Bad End Theater (NomnomNami) presents a simple narrative. A hero is sent to rescue a maiden from the clutches of a demon overlord. But with this visual novel, the player is able to select which character they want to be — hero, maiden, minion, or overlord — and the choices you make as one character effects how things turn out when you switch over and play as one of the other characters. As the player continues, they are able to turn on or off certain personality traits, which impacts all of the possible outcomes. And all of those outcomes are inevitably bad — terrible deaths, failure, and isolation. At first, it might seem like that’s all there is, but the game actually builds to a sweet and satisfying ending. It was a delightful little game.
I’m continuing through Act 3 of Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios) this section alone is huge. I played over 100 hours just getting to Act 3, and I’m seriously wondering how long its going to take to get through this section. Some of the companion quests (which I’d like to focus on don’t have clear markers for completion (I just have to ask around and figure out where to go), and the boss fights are exceedingly difficult, it seems. Several times, I’ve had to replay the same fight over and over and over again, struggling to just get through it. I’m really hoping to be able to get through the rest of the game by the end of the next month — and I may have to leave out even more of the side quests in order to do so. Regardless, I’m still having fun, and I love these characters. (I just don’t have that much time to be spending on a single game.)
If you’d also like to know about the books and movies that I enjoyed recently, you can check out my Culture Consumption for September.