Crashbook #30

14 thoughts on “Crashbook #30”

1. Reactions!

   Ignat: “The story of a lonely young man named Ignat, who survives in the dangerous and gloomy world of post-apocalyptic cyberpunk.” This reminds me of Lewis Carroll’s gag about how to write poetry: “The wild man went his weary way to a strange and lonely pump.” (The part of that poem I always quote to myself is “But when he thought of publishing, his face grew stern and sad.”) This is not really the game’s fault.

   Electrifying Incident: I played the demo and, as you’d expect, it’s good!

   ASYLUM: link to Plotkin is borked.

   Lingo 2: these games just from the bare description sound like my thing. Alas!

   Long Gone: this sounds like what I think is my thing, and might actually be my thing if it’s done absolutely perfectly (like Knytt Underground, broadly speaking: exploration, melancholy, good action that isn’t constantly in your face, also the best visuals and music). “Wishlisted and I’m assuming that “not compatible with Catalina” just means “dev hasn’t jumped through all the Apple hoops” yet. “leans into the loneliness rather than the zombies” is promising but “made for the controller” is trepidacious.

   Pathologic 3: I can’t play these and am not sure whether, if I could, I would like them or find them rage-inducingly frustrating or completely impenetrable, but I am definitely looking forward to the stories about whether or not the developers managed to realize the vision of the original Pathologic this time. (My inability to get to the horror part of Saturnalia might be a bad sign as to whether I would be able to deal with Pathologic. Maybe I should see if I can run Knock, Knock through Wineskin.)

   A Little Perspective: hey recently I played this cool new little game called Monument Valley. Maybe a candidate for the Crashbook? OK this is not at all a criticism, there is a lot of puzzle juice left in that orange.

   CARIMARA: Is there anything wrong with Inscryption vibes? The thing is you can’t really say “It’s like Inscryption” without spoiling yourself a lot. I should probably finish Inscryption, though I had the feeling that the more I learned about what was going on the less involved I became. Which maybe means that “first part of Inscryption vibes” would be good for me? Though it seems like it’s not [5000 words about “roguelike deckbuilder” deleted]

   Reignbreaker: obligatory

2. God game how did those quotes get there? Plotkin link fixed.

   Inscryption vibes for me forever mean facing off against an opponent in first person, in the gloom, possibly involving cards.

   I understand the other Monument Valleys might have more to them but I found the first game so utterly disappointing I couldn’t bring myself to attempt a sequel.

3. I think I liked Monument Valley–and, to be clear, I mean the first one, which I played for the first time a month or two ago for “just got sole personal use of a phone” and “showed up on Netflix games”reasons–because I had been thoroughly prepared, possibly by you, not to be blown away by the puzzles but just to sit back and absorb the visuals and stuff. Hmm the word “Tengami” just popped into my head. OK I think the differences with Tengami are that the puzzles are a bit more substantial, and also of a slightly innovative form as opposed to “you are literally hiding a code in one place that I have to input in another like a Flash room escape game but not as good,” and also that Tengami was really excruciatingly slow.

4. btw CARIMARA is by the developer of TRIP from crashbook 28, which, hmm. Looking at that reminds me of a bunch of interesting games I haven’t started–still devoting ridiculous amounts of time to Legerdemain–and also that I promised/threatened an account of what I like in rhythm games. I think that belongs under the last discussion post though.

5. “Inscryption vibes for me forever mean facing off against an opponent in first person, in the gloom, possibly involving cards.” ah yes. the good part of inscryption. when it moved on from that part, it lost all appeal for me. but i suppose we are not here to talk about inscryption.

   i have played the demo of one of these games, and didnt enjoy it, but then didnt really expect to, having played but not really enjoyed its predecessor. its just not a genre that works for me, i suppose. 7 points if you correctly guess which game i mean.

   i really ought to say something about Pathologic 3: Quarantine, i suppose, being the resident pathological aficionado of pathologic. but… i havent played it yet, even though its been a week and a half. i dont know if i am afraid that i will dislike it (because of its radical gameplay changes), or if i am afraid that i will like it (because of its radical gameplay changes). i have seen a little of it played, however. it does seem that the radical gameplay changes move it quite a long way from the “simulation that puts you in the boots of a doctor during an epidemic” design that pathologic [classic] espoused—somewhat clumsily—and that pathologic 2 embraced to momentous effect.

   nevertheless: everyone really ought to play pathologic 2. do not look up a guide at all, because a guide is someone else making choices, which is your responsibility in the game. and play it on intended difficulty; if you get completely stuck in a death loop because you didnt tend to your needs before they were all critical, dont change the difficulty settings, but instead load a save from a few in-game hours before and tend to your needs then and there: as in any desperate situation, your main job each day is to survive until the next day. okay, end of sermon.

6. Right. Pathologic 2. They did make that.

   I’m not sure what my reluctance towards trying it was. Possibly just the intuited understanding that it represented a particular nail in a particular coffin: that I could never go back to being young, and having lots of free time, and really truly believing that games could provide something vital and new and change you, meaningfully, just by playing them! Somehow these ideas seem linked. Changing yourself is not an old man’s game.

   Pathologic 3 therefore seems – only to me, you understand – to have the psychic resonance of Dark Souls 3 – which I just recently finished (smugly pats self on back); that is, a sense of finality; the ‘you can’t go home again’ feeling. There was nothing technically wrong about the game, it was just a comfortable retread, a diminshing circle.

   This is not the fault of Icepick Lodge – I didn’t play Pathologic 2! I’m being profoundly unfair! – more an observation that I don’t know how you’re supposed keep life from circumscribing certain idealisms.

   (I guess maybe you do it by actually playing games.)

7. Decarnation looks gorgeous and fascinating but some of the user reviews have me concerned about some frustrating mini-games! It reminds me of Octopus City Blues which I saw last year some time. It too looks gorgeous and fascinating (I particularly love the colour scheme).

   https://store.steampowered.com/app/1192230/Octopus_City_Blues/

   I’m really curious about Sorry We’re Closed and wonder when I’ll be able to fit that in! I adore the visual style of it.

   Asylum looks like that old Scratches game that I saw a lot of over at Adventure Gamers. I never played any of those fixed position/panoramic camera-style games but was always curious.

   If BURGGEIST is anything like Timemelters then I’m in! That was one of my favourite games last year and it also flew under everyone’s radar. A proper thinky/puzzley strategy game with mindbending time manipulation involving layering up past versions of yourself (similar to Isochronous and Chronobots). I may have to pick up BURGGEIST, it looks so unusual and confident. 100% positive reviews so far too, out of 76!

   “Maybe it’s time I played Pathologic?”

   Hahah, yeah, me too!

   I was not prepared for how grey Metal Garden is! The gunplay seems bit anaemic but I dig the mood and architecture. Reminds me a bit of Babbdi and Straftat.

   Wow, CARIMARA looks brilliant, and I’m intrigued by Wirelight and Wednesdays too.

8. Apparently Orion’s End is already on my wishlist. I just wish they’ll provide font options for the UI, I hate reading pixelart fonts (and all-caps at that..)

   Several of your links are still borked: Campfire Burning on Bluesky, Badger Commander’s review, Dominic Tarason says, Pathologic 3: Quarantine

9. Quickly: I’ve fixed all the links I think. The reason this happened is that I’ve used a different approach to make Crashbook where virtually all the content is in a spreadsheet and smart quotes screwed up all the manually created links. I’ll put some code in to strip these out if this happens again…

10. vfig, CA: Aw yes. I want MOAR, MOAR discussion of Pathologic 3 by Pathologic fans. Even if you haven’t played it! Like, what radical gameplay changes? I have gotten the impression that Pathologic 1 is a game made out of struggling for every tiny bit of progress, which is an absolutely amazing experience if you can devote your life to something that painful which (as CA alludes to) we can’t anymore, and that Pathologic 2 is “ah they remade Pathologic in a way that fixes the flaws that were flaws and kept everything good about it and GAHHH THEY RAN OUT OF MONEY ONE-THIRD OF THE WAY THROUGH.” And that I will be experiencing these all vicariously at best because of no Mac port. Though as I may have mentioned, I played Knock Knock a bit and was totally confused before it fell victim to time and then the great 32-bit purge.

    vfig: Lingo 2? Honestly I cannot tell what genre it is.

    zazaza: Orion’s End looks lovely and I like the idea of “tootle around in space and you can plot your own path” though I think I have a game or two like that in stasis. One thing that might be concerning is the thousands of minigames thing; as we talked about in a discussion post a bit ago, Kitchen Sink gameplay is tough because the different parts kind of all have to be good, or mostly. Though it sounds like the dev’s aesthetic is to make them not too hard and not too mandatory so you can focus on the ones you like, which sounds peachy.

    Gregg: Apparently ASYLUM is Scratches! or “The scratches dev returns after all these years with this game.” I never heard of it before. I feel not really in the mood for any point-and-clicks right now, if I want one I can pick up one of those kentuck’-em-ups I don’t finish, though could be persuaded.
    Speaking of point and clicks and “that dev again,” I found The Trip (by the CARIMARA guy) intriguing but–having cheated on the puzzle–I think the interaction mechanisms were opaque. Like I put the clues together but did not see how to get to the solution in a way that I didn’t think was my fault. OTOH the CARIMARA mechanism of “find cards, use cards as conversation topics” looks like it should be very clear! Also ISTM that this is like Inscryption only insofar as “cards,” I’m tempted to bring up Signs of the Sojourner since that’s “conversation cards” but really it looks like the cards are just a way of representing conversation topics as inventory objects. Which is fine.

    Totally off topic: for some godforsaken reason I started Quadrant again today and on my second try I finished the first level again! with a D grade! maybe the tensest I’ve ever been playing a game. Someday will talk rhythm games.

11. I read through the discussion I just linked and want to do some updates:

    I reached an ending for Can of Wormholes at 72%. I feel bad about being so ranty. The dev got in touch with me to ask about the issues I had and for suggestions for the next update and was very nice about it. My suggestions were mostly “pleeeeease add a hint mechanism to the overworld.” However… I am still discontented with the overworld. And also kind of confused about how to even access the rest of the content (I have two unsolved levels in what I can reach fwiw). It is a good puzzle game though, just seems like it might be a good idea to play it when you know that there’s someone you can ask about overworld stuff who will be helpful. I ran into the wrong person on the Thinky Games discord.

    The main other reaction I had to that thread is that thinking about Jack Lance makes me sad.

    I also started Tunic which Kat was talking about! did not play very far in though. Always theoretically intrigued by a Soulslike but intimidated by action combat too, plus if I really want one I should probably git gud at Hollow Knight. Which means what would really float my boat is… a tiny turn-based tactical soulslike! boom this was on topic the whole time (of course, no mac port).

12. matt w: many paragraphs for you, happy birthday!

    okay lingo 2 first, even though you summoned me, that was presumably by accident, since i dont speak the lingo—er, didnt mention lingo. BUT its genre is first person, walk around a space, solving puzzles placed around that space in your own time. is that a genre? and the puzzles are all word puzzles of some variety or other. (i havent played it myself, but have watched friends streaming it, and chimed in with solution ideas here and there).

    also, your apparent discussion link is all nice and link-coloured but doesnt actually link anywhere.

    also, jack lance: yes, an enormous loss.

    pathologic 2: the result isnt really what is implied by “AHHH THEY RAN OUT OF MONEY ONE-THIRD OF THE WAY THROUGH” — pathologic 2 is a large and entirely complete game in and of itself. yes, the original pathologic had three playable characters, each with their own entirely unique story taking place within the same twelve days (but assuredly not the exact same series of events), and pathologic 2 only has the one playable character. but that only means original pathologic was three entire games jammed into one small box.

    still pathologic 2: as you allude to CA’s comment, i will also. (noting also that pathologic 2 is significantly shorter, in a typical playthrough, than dark souls 3)—yes: you cant go back again, only forward. which is what P2 does. it is not in the least a nostalgic remake (and indeed, if you are a pathologic veteran starting P2 thinking you know how everything works, it has bigger traps for you than for new players). the fact that your primary opponent is Time and its relentless passing certainly resonates more strongly with me now approaching my mid-40s than it would have twenty years ago. i still urge you to play it, or at least give it a try: the first three days (25%!) of the game are not difficult (although perhaps bewildering if you are unfamiliar with the setting). maybe it will grab you like it did me. or failing that, maybe watch someone else play it? i can recommend SulMatul’s series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLO6dQRhxbNE_QA5eAjRwoyOJrwPUqryv4

    pathologic 3: the radical gameplay changes i refer to are: you are no longer inhabiting a single viewpoint, in linear time, through a series of twelve consecutive days. you are no longer having to constantly scrounge for your next scraps of food or dig through rubbish bins for oddments to trade for it. and the story is not even taking place solely in the Town, during those twelve days: Quarantine has sequences taking place in the Capital, before Bachelor Dankovsky begins his journey, and the full game is supposed to have even more of that backstory—only relayed in fragments in a few letters in the original pathologic—fleshed out as playable sequences. i dont yet know what i feel about these changes (beyond anticipatory trepidation), but they run deep enough that i might argue that P3 will be a game in a different genre than P1 or P2.

13. Oh no! Let’s see if this link to the previous discussion about kitchen sink et al. works.

    lingo; I was trying to win the seven points by guessing which game you’d played the demo of. Apparently I was wrong! Your description of Lingo’s genre sounds like The Witness, though I guess there’s the question of “are the puzzles nicely set out in discrete puzzle bits like The Witness or hidden in the environment also like The Witness,” but really there the proof is in the particular puzzles which is a good thing because, I feel like I sometimes kind of tiptoe around in deference of its importance to Joel, I absolutely hate The Witness. Part of this is the 3-d environment, I’m easily disoriented so navigating probably takes more time than it’s supposed to, but the killer was after wandering off from a puzzle sequence and laboriously finding my way back, I realized that I did not find the puzzles at all compelling and did not want to think about them. But I like word puzzles!

    Pathologic: Oh that does sound kind of like I expected, that the change from the first two games was that you don’t scrounge for your next scraps of food. And, er, everything else I guess. It might be something worth checking out but I use a Mac laptop and the Pathologics don’t run on Mac. (Same deal with Lingo and many other games.)

14. matt w: in which case you will probably not enjoy lingo purely from a navigation perspective. most of the rooms and hallways are squarish, pretty featureless, and samey. you can open a map, but it is terribly hard to read, and made near-useless anyway because the game has many Antichamber-like nonlinear connections (and, so far as i could tell, just because it could, not for any particular gameplay reason—though i did not see the whole game so might be wrong about that). navigating in the witness is a cakewalk in comparison—although lingos world is a lot smaller, for what thats worth.

    as for the puzzles, theyre all of a similar form: you walk up to a cube with a word or short phrase written on it, and underneath an indication of the number of letters in its solution. you can click on the cube and type in what your answer, and if youre right that puzzle is marked as done. figuring out how to get to the answer is the real puzzle, and you might use contextual clues or a nearby example prompt/answer to determine that. in that aspect of having to deduce the rules at play, lingo is definitely witness-like.