1 Hour Games

I own literally thousands of games and have accepted I cannot play all of them to completion like I want to. Instead, I sometimes choose one at random and play the first hour to see if it is worth pursusing or if I can move to the next one. Here are my thoughts on the first hour of games, maybe one strikes your fancy,

[thebuginthecornerofyourroom]

I have something void inside.

Some days I feel it less, some days I feel it more, but it's always there, has been for a long long time.

I feel like it marks me. I feel disconnected to people all the time, I think that might be the reason, that I cannot form a connection with anybody because of it.

It feeds on me. There are seasons when I can manage it fine, and still have enough for me to be /me/, to have a self, but on occasion it wants more, and I don't have enough. Then, everything hurts, but it doesn't.

I don't have anything to go to work, and yet I go. I don't have anything to go to the gym, and yet I train. I don't have anything to perform Me for the day, and yet I fake it.

And no one sees it. No one asks, no one looks, no one seems to care.

And I know they would.

And it tells me they wouldn't.

I cannot even let myself fall and fail, because I don't let me. The unfeeling part still picks me up and powers through. With an empty head, a void heart and a heavy center. Fuck it, we must.

I am alone and it hurts, but we must. I am tired and it hurts, but we must. I want to cry and it hurts, but we must. I want to stop and it hurts, but we must.

[whydidisavethistomyphone]

[aristoteliancomplacency]

^ thisssss.

[queer-as-city-folk]

Hear me out

[napoleanbonafarte]

Disconnecticut

[thebuginthecornerofyourroom]

There are some tidbits of wisdom that come with growing up and maturing that are not something talked about but they make life more bearable, and one of these is that

You cannot be kind all the time.

If being a cunt and an asshole is your default then this post isn't for you, because you can pass life being who you are without this troubling you, but anyone who is trying their damnedest to be kind, and has been doing so for some long time knows one very important thing about being kind, which is:

Being kind to some well-meaning people takes A LOT of energy.

This is not about how "you should be above assholes", which btw, you shouldn't. This is about this friend, this family member, this person who knows you, who is a nice person, an alright kinda human, with it's flaws and pros, who has to interact with you and whose complete existence in that time and moment seems to be dedicated to ANNOY. THE HELL. OUT. OF. YOU.

Because sometimes there is this coworker, who is nice, you can talk with them, you've gone once or twice to a bar to hang out, has a family, has some kids, and you've asked to do something for you and they always forget, they always do it half assed only to you, you always have to tell them 5 times through 7 different communication mediums for them to do it and only when you come in yelling onto their office CAN YOU FUCKING SEND ME THE DOCUMENT PLEASE and don't leave them alone until they do it works

Or sometimes there is this friend within your group who is nice, cool friend, love 'em, cool for a nice plan, lots of other friendships, and you're trying to set up a date for hanging out but they just can't and they refuse to tell you they can't because whatever dumb fucking reason and Dude, if you can't on Thursday or Friday then what about Saturday Hmm, I don't know, I might have to see another friend And Sunday Well I gotta eat with my mum it's super important What about next week and they keep coming out with excuses but of course, they don't state their availability, they don't propose any solutions, they wanna hang out and they're being the most uncollaborative bastard in the face of the planet and of course you cannot just say Well, buddy, it seems you can't make it so we'll just hang out and see you whenever you can because that's super rude and they'll get offended and bitchy and cunty because now it seems it's our fault we can't hang out all together except we've done nothing and they'll still WON'T SAY THEY CAN'T FUCKING MAKE IT

Or these couple you're friends with who are cool, nice, lovely people, very in love, and one day you're hanging out with them and the rest of the group of friends and you're all sitting in a bar and everything is going nice, but the ambience changes and you all want to go somewhere else, and you start discussing but it's just a bad day, and some of the places are closed, some you have to call in advance, some have a weird vibe tonight, and as the look for something to do progresses you start noticing that one, these two have barely participated in the discussion and two, they are getting upset about not having a plan, and the rest of y'all keep thinking and squeezing your brains to find out something to do and the only thing these two do is complain, and Why can't we go to A It's closed, we already said it This sucks, this is so stupid :( and they're not proposing any alternative, nor any other plan, and when one gives up and tries to come to terms with the fact that it's not gonna happen tonight they stand up and Nooooo, c'mon don't leave, lets just think of someth THERE'S NOTHING, THERE'S NO PLAN TONIGHT and then maybe you'll go to a half assed bar you had to compromise to because it's the only place open that doesn't suck too much and the fucking couple talks with no one for the rest of the night because they spend the whole time in a corner making out

None of these people are deliberately acting like assholes, and yet, they're being annoying, inconsiderate and using your kindness in order to blame you for an issue they are doing nothing to solve.

You cannot be kind to these people in these moments. Being kind is what has gotten you booked into a corner, and you cannot use kindness to get out of it.

So, you have to be a dick.

It sucks. It needs practice. It's gonna bum everybody out. But it has to be done.

If you don't have practice doing this, you'll come across as an asshole. Probably you should learn to measure your words and manage to say "Look, we're trying to do something, and you're using your conditions to bum everybody out without collaborating, so fucking stop, asshole" in a less confrontational way, or else the frustration will eat you alive, and you still have to tell these people off.

Patience, politeness and kindness have limits. They have to. If you believe that you have infinite patience and limitless kindness either you haven't been tested against the world or you are a stupid fool.

Being able to recognize the limits of your own kindness, and when to be an asshole, is a very important part of growing up and maturing.

[that-one-trooper]

Day 12

Game: The Lost Night

Platform: Windows 11, Xbox Controller

Maybe this whole trying new games all the time thing isn’t good for my long term attention span, since I grew tired of this one due to repetition, wander around, get jumped by ghosts, ghouls, and beholders, use the same tactics to dispatch them. The only things breaking up the encounters were getting new upgrades to make the combat easier and occasionally getting ahold of an item to hand in to a character to unlock a new area. Samey-ness of the objectives and gameplay and the similarity of all the locations means I got lost easily and tired of doing the same thing over and over again for little reward. The game isn't bad for what it is, but besides being a Halloween skin over a common gameplay system I didn't find much appeal. 

[that-one-trooper]

Day 11

Game: After the Frist Station

Platform: Windows 11, Xbox Contoller

This game is odd for me to write about. Gameplay was simple and repetitive. Controls were rough, regularly getting caught up on tiny inclines and movement constantly feeling loose and slow. I also had to look up the control scheme in the menu to learn how to do basic maneuvers, and some controls available never became relevant during the hours runtime. The graphics were basic, often appearing to be from free packs that were cobbled together. The various designs lead to a a very disjointed experience visually. Level design in general lacked direction and guidance for the player. Instead, I often just wandered about and pressed all the buttons at my disposal until progress was made.

On the other hands, the janky-ness made the game very endearing. Made by one person, I could see all the effort they put in and what the goal the game set out to achieve. The music was also very nice, even if it was likely as free as the rest of the assets. Story-wise the game was nothing new with fairly typical coming-of-age story that many have felt the story beats personally, but the ending was quite unexpected. Believable, but not where I thought the story would go, and I count that as a plus. In all it took me about an hour and ten minutes to play through this one, and I am glad I went just a bit over time to finish it in one go.

[that-one-trooper]

Day 10

Game: inbento

Platform: Windows 11

A straightforward little puzzle game. The premise revolves around the life of a cat parent and their cat child going through life and the former making lunch for the latter as they grow. The difficulty comes from the ingenuity of the puzzles, and the game has the excellent property that sometimes something would be seemingly impossible, but then the solution always made perfect simple sense when I did find it. Allowing for blocks to cover/remove other blocks was the most unique aspect and actually added a degree of depth, since removing and adding to the total possible in the container resulted in some interesting combinations alongside other movement options. Rotate, slide, pull out parts and replace them, cover options and any combination of the above to get the requested pattern on the right. Having to think about the blocks not just where they are but also how they could be removed or temporarily held out of the box was a neat difference to other block-moving puzzle games. The nice art, cute story and graphics, and interesting puzzle movement make this game one I could easily lose hours into, but unfortunately I have to leave it after it’s hour.

[that-one-trooper]

Day 9

Game: GoNNER

Platform: Windows 11, Xbox controller

There is one sort of difficulty I cannot stand. Hard to learn and/or hard to master? Fine, it’s a challenge to rise to. Tight timing and quick reactions? Always up to see how fast I can act. Figuring out the best tool or solution to a puzzle? Might have limited amount of time (read: patience) to figure out what the solution is, but I like that the answer IS there for me to find it. The one thing I cannot forgive is when controls do not provide a clear, consistent method of interacting with the game. The controls I have for a game are my sole means to influence the outcomes, and if that is taken away or not sufficient to at least enact my inputs then success in game feels like a roll of the dice instead of my effort and ingenuity overcoming the obstacles. GoNNER positioned itself as a hard game, a platformer where the player would die a lot. I am no stranger to dying in platformers, but I want to die because I made an observable mistake, not because for some reason a jump didn't go as far as last time or my attack just didnt connect this time.

Controlling the game quickly grew as a frustration as I got through the hour and I am disappointed I don't want to keep going with it. Most of the gameplay centered around jumping, either around the levels or onto enemies. Random placement of enemies and level design meant that precision jumping or trying the same section multiple times would not happen. Skills for success were not being honed, since the randomness meant that parts might not have a solution to be found in practice, but instead having to wait for enemies to randomly change position to provide an actual possibility for success. Even when the opportunity appeared, there was no guarantee that inputs would consistently produce the desired results. Pulling off a series of jumps onto enemies and taking out a whole group of without ever touching the floor was amazing, but something that seemed to come from a lucky set of jumps that made contact than my precise landing. More often than not I had to tediously pull out enemies from a group one at a time and pick them off, since entering a group was almost guarantied death. Attacks would miss even when the placement of sprites didn't seem different from attacks that successfully landed. Jumps did not always go the same distance, or were suddenly further than expected. When I did try to jump on an enemy there was little obvious clarity of where the hitbox was or was not, so touching the edge of an enemy was a toss up of which of us would take damage. When hit by an enemy, it was anyone’s guess if recovery would send me to a clear space or right into another enemy or three that would instantly kill me again since there is no controlling the player character after they are hit. The movement is fun, taking out enemies is fun, constantly having new obstacles and level design kept me on my toes, but the inability to control my character consistently and take on the challenges with confidence killed any interest I have in playing more.

[that-one-trooper]

Day 8

Game: ZeroRanger

Platform: Windows 11, Xbox Controller

I like bullet-hell shooters for the same reason I like FromSoft games. Carefully learning patterns, overcoming massive challenges, that moment of serenity when I perfectly dodge all of a boss’s attacks, accidentally falling off a cliff because I accidently ran over the wrong bit of world geometry... ok, not that last bit, but the point stands. The great part of a game is getting to the objective as efficiently as possible and against the odds, ridiculous as they may be. That said, I CHOSE to play through FromSoft games. Elden Ring was a commitment when I sat down to it and by golly did I finish it, but it took effort over my 100 hour run. And despite how epic Elden Ring is, I took a week long break from it at the 2/3 complete mark since my interest waned and the frustrations of difficulty outweighed the enjoyment I got out beating its challenges. This leads me into today’s bullet-hell shooter, ZeroRanger. The game is in line with the difficulty of others of its genre and I liked the controller support so my poor fingers could have a slightly easier time controlling. Time between runs was quick and mashing A could quickly get me back in the action between rungs. Enemy variety from the outset was sufficient for interest and forced me to constantly be on the move and learning the patters of the level to best dodge projectiles and return fire. The art scheme was a little tiring to look at since I often lost where my ship was and what was a friendly projectile and what wasn’t. Yet despite all these adequacies, I barely made it to the hour mark and won’t be continuing for the foreseeable future. That is no fault of the game, but my own interest just does not lie with the genre at present. An unexpected obstacle to this series, but a good reminder to mix up the genres I play to prevent having a poorer view due to inundation. The game is fine, I am just not inclined to it at present.

[that-one-trooper]

Day: 7

Game: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

Platform: Nintendo Switch, Pro controller

I have actually never been great at Nintendo games, mostly because I grew up with PCs and PlayStations as my main gaming machines. Due to lack of time and exposure, I am not even a fun level of bad to play multiplayer games with since I am usually learning controls while everyone else is drifting corners and skipping parts of the track. Yet, despite my inexperience, I really enjoyed this installment of Mario Kart. I hadn't played any of the Karts since the DS, but all the same ideas were there and I could quickly pick up the basics. Even if I was regularly placing in the middle of the pack, I still felt it was because I just needed more time with the game and courses, not that there was some trick or design that only favored one method of play. Messing around with car parts had a noticeable effect on how I drove and added both variety and a reason to unlock new parts indicating good game design of a positive reinforcement cycle the whole way through. The courses I played only covered 12 or so tracks of the ones on offer with a couple repetitions to replay the classics, but courses each having unique challenges kept the actions of going around a wonky shaped circle feeling new. All of this might be experiencing constant novelty that kept the game interesting and exciting for the first hour, but I would definitely enjoy playing more when friends and family come around to unlick more parts.

[that-one-trooper]

Day 6

Game: Stellar Interface

Platform: Windows 11

Sometimes when I play games I worry they’re destroying my eyes, especially when I try to look in three or more directions to track the flying projectiles onscreen. Stellar Interface has this exact problems as I add guns, upgrades, and other ships to my little fighter and go up against little swarms of enemies, themselves firing their own projectiles. I really like this sort of thing, bullet-hell style shooters that take me back to playing flash games as a kid and refreshingly simple concepts. Maybe I just missed the story, but all I knew was that I was somewhere with a lot of other spaces ships and they needed to all be off screen without me getting blown up to get to the next set. Unfortunately, the controls to get to that point were a bit hard to use, since no space separated my dodge and firing buttons, and it is hard to discern X from C on a keyboard without looking and taking heavy fire. And that mix of incoming fire, outgoing fire, friendly helper ships, my own ship, enemies, bosses, and backgrounds made it difficult at times to know what was what and how worried I should be. Then I died, since I couldn't even see the giant missile headed my way. Frustrating, but I also jumped right back in so the addiction receptors must be receiving the right hits. Overall, a standard flying bullet-hell shooter, but definitely fun enough for the first hour. I can see myself doing a few runs here and there in between larger projects just to wind down. 

[that-one-trooper]

Day 5

Game: Zombusters

Platform: Windows 11, Xbox Controller

What better way to get in the mood for October than playing a game with zombies in it, and what better way to deal with zombies than mowing them down by the horde? Zombusters is a little twin-stick shooter that provides just that. The gameplay is fun enough with a small collection of weapons to switch between to best deal with the zombies, their pets, and the occasional boss. Graphics are another story however. The appearance of the game is simple enough but works well, no need to pretty up appearances just to shoot zombies. Problems arose regarding location of the player character, enemies, and environmental hazards. 99% of the damage I took came from getting stuck on a part the trees, lampposts, and other environmental objects that were not covered by colored pixels. Effectively, invisible walls were the cause of my taking damage more than improper movement or poor planning. While at first not seeming a huge issue, just give the trees a wider berth to avoid the invisible wall, the constant sticking since the hitbox cannot be seen grew to enough of an annoyance that I had no trouble stopping at the hour mark just to get away from the frustration. The sticking combined with repetitive gameplays means I am unlikely to pick this one back up for more hours, but it might be fun for a bit with a friend in the included co-op mode.

[that-one-trooper]

Day 4

Game: Quest of Dungeons

Platform: Windows 11

Spooky month games continue, today delving into some ruined dungeons to fight the tiny monsters there and try to find a better bow that the one I have been using. I have always had a fondness for games that let me constantly upgrade gear and armaments to slightly better, more efficient ones, and Quest of Dungeons offered that in spades. Every drop was the chance to compare gear or get coins for more gear when I found each level’s trader. The roguelike nature had a reasonable progression path, but the difficulty curve was a bit more of a difficulty rollercoaster during most runs, and the ending was always an abrupt stop. Some runs were near instant death at the start, others could last a while before getting instakilled by a boss, and most amusing was getting killed in the first room a couple time while getting the hang of the controls. Most of the deaths came from accidentally clicking into a room too fast and the character dutifully running straight into the middle of the horde. Turn-based combat was not particularly kind when the player character is suddenly on the wrong end of a 1v3. Because of the dynamic of turn based combat but real-time placement, the ranged classes definitely offered an easier way to play than the melee based ones, but with minimal drawbacks. The assassin especially was basically invicible provided the player inches along one square at time and takes out everything the moment it comes into sight. Quest of Dungeons was a fun little dungeon crawl, reminiscent of the Binding of Isaac and other dungeon roguelikes, but the wild difficulty fluctuations and finicky controls mean I probably wont play it past the first session. Admittedly that first session did shoot way past an hour and close to a second.

[that-one-trooper]

Day 3

Game: Feather Park

Platform: Windows 11, Xbox controller

A sudden find that grabbed my interest and didn't take nearly the hour I had set aside for it, but whose charming pixel art and comfy autumn vibes drew me in from screenshots alone. The game is really a series of minigames, framed around meeting other animals and playing with them until they are happy with your performance. None of the minigames were difficult and took more than a couple minutes to beat, but the variation made me look forward to finding the next one. The game has no dialogue or explanations for how the mini games work, but many are familiar or classic games that can be understood on sight. For being free and only taking a few minutes to make friends with all the animals, this is  a definite recommend. I even did a “speedrun” of a second playthrough just to spend a little longer with the nice art and friendly animals, and since I easily had the time for it.

[that-one-trooper]

Day 2

Game: Home - A Unique Horror Adventure

Platform: Windows 11

It’s October, and that means spooky games with scary sounds and horrifying actions, creepy mansions and haunted forests, and what do you know all these options are included in the game. The pixel graphics adequately portrayed characters and settings, thought a few objects in the world were a bit hard to decipher due to low details. Atmosphere was surprisingly solid the whole way through, keeping me engaged as I learned more about the setting and characters at play. The small area illuminated at any one time also aided in the creepy and intrigue factors, as only a small part of the world could be seen and interacted with at one time and forever left me worried that there was something just beyond my field of view waiting to get me. A few jump scares occurred along the way to take advantage of the limited view, but they were few and far between with most of the horror being built up by uncovering the events of the story and the implications those events could have. Navigating the adventures was with holding left click on a side of the main character causing him to move that direction and right click for interacting with objects in the world. The story that builds from interacting with objects and exploring environment is the strongest part of the game. Discovering events constantly recontextualize past findings and encouraged exploring every part of the environment to find all the clues. Whatever conclusion the player comes from how much they are willing to explore and uncover, and then what they decipher as the truth based on the information they have. The process did start to wear on towards the end as more material was added it for what felt like artificial lengthening and adding mystery for it’s own sake, but by then investment in the overall structure made finishing the game worth completing those parts. The format is almost on the level of choose-your-own-adventures stories and encourages a second playthrough to make sure every corner and option is explored. The creator(s) encourage setting aside an hour and a half to play, and it was definitely worth going beyond the first hour to explore the world and story. 

Side note: the game soft locked at one point due to interacting with objects before discovering the puzzle with which they were associated. This caused me to have to restart and go well beyond the one hour but it was worth it, so there si the recommendation.

[that-one-trooper]

Day 1

Game: Polytopia

Platform: iOS

This little RTS-like isn’t totally new to me, but it has been years since I last played it. It reminds me of Age of Empires since it is all about building up an empire of tech and units to slowly take over the whole map. There are enemy tribes along the way to conquer, though my strategy usually came down to having the most units to toss at them. The tech tree is nicely varied for getting new units and abilities, but some options were definitely far more useful than others. Starting with the tribe that could ride horses without needing to unlock the skill definitely helped me get across the map faster compared to the ones that start by being to farm. I like the simplicity and stayed up far too late playing a round, purposefully not ending it since I wanted to keep building out units and tech. A bit more than a time waster though, since a round could eat up 30 minutes quickly if I wasn’t paying attention. Definite recommend beyond the first hour.