August 2021 Channel Update – The Flood Gates Open

Hi,

Hope you’ve been well! 😊

Summer’s ending, school'll be back in session soon, etc etc, and the release schedule looks to be kicking into gear again. It's gonna be reaaal busy soon but I definitely can’t complain about lots of cool games coming out!

TL;DR

• Finished: Last Stop, first looks: Forgotten City, Road 96
• Ongoing: ME2, Subnautica Below Zero
• Upcoming: Twelve Minutes,Psychonauts 2 next week

Games Finished Since Last Update

Last Stop (5 parts): A story of how the lives of three London dwellers intersect with some spooky magic shenanigans. Much like Variable State’s last game Virginia, this game is very much on rails and light on gameplay. I found the story pretty entertaining but it may not be everyone’s cup of tea.

I also took first looks at:

The Forgotten City: A time loop mystery in Ancient Rome, where “if one person sins, everyone dies” due to some strange curses placed in the city, and we must investigate using time rewind powers to figure out what’s going on.

This was super interesting and I'd love to have played more, but the devs requested for content beyond a certain story point to not be shared. I don't want to disrespect the dev's wishes nor eventually have to leave the playthrough unfinished, so unfortunately this will stop at the first look.

I have 5 million thoughts on this but I’ve found it quite difficult to comment on publicly tbh – I feel like any type of objection I have will just sound like Ungrateful Let's Player Moans About Not Being Able To Use Other People’s Work lol. Anyway it’s the devs’ game, so they’re allowed to make any requests they want, and so we will honor that. If their policy changes someday, I’d love to consider revisiting it.

Road 96: A procedurally-generated road trip of a runaway teen trying to reach the border of their (presumably Awful) country and escaping beyond. You meet others along the way and keep track of various stats like health and money (kind of like Oregon Trail?) Subject matter seems to lean heavier on the politics side. All the individual scenes were pretty cool although I can’t tell how well it ties into a coherent story yet. I’d like to continue this one, time permitting!

Progress on Current Stuff

Mass Effect 2 Legendary Edition: I’m at the tail-end (70-80%?) of the story now, on the crew’s loyalty missions.

Subnautica Below Zero: I’m also near the closing hours for this too! As I’ve mentioned last time there’s a lot that’s different from the original Subnautica, and I’d really like to reach the end before comment furthering.

Upcoming Stuff

This coming week I’m going to start full playthroughs of:

• Twelve Minutes
• Psychonauts 2

……… I don’t actually know how this is logistically gonna work with ME2 and Subnautica still ongoing, I just know I want this to happen! It might be a slow start but we’ll get there eventually!

Kena: Bridge of Spirits that I mentioned in the last post was delayed to next month, and speaking of which there are about 500000 releases in September too:

• 10th – Life is Strange: True Colours
• 14th – Deathloop
• 21st – Kena: Bridge of Spirits
• 24th – Lost Judgment
• 28th – Outer Wilds – Echoes of the Eye

I think I’m locked down on LIS and Outer Wilds, but the rest I will play by ear (or clone myself, or find a hyperbolic time chamber somewhere 💦)

Just looking at the amount of games I wrote about today is freaking me out lol, but I'm also super excited to jump into these interesting stories. That's all I've got this time! Do feel free to let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Take care, and I’ll see you next month!

Welonz

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