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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.

deKay · 09/11/2025

Piffle, or more accurately, Piffle+ (it’s a free IAP-less Apple Arcade version of an IAP’d game), is a simple arcade puzzle-ish game that is a bit Breakout and a bit Peggle. You throw balls (which are cat heads) upwards at blocks, destroy as many as you can, and then they all move down a row before you have another go.

Different blocks have different properties, like they can only be hit from certain directions, or they replicate, or they capture your balls, and your balls can augmented with powers like additional strength or explosives, in the same sort of way most Match-3 games are these days. Clearly extra balls and powers were how the in-app purchases worked in the non-Apple Arcade version.

Anyway, it’s a bit mindless and isn’t exactly taxing on the puzzle muscles, but it whiled away some time.

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.

deKay · 24/10/2025

Apparently, there’s no Goat Simulator 2 for the sole reason that it will annoy people. Makes sense, when the main purpose of the game itself is to annoy people.

Like the first game, you’re a goat who can lick stuff and headbutt stuff, with janky physics and silly things to do. Although there was a sort of plot to the original, it was pretty sandbox-y and directionless. Goat Simulator 3 is more structured, with events and actions to complete, which essentially give you XP that eventually leads to an end game.

There’s still a lot of messing around, blowing stuff up, knocking people into the sea, ruining birthday parties and (for some reason) stealing cars, but with a checklist of missions and loads of items of clothing and accessories (which can let you glide, shoot, summon ghosts, graffiti and more) to collect. There feels like there’s more purpose than before.

Playing it in co-op is even more ridiculous, as you’d expect, but also lets you tackle two things at once. In a way, it reminded me of playing Lego City Undercover, only with more ungulates.

For all the improvements (direction, graphics, structure), it misses out on some of the more insane things from the original. Perhaps the best thing I ever did in that game is lick the rollercoaster and watch the chaos as my goat was pulled around the track by his tongue, totally breaking the physics and geometry and leaving me in stitches. There’s no moment quite like that, as even though it’s completely hatstand somehow Goat Simulator 3 is more “normal”.

Still, it was a free rental on PS+ and we enjoyed it a lot. Especially the Skyrim opening sequence.

November – Autumnal Vibes

Piffle (iOS): COMPLETED!

Sonic CD: comparing time periods

Sonic CD: completed!

Goat Simulator 3 (PS5): COMPLETED!