Monthly in a Month #25: The Dystopian Edition

Reply here once done.

You should fix the end date. March 1st was yesterday. And thanks for another event!!

Not sure if I'll have enough time, but at least here's a bump^^

I can do it this month... !

Forgot all about Ghostwire because its announcement/release date was so sudden. I'll have to bite on this.

My games for this month:

Western Press (from December 2016)

Achievements - "A grave matter"

I feel finishing the skill tester is more of a "campaign" story mode than completing a tournament, but both can lead to an ending scene, and I completed both. If Western Press is too short to work here, I'll get a replacement game done quickly if I can.

Western Press is an interesting concept; it's almost the Divekick of Simon Says, and I do enjoy Divekick. But with simplistic games like this, it can be hard to generate depth and emergent gameplay to keep players interested. I do wish I could have tried the competitive online if it had a point where players were populating the servers.

1993 Space Machine (from May 2016)

Screenshot of defeating final boss

1993 Space Machine was an... interesting experience trying to get working. First, achievements did not pop for me, which appears to be a known issue. Then the ending cinematic did not show up, instead being stuck on a blank screen that I had to ALT-F4 out of, which again is a known problem. On top of that, a few days after I finished playing, a patch came out that made my save files unusable and said I was on a "trial version," so I was still lucky to finish when I did.

There is a hidden boss level, but as far as I can tell it was a post-launch bonus and beating Nestor is still the end of the main game.

As for the game itself, it's not that bad but it can be really frustrating before you gather up enough money to purchase additional weapons for your ship. Once you do that, it's a solid enough retro shmup, but I'll still take Tyrian 2000 for my Western retro shmup needs.

Splasher (from March 2018)

Achievements - "Striker"

Splasher had a sudden difficulty spike about two-thirds of the way through, which could definitely be aggravating but was livable. I wish the controls could be a bit less floaty and slippery, which was especially evident when trying to move. I did appreciate how checkpoints seemed to be speedrun-friendly; it's a bit hard to explain, but each respawn checkpoint lines up the obstacles in your way such that you don't have to wait around every time you respawn.

There are influences from a lot of big-name platformers, especially Super Meat Boy, present in Splasher, and it feels like the lead developer wanted to reach those lofty heights. While he didn't succeed, he did make a pretty good platformer.

Levelhead (from May 2021)

Achievements Screenshots

Levelhead does have a few achievements that indicate beating the single-player component, including "Diploma," but I settled for a screenshot (taken with Dropbox and uploaded with Steascree) because some of the optional levels were grinding my gears.
Screwed up the link/privacy settings but it should be fixed now.

I love Levelhead's silly send-up of a mega-shipping corporation in space, although I wish I could more easily screenshot their cinematics. The gameplay in the single-player mode was a bit uneven; for some reason, I felt like most of the early and middle levels were actually harder than the ending levels. Levelhead has quite a bit of depth to the level editor, and the single-player campaign touches on some interesting ideas, like "Temple of Karma," a level that always turns hostile and kills you if you ever kill one enemy. I do wish there were a few more "concept" levels like that rather than ones that were more focused on combat and "unstoppable moving screen" chase sequences, which could be frustratingly coarse. And unlike Splasher, which had very speedrun-friendly checkpoints, Levelhead has "snapshot" checkpoints that save everything as it was when you touch the checkpoint, which can occasionally doom you to a fail state if you lost your cargo or other important objects.

Nex Machina (from December 2017)

Achievements - "Rookie"

Nex Machina's gameplay mechanics as a twin-stick shooter click well enough, but the game definitely has a lot of bonus objectives and secrets intended to increase replayability all bothering you at once, feeling like information overload.

Having played a bit of Housemarque's other games, like Returnal, it's interesting to see what mechanics it shared with Nex Machina, like the inability to save a run (although it's less of a problem with Nex Machina and Returnal eventually patched in that capability).

Bleed 2 from (February 2019)

Achievements - "Story Clear"

Bleed 2 is a pleasant little action game, but the controls can feel a bit awkward. Playing this, which is a side-scroller that separates movement and aiming/firing between two control sticks (or keyboard and mouse) makes me wonder how a game like Contra or StarFox being released now and having you aim and shoot with the same control stick would be considered cumbersome now.

Thank you for the continued monthlies!

Bump.

I will skip that one because I know I won't be playing the game. I have had trouble with first person action games since my eye surgery.
I wanted to say thanks for keeping it up when you were working hard. It's a lot of work to maintain an event like this and to keep it going like you do, and it's much appreciated.

Oooohh, hadn't really payed attention to Ghostwire, but it looks pretty cool. I love Yokai and such, might have to end up trying this month, haha.

Failed last month cause of lost ark so I think I'll fail again but will see, bump!

Ah yes, horror. Anyway, congrats on moving back to a normal schedule! Bump!

Always saw your post, never actually read it, very nice event. Might throw my hat in the ring, but with Elden Ring, idk how much i'll be able to do. :D
Bump! :D

beautiful gif

I'll toss my hat in the ring once again.

1. Forager
2. Just Die Already
3. Pesterquest - End Screen - In-game Achievements
4. Still There
5. Swag and Sorcery
6. Vane

I'm glad your schedule is calming down! Last month I had some stuff come up and ended up just getting Elden Ring on release, but I look forward to participating in another event soon!!

Finding Paradise (May 2019) Completed
Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse (June 2021) Hands-on parenting
The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan (March 2022) Going it alone
Evan's Remains (March 2022) Completed
Morkredd (May 2021) Lone wolf
Police Stories (March 2022) Police Story

Game - Achievement

Voidigo - Entry Denied
This one was a pretty fun and diverse Roguelike. The characters couldn't be more different and strange. :D
Though the enemyvariety and leveldesign were a bit lacking for my taste...

Raiden V - Operation 8 Stage 8: Boss Defeated!
Nice Bullet Hell with the flaw that the moving background sometimes had the same color as the bullets of enemies you tried to dodge....which is quite annoying.😔

Pool Panic - Touch The Sky
Wouldn't have thought that you could have that many different pool puzzles...it's a really fun game which doesn't take itself serious, had a blast with it.

911 Operator - Medal Of Honor
Mostly chill management game where you have to manage your 911-Team. Though in Expert it is quite hectic (but the most fun). Sadly after a while it is apparent that there is only a limited number of different calls and they repeat themselves.

11-11 Memories Retold - Part III
Really unique artwork and an interesting story about two enemies that both don't want to be in the WWI. Especially the extra info from collectibles were interesting.

Basingstoke - See Picture
Really loved this one. A cool take on the roguelike where you are always a one-hit and mostly try to avoid the enemies. At the beginning it seemed pretty impossible, but once you understood the enemies and how to use your flashlight, weapons and doors to block enemies it was really cool to breeze through the levels.😀

View attached image.

1. Amnesia: Rebirth/ Tasi
2. Rebel Cops / A Rebel’s Life
3. Greak: Memories of Azur / Memories of Azur
4. Size Matters
5. Automachef
6. Going Under