In order to continue this Steamyear project (after a short break because a certain switch-game I’ve totally forgotten about, has come out) let’s talk about Timespinner, the most recent game I finished! Developed by Lunar Ray Games and published by Chucklefish, it is a kickstarter game that came out in 2018 on almost every platform of that time. From Xbox One to Steam, if you want to play it you have many options! Timespinner is a Metroidvania game, a genre I absolutely adore. If you too, like them, I’ve great news for you: the game is good!
7 days to end with you
Let us start the project of mini posts for my steam games, with 7 days to end with you! This a small game, but I enjoyed it very much, thus I thought it would be a great start to this writing project. The game is available on steam and switch, published by playism and developed by Lizardry. As you may know, I really like languages and learning them, even though those posts never showed up on this blog (I really should get my life together at one point in my life and do all this projects), and this game is language-focused, so it was an instant buy. Also, if you want to discover a lot of nice games and ruin your wallet, the Play Frame channel on youtube is extremely good and wholesome and plays a lot of nice indie games that I would never have discovered otherwise. Give those peoplea sub, they deserve it!
As always, a trailer for good measure.
Steam Year Project!
Hello everyone! I’m still alive and going, and still playing games and such. Indeed, I’ve bought myself a steamdeck, a very useful investment, I’m finally playing my games everywhere, and going down my steam library decently since last year. I’ve a ton of them (like a ton!) I couldn’t play for the longest time, because 1) lack of time 2) lack of windows computer. I’ve accumulated a lot of games with the pay-what-you-want bundles, and bundles from friends who do not use steam, so they passed their steamkeys along. Great! I’ve several hundred games I was unable to touch for years. No more. So I decided to make posts about the games, on this blog. I still do not know how I will do this, if every game is going to have its one post, or if I’m going to make a all-in-one post. I don’t know, but I’m still trying doing this blog-thing and I want some diary to look but at this. The posts will surely be short for most of the games, but hey. It is something right? Anyway, I’ll try doing a post every other week-end, so wish me luck!
The Looker
Life can be somewhat chaotic, especially the last wonderful years full of lockdowns and corona. The good thing is, I guess, I had the time to read and play and watch some things. Bad thing, I was still not motivated to pick up writing somehow. But hey, I can start over again as much as I want, can’t I?
So, here you go, after finding an old dusty review of Abzû, something new ! If by any miracle you’re someone who reads this blog, the game I choice will make your smirk a bit, I hope at least.
The Looker is a free game, not very long, and a parody of the Witness ! There is not much to say, so this is going to be a short article, but hey, a short article for a short game. Seems fair!
Abzû, the Journey Underwater
Note from current Nayeli : I’ve found this draft from 2018. I guess I might as well publish it.
I finally got to play Abzû recently, a game done by Giant Squid Studios who had the director of Journey on board. I fell in love with Journey at the time it came out on the PS3, I had never played something like it before, so I was looking forward on playing Abzû and getting engrossed again. I expected something similar to Journey, what I got felt more like a clone then anything else. Is this bad ? No. The game as still enjoyable. Anyway, let’s dive in my impressions, but first have a trailer to see for yourself what the game looks like. Also, spoilers. This is not a review, this is only an impression-dump on why the game did not stick to well with me.
Finding your feet, Cass Lennox
I am not a romantic person, nor I am really interested in anything sexual. Despite this fact, I sometimes like to read some more a less romantic romance. It gives me a glimpse of what it would be, being romantic. And I still don’t get it. Lucky for me, we live in a period where people love to talk about non-binary stuff, and the interesting romance stories multiplied considerably (’cause, really, I can’t stand any bland “woman falls in love with rich man” story anymore, even with BDSM and abusive relationship in it). When an acquaintance suggested some books centred around asexuality, I was thrilled. Let’s check this out ! was my immediate reaction, and off I go to buy Cass Lennox and her Toronto Connections.
More specifically, I decide to read Finding your feet, apparently the second book in the series, which I didn’t know at that moment. Not that it is particularly important, since there are separate stories with the same characters. I did buy the other ones after this, but didn’t get around to read them yet.
So then, here you go with a glimpse of the story and the cover, and let’s get on talking about what I liked and disliked. Also, spoilers ahead, beware.
While on holiday in Toronto, Evie Whitmore planned to sightsee and meet other asexuals, not audition for a dance competition. Now she’s representing Toronto’s newest queer dance studio, despite never having danced before. Not only does she have to spend hours learning her routine, she has to do it with one of the grumpiest men she’s ever met. Tyler turns out to be more than a dedicated dancer, though—he might be the kind of man who can sweep her off her feet, literally and figuratively.
The Witness – a great and terrible game
[O gosh, I kinda let down this blog for almost a year, ’cause real life, you know. But hey, you know what, I had articles just waiting to get finished up, so here you go]
I have been looking forward to playing the Witness since the day it did come out. The price tag didn’t enable me to play it for a long time, until a friend gifted it to me for my birthday, yay! I love puzzle games. Give me a puzzle and I will be happy. I played a huge bunch of all those puzzle indie games that did come out almost ten years ago now (Braid being one of them), I’ve grown up with point and clicks (Monkey Island, Zork Nemesis) and I will never have enough Picross/Nonograms in my life. As such, I was really looking forward to the experience of The Witness.
But after having spent a lot of time with it and completed even the cave, I can say that I am really conflicted about it. I loved some parts of it. I loathed others. This article is not going to be spoiler free. Indeed I will mostly spoil everything there is to spoil. If you want to play it, consider not reading further on.
Basically, the Witness will drop you onto an island with more than 500 puzzles to explore. That is all you need to know. Oh wait, if you’re sensitive to motion sickness, you’d better think twice before buying it: this game had made all my friends terribly sick for hours.
Les histoires courtes de Mélanie Fazi
Quand j’ai déménagé en francophonie, passer en librairie fut une des premières choses à faire. Je découvrais la FNAC et sa taille impressionnante, la librairie Payot, les rayons bourrés de BD (ne rigolez pas, en Allemagne, il faut aller dans des magasins spécialisés pour espérer trouver autre chose que du manga, Marvel et Mickey Mouse) et livres en toute sorte. Des étages entiers ! Les yeux lumineux, j’étais encore convaincue de mettre la main sur de nouveaux livres fantasy d’auteurs francophones. Il s’agissait d’un rituel que je pratique depuis des années : aller en librairie fureter jusqu’à trouver le livre qui attire par son épaisseur, sa couverture, ou son résumé alléchant. Sauf qu’en bonne polyglotte, l’idée de lire une traduction ne me viendrait même pas à l’esprit. À quoi bon lire le trône de fer en français quand on maîtrise l’anglais ?
Cela n’a jamais posé un réel problème jusque là. Les auteurs alémaniques sont courants. Je ne vous dis donc pas ma surprise et mon désarroi en furetant les nouveautés en fantasy, sci-fi et fantastique à la FNAC pour réaliser que, diantre, ce sont que des traductions ! Tolkien ? Je l’avais lu en anglais, allemand et français à ce moment. Robin Hobb ? Pourquoi je lirais une traduction alors que l’auteur écrit un anglais à vous faire baver ? La roue du temps ? J’étais justement en train de les lire !
Depuis, en francophonie, mon défi devenait d’aller en librairie et de trouver parmi toutes les traductions des oeuvres francophones ! Défi qui s’avère plus ardu que prévu et qui a même mis dans l’embarras des libraires et employés de salons de livres, car évidemment j’avais déjà mis la main toute seule sur les plus connus qu’on me conseillait.
Une fois, ma quête a cependant trouvé écho auprès d’une libraire. Après une longue discussion sur le genre et les différences en éditions entre la francophonie et l’Allemagne, je suis repartie avec pas moins de cinq nouveaux auteurs dans la poche. Parmi eux, Mélanie Fazi avec son recueil de nouvelles “Serpentine”.
Oui, toute cette intro pour vous parler des recueils de nouvelles de Fazi, car entre-temps, je les ai dévalisés, les trois ! Ainsi que son roman, Arlis des Forins.
Apprendre une langue : avant de commencer
On peut dire que les langues sont un peu mon dada. J’aime bien apprendre les langues, les découvrir, ou en parler. Ce blog existe dans le but d’entraîner mon français et mon anglais. Sur mon CV, mes compétences de langues sont mon atout le plus fort. Nombreux sont les gens qui me félicitent pour mon niveau, pour après insister sur leur propre incompétence dans la matière. D’autres me demandent régulièrement des avis, corrections, et autres. Une idée incongrue est née ma petite tête : plutôt que de répéter souvent les mêmes choses, pourquoi ne pas faire une série de notes sur l’apprentissage de langues ? Comment je procède, à quoi faire attention, etc. Si cela peut être utile, pourquoi pas après tout !
La catégorie “la langue au chat” contiendra tous les articles sur le sujet.
Donc j’espère que cela servira à quelques personnes. N’hésitez pas à donner votre avis, des suggestions, des sujets que vous voulez voir.
What Remains of Edith Finch
There was a time when I played a lot of video games. I even wrote reviews on a regular basis. I stopped for several reasons, but kept on playing, though not as much as before. Some reason being lack of time, but then again, when I do stumble upon a game that I believe compelling and interesting, I am still able to put hundreds of hours in it. It just doesn’t happen so much anymore, because my standards changed and I am not willing to pour my time in anything mindlessly.
That’s why I began to like short, story focused games. The Unfinished Swan was one of my first discoveries on that side, and it was a beautiful experience. So, when I heard that the same company did a new game, I jumped on it. No way I was going to miss that. What Remains of Edith Finch is released on PC and PS4, and it is a compelling interactive story that shows you how powerful video games can be in that regard if done well.
Steam gives following summary: What Remains of Edith Finch is a collection of strange tales about a family in Washington state. As Edith, you’ll explore the colossal Finch house, searching for stories as she explores her family history and tries to figure out why she’s the last one in her family left alive.
Instead of a picture, let’s have a trailer:
Nayeli 