Tag: pc gaming

Adventures in Valheim

Valheim is all the rage right now and I’ve been having a fantastic time with it and our friends who are also playing. It’s the first game my boyfriend and I have found mutual interest in, in like… 5 years? (It’s tragic that we have nearly opposite tastes in games.)

In fact, I’ve never felt drawn to the survival game genre. The only one I’ve ever really enjoyed is Ark: Survival Evolved, and that’s only because I’m highly dinosaur (and dragon) motivated. Spent the whole game taming dinos and nothing else. Valheim, however. Valheim I find so enjoyable that it’s inspired me to write about games for the first time in over a year!

The courtyard of our Hall
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Elsinore Review (PC) – Shakespeare re-imagined

Ah, Shakespeare. You’d think that with how prevalent his stories are in other forms of media, video games wouldn’t be strangers to the legendary poet. Yet, the games which lean on his catalog of work are far and between. Enter Elsinore, which attempts to rectify that issue, one step at a time. While it does occasionally stumble under the weight of its own ambitions, it is a game full of pleasant surprises that will satisfy both fans of Shakespeare and mysteries alike.

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Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom Review (PC) – the secret of his power

Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom is a game that I paid little to no attention during its initial release. Partially due to its back-then console exclusivity, partially because the game’s whimsical art direction made me think that I would not enjoy it, either mechanically or conceptually. While its story is nothing to write home about, the game’s feature on the latest SGDQ made me reconsider my interest in Monster Boy. The marvelous speedrun by tinahacks made me eager to play it. Thankfully, PC release was just around the corner. So, here I am after one week of playing the game to tell you what I think about it and whether you should play it yourself (yes, you absolutely should).

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Steam Key Giveaway Winners!

Good evening gamers! I just ran the 15 entrants through a Random.org list randomizer and below is the list of winners with the games each will be receiving. I’ll be sending out these codes via email tonight and tomorrow as time allows. Thanks for participating and for all of your support! ❤

  1. Relsre – Epistory: Typing Chronicles
  2. CJW – The Bridge
  3. Santo – Dreadout
  4. Robot – Getting Over It
  5. Kassitar – The Road to Balhalla
  6. Frostilyte – QUBE: Director’s Cut
  7. This is Art Not Real Life – Her Story
  8. Florian – Rising Storm 2 –
  9. JB – Scanner Sombre
  10. Fluxx – Insurgency
  11. Nitro – Thirty Flights of Loving
  12. QuietChisto – The First Tree
  13. Odin – Kathy Rain
  14. Tregs – Wargame: Red Dragon
  15. Cvillian – Superbrothers: Swords and Sorcery

Blog Milestone Thank-You Steam Key GIVEAWAY! (Over 100 keys available)

I created Backlog Crusader on April 25th and in only two months, thanks to the support of nerdy friends, family, and a great WordPress community, we’ve managed to reach 200 wordpress followers, 5,000 visitors, and 10,000 views. That’s basically absurd for a totally unknown, brand new gaming blog, and it’s all because of you guys!

It’s time to give back. As a celebration and a thank you to my amazing readers and fellow writers, I’m doing a giveaway from my Steam Key Loot Vault of over 100 keys that need a good home. They aren’t triple A titles or anything, but I’m sure some will be of interest. There’s definitely some indie favorites in there that you might not have tried yet!

SIGN UP HERE!

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Mounts Done RIGHT – The Amazing Mount System in Guild Wars 2

I have always been a huge sucker for pets and mounts in video games. If I get to own, raise, ride, or play with animals of any kind, chances are I’ll love whatever game it is. When I used to play World of Warcraft I would spend ages running old raid content for the 2% chance of rare mount loot drops. As in “Sorry I can’t go out to dinner, gotta run Icecrown Citadel on my 10th alt before weekly raid reset.” (It was a sickness, really.)

When a mount system was finally added to Guild Wars 2 last year in the Path of Fire expansion, I was ecstatic! In developer interviews on the subject, ArenaNet calls their design philosophy the “Joy of Movement”, and it is indeed an absolutely joy to collect and ride these incredibly well designed mounts. Each type of mount has a specific mechanical purpose and handles very differently, rather than being a series of model re-skins as is seen inmost MMOs. Mounts in Guild Wars 2 are essentially a case study is how to do mounts right. Giddy-up!

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Cosmic Star Heroine Review (Switch) – a modern, 16-bit, scifi JRPG delight

Cosmic Star Heroine offers a wealth of content considering its base cost. This scifi romp is a skillfully crafted, complete package of JRPG-style goodness that remains faithful to its 16-bit roots, and it has a great sense of humor to boot! With the polish of Octopath Traveler and gameplay similar to that of Chrono Trigger, if you liked either of those titles and you love scifi, then Cosmic Star Heroine is a game you will doubtless want to add to your collection.

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Bystander’s Guide – Combating Harassment in Online Multiplayer Games

I used to play a lot of competitive Overwatch. Like, a lot. I’ve lost track amount of times I’ve been harassed in a game of Overwatch (not to mention in other games) while the other four people on my team quietly listen to a fifth person say absolutely vile things to me, completely unprovoked. It feels awful that bystanders often don’t seem to bat an eye as they observe what is essentially verbal assault. It always makes me wonder, How can they listen to this and say or do nothing?

Correcting the toxicity in competitive gaming communities will be an ongoing, group effort. This guide will teach you how and why you can and should help when you encounter harassment in one of your games.

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Gendered Careers – Where are the women in Pro Esports?

There has been a notable lack of a female presence at the professional level of video game competition since the dawn of esports as a profitable industry. Despite well researched demographics indicating that around 10% of players are female in most leading esports titles like League of Legends, Dota 2, Overwatch, and Counter Strike: Global Offensive and nearly 30% of esports viewership is female, less than 1% of professional players in these games are women (Yee, 2017).

Where is this gender disparity coming from and what is preventing women from successfully breaking into the esports scene as professional gamers?

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Calico Kickstarter; “unapologetically feminine”, with so many animals (Fully funded!)

I am a shameless Kickstarter junkie and I wanted to share a little info on Calico, which was successfully funded at 230% of their original goal about a week ago and is now in a brief late pledge period. This title is incredibly cute and worth a look!

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