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98: There Were No Ramekins
98: There Were No Ramekins
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June Update – oh Sony!, you bunch of idiots!

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Prey (PS5) - Completed 

I've mainly been distracted by the World Cup but I did manage to complete Prey, the ending sequence is tense and has you making some big choices. 

 

I still hate Mimics!

Seas of Stars (PS5)

A shame, see bin

Like A Dragon:Pirate Yakuza (PS5)

A full game with nothing but Majima! I've completed chapter one and unlocked the ship, I need to understand the mechanics of sailing around the opening area to develop my skill/experience.

A RGG game is like your favourite blanket

Animal Busters (Android)

Still playing but I'm getting bored of it so will bin it soon.

Rogue Legend (Android)

This is much more enjoyable than Animal Busters & has regular updates with new content.


2026 Gaming Resolutions Update

1. Purchase no more physical games, yes this resolution is even tougher now!

Another good month, nothing purchased.


2. Focus on PS+ Extra Backlog

I got annoyed with the Sony news and decided to start a physical game instead in Pirate Majima.


3. No more PSN Credit!

Not keen to give Sony any more money given their recent news.


Backlog

PS+ Extra (12) - Cleared out a lot of titles that I have lost interest in playing

Digital Games (46) - Another month with no further additions

PS+ Monthly (13) - Nothing new added

Physical Games (12) - Again, no more purchases

Total = 83 Games


Shopping

2026 Target is spend less than £100 - Total spent £66.00  

No change, nothing purchased
 

Want

Added Momento & Calame to my wishlist.


Bin

Where do I start?

Sony - The death of physical games 

Let's go with Sony news of the end of physical media in 2028.

My initial reaction was what a bunch of idiots! & I still feel angry.

My game shopping process since forever is to buy physical media over digital for all AAA game releases. I don't keep games; I play them and then sell them on to buy the next game.

Digital game shopping started with the Xbox 360 and indie games (my first purchased games were Marble Blast Ultra, Puzzle Quest & Geometry Wars). I don't think I purchased anything on the PS3, and on the PS4 I continued to buy indie titles but did purchase AAA games when they were on sale. To date, Red Dead Redemption 2 was the only game I purchased fully digital on release because I knew I would play it forever. 

So how will not having physical games change my gaming habits?

For now, it doesn't. I have a massive backlog of physical/digital games to enjoy. I'm not buying any more physical or digital games, but going forward I'll continue to purchase older titles on my wishlist on physical media and everything else when it is on sale digitally.

I will be reducing my PS+ subscription down to essentials from premium, mainly because too much choice is dangerous!

After 2028, when AAA games will go fully digital, I will set myself a budget and stick to that; currently, for physical games, that is £25 (occasionally I break this). For digital, I'll probably set the limit lower, like £15 & wait until they are on sale.

I've been a PlayStation gamer (slight blip with the 360 but I ended up finishing that generation on the PS3) since my first JAP imported console, so I'll probably purchase a PS6 console at some point, but if the astronomical figures of £1000! is true, then my day one PS5 console is going to be serving me a lot longer.

 

Sea of Stars (PS5)

A lovely "old school" JRPG with beautiful visuals and a lovely soundtrack but an old school save system that resulted in me losing about 3 hours gameplay because I went exploring and ended up down a cavern surrounded by ant bruisers who kept on re-spawning & eventually died.

For now I've not gone back to the game because to combat this save system I will just end up grinding levels to be over-levelled to ensure I don't die and lose gameplay time.

May Update – In the words of MC Hammer "That’s word, we Prey"

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Prey (PS5) 

The Talos space station has many areas to explore from your opening Simulation Lab to the central lobby area that leads off to many areas including Psychotronics, Hardware Labs & the main lift that takes you to the Arboretum. Each area is uniquely designed and have lots of hidden secrets to find.

I have now unlocked quite a few neuromods and stuck with human skills only to ensure I can take my trusty turrets with me when I explore.

Mimics are now the least of my worries and the Nightmare, Poltergeist & Weavers are far more challenging!

 

Animal Busters (Android)

Not sure how I got into playing this?! It is an idle game where you have gacha tickets to get Animal Busters and slowly begin their progression with upgrades, weapons and armour. There is a main campaign to play, dungeon challenges & a PvP arena mode.

Rogue Legend (Android)

Throw a dice to advance your hero along the map, when you level up select a skill from Fire, Ice, Thunder or Poison. Battle monsters to gain coins to spend in the shop to unlock more skills. You get the idea lots of skills, lots of fights and then eventually you will die. It's the standard formula used by most roguelikes and much easier to play on mobile when I have ten minutes free to do a run.


2026 Gaming Resolutions Update

1. Purchase no more physical games, yes this resolution is even tougher now!

So far so good, I have not purchased any more physical games.


2. Focus on PS+ Extra Backlog (21 Games)

Hopefully I am close to completing Prey and then I will play some shorter indie tiles in Season, Exit 8 & A Space for the Unbound.


3. No more PSN Credit!

I have done well to ignore the Days of Play sale & also have not purchase any additional credit.


Backlog

PS+ Extra (22) - Added The Thamaturge (a turn-based isometric RPG)

Digital Games (46) - No further additions

PS+ Monthly (13) - No further additions this month PS+ selection is pretty poor, thank god!

Physical Games (12) - No change, nothing added or removed.

Total = 93 Games


Shopping

2026 Target is spend less than £100 - Total spent £66.00  

No change, nothing purchased
 

Want
It is the start of not E3 season so I expect quite a few games will get added to my wishlist!

Added God of War Laufey, Tomb Raider Legacy of Atlantis, Onimusha Way of the Sword & 007 First Light


Bin

Nothing really, just the lack of time for gaming! 

I could probably pin this sentence for the whole year!


Gambler’s Table (Steam Deck): COMPLETED!

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It’s another clicker game! How rare.

This one is themed around flipping coins. You click on a coin, and if it’s tails (or heads? I genuinely can’t remember and it makes no difference anyway) you get money. You spend the money on having more coins on the table, and higher value coins, and little helper people to flip coins for you, or upgrades where you just have to move the pointer vaguely near coins to flip them, or coins that flip themselves randomly, or coins that flip other coins, or coins that flip more than once per flip. Flip! Flip! FLIP. And you unlock different tables, which, like the seasons in Trees Inc, have special modifiers for that run.

Like some of these games you get to a point where progressing further is really slow, but you can reset everything and gain some permanent upgrades to make the next run faster and get you a bit further. Oh, and you can unlock pointless hats for your helpers to wear.

It’s nothing new, but it’s well put together and if you’re in the mood for brainless gaming it, like many of the other clicker games I’ve played recently, is perfect.

Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages: it’s a bit familiar

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I mentioned in my last post that I’d started to play Oracle of Ages again, and I’m still working my way through it. It seems to be taking an absolute … er, age … even though it’s very clearly signposted throughout. As soon as you finish a dungeon, the Deku Tree pipes up to tell you where to go next. The thing is, it all seems very familiar. It follows the Link’s Awakening formula quite closely with you having to find eight thingies in dungeons, and the added gimmick – of time travel – just makes things a little more complicated. Usually that would be a good thing in a Zelda game, but Link’s Awakening understood the audience which was there to play a game on a portable system, probably in fits and starts. Step away from Link’s Awakening for a couple of days, and on return you can still see where to go. Step away from Oracle of Ages, and when starting again it’s tricky to remember where things are and how to get there, switching between time periods.

There is a good use of colour to distinguish between areas, though it can be quite garish.

The other reason it might feel familiar is because I can see that I have played this before, getting to a more advanced stage than I managed this time. I don’t think I completed it, though, which is slightly odd given that I was very advanced. That’s my aim for now. I’ve just finished the fifth dungeon, which granted me the Cane of Somaria, allowing me to conjure blocks from nothing. I’m now thinking if there’s anywhere in the overworld where that might be useful – and am drawing a blank. Off to see the Gorons, then.

Trees Inc (Steam Deck): COMPLETED!

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If I were to describe this game it would sound very much like it was the same as Timber Rush, which I also played recently. And, I suppose it is. Trees Inc is a cookie clicker type game where you chop trees, get money for chopping trees, and spend that money to chop faster, get more money, and buy helpers to chop on your behalf. So yes, it’s the same game.

Well, not quite. It looks a lot more basic, and you grow different types of trees rather than just have one tree, and you have to wait for them to re-grow (although helpers and upgrades can speed that up). Oh, and you unlock different seasons that have different modifiers (like things grow slower or there are lightning storms) that you can swap between. But it’s still a clicker game about trees. And it was pretty good.