Backlog Busting With Bug – #1

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At the start of 2025 I have renewed my commitment to attacking my gaming backlog. I have a wide-ranging taste in video games, which results in me wanting to play lots of releases and simply not having the time or funds to do so. Even so, I have amassed a sizeable collection of games, both physically and digitally, and in this feature series I intend to tackle as many as I can. Every so often, I’ll report back with thoughts on the games that I’ve completed. Hopefully by the end of the year I’ll have reduced my pile significantly.

Collection of physical PS4 and PS5 games in a cardboard box. List of games (including digital games not in the picture) can be found at https://pastebin.com/F6bhmYrv.
The backlog box.

If there’s a game in here you think I should be prioritising, let me know in the comments and I’ll try bump it up the list. Alternatively, I’ve listed most of my backlog, including digital titles, here.

A Noble Quest Begins

January started off fairly productive. By the 16th, I’d managed to get through 4 games, though admittedly the majority weren’t long games. My progress slowed down towards the end of the month as I was waiting for potential review games to come in, so couldn’t really get into anything just in case. Here are my thoughts on the 4 games I completed.

Frog Detective: The Entire Mystery

Developer: worm club
Platforms
: PlayStation, Switch, Xbox, Steam, Itch.io

Should this count as 3 games from the backlog? Released individually between 2018 and 2024, the Frog Detective trilogy is a wonderful set of small, whodunnit mystery games from worm club. Each game is around an hour or so long, so are great for slotting into short gaming slots. This series first caught my eye when my daughter played them on Switch about a year ago. At the start of the games, Frog Detective, the world’s second-best investigator, receives a case from his supervisor. Equipped with his trusty magnifying glass, which humorously has no gameplay impact, he sets off to investigate.

 I absolutely adored what these games provided. You’re not going to encounter brain melting dilemmas or Hollywood blockbuster level twists in this series, but you will find plenty of comedy and joy. The writing of the dialogue hits exactly the right spot between silliness and absurdity. I really liked the moments where Grace, one of the devs, had to interrupt the game to clarify certain jokes. There’s also great Noire-esque music to accompany your adventures. All in all, if you’re looking for some quick, fun games to cheer you up, you can’t go wrong with Frog Detective: The Entire Mystery. I hope worm club are working on something else at the moment.

Chants of Sennaar

Developer: Rundisk
Platforms: PlayStation, Switch, Xbox, Steam

One of 2 language based puzzle games in my backlog, Chants of Sennaar tasks you with learning several languages in order to ascend a tower and uncover a mystery. At each of the 5 levels of the tower, you’ll meet an isolated group who have their own tongues and are unable to comprehend the vocabulary of the other groups. To proceed further, you need to work out the language so you can understand what people are saying or asking, therefore learning more about the area you’re in and the solutions to problems in your way.

Your in-game notebook helps keep track of your assumptions and slowly build a complete picture. This worked really well for the most part. However, I did get stuck early on when I misinterpreted how the notebook worked. I thought I needed to enter an accurate written guess for each word before they would be accepted. Actually, you can match the symbols and pictures with no written guess at all. Once I’d figured this out, it was pretty much smooth sailing, though not quick or easy by any stretch.

My absolute favourite area was the Alchemists section. The puzzles and flow through this portion of the game were magnificent. One small complaint is the lack of an in-game map. The levels are fairly complicated and I got lost a few times. I understand why a map wasn’t included, though, as in-game signs requiring language solving are part of the puzzles. If you want a mental work-out for a good dozen hours or so, Chants of Sennaar is highly recommended.

Coffee Talk: Episode 2 – Hibiscus & Butterfly

Developer: Toge Productions
Platforms: PlayStation, Switch, Xbox, Steam

Hibiscus & Butterfly, the sequel to Coffee Talk, is a visual novel set in a fantasy world late-night coffee shop. You play as the shop’s owner and barista, tasked with serving drinks to, and shaping the futures of, your customers. Episode 2 builds on the foundations of the original game without really changing much. There are a couple of new ingredients for making drinks, and a few new characters joining the returning cast. Other than that, it’s business as usual.

As a visual novel, the game is heavily focused on the narrative. There are several ongoing plots involving the customers of the shop that intersect in different ways. While you don’t have an option to affect dialogue to make branching choices, your ability to serve customers with the correct drink will impact the outcome of their stories. For me, the fun in Coffee Talk comes from interpreting customers requests and discovering the special drinks. Those drinks are accompanied by wonderful illustrations that often make me wish they were real. Aside from the story mode, challenge mode is where the game will really test your ability to brew specific drinks. Getting the trophy for 50 correct drinks in a row took me a couple of attempts.

As a stand-alone game, Coffee Talk: Episode 2 – Hibiscus & Butterfly probably works fine, but you’ll get the most out of it if you’ve played the first one and already know the characters. The ‘secret’ ending, awarded for seeing all other endings in the game, is something fans of the series will appreciate and was a beautiful tribute.

Life Is Strange: Double Exposure

Developer: Deck Nine
Platforms: PlayStation, Switch, Xbox, Steam

Double Exposure is the sequel to the original Life is Strange and sees us once again playing as Max Caulfield. 10 years after the events of Life is Strange, Max is now living in Vermont, where she works as an in-residence photographer at Caledon University. Max has also left her time manipulating power in the past, deciding that ultimately she can only ever live with one choice. Her life is once again thrown into turmoil, though, as her new best friend, Safi, is shot and killed in mysterious circumstances. This awakens a new reality-shifting power in Max, which she must use to solve the murder.

Bay or Bae?

Let’s address the blue haired elephant in the room. One of the big questions coming into this sequel was about how Deck Nine would handle the binary choice that concluded the first game; Bay or Bae? Having only played through one of the options in Double Exposure, it’s hard to say, but for the choice I made for that play through, I think it was handled as well as it could be. It would be near impossible to produce a game that could continue on from both endings with 100% conviction, given how vastly different those worlds would be. A time jump and somewhat of a hand wave is the safest bet. I have a feeling that when I explore the alternative endings to Double Exposure, I’ll find them to be fairly similar, given Deck Nine‘s plans to create a direct follow-up to this story.

As a fan of the series, Double Exposure was a worthy addition. Excessive pop-in glitches aside, this is the best looking Life is Strange game so far. It’s absolutely gorgeous to play through, at least on PS5. The twists and turns at the end of each episode were great and kept me guessing. Some decisions were pretty difficult to make, too, which is always a quality I appreciate in branching narrative games — I want to be heavily conflicted when faced with dilemmas. If you’re a fan of the series so far, Double Exposure is a must-play.

What’s Next?

I’m currently playing Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture. I’d picked up this because I needed something short and simple while anticipating games coming in for review. A change of pace is in order next, though, so I might tackle something with a bit more action or adventure. If you have any recommendations from my backlog, please shout them out in the comments.

 

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