Last year, I played Hidden Through Time, a hidden objects game available on Steam. Hidden Through Time was one of my favorite games I played in 2020. Steam recommended Wind Peaks, another hidden objects game centered around kids heading off to summer camp. The premise of Wind Peaks sounded promising, but I found myself comparing Wind Peaks to Hidden Through Time. When I compared the two, Wind Peaks was fun, but I loved Hidden Through Time more.

Wind Peaks included a story with cut scenes in between each map. The story can be quickly summarized as kids heading off to summer camp in search of buried treasure. The treasure is buried somewhere within the camp, and collecting these objects will aid in their search. I’m not sure why a story was introduced because I’m not sure if any of the kids were given names. I liked the overall aesthetic of Wind Peaks. The summer camp theme gave off a cozy, relaxing feel while playing.

I wasn’t a fan of the hint system in Wind Peaks. To get a hint, you would click on the object. A countdown would begin, and if the object wasn’t found within that time, the object would be revealed on the map. That’s not a hint system. In Hidden Through Time, a hint is included above the object, so I could still find the object on my own without it being given away.

Additionally, I felt the maps in Wind Peaks were too big. I couldn’t zoom out to view the map as a whole, so it took a while to visually scan the map. I wished either the maps would have been smaller or the zoom function would have allowed me to view the whole map. I also can’t stand using WASD instead of the arrow keys. The arrow keys make sense; I’m not sure why I couldn’t have used them to move around the map.

Wind Peaks was an enjoyable, cozy, cabin hidden objects game. The gameplay, in my opinion, could have been better, but it didn’t take away from the experience. The way Wind Peaks ended left open the potential of new maps being added to the game. I would play through the new maps in Wind Peaks, although I hope the hint system is overhauled. Hidden object games are a nice distraction from the console games I’m currently playing through. I would rate Wind Peaks a 6.5 / 10.

I had high hopes for Marvel’s Avengers. As written in a previous post, superhero games can either be well-made or unplayable. From everything I had read regarding Marvel’s Avengers, I thought this game had potential. I didn’t buy the game immediately after it was released, which is something I usually never do. However, my fiancé brought it home for me one day since he knew I wanted to play it. Marvel’s Avengers is a mediocre and disappointing superhero game.

The game opens with a celebration titled A-Day. A-Day launched the new Avengers HQ in San Francisco along with a helicarrier powered by a Terrigen Crystal. The Avengers have pulled away from A-Day celebrations after an attack by Taskmaster. Unfortunately, the helicarrier is destroyed, leaving the surrounding citizens in San Francisco exposed to the Terrigen mist. The Avengers were blamed and forced to disband. Kamala Khan was exposed to the Terrigen mist during the ceremony and has been hiding her powers. Five years after A-Day, Kamala investigates “AIM,” the replacement for the Avengers, and discovers some incriminating evidence against them. She’s on the run to protect her family and bring the Avengers back together.

Marvel’s Avengers claims to be an Avengers game when really it’s centered around Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel. I loved playing as Kamala. She’s a character I didn’t know much about, and her positivity helped bring back the Avengers. I believe the game wasn’t marketed as well as it could have been. The title of the game is Marvel’s Avengers, so I went into playing this game believing I would be playing an Avengers game. Kamala is on the cover, although most of the gameplay is her story. Besides Kamala, the Avengers sound like the characters they are supposed to represent. I thought the voice acting was spot on, and the way the characters were designed felt true to the comics.

In my opening paragraph, I stated how Marvel’s Avengers is a mediocre game. This game could have been so much better. I hated how I wasn’t able to switch heroes during a mission. The heroes have various abilities that allow them to collect resources. Resources are used to level up the Avengers. For example, if I played as the Hulk on a level, there might be a collectible to unlock as Black Widow, but since I can’t switch hero mid-mission, I’m not able to unlock this collectible. It’s annoying! I don’t understand why there couldn’t have been a button on the controller allowing me to switch between the heroes.

Let’s talk about the missions. There are the main campaign missions contributing to finishing the main story, along with side missions. I found the missions were repetitive. If I played a side mission on one map, it was often repeated in the campaign. It’s lazy to create missions as side quests only to replay them in the main campaign.

Finally, I disliked how the Avengers’ health worked. As an Avenger loses health, one of the few ways to regain health is to punch green boxes on the maps. This would allow an Avenger to heal. It seems odd that a god of Thunder doesn’t regenerate health; isn’t he a god? Doesn’t Captain America’s super-soldier serum allow him to regenerate automatically? The health system could have been designed better to be unique to the specific Avenger I was playing as.

Overall, Marvel’s Avengers was a fun game. It could have been amazing if the game had been tweaked. I must not be the only gamer who feels this way because Square Enix lost $105 million from this game. To bring life back to the game, Square Enix is introducing Kate Bishop and Hawkeye as DLC. I’m afraid it’s a bit too late. I’m undecided if I would invest more money into the game or pick up the game again. I give Marvel’s Avengers a 6/10.

Superhero video games are either fantastic or terrible; there doesn’t seem to be anything in between. Batman: Arkham Asylum is one of my all-time favorite video games. Rocksteady took the Batman universe and melded it into an enjoyable gaming experience. I’m playing through Marvel’s Avengers now, and while I’m having a fun time, it’s a flawed game. I was thinking the other day about which superheroes deserve the “Arkham Asylum” treatment, which led me to create this post.

X-Men: Open World or a Super Smash Bros Brawl

I could see the X-Men having one of two different game designs. An open-world X-Men game would be great. Having a story mode with plenty of side quests would allow you to unlock various members of the X-Men. Another intriguing game concept would be a “Super Smash Bros.” style game, playing as the X-Men. I think gamers would fight over who gets to play as Wolverine, but still, I think this concept could work.

The Defenders

The Defenders would be similar to Spider-Man in the sense that it would be an open-world game set in New York. I could imagine this game turning New York into a darker version similar to Gotham. It would feature stories allowing you to play as Daredevil, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and Iron Fist. Additionally, let’s introduce Valkyrie (played by Tessa Thompson in the movies), Hellcat, and Silver Surfer. Can someone please make this??

Birds of Prey

My ideal Birds of Prey would be an older Oracle being the head of the organization. Black Canary would be the main playable hero, with Helena Bertinelli on standby. I’m imagining Gail Simone’s Birds of Prey run was turned into a video game. The possibilities!

Sinister Six Meets GTA

Hear me out. The Sinister Six somehow get the upper hand, Spider-Man is supposedly killed, and New York is in chaos. Being able to rotate which Sinister Six character you play as while roaming around New York and blasting everything to bits. I could see halfway through that we learn Spider-Man is alive and works with the Avengers to reclaim New York.

I wish more game companies would take on superhero-based games. As mentioned in my opening paragraph, it can be a big undertaking to make a superhero game. Square Enix lost a lot of money making this game. I think if game companies are willing to put in the work of understanding these characters and creating a fun game, these games can be profitable. If you’re unsure, why don’t you ask Rocksteady?

I’m back to writing regular posts! After hosting a Halloween party followed by the US election, I wanted to take a week off from writing posts. I can’t believe Halloween is already over, and Thanksgiving is a couple of weeks away. I wanted to write a post about one of the spooky games I played leading up to Halloween this year. This was one of the games I mentioned in my “Spooky Steam Haul” post. Gibbous – A Cthulhu Adventure is a spooky, point-and-click game with a magical talking cat.

The story focuses on two major characters. Detective Don R. Ketype is a PI tasked with recovering the Necronomicon. For those unfamiliar with Lovecraft’s writings, the Necronomicon is an evil book filled with spells destined to bring the world to its end. Don visits the library and meets Buzz Kerwin, a college student. An explosion occurs, with Don getting kidnapped, and Buzz finding the Necronomicon. Buzz takes the book back to his apartment and repeats a spell that allows his cat, Kitteh, to speak to him. Both Don and Buzz need to find out who’s after the Necronomicon and return Kitteh to her normal kitty state.

I adored this game. I liked playing as Don and Buzz, although Buzz was my favorite since he had Kitteh with him. The game was well-designed and never glitched. The game was challenging enough that certain levels took me a bit of time because I would get stuck on what I was supposed to do next. Being a fan of Lovecraft’s work, there were several references to his work throughout the game.

As far as replayability, I ended up playing this game twice through. The first time to complete the game and the second time to unlock all the Steam achievements. There are story-based achievements and missable achievements. The missable achievements were slightly annoying at times because you can’t go back and play a level. If you miss the achievement, you would have to play the entire game over to get that achievement. According to Steam, I played this game for 13.9 hours. This is with two full playthroughs of the game. It’s safe to say this game will take six hours to complete.

Gibbous – A Cthulhu Adventure is a fun, spooky game perfect for any cat lover or HP Lovecraft fan. Gibbous – A Cthulhu Adventure can be purchased on Steam for $19.99.

It’s Spooky Season! This is the time when I hang Halloween decorations, read horror books, watch scary movies, and play themed video games. To get into the mood of the season, I purchased a couple of new video games on Steam. I wanted to share my Halloween-themed gaming haul.

Gibbous: A Cthulhu Adventure

I discovered Gibbous: A Cthulhu Adventure by accident after typing Cthulhu into the Steam search bar. I’m a Lovecraft fan and will immediately play anything with Cthulhu in the title. Gibbous: A Cthulhu Adventure begins with Detective Don Ketype as he tries to track down the infamous Necronomicon. Ketype crosses paths with college student, Buzz Kerwan, who winds up with the Necronomicon and accidentally sets off a spell, which leads to his kitty (named Kitteh) being able to talk. The trio team up to stop the cultists from performing a horrific ritual.

I’m about halfway through this, and I’m loving every second of it.

Nancy Drew Danger by Design & Nancy Drew Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake

I’m determined to play more of the Nancy Drew games by Her Interactive. The first game I played was endless in the number of jump scares, so I’m hoping this could be extended to the other games in the series. Based on reviews on Steam, I purchased both Danger by Design and Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake. I plan to play both of these games next after I finish Gibbous: A Cthulhu Adventure.

Vampire: The Masquerade: Shadows of New York

I first played Vampire: The Masquerade at Gen Con last year. Vampire: The Masquerade: Shadows of New York is a game inspired by the RPG. This game stars Julia Sowinski, a reporter who has been Embraced (Vampire: The Masquerade’s term for being turned into a Vampire) and is asked to investigate the murder of Anarch Baron Callihan. This game is described as a visual novel that changes as the main character makes several crucial decisions.

Vampire: The Masquerade is one of my favorite RPGs. I cannot wait to play this.

Later Alligator

Later Alligator isn’t necessarily a Spooky game, but it’s a game I had on my Steam wishlist for far too long. Later Alligator, as the title states, stars an alligator named Pat. Unfortunately for Pat, he’s involved in a huge conspiracy that puts him in danger. Can the player save Pat before the clock runs out?

The majority of reviews on Steam list Later Alligator as overwhelmingly positive. I plan on playing Later Alligator after all of the other Spooky games I purchased.

Nothing gets me excited about being in Quarantine like having new video games to play. Let me know in the comments which Spooky video games you’re playing this month!

For my birthday, my friend bought me the Hocus Pocus board game. I was skeptical at first because it seemed the game was catered to kids. As we played a couple of rounds of the game, we learned how challenging this game was and how it stuck to the source material. Since my first time playing, I still have yet to win a game against the trio of witches.

Hocus Pocus is a collaborative game in which players must stun the Sanderson witches three times before the sun rises. If the sun rises before this is completed, the players lose, along with running out of potion ingredients to draw. This seems to be a simple explanation; however, the game is more challenging than that.

The challenging part comes from the lack of visibility of available ingredients. Cards in a player’s hand are kept secret. To begin a turn, I would ask my friend to determine what color or ingredient type she has in her hand. The only way to see her hand entirely is to play an ingredient with Binx, the cat on it. This allows one player to reveal their whole hand. It’s difficult to collaborate when you can’t actively speak to each other.

There are three ways to stun a witch. An example of stun is to have five different potion ingredients, but in the same color. The same witch can be stunned three times in a row. Besides being unable to speak with other players, it’s difficult to coordinate the ingredients to align with the stun for a witch. In multiple games, we were missing an ingredient and couldn’t draw the ingredient needed, so we lost the game.

I’m impressed with the Hocus Pocus game. The game is easy to learn, and each game takes anywhere between 30 – 45 minutes. The game says it’s for six-year-old kids, but as a twenty-six-year-old who’s obsessed with Halloween, I loved every second of playing this game. Hocus Pocus has a lot of childhood memories for me, and it was awesome to be able to relive them. Additionally, I like how this is a collaborative game. It’s a great way to teach younger kids the importance of working with others.

Hocus Pocus is a fun, spooky game that’s family-friendly, or the game to break out during Spooky season. I still haven’t managed to win this game, but I hope to eventually!

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.

One of the most entertaining streamers I subscribe to is Meg Turney. Meg streams on Twitch but uploads her streams to YouTube. Meg has been streaming Dead by Daylight along with the Nancy Drew games by Her Interactive. These streams inspired me to purchase one of the Nancy Drew games on Steam, along with a couple of other games as well.

Nancy Drew: Ghost of Thornton Hall

I remember playing some of the Nancy Drew games when I was younger. In this game, Nancy is summoned to Thornton Hall to investigate the disappearance of Jessalyn. As Nancy explores the house, she needs to find Jessalyn while escaping the ghost who’s following her.

This game is scary. There were a couple of jump scares, and the music is incredibly eerie. The house itself is booby-trapped, and I accidentally killed Nancy a couple of times. I’m still in awe of how I played this as a kid because this game is scary as an adult.

I’m having a blast playing through this game, and intend on purchasing other Nancy Drew games on Steam.

Hidden Through Time

Hidden Through Time is a hide and seek game with objects being hidden across different levels. Any review I have read regarding this game has been positive. This sounds like a game I would play after work during the week to relieve stress.

After playing through Nancy Drew, I plan on playing through this game.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy

I have always wanted to play a Phoenix Wright game. This game was released on DS back in the early 2000s, but I didn’t get my 3DS until 2013. This game features a defense attorney named Phoenix Wright who tries to free his clients. I didn’t want to look up any other spoilers before playing the game myself, but the premise of the game is intriguing.

That’s the end of my Steam haul. There are quite a few games on my wishlist still, but overall, I’m happy with my latest purchase. Purchasing games on Steam allows me a break from the console games I play on weekends. I’m always in need of game recommendations from Steam. Feel free to leave suggestions in the comments section below.