Week of 30 Mar 2025
“Okay. Good. Now jerk it around a bit.”
Achievements Earned In:
- Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition
- Please Fix The Road
- Botany Manor
- Minecraft
- The Last Worker
I have plans to play South of Midnight upon release, so I needed to kinda stretch out the week without starting anything too long. Therefore, I started the week with Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition, which honestly was a bit of a gamble. I had done so little research on this one; so much so that when I loaded it up I was shocked to be met with a point-and-click FMV game from 1997! It takes place in the same Los Angeles as the film, even alongside the events of Deckard’s adventure (so much so he’s tied to an achievement). Usually, the nice thing about playing these really old games is the smorgasbord of available guides to help me step-by-step through the game. Often, it’s also been released on Steam and so achievements are also taken into account. The problem with a game like this is the entire game has an element of RNG. If you’re not familiar with the concept of the series, there are bioengineered beings that are illegal on Earth called “replicants”, indistinguishable from humans on the outside, and they are hunted by Blade Runners. So, a part of the game is trying to discern if people you’re interacting with are humans or replicants, and when you first start the game, these factors are completely randomized. COOL. Especially since there’s an achievement for making sure every replicant makes it to the end of the game alive. This was frustrating at first since many guides I read insisted that if a particular character was designated a replicant there was no way to accomplish this. I got that outcome on my first playthrough, and if I’d known I could just shoot someone’s gun out of their hand that would have been my ONLY playthrough. Alas, I started up a second, realized there was a way to salvage the other once it became clear that same character was again designated a replicant, loaded a save near that event and played from there. The gameplay itself is standard for this kind of game, talking to people, exhausting conversation options. There’s a heavy emphasis on gathering evidence and clues, of course, and you rarely get to pull the gun out and shoot. It’s jank, but you can forgo it if you want to besides a few required shootouts. Overall, it’s a pretty easy and interesting completion! I think I’m gonna look into more of Nightdive Studios’ remasters; it’s kinda cool going back to this stuff.
Achievements unlocked: 24 (+24) | Completed
Just answer a few questions and we’ll decide if I shoot you or not.
Over in the Hall of Gamers Discord, it came to everyone’s attention that if you joined developer Silesia Games’ Discord and posted a greeting, they’d send you a free code for Please Fix The Road. I’m not one to pass up either a free game nor a chance to connect with a developer, so I took the bait and did so. It was Wednesday that I figured I’d go ahead and start it, why not? It’s a spatial puzzle game, where you have to use predesignated pieces to fix a road or other route. It’s a very simple concept, and the game doesn’t get a whole lot more complicated. I never felt truly stumped, though you have free and ample use of a number of hints at the beginning of each level. I completed around half of the game without using hints, but I soon decided to just roll on through as quick as I could. I’d use up all my hints, and then figure out the final couple steps or whatever. I think there were only 2 or 3 puzzles where I couldn’t see the ending path and struggled after all the hints. And for the final ten levels you lose all hints and have to work on your own. These weren’t all that bad, but I relied on video guides at x0.5 speed and followed along. I really loved the vibe and animation of everything. Neat little game!
Achievements unlocked: 10 (+10) | Completed
Don’t worry, folks. We’ll get you to your flags in no time.
The “leaving Game Pass” list came out, so I decided I’d go for Botany Manor. It’s a pretty short escape room puzzle game, where you go through different areas of a manor, unlocking each by solving how to make a plant bloom. One flower needs to be near a certain temperature of heat, one needs to be near a particular kind of tree, one needs to be in a particular speed of wind, etc. It’s really neat, but of course I was here for speed, so I followed a written guide that walked me through grabbing all the clues and seeds. Nice and quick completion. And the manor and surrounding grounds were really lovely.
Achievements unlocked: 36 (+36) | Completed
I definitely read that as “apple bending” at first. Was wondering why Aang never mentioned it!
I had to go to a work thing over in Des Moines, about two hours away. Figured I’d get an achievement in Minecraft before going (just in case). Good thing, as I ended up going out that night and eating and drinking aplenty, while dancing in a nightclub until almost 3:30 in the morning! Fantastic, but gotta keep that streak going. Not sure what I’ll do when this is finally cleaned up…
Achievements unlocked: 120 (+1) | Completion: 92%
Another game I’ve been sitting on for a while is The Last Worker, and all I really knew about it was that you’re a worker for a corporation like Amazon. I often put games I hear about on my price watch over on TA, but I can’t for the life of me remember where I heard about this particular game. But man am I glad I had this one ready to go! You switch between doing the job of checking and shipping/recycling orders in a giant warehouse, or sneaking around the facility to discover the secrets of Amazo- er, Jüngle. I love how it shows how gross it is when a huge CEO of a corporation panders in the name of inclusion. I know, “woke” is such a hot button topic. Yeah, the CEO has rainbow hair and calls everyone “cuz” but is in fact a cutthroat monster killing the planet, but also… there’s a plot point where men take control of the rebel forces and their man-ness is pointed to as why it’s all quickly falling apart. Just kinda “ick”? But, super minor. Otherwise, the game is very funny, and I loved anytime the helper bot Skew was on screen (voiced by Lucius Malfoy himself). I actually think I enjoyed the warehouse gameplay the most; it’s fun simulator “dad-game” energy. The completion overall is really short and easy, though be careful: there’s a pretty intense endless runner section in the final sections of the game that requires pretty fast relaxes out of nowhere.
Achievements unlocked: 31 (+31) | Completed
If a place of employment says this to you, you’re legally obligated to dry heave.
Rarest Achievements:
Skew level 1 in The Last Worker [5.67]
Skew level 2 in The Last Worker [5.67]
Walk in The Last Worker [5.67]
Good Santa in The Last Worker [5.67]
Gotta Fetch Them All in The Last Worker [5.67]
Most Common Achievement:
Clues Yourself in Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition [1.00]
Big Brain in Please Fix The Road [1.00]
Welcome to Jüngle in The Last Worker [1.00]
