the background noise

It's that time once again where I highlight notable examples of the art of the screenshot whilst going on a bit about the game they belong to. So re cently I played a pair of visual novels that caught my eye some time back. The Silver Case was the first game released by famed Japanese developer Grasshopper Manufacture and noted creative force Goichi Suda aka Suda51 . Originally releasing on the original PlayStation  in Japan back in the golden year that was 1999, it wouldn't see a Western release and localisation until it's HD re-release in 2016 on PC with other formats following soon after. This would be re-released alongside it's sequel The 25th Ward: The Silver Case and given my generally positive experience of Grasshopper games I tucked them away on my list for future attention. Well that moment has arrived and cometh the hour, cometh the baffling tale of intrigue, deception and inter-departmental warfare.

Just consider for a moment what a huge undertaking it is to actually make a game. Whether it's a AAA effort costing hundreds of thousands of dineros and many lifetimes of productive work hours or even your more humble independent efforts where the costs may not be so great but the penalties for failure are still pretty stark indeed. From concept to execution, it's a massive toil to see something through to completion on the hope and a prayer that it finds both the audience and the success that game makers hope for.  Now consider the games that are not like that at all. Consider if you will the concept of... shovelware!

As mentioned in the last update, I've been playing the console version of Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition . It is a game revered by a certain generation of late 90's gamer. A standout in a time of a standout RPG's. A rip roaring adventure through the world of Dungeons and Dragons . It's contents a veritable checklist for everything gamers look for in a legendary RPG. Yes it's 'finally getting around to playing another classic game' time again. Now that I've gotten around to playing the thing and having sunk a few dozen hours into it I'm going to ramble on at length about how it sucks...

Since restarting the blog three years ago I've made great strides into clearing the perpetual gaming backlog that irked me so much back then. It has been a busy few years and a great many games have been completed post-COVID.  It's a fine line of course I don't want this to feel like a task or a chore to clear but at the same time, games are not meant to be accumulated without actually... you know playing them.  So played them I have and h aving tracked my ongoing thoughts on the gaming habit right here on the blog I now ponder the always fraught question of what to play next?

2025 is here and it feels so good. I have it on reliable authority that the world didn't end and that this is not actually The Matrix so we're going to press on with that most prestigious of annual events. Why yes it's TGPLYA's and that still doesn't translate to a catchy slogan I should really have worked on that since last year's edition. Anyhow in brief we are all here to celebrate my entirely subjective opinion on the best and worst games I played last year as exhaustively catalogued in my end of year retrospective. With no further ado let's get to the awards...

Happy New Year all! Once more unto the breach and all that. It's the last leg through the odyssey of eclectic game picks that comprise my 2024 in video gaming. Please believe me when I say that I don't select these games by randomly throwing a dart at a board full of random sticky notes.  There is perhaps a method and a madness to this seemingly bizarre selection of games I promise you. Yes we've had rolllerskating with guns, we've had text based adventures in space, we've had a lot of live service shooting and even a full fat RPG in there somewhere. I'm sure there is a line that connects all these dots but you might have to get back to me on that one. To the games...