One of my favorite games of all time is Batman: Arkham Asylum. This game was released in 2009 when I was a nerdy and awkward freshman in high school. This game helped me get through my toughest moments in high school. Rocksteady is a company where, as soon as I find out they’re making another game, I pre-order it instantaneously. Rocksteady is making a Suicide Squad Game while Warner Bros. is making a Gotham Knights game. My heart is exploding with excitement. I’m going to briefly discuss each game, along with linking the trailers.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League

From the trailer, it looks like Superman has turned evil and it’s up to the ragtag team to save Metropolis. Harley Quinn’s look in this game is flawless. She is stylish, not overtly sexual and the game captures her personality in the short four-minute glimpse of the trailer. Besides Harley Quinn, I like Deadshot’s new suit. This game also features both Killer Shark and Captain Boomerang. The music playing through the trailer is hip and fits the overall theme of the Suicide Squad.

I’m curious how the mission set up will be. Will certain missions be played by certain characters, or will I get to pick who I want to be? Both options would work as long as I have equal gameplay between all four characters.

From the trailer, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League will be released in 2022.

Gotham Knights

Bruce Wayne is dead along with Detective Gordon. Gotham is in flames and someone has to step up to avenge Bruce and save Gotham. It’s about time the Bat-Family is introduced into this series of games. In Batman: Arkham Knight, there is limited gameplay of Nightwing and Tim Drake, but this game takes this to a whole new level.

Batgirl is seen throughout the trailer dive-bombing into alleyways. Batgirl is the best female heroine in DC Comics. This game has adopted her best look, which is the yellow combat boots and the zipped-up purple jumpsuit. Red Hood even makes an appearance. He’s a nice addition, considering most of the characters are sneaky, and Red Hood can go into a fight scene with his guns raised.

Gotham Knights will be released in 2021.

Before ending this post, I do want to discuss how Rocksteady is under fire for sexual harassment. The gaming industry is notoriously toxic to women, women of color, and non-binary or gender non-conforming folks. It’s a reminder of how the gaming industry still needs to be upfront with these issues and resolve to do better.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and Gotham Knights are incredible. Rocksteady knows how to make decent DC games. I’m anxiously awaiting the day I can play as Batgirl.

Hidden Through Time was a game I purchased in my latest Steam haul. Every review I read for this game was positive. I wanted a chill game to play during the week after I got off work. Hidden Through Time didn’t disappoint, as it was a well-made and challenging hidden objects game.

There isn’t an actual story to Hidden Through Time. There is a series of themed maps in history. In these maps, there is a list of objects to find. I was a perfectionist, meaning I wouldn’t move on to the next map until I located every single object. However, the next map unlocks after a certain quota of objects has been met. If I were truly stuck, I could move on to the next map without finding all the objects. As mentioned above, I didn’t do that because I was focused on completing each level before moving on.

This game interested my fiancé too. I would be playing this on our couch while he watched the news. He would look at my screen and help me find the objects. Hidden Through Time isn’t a two-player game, but now and then, my fiancé became intrigued and would help me locate the objects.

Hidden Through Time is a challenging game. Some of the levels went quicker, while some levels took at least forty-five minutes to complete. I never felt Hidden Through Time was too hard or that the objects were placed in a way where I would have never found them on my own. If I hover my mouse over the objects themselves, there are cleverly written hints pointing to where the object might be. The hints don’t give away the object’s location, but they gave me an idea as to where the object is.

As far as replayability, the levels can be replayed. There is an online version of Hidden Through Time where players have made their own maps. I played a couple of them. The online play is mostly positive. There was one castle map that took my fiancé and me forever to complete. Other maps were clearly made to be extremely easy. It added another hour or so of extra gameplay to play through the online maps.

Hidden Through Time is a game that helped me unwind after work. It served the purpose of being a game where I didn’t have to put all of my energy into playing. It was rewarding to find an object I was stuck on and couldn’t find. There is a Vikings DLC expansion to the game, probably including more maps. I would purchase this DLC in a heartbeat. Hidden Through Time is available for purchase on Steam.

As mentioned in a previous blog post, I became inspired to revisit the Nancy Drew games by Her Interactive. Steam has almost all of the Nancy Drew games available for purchase. I chose Nancy Drew: Ghost of Thornton Hall as it was highly rated. The Nancy Drew games are challenging, engaging, and slightly scary.

In this outing, Nancy is summoned to Thornton Hall to locate Jessalyn. In the process of looking for her, Nancy learns about Thornton Hall and the Thornton family. Charlotte Thornton was a family member who died in a mysterious house fire long ago. Many of the NPCs (non-playable characters) warn you of her ghost roaming the premises. This ties into the mystery of locating Jessalyn while simultaneously uncovering why Charlotte is haunting the grounds.

For anyone who has never played a Nancy Drew game before, I have a couple of hints to share. My first hint is to take a break. Some of the puzzles are time-consuming. I would play this game for 2-3 hours at a time, and I found myself getting frustrated if I couldn’t figure out the puzzle. In turn, this led me to utilize a walkthrough versus trying to solve the puzzle on my own.

My second hint is noting the importance of the information that’s given. Honestly, it might be worth it to take notes. One of the final puzzles in the game is unlocking a briefcase. To open the briefcase, the code can be solved based on the Thornton family history. I found myself failing multiple times as I didn’t have this information written down in front of me.

Another hint I have is being prepared for jump scares. Charlotte, as a ghost, appears when she wants, and the music accompanying the game helps to establish the eerie atmosphere. I didn’t find the jump scares to be too obnoxious, but it’s enough that I genuinely jumped as Charlotte appeared. Additionally, there are moments where, if you press the wrong button, Nancy can be killed in a booby trap. It adds to the tone of the game.

Since purchasing Nancy Drew: Ghost of Thornton Hall, I have already put 11.4 hours into the game. I’m re-playing the game on master sleuth, which increases the difficulty of the puzzles and eliminates the game’s offering of hints. I haven’t played the other Nancy Drew games, but Ghost of Thornton Hall is a well-made, introductory game in the series. Nancy Drew: Ghost of Thornton Hall can be purchased and downloaded on Steam.