Backrooms Anomaly: Demo Review

Two big trends on Youtube right now are anomaly and Backrooms games.  As I searched Steam for free demos to play, I encountered Backrooms Anomaly, which combines both of the things I was looking for.  While I’ve never actually played an anomaly game myself, I’ve seen plenty on Youtube, and the concept is simple.  You…

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The Enigmatic Spirit of Cocoon

Cocoon, which first released a couple years ago, is a funny little puzzle game. Though, I suppose “little” is a poor choice of words, because, to some degree, it’s quite like Dr. Who’s TARDIS, in that it’s “bigger on the inside.” Cocoon’s world-within-worlds concept is as fascinating as it is confounding. As I reflect on…

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The Highs and Lows of Silksong: Reaching Act 2

When last I discussed my early thoughts on Hollow Knight: Silksong, I left off not feeling too happy with the game.  I had, in fact, just conquered the room where you’re ambushed by “birds” before encountering yet another boss fight that was required to progress.  By now, I was getting downright fed up.  It almost…

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Resonance: The Frozen Path

Despite my best efforts, MIO: Memories in Orbit and I had a short run. While a beautiful game with a unique setting and extremely good platforming, its overly challenging bosses proved too much for me, even with selected options meant to ease their difficulty. I suppose I may return to it, but that won’t be…

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Silksong (Act 1) Bosses Ranked by Difficulty

Silksong is the long-awaited sequel to the critically acclaimed Hollow Knight.  Both are Metroidvanias where you play as a bug.  And both are very difficult.  Considering this game has a heck of a lot of bosses, I’ll be breaking them down by act.  While the act 1 bosses are, technically, easier, they sometimes felt more…

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TES IV: Oblivion — Guess Who’s Back…Back Again…

I will readily admit that I am an imperfect human being. I sometimes choose form over function, I tend to bite off more than I can chew, and I’m terribly prone to distraction. While these (and many other flaws) do manifest in real life, they are more than painfully obvious in my video game life,…

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Five Laps at Freddy’s: Demo Review

The demo for the racing spin-off, Five Laps at Freddy’s, was released as part of the Five Nights at Freddy’s 10-year anniversary back in August of 2024.  While I have watched other people play it, I didn’t get around to playing it myself until roughly 1.5 years later because of my recent delve into PC…

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Hypnotic Fun: Sam & Max Save the World

In my early years of PC gaming, I remember Sam & Max Hit the Road with great fondness. Its absurdist humor and bizarre characters drew me in the most. It’s often illogical (in my addled mind) approach to puzzle-solving in a point-and-click matrix certainly didn’t. Playing the game frustrated me to no end – that…

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Unforgettable: Cogwork Dancers

As I slowly work my way through Hollow Knight: Silksong, I find myself having a love/hate relationship with the game.  There are lots of good moments, sure, but there are also plenty of very, very annoying ones that test my patience to the limits.  I especially loathe every time I get stuck on yet another…

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Super Mario 64, You’re My One and Only

If the recent release of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie reminds me of anything, it’s that I never completed Super Mario Galaxy. Because of that, I never touched its sequel, either. Super Mario Sunshine is also in the DNF pile. Super Mario 3D World was fun but left me cold. I recently saw Super Mario…

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Light Dude: Demo Review

We were recently contacted by the solo developer of Dergham Games about his upcoming game, Light Dude, a “skill-based action game” where the “level hides when you move”.  I recently played the demo for myself, which contains 9 levels and a boss fight.  These levels teach you the basics of the game, and the concept…

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A Return to The Elder Scrolls Online

Best I can tell, it’s been a good three or four years since I last paid attention to The Elder Scrolls Online. My personal heyday with it was admittedly short, from 2019-2020, but as I had a lot of time on my hands during one of those years, I managed to rack up a decent…

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Ranking the Banjo-Kazooie Mumbo Transformations

After my most recent playthrough of one of my favorite games of all time, Banjo-Kazooie, I thought it would be fun to do a handful of ranking posts.  I’ve already ranked all of the game’s 9 delightful worlds, and now I’d like to rank all of the transformations.  Although Mumbo’s magic in Banjo-Kazooie isn’t quite…

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Rethinking Rougelikes

About a million years ago, I played (and maybe you did, too) the game from whence all current roguelikes and roguelites were born: Rogue. Apt title, right? Originally a DOS game, Rogue was a procedurally generated dungeon crawler where no two runs were ever alike. Each run began with a blank screen, a single character…

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An Overdue Banjo-Kazooie World Ranking

With my Nintendo 64 currently packed up, I finally decided to give in and purchase that Expansion Pack for Nintendo Switch Online so I could revisit some of my all-time favorite games.  We’ve actually discussed the Banjo-Kazooie franchise many times over the years, but I can’t believe I never ranked these sprawling and colorful worlds…

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The Duck’s Initial Thoughts on Hollow Knight: Silksong

As usual, I’m a bit late to the party, but I’ve finally gotten around to playing the long-awaited Hollow Knight sequel, Silksong.  This time, we’re playing as the nimble Hornet in the haunted kingdom of Pharloom.  And instead of bugs being infected with a nasty disease, there are bugs being controlled by…some different sort of…

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Analyzing the Two Super Mario Galaxy Movie Trailers

After the massive success of The Super Mario Brothers Movie from 2023 (because we do NOT talk about the live-action movie from 30 years prior), it was no surprise that they’re making another one.  What is surprising, however, is that they’re skipping straight to Super Mario Galaxy, with some elements from other games thrown into…

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Bruma: Demo Review

Bruma (Spanish for haze) is a lovely platformer with a unique art style about a cat named Luna who must seek out an old lady’s lost memories.  According to the game’s Steam page and Kickstarter, you will explore an abandoned city submerged in a mysterious mist, where you can use traps or stealth to deal…

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The Marathon Situation is Kinda Silly

I’m gonna keep it real here, I was as prepared to hate on Marathon as just about anyone else, but after playing it for myself during the Marathon Server Slam last week, I don’t think it deserves it. This doesn’t mean that I like the game or the business practices Bungie seems to want to…

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The Last Cube: Demo Review

The Last Cube is a deceptively simple looking puzzle game where you play as one of the most unassuming characters ever.  A cube.  Silly though it may feel to play as a basic geometrical shape, this game actually had some decent puzzles that made me think.  At the same time, the demo’s 4.5 levels could…

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Top 10 Most Aggravating Levels from Donkey Kong Country 3

Being my least favorite Donkey Kong Country game in the original trilogy, I could still admit in my previous list that this game has plenty of fun and memorable levels.  It also has plenty of evil ones that I despise to varying degrees of white-hot hatred.  Whether it’s dealing with a level that doesn’t even…

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Conquistadorio: Demo Review

Conquistadorio is a puzzle game about a retired conqueror who became a hermit.  And I suppose he’s become about as reclusive as one can get, as the demo opens with his coffin being unearthed by some rather large bugs!  Yikes!  I was drawn to this game mainly due to the interesting art style, which is…

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Ranking the Worlds of KH: Birth By Sleep

As I continue my Kingdom Hearts marathon, my next stop was Birth by Sleep, a prequel that was originally released for the PSP, but which eventually came to consoles.  Each of the three playable characters has their own story, during which you’ll be exploring different portions of the same worlds and experiencing different pieces of…

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How Much Value is Actually in Gaming Subscriptions?

In the past, I’ve talked about Xbox Game Pass and how I don’t think it offers subscribers as much as it seems to. It’s not just Game Pass, though. It’s all of these monthly subscriptions: Game Pass, PlayStation Plus and Nintendo Switch Online. They all offer access to lots of games, but I wonder how…

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Do You Really Have to Oxygenate the Water in Jolly Roger’s Lagoon?

I’ve played Banjo-Tooie countless times over the years.  And so it’s hard to make one of my favorite games of all time feel fresh.  Partly, this is because I tend to do the same thing every single time.  For example, I always head left upon entering Terrydactyland and climb the vine behind the waterfall.  This…

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What Gives a Game ‘Heart’?

For a long time, I thought that good games, games with “heart” or “soul” were those that were made painstakingly from the ground up. They needed original gameplay, original music, original characters and artwork custom made to fit the developer’s vision. Whether it was an indie project or AAA giant didn’t matter, only that it…

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Top 10 Levels from Donkey Kong Country 3

I’ll be honest, the third Donkey Kong Country isn’t exactly my favorite.  It’s a bit too cutesy, a bit too gimmicky, and…Kiddy exists.  With that said, this is still a pretty fun game if you don’t compare it to its predecessors.  As I recently replayed it for the purposes of research, I accumulated a nice,…

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Croc’s World 1, 2, & Run: Demo Reviews

Not to be confused with the equally obscure Croc series by Argonaut Software, I’ll be reviewing all three Croc’s World demos that I could find because they’re all pretty much the same and very, very short.  Croc’s World 1, 2, and Run are very colorful platformers starring a crocodile.  Powerups include a helmet for breaking…

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The Duck’s 2026 Gaming To-Do List

Last week, I wrote about how and why I didn’t play any games released in 2025.  And yet, as we begin 2026, it appears the trend will likely stay the same.  But I’ve still got plenty of games, or at the very least, general categories of games that I’d like to play during the upcoming…

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Reminiscing Over the Duck’s 2025 Year in Gaming

Every January, we each pick our choice for Game of the Year and discuss what exactly made it stand out above the rest.  But this is the very first year since the tradition began that I, well…I didn’t play any new games.  Sure, I did play a lot of games.  Just none that were released…

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Listmas 2025: Ranking the Bosses of Kingdom Hearts

As you can no doubt tell, I’m in a big Kingdom Hearts mood, which means I’m ending my Listmas posts with yet another KH list!  Today, I’ll be ranking the boss battles from the first game, ranging from the absolute worst to the most fun.  Pretty simple, right?  Except, since there are so many bosses,…

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Listmas 2025: Ranking KH2.5’s Data Battles

Keeping with the Kingdom Hearts theme, I have been playing the Final Mix versions of the first two numbered games in the series, which features new boss fights, including battles against the members of Organization XIII who had originally appeared (and perished) in Chain of Memories.  This is great because I never enjoyed CoM’s card-based…

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Listmas 2025: Kingdom Hearts 2 World Ranking

Last week, I wrote a world ranking about the very first Kingdom Hearts game, and now it’s time to cover its even more impressive sequel, the aptly named Kingdom Hearts 2.  This game has some really good worlds…and some really dull ones.  I’ll be ranking these based off of everything, the general theming, the story,…

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The Jumping Donut: Demo Review

I don’t usually do much research when I download demos.  They’re free, so there’s really nothing to lose but a little bit of time.  With that said, I didn’t expect much from The Jumping Donut, and I didn’t get much, either.  I guess I’d kind of describe this game as a puzzle-platformer.  As the name…

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