Monthly in a Month #44: The Puppet Edition

I took screenshots of the achievements for proof as my Game details are set to private,
but if it's not good enough I'll set Game details to public for you, just let me know.

Perhaps I'll be able to finish this time. Thank you for continuing to host this event, CJ.

1. Elex II
2. Ghostwire: Tokyo
3. In Other Waters
4. Remnant: From the Ashes
5. The Gunk
6. Unpacking

Two months? I'll try this time.

I'll give it a try again this time!

Edit: I likely won't make it this time.. got distracted by other games 😅

I still have games so i'm in again :)

1. Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones / Is it really over?
2. Edge Of Eternity / Hard Difficulty
3. Ghostwire: Tokyo / Conclusions
4. Metro Exodus / Hardcore
5. Just Cause 4 / A Scorpion's Tale
6. Disco Elysium

A great surprise with Disco Elysium <3

Gonna participate this time :D
Happy holidays, Cj, and thank you for the event!

/* time I spent to reach an ending, but I'll play more

My favorite this month: Not For Broadcast. I didn't expect it to be so monumental. 'Just right' combination of gameplay & story. Actors play brilliantly and grow up on you. And of course, not without Orwell's theme, so some stuff is pretty unsettling. Tons of content. I think of it as a pillar in the FMV field.
Most disappointing: Emily is Away <3. The worst in the series. Bummer
A bit of fun: Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus? It's a short FMV, nothing serious, but still enjoyable.
Timelie — solid HitmanGo-like puzzle. Plus who wouldn't like a puzzle with cats? DLC is much more challenging though, to the point it can become frustrating.

What condition do you want to see for Black Future '88 to count it as beaten? It's a Rougelite.

There are 4 regular bosses in the game and a final boss. I beat all 5 and got the IT'S ABOUT TIME achievement (completion rate of 6.8%, so not exactly a walk in the park). There's no credits sequence to mark the end. The game just dumps you back at the start after a short cutscene. I have close to 8 hours in the game which is well over the HLTB estimate. Is that good enough?

Last time I tried to join, I ran out of time and didnt finish. This time, I am hoping things go better. Trying to find games that I can finish in one to two sittings.
Ended up having it gifted to me, so I guess I'll see yall next month

My brief impressions (sorry for possible errors, I use the translator):
1) The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante
An unusual game reminded the gamebooks from my childhood.
In the game we live the life of one person from birth to death. An interesting decision was that in a certain part of the game it is necessary to make certain decisions so as not to get a "game over". In life, we also sometimes do not what we want, but what the situation requires. Unusual, in general, I liked it.
2) Greak: Memories of Azur
Calm (for the most part) platformer. You start playing for 1 character, further you can playing 3 different characters with different abilities (simultaneously!). I liked the visual style and puzzles in the game. Not bad.
3) Vampyr
Very good! The atmosphere of Victorian London during the epidemic and vampires - this must be felt. There are questions to the plot (which I have not received answers), but visually it is just excellent. Working with sound is just as good.
4) Ghostrunner
A controversial game (for me). On the one hand, an brilliant atmosphere/graphics/music, all this is really good. On the other hand, I did not like the gameplay at all. You need to be a very calm person to play this game, haha.
5) SCP: Secret Files
I was not closely familiar with the SCP universe, but I liked what I saw. The game consists of several different stories and most of them are good. One plot is a little knocked out, which is made in the form of an animated cartoon, it seemed to me too "cute". Not bad.
6) Quantum Break
For me, this is the most controversial game from the list. I played Remedy's games before (Alan Wake, Max Payne, Control). And how to say that, they had a little more...gameplay. In Quantum Break about 2/3 of the time you will watch the series (cutscenes or live action). I can’t say that the plot is bad, but, damn it, I want to participate in this, this is the same game! If I wanted to watch the series, I would turn on the series, not launch the game. I don’t know what to say, too controversial for me, 50/50.

1. Silence - Mirror mirror on the wall...
2. Five Dates - Only Thyme Will Tell
3. Juggler's Tale - Together we are not alone
4. The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes - There Is Always Hope
5. The Quarry - Epilogue
6. Ghostwire Tokyo - Conclusions

1&3 Chill adventure games that are just up my alley and I've been looking forward to playing them for a while. Got just what I expected, I had fun with both^^
2 Umm not for me probably? But decided to go for all achivs in case it would change my view on it (spoiler: it didn't), but it has interesting idea how to mess with people on first date.
4&5 I'm so bad at keeping everyone alive in these games, maybe I should consider easy difficulty so at least once everyone survives?
6 Loved it! Totally and absolutely! Gotta replay it for 100%.

View attached image.

Game | Monthly | Achievements | Status | Proof
Regions of Ruin | Jan 2019 | 20/20 | Completed | Screenshoots: Credits1, Credits2, World Map
Orwell | Oct 2017 | 27/27 | Completed | Achievement:"Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree"
Little Nightmares | Sep 2018 | 6/22 | Beaten | Achievement: "The Lady's Quarters""
Fluffy Horde | Dec 2019 | 3/4 | Beaten | Achievement: "Year Zero"
Metal Hellsinger | Mar 2021 | 28/28 | Completed | Achievement: "When She Falleth"
The Forgotten City | Sep 2023 | 40/40 | Completed | There are 4 endings, which also provide achievements for getting them |
In any case, I'm going for 100% in The Forgotten City, in case the canon ending counts as beating the game rather than the other 3 endings. Also, sorry for my poor looking table :P

Im quite late to the party but i would like to take part :)
Only 2 weeks left so i will try to find some smaller games to have a chance to complete them.
Thanks for the chance and have a nice weekend!

1 Doom Eternal - achievements

I really liked the combat. Player character is quite squishy, so you constantly have to move and use all of your weapons because ammo supply is quite limited. That produces a unique gameplay loop, one that some people will love and some will certainly hate. I'm with the former camp and I had more fun than with Doom 2016. Not the fan of the convoluted narrative though.

2 Senua: Hellblade Sacrifice - achievements

I played Senua before on a VR set for a few hours but didn't finish it. This time I did and I was impressed. Combat and puzzles are really simple, but the best thing was the story and how it was presented. Constant prattling of voices in Senua's head, her desperation (fantastic job by a voice actress) to reclaim what was lost and grim conclusion. Can't wait to play the second one later this year.

3 Quantum Break - achievements

I love Remedy's games and this was the one I somehow missed. It's probably one of their weaker games but still decent. Shooting stuff was quite satisfying as was using time related powers, by the end you really feel powerful. Somehow they managed to make even better combat system in Control. Some familiar faces in Shawn Ashmore Aidan Gillen, Lance Reddick (rip), Dom Monaghan and of course Courtney Hope. All of them are fantastic here.

4 Gunk - achievements

Small(er) game from the team that makes Steamworld games. Simple and relaxing platformer, game world is quite pretty so it's probably a good game to play with kids.

5 Yakuza Kiwami 2 - achievements

Better than Kiwami 1 and not as good as Yakuza 0. New game engine is mostly an improvement but I miss some things like switching fighting styles. There is less side content than in 0 (and cabaret minigame is copypasted from 0) thankfully Majima Construcion side activity was great and much better than Kiyru's real estate in earlier game. As for the story... once again, better than Kiwami 1 and not nearly as good as 0. Ryuji Goda was a good villain, but that's about it for memorable characters, while in 0 you had dozens of them. Still, I aim to play all of Yakuza games on PC, hopefully we will soon see 5 in humble choice :)

6 Roadwarden - achievements

Probably my favourite game of the lot and a great surprise. It's a text based fantasy adventure with role playing elements. You play as a titular roadwarden who is sent by a merchant company to a remote peninsula to pave the way for a full fledged colonization. I don't want to spoil anything, but let's just say it is superbly written and I wholeheartedly recommend it. I'll probably go back myself for a second playthrough.

1. 198X
2. Bee Simulator
3. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
4. Late Shift
5. Mafia: Definitive Edition
6. Yoku's Island Express