A ninja pig of a different bacon

So, I've fallen into a bit of a gaming slump lately.

• I'm at the final battle for Kane in Valencia 2, and I just need to find some time and mental space to give it a shot.
• Morgrim and I have only been playing Wizard101 every other week lately.
• I'm stuck in Terraria, so I'm a bit stand offish from it right now
• Pokemon Go won't work on my phone.
• I'm too poor to go buy a new game.
• D&D play is a special occasion.
• I'm on a hiatus from my Sunday night game group.
• I'm also on a hiatus from DDO -- kinda got bored there.
• All the other hundreds of games or so in my collection just aren't calling to me.

Where does that leave me?  That leaves me stumbling through the free to play games on Steam, where I found a ninja pig of a different bacon: Iron Snout.

HIYA! (I'm pretty sure that's ketchup on the ground there)

So you're a pig with some pretty sweet ninja skills. You've got low kicks, high kicks, double flips . . . you can cut off the heads of your enemies and then use them as projectile weapons . . . but you aren't much for moving around or being stealthy.  No, you're a pig, in the middle of the screen, and this horde of wolves have you marked as enemy number one.

COME AT ME BRO . . . and, yes, they'll come at you wielding axes, cleavers, rockets, chainsaws, and baskets of baked goods . . . and I'm sure as you survive longer, they'll have other nefarious ways to try and take you down.

I wouldn't say this is the most enlightening of game experiences I've ever had, nor the most fun, but when it comes to filling the void . . . thank you Iron Snout!

It even comes with a two-player mode where you can bounce a ball at a pig-friend and try to score points by getting the ball past them air-hockey-style with no animated violence whatsoever! I'm not going to say I beat my kids 2 games out of 3, but . . . ok, I already said it.

If you give Iron Snout a shot or are already familiar with this mayhem, gimme a shout in the comments below with your high score!  I just happened to score this . . .

It's a good number, and I got an achievement! (Look at those stupid chuckling wolves.)

Happy Dueling

Finally Tried (and fell in love with) Terraria!

I'm very late to the party.  Terraria has been around since 2011, and I'm just barely getting to it, but let's just say it kind of consumed the past couple weeks of my life, and I had a blast playing it, which is surprising since upon first play a year ago when I won the game from participating in Blaugust, I wasn't initially all that impressed.

My little town

Terraria had been sitting on my desktop this whole time, and I thought . . . you know what? I'm giving it a fair handshake because I made the mistake as discounting it as a 2D Minecraft, which apparently is a common misconception, and I didn't see the attraction.

There are plenty of reviews online that talk about how Terraria isn't just a 2D Minecraft, so I probably don't need to go into the details too much, but I think it's best summed up by a review from Fuzzbot I saw in Steam on the game:

"Itsa sandbox game.

Itsa sandbox 2d game.

Itsa sandbox exploration 2d game.

Itsa sandbox exploration 2d RPG game.

Itsa sandbox exploration 2d RPG Shooter game.

Itsa sandbox exploration 2d RPG Shoot-And-Hoard-Loot game.

Itsa sandbox exploration 2d hardmode RPG Shoot-And-Hoard-Loot game.

Itsa sandbox survival exploration 2d hardmode RPG Shoot-And-Hoard-Loot game.

Itsa sandbox rogue-like survival exploration 2d hardmode RPG Shoot-And-Hoard-Loot game.

Itsa sandbox rogue-like survival exploration 2d hardmode RPG Shoot-And-Hoard-Loot Clickfest game.

Itsa class-building sandbox rogue-like survival exploration 2d hardmode RPG Shoot-And-Hoard-Loot Clickfest game.

Itsa economic class-building sandbox rogue-like survival exploration 2d hardmode RPG Shoot-And-Hoard-Loot Clickfest game.

Itsa economic class-building sandbox rogue-like survival exploration 2d hardmode RPG Shoot-And-Hoard-Loot Griefing Clickfest game.

Itsa economic class-building sandbox rogue-like survival exploration 2d hardmode RPG Shoot-And-Hoard-Loot Griefing Multiplayer Clickfest game.

Itsa economic class-building sandbox rogue-like sword-fighting survival exploration 2d hardmode RPG Shoot-And-Hoard-Loot Griefing Multiplayer Clickfest game.

Itsa economic class-building sandbox rogue-like sword-fighting spell-casting survival exploration 2d hardmode RPG Shoot-And-Hoard-Loot Griefing Multiplayer Clickfest crafting game.

Itsa economic class-building sandbox rogue-like sword-fighting spell-casting survival exploration 2d hardmode RPG Shoot-And-Hoard-Loot Griefing Multiplayer Clickfest crafting game that ISN'T a Minecraft clone.

Just buy it. What ELSE do you want? A SEQUEL!?

Well, its apparently getting that, too.

10/10, would waste time googling adjectives and taking adjectives from the comment section again."

That's possibly the greatest review ever written because the game plays like that.  You start to play the game and once you get beyond the "sandbox" "2D" "RPG" "Shooter" aspect of the game, you're good to go and the layers keep peeling back.

If I was to mashup games to tell you what it feels like to me, it'd be this

Ghost N'  Goblins meets Diablo meets Minecraft

All games that I've thoroughly enjoyed in my life.

Now . . . all that said, I'm kind of to the point in the game where I've crafted some pretty awesome armor, have fairy wings to fly, have an amazing yo-yo of death, a stockpile of potions, a town full of helpful NPCs, and to progress further into the game I have to kill three bosses that randomly appear, but only at nighttime . . . and I'm stuck.

The hardmode bosses kick my butt, and I'm imagining I have to either sync up and actually play the game with friends to progress or really learn how to avoid taking damage from the bosses (either by bashing my head against it several more times or watching a few spoilery YouTube videos).

If you've got $10 to spare or happen to find Terraria for sale on the Steam store, I'd recommend giving it a go, but when you do . . . just know you may need to give it some time until the layers of the game start to peel back and reveal itself.

Let me know when you've beat the Wall of Flesh! Two words . . . water bolt. ;)

Happy Dueling!