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.

Surviving the Onslaught

Even though every holiday sale makes me want to start scratching titles off my Steam wishlist, I managed to contain my purchases to just one game (and collected DLC).  The best part--all of it was under $15!  I've been mostly managing to die, but I did survive once (and it was downright magical).  Of what title do I speak?  Vampire Survivors, my friends.

What is it?

Steam uses the following tags: action roguelike, bullet hell, pixel graphics, and 2D.  Basically, you pick a character (who is maybe a vampire?), you pick a map, and you try to survive the onslaught of enemies and run out the clock.  You gain experience from picking up various crystals that drop from killed enemies.  That experience is used to gain new abilities.  Much of the gameplay is avoiding enemies, snatching up crystals, and trying to figure out the synergy between different abilities.  Basic, right?  It's anything but simple though.

How much playtime will you get?

Potentially an infinite amount.  There are a ton of unlockables that will keep you playing.  Most maps have a time limit (basically the point at which you are killed...in the rare case that you manage to make it that long) around 30 minutes.

Pros:

+ Almost infinite playtime for a low, low price.  I snagged the base game for $3.74 as part of the Steam Autumn sale.  I enjoyed it so much that I decided to grab all the DLC for an additional $10-ish.  If you're someone who doesn't have a lot of money to spend on games, it's the perfect option.

+ Deceptively simple gameplay.  The entire premise of the game is surviving as long as you can.  Actually doing that is quite challenging.  A big part of the challenge is figuring out which combination of weapons/buffs work best.  There's definitely some strategizing involved.  Each time you level up you get to choose from a list of 3-4 random options--some are offensive/weapon options and some are buffs (like speed).

+ Roguelike elements.  Each map and the progression of enemies stays the same, but drops can vary.  One of the best parts are enemies that occasionally drop treasure chests.  These chests will give you one upgrade to an ability plus a certain amount of gold.  Gold can be used to unlock new characters or purchase permanent character buffs (such as +5% speed) that apply across the board.  Basically, your character gets slightly stronger with these buffs (that you can choose to purchase...or not, if you're super leet).

The character selection screen.  There's a scroll bar, so that's only a few.

+ Tons of unlockables. Certain characters are only unlockable once you've reached specific milestones.  New maps are also unlockable (again, they require accomplishing a specific goal).  Even if you just stick with the base game, there are a lot of options.  Each character starts with a certain ability and has their own strengths (and weaknesses).  It's a lot of fun figuring out how to play each character and picking out favorites.  There's also an entire system of weapon evolution that unlocks largely through discovery and picking the correct combination of items (you could always look it up, but that spoils the fun).

+ Low requirements.  Got an older PC?  This is a perfect choice.

+ Crossover content from other games/fandoms.  I'm not very familiar with them, but the newest DLC is Castlevania themed.

+ A fun soundtrack of high energy music.

+ Controller support.

Weapon/ability unlockables.  I've barely made a dent.

+ Multiple gameplay modes.  There's the regular survival mode and then "adventure" mode (*might be a DLC feature) which lets you play a story-based mode.  Each map in adventure mode has a specific goal that has to be accomplished before the next map unlocks.  Characters, weapons, and abilities from adventure mode can then be played in the base game.

+ 4-player local co-op.  Perfect for couch play with friends.

Cons:

- Moments of feeling repetitive.  The basic premise of the gameplay is always the same--run around, avoid enemies, kill as many as you can, and try to survive.  Mostly the roguelike elements make it feel fresh, but it's the kind of game that's best if played in shorter sessions.

- Can feel frustrating.  There's definitely a learning curve for figuring out which abilities work best together and you fail a lot.  I still haven't fully figured it out.

- No tutorial or explanation about certain aspects of gameplay.  The basic premise of the game is so simple that it doesn't really need a tutorial, but I was boggled by the concept of evolving weapons and had to look it up.  (Certain weapons and abilities work together and when fully upgraded can unlock a new, more powerful form of a weapon)   There are relics located on each map but no explanation about what that means (relics are items that unlock new, helpful features of gameplay--for example, finding the map of the Milky Way will unlock a map of each level that shows where certain permanent power-ups and, more importantly, coffins--which contain new, unlockable characters but require the ability to kill off all the guardians of the coffin--are located).  Expect to be doing some Googling to figure it out.

The one time I won.

Recommendation:

Vampire Survivors is an enjoyable game that is extremely affordable.  The almost infinite replayability and low requirements mean that it's perfect for a lot of gamers.  It has moments of feeling repetitive and frustrating, but mostly it's a lot of fun.  I would recommend grabbing it (even at full price--which is only $4.99).