If you’re the type of gamer to follow gaming releases, I bet that just like me, you had a bit of an overwhelming month.
If you’re not, lucky you.
I can swear that every week in September I received so many emails about games coming out, demos that are now live, and gaming coverage from other writers. I’m really happy to see indie games thriving, of course, but phew, I’m forcing myself to catch a little break this month. Thought I need to catch up on my reading and writing!
I might even skip Steam Next Fest in October (it starts on the 19th), though I feel whenever I say that I still end up playing some demos. So watch me contradict myself soon, probably.
*Game featured in the cover: The Merlies.
Join me in my Spooktober play along! 👻
I posted about it last week, so maybe you already know: this October, I’ll be playing some spookier games from my backlog and I’m inviting readers to join me!
I’ve already completed Doki Doki Literature Club and started playing Bloomtown. I’ll keep you posted on my progress as the month goes by.
My September gaming log
After I had a little personal burnout in the first half of September, things started picking up again in the last two weeks of the month when I felt excitement again about playing games, even though you will see below I wasn’t necessarily super happy about all the titles I went through.
It just makes me think about how when I’m not in the right mindset, even the best game ever will feel off, but when I’m doing well, I can simply be critical of games without becoming gloomy. If this makes sense.
Here’s what I played:
Firewatch, finished. Firewatch was the game of the month for the Good Game Lobby gaming club, and so I attempted to play it for the second time. Unfortunately, just like before, I wasn’t able to play it for longer than 40 minutes because it gave me motion sickness.
I decided to watch Kim’s playthrough of the game, recommended by a friend, and I’m so glad I did. I would not go to such lengths for any game, but Firewatch had me hooked from the get-go, and it deserves all the praise it gets in the indie gaming community. Please go play it if you haven’t yet. Trust me on this one.
Dressmaker, on hold. One of my most anticipated titles releasing in the second half of the year, Dressmaker currently has an overwhelmingly positive review score on Steam with over 7.000 reviews in the moment of writing this, and a record of over 43.000 concurrent players! Indie games are the best.
I started playing it after receiving a review key but unfortunately I faced a few bugs that made me put the game on hold for now (one of them even made me soft-lock during the second commission). I provided the developers with my feedback and decided to wait for some patches to be released before picking it up again.
Neat!, finished. An organizing game felt right for the moment I was living, where I wanted something low stakes and casual, and Neat! seemed like a good match. Though I’m sad to say I wouldn’t recommend this title at the moment: there were several moments where organizing the objects in each level made me a bit annoyed rather than relaxed. It definitely needs more time in the oven.
Henry Halfhead, finished. I finally got around to playing Henry Halfhead and it was such a wholesome time! If you have the option of playing it couch co-op, I would definitely recommend playing it that way, as goofing around with my partner as half a head that can morph into objects in the room was a fun time. Though you can also play it solo.
I still see myself dancing to the title track at random times. It’s just so catchy.
Lonesome Village, dropped. This one is a cozy puzzle exploration game that is probably too cozy: the puzzles presented no challenge at all and the pacing was too slow for me. I loved A Tiny Sticker Tale from the same studio, Ogre Pixel, but Lonesome Village was an earlier release and you can pretty much tell if you played both games, as I much prefer the more recent title among those two.
Finding Polka, finished. Finding Polka is a gorgeous, hand-drawn “where’s Waldo” game where you need to find your dog among highly detailed and increasingly psychedelic ballpoint pen environments. Finding Polka felt so different than any of the hidden object games I’ve played before, and I’m planning to write more about it because I have the feeling it flew under people’s radar but it deserves a lot more eyes on it!
Magical Blush, finished. I reviewed Magical Blush on a separate post that you can read below. I really enjoyed my time with the game, but by the end some friction points got to me and I opted for watching the end of the game on YouTube rather than playing the final bosses myself.
Magical Blush review: I fought my way through with magic in this electrifying metroidvania
The Merlies, playing. While everyone is playing that other bird game, I am playing The Merlies. I played this demo for the first time in the last Next Fest and I fell in love with it. In this “wholesomevania”, you’re part of a community of tiny birds that just got scattered after a storm. It’s your job to find your friends and rebuild your base, collaborating with your flock along the way. I’m enjoying it so much and I can’t wait to see it through the end.
Kirby and the Forgotten Land, playing. I had been interested on this one for a couple of months and recently I snatched a second-hand copy of the Switch 2 version of the game with a sweet discount. This game is so incredibly cozy! I also picked up Kirby Air Riders last month, but that one is much more hectic.
*For full transparency: I’ve received review keys for Dressmaker, Finding Polka, Magical Blush and The Merlies.
Demos I played (and recommend)
MR. RECORDS. Meet George, an old dreamer with an extraordinary gift that lets him transcend through music. After a lifetime of standing still, he breaks free from routine and opens the store he always wished for. Release date: to be announced.
MR. RECORDS is a rhythm game where you also provide album recommendations to customers in your shop. The demo was super fun and I really hope I’ll hear about the release date soon!
Woodo. Woodo feels like a 3D coloring book you can touch, a relaxing puzzle-tale told through handcrafted wooden dioramas. A toy for those who never forgot how to be a child. Release date: already out!
I’ve heard many good things about Woodo this month, so I was happy to see that they kept the demo live even after release (don’t you just hate when they remove the demo from the shop?). I liked the demo and I can see why people talk highly of the game, but I’m in no rush to pick this one up.
Gadgets & goodies
I thought about sharing some of the goodies I got recently in today’s post. Nothing is sponsored, by the way, and I don’t earn anything from the links.
I bought a super cute Switch 2 controller: the Horipad Turbo Umbreon and Espeon. I’m not a collector of controllers and I’m not planning to become one any time soon, I just fell in love with the art and purple is one of my favorite colors.
The controller is super lightweight. I’m used to the latest generation Xbox controllers where they use 2 AA batteries, which makes them much heavier. I just wish the controller would wake the Switch 2 up, like the newest Pro controller (it doesn’t).
I couldn’t stop thinking that the sun and moon designs resemble CLAMP’s Cardcaptor Sakura, which was one of my favorite animes growing up.
I went into the Nintendo Shop to exchange some points for free goodies. I had been eyeing the Kirby mousepad for a while and now it was finally back in stock. Is anyone else also surprised that Nintendo still does this kind of thing?
I like the size and the colors from the mousepad. And Kirby is just so adorable! I have a really ugly ergonomic mouse, though, so I didn’t include that in the picture, but hopefully from my keyboard you can have an idea about its relative size.
I also got a DK Bananza pin for my collection (I didn’t take a picture of it though), and my partner got the ACNH’s Dodo shopping bag.
I also got an 8BitDo FlipPad, and I might write a review on it after I used it for a bit longer. It’s basically a physical gamepad you can plug to your phone’s USB-C port to play emulated games.
Looking forward to in October
I’m so happy that Autumn is slowly settling in this year, unlike previous years where one week it was sunny here, and the next it starts raining non-stop. I’m planning to make the most of this season, gaming and non-gaming wise.
Thank you for reading,
-Luna
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