It's sad to think that we're almost halfway through the year and this is the first time I'm typing in MySQL Workbench to add an entry to the 2024 challenge. But a new career and a new baby will do that to you. Regardless, as paternity leave takes form so does this page on the now infamous gamingwithdan.com website. The first entry will be relatively short and sweet as it is a sequet to the last entry on the 2023 list and for all intents and purposes is the same game. AVGNA is a brutal 2D, minimalist platforming experience that serves as a short parody on the genre itself. As mentioned, for a better description of the game's mechanics, refer to the final entry of 2023. Overall, I'd say, this game plays a little easier than the first one due to mainly buffing the lives system. The jankyness of wanting to kill yourself to start a new level with a fresh 20 lives was removed which added for a much smoother and sensical gameplay loop. I also think in general the game was made easier, jumps being less precise, less bullet spam - that sorta thing. It is for these reasons that the sequel earned half a point higher than the first. A 6.5 score isn't glamorous by any means, but it also isn't terrible and this was a fine start to 2024.

If you've been following this journey, you'll be well aware of my obsession for finding high quality rogue lites(likes?) and Voidigo fits this bill perfectly. A semi-brtual top down twin stick shooter, Voidigo offers dynamic, tough yet fair comment in an absolutely beautifully drawn pixel world. There are four or five playable characters each offerring a unique set of starting weapons and abilities. What I particularly like about the structure of this rogue lite is how it really encourages you to explore each character as rewards for unlocking features and powerups within your home base are directly tied to completing runs with each of them. Like any good rogue lite, there are plenty of unique rooms and shops within the subworlds of each area that keeps runs unique and refreshing. This game gets tough, culminating in a final corrupted run necessary to see the credits which is pure chaos. I can't even imagine how this game plays out on impossible, I imagine there are very specific strats required for success for such a difficulty mode. The final kill felt genuinely rewarding and another great rogue lite is in the books.

There is no chance in hell that Kirby's Adventure is getting a 7 if it's released in 2024 (obviously) so this 7 represents it being the relic in time that it is. This game was released for the original gameploy and is about as simple and easy as a platformer as you can get. It consist of fives very short and as I mentioned, easy, levels making it a game that can be completed in a very short session. The only real mechanic present was Kirby being able to inhale and exhale objects. Although there wasn't much to it, this would obviously set the stage for much, much more in the later Kirby games. The black and white artwork was fine for it's time, and overall this was a very quick and enjoyable enough experience.

ANOTHER ROGUELITE BABY! I can't stop won't stop with these roguelites at least until I've gone through enough of them where I see a serious drop in quality, but as the industry keeps pumping them out I dont' think that'll be a concern for a while. Children of Morta is pretty awesome. This isn't quite the same combat quality as a game like Wizard of Legend although it is similar in vein. Each 'child' of the family is a playable chracter with a unique combat style and ability loop. I mentioned Wizard of Legend because this does play somewhat similarily, walk into a group of mobs and spam the abilities that you've accumulated during the run in the most efficient way possible to clear out a room. I found the melee based characters a bit difficult to master, but immediately found a home on the range based characters as I normally do in these types of games to get them as close as possible to an Enter the Gungeon play style. Although the combat is a bit simplistic and repetitive, it's still fun and presents a genuine challenge at at least some points in the game. What really carries this game, however, is the voice acting, the story, and the artwork. An incredible amount of depths was put into these aspects for an otherwise relatively simplistic indie title. There is an interesting mechanic that I'm not sure I've encountered in a rogue lite with multiple characters called 'fatigue' which encourages you to try out each other character that 's available to do a run with. However, I quickly discovered that you could negate this mechanic by simpling switching between two characters which somehwat nullified this attempt at forcing character diversity. I think the key to doing that is what Voidigo did - tying rewards and progression in a sense by playing with all the available characters. As any good roguelite, each run consisted of multiple treasure rooms, challenge rooms, and fun mini game rooms to keep every run intriguing. This game was a real treat - here's to hoping for a Children of Morta 2.

As much as I love roguelites, I also love me some metroidvania and 8 Doors would mark the first entry in this genre for 2024. This game had some flaws, but it was undoubtedly an enjoyable experience. You play as Arum, the protagonist who ventures into purgatory to resuce the soul of her father who was mysteriously and suddenly killed. The story and diaolgue itself wasn't top tier, but it had it's moments and was at the very least passable. The mechanics of dashing, dodging, wall jumping, changing forms etc. are what was at the core of this experience and although I would never compare it to a masterpiece like Hollow Knight, it definitely scratced at this itch. Arum had multiple weapons he could quick swap to which each carried unique characteristics which would help advance him through this metroidvania world. To be honest this felt like a pretty textbook pretty good metroidvania for 2024 - nothing incredibly stand out but every common element done solidly. There were a few genuinely enjoyable platforming sections which required quick swapping and execution reminiscent, again not to compare, of Hollow Knight. The boss fights were aplenty and offered the typical combination of pattern memorization and quick reactions. The final boss fight was straight up awesome. It consisted of four phases of progressing difficulty and if you started, you were back at square one. Although in other games this might get a bit frustrating, this fight was so enjoyable I had no problem restarting the fight and getting back to the very pixel perfect, precision combat oriented final form. The game's ending was straight up depressing. However, after looking up the multiple possible endings online (fully permissible after beating a game as stated in the gamingwithdan.com rules) I saw that there was a happy ending achieved by beating each optional boss which is a very reasonable requirement. I just happen to be in the business of beating games quickly so as soon as I felt strong enough to finish it, I did. Good stuff from this (foreign?) developer. Finally, let it be known that although the game's difficulty level says NORMAL, this was the highest possible difficutly to select.