Marcus O'Neill
@marcusoneill79
Mostly Video Games, Running & Food. World’s #1 Puppeteer (PS3) fan. (He/him) Co-host of: Tiny Game Chronicles: @tinygamechronicles.bsky.social Hype Factor: @hypefactor.bsky.social Brothers From Another Mothership: @mothershipbros.bsky.social
32) Fretless: The Wrath of Riffson (7hrs). This game rocks (pun intended)! One of my favourite turn based combat systems…ever? Gorgeous chunky pixel art. Fun story. And banger music, obviously.
31) Wabisabi Sushi Derby (4hrs) A racing game where you (mostly) don’t control your character during the race. Surprisingly a lot of grinding required in such a short game to get to the end. Cute, charming presentation.
30) ElecHead (4.5hrs) Very clever puzzles - sometimes too clever for me. It gets a lot out of a single mechanic. Cool to see the origins of the formula that was later perfected in Ooo
29) Hypogea (3hrs) I dug the simplicity of this one. Platform your way out of a (mostly) empty, dark megastructure, with bits of an emotional narrative sprinkled in. Kind of the perfect tiny game.
28) Tacoma (3hrs) Solid, if unspectacular, walking sim. I really liked the AR Playback system. I think I preferred Gone Home more, but it’s close.
27) Ball x Pit (34hrs) To say I was obsessed would be an understatement. Such a cool mashup of mechanics - brickbreaker, bullet-hell, roguelite & city builder. If only there were more of a narrative to go with it.
26) 1997 Reloaded (4hrs). Kinetic visual novel that I enjoyed more than I was expecting to. A little rough around the edges, but compelling murder mystery story, cool alternate history setting and rad artsyle.
25) Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown (20hrs). Enjoyed this more as your skillset evolves. Traversal feels great. Good boss design. Story was meh.
24) Forbidden Solitaire (8hrs) Who knew solitaire could be so fun?! Lots of modifiers to keep the gameplay fresh. Cool, creepy meta-narrative.
Another half-marathon in the books. A hamstring injury derailed my training this month, but I was able to maintain a decent pace, and more importantly, no re-injury!
23) Duck Detective: The Secret Salami (2.5hrs) I expected to like this game more than I did. Voice acting, writing and humor were great but I just do not vibe with the style of puzzles it has. Shorter runtime a definite plus.
22) Mixtape (6hrs) This game is good,…really good. Superb writing/characters. Fun, low stakes minigames. Enjoyable platinum to get. Deserving of all the praise it’s gotten.
Mixtape got me feeling nostalgic so I decided to load my playlist for my long run today with music from my youth, rather than the usual podcasts. Thank you @mixtapegame.bsky.social for the wonderful game (and run)! 💙
21) Full Void (3hrs) After playing Replaced I wanted another cinematic platformer. I’d picked this up on sale last year. It was ok. Nothing mindblowing, but good art and puzzles. Out of the blue anti-lockdown” message at the end, which left a weird taste in my mouth.
20) REPLACED (12.5hrs) An amazing achievement. Loved every minute of this stylish 2.5D cinematic platformer. Can’t wait to see what these devs do next!
19) Darwin’s Paradox (5hrs) Incredible presentation. You’d be forgiven if you thought you were watching a Pixar Short. Gameplay is mostly good, but plays a bit clunky and had the odd frustration with level design. All-in-all a solid 2D stealth puzzle platformer.
18) Suikoden 2 Remastered (30hrs) I can see why this game is beloved (grand narrative, incredible level of detail, etc.) but the dated design made the experience less enjoyable than I’d hoped. Either way, I’m still glad I played it.
17) A Highland Song (4.5hrs) Not sure if I’m *done* with this game as there’s SO much more to explore. It’s cool to see the inkle DNA here, packaged into a game unlike anything I’ve played before. And it has mountain climbing!
11 years ago today. Sunrise on the summit of Mount Sinai in Egypt. 😍
16) Bo: Path of the Teal Lotus (16hrs) Superb 2D Metroidvania that should probably be considered among the very best in the genre. Challenging but not oppressively so. Excellent level design, combat and traversal. Absolutely loved it!
First ever attempt making Birria tacos from scratch. Turned out pretty great!
15) Pieced Together (2hrs) Cozy scrapbooking game telling the story of a friendship. The scrapbooking gameplay was a mixed bag for me, but I dug the all too real story told here.
14) Don’t Get Your Hopes Up (1hr) A short, free visual novel about the challenges young people have finding housing. I would’ve preferred a more grounded story, but the themes hit home nonetheless!