Week of 05 Oct 2025
“Extract the data, expose the truth!”
Achievements Earned In:
- Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
- Garfield Lasagna Party
- Troll and I
- Cocoon
- Skeljump
Between Gamefly rentals this week, I worked on Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and got pretty close to wrapping it up finally. First up was the final stretch through Permadeath mode, which never became very tough. Then it was on to the added mode: Breach. This is a set of levels in a horrid VR art style where you have to complete an objective against an escalating group of digital opponents. The problem is this is designed in a “gacha” style of game, where you’re left in the hands of RNG fate to get what you need. For the first set of levels I quickly found myself struggling with resources, and… I just hate the design of the game. Compared to the sleek and stylish cityscape of the base game, the garish stark white and weird architecture of the Palisades Blade you’re hacking into is just disorienting, and there’s constant voices and sounds in your ears the entire time. I just hated all of it so much! Luckily, after struggling for a while I soon found a glitch online: if you equip an energy Booster item and then equip/unequip the health booster you will raise your total energy for the amount of the item. So, since I had a +50 energy item, it was an additional 50 energy each time! Going into these levels with 20k or more energy makes everything afterwards a cinch… well, besides the handful of “no augmentations” levels. But those are designed in such a way to get through them with some minor memorization and skills. The game got easier as I leveled up, getting “infinite” blaster, stealth, smart vision, etc. What was endlessly frustrating soon become a breeze, and I knocked out the rest in short order. The very fact this mode exists ticks me off, though. Anyway, next it was to the first of the two story-based add-ons. These are each only a couple hours long, but I also have to be kill-less each time. One down, one to go, and I’m all done!
Achievements unlocked: 71 (+27) | Completion: 88%
Just a mess of voxels.
With the final batch of my Gamefly games showing up in my mailbox, it was time to knock out this subscription and get back to my other stuff. First up was Garfield Lasagna Party, which is just Mario Party + Garfield. The achievements are easy enough, one each for winning each of the 32 minigames. There’s a mode called “Lasagna World Tour” that allows you to play every single minigame in sequence, so I connected four controllers and jumped in. Since I was the only one competing, winning each game was cake (lasagna?") and it took about an hour to knock this out.
Achievements unlocked: 32 (+32) | Completed
We shall compete for TOAST.
My final Gamefly rental for this subscription is Troll and I, a game I knew nothing about. I like to not play only super easy games when I do this, and I saw the massive ratio on this one and how it didn’t seem too hard to complete. Did it earn that 4+ ratio? No, not even close. This game is not good, at all, but for a simple linear adventure game where you team up with a large troll it’s certainly not unplayable or hard. Well, mostly; there is an achievement for killing enemies from atop your troll friend with thrown spears that is just so frustrating due to the terrible gameplay. But other than that? Follow a guide and strap in for a nonsense story with more than a 0% chance of gamebreaking bugs.
Achievements unlocked: 26 (+26) | Completed
Ah, nice find! Now to shove this somewhere.
I wasn’t planning on diverging from Gamefly games and Deus Ex, but when Cocoon was announced as leaving the Game Pass library I knew I had to get to it. It’s a well-liked and critically acclaimed puzzle title, so to give it fair due I decided to go for it without the use of a guide. It sure got trippy, and by the end you’re stacking universes within universes to figure out how to get around obstacles. It’s a very cool mechanic and I really didn’t need a guide. I also grabbed all but one of the collectibles by just being thorough, so I used a guide finally to pick that one up. I was surprised that there was combat! It really came out of nowhere, too. There’s not a whole lot more to say, but highly recommend this one.
Achievements unlocked: 17 (+17) | Completed
I’m gonna avoid you, but I’m not gonna like stepping there.
Figured I’d go back to Skeljump and knock it out quick. The entire completion (based on skill) took me around 15 minutes to get through. The jumping does require skill and precision, but since it’s only the first 19 level you have to make it through, that never gets very tough. Nice and easy.
Achievements unlocked: 10 (+9) | Completed
Just a quick hop, skip, and jump.
Rarest Achievements:
Camera, Action, Red-Handed in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided [8.37]
A Heist of Olympic Proportions in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided [8.37]
Most Common Achievements:
Proven Hunter in Troll and I [1.00]
Level 3 in Skeljump [1.00]
