Wildermyth: The Silent Pit

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Despite the main force being defeated at the wall, the Cocks are informed by Lady Kamea that other groups of gorgons have made it through and are specifically targeting libraries. As they go about securing these sites Barbara finds a magical tapestry in one and upon infusing it, opens a temporary portal to the bug realm! They slay the critters and manage to save Sir Igwane from their dimension, who despite being very battered and used agrees to aid them as he is still loyal to Lady Kamea.

At the grand library they slaughter many more gorgons, including a type that makes its allies explode (WTF). Leading this group is the Salt Witch, a massive gorgon who manages to escape the team by casting a spell that forcefully ages Lillo, Macko and Pump into their weakened, geriatric years. Fortunately Barbara realizes that it was a map they were after: a map to the Silent Pit where they can supposedly awaken Cthulhu their deep god.

It falls to Barbara, Iris, Sir Igwane, Macius and Moleleen (Ames' skilled apprentice) to face them there and despite a never ending swarm of tentacle summoning gorgons and the Salt Witch itself the team is never in any real danger as they slowly and calmly fight off all the attackers while destroying the pillars holding up the place. In most cases the pillar stones were used as projectile weapons by the two mystics, Barbara and Moleleen. The team escape the temple collapse, saving the lands once more.

Note: As the "random" events are getting repetitive now that I've seen them numerous times I think that's it for my Wildermyth playthrough.

Wildermyth: Gorgons Return

[Part of the Cursed story line]

As the others are dealing with Vulture bits, Macko and Milly meet the former's estranged mother who convinces them to donate resources for her new business. Soon after the two join Lillo, Macius, and Pump to easily wipe out some bandits before investigating a new batch of petrified people. They soon discover that the gorgons are coming back in big numbers, with even more wildlife going crazy this time including gigantic bears!

After an ambush in the forest where it seems gorgons are common now, Milly's prayers to divine the source of this foe is answered by the turtle god - across the ancient great wall to the West. It also mentions the gorgon's main force hasn't crossed it yet - all these ones are just scouts. In exchange for the information the turtle god transforms Milly into a turtle and takes her away as another of his turtle friends.

With no time to waste her allies race to the wall picking up Iris and Barbara on the way, reaching it just before the gorgons main force arrives. Luckily the catapults are in good working order which obliterates the attackers. The only scary part is when a bogmoor pulls Macko off the wall with its tongue, but he survives the ordeal. In fact he is more hurt when he later discovers his mother never started that business at all, and instead gambled away all he had given her.

Wildermyth: The Vulture

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Deep within the mountain the squad finally finds the Vulture Lord, an evil hungry god had been locked in there until Dranalla and company's battle with the Deepists all those months ago had inadvertently set him free. He is a strong spell caster in his own right but worse, he cannot actually be killed until his sun altar is destroyed as it continually revives him.

This results in a long battle of dancing around his AoE's while also keeping his endless adds at bay. The Vulture manages to get his magic hands on Zefelle at one point and forces her gem-eye condition to worsen exponentially, killing her by calcification into mineral. Her compatriots destroy the altar soon after and finally put down the evil god once and... oh right, he still can't be killed.

Even without the altar their "dying" foe laughs at them, taunting that he will still regenerate - it will just take a little longer (years instead of minutes). Thus the (barely) survivors decide to take a page out of Castlevania and hack him into pieces, each taking a body part to hide and secure in distant parts of the world.

Wildermyth: No Good Bot

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Retaking a village from the deadbot army, the heroes encounter their leader: Hally! She, Erklebits and a number of other deadbots have taken to skin grafting to regain some human appearance - a technique taught by their new master: the Vulture Lord who personally destroyed their soul when he exploded Misia and the mechanical heart upon her refusal of his alliance offer. Some of their mercs have done the opposite, infusing robot parts instead of their own limbs.

In the battle that follows, Hally personally kills Karel before she and the other bots are torn to pieces by the now badly wounded heroes. While searching for the Vulture Lord, Igwane discovers a magical tear that pulls him into the dimension of the bugs who telepathically tell his allies where the Vulture is hiding - Gray Mountain. This is their "payment" for abducting the hapless knight.

With the tear gone and no way to save their companion the Cocks focus instead on a new assault upon Gray Mountain, this time guarded by many human soldiers, flame birds and a gigantic flame spewing golem. Ames has become a pretty powerful wizard now though and tosses its fire back into the foes, slaying many while the rest act as steel versus steel.

Wildermyth: Merc War

[Part of the Cursed story line]

While most of the Cocks helped rebuild what the dragon had burned down, Dranalla, Ames, Jon, Karel and rookie Parkin were clearing a large Deepist cell operating from a hidden base withing Gray Mountain, the culmination of which is a partial collapse of the hidden internal fortress that earns victory for the squad.

Months later Gem-Eye Zefelle joins them to stop a war between the lizardfolk and the deadbots who oddly seem to be hiring human mercenaries to fight along side them (using the left over treasures from the dragon's hoard or valuable minerals from beneath the ground respectively). Doing so puts them into conflict with both sides, and as usual the humans prove to be the more dangerous foe.

At a wooden fort Parkin meets his end to the strong hitting mercs before Zefelle slays their commander forcing the lizardfolk to flee. This leaves the region open for the deadbot forces to rampage, briefly even capturing Dranalla before she stealithy escapes (cool solo mission) requiring the Cocks to get some reinforcements of their own: Sir Igwane, Este and Gwynelia.

Dishonored: Death of the Outsider and When the Past was Around

Blood and sorrow.

Dishonored: Death of the Outsider

I've always enjoyed the Dishonored series as it has that Thief like stealth option where you can simply sneak your way to victory without killing anyone (which is pretty tough). Alternatively you can use your void gifted powers to just absolutely murder everyone or any variation in between. That design is the same here, but unlike Dishonored 2 which lets you do "powerless" run through, this one straight up encourages you to use everything you have - even just for "Quality of Life" displays.

Also, with just five missions it is quite short even though said missions could take a few hours. Or just minutes if you're a blood bath type of player. If you enjoyed the other Dishonored titles, this is an easy one to recommend. It's just more Dishonored (but not as good / in-depth as Dishonored 2). If you haven't played any of the Dishonored series, don't start with this one.

When the Past was Around

This short puzzle game is a work of art with wonderful visuals and really nice music. While the theme of playing a woman battling against grief might not be high on your to do list, this is a rather nice experience which will hit your feelings mostly at the end. There's also not a lot of back tracking which is a huge tick for me. My only two criticisms are that I prefer the music piece in the prologue (but that's minor, the main theme is good too) and some puzzles are totally out there, like a combination lock that includes the numbers of birds and butterflies present in the scene. There are hints but those can be pretty vague. Still recommended though! Good game.

Wildermyth: Suicidal Dragon

[Part of the Cursed story line]

With many lands aflame Trynne recruits rookie Lillo to help douse the fires while Levyel and Jainlof's crew seek out the dragon's new lair. During this process Jainlof accidentally frees a frog god who turns him into a frog face and Raine is "cursed" by a lizard priest to have useless baby wings.

Eventually they locate their target at a volcano and fight their way in, past fireball throwing lizard scum to challenge the dragon and its elite guard at the summit. Luckily the silly beast enjoys triggering the free attacks of the party (everyone had some form of auto-overwatch and envenomed weapon except Jainlof) and basically defeats itself!

After murdering the last of the elite guard the remaining lizards withdraw and the team of dragon slayers return as heroes! Unfortunately for Jainlof, he cannot undo the frog god's magic and soon turns into a bogmoor. His axe guard hesitate too much during the transformation which lets him escape into the woods.