Bouncy, Bouncy

I've reached the point in the summer where things start to feel a bit...unsettled.  It's August, so summer is starting to wane and going back to school/work is ominously lurking off in the distance.  You want to make the most of what is left, but you start to feel a bit of an anxious/sad combo.  Not to mention that the state where I live has been experiencing the worst wildfire season on record--there have been 3 different major fires in the vicinity of where I live (*fortunately, nothing too close, but it has made for some very smoky skies that have limited my outdoor time).  I don't know if all of this is impacting my gaming, but I haven't felt a strong urge to play one, single game and have been shuffling between a few.  So here's what I've had on deck.

Crime Scene Cleaner

I finished up the main storyline and all the epilogue missions and decided to check out the "challenge" modes.  Yes, I said "modes" and not "mode" because there are actually two.  The first option is called "Nightmare" and basically re-imagines all the levels from the main storyline in a different form as a version of Kovalsky's own lingering doubts about his participation in all the criminal activity taking place.  Like the main story missions there are collectibles in the form of weird, record-like items to find.  Some of the nightmare levels are pretty wild--one of them has negative gravity, so all the items you touch will float up to the ceiling.  Completing each of the nightmare levels rewards special skins that can change the look of Kovalsky's base cleaning gear.

If nightmare mode isn't enough for you, there's also the "True Cleaner" mode which challenges you to re-visit the original story missions but without "cleaning sense" (an ability that highlights any objects/blood that need to be cleaned/moved).  I completed all of nightmare mode, but haven't given the true cleaner levels a try.  (For some weird reason this game was starting to make me feel a bit motion sick so I have shelved it for the time being)

Balatro

I've won a total of four times, but I just keep going back for more punishment.  I think I'm just singularly bad at building a deck around my jokers and need to keep practicing at it.  I've gotten fairly close a couple of times, but still am just losing...and losing...and losing.  If you haven't checked out this rogue-like/poker smash up, it's a lot of fun, but will slightly crush your soul.

Vampire Survivors

When I get tired of crushing failure in Balatro, I like to switch to slightly less crushing failure at Vampire Survivors.  I bought a bunch of DLC for it awhile back and haven't checked out all the different adventure modes, so I thought I would start there.  I've managed to knock out some of it, but have come up against a wall on a few levels.  For a game with such simple mechanics (kill monsters, loot crystals, upgrade items, and survive for as long as you can), it's surprisingly difficult.  If you're looking for a cheap game that is playable on basically any platform, it is a great option.

Tiny Bookshop

An iteration of my tiny bookshop.

After all the crushing failures in Balatro and Vampire Survivors, I just want to feel less...failure-y.  So, I turn to a nice comfort game in the form of Tiny Bookshop.  You play as the owner of a towable, tiny bookshop who has settled in a new town.  Your ultimate goal is to make a living selling used books, but the friendly townsfolk quickly engage you in various pursuits.  Each day you can pick a new location for your little shop (the perks of it being portable) and learn more about the town and its residents.  Each location offers up specific quests and townsfolk who you can befriend.  Throughout the day your customers will ask for recommendations of varying difficulty--some people have very specific requests while others might just want a book from a certain genre.  Correctly fulfilling these requests will result in a temporary sales boost (and, it's satisfying to get it right).  You can also purchase (or earn/find) items to decorate your shop (this includes paint colors that can be changed every day).  These items provide buffs/debuffs that can impact the types of books customers might want to buy (or other factors like customer count or number of recommendations per day).

I haven't finished Tiny Bookshop yet, but it's a very cute game.  Running the shop is fun, but there's also a cast of townsfolk to befriend and a beautiful little city to learn about.  Not to mention the fun of decorating your shop.

Someone's Gotta Do It

I picked up a few new titles in the Steam Summer Sale and have been spending my time checking out one (actually two, but I found that I deeply disliked one of them).  A somewhat weird genre that I've found myself enjoying is cleaning games.  Do I enjoy cleaning in real life?  I mean, I have to do it, and I don't hate it or anything, but it's just more work to me.  I'm not the kind of person who is a neat freak either, but I do love to simulate cleaning up in a game.  Hence why I've found myself in the role of a down-on-his luck janitor in Crime Scene Cleaner.

What is it?

A first-person cleaning game where you clean up the aftermath of various violent criminal encounters.

What you're walking in to on a typical job.

How much playtime can I expect?  Is it replayable?

I'm not 100% done (and have fully confessed to my slowness in cleaning games) but I'm at almost 32 hours of just the main story missions.  There is also a challenge mode that I haven't checked out yet.  Basically, there's plenty of content and yes, it does have an element of replayability built-in with the challenge mode.

Pros:

+ There's a decent story.  I mostly expected to find some built-in story elements on the jobs that might explain the situations that you're cleaning up, but there's a fully fleshed out story about your character and the various crime scenes you clean up.  Your character, Mr. Kovalsky (no first name given), is a school janitor whose daughter gets sick and needs some expensive medical treatment.  His normal gig won't cover the cost, so he's open to alternatives.  He gets pulled into the shady business of cleaning up after crimes in an almost accidental way--the son of a friend gets into some trouble and calls Kovalsky to clean up.  He does such a good job that the big boss reaches out and offers to give him...more permanent employment...as long as he can keep his mouth shut.

What the heck?  Some more humor.

+ Simple, but oddly enjoyable gameplay.  Kovalsky is armed with a bevy of cleaning tools--a mop, sponge, and pressure washer--and the ultimate goal of each level is to completely clean all the blood, get rid of all the bodies, clean up any trash/destroyed items, and move any furniture back into its original position.  Basically, you want each scene to look like nothing ever happened there.  Plus, you can also add to your base pay by stealing any valuable items that might just be laying around.

+ Secrets and collectibles to find.  Each level has hidden areas that require some attention to detail/alertness to find.  These hidden areas can contain a cache of stealable items or even special items (I figured out a sort of puzzle clue and unlocked a katana that can be used to smash up certain items), so they're worth finding.  The collectibles come in the form of cassette tapes/CD's that can be found throughout the levels (and are also usually hidden in secret areas).  They add new playable music to the game.

+ Talent system/skill tree.  You earn experience points based on how thoroughly you clean up each level (and the number of items that you steal) and they can be placed into different skills.  You can improve your base items in many ways like improving the amount of blood that your mop can hold before it needs to be cleaned.  Earning talent points is very easy and you can unlock all the skills.

Small items from each job appear in Kovalsky's apartment.

+ Wall of memories in Kovalsky's apartment.  There's a cabinet (that becomes shelves later on in the game) where you can find small items from each job.  It's reminiscent of the curio wall in PowerWash Simulator 2 and a fun feature.  Kovalsky's apartment changes as the story progresses.  Oh, and he has a cute dog named Dexter that you can pet.

This Witcher 3 reference can be found on one of the levels.

+ There's a bit of humor built into the story and plenty of dad joke-esque remarks from Kovalsky.  Kovalsky definitely feels a bit divided about his participation in this criminal enterprise, but needs to cash for his daughter.

Cons:

- Gameplay is very simple.  You use your mop to clean up floors, your sponge to clean up other surfaces, and power washer for those hard to reach places.  It's a point-and-click type of affair, so there's nothing advanced about it.  There is some nuance required (trotting through a giant pool of blood will result in bloody footprints getting tracked all over), but it's pretty basic.

- Physics are also pretty simple and can feel a bit weird.  You can use your sponge to safely clean basically anything but if you smack something breakable with your mop, it will automatically break.  Feeling out the distance while mopping is weird.  When in doubt, use your sponge.  When Kovalsky is carrying bodies they are in a weird t-pose that feels odd.  It's a minor gripe and nothing gamebreaking, but just gives things a bit of a wonky feeling.

- There's an element of cheese in the writing/stories.  It's not cripplingly bad, just slightly cringeworthy at points.  Again, not a gamebreaker.

Recommendation:

I have been pleasantly surprised by Crime Scene Cleaner.  There's a story (granted, a little bit cheesy), a talent system (in a cleaning game!), and fun features like collectibles and challenges.  The gameplay itself is a bit simple, but enjoyable.  If you enjoy cleaning games and want something that doesn't push too hard and has fun features, it's worth your time.

Technological Nooks and Crannies

The misguided adventures of my male V in CyberPunk 2077 recently ended.  (Spoilers ahead for "Phantom Liberty" related endings--proceed with caution or skip ahead) For some dumb reason that was easily Googleable, I thought there was a different ending if you opted to side with Reed.  Fun fact that could potentially save you a LOT of time--there's not!  Basically, if you side with Reed, you get the same "you're just another face in the crowd" ending.  I thought that maybe there was a choice where V could choose to work for the FIA (since Reed keeps offering it up as a choice).  Minorly disappointing, I suppose.  Overall though, I got to experience a whole different final mission with a completely divergent vibe that turned out to be both scary and fun.  I also got to mess around with the new CrystalCoat feature and found it to be vaguely fun--looking out for interesting looking vehicles to try to find unique paint colors adds another task.  I think the thing I enjoyed most in this most recent playthrough was the new cars (the Semimaru and Mordred both are probably the smoothest drives in the game) and the expanded photo mode that lets you pose with various random NPC's.

But what to do after an epic CyberPunk playthrough?  Totally switch gears, that's what!  In an act of almost perfect timing, the newest DLC for PowerWash Simulator 2 dropped.  It's a real BIG NAME doozy, folks--none other than the original "Star Wars!"  I've cleaned through all of it, so is it worth your $9.99 to powerwash in a galaxy far, far away?

The Millennium Falcon took some damage.

What is it?

The most recent DLC for the ultimate powerwashing game.  It includes 6 different jobs that include some of the most iconic Star Wars locations and ships.  These jobs range from small-ish to cleaning an entire freakin' ship!

How much additional playtime can I expect?

Depending on your cleaning skills/speed (my pace verges on sloth-like), I would estimate a good ~20-30 hours.

Pros:

+ You play as cleaning droid PO-W2 (but this means there are no new skins or cosmetic options).  It's a fun, Star Wars droid addition.

The 6 jobs in the Star Wars DLC.

+ The six new jobs feature iconic locations and vehicles.  The attention to detail is fantastic (of course) and you get that very 70-ish feeling as you're spraying down all those weird blinking light panels and strange doodads (that are very obviously random electonic-esque items made to look high tech).  I know that there has been some disgruntled folks who didn't like the vehicle focused DLC, but the vehicles in this pack are ginormous.  You get to clean an entire AT-AT (and it's a bit of a pain in the buttocks because you have to get all up in its weird underside), an X-Wing, and even the Millennium Falcon.  If you're a Star Wars fan, you'll appreciate the variety (although...maybe a Yoda's swamp or Jabba's palace would've been fun too).

+ Fun new random achievements.  I always forget to look them up prior to cleaning, so only get them rarely if I accidentally do something that is an achievement.

Cleaning up the cantina.

Cons:

- Some Star Wars cosmetic options and maybe even some base items would've been fun.  Seems like a bit of a missed opportunity, but I wonder how much latitude they actually got with this very guarded piece of IP.  You do get to be a droid, so I suppose there's that.  Maybe like an imperial-themed washer suit?  Or a rebel one?  Missed the ball, I tell ya.

- There are a ton of little nooks, crannies, and doodads on the vehicles.  Some folks will likely find this annoying.

Recommendation:

If you like PWS2 and Star Wars, it's the perfect combination.  Cleaning up those iconic locations and vehicles is every Star Wars nerd's dream.  I kind of wish they'd come up with some cosmetic stuff, but it's not a deal breaker.  My advice is to throw on the soundtracks from the movies while you clean (I mean, why wouldn't you want to listen to the cantina song while you clean it up?) and give yourself the full immersive experience.

The Betrayer

My CyberPunk adventures have been continuing (I'm probably about 80% done--just have to wrap up scanner jobs and gigs in City Center) and I've had to make some tough decisions for my male V.  In my ultimate quest to experience ALL the potential endings (but in a full playthrough), I made a few different choices this go-round.  Sadly, not all those decisions have felt...great.

The first new decision I made was to test out the Kerry option as a romantic partner for V.  I've always found Kerry to be a bit of an odd choice (I mentioned the age difference in my last post), but the actual relationship plays out fairly nicely.  You can opt to kiss Kerry after you complete the mission to meet up with him during a press event promoting his new collaboration with the band Us Cracks (you know, the Japanese girl group that he's initially trying to destroy).  One thing I've noticed that I haven't paid much attention to before--someone at CD Projekt must like freckles because both Kerry and Rogue have a smattering that isn't immediately obvious until you go in for a kiss.  Then, Kerry calls up V for his ultimate act of revenge on his hapless manager--sinking the poor man's luxury yacht.  It's during this mission that you get to experience the one sex scene and it's a bit of a doozy.  While the yacht is burning, Kerry and V engage in some passionate fun times before taking a naked dive off the sinking ship.  It kind of makes sense with Kerry's whole "rockerboy" vibe and it's definitely less weirdly awkward as the Panam tank sex scene.  Kerry will text V several times making silly, flirty jokes and you can also opt to hangout at one of V's apartments.  Overall, I think Kerry's romance is one of the better ones.

It's V and Nibbles, just chillin'.

(Spoilers for Phantom Liberty ahead--read on with caution)

I had only played through the Phantom Liberty DLC once prior to this, so I decided to try out a different option when it comes to the major fork in the storyline.  Basically everything comes down to choosing if you're going to help Songbird or help Reed.  Both characters have their own understandable motivations, so it's a tough choice.  My first go-round I decided to help Songbird but ultimately handed her over to Reed and the FIA (I wanted to experience the ending where V gets help from them).  This time I decided that I was going to side with Reed and capture Songbird during the mission where you impersonate the Cassel twins.  Reed gives V a device that should be able to disable Songbird while she's busy with liberating the neural matrix from the Cynosure device.  Things immediately go south...Songbird detects the attempt to disable her, is extremely pissed that V betrayed her trust, and goes berserk.  During the chaos of Songbird fleeing, Alex (who is impersonating Aurare Cassel) is killed by Hansen (the first big ugh).  V has to fight through a legion of Barghest goons while chasing Songbird through the stadium and then ultimately face off against Hansen.

After V dispatches Hansen, he meets up with Reed and they drive to a nearby overlook and try to track down Songbird.  It's here that they see something that isn't typically seen in Dogtown--MaxTac comes swooping down to capture Songbird.  Now, Reed and V are tasked with breaking Songbird out of MaxTac custody...and it's going to take some help from friends.  Reed tasks V with finding a netrunner who can hack into MaxTac's database and find out where Songbird is located while he goes off to find some allies who can potentially help with a firefight (you can choose to call up Mr. Hands and pay him $15000 for help or possibly find your own netrunner).

Once V has tracked down a friendly netrunner, they meet up with Reed to set up the ambush on the convoy carrying Songbird.  Reed has enlisted some help from 6th Street (Santo Domingo's local gang and apparently a group that is on the payroll of the FIA/NUSA...go figure) and you can plan out certain aspects of the attack.  The real combat involves attacking a convoy of cops and ultimately a team of MaxTac fighters.  The MaxTac crew is made up of four cybernetically enhanced super soldiers--there's a heavy type toting a big machine gun, a mantis blade wielding dude who jets all over the place, a netrunner who's trying to constantly hack you, and a sniper.  (*I opted not to play on the hardest difficulty this time around and was grateful for it in this particular scenario)  Luckily, you get Reed to help you out (he's got a sniper rifle and will basically attack whatever target you are), but it's a fairly tough combat scenario.

During the chaos of the end of the MaxTac fight, Reed is injured and while V is checking on him, Songbird manages to break free and flee in a vehicle.  V has to chase her down and finds that the truck has crashed into a hidden underground bunker.  This bunker turns out to be the very Cynosure project where the neural matrix was hidden away.  V then has to follow weird traces of the Blackwall left behind by Songbird as she flees through the facility.  This mission takes on a very...creepy, supernatural kind of feeling in a way that's not present in the rest of the game.  As V tracks Songbird he finds himself navigating through a hidden facility where Militech was experimenting with using rogue AI (similar to what Songbird does for the NUSA) as a potential weapon.  Things get even more intense when Songbird boots up a killer robot that periodically emerges to track down V (you can't attack or kill the robot and instead have to hide from it until it will eventually head off somewhere else--I've never played Alien: Isolation but I'm guessing that it's a very similar vibe--oddly unsettling and a bit scary).  You have to avoid the creepy robot and figure out how to disable the machinery to unlock the core of the facility where Songbird has hidden.  Once you've disabled the machinery, you reach Songbird and are greeted with a sequence of memories from her life.  You get to see her early netrunning days in Brooklyn and how everything unravels as she winds up in the clutches of the FIA--there's a lot of insight into her character and personality.  After that sequence plays out, V is faced with another very difficult decision--Songbird begs V to kill her.  She doesn't want to return to the FIA and be forced to continue being their handy Blackwall puncturing tool.  She begs V (it's tough....) and you can choose to kill her or hand her over to Reed.  I opted to hand her over (I intend to choose a different ending than last time that is dependent on Reed's help).  There's a sequence where you transport a barely conscious Songbird across the Night City/SoCal border to meet up with good ol' President Meyers.  Here, the Prez offers V a medal for their service (you can accept it or turn it down) and then flies off into the sunset on her AV.  Songbird is stabilized and placed on a helicopter to be transported to FIA headquarters for treatment/surgery.  Reed and V have a brief conversation about their choices (are they doing the right thing?) and then go their separate ways--Reed's offer to help V is still standing.

I found the mission to enter the Cynosure facility to be more exciting than the one where you save Songbird.  It's not extremely combat focused, so if fighting is your forte, I would opt to save her (you're looking at tons of combat against waves of enemies).  The departure from combat to creepy, scary, hidey game to be kind of fun (the whole sequence in the bunker is weirdly unsettling).  Making a decision about Songbird's ultimate fate is difficult.  In some ways she has been forced to become a tool of the NUSA/Rosalind Meyers/the FIA and she wants to be free.  In other ways, she went along with the whole thing and decided to take the extremely dangerous step of engaging with the rogue AI's of the Blackwall.  Betraying her felt very BAD though.  Next go round, I'm going to save her and help her escape from the FIA (it'll mean killing Reed though...which does suck).

Do I think that I picked the "happier" ending?  Nope, not really.  CD Projekt is very good at making sure that there is no truly "happy" ending and that there are always shades of grey.  The scenario I chose meant that Alex died, Songbird survives...but remains a part of the FIA, and Reed gets to live with his heavy conscience.

Edgerunner's Resurgence

Happy post-4th of July too all who are just grateful that the fireworks have finally stopped (*I say this reservedly as I definitely heard some going off last night...to officially celebrate the oft left uncelebrated 10th of July--not a real holiday, but apparently a good time to continue setting off explosives)!  I took last weekend off to celebrate/eat my once-yearly hotdog with family.  My gaming time has been somewhat curtailed by my weird interest in watching the World Cup.  I am not a soccer fan at all, but I do enjoy it once every 4 years.  The United States is (unsurprisingly) out so I've thrown my meager support behind Norway.  You can't help but root for a guy like Erling Haaland (yes, I've fallen for the hype).  But this is about gaming and not the World Cup!  When I'm not watching soccer I've been re-playing CyberPunk 2077.  And, apparently, I'm not the only one--many players are re-visiting Night City in anticipation of the second season of the anime series CyberPunk: Edgerunners.  So, it's the perfect time to take V, Johnny, and the rest of the crew out for an adventure.

This time around I decided to roll with a male V--for some weird reason I remember the voice acting as being kind of...off, I guess, but this time I feel like it's fine.  I went down the Nomad path because it had been quite awhile since I opted for it (and, I just kind of like the nomads).  Sadly, I didn't alter my playstyle much (which, it's kind of hard to do anyway thanks to the abundance of skill points that you pick up if you're a completionist)--V's mostly sneaking and occasionally submachinegunning down some baddies.  I am trying to be a bit less uptight about failing at sneaking and then just letting things turn into a shootout.  I've also had less remorse over blowing up all those conveniently located tanks of explosive materials.  Boom...limbs everywhere!  I'm also planning on giving the Kerry romance a try--it's the only one I've never experienced.

Is it just me or does anyone else find the age difference with Kerry to be...weird?  Kerry's supposed to be in like his 70's or 80's (and yes, I acknowledge that the technology in the game is supposed to help prolong lifespan and keep people feeling and looking younger) but he looks like he's in his 40's or 50's.  It just feels a bit creepy to me.  Buuuuut, it's the only romantic path I have yet to do, so I'll just shove those feelings off to the side.

Surprisingly there has been some new content added that I somehow missed in my last playthrough.  A strange mission that I couldn't remember popped up and offered up a chance for V to track down a stolen vehicle.  This vehicle was apparently being used by some corrupt NCPD officers and then had been stolen from them.  River Ward asks V to track down the vehicle and learn about the circumstances around how these corrupt officers were able to obtain the vehicle in the first place.  V has to track it down and engage in a heated gun battle with the current occupants (a Maelstrom couple with some ambitious street dealing dreams) to liberate it.  Once V has gained ownership he learns that it has a special feature--namely the new CrystalCoat technology that allows you to personalize the paint colors of certain vehicles--and has to track down some software to fix a bug in the system (basically raid a 6th Street occupied garage and download the file).  The car you get is definitely one of the best--a Yaiba "Semimaru"--that is fast and highly maneuverable.  The CrystalCoat feature is kind of fun and allows you to change the look of a vehicle on a whim.  There's another car mission to recover a special Rayfield model known as a "Mordred" that was owned by none other than Yorinobu Arasaka.  In this mission you can choose whether or not you keep the car (umm, duh?  Who's not keeping it?).  If you do keep the car you will be attacked by a few carloads of angry Arasaka agents at a random time.  It's totally worth it though as the Mordred is comparable to the Semimaru.

Male Nomad V with his lizard friend and the Rayfield Mordred.

I've also only played through the Phantom Liberty expansion once, so I'm enjoying re-visiting it.  It's so much more action-packed--the intro missions with President Meyers reminded me of that.  I think I'm going to opt for a different ending this time around too--last time I went with (umm, spoilers, I guess) the ending that turned out to be sort of depressing (I mean, the other endings are sort of depressing too...) with V returning to Night City (sans cyber-abilities) only to find out that without all their fancy chrome they're going to be surviving, but not necessarily living that big time life envisioned by Jackie.  We'll see how things shake out.

I also purchased several games from Steam's summer sale that I have yet to check out, but am saving them for the future.  Happy World Cup, happy gaming, and happy summer (especially to the teachers out there)!

Divin' & Grillin' in Dave's New Adventure

In the vein of surprising game updates, I was shocked when I saw a new snippet pop up in my Steam Library newsfeed about a new DLC for a game that I hadn't thought much about for quite awhile.  Several weeks ago (and I have no idea if I just blindly missed something) I saw an announcement video pop up in my newsfeed that Dave the Diver was getting a new DLC.  I love me some Dave, so this was a very pleasant and exciting surprise.  I've played my way through the new DLC (and thanks to being on summer vacation I've had plenty of time to play) and it's a great addition to the already existing adventure.

What is it?

An expansive DLC that offers up a new area for Dave to explore--a village located in the middle of a nearby jungle.  There's plenty of new diving to do and tons of other fun new content that manages to maintain the traditional Dave feel of gameplay and throw in lots of silly mini-games and goofy cutscenes.  It begins in the epilogue of the full game and sees you move fully away from your beloved Blue Hole and Bancho's Sushi restaurant.

How much additional playtime can I expect?

Depending on your playstyle, I would estimate ~10-20 for a story-focused playthrough and more for a completionist playthrough (which, at the moment, is a bit pointless...but I'll get to that).  It's not a bad chunk of game for $9.99 (I got it for $8.99 at release...but it's definitely worth that extra $1).

Pros:

+A new area to explore...in the jungle!  Dave and company venture out from their home base near the fantastic Blue Hole to a small village that has been experiencing the odd phenomenon of ancient sea creatures washing up on a nearby beach.  The villagers want someone to find out what the creatures are and where they are coming from.  The village just so happens to be located by a very large freshwater lake that is suffering from some pollution issues.  In true Dave fashion, solving this puzzle is going to require the work of the whole crew.

+ Gameplay loop that is similar to the base game but that offers up more time for above water activities.  Dave doesn't just dive--"In the Jungle" features a daily clock that starts when Dave first emerges in the morning.  Half the day can be spent wandering around the village, talking to the locals, or gathering materials.  If you want Dave to dive he has to enter the water before evening.  It's also possible (if you enter the water early enough) to dive more than once a day.  Once evening hits it's time for Dave to start prepping Bancho's newest venture--the Bancho Grill!  After tasting some less than delicious fish (and slightly offending the villagers), Bancho decides to work on his cooking skills and show the villagers how to create a truly delicious dish.  Running Bancho Grill is fairly similar to the sushi restaurant--you pick specific dishes to place on the menu and then are tasked with serving them to patrons in a timely fashion.  The menu starts off fairly basic but is expanded to include two different kinds of drinks and skewers.  Bancho doesn't mess with skewers so it's up to Dave to grill them up and serve them to anyone who orders them.  This throws in an additional layer of difficulty because you have to balance the normal chaos of serving drinks and meals as well as preparing and serving skewers.  At the end of the night you receive the same star rating based on your timeliness.  There are plenty of new recipes for Bancho to learn and lots of fun dishes to serve.

After the restaurant shift ends, Dave has a small window of time to do some nighttime roaming in the village.  He can chat up any villagers hanging around after dark (there aren't many, but a few), or gather unique nighttime items.  As this thin sliver of time gets closer to the end, Dave can choose to go to bed (and wake up at the same time with a full morning schedule) or stay up and lose part of his morning window.  Just go to bed Dave!

+ A new freshwater diving experience.  There are new fish to catch and catalogue, new items found in crates, and plenty of unique underwater resources to gather.  Diving ain't all fun and games though--there are many different types of aggressive fish and large predators lurking in the water.

+ The jungle gun is four unique weapons in one!  Sadly, Duff can't leave his anime girls behind so there's a new tech expert in residence.  Muna is an assistant to the OG Dr. Bacon and she has a knack for technology.  She grants Dave the jungle gun--one weapon that you can change into four different weapon forms (rifle, shotgun, sniper rifle, and net gun).  The jungle gun is great because you can just scroll through to the type of weapon that you want.  It also means that you have more ammo to use when you're facing a big bad.  All four types of gun can be upgraded in a similar fashion to the base game (provide the correct resources and some money).  One of the upgraded versions offers up a form of the sniper rifle that does a bunch more damage if you stay locked onto a target for more than 1 second--it's very powerful and great for sniping from afar.

Dave's complete skeleton display for the museum.

+ Two Point crossover content.  I'm a big fan of the Two Point games and both games added in crossover content.  Dave encounters an unconscious explorer in the jungle and finds out that he's gathering dinosaur bones for a museum.  There's a mission where Dave can collect bones from defeated creatures in the forest to help complete a unihornus skeleton.  In Two Point Museum they added in a new digiverse rift that features content from Dave the Diver.  There's even an option of open up a mini-Bancho sushi in your museum (...of course you'll be serving up the fist that you catch for displays in your museum which seems maybe a bit questionable).  

+ Befriending the villagers.  In order to gain the trust of the villagers, Dave can speak to them and learn about their preferences.  He can then find (or purchase) items that the villagers like and give them as gifts.  As their friendship level rises, the villagers will offer up gifts in return.  It's a fun way to learn about each individual and their preferences.  Villagers will also offer special missions to Dave--it could be an item they are looking for or a fish/larger critter they would like cooked up.

+ Dave goes exploring.  As you progress the story a new area unlocks that opens up a fun, new type of gameplay.  The Setah Forest is filled with dangerous creatures so Dave has no choice but to take Cobra with him as protection.  When Dave encounters an aggressive forest creature there's a new turn-based combat experience.  Dave and Cobra each have their own set of abilities (Dave's good at swinging a club and Cobra prefers an array of guns and bombs) and facing off against the forest denizens offers up a bit of variety.  Exploring the forest is part of the story but also a good way to find materials that are only found there.  As you progress through the story Muna also joins the party with her own set of abilities.

+ Tons of silly mini-games inspired by classic games.  There's a Duck Hunt-esque shooting game and a sequence with some definite Guitar Hero vibes (there was a bit of this in the base game too).  The games are enjoyable and the references are also fun to pick out.  There's a nod to Resident Evil in the forest as Dave can pick green, red, and yellow herbs to provide health and action point boosts.  (*Some of the references I didn't get because I think they're more related to popular Korean cultural references/shows/games)

+ A cast of new friends to staff Bancho's Grill.  Random people just show up in the middle of the jungle (weird, right?) and some of them offer to stick around and work in the grill.  You really wind up with a diverse group of employees--you'll just have to play to see what I mean.

Dave's hut can be personalized with tons of items.

+Collectibles to hunt down.  Marinca cards still track your fishy friends but there's also a new app called Insectgram for collecting the many bug species that populate the jungle.  Part of collecting bugs involves beetle battles--another mini-game that involves finding large beetles and engaging in a paper, rock, scissors style game where you fight another beetle.  If you win, you collect that beetle and add it to your arsenal.

+ Dave gets his own personalized hut that you can decorate with crafted and gifted items.  You can also personalize the look of the Bancho grill with lots of different options.

Cons:

- No achievements.  I was a bit surprised when I didn't see any achievements popping up.  I didn't even look to see if there were achievements and just assumed that there was (because there normally are).  Do I care about achievements?  Not particularly, but they do sort of gently encourage me to be more completionist.  Apparently this was a big complaint to the devs because just last week they issued a sort of apology video and indicated that they were adding in achievements in a future patch.

- Boss battles are a bit underwhelming.  In the base game Dave would often be facing off against some kind of giant, weird marine creature.  The fights sometimes involved using specific tactics that made them feel fun and unique.  I didn't get that same feeling about the boss fights in this DLC.  The fights are pretty straightforward.  The jungle gun also made the fights feel easier to me.  You have three different guns, so you can use up much more ammo than in the traditional game before you have to go hunt some down.

- The gift giving aspect of the game is pretty meh.  You can purchase different items from one of the villagers every day.  If you chat with the villagers they will tell you what food and gifts that they prefer.  Providing them with either will increase their friendship level.  You can also experiment with gifts, but don't get as much of a boost from more neutral options.  Friendship level rises fast, so the experimentation part just felt extraneous.  Just focus on giving them their preferred gifts and you'll get to max level quickly.

-I want to see ALL the DANG LIZARDS!  One collectible-esque task involves catching the many species of very cute, big-eyed lizards that populate the jungle.  A specific villager LOVES lizards and has a terrarium in their hut where you can go and view the lizards.  The downside...you can only view a few at a time and there's no way to keep track of which lizards you have caught.  Lizards should have their own tracking or some type of list that is tied to the terrarium.

Recommendation:

It had been quite awhile since I had even thought about Dave the Diver.  "In the Jungle" takes much of what I enjoyed about the base game and improves on it.  I liked the storyline and getting to know the villagers.  The diving aspect is maybe a bit underwhelming compared to the base game, but the other added elements (like the turn-based battles in the forest) are something new to enjoy.  There's also that undergirding of silliness with the cutscenes that feature dancing jungle creatures or Bancho's jungle-creature inspired research sequences.  Paying $9.99 to re-visit one of my favorite indie (*yes, I know that term is debatable) games was definitely worth it.  If you're a Dave fan then you'll want to add in this fun, new adventure.

It's Giving Cooking Mama

After giving up on two different titles I decided to look for something that veered from that set of failures.  I was scrolling through my Steam Recommendations when I saw a game that definitely was a departure from my normal choices.  Who woulda thunk that I would enjoy a cute little casual cooking game?  I've had a nice time with some other cooking games--namely Cook, Serve, Delicious which I've recommended in the past (and it's supposedly getting a re-mastered first game).

For the longest time I thought this guy had a loaf of bread on his forehead.

What is it?

KuloNiko: Bowl Up! is a casual cooking-themed game that involves running a noodle/meatball restaurant that you inherited from your dearly departed grandmother.  The gameplay consists of running your restaurant, competing in a cooking competition known as the "meatball brawl," and befriending the many denizens of the fictional town of Kuloniko.  It has some STRONG Cooking Mama vibes--your main character is most definitely a descendant of our beloved Mama.

How much playtime can I expect?

I finished the main storyline in a little over 15.5 hours.  You can run your restaurant indefinitely (if that's your jam).  I'm not sure how much more playtime you could eke out.  I didn't unlock all the cosmetic options, but that could definitely add some playtime for someone interested in a fully completionist experience.

How's replayability?

There's not much of a replayability factor with this one, unfortunately.  I suppose if you also wanted to experience every iteration of hangout with each character...maybe that could motivate some longer playtime or more replayability.

The street view outside your restaurant.

Pros:

+ Cute, anime/Wii-style design.  The characters and town all have a fun vibe that will appeal to those aforementioned Cooking Mama fans.

+ Gameplay that is easy to pick up but has enough challenge to make it feel well balanced.  The controls are extremely simple (we're talking clicking at the right time mostly) but the challenge comes from managing the increasingly complex orders from the restaurant patrons.  Patrons can request specific recipes or they can just toss out a random list of items they want you to throw into a bowl.  It gets more complicated as they can also request that their food have a specific flavor or that they don't want specific ingredients.  Each bowl can only hold so many ingredients, so complex orders can feel quite challenging as you try to balance out the requested flavors.  As you progress and unlock new stations in the kitchen patrons can also request side dishes and drinks.  There's a timer for fulfilling orders and it can feel daunting at times.

The gameplay loop involves running your restaurant throughout the week (fulfilling customer orders) and deciding how you want to spend your two free days.  On free days you can either hang out with friends (the cast of characters you meet as part of the story) and do something fun which will increase your friendship meter/level.  Increasing friendship is important because each of your friends has specific perks that can be applied if you opt to choose them to assist you during a meatball brawl (plus, you unlock all those fun cosmetic options--some are themed around a specific character).  You can also opt to participate in meatball brawls during your day off.

+ Meatball brawl throws in some light faux-competition.  At this event you can challenge another chef to create a dish for a specific panel of judges who each have their taste/ingredient preferences.  You earn points (hearts) by adding ingredients that the judges prefer while also paying attention to the challenge ingredients (each brawl has a different set of unique bonus ingredients).  There are also bonus points awarded for performing specific crowd requested actions during one of the three "action" phases--for example, the crowd might want you to do cutting tasks or add a specific flavor.  Winning the competition requires adding in the bonus ingredients and also making sure to take into account the specific taste and ingredient preferences of the judges.  Overall, winning the brawls isn't too difficult.

+ Very forgiving gameplay.  If you mess up an order or take too long your patrons will still pay for their order...they just don't tip as well and you make less money.  If you lose a meatball brawl your restaurant loses some reputation (which can be re-earned through correctly fulfilling orders in your restaurant) and you can re-challenge the chef at a later date.

A beach-themed restaurant.

+ Lots of cosmetic options for creating your own unique restaurant.  You can personalize your kitchen and your main restaurant area with many fun options.  The basic options can be purchased with coins and other options are unlocked through increasing your friendship level with certain characters and purchasing them with vouchers (vouchers can either be won in brawls or during festivals).

+ A silly main storyline with plenty of feel good cheese.  Friendship, yay!  Sometimes it nice just to keep things light.

+ A cute cat companion.  Every game is improved with a cute, cat.  Teto, the cat, will periodically jump on the cashiers counter and have to be nudged out of the way so you can cook and accompanies you to bed each night.  You can also pet him at night after your restaurant shift.

Cons:

- Mini-games to learn recipes are basically pointless.  Learning a new recipe makes you play a mini-game that literally consists of clicking.  That's it--there's not even a tiny bit of difficulty built it (like clicking a different button).  It could be improved by making different commands for each recipe...at least make it feel unique.

- Might be too casual for some gamers.  The most challenging part of the gameplay is figuring out particularly complex orders that request specific ingredients and flavor profiles.  Everything else is pretty cake--it's basically impossible to lose at meatball brawl and messing up customer orders generally just results in less reputation/profits.

- Recipes seem pointless at times and you wind up giving a customer a bowl with some garlic and a few random seasonings.  Why even have them request a recipe?  (I get that part of it is you remembering that a customer said no meat)  It just feels sort of non-sensical--although, I suppose that people do order whacky things in real life.

Recommendation:

If you were a fan of Cooking Mama then KuloNiko will be right up your alley.  It's like Cooking Mama with an actual story.  If you're wanting a casual, mostly relaxing type of experience, it's perfect for you.  If you're hoping for something that's moderately challenging...this is not it (give Cook, Serve, Delicious a try).  I had a nice time with it and think it will appeal to a certain type of gamer.