play these games you dumb bitch (me, to myself)
i made this before i found out about the wishlist function now im in too deep
536 Games
a text-based strategy sim centered around navigating the complex geopolitical manuverings of a country on the edge of an extremely precarious stability that is beset on all sides by its neighbors and the dominant world powers seeking to engage in ideological proxy wars.
all of which is best informed by a clear understanding of the historical events and relationships that brought said country to its current historical moment, as well as the various institutions that wield its power and how they work, all helpfully catalogued through a heavy in-game codex,
Unfortunately, i only ever boot this up when i'm half asleep at 5 in the fucking morning and can't be bothered to do the reading to actually play this game, which is just some tragic stuff on my part really
i miss toad's n64 era voice, it was cute
stressful resource management, very good
i fucking hate this game
"so stop playing it?"
no
"so stop playing it?"
no
"we closed our eyes and wrote everything down, thats when we realized they werent just dreams"
the opening screen of hardland prompts an active participation on the players part in understanding its world and narrative, emphasizing that it has no quest markers or active quest logs to guide you in any way, asking you to pour over every interaction, journal note and item description, every little nook and cranny that could hold the key to understanding the greater whole at the heart of this surreal fantasy world. holding itself as some kind of heavy puzzle adventure, should you have the dedication, which like, hell yeah sign me up!
so, fully bought into that pitch and down to clown, i went in with a physical notebook in hand and excavated every weird dream and location in the opening hours of the game with a fine tooth comb. but honestly, despite the opening disclaimers, the game doesnt seem that intense on that sort of thing like, at all? maybe im too early in the game to like, appreciate the scope of it all or something, but it seems more the kind of game where you run around as a weird little guy with a sword and hit mobs of little monsters with it, idk i kinda bounced off it after that. i plan to go back eventually with adjusted expectations, but man, kinda a bummer, to me, personally, imo,,,
but anyways, check out Scott Benson's Top 10 Games of 2019 on Giant Bomb to read about the appropriate way to appreciate this weird little game in the way that it actually is
the opening screen of hardland prompts an active participation on the players part in understanding its world and narrative, emphasizing that it has no quest markers or active quest logs to guide you in any way, asking you to pour over every interaction, journal note and item description, every little nook and cranny that could hold the key to understanding the greater whole at the heart of this surreal fantasy world. holding itself as some kind of heavy puzzle adventure, should you have the dedication, which like, hell yeah sign me up!
so, fully bought into that pitch and down to clown, i went in with a physical notebook in hand and excavated every weird dream and location in the opening hours of the game with a fine tooth comb. but honestly, despite the opening disclaimers, the game doesnt seem that intense on that sort of thing like, at all? maybe im too early in the game to like, appreciate the scope of it all or something, but it seems more the kind of game where you run around as a weird little guy with a sword and hit mobs of little monsters with it, idk i kinda bounced off it after that. i plan to go back eventually with adjusted expectations, but man, kinda a bummer, to me, personally, imo,,,
but anyways, check out Scott Benson's Top 10 Games of 2019 on Giant Bomb to read about the appropriate way to appreciate this weird little game in the way that it actually is
played a bit, decided to try it out for the story, but it ultimately couldn't hold me with how mediocre the actual shooting felt, think i dropped off after the england mission(?)
mechanically this expansion fucking shines, writing-wise, this expansion is fuckinggggg terrible lol
i played this as a kid and for some reason was really sad i couldn't play as Ebirah?
4 Comments
unfortunately that idea's currently on indefinite hiatus, please refer to my other list for details:
https://www.backloggd.com/u/brambledirt/list/what-a-dumb-bitch-is-playing-instead-of-those-other-games/
https://www.backloggd.com/u/brambledirt/list/what-a-dumb-bitch-is-playing-instead-of-those-other-games/
You made this list many years ago. So I am obliged to ask: have you played any of these games?
thats a fair question lol. i just went down this list and did a tally. i played 20 of them, and out of those 20, i finished like, 11
gman
2 years ago