Week of 15 Oct 2023
“It’s impossible to move on.”
Achievements Earned In:
- The Book of Unwritten Tales 2
- Just Dance
- State of Decay
- Signalis
- Hokko Life
- Vampire Survivors
I ended up being out all morning on Sunday at a birthday party, then took my sweet time writing my blog entry, so I only played The Book of Unwritten Tales 2 really quickly to get an achievement to continue my streak for the day.
Achievements unlocked: 5 (+1) | Completion: 10%
After TommyToday gifted Just Dance to me last year, I finally got back around to one of my favorite franchises on Monday and… it did not go well. This was a game that Electrinity and I always liked to play together or watch each other play. I tried, I did, to play this and get back on my exercise routine, but halfway through my second song I just broke-down and had a major meltdown. I miss playing this series, but it looks like I’m just not ready yet. But, once I do finally get back on the dancefloor, this is probably by far the easiest list of any of these games, so it definitely won’t take long. Though I sadly have to use my phone.
Achievements unlocked: 1 (+1) | Completion: 7%
The very first thing I did in State of Decay this week was knock out the final mission in the base game campaign, which took, like, five minutes. You have to defend a wall from a few waves of zombies and freaks, so with my empowered first survivor and cache of powerful weapons and meds, this was really easy. With that out of the way (and still without unlocking the dying achievement!) I moved to the Lifeline add-on. This was actually more my speed, with your post-apocalypse adventure contained to an urban cityscape that just feels more enjoyable. You’re tasked with searching the area for supplies and MVPs to evacuate, holding off a massive horde of zombies every 30 minutes that descend upon your home base. It’s pretty easy overall and I only lost a couple survivors, though you really have to keep an eye on the missable achievements and keep the necessary survivors safe to unlock everything. And with a little save-scumming (man, I miss being able to do that) you can get both endings fairly easily, too. And I still haven’t died!
Achievements unlocked: 36 (+9) | Completion: 78%
But, say we tried. For science.
In the next batch of games leaving the Game Pass library, there’s Signalis, a game most achievement hunters have been completing the game by using a debug menu. I’ve heard since its release that the game is supposed to be pretty good. And, with a completion time of only a few hours, I figured I’d complete it but the proper way. It’s an isometric-view survival horror game where you make your way through a mining facility that has been onset by murderous infected robotic workers. For the completion itself, you have to complete the game on the hardest difficulty while also grabbing a couple optional weapons. Using a guide over on Neoseeker, I was easily able to follow along, get lots of gear, and handle the monsters roaming the halls with as little danger or backtracking as possible. The gameplay itself is pretty standard, but wow, is the story dark and twisted. And I couldn’t imagine not getting lost in the dark without a guide. By the time I reached the end boss, I hadn’t gotten the “die 16 times” achievement yet and had plenty of strong weaponry in my storebox to make it a walk in the park. A very cool (and easy) game that I’m glad I got to experience fully.
Achievements unlocked: 13 (+13) | Completed
Oh no, look at this mess! I bet a Eule unit spilled the ketchup again.
Sticking with completions on a timelimit, I decided to next try and tackle the Free Play Days game Hokko Life, which is… i-it’s Animal Crossing. This is just a pretty obvious rip-off of Animal Crossing. From the mechanics to the visual style to the music. But that’s just kind of the game I feel would be good for me right now after a really rough week mentally. The most challenge you’ll face in the game is the way fishing works, where you just have to hold a direction to reel it in. Again, this is just like Nintendo’s hit series and is very laidback. Course, unlike most playing this game, I’m on a time crunch, having to get this knocked out before the trial period ends Sunday evening. I also happened to have zero plans this weekend, for once, so could devote all of my Saturday to knocking out as much of this as I could. Most of the completion entails ticking off Merits in the journal, which then unlock more features or areas of the game for more achievements. I just finally unlocked the final villager I needed, so I can access the farm finally. Surprisingly, there’s bug and fish collection like Animal Crossing, but you only have to catch a fraction of them for the related achievements and can pretty easily get both unlocked during the initial season. The one thing the game does better than that other series (at least since I played one) is the HUGE inventory stack sizes you can have. You can also actually build your own furniture, freeform. I made a “large storage” object out of a tree. It’s just… a tree, but I stash all my stuff in it. Silly! I’m just enjoying the nice and chill vibe of the game, and I’m fairly confident I’ll get this done with time to spare.
Achievements unlocked: 22 (+22) | Completion: 71%
As I mentioned last week, another DLC came out this week for Vampire Survivors, and I popped in on Friday just after midnight to get one of the new achievements that is retroactive. Didn’t even touch any of the new content.
Achievements unlocked: 188 (+1) | Completion: 96%
Highest ratio: 5.49
EXTRA: Whiteout (Vampire Survivors)
Lowest ratio: 1.00 (tie)
SYNCHRONIZITÄT (Signalis)
Meet and Greet (Hokko Life)
