I have played several demos this year, and I’ve really enjoyed it. I have played a few meaty games, too–well, at least one–and by the time I was done with it,I was exhausted. There have been several soulslikes this year, and I have been very reluctant to play them. Not only because I don’t actually like most soulslikes, but because many of them are just so intense.
Side note: I have been a fan of the Cook, Serve, Delicious! (Vertigo Gaming Inc.) series since the very first one. The sceond game, Cook, Serve, Delicious! 2!! is my favorite, mostly because I could decorate my restaurants to my heart’s content. Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?! was fun and had a different premise, but failed completely in the third act. Still, it got me through the beginning of the pandemic (in Early Access), and I still think of it fondly.
When the fourth (and presumably last) game in the series came out in Early Access, I was disappointed that the gameplay had changed drastically. In the first three games, each dish you made had a list of ingredients that you had to memorize by the letter you used to signify that ingredient. Like M for mustard. But, be careful because the same letter can mean diffecrent ingredients in different recipes.
There was something immensely satisfying about memorizing different recipes and tapping them out as fast as possible. It wsa hard, yes, and after my medical crisis, impossible to get perfects. But still satisfying and fun to play.
This game?
*Deep sigh.*
It felt like a mobile game, honestly. Instead of typing letters, you just hit the arrow buttons. Seriously. It was repetitive and boring. Plus, the animations weren’t as good as in terms of making the food look delicious. While it was only four buttons to press, having to constantly press them in different orders made me ignore the visuals completely. Though, to be fair, I rarely looked at the food while playing the other games, either.
The game was officially released on July 31st. I had already uninstalled it, so I just reinstalled it to check it out. Apparently, the devs (no longer just one guy. Well, it was always more than him, but he was the primary. Now, it’s him and one other guy, I think. Plus a team backing them. Oh, by the way, they wiped my game from Eary Access. Once I started playing, I knew saw why, but it was still annoying.
Anyway, much to my chagrin, they added buttons, but in a mad way. They have things you have to do with both hands at the same time (like holding down the LB, then holding down the left arrow, and then releasing them both. But while holding them both down, having to tap A, B, Y, X with the right hand in succession). I have a hard enough time with QTEs with one hand. Add another hand to it, and there’s just no way I can do it.
I tried for the tutorial and two days, and then I just gave up. I was not having any fun. At all. And I was very disappointed that they seemed to go back on their decision to make this a casual game. I mean, I preferred the old games, but they had said this was going to be casual. Instead, they mixed the worst of both worlds by keeping it a button mashing game, but making you have to do different things with both hands.
I have to say it. They made it so much less accessible, like remarkably so. The constant tapping was already an issue (any game that asks if I want to tap or hold will get a hold from me), but then to add having to do it in an asynchronous manner put it way over the top of unfriendly for people with my flavor of accessibility issues. The problem is that no one cares about it because it’s not as blatant or as widespread as actual disabilities. Once again, I’m in the invisible zone, which is where I live, apparently.
Back to other cozy and/or indie games. I have been gorging on demos. And I have no compunction quitting them if they don’t grab me. Well, a little compunction if it’s a small dev team, but still.
There’s a game called Tiny Bookshop (neoludic games, and I think I mentioned them recently) that I played the demo for during the last Wholesome Direct (which I have included above). It should have been right up my alley, but it didn’t quite click. I mean, owning a small mobile bookshop in a quaint seaside town? Sign me up! For whatever reason, it wasn’t grabbing me. I don’t know exactly why.
It was officially released nine days ago (by the time this is posted). Someone in the RKG Discord mentioned it to me as a game she thought I might enjoy. I decided to try the demo again, and for whatever reason, it clicked with me this time. I bought it and have enjoyed it thus far. I think when I played the demo, I was freaking myself out about making perfect matches (when people were requesting books). This time, I realized that it wasn’t a dire situation and just relaxed. It made it a hundred percent better.
To be clear: the game was not putting pressure on me–I was doing it to myself. Even with cozy games, I would silently judge myself for not doing things the right way. Many times, there was no right way, but I invented a right way in my head.
With this game, I realized that I could just chill out–which was exactly what I want from my games right now. I have been playing casual games and indie games (mostly cozy) because I am tired. I am tired of soulslikes (which, weirdly enough, I don’t like as a a genre, anyway). I am tired of games that have weighty combat and are dozens of hours long. I just want a game that I can dip into and dip out of without feeling much weight on my shoulders.
Going back to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive). I am one of seven people (in the world) who did not adore the game. I thought it was a good game, but I had several issues with it. By the end of my time playing it, I was thoroughly drained and hating it. I have done several posts on it, so I won’t belabor the point here. Needless to say, I should not have forced myself to play the game in one go (meaning without any days break).
That’s on me, of course. But I just wanted it done. Before that, I played Ghost of Tsushima (SuckerPoint Productions) at the end of last year with the DLC included. I gorged myself on it and made myself sick. I loathed the end of the second act, which ruined the game for me. I still played on, though, and I made it up to halfway through the last mission of the DLC before I suddenly just could not take it any more. I quit cold turkey, and I have not finished the last mission.
That’s all for today. More tomorrow.