Backlog Battle Report (May-July 2021)

Who needs in-depth coverage when you can have a lightning round?!

Writing’s been slow again, compounded by the usual suspects but also by a keyboard malfunction. This necessitated a new one: a Logitech G512 with brown tactile switches since I enjoy blasting people over Discord with my fast typing. Nothing special, but it does the job and it’s holding up so far. The malfunction happened while I was about halfway through writing this, though! That stalled me even further, but it also let me add new games to the list in the interim. If some of these entries seem like they were written separately, that’s why.

I’m still in between a bunch of articles and projects, but still have plenty of games played and things to talk about in general. Some of these will get a full piece eventually, should I manage to actually pull something together that I’m satisfied with. But until then, here’s what I’ve been playing for the last while.

The usual drill: two or three paragraphs tops (Future Delfeir here just to laugh at that statement…), focused more on quantity and general impressions than anything too detailed. It’s also not a completely exhaustive list, but mostly just the highlights and things that are worth talking about. Trust me, I won’t be short of things to talk about… this one clocks in at about six thousand words, so be warned. ‘ere we go!

Subnautica: Below Zero (PC)

I had to double check when I started writing this that I hadn’t talked about this one already here. Shows how much time has passed, I suppose. Either way, the Subnautica spinoff/sequel came out of Early Access a couple months back. I really enjoyed the original, so I was quick to “dive back in” to this one, hurr hurr. Regardless, it didn’t disappoint, and it was a good time all around. There’s still something about these two games and their alien environments that really stand out amidst the crowd of other survival games out there.

Below Zero is a shorter affair than its predecessor, and I wrapped it up in maybe half the time. It can be described as condensed in both good and bad ways. I don’t think there’s quite as many interesting or varied biomes to explore or materials to find. However, the technology progression and story pacing is much smoother, so Below Zero just seemed to flow better in general. I enjoyed the story better overall too, so there’s that. It’s an easy recommend for anyone who finds the concept intriguing, no matter your familiarity with the first.

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Loop Hero Impressions — Brother, May I Have the Loops

Just one more loop… hmm, okay, just one more…

Hello. I’m Delfeir, and on Friday I played a new game. My intention was to sample it for about an hour before writing something unrelated. I did no writing, played for about four hours, delayed my sleep so I could play yet another, and then had dreams about the damn thing. Once I woke up and told people about it somewhat, I intended to write this impressions piece that you’re now reading. Instead, I played more of the game in question for the better part of the whole weekend. I’ve almost completely finished it with 30 hours under my belt in that time. Even now, however, the siren song to finish the tail of the game still calls.

Loop Hero might be the most addictive game I have ever played, ye gods. So let’s talk about it.

Loop Hero is a weird blend of genres right out the gate. The best way to describe it would honestly be to call it an idle game, the genre that Cookie Clicker birthed. It also takes cues from auto battlers like the Dota Auto Chess mod. Wrap that framework with a roguelite deck building game and resource gathering, and you have the bones of Loop Hero.

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