deKay's Lofi Gaming

Gaming Diary

A Building Full of Cats (Switch): COMPLETED!

This is a little “find the hidden cats” game. You literally just have to click on all of the cats, of which there are about 300, and then you “win”. Some are hidden in drawers or behind curtains. A few move and have to be found several times. Some blend in with the wallpaper, some don’t actually look much like cats, and some are tiny. But it’s a nice, quiet little game and passes the time, and sometimes, that’s fine.

Earth Defense Force: World Brothers (PS5): COMPLETED!

I’m a fan of the EDF games, with their Massive Ants and Massive Wasps and Massive Robots and Massive Space Ships. I was intrigued by this, Minecraft-y looking entry into the series, but the problem with EDF games is they cost money and don’t often drop to Super Cheap, so I never got round to buying it. And I still haven’t, because it appeared on PS+! I thought the only real difference between this and the others in the series …

Fallout: New Vegas (Steam Deck): COMPLETED!

How kind of Amazon to give this away for free just after I’d played Fallout 3 which was also given away for free! Like with Fallout 3, I wanted to play this as A Bad Man, but actually, I didn’t. Well, not entirely. You see, I wasn’t really a big fan of all the factions in New Vegas, not least because none of them were truly “good”: The NCR wanted control and land, Caesar’s Legion wanted slaves and loved to …

Paradise Killer (Switch): COMPLETED!

I’ll admit, I went into this expecting a somewhat different sort of game. In my head, it was a bit Phoenix Wright or Murder By Numbers, but it actually turned out to be a more-interactive-than-usual visual novel with a make-your-own-ending, in first person with platforming. Neither the reviews nor the screenshots suggested the platforming was even a thing, but it is – and it’s a pretty big part of the game. So, my interpretation of the world in which this …

Wiz ‘n’ Liz (MD): COMPLETED!

After a write-up in Retro Gamer magazine, I was reminded how much fun this was all those years ago, so since I already had my RetroFlag GPi out for Mega-lo-Mania purposes, it seemed rude not to have a quick go. Which turned out to be a couple of days of play and ended up with me completing it. As you do. Somewhere, I have a hand-written, self-worked-out list of every single fruit combination for all the magic spells you can …

Mega-lo-Mania (MD): COMPLETED!

It was time to play this again. I mean, sure, it’s almost always time to play this, but it was especially time to play this just now. Choosing Madcap this time, for no real reason, I made it through to the final level where I was once more unopposed. So an instant win, again. Ah well. The real fun was the fun we had along the way, or something.

Casual Birder (Playdate): COMPLETED!

Yes, I have a Playdate! Finally! And yes, this is the first game I’ve completed on it! Casual Birder is a little like that Bit Orchard or Toem in a way. It’s a sort of adventure game set in a town obsessed with taking photos of birds. The aim is to take part in a bird photography competition, but of course things are made difficult in a number of ways. For starters, some of the birds are a bit shy, …

Fallout 3 (Steam Deck): COMPLETED!

I did so love Fallout 3 when it came out. I completed it, did all the DLC, got pretty much all the achievements and milked it for everything it had to offer. So why has it taken me so long to replay it? Well, it was so big that doing that again was a bit off-putting. But then, Epic gave it away for free and I now have a Steam Deck to play it on, so I thought, why not? …

Shadow Complex: Remastered (Steam Deck): COMPLETED!

Back when this came out on Xbox Live Arcade (remember that?), I played through it over and over. I completed, and in fact, 100%ed, every single difficulty setting and then maxed out my level. I loved it, not least because it’s a Metroidvania, but back then the term wasn’t so widely known or used. I have no idea what is actually “remastered” here. It seems identical to the original, so unless my memory is playing tricks the only real difference …

Garden Tails (iPad): COMPLETED!

Yes, it’s the same damn game as Zoo Keeper World and Simon’s Cat and Puppy Blast and 50% of the games on the App Store, but it’s polished and cute and as it’s on Apple Arcade has no IAPs or wait times or other nonsense that gets in the way of, you know, just matching three things and clearing the board of whatever it is that needs clearing. And sometimes, that’s all you want. Simple, pretty, puzzle fun.

Blaster Master Zero 3 (Switch): COMPLETED!

The end of the trilogy! Jason finds himself in jail and Eve, his support droid Metal Attacker co-pilot slash creepy love interest is now queen of the mutants and poses a threat to the safety of the universe or something. It sort of makes sense if you concentrate really hard on the in-game dialogue but actually it just means more jumpy-tank fun across two separate dimensions. It’s back to being mostly set in the one “world”, unlike the galaxy hopping …

Toem (PS5): COMPLETED!

This looked like a lovely wee game when I saw it appear on the Switch eShop, so because I’m morally against paying full price for anything these days I put it on my wish list in the hope of a sale. And then, it appeared on PS+, saving me even more money! It’s a unique looking, black and white 2D characters in a 3D world game with a hand-drawn style, which is why it originally stood out to me. For …

The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe (Switch): COMPLETED!

The Stanley Parable is actually one of very few PC games I’ve completed. Certainly before I got my Steam Deck, anyway. It was funny, silly, and I enjoyed it very much. The “don’t play for five years” achievement was also a bit of a struggle because I did want to play it again in that time, but had to wait. I did though, then played it some more. But! Then! This happened! Ultra Deluxe is, on the outside, the same …

Scream Collector (Steam Deck): COMPLETED!

With a thousand PC games to choose from in my Steam/Epic/GOG/Itch libraries, mostly unplayed, you’d think I would never need to even look in the Steam store for something else to pass the time, right? And, if I did, you’d expect I might be picking out some high profile or highly lauded title that I don’t already own, yeah? Well, no. For I stumbled across this shambolic looking free-to-play clicker game instead, and then spent THIRTY HOURS completing it. No, …

World of Goo (Steam Deck): COMPLETED!

It’s been a long time since I last played this on the Wii. I blame not having another machine with a suitable input device, as it only really works with touch screens and pointers, not control sticks. Yes, I know I could have managed on the Switch or even on the Mac, but anyway. Trackpad on the Steam Deck it is. I’d totally forgotten about most of the “story”, and have no recollection of the Information Superhighway “world” at all. …