Tales of Arise - Cover Image

January Games

First of these for the New Year, and we’re off to a pretty good start. I completed some stuff. Granted, not as many as I did in December but still good going by my standards.

Games completed this month

Gorogoa - GamePass

Gorogoa – PC

Heard about this on a podcast a while back, I was interested in the idea of “solving puzzles by sliding pictures over each other”. Didn’t really visualise how it would work in practice though, and I forgot about it. Once again though, GamePass* to the rescue, the artwork is gorgeous and the puzzles very well designed. I think it might be best to play on a mobile device or a Switch with the touch screen, but I found it worked well enough on PC with a mouse. The whole game is only around 2 – 3 hours long which makes it a perfect fit for GamePass.


Unforeseen Incidents - Nintendo Switch Title

Unforeseen Incidents – Nintendo Switch

As evidenced by my Unforeseen Incidents review, I also completed this last month.


Games played during January

Final Fantasy VII Remake - PS5

Final Fantasy VII Remake – PS5

Until I got distracted by the next game on this list, I was making decent progress on Final Fantasy VII Remake. I don’t have too much nostalgia for the original Final Fantasy VII, since back in the day my memory card corrupted not long after I made it onto the world map. However the characters and story are familiar, and it looks great. I’m probably only around 10 hours in, but I do want to come back and finish the game as it is on the list for 2022.

Available on Amazon*


Tales of Arise - PS5

Tales of Arise – PS5

It seems my 2022 blog did the job and my ex-wife picked this up in January as planned. I immediately dropped Final Fantasy as this is the game I wanted to be playing. Another of our friends is now playing as well so we have a JRPG support group. Enjoying it so far although the characters are a bit grumpy. Lots of owls though.

I’m playing on PS5, my friends are on PS4 and Xbox though and it seems like it’s great on them all. All formats are on this link*.


Animal Crossing - July Games

Animal Crossing New Horizons – Switch

Played on and off during January, still failed to catch a lobster and I think they’ve gone now till April. Oh well.

Traditional Amazon link*.


Aliens: Fireteam Elite - PC

Aliens Fireteam Elite – PC

Prime GamePass fodder. Difficult to call this a great game, particularly on PC where it feels like a clunky console port. However, playing online with a couple of friends was good fun. We’ll probably play a couple more times before we move on to something else.


What’s been on the arcade?

Arcade Speakers

In January my arcade play was mostly on SEGA’s Up N Down, the Ten Pence Arcade podcast monthly game. As much as I sort of enjoyed this, I really couldn’t get to grips with it and never really progressed beyond the second level. Next!

At the start of the year though I did pick up a proper amp and speakers for the cab and fitted those. I got them from the same place who supplied most of the components when I built the machine. The sound is much better now, although it does have a slight hum that I need to eradicate. Plenty of people seemed to have a similar problem with the Pi, so confident I can deal with it next time I have the cabinet open.


January Pick-ups

MYST and More Bundle

MYST & More Bundle – PC

Couldn’t resist grabbing this bundle of MYST goodness. Yes I did own all the games already, but my Steam library was missing MYST 3, 4 and Obduction, so at least I have them all in one place now…


Snowball! - PC

Snowball!

My one purchase from the latest Steam sale, saw someone mention this little indie pinball game, would have been rude not to for 49p. It’s not on sale any more, but even full price it’s only £1.99. Worth a look if you dig Video Pinball like me.


SCUMMVM - RetroPie

ScummVM & RetroPie – RaspberryPi 3b+

Okay so this isn’t really a pick up as I owned it already, but I wasn’t sure where else to put it. As I mentioned in my Unforeseen Incidents review, I had intended to play the classic Point and Click game Discworld this year. As an alternative to using the Saturn version (which I found out doesn’t support the mouse) I decided to use one of the RaspberryPi 3b+ models I had spare so I could still play on my TV using a mouse.

I’ve basically just installed the usual RetroPie and setup ScummVM to play Discworld and a selection of other games supported by the engine. As a bonus I’ve also started configuring DosBox to run a some other games of a similar era, mostly other Point and Click games not otherwise supported by ScummVM. And Jazz Jackrabbit, because why not.


*As usual, these links are affiliate ones, which may earn me a small commission if you buy something.

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