Board 8 > February Game of the Month Club ft. Black Mesa, Chicory, and Space Funeral

(+) Yeah! (+)

Februarys Games:
Black Mesa (PC)
Chicory: A Colorful Tale (PC/PS4/Switch)
Space Funeral (PC)

Games of the Month of the Year:
Mass Effect (PC/XB1/PS4/360/PS3)
Mass Effect 2 (PC/XB1/PS4/360/PS3)
Mass Effect 3 (PC/XB1/PS4/360/PS3/Wii U)

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 on the 25th
- If you periodically keep us posted on your progress and/or talk about different aspects of the games, then everyone will obviously think you are super awesome!

Nomination Rules
- You get one nomination automatically each month
- You receive additional nominations each month for every featured 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 featured game after the drawing for next month's games but before the end of the month
- You have 9 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 - 161
gameking - 116
ArkOfTurus - 99
Mr Crispy - 94
Lolo Guru - 70
Cody - 57
KnightOfNee - 35
MegamanX - 28
ViolentAbacus - 25
Wickle - 25
Arti - 23
scarletspeed - 23
FakeAccount - 22
Seanchan - 21
darkx - 18
GreatPaul - 17
Fenny - 16
MZero - 16
Suprak the Stud - 15
tazzyboy - 14

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

Additional noms this month
Suprak - 1
Crispy - 1

Chicory is on PS Plus Extra

Space Funeral is a free download on itch.io
https://thecatamites.itch.io/space-funeral

I started Chicory, it seems pretty neat so far. I started it on the Steam Deck, but the controls for the brush seem really slow, so probably will swap to the PC to finish it.

Started Black Mesa. Definitely in for Chicory. Might play Space Funeral if its really only an hour or so long.

Nominate: Journey

I'll probably give Space Funeral a try since it is so short.

Chicory!!!!!

Space Funeral beaten

What an odd little game. It's definitely one of those "talk to weird little NPCs" style RPGs. I kinda dig all the aesthetic choices, I just wish the story wasn't so bog standard by comparison.

Beat Space Funeral

Probably wouldn't have bothered with it if it was longer.

Space Funeral is definitely a game... That's all I can say about it.

Chicory has been a fun, cute thing so far.

I love Space Funeral so might actually be able to participate this month. Chicory's (kinda) been on my radar, and Black Mesa might be awkward without prior context within HL's world. Still would be open to try it.

I'm endorsing Chicory.

I thought I'd be done with Black Mesa by now. But the Xen chapters JUST. DO. NOT. FUCKING. END! Holy fucking mother of god please make it stop!

KCF has beaten Space Funeral

This game held my attention more than OFF did, and I'm glad that I asked for more power fromt he djinn to cheese the remaining battles

I havent done one of these but I started Chicory because of this topic, really enjoying it so far, albeit the themes are definitely a lot different than what I was expecting going in

I own Black Mesa and it looks like Space Funeral is pretty short so I may actually just do all of them >_>

Seanchan posted...

I thought I'd be done with Black Mesa by now. But the Xen chapters JUST. DO. NOT. FUCKING. END! Holy fucking mother of god please make it stop!

The Xen chapters are why I still much prefer the original Half-Life.

Black Mesa beated!

You know, it's funny. Despite Half Life 2 being one of my favorite games of all time, I'm hard pressed to remember if I even ever finished the original Half Life. I've certainly played through the first few chapters many times, but after killing the tentacle monsters it gets hazy. I know I've at least seen videos or watched friends play through Xen though!

I put off playing through Half Life again, as I really wanted to play Black Mesa, the long time coming fan made reimagining of that original game. It's been forever, so I can't really compare/contrast the two with any great knowledge. But in spirit, at least through the parts I remember, I think it captures things well. It looks nice graphically and many of the general flaws (bad weapon selection, wonky physics) I'm pretty sure are issues even in Valve's version.

But there's other, bigger issues here. Some are carried over from the original but some seem like they're new to this remake. Black Mesa is a long game for a shooter, with my final time being about 20 hours. And it feels it at points, especially as you're going through endless vents, climbing numerous ladders, and traversing even more labs/office space.

Then you get to Xen...

I know the devs put a lot of work into glitzing up Xen and, yes, graphically it's very nice. But, as I lamented in my earlier post, those 4 Xen chapters are very much an awful slog. You've got this boost jump thing that you've got to use all over the place and it just leads to a lot of frustrating platforming and reloads. (Yes, I know that's in the original.)

The Xen levels just go on forever though, and from what I understand, a lot of that is new content for Black Mesa. The Interloper chapter, in particular, was truly testing my patience. I thought it was finally going to end multiple times, only for another 15, 30, 45 minutes of connecting wires, conveyor belts, crap platforming, and floating brain monsters. The only saving grace is that the final battle was decently fun, and supposedly much improved from Valve's version.

While I respect the hell out of the devs work on sticking with it and getting Black Mesa out there, I think it's a tough recommendation in 2023. And I would have said that even before getting to Xen, though that certainly pushed it down another rung. Unfortunately, that's likely also true of Half Life as well. A classic, and important for the history of gaming? Absolutely! But I don't feel like it holds up well to modern gaming standards.

Anyway, I'm just going to go ahead and nominate Half Life 2, because now I REALLY need to know if that one actually holds up!

ViolentAbacus posted...

Space Funeral is definitely a game... That's all I can say about it.

I feel like that's an extremely generous description for what this is.

Suprak beat Space Funeral

I just didn't see the appeal if this at all. I knew the game was an hour long and considered quitting at the 45 minute mark. No redeeming features here that I can think of. It's a borderline 1/10 game for me.

VeryInsane has beaten Chicory: A Colorful Tale

actually I beat it a couple days ago but wanted to 100% it

phenomenal game, high recommend to anyone who likes adventure games where you get to explore and do puzzles. Plot is great too, but may hit home to some people.

Suprak_the_Stud posted...

Suprak beat Space Funeral

I just didn't see the appeal if this at all. I knew the game was an hour long and considered quitting at the 45 minute mark. No redeeming features here that I can think of. It's a borderline 1/10 game for me.

Well SOMEONE didn't find Dracula, apparently.

I should really begin Chicory soon

Beat Chicory

Same thoughts as VeryInsane. Played this on PS5 and it was a bit annoying at times using the right analog stick for the brush but still very playable.

I'm really excited that people are enjoying Chicory after how much I've hyped it up lol

I have begun Chicory.

I was having some issues with the right stick constantly resetting to a position. Very, very annoying. Then I realized it's because the touch screen (on the PS5) is glitching or something. I need to look in the options to see if I can disable that.

I have also begun Chicory (PS5)

I've been using the touch pad rather than the right stick for the most part. Too bad this isn't a 3DS game

Maybe I will just use keyboard and mouse when I boot it up on Steam if everyone has the same complaint about using a controller

Yeah, I've had a much better time since swapping from the Steam Deck to the PC

I dont think I had any real issues with the controls? I feel like it was part of the fun really

to be clear I don't hate the controls or anything, but I think it would be a lot of fun on 3DS (or with any kind of stylus really)

Monthly Progress
Mesa - Sean
Chicory - VI, JONA
Funeral - Kenri, JONA, KCF, Suprak

Nominations
Cody - Journey
Sean - Half-Life 2

Supports

I forgot that this is February, so drawing in six days

I might as well get some nominations in now

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Grapple Dog

Nominate:

Shantae: Half-Genie Hero
Astalon: Tears of the Earth

I will support Astalon. I bought that in November or December

Should be finishing Chicory tonight...

Chapter 3 of Chicory

Last 2 nominations for the month:
Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales
Hi-Fi Rush

Nominate: Phantom Dust

Maybe one day we can do some B8 lobbies

Nominate Citizen Sleeper

Support Hi-Fi Rush

might as well get some mileage from game pass since Ive been bad at doing that

Chicory beated!

Fun game! Interesting story that's heavy but in a different way than something like The Last of Us.

I enjoyed running around the world and it kind of reminded me a bit of Link's Awakening at points. Much better use of paint than the boring Color Splash, that's for damn certain. Wasn't a big fan of the "boss" battles, but you can't lose them so that helped a lot.

Finished in 11 hours at 87%. Started trying to go for the platinum but then thought otherwise when I couldn't find the trash I was missing on Spoon Island. 90%+ and around 12 hours. Good enough!

Black Mesa has been beaten

Honestly I didnt feel like this was too long really in comparison to the original (Steam times are about the same). Thought the way they did the first last bit and completely rebuilt it was really nice. Really cool project and thought it was faithful to the original

Need to decide what I want to nominate... Was going to do Like a Dragon: Ishin... But couldn't wait to start it.

In the meantime

Support Hi-Fi Rush

Monthly Progress
Mesa - Sean, VI
Chicory - VI, JONA, Sean
Funeral - Kenri, JONA, KCF, Suprak

Nominations
Ark - Adios
Cody - Journey
Crispy - Vice: PD
JONA - Legend of Tianding, Bloodstained: RotN, Tetris Effect
KCF - Deus Ex: MD, Grapple Dog
Kenri - Shantae: HGH, Astalon
MZero - Chained Echoes
Paul - Star Fox Zero
Sean - Half-Life 2, Hi-Fi Rush, Spider-Man: Miles
Tony - Phantom Dust
VI - Citizen Sleeper

Supports
Abacus - Hi-Fi
Ark - Deus
Crispy - Deus
KCF - Astalon
VI - Hi-Fi

Drawing on Friday

I finally started Chicory and am up to chapter 2.

I was mad at myself for not following the darkness that took Blackberry. I saw it creeping up on me, so I ran all the way back to Luncheon and wandered around a bit unsure of what to do. I called mom, and was told I needed to follow the darkness and was not happy at the wasted time and effort.

I was not expecting challenging boss fights, so that first one took me by surprise. though I think it was because I was making it harder on my self in terms of controls since what I had set to wasn't comfortable for the constant and real-time action of boss fights. I'm glad that I am using keyboard and mouse however for painting. It just seems very natural while using a mouse.