ugvm

the site of uk.games.video.misc

Time on Frog Island (Switch): COMPLETED!

Posted on Written by

Seems that “cosy” is an actual genre these days, and Time on Frog Island pretty much fits in that box – there’s no chance of death, no real time limits (a couple of A-B time trials aside), and seemingly no way to fail.

The story follows you, a sailor who, having lost his wife (her having turned into a plant or something?) has shipwrecked on Frog Island. So called, because of all the frogs wot live there. And a toad. And an axolotl. But mostly frogs.

Your boat is trashed, and in order to repair it you needs parts. However, in order to get parts you need to complete simple tasks for the local residents. Most of these tasks are essentially fetch quests, although because the only dialogue is via icons and images rather than actual text or voice, it’s not always completely clear what is being asked, and some of the “missions” are multi-step. Things are complicated a little by the fact you can only carry one item at a time, some areas of the island are inaccessible until you do certain tasks, and you need to rest each night by building a campfire.

I say complicated but actually, there’s not much in the way of complication here at all. Even the trickiest of puzzles, such that they are, are trivial to “solve”. Really, it’s all about the events and the interactions rather than the quests. Cosy, see.

Once completed, in terms of rebuilding my boat and setting sail, I returned to see if I missed anything. Which, of course, I had. Turns out there’s a whole bit where you can brew potions and gain “frog powers”, like a huge licking tongue (hilariously, if you lick the toad you pass out), a pointless frog jump, and a not very frog-like short-term speed boost. The latter is handy for those timed sections I mentioned earlier, but I’d already finished them by then. Tch. Oh yeah, and you can ask one of the frogs to build you a house, providing you slip him some money. Which you get from selling things, or from planting a money tree.

I think I’m done with it now, as I can’t find anything else to do, and I don’t see myself playing it again, but that isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy it or it isn’t worth playing – just don’t expect any challenge or depth.

Milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk (Steam Deck): COMPLETED!

Posted on Written by

I’ve played some baffling games in my time but this may be one of the oddest in years. It’s sort of a visual novel, where you play as seemingly the subconscious of a very anxious girl who is sent out to buy some milk. Except, you also play as you, the player. And the girl knows it’s not real. Or is it? Or is it not real but her medication makes it seems like it is?

Or is the subconscious the real thing here and the girl just a puppet?

“Gameplay” takes the form of you, or something, responding to the girl when she talks to herself. Or to you. Or to both of you. Ultimately, if you’re supportive and encouraging, you get the good ending, and if you tell her she’s weird and stuff you get the bad ending. Along the (short) way, you find out a bit about her family and why she’s on medication for whatever mental illness she seemingly has. Or hasn’t.

Yes, it’s very strange.

67: Take You Out

Posted on Written by Leave a Comment

Thanks to some wonderful audio issues from our resident audio engineer, last episode left us with a lot of “material” which got cut as it was mainly chat while we waited for stuff to get fixed temporarily. It seemed a shame to lose this Classic ugvm Bants to the dark recesses of deKay’s hard drive, so we’ve collected together all these not-for-air outtakes for a cheaply made, very short, Episode 67. Think of it as audio bubble and squeak.

Which is ironic because we suffered from plenty of bubbling and squeaking.

Happy New Year! We’ll be back soon with a Full Price Release.

(Direct link here)

Don’t forget, if you want to contact us with questions or comments for or about the show, you can email podcast@ugvm.org.uk or publicly shame us @ugvmpodcast on the Twittors, or toot at us on Mastodon: https://mas.to/@ugvmpodcast

Vampire Survivors (Steam Deck): COMPLETED!

Posted on Written by

Let it be known: I actually spent actual money (rather than money gained from selling farmed trading cards) on this Steam game. I don’t think I’ve ever done that before. The things a Steam Deck make you do.

I’ve wanted it for some time. Yes, it looks a bit pants and yes it’s cheap and yes, yes it rips off the Castlevania aesthetic to the point of why-hasn’t-Konami-stepped-in, but there was something interesting about how you just get ridiculously overpowered and swamped by a billion baddies that meant I couldn’t not get it.

What I didn’t know, was that there a number of levels. I thought it just played out on a single one until you unavoidably get done in by the undead horde. Well, that still happens, just you’ve a number of areas to do it in. And, do them all and grab the right items and power them up in the right way, and you unlock the final boss, which I was definitely not expecting to be a thing.

As you inevitably die, play sessions end at 30 minutes whether you want them to or not (unless you’ve unlocked and enabled endless mode). Death swoops in and scythes you, and there’s no escape. Well, there probably is some escape with the right powers and upgrades, but I never managed to get it to work. With increasingly difficult waves of baddies coming in every minute you can’t relax – you have to zoom round collecting XP gems dropped by baddies to power up and keep a few steps ahead of them. With a number of different autofiring powers, from whips and fireballs to shields and spikes, several of which you can have running together, there are unending combinations of ways to kit out your character. There are loads of characters, each with additional skills or alternative starting weapons, to choose from too.

Vampire Survivors is very addictive, “suffering” from a severe case of Just One More go, and it was only because I completed it I managed to wrest myself from its grasp. Although I am very much open for more goes. There’s something about the random drops, the weapon combinations, and the Numbers That Go up which remind me a lot of Luck Be A Landlord. They’re totally different games, but they both give you the same feeling when you play them.

Oh, apparently there’s DLC. Oh no.

Vampire Survivors (Steam Deck): COMPLETED!

Posted on Written by

Let it be known: I actually spent actual money (rather than money gained from selling farmed trading cards) on this Steam game. I don’t think I’ve ever done that before. The things a Steam Deck make you do.

I’ve wanted it for some time. Yes, it looks a bit pants and yes it’s cheap and yes, yes it rips off the Castlevania aesthetic to the point of why-hasn’t-Konami-stepped-in, but there was something interesting about how you just get ridiculously overpowered and swamped by a billion baddies that meant I couldn’t not get it.

What I didn’t know, was that there a number of levels. I thought it just played out on a single one until you unavoidably get done in by the undead horde. Well, that still happens, just you’ve a number of areas to do it in. And, do them all and grab the right items and power them up in the right way, and you unlock the final boss, which I was definitely not expecting to be a thing.

As you inevitably die, play sessions end at 30 minutes whether you want them to or not (unless you’ve unlocked and enabled endless mode). Death swoops in and scythes you, and there’s no escape. Well, there probably is some escape with the right powers and upgrades, but I never managed to get it to work. With increasingly difficult waves of baddies coming in every minute you can’t relax – you have to zoom round collecting XP gems dropped by baddies to power up and keep a few steps ahead of them. With a number of different autofiring powers, from whips and fireballs to shields and spikes, several of which you can have running together, there are unending combinations of ways to kit out your character. There are loads of characters, each with additional skills or alternative starting weapons, to choose from too.

Vampire Survivors is very addictive, “suffering” from a severe case of Just One More go, and it was only because I completed it I managed to wrest myself from its grasp. Although I am very much open for more goes. There’s something about the random drops, the weapon combinations, and the Numbers That Go up which remind me a lot of Luck Be A Landlord. They’re totally different games, but they both give you the same feeling when you play them.

Oh, apparently there’s DLC. Oh no.