Finish Them!

I’ve been working to finish (roll credits) on some unfinished games lately. I personally get overwhelmed if I have too many “open threads.” Too many unfinished books and games and I get stressed; as in, around three. So as I started finding games I wanted to play, I found myself needing to finish some (damn) games first. Here’s a quick review of some games that were stuck in my In Progress queue for too long.

  • Doom (1993)
  • Alan Wake Remastered
  • Tales of Kenzera: Zau
  • Lords of the Fallen
  • Another Crab’s Treasure

Doom (1993)

What HAS NOT been said about The O.G. FPS?

As a kid I only got to play the first level bc my introduction and only initial experience PC games was a demo CD that my grandpa had on his computer. So basically, I never got around to actually playing Doom.

It was basically free on PS5 so I finally got it. Which is honestly hilarious given that it’s been ported to EVERY device imaginable and I could’ve played it in True Fashion a thousand times, but no, had to wait until it was available on the most-overpowered dedicated game-machine in 2024 to finally play the most iconic video game in existence.

It was great. Only the second to last missions in the fourth/extra episode “Thy Flesh Consumed” was a bit clunky as they went a bit too far with the “puzzle” aspect of the levels.

A couple of design aspects that I especially liked are:

  • shared ammo between guns. Kept true in Doom Eternal, having different weapons share the same ammo type is good design
  • super health; there’s some items that give you a small amount of health but they let your health go above 100% unlike normal medpacks. So there’s a bit of optimization where it’s better to pick them up at 100% health but that option isn’t often available

Review: 10/10 still GOATed duh

Alan Wake Remastered (2022, original 2010)

Fuck. This. Game.

Story? Fine; maybe good. The use of light/dark got super derivative but one could also say it’s meta.

But OMG the gameplay is absolutely atrocious. I really wanted to actually finish the games on my list, and not just give up on them but Alan Wake took every ounce of my will to actually get there.

I’ve never wanted a game to NOT be the kind of video game it is and instead be any other form of interactive media.

Review 0/10. Pure Hatred

Tales of Kenzera: Zau (2024)

While it starts with a strong framed narrative and a good first two acts, it fully falls apart in the second half by just completely dropping the story on the floor. Plus tons of game-state bugs: clipping out of “locked” fights, tasks not clearing after completion, music getting stuck, etc etc.

It’s just so hard to come close to Ori in this genre

Review: 2/10. There’s a reason you haven’t heard of this game

Lords of the Fallen (2023)

The latest big Soulslike. I was SUPER hyped for this game when the trailer dropped and (like many other games on this list) stuck with it much longer than I should’ve.

I actually put this game down for several months, even fully uninstalling it because I ran into multiple game-crashes on the old version. For the first time ever, I thought about seeking an actual refund on the PS Store but I think I was just a few days too late.

After seeing on Reddit that a major version update had been released, I gave it another shot.

It has a really cool “shadow world” called Umbral. Like most shadow/mirror dimensions in games, it’s a clever way to basicaly double the world for probably not double the code. It’s a tale as old as Zelda. The game has some unique interactions with this shadow world that I really enjoyed.

However, I did not enjoy this game. When most people say “soulslike” they don’t often mean “All the fun of Dark Souls 2 but with none of the soul” I think a major contributor was that I tried just going with a Strength build. Big Sword is fun in actual Souls games but got very boring very quickly.

The best part was when my friend Natalie joined me streaming the game for The Game’s Most Boring Boss fight. It was just a dude with a hammer in a 30x30ft square.

Review 3/10. Miiight be re-playable but probably never will

Another Crab’s Treasure (2024)

Another “soulslike” but with a twist and a beat-you-over-the-head message.

However, the last act gets super muddled, drags out, and completely drops storylines flat on their face.

The shell-swapping mechanic is fun but easily solve: The Valve is OP.

Review 4/10

Conclusion

This is why I love to write. It wasn’t until I wrote this up that I realized that there’s probably more value in just dropping games that aren’t doing it it for me.

There have been some notable exceptions of games worth “slogging” through, but after this latest batch of flops, I might just listen to my gaming gut more.

Next Post: React?

I’m back in the saddle of doing web development for dollars again, especially working with React. I’m thinking of doing a post on some dev tech that I like: Tanstack/React Query, Remix, and mise-en-place are some on top of mind.