Monthly in a Month #21: The Mayhem Edition

Reply here once done.

I'll take a break this month, but here's a bump for the cool event!

Should I be attempting this challenge if I have a high chance of not being able to run the game?

I'm going to skip this month as well (the game is just not my cup of tea), but have a bump!

1. 198X
2. Black Mesa
3. Drake Hollow
4. Eliza - Credits
5. Grim Fandango Remastered
6. Hellpoint

Another attempt!

Atomicrops (Different years are increased difficulties, beat year 1 gives victory on leaderboard screen)
Framed collection
Ring of Pain
Swords and Soldiers 2 Shawarmageddon
Popup dungeon (Completed both of the campaigns (sweetwater/run home which are separate stories dnd style)
Fort triumph

Bump

I'm here as (almost) always. Cheers, everyone.

I was kind of thinking of not attempting this but screw it, I may as well try, gives me a new reason to play turnip boy and commit tax evasion

1. Size Matters - done
2. Fight'N Rage - done
3. Katana ZERO - done
4. Peaky Blinders: Mastermind - done
5. The Suicide of Rachel Foster - done
6. The Banner Saga 2 - done

1. Metal Unit Complete
2. Turnip boy commits tax evasion Complete
3. BPM: Bullets Per Minute Complete Unless you want me to complete it with all characters...

I'm already done! But after playing the games, I don't know if two of them qualify, so I'll ask:

1) Size Matters: I thought it would have a campaign but it doesn't; there are several difficulty levels and such, but they can be played in any order. There's an achievement for beating the game in every location, but I don't know if that counts. In any event, I got all the achievements and, more importantly, saw that the game was approved several times in past events, but maybe you haven't played the game and don't know how it works and that was a mistake. So please let me know.

2) BPM: Bullets Per Minute: The game is an unforgiving roguelike FPS in which you are supposed to follow the tempo of the music for everything: dodges, shooting, reloading. Same goes for the enemies. I've been a professional musician for almost 20 years... and this looked like the best thing ever to me. On paper, at least.

I've never bounced so hard off a game in my life. I couldn't even get past the very first rooms, as I couldn't do anything. The music and the visuals were so out of sync which each other that playing in time registered as being out of it. The more I played in time (counting out loud, for example) the worse it got. Perhaps it's my rig; perhaps the game isn't prepared for a system with less audio than video latency, I don't know. But my options were basically to play without sound or to deactivate the main reason I had for playing the game. I chose the later, and the game turned into a very repetitive and slow FPS with enemy attacks weirdly out of sync with the music.

But it doesn't end there. I don't know what they did with the graphics but the game is presented as if everything in a single stage has only variations of just one color. There is a stage where everything is red, a stage where everything is yellow, and so on. The problem is, I struggle to differentiate between colors at the best of times, and gradients are almost non existant to me. So this was like playing blindfolded. Or like having a semaphore light instead of a monitor. Good thing I kept the sound on!

Still, I persevered. And against all odds, I managed to finish a run. One single run. It took all the willpower I had and probably lots and lots of luck... especially considering that the first time I got past the second stage I beat the game. I did that, screamed, press ALT+F4 and uninstalled the game while still screaming at the screen. Perhaps one day they'll fix the issue with the sound and add some options for people with disabilities (or, to be fair, they already have and I didn't see them) and then maybe I'll give it another go. But for now, I don't want to even be near it. My apologies for the rant, but I wanted you to know that I put a lot of effort in beating the game before asking my question.

Anyways, I did finish the game, but maybe it doesn't count in this case I mean, a roguelite is supposed to be finished more than once, right? And that's not going to happen. So... does it count? Does it not?

Again, apologies for the rant to everyone reading this. And thank you so much for the event! Unlike BPM, I've enjoyed most of what I played all this past ones and without the event I may not have had the motivation to play them.

Wasn't planning to join this month but ended up winning a few games that I began playing so...

This month was...odd. Couldn't quite get into Snake Pass' controls and had an immensely frustrating graphical bug that made the game nigh on impossible to play normally.

First time participating, I always assumed I don't have many games that would fit since I have only bought one monthly ever (and already beaten the games I activated from it). Since the game this month was something interesting to me I took a look and turns out I have 80+ that fit... Good excuse to pplay a few.
Hopefully I manage to finish all games in time.

Saw your warning, so I figured I should be slightly early this time (plus there might be one gray area, but anyway...)

Street Fighter V (January 2020)

So this is the gray area. Since SFV launched in a rather unfinished state in February 2016, the full cinematic story mode was not added until July 2016 in the "A Shadow Falls" free DLC. There are no achievements added for this, but I do have screenshots showing 100% completion of all acts and of the credits on the story mode. I also beat the basic super-short "Character Story" for one character (Zangief, of course), which has its own achievement.
If you need to disqualify this and get an alternate game, I understand.

I wasn't originally planning on trying SFV for this, but I opened it for a promotion and the tutorial automatically played, subsequently foisting an achievement upon me. Games work in funny ways sometimes.

Capcom games are generally not known for deep or elaborate storylines, but the Street Fighter V "A Shadow Falls" campaign feels like a mismatch of cheesy dialogue and random SFV battles. While the game looks great in its natural habitat as a 2-D fighter, seeing the character models in cinematics exposes their inherent absurdity in ways that are not as apparent in the heat of a regular match. Still, the campaign is short enough that it doesn't become too much of a bother.

Penarium (February 2016)

Achievements - "Dramatic conclusion"

Despite its short length, Penarium was another game I briefly considered quitting on, but after a while I got the hang of it and even the late stages weren't as hard as their reputation suggested. Some of the controls could use a bit more reliability, especially the double jump, but overall I felt like the gameplay of quickly reacting to deadly obstacles in a controlled arena environment worked well. I do wish the music were a bit less repetitive. The small cutscenes we got were surprisingly compelling, although the ending was a bit abrupt.

Fight'N Rage (March 2019)

Achievement - "Child's Play"

I have played a fair amount of beat 'em ups in the arcade days, but I never really got good at them. With Fight'N Rage, I did feel like I was cruising along fine on normal mode until I got to the final area, which made me decide to take the L and unlock easy mode.

The gameplay is solid and I could definitely see this as an actual beat 'em up arcade machine somewhere in the late 1990s, were it not for the references to other media sprinkled generously throughout the storyline. It is surprising how many branching paths the game can take with the secret passages and decisions you make.

Youropa (November 2020)

Achievements - "Top of the world"

This game could feel irritating on my eyes with the zoomed camera angle and strong lighting effects, but I decided to come back and see it through. Some interesting gameplay is definitely here with the gravity mechanics and the emphasis on physics, but I did feel like using a guide often due to a lack of clear directions. I do wish I didn't have to kick so many dogs. 🐶

Roombo: First Blood (January 2019)

Achievements - "Christmas Miracle"

Roombo is a charming little game, which sounds odd for something that is so gory in its murder. The gameplay loop often reminded me of Hitman games and how hectic things can get when plans go wrong and enemies are chasing you. It might not be a formula that could hold up for extended periods of time, but I thoroughly enjoyed the ~30 minutes I did play.

Simulacra (April 2021)

Achievements - "A happy ending?"; spoiler warning for achievements

This was an interesting experience. I watched my friends play this on Twitch. While I was interested in seeing a different ending on my own time, I did not expect the game's eventual payoff to a promising start to feel any better. Maybe it's all the talk of the "metaverse" that is in our faces in 2021, or maybe the big reveal is a little more elaborate when getting the "best" ending, but this ended up leaving a much better impression on me than what I saw on Twitch in mid-2020. One core problem remains, which is how branching endings and major plot points can hinge on dialogue choices that do not feel that distinct from one another, necessitating the use of a guide to really explore everything in the game.