PIT STOP: Darkest Dungeons II Kingdoms thoughts

The irony is this is 3/4th of the team I actually used

We have just finished 'Secrets of the Coven'; the second of three Kingdoms expansions and I enjoyed the heck out of it. We also have 4 of the 6 new achievements as well so there is that.

This was originally going to be a commentary and my thoughts on it and then I realized I never did one for the first Kingdoms expansion, 'Hunger of the Beastmen'. I was then in two minds whenever to just wait for the third one, the one involving the Crimson Court and go all in or to write about the initial two expansions first. I was still under decided when I started writing this blog lol.

However looking at the release dates for the expansions so far, with 'Hunger...' coming out in January and 'Secrets...' coming out in April, I have a feeling the third and maybe final one will be out before the end of the year so we are going to just wait and do a big RAVE of all three.

Overall, this mode is really fun and the fact that its all free content blows my mind. I would have definitely paid money for a 'season pass' of DD II content. Speaking of; Red Hook is offering a ' Infernal Supporter' pack with special made skins for the heroes and the wagon which I am definitely going to buy when I have the money because 1) I love to support them for all work they have done and 2) it is not egregiously charged at all at only $5 and 3) I mean look at them!

The tiny details are also amazing in how they change not only their looks but their weapons as well.

So yeah; I have also realized I never wrote a RAVE for Darkest Dungeon II so I endeavor to make a much longer RAVE for Darkest Dungeon II and Kingdoms once the final expansion drops and I'll keep posting updates about my achievement journey in this blogs side bar.

AV

Rave: Puzzle Quest Galactrix

 A universe filled with possibilities, waring factions and one hero trying to find purpose. All condensed into trying to make the gems fall in the damn direction they want. Such is the triumph and tribulations of Puzzle Quest Galactrix. A game I can say without a doubt, I enjoy but at the same time can not stand hence Rave, smaller case. Part of this Rave is also connected to my previous blog PIT STOP/ LIST. In that blog we discuss my favorite game genres and specifically my love for the puzzle game genre. Top of the list of puzzle games I enjoy are games made by Infinity Plus Two previously known as Infinite Interactive. This studio based out of Victoria, Australia created two of the most addictive puzzle games I have ever played under the umbrella of Puzzle Quest. The first was the original Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords and the other is a game I've been playing non-stop for almost 17 years; Marvel Puzzle Quest. Between these two watershed moments (for me at least) they made countless spin-offs like Puzzle Chronicles and Puzzle Kingdoms, however unlike Puzzle Chronicles or Kingdoms, Galactrix is a spin off that has the Puzzle Quest name attached to it, so whilst it is not a direct sequel (which exists) Galactrix is more of a spiritual sequel in the way Bloodborne is Dark Souls adjacent.

My personal history with Galactrix is not that complex, I loved puzzle games from a young age and I've always played them. When I found out about the original (and best) Puzzle Quest was a Bejewelled/ Match 3 puzzler with a fantasy setting and a versus aspect I was entranced. When I played it I was hooked and honestly I can not quantify how much time I put into it on the Xbox360 where I played it. I did multiple runs with multiple classes, I bought the DLC and completed that, heck my wallpaper on my Xbox360 is an official Puzzle Quest one. All this is to say, Puzzle Quest Challenge of the Warlords is in my top 10 favorite games of all time, easy. However this is not a RAVE about that one, it is about Galactrix and well this one is a mixed bag. I picked it up, many years ago on PC CD Rom of all places based on my love for the original. I heard talk it was nowhere near as addictive or as good as the first but for me it was a non brainer. Puzzle Quest elements and my second favorite fictional genre (the first being fantasy). I recall playing it on my laptop and I enjoyed it but at the same time I was also very frustrated with it but more on that later. Despite my frustrations with it, I still enjoyed it enough that I also bought it for my Xbox360 as well and much later I somehow also ended up getting it on Steam as well. I am saying somehow because I never recall buying it but I remember adding it to Steam when I was first building my Steam collection and I even promptly 'hide' it because I was not playing it. Well early this month I was searching for something to play now I done with Darkest Dungeon II (well at least until the next Kingdoms update comes out) and I realized I wanted to do a nostalgic dive into my past. I first tried playing Galactrix on my Xbox360 but I quickly realize these type of puzzle games are really not fun with a controller which is hilarious to me because I have been a controller user for years but certain games just feel better with Mouse & Keyboard, the aforementioned Darkest Dungeon is another case where I just can't with a controller, it is just too cumbersome. Anyhow, I decided to play it on my computer through Steam and that is when I remember I already own Galactrix on Steam, I just hide it from my library. I immediately load it up on my Steam Deck and it felt sluggish and crashed numerous times. I was blown away by how unplayable it was. Turns out Galactrix runs much better on older hardware, who thunk it, so I immediately switched to my regular PC desktop, changed some compatibility settings and whilst it is not perfect (still crashes randomly especially during the hacking mini games) it is a much better experience. With it now working, I found myself re-immersed all over again and as of this blog, I have completed it in its entirety (most side-quests done as well) for the second time and to my surprise, my feelings about it is still exactly the same. I like it. I like it a lot but the flaws in it are pretty bad and the back to back replay value is non existent hence Rave.

Lets dive into it a bit deeper now. One of the things that the original Puzzle Quest mastered was taking the addictive match 3 formula of games like Bejewelled and added a versus element to it. The gems still fell from the top to the bottom but now it was turned based versus an opponent with a life bar which you depleted by matching damaging gems aka skulls. Regular gems have a corresponding colors to match and match 4 of the same gave you an extra turn, matching the colored gems build up your 'mana' pool and you can cast spells/ use abilities. Simple and easy to pick up and addictive in its design. Galactrix however decided to change up this formula and instead of a square box and gems drop down from above, it is instead a hexagonal one and the gems fall based on 'gravity' since we are technically in space. Whilst it sounds cool in theory, in play, the way the game handles how the gems drop is a prime reason why it frustrates the hell out of me. Now Puzzle Quest has always had a pretty dirty CPU, the gem drops, the damaging gems especially never seemed to fall in your favor and many times playing PQ you will find yourself on the receiving end of some nasty cascades of gems ending with a loss screen on your side. Some folks have placed this down to confirmation bias (where you only remember the bad and never the times when you got cascades that benefitted you) however a lot of people feel the same. You will not win every encounter in Puzzle Quest and even with a good set-up you will get some times get screwed over. However PQ also makes it where you can at least sort of predict how it will go because the gems will always drop from the top to the bottom. Galactrix takes this formula and literally flips it on its head, the gems now fall based on the 'direction' you match them in but after 60 + hours with the game it rarely feels like gravity is going the way I planned it and it cause tons of weird movement on the board, combined that with the dirty AI (it makes sense to call the enemy AI in a game setting like this) who seems to get a lot of cascades in their favor especially when it comes to damaging gems (in this case mines not skulls) and unlike in Puzzle Quest where a match 4 gives you another turn, this game you need to do a match 5 and its much harder (not for the AI tho) you are constantly hit by a wealth of enemy abilities with next to no cool down. One particular enemy for example seems to constant spam a ability that drains your most valuable color non-stop due to its very short cool down and the enemy constantly having enough mana for it from the crazy cascades it keeps getting. Another one has an ability that drains half of your overall health and without fail it seems to be able to do it a couple of times during a battle. A ability like that should only be able to used once a battle but nope, wait 4-5 turns and the ability is ready to go again. Also a tactic the AI loves to do is when you use an ability, the AI will instant respond with its own damaging attack. In this game, 85% of the abilities end your turn and a mis-match costs you health and your turn, however say you do not want to match any gems because you feel a bad cascade is about to happen so you purposely put the ball in the AI court, the AI without fail have an ability on deck so you will still need to make the gem match you did not want to do. It is very frustrating just how unforgiving the AI is and a lot of the early battles will end with a lot of loss and cussing from the player. The AI was annoying in Puzzle Quest no doubt but in Galactrix, it feels like it has a personal vendetta against you, your wife, your pets and even your ancestors. Yes, it hates you that much. It feels like a free-mium/ pay to win type of game like Candy Crush where it is rarely in your favor and after playing it for the second time to its completion the beginning and middle of the game is some of the most frustrating parts of it due to it. Now funny enough, the game is also so un-balanced and once your have access to the OP abilities the enemy has through even buying them or through the crafting mini game and better ships, you can become just as OP as the enemy and then the game becomes a cake walk. This most recent playthrough, I crafted the OP half life stealing lazer and used it relentlessly and I even one shot the final boss thanks to it. It is truly all or nothing and whilst I enjoyed giving the enemy a taste of its own medicine, it also felt strange a 'massive' challenge was trivialized. The cheating AI is sadly not the only reason why this game gets just a Rave from me, no, it is time to talk about hacking jump-gates.

This mini game will be the bane of your enjoyment of this game

Galactrix for some weird reason decided to lock all game progression behind hacking jump-gates. Every area has to be 'unlocked' via the hacking mini-game. This mini-game is not a versus one, it is however a race against time and you need to match gems in a certain sequence and in some cases the time limit is very strict. You still need to deal with the gravity and the silly thing is the gravity now causes tons of un-intentional cascades which do not benefit you at all and if anything a long cascade is actually harmful to your cause and runs down your already precious time. This system is definitely not well thought out, imagine playing Dark Souls and every-time you get to a room, not a new area, a room, you need to do some gimmick to unlock the door so you can proceed in the game. Most of the jump-gates do stay open after an initial hacking but some gates go 'off-line' and need to be hacked all over again. Why? Nobody knows. Thankfully one of the early balance patches for the game had it where you can use a gainable resource to unlock gates without hacking but that resource is limited and you are mainly using that to avoid battles if you end up in hostile areas so to dive into that pool constantly will mess you up in other places. My solution for this is simple, if you want jump-gates then fine but use them sparingly such as side quest locations/ end game areas not as overall progression blocker. This system alone drops the RAVE to a Rave by default. It is that badly implemented. It is so annoying that one of the more popular mods for the game turns the hacking game into a one step process and if I ever play this game again on PC I will surely use it now I've done it the way the game intended me to play it at least twice.

All the mini-games are serviceable too and sadly as a successor, this Puzzle Quest actually steps backwards. By collecting NPCs, just like in PQ you build a little motely crew, however all these NPCs do are give you access to mini-games, add some flavor text in certain situations and provide you with some their own side quests. Each mini-game is a variant of the main game but now you need to hit a quota if you doing the crafting game or you need to get rid of all the gems if you are doing the haggling one, none of them are particular fun and all have the same difficulty curve the main game has. However the big step back is all of these NPCs are forced on you and you recruit them by default so you can progress in the game and unlike the NPCs in the original Puzzle Quest, none of them give you any benefits in battle or in the game itself and you can't release them from your service either unless the game forces you. Your ship too is not like your mount in PQ where it gives you certain buffs for riding them, nope, you simply keep upgrading your ship so you can have more space for more abilities. You have zero options in character development too, everyone is generic space guy or gal. All of these are step backs from the choices and the type of builds you can make in the original. You can decided to use different abilities but in the end you simply want the biggest ship with the most cargo capacity and highest stats so you can use the most OP abilities. There is no point to go with a small lithe ship that specializes in hit and run tactics because the game will funnel you down a path where it just won't be enough to win and as we previously discussed, this AI plays to win... always.

Puzzle Chronicles AKA when you let the B team takeover the art.

We normally talk about the visual appeal/ music in these RAVES and I must say they nailed the look of the game. Even for back in the day, the visuals are good, fitting well into the setting and character models and ships they fly look well drawn. These artist are definitely from the Puzzle Quest team and not the spin-offs cause boy, some of the spin-off artists art is rough to say the least. The music however is nothing to write home about and even funnier is I found out the music actually contributed to some of the crashing on modern hardware. You are not missing much, its very generic space opera sounding stuff you would hear in a Star Trek or Babylon 5 series, the fact is I ended up muting it and nothing of value was lost. However a stickler is the sound effects and boy some of the sounds they choose can get very irritating, especially that mana draining weapon I mentioned before and sadly because they spam it so much, you'll hear it... a lot. If I did not need some of the sounds to play the game I would mute the sound effects too, it can get that bad.

So by this point, you might be wondering why this game still gets a Rave which by my ranking system is the second best rating you can get on this blog (going in this order from best to worst RAVE, Rave, OKAY, Okay, RANT). Well, here is the kicker. I still enjoyed this game, despite it numerous short-comings it is at its a core a fun puzzle game with some light RPG elements. The aesthetics are more then serviceable, the NPCs whilst not fully formed are a likeable bunch of misfits and the story is compelling enough you want to see it through to the end. I started playing this game again seriously on Tuesday and I devoured it in a couple days simply because I enjoyed it. It is a short, fun, romp with some very bad balance and a aggressive AI but it kept me playing and it kept making me come back to it and a game that is just OKAY would not compel me to do that. Buried deep in this game is still the DNA of a game I really love and whilst it is nowhere near as compelling as the original and I probably will not do another playthrough anytime soon I am happy I got lost in space with this one again. It was a trek worth taking despite the war I had with some of it systems. It truly is a game I like that I low key can not stand.

AV

LIST/ PIT STOP: My Three Favorite Gaming Genres

For anyone who knows me they know when it comes to gaming I have three genres that I love. Of course there is fighting games which most people know about me. I have played Tekken competitively for most of my gaming life and it was only with the advert of Tekken 8 that I quit it. It is a long story why but let's just say with all the changes going on with that game I am happy I never invested anytime in it. Before that tho, I played competitively Tekken Tag Tournament, Tekken 5 (all versions), Tekken 6 (all versions), Tekken Tag Tournament 2 (my least favorite Tekken that I played seriously) and Tekken 7. Outside of Tekken I have also played many installment of the King of Fighters, Street Fighter 2 and the Alpha series (with Alpha 2 being the last one I enjoyed), Dead or Alive 1 to 4, Marvel vs Capcom series, Virtua Fighter 2 all the way to 5 including the most recent update R.E.V.O and most recently Under Night In-Birth. However with all that history under my belt, I have realized I no longer feel the need to play fighters seriously anymore and I un-officially retired myself after I realize all the new versions of the games I enjoyed did not do it for me. So no MK1, no SF6 and no Tekken 8. Also when COVID ran rampant it really took away my competitive drive and I never got it back. I will not lie tho, if KOF 13 or Virtua Fighter 5 is being played seriously, I am there.

This is my Darkest Dungeon before Darkest Dungeon

My second favorite genre is Strategic RPGs or any type of similar turn based games. This all started with arguably one of my favorite games of all times and my favorite Genesis/ Megadrive (as we called it in Australia) Shining Force 2. Man, do I love that game. Playing that really got me into turn based games and its why I have not connected with all these 'real time with pause' RPGs. Nope, give me a good ol' fashion turn based RPG like Final Fantasy X and I am there. This love of turn based mechanics rolled over into similar games with the same ideas hence my love of both Darkest Dungeons. If the roguelite/ roguelike I am playing has turned based mechanics, I am in heaven. I love planning my moves and watching if I did it correctly.

Where it all began.

Finally Going all the way back to Tetris on the NES/ Gameboy and Columns on my Megadrive/ Game Gear, Puzzle games really scratches an itch for me. For example, my most played game is Marvel Puzzle Quest which I have been playing since the game first came out, 16 years ago and according to Steam I have now invested a whooping 6,052 hrs in. I play it at least once a day to finish my daily quests and because I just enjoy it. They took the Puzzle Quest IP and added my favorite comic book company to it and it is like crack and I can not put it down. However it is not just MPQ that is my jam, the original Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords is still one of my favorite games of all time, it took turn based combat and combined it with a dungeons and dragons-esque setting and honestly I think it was my most played Xbox 360 game hands down. The subsequent sequel which changed a lot of things but at its core was still Puzzle Quest was also a fun time and I look back fondly on that game as well. The guys at Infinite Interactive (and much later Infinity Plus Two) really found the secret sauce to make one of my most addictive gameplay loops I have ever played and they are Australian too to top it off. Another one of their games is the game I am currently playing right now, Puzzle Quest Galactrix.

We have arrived at our point ;p

 Galactrix really is a different take on the genre Infinity Plus Two mastered with a hexagon game board and gravity affecting how the gems fall. Add a Sci-Fi setting similar to Star Trek and I was hooked as well when I first played it. I actually recall playing Galactrix non-stop after I bought a PC Rom of it way back in the day, I subsequently brought it for my Xbox360 and I own it on Steam as well. Weird because out of all the Puzzle Quest games I've played, Galactrix maybe my least favorite lol. Now if we talking about Infinity Plus Two games, it'll probably come before Puzzle Chronicles (a very unique take on the genre they made for Konami) and Gems of War, the spiritual successor of Puzzle Quest which I played a ton of when I first got my PS4 because a) it a puzzle game by my favorite puzzle game developers and b) it was free. However I quickly discovered Gems of War is FILLED with play to win tactics, FOMO characters and just did not have the 'charm' their older games had. Sadly I heard they doubled down with what made Gems of War a 'Freemium' game aka pay to win gatcha style games when they released Puzzle Quest 3 and well, I think the charm is completely gone now and I do not think I'll ever play it despite it being 'Free'. Sad because before their descent into mobile game/ FOMO/ gatcha/ freemium slop I would have placed them in my top 5 favorite game developers but now I can only say I enjoy their old works.

Anyhow this quick walk down memory lane is mainly a preface, a PITSTOP if you will before my next RANT/ RAVE and I feel its time to really put down how I feel about the black sheep of the Puzzle Quest franchise. In my next blog, it is time to talk about Galactrix and how it is the most fun game that I low-key can't stand.

AV

Victory: Grand Slam COMPLETED (Darkest Dungeon II)

 

Anyone who knows me knows I love me some Darkest Dungeon, both games have gotten pretty extensive coverage on my blog. The above achievement is one of the most elusive achievements for Darkest Dungeon II that I have ever attempted and I can proudly say, last night I did it.

I called in a lot of help but the main thing is I defeated all 5 of the major bosses (or as they are known in-game, the Confessional bosses) and the funniest part is it was not with the team I was attempting with it the most. That team was a Plague focused backline hitting team of Plague Doctor/ Occultist/ Flagellant/ Man-at-Arms squad but a lot of time this team would fall apart due to either Occultist notorious low health or us running into death a lot because of Flagellant. Some of these failures was talked about in my previous blog series featuring Darkest Dungeon II last year. It became so hard and made me feel so downtrodden that I stopped attempting the Grand Slam and I started playing other games. I rarely give up on something I dedicated this much time too (63 hrs since picking it back up 2 weeks ago) but at the same time, it felt impossible.

Fast forward to 2025, with the DD II 'Kingdoms' expansion and the 'Inhuman Bondage' DLC coming out I knew I wanted to get back into DDII eventually and got back into it I did, 'Kingdoms' itself was a very unique experience and finally completing that campaign even on the 'easiest' difficulty was some hard work but me and my heroes got it done (I think after I complete my second Kingdoms' run I'll write a full blog about that too). One of the biggest take-aways from Kingdoms is it is hard to keep running your favorite team because of the 'Fatigue' mechanic and basically Fatigue means if you keep using the same heroes they eventually lose up to 50% of their health if you push them too hard. Because of this I started experimenting with some new different team compositions that was not my team above. It was during this experimenting phase I finally found a team that did everything I needed and more. So with a little fanfare, let me introduce you to 'Holy Fyre' the Squad that helped me finally obtain the Grand Slam trophy.

Bringing up the rear is my trusty Vestal who I named Kassie.

Every squad needs a healer and whilst Vestal is not as strong in that department as she was in Darkest Dungeon, she is still gets the job done. Surprisingly what was previously my favorite path Seraph was not what I needed. I came to find the Confessor path was much better since her re-work. Sure, she could still heal when called upon but the 'Mantra' skill change meant I could finally get rid of de-buffs and her 'Illumination' could get rid of buffs on my enemies, especially annoying ones like Riposte and Dodge. Top that off with a hit anywhere skill like 'Judgement' that does good damage as well as stuns at higher levels of power helped me hit annoying rank 4 enemies pretty hard which is definitely a much needed skill in this game. Since her re-work, Vestal no longer feels like an after-thought like she did when the game first came out which is awesome because I feel she was unjustly nerfed too hard mainly because she was such a popular character (due to healing spam) in the original DD.

Holding it down for the third rank is my favorite character, the Occultist, whom I named Eli.

As stated above, the Occultist is my favorite character in Darkest Dungeon II and in running for my favorite character in the original as well (going toe to toe with Shieldbreaker) so you know I wanted him in a team that was going to obtain the Grand Slam. I didn't play around with his classes tho and went with Warlock like I usually go for and just did what I always did. Slam folks in the back rank with 'Abyssal Artillery', pulled folks closer and put a combo token on them for my front rank people to exploit with 'Daemon Pull' and of course, drop a bomb on them when possible with 'The Burning Stars'. Much like Vestal, Occultist being such a flexible support unit is what made him work in this team. However the MVP is surprisingly going to someone else. 

As mentioned, the MVP of 'Holy Fyre' is none other than Runaway, whom I named Jasper

Now I will not front. I did not know about Runaway's true potential until I was deep into Kingdoms. After a pretty steep learning curve when I tried her originally I did not like her. I did not like that despite being a 'fire' based character she was still vulnerable to fire like everyone else, her skills were counterproductive in the Sprawl aka where everyone is basically immune to fire damage and I did not like how she had to dance when she attacked. Then, I discovered 'Smokescreen' and everything changed. Smokescreen being a move you can use at any rank and it can hit ranks 1 to 3 on the enemy and inflict blind, vulnerable and combo? Blind being a key component in winning runs and avoiding damage since stuns were made into a 2 part process instead of instantly like in Darkest Dungeon? Smokescreen was also amazing because of how it works on so many enemies, even bosses. 'Ransack' was also a less effective version of 'Daemon's Pull' but it got the job done in getting enemies away from the back ranks and 'Cauterize' healing bleeding folks came in useful too. Finally her last key component was her role as the set up for my front line, with 'Smokescreen' as mentioned but her 'Firefly' cause combo and put burn on folks which my # 1 rank loved to exploit. Speaking of...

Finishing out the squad and my all rounder is my Crusader, whom I keep as his default name, Reynauld. I actually think his default name suits him so we ran with it.

I never knew until I did more research just how much Runaway and Crusader have so much synergy. Much like how Jester and Vestal formed Jestal in the original Darkest Dungeon, I feel Cruaway is a perfect pairing. I choose the Aggressor path which specializes in holy fire and low-key inspired the name for the squad. Of course, he is also our main stress healer and could pitch in with some healing when needed. In later runs when I realized he could be pushed into rank 3 by Runaway's dancing, I got to use my favorite skill of his 'Holy Lance' to get back to front and slam opponents as well but his main call to fame was 2 specific skills. 'Stunning Blow' took full advantage of the combo placed on enemies by Runaway and Occultist and put them to sleep and I found a lot of use for his 'Reap' skill which by-passed many enemies annoying death armor if they were on fire which Runaway supplied in spades and sometimes I was able to kill 2 enemies at once. Crusader was really the missing piece of this puzzle and because of how well he exploited the burn status that all 3 other members of the squad put on enemies they were truly a unstoppable team. Also I killed 2 birds with one stone (much like Reap does) and I got the Battle Hardened achievement too which requires you to apply 5 memories onto the Crusader and that was easy since we were doing the Grand Slam anyway.

There you have it, 'Holy Fyre' the team that helped me perform the impossible.

Grand Slam COMPLETED.

AV

P.S It goes without saying the narration of Darkest Dungeon I and II really helps enhance the experience and one of the reasons I love playing it with my sound turned up and not play background music like I normally do. The man who provided the narration, Wayne June is such a important part of the atmosphere of Darkest Dungeon series that it is sad to say we as a fanbase lost him on January 2025. I just wanted to acknowledge the sadness we all share and thank him for his contributions. It goes without saying, the DD games won't be the same without him. 

Rest In Peace Mr. June.

LIST: Top 5 Hardest Moves in VF 5: R.E.V.O

 

So I decided to make a LIST but with a video. Here are my Top 5 hardest moves in Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O (in my opinion).

I am also making a slight (very slight) push into content creation again and this video is also available as a Youtube short AND a TikTok (yes I finally doing TikToks).

The intro music is done by yours truly.

AV

Rave: The Hex

     The Hex is a unique mind-trip which could have only been conjured up by the twisted mind of Daniel Mullin Games (DMG). The same folks who made the amazing (RAVE) Inscryption which I have recently confessed to my wife maybe in my top 10 favorite games of all time to the good but flawed Pony Island (which I gave an OKAY rating last February, time flies right). I always wanted to finish the Daniel Mullin's trilogy so when 2025 dawned I decided to go ahead and do it. The Hex is a great concept and almost got the highest praise from this blog but I had issues with it that moved it back to just Rave instead of RAVE.  Let me explain why. Preface as well, I will be referencing my previous reviews of DMG games a lot in this Rave so if you have not read them, do check them out as well.

OKAY: Pony Island

RAVE: Inscryption

    Before we dive in, lets chat about spoilers. This review will talk about every aspect of the game and that means I will give away a lot. I highly recommend that if you have a real interest in playing it to play it yourself first, as 'blind' as possible and then come back to this review. Unlike my Inscryption review, which I felt is still a relatively new game, I did not wanted to give away too much of it mystic but The Hex has been out for at least 7 years now so if you are looking for an review of The Hex in the year of our lord 2025, you know what you are getting yourself into.

    At its core, The Hex is a murder mystery, a narrative driven experience with fourth wall breaks galore, a trademark of DMG. Like Pony Island before it, The Hex has a very simplistic look and a very simple interface but underneath the surface however lies a lot of depth and a story which once it pulls you in will compel you to keep going to the end like a spell.

    The Hex leverages the fact that you are a gamer, our six main characters are all pulled from some type of genre you have played or have seen before, be it a fighting game, a turned based RPG, First Person Shooter or even an immersive sim. The Hex actually does something I really enjoyed with Inscryption and that is the rug pull, the 'when you are comfortable playing it this way,' we are going to switch it up on you but The Hex even does it better than Inscryption because this rug pull happens a lot and each time is logical why it is done.

    One minute you are fighting a dragon and managing your mana and your squad, using items to boost your stats and the next minute, you have now listening the musings of a man who may have sold his soul so he could get the bag. Overall, the experience is unlike any other and it goes even deeper than that. I mentioned in my previous Pony Island review that even tho I did not really like the gameplay, I still stuck around for the story. The story and stories (emphasis on stories) behind the scenes is part of the appeal of Daniel Mullins Games so by the end we find out who our murderer is but we are allowed to go deeper and that is when things get really crazy and I felt the deeper I got into it, the more I enjoyed it. Unlike Pony Island, which I completed and dived back in for some quick achievements but then promptly moved on from, I am still entranced by The Hex. It has worked its magic on me so I am doing lore dives, I am doing multiple quick runs (again thanks to the wonders of Chapter Select, such a great tool you get once you beat the game) to unlock more achievements and find out more secrets. Like Inscryption, I am invested in this world and it is a trip. Also kudos to DMG for planting seeds in The Hex that would come to fruition in Inscryption and also building on the over-reaching meta story he established in Pony Island (long and short, Satan loves game development, make of that what you will).

    However despite all this praise, I still feel I need to give The Hex the second highest recommendation on this blog which is Rave (not all caps). I enjoyed my time with it no doubt but some of game design could get a bit too obtuse and the puzzle solving aspects to get to the 'game within a game' parts felt a bit drawn out for me. Also, DMG decided to bring back my least favorite element of all his games. The faux-programmer scenes.

    

Hello Darkness my Old Friend.

    

    Again referencing my Pony Island review, the faux-programming scenes are my least favorite aspects of the game and in all honesty, the aspect of having to do them again really puts me off wanting to play it again for the achievements. There is a similar type of puzzles in Inscryption and they are also my least favorite part of that game as well. It is funny that this time time around, DMG actually acknowledged how it is not for everyone and how the main reason why it exists is to give people a preview into what it is like to 'code' for games but sadly the fact that it comes near the tail end of the game when I was really enjoying, as artificial road blocks, it really brought my mood down. Now unlike Pony Island's 'puzzles' The Hex makes them much more manageable and I only really got 'stuck' on one or two of them and was able to solve them without a guide but overall it was no way near as rage educing as Pony Island's ones.

    

    I also thought the soundtrack was only passable especially compared to Inscryption perfect mood music however I will say the OST used during the FPS scenes are bangers and I enjoyed that a lot. Overall, this aspects mentioned in the last couple paragraphs brought The Hex down a couple notches in my book and makes it still a very enjoyable game with a amazing story but honestly like Pony Island, it truly feels like both it and this game were just the stepping stones DMG needed to really cut their teeth on before making a truly amazing experience. It is with this in mind, I feel DMG next big game 'Pony Island 2: Panda Circus' will be even better and take me back to the highs Inscryption did for me.

Game 'Crashes'. Fourth Wall breaks? Yep We are so Back.

    I will not lie. I had no idea until I went back to re-read my Pony Island OKAY review to realize it had been almost a full year since I played it. I bought both Pony Island and The Hex as a double pack after falling completely in love with Inscryption and I was looking forward to playing both of them. However the Pony Island experience was just not for me and it actually made me not look forward to playing The Hex because I thought it would be more of the same. Thankfully, I decided to finally move past it (only took a year lol) and I am happy I did. Whilst it is not as mind altering as Inscryption was it does tell me I do enjoy Daniel Mullins Games and that I enjoy the ideas he brings. Especially with gaming rapidly getting more vapid and artificial. Triple A games are becoming so boring to me and the makers of these game are always looking into whatever ways they can nickel and dime us and turn our hobby/ passion into monetary gains *cough Ubisoft cough* so it makes me happy we have Indie game makers like DMG making games for gamers.

    Performance-wise I played this entirely on my Steam Deck with M&K and I had zero problems setting it up and no crashes (unless I made it crash lol). This is no surprise because it is now 7 yrs old and it is already not a super taxing game graphics wise but still a win is a win. It also is actually very cheap even when it is not on sale and it is constantly on sale too.

    

    The Hex is surprisingly not talked about much outside of the DMG community. A lot of people know about Inscryption now (especially since Playstation has it for free on their PS Plus catalogue, play Inscryption if you have not btw) and it surprisingly getting a lot of attention from the streamer community. Folks know about Pony Island and that it is a mind breaking trip to the point where it is actually getting a sequel but The Hex looks like it is lost in the shuffle and I really feel it deserves more love hence this Rave. This is a type of game that sticks with you, that makes you want to explore every nook and cranny inside and outside of the game to extract as many secrets from it as you can. More than anything, it is a compelling illusion of simple game design hiding complex depth and well deserving of this Rave.

AV

Looking Back and Looking Forward

     As we welcome 2025, I looked back on the year that was.

    This blog definitely feel by the wayside as my focus shifted first to family then to just taking a break for myself. I did keep the UPDATES on my side panel and I will do that at least once a week. A part of me wants to use it as my own personal twitter as I think I will focus even less on that platform in the new year. I was doing good for a couple months especially with not posting but eventually I started posting again and as a whole I know why I did it but just using twitter is just eww.

    A big part of last year was finding a job I can actually perform in and feel rewarded doing so. I can not talk to much about it as I do like to keep somethings personal but the main thing is I now work with a non-profit that's main goal is mentoring and educating the youth. I brought in a couple of the things I enjoyed to them and the reception for it was pretty good. The main thing is because of the nature of this job I do have a bit more free-time and I've been using it wisely. I hope to do even bigger things with it in the new year and continue to make a good impression. Combined this with all my church duties which I take very seriously, work wise I am looking good.

The Surge 2 is a easy 9 out of 10 for me

     

    Gaming is still my primary focus and I've enjoyed being freed of the restraint of constantly playing and training in fighting games to the point where I can not enjoy my other game genres. Last year was a hall-mark year for new fighting games and I can honestly say non of the current crop of popular fighting games be in Mortal Kombat One, Tekken 8 or Street Fighter 6. The only fighters I have a remote interest in is Under Night In-Birth 2 and to a lesser extent KOF XV. What I do enjoy is my new goal of becoming a low-key 'achievement hunter'/ back log killer. Last year I platinumed/ got all the achievements for Dark Souls Remastered, The Surge, The Surge 2 and Dredge (at least before the final DLC came out and ruined everything lol). Nearly every game I play these days I aim to get most if not all of the achievements and its become a driving force in my gaming now. This new year will be more of the same as I hope to continue to trim down my backlog of  un-played games and it does not help that I am constantly adding to the list due Epic Game Store's yearly give-away marathon (allowing me to pick up Sifu, Vampire Survivors, Control and more for free). I know I will fall back down the pit of Darkest Dungeon II when its DLC drops, I eventually want to complete my playthrough of all recent Deck13 games (with the original Lords of the Fallen being the final one) and hope to actually play Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree this year as well, at least before Nightreign comes out which I know I'll give a try as well.

This book is a TRIP

    Another big part of last year was finding my love for reading again. Now I never stopped reading, I read graphic novels religiously but last year around my birthday I started reading novels again and since then I have completed a re-read of one of my favorite novels of all time 'Galilee', a re-read of Volume one of Hickman's Fantastic Four omnibus, the trippy 'House of Leaves' by Mark Z Danielewski and the Bible. I am current reading books I own that I never got around to reading like 'Forms of Heaven: Three Plays' by Clive Barker (writer of 'Galilee') and 'Mox', the Jon Moxley autobiography I got for Christmas one year. I hope to keep up this pace and continue to read as much as I game.

RANTS, RAVES and OKAYS should be back this year too. I might even revisit some of the games and media I recently played/ enjoyed and give them their flowers. All in all, it is a new year but I am still me, just a guy who likes to go on and on about the things I like. This year I might actually put pen to paper (or at least fingers to keyboard and blog) again.

AV