Time to give my boy Lony some rest for what is somewhat of a down month as far as big games go.





Endless Ocean Luminous (Switch) — May 2
Prison Architect 2 (PC, PS5, Xbox Series X) — May 7
Indika (PC, PS5, Xbox Series X) — May 8
Animal Well (PS5, Switch, PC) — May 9
Little Kitty, Big City (PC, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X) — May 9
Homeworld 3 (PC) — May 13
The Rogue Prince of Persia (PC) — May 14 (early access)
Braid, Anniversary Edition (Android, iOS, PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X) — May 15
Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut (PC) — May 16
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes (PC, Switch) — May 16
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 (PC, Xbox Series X) — May 21
World of Goo 2 (PC, Switch) — May 21
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Switch) — May 23
MultiVersus (PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X) — May 28
Nine Sols (PC, PS4, PS5, Switch) — May 29

I highlighted the major releases of the month, I might get the Paper Mario remaster down the road but I think it will just be Hellblade 2 this month for me. It's free on Game Pass and I hope Ninja Theory does the game right from an atmospheric standpoint. Game is supposedly very short so this might be the ideal weekend game. 

I have a golden rule when it comes to remakes that if I can play the original and scratch whatever itch I have, then I'm golden. However when it comes to Paper Mario, I leant my copy out decades ago and while I could emulate it this is one of those games I've been trying to get my hands on for years. I actually bought a second copy on Ebay about a decade ago before prices went crazy and sadly despite using one of those disc cleaning machines I could never get it to work.

Suffice to say, I've had my eye on the Switch release and will enjoy every second of it.

I was so excited for TTYD when it was originally released on the GameCube. Paper Mario 64 was incredibly rare down under and was one of my most rented video games until I was eventually gifted a copy years later. So TTYD made up for lost time, except it came out during this golden era so I remember beating one chapter at a time, putting it down for Symphonia, San Andreas, Budokai 3, Doom 3, Disgaea, Resident Evil 4, Killer 7 etc. before returning to it. It nearly took me a year to beat it and yet I still remember sections of it pretty well, especially the chapter where you debut in a Pro Wrestling promotion.

I look forward to it - I'm still waiting for Nintendo to announce a Switch 2 so I can start putting some money aside for it.

Yeah I don't think you're supposed to jump on piranha plants.

Nothing major for me this month, just finishing Stellar Blade, then I’ll go to Dragon’s Dogma 2; for new releases, the System Shock remake and a game called Tevi release later in the month.

Thanks Blindy, for getting this up.

As for me, it's just going to be...

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

I've only ever played two Paper Mario games, the OG Paper Mario on Nintendo Switch Online, and The Origami King. I liked them, especially Origami King, with that said, I've heard great things about The Thousand-Year Door, so hopefully it lives up to the hype. At least more so than Super Mario 64, the first time I played that was in the 3D All-Stars collection, while I had fun with the game, I felt like it didn't live up to the hype.

For anyone who hasn't seen them yet, the following games are available to play, via PS Plus Essentials, as of yesterday.

PS Plus Essentials - May 7th
Destiny 2: Lightfall (PS5)
EA Sports FC 24 (PS4, PS5)
Ghostrunner 2 (PS5)
Tunic (PS4, PS5)

As far as these games go, the only one I've played is Tunic, I rather enjoyed it. It's worth checking out if you haven't played it yet.

The Game Boy portion, of Nintendo Switch Online, has been updated with three new games, those being... Alleyway, Baseball, and Super Mario Land.

Mario Land wasn't on? I suppose that makes sense. If I ever saw it I most def would've given it a run. Last time I played it was years ago when I made those videos. Think I also did 6 golden coins and the 1st DKC. Maybe even 2.

May 16, 2024 2:09:08 GMT @ness said:

Mario Land wasn't on? I suppose that makes sense. If I ever saw it I most def would've given it a run. Last time I played it was years ago when I made those videos. Think I also did 6 golden coins and the 1st DKC. Maybe even 2.

Yea, for whatever reason, they added 6 Golden Coins first.

Do not sleep on Animal Well folks, holy cow this was the game of the month for me. I spoke about Hellblade in another thread but I just got the platinum(4th plat of the year!) for the game. At first, I was worried about the lack of combat, especially for a Metroidvania but once you get past that, you are in for a great ride. Off the bat, the visuals are so good, it has a beautiful and colorful 2D pixelated art look to it that just shined on my OLED TV. The puzzles are easily the biggest takeaway with Animal Well, they are thoughtful, and really made you utilize the various tools you get throughout the game. Every tool you get has a purpose! It's a pretty short game from the get go, can take you a good 5 or so hours but it's the post game where the game truly shines. Dark, mysterious, ambiguous are just some of the words that describe your journey to Animal Well. The puzzles will make you think and have zero shame of looking up what needs to be done, they are that crafty. The different animals that range from cutesy to outright diabolical was pretty wicked too, game has so much story/lore just waiting to be dissected. You're thrown into Animal Well in a Soulslike sort of "Figure this out on your own" sort of deal which is unforgiving but really makes all the triumphs you get all the more satisfying. It has the typical Metroidvania-ism of "Can't get past this part until later but you feel stronger/better coming back here with the needed tools" sort of progression that makes this genre top-class for games. It just has all of the markings of a really nice and easy to jump into Metroidvania, it's a massive compliment that a small group of people(Heard only 1 person made the backbone of this game which is awesome) put this out there. Best of all?

Free on PS Plus Premimum(Well free as in free after a subscription that is )!

Easy 8.5/10 type of game for me. The lone blemishes can be the backtracking can be a little rough, especially if you're trying to complete a full 100% completion of the game. Yes there is a specific room that is a hub that can have you go to various places throughout the game but it still doesn't make navigating to places frustration-proof. The platforming on it's own is solid but when you're being chased by a couple of threats(Won't spoil), it does rear it's ugly head in that regard. There's a near frame perfect jump you have to do while being chased that was easily the most maddening part of the playthrough for me. Could have totally done without it!

Likewise, a very minor gripe I have are the egg collectibles. There's 65 of them in the game and that part is fantastic! What isn't though is the inability to see what eggs you got vs which ones you didn't. Sure there's a room that shows you all of the eggs captured so you could technically base it off that but if you're far away from there? Shit out of luck. You just know the number of eggs you have but not which ones. There's too many names to remember from Devil Egg to Rare Egg to Upside Down Egg to Virtual Egg etc. There's no way possible you will know without a guide which ones you're missing. I was missing 1 egg but went to the room and compared it to a Youtube video and found out which egg it was before getting the trophy for it. Animal Well does a lot of good with it's menus but this was one that it could have done better IMO!

Full 100% completion took me 11-12 hours, just a very digestible experience. Thank goodness the recommendations for this one carried me to give it a chance, had a great couple of days with Animal Well! 


EDIT: Forgot to say that videogamedunkey was apart of the production of this game if you're familiar with him: