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Sep 1st, 2026 at 17:19:17 - Baba is You (PC) |
Ooookay, I started this years ago, have come back to it a couple times, and always set it aside again because it breaks my brain. Last week, I decided I was going to tackle Baba Is You for real, and I beat the level I had been stuck on really quickly. "Great!" I thought, "I've got the hang of it!" A few levels later: "What in the world...?" And thus a pattern was born. Get stuck. Either figure it out or watch a video and copy it. Solve a few more levels. Get stuck. Figure it out or watch a video and copy it. Solve a few more levels. Get stuck. Etc. Decide I don't want to do continue this pattern for the duration of the game. Write GameLog. Close GameLog.
I had reviewed a couple papers about Baba Is You, so I was really excited to get back to it, thinking that somehow reviewing papers on problem-solving strategies in a notoriously difficult puzzle game would give me an edge. It did not. Also, those reviews were a while ago.
The game is brilliant though. It's so simple, but combines basic commands into complex strings. You start with two rules: "Baba is You" and "Flag is Win." You are Baba. Move to the Flag and Win. Each element--words and objects--can be moved around. You can reconfigure those first two rules to say "Baba is Flag," which turns Baba into a Flag and is game over (because "You" have to be something). But "Flag is You" works just fine. Suddenly, Baba becomes inert and you control the Flag. Move "Win" over to "Baba is..." (now Baba is Win), touch Baba with the Flag (which is now You), and You Win.
The level I am stopping at has the following rules at the beginning:
Water is Sink (anything that touches Water Sinks)
Baba has Rock (if Baba goes away, there is a Rock in his place)
Wall is Stop (can't pass through Walls)
Baba is Move (Baba moves when You do [note that You are not Baba here])
Rock is Push (You [whoever You are] can Push Rocks)
Flag is Win
Keke is You
Some commands are behind Walls, so You won't be able to touch those. Others are in the open, so those are the ones You figure out how to manipulate. In this level, Rock is Push and a combination of Baba has Rock and Baba is Move (where one "Baba" is used in both commands) are in the open. There is a Flag in the a space in the middle of a bunch of Water. Baba and Keke are in the open, too. So, the question is how to get You (currently Keke) to the Flag without Sinking in the Water. I actually figured it out. I have to move the words so that Rock has Rock, which means that after Baba Sinks in the Water, the Rock he leaves behind will also have a Rock. Keke can Push that Rock, Sink it, which produces another Rock, which Keke Pushes, Sinks, and produces another Rock...continue until a path is cleared through the Water so that Keke can get the Flag. Easy enough.
Often, levels build on each other. Not just new words ("has" is new in this level), but iterations on the same level. So, once I beat this level, it might give me some variation where, I don't know, the Water is Sink and Float, or something. Then you have to deal with that new property. It's going to get harder and I'm going to get stuck and the pattern will repeat.
So, in the end, I appreciate Baba is You, but I don't want to play it anymore!
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Aug 25th, 2026 at 20:04:54 - Routine (PC) |
This game nails the claustrophobic space station genre in terms of atmosphere. It’s in the vein of Dead Space, Observation, Deliver Us the Moon, etc. A good, tense space station mystery. The game looks great and has a visual style meant to effect like a 1970s/1980s analog vibe. It feels very “manual,” if that makes sense. You run around with your scanner tool, find and load modules into the tool, select modules, and use the tool to interact with the environment. You manually switch modules (no pressing “1” to switch). You actually need to bring up the scanner tool, click around to open/close/activate whatever module you need, aim the scanner tool at whatever you need to interact with, and interact. So, when you quickly need to disable a hostile robot, you aren’t going to quickly switch modules and disable it. You go through the whole manual process, and that robot can very well kill you in the meantime. You also manually interact with computer terminals, actually moving an on-screen cursor to click on emails and whatnot, and some other objects too.
The game is split into six chapters, but it feels almost like two similar games. The first half is more Observation—rogue computer system, killer robots, etc. This will feel more standard to players. The second half veers into more alien sci-fi/horror territory, and the gameplay accordingly becomes both more tense and frustrating. Both halves are plagued by shitty stalking/roaming enemies that can be extremely irritating (especially those in the second half). In both halves, you explore a lot, walking around looking for new places to go, looking for a specific place you’ve been (a locked door, a terminal with a keycode), scrutinizing the environment for clues. These two halves are also linked by the narrative, but the story is…forgettable? I mean, it’s weird and kind of interesting and requires some unpacking at the end, but in practice, at least, I wasn’t thinking about it. Like, I found myself focusing on the moment-to-moment tasks of survival and exploration on the base, figuring out where to go, avoiding enemies, trying to solve the puzzles, etc. The story—your goals—get lost in the micro moments of gameplay. You do have to pay a lot of attention to your surroundings, which ties in with the manual/retro 1970s sci-fi horror aesthetic.
As such, the puzzles were often complex, and sometimes the visual retro film grain effect and/or UI design choices complicated exploration and puzzle-solving, too. For example, I looked up the following in walkthroughs:
• How do you use CAT tool’s infrared scanner module? This was counterintuitive. This module is like a little VHS tape. When you load a VHS tape, you put the tape in the compartment and close the compartment. So that’s what I did. The module didn’t work. I messed with everything I could find on the CAT tool. I re-read the manual, messed with the tool again. Nothing. Turns out you DON’T close the compartment. You…leave it open…to activate it.
• Where do you find the dang server elevator? There is an elevator that you can’t open because it requires a higher security clearance than you have at the time. And there is a server room that you solve a series of puzzles to enter. But I couldn’t connect the two. How do I get the elevator to open? I powered it. I opened the server room. I just don’t have the security clearance. Where do I get that? Turns out that the door to the server room leads to a different elevator, whose buttons are f a i n t l y visible on the lefthand side of the room, gray buttons on gray wall. Lots of people had this problem.
• How do you solve the dang bathroom sink code puzzle? This was legitimately tricky. I thought I figured out the code, but it wouldn’t work. Remember, if text is on two sides of a paper, it’s like a mirror! What’s on the left is on the right when you flip it. Lots of people got stuck on this one too.
And these two, I figured out, but saw that a lot of other people had trouble with:
• Where is the first security terminal? I did everything I was supposed to do on the computer and was prompted to scan the security terminal for level 1 access. Couldn’t find the terminal anywhere. I was about to look it up when I…looked up. For some reason, the security terminal was like 10 feet up on the wall.
• How do you unlock the vents? Early in the game, you have to unlock a vent to crawl through it. The vent has a red light indicating that it’s locked. When you unlock it, either the red light goes away or it turns green, the vent slides open, and you can crawl through. All other vents in the game don’t have any lights or locks like that and they don’t automatically slide open, so it’s understandable that players get stuck the next time they have to enter a vent. You actually have to crawl into it, like press W against the vent, and it’s like a flap that opens. Why have two types of vents?
So that’s Routine. It was interesting. Unique aesthetic. Suspenseful. One good jump scare and one cheap one. But could be tedious, counterintuitive, and frustrating. And the story lost me. Overall, I liked it. Took me just shy of 9 hours, plenty of which was spent lurking through hallways and figuring out puzzles and directions, so it’s not too long. If you like a good sci-fi horror game, especially one that feels a little authentic, cerebral, and challenging, you’ll find something to like here, too.
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Aug 24th, 2026 at 16:51:40 - Mixtape (PC) |
This immediately hooked me, has a great first chunk, kind of lulls for periods through the middle, but regularly surprises with creative segments, wonderful juxtaposition of music (huge licensed soundtrack), visuals (absolutely beautiful), and gameplay, and just a fun and nostalgic story.
The story takes place in the mid-90s and follows three teenagers on their last night together before the main character, Stacey, goes off to NYC to follow her dreams of being a film music supervisor (aka an expert in matching the perfect song to the perfect moment). The other main characters are Slater, an artistic stoner type of guy, and Cassandra, a formerly straight-A student turned rebel, who is also daughter of a local police officer. They've got great rapport together.
So, on their last night together, they plan to attend a big party. You spend the first half of the game trying to find booze to pre-game for the party. Maybe you didn't spend your teenage years full of ennui and/or rebelliousness, trying to get drunk and high and find meaning in your middle-class suburban existence. I didn't, not really, and though I was an angsty teen, I was also enamored with BEING an angsty teen, and collected associated cultural styles and practices, such as performing "the skater" (though I didn't skateboard) and "the pothead" (though I had never smoked pot), being angry about religion, wanting an eyebrow ring like the guys in Korn, and telling people I didn't anticipate living to 30. Wow, David, wow. So, these characters spoke to the teen that I imagined being.
Anyway, finding booze turns out to involve a lot of sitting around in characters' bedrooms talking about how to find booze. In so doing, though, you look at objects in the bedrooms and learn about the three friends. Picking up objects can prompt flashbacks, mostly playable sequences depicting memories they've had together. These range from straightforward cutscenes to really fun segments where you might be skateboarding, breaking and entering into a dinosaur museum (I broke and entered into so many places back then to hang out), trying to rent videos from a Blockbuster while stoned (I used to hang out on top of a Blockbuster, climbing the utility ladder on the back of the store), running from the cops in a shopping cart (my favorite sequence), and so on. Technically, in the main story, not much happens, but there is a lot of reminiscing that enriches the current plot.
Now, the game is called Mixtape. Why? Because Stacey likes to make mixtapes. In fact, she's made a mixtape for their last night together. She's mostly into alternative, grunge, post-punk, shoegaze, that kind of stuff. You'll hear Portishead, Smashing Pumpkins, Silverchair (a fun segment), and a whole lot of stuff I never heard of. She speaks directly to the player, breaking the fourth wall, introducing songs as they begin, giving the player brief lessons in music history from roughly the late-60s through the mid-90s (leaning toward the 80s and 90s). As a hopeful future film music supervisor, this is her passion. And she picks the perfect song for every moment. She has their last night planned out and her mixtape is the soundtrack. Except, the last night doesn't go as planned, and so her mixtape adapts. What you get is like a soundtrack that evolves with the narrative. It's really interesting to think about. What song does she pick in the moment when the night's plans unravel? When she learns about her older sister's legacy? When one friend gets mad at another? How does she use music to make sense of her experiences, to cope with (or construct) emotions and situations?
Given the centrality of music to give form to and shape the narrative, it makes sense that there is some magical realism. Trippy synth tracks might accompany your car floating off the road into the sky; the drum beats of a track might coincide with exploding fireworks that you can orchestrate; and so on. Really creative stuff, and really enjoyed the game. It's not long either, playable in an afternoon. Highly recommend even if you didn't hang out on top of a Blockbuster in your Jncos.
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Aug 17th, 2026 at 10:40:12 - Denshattack! (PC) |
This game is bananas. Do you like skateboarding games? I don’t, unless there’s something really novel about them (the recent Skate Story being one). Do you like racing games? Yes. Do you like being punk rock and sticking it to the man? Yes. Do you like fast speedrunning games and challenging platformers? Sometimes. Neon White was awesome. Do you like Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio? Sure, I like Sega-era nostalgia. Did you enjoy the style of Hi-Fi Rush? Yeah, that was a colorful, super creative game with a kickass soundtrack that came out of nowhere. If you said yes to any of those questions, or maybe to two of them, you might become obsessed with Denshattack.
Denshattack is all those things mixed into one. Except instead of a skateboard or a taxi or running, you are driving a train (and on one later track your train rides a skateboard, lol; know your inspiration). This is future Japan. An environmental catastrophe has happened. Everyone lives in secure domed cities managed by the Miraido corporation. Most everyone. Some people—rebels—live outside…in trains? No, I don’t know where they live. But they drive trains. They are Denshattackers…gangs of mostly young and always cool people (gangs are themed around baseball, cute fashion, rockabilly, goth/horror, whatever other subcultural or The Warriors-esque group) who…drive around fighting other gangs by racing them, out-tricking them, and apparently sometimes literally going to war and killing them. They also dislike Miraido, despite Miraido’s cute, funny (evil) mole mascot, and they enjoy tagging and destroying corporate property. Denshattackers and/or Miraido have laid train tracks all over the place for…reasons.
You play as Emi, a ramen delivery girl who learns about Denshattack through a random encounter with a Denshattack fan. Long story short, she becomes a pro, defeats all the gang bosses, and together they take on Miraido. The story is absurd, fun, and oddly heart-warming.
The game is broken into 9 chapters, each of which takes place in a different gang’s territory. Each chapter has a handful of tracks. Most of these involve just getting to the end, but there are also occasional races (place in the top 3), score attacks (get x score in 2 minutes), and boss fights. Each track also has additional objectives, like picking up x collectibles, doing specific tricks in specific locations, doing things to affect the environment in some way, smashing 10 opponents in a race, etc.
One thing I loved about Denshattack is that it has minimal gatekeeping. Most racing/speedrunning/platformer games gatekeep like crazy. You have to get x stars or gold medals to unlock the next area…that kind of thing. There really isn’t gatekeeping in Denshattack. The only thing that came close for me was those score attack tracks (until I learned how to rack up massive combos and easily beat them). I imagine the races are tough for some people, too, since you have to place in the top 3, which means that you can’t crash hardly at all. If you finish the track and meet its main objective, you can proceed. But if you want to strive for perfection, getting gold medals, finding all collectibles, completing additional objectives, you can go nuts replaying tracks. There are some incentives for doing this, such as buying cosmetic items for your trains, buying new trains with different abilities, and filling out Emi’s “book”, which is a fun little way of learning more about the world and Emi’s adventure. I just went straight through though.
So, in each chapter, Emi confronts a new gang, and in each chapter, she learns a new skill. Because of these constant additions, Denshattack never got old. First, you learn how to do all the regular tricks. Then it introduces rails and you learn to grind. Then it introduces tunnels and you learn to go off-track to do halfpipes. Then it introduces hanging rails and you learn to swing. Then it introduces magnets and you learn to flip upside down…and so on. The tracks are fast, and once more and more of these elements are added, the tracks become insane. I mean, that’s how I would describe the whole game—it’s insane. Tracks are fast, obstacles everywhere, you’re pulling combos, jumping, dodging, spinning, grabbing, choosing directions, switching tracks, nabbing collectibles, smashing enemies. Reacting constantly as Emi zooms around. Many tracks have big set pieces, so there might be a tsunami, kaiju, wrecking balls, a sawmill, all sorts of stuff going on around you that you can often interact with. And the boss battles are wild, multi-phased tracks oozing with creativity. You might think, “how can they do a boss battle in a skateboarding game?” That’s what I thought about Skate Story too, and it was badass the way it handled bosses. Same with Denshattack, but…insane.
The whole game is creatively stunning, the entire time. I kept thinking, “at some point, this will get repetitive” or “wow, no way they can top that,” but it never gets repetitive and nearly every track—certainly every chapter—contains awesome new things that you haven’t seen before. Finally, I appreciate how user-friendly the game is. Taking a cue from hard-as-nails platformers like Super Meat Boy, checkpoints are generous. Usually if you crash, you are set back just a few seconds, so you can fail, try again, see what you did wrong, fail, try again, fail, and succeed, and feel like you overcame something difficult. The game provides the feeling of mastery. Or if not mastery, at least solid proficiency.
This gets a strong, strong recommendation from me. So glad it was a day one release while I had a month of Game Pass!
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