Board 8 > January Game of the Month Club ft. Bloodstained, Hitman, and Gardens Between

(+) Yeah! (+)

Januarys Games:
Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2 (PC/XB1/PS4/Switch)
Hitman (2016) (PC/XB1/PS4)
The Gardens Between (PC/XB1/PS4/Switch/Stadia)

What is Game of the Month Club?
Game of the Month is a community project open to all B8ers where users share, discover, play and/or discuss a select few games every month. The games featured each month are chosen by YOU the users (and Lady Luck)

The Basics
- Each month will usually feature three games that were chosen via a random drawing from a pool of games that users nominated
- For each game you beat, you get a cool point on our just-for-fun standings as well as a nomination for next month's randomized drawing
- In order to receive the point and nomination, you must beat said game within the calendar month
- If you beat one of the current month's games in the previous month, you can apply for a "recently beaten waiver," but you will only receive a point and no nomination should you do so
- Drawing for next month's games is usually around a week before the end of the month
- If you periodically keep us posted on your progress and/or talk about different aspects of the games, then everyone will think you are super awesome!

Nomination Rules
- You get one nomination automatically each month
- You receive additional nominations each month for every selected game that you beat
- Each game you nominate has to be unique from all other nominations and cannot include a game that has already been selected for GotM
- Each game must be a standalone game that can be acquired and played on its own (aka cannot be DLC/expansion that requires the base game)
- Nominations only carry over if you beat a selected game after the drawing for next month's games but before the end of the month
- As a special rule for only 2021, you have 10 supports you can use throughout the year. Your only limitations are that you can't support your own nomination, and you can only use one support per game per month
---

Just-for-Fun Top 20 Standings
KCF - 121
gameking - 108
Mr Crispy - 68
ArkOfTurus - 67
Lolo Guru - 60
KnightOfNee - 35
Cody - 34
MegamanX - 27
Arti - 23
scarletspeed - 23
Wickle - 19
Fenny - 16
tazzyboy - 14
Robazoid - 13
Suprak the Stud - 13
FakeAccount - 12
darkx - 10
GreatPaul - 10
Shonen Bat - 10
MZero - 8
profDEADPOOL - 8
Wigs - 8

Spreadsheet with history
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1X8E8oqzES42W4S82j7WTfNnzNa8c3uXdSE1rnqYG7WM/edit?usp=sharing

Additional noms this month
Cody - 1
darkx - 1
Fake - 1
---

Bloodstained Curse 2 is $9.75 USD on Steam and PS4
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1257360/Bloodstained_Curse_of_the_Moon_2/
https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP1104-CUSA23490_00-COTM2PS4APP00000

Hitman 2016 (GotY Edition) is $14.71 USD on Steam
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/4854/HITMAN__Game_of_The_Year_Edition/

Hitman 2016 (GotY Edition) is $12 USD for XB1 and PS4
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/hitman-game-of-the-year-edition/bt62d5qbj0zl
https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP0082-CUSA02976_00-000000S1GOTYFULL

If you own Hitman 2, you can purchase the Legacy Pack which includes all of the Hitman 2016's content for $6 USD on Steam
https://store.steampowered.com/app/960831/HITMAN__GOTY_Legacy_Pack/

The Gardens Between is $5 USD on Steam and Switch
https://store.steampowered.com/app/600990/The_Gardens_Between/
https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/the-gardens-between-switch/

The Gardens Between is on Game Pass for PC and XB1

You can also individually purchase all the main episodes for Hitman on Steam for about $9-10 total. GotY edition also includes two other episodes/missions and costumes.
---

Hmmm.
Games I might not play from my wishlist on the Steam sale.

---

Noms:
Spider-Man: Miles Morales
Strong Bad's Cool Game For Attractive People

This might be the last you see/hear from me this month. I'll might take a peek into Gardens Between, but I have a lot of other stuff I want to play so.... probably not.

---

I've had Bloodstained for a while but haven't gotten around to playing it, guess I'll do that.

---

On Episode 2 of Curse of the Moon 2

---

Played through the tutorial missions in Hitman and I am addicted. This game is fun.
---

Excellent! Hitman is easily in my Top 10 series, and while Square Enix tried their best to sink the franchise, I/O is too good of a developer and did an excellent job with what they had to work with. I am re-downloading it and hope to begin replaying it around my birthday.
---

On stage 7 of Curse of the Moon 2

So... It's basically just playing through episode 1, but without my favorite character...

---

... Make that playing through the same stages three times

---

Abacus has beaten Curse of the Moon 2

Meh. Playing through the same 7 stages 3+ times kind of killed it for me.

---

I beat The Gardens Between. Pretty cool. Very nice looking with good puzzles. I'm not sure about doing the other achievements.

---

Played like 3-4 hours of Paris, it is very satisfying going for the different challenges and messing around.
---

Underleveled posted...

Strong Bad's Cool Game For Attractive People

Realized that this might not be easily accessible to new players due to being delisted on most/all channels and considered changing it, but decided to look and saw that it was relisted on Steam over the summer and remains available.

---

KCF has beaten The Gardens Between

I first went through this game almost two years ago and went out and bought it for two other platforms to give me incentive to go through it again.

I love the on-rails aspect of it. I can't imagine it feeling as special if it had free movement. The puzzle mechanics are simple and the puzzles aren't especially taxing on the brain, but they are very clever and extremely rewarding to solve. It is also very high on atmosphere and mood, which is right up my alley, and is quite emotional for a game with minimal plot and no dialogue.
---

I have other games lined up that I am prioritizing to play on my birthday, but I hope to squeeze in some Hitman at some point. For now my nomination theme for this month will be sequels. I will begin with:

Titanfall 2
Peggle 2
---

KCF0107 posted...

KCF has beaten The Gardens Between

I first went through this game almost two years ago and went out and bought it for two other platforms to give me incentive to go through it again.

I love the on-rails aspect of it. I can't imagine it feeling as special if it had free movement. The puzzle mechanics are simple and the puzzles aren't especially taxing on the brain, but they are very clever and extremely rewarding to solve. It is also very high on atmosphere and mood, which is right up my alley, and is quite emotional for a game with minimal plot and no dialogue.

This topic got me to buy and finish that game on the Steam sale as well. I will echo most of your comments. It's a simple, fun, relatively breezy experience. I feel stupid for not figuring out the relationship between the 2 characters sooner but I tend to focus on gameplay over story.

I would recommend The Gardens Between if you like puzzle games, especially something like Braid (though this is a much simpler game than that).

---

I started up The Gardens Between last night, though didn't play for too long. Hadn't planned on it, but I'm a sucker for puzzle games.

It's a bit simple/easy, so really hoping that it has an uptick in difficulty. But if not, will at least be a quick one to knock out!

KCF0107 posted...

on my birthday

I'm not sure when it is, but Happy Birthday, birthday buddy! We share this month!


---

All you have to do is check my username
---

I can honestly say I probably would have never made that connection, always just figured they were random numbers.

But Happy Birthday.

---

I never would have thought so either, but happy birthday!

---

July 1st?

Happy birthday
---

KCF0107 posted...

For now my nomination theme for this month will be sequels.

What a novel thought, as I need to resume nominating the sequel that someone else was nominating for some time.

Ys 2

Also happy birthday.

---

Thank you everyone!
---

Nominate Hexcells I guess.

Also, happy birthday, KCF!

---

I'll have The Gardens Between finished up tonight.

---

Abacus has beaten The Gardens Between

Overall I didn't care a whole lot for it, it was kind of boring. Though will say it kept my interest more towards the latter half of the game.

Nominations:
Yakuza 3
Quantum Conundrum
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc

---

ViolentAbacus posted...

Nominations:
Yakuza 3

I will support this nomination

---

Hoping to get back to Hitman this week, haven't had a chance to play recently.

I'll go ahead with my nominations: Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage! and Resident Evil 2
---

ArkOfTurus has beaten The Gardens Between

I enjoyed it. It kinda felt like there was some squandered potential given how many times it introduced a concept for a level, then never used it again, how short it was, and how few challenging aspects there were, but it was definitely worth the playthrough.

Have been having kind of a hard time finding the motivation to play any of these games, even though they're all games I've wanted to play for awhile, but I'm sure I'll get to the other two eventually.

---

Cody11533 posted...

Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!

support

---

Realized I meant to nominate Resident Evil 2 Remake, not the original.
---

Nominate One Step From Eden and Rakuen

Probably should stop waiting until I finish everything to nominate with supports on the table now.

---

Cody11533 posted...

Realized I meant to nominate Resident Evil 2 Remake, not the original.

Does the distinction matter? Is it more like Tomb Raider vs Tomb Raider Anniversary or Ratchet & Clank (2000-whatever) vs Ratchet & Clank (2016)
---

I'm honestly not sure, I'm not familiar with the original version. I wanted to make that distinction clear if needed.

I'll defer to someone with knowledge of both versions, but if you're fine with counting either version under the nomination that would work for me.
---

@Snake5555555555 would be a good person to ask.

---

Yeah the difference is night and day and is definitely more like the Tomb Raider comparison. Totally new cutscenes, layout, puzzles, everything, worse B scenario but that's neither here nor there. So yeah the distinction is important.

---

Well now I'm confused because TR Anniversary is a faithful remake while R&C 2016 is somewhat faithful but adds different areas, bosses, and weapons to where it feels like it should be distinguished from the original.
---

Oh I didn't realize we were talking about faithfulness. Then it's the Ratchet example. (I didn't play the Ratchet remake and thought it was more of a remaster sort of deal.)

---

We are trying to determine if the RE2 remake should be considered its own thing or if it doesn't distinguish itself from the original enough, outside of tech advances across gens, to where playing either version is sufficient for Game of the Month.

Sorry for the confusion.
---

Ratchet 2016 is more like FF7R to FF7. It has some of the same areas and weapons etc. but everything else is different.

---

Okay then Re2Remake is in my opinion very different. It has the same basic setup & structure but yeah everything else is vastly different. Progression is different, there's defense items, reworked enemies, areas totally redesigned. You would easily have two different experiences.

Don't worry about the confusion I just hope I'm hitting the right points here.

---

Played through Sapienza in Hitman, that level is huge.

Also I can actually see how the episodic release formula wouldn't have been bad. Getting one level at a time would allow you to master everything without the temptation of moving on after a clear or two.
---

So I somehow missed The Gardens Between being on Game Pass until just yesterday, which meant that I started playing it tonight. I'm on level 15, possibly genuinely stuck for the first time as I can only find one way to get both Arina and Frendt past the soda cans and that won't allow Arina's motion to turn the water blocking Frendt off. I'm hoping to come back tomorrow refreshed and figure it out en route to a hopeful finish. Otherwise, it's been pleasant enough so far.

---

MetalmindStats posted...

So I somehow missed The Gardens Between being on Game Pass until just yesterday, which meant that I started playing it tonight. I'm on level 15, possibly genuinely stuck for the first time as I can only find one way to get both Arina and Frendt past the soda cans and that won't allow Arina's motion to turn the water blocking Frendt off. I'm hoping to come back tomorrow refreshed and figure it out en route to a hopeful finish. Otherwise, it's been pleasant enough so far.

If you're talking about the part I think you are, that bit had me stuck for a few minutes as well.

---

I have gone through the game multiple times, and the same level gets me every time.

Constellation 6-1
---

I've finally committed more time to Hitman. I got through Paris in a different way than I did the first time! I drowned Viktor and snapped Dalia's neck while she was working on the laptop. I tried to do Sapienza in a different way too, but boy do I regret the path that I took. I have some manual and auto saves from before I committed to my current plan that I can load up and change things.
---

Monthly Progress
Bloodstained - Abacus
Hitman -
Gardens - paper, KCF, Sean, Abacus, Ark

Nominations
Abacus - Yakuza 3, Quantum Conundrum, Danganronpa 1
Ark - Rakuen, One Step Eden
Cody - Spyro 2, RE2 Remake
KCF - Titanfall 2, Peggle 2
metalmind - Hexcells
Wickle - Ys II

Supports
darkx - Spyro 2
Paul - Yakuza 3
---

I don't take part in those, but it just so happened that I played it in the last week as the final game of my Inti-Creates marathon

I wanted to write a very strong negative review for this on Steam but I just couldn't, because it wouldn't be fair for the developers because it's clear they put a lot of effort and love into it
But god damn it the difficulty is so annoying, this is one of the most frustrating game I have ever played.
Knockback is too strong, some parts in stages are "use invincibility or die" (and it also true for stage 7 boss)
Still, level design is superb, boss fights are as good as Inti Creates know to do, the intermission cutscenes showing you what your characters are up to are cute (and they even have unique intermission cutscenes for the EX episode!)
So it's kind of..hard for me to hate on this, even though I was annoyed when playing 90% of it

Episode 1 - Veteran
Episode 2 - Veteran
Final Episode - Veteran
Episode EX - Casual
Zangetsu only Final Episode - Casual

Casual is too much of a cakewalk, enemies drop hearts, I believe they deal less damage too, unlimited lives, MP bottles restore twice the MP (so you can be invicible forever kind of) and no knockback at all
If there was a difficulty between them or if they just nerfed knockback (not remove entirely) the difficulty would have been perfect

---