“Whatcha Playin’, Pixels?” – #013
7 min read
A weekly roundup of games enjoyed by the writers of The Pixels
It’s the Easter weekend! Besides dipping eggs in coloured dye and eating tons of chocolate (even though you don’t necessarily need a reason to eat chocolate at any given moment, amirite?), here’s what egg-cellent titles our writers at The Pixels were playing this week!
Well crap, it’s my turn at the top of the column but I had an extremely eventful/uneventful week. Disconnection issues ground my ambitious stream schedule to a halt and took time away from gameplay. Streaming would have involved my first public playthrough of The GOAT, Chrono Trigger, plus a Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster giveaway event, AND Streets of Rage 4 online co-op. Instead, I spent most of the week troubleshooting all manner of things and pulling my hair out. I am extremely grateful to everyone who offered advice, support, and time to help.
I didn’t even complete Elden Ring as I’d originally planned, still stopped right at the end of the game. I did however play some Radical Dreamers (fan translation while I await my physical copy of the remaster) in preparation for the upcoming episode of MAGE CAST. Silver linings and I’m having a good Friday, nonetheless. Happy Easter!
~Red
It’s been a mostly gameless week for me for the most part. I’ve been kept busy with other projects. However, I have played around with the newest Vampire Survivors updates because I’m an addict. I’ve also toyed around with the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Randomizer. Not really even learning pathing yet, just getting a feel for the options available. My first attempt was just an awful seed: the slingshot was locked behind 30 gold skulltula tokens! Do you know how much stuff you need the slingshot for as a kid? I couldn’t open the Temple of Time due to the settings I’d picked, and I had no idea how to make more progress. So I’ve changed some of the settings around and I’m gonna give it another shot with a different seed. Hopefully, this one will be better.
I started off this week enjoying Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth on the PS5: a game that is quite heavily inspired by the wonderful PS1 classic Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. First, it’s important to state that I have no knowledge of the anime series this game is based upon, so a lot of the plot references were lost on me, but the game itself requires no knowledge of the back-story to enjoy. Everything about the game, from the way Deedlit moves, to her weapons, to the layout of the map all reminds me of Alucard and his adventure, which is probably the best compliment I can give to it! Sadly, there’s no upside-down second quest that I’m aware of, but there were some very tricky puzzle rooms involving ricocheting arrows and switching between two elements Ikaruga-style, which added to the variety and kept me on my toes. Overall, if you like Metroidvania games as much as I do, this is one to check out. It probably won’t be as highly regarded as time goes on as Hollow Knight or Shadow Complex but it’s an enjoyable adventure and I’m intrigued enough to seek out the anime to learn more about these characters and this world.
From one game inspired by a personal favourite to another, I headed straight into Light Fairytale Episode 1 on PS4, which takes a huge amount of inspiration from the mighty Final Fantasy VII. The combat was purely turn-based with only two characters to play as, so plenty of scope to learn the finer points of the game’s systems. Even so, there are even some combat options I didn’t touch despite walking away with the platinum trophy. Even though the game itself is only a few hours in length, the industrial atmosphere and general aesthetic reminded me more of 1997’s depiction of Midgar than 2020’s Final Fantasy VII Remake managed to. Considering this game was developed by one person, it’s quite an achievement that such a charming indie game managed to leave such a huge impression. Bring on Episode 2!
And finally, I’ve just picked up Tunic based on Coffee’s recommendation here last week. I’ve only played the first short ‘dungeon’, if you can call it that, but as a massive A Link to the Past fan, I can already tell that this game is right up my street!
I am making my way through Infernax, slowly but surely, but of course, that was expected. Some games are best played in spurts, and as difficult as that game is getting, I might be on it for a while. On the other hand, though, I was able to pick up one of my favorite FPS RPGs in preparation for an upcoming Pixels review. The Outer Worlds is an absolutely amazing, and occasionally janky game that gives players plenty of ways to forge their legacy in the Halcyon Cluster. I have beaten it multiple times, and have played through all the DLC, but I still can’t get enough of its wit and dark humor.
I was bored one evening, so I hooked up my old SNES and popped in Harvest Moon for the first time in almost a decade. I forgot how much I enjoyed the simplicity of this little farming sim/ RPG (maybe even a dating sim?). It was one of my favorites growing up, and it has continued to hold a very special place in my heart. As a farmer now, I can see how, in an innocent sort of way, this game inspires young players to put themselves out there and build a life worth living.
What have I been up to this week, hmm?
Well, I continue to play DayZ as usual, tackle Resident Evil 2 as bravely as I can and keep trying to teach my dad how to play Wreckfest, which is tough when the last racing game he played was Road Rash on the Mega Drive!
I’ve also picked up Final Fantasy VIII on the Switch again, following my collaboration with Pix of Shoot the Rookie to find the best JRPG of all time. It didn’t win, but it did rank highly!
WOOHOO, SONIC 2!!!
Ahem. Apologies for the outburst. So, with Sonic the Hedgehog 2 out in theatres, I opted to play some Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for the Sega Genesis on Sunday to celebrate! My best friend asked me how many times I’ve played and/or beaten the game and to be honest… I have no clue! I’m gonna guess about 30, maybe 40 times? Maybe I should put together a “How many times have you beaten Sonic 2” tracker to see? On a related note, I think it’s about time I start learning how to speed run this game in anticipation of its 30th anniversary on November 22nd.
Meanwhile, I picked up an OLED Switch this week! Traded in my good ol’ reliable Switch for the new model after some months of thinking about it and I’m so glad I made the decision! The larger, vibrant screen and the extended battery life make a HUGE difference and it was honestly worth the upgrade, considering I spend about 95% of my time with handheld mode. The Ethernet port on the dock is an awesome bonus as well. Now, I’m waiting on a set of Hori Split Pad controllers to come in and I should be set on the gaming hardware front for a long, long time.
On my weekly morning streams, I began the Zelda Oracle series of games, starting with Oracle of Ages. Of the two, Ages’ dungeon design is much more puzzle-oriented than Seasons is. Combining that with the clever ricochet-based puzzles within CrossCode, I’m definitely getting my fill of challenging brain teasers! Also, huge shoutout to the Game Boy Player adapter for the GameCube – that thing is freaking amazing! I, fortunately, own both legitimate carts of the Oracle series (Ages belongs to my brother and Seasons belongs to me), so being able to stream the games through my GameCube using original carts and hardware makes sharing this with my audience so much more special.
So, what have you been playing this week?
Ryan Cheddi – our friendly, neighbourhood caffeine addict – is a man of many talents: an engineer, a gaming historian, a fiction writer and a streamer. He is also a self-avowed Sonic the Hedgehog fan. You can check out his cool beans at his site – Games with Coffee – or find him on Twitter as @GameswCoffee, and Instagram as @games_with_coffee. He streams on Twitch, also as GamesWithCoffee.
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