Leaving Lyndow
I'm already actively trying to play through Metroid: Zero Mission, with doses of Pullblox on the side; I started Indiana Jones and the Great Circle anyway because now it's on the free-with-Prime tier of Amazon's Luna and I'd been so excited to play it*; also thanks to Luna's recent refresh, there's now a bunch of other games available to me that I've really wanted to play and/or have heard are great, like Dave the Diver, Hogwarts Legacy, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, and Dishonored 2; I should definitely go back to Forza Horizon 4, Pilotwings Resort, Doom, and Balatro; I recently bought Dispatch at full price** on release day because I'd been looking forward to it and initial reactions suggest it's as good as hoped, so I definitely want to find time for that; a point-and-click adventure I've been very excited for ever since I backed it on Kickstarter three years ago*** is finally out tomorrow, and I wanted to finish Gray Matter before then so I could dive straight in (obviously not going to happen now); and I actually drafted this post to highlight the ridiculousness of the fact I decided to have a crack at Skyrim for the first time ever — a game with an average minimum completion time of almost 30 hours, but for which the median playtime is over 100...
But, instead, I bought Leaving Lyndow for 67p this evening and immediately played that. Huh?
Okay, a bit more context. I was recently looking into open world games, because for whatever reason I've had a hankering to play one (hence Skyrim), and learnt about a game called Eastshade that sounded like it might be perfect: you play an artist, there's no combat, you just explore and complete side quests and stuff like that; and it's supposed to be beautiful. Sounds right up my street! So I wishlisted it; then, yesterday, it went on sale on Steam, so I instantly bought it. I was also aware it had a prequel, Leaving Lyndow. Various games seem to have "prequels" or "prologues" nowadays, and from what I can tell they're just a glorified demo — the opening chunk of the game, available for free. I'm sure there's some algorithm-related reason why it's better to list them that way. Anyway, I ignored Lyndow on the assumption it was the same, but then something today (I've already forgotten what) led me to discover it was actually a separate-but-connected game. Well, that settled it: I had to play that first, really. Well, maybe I didn't have to, but when it's only 67p in the same sale and reportedly takes about 45 minutes, it seemed rude not to.
It actually took me an hour, because I'm me and so explored quite thoroughly. It's definitely a gentle and relaxing game, as advertised, but also with a bit of an emotional storyline about a young person leaving home for the first time. It's not long enough to really get into that and thus it doesn't hit home as much as a fully-developed narrative could, but it's serviceable.
It also looks fairly beautiful. It's made for wandering around and appreciating what you see, so it needs to look pleasant, really. There were a few bugs (a character fully clipped through a tree at one point), and it's got that thing where it looks amazing in screenshots / when you're stood still, but when you start moving around all the ways those things are achieved immediately become obvious — but then, in my (limited) experience, this is still a thing with most games. And, in fairness, it's also almost nine years old and was made by indie developers; so while it does lack graphical polish in minor areas that I suspect would lead graphics-obsessed AAA-game players to think it looked rubbish, to me — who's been out of this kind of gaming for a very long time and hasn't exactly dived in to the current high-end of graphical amazingness (yet) — it still looked pretty special. Eastshade proper was released two years later, so I hold out hope it had even greater polish, but even if it's at the same level, it has the potential to live up to its reputation for beauty.
* I nearly subscribed to Xbox Game Pass just to play this, so getting to have a go at it on a service I'm already subscribed to is awesome. (I say "have a go" because, knowing Luna, it'll get locked away behind Premium long before I get a chance to finish it (see: Dungeons of Hinterberg and Control).
** Well, I did get the 10% first-week discount; but that was the "full price" at the time, so…
*** It does not feel like it's been three whole years. Wow. That's ages to have been waiting. I mean, it's not uncommon for Kickstarters to end up taking a stupidly long time to fulfil — when I back them, I always take a "it will be here when it's here" attitude, because expecting them on time and sitting waiting for that is a recipe for madness — but I never would've guessed it had been so long.
Showing posts sorted by date for query Metroid: Zero Mission. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by date for query Metroid: Zero Mission. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Tuesday, 4 November 2025
Monday, 20 October 2025
Video Games
Metroid: Zero Mission
Used a guide to look up how to achieve a specific bit I was stuck on, then ended up doing that thing where you keep following the guide just because you've started. It meant I made some significant progress, and probably went in directions I wouldn't have otherwise, and certainly achieved more things I wouldn't have known to do without it telling me... but I also felt like I wasn't really playing the game, just executing button presses as commanded. Guides are great for getting you past a bit you're stuck on, but rubbish to just follow. I'll try not to keep referring back to it too often going forward.
Pullblox
Used a guide to look up how to achieve a specific bit I was stuck on, then ended up doing that thing where you keep following the guide just because you've started. It meant I made some significant progress, and probably went in directions I wouldn't have otherwise, and certainly achieved more things I wouldn't have known to do without it telling me... but I also felt like I wasn't really playing the game, just executing button presses as commanded. Guides are great for getting you past a bit you're stuck on, but rubbish to just follow. I'll try not to keep referring back to it too often going forward.
Pullblox
Sunday, 19 October 2025
Video Games
Metroid: Zero Mission
I think I made it into an area I wasn't ready for, because the only way back out was to kill myself and let it reload at the last save point (of course, I could've just quit and reloaded, but y'know). Luckily, I didn't lose too much progress. I also finally managed to defeat the first boss-like creature, so maybe I'm improving. Yay!
Pullblox
Nice to do a couple of levels of this cozy puzzler as a palate cleanser from Metroid.
I think I made it into an area I wasn't ready for, because the only way back out was to kill myself and let it reload at the last save point (of course, I could've just quit and reloaded, but y'know). Luckily, I didn't lose too much progress. I also finally managed to defeat the first boss-like creature, so maybe I'm improving. Yay!
Pullblox
Nice to do a couple of levels of this cozy puzzler as a palate cleanser from Metroid.
Friday, 17 October 2025
Video Games
Metroid: Zero Mission
So, I found the manual — it's not hard if you look for it: it's archived on Nintendo's own site. Nowadays, when most games are delivered digitally and so designed for you to learn while playing, it's easy to forget that once upon a time they all came with manuals and so were designed for you to read that first, or at least have it to reference after you'd dived in.
Even just seeing the controls laid out in the Zero Mission manual somehow made them make more sense; though it also helped show how it's well-built for the device it was designed for, the Game Boy Advance, which only had A and B face buttons and more prominent L and R triggers than the 3DS. I do still have a GBA in storage, but as I don't own Zero Mission on a physical cart (and those aren't cheap: CeX asks £55 for just the cart, almost £150 with a box and manual, and well over £200 if you can find it mint), I guess I'll have to stick to the 3DS.
The manual also explained a bunch of stuff about Samus's abilities and things you encounter in the world that I hadn't been able to infer from playing (at least, not yet), so hopefully that will help my progress and skills too.
So, I found the manual — it's not hard if you look for it: it's archived on Nintendo's own site. Nowadays, when most games are delivered digitally and so designed for you to learn while playing, it's easy to forget that once upon a time they all came with manuals and so were designed for you to read that first, or at least have it to reference after you'd dived in.
Even just seeing the controls laid out in the Zero Mission manual somehow made them make more sense; though it also helped show how it's well-built for the device it was designed for, the Game Boy Advance, which only had A and B face buttons and more prominent L and R triggers than the 3DS. I do still have a GBA in storage, but as I don't own Zero Mission on a physical cart (and those aren't cheap: CeX asks £55 for just the cart, almost £150 with a box and manual, and well over £200 if you can find it mint), I guess I'll have to stick to the 3DS.
The manual also explained a bunch of stuff about Samus's abilities and things you encounter in the world that I hadn't been able to infer from playing (at least, not yet), so hopefully that will help my progress and skills too.
Thursday, 16 October 2025
Video Games
Metroid: Zero Mission
After about 40 minutes of time in-game, I'm beginning to get the hang of how it works... but not really of the controls. Other than running left and right, they feel almost completely unintuitive to me — I'll just as often jump when I mean to fire or fire when I mean to jump as do the thing I actually meant to do, not because I think the buttons should be the other way round, but because they're just not different enough for such fundamental actions. My kind of slightly slow, "take my time over a move" approach mostly works fine while exploring or shooting minor enemies, but I don't think it's going to work well in anything actually action-packed! And this is meant to be the easiest Metroid — I don't think I'd want to play a harder one on the 3DS (as much as I love the console generally).
I may have to think about remapping those buttons, that might help; perhaps putting shoot onto a trigger-like shoulder button. But the 3DS shoulder buttons aren't great for quick action (the screen kinda gets in the way; and it might just be my device, but it's slightly 'floppy', so moving it around a lot can cause it to jiggle and get in the way even more), so I don't know if that'll work. I'll see how it goes, I guess.
After about 40 minutes of time in-game, I'm beginning to get the hang of how it works... but not really of the controls. Other than running left and right, they feel almost completely unintuitive to me — I'll just as often jump when I mean to fire or fire when I mean to jump as do the thing I actually meant to do, not because I think the buttons should be the other way round, but because they're just not different enough for such fundamental actions. My kind of slightly slow, "take my time over a move" approach mostly works fine while exploring or shooting minor enemies, but I don't think it's going to work well in anything actually action-packed! And this is meant to be the easiest Metroid — I don't think I'd want to play a harder one on the 3DS (as much as I love the console generally).
I may have to think about remapping those buttons, that might help; perhaps putting shoot onto a trigger-like shoulder button. But the 3DS shoulder buttons aren't great for quick action (the screen kinda gets in the way; and it might just be my device, but it's slightly 'floppy', so moving it around a lot can cause it to jiggle and get in the way even more), so I don't know if that'll work. I'll see how it goes, I guess.
Wednesday, 15 October 2025
Video Games
Metroid: Zero Mission
What's the use of winning a Steam Deck if you can't then use it to sideload non-Steam games and play those instead of the dozens of Steam games you own, before also buying a 3DS and a bunch of 3DS games, cracking it, loading even more 3DS games, then also loading some Game Boy Advance games and playing one of those instead?
Yeah, I'm questioning all my life choices. But also, I wanted to try a / some Metroidvania(s), and this is meant to be the easiest Metroid, so that's how I've wound up here for now.
Also, I've finally realised the bleeding obvious: that "Video Games" and "Tabletop/Board Games" should have different post titles, just like I split different types of books under the Books tag. Don't know why that didn't occur to me sooner.
What's the use of winning a Steam Deck if you can't then use it to sideload non-Steam games and play those instead of the dozens of Steam games you own, before also buying a 3DS and a bunch of 3DS games, cracking it, loading even more 3DS games, then also loading some Game Boy Advance games and playing one of those instead?
Yeah, I'm questioning all my life choices. But also, I wanted to try a / some Metroidvania(s), and this is meant to be the easiest Metroid, so that's how I've wound up here for now.
Also, I've finally realised the bleeding obvious: that "Video Games" and "Tabletop/Board Games" should have different post titles, just like I split different types of books under the Books tag. Don't know why that didn't occur to me sooner.
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