a lovely and incredibly wonderful game is "shelter 2" (completed in 3 hours), in which one plays a mother lynx that raises her four cubs. the cubs are soooooo cute, and when you call them, they make those lovely sounds that little baby lynx do - aaaaw, i was melting away. one time one of my cub was caught by wolves, but i was fast enough to reload the last checkpoint so in the end the cub survived - i would not call this cheating, as it was about saving the cubs - the end justifies the means, right? actually loosing one of my cubs would have killed me. there is so much cuteness overload in this game, i really loved it. and the best thing is, once your cubs are grown up and going their own ways, after you have taught them how to hunt and escape wolves, you get to procreate with a handsome male lynx, and the circle of lynx life begins again, which means more cute little lynx cubs - aaaaaaaaaaaaaaw. it uses the unity engine. "alan wake" (completed in 19 hours) has a great story, and a nice idea adding flash lights and flares to the weapons inventory. nice twists and uncertainty of what is real and not in the plot, add more spookiness to the game. definitely fun playing it. it uses its own engine, called the alan wake engine. daedalic's "journey of a roach" (completed in 3 hours) looked entertaining and fun, so i bought it when all daedalic games were off up to 75% or more on steam. the point and click style story of two roaches is fun and the puzzles not too complex or difficult. the creatures one encounters are also cute and fun. all in all a lovely game, as almost all daedalic games are. it uses a custom built engine. a game i started recently to play is "lyne" (still ongoing), which is a simple puzzle game where one has to connect shapes. sounds simple, but sometimes it gets pretty challenging. i play a few levels from time to time, when i have a few minutes left to spare. recently i found out there is a mobile version (for android and iphone) available too. it uses the unity engine (at least the desktop version, i do not know about the mobile games). just like the previous game, "micron" (completed in 5 hours) is a puzzle game, but focusing on sounds. when playing a level you get wonderful and hypnotising repetitive sounds made of samples activated by the elements in the game, so sometimes i did not want to finish the level, though i would have known how to. real fun, and definitely great to listen to. it uses the unity engine. last game worth to mention is "rexaura" (completed in 6 hours), a sequel to "portal" and "portal 2". the complexity of the puzzles is very challenging, i had to look up the solution quite often on the internet as i was stuck several times. but, the good thing about the game is that it is free to play (if you own the original "portal" game that is), and it is a community-made mod. if you liked the original games and thought the puzzles were too easy, than this will be the game of your choice. but i warned you - it is very difficult sometimes. it uses the source engine. so, maybe you got some inspiration on how to kill your spare time next time you have some. for me, there are more games waiting in the game queue to be played. if only i had more time and winter would have lasted a little longer...

lately (read: since december 2014), on cold winter evenings, i found the time to play some computer games again after a long time. so here is a list of the games i played and enjoyed that much, that i would like to recommend them to you. almost all games were special deals on steam, so they all were available for a good price. there will be a second bLog post about more games. the game i enjoyed most is called "tri: of friendship and madness" (completed in 42 hours). with the "tri", an old artifact, one can create triangles to walk on areas including the ceilings and walls, so there are basically no boundaries to the lovely given world of a level. additionally it has foxes in it, a pretty mysterious monk that doubles as a guide and quest giver, a strangely addictive soundtrack, and of course a lovely story of friendship and madness, involving two foxes. i have to mention that this is the first game i got all steam achievements for, and i collected all available idols, because i was so tantalized by it. that is why it took me 42 hours to complete really every- thing in this game. it uses the unity engine. actually to recommend this very game to you was my main reason to write this bLog entry. but since i had played other games in the meantime too, i thought why not include a few words about them here too. another very enjoyable game was "bioshock infinite", including the "burial at sea" DLCs part 1 and 2 (completed in 27 hours). after having played "bioshock" and "bioshock 2" it was only a matter of time for me to finish the trilogy. the story itself was a bit mindfucking to me sometimes (at least in this timeline), but a really nice prequel/sequel/parallel-universel to the other "bioshock" parts. also the story of the big daddies and little sisters is explained. it uses the unreal3 engine. speaking of trilogies, "mass effect 3" (completed in 46 hours) was also on the list. though it had the touch of the "mass effect" universe, it was not as fascinating to play as the first two parts - but why, i cannot really put my finger on. also i did not survive, but saved the universe - at least a good way for my virtual death. my romanceable character of choice was samantha traynor (since jack is only available to a male main character). it uses the unreal3 engine. "dead island riptide" (completed in 49 hours), the sequel to "dead island" was as if playing the first part. nothing special here but a few new weapon mods, which i really enjoyed. the usual fun slaying zombies all over the islands - canned food was all they had there. all in all a fine second part, which i liked and had fun with. it uses the chrome engine. a game definitely worth to mention and play is "brothers - a tale of two sons" (completed in 4 hours), because it has beautiful levels so full of details and atmosphere. especially the landscapes are stunning. the story itself is rather sad, but also touching and wonderful at the same time. another rather unusual thing is the fact that one has to control both brothers at the same time - good for both sides of the brain. it uses the unreal3 engine. a very simple - in terms of graphics and goals - game is "140" (completed in 4 hours), basically a jump'n'run like game focusing on rhythm and sound. the further you get, the more elaborated the sound gets. obstacles and platforms appear and disappear to the rhythm of the level. so simple, and yet so awesome. graphics are reduced to simple geometric forms and a few colours. total recommendation. it uses the unity engine. a game that left me with mixed feelings was "a story about my uncle" (completed in 7 hours). on the one hand the graphics were wonderful and stunning, the story lovely and intriguing, and the grappling-hook-like gauntlet one gets to move across the levels is awesome. on the other hand the handling and control was clumsy, inaccurate and hard, and sometimes i had no idea where to go to get on in the level. level design could add a few more hints, and check points. especially the latter makes it quite frustrating from time to time. too sad, as flying around with the grappling hook was really fun. it uses the unreal3 engine.