“Whatcha Playin’, Pixels?” – #036
9 min read
A weekly roundup of games enjoyed by the writers of The Pixels
It’s the end of September! We’re three-quarters of the way through 2022 and are now entering the spookiest season of the year. How exciting is that? I’m sure some of our horror-loving writers are already delving into the scariest titles in their backlog, but what about the others? What have they been playing? Well, dear readers, read on and find out:
I’ve been playing a lot of older games this week including Dynamite Headdy, Gradius, and Kirby’s Adventure. All of these I played thanks to Nintendo’s online service.
My favorite game out of the bunch was Dynamite Headdy because of the music, graphical flair, and unique platforming challenges. It’s definitely a game that inspired others, you can see the similarities between Cuphead and this game. Gradius is a side-scrolling shmup where you pilot a spacecraft through hordes of enemies. The game was pretty fun but I used the rewind feature A LOT during it. It’s a tough game and designed to eat your quarters. Finally, Kirby’s Adventure was an interesting playthrough. Like most people, I wanted to go back and try some older Kirby games after playing The Forgotten Land. I’m really glad I did because Kirby’s Adventure was a very charming and fun time.
On the newer side of things but also retro in a way, Shovel Knight Dig has been in my game rotation this week. It’s a rogue-lite where you dig down deep in the Earth to find gems, friends, and hunt down the bad guy who stole your bag of loot. It takes the platforming and movement system from Shovel Knight and combines it with Steamworld Dig to create a fairly unique experience. I haven’t played enough to give a definite statement but so far I am enjoying my time with the game.
October is my favorite time of the year and I’m looking forward to all the new horror experiences coming this month. One game has already been released that I’ve been waiting for and it’s called Moonscars. I’ve had a bit of a theme with 16-bit adventures here, haven’t I? Moonscars is a 2D side-scrolling adventure in the same vein as Blasphemous. The combat has already become quiet in depth and I’m only about an hour in. Between basic sword slashes, magic abilities, special amulets, parrying, and more things are getting a little overwhelming. I’ve been enjoying the atmosphere of the game and the level design has been quite good. If you liked Blasphemous, then Moonscars should be next on your list.
Hey, hey! I haven’t played too many new games this week. My family and I are still recovering from my daughter moving to Japan (for a year). I may post some pictures after she sends me some cool ones. But the games I’ve been playing have had some interesting developments.
Genshin Impact just dropped a new region within Sumeru. We get to explore the desert. Yay!
Cyno looks awesome, and he pairs well with Candace (the other new character). I also love Cyno’s design. He looks like Anubis, while casting judgment on others. Objection!
From what I’ve played of Cyno so far, he’s like an Electro Xiao who scales with Elemental Mastery instead of the usual Crit Rate/Damage. That could be good with the new Dendro element. Dendro loves Elemental Mastery.
And I always love exploring new Genshin regions. If you need me, I’ll be in the pyramids.
But that’s not all, folks. Rick (from Rick and Morty) made his long-awaited appearance in Multiversus. He’s broken–the good kind of broken–but I wouldn’t expect anything less.
I can make portals that only I can take and then shoot folks from the other side of the map. I’m in. I don’t even care that my ranged attacks only deal one or two damage. I am SO spamming that move.
Seriously, how long do you think it’ll take Player First Games (developer of Multiversus) to nerf Rick Sanchez? Place your bets. I’m guessing days.
And, if I’m not mistaken, Apex Legends’ Halloween event may drop as soon as next week. Surely, it’ll start by October 11th. I always like playing as a shadow, Apex’s variation of a zombie. Heck, I’ll occasionally die on purpose just so I can play as a shadow.
Hope everyone is doing well. See you next week, hopefully with some new games.
-Kyra Kyle
It’s official: Phantasy Star IV has become one of my favourite RPGs. I finally finished the game on the All-Star Sunday stream and what an ending it was! Chaz and the gang faced down Jim, the Profound Darkness, and conquered all three difficult phases to break the cycle of darkness plaguing the Algo Star System. What I appreciated about this game was that it tied all the loose ends nicely – everyone got a happy ending and all is well and good. I put up a Twitter poll to decide the next game to play on Sunday and the results are in: I’m gonna start a playthrough of NiGHTS: Into Dreams.
Meanwhile, I filled in more of my Sea Chart before ascending the Tower of the Gods in Wind Waker. On Tuesday’s stream, I picked up the Command Melody and the Hero’s Bow, along with a few upgrades to make my journey easier. Thursday, I finished the remainder of the dungeon and descended down the seas into the time-frozen remains of Hyrule Castle. I then picked up the Blade of Evil’s Bane – The Master Sword and immediately put it to the test on the unfrozen enemies in the castle. Sometimes, catharsis via jump attack is a good thing haha.
Off stream, I continued replaying Raji: An Ancient Epic. Though the combat improvements were a welcome change, it still seems that there are a few buggy sections that need some work. There was one in particular that prevented me from picking up an upgrade that I had obtained in a previous playthrough. Frustrated, I decided to put it aside and start another game: Shantae and the Seven Sirens.
Returning to its roots as a Metroidvania, Shantae and the Seven Sirens has. so far, been a romp! Shantae herself is so wholesome and adorable, you can’t help but root for her in her quest to rescue her fellow Half-Genies. This title is like a souped-up version of Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse, which I reviewed recently and massively enjoyed. I might do a write-up on this one as well. We’ll see.
I have not been playing too many games lately, as the good old life has been keeping me busy. But I do occasionally have some time to drop in on Genshin Impact. For those who haven’t yet tried it, this is a perfect time, as Version 3.0 of the game recently dropped, and the Sumeru region that came with it is so delightful and beautiful to look at. The mystical Asian rainforest aesthetic, embellished with giant mushrooms and overgrown vegetation, is one that will always be after my own heart. I can talk all day about how fun exploring the world is, or how great the combat is. But I won’t.
I also began my journey through The Outbound Ghost, a Paper Mario-inspired RPG that I had been eying for quite some time, as it looks quite stunning. So far, I am surprised by how solid it is. It indeed clearly builds on the foundations laid by its inspirations, particularly reminding me of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door‘s Twilight Town section. But it actually makes some interesting innovations to the battle system, and collecting the ‘Figments’ (the characters you battle with) is very rewarding. Unfortunately, I ran into a few frustrating bugs even in my short time with the game, but it looks like developer Conradical Games has been hard at work releasing patches nearly every day since release.
At long last, I’ve started playing Ys II Chronicles+, and it’s been pretty enjoyable.
Although I really can’t wait to play an Ys where I won’t need a guide, I am excited to see how the story of this duology unfolds. I don’t have too much to add to this, especially with a guide, but I do really enjoy the bump system. Bosses are the most creative aspect of this game in terms of combat since the strategy in regular combat pretty much remains the same. I’m going to be plowing through this over the weekend.
Hello all! I’m back from vacation in the lovely mountains of TN (just before they get drenched by Hurricane/Tropical Storm Ian, good timing), which means back to video games! I finished scratching the Terraria itch after a few weeks of cave exploring and late-game achievement hunting. Down to only one left, and it’s the kind that I just don’t bother with: the “overly high number of do repetitive task” achievement. Sorry, Fisher Kid, I’m not giving you 150 more fish.
With that out of the way, I’ve been dabbling in a few other games. I tried the newly added area in TOEM (which required replaying the main game, but it’s breezy once you know what to do.) It’s a nice one-hour expansion. After that, I tried my hand at a Steam game I picked up a few weeks ago called Despotism 3k, a management sim where robots rule the world and use humans to generate power. It’s challenging, but great for small burst plays, with an amusing dark humor about it. I have yet to discover the secret to being good, but I’m getting better. Finally, I picked up a game made by a friend of a friend, Wunderling. It’s a puzzle platformer auto-scroller, where you are, effectively, a goomba who has been granted the ability to jump. There are lots of collectibles to find and a definite vibe that things are going to get a lot harder as the game progresses. Will report back next week on how many holes I put in the walls.
I’ve finally reached the conclusion of The Last of Us: Part I on PS5 and determined that it was overall worth a revisit. The gameplay was exactly as I remembered it, the loading times were all relatively quick, and – as I said a couple of weeks back – the whole thing reminded me just how much I preferred the sequel. So I guess Naughty Dog ought to hurry up with the seemingly inevitable PS5 version of The Last of Us: Part II.
The only real surprise to me was that they chose not to insert the Left Behind DLC as part of the main storyline. That, to me, would have been just as awesome as when the Director’s Cut version of Deus Ex: Human Revolution neatly slotted the Missing Link DLC into the main campaign. But../ you have to access Left Behind from a separate option on the main menu. Normally this is something I prefer to see with accessing DLC, rather than having to play part of the whole game again to get to it. I dunno… an option to play the ‘Complete’ The Last of Us: Part I put together would’ve been nice.
So, what were you 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.
