What a great triple feature.

Alan Wake 2 is one of my favorite games of the last 5 years and my GOTY for that year. I 100%ed it which isn't something I normally do. Its about to release onto PS Plus and I'm happy to have an excuse to replay it.

Dino Crisis is a game that I never got to play originally. When it came to GOG, I bought it and gave it a shot. I found it a little frustrating with the ammo scarcity and level design. I gave up on it but maybe I'll go back and try again with a guide this time.

I've heard so much positive about Signalis. As a lover of the genre I've been meaning to play through it. I have a copy, just need to give it a shot.

My experience with Dino Crisis fits exactly with what you're describing.
It's not like I played that many classic horror survival games, but Dino Crisis seems one of the tougher ones in terms of combat and resource limits to me.
Definitely in part because there are only ammunition-based weapons. So once you're out of the very few bullets that are around, you are genuinely incapable of fighting.
Of course there is a focus on choosing your battles wisely, evasion over killing. But those dinos are also beefier than what I'm used to from like Silent Hill or whatever. lol
I probably would have done easy difficulty if I knew beforehand.
And I agree that the level design is kinda frustrating. Even with the map, it's incredibly easy to get confused because the room layout is just so messy.
I'm probably gonna start looking at walkthroughs soon. I've been playing for about 5hrs now and found my way through points of progression pretty well so far, but I'm stumped on what I'm supposed to do right now.

It does have some fun puzzles and cool action sequences. But I also find the game to overcomplicate systems to an unnecessary degree with things like the item crafting, inventory storage, and door locks.

- Matt

I have finished Silent Hill 2 yesterday and started Dino Crisis today.
Played for almost 3 hours in my first session and the initial impression is a bit unsure but intrigued. Coming straight from Silent Hill 2 might also not help with that. lol

I don't like the map system much and the inventory limitations became apparent so quickly, it's wild. Like all the vintage survival horror tropes came in hard and quick with this one.
The dinosaurs also seem tough as fuck right from the get-go and since all combat is ammunition based in this game, I could see myself being softlocked really easily. I've already run extremely low on worthwhile ammunition. Doesn't help that there is emphasis on combining items to craft new ones all the time, which I don't care much for anyway.
I can't at all say if I'll actually see this through to the end but I'll give it an honest shot. Seeing the dinos roam around is still very cool and I'm looking forward to what they'll do with that throughout the game. It's a fun deviation from the usual zombies, ghouls, and abstract nightmare creatures that roam these classic survival horror games so often.



- Matt

Dino Crisis has been on my radar ever since seeing the iconic European cover art at a childhood friend's house and I'm really down to join this if I can. I only recently found out that it's available on GoG as well and I don't even have to emulate it like I always thought I would.
But I am playing Silent Hill 2 currently and I don't wanna play both survivial horror games in parallel. So I'm gonna hope I can squeeze both games into October back to back.

- Matt

I have read the entirety of Exi's Mario ranking. Where is my medal?
And furthermore, what the heck is the difference between the raccoon power-up and the tanooki power-up? 🧐

As I am contractually obligated to do, I will criticize the low rankings of the quirky classics. My ancient ass would surely put Super Mario Land 1 and 2 much higher. But I at least appreciate that you acknowledged Land's odd charm.

To be fair, the most modern main line Mario game according to your criteria that I have played is New Super Mario Bros. on the DS. Which I have previously said I loved to bits at the time and called peak Mario for years, but I'm sure it would not hold up to my nostalgic standards if I were to go back. (Although I will die on the hill that the mini mushroom actually ruled. I remember many of joyful chaotic games of versus multiplayer with that in play.)
The Land games and original Super Mario Bros. I still enjoy a lot today though, as replays have shown.

I never personally got the appeal of Super Mario World much. I acknowledge it's technically marvelous, but it always had something bland to me. I grew up with it as a kid, only beat it when I was a late teenager though. Still after all that time spent with it, I can't say I have very strong feelings towards or memories of it. I think it just also fell victim to me having Yoshi's Island at the same time which overshadows World in every way for my taste.

I have dabbled a bit with Doki Doki Panic and 3 as a kid, but never cared much for them. Your criticisms towards those games here made a lot of sense to me in hindsight.

Super Mario 64 will always be that one nostalgic game I mainly played at the demo cabinet at the store but never really owned. I believe I emulated it later on and owned the DS version at one point, but don't think I ever beat either.
It had its time, and its place in videogame history is undeniable, but aside from some fading nostalgic memories, I have no strong feelings about it, to be honest.
But I always preferred 2D Mario anyway, which surely also stems from the fact that past the SNES, I only owned Nintendo handhelds and then stopped playing Nintendo entirely after the 3DS.

Anyway, the most important thing you said is:
"I’ve basically written a novella’s worth of reviews, and it’s time to celebrate. And by celebrate, I mean play literally anything other than Mario."
and I wholeheartedly salute that. lol

- Matt

Welcome, fellow web surfers, to another episode of the How Long To Beat podcast!

Today we chat about how the proliferation of information through modern technology has impacted the gaming space, as well as the games that we've been spending time with recently and playing another round of “Guess the Game”!

Expect a yearning for Big Head Mode, criticisms towards videogame representations of New York City, news about pigeon DLC, and tragic tales of IRL Magic: The Gathering experiences!

I am nominating Silent Hill 2 for October. I do not care which version you play!!

- Matt

I would love if we could have "ZOOM Platform" as a digital store. They're like a smaller GOG in that they sell mostly retro games that are made up to run on modern systems DRM-free with a lot more obscure titles.

- Matt

Yowzer, fam! A new episode of the HLTB podcast has been cooked up.

The birds are angry these days!
But that doesn't stop us from blabbering on about videogames that we are playing. Or lack thereof, as we'll also be discussing gaming droughts, what might cause them, what might get us out of them, and what else we do when we're not spending our precious free-time with games.
Join us as we chat about rodents, complain about popping wheelies, and experience becoming one with the Wordle.

Additionally, starting this month, we'll be experimenting with a two-week schedule instead of a monthly one. So expect to get more frequent, tighter episodes for now. We'll see how it goes.
We always welcome feedback from any listeners, of course!

I chatted on the Discord about this already but I thought I might as well throw some words into this forum thread as well.

I have already seen both Ecstasy of Order and One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest before though I only managed to rewatch the Tetris docu for this movie club.
I still adore Ecstasy of Order. It's one of my favorite documentaries in general and definitely a big element in why I love Tetris games so much.
Seeing the early days of competitive Tetris through CTWC is very interesting and I love seeing all the different quirks and strategies pro players have despite the game itself being so simple and straight-forward. Really a testament to how much nuance and individuality there is even to something as functionally simple as Tetris.
Despite the many milestones achieved by Tetris players in the years after this movie, there is still a lot to this documentary to make it worth a watch regardless.

The last time I rewatched One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest was when I first started going to therapy many years ago and psychiatrist said to me that going to a clinic "will not be like One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest". lol
I still have a review up from back then on my Letterboxd.

As for my nomination for September, I'll put in Relaxer. A grimy comedy about a guy marathoning Pac-Man. 😃

- Matt

I'm nominating Kirby's Dream Land 3.

- Matt

Man, I haven't updated anything here since February but I've also not been making much progress.

Back in May I finished Franz Kafka's Das Schloß (The Castle), which was kind of the last major novel of his that I still had to read. Unfortunately, I didn't actually lose myself much in it. The premise is good but I wasn't really very interested in any of the characters or the web of relationships that is weaved in here.
Ironically, the most amusing thing about this might have been its ending or lack thereof. I forgot that this was one of his unfinished ones that got released posthumously without a proper ending. So, the text literally ends in the middle of a sentence, which is wild. Especially considering that this, if I remember correctly, was the last text Kafka worked on before he died.
Somewhere, I don't remember where, I read that Kafka considered this text a text to be written, not to be read. And the text did feel somewhat aimless to me despite there being, technically, a goal to be achieved. It's a novel that wanders around without truly achieving any progress. And in that sense, it makes sense to me that this was something for Kafka to be written, but not for others to be read. Like many of his texts, it was more an exercise for himself and a vent of some sort, than an intention of creating entertainment for someone else.
I appreciate it more for that than the actual content.

I have put Kafka's Das Schloß towards the category of "A "classic" / literary cornerstone." because it is considered one of Kafka's most important works for some reason or another. Maybe because it is, despite it being unfinished, one of his longer texts with a bigger scope.

Since then though, I haven't fulfilled any other category or finished any other book for that matter. I decided to finally tackle James Joyce's Ulysses for the "door stopper" category and I have been crawling at a snail's pace through that since then. Only reading some comic issues otherwise.
Ulysses is probably the most studied novel of all time and considered so insanely layered that you're always recommended to have companion material ready or straight-up read annotated editions. There are countless books about how to read this book and countless of online resources to guide you through this complex garble of words that Joyce intentionally wrote to be analyzed for years to come, using plenty of stylistic switches and linguistic tricks.
I went into this strictly wanting to see what I would get out of it without or with minimal attention given to those external things.
I am currently about a third of the way through this 700+ novel and so far the experience has probably been around 90% confusion and 10% chuckling at a funny toilet scene.
It is easy to lose the thread as lots of the text are nebulous, thought-like associations. Individual words and phrases, loose and spontaneous interpretations from the characters about whatever might actually be going on. Most chapters are very chaotic to me.
When I'm able to follow a scene though, I'm enjoying it fairly enough. I have resorted to reading chapter summaries from some of these support resources after I finished a chapter, to check if I actually got the gist of it or missed something essential.

At the pace I'm going with this book though, I'm expecting to sit with it for many more months, potentially for the rest of the year.
Unsure if and when I would squeeze another book in-between.

- Matt

Y'all know what I must do.
I nominate one of my favorite documentaries:
Ecstasy of Order: The Tetris Master (2011)

One of the reasons why I love those goshdarn games so much.

- Matt

I would like to nominate the brand-new Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound releasing on July 31st 2025. :)

- Matt

Hello, fellow community members!
The first "New Game +" episode of the season is upon us!

Join us on a sidequest through the recent videogame showcases, including the big Summer Game Fest schedule as well as a couple individual events outside of that.
We talk about how we engage with showcases in general and reveal our most anticipated new games discoveries through these recent live events!

Be ready for disingenuous eco games, tangents on horse-breeding games, doing backflips in games, a teardown of wholesomeness, and the state of bodily fluids in gaming.



- Matt

I started playing the games today, planning to play all 6 in a row. But that Fall of Lazarus was so much longer than I expected. lmao
I spent over 3 hours in that thing, so I had to cut my marathon short.
Here are my thoughts so far.

Sewer Tales
I love the art style and concept of Sewer Tales. Would pay good money for a polished version with an actual ending. Hell, even if there was just one big boss fight, I'd already be happy.
Managed to get 117 rats, which is a bit funny since the counter in the corner is out of 100.

The Fall of Lazarus
I read others say that this game crashed or didn't run at all for them, but I was able to play without any problems.
I played the brief prologue and then the full campaign. It's very obvious there was a lot of ambition and passion put into this. Cool visuals, and a big emphasis on world-building and lore. Very much inspired by other games at the time like Dead Space and Alien Isolation while going in a very different, quieter direction.
I couldn't really get into the story too much since a lot of it was spread through different in-game objects and documents. Lots of text. But I give it big props for having lots of voice acting for the two sole characters.
The puzzle were very hit or miss for me though. And at one point I got stuck in a room because a door animation pushed me into a corner I couldn't get out of. That was annoying.
All in all though, a respectable effort for a team of three people, working on it for a bit over a year. Apparently this was crowdfunded and originally sold for 13 bucks. It's pretty high quality stuff for being out for free nowadays.

Desierto
Out of all the narrative-focused interactive art pieces we've had in past Itchmases, this one is one of my favorites. Not that the story is that grand, but I actually really like the presentation with many of its subtleties in design.

Divorce Chatroom
I'm not big on visual novels, but I do like stories about the end of a relationship that don't just portray it as an awful tragedy. The writing was a bit clunky at pointrs and I feel like there is lots of repetition with characters reheating the same conclusions multiple times. But I like that I was able to steer the story towards a healthy, understanding parting of two people.

- Matt

I just did my voting.
Looking at all the nominations now, actually a lot of interesting picks. Plenty of which I'd wanna check our whether or not they win.

- Matt

Or something like, say… Minesweeper.

I would have nominated Minesweeper long ago if it hadn't already been GOTM before. lol

- Matt

I'll nominate, uh... Worms Pinball.

- Matt

I need more of you filthy animals to put in an itch to scratch. 😤

- Matt

Hell yeah, my favorite HLTB event!

My nominations are:

Formless Star - A colorful RPG from a developer who showed up in a previous Itchmas. Playtime 1-2hrs.
Sewer Tales - A top-down view action game where you amass a horde of rats to protect the rat king. 💪🐭

- Matt

Hello everybody! It is time for another episode of your favorite podcast! 😎

With the release of the Nintendo Switch 2 on the horizon, we take a look back at our experiences with the original Switch console. We go over how the platform affected our gaming and remember favorite games, but also share criticisms and reasons why one might not have purchased a Switch at all.
In addition to that, there are also tales of speedrunning the Bible, encountering the mysterious Bubble Bobble Baron, re-experiencing the stress of high school romance, and being nostalgic over stick figure fights. So, stick around!

This episode is dedicated to all the random chickens crossing our path in life. Cherish them!

I'll be a bad influence online and invite everybody to play Drug Dealer Simulator with me.

- Matt

lmao What a wild thread.

I have beaten over 600 games and I'm only making it through 7 pages until I hit one with no games I beaten. Hell, I haven't even tried any of the games on page 8. lol

Page 1 - Portal, Portal 2
Page 2 - Borderlands 2, Left 4 Dead 2
Page 3 - Half-Life, Celeste
Page 4 - It Takes Two
Page 5 - Life is Strange, Limbo
Page 6 - Firewatch, Detroit: Become Human
Page 7 - Stray, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel
Page 8 - Nothing.

- Matt

I was kind of busy these days, but I have to take a few minutes to thanks whoever (Cock?) suggest this weird and funny game I wasn't aware of. As a great Tetris admirer, I (strangely) never bothered to discover other games by Alexey Pajitnov, and this obviously was a big mistake (in my defense, Hatris never came to Europe by the time of its release). Although clearly not as great as Tetris (in the sense it's not a game I can imagine playing and replaying and re-replaying for ever), this is a very interesting take of the puzzle genre. So, yes, thanks HLTB :)

Oh, this warms my heart. I'm so happy you enjoyed that.
You said it was a mistake you didn't dip into any other Pajitnov games before. But to be fair, a lot of his other games and other general Tetris spin-offs are very rough. lol
If you are looking for more Tetris suggestions though, I highly recommend Bombliss (NES/SNES) and Tetris Battle Gaiden (NES), the latter of which was a Japanese exclusive until it was included in that recent Tetris Forever collection. Both are top-notch.

- Matt

I shall nominate Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom once more. I don't care if you haven't played the previous games. I just need support to tackle it. 🥺

- Matt