Best Of

Among the Sleep(1.8 hours): Paid $7 for this game and the regular price is $15. Not sure if it is at a fair price right now or not. That said the game design in Among the Sleep is out of this world. You are shown an element and what it means then it is used in the game later so the player learning mechanics are just spot on. I just couldn't believe how it just checked all of the boxes for what a game should do.

This was originally a kickstarter game with so many backers I just skipped the credits because it was going to take 10 minutes. It was billed as a VR oriented horror game but then they pretty much finished the game and told everyone no VR support despite this game would be ripe for it. You play as a freaking baby from first person with hands and feet. There is the swish of your onesie if you are running!

It just feels right in regards to how an adult playing a child should act and be afraid. Throughout the game pictures and drawings and markings litter the environment with the vague abstract portrayals you see in every child's drawing partly because they suck at drawing and also because of the concepts that they are attempting to convey. This is where the game really gets you because all of the horror elements are things as an adult you can relate to but also know to be afraid of. Then as the game progresses you start to pick up clarity on what is going on and maybe why this child is frightened. The level of ambiguity leaves several choices to where the conclusion will take you. But then the finish slaps you in the face.

The child never pooped their pants the entire game. 5/7

Games Completed: 108
Time: 4 weeks 160.72 hours

Grow Home(2.7 hours): This was two sittings in the same day and 100% with the steam controller. My thumb isn't as number at the end of this game as the first time using it despite heavy usage of the right pad. The game is intended to be 2.5-3 hours long but the achievements on steam indicate they want to you to keep playing for 12 hours. You can unlock skins by completing achievements but you can also do almost nothing besides the main objectives and still finish the core game. Having to hold two triggers constantly was slowly hurting my hands as the controller was driven back by the pressure required. The games usage of YXAB buttons demonstrates the spacing issue with the controller as I kept hitting the wrong button or swearing I should be over A but I was hovering on B instead. Occasionally I would tap A, jump, and my glide leaf would deploy, Y, to which I could not figure out even when I was watching what buttons my fingers hit.

You are silly little robot thrown on to a planet to grow a plant and collect its seed, think WALL-E but the roles are reversed. No scratch that, WALL-E and Clamps from Futurama had a gay love child and this is the main character B.U.D. You are born in a procedural environment with some wonky physics and little momentum control. Your real power comes from your clamps which allow you to climb around on anything which is a god send as you walk down a slight hill and can't stop, you just splash into the ground and GIVE IT THE OLD CLAMPS! In the beginning you are low on power and are told to collect crystals that increase your energy level but the idea that you are about to turn off without these crystals isn't real, they simply power you up farther to unlock your robot super powers. The camera can't zoom in/out until you unlock the ability which just feels silly because you can just be given that once you grow the plant to a certain size, this is my only real problem with the game.

Now growing the plant is where things get fun and interesting because there might be no limits. You just need to clamp on the balls.....no bulbs of the plant and tell them to grow with your magic robot powers. While they are growing you can direct the branch by means that is never explained. Some times things take off on their own and require some fighting, but for the most part this is all player controlled. The branches need to be grown into rocks that have grow power goop in them. At this point in the game you start to realize that this is a CGI Plant Tentacle Hentai Game.........you spear rocks with tentacles and pump stuff out of them to get your massive stalk to get bigger.......yeah.

There is a lot of exploring that can be done or not done as you only have one goal. As the game progresses distances get bigger and mistakes cost you more. At several points you will have to grow a branch off a branch off a branch to get away from the main trunk enough. This puts you in a position to get creative on how you grow and why you grow branches. Climbing is not always the fastest means. Its a good $4 game right now that you might play again or might not.

Games Completed: 107
Time: 4 weeks 158.92 hours