Video Games

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.

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

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.

Games

Pullblox
Played for eight minutes and completed five puzzles while waiting for a load of washing to finish. Perfect game for that kind of thing.

Games

Pullblox
Starting another new game?! Yeah, well, I considered playing something I already had underway, but this was what I fancied. Also, I’d intended to make it my next 3DS game before Pilotwings nabbed my attention, so fair’s fair. According to Metacritic it's the 6th best game on the 3DS (listed as Pushmo there because that was the title in the US), behind only a couple of Zeldas, Fire Emblem: Awakening, Shovel Knight, and a 3D Mario — all of which I also own, but this sounded the most pick-up-and-play friendly, as it's a cute puzzle game with platforming elements.

And it's a lot of fun! The gameplay — which is based around pulling boxes in and out to create levels to jump up — works fantastically in 3D. I'm sure it would be playable in 2D, but it really works with the added sense of depth. I spent half-an-hour on it initally and got through the 18 training puzzles and first half-dozen Level 1 puzzles, then went back later for another 40 minutes and did the remaining dozen Level 1s. I can see how it would be great to just quickly do a puzzle or two — especially as they do get trickier, and sometimes involve more precise platforming skills — but it's also fun to play for a little while and get through a few. Once the hand-holding introduction is done, it's lightly challenging without being stressful... although, as I say, sometimes the platforming is a little tricker. I hope it doesn't get too bad, because precision platforming isn't really my thing.