Steam banner art for PictoQuest: The Cursed Grids

PictoQuest: The Cursed Grids

Logo for PictoQuest: The Cursed Grids
Steam Page

I picked up PictoQuest a while ago, I forget the specific reason but I think it was on a ProtonJon stream? Eitherway I picked it up in 2020 and then unceremoniously dropped it and I’m not sure if it was because I got bored, got frustrated or because something else grabbed my attention later.

It’s not a bad game though, it’s exactly what it claims to be, a nonogram puzzle game (or Picross if that’s the name you recognise more but that’s a licenced name for video games as it’s owned by Nintendo) with the twist of adding a vaguely RPG mechanic to it with “Monster Grids”, where enemies attack you as you solve the puzzle on a timer (or if you make mistakes) but you can slow down the attacks and ultimately defeat the enemies by clearing lines until you complete the puzzle. There’s also items you can buy via gold you earn for beating the Monster Grids as well as the grids with treasure chests etc.

My issue with PictoQuest is that I guess I’m slower than the devs intended and I always felt like I was being rushed along on the larger puzzles. I did it mind, I 100% cleared the world map! But it did leave a bit of a bad taste to me lol. Not the fault of the game though, PictoQuest is doing exactly what it set out to be in the end!

It’s worth it if you like Nonograms but if you like doing them at a leisurely pace, it might not be for you.

Key art for Sunshine Heavy Industries

Sunshine Heavy Industries

Key art for Sunshine Heavy Industries Steam Page (Home Page)

This honestly won’t be very long as it’s a short game but a delight all the way though. You can see how the humour and ideas in this moved on to Cobalt Core, which is very cute. Plus now I know that Dracula is non-fiction, and he requires vast chambers for, liquid! Me too tbh.

It’s a great game if you want to kill time and build silly, I’M SORRY I mean perfect ships that make complete sense!

Logo for Shove Knight: Treasure Trove

Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove

Logo for Shove Knight: Treasure Trove
Steam Page (Home Page)

Okay technically I did Shovel Knight’s campaign, “Shovel of Hope” before the other campaigns were added so really this is about Plague of Shadows, Specter of Torment and King of Cards! Not Showdown though as I’m not too interested in that currently.

Continue reading “Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove”

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition

The logo for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition
Steam Page (The Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages)

So I forced myself to actually beat Skyrim. Not in a negative way but in a “I’ve put more than 300 hours in to this game and never beat the main story I REALLY SHOULD” so I finally did. I mostly always got distracted by new releases, which Stardew 1.6 almost threatened to, but this time I said I’d finish before I do anything else so I did!

It’s uh. Skyrim! What can I say about it as a review that thousands of other people, some of which it’s their job, have said before? I do find it more fun than Oblivion, I think it’s fun to run around as a lizard, and so on. But… well here’s some things I guess?

  • The main plot is, neat I guess? Kind of dull!
  • The Civil War plot is just dull at best, and not good in general. If you’re playing as an Argonian or Kjaiht you have no reason to join the Storm Cloaks, but also the Imperials are shit too! I finally did it (Imperial) to finally say I did it
  • The good stories as always are the side stories, be it major like the Thieves Guild or more minor ones like the Daedric quests.
  • Never play it without mods
  • I never use the shouts! All these abilities and almost all of them feel inferior to… being a werewolf! Or stealth kills! Or the bow! Wow!

And that’s it really! Woo! I did it! Only 450 hours before I finally did! I hope you didn’t expect an actual wordy view of the game. Again, it’s Skyrim, there are people who have made much better posts about it than I.

A screenshot of the Steam library banners for both the original and special editions of Skyrim, showing approx 450 hours between them both.

Mocked up album art for the Pokémon Masters EX Gamerip OST as well as an official art piece, from left to right: Johto with art of Neo Champion Silver, the middle being key art from the 4.5 anniversary event, then Paldea with Geeta

PMEX Gamerip OST – 2024-02-27

Mocked up album art for the Pokémon Masters EX Gamerip OST as well as an official art piece, from left to right: Johto with art of Neo Champion Silver, the middle being key art from the 4.5 anniversary event, then Paldea with Geeta

A big update for trainers, but not so big in music so once again this is two game updates (2.41 and 2.42) rolled in to one update post!

The full collection is here, with relevant credits and folder structure.
Update only tracks are here.

Changelog in the archive and below:

2024-03-01 Changelog

Filenames have changed in some instances so please either delete the old ver or update the tags manually yourself! Folder structure remains the same.

00 – Masters Originals/Pasio
= Track 214 “Battle! (Prestige Event) (Pokémon Masters EX Version)” now Track 52
+ Track 212 – “Battle! (Thanksday)”
+ Track 213 – “The Battle Rally”
+ Track 214 – “Photoshoot”

01 – Kanto
= Track 202 “Battle! (Kanto Trainer) (Pokémon Masters EX Version)” now Track 20

02 – Johto (No Changes)
+ Track 16 – “Battle! (Johto Neo Champion) (Pokémon Masters EX Version)”

03 – Hoenn (No Changes)
= Track 207 “Per Aspera Ad Astra (Pokémon Masters EX Version)” now Track 27

04 – Sinnoh
= Track 201 “Battle! (Clan Warden) (Pokémon Masters EX Version)” now Track 21 and titled “Battle! (Hisui Warden) (Pokémon Masters EX Version)”
= Track 204 “Battle! (Pokémon Wielder) (Pokémon Masters EX Version)” now Track 22 and titled “Battle! (People of Hisui) (Pokémon Masters EX Version)”
= Track 202 “Event: Galactic Awakening – Old Chateau (Pokémon Masters EX Version)” now Track 23 and titled “Old Chateau (Pokémon Masters EX Version)”

05 – Unova (No Changes)
06 – Kalos (No Changes)
07 – Alola (No Changes)
08 – Galar (No Changes)

09 – Paldea
+ Track 4 – “Battle! (Geeta) (Pokémon Masters EX Version)”

 

Touhou Gouyoku Ibun ~ Sunken Fossil World.

TH!7.5 Sunken Fossil World key art for Nintendo Switch (with the translated title)
Steam Page (Touhou Wiki)

I finally got around to finishing this, which is good ‘cus when I first played it the final story wasn’t in (as it was added in the Switch ver and later updated in the Steam ver) and honestly it’s been a while but.

It’s. A game! A “horizontal side-scrolling danmaku water action game” if that means anything! I get what they were going for but it I now have cramp in my wrist oop. Conceptually the ideas work, but everyone (especially Murasa) either feels super sluggish or has feel like they don’t have much air control, or both!

Because of getting to the penultimate character back in 2022? 2021? I admittedly have forgotten a lot of how I felt about except just, frustration. Everyone would be fun to play as if the game didn’t seem to actively hate you. Oh well, that’s the last Windows Touhou game left on my list (that’s playable) now cleared. Finally.

On that note I could never find non-YouTube rips of the additional Switch tracks so I finally just did it myself here: No More Going Through Doors & Secret God Matara

Potion Craft's Key Art

Potion Craft: Alchemist Simulator

Potion Craft's Logo
Official Site

Well I’ve got all the achievements now so that’s certainly time to write about this! I actually got this when it was in Early Access back in 2021 before it released, and beat it back then, but since then it’s gone gold and they added achievements to it. Well, more specifically to Steam, there are technically “achievements” in game but that’s getting ahead of myself.

On the surface it’s a fairly simple puzzle game as the aim of Potion Craft is simple: You’re an alchemist, you’ve opened up shop so you can research, create and sell potions. To do so you to chart a course on what’s called “The Alchemy Map” using your ingredients which all lay out their own path on the map, to reach a potion effect to brew a potion like so:

A composited screenshot of Potion Craft showing the path for Terraria and Waterbloom and the path they've laid out to a heart icon on the map
I’d joke this image is spoilers, but you’re given this by the tutorial

Continue reading “Potion Craft: Alchemist Simulator”

Pokémon Scarlet & Pokémon Violet: The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero – Part 2: The Indigo Disk

Logo for The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero Part 2: The Indigo Disk
Official Site (Bulbapedia Article)

Mouthful of a title… TWO. Originally this was meant to be posted either on or a day or too after the 23rd of December but then TPCI had to go an announce an epilogue which released on the 11th of January. I kind of felt as a result that I needed to at least play that first, which good job ‘cus it does cap off the game!

A non-spoiler tl;dr: I enjoyed it! It has performance issues to no-one’s surprise but the story and music is great.

If you thought Part 1: The Teal Mask post was full of spoilers, boy howdy get ready for MORE. There’s absolutely no way to avoid talking about The Indigo Disk without some spoilers, especially as I theory-crafted in The Teal Mask post.

Continue reading “Pokémon Scarlet & Pokémon Violet: The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero – Part 2: The Indigo Disk”

Banner art for Strange Horticulture featuring the logo, a cat, some plants and two (very early game) characters

Strange Horticulture

Banner art for Strange Horticulture featuring the logo, a cat, some plants and two (very early game) characters
Official Site

Next game already! Strange Horticulture is, to use their phrasing, an “occult puzzle game” which is another way to say “puzzle game but there’s witches and other magical things”. It’s about identifying plants and their properties based on customer requests, and finding them based on notes and puzzles out on a world map. It’s got a story that isn’t outright grand, but enough to feel like it has depth despite it being short (I hit credits within 6 hours)

It does have replay value in going to completion though. I got really drawn in by trying to identify the plants without hints (that’s an achievement in the main story) and enjoying the feeling of satisfaction of doing that, maybe if you did it with hints, try again with out ’em!

A lil spoilery, but only 'cus it's a short game
Regarding completion, there’s also multiple endings too but I personally won’t be rushing to get the other endings, I currently feel what I got is a good place to set the game down for another time and come back with a fresh save and forgotten some of the puzzle solutions

I suspect there’ll be another game here by Pokémon Day 2024 but I guess Pokémon Scarlet & Pokémon Violet: The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero Part 2 – The Indigo Disk is potentially the next one and man I have a lot of things to write down for that…