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A Monster’s Expedition (Through Puzzling Expeditions) (Steam Deck): COMPLETED!

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I maintain that I am not really a fan of sokoban type puzzle games, and yet somehow, I seem to enjoy them. Perhaps it’s just when there are crate-pushing puzzles in otherwise crate-push-free games that I don’t like?

In any case, A Monster’s Expedition was one of the ones I did enjoy. You are a monster, who navigates islands which seem to make up a sort of Museum of Humans, as there are many artefacts (sometimes amusingly mislabelled as to their purpose) to be found. The game, however, isn’t about finding the artefacts – it’s about finding a way to leave the islands completely.

To do that you have to reach a ferry, and to reach the ferry you have to complete crate-pushing puzzles on each island in order to open paths, build log bridges, or make rafts to get around. Of course, they’re not crates you have to push: they’re trees.

You can chop down trees, then push the trunks as logs. If you push them sideways, they roll until they hit something or fall in the water, and if you push them lengthways they flip up on end and then over onto their side again. These, plus the double-height trees and some rocks, make up the majority of the puzzles and they’re all about trying to get logs into certain positions on each island to progress.

It’s simple, although many of the puzzles are not. Later on, you discover a few meta-puzzles, where there’s a collection of islands to solve, but not just to allow you to move between them – you have to make way for a log that needs to traverse the islands and bridges you’ve made too, which may mean the solution you had originally may not be enough for the log as well.

A Monster’s Expedition is a nice little (well, not little – it’s bloody huge) brain-scratcher, with a bit of humour and some fiendish puzzles. Oh, and if you’ve bought the itch.io Palestinian Relief bundle, you already own it!

Beglitched (Steam Deck): COMPLETED!

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Someone recommended this game over on Mastodon and it looked interesting. Then it turned out I already owned it and could play it on my Steam Deck. Result, eh?

It’s a match-3 puzzle game, but one that messes with the rules a bit. The idea isn’t just to match-3 (or more), as it matter which icons you match. For example, you only have so many moves, but matching certain symbols gives you more moves. Additionally, there’s a digital creature on the board, usually hidden, and you have to use symbols to track it down (such as arrows to point at it) and then blow it up. Triggering arrows and bombs use power, though, and you need to match other symbols in order to replenish it.

Furthermore, some of these digital creatures affect the board, or need blowing up more than once, or can’t be blown up. Or shouldn’t be blown up. It’s a lot more complex than your average matching game.

The surrounding motif of Beglitched is that it’s all set in a computer system. You’re a user of a sort of message board, and one of the prominent figures of the board has vanished and everyone else there now thinks you’re them – and most are out to stop you doing whatever it is that you need to do. It plays out as a series of small grids of levels, where the grid itself often contains puzzles and enemies. Progressing in the game opens up new folders on the computer, each acting as a sort of world with, generally, a specific change to the basic game rules.

It’s a good concept, and changing up the rules stops the core gameplay from getting stale. It certainly has a lot more depth than similar games, but it’s also somewhat shorter. Definitely worth playing if you like a good match game.

Sküljagger (Evercade): COMPLETED!

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Sküljagger (no, I’d never heard of it either) is a Bad Game. Originally a SNES game which seemed to have been completely ignored at the time, it’s yet another 16-bit platform with literally nothing going for it. It seems to have a pirate theme or maybe a viking theme or who actually knows, or cares? You have a sword and have platforms to navigate. Wow. Even at the time this can’t have been more than a 5/10 title.

It’s janky and the collision detection is rubbish, the levels are dull and repetitive, enemies appear out of nowhere to kill you, there are several power-ups all of which are useless, and the walls of text between levels are badly written. Or translated? Or both.

So why did I play it to the end? Because I don’t know. Don’t judge me.

Gal Guardians: Demon Purge (Switch): COMPLETED!

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Why yes, this is another Metroidvania style game! And yes, it’s another one based on a different game, this time Gal*Gun by Inti Creates. Inti Creates, who have made some of my favourite platformers (including some other Metroidvanias) like Azure Striker Gunvolt and Blaster Master Zero. Of course I’m going to buy it.

The ‘hing with Demon Purge, which differentiates it from all the other “explore a castle” games is that you control two characters at once, each with different skills and abilities. The two main differences are that one has a gun, and so can attack from a distance, and the other wields ningyogami (or something similar) in a way that essentially works like a sword. Also, one has half the health of the other.

The story takes the characters from Gal*Gun (which I don’t know), sticks them in a school, and then in that usual Japanese way the school itself becomes a portal into some other world full of demons and monsters. Same old story. You have to rescue your classmates, unlocking new abilities like a hover, an air dash, and a grappling hook as you progress and using them to reach new areas and secrets. Like all the other Metroidvanias.

If you’re a fan of the genre, like me, this is great. It’s fun, a bit unusual, and even has references to Castlevania (like the clock tower and the long external staircase to the final boss). There’s also a secret ending if you do certain side quests, which I managed to do.

Nour (PS5): COMPLETED!

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What even is this? I’ve completed it and I’m still not sure. I think it fits into the same sort of category as something like Electroplankton or Noby Noby Boy where although there is a goal of sorts, it’s the toy you play with along the way that’s the real game.

In Nour, you’re given a large restaurant table, and each plate on it takes you to a different scenario. In each, the controller buttons spawn different food and drink items, so you might be able to build a burger from component parts, or populate a stew with meat and vegetables. You may be expecting this to therefore resemble Cook, Serve, Delicious! or Cooking Mama, but no – it’s all sorts of weird instead.

For starters (that’s a restaurant joke there) you don’t have set meals to make. It also doesn’t seem to matter how or even what you make, even if it’s a horrible mess. In fact, just spamming the buttons eventually causes a jellyfish to appear, it then steals one of your items, and things get a bit trippy. There’s also some musical toy component to the game, as spawning items makes noises, and doing it rhythmically makes even more trippiness happen. Then there’s the tools to make things bigger or smaller, or chuck them about.

Look, it’s very strange and I’m not able to describe it fully.

The aim appears to be to make all the jellyfish happy or satisfied or I don’t know what, and then you can progress onto the next plate where you can bung stuff in a microwave or make smoothies with meat cubes in or re-enact a HowToBasic video with unlimited eggs. Do all the plates, and it’s time for the credits.

Is it a game? A toy? A very abstract musical instrument? A soothing bubblewrap/fidget spinner alternative? I don’t bloody know.