“The living still give me the creeps.”
Achievements Earned In:
- Kiosk
- KARMA: The Dark World
- She's Leaving
- Grim Fandango Remastered
Continuing with horror games I could do fairly quickly, I started Kiosk on Sunday. This is… well, you work a kiosk at night. Customers come up to the window, order food (the usual burgers, fries, …pancakes?), you cook it up and deliver it into their needful hands. Sounds pretty chill, but the caveat is the apparent serial killer on the loose in the area, and the shadowy figures that keep scaring you throughout the week. It really did get me good a few times, and I was not amused! Overall, though, it’s a fairly short and quite easy experience. Recommended if you have a couple hours!
Achievements unlocked: 10 (+10) | Completed
Oh, I can handle shadowy serial killers. But I draw the line at CLOWNS.
The next scary game wasn’t quite as short… or straightforward. I landed on KARMA: The Dark World, a game I’d struggle to really describe. It definitely seems to involve a guy jumping through the memories of those involved in a conspiracy around a shadowy organization that acts almost like the “thought police” from movies and television. And since you’re in the minds of others, things can get really trippy and eerie fast. But, overall, this is essentially a “walking simulator” type game, and there’s no combat or anything to worry about. It’s all puzzles, all the way down! The mystery was actually pretty intriguing once you get a hang of what’s kinda going on, and the achievements are all tied to either collectibles or to particular sections, all of which are easy to return to with a nice chapter select system. I’m not sure this really ended up fitting the “horror” theme I was going for, but still a neat one.
Achievements unlocked: 24 (+24) | Completed
Huh… that can’t be good.
I’m not sure my next game, She's Leaving, really fits the theme either. This is mostly due to the fact you can straight-up turn off the one spooky part of the game. There’s a “stalker” that you have to contend with while roaming the halls of Haywood, similar to the persistent big bad enemies in a game like Resident Evil 2. But, when playing on Detective Mode, he’s just… removed from the game. So there’s no way to die, no danger, no threat at all! The other/remaining part of the game is a detective mystery where you run around collecting evidence to solve the case. Following a guide, this is cake, and the achievement for speedrunning the story was easily completed with about 40 minutes on the clock. Boom! One thing that struck me is how pretty this game is. For such a short, simple experience, there is so much attention to the details of the environment and such.
Achievements unlocked: 17 (+17) | Completed
You’re too spooky, fella. I’m hitting the Settings menu ASAP.
Also not spooky, but definitely fitting the theme of the season, I wanted to complete Grim Fandango Remastered in case it joined the other two LucasArts remasters in leaving the service. I know this is critically adored by the gaming community as a whole, so I was really looking forward to getting to jump into the shoes of Manuel Calavera, a grim reaper and travel agent in the Land of the Dead. This is far less overall wacky and outlandish than the other games, I felt, and a lot more of a “straightforward” noir tale. Obviously, it’s still silly and funny, but just feels more grounded. Which is weird considering the premise. But, like any of these games, you just need a good step-by-step guide and this becomes a breeze. I did miss one of the achievements in Chapter (“Year”) 2, but I luckily had a save at the beginning of the year so I could quickly sprint back to that point and grab the achievement for listening to a put-upon security guard weep about her troubles. Weird.
Achievements unlocked: 48 (+48) | Completed
Enough of that rusty anchor song. Glottis, do you know “Wonderwall”?
Rarest Achievement:
Number Nine Ticket in Grim Fandango Remastered [2.66]
Most Common Achievement:
Missions? What Missions? in KARMA: The Dark World [1.00]
