materwelonz

October 2025 Channel Update – Bloodsucking, Soon

HI…….

Hope you are well! Running behind schedule, words are hard, forgive me!

TL;DR

• Finished: lots of first looks!

• Ongoing: Silent Hill f (ish), Hollow Knight: Silksong, Dispatch

• Upcoming: still wanna check out VTMB2, hold on!

Finished Stuff

We haven’t fully wrapped up ongoing stuff yet! There’s been first looks of:

LIFTED: A platformer mixing the vibes of Indiana Jones and the LEGO games. The gameplay can be too on-rails but the overall presentation of story/cutscenes/music/voice acting is pretty strong & enjoyable.

Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles: Fun and engaging for a first-time player in 2025! As a non-tactics person I thought the tutorials rolled in at a good pace & didn't feel too overwhelming. I’d be open to revisiting this sometime down the line given all the high praises re: the story.

Confidential Killings: A Golden Idol-inspired detective game where you investigate Hollywood murders. Nice little brain teaser. It’s a tad on the easy end with answers getting confirmed too early and the fill-in-the-blank sentences being kinda guessable.

Maelstrom Legacy: A Tesla Mystery: A Professor Layton/Ace Attorney crossover puzzle game set in Steampunk France. Cute art with charming vibes but the poor English localization is a critical weak point.

Keeper: The newest adventure from Double Fine where we play a walking lighthouse (???). I couldn’t tell from the first look where the story was going lol, but it was very visually pretty and it’s just nice to see something bizarre from time to time.

Current Stuff

Silent Hill f: I really enjoyed the symbolic storytelling that kept my brain spinning – one of my favourites this year for sure. I’ll be checking out the other endings but it’s not as simple as looking up cutscenes; the new content across NG+ and NG++ playthroughs are required for story context. I’ve been slowly trucking through those in the back while keeping the channel going. ATM I’ve gotten through 1 NG+ and am hoping to finish up recording the rest over the weekend.

The additional stuff I’ve seen is interesting, but I'd also consider two more playthroughs required to get the full picture a massive negative.

Hollow Knight: Silksong: I think I’m on the tail-end of Act 2. My Hollow Knight 1 series was ~60 videos so it’s looking like Silksong will be significantly longer.  Still enjoying it very much!!

Dispatch: A superhero comedy by ex-Telltale writers & directors and it shows in a good way. Funny, engaging, although a bit short with episodes averaging an hour each.  I found the light strategy gameplay pretty addicting too. Two of eight episodes are out so far with the last slated to come out on Nov 12.

Upcoming Stuff

I still haven’t got to Bloodlines 2 yet… I will very soon, after wrapping up Silent Hill f! I know reviews haven’t been stellar but I’d really like to at least first look it and judge for myself. VTM: Swansong reviewed similarly and I still enjoyed it, so I’m optimistic I’ll be able to see the good things in Bloodlines 2 .

There are smaller November releases on my mind (e.g. Syberia Remastered, Goodbye Universe), but I’m doing the overextending thing (again) so I'm hesitant to commit to more. Once the schedule settles I’m probably going to open a new poll to see what everyone wants to see instead.

Until then, it's back to the gaming trenches for me 🫡 If you have specific questions/suggestions, I’m happy to respond in the comments below!

Thank you as always and Happy Halloween in advance! Have a great Oct/Nov 🎃🍁

Welonz

September 2025 - Early Halloween Celebrations

Hi!!!

I hope you, your family, friends, pet dogs, cats, other cute creatures, are all doing good! It’s September going into October, which means it’s time for the best first-world problem: having too many good video games to play. I didn’t realize until now but 2025 has been a ridiculously good year for games, huh!

TL;DR

• Finished: The Roottrees are Dead, Half-Life 2

• Ongoing: Hollow Knight: Silksong, Silent Hill f

• Upcoming: after something wraps up, hopefully VTMB2

Finished Stuff

The Roottrees are Dead: Enjoyed coming back to this fantastic puzzle game! Like I mentioned last time though it’s a very high-effort series for me to record, so even though I have some interest in Roottreemania I’m not sure when/if I’d be able to find a big continuous chunk of time + enough brain power to dig in it 🤐

Half-Life 2 (+ Episode One & Two): A gaming classic that needs no introduction. It’s held up very well over the years, which only pains me more that we ended off Episode Two like that lol. I see rumours swirling around for an upcoming HLX game but it’s Valve so y’know, it’ll happen when it happens. For Half-Life Alyx: I’d like to get to it... eventually. VR stuff is challenging with my main obstacle being motion sickness. I need to work on getting “VR legs”, which I think’ll be a slow process.

This month I focused 100% of my time on longer series so there hasn’t been any first looks. I’d really love to make time for some though!!

Current Stuff

Hollow Knight: Silksong:  It’s very nice to be back in the Hollow Knight seat. For all the story gaming I do on the channel, Silksong’s a nice change of pace that tests my mechanical skills more. I’m not sure how far in I am except that I’m still in Act 1.

Silent Hill f: I’m just an hour in so not much to say yet. Snap impressions: story’s intriguing, but combat & gameplay mechanics seem shaky. Reviews are positive though so I’m expecting the experience will round itself out (or at least the annoying stuff won’t get in the way lol). If you missed it, Konami was also kind enough to send me a box of goodies that I unboxed on the channel!

Upcoming Stuff

My main goal for the next bit will be to keep Silksong & Silent Hill f going without disruption. I might need to drop down a bit from the 2x daily videos to give myself breathing room though – some days have been rough making the schedule work... it's always an challenge for me to find a good balance between being excited and wanting to go faster and faster and burning out like a wick, that I need to make myself to slow down sometimes!

If I’m lucky, something will wrap up in time for Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 on October 21 🥹 Stuff like Hades 2 full release, Little Nightmares III are still in my peripheral, but I really don’t think I can make any commitments about them at the moment.

Let me know if there’s anything I’m glaringly missing… there really are so many games these days sometimes things completely sneak up on me. Otherwise, have a great one, thank you as always, and I’ll see you in the video gaming trenches!!

Welonz

August 2025 Channel Update – Hornet Cutting The Line

Hi all,

Hope you are doing well!!! I can’t  believe summer is almost over…. where did the time go!?!?!?! 😭

This is a bit of a long one so let’s cut to the chase!!

TL;DR

• Finished: Unpacking, Death Stranding 2, OFF

• Ongoing: The Roottrees Are Dead

• Next Up: See Picasso Welonz below, Hollow Knight: Silksong

• A heads up about videos in early "members only" access on YouTube

Finished Stuff

Unpacking: A meditative (?) game about packing up your stuff and moving to new places as you grow up and live life. Surprisingly a nice little story told via the mechanics and environment! I think this series is by a fair margin the one where I talked about myself the most (there is only so much in-game commentary I can derive from looking at a toothbrush for fifth time...) I've learned it’s also likely to infuriate viewers the most by how I am not putting Object in Location It’s Supposed To Be At 😂.

Death Stranding 2: There’s a lot of “here’s a bizarre yet visually cool cutscene” but I’d like to have seen the narrative evolve beyond that. A lot of story beats were (too) reminiscent of DS1 and the majority of the cast were static and underdeveloped. These issues were less of a thing with the shorter 10-15 hour MGS games but really pronounced in a longer open-world title. It’s hard to recommend for the story though I still loved paving roads and the general gameplay.

OFF: An updated/remaster/remake of an 2008 RPGMaker title of an entity called The Batter on a mission to purify the world. The surreal and cryptic stuff comes together by the end in a fascinating way ripe for speculation. I don’t have the original to compare against but this version is OK - they’ve updated some things that may not be considered straight upgrades (ie. they couldn't get the much beloved old soundtrack for this release). The age shows but it's still an intriguing story.

We also took quick looks at:

Date Everything!: A visual novel about household objects turning into Real People, all eager to get to know you! I felt like it leans more on the comedy/absurdity of the situation more so than... actually being a Hardcore Romantic Dating Sim where you’re intended to fall irrevocably in love, I guess? The voice cast is prolific and sells the experience very well!

Is This Seat Taken?: A seating optimization puzzle game where you’re given a bunch of people who have preferences for where they want to sit/who they want to hang with and your goal is to make everyone happy. Low on the mental load with an adorable mini-story to go with it too!

Herdling: From the devs of FAR: Lone Sails and FAR: Changing Tides is a shepherding adventure of a young boy leading mystical creatures called Calicorns from the urban city to the mountains. The herding is an interesting mechanic where we have to lead from behind Beautiful and atmospheric. It’s without dialogue and beautifully atmospheric.

Current Stuff

The Roottrees are Dead: We’re back with Roottrees! This was ranked second back in the March poll. I know it’s been a while… apologies! TBH I found it difficult to record this one since it’s puzzle-heavy, requires high focus, and is easy to forget details for between sessions. We’re set to complete the base game so far - while the detectiving is fun, I’m not sure I want to fully commit to the extended Roottreemania puzzle, which I’ve heard is significantly harder 💦

Upcoming Stuff

I’m sure everyone has seen the Hollow Knight: Silksong release announcement. Confirming here that that yess I will be getting to this on release!

Roottrees will just be 2-3 longer videos so I’ll start something else very soon too. Here’s a World Premiere™ Picasso Welonz:

(The next few months after this look absolutely insane so I’m going to pretend I don’t know about it and just take it as it comes 🥹)

Early Access to Videos

Since the whole DELTARUNE thing last month I’ve been wanting to test YouTube’s early access feature more, and I wanted to share the details with you first. TL;DR I’m going to make videos available sliightly earlier to YouTube channel members before the “actual” public release time.

What this means:

• If I plan to publish a video on Monday morning and have it ready & uploaded by Sunday night, I will make it available to YouTube members on Sunday night.

• The public publish dates aren’t changing, so nothing is changing/being taken away for Patreon members

• The advanced access period isn't set and just from when I’m done a video to when I plan for it to be out, which historically has been anywhere from a few days to just a few hours beforehand. (I’m going to say right now it leans “a few hours beforehand” often lol)

I’d love to offer this on Patreon too but the function is integrated into YouTube’s membership system which makes that not possible. While I could technically mirror the upload here, Patreon isn’t a video site and has too many limitations, the worst of which being lower video quality and a lack of 1440p/4K support. It's just not ideal and I wouldn’t want to offer you a worse viewing experience.

If this perk sounds interesting, you’re more than welcome to switch over to supporting me on YouTube at the $5 USD tier. I prefer Patreon and do get a bigger cut here but please feel free to pick what works best for you. (Note that these update posts are on YouTube too but not the voting and polls, mainly b/c there hasn’t been a good way for me to offer them on both sites while keeping the process transparent.)

Not much is changing really, but I wanted to let you know ahead of time so you’re not caught off guard with members-only videos popping up on the channel. I’m endlessly appreciative of your support in whatever form it comes in - thank you always for making all this possible for me!

Whew, this was a long one and reminded me why I’m a video creator and not a writer 🗿  I'm happy for your thoughts, comments, and suggestions if any. Otherwise, I’m gonna get ready for bug kingdom next month. See you then!!!!!! 🐛🐛🐛

Welonz

July 2025 Channel Update – Slow Summer

Hi all,

I hope you’re enjoying your summer!

It’s been a slower month on the channel… July has been unrelenting for me on every front with work, obligations, the copyright stuff on DELTARUNE, the heat, and I’ve been exhausted trying to keep up every day. I am still mentally Okay though! This is more of quick FYI so you know I’m not ghosting. Upset I haven’t been able to game as much as I’d like, but maybe this is just how adulthood is… 🥲 I appreciate your patience as I’m trying to juggle all this!

TL;DR

• Finished: DELTARUNE Ch 3/4

• Ongoing: Death Stranding 2

• Next Up: catching up on previous stuff

Finished Stuff

DELTARUNE Ch 3 & 4: There are lots of good games coming out every year but DELTARUNE is one of the very few that effortlessly instill a childlike wonder in me. Fantastic, no notes, looking forward to Chapter 5 next year.

The copyright music situation has been (still is) frustrating; I’m really hoping they’ll get it sorted ASAP. Usually when copyright disputes arise the monetization is put into escrow for whoever wins the dispute, but in DELTARUNE’s case the monetization’s been completely disabled so I will be losing an entire month’s revenue from the Ch3/4 videos. It’s not great but I won’t be living on the streets b/c of this so whatever! If you’re reading this, you’ve already taken the load off with your Patreon support. Thank you!!

Current Stuff

Death Stranding 2: I remember saying the best part of Death Stranding 1 is the gameplay, and so far my impressions of the sequel are similar. There’s a lot of thought put into the mechanics and general “game feel”. e.g. input lag is my #1 pet peeve, but the way they’ve tied action delays to how much heavy cargo you’re carrying is super immersive and just about the only time input lag hasn’t caused me to rage quit lol. Story-wise it’s hard to comment on until more of it’s revealed... It’s Hideo Kojima though so it’s an acquired taste 😂 I’m at approx. the halfway point of the game.

Upcoming Stuff

I should be able to keep the Death Stranding 2 videos going fine. The longer 2-hour videos I've been doing every other day actually total up to more gameplay hours covered than daily videos, so I’ve struggled to start anything else on top of it. To make room for other stuff, I’m going to veeery slightly lower the frequency to 3 videos/week.

Thankfully the summer months are usually quite slow for releases so I’m planning to use the time to check out small things/revisit stuff I said I’d go back to. I’ve got a few specific games in mind in but I don’t want to jinx it in case plans go south. Hold on tight and wait for the Picasso Welonz doodle! (For new folks: this is the beautiful doodle I do on social media to announce new games I'm playing loool.)

I’ll get back in the groove with Unpacking over the next few days. This is a small & wholesome game about... unpacking your belongings? and a high-ranker in a previous poll.

If you have suggestions I’d be happy to hear them as well! I need some more time to recover from my whirlwind of a July so I’ll mainly consider short (~<5 hours. I know some of you think <30 hours is short but that is not my definition ☠️) and “low brain power” games lol.

All from me for now! I don't say it nearly enough but thank you for your patience and support always. Take care, and fingers crossed I'll have more to talk about next month!

Welonz

DELTARUNE Chapter 4 Snowgrave Route - But It Wasn't a Dream...

DELTARUNE Chapter 3 - Alternate Scenes & Secrets

Continuing off my Snowgrave/Weird Route save from Chapter 2, though there aren't Snowgrave-specific interactions in this chapter!

Continuing off my Snowgrave/Weird Route save from Chapter 2, though there aren't Snowgrave-specific interactions in this chapter!

The DELTARUNE Copyright Situation

Hi all, Those who have been following the DELTARUNE playthrough know that there's been copyright issues plaguing the series. There hasn't be

Hi all,

Those who have been following the DELTARUNE playthrough know that there's been copyright issues plaguing the series. There hasn't been any movement or update from the copyright claimers' end for over a week, so instead of unbearably waiting it out for up to 30 days, I've decided to upload the videos here:

DELTARUNE playlist on YouTube (atm up to Chapter 4, Part 10)

• Chapter 4 Part 11 - Last Preparations

• Chapter 4 Part 12 - End of the Line (Ending)

• Chapter 4 Part 13 - Mike Zone (Bonus)

• Snowgrave/Weird Route - Chapter 3

• Snowgrave/Weird Route - Chapter 4

(Apologies if the audio/video quality is a little muddier than usual - I'm at Patreon's mercy!)

I'm expecting at least one more video for the Weird/Snowgrave route which I'm playing atm. The Deltarune playthrough is done for now until Chapter 5 comes out. These videos will still be made public on YouTube as soon as the issues get resolved. Thanks for your understanding!

DELTARUNE Chapter 4 Part 13 Bonus - Mike Zone

DELTARUNE Chapter 4 Part 12 Ending - End of the Line

DELTARUNE Chapter 4 Part 11 - Last Preparations

June 2025 Channel Update – The Paint Has Dried, Time To Deliver Packages

Hi hi,

Hope you’ve been well! The summer months are beginning, the weather is getting nice and warm. Perfect time to stay inside and play lots of video games!!!!!!!!!!!  

BTW if you missed it – the 100k plaque came in! http://youtu.be/eKgD2d6p2XI

TL;DR

• Finished: Expedition 33

• Ongoing: DELTARUNE

• Next Up: Death Stranding 2

Finished Stuff

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33: Probably my favourite 2025 release so far! Addictive combat, great music, compelling narrative – it’s a breath of fresh air and the kind of game that gets me loving video games a little more. People are Very Normal about their preferred ending which is... at least a sign it’s a story that gets people passionate! I expect this will have a strong showing at all the year-end awards.

First looks:

Old Skies: The latest point & click adventure from Wadjet Eye Games set in a world where time travelling is a stable (?), legal, and commercialized technology. I don’t think I’ve seen a time travel story that focuses on these aspects before so it’s been interesting to explore. Be warned there’s a tinny/sibilance issue with the dialogue audio mix that might bother those with sensitive ears.

to a T: New game from the creator of Katamari Damacy about a teenager eternally stuck in a T-pose. It’s very wholesome and even comes with its own anime opening song! I didn’t even catch on at first but this game does a great job of showcasing what it’s like to live with a disability without showing a real one.  The gameplay is somewhat repetitive though, and QTEs being finicky to trigger completion status for made the experience a little clunky.

The Alters (full release): The Death Stranding + Fallout Shelter game that we checked out last year. I thought the script was on the iffier side, perhaps due to the language barrier with Polish devs, but the survival/crafting parts are addicting + the overall concept of dealing with AU versions of yourself is so unique that I’m still curious to learn more about. However it’s a 30+ hour game and I don’t have very many 30 hours to go around :’)

Current Stuff

DELTARUNE Ch 3 & 4: Finally returning almost four years after Chapter 2! I’m in Chapter 4 now and will check out the Snowgrave/Weird routes after too. The staggered release schedule isn’t the greatest but the story is the top-tier Toby Fox brand of endearing and hilarious as always.

Upcoming Stuff

With Expedition 33 wrapped up I’ll be shifting gears to Death Stranding 2 next. I’ll be going physical so expect videos after the official release date (June 26) and not in the digital early access period.

DS2 and DELTARUNE should keep me preoccupied for the next bit. I’ll figure out what’s next as slots free up. I don’t think there’s much releasing over the summer, so may be a good time to catch up on some previous/outstanding games!

That said, overall I’ve been feeling stretched thin lately – Expedition 33 turned out to be a bigger commitment than expected, and it came out immediately after I wrapped up BG3 too, so I didn’t get a chance to slow down in between. I read the other day that 40-50+ new games come out on Steam every day nowadays? Of course not every game is my cup of tea, but it really put into perspective that it’s never going to be possible for me to get to everything I’m interested in even if I step on the gas 120% of the time 😟...

I’m doing okay overall though! Just trying to learn how to pace myself better for the long haul. You would think I have a great handle on all this by now, but I’m incredibly horrible at knowing my limits and delude myself nearly every time lol.

Anyway, I hope your summer’s off to a good start 🏖️ Thank you as always, feel free to share your thoughts/comments/suggestions below, and I’ll see you in the next one!

Welonz

May 2025 Channel Update – A Whole Sports Stadium!

HI.......................

I’m writing this part at the end and I’m all out of steam! Pleasantries are cancelled, let’s goo!

TL;DR

• 100k subs 🫨

• Finished: Lost Records, Black Mesa

• Ongoing: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

• Next Up: DELTARUNE, Death Stranding 2?

100,000 Subscribers!?!?!?

The channel reached 100k subscribers last week.......... wow! 🤯

Thank you everyone for making this happen!

I’ve been mulling on this and man, words are hard. It’s a very cool milestone to reach! At the same time though, early on since I started All This, I realized views/likes/dislikes/subscribers – all these metrics aren’t really within my realm of control. There is no “if I make XXX number of videos or work YYY hours, it means I will get ZZZ subscribers” formula, and so I made a conscious effort to put them out of mind to focus on enjoyment for myself, and hopefully for yours too.

This helps me limit negative feelings when the numbers are low, but also means I’m somewhat indifferent to the reverse. Don’t get me wrong... this is a happy thing! I'm very grateful and not unhappy!! Just that there’s also a part of me that’s treating it as an out-of-body experience, like “oh yes, this is logically something I should be thrilled about. Time to engage the celebratory protocols” like an alien lol.

ANYWAY. Just some stray thoughts jotted down. Don’t take it too seriously! YouTube had to do some verification so I got approved for the silver plaque just today. I think it should come in 2-3 weeks. There’s an upcoming postal strike in Canada that I’m hoping this won’t be affected by, but either way I’ll show you when it comes in.

More than any subscriber milestone, I do strongly feel I’ve been able to keep going for an honest-to-god decade now thanks to your continued support. Thank you for making all this possible!!

Finished Stuff

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage: Tape 2 wraps up the journey! It felt a tad undercooked but DON’T NOD’s signature detailed character writing is still on full display. I enjoyed the relationship bonding and impeccable vibes, though the plot continued to be thin and won’t win over those who found Tape 1 slow. There’s hints that the Lost Records universe will continue. I’ll be there Day 1 if it comes to fruition!

Black Mesa: A classic shooter and (guestimating which concepts were from the original 1998 Half Life) a cool throwback to the beginnings of environmental storytelling and narratives in FPSes. The pacing towards the end gets real wonky with endless puzzles but it was a fun ride all in all, and even more impressive as a fan remake. I’m definitely interested to tackle Half-Life 2 when I can find a good time for it (sometime in the next few months, not years).

First looks:

South of Midnight: Third-person action adventure of a woman discovering her family roots in a mystical alternate American Deep South. The setting feels really unique and strongly steeped in Black culture. The intro felt a tad clumsy in how the events were connected: it starts with an emergency, but we shift over to following a different thread while the emergency is still urgent. (That sounds like every game with side quests though lol so maybe it just didn’t fully jive w/ me for whatever other reason.)

Blue Prince: A roguelite puzzle game set in a 45-room mansion where we try to look for the 46th room… or that’s the initial premise anyway. I did a single run which gave a general idea of how it plays but I also felt like I didn’t scratch even the most surface of surface layers lol. It was a fun hour but I’m not so sure it’s the correct fit on the channel with how massive of a commitment it would be, both genre- and length-wise.

despelote: An autobiographical story of a boy growing up in 2001 Ecuador during soccer craze. It’s a very personal tale that evokes nostalgia even if you’re unfamiliar with the sport/setting. Made me think about all the little things I remembered growing up too! The grainy art style is fitting but really doesn’t play nice with video compression, so I’d recommend playing this one if it interests you.

DOOM: The Dark Ages: My first experience with DOOM! The gameplay felt smooth, it was fun to zoom around and tear into enemies etc etc, but the story didn’t strike me as a super front-and-center thing (vs the newer Wolfensteins.)

Current Stuff

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33: The new turn-based JRPG that’s all the rage, coming at a perfect time as I wrapped up BG3. Fresh premise, amazing music, engaging narrative, intricate combat, this game has it all. The biggest complaint I have so far is on the romance front if you know what I mean lmao. It’s unabashedly a French game which I find really brave and inspiring too; it’s always lovely to see games not contort themselves to be palatable to Anglophone audiences find mainstream success. I'm currently in Act 2 of 3.

Upcoming Stuff

Stuff I have tabs on for June:

• 5th: DELTARUNE Chapters 3 & 4 (I've been replaying Ch 1 & 2 to get ready)

• 12th: Forgotlings (prequel to the Ghibli-esque side-scrolling adventure Forgotton Anne which we played on the channel in 2018)

• 13th: The Alters (we did a first look last year, it’s the “what if Fallout Shelter but all the workers are your AU clones" game)

• 26th:  Death Stranding 2

DELTARUNE and DS2 will likely be my priorities and I’ll tackle the others depending on how much I can squeeze in. I’ve started hitting the gas on Expedition 33 in hopes I can close that out before stuff gets too crazy too. Always a fine balance between playing fast to get more videos out vs playing so fast it ends up being a rush job, but I’ll be careful!

Anyway, hope you’ve been enjoying Expedition 33 as much as I have been! Even if it's not your cup of tea, new things should be arriving shortly too.

Have a great one, and thank you again!!!! For everything!!!!

Welonz

April 2025 Channel Update – End of an Era

Hi hi,

It’s been a tad longer than usual since the last one – hope you’ve been well!

Over here there’s been ups and downs, but mostly up! I'm back from my March vacation, cleared up some annoying errands like my stupid taxes,* and things at work are a little better now too. Still hectic, but not crazily so!

* I mentioned in an update last year that I had to fill a million forms to get an error on my taxes fixed - I am still dealing with that this year 🫠

TL;DR

• Finished: Baldur’s Gate 3 (omgggggggg)

• Ongoing: Lost Records, Black Mesa, Scarlet Hollow

• Next Up: Some first looks, first!

Finished Stuff

Baldur’s Gate 3: Somehow we went from “I think I’m 60% done” in the last update to being straight up finished! It’s been a fantastic ride. One of the longest on the channel, and one of the greatest as well. Reformed Monk Wellens will rest and retire in the countryside now… 😴

This was my first exposure to CRPGs too. While the gameplay systems and mechanics were overwhelming at times I still found it tons of fun. That probably means I'll be more receptive to CRPGs from this experience too, though I feel like using BG3 with its massive however many hundred million budget as a measuring stick for everything else in the genre might not be quite fair lol.

As first looks, we had:

Wanderstop: A cozy narrative adventure from the new studio founded by Davey Wreden (The Stanley Parable, The Beginner’s Guide). I liked what I saw but the story being to do with overworking, burnout, etc, was a little uncomfortable to play because for me the very act of playing and recording this game is exactly what the warrior protagonist is doing by fighting. I think this’ll be a better one for people who actually play games for pure recreation…. 💀

Current Stuff

Black Mesa: The winner of the Patreon poll we had in March! (Sorry, I just realized I forgot to update non-voting patrons on the result of this one so you might not have found out until now if you didn't watch the beginning of the first video.) I think I’m inching towards the halfway mark. I don’t play many shooters on the channel but pre-channel-Welonz used to spend ridiculous amounts of time on Team Fortress 2, so Black Mesa feels a bit like returning home.

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage: Tape 2’s begun! I haven’t finished playing it yet but this series should be the focus for the coming week.

Scarlet Hollow Episodes 1-4: An atmospheric horror visual novel by the Slay the Princess devs. It’s not completed yet – I considered just checking out Episode 1 and leaving the rest for later, but one thing after the other and now I’m deep in enough to have looked up whether it’s legal to marry your cousin in Canada (it is 🤣). Very engaging and snappy story as expected from the StP devs. Not totally visible within a single playthrough but the branching and routing stemming from mundane decisions is unbelievably massive. I have the latter half of the Episode 4 to edit through, and then we’ll be on pause for this until Episode 5 releases later this year. (Also: not sure why no one told me about the doomed/unresolved yuri pining in this, I would’ve been on this much faster hahaha. Here’s a heads up for fellow yuri connoisseurs!)

Upcoming Stuff

I expect Scarlet Hollow and Lost Records Tape 2 to wrap up quite soon and I’ll be left with Black Mesa which also isn’t a super duper long game. I don’t have plans for what comes next yet, but I do plan on taking a look at:

• South of Midnight (adventure game by We Happy Few devs)

• Blue Prince (puzzle game that everybody and their dog has been raving about)

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (I actually haven’t looked into this at all but also seeing people scream about this)

I'll see what I vibe with from here, and maybe something will extend into a series.

All I got for this time. Appreciate your support as always, and feel free to share with me any comments/questions/suggestions below!

Hope you have a great day, and a lovely Easter weekend!

Welonz

February & March 2025 Channel Update – Looking for Suggestions

Hi everyone,

Hope you’ve been well!!

Apologies  for the late update - it’s been A Week* and things have gotten away from me. Let's jump straight into it!

(FYI for new patrons: if you ever wonder about any deviations from normal scheduling, both for these channel update posts or for videos themselves, I’m pretty good about mentioning them on BlueSky/Twitter, or you can always ask me directly as well.)

* yes it’s been more like Multiple Weeks… 😭

TL;DR

• Finished: Dragon Age: The Veilguard

• Ongoing: Baldur’s Gate 3, Lost Records

• Next Up: not sure - let’s do a poll?

Finished Stuff

Dragon Age: The Veilguard: Overall I have mixed feelings about Veilguard, maybe with a lean towards the negative given the not-small time investment. Narratively the finale is a series highlight and a great send-off, but the journey leading up to it is pretty flat. It’s a technically polished experience but I didn’t feel like the writing was made a priority. There’s enjoyment to be found here but I’m not sure it’s a particular standout with how competitive the market is these days.

As first looks we also checked out:

Eternal Strands: A third-person action adventure by Yellow Brick Games, a new studio co-founded by Bioware veteran Mike Laidlaw. There’s obvious thought into the worldbuilding and they made effective use of the opening hour to acquaint you to the cast, their relationships & future conflicts, which I think is a positive sign that the later narrative will be solid too. The gameplay I’m more iffy on: the movement felt kinda slippery and I didn’t end the first look feeling like I had a good grasp of their intentions for the combat. (i.e. There’s ranged heat/ice magic and physical melee attacks, but you get hurt by your own magic, so I’m not sure how they want you to mix using these fighting styles.)

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II: An RPG set in medieval Europe featuring a main character that isn’t a chosen hero but more of an everyday guy. There is an emphasis on realism with the complexity of actions that are usually streamlined in similar RPGs, e.g. instead of just clicking to attack, combat involves considering the side of the enemy you’re striking from. Potion-making has the player look at a recipe book, pick out ingredients, popping it all in a cauldron and boiling it for a manually counted amount of time. I don’t feel like I made it deep enough to see whether this realism remains enjoyable and immersive or will become irritating in the long run though. The UI & UX overall seemed a bit jank but I had fun with the first look.

Current Stuff

Baldur’s Gate 3: Still in Act 3 - we defeated 1 of the 2 (?) big baddies so it feels like progress is being made! Guestimate based off gut feeling that we must be at least 60% though Act 3 now!?

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage: DON’T NOD’s latest adventure set in a paranormal American summer 1995. People who enjoy the nostalgia and chill-out vibes of LIS (me) will love this – DON’T NOD takes care in the fine character details like no other. The slower plot pacing could drive some away, though it didn't bother me personally.

I’ll have one more Tape 1 vid checking out some alternate scenes, and we’ll return to the second half of the story when Tape 2 releases in April. (An aside: the staggered release feels like a nice nostalgic return to LIS1 too. Thinking about & checking out community discussions/theories for Tape 2 has been really fun!)

Upcoming Stuff

They said I was crazy for doing BG3/Veilguard simultaneously, but I did it! Mentally I think I handled it better than a few years ago when I did Witcher 3 and RDR2 lol, I didn’t actually feel too bad going through it hahaha.

I think I need time to recharge before the next Big Commitment though esp with BG3 still on the plate, so I’d like to focus on shorter things/indie things/first looks for a bit. For upcoming releases, I’m paying attention to:

• Mar 3: Scarlet Hollow’s new update (by the Slay the Princess devs; I’ve heard it’s an incredibly reactive VN)

• Mar 11: Wanderstop (by Ivy Road, founded by Davey Wreden who created Stanley Parable & Beginner’s Guide)

• Apr 11: The Talos Principle: Reawakened

• (Apr 15: Lost Records Tape 2)

I’m probably going to first look the first two (as well as going back to Roottrees – I haven’t forgotten about it!) to “shop around” a bit. Other than that I don’t have anything solidified, so I’m going to open a poll in the next few days. Feel free to leave any suggestions and I’ll include the ones I’m most interested in. No hard rules but I’d say I’m looking for quick turnarounds this time, so games finishable within ~15 hours…?

FYI I’ll be out of town on a quick vacation around mid-March. I’ll be looking forward to coming back, refreshed & ready to check out the poll winner!! 😊

Thanks for your support as always, and drop your comments/questions/suggestions below!

Have a lovely day,

Welonz

January 2025 Channel Update – New Year, Same Old Me (For Now)

Hi,

Welcome to the first update of the year - hope you’re having a fantastic start to 2025!

I am doing Alright, hanging in there as always! TBH I've been mentally preoccupied w/ my day job (my boss, coworkers etc are cool, but frankly we’re understaffed & overworked 💦). On the channel we've been trucking through BG3 and DAV with shorter games and first looks sprinkled in between. I'd love to ramp things up a bit more but I need to get through this busy patch first (fingers crossed it's not a new constant lol).

TL;DR

• Finished: Thank Goodness You’re Here!, Platform 8

• Ongoing: Baldur’s Gate 3, Dragon Age: The Veilguard

• Next Up: wrapping up Veilguard, Lost Records

Finished Stuff

Thank Goodness You’re Here!: A hilarious 3-hour “point and click” (walk around and slap people) adventure of a travelling salesman in an Northern English town and experiencing all sorts of oddities and errands. I am told it’s an accurate depiction of what these Northern English towns are like (!?) It definitely felt culturally distinct and a lot of it flew over my head 🤣 Still a great time, and a wonderful cozy game to end off 2024 with.

Platform 8: A short hour-long sequel to The Exit 8, a spot-the-difference horror-ish game I played last year. The anomalies are visually more creative than in Exit 8 but the gameplay is more walking gallery-like than ever. Fun enough for a sitting, but overall I thought it was a step down.

We checked out as first looks:

MiSide demo: A weeb horror game about being stuck in a gacha (?) game with a yandere (?) anime girl. The demo was entertaining enough, but unlike things like DDLC or Slay the Princess, I thought the writing seemed middling, probably not helped by the shaky translations for both the English text and Japanese audio. My main thing is so far is there’s been zero attempt to endear me to Anime Girl even though there is an expectation that you just like her by default.

The Roottrees are Dead: A detective puzzle game very much a mix of Return of the Obra Dinn (identifying people via logical deduction) and Her Story (finding clues using keyword searches). Very addicting! I am interested to continue it as a series but I’m keenly aware these types of games can get very high effort and mentally taxing, and I don’t know if I’m up for that right now.... do let me know if you feel strongly about this one though!

Cyber Manhunt 2: New World: Another detective game, but more along the lines of Facebook stalking, hacking and cyber-crime solving (similar to Orwell: Keeping An Eye On You which I’ve played on the channel a few years back). The characters are written super exaggeratedly and caricature-y though. Still fun if you enjoy the genre, but from the beginning bit, I think Orwell did it better.

Current Stuff

Baldur’s Gate 3: We’re… still in Act 3! I have no idea how much is left, but I would guess we’re at least 35% through Act 3? (Atm in the playthrough: I spent like two hours at the graveyard which is just one of 8237489324 spots in town - it is seriously crazy how dense the city is.)

Dragon Age: The Veilguard: I’m squarely in Act 2 now. I’ve been learning to meet Veilgaurd halfway and mechanically it’s a nice “click some buttons and enjoy pretty explosions” sort of game, but I also feel that’s not the kind of space a traditionally narrative-rich series should mainly be occupying. Even after eliminating the weird bad-faith stuff surrounding this game It’s still a tough one to talk about for sure.

Upcoming Stuff

I think the end to Veilguard is in sight and we’ll wrap it up next month. Before Lost Records Tape 1 (Feb 18) would be ideal for me but we’ll see how it works out! With that freed up slot I’ll probably shift focus to more indie stuff – while still being entrenched in Baldur’s Gate 3 – so hopefully there’s going to be something for everyone.

Thank you for your support and endless patience with me! Hoping 2025 will be a good year of video games for everyone 🍸

Welonz

December 2024 Channel Update – Last One of the Year

HI………..

Happy holidays!!! ❄️ ❄️  It’s the last update of the year! I hope you’re enjoying a relaxing time with your friends and family, vacationing away from work and duties and all that. I’m still in at work since I spent my vacation days in November (for all those game releases lol). Usually my strategy is hoping that December will be chill since everyone else will be on vacation, but uhhh that hasn’t panned out super well this year 🤣  it’s alright though, I’m hanging in there!

TL;DR

• Finished: Mouthwashing

• Ongoing: Baldur’s Gate 3, Dragon Age: The Veilguard

• Next Up: indies/first looks while keeping up with BG3/DAV

•  Some thoughts on the channel this year

Finished Stuff

Mouthwashing: Very interesting (and horrifying) indie narrative adventure about a spaceship crew stranded after a crash. I really enjoyed the aesthetics and the storytelling. Definitely on the lookout for whatever these devs cook up next!

We also checked out as a first look:

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: A first-person stealth-focused Indy game by Machine Games.  I’m not familiar with Indy at all but so far it was very fun to sneak around and whack enemies on the head lol. This reminded me of how much I missed Machine Games since Wolfenstein 2! The only reason this is a first look is pretty much because I don’t have capacity right now – I’ll get back to this later on!

Current Stuff

Baldur’s Gate 3: We’re in Act 3, the home stretch, except it’s still quite a bit aways from the end…!? This areas in this act already seem noticeably denser compared to the previous acts. I get the impression it’s going to be the longest one yet.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard: I’m about 20ish hours in (Act 1) and my impressions haven’t changed vastly since last update. It’s been easier to enjoy once I adjusted my expectations & became more familiar with all the things Veilguard’s been doing differently from the previous DAs, but overall it’s a mixed bag.

Upcoming Stuff

As mentioned last time, I’m not thinking about too hard about other stuff with BG3 and DAV on my plate. I know having two long series can be kinda samey so I’m trying to complement it with indie stuff and/or first looks here and there. I’d like to check out Thank Goodness You’re Here in a few days! It’s a comedy “slapformer” that I’ve heard is very funny, which sounds like a great way to cap off the year to me 🌈

Year in Review

Looking back at the channel this year, I think we covered some good ground. Some of my personal favs:

• Metal Gear Solid (1 is my fav!)

• 1000xRESIST (glad to see word of mouth really working for it lately)

• Silent Hill 2 Remake (enjoyed the story unabashedly, even it being a spooky horror game didn’t take away from that)

Personally I would’ve liked to check out a few more indies. We did a few really lengthy AAA series that sucked up a lot of time, and I’m going to be real, I don’t think all of that was quality time well spent lol. (The silver lining is that these have really gotten me to think about how to better handle the balance between completionist tendencies vs what is truly engaging, both for me as the player and you as the viewer. But that’s another topic for another time!) I’d like to change that in the coming year after wrapping up BG3 and DAV, and hopefully it won’t be difficult with stuff like:

• Lost Records: Bloom & Rage

• Deltarune Chapter 3 & 4 (boy I’m gonna have to refresh myself on the first 2 chapters)

• OFF  (a landmark RPGMaker title - I remember this being recommended to me quite a bit before)

• The Talos Principle: Reawakened (can’t believe they’re doing a remaster just for me, now I have no excuse to not check it out)

… wow! I’m getting excited just looking at this list. And of course I haven’t forgotten about stuff I passed by like RDR1 too, but let’s finish up those big AAAs first 🤣

Let me know what your favourite games this year were! As always, thank you for sticking around and sharing your time with me in 2024 – it’s your support that allows me to do all this, and it’ll never not be crazy to me that all this gestures vaguely is a thing 🥹

Have a wonderful holiday season, and I’ll see you back in the New Year ☃️

Welonz

November 2024 Channel Update – The Double Medieval Fantasy Marathon

Hi all,

The year’s almost coming to an end already!! Hope you and your loved ones are all doing fantastically in the near-holiday season ❄️ I’ve been doing good on my side – busy on all fronts as usual but I’ve hit a good stride in managing everything!

The past month was probably the busiest in the year for stuff I was interested in, but I got to basically everything I wanted to so I’m happy about that. We have two big RPGs underway now and it reminds me of when I did RDR2/Witcher 3 concurrently lmao. That was pretty crazy, but I’m better at managing both myself and the schedule now so no worries – I have it under control!

TL;DR

• Finished: Silent Hill 2 Remake, LIS: Double Exposure, Slay the Princess Pristine Cut, Alan Wake II Lake House

• Ongoing: Baldur’s Gate 3, Dragon Age: The Veilguard

• Next Up: first looks & small games (Mouthwashing)

Finished Stuff

SILENT HILL 2 (Remake): Definitely my favourite horror game in recent memory! It could’ve been tightened up to be a few hours shorter but it was still fantastic throughout, thanks to the amazing narrative groundwork laid by the original.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure: My opinion of this didn’t really change with Chapters 3-5 sadly. Double Exposure seeks to change the future direction of the franchise, which might’ve gone over less controversially if at least executed well, and IMO it wasn’t. The poor handling of LIS1 endings is just a symptom and not the cause - the whole production is quite visibly rushed so I don’t believe this is even the version of the story the writers wanted to tell. There is clear setup for a sequel which I’m not super optimistic on but would still be open to check out.

Slay the Princess: Pristine Cut: Fantastic new routes & expansions on existing routes – I’m jealous of those who will get to experience all this together as complete package!

Alan Wake II Lake House DLC: (The last part will be published today) A story back in the Alan Wake world where Remedy makes their stance on the role of AI in art creation very clear lol. Just like Night Springs this one was a nice thing too, but very short and a tad reliant on document reading to bolster playtime. PS. Haven’t forgotten about Quantum Break – still interested to get to this sometime!!

We also checked out as first looks:

Rue Valley (alpha): An isometric RPG (think Disco Elysium) of an emotionally troubled man trapped in a time loop. It’s an interesting setting and the focus of the narrative seems to be on the man’s mental state and his running away from Horrible Past Sins rather than any grandstanding plot.

Current Stuff

Baldur’s Gate 3: We just finished up the Big Thing in Act 2 & will be moving onto Act 3 next week!

Dragon Age: The Veilguard: Much like Double Exposure this is another divisive sequel. Impressions a few hours in: it’s very streamlined, I guess partly to cut development costs, partly to welcome in new players. I do feel it’s somewhat alienating for returning players: on top of DA Keep choices not being imported, there are so many things I want to learn more about following from the previous games, but Veilguard often seems to want to move on to The Next Thing without expanding much further. That said, it’s far from unplayable. It’s actually quite technically polished right out of the gate.

Upcoming Stuff

BG3 and DAV will keep me occupied so I’d like to dedicate any remaining time (ie. a second video of the day) to first looks and small (<5 hour) indie games, starting with Mouthwashing soon. I’ll be flipping through recent releases to see if I passed on anything throughout the year that fits the bill too, so feel free to send suggestions my way!

All I've got for now! Thanks for your support as always, and have a great upcoming holiday season ☃️

Welonz

October 2024 Channel Update – In My Restless Dreams, I See 1000 Video Games

HI......

It’s October, aka the one month of the year video game developers around the globe conspire to release every title all at once, ripping money from our wallets and free time from our lives. (I’m sure they have plenty of data looking through this but whyyy is it always October!? I would’ve thought November/December would be better for the holiday spendings!)

Don't get me wrong, it’s a good and first world problem to have, but I wouldn't complain if they spaced it out a little 🗿 ANYWAY, I hope you’ve been well and enjoying lots of video games!!

TL;DR

• Finished: Metal Gear Solid 3, some first looks

• Ongoing: Baldur’s Gate 3, Silent Hill 2 Remake, LIS: Double Exposure

• Next Up: Alan Wake II: Lake House, Slay the Princess Pristine Cut, Dragon Age: The Veilguard...

Finished Stuff

Metal Gear Solid 3: Enjoyed my time with the usual Kojima weirdness on top of some very memorable moments - don’t think I’ll be forgetting the sniper battle any time soon. This is the last game in Master Collection Vol 1. I’ll be keeping an eye out to continue my MGS adventures with Vol 2.

We had first looks of:

Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars Reforged: A 4K remaster/remake of a classic point & click from the 90s. The graphics look great although the audio is a real shame: they didn’t rerecord the voice acting and the existing recordings just aren’t very high quality. I see there’s some fan mod effort/further dev updates to try to improve this though – I’ll be keeping an eye to see if there’s any huge improvements, after which it could be nice to revisit.

Guild Saga: Vanished Worlds: A 2D pixel art CPRG with gameplay in the veins of Baldur’s Gate 3 and a hero-saves-the-world story reminiscent of (my image of) classic JRPGs. The beginning is kinda lore-dumpy but the isometric CRPG gameplay looked cool. In the vid I wondered if there would be romances with the companions and it looks like the devs confirmed that will be a thing 🤣

Europa: An android boy goes on a gliding adventure in search of answers on the last human that lived – super cute and relaxing. Performance is impeccable although the controls and general movement are not nearly as smooth as I’d like them to be.

NEVA: An adventure between a young woman and her wolf friend amidst a dying world. Just as ridiculously gorgeous as Nomada Studio’s previous game, GRIS, and really pleasant & silky smooth to control too. One that I’d definitely would've liked to continue if time allowed!

Current Stuff

Baldur’s Gate 3: Still trucking on! We’re in Act 2 of 3 now – I want to say we’re at least halfway through this act but I can’t tell too well 🤷

SILENT HILL 2 (Remake): Reviews looked great so I jumped in, and wow it’s been great so far. Some performance issues aside I’m really engaged by the atmosphere & surreal storytelling. I especially enjoy that it’s a lot of tension building but without “freaky monsters plastered all over your screen” jumpscares. I think I’m past halfway through now.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure: As a big LIS fan it’s painful to say but this is really middling. From the first 2 episodes: the myriad of bugs & rushed writing tell me this was a troubled production, and IMO the whole thing from story direction to the marketing campaign reek of “someone high up made decisions nobody was allowed to go against”. The underlying mystery is still intriguing, but as it stands, DE is a far cry from the heights of the franchise. I’m in Chapter 2 right now and will be continuing the rest as it releases on Oct 29.

Upcoming Stuff

TBH between BG3/SH2/LIS:DE I am mega hustling right now, so I don’t have capacity to consider much else!! (I’m taking care of myself too don’t worry – I appreciate everyone always reaching out reminding me to rest & relax! I feel bad that so many of my social media updates are always about being busy, etc etc  😭)

I’m not sure which I’ll wrap up first between LIS and SH2, but here’s my rough ideas for next plans:

• Slay the Princess Pristine Cut: I played the base game a while ago, not sure how long the new stuff is but AFAIK there are 3 new routes so I don’t think it’ll be long

• Alan Wake II Expansion: Lake House: probably get to it after I finish SH2 since they’re both horror. It’s a short 3-4 hour thing.

• Dragon Age: The Veilguard: this might be a 100+ hour affair so I want to think more about how to juggle this alongside BG3 + still have time for smaller things. Even if not on the very first day of release I do intend on starting it soonish & not like 6 months down the line though!

Other things on my radar:

• Red Dead Redemption on PC: ...... yeah I’m not getting to it on Oct 29 lol, but I’m aware it’s a thing and I would like to experience John’s story sometime!

• Mouthwashing: Heard some recent chatter about this 3-hour indie– keeping a tab on it!

What have you been enjoying this October? Am I the only one going crazy over how packed it is...!?

Appreciate your support as always, and feel free to let me know any comments/suggestions you have. Now if you’ll excuse me, I must go back to Silent Hill to save my wife who’s been dead for three years...

Welonz

September 2024 Channel Update – Bracing for Impact

Hi,

Hope you are well! I’m doing Alright - it’s that time of the month where I’m scrambling to do an update again 😂  Let’s gooooooo!

TL;DR

• Finished: Copycat, some first looks

• Ongoing: Baldur’s Gate 3, Metal Gear Solid 3

• Next Up: Literally A Million New October Releases (casual poll for Patrons+)

• Patreon billing changes (does not apply to patrons with ongoing pledges, but just a FYI)

Finished Stuff

Copycat: A story of a shelter cat going through a rollercoaster journey beginning with being adopted by an older lady. This is the studio’s first game and the budgets/limitations/inexperience shows, but narratively it goes to places I didn’t expect it to, so I think it was worth experiencing for that alone. Short & sweet - doesn’t overstay its welcome!

We also had first looks of:

The Plucky Squire: A platform adventure of 2D storybook characters who traverse to the 3D realm. The aesthetics are super endearing and on point. However, I’ve seen from others who played further in that the puzzles and gameplay continue to be handholdy all the way through, so how much you enjoy this might depend on how much you can tolerate that.

Caravan SandWitch: We go on a caravan road trip to find our missing sister. It’s relaxing, looks beautiful, but the dialogue (of which there is a lot) is kind of awkward, lacking in finesse and proper localization.

Current Stuff

Baldur’s Gate 3:  I think I’m very close to the end of Act 1 in the mountain pass area before going to shadow-cursed lands. Still enjoying it lots, and we’ve even bumped it up to tactician difficulty as of today!

Metal Gear Solid 3: The third part of Snake’s adventures! For better or worse Kojima definitely has his own flavor lol, and I think his stuff always has an entertaining edge to it. We’ll be ending off this series with 14 parts so I’ll give more of my thoughts then. As for future MGS entries – I’m probably going to pause until Master Collection vol 2 is out.

Upcoming Stuff

After I wrap up MGS3 I’m going to hold off on anything big, because October is going to be insane:

• 8th: SILENT HILL 2 (I’m paying attention though it’ll depend on reviews – if the remake is not great I’d rather consider the original instead)

• 15th: NEVA (from creators of GRIS)

• 15th: Life is Strange: Double Exposure (first 2 eps, full game on 29th)

• 31st: Dragon Age: The Veilguard

• ?: Alan Wake II Expansion: Lake House (specific day not yet announced)

Patrons+ can share which of the above they’d like to see prioritized in this poll: https://www.patreon.com/posts/games-interest-112754775

Note: This poll’s more of a casual interest check for me to see what you as a group would like to see. I’m likely to get around to everything here eventually, but in selecting the order, I’ll be taking other factors like game length into consideration (e.g. it’s easier for me to tackle a 10-hour game before committing to a 100+ hour one).

Patreon Admin Things

Starting from Nov 4 2024, this page will be switched over from first-of-the-month billing to subscription billing as mandated by Patreon. If you are an existing patron and continue your pledge without pause, nothing will change for you. For new patrons and those who discontinue their pledge but return later, this is how the billing behavior will change:

Currently: You are billed on the date you become a patron, and then on the 1st of every month

• E.g. Join on Sep 25 =  billed on Sep 25, Oct 1, Nov 1, etc

Starting Nov 2024 for new/returning patrons: You will be billed on the date you become a patron, and then on the same day every month after that

• E.g. Join on Sep 25 = billed on Sep 25, Oct 25, Nov 25, etc

This change is happening apparently because of Apple App Store shenanigans. You can see the full details here: https://support.patreon.com/hc/en-us/articles/8779192853261-Subscription-Billing-FAQ

We’ve got a few more days before we enter the October craze! As a gamer I’m excited, but as a channel running person I’m also absolutely doing a thousand yard stare right now lol. I hope you’ll be enjoying some great games in October too, whether it be watching and/or playing directly!

Thanks for your support, and as always and feel free to share with me any thoughts/suggestions below.

Welonz

August 2024 Channel Update – Where’d the Summer Go?

Hey hey,

Hope you are in good health, in high spirits, and doing great in general!

This blurb usually takes me longer to write than the actual stuff about games, and today is one of Those Days, so I’m just going to give up 💀 In short: I’m alive, life is happening, video games are happening, it’s business as usual!

TL;DR

• Finished: 1000xRESIST,  Nobody Wants to Die, some first looks

• Ongoing: Baldur’s Gate 3

• Next Up: Metal Gear Solid 3

Finished Stuff

1000xRESIST: I gave thoughts on this in previous updates already, but it’s truly a one-of-a-kind narrative gem and one of the most vulnerable, authentic stories I’ve experienced. It won’t be for everyone, but if it’s Your Thing, it’ll be a hard-hitting one.

Nobody Wants to Die: A detective investigates a murder in a dystopian world where life is eternal via body swapping (think Altered Carbon). There’s some nice art direction and cinematography, but the narrative logic can get confusing and hard to follow.

We also had first looks of:

The Crush House: You are a producer in charge of filming the newest season of the hottest reality TV show around! It’s a cute concept but even just playing for an hour it felt like it was going to get repetitive fast: basically each day you try to film and frame your shots to appeal to the audiences tuning in (e.g. drama mongers love to see the cast having cat fights). The cast has randomly cycled dialogue, so while fun bizarre things like people getting together and breaking up within the day can happen, there’s little true narrative intention behind it.

Nocturne demo: An RPGMaker-style (actually made in Unity) adventure in the digital afterlife in a world where humanity has long gone extinct. The gameplay is rhythm-based (think Guitar Hero/Tap Tap) with some nice music. Some of the orchestral soundtrack reminded me of older JRPG style games too, not that I've played any lmao. The demo has presented some mysteries, although it’s too early to see where the story’ll go.

Dustborn: The latest game by Red Thread Games (previous work: The Dreamfall Chapters, Draugen) about a ragtag group rebelling against an authoritarian government in a world where people can manifest words as literal power. It’s an interesting premise and feels like a very technically polished product, but the protagonists weren’t too likeable – by design? The beginning bit felt intentionally satirical. It's also quite a busy game with lots of simultaneous dialogue & text, making it kind of hard to keep up.

Emio - The Smiling Man demo: A detective visual novel/adventure game from the Famicom Detective Club series where we investigate a murder of a schoolboy, strangled and covered with a paper bag with a smiling face drawn on it. It has an anime art style but is more grounded than stuff like Ai: The Somnium Files. Chapter 1 is a subdued start with introducing the systems but the general mystery seems intriguing.

And some reaction/thoughts videos on:

• Lost Records: Bloom & Rage

• Dragon Age: The Veilguard (this one has some contentious story spoilers – would not recommend if you’d like to go into the game knowing as little as possible)

Current Stuff

Baldur’s Gate 3:  …. I think this one is going to be in the “current stuff” section for a while so I might not have something new to say every time lmao. By now I’ve gotten a better hang of the systems and at least understand (mostly) the limits of what is and isn’t possible. Still enjoying it lots! I think I’m through at least the halfway point in Act 1 (of 3) now.

Upcoming Stuff

Sorry I haven’t gotten started on MGS3 mentioned in the last update yet! I’m hoping it will be Very Soon with my upcoming vacation (staycation) from IRL work. I’ve been working on setting up a comfortable KB+M control scheme since this one finally has mouse support for first-person aiming. I really, really don’t want to do that on a controller again lol.

BG3 and MGS3 will keep me occupied but I’ll be on the lookout for stuff for first looks here and there too. Trying to not think too hard about how the schedule will look once Dragon Age: The Veilguard comes out in two months… 🗿

That’s all from me for now! As always, thank you for sticking around and feel free to share with me with any comments/thoughts/suggestions below. Enjoy the last few days of summer!

Welonz

July 2024 Channel Update – Endless Summer Heat

Hello!!

Hope you are doing spectacular in this summery season (winter for South Hem folks)!

I want to say it’s been a good July for me but oh, boy, IRL stuff has been really kicking my butt. My work has been crazy, I made a mistake with my taxes that needs me to write letters and fill out 5 different forms to fix 🙃🙃 and in general it feels like everyone around me wants something from me....... All that plus the heat has really been putting a damper on things. I am hopeful this’ll clear up soon I can focus more on the vidjas 😭

TL;DR

• Finished: Metal Gear Solid 2, Alan Wake II Night Springs, Hades II (for now)

• Ongoing: 1000xRESIST, Baldur’s Gate 3

• Next Up: Nobody Wants to Die, Metal Gear Solid 3 soon-ish hopefully

Finished Stuff

Metal Gear Solid 2: Not much I didn’t already cover last update - fun times with themes that are eerily still relevant today, but really wish the controls were modernized. I’m def interested to get to 3, and maybe check out the Delta remake whenever it comes out too.

Alan Wake II Night Springs DLC: It’s a fun return to AW2, but feels somewhat undercooked with the short length. The last episode focusing on Shawn Ashmore’s character made me very curious about how Quantum Break fits into the Remedyverse though. I’m hoping I can slip that in some time (before the next AW2 DLC…?)

Stray Gods: Orpheus DLC: Similar situation to Night Springs with a undercooked-feeling DLC. What’s here is nice but the one-hour runtime doesn't give much room for my boy Orpheus to work with. There are apparently different songs dependent on your base game choices though, which is nice.

Hades II early access (for now): I’ve played about ~20 runs and it’s good ol’ Hades – high quality gameplay + engaging roguelite progression-based story. I’ve exhausted the major gameplay objectives for the moment but I think I’ll be back when a bigger narrative patch drops.

Current Stuff

1000xRESIST: You know how there are let’s plays that are like “Greek Mythology PhD Plays Hades And Gives 5000 Esoteric Facts About Random Greek Things”? This game kind of makes me feel a bit like that lool.  

This game is clearly on a budget with the VN-style presentation but they do so much with what they have. The worldbuilding has been ridiculously engaging, and the story just keeps pushing past expectations. To be honest though - the reasons why I feel close to it also makes it difficult for me to commentate on... But anyway, even removing the real world context surrounding it (if that was somehow possible) it’s still a wonderful, heartfelt gem of a sci-fi story. Just two more chapters/one video until the end!

Baldur’s Gate 3:  It’s here! I don’t think I really need to say too much about this 🤣 I’ve put 10+ hours into this but I still feel like I only have a basic grasp of the available systems and possibility space. But I also don’t feel like a player needs to understand the mechanisms to a T to enjoy it, and so enjoying it I have been. Story-wise: because all the D&D lore stuff is pre-existing it feels like I just got dropped in here with not much fanfare, but I’ve been enjoying reading the in-game stuff to “suss out” how Faerun/the Forgotten Realms works.

Upcoming Stuff

My focus atm is to keep BG3 running at a Mon/Wed/Fri/Sat schedule with minimal interruption. After 1000xRESIST wraps up, I’ll probably look around for some smaller things (hearing good things about Nobody Wants To Die), and of course, getting back to MGS3. Honestly I’ve been so swamped I haven’t looked into new releases much, so let me know if there's anything on your radar that should be on mine too!

Please feel free to share any suggestions/questions you have in the comments. Appreciate your support as always, and I’ll catch you in the next one 🍸

Welonz

June 2024 Channel Update – What You’ve Been Waiting For

Hi!

Feels like it’s been forever since the last update with me having been away for a bit in May!! I am doing Alright, and I hope you are too!

There’s a lot to cover so I’ll try to be concise 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️

TL;DR

• Finished: INDIKA, Hellblade II, Still Wakes the Deep, a million first looks

• Ongoing: Hades II, Metal Gear Solid 2

• Next Up: Alan Wake II Night Springs DLC, Baldur’s Gate 3

Finished Stuff

INDIKA: It's the weird nun game - you know the one 🤣 I like bizarre, novel things, and this game definitely had weird stuff in spades alongside surrealist humour and interesting cinematography. It does have things to say about religion, faith, and more taboo/sensitive topics, so I can see it stepping on toes.

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II: Compared to 1 they’ve really honed in on distilling this into a cinematic experience with zero video gamey button prompts, streamlined combat to ensure smooth animations, etc. It’s very nice to see Senua continue her journey and grow even more, although I think it’s difficult to re-capture that groundbreaking feel of the first game.

Still Wakes the Deep: A spooky narrative game of Scottish oil rig workers disturbing underwater horrors. The story is engaging and doesn’t overstay, but I don’t think its hyperlinear gameplay will be for people looking to be scared scared. It’s creepy and atmospheric, but I could handle playing it at night no prob.

We had first looks of:

1000xRESIST: In a post-apocalyptic future, we are “Watcher” – one of the many sister clones of the Allmother, who holds immunity to an alien disease that has wiped out the rest of the humanity. Things start to change as Watcher learns more about this society.

This one is a real doozy. It’s a visual novel-esque sci-fi thriller mixed with an immigrant story, intergenerational trauma, and everything in between. It’s also just up my niche alley in general: there’s sapphic AND Hong Kong stuff (was this made for me???? l o l)

The first look was a slow start but I’ve seen very passionate & high praise for it  from lots of narrative folk, so I’ve been sloowly, secretly continuing it. It does pick up & now I find the worldbuilding + storytelling very fascinating and engaging. I’ll probably continue the videos after I finish the game. (Might be a while as I have this on lower priority with how niche it is.)

Little Kitty, Big City: A cat goes around wreaking havoc in a city! Nothing crazy, but it’s good ol’ cute cat fun.

Another Crab’s Treasure: A Soulslike of a crab suffering the consequences of being poor and unable to pay taxes in a capitalistic underwater society. Fun tone and the difficulty seems lenient. I enjoyed the first bit, but it’s a tad long for me to commit to on a whim (~20 hours).

Nine Sols: A “Taopunk” metroidvania Soulslike based on the Sekiro parry mechanic, by Red Candle Games. This is a big departure from their previous games Detention and Devotion. The gameplay seems quite unforgiving; I died to the first a good few times. There are mysteries with the story but the unpolished localization was somewhat distracting (it’s in “it’s grammatically correct but I can tell this wasn’t written by a native speaker” territory, which TBF isn’t going to be something that bothers everyone.)

The Alters demo: Dude is stranded on a foreign planet and makes slightly differing copies of himself to have enough manpower to survive. The gameplay is like Death Stranding + Fallout Shelter with some Eurojanky feel to it (Polish devs). I’m very curious where they’re gonna go with all the copies communicating and us managing them like Sims people lol. I’m looking forward to the full release.

Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn demo: A “Soulslite” by the Ashen devs where we must defeat the evil Gods leaking things into our lands, destroying our people. I didn’t find the narrative nor the open world design super gripping, but the gun + melee gameplay was enjoyable.

Closer the Distance demo: By the devs of Orwell - Life is Strange meets the Sims in a quaint village where everyone knows each other. These people encounter a tragedy that ripple-affects everyone’s relationships and starts tearing the group apart. Looking forward to the full release of this one too.

Current Stuff

Hades II early access: It’s Supergiant, and it’s Hades, so we already know it’s quality. Not sure of my full plans for this yet but the early access saves carry over into the full release, so I’ll likely play to Some Point, pick it up again when major patches roll around or so, and finish up the story when it comes out with the full release.

Metal Gear Solid 2: It’s Kojima, and it’s Metal Gear, so it was going to be entertaining no matter what lol. I think MGS1 was okay with the simpler mechanics but in 2 I find myself wishing Konami had put effort into modernizing/adding proper KB+M controls. I like the core things about the game, but the controls have been a point of friction. I think I’m past the halfway through atm.

Non-Let’s Play Stuff

If you missed it: I started doing some shorter videos where I give some thoughts on game trailers and upcoming games. I figure it’s nice to have some “casual” content that doesn’t require dozens of hours of commitment like with LPs!  

• Dragon Age: The Veilguard: Initial reveal / Gameplay reveal

• Life is Strange: Double Exposure: Initial reveal / Gameplay reveal + more details

People seem to be enjoying these so I’ll keep this format in mind whenever I come across stuff that interests me. (If you have suggestions feel free to shoot! E.g. I got a few asks for Lost Records: Bloom & Rage so far)

Upcoming Stuff

We’ll have Alan Wake II Night Springs DLC next, which should be a short three-parter. After that, we’ll start Baldur’s Gate 3! It might won’t be at a breakneck pace, but a start’s a start - looking forward to digging into it finally! (ps. I’ve been watching some beginner videos to get some D&D/BG3 background & terminology, feel free to send over any nice resources you have.)

That’s it for now!!!!!! Thanks for sticking around, feel free to let me know any comments/suggestions, and and enjoy the start of your summer (or winter for Australians)🍸

Welonz

April & May 2024 Channel Update – No Time To Think of a Cute Title

Hi hi,

First of all: apologies for the delayed update! I’m going out of town next week for a wedding* and have been desperately trying to get the schedule figured out. This was the thing that had to give… BUT, I’m ready to get down to some vidja games now!!!!!

(FYI I usually mention delays in advance on Twitter and Discord – if at any time you wonder about what’s going on those are good places to check. Or you could just straight up ask me!)

TL;DR

• Finished: Open Roads, Metal Gear Solid 1

• Ongoing: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (on the cusp of finishing), INDIKA

• Upcoming: Hellblade II, But Also Just Let Me Get Through The Next Week First

Finished Stuff

Open Roads (3 videos): By members of the team that worked on Gone Home and Tacoma - a story of a mother and daughter’s relationship unfolding via the exploration and uncovering of their family history. It’s a mellow story that might be hit or miss depending on how much you can relate – personally I loved how it invited quiet introspection. It made me think about how much I love my mom... 🥺❤

Metal Gear Solid 1 (10 videos): Finally got around to this classic! I thought the story and even the pixelly look aged really well for 2024 and I loved getting to check out Kojima’s work pre-Death Stranding. Good or bad, he seems like a guy who always likes to try different things. It was tons of fun & I’m looking forward to more of the series. (BTW: I can confirm the PC Master Collection version is playable without issue now, but it’s also a straight up port with zero quality of life features.)

We also had first looks of:

Dragon’s Dogma 2: I said I wasn’t going to check it out last time lol but had the chance to thanks to Capcom. This had some interesting and unique systems with the party of AI NPCs following & assisting the player. It doesn’t seem to have a big narrative focus and is more about emergent gameplay and medieval life simulation a la Skyrim though. Personally I had fun with the hourish I spent, but the jank gave me doubts as to whether that enjoyment would continue all the way through.

Harold Halibut: Point & click story of 250 years into the future after humanity escaped on a spaceship to the oceans of an alien planet. The art is handcrafted with clay and is gorgeous – you can see every detail of every little object in the scene. It’s quite a slow burn though, after the intro hour I’m still not sure what the conflict of the story is going to be lol.

Let Bions By Bygones: Another point & click, but this time with a 2D-pixel-art-crossed-with-3D-lighting-effects aesthetic. Looks great, but it could’ve used more time in the oven with the bugs and UI oddities. First hour of the story is a standard detective affair: not awful, but nothing crazy either.

Current Stuff

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth: I’ll likely finish the main game at 80 parts, spend a few more videos on some optional stuff, and then it should be a wrap.

I’m going to detail this more in the ending thoughts video but I’m mixed on Rebirth. There are great character moments and I enjoyed whenever the plot was advancing, but as a player here primarily for the story, it pains me to say I don’t feel this game has anywhere near enough narrative content to support the playtime commitment it asks for.

INDIKA: The full release of the weird nun game we checked out in February! I planned on just a check of the intro but the weird stuff is making me sooo curious so we're continuing lol. This should be a short one  (~ 4-5 hours).

Upcoming Stuff

As mentioned, I’ll be away for next week. I’m trying to sort out how things will be but it’s looking more and more like it’s just going to be thin on content… sorry! I physically don’t have enough hours in a day to work out a whole week in advance 😭

My priorities, roughly:

• Wrap up FF7 Rebirth (the last few optional videos will take more time to play & edit)

• Continue INDIKA

• One offs/few parters checking out recent releases (I’m looking at you Hades 2 EA stealth drop 🫠)

I should be back in time for Hellblade II’s release. After FF7 Rebirth’s wrap-up, I’ll have capacity to take on the next Big 10000 hour game too ( I wonder what possible candidates could fit this description.....…) Somewhere between all this I’d like to get to Metal Gear Solid 2 as well. This all works out well in my mind - there's a mix of long/short games, old/new games, and everything is in a different genre. I just have to execute it well lol.

(An aside: I want to apologize for maybe having set the wrong expectations in the past few updates - the interest check poll and some stuff I said previously probably gave off the impression things were going to happen a lot sooner than I could realistically get to them. Sorry! I try to avoid mentioning a game unless my plans are set in stone exactly because of this, but sometimes it’s hard to straddle the line between letting you know what I’m thinking of vs. getting you too excited and then making you feel let down...)

Anyway, I think this short break will be good refresh and reset to my schedule. I'm really looking forward to being back and having a whole bunch of new games to check out already. I hope you are too!

Thanks for your support as always, and feel free to let me know your thoughts/comments/suggestions below!

Cheers,
Welonz

* yes it’s the one with the karaoke on stage ☠️: https://twitter.com/Welonz/status/1782686097841266979

March 2024 Channel Update – Rebirth Under Way

Hey all,

Hope you are well and enjoying life, video games, and whatever else you have going on! I’ve finally reached a bit of a slowdown period at my day job so things are Alright and Manageable… probably only lasting for 2 weeks or so lool. (FYI despite the complaining I actually like my job 😭 lol )

For the channel: after wrapping up the February series I’ve been focusing on just FF7R. It feels nice to hyperfocus on one thing as it makes the whole content creation preparation, scheduling, etc etc nice and simple. I have it well underway though so I think I’m ready to add in other stuff soon too.

(Quick side note - apologies if the formatting of this post is off, Patreon has been doing lots of weird stuff in the back and if you've heard anything about creators not being happy, I'm pretty sure it's still ongoing...)

TL;DR

• Finished: Lies of P, Pacific Drive

• Ongoing: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

• Upcoming: Open Roads, “Stuff”

Finished Stuff

Lies of P (28 videos): My first “real” Soulslike - this was fun! I enjoyed learning the intricacies of the combat with a puppet uprising story on the side. The downside was that this was pretty time and effort-intensive from a content creation POV - lots of footage (ie. boss attempts) just never made it to see light of day, but looking at it purely as a video game experience I enjoyed it lots.

To answer what I think people are gonna ask: I’m not opposed to more Souls or Soulslike games in the future, but it would have to be when I’m in The Mood (+ not when other big games are releasing 💦).

Pacific Drive (12 videos 1-2 hours long): My thoughts are mixed by the end... Despite loving the spooky SCP stuff, ultimately the grind was a bit much. Reaching every new zone feels mysterious and cool but the sheen wears off when we revisit them again and again – for resource collection, and also just because of how the game is designed. E.g. To reach map A3, you must go through A1 and A2, return to the hub, and then go through A1, A2 again to get to A3. The maps and encounters being procedurally generated gives room for emergent gameplay experiences, but the trade off is that there’s little narrative intention behind these variations. Overall I think it's a nice game as an atmospheric driving/car maintenance simulator, but not one to get into for a story focus.

We also had a first look of:

The Thaumaturge: An isometric RPG set in 20th century Warsaw + some magic shenanigans, with focus on a story with morally ambiguous choices. The setting (both historical + magic stuff) seemed a tad confusing at least in the beginning part – maybe it’s better explained the more you get into it. I did see hints of interesting story elements with moral dilemmas - e.g. we were able to use magic to get another character to give up an argument. Everything about the setting and the dialogue feels very European/Polish!

Current Stuff

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth: Really great to see the gang again. Story pacing so far I feel like is suffering from the open world stuff and also “second game in a trilogy” syndrome – kinda makes me miss how focused and linear Remake was. Still a good time overall so far! I’m about 5 chapters into 14 atm.

Upcoming Stuff

I’ll probably continue to be preoccupied with FF7R for the next bit It’s a long game so I’ve been trying my best to play & post faster than usual.

Next week we’ll check out Open Roads - a lot’s happened with this one but TL;DR my understanding is many people who were on the Gone Home/Tacoma team is working on this. Hoping it’ll be a nice short narrative experience just like its predecessors!

Other than that, there’s not much on my new releases horizon until Hellblade 2 in May, so I’ve been looking into some stuff for a medium-length (<20 hours?) series. I’m not quite ready to talk about it yet though - I’ll post a doodle on Twitter/Discord when I am. (FYI I did also see Dragon’s Dogma 2 getting a lot of hype the past few days. I’ll probably sit this one out b/c I haven’t played the first + I heard the PC performance isn’t great, but maybe something to keep in mind for the future?)

If there’s anything else you think should be on my radar feel free to pipe up - there are soo many things coming out these days it's easy to miss!

Thanks as always, let me know any other comments you have, and enjoy the rest of your March ☀️

Cheers,
Welonz

February 2024 Channel Update – It’s The End Of The Month And I Haven't Write An Update Yet AaaAAaaaaa

Hi all,

It’s the mega crazy release month!!!!!!!!!!!!

My brain is kinda fried right now so please pretend I wrote some nice intros, pleasantries and niceties here and we’ll get on with the video games 😂

TL;DR

• Finished: Thirsty Suitors, The Exit 8
• Ongoing: Lies of P, Pacific Drive
• Upcoming: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

Finished Stuff

Thirsty Suitors (7 videos, 1-2 hours long each): Did a first look of this back in December and went back for it! Good lord dialogue is so impeccably snappy and witty. It's not for everyone, but I think the immigrant story of juggling family relations, personal identity, and intergenerational trauma will hit really hard for people who can relate. Great little gem.

The Exit 8 (1 video): Essentially a spot-the-difference game, but made scary because players have overactive imagination 😂 Short & sweet, never overstayed its welcome – had a good time with this one! (This was totally a “hey I saw everyone else playing it, maybe I’ll check it out too kind of game hahah.)

First Looks

INDIKA: A nun goes on a journey of self-discovery in 19th century alternative Russia. This one is bizarre – aesthetically it’s Plague Tale (ie. 3D photorealism), but it also has these pixel art/chiptune music segments that clash very hard with the realism. Maybe these opposing elements are used for commentary re: the theological themes but it’s hard to conclude from the demo. Very weird, but I’ll continue to keep a look out for it.

Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden: DON’T NOD’s latest choose your own adventure of a pair of ghost hunters who must navigate making difficult choices in a land where spirits and curses are commonplace. It’s a slow start – I played ~1.5 hours and still didn’t really get to the meat of things yet. The story and dialogue quality seem well-polished, though nothing super “WOW!!!” jumped out at me in the time I spent with it. Would’ve liked to check this one out more if it wasn’t crazy month!

Tomb Raider Remastered: This looks great graphically but the modern controls that I played with were frustratingly inaccurate, and it felt more like a game about battling the controls more so than Lara parkouring or fighting some cave animals. I think it’s totally okay to retain the 1996 gameplay feel but some more robust features like auto-saving would’ve been really welcome too.

Current Stuff

Lies of P: Pinocchio Soulslike aka my first time with a “real” Soulslike on the channel. I’ve finished the game now – thank goodness I don't have to cancel this series because I suck too much! I’ll save the bulk of my impressions for when the series gets to end (about ~10 more videos as of this post) but I had a good time with something more gameplay-focused.

Pacific Drive: It’s like Subnautica but with cars instead of boats and weird SCP-like anomalies instead of ocean monsters. I enjoyed the preview we did of it in January a lot, but with the full release I am seeing how unforgiving it can be (e.g. losing a lot of progress if you die) and the tedium and repetition can be a bit much. (The latter might be more of a content creator "omgg I gotta keep the video interesting" problem and not a player problem though, cause I think these gameplay loops can feel very addictive when you're the one actually doing it.)

I don’t’ think my opinions are fully formed yet so I’ll wait until I wrap up to say more. (I’m currently in a mad dash trying to at least finish playing this before Rebirth comes out lol.)

Upcoming Stuff

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth releases this coming week and I’m currently doing a big review of the story up until now to get ready for it. I think this + wrapping up Pacific Drive and Lies of P is going to be the bulk of the channel for the next bit.

I also wanted to share my reasoning for how I picked games this past month:

• I wanted to get to FF7R at launch, but I don’t know how long that’s going to be. A BG3 series is likely to be 100+ hours and these two will overlap if I started BG3 now, which isn't ideal
• FF7R comes out at the very end of February though, and if I wasn’t gonna start BG3 now either then that leaves a blank from January to February. I decided to slot in Thirsty Suitors, Lies of P, and Pacific Drive (all 3 are first looks from before)

All this to really say: yes, I see from the interest check poll from last update that lots of you want to see Baldur’s Gate 3, and rest assured that I haven’t forgotten about it – just looking for the right timing so I can enjoy it without too much stress. (Anyone remember when I was playing Witcher 3 and RDR2 at the same time – haha yeah that was really something LOL.) 

On that previous poll I mentioned The Thaumaturge and Open Roads being on my radar – both of these ended up getting delayed into March, which ironically makes it harder for me to get to because I think I’ll be focused on FF7R by then. I’ll try my best to at least fit in first looks if I can!

Anyway, I gotta get back to reviewing the rest of FF7 Remake – I have sooOOoo much to try to make sense of before Rebirth arrives lmao. I hope you're having a great time with all the games out this month! Thanks for your support as always and let me know your thoughts/suggestions/comments below!!

Cheers,
Welonz

Games to Prioritize for February 2024

As mentioned in this month's update post there are a million games I'm interested in - figured we could put all the stuff mentioned to a poll and numerically see what people are most interested to see! 

The dates listed are the release dates.

(Note: This one's a more casual vote for me to see interest levels rather than a full-on commitment, although I suspect in the end it'll result in the same thing lol.)

January 2024 Channel Update – Why Can't I Play All These Games

Hi,

I hope you’ve had a good start to your 2024! I can’t believe we’re nearly through the first of 12 months already, time goes by way too fast 🥲

The past few weeks have been a bit rough for me over here: lots of overtime at my day job, just feeling kinda bleh in general. The silver lining is that January is a slower game release month so it's okay to sloth around a bit. The same, however, cannot be said of February… 🗿

TL;DR

• Finished: Spider-Man 2, This Bed We Made, Undertale Yellow, Ghost Trick, GOW Valhalla
• Upcoming: … not fully decided! See the long winded thing below.

Finished Stuff

Spider-Man 2 (15 parts, 1.5-2hrs each): It’s everyone’s beloved Spider-Man, but there are lots of little things that give the impression they had resource constraints: features excluded that were previously in SM1, story pacing oddities, etc. The swinging & combat gameplay are still fun enough for me to overlook all of that though. It’s not a bad game at all, but doesn’t give quite the same kind of “WOW!” factor as SM1.

This Bed We Made (6 parts): Short & sweet with an engaging mystery to boot. I love how they justified snooping through people’s stuff as a maid working at a hotel lol. This story definitely sought to make some social commentary, and I’m particularly interested by how they handled the ending to facilitate that. I really enjoyed this – very much keeping an eye on this developer, Lowbirth Games, for the future.

Undertale Yellow Pacifist Route (9 parts): A fan-made prequel to Undertale (which, my goodness, was played on the channel over EIGHT YEARS AGO....) Not quite as snappy and witty as the original, but the production quality is through the roof esp. for a free fanwork. I enjoyed their take on this universe!

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (17 parts): A visual novel of a deceased soul solving the mystery of their own murder. This is a cult classic that people recommend to me every so often, so I’m glad I got to it! Sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartwarming, overall just a fun time.

God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla DLC (5 parts*): This is a roguelike mode for Ragnarok but it doesn’t feel like they cheaped out on the narrative at all. Nothing mega groundbreaking, but I appreciate the closure to Kratos’ story for the time being, and the polish is impressive for a free DLC. I took the main story critical path but the roguelike gameplay itself can go on for several more dozen hours.

*The last video hasn’t published yet as of this post - it’ll be out tomorrow!

First Looks:

Welcome to the Karoshi Club demo: A visual novel I decided to check out on a whim about a laid-off game developer interviewing for a new job (very topical 😬). Its aesthetic reminds me of Junji Ito/WORLD OF HORROR. The writing definitely needs a few more passes; right now it reads like someone clumsily parsed the script through a thesaurus.

Pacific Drive Preview: A crafting/survival/take-care-of-your-car adventure through some ghostly paranormal lands. I’m not quite sure what to make of it all yet – the UI is kind of overwhelming but the eeriness is intriguing. I’m quite interested to check out more when the full thing comes out in February.

Lies of P: My first time checking out a “proper” Soulslike title. I found this fun and structurally quite similar to Hollow Knight (which I adore), but multiple people have mentioned to me they found later parts so difficult they gave up on beating the game… I do want to check out more, but I would feel extraordinarily crappy if I had to discontinue a series because I mechanically just could not finish it lol. If anyone has completed the game and has an opinion do feel free to share – I’m esp. curious to know how the difficulty compares to stuff like Sigrun/Gna from GOW (on normal), or making it through SIFU at a low age.

Upcoming Stuff

I’ve been dragging my feet on picking out the next Big Game for the channel, partially because I’ve been under the weather, partially because I still have post-Dragon Age Inquisition PTSD (lol), and on top of that there are a million things coming out in February I’m keeping tabs on:

• 13th: Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden (action RPG by DON’T NOD)
• 14th: Tomb Raider I-III Remastered
• 20th: The Thaumaturge (isometric RPG set in 20th century Warsaw)
• 22nd: Open Roads (by the team who made Tacoma, published by Annapurna)
• 22nd: Pacific Drive
• 29th: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

Unfortunately unless if cloning technology is perfected and publicly available in the next 2 weeks, I won’t have capacity for all this 🥲 preliminarily the bolded are the ones I have the most interest in. Hoping for first looks at least for some of the rest! (Feel free to share with me which ones you're interested in too.)

As for a longer series: I hear everyone and their dog whispering Baldur’s Gate 3 to me in my sleep lol. I delayed checking this out because it clashed with DAI previously both in scheduling + genre similarity, but I’m going to look more seriously into this over the next bit.

Going to hedge myself a bit and say:

1) I think everyone is expecting a 100000 part series commitment right off the bat, but I don’t know how this will go for sure – I know nothing about D&D, I glanced at the character creation and a lot of the language is already complete jargon to me, I don’t know anything about the classes/skills/pre-existing lore etc etc. I will try my best to learn & get into it of course, but I have to say all this just in case :’)

2) Even if a full series, I don’t think I can go super fast on it because a) I’d like to have capacity to check out other stuff concurrently and b) I feel like I pushed myself too hard with DAI last time, and it was Not Great.

TL;DR of what’s on my mind re: the next Big Games on the channel: BG3, FF7R around the corner, plus I still haven't given up on Lies of P yet... yeah this already looks crazy. It's a great time to be a gamer but man they really need to hurry up with that cloning tech!!

Sorry these plans aren’t actually that concrete – it's because I don't know what the heck's gonna happen either lol. There’s 5000 things racing through my mind I’m trying to take into consideration. I think it will look something along the lines of what I mentioned though, and I'm hoping it'll all just magically sort itself out 🧙

EDIT: Figured I could just open a poll for patrons+ to show interest levels in all the games in this post! Feel free to participate here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/97145680 

Anyway! That's all the rambling from me for now. Feel free to let me know your thoughts/suggestions/comments below!!

Have a great rest of January,
Welonz

December 2023 Channel Update – Happy Holidays!

Hi hi,

It’s the last update of the year! I hope you’re enjoying some restful & relaxing holidays with your family and friends ❄️ Unfortunately I have no time off from my day job at all, but I'm hoping my coworkers going away will effectively turn it into a pseudo-vacation for me too lol.

TL;DR

• Finished: DAI, Invincible, Slay the Princess
• Ongoing: Spider-Man 2, This Bed We Made
• Upcoming: no specific plans yet! Maybe more first looks

Finished Stuff

Dragon Age: Inquisition (96 parts): We have a wrap on Dragon Age for now! In short: the main story content was perfectly fine; the companions were compelling and endearing. The cliffhanger-ish ending also leaves a lot of anticipation for the next game, and now I’m all catch up & ready for it.

I think most will agree this game’s weakest area is the MMO-style fetch quests. It’s a shame because it sort of has the same problem as FF16: they didn’t even have to improve the quality of the existing stuff to make it a better game, all they had to do is cut it out. But they didn’t, and so completionist players (vs. critical path players) are the ones who end up having a more muddled experience for it.

On a broader point for the channel: Games like FF16 and DAI this year are really making me rethink the way I approach let’s plays. I’m normally completionist-leaning, but the added context of all this being a recorded thing to be shared out into the world means I need to make judgment calls on whether this style of play, or at least the inclusion of all the content, is always appropriate. This doesn’t mean I’m changing anything I’m currently doing, but it’s something I’d like to be more conscious of for the future.

The Invincible (6 parts): Based off the book of the same title by Stanisław Lem, this is the story of an astrobiologist surviving on a foreign planet, learning its alien secrets. The sci-fi, retro-futuristic aesthetic is well established, but the dialogue and characterization can be quite shaky. It seems sometimes it’s because they tried to forcibly include references to the book, and other times the English localization is just lacking, etc. Still enjoyable overall if you’re interested in hard sci-fi plots.

Slay the Princess (12 parts): A visual novel where a hero must slay a princess in order to save the world from certain doom. I’d rather not elaborate much for those who don’t know anything (just like how people told me to not look anything up), but this game takes “your choices matter” quite seriously. There were a few moments I found particularly memorable and heart wrenching (ie. thorn route) and I’m keeping an eye on the expanded content next year.

As mentioned last update, I went a bit crazy with the first looks!! I’ll mostly let the videos speak for themselves but in rough ascending order of how much I enjoyed their beginning sections:

• ULTROS (preview, full release in Feb 2024): A metroidvania with psychedelic colours with the player trapped on an alien spaceship/sarcophagus. I didn’t find the gameplay quite satisfying – compared to something like Hollow Knight, it feels stiff w/ the character getting locked into animations with no way to cancel out of it.
• Blood West: A tactical stealth shooter in a Weird West/Eldritch horror setting. The graphics and controls are kinda retro (think Half-Life 2), but the immersive simmy and stealth elements were engaging.
• Jusant: A meditative rock-climbing puzzler is the surface layer, and underneath there is a mystery to solve regarding why the waters and tides receded.
• COCOON: A bird’s eye POV puzzler by the gameplay designer of LIMBO/INSIDE, and it really shows – so many things are intuitive despite the lack of words and dialogue.
• Thirsty Suitors: South Asian girl messes up everything in her life and goes home to face her disappointed parents + the dozens of exes she’s wronged. It is as every bit crazy as it already sounds 😂 (I’m kinda interested in continuing this one…)

Current Stuff

Spider-Man 2: By completion percentage I’m about half-way through. So far it clearly meets that minimum bar of quality and polish first-party Sony games often have, the core Spider-Man gameplay feels great as usual, but the main storyline hasn’t quite picked up.

This Bed We Made: We’re a maid working a hotel in the 1950s, wrapped up in an unrevealed mystery that has the police questioning us by the end. All the snooping through people’s rooms is engaging, the voice acting is great, and the 1950s-isms are hilarious (“THE HOMOSEXUALS ARE OUT TO GET US….” pamphlets). This isn’t a long game so I should be done in a few more parts.

Upcoming Stuff

With the holidays I haven’t thought too far ahead as to what’s next. Spider-Man 2 will keep me occupied for a little more; I suspect after This Bed We Made I’ll be back to some first looks, but not necessarily confined to indie stuff. Some on my mind:

• Undertale Yellow (not by Toby Fox, but a really good fan game it sounds like)
• Ghost Trick
• God of War Ragnarok Valhalla DLC (apparently this isn’t just a roguelike and has decent story)
• Lies of P (I know this doesn’t seem like my usual style, but I’ve had a copy of this sitting around for a while so I might as well take a look lol)

I’ve also written down some of the stuff you guys suggested from the comments from the last update too. Not sure how much of this I’ll get to, but thinking about the possibilities is fun anyway hahaha.

(As for longer titles: I think I’ll be ready to consider the bigger stuff again maybe in mid to late-January... TBH, those daily, hour-long DAI videos from Aug to Nov was probably the hardest I’ve pushed myself, and the idea of getting into another thing of that magnitude is daunting. Whatever the game ends up being, I do think I need to slow down and not go full out like That again.)

Not Related to Video Games At All

Some of you might already know I’m a mega Japanese idol weeb outside of gaming! Just for fun I uploaded a reaction video over on a second Weeblonz channel of me (& my friends) watching the finale for Produce 101 Japan The Girls, an idol audition survival show. I got very into it, and act, uh, a little, different……. than how I normally am on the gaming channel……………. don’t judge me too hard okay 😂

ANYWAYS UHHH that’s it for 2023 I guess!!!!! Thanks for your support as always, and just sharing your time with me in general. I hope your holidays are going great, and may we experience some good ass video games in 2024 as well 🍹

Cheers,
Welonz

November 2023 Channel Update – I Need Indie Games……

Hi!!!

Time flies… Hope you’ve been doing well! We’re almost at the end of the year... again! I feel like I say this every year lol.

Lately, I’ve figured out a nice rhythm for working on the channel so things have been pretty OK, workload-wise! Is it at all related to my day job boss being away on vacation? N-no, of course not..... (You’d think I have this figured out to a T by how long I’ve been doing this lol, but it truly is constant chaos in the back here 😂)

We’re on the cusp of wrapping up the mega hitter Dragon Age Inquisition (last entry in the DA  series for now) - been a good ride, but I’m also very excited to have time to check out other stuff again!

TL;DR

• Finished: CP2077: Phantom Liberty, Alan Wake 2
• Ongoing: DAI
• Upcoming: Spider-Man 2, INDIE GAMES...

Finished Stuff

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty: I checked out all the endings and as usual with CP2077, that meant like an extra 10 hours lol. Fantastic in every way: runs stable on PC, looks amazing, gameplay systems are now more cohesive, and the narrative (both main + side quests) is engaging and heart-wrenching. Along with the 2.0 update this is truly Cyberpunk’s redemption story, and I very much look forward to whatever else they do with Night City in the future.

Alan Wake 2: I managed to start & finish this before it even got put into an update! A phenomenal follow-up to Alan’s story. It does lots of Weird Remedy Stuff that other AAA studios would shy from and is just such a unique breath of fresh air. Makes me super excited for Control 2 and whatever else Remedy is cooking. I did have lots of little bugs with the mechanical side of the game (map, inventory, combat) - none I’d consider super experience-affecting, but it clearly could use more technical polish. (It’s also the first game that made me feel like I needed an upgrade from my RTX 3080 already – super graphically demanding!)

Current Stuff

Dragon Age: Inquisition: I'm on the VEEERY last DLC before the entire thing wraps up...! We've come so far since starting Origins last September 🥹

As of this post, I *just* wrapped up Alan Wake 2 so haven’t started another thing yet, but next up should be The Invincible, a short sci-fi story that we checked out the demo of a few months ago.

Upcoming Stuff

The AAAs on the channel have been fun but I’ve been REEAAALLY missing indie games... I’ll start Spider-Man 2 after DAI wraps up in about a week, but other than that I feel like I really need to recuperate from the massive 100 part commitments with short things for a bit. Some stuff I’ve noted down for first looks:

• Slay the Princess (a good few people recommended this)
• Jusant (new game from DONTNOD)
• COCOON (from the lead gameplay designer of LIMBO/INSIDE, published by Annapurna)
• Thirsty Suitors (more Annapurna)

I’ll continue these as series probably based off my & your interest levels. I also wanna just dig through my Steam library to do random first looks, but I feel like I'm imagining I'll have way more time than I actually will lol - let's start from here and see where it goes. I’m really looking forward to checking these out!

Miscellaneous Social Media Stuff

We all know there’s been lots of turbulence with Twitter in the past year. Despite the hellishness I’m still there, but I remember somebody asked a while back if I’m anywhere else – FYI I’m now crossposting games stuff over at Mastodon and Bluesky:

• https://mastodon.social/@welonz
• https://bsky.app/profile/welonz.bsky.social

(For all the other weird/weeb garbage, that’s still Twitter atm 🗿)

That’s all I’ve got for now! Thank you for your support as always, and feel free to let me know your thoughts/comments/non-1000-hour-AAA game suggestions in the comments below as well! Happy holidays in advance and happy gaming  🎮

Cheers,
Welonz

October 2023 Channel Update – It’s Not a Lake

Hey everyone,

We’re smack in the middle of release season and everything is chaos (ಥ◡ಥ) This’ll be a succinct one - bear with me!

TL;DR

• Finished: RE4 Separate Ways
• Ongoing: DAI, CP2077: Phantom Liberty
• Upcoming: Alan Wake 2 first, then Spider-Man 2

Finished Stuff

Resident Evil 4 Remake Separate Ways DLC: Great fun -  short, sweet, and reminded me how enjoyable the core RE4 gameplay loop is. It definitely makes me want to check out other/more RE games when things aren’t so busy (don’t talk to me about the first person ones though l o l…)

We also had a first look of VIDEOVERSE, which caught my attention as it’s the third highest rated game this year on OpenCritic with a 92/100. It’s an indie visual novel-esque adventure focusing on Internet and gaming culture of yore (= early 2000s 😂). Just from the beginning part it felt very genuine, wholesome, and true to the time it’s trying to emulate. It's something I think I definitely would've liked to see more of if time allowed.

Current Stuff

Dragon Age: Inquisition: I’ve moved into Act 3 of 3 now. Honestly I’m pretty numbed by the fetch quests but as usual the core story is still nice.  The romance front has been kinda interesting - in previous games, you could only indicate romantic interest to people who are interested back, so flirting success is 100% guaranteed. However that’s not the case with DAI, and it’s created a variety of Very Interesting Situations where I’ve been getting rejected, people are sending/received mixed signals, etcetc… basically a nightmare scenario for people who try to flirt with everyone (me) 😇

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty:  I already enjoyed my time with 1.0 a lot a few years back, but 2.0 + Phantom Liberty ups the quality in every department. All side quests are thoughtful with difficult choices – even for someone who normally tries to be pacifist, Night City draws out a very "every person for themselves" type of survival instinct in me. Haven't made it to the end yet but I think I'm near!

Upcoming Stuff

Last week, patrons+ were able to vote on whether Spider-Man 2 or Alan Wake 2 should be the next focus after Phantom Liberty (given that I can't realistically get to both in such a tight release window), and surprisingly the results were fairly one-sided:

I took some time off work this week to relax and digest all this, so I should be able to get to Alan Wake 2 right at release. Hopefully it’ll be a good Halloween thing too! I’ll loop back to Spider-Man 2 as soon as capacity allows as well.

Miscellaneous Stuff

Some of you may already have noticed Patreon rolled out a bunch of changes in the past month (new logo, web interface, big focus on the mobile app, etc etc). To be honest I haven’t had the time to look into it deeply, although everywhere I look people seem somewhat unhappy (eg. on the creator side, posting has been made more cumbersome, the new “free” tier they force you to have is also causing confusion.) I’ve changed nothing about how this page operates at the moment and there’s nothing you need to do either, but I wanted to keep you in the loop that Things have been Happening. Please feel free to let me know how the experience is on the patron side too – I think most of us understand Patreon to be a middleman between you and I, and we certainly shouldn't be tied to it if they overstep their role esp. negatively.

With that it’s back to the “trenches” for me!! Thanks for your support as always, and feel free to comment any suggestions/comments/whatever else below. Have a great Halloween next week as well 🎃

Cheers,
Welonz