Where/when/why? From the steam store, during the 2009/10 holidays sale for $7.50. Maybe off the back of a free weekend? I think there were two or three other friends who bought the game at the same time, but as to who originally played or suggested playing it, and how and why I or they came across it, well, my memory lacks those details.

What/who? Altitude is a 2D dog-fighting which means plane-fighting game. It’s pretty much a multiplayer-only experience, too. It’s been free-to-play since 2014, but still completely without microtransactions, so far as I can tell.

It’s by Nimbly Games, a 2-man indie responsible for three other games I’d never heard of before I clicked on their website.

First install? Not at all! Apparently I logged up 29 hours of it, probably all in those few weeks around christmas 2009/10. It was hot outside and I was recently unemployed. My main Altitude...

When/where/why Steam store, 2013/14 winter holiday sales. For $3. Because, well, that sounded like a lot of game for not much money.

What/who Alan Wake is a third-person supernatural horror/shooter. You play as the titular character, a best-selling horror novelist now suffering from writer’s block, who has gone on holiday with his wife to hunting/logging town Twin Peaks Bright Falls. But then the wife goes missing and you’ve got to get her back, armed with guns (for shooting things) and torches (for shining at things). It’s just a pity your sprint stamina is so terrible. Convoluted meta-narratives and ominous dark/light personifications abound.

It was developed by Remedy Entertainment, a Finland-based company who are also famous for the Max Payne series. It was originally launced as an Xbox 360 exclusive in 2010, if I’m not mistaken.

First install? Yes.

Play time? Finishment? 13...

Where/when/why? The 2011/12 Steam holidays sale, for $2.50 US with DLC.

What/who? The game is a uhm… first-person falling game? Based on BASE jumping, but in the technofuture where buildings and things hang in the air so you can BASE jump forever. The player earns points mainly by falling near these floating objects (scoring “hugs” and “kisses”) without actually crashing into them, which wipes the score and ends the run.

It’s by Dejobaan Games, who are currently working on a game called Elegy for a Dead World.

Was this the first install? Yep, pretty much!

Total play time? Six hours ish.

How’d it go In short, it’s a good game.

It took me a while to warm to it. Everything from the visual style to the humour to the insipid guitar soundtrack irritated me early on. The early stages were (perhaps necessarily) slow and boring. But I was interested enough to play beyond the requisite...

When/where/how/why is it in the library? I bought 140 this past August from the Humble Store, for one dollar! I can’t remember what sold it to me, other than the price-tag.

What is it? It’s a minimalist sidescrolling platformer. Its gimmick is that is uses the game’s music as cue for the very rhythm-oriented platforming. Also, geometric shapes! And strong colours.

So first time with it or…? I already had it installed and I’d tried playing it a few times, but for whatever reason I would get distracted and quit. The game has no save function so each time I went back to it I’d be starting again.

Time spent? About an hour, maybe a little more.

Finished? Yep, actually! It’s a wee little thing. I have an achievement that says I passed it and everything (but only 3/6 achievements knocked off, if we’re counting).

Was it any good? It’s nothing ground-breaking and unlikely to be...

1. I’m going to play every game on my steam list, in alphabetical order.
2. Through to completion if possible, or reasonable, or desirable. This is basically up to my discretion but
3. Every game gets at least an hour of my undivided attention.
4. I will write something about the game down for this blog before moving on to the next one on the list.
5. Any newly acquired games that enter the steam list only become part of this project if they alphabetically sit later in the list than the game I am up to at that point in time.