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98: There Were No Ramekins
98: There Were No Ramekins
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Not that late! April Update

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Star Wars Outlaws (PS5) - Completed

Well would you look at that! I have completed another game!

I started this back at the end of January, it's a very good game. Possibly the best Star Wars game made so far, exploring the open world and the many cities bustling with life and idle conversations.

 

I completed the main story but I will go back to enjoy the DLC content

Prey (PS5) 

This game has been on my backlog for a while, I did start it a few years ago but turned it off at the first mimic jump scare! I'm a wimp!

 

I have turned down the difficulty to make the game easier to play for my "old-school" reactions but it does not adjust the fear factor!

I love the sci-fi setting, you have a small area to explore and metroidvania like not everything is unlocked so you need to figure out passwords or find keycards.

Watch out for the mimics! 

2026 Gaming Resolutions Update
I am updating my resolutions 

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

I just need to ignore all sales & delete the HOT UK Deals app!


2. The hardware challenge was too easy, I have no intention of buying any new consoles. so let's focus on my gaming backlog especially the PS+ Extra which expires end of December and I planned to renew at only the essentials tier.

Currently I have 21 games on my PS+ Extra backlog, some of these are quite short but I am never going to complete all 21 before December so let's go with completing at least 10 of these titles! 


3. I have £80 on PSN credit and this all I can use until I reduce my digital backlog to 10 titles (either by playing or dropping, currently at 35 games). No more shopto top up codes!

I am going to stick with this the current balance left is £46 & this is all I can spend for 2026. However I don't plan on buying anything and looking at the physical games I own, none of them have any DLC content. So I should be able to use some of this credit to pay for my PS+ Essentials renewal in December

4. The FOMO challenge again was too easy, I don't really care enough and will just play what I want instead of what is the flavour of the month. So I am deleting this resolution and just sticking with the three above.


Backlog

PS+ Extra (21) - I have until the end of December to crack through as many of these as possible! Good luck!

Digital Games (46) - Added both Star Wars DLC which were not included and Graveyard Keeper (I did not purchase it was free).

PS+ Monthly (13) - Reduced by 6, I've had a bit of a clearout and remove games I have no intention of playing, truthfully I must of done this a while ago because I have no idea what games I deleted!

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

Total = 92 Games

FALSE ALARM - I do have access to a gaming PC but sorry I'll just stick to PS5 gaming for now. So no Steam backlog list.


Shopping

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

No change, nothing purchased
 

Want
Added The Artful Escape, Mixtape, Replaced & Outbound to my wishlist


Bin

Nothing really, just the lack of time for gaming!


Hollow Knight: Greenpath

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Although I have a number of games on my wishlist, Justine knows that when it comes to birthday presents I am averse to treating it like an opportunity to just order things that I could buy myself. As a result, she spent some time researching things that I may like, searched through my collections, and bought off list.

She did very well. Of the two games she bought, both are titles which are well considered and which I wanted to play. I may not immediately start Echoes of Wisdom, the Zelda game where you play as Zelda, since I have recently restarted Oracles of Ages on the 3DS Virtual Console, and we all know what happens when I try to play two Zeldas at once. But I did immediately start Hollow Knight.

I am sure I have played this before, in that I remember the start of the game, but I have no record of playing it on any platform and I certainly don’t own it. Maybe I watched someone else? That wouldn’t explain the muscle memory I have, or the recognition of how the slight pause when you strike an enemy conveys such impact. This is another stylish game, making me feel good about my abilities, even when I keep dying due to a lack of them.

It’s also a bit too dark. I know it’s set underground, but even so a few more lanterns wouldn’t go amiss.

The main character is a little nondescript, but maybe that’s intentional

I have explored a lot now. I’ve been through the first, blue, area, and found a (pinkish) mine which I couldn’t progress through. I’ve collected lots of money but not enough for all the charms I want. I defeated some big nasty bug thing pretending to be a knight, and a big mummy flying firefly thing. I went through a pretty green area, Greenpath, where lots of plants were growing even though they get no sunlight. I have opened the stag stations, and found some sort of underground railway but haven’t found the tokens for that yet. I fought a red-cloaked enemy who I understand to be the protagonist of Silksong. I have a cloak that allows me to dash through the air, and have now ventured into an area where lots of enemies want to poison me.

That’s not very kind.

End of March Update – I am weak!

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Star Wars Outlaws (PS5) - Playing

After taking a gaming break for Ramadan, I'm back into playing this on a regular basis.
I'm currently planet hopping collecting resources to upgrade the speeder & ship.

 

Tiny Tina's Wonderlands (PS5) - Binned
I've binned this, sorry I'm never free in the evenings for PMG gaming.
 

2026 Gaming Resolutions
1. Purchase no more physical games until I have reduced my backlog to 3 titles (currently at 13!).

Fail - Purchased Eriksholm


2. I did well in 2025 and avoided buying the PS5 Pro and Switch 2, I need to keep that going in 2026, no new hardware purchases except if required PS5 controllers. 

Still Intact! Sort of, I did purchase a Switch 2 but that was for my daughter to enjoy Pokopia.


3. I have £80 on PSN credit and this all I can use until I reduce my digital backlog to 10 titles (either by playing or dropping, currently at 35 games). No more shopto top up codes!

Still intact - I have not purchased any new PSN credit. 

4. I did really well this year with FOMO, I did not go back to Fortnite even with the Simpsons map or the BTTF skins, I also avoided purchasing Arc Raiders. I don't have the free time for these type of games. Need to avoid the hype and just play what I already own.

Still intact, no FOMO

 

Backlog

Digital Games (43) - Purchased quite a few including Death Stranding 2

PS+ Monthly (19) - No change, nothing new added

Physical Games (12) - Added Eriksholm

Total = 74 Games

Alert - Steam Backlog inbound!


Shopping

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

Purchased Death Stranding 2, Sea of Stars & Eriksholm.
 

Want
Added Stranger Than Heaven & R Type Cosmos to the Wishlist.
 

Bin

Being weak and buying yet another physical game!

UGVM PMG - I don't game in the evenings so can't really take part in these anymore. 

Mika and the Witch’s Mountain (Switch): COMPLETED!

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I have a soft spot for games by Chibig. I like how they’re all set in the same universe, often with recurring characters (like Mûn). Probably the biggest game of theirs was Summer in Mara, a sort of Wind Waker-ish, Harvest Moon-lite adventure. Most of their games are of slightly different genres too.

Mika and the Witch’s Mountain is a sort of arcade adventure. It’s set on an island, at the top of which is a witch, whom you want to train you up but she immediately throws you off her mountain and you have to make your way back up by completing tasks for the locals to earn enough to repair your broomstick to the point where it can fly high enough.

Basically, you run (and fly, a bit) round the island collecting and delivering things. Most items you deliver need to stay dry and undamaged, so you can’t slam into rocks or take a swim, but (a few items aside) it’s not too tricky. The draw is in the characters and interactions, which Chibig do very well.

There are a handful of puzzles, and the odd bit of difficult traversal, but it’s mostly laid back and stressless. The island has a number of secrets to discover and exploring every inch of it is fun. There are a few character-related side stories too, like the relationship between the two fishermen or the unruly children of an artist who has lost his mojo, which (naturally) you get involved in and try to resolve.

Another joyous blue-skies game in the series.

Castaway (Switch): COMPLETED!

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Yes, it does look a lot like a Game Boy Colour Zelda game. It feels a bit like one too, not least because you have a sword and a hookshot and there are block pushing puzzles just like in Link’s Awakening. Only it’s only an hour or two long and there are only really three short dungeons.

Which is fine. It was enjoyable and tight and all that.

Once completed, however, you get access to a roguelike dungeon mode, where you have 50 small rooms with increasingly difficult baddies and traps to get past, with random upgrades every time you’ve collected enough XP. A run here will be maybe 45 minutes or so, and it’s great. I completed this too, but it did take about 10 or 12 runs to do so. Tip: the seemingly useless pickaxe upgrades should not be ignored (like I kept doing) as they make the final boss much easier.