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gospvg · 09/11/2025

Play

Currently Playing

Wordle, Strands & Connections (Android)

Finally got a perfect with a video game category!

I'm enjoying playing daily Wordle, Connections & Strands. I've given up on Spelling Bee (requires in-app subscription to progress) & Pips (is pretty easy on the first two levels and Hard is difficult to play on mobile phone).

Hole.io (PS5)

A simple game where you start off as a tiny hole and have to eat things to get bigger, lol it's great fun!

Balatro (PS5)

Back at this trying to crack the Purple Stake on the Yellow Deck!

It Takes Two (PS5)

I missed this off last month post but started this with Nemo, now I just need to get here attention off Simpsons Fortnite & Skate to get back to playing it!

November Plans

To play Lost Records Bloom & Rage Tape 2 & Sword of the Sea

Completed

Lost Records Bloom & Rage - Tape 1 (PS5)

Developed by Don't Nod (I do enjoy playing their games!), this is a story about four girls who go back to the town of Velvet Cove to relive the summer of 1995, will be starting Tape 2 soon.

8/10

Messenger (Browser)

Gobsmacked that it runs in a browser, nice and short, 20 to 30 mins max with a handful of fetch-type quests, but lovely to explore.

Go play it https://messenger.abeto.co/

5/10

The Invincible (PS5)

A video game adaptation of a science fiction novel by Stanislaw Lem, looks stunning; gameplay is mainly a walking sim type.

7/10

Promise Mascot Agency (PS5)
For the first time in forever, I purchased, played & completed a game in the same month!

Really enjoyed this, it feels like a large-scale "Kairosoft" game with a funny cast of characters & a Yakuza story. This would not look out of place in a RGG Yakuza game.

8/10

Yet another Waterfall!

Backlog

Current Backlog

I have had a proper look through my backlog to remove games I have no intention of playing or have expired in the subscription service.

Digital Games - 31 with new purchases inc Darkest Dungeon & Steamworld Dig 2.

PS+ Subscription - 5, I've added As Dusk Falls (looking forward to playing this story game)

PS+ Monthly - 20 (recently added Cocoon & Alan Wake 2)

Physical Games - 11 (no new additions)

Total 67 Games (Reduced by 25 from last month!)

Shopping

I've added a new Shopping page to the top, current total is £310.27!

https://www.gospvg.com/p/2025-shopping.html

I upgraded Alan Wake 2 to the Deluxe editiion to get the DLC, purchased and completed Promise Mascot Agency in the same month!, Papa Quiz for £1.99 is something to enjoy with the family & Darkest Dungeon, I blame Abbas who was singing it's praises!

Want

Current Wishlist is at 27 Games (added Paradise Killer) but I need to focus on the games above!

Bin

Nothing again, I think I'll remove this section going forward if nothing to add.

Xexyz · 05/11/2025

When playing through Sonic CD, there are frequently ledges that seem inaccessible, or slopes that seem to stop abruptly. I noted when writing about my completion of the game that the level design felt a little bit off in places, preventing you from getting up too high a speed; on reflection this may well be another deliberate puzzle, to work out how to time travel, but I thought it might also be where the levels had been adjusted for multiple realities. So I did a little investigating.

The maps I’ve used here have come straight from Sonic Retro, which is an amazing site that I used when I couldn’t find the generator on Stardust Speedway Act 2 when replaying on the Xbox 360.

First, this comparison shows the same locations in the past and in the present; the slope in the present is actually a useful place to get up speed to time travel. The level flows a lot better in the past, with fewer springs and a new exit from the slope. Note how the trees have grown from the past to the future as well.

There are greater differences when moving from the present to the (good) future. You can see the way that the future is built over the top of the present, and there’s a lower slope that is inaccessible as a result. Another key difference is the lack of enemies in the good future.

There are fewer differences between the good and bad futures. The below pictures show part of the map in the present, and in the good and bad versions of the future. The pipe on the right changes from the present to the future, but the two future levels have the same layout. The rings in the centre show how the slope has moved between time periods, making some rings accessible.

The past version of this is shown at the top of this post.

The more I look at the game, the more impressed I am.

Xexyz · 30/10/2025

Stardust Speedway remains a low point for the game, I think, which is a shame because the ornamentation (of the brass instruments in the present, and overgrown pipework in the past) is evocative of the Starlight Zone, probably my favourite levels of the original Sonic game. The route to find the generator, and get to it in the past, is overly convoluted and seems to require luck as well as skill. I did explore a lot to find the route that worked for me, but maybe I was missing something.

It’s taken a while, but I’ve now completed this, getting the good future in every zone, and even destroying the Metal Sonic holograms hidden throughout. The game is very different to Sonics 1 and 2, rewarding exploration as well as speed, finding the best places and routes to run along, rather than just always moving to the right. Maybe this is why I found it oppressive; it was just too different, while looking the same. Having explored everything, though, and now with a better knowledge of routes, its become much more like classic Sonic, and I feel like it has the same sort of replay value.

In fact, I know it does, because having completed the game on the PS3, I immediately restarted it on the Xbox 360 (well, the 360 version running on the Xbox One), to unlock some long-standing achievements. I played through it all the way to Stardust Speedway Act 2, where I found I couldn’t remember how to find the generator and I had to look it up. Having done that, I proceeded through and completed it again.

The game is full of surprises, like Mini Sonic, endless loops, and Amy Rose being kept in a dungeon.

It’s not perfect by any stretch. The final boss battle is a bit of an anticlimax, especially when you compare it to the iconic Sonic 2 last stage. Metal Sonic’s race is a bit too much of a difficulty spike. Some of the level design, especially in the present, is a bit confusing, where they have tried to vary the routes in the past, but leaving rings in the same places. The special stages, even though I now know what to do, are rubbish and uncontrollable; I managed to get four time stones at most. And yet, despite all this, it’s a really good solid game, well up with the best platformers I’ve played.

Having completed the main game, I then looked at the time trials, which are more traditional Sonic material with the time travel removed, and the sole aim is to get through the present version of the level as quickly as possible. I hadn’t explored looking for the most efficient route; maybe that’s something to do in the future.

Xexyz · 16/10/2025

It seems a little contrived to say it’s completed, really, since I can see that there are over half the moons I am yet to discover, and the game is still throwing new ideas at me each time I play. However, Peach has been rescued, Bowser is defeated, and the world is a better place. I stopped the wedding, which I hasten to add wouldn’t have been legally binding in any case as Peach was not entering it of her own free will. I’ve seen the credits. I have explored the Moon, and I have travelled back to the Mushroom Kingdom.

The inside of Peach’s castle is a clever nod to Super Mario 64, although many of the doors are missing (and my daughter was disappointed we couldn’t go upstairs to see where she sleeps). I have found a number of other rooms around the kingdom, which again look similar to the rooms from SM64, which enable me to fight the bosses again, but I haven’t because I’m more interested in finding new stuff.

I had travelled between previous worlds a fair bit, exploring and finding hidden moons, before deciding to go to Bowser’s kingdom to finish the game – only to find I was diverted to a ruined kingdom, and it turns out that Bowser’s palace wasn’t the end point in any case. I played through the last few areas over the course of contiguous days, not wanting to stop until the story was complete; and then I had to keep playing, to find out what Peach was up to, to talk to Toadette, and to see what those silvery cubes were all about. It turns out that they’ve roughly doubled the size of the game after the credits roll – and I’ve not even been to the dark side of the Moon yet.

I very rarely engage in character dress-up in games, but Mario’s outfits are fun to experiment with – and you need to get changed to access some moons, as well as seeing the 2D representations

With that rush to finish, I’ve taken a bit of a step back in terms of playing the game, because I want it to last a bit longer. A fantastic game, which looks even more amazing on the Switch 2.

November – Autumnal Vibes

Sonic CD: comparing time periods

Sonic CD: completed!

Super Mario Odyssey: completed!

96: Magic Beans