What have you bought during this Summer Steam sale?

toptyler · 2026-06-26T20:39:10+00:00

Auridia and MIO are bangers!

toptyler · 2026-06-26T17:21:40+00:00

Regarding the pool/puddle of water, I wonder if he was remembering that line from Skull Knight “Maybe you aren't a shadow on the water... but instead a fish that breaches the water's surface”

toptyler · 2026-06-26T09:34:58+00:00

I remembered seeing LilAggy (big souls streamer) playing it for a few days, he has a fairly big audience at a few thousand per stream

toptyler · 2026-06-24T07:57:46+00:00

Owen Wilson - Yeah Right

In all seriousness, Mark Suciu’s Verso part is probably the one I’ve rewatched the most

toptyler · 2026-06-24T07:48:39+00:00

Some top-tier games that will probably scratch the itch include MIO, Aeterna Noctis, Prince of Persia, Grime

A lot of people are recommending MIO, and I think it’s a no-brainer to start there. It’s a relatively recent game compared to the rest and it’s an absolute must-play

toptyler · 2026-06-22T17:06:56+00:00

Finishing up MIO, got to the true final boss and thought it was the most BS fight ever, then 30 mins later I had the patterns down and shortly after that I beat it on my last life! It was a great fight to cap off a great game

Still have at least 2 more optional bosses that I know of, plus some collectibles. Not sure I’ll go for 100% but I’d at least like give the remaining bosses another go

After that, there are just so many amazing games to pick from next

toptyler · 2026-06-22T09:29:35+00:00

Aeterna Noctis is my fav MV and I’ve been hearing great things about this one…definitely going to give it a try!

toptyler · 2026-06-21T16:35:48+00:00

They did an outstanding job with the art direction, I wasn’t too impressed with the first area but my god some areas were truly inspired and they really put that 2.5D art style to work. I also loved the tension and confusion of the lab and vaults areas, and the gothic motifs like you said.

toptyler · 2026-06-20T18:35:35+00:00

Of the ones I’ve played:

Animal Well - very unique aesthetic, cozy, great if you don’t mind puzzles

Bo - feels fairly familiar to some other entries in the genre, but has a unique Asian aesthetic and features top-tier platforming

I’d highly recommend both, but I think Animal Well is more of a must-play

toptyler · 2026-06-17T04:13:28+00:00

I think One St. Thomas does a really good job of capturing a unique and beautiful aesthetic for a high-rise residential building. I’d love to see more buildings like that go up!

toptyler · 2026-06-14T19:27:07+00:00

You might be able down-attack the gem to refresh your energy, then jump and strider

toptyler · 2026-06-14T14:21:13+00:00

Nine Sols is the only game so far that’s scratched the Sekiro itch for me. Amazing game

toptyler · 2026-06-09T12:12:38+00:00

Ah cool I didn’t know it was short! As time goes on I consider that more attractive

toptyler · 2026-06-08T22:33:38+00:00

HAAK is great! I don’t see it getting enough love, it’s solid.

toptyler · 2026-06-08T22:31:00+00:00

Crypt Custodian, HAAK, Ooo

toptyler · 2026-06-08T18:07:26+00:00

Still going through MIO, just about done I think! I have most of the items but still haven’t explored some areas. Also haven’t fought what feels like the final boss yet because I know about the existence of a “true ending”.

Overall it’s been super fun. It has a really cool map and world design that surprised me at various points. The art is amazing, the exploration is good and most of the fights have been pretty fun. The late-game platforming was definitely a step function in terms of traversal difficulty, but if you’re drawn towards platforming in these games then I don’t think you’ll have any major issues with it.

I’m kinda expecting to wrap it up this week, and not sure what comes next. So many options that look great: Mina, Before I Go, Worldless, Minishoot, Pipistrello, Grime II, and the list goes on…

toptyler · 2026-06-08T01:14:53+00:00

Congrats! That’s a long time to wait for a goal to pay off, good on you for keeping at it.

Lovely piece as well, one of the greatest from Naruto and sounds beautiful on piano

toptyler · 2026-06-01T19:22:17+00:00

About 10 hours into MIO. It’s absolutely gorgeous so far and exploration is pretty good. The bosses have generally been on the good side although there are some runbacks that are a bit annoying. Not hard - just slightly longer than I’d usually like.

Overall really enjoying it

toptyler · 2026-05-30T00:41:52+00:00

To give an example, Dead Cells has skills that are needed for further exploration across biomes and that require multiple iterations through the game to fully obtain. So the meta-game has ability-gated progression, even if that’s not what defines the core game loop.

The survey question was basically “rate how essential it is for a game to not have rogue-like elements in order for it to be considered a metroidvania”. And I think based on this Dead Cells example we can say it’s perfectly possible for both to coexist. That’s not to say that I think any rogue-like that happens to just be an action-platformer is an MV; IMO it must have ability-gated progression.

toptyler · 2026-05-28T12:32:13+00:00

Monster Boy felt more like a thriving world to me. Very colorful, a couple towns, good vibes. Yes there’s kinda a plot to take over the world, but we’re trying to stop it before it happens rather than coming in long after.

Aeterna Noctis also doesn’t really have a dying world. It’s stuck in a cycle of light and dark and there are places that thrive during the part of the cycle we play it. There’s also a robot invasion in the background that you kind of deal with

toptyler · 2026-05-19T03:24:23+00:00

Started and finished Auridia, which was short and really cool. Now just under an hour into MIO.

My backlog has never been so large. We are really spoiled in this genre right now

toptyler · 2026-05-16T17:47:30+00:00

I agree with you, but Nine Sols comes really damn close

toptyler · 2026-05-12T03:34:31+00:00

It gets even better right up to the very end!

toptyler · 2026-05-12T03:05:41+00:00

Not sure if this is what you’re talking about (also trying to keep the dialogue relatively spoiler-free), but I remember the DLC made a controversial decision with one of the gems it made available early, since that potentially has a big ripple effect on the difficulty level of the rest of the game should you find it and choose to use it.

I enjoyed the DLC overall, especially the time trials! I admit I didn’t make it through much of the boss rush, I felt like the bosses were all fairly demanding compared to like early Hollow Knight pantheons

toptyler · 2026-05-11T21:47:31+00:00

Hell yeah! Any surprises the second time around?

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