#27 - Otogirisou Folks on my timeline have been talking about the new translation of foundational sound novel Kamaitachi no Yoru, so of course compulsive completionist me had to first sample its predecessor (translated by the same person!). It’s a cool haunted house story, perfect for a plane ride.

The dapper animal

This week the #RandomBacklogSampler picker spun WIZARD OF LEGEND, a snappy li'l roguelite which feels great to control. The combat is delightful! Unfortunately, I think my desire for this type of game has been SO satiated by Hades and its sequel that I have no appetite for more of this ilk.

Woke up at 5:00am full of self-loathing, so I plunked myself down on the living room couch and began this week’s #RandomBacklogSampler game, PENTIMENT. I had meant to play it this year one way or another, but I’m glad the randomizer forced my hand. It’s exceptional right off the bat.

#26 - Tangle Tower Fantastic stuff. Sparkling dialogue, delivered by top-notch voice acting. The animation is expressive, the static art is beautiful, and the mystery is wonderful to unravel. Deeply sad that there’s only one Grimoire & Sally adventure left on my plate — I’d play a dozen more.

#25 - The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III This series pulls its punches a little more often than I’d like, but every once in a while it lets one land — or sometimes several at once — and it can bring the weight of several story arcs to bear. I move excitedly on to the next.

#24 - Detective Grimoire: Secret of the Swamp I picked up The Mermaid Mask but decided I needed to play through the rest of the trilogy first, and I’m so glad I made that decision! Wonderful animation, charming writing, and simple but pleasant puzzling. A two-hour morsel. Recommended for: everyone.

My flight’s been delayed for at least an hour, so I’m doing the only natural thing under the circumstances (watching THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (1972) on my Steam Deck)

At a loose end this afternoon, I spun the #RandomBacklogSampler wheel and hit upon MakeRoom — what a cute, fun little design toy! (And a nice way for developer Kenney to show off its asset pack, which I believe I snagged in a previous itch.io bundle…) Here’s what I came up with for today’s prompt:

Man c'mon

Even those of us living in the Mistake on the Lake are getting a bit of the Bad Air

#23 - In Other Waters Minimalist, evocative, and very well written! I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

This week's #RandomBacklogSampler was Ultima Underworld II -- which looks really cool! But I definitely do not have the taste for a DOS dungeon crawler of this vintage (despite its pedigree!). I wish I'd encountered it in the '90s, when I was a younger man with more time on his hands.

Sometimes being a good dad means digging the Xbox 360 out of the closet so your 11YO can play Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation

Sometimes even a grown man may be tempted to buy himself a plushie

Jumped the gun a little bit and already sampled next week’s #RandomBacklogSampler — I tried to start up Beyond Divinity, Baldur’s Gate 3’s great great uncle, or something. I confess CRPGs are a huge blind spot of mine, and I don’t have enough facility with the genre to get my bearings here.

The creature sits patiently waiting for dinner to be served, despite — and perhaps you noticed this — both of his food bowls already containing food

i went outside and looked up in the sky and saw this guy looking at me so i came right back inside

My #RandomBacklogSampler spinner this week came up with In Other Waters, the @jumpovertheage.com outing which precedes the Citizen Sleeper games -- a really excellent example of how great writing can evoke a world out of a minimalist interface. Gonna play this one to completion for sure.

For my #RandomBacklogSampler this week I played the first half an hour of Syberia, a nearly 25-year-old point-and-click with some great vibes. I love the pre-rendered backgrounds... But I don't think I have the appetite at the moment for something slow-paced.

Reading about the early history of American animation studios, I was suddenly struck with a potent memory of having seen the Fleischers’ 1939 Gulliver’s Travels as a kid — but I have no idea where or when or how. Maybe my grandma had it on VHS somehow?

#22 - Mina the Hollower Absolutely smashing. Grabs great stuff from classic influences and makes something original, yet familiar. Bangin’ soundtrack. Adorable heroine. I enjoyed myself thoroughly. I hope we see more of Mina.

I actually knocked out last week's #RandomBacklogSampler game in time, but forgot to post about it! I sampled Double Fine's RAD, a li'l roguelite which has great style. Feels a little bit slight, maybe, and the meta progression isn't as clear as I'd like, but like all DF games it's super charming!

These little guys are in our backyard every day. It’s nice to have neighbors.

this gives you an idea of how much time I have for videogames in my life these days

This time I’m well late to this week’s #RandomBacklogSampler game: House Flipper. I think the devs made this one free at one point and that’s why I picked it up. Some folks find this sort of thing therapeutic, but it doesn’t really do anything for me.

More shots of the damage.

Absolutely apocalyptic weather here in Cleveland Heights this afternoon. Trees down all over the neighborhood. More than one neighbor has lost a garage. We were fortunate to be spared.