This month I tried out a bunch of games from Chinese developers because I really wanted a hit of Wuxia/Xianxia.

First I tried The Matchless Kungfu. I would desribe it as Kenshi meets Kungfu movie meets idk a game where you place map tiles like Betrayal at the House on the Hill. I thought I wouldn't like it that much and ended up enjoying it quite a bit. I got about 30 hours in before running out of content because EA, but there was a point that it clicked and I had a great time.

I then tried The Lost Village. It's a Xianxia colony sim like Amazing Cultivation Simulator. Unlike ACS, it's actually fun. It's also EA to the point of some pretty big overhauls being done, but there's a lot to like so far. The colony sim which is relatively barebones supports and is supported by several different types of... maybe minigames? Doesn't feel like the right word, but there's a horde survival mode, two different takes of room-placing dungeons, and a couple of "Send your dudes by spending energy and buying upgrades to try to take out the enemy base" kind of modes. Certain aspects of it are pretty , like female character designs and the entire dual cultivation system, but it's probably the best Xianxia game out there I've seen so far (it's so hard to find this stuff because Steam tags fucking suck, I have to browse Martial Arts).

I tried a couple RPGs, Tale of Wuxia and Heroes Adventure: Road to Passion. These style games generally aren't my thing, but I figured I'd give them a try. Tale of Wuxia was definitely not for me. It's slow to play, building bad (maybe? I can't tell) led to me getting beat in most combats which are missed opportunities, and there's a lot of text I don't care about. Heroes Adventure is better - combats are quicker, I feel strong quickly (I play on easier difficulties), and the time limited things I've seen so far seem a bit more lenient. It still loves to have missed opportunities, which I am coming to dislike.

Finally, I recently tried an action game called The Last Soldier of the Ming Dynasty. It's kinda mediocre, but Sekiro-like fans like me can maybe squeeze out a little fun. Part of it is drip feeding the complexity, which there's a decent amount of. Not a whole lot to say either way, I've also played the least due to getting it recently

I got really into Kingdom: New Lands. I played 30 hrs in a week, which reminded me of why I tend to avoid any city builders, despite loving them. Now I'm kinda gamed out and not sure what I'll go back to. As for 2024, a lot of games got me piqued: South of Midnight, Maus, Forgive me Father, and a few others.

Hotdogs, Horseshoes and Hand Grenades, the VR Title. Super fun if you like to fuck around with weapons conceptually and out of interest.

Also the Sosig enemies are really growing on me, especially in VR. I played some blade and sorcery and I was like "no, too much, this just feels wrong". The Sosig enemies are good foes for a video game but they sidestep the whole feeling like a psychopath issue

Got some games for Xmas:

Northgard - Vikings settling new lands, lands full of monsters and weird quests and such.

River City Girls - Fite everyone and get your BFs back!

Rain World - Slug Cat supremacy!

I've been highly addicted to Balgur's Gate 3. Now on my 2nd playthrough with the companions I missed before.