Started playing "Monark". It's an unusual game that feels kinda half baked, but has a good bit of charm to it. I will say that throwing the player right into a school shouded in spooky mist trapped by a mysterious dome without any context was an interesting move.
I think they changed things up from the 2019 novel to fit the series and to give more of a continuity with Handmaid's Tale, so instead of it being 15 years from the events of the previous series, it's now 4. There's other changes too, probably.
Enjoying The Testaments so far. It's an expansion on the world-building from The Handmaid's Tale from a different persepective that feels like a continuation of the story, rather than a companion piece.
the live version is electric
sound is scuffed to holy hell but the atmosphere is nuts
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVdW...
I still haven't finished The 25th Ward: The Silver Case, apparently.. 💀
I'm also concerned about Danganronpa 2x2, because as much as the game is a "remaster/remake" of Goodbye Despair, I still remember what happens in it. It's really only the "new scenario" that I'll play it for if it releases anytime soon.
The completion of Hundred Line is probably gonna do me in for (the amount of time it's gonna take to complete it x 100)
I get this with specific games, mainly those that have stories and mysteries that sink deep down into your brain and linger there so the game can't be replayed at the same level of enjoyment.
Mainly every Danganronpa game, FF16, NieR Automata, Zero Time Dilemma
www.destructoid.com/new-study-co...
Hundred Line Tutorial COMPLETE.
Absolute banger from Hundred Line. If you're familiar with Danganronpa, and the Investigation music in the final chapter, you know.
(music spoiler)
music.youtube.com/watch?v=N_U3...
daily track:
IDLES // DATE NIGHT
#TotD2026
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVxy...
Some thoughts on Hundred Line.
I like the spin on the tactical combat, there's a massive amount of things you can do in the one turn, including special attacks, traps, buffs, debuffs. The small enemies vs. player attack patterns remind me of "Into the Breach" a little, very puzzle hybrid.
daily track:
Röyksopp // Some Resolve
#TotD2026
music.youtube.com/watch?v=bwah...
I like the game, it's just the voiced "grunts" that are really bad and don't contribute a whole lot, and sometimes sound really out of place for the scene (Takumi yelling "HAEY" as he gets ready to sleep was ridiculous). Would be nice to have a seperate audio slider for those and fully voiced dialog
What's going on with the localisation of Hundred Line w/ Japanese voiceover? Some characters sound completely different to the English VO, and it feels like the text doesn't match up with the Japanese VO at all. On the other hand, the English VO is kinda all over the place in quality, but servicable
I will say that I like Marathon's presentation. There's a lot of heavy WipEout influence in the "company" logo and graphics, and it does look nice.
It just feels like a waste and makes me wish Bungie would make campaign/story games again.
I feel like Exoprimal had the right idea when it came to story, and there are traces of that in Marathon through engagement with contracts, but it doesn't feel like any kind of story or mystery exists from what I've seen.
I understand the appeal of extraction shooters like Marathon and Arc Raiders but it feels like such a lazy model for a game with bigger potential. You go in, get loot, you leave, and there's objectives and some lore text. This repeats forever with infinite different experiences until the game dies.
Shuten Order finished.
43 hours clocked. The longest amount of time I've spent with a visual novel with Japanese language dialog.
Kodaka's Torture
Kodaka's Killing Game
Kodaka's Giant Wall of Text
Kodaka's Carrot and Stick
I hear it and yeah I'm thinkin it's time to solve some EFFin mysteries
"Deduction Denouement the Q" from Rain Code is still Masafumi Takada's best work. The bass is unbelievable. youtu.be/qyZiH1kyVzs?...
Four hours into it and I think there's been maybe three auto-saves.
Kodaka's Punishment.
Manual saving disabled on the last stretch of Shuten Order.
Kodaka's Trick.
daily track:-
Dead Poet Society // Uto
#TotD2026
youtu.be/qFHoG1nNO-M?...
Nearly finished Shuten Order. It's been a blast, but the stealth horror section was ultra janky, in a "game progression blocking" way (critical doors not opening). Decent attempt at unnerving horror though.
this snuck up on me real quick
I'll look at it
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpWy...
Best of luck eating a Big Arch discreetly
You will fail, and there will be sauce
