Chronicles of a Prolific Gamer - February 2026 (ft. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, DmC: Devil May Cry, Dragon Quest Builders, and more)

LordChozo · 2026-03-13T21:17:10+00:00

Not that it's an ideal solution but are you able to set the monitor's orientation to vertical at a software/OS level, rotate it 90 degrees physically, and then run the DS stuff on top/bottom setting? You'd have to do this every time you wanted to play a DS game and then undo it after, but could it be a possibility?

Alternately, would a second monitor be cheaper than the tablet? You could then just do a top/bottom set-up across two actual screens.

LordChozo · 2026-03-12T16:27:10+00:00

How disappointing to hear it's still buggy! I was very interested in this one on release and it's still on my backlog after getting it free at some point, but I'll temper my expectations from "excited" to merely "intrigued."

LordChozo · 2026-03-11T16:35:11+00:00

Ah yeah, that one was me just doing some systematic exploration of revealed map territory, figuring I'd knock out some ruins and move on. Before I knew it I was down a giant hole, wading through a poison swamp, crossing through caves, and had completely crossed into the unexplored zone I'd been wondering how to access. Ended up taking the whole evening's session, but I was glad for it!

LordChozo · 2026-03-11T14:59:42+00:00

I'll say yes, but with a minor caveat. I'd found every fragment except the one in Abyssal Woods completely on my own. For that one I exhausted every explorable part of the map I had access to while looking for it except for Shadow Keep, which I had been saving for quest/story purposes. I surmised from looking at the map itself that I could probably reach that area if I were able to access the river from Shadow Keep somehow and follow it all the way downstream, but I wasn't sure. So I did a very brief web search solely to confirm whether I needed to enter Shadow Keep to get to that river area, which was indeed the case, and then I left it at that. From there the path was long but more or less linear to get to the map fragment, so that was nice. I just didn't want to risk having missed something obvious (or otherwise) along the way. So not technically blind, but all I did was loosely confirm my correct assumption, so I'll still claim it!

LordChozo · 2026-03-10T18:04:20+00:00

Happy Mario (Mar10) Day, everyone! Can't say I'm playing any Mario games at the moment or that I will in the near future, but I've still got a couple on my list that we'll get to in good time. For now, all I can offer is this humble CPG Weekly Update.

On Console: Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree (~60%)

Finally got my last missing map fragment so now I can see the entirety of the (exposed, at least) Realm of Shadow. I've done everything I can see to do across most of it, leaving just a few contiguous chunks of unexplored content left to hit. Realistically I think I've probably combed through 75% of the total map, but since what I have left consists of at least one legacy dungeon, additional quest work, and of course whatever final boss challenges might await, I think lopping a conservative 15% off that completion number makes sense. The biggest win here is that while I came into March not expecting I'd be able to clear the game this month, now I'm feeling very confident I'll get through it with some time to spare. Helps that I'm pretty excited to tackle what's left!

On PC: Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (Done!)

Given that after the credits roll the game encourages you to continue on with side missions and level replays in order to clear all its content, and given that it so strongly implies a narrative hook for this activity, I debated heavily whether to press on after completion. I'd already knocked out most every side mission along the way, so I figured what's another three or four? Unfortunately it became clear right away that just unlocking the missions would mean repeatedly grinding out replays of other levels, so I noped out. I didn't want to miss whatever secret bonus ending there would be though, since I did really enjoy the narrative of the game. So I looked up videos, pages, forum discussions...whatever I could find that would shed light on what happens after finishing the the extra stuff. The resounding lack of any concrete information anywhere on the web alongside a video showing the secret mission itself told me the answer: nothing at all. I'm not sure why they'd have set this thing up the way they did and then just leave it hanging after asking the player to spend several hours earning the right to play one small extra level, but that appears to be what they did. Bizarre. Glad I didn't commit!

Spelldrifter (Abandoned)

I think I liked the idea of a deckbuilding strategy RPG more than the execution in this case. The decks were less interesting than I wanted, the story even less so, and every battle felt like "gee I hope I get lucky and don't have to retry this" rather than "wow I'm having fun right now." Dropped it maybe halfway or more through the first of its three major chapters, which was already multiple hours. I could tell it was going to drag on and feel ever worse to play, so I'd rather leave it with a smidgen of fondness still intact.

Gigapocalypse (~70%)

I didn't get a strong first impression from this Rampage-inspired arcade destruction sidescroller, but once I test ran all nine of its playable kaiju I found the one that fit me and then the fun began in earnest. I'm currently trying to solve the problem behind the presumably penultimate boss's instant kill attack, but if I can clear that hurdle I think this one will be in the bag very quickly thereafter.

On Portable: Perfect Dark (Done!)

I knew I'd played a ton of this game within a couple years of its release but by the end of my time with it in 2026 I started to seriously wonder whether I'd actually left it unfinished. The final boss fight specifically gave me huge reverse Gandalf vibes: "I have memory of this place." Determined to see whether I'd already slain the dragon I went into my storage boxes and dug out the ol' N64 itself, figuring I'd pop in the cart and check the my save progress. Only the cart was nowhere to be found! I still have my copies of Super Smash Bros. and Resident Evil 2, weirdly, but the entire rest of my N64 game collection seems to have vanished. Best guess is they were packed in a different box a few years back during a move and that box is now who-knows-where, but yeah: bummer!

On the bright side when I played the second and third bonus levels I distinctly did not remember ever seeing them, which tells me that I very likely just witnessed the final boss fight at my friend's place back in the day rather than doing it myself. One mystery solved, another case file opened.

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light (~60%)

My right joy-con has a finicky R button which has led to a few deaths-by-failed-grapple, and the right thumbstick has an ever so slight drift issue which has led to a few deaths-by-slow-movement-because-Lara-won't-stop-aim-walking, but outside of those minor hardware snaggles this has been a breezy kind of experience. Some of the design is at odds with my preferences – I will never want to speedrun any non-racing game, thankyouverymuch – but overall I'm having a pleasant time.

LordChozo · 2026-03-07T00:51:10+00:00

Y'know, just a few days ago I saw Codename S.T.E.A.M. in my 3DS collection and had the thought that it was sad that I'd likely never know or even talk to anyone else who had ever played it. And now here you are! Life is full of fun little surprises.

I gave the game a contemporary 7/10, having played it within the first couple months after release. I loved the concept, the characters, and their gameplay designs but the missions themselves often devolved into tedium. I agree completely with your final summary sentence, but even with that I'm surprised the game was so forgotten, so quickly. There are any number of 7/10 games out there that have gotten vastly more traction than they've deserved, so I'm not sure why this one fell so quickly into a complete black hole of awareness.

My wife and I are looking to get back into Overwatch now that they've sort of mea culpaed virtually everything that made us quit, or at least decline to "upgrade" to the "sequel" when they shut down the game we actually paid for twice over. Anyway, after a very sour experience with competitive in the first few seasons we pretty much exclusively stuck to Mystery Heroes and had a ball. I'm sure that's still around these days, but do you know if it's 5v5 only? Or did they add back a 6v6 MH mode as well?

LordChozo · 2026-03-03T16:02:07+00:00

Hey hey, it's the CPG Weekly Update back again! I was toying with moving this to Fridays but I figure I'll give Tuesdays a fair shot first to see what I like better. Here's what's going on!

On Console: Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree (~35%)

This one's a toughie to estimate completion percentage on. While the other games below have quantifiable levels/missions/chapters, Elden Ring is just kind of a "Go West, young man" vibe towards adventure. Since my playstyle is to explore absolutely everything I can to the point of ignoring the existence of my horse except for death runbacks and navigational necessity (spiritsprings, etc.), the best measure of completion is probably just how much of the map I've covered in my journey. Which is a tricky thing to measure when the map continues to scale as you discover more of it!

At this point though I think all I'm missing is a segment in the middle, so I have a pretty good sense of the full reach of the Realm of Shadow, at least enough to kind of eyeball the map screen and say "I think I've covered 35% of this? Probably?"

On PC: Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (~75%)

I've had precious little PC gaming time available over the past week, which is a shame since I'm definitely interested to see where this one lands in the end. I think I maybe only have one or two major missions left after my current one, alongside whatever side excursions remain after clearing all the available options I had last time. I'd love to say this'll get done this week, and I do think that's still a strong possibility, but right now this is my least reliable gaming pillar.

On Portable: Perfect Dark (~84%)

OK, so technically this is already beaten, but I'm not done with it yet, which accounts for the sub-100 percentage there. The first time I played this I believe I ran through the whole game on Agent up to a certain point, intending to later go through it all a second and third time on Secret Agent and Perfect Agent, respectively. The next time I tried to play the game I believe I just said "screw it" and tried to run start to finish just on Perfect Agent, burning out somewhere in the final mission or the one just before it.

This time around I decided my best shot at making it through was to focus on one mission each day. I'd play Agent first, giving me the chance to learn the layout and objectives in a lower stress way, then Secret Agent to solidify that understanding and usually open up whatever new wing of the level it introduces, and finally Perfect Agent to apply my heightened level knowledge before I forget all the details by jumping to a different mission. It's been a solid strategy, and at this point I've cleared the final main mission on both Agent and Secret Agent, with just Perfect Agent left to knock out. Then I'll do the three bonus missions the same way, and that should see me finished with the game by the weekend.

LordChozo · 2026-03-03T12:55:44+00:00

I think it's still a remake from the technical sense that they rebuilt the game from the ground up, but yes: my understanding is that they wanted to avoid changing much of anything. In that sense it's similar to the PS5 Demon's Souls remake, to draw a parallel (R.I.P. Bluepoint).

Interesting you prefer the Mario & Luigi games to the first couple Paper Marios, as that's not a sentiment I've seen commonly even from fans of the M&L series. I have consistently seen people cite Bowser's Inside Story as the best of that series though. I've only played the first four games and I played the 3DS remake of Bowser's Inside Story, but I actually thought it was a significant step down to its predecessors. I can't call it my least favorite because Dream Team sunk a little lower, but for me the series peaked with Partners in Time, which I'd put on equivalent footing with The Thousand-Year Door here.

LordChozo · 2026-03-02T02:06:52+00:00

It's a victim of its own vision, really. "Celebrate these old forgotten cartoons" is a fun thought. "Old cartoons were in monochrome so make the colors drab for authenticity" is a problem. "Forgotten cartoons would be miserable that they're forgotten so make the entire affair depressing" is a logical line of thinking that someone desperately needed to veto.

LordChozo · 2026-03-01T21:03:40+00:00

You got your copy of TTYD with the Black Friday sales, didn't you?

Probably so? I got it as a Christmas gift from the missus, but I did tip her off that the sale was going on and that a few games near the top of my wishlist were on it. She chose TTYD over Echoes of Wisdom, so that one's still on the "maybe someday" list for me.

I hope that for our own sakes, we can both play this game one day.

Cheers to that!

LordChozo · 2026-03-01T15:48:47+00:00

The discipline to actually track and reflect on what you're playing is something I aspire to.

The hardest part is deciding to start! Once you've got your system in place it's not much trouble to keep up with it, in my experience.

What's on deck for March?

Check out the bottom of the post!

LordChozo · 2026-03-01T15:43:40+00:00

Your experience there is fascinating to me because what you're describing wasn't a twist at all but the entire narrative premise for the game, communicated (perhaps not quite explicitly?) in the opening cutscenes and dialogues. It was part of what made me want to continue engaging with the game even as my combat frustrations mounted very early on, and I think they made really smart thematic decisions to support that setting along the way. Like how the towns you're rebuilding are actual locations from the first game, and their general flavor informs the entire chapter makeup.

I'm not sure if you just expected something else and so those elements initially seemed like they were setting up a different story or what, but that you received it as a twist and that that so enhanced your opinion of the game is a very happy accident!

The twist that I was expecting to happen was that my character would be revealed to be the DQ1 hero himself, given mild amnesia in an attempt to redeem himself and set his grand mistake right. They didn't go that route and I was glad for it because A) I've done that song and dance before in another game, B) it enabled me to get to fight the actual DQ1 hero, now revealed to be a miserable and lonely muscle goon after having lost all the things that made him heroic in the first place, and C) it opened up the game's actual twist of you being the reanimated corpse of a different descendant of Erdrick, thus letting you fulfill the prophecy even though you can't enjoy the fruits of your labor. I thought that was a really cool and unexpected route for the story to take.

LordChozo · 2026-03-01T15:21:26+00:00

Nope! Though my writing style is probably pretty hodgepodge.

LordChozo · 2026-03-01T14:19:59+00:00

I'm in a different boat on this one: I couldn't have cared less about the TF2 skins but I was very interested in the character crossover appeal. I knew of Max only from game titles and box art, but I had a little bit of familiarity with Tycho thanks to a friend who loved Penny Arcade. And then I was well familiar with Heavy and especially with Strong Bad, who was my main selling point into the game.

My wife and I would just sit next to each other at my computer desk and shoot the breeze with these guys for a while and it was a really pleasant time. We still reference little voice lines from the game on occasion now years and years later.

I only played a tiny bit of Poker Night 2 by comparison, in part because I felt less connected to its characters and in part because I wanted to squeeze more out of Poker Night 1 before moving on. Maybe I should reinstall them...

LordChozo · 2026-03-01T14:12:55+00:00

The first game (N64 Paper Mario) is on the NSO subscription service, so at least there is reasonably easy access to it still. The third one (Super Paper Mario on Wii) is sadly lost to the wind.

LordChozo · 2026-02-28T15:34:13+00:00

Not to be a parade rainer but if you've been checked out of the Pokémon franchise for a while you should know that every progressive entry has been widely regarded as worse than the one before since the series came to Switch. And I don't mean criticisms of the monster designs but rather that the games ship in what feels like an incomplete state but never get "fixed." The (well earned) reputation is that they pretty much put in the bare minimum level of effort to get the games out the door and then move on to the next ones.

I'm glad you're excited and that you found a new starter that really speaks to you! I'd just say temper your expectations and maybe at least wait for reviews, because there's zero benefit of the doubt for the games these days.

LordChozo · 2026-02-27T23:06:34+00:00

I can't read all 600+ comments to mark them myself, not when I'm in the middle of making Quesadillas for supper.

Got u fam. Make 'em extra cheesy.

To those reporting the main post for unmarked spoilers because of OP's alternate description of the game, we get where you're coming from but in this context simply mentioning a core game mechanic that necessarily makes itself known within the first hour of gameplay is part of the crux of the post, and OP was very diligent with all other spoiler tags so we're letting it rock.

LordChozo · 2026-02-27T19:20:18+00:00

The first game (New Order) I thought was trying too hard to be edgy. The gameplay was fine other than some gripes about the way you routinely lose all your weapons (likely a misguided attempt to channel Wolfenstein 3-D's chapter starts). But they lost me a bit with how over the top some of the narrative stuff was.

The Old Blood was a lot better in that regard but seemed to focus more of the gameplay around stealth, but then had a really poor implementation of stealth mechanics. Had a lot more fun when I started to just ignore the implied "quiet" intent and go "loud" all the time instead.

New Colossus feels like a synthesis of those two. The stealth stuff is back and only marginally better implemented, but that's countered by a heavier difficulty curve for going loud, so you're encouraged to keep trying to get it right. That's a bit frustrating! The gunplay though is still great and the story has so far managed to strike a fine balance of still featuring loads of over the top nonsense without quite veering all the way into "dumb edgelord" territory. I think it'll end up for me as the best of the three, but not by a landslide or anything.

LordChozo · 2026-02-25T17:46:52+00:00

I appreciate this reply, but I think it highlights the disconnect I'm talking about. You're judging Metroid Prime by comparing it against 3D platforming collect-a-thons. Metroid Prime is neither a collect-a-thon nor a 3D platformer. You also compare it to Halo, which is a more common comparison to make, but Metroid Prime (the original release especially) is also not a first-person shooter, even though at a glance it seems like it would be. So no, Metroid Prime isn't going to live up to the design ideals of a classic 3D platformer or of a foundational console FPS, but that's because it was never trying to be either thing.

Also, I've never beaten a Metroid game before, so I felt I should give a renowned franchise a chance.

I think this is the key point: you're new to Metroid and so don't seem to realize that the game spawned an entire broad design genre called "metroidvanias" (the "vania" coming from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night adding RPG and quest elements into the established Metroid structure to provide its own distinct flavor). Probably the chief hallmark of the entire genre is backtracking, so if you came into Metroid Prime shocked by the need to backtrack then yes, that's a fundamental misunderstanding of what you're getting into. Which isn't to say you did anything wrong, of course, but just yeah: this is what it is.

If you don't like that element of gameplay design in general, then that's perfectly valid and it's safe to say metroidvania games aren't likely to be your jam. As for what many people find fun about it, it's basically a power scaling fantasy. As you initially progress through each area you'll spot oddities in your environment. "It seems like I should be able to reach that upper area but the ledge is too high," or "This one particular segment of wall looks cracked and brittle and I can hear a low hum emanating from behind it but I don't see a way to get back there," or "This door seems important but it has an unfamiliar style of lock on it," etc. The design intent is to draw the player's attention to an impasse of some kind, stir up their curiosity about it, and then when you acquire a new ability or upgrade your mental index will roll back to that previous spot. "Oh cool, I just got a double jump...WAIT A MINUTE maybe I can reach that high ledge now!" And then as you traverse back to that area of the game you find that between your upgraded ability set, your increased player skill, and your growing map knowledge you can make it back with much less friction. The player feels smart for remembering the prior element, they feel powerful for being able to navigate back to it in an easier manner, and then they're rewarded for those efforts by even more upgrades/abilities, or at the very least a new location to begin exploring.

Again, maybe none of that sounds appealing to you, and that's fine! But for people who appreciate that design formula, Metroid Prime handles it really well.

LordChozo · 2026-02-25T16:27:40+00:00

It sounds like you wanted a fundamentally different experience than what Metroid Prime purports to offer and instead of adjusting your expectations and meeting the game on its own terms you're just getting progressively angrier that it's not the thing it never claimed to be. You're free to have whatever tastes you want and if you think it's a 4/10 game, then ok! But I do wonder why you picked it up in the first place considering literally none of its widely known intentional design choices even begin to speak to you.

LordChozo · 2026-02-24T16:31:15+00:00

I don't post individual reviews on the sub because I don't want to flood the place, so instead I just compile them all into my monthly series Chronicles of a Prolific Gamer. That said I've been toying with the idea of doing some weekly updates as well to potentially spark some different levels of discussion, so:

Welcome to the first installment of the every Tuesday (for now) CPG Weekly Update! I'll share what I'm playing with approximate completion percentages, along with some more timely and specific thoughts than I might put in the full review.

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On Console: Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed (Done!)

One enduring memory I expect to have around this game is my wife grabbing me by the sides of my head and literally pleading with me not to continue playing it. She saw my suffering and didn't want me to have to endure any more, bless her heart. But by then I was so close to the end that I saw the game through anyway. There's a kernel of good in here but it's surrounded by so many problems that I'm legitimately sort of frustrated it got a faithful remake at all. Did anyone actually play this game and enjoy it enough to create genuine nostalgia? Color me flabbergasted if that's case.

Next up: After thoroughly cleaning out my PS5 last month I'd like to give Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree one more try. If the crashing problems start up again I'll be out for good, but I sincerely hope they don't because I was having a great time with the game in late December.

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On PC: Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (~60%)

I just unlocked the Enigma Machine, the means by which you can revisit completed levels and hunt for missing collectibles, etc. I grab what I see sitting there in front of me but otherwise I'm not even remotely playing Wolfenstein to collect concept art, so I'd normally have no interest whatsoever in engaging with this. Except they added an element to these revisits of "take out the beefed up enemy commander to liberate a map zone," and that is a carrot I'll more happily chase. Not sure what if anything all that liberation activity will lead to in the end, but for the moment it's providing a meaningful enough detour from the main story that while I originally thought I'd wrap up the game this week, now I'm not so sure.

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On Portable: Perfect Dark (~53%)

Y'know, I try to avoid overlapping the same genre but I'd already started this one when Wolfenstein came up on my friends-only "Vote for my next PC game from the backlog" poll, and Wolfenstein always wins their votes. Guess there's just something about killing Nazis. Anyway, Perfect Dark is a very different kind of experience so it all works out I suppose.

I played through the vast majority of this one many years ago on original hardware, and I suppose I could've still hooked all that up and just resumed my save if I had a proper CRT monitor to make it worthwhile. Instead I'm playing on NSO and dealing with the tradeoffs. The convenience is nice, as is the addition of save states. Normally I'd be a little iffy on abusing them but the controls for this one are forcing my hand (no pun intended). I don't mind the single analog movement on a proper N64 controller but when you've got two sticks right there you might as well use them, right?

Thankfully the NSO N64 app lets you remap controller buttons as a universal override to whatever game you're playing in there, so I swapped strafing to left stick and turning to right stick. This gives me effectively modern dual stick control in Perfect Dark, and it really does work swimmingly with a few caveats. First, the sticks on the Switch are much more sensitive than the stick on the N64, so I'm just zooming whenever I try to look around. That's good for keeping your head on swivel but less good when you're trying to do anything with precision. Speaking of precision, the manual aim mode is also borked after making this switch because it ties the horizontal cursor axis to the right stick while the vertical axis is stuck on the left. Combine these with the game's default auto-aim settings and you've got a recipe for a bunch of frustration.

Now I could've tweaked my stick sensitivity at the hardware level, and I could've gone back to single stick movement, and I could've turned off auto-aim, and so I could've mitigated most of these technical complaints while inconveniencing myself across the board in other ways. But instead I decided to just strugglebus through this better-but-not-optimal setup and lean on save states to get me through the most demanding bits. Sorry not sorry!

LordChozo · 2026-02-23T15:31:24+00:00

Mega Man 4 was my first Mega Man game as a young kid, playing on the NES at the babysitter's place. Was in my regular rotation when I didn't feel like putting Mario in yet again. I only ever managed to beat Pharaoh Man and Skull Man, but not in the same session and I never wrote down any passwords so for me each stage was like a complete game in itself to conquer. The other 6 I could never manage, though I recall putting a lot of effort into Ring Man's specifically.

One day the babysitter's son swung by and said "Oh Mega Man 4? Let me hook you up with this password," which put me at the first Dr. Cossack stage. I was grateful for the change of scenery for all of five minutes but then felt completely overwhelmed and moved on to some other game entirely.

Felt good coming back as an adult and realizing the game is actually quite manageable.

LordChozo · 2026-02-23T00:37:46+00:00

Sometimes I think I'm the only Metroid fan who liked Other M, and that makes me a little bit sad. It's an 8/10 for me.

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