#GameDay2023 Reviews

During my Game Day 2023 marathon for Extra Life, I ended up playing six different games and completing four of them.

Since people were in and out of the stream all day/night, I thought some quick reviews of the games would be a nice piece of content to start out the week. The only game I’m not reviewing is Minecraft because…well, if you don’t know about that game, I’m not sure what to tell ya at this point.

To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect with this as I typically play a single game that I’m familiar with. I must say, I might take future Game Days in this direction. I was very pleasantly surprised with how well it work.

With that all said, let’s get to the games!

Getting Over It

This was the only game in my marathon that I had actually played before. The game already feels impossible enough without throwing Crowd Control in the mix, which I knew would bring me nothing but further pain.

The controls are flat unforgiving. The obstacles border on unfair. Yet I love the challenge.

It takes a special kind of fool to enjoy something like this. If you are one of those, this is a must-play. If not, stay the hell away and save your sanity.

I’m a madman and I will beat this thing one day, dammit.

Doki Doki Literature Club

Woooooo boy, where to start on this…

I’m going to try to keep this spoiler-free because the game really is one of those things that needs to be experienced to have the full impact. That being said, if self-harm, depictions of suicide, and blunt talk of depression is triggering, don’t play. Honestly, those things I saw coming, were plainly hinted at, and there’s even a warning on your first run that you shouldn’t play if you’re “easily disturbed”.

The game itself is, quite frankly, a full-blown mindfuck. I can’t think of a better way to describe it. Just when I thought the game was done forth-wall breaking, it found ways to go further.

Dating sims aren’t even remotely my cup of tea, which made the beginning super awkward (sexual jokes/innuendo with a cast of horny, underaged teenagers), but I’m glad I made it through because that was one hell of a narrative experience.

The game itself is free (there’s a Plus version that’s paid, but I have no clue if it’s worth it) and absolutely worth the playthrough if you feel you can stomach triggers I listed above. In fact, here’s a perfect review that I found on Steam:

Firewatch

This game was easily my favorite of the marathon.

While the game is best described as playing through a narrative with no real risk of failure, I didn’t mind it at all. The story was that well-written, ranging from the standard “I’m running away from pain” trope, to full-blown conspiracy theories, and uncovering a year’s old mystery in the forest.

Plus, the ability to role-play the dialogue through your radio conversations worked so incredibly well that I want to play through again just to hear more from Delilah, your never-seen partner, and her expertly voice-acted reactions.

If you have Mircosoft’s PC Game Pass, this is included. It’s only $20 on Steam which is pretty fairly priced. If it was on sale, I wouldn’t hesitate to pick it up.

Unpacking

This game is wonderfully quirky and zen. Yes, you do nothing but simply unpack boxes into one or multiple rooms. The only real difficulty in the game comes from having to find space for things and making sure they are in a “proper” spot, as you can’t progress if the game determines something is in the wrong room or space.

I had heard the game managed to deliver a narrative through the levels and I’ll be damned if it wasn’t knocked out of the park. It’s crazy what stories you can tell just by seeing someone’s stuff and where they call their home. The game manages to tell a wonderful coming of age story of an unnamed woman from childhood to having her first baby and all the heartbreak and struggles in between.

This unique little wonder if on PC Game Pass, Humble’s Choice package, and is $20 on Steam (it’s available for consoles too at the same price and $10 on iOS/Google Play). Considering how short the game is, I’d wait for a sale, but I highly recommend.

Tin Can

I picked this up on Humble Choice a couple months ago and I’m obsessed now.

I’m a sucker for games and movies involving space. I wanted to be an astronaut when I was a kid. I went to Space Camp (and was Flight Director in both my missions). The of ending up in your own Apollo 13 adventure sounded right up my alley and Tin Can pulls it off so well.

The concepts of the game are simple, but the issues you face are completely unforgiving and not really well explained. It’s death, after death, after death until you figure things out, mostly through trial and deadly error. Hell, there is even a freakin’ manual in your pod to decode errors should you not have your main computer running (which is often). It doesn’t get more astronaut than that, in my opinion.

Once I get through the challenges, I’m not sure how much further I’ll keep going, making it a rather short game. The controls are also somewhat cumbersome and very unforgiving if you end up in zero G.

The game is currently $10 on a Steam sale (until November 16) which I think is the perfect price for it. There’s also a free demo to give the game a spin as well.

Schedule

The schedule is going to be weird the next couple of weeks due to a two-day work meeting that I have to run and Thanksgiving the week after. I’ll still get Sims and some TotK in and, hopefully, I’ll make up for it with more VoDs.