Waltorious Writes About Games – Game-related ramblings.

Scratching That Itch: Xenogunner

On November 25, 2021

This is the ninety-sixth entry in the Scratching That Itch series, wherein I randomly select and write about one of the 1741 games and game-related things included in the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality. The Bundle raised $8,149,829.66 split evenly between the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and Community Bail Fund, but don’t worry if you missed it. There are plenty of ways you can help support the vital cause of racial justice; try here for a start. Lastly, as always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

That’s right, it’s time for another random selection from the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality. The random number generators have picked Xenogunner, by Clickteam. Its tagline in the bundle reads:

Blast your way past a large variety of bosses in this intense boss-focused ru…

I don’t need to see past that truncation to know that there’s going to be a lot of bosses, and a lot of blasting. Perhaps with some sort of… xenogun?

Starting The Witcher 3: The Trepidation

By Waltorious

On November 23, 2021

In Uncategorized

As always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

Back in 2015, I played The Witcher 2 for the second time, to get ready for the then-imminent Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Having played the series from the beginning and enjoyed its excellent sense of character, I was excited to play the hotly anticipated third entry, which earned accolades on release. I was even reading the novels upon which the games are based as I replayed The Witcher 2, so I’d have the full background I needed going in to the third installment. Unfortunately, when the time came to fire up The Witcher 3, my aging computer could barely run it. I decided to hold off until I could build a new one.

But I didn’t actually build a new computer until four years later. And even then, I didn’t fire up The Witcher 3 right away, continually putting it off for one reason or another. Only now, after another two years have passed — and after reading the novels again, to be sure I had them fresh in my memory — have I finally started playing The Witcher 3. Why did it take me so long? For all my excuses at the time, the real reason is that I had The Trepidation.

Scratching That Itch: Snapshot Shaders Pro (Unity)

By Waltorious

On November 19, 2021

In Uncategorized

This is the ninety-fifth entry in the Scratching That Itch series, wherein I randomly select and write about one of the 1741 games and game-related things included in the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality. The Bundle raised $8,149,829.66 split evenly between the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and Community Bail Fund, but don’t worry if you missed it. There are plenty of ways you can help support the vital cause of racial justice; try here for a start. Lastly, as always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

Here comes another random selection from the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality. It’s Snapshot Shaders Pro (Unity), by Daniel Ilett, and its tagline in the bundle reads:

A collection of 30 image effects for Unity HDRP and URP

Do you have some images, but want to make them more effective? Then this one’s for you!

Scratching That Itch: Gunbuds

By Waltorious

On November 17, 2021

In Uncategorized

This is the ninety-fourth entry in the Scratching That Itch series, wherein I randomly select and write about one of the 1741 games and game-related things included in the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality. The Bundle raised $8,149,829.66 split evenly between the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and Community Bail Fund, but don’t worry if you missed it. There are plenty of ways you can help support the vital cause of racial justice; try here for a start. Lastly, as always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

Our next random selection from the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality is Gunbuds, by Scott LaGrasta. It is also, I believe, the first entry in this series that does not have a tagline in the bundle at all.

Thanks for ruining my intro format, Scott LaGrasta!

Tales Of Illyria: Fallen Knight Is A Mobile Role-Playing Game About Traveling

By Waltorious

On November 16, 2021

In Uncategorized

As always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

While the vast majority of the games I write about here are PC games, I do also play games on my Android phone. I’ve even written about a few here and there. But most I don’t write about, because a lot of mobile games are either simple and light time-wasters, or complex enough that I’d rather just be playing them on my PC. Hoping to find a game that hit the sweet spot for mobile play, I turned to role-playing games, figuring that they are often turn-based and therefore easy to pick up and put down while on the go, but feature substantial narratives and deep enough systems to remain engaging over many play sessions. I scoured the internet for recommendations and came across this list, which put the Tales of Illyria series in the number one spot (it’s a living list, updated on occasion, so if you are reading this from the future, positions may have changed). So I grabbed the first game — originally known simply as Tales of Illyria, but later re-released in updated form as Tales of Illyria: Fallen Knight — and tried it out.

Tales of Illyria combines a sword and sorcery fantasy role-playing game, tactical turn-based battles and all, with The Oregon Trail. Somehow, this actually works. Really well. And yes, your characters can get dysentery.

Scratching That Itch: Michtim: Fluffy Adventures

By Waltorious

On November 12, 2021

In Uncategorized

This is the ninety-third entry in the Scratching That Itch series, wherein I randomly select and write about one of the 1741 games and game-related things included in the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality. The Bundle raised $8,149,829.66 split evenly between the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and Community Bail Fund, but don’t worry if you missed it. There are plenty of ways you can help support the vital cause of racial justice; try here for a start. Lastly, as always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

It’s time for another random selection from the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality. The random number generators picked Michtim: Fluffy Adventures, by Zev Mir (AKA Grim Ogre Labs). Its tagline in the bundle reads:

A heartwarming TTRPG about hamster-like beings going on missions to save…

Look out, Mausritter! There’s another tabletop role-playing game about small rodents (well, rodent-like creatures) in town. Given that we’ve found two of these in less than a hundred entries makes me wonder how many more might be lurking in the bundle. We’ve still only sampled 5% of it, after all.

Scratching That Itch: Rasternauts

By Waltorious

On November 3, 2021

In Uncategorized

This is the ninety-second entry in the Scratching That Itch series, wherein I randomly select and write about one of the 1741 games and game-related things included in the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality. The Bundle raised $8,149,829.66 split evenly between the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and Community Bail Fund, but don’t worry if you missed it. There are plenty of ways you can help support the vital cause of racial justice; try here for a start. Lastly, as always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

Our next random selection from the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality is Rasternauts, by MostlyFictional. Its tagline in the bundle reads:

Run, jump and shoot your way through over 40 levels to hold back the vecto…

I’m pretty sure that’s supposed to say “vector”. You see, the premise of Rasternauts is based on different methods for displaying computer graphics, pitting them against each other in an action platformer. For those who don’t know about raster graphics versus vector graphics, I will explain. Longtime readers may recall that explaining things is one of my favorite activities!

Scratching That Itch: Thou Shalt Be Brave

By Waltorious

On October 26, 2021

In Uncategorized

This is the ninety-first entry in the Scratching That Itch series, wherein I randomly select and write about one of the 1741 games and game-related things included in the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality. The Bundle raised $8,149,829.66 split evenly between the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and Community Bail Fund, but don’t worry if you missed it. There are plenty of ways you can help support the vital cause of racial justice; try here for a start. Lastly, as always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

You guessed it: another random selection from the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality. This time it’s Thou Shalt Be Brave, by Anil Demir. Its tagline in the bundle reads:

Mini-RPG in 64×64

That’s right, folks. It’s time to get miniscule.

Scratching That Itch: Karambola

By Waltorious

On October 22, 2021

In Uncategorized

This is the ninetieth entry in the Scratching That Itch series, wherein I randomly select and write about one of the 1741 games and game-related things included in the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality. The Bundle raised $8,149,829.66 split evenly between the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and Community Bail Fund, but don’t worry if you missed it. There are plenty of ways you can help support the vital cause of racial justice; try here for a start. Lastly, as always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

The digital dice have rolled once again, randomly selecting something from the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality. It’s Karambola, by Holy Pangolin Studio (more specifically by Agata Nawrot, one half of Holy Pangolin Studio). Its tagline in the bundle reads:

Lonely fruits and veggies with emotional problems need your help in this sh…

The character limit cuts it off there, but there’s no time to wonder what it might have said. There are lonely fruits and veggies that need our help! To action!

History Lessons: Metroid

By Waltorious

On October 20, 2021

In Uncategorized

Other History Lessons posts can be found here. As always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

Three months ago, I wrote about The Legend of Zelda, after playing it to completion for the first time. It’s still impressive today, absolutely deserving of its classic status. It also reminded me of Metroid, which released six months later in Japan but only one month later in the United States. Both games let players loose in open worlds, to explore and find upgrades that let them reach previously inaccessible places. Metroid simply trades the top-down, screen-by-screen exploration of Zelda for side-scrolling action platforming with a science fiction theme. This combination was so influential that it spawned an entire genre: the metroidvania (named for Metroid and Castlevania, more specifically the second Castlevania game, Simon’s Quest). Unlike The Legend of Zelda, I never played much Metroid myself when I was a kid, I just saw bits and pieces of it at friends’ houses. But the third game in the Metroid series, Super Metroid, is one of my favorite games ever. So I decided to go back to the beginning and play the original Metroid.