Little Nightmares

 This game was received free when purchasing Little Nightmares II, so I figured it appropriate to play first.   You're a side scrolling little dude in a house full of creepy things that eat little dudes.

It's quick and thankfully the puzzles are not difficult to execute or understand, so it was really a matter of wandering and running through a house trying to escape and not be caught by the giant gangly residents.

My favorite part was trying to escape a horde of corpulent eaters falling over each other and flopping on the floor after me.   They really dressed the set ... wonderfully gross?   Quick play - 5 hours total without purchasing DLC.

Star Trek Voyager: Across the Unknown

I was pretty jazzed about the idea of this game, making decisions as captain of a Star Fleet vessel and the potential moral compromising you must do when your choices affect the galaxy and your crew being able to get home.

This was an independent developer, so it did not have a lot of depth for the breadth that it covered - you adventure across 12 different sectors for a total of 7 years in a loop of harvesting resources to repair/upgrade your ship while surviving these encounters in an attempt to get home.

Pretty well done, though the game play loop got boring at times - there were good decision loops, oftentimes it's somewhat impulsive to choose the most viable result as far as % success, but you had to weigh each option - because it IS easier to nuke the station and create a black hole, but then ... black hole.

 

Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster

This was the first game in the Dead Rising franchise and the reason I kind of stuck with Xbox 360 in the console wars.   I never actually finished this first one, so when the Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster came out I was excited to play it.

The way they use Psycho's for the main villains of the game as you are rescuing survivors in a mall is fantastic, though this one does feel a bit raw - like a bands first album, it felt like wearing an old comfortable sweater getting back in and swinging a katana.

A lot of people seemed to be upset that the remaster didn't add anything new, even though they re-recorded voices, they left the awkwardness of the dialog in -- to me that's just original charm sauce.