The Backlog Check-In Vol. 449: 8/10/26: Duskfade Edition

[canedaddy]

New releases this week:

Aug. 10
T.W.I.R.L. (PC)

Aug. 11
Agent 64: Spies Never Die (PC)
Echoes of Mystralia (PC)
Ledgerbound (PC)
Sente (PC)
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered (Switch 2)

Aug. 13
CloverPit (PS5, PS4, Switch 2)
Creepshow (PC)
Defender of the Crown: The Legend Returns (PS5, PC)
Duskfade (PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, PC)
Hell Let Loose: Vietnam (PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC)
Madden NFL 27 (PS5, Xbox Series X/S
Wild Blue Skies (PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC)





Played recently: Sackboy: A Big Adventure

Finished: nothing

Added to backlog: nothing

I'm having a nice time with Sackboy... just entered the fourth area. The game has a lot of the LittleBigPlanet magic/charm, with crazy costumes, awesome artstyle, fun co-op, and all that. The 3-D platforming is a little off, though... the controls for grabbing, throwing, etc., often don't work the way you expect, and the changing camera angles/perspectives can make it very easy to miss a jump or grab. Too bad all that isn't tighter.

[isthatallyougot]

Man I played so many hours of Little Big Planet with my kid growing up. I better not think to much about those bygone days. I'll get all misty.

I finished an RPG called Faery: Legends of Avalon by Spiders. It was their first proper game, and it has some nice qualities, but also some not so nice, ha. It was a middling game, but had an enjoyable setting and it was fun being a winged-faery flitting about.

I also was greeted with a nice surprise recently when I opened Steam. Machine games gave out a free update to Quake, which I only just played for the first time this year along with all the included extra content. This new campaign is called Dawn of the Machine. It's a 19 map romp with another 4 to 5 hours of content, so I jumped back in for that. I'll be near 40 hours in Quake by the time I'm done with that. It has been such a fun time. (Yeah, I know, what year it it? )

I'm also getting sucked deep into my new OOTP league. I started a fictional league with current real-world teams and league structure, although in the year 1900, so the brand of baseball is VERY different. Pitchers throwing 175 pitches and back to 100% after 3 days rest anyone, lol! I'm nearing the half-way point of year 1 and am in a Wild Card position and playing pretty good ball. It takes a bit of time to get a feel for a new team after an inaugural draft, so I'm just now getting my bearings about who is who and how to deploy my roster most effectively. I've also made a few trades to trim the bloat in some organizational positions of strength for a better balanced big-league club and farm system. I also had to fire and hire some coaches for better staff chemistry. I couldn't let that rot infect the club, so I've spent more than I wanted to do, especially considering my owner is "Profit-first" and I'm already in the red. It's probably going to cost me my 4th round pick in this season's rookie draft because he wouldn't authorize his signing demand because it was above slot. And I really loved that player. I would have gotten a comp pick if it was in the first three rounds, but nothing if I lose this guy. Sigh,

[canedaddy]

Man I played so many hours of Little Big Planet with my kid growing up. I better not think to much about those bygone days. I'll get all misty.

Same. And it continues: This weekend, my daughter was playing Sackboy with my granddaughter on the upstairs TV while I was playing with my grandson downstairs (he's only 3 and can't do much, but he greatly enjoyed grabbing me with the grappling hook and throwing me ).

I'm also getting sucked deep into my new OOTP league. I started a fictional league with current real-world teams and league structure, although in the year 1900, so the brand of baseball is VERY different. Pitchers throwing 175 pitches and back to 100% after 3 days rest anyone, lol! I'm nearing the half-way point of year 1 and am in a Wild Card position and playing pretty good ball. It takes a bit of time to get a feel for a new team after an inaugural draft, so I'm just now getting my bearings about who is who and how to deploy my roster most effectively. I've also made a few trades to trim the bloat in some organizational positions of strength for a better balanced big-league club and farm system. I also had to fire and hire some coaches for better staff chemistry. I couldn't let that rot infect the club, so I've spent more than I wanted to do, especially considering my owner is "Profit-first" and I'm already in the red. It's probably going to cost me my 4th round pick in this season's rookie draft because he wouldn't authorize his signing demand because it was above slot. And I really loved that player. I would have gotten a comp pick if it was in the first three rounds, but nothing if I lose this guy. Sigh,

That game is pretty wild.

[isthatallyougot]

Man I played so many hours of Little Big Planet with my kid growing up. I better not think to much about those bygone days. I'll get all misty.

Same. And it continues: This weekend, my daughter was playing Sackboy with my granddaughter on the upstairs TV while I was playing with my grandson downstairs (he's only 3 and can't do much, but he greatly enjoyed grabbing me with the grappling hook and throwing me ).

I'm also getting sucked deep into my new OOTP league. I started a fictional league with current real-world teams and league structure, although in the year 1900, so the brand of baseball is VERY different. Pitchers throwing 175 pitches and back to 100% after 3 days rest anyone, lol! I'm nearing the half-way point of year 1 and am in a Wild Card position and playing pretty good ball. It takes a bit of time to get a feel for a new team after an inaugural draft, so I'm just now getting my bearings about who is who and how to deploy my roster most effectively. I've also made a few trades to trim the bloat in some organizational positions of strength for a better balanced big-league club and farm system. I also had to fire and hire some coaches for better staff chemistry. I couldn't let that rot infect the club, so I've spent more than I wanted to do, especially considering my owner is "Profit-first" and I'm already in the red. It's probably going to cost me my 4th round pick in this season's rookie draft because he wouldn't authorize his signing demand because it was above slot. And I really loved that player. I would have gotten a comp pick if it was in the first three rounds, but nothing if I lose this guy. Sigh,

That game is pretty wild.

It's so cool that you get the generational hand-off experience. That's not something I can presently enjoy, but who can say what the future holds? My kid used to love making impossible levels to torture me as well as peppering me with stickers, slapping me and just causing all sorts of headaches for "fun". (And it surely was fun!) LBP surely had loads of depth if you wanted to plumb the depths of what it could do, and the main campaigns were fun enough as well. I still think Dreams should have been released on PC, although it may not have gained significant traction there either. Hard to tell with these things sometimes.

As for OOTP, yeah, it surely is.

[crimson_tide]

Played: FF7 Intermission, Pirate Yakuza

Beat: FF7 Intermission

Bought: FF16 complete, Unicorn Overlord, FF7 Rebirth

This week: Pirate Yakuza then FF16

So. FF7 Intermission. Bruh, these games are gorgeous. And pure spectacle. And I love the battle system because it's just Kingdom Hearts. Also, you can't tell me they didn't just make an FF Yakuza. It practically has the same substory structure and the tonal whiplash And the ending of Intermission made me immediately want to jump on Rebirth while it was cheap. And then FF16 exists AND is also on sale with the DLC so yes. And I have have been meaning to buy Unicorn Overlord forever. Also on sale. So this should take me through the end of the year and into next year. Then I can be ready for FF7 Revelation. Been a pretty tight gaming summer. Next week is family vacation in Martha's Vineyard so I will Steam Deck it. If I don't just jump right back into DQ Builders 2, I have a ton to pick through on there. Like a ludicrous amount. It's bad. It's a bad, bad backlog on there ..

Oh and Pirate Yakuza is fine. Too easy both in naval combat and normal combat since they gave very early access to all of Majima's boss abilities. So everything is just a breeze. But I like the breezy nature, the game is ridiculous and dumb. The opening once you get the ship... YouTube it if you aren't going to play it,'s ludicrous and I loved it!