While we here at Operation Rainfall love covering the latest in gaming news and sharing our reviews of titles new and classic, we also just enjoy playing games in our downtime. So with that, sit back, relax, and check out what the oprainfall gaming crew have been up to this week!
It’s once again been a while since we’ve done a Week in Gaming article. Recently I’ve been playing quite a bit of Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition and after that was sucked into, first Cupid Parasite and then the second game, Cupid Parasite: Sweet and Spicy Darling. Xenoblade Chronicles X I did play the original game on Wii U a lot back when it came out. But I never finished the original game, I believe I stopped playing ultimately years later after Chapter 12 or so. I’ve been having fun getting back into it. My old character set-up has worked perfectly. I got attached to Mastermind again and love a lot of the knife arts. For example, I always loved using Brainjack and Servant Sacrifice on enemies. Once again though, I don’t think I’ll be fully finishing the game anytime soon, it’s still a massive title with a lot to do.
After I started to get a bit burnt out on XCX, I found myself sucked back into otome. Reviewing Battlefiled Waltz got me wanting to get back into otome again and when I saw Cupid Parasite was on sale in the eShop for just under the amount I had sitting in my eShop account, I snagged it. I initially had no interest in Cupid Parasite years ago when it came out, because based on the initial opening trailer and promotional info, I mistakenly thought it would be a cheesier otome that wouldn’t hook me. Fortunately, I was wrong about that. It has a lot of charm and I really enjoyed playing it. So much so, that when Amazon randomly listed all of one copy of the fandisc, for cheaper than the 3rd party sellers, I almost immediately ordered it before someone else could buy it. I just finished Sweet and Spicy Darling last night. A big part of what sucked me into Cupid Parasite, beyond the charming characters and interesting story, I think was the soundtrack. I love each guy’s unique theme music. Also, the fandisc has a voice recorder feature I wasn’t expecting. You can save any voice lines you want throughout the game and then shuffle and listen to them, much like the songs in the music player. I now wonder why other Otomate titles don’t have this feature and really hope they use it again in future titles. Now that I’m finally done binging a bit of otome however, I’m not sure what I want to play next or what I’ll jump back into. – Jenae
The last few weeks have been insanely busy for me, but I managed to find time to play a couple games that I really, really loved. First up is Blue Prince, a roguelike first-person puzzle game. As heir to the Sinclair estate, Simon has to navigate his way through a house whose rooms change daily, all in the hopes of reaching Room 46 – a room that should not exist. Each day you’re allocated a certain amount of steps, and every time you enter a new area – be it a room or another part of the ever-broadening estate – you lose a step. It’s possible to replenish steps as you go by eating food or entering certain rooms, but you also have to contend with rooms that diminish your steps. All rooms are sorted according to color – Blue for neutral rooms; Red for rooms with negative statuses (see the aforementioned loss of steps); Purple for bedrooms; Gold for shops; Orange for hallways; Green for garden or outdoors rooms; and Prism for rooms that serve multiple purposes. Some rooms can only be opened with Gems, a limited currency you can find around the estate, while other rooms have locked doors for which you need to find keys or key cards. Every time you try to open a door, you’re presented with three random rooms to choose from, so navigating the estate therefore becomes an ever-changing puzzle of how best to proceed with the resources available to you.
I adore this game. Every room has myriad secrets hidden within them to solve not only the main goal of reaching Room 46, but several mysteries surrounding the estate, including what happened to Simon’s mother, who disappeared several years ago under questionable circumstances. The design of the game is gorgeous, with an expert use of color and style. Mt Holly feels like a character in itself, and I love when environments are imbued with that much attention to detail. Add in all the individual puzzle rooms and a wide-ranging assortment of items and tools you can find while exploring and there’s honestly a lot going on in a game with such a simple premise. The randomness of the rooms can get a bit aggravating when you need specific combinations of rooms and tools to solve a puzzle, and I’ve been stymied more times than I can count by a locked door, but this game scratches an itch I honestly wasn’t aware I had, and despite my frustrations I keep coming back to it long after I’ve reached Room 46.
Like many others, I’ve also been enraptured by Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. What a phenomenal game, and I’m still in Act 1. Developed by French studio Sandfall Interactive, the game takes inspiration from an assortment of Japanese RPGs, remixing them and synthesizing them into something familiar but wholly its own identity. It has a strong, clear art direction, an excellent cast of characters with amazing voice work, stunning music, and gorgeous dungeon designs. The basic premise of the game is that every year, the Paintress wakes up and paints a number on her monolith, counting down from 100. This year it’s 33, and the moment she paints her number, everyone of that age turns to dust and disappears. In a bid to stop her from slowly erasing humanity, Expedition 33, made up mostly of those whose turn it is to die next, make the harrowing trip toward the Paintress’ stronghold on the mainland. But the mainland is inhabited by dangerous monsters called Nevrons and unknown geography, since every Expedition that has made the attempt in the past never returned to tell the survivors what they found.
Like Blue Prince, Clair Obscur scratches an itch I didn’t know I had. Its hybrid turn-based real-time action combat is a ton of fun, if a bit frustrating at times. You can choose from an assortment of actions – items, attack, specials, or using your gun. Every action expends AP, but you can gain it back by using certain items or your base attack, so you need to plan accordingly to have enough AP for the skill you want to use. Each skill has additional timed button presses to net extra damage, and you can also parry and dodge incoming attacks with precise timing. The window for dodging is much more generous than parrying, but parrying an enemy’s attack will give your character a chance to counter for increased damage. Enemies hit hard, though, so it’s high risk, high reward. Because of this, even battles against regular enemies feels frantic and life-threatening – which is thematically relevant but can get a bit exhausting. Boss fights can be arduous, but learning the timing of each attack and pulling off a parry feels really rewarding. If you absolutely aren’t up to getting the precise timings down, or it’s just more frustration than it’s worth, the game’s story mode makes fights a lot simpler so you can enjoy the narrative more completely.
I cannot stress enough how beautiful this game is, both visually and narratively. The characters draw you in immediately, with relatable quirks and personalities, and some of the best cast chemistry I’ve seen in a while. No one feels out of place. The inhabitants of the mainland are also varied and adorable, from the creatively designed Nevrons to the fight-loving Gestrals. The vestiges of humanity you can find on the mainland are intriguing and I’ve no end of theories about where the game is going and what happened in the past to bring events to where they are today. There’s also a ton of optional stuff to do, from exploring hidden nooks and corners of the map for items, to mini-games, to optional boss fights, and a wide assortment of cosmetics you can unlock through regular play. It’s so refreshing to open a treasure chest or beat a boss and be rewarded with a new hairstyle. It feels like forever ago games did that routinely. You can also find music throughout the world to listen to at your camp, and every track is just fantastic. This is definitely one of my favorite scores in recent memory. There’s just so much to love here, and the developers have made it abundantly clear the love and admiration they have for the genre and those creators in whose footsteps they follow. If you love RPGs, especially Japanese ones, you owe it to yourself to pick this one up. – Leah
What games have you been playing this week? Let us know in the comments!
You can read previous Week in Gaming entries here!
