Games Finished in 2020 Part 1:

001: 3rd Eye (サードアイ) (3rd Eye Project) (2019) (WIN)
002: Alone in the Dark (Fan Remake) (SPM) (1992, 2019) (WIN)
003: BioShock 2 (2K Marin) (2010) (WIN)
004: Cinema Rosa, The (Atreyu Games) (2019) (WIN)
005: Dead Rising 2: Off the Record (Capcom Vancouver) (2011) (WIN)
006: Eerie Inn, The (VDimension) (2018) (WIN)
007: Fan, The (Ezhaac Studio) (2017) (WIN)
008: Ghost Station (Jap) (Izayato) (2019) (WIN)
009: Hope Lake (Far Mills Game Studio) (2016) (WIN)
010: Inner Friend, The (Playmind) (2018) (WIN)
011: Jen's Adventure (Gerald Adamson, Travis Huff) (2019) (WIN)
012: Kowloon's Curse: Prologue (Triumph) (2019) (WIN)
013: Lonepath (Bogdan Zigmund) (2019) (WIN)
014: Mirrors (ミラーズ) (Jap) (Soft Studio Wing) (1990) (FMT)
015: Nightruth: Explanation of the Paranormal – Door of Darkness (ナイトゥルース 闇の扉 (Nightruth: Yami no Tobira)) (Jap) (Sonnet Computer Entertainment) (1996) (PS1)
016: Onlooker (Team Bellboy) (2019) (WIN)
017: Paranormal HK (港詭實錄 (Gong2 Gwai2 Sat6 Luk6)) (Ghost Pie Studio) (2020) (WIN)
018: Quiet (静か (Shizuka)) (Zeny Game Studios) (2019) (WIN)
019: Russian Horror Story (Страшная Русская история (Strashnaya Russkaya istoriya)) (Footmade) (2015) (WIN)
020: School Ghost Stories (学校の怪談 (Gakkou no Kaidan)) (Jap) (Japan Media Programming) (1995) (SAT)
021: Tanggal (Isip Games) (2018) (WIN)
022: Unforgiving: A Northern Hymn (Angry Demon Studio) (2017) (WIN)
023: Victorian Fear Chapter 1: The Arrival (PixelGaiden) (2016) (WIN)
024: Welcome Home (おかえり(Okaeri)) (Chilla's Art) (2019) (WIN)
025: X-Files, The: Deep State – Season 1 (Creative Mobile) (2018) (AND)
026: YLD: Your Last Day (Alexandre Guillot) (2017) (WIN)
027: Zombie Train Beyond Earth (Oddjumper) (2016) (WIN)
028: Sanctuary (Connor Sherlock) (2013) (WIN)
029: Marginalia (Remake) (Connor Sherlock) (2014, 2017) (WIN)
030: Shiver 02: Poltergeist CE (Artogon Games) (2012) (WIN)
031: Wolfenstein 3D (Id Software) (1992) (DOS)
032: BioShock 2 DLC: Minerva’s Den (2K Marin) (2010) (WIN)
033: Vampire Panic (ヴァンパイアパニック) (Jap) (Alfa System) (2004) (PS2)
034: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Sacrifice (Beast Studios) (2009) (NDS)
035: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Quest for Oz (Indiagames) (2004) (J2ME)
036: Terror's Seed (Zed) (2008) (J2ME)
037: Hunt the Wumpus (Remake) (Gregory Yob) (1972, 1981) (TI99)
038: Jumping Ghost (Ralph Rudzki) (1992) (AST)
039: Brain Dead 13 (ReadySoft) (1995) (DOS)
040: Scary School Rumors: Here Comes Hanako!! (学校のコワイうわさ 花子さんがきた!! (Gakkou no Kowai Uwasa: Hanako-san ga Kita!!)) (Jap) (Amuse) (1995) (3DO)
041: Killing Time (Studio 3DO) (1995) (3DO)
042: Demon Resurrection (魔界復活 (Makai Fukkatsu)) (Jap) (Soft Studio Wing) (1987) (X1)
043: Evolution Japan Doll of Grudge (日本人形 育成 (Nihon Ningyou: Ikusei)) (Jap) (ESC-APE) (2015) (AND)
044: Evolution Straw Doll of Grudge (呪いの藁人形 (Noroi no Wara Ningyou)) (Jap) (ESC-APE) (2015) (AND)
045: Araya (MAD Virtual Reality Studio) (2016) (WIN)
046: Ghostscape 1 (Psionic Games) (2008) (Linux)
047: Ghostscape 2: The Cabin (Psionic Games) (2009) (Linux)
048: Dracula Island (Phillip A. Gibbs) (1983) (ELEC)
049: Dracula Castle Escape (脱出ドラキュラ城 (Dasshutsu Dracula Jou)) (Jap) (ESC-APE) (2015) (AND)
050: Ghost Manor Escape (妖怪屋敷 -からの脱出- (Youkai Yashiki: Kara no Dasshutsu)) (Jap) (ESC-APE) (2014) (AND)
051: Shadows of the Damned (シャドウ オブ ザ ダムド) (Grasshopper Manufacture) (2011) (PS3)
052: Agartha (Prototype) (No Cliché) (2000) (DC)
053: Mystic Nights (미스틱나이츠) (Kor) (N-Log Soft) (2005) (PS2)
054: Wolfenstein 3D Expansion: The Nocturnal Missions (Id Software) (1992) (DOS)
055: Zaphie 2: Resurrection (제피 2) (Kor) (MiraSpace Entertainment) (2002) (WIN)
056: Dreadful Tales 01: The Space Between CE (Eipix Entertainment) (2019) (WIN)
057: Stop (止まれ (Tomare)) (Jap) (Capsule+) (2019) (AND)
058: Dark Arms: Beast Buster 1999 (ビーストバスター 〜闇の生体兵器〜 (Beast Buster: Yami no Seitai Heiki)) (Noise Factory) (1999) (NGPC)
059: Became Kappa (俺はこうして河童になった (Ore wa Koushite Kappa ni Natta)) (Jap) (Capsule+) (2015) (AND)
060: Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (Rebellion Developments) (2007) (PSP)
061: Alien vs. Predator (Superscape) (2004) (J2ME)
062: Ghost Story (鬼) (Ozura Mobile) (2006) (J2ME)
063: Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (Superscape) (2007) (J2ME)
064: Blood+ (Javaground) (2009) (J2ME)
065: Creeping Terror (クリーピング・テラー) (Mebius, Nikkatsu) (2017) (3DS)
066: Gregory Horror Show: Soul Collector (グレゴリーホラーショー ソウルコレクター) (Capcom) (2003) (PS2)
067: Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D (バイオハザード ザ・マーセナリーズ 3D) (Capcom, Tose) (2011) (3DS)
068: Fear, The (ザ・フィアー) (Jap) (Digital Frontier) (2001) (PS2)
069: Thrill at Rain Castle (Gys På Regneslottet) (Dan) (Compmedia) (1994) (WIN3)
070: Prince: Ghost Hunt at Foggy Castle (Prince: Spøgelsesjagten På Tågernes Slot) (Dan) (Ultimatum) (1999) (WIN)
071: 9 Doors (Alec Smith) (2007) (Linux)
072: Ambridge Mansion, The: Day 1 (Jim Gray) (2005) (Linux)
073: Ambridge Mansion, The: Day 2 (Jim Gray) (2006) (Linux)
074: Aliens TC (Doom 1 Mod) (Justin Fisher) (1994) (DOS)
075: Factory of Fear (Bat Company) (2005) (Linux)
076: Haunted House (Armegalo) (2002) (Linux)
077: Dracula: The Days of Gore (Wolfgroup) (2006) (WIN)
078: Devil Inside, The (Gamesquad) (2000) (WIN)
079: Gee Whiz! Mystery Club: Gruesome Castle (Gee Whiz! Entertainment) (1998) (WIN)
080: Stigmatized Property (事故物件 (Jiko Bukken)) (Chilla's Art) (2019) (WIN)
081: Paranormal (Matt Cohen) (2012) (WIN)
082: Sacrificium (AssJoe) (2009) (WIN)
083: Moonlight Syndrome (ムーンライトシンドローム) (Jap) (Human Entertainment) (1997) (PS1)
084: Van Helsing (Saffire) (2004) (GBA)
085: Haunted Mansion (3DBBQ) (2002) (WIN)
086: Dreadful Tales 02: The Fire Within CE (Eipix Entertainment) (2019) (WIN)
087: Convenience Store, The (夜勤事件 (Yakin Jiken)) (Chilla's Art) (2020) (WIN)
088: Night Walker: Midnight Detective (ナイトウォーカー 真夜中の探偵 (Night Walker: Mayonaka no Tantei)) (Jap) (Tomboy) (1993) (PC98)
089: Horns of Fear (Pixoala) (2018) (WIN)
090: Shadow House: Haunting 1 – The Gathering (Scholastic) (2016) (AND)
091: Shadow House: Haunting 2 – You Can’t Hide (Scholastic) (2016) (AND)
092: Shadow House: Haunting 3 – No Way Out (Scholastic) (2017) (AND)
093: Shadow House: Haunting 4 – The Missing (Scholastic) (2018) (AND)
094: Rhome (SMU Guildhall) (2020) (WIN)
095: Transylvania (BeGamer-com) (2011) (Linux)
096: Close Up Horror (Goda Game) (2015) (AND)
097: Nightfall: Escape (7 Seals, Zeenoh) (2016) (WIN)
098: Creepy Tale (Deqaf Studio) (2020) (WIN)
099: Cat and Ghostly Road (BOV) (2020) (WIN)
100: Crimson Sin (Scott Jund) (2012) (WIN)
101: Darq DLC: The Tower (Unfold Games) (2020) (WIN)
102: Quest, The (Remaster) (Redshift) (2006, 2015) (WIN)
103: Quest, The DLC: Islands of Ice and Fire (Redshift) (2016) (WIN)
104: Terrordrome 1: Rise of the Boogeymen (Huracan Studio) (2015) (WIN)
105: Leaves 1: The Journey (Zar21) (2017) (WIN)
106: Oculto (Eteru Studio) (2019) (WIN)
107: Shiver 03: Moonlit Grove CE (Artogon Games) (2013) (WIN)
108: Horrorscope, The (Randumb Studios) (2020) (WIN)
109: Azurael's Circle: Chapter 3 (Enkian Games) (2018) (WIN)
110: Azurael's Circle: Chapter 4 (Enkian Games) (2019) (WIN)
111: Doom 2 Expansion: Evilution (Team TNT) (1996) (DOS)
112: Phantasmat 13: Remains of Buried Memories CE (Eipix Entertainment) (2019) (WIN)
113: Echo (Ultra Ultra) (2017) (WIN)
114: Doom 64 (Midway Games) (1997) (WIN)
115: Doom 64 Expansion: The Lost Levels (Nightdive Studios) (2020) (WIN)
116: Halloween Chronicles 01: Monsters Among Us CE (Domini Games) (2018) (WIN)
117: Yearning (思慕 (Shibo)) (Nyan_Fort) (2018) (WIN)
118: Half-Life 1 Expansion 1: Opposing Force (Gearbox Software) (1999) (WIN)
119: Half-Life 1 Expansion 2: Blue Shift (Gearbox Software) (2001) (WIN)
120: Doom 2 Expansion: The Plutonia Experiment (Dario and Milo Casali) (1996) (DOS)
121: Test 1, The (Randumb Studios) (2020) (WIN)
122: Test 2, The: Hypothesis Rising (Randumb Studios) (2020) (WIN)
123: Elvira: The Arcade Game (Flair Software) (1991) (AMI)
124: Don't Shit Your Pants: A Survival Horror Game (Teddy and Kenny Lee) (2009) (WIN)
125: Cursed Video (呪いのビデオ (Noroi no Video)) (Jap) (ESC-APE) (2015) (AND)
126: Hotel Anatolia (Elven Workshop) (2017) (WIN)
127: Haunting Mysteries: The Island of Lost Souls CE (Fuzzy Bug Interactive) (2012) (WIN)
128: Dusk (David Szymanski) (2018) (WIN)
129: Darkest Woods 1, The (Team Support) (2015) (WIN)
130: Darkest Woods 2, The (Team Support) (2018) (WIN)
131: Redemption Cemetery 01: Curse of the Raven CE (ERS Game Studios) (2010) (WIN)
132: Putlestory (ピュートルストーリー) (Jap) (Mangosteen) (1996) (WIN)
133: Xanagrams (Dean Software) (1983) (ELE)
134: Fedora Spade Case 1: Prologue (Radical Poesis Games) (2007) (WIN)
135: Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Hitchcock Challenge (ヒッチコックに挑戦 (Hitchcock ni Chousen)) (Jap) (Toyota) (1993) (3DO)
136: Midnight Mysteries 03: Devil on the Mississippi CE (MumboJumbo) (2011) (WIN)
137: Cold Case Files DLC: Bonus Case (Gunnar Games) (2004) (WIN)
138: Van Helsing (Saffire) (2004) (PS2)
139: Darkness: Episode 1 (Lut!) (2005) (WIN)
140: Darkness: Episode 2 (Lut!) (2006) (WIN)
141: Darkness: Episode 3 (Lut!) (2008) (WIN)
142: Dark Tales 17: Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Bells' CE (AMAX Interactive) (2020) (WIN)
143: Blade 2 (Mucky Foot Productions) (2002) (PS2)
144: Scary Photographs (コワイシャシン 〜心霊写真奇譚〜 (Kowai Shashin: Shinrei Shashin Kitan)) (Jap) (Media Entertainment) (2002) (PS1)

Games Finished in 2020 Part 2

Game #17: Paranormal HK (港詭實錄 (Gong2 Gwai2 Sat6 Luk6)) (Ghost Pie Studio) (2020) (WIN)

This is a just released Asian survival horror game that takes place in Kowloon, involving a cursed camera and, as is the custom, creepy Asian girls who want to murder you. My type of game.

Gameplay isn’t combat oriented and has similarity to games like Home Sweet Home with, perhaps, a sprinkling of Outlast. For the most part you run, sneak, hide or die. It also has its share of puzzle solving, but nothing overly taxing.

It is important to note that I have a strong aversion to games with ridiculously slow walking speeds, a horrible trend that caters to gamers who can’t handle the speed with their “controllers”. Back in my day, we ran about 60mph in armor, carrying a half dozen weapons and enough ammo to massacre everyone in a Walmart on Black Friday in our games.

As I simply can’t stand the granny with a walker speed of modern games, I used cheat engine to speedhack the game to twice its normal speed. This results not only in me walking/running twice as fast, but the enemies doing so as well. This makes the game more intense and probably more difficult as there is less time to react to anything that happens. As such, my experience may have been a little different from those who play at normal speed.

My computer is also really old and my framerate rarely went higher than 20fps, and was pegging as low as 10fps on occasion. Somehow, this wasn’t nearly as unplayable as it sounds. I‘ve played games with higher fps that felt a lot worse.

The one part of the game I hated involved driving a car. The controls were absolutely horrific and you are under time pressure. I had to replay that section quite a few times. It’s possible that speedhacking and/or low fps made this worse than it was supposed to be though.

Overall, I enjoyed this game. Once you figured out what was expected of you, it wasn’t too difficult.

Games Completed in 2020.

Pillars of Eternity (XB1X)

The complete edition, so that includes all the White Marches expansions. I had the option of playing it on my PC without DLC or playing it via Game Pass on Xbox with all DLC, I chose the latter. The difference from PC to console is the interface, it is cleaner on console in general play- but PC obviously has an advantage for ease of inventory management. But I soon got used to the console interface just fine. I basically completionist this one with DLC, in just over 110 hours.

The game absolutely brings back the sense of exploration of the infinity games. That addictive feeling of working around each map, uncovering the black fog of war, like mowing the grass in your back yard. The story starts slow and eventually becomes quite interesting- it becomes a bit of a Dan Brown style religious conspiracy. The characters that join you vary from dull to excellent. Unfortunately the best character is the last one most people will meet- halfway through the White Marches DLC. Devil of Caroc is the soul of a psychotic serial murderer placed into a golems body...and she's as funny as that sounds. I have to admit to a liking for the more unhinged characters in party based games. People that loved HK-47 in KOTOR will love Devil of Caroc, it's just a shame you meet her relatively late in the game.

The game had some annoyances for me though, which drag it down from true greatness. First of course are those vanity NPC's. It's only a minor annoyance, but I'd rather they weren't there just the same.

More important was the combat. It wasn't really a systemic problem, but more to do with encounter design. The party view distance is really short- seriously...these elite adventurers can only see about 20 metres around them! Your party moves like they are wading through treacle, yet all the enemies (including other humanoids) move like they are dosed up on sugar and caffeine- they close the distance to you in a few seconds flat once sighted. Then add to that the games system of locking characters into engagements where you cannot move without taking lots of damage. All the above results in every combat pretty much playing the same: see the enemy, enemy bum rushes and locks all your characters into engagements which are difficult to break. The enemy also has the knack of being able to squeeze past all your front characters and pinning your back ones, yet your own party get stuck behind each other. What all that means is, what should be a very tactical and mobile encounter system always bogs down into a static slug fest with little mobility. Very unlike the old infinity games really. It also makes the old tactic of equipping everyone with ranged weapons to pelt incoming enemies doesn't work well because they close so fast. In the end, apart from the cranky Priest, I went with all melee characters and simply didn't worry about casters. Surprisingly it all works in the end, not because it's a great system but because most combats are relatively easy...until they are not. The game has a few difficulty spikes that come out of nowhere as well.

I also wasn't blown away by the equipment progression. I rarely felt that wow factor when finding anything new.

So okay, it sounds like I didn't like the game, but actually it was still fun and I don't regret playing it. It has that old style exploration and mystery. But the game isn't the equal of the old infinity games. I'd also say that Obsidians own Tyranny is better as well, not to mention other titles in recent times like Divinity Original Sin. But I'm still looking forward to Pillars 2 just the same, especially as I think the turn based option should help return some of the tactical feel to the combat- I hope so anyway.

I haven't played the Kiwami games yet, but I find with Yakuza that it's good to take a while between installments. If you play the games on top of each other, it'll feel like you're just playing the same thing endlessly, but if you give it a year or so between games, the sameness becomes oddly refreshing. Like the video game equivalent of not wanting to live some place but really enjoying your vacations there.

----

I finished Jill of the Jungle over a couple of days. It's a pretty basic DOS platformer. It's very easy - infinite lives helps - and it feels like Tim Sweeney was just throwing ideas into a game without having the experience to really pay any of them off into something exceptional. You occasionally transform into animals, but it feels more like a gimmick or a change of pace rather than a well-developed play mechanic. In episode 3, you get a Mario World-like world map to walk across to go the next levels. Does it really affect the game at all, make you think or add new challenges? No, it's just something that's kind of cool, like Mario 3, right? But like I said, it's a very short, breezy game that can be finished in a single day if you're really inclined to do so. Something good to play while on vacation like I was.

Game #18: Quiet (静か (Shizuka)) (Zeny Game Studios) (2019) (WIN)

I needed a game that started with a Q and was horror themed as part of my “2020 Abecedarian Horror Game Challenge”, which requires that I play a horror themed game for every letter of the alphabet (+ #s), and as I have already played Quake, The Quivering and Quest for Glory 4, I had to hit the indie scene to find something to fill the gap and this is what I found.

It’s a short adventure game in the RPG Maker style made for a J-Horror game jam. It’s a little buggy (you can clip through walls and get stuck in spots), but considering the time constraints it’s understandable I guess.

Walking in this game is so extremely slow that I speed-hacked it to 5x normal. The story and puzzles were decent for a game that was so short.

Game #19: Russian Horror Story (Страшная Русская история (Strashnaya Russkaya istoriya)) (Footmade) (2015) (WIN)

This is a short visual novel made with Ren’Py. It probably has one of the worst English translations I have ever encountered and the result is unintentionally quite hilarious. It was so bad that I couldn’t help but read it with a bad Russian accent. I’m still trying to figure out exactly what a “horse cock of tea” is.

The story is about a problem with noisy neighbors that quickly goes in a bad direction. I got the Cannibal “tailpiece” as it was called on my first play-through. Not a bad ending. Or, at least, the type of ending that I like to get. I certainly wouldn't recommend anyone play this game though.

Games Completed in 2020

My Friend Pedro (XB1X)

I accidentally downloaded this when browsing new Game Pass games. Since it was there I started it up to see what it was. Then I basically played it straight through for 6 hours until finished. Excellent 2D action shooter/platformer that isn't pixel art for a change- how refreshing! Actually the art design is great, as is the gameplay, it feels like a cross between Max Payne and Not a Hero. There are 40 levels across multiple chapters that each introduce a new theme and mechanic.The difficulty is just about right for a quick playing game like this and it is also a score chaser game like DMC, so there is reason to replay if leader boards are you thing. But I'm happy with just playing through once for the experience. It's on GOG, Switch and Xbox (including Game Pass).

Death Stranding (PS4)

Some people have described this as art and not a game, it is definitely a game. The best way to describe this game would be a combination of Firewatch and Euro Truck Simulator, you spend the game delivering packages between multiple settlements in a post-apocalyptic America. The terrain is rough, rocky with no clear roads or paths (At first), leaving you to traverse multiple environments including: Volcanic boulder fields, marshy floodplains and snowy mountains. But it's not all beautiful exploration, there are terrorists out there who will shoot you on sight, stormy weather that can make you unconscious and invisible ghosts who can drown you in tar. The game has elements of a third person shooter, you use stealth a lot, you can shoot people with RPG's and there are boss fights as well. It's also a game about making connections, although you almost never see any friendly npc's out in the wilderness, you and other players can assist each other by building bridges, placing ladders or constructing shelters to make your journey easier.

The story is very Kojima, by which I mean many long cutscenes, depending on your opinion of when the game has actually finished, the final scenes take about 2 hours to go through, they even roll the credits twice (For some reason!?!), the game has a star cast and the story has underlying themes about death, family and building relationships. The game is not difficult, even on hard, and the thing that will most likely kill you is gravity, either through misjudging a jump or failing to grab a ladder properly, my favourite boss fight was one where you fight with punches, counters and throwing packages at them (I managed to finish them off by throwing a PlayStation at them). The music is fairly good, but I'm slightly annoyed they opted not to give the character a portable music player, music only plays through story progression and can only be listened to again while resting in shelters, meaning exploration is mostly quiet.

The game was strangely addictive, I was tempted to 100% it and got close, however one of the achievements requires doing 80 perfect deliveries on hard, and this was after I'd spent many many hours doing all my deliveries on normal and I just couldn't go through it a 2nd time. I was lucky to get the best ending my first time round, which is based on actions you do during a certain scene, after which the game spends 2 hours filling in all the plotholes, and any it missed is solved by unlockable interviews post game. It is a unique experience, but because it's an 'artistic' game, that's code for "This game won't drop in price much over time", it means I'd only recommend it if you're willing to pay full price for an entirely new experience, if you didn't like the way the story was told in Metal Gear Solid, you probably won't enjoy it in this either. However I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I do not want to make a list and remember to post every time I finish a game and I also play a lot of games that do not have a proper finish or then it is a strategy game with a campaign that I never make it all the way through but keep playing skirmishes but occasionally I do finish some games.

Syberia (thanks GOG mass giveaway) from 2002. I am not really much into adventure games but with the help of a walk-through, that I look at if stuck for even a single minute, I play some once in a while and once in a blue moon I even finish one, like now.

The game was indeed very nice as most of the glowing reviews suggested and the puzzles only occasionally demanded light use of notes and never silly things like use a light bulb with a blender three times in a row to advance. The hand drawn backgrounds were much nicer than the kind of 3D graphics from 2002 were if made to run on the game consoles of the era so even if the mix of 3D and 2D was a bit jarring at times, it looked nice. The story reminded me of some TV series with the parallell stories of the hero's personal relationships back home and the story then and there. The end was hehehehe .... no spoilers. I like stories where the main characeter grows, like in here. Not being particularly good at these kinds of stories, I used four of five days to complete it.

The story captivated my mum too, who sat next to me for a lot of it, but she certainly has no patience for this kind of gameplay; (action all the way, please).

Just a quick note now that I have some temporary connection again, though not one I'd be comfortable using normally...
Yesterday finally finished the Kingmaker campaign in NWN Kingmaker. Started no later than start of Sep 2016, likely end of Aug 2016, right after finally finishing HotU (some 6 years after originally starting that one). With KM containing 3 campaigns, it's far from a finished expansion even, and just the end was played these days anyway, so not counting for now, no changes to my list post.

It tries to do some interesting things, there's a talking weapon again, and now you get to choose it and it levels with you, they also tried to make it matter when you choose your companions, there's a story that wants to have interesting elements and twists towards the end, even how you can fail and get killed by the weapon if you strike at keep citizens... Weapon levels seem bugged though, all upgrades were available from start for me (or was that because I imported high level char? may try with a level 1 one, but don't feel like it now - anyway, high level char started with his gear, but still at level 10, then dropped from there too and also stripped of gear after resurrection). And what really got me was the time limit, couldn't do everything. Would have been able to do more without the grinding though, but saw infinite respawns and I could level all the way on them so was stuck doing that instead of quests. Made the quests I did do easier, but... And then if you finish a quest but don't turn it in before you can no longer delay the vote, you can't turn in later, as in did one more of the Stan's and could still talk to him after the vote but not turn in, call that a bug. Also bug in how viewing angle gets stuck in cinematic one after cutscenes till you save and load. Money sure is tight though, saved up, only sold at the end to get the most and pay the least and still could just buy a few things, after all the reloads for best prices. So, frustrating in plenty of ways, but they did try.

Entry 2: Duke Nukem: World Tour(PC-Steam-Win 10)
(Work in progress[bug lists and such for other episodes to come soon enough]...only finished new episode and some of episode 1)
----------------------------------
(Full List In Post 21)
---------------------------------

I mainly got this game as I love Duke(all the games i've played have been very good or at least decent in many ways) & this promises/promised more of the same....with new levels by some of the original creators, more voice work by the same VA, and other nice extras. It was also cheap/on sale, so I decided to grab it now while I could. That said, some pros and cons & other assorted musings as I play(updated as I progress).

Pros

A new episode(it seems to be a new country for each level)...some of the areas are somewhat accurate for the locations they are supposed to be depicting.

Some more new/fine VA work(the new custom lines that is) by Jon St Jon(albeit the lines sometimes aren't as good as the older ones from the first episodes).

Some nice locations/set pieces in the levels.

There is some nice commentary in the steam version(dunno if one can access it in EDuke playthroughs), albeit not much of it(in the new episode, at least, from what i've played).

A cool ending picture/graphic, duke line.

Cons+Nitpicks

One cannot see a game time/time & date saved stamp on game saves OR give them custom names in the steam version(it is likely possible to do so if one ports it to EDuke, though).

This version doesn't have the expansions like other versions.

The levels seem to re-use some textures(like bookcases/some signs/etc) from the old episodes here and there.

The re-recorded default duke talk(like the various sounds duke makes) is meh compared to the original.....the newly re-recorded lines, while clearer, come off as less "macho" and more "wimpy"....also imo the gritty sounding nature of the original line recordings sounded better.

Some levels are smaller compared to the original episode's(non dukematch) levels.

They changed all the red crosses to pills(this is a nitpick....I know why they did it, I just don't agree with it)

No intro cutscene at the start of the new episode(another nitpick)

Nitpick: Some of the older levels(old episodes) have no commentary and other have a ton of it(usually the first levels of each episode and a few others).

Bugs(some spoilers)

General:

Bug/possible game mechanic: Sometimes the "rewind" feature(when one dies) doesn't work when using cheats, or if playing a session in which one used cheats

Big bug: The blue keycard panel in E1-L4(Toxic Dump) won't work if you "use" it directly...it seems to work from the angle shown in the (Now) attached pic below, though.

Episode 5 specific:

Level 1: The nuke symbol(end of level) is on a door and if one stands too close when "using" it it sometimes won't trigger....one should stand back a bit further and try again if that happens.

Big bug: The door switch to unlock the door in the rooms with the blue keycard(after getting past the lasers) in Level 6(Golden Carnage) of episode 5 will cause the door to stay locked if one unlocks the door then locks it again with the same switch, causing one to be stuck in that room.

Level 6: The 3 commentary triggers on the water transport and 1 trigger on/near the one submarine(USS Frisco, iirc) in Level 6(Golden Carnage) don't activate unless one is in the right spots and looking at them from the right angle when "using" them.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Overall i'd give it a 7/10(based mainly on the new episode)

Last Year (2019)

Current Play List
2D Action - Overhead/Isometric: Monaco
2D Action - Side: Deadlight: Director's Cut
2D Action - Side Force Scroll: Satazius
3D Action Adventure: Prince of Persia - Sands of Time
Adventure: SC2VN - The eSports Visual Novel
Fighting: Super ComboMan: Smash Edition
FPS: Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders - Episode One: City of the Damned
FPSRPG: Dead Space
Open World: Bully: Scholarship Edition
Puzzle: Hanono Puzzle
Racing: Super Toy Cars
RPG - 3D: The Witcher
RPG - Isometric: IceWind Dale
RPG - Japanese: Soul Blazer (SNES)
RPG - Turn Based: Geneforge
RPG - Other: The Eye of the Beholder
Sports: Shufflepuck Cantina Deluxe
Strategy - Grand Strat: Kingdom: Classic
Strategy - RTS: Sacrifice
Strategy - TBS: Attack of the Earthlings
Vehicle Combat: Steel Storm: Burning Retribution

Completed This Year

2020-04-12 CUPID - A Visual Novel
2020-06-01 Age of Empires Gold - First Punic War Campaign
2020-11-27 Admiral Sea Battles Campaign 1: Baptism of Fire
2020-12-31 Gateways

Pilot Brothers 3: Back Side of the Earth (2015) (Linux/Wine)

The third one is much longer (probably it's more gameplay here then in PB1 and PB2 together), more complex and the style of puzzles is slightly changed. Except from using items in more or less reasonable way, there are also some logic puzzles, which may be a bit challenging but also greatly satisfying if solved (climbing the Chinese Wall or jumping the floating trash). I really liked this one, however it was unavoidable for me to check walkthrough a few times. What I didn't like is repeating a long sequence of actions in case of some mistake in the process. In the last scenes of the game I was just afraid to use the brother in green coat, because of his tendency to get me in trouble ;)

The game works fine under Linux/Wine (I installed with Wine 5.00-RC3).

List of all games completed in 2020.

Kingdom Rush

Can finally put this one to bed. Looks are a bit deceiving with this one: what looks like a cheaply made flash game is actually an incredibly polished and well thought out tower defense game. Definitely one of the best I've seen in the genre.

Final Fantasy Revenant Wings, Jan 12 (DS)-This was an interesting spinoff game of the Final Fantasy series, with the characters from XII returning. It reminded me of a mobile tower defense type game which isn't a bad thing. It was more of a RTS than an RPG. It all felt a little clunky. Movement and targeting units was difficult on a small, cluttered screen with the stylus. I also felt there wasn't a whole lot of strategy, just get a big mob of units together and spam the enemy. Some of the endgame battles were a slog in true JRPG fashion. It wasn't bad but I was looking for something closer to Final Fantasy XII than Plants vs Zombies.

Full List

So far in this year, I've finished:

Raiden 3
MDK 1

(All of the above are their GOG releases).

MDK is hilarious. I can't believe I never got around to playing this game until now...