstacle in your path? Slow down time and drive around it. This makes police chases some of the best parts of the game! 4/12

Let's move on to the map, then. It's split into 4 zones, each with its own crew and crew leader. The goal is to acquire their territory by winning challenges spread throughout the map. These challenges include simple races, speed scores, drift scores, and canyon races. 5/12

After completing each challenge in the zone, you fight the leader in a Boss Race, which are some of the game's best moments. After a 1-on-1 regular race, you have to play a Canyon Race; the goal is to stay right on the opponent's rear for the highest point accumulation. 6/12

Since this is on a canyon, you can fall off of it, and if you do, you lose. If you collide with them, you lose points. Combined with the already tight turns, precision is key during canyon races. My personal favorite thing about canyon races is that the speedbreaker is disabled! It's a true test of your driving skills. 7/12

All the while, there is a mystery to unravel about an operation you were involved with going wrong. More information is with each crew leaders' defeat, up till you fight the leader of the strongest crew, Darius. The story is definitely not what you're playing the game for, but the characters are at least interesting. 8/12

The game also has a simple crew member mechanic, where you can have one of three kinds of helpers to assist during races. Blockers, wreck another racer's car, Scouts reveal shortcuts on the map, and Drafters give you a huge speed boost. 9/12

Don't forget to buy more cars! You start with a Tier 1 car with rather poor stats. As you unlock more cars during the game, remember to visit the Car Lot to buy better cars! You can also upgrade their stats in the Safehouse. Trust me, a car with max stats makes the game even better to play. 10/12

Considering my massive backlog, I didn't expect to play past the final boss race, but I had so much fun that I 100%'d the career mode for the third time. It's amazing how well the gameplay loop has aged. Perhaps I'll try the fan favorite Most Wanted next. 11/12

Lastly, don't forget to mod the game! As a 2006 PC game, the quality can be massively improved with graphics mods. Take the time to research and apply those mods, it's the best way to play the game! As if it wasn't obvious, I highly recommend this game for racing fans. End of thread! 12/12

Check out the Twitter version of this blog!

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My Games of the Week #4 - Character Action Games

Note: Due to Tumblr's maximum of 30 images per post, this blog will have less images than intended. Check out the Twitter version of this blog for more images! https://twitter.com/Eman59x/status/1684931069068394498?s=20

My Games of the Week are Character Action games! We're gonna mix things up a bit, and I'm gonna briefly showcase games I consider to be part of the Character Action genre. The list of games in this thread is not ordered. 1/30 (Sorry, it's a long one.)

So what is Character Action? This term was made by the culture surrounded by various games, so it's open to interpretation. Generally speakng, it involves playing as one character in an action game with a wide variety of tools, allowing the player to express themselves within a game's combat. Some alternative names for this game include Hack and Slash, Beat 'em Up, and Spectacle Fighter. 2/30

The character's actions reflect the player's decision, rather than limiting what the player is capable of doing. The most common comparison would be a single player fighting game. Some characters/tools suit the player better than others, and how you like to play is prioritized. Player expression is key! 3/30

Let's start with the king of character action, Devil May Cry! DMC3 is a great example of creativity through limitation. That limit being only using two weapons and one style at a time. What you choose to use, unlock, and upgrade is your choice. Experimentation and creativity are vital for obtaining stylish ranks and more currency. Spamming stinger works too, of course. 4/30

My personal fave game, DMC5, does away with all limitations and lets you do anything. Equip all 4 weapons, and switch between all 4 styles seamlessly, allowing for some of the craziest combos in all of gaming. Not to mention, 3 characters that play differently, and require different kinds of creativity and decision making for reaching maximum style. Oh yeah, and V is there too for some reason. 5/30

Now for classic God of War (2005-2013). Combo variety, buying and upgrading what you like, decision making, and some amazing spectacle. In fact, the first boss of GOW is one of my favorite bosses of all time. The game focuses on using the right moves at the right time, rather a style ranking. 6/30

Instead, your incremental combo counter increases per hit, so it's a different kind of decision making. Where GOW1 and 2's variety lies in different Blades of Chaos moves and magic usage, GOW3 actually has new weapons and even "item" weapons like a bow and arrow. 7/30

Bayonetta is a name you've heard of by now. This game is a as over-the-top as they come, through visual presentation and combat! Each weapon plays pretty identically, so the variety comes in the combos. Two attack buttons, but the order and timing of each press allows for hundreds of combo variations. I'm not very good at this one, but even casual fans can enjoy button mashing splendor! 8/30

Let's continue on the Platinum Games train and look at The Wonderful 101. What if Pikmin could turn into weapons? You "draw" the shape of the weapon with the right stick to equip it, and hack and slash away! Very unique presentation as well. Can't say I've played anything like this before. 9/30

If you're into meme culture, you've defintely seen MGR: Revengeance before. Not only is the writing and acting fantastic, but the acion is some of the best in the genre. By holding L2, you enter Blade Mode, and can carefully aim your sword to slice away your enemies. You can even rip out their robot spines to refill health and meter! So freaking cool. 10/30

Next up is a more recent title, FF16! Regardless what genre you consider this game, the combat lines up prefectly with character action predecceors. Mixing and matching Eikon abilites to create a build suited for your playstyle, and some incredibly unique combos! Not to mention several dozen of hours of content longer than most games on this list. 11/30

Our last Platinum/Square title, the Nier series! While Replicant and Automata have their own variety of action (as well as the best narratives in gaming), so does its less-known prequel series, Drakengard. Drakengard 3 in particular has some pretty neat action and variety in combat. Not to mention, the wiritng is insane - play the game, you'll see what I mean. If you haven't played Nier: Automata yet, what kind of gamer are you? 12/30

One of the more underappreciated games in the genre, Ninja Gaiden 2 (2008)! A massive improvement over the first, having some of the craziest action I've seen. A unique dismemberment mechanic, rage mode, weapon variety, and well spaced shops. I was able to upgrade every weapon by the time it ended! So much combat variety and look cool while doing it. I plan to revisit this game soon since my memory's a tad fuzzy on this one. 13/30

No More Heroes may be lacking in terms of variety, but the action, style, and spectacle is all there. Very satisfying action combat with a fantistic script to enjoy with it. Each game in the trilogy is worth a shot, and is on all modern platforms! 14/30

Remember Dante's Inferno? If not, think of it as your usual God of War ripoff, except it's actually good. It was even made by Visceral games, the original devs of Dead Space! Dante (no, not that Dante) only has one weapon, so his variety comes from combo and magic moves he can unlock, and perk-granting equippable relics. 15/30

When you finish an enemy, you can either absolve or kill them to gain holy and unholy spirits. You can level up your holy and unholy level by getting their respective souls, each level unlocking abilities that you can purchase. The two soul types combine into one collective soul currency which you use to buy these abilities. An interesting take on the skill tree system! 16/30

A very solid character action game with enough room for player expression. Although, since it is so similar to other games, I would only recommend it if you can't get enough of this gameplay. It's good but not a must-play. 17/30

Next up is Hi-Fi Rush! A rhytmic take on the genre where you time your actions to the beat for more damage and style. Like before, you decide whaat moves, supers, and perks to buy. You also have character assists like a fighting game. 18/30

Not to mention the refreshing cel-shaded visuals, striking character designs, and great characters and writing. You not only express yourself with the combat, but through the music as well! You can use your free trial on Game Pass to check it out. 19/30

Now for the real interesting stuff, indie games. First up is Genokids, an upcoming game where you switch between 4 characters, who play differently, on the fly. Sort of a mix of DMC and Kingdom Hearts combat. A free demo is out now! 20/30

Slave Zero X has retro fighting game pixel art mixed with low poly 3D backgrounds. It sort of plays like a hack and slash and fighting game mashup, even with familiar mechanics such as Supers and Bursts! Once again, a demo is out now. 21/30

Sifu might not look as spectacular as the other games, but boy does this game have all sorts of meele combos. It's based on martial arts, meaning mixing up high and low attacks, and using the enviornment. I'll admit I'm not very good at this one, but it's a unique action game nonetheless. 22/30

For our last game, Furi. This is another unique case, as it's more of a boss rush kind of game, where you memorize boss patterns. I would say expression comes with how you dodge the bullet hell phase, and parry the melee phase. Although things can get hard real quick, it has plenty of options to make things easier. 23/30

The recent DLC pack adds a new characters that essentially functions as a stance character, those being "fast and agile" and "slow but lethal." Switching between stances sounds pretty expressive to me! 24/30

Here's a quick-fire list about games I didn't cover: Assault Spy, God Hand, Asura's Wrath, Viewtiful Joe, Streets of Rage 4, Madworld (Wii), Transformers: Devestation, Kingdom Hearts, and pretty much the entire Warriors series (Dynasty, Hyrule, Psersnoa). 25/30

That's the end of my list, but I wanna give you one more thought. The Character Action subgenre is rather young, and what does and doesn't qualify a game for this genre is pretty much subjective. There's consensus opinions, such as combos and spectacle, but a game is usually determined "Character Action" by it's community. 26/30

A final game I wanna share is Vanquish, a cover-based third personn shooter. Who made the game, however? Why, none other than Platinum, whose games have utterly dominated this list. In this game, you can rocket-boost slide from cover to cover, and pick up new guns on the fly. Would the guns you equip and how you use them also qualify as Character Action? 27/30

One of my favorite games of all time also gets me thinking about this genre, that being DOOM Eternal. Each enemy has a weakness, and you use the environment and your platforming skills to dispatch enemies effectively. However, how you do so is up to you, as the situation dynamically changes and one strategy won't always work. While mostly considered an FPS game, there is still plenty of player expression within this combat loop. 28/30

So as you can see, while characters and action are in plenty of games, what makes a Character Action game in my opinion is if the character is a function for the player to express themselves. It doesn't necessarily need to be in the hack and slash genre. 29/30

There are plenty more examples, but we don't got all day, so don't consider this a definitive list. Go and do your own research, and share some other character action games! 30/30

Check out the Twitter version of this blog! https://twitter.com/Eman59x/status/1684931069068394498?s=20

[misterborax]

My Game of the Week #3 - Gravity Circuit

My Game of the Week is Gravity Circuit by @DomAntGames! As a Mega Man diehard, I have been anticipating this game for years. Now that it's been a week since launch, it's time to give my full thoughts on the game! Let's just say, I LOVE it. 1/16

The game plays like a standard Mega Man-like 2D platformer, complete with 8 stages to choose from and some castle stages at the end. A run feature, a grapple hook, wall jumps - standard platformer fare. Although things get interesting when you start attacking… 2/16

Instead of blasters or swords, you use your punches and kicks to fight! You'll soon come to learn that your attack changes when you use different directions and attack in the air. You can even use your grapple hook to pick up defeated enemies and throw them! 3/16

Normally, a defeated enemy would drop health and ammo. In this game, enemies drop energy, which is used to fill a super meter. Yes, you read that right. By pressing the Burst button and a direction, you can literally use a super move like a fighting game. 4/16

Those familiar with fighting games can easily tell where these supers come from - rising uppercuts, screen-covering lasers, and my personal favorite - command grabs! A fantastic treat to action game fans who also dabble in fighting games. (I may have used the piledriver a little too much during bosses!) 5/16

This right here is the name of the game. Managing your super meter charges, and using the right supers at the right time. You can use these supers at any time during levels and bosses. Do you spend meter to get through a hard part of the level? Or save your charges for the boss? 6/16

Meter management doesn't have to be hard, however. At checkpoints, you have the option to restore all health and meter at the cost of some coins. Each time you use the refill in a level, however, the price of the next one goes up. When you die, your meter is NOT restored. So you gotta choose carefully where and when to buy meter refills. 7/16

And lastly for the levels, each one is littered with secrets! There are 8 robots to be rescued per level, usually hidden off-screen or behind breakable walls. There are also pickups that increase your health and energy charges. As if we couldn't get enough Mega Man references! 8/16

Moving onto the hub, there's two main things to do here. After each main boss is defeated, two new supers are unlocked, and you can use coins to buy them. You can also buy "perks" that can grant you passive abilities, that cost both coins and Robot Tokens you gain from rescuing robots! 9/16

You can, of course, interact with the dozens of characters chilling around the hub, and, most importantly, pet the dogs! Have I sold you on the game yet? 10/16

I do have one critique with this game. Outside of checkpoints, there's no healing whatsoever. There's a super named "Emergency heal" that restores a few pixels, but it's hardly enough. Mega Man has always had a matter of healing, whether it be one-time use health refills, or "sub-tanks" that fill up when you collect health pickups while at full health. 11/16

This made the early game a bit hard as I had lower health and no emergency heals, but the problem went away as I got better at the game. However, this could be really bad for new players, especially if they can't afford to heal at checkpoints. 12/16

There are measures in place to make the experience easier, such as no insta-death spikes and hazards, and very well-spaced checkpoints. But I think giving players some sort of cushion to get them to the finish line, even if it's easy-mode exclusive, could go a long way for novice players. 13/16

And for our final note, I need to give a special shoutout to the composer, @Dominic_Ninmark. Dom has been one of my favorite composers in the industry for years, and I've followed every one of his works, including Blazing Chrome, Mighty Goose, this year's Vengeful Guardian Moonrider, and the highly-anticipated fangame, Mega Man X: Corrupted. 14/16

Hearing what he's composed for this small team's first game is just absolutely astounding. To think this just might be his best soundtrack to date! Hats off to you man, you're an inspiration. Looking forward to your future projects. Congrats to the entire staff who made such an amazing game on their first try. 15/16

If you're a Mega Man fan and haven't played this game yet, your are doing yourself a disservice. $15 is a perfect price for this game. You can buy it on Switch, PsS4/5, and PC. Play it now! 16/16 Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/858710/Gravity_Circuit/ Switch: https://www.nintendo.com/store/products/gravity-circuit-switch/ PSN: https://www.nintendo.com/store/products/gravity-circuit-switch/

[misterborax]

My Game of the Week #2 - FEZ

My Game of the Week is FEZ by @PolyTron! A 2D platformer with a 3D twist. Unlike my favorite platformers, the game doesn't actually challenge your platforming skills. The gameplay is all about exploration and puzzle solving. 1/9

What you see is a 2D plane, but can be rotated 90 degrees left and right with the triggers. Each zone has multiple doors at different angles. 2/9

I'll admit, I didn't like this game at first. The platforming controls were slippery, objectives weren't clear, and the map was confusing. But as I ventured out of the starting area, the game opened up massively, and everything changed. 3/9

Rather than move from point A to B, your objective is to simply explore as much as you can and find yellow cubes. Collecting 8 cubes creates a full cube. You'll need many full cubes to open big doors in the main area, opening up more areas to explore. 4/9

At first glance, this map is a confusing mess. However, you can rotate and zoom around this 3D map. It doesn't reveal exact locations of doors and cubes; it only shows you if you've found the area, and if you've found every collectible in the area. 5/9

It doesn't really handhold your exploration, but makes you think "let me revisit this area and look around some more" Since these are 3D levels in a 2D platformer, it's very easy to miss a spot! 6/9

When you encounter a new door that requires an amount of full cubes you don't have, you have to use the map and determine yourself where to go next to find more cubes. There's no unlockable abilities, the world design is truly open-ended. You can go anywhere! - if you can find the path that leads there. 7/9

My initial complaint of slippery platforming controls still stands, but the game is pretty generous when it comes to precision platforming, respawning you at your last grounded position, and giving platforms of relatively large size. Since the difficulty doesn't come from tough platforming, the less-than-perfect movement is fine with me. 8/9

That's the gist of the game! Not your average 2D platformer, and a great refresher for platformer fans. As for myself, I have 16 cubes right now, about halfway(?) through the campaign. Looking forward to finding more cubes. If you wanna try for yourself, get it on Steam while it's still $5! It's also on PSN and Switch, and other PC platforms. Check out their website for the full list. End of thread! 9/9

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/224760/FEZ/ FEZ website: http://www.fezgame.com

Check out the Twitter version of this blog! https://twitter.com/Eman59x/status/1679879702389899264?s=20

[misterborax]

My Game of the Week #1 - HUMANITY

My first Game of the Week will be HUMANITY! It's a challenging puzzler where you play as a dog, guiding humans to the light. In this thread, I'll explain some more, and give my thoughts. 1/15

You may have seen this game before in a PlaySation State of Play. The game is availible on PS4/5, PSVR, amd Steam! Well deserved advertisement for an amazing game. So what's this game all about? 2/15

So what is this game? Well, you have to create a path for the humans using your commands and the environment. I've heard comparisons to Lemmings, though I'm unfamiliar witht hat series. To me it's more like Mario vs Donkey Kong series with the mini robots. 3/15

At the start, you have the "Turn" command, which as simple as telling which way the humans should go. Things get more complicated from there, and the game gives even more commands for you. It should be noted, what commands you have access to depends on what the map allows you to have. 4/15

It's a straightforward puzzle game, but then they throw Goldies into the mix. Think of these as collectibles for 100% completion. On the path you create for the humans, they need to run into the Goldy to "collect" them, and they need to be escorted to the goal. 5/15

Goldies can unlock bonus things like cosmetics and other features. Some levels may even requiere you to collect a Goldy to unlock the goal. It's a very nice bonus for those wanting do more than what's requiered. 6/15

This game has an awesome feature that I haven't seen another puzzle game implement yet - Solutuion Videos! Feel like looking up a guide? You can view this video in the pause menu that'll help you complete the level - no guides needed! 7/15

My favorite part of these videos is that they never reveal how to collect the Goldies (unless requiered). Even if you follow the video 1-to-1, there's still room for you to use your brain! Every puzzle has more than one path to the solution. 8/15

There's also no punishment for watching the videos, meaning this game is one of the most accessible puzzle games out there. There's a stat counter that shows how may times you watched solution videos, but that's it. 9/15

Spoliers - Towards the end of the game, they throw combat into the mix! While it's satisfying to watch thousands of guys shoot each other, I feel the puzzle implementation is a bit lacking in the final quarter of the game. 10/15

Spoliers - You gain a command where the humans will directly follow you. Combined with combat, the puzzles place more emphasis on timing and precision rather than planning. Perhaps a welcome change of pace for some, but it was lacking for me. 11/15

It's not all bad though! Even if you struggled with the last quarter like me, the solution videos got your back. I was able to complete all puzzles and (almost) collect all Goldies with no YouTube. 12/15

Don't think a few hard puzzles at the end make the game bad - this is a very satisfying puzzle game that I recommend to all puzzle fans, and especially newcomers to the genre. 13/15

Almost forgot, the custom stage builder! There's plenty of great puzzles made by the community and staff members, and you can build your own puzzles. I expect to find some hard ones out there! 14/15

The game is on sale for $23 on Steam, and is free on PSN Plus Extra! Perfect time to jump in and check it out. Fantastic puzzle game for everyone to enjoy. 15/15 (End of thread!)

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1581480/Humanity/

PSN: https://playstation.com/en-us/games/humanity/

Check out the Twitter version of this blog! https://twitter.com/Eman59x/status/1677369555495051271

[misterborax]

I made a "AI Presidents make a Crash Bandicoot games tier list" video a while back, give it a watch if you haven't!

Would love to reach 1,000 subs eventually.

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[misterborax]

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[sagasaturn2]