Topic: PUSH SQUARE GAME CLUB | Jan | 🪴 The Gardens Between 🪴

@Th3solution Thanks Sol, vote added 👍

Ding Dong! Only had two votes so far for December, anyone else out there? Final Fantasy Crisis Core and Ishin have a vote each.

Seemed unfair to pick one over the other in absence of any other input so we’ll have another double bill this month.

Merry Festivus everyone!

@Bob_Salat Kudos for the efforts. People are likely covered up in a lot of divergent obligations or undertakings. This time of year is a weird one. The older I get, the more of a whirlwind the holiday season gets.

If anyone is interested in joining me with Crisis Core then I’ll welcome the companionship. I probably won’t start it right away but there’s a decent possibility I’ll get underway by the end of the week. HLTB has it somewhere between 20-40 hours, I doubt I’ll do a completionist route so it’s possible I can get through it this month, although the holiday has me away from my console for part of the month.

LAD Ishin is probably a good time, but the whole Yakuza/LAD ship has passed me by, I’m afraid. The avalanche of releases in recent years just became too much to follow. I count 5 games in the last 4 years, and 13 in the last 9 years! (Counting ports of the older games to PS4) That means we’re getting a new game in the series (counting spinoffs like Judgment) every 8 months on average. Even just mainlining the series and ignoring the side quests and mini-games that’s an enormous clip to keep up with. A few years ago I played maybe a third of one game (Yakuza 0) and had fun with it before I fell off. But knowing I’ve seen just 2% of the series makes it feel Sisyphean to even attempt.

@Th3solution Indeed, you’re more than likely correct Sol. Funnily enough I’ve actually shorn lots of family and “friends” as I’ve gotten older, so my festive period is just making sure the kids have a great time, which as you can imagine is both easy and inexpensive.

@Bob_Salat Just be sure to have the ceremonial ‘airing of grievances’ as you pass around the pole this year. And I wish your kids luck with the ‘feats of strength’. 😄

@Th3solution Hopefully the turkey is not that tough to cut through!

@Th3solution Great Seinfeld references. George Costanza is an all-time hero of mine.

@Bob_Salat Thank you sir for the ping and apologies to miss it. Busy times for me either with the work, family or getting the plat for Dragon Age The Veilguard xD.

I wanted to play LAD: Ishin as it's the only Yakuza/LAD game I didn't play so hopefully I can do so this month but not sure

@Khwarezm89 No problems friend, I know how it is. As long as you’re enjoying yourself is the key thing. How does Veilguard stack up against the rest of the series? I still have the whole series ahead of me.

@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN George was originally going to be played by Larry David which would have been excellent though they made a good choice going with Jason Alexander, legendary character.

Ok gang! I hope we’ve all had a suitably lovely festive period. Let’s choose some new games, fresh start for 2025, what do you say?

Suggest and vote at me friends!

One love ❤️ 👍
@Pizzamorg @Mr_B021 @QualityGeezer @KilloWertz @Th3solution @Ryne-Gaia @crimsontadpoles @Hallowmoonshadow @R1spam @CaptD @Th3solution @RogerRoger @ralphdibny @LobsterJohnson @SillyBoyJudas @Fight_Teza_Fight @Yousef- @ZeD @Khwarezm89 @Hogs-of-War-General
@Mundaney

@PeaceSalad Unfortunately engagement seems to continue to be kind of low, probably due to people still being busy with the holidays and catching up in their own backlogs. Game Club has been the source of some of my favorite surprise discoveries (like Inscryption, Tchia, Rime, and Disco Elysium, to name a few) that I may not have played otherwise, so I hate to see it die.

One idea I might propose would be to play a really, really short game for now, while people catch up on their backlogs and life commitments. And it might get things rolling again.

I’ve curated a short list of games (all on PS+ Extra) that look interesting and are highly rated (all 7-8/10 on Push Square reviews) and can be finished in just a couple play sessions. I’ll even include the HLTB playtimes (using the Main+ Extra as the best estimate) to allay any fear of the game being too burdensome. I think having a game that could be completed in one or two days might feel a lot less challenging and could easily be fit in alongside people’s playthroughs of FF7 Rebirth, or Elden Ring, or whatever they’re into this month.

Short Game Club Nominees
The Gardens Between (~2.5 hr)
Gris (~4 hrs)
Untitled Goose Game (~4 hrs)
Pedestrian (~4 hrs)
Entwined (~4 hrs)
Spirit of the North (~6hrs)
Call of the Sea (~6 hrs)
11-11: Memories Retold (~6hrs)

I think I’d play any of these if the group decided on one, but for my official vote I’d go with The Gardens Between. It was praised in its review, looks really unique and can be finished in one sitting. The short length was really one of the only complaints in the review. Also has an easy platinum, which is an added benefit (although I think most of this list have easy plats 😄)

I concur with @Th3solution. The whole appeal of Game Club for me is to play a short game that I normally wouldn't have played otherwise. I mean, looking at this month, there were not one but two games that are fairly long. I was busy with Assassin's Creed and Indiana Jones so it was impossible to fit one of these two games in there.

I think one mistake we as members tend to do is not knowing our own limits. I understand that people are ambitious and like to do things on the forums that take a long time. But that's also a sure way to get burned out. Some may remember our Weekend Quiz we used to do a while back. It died out because people kept making longer and longer quiz and all of a sudden, nobody felt like doing one anymore because we kept setting the bar higher and higher. Know your limits, keep things simple.

I think @Th3solution's suggestions are great. I'm actually interested in checking out Spirit of the North as I remember that our dear friend @RogerRoger spoke very fondly of that game. So I'll throw a vote in for Spirit of the North.

@Th3solution Thanks Sol, I always appreciate your input and contributions. I’ll keep going as I don’t want it to die either. I would try reaching out to the bosses about an article again to drive engagement but my request seems to fall on deaf ears.

@LtSarge In all fairness I only received two votes for December so didn’t really have much to work with, as has been the case quite often recently. Sol is pretty much the only person on the tag list that bothers to engage month to month. From the beginning the idea has been to keep suggestions at most under 30 hours as that seems accommodating. I’ll add your vote in 👍

@PeaceSalad Completely understandable and I appreciate you taking the time and the effort to run this thread.

I'll also try to put in the effort to participate whenever I can as I love this concept. It also helps me clear out my backlog.

@LtSarge No dramas, friend. When it has been good it has been really good, the discourse is brilliant and as you say tackles some of that backlog. We’re just having a lean patch, I’ll keep hassling for those votes no matter what 👍

I nominate The Gardens Between since it can be done in a single gaming session. Although I have no idea what it's about I'm fine with that. I am currently playing Ghost of Tsushima and Marvel Rivals, and I am still getting Helldivers 2 gaming sessions in.

I was more involved earlier in the year with the Game Club but the combination of a long list of game nominations being voted on monthly and then the game's main campaign being long, it did cause me to become less involved. I am for trying games I've had an interest in that can include extended play that's not short, but that's if it's been in my backlog for awhile.

Looking forward to the revival of this club in 2025.

@PeaceSalad Sounds good, buddy. Appreciate you.

————

And for the record, I’ve been playing one of the Dec games, FF7 Crisis Core and I’m really starting to like it. At first I wasn’t so sure but the combat is starting to get its hooks into me. And the game is very approachable from a time-limitation standpoint; since the game was originally made for handheld, it was designed for quick bursts and so you can clear a mission in 2-3 minutes. I love that about it, so even if I just have 30 minutes, I can pull out my Portal, be playing it within a couple minutes via cloud streaming, and knock out a bunch of side missions and feel like I’ve made progress. It’s a breath of fresh air from many other games where I feel like if I don’t have at least an hour then it’s not worth even booting the game because you may spend the hour just getting going and not even make it to a save point.

I think using Th3solution's list is a great start for he club this year.
I always try to get involved in this but life and other games get in the way, and before you know it, the next month is here....
But this year I really want to get more involved with a community instead of being a lurker.

I will cast my vote for The Gardens Between and Call of the Sea. I have already played Call of the Sea when it was on Game Pass but it would be a fun little game to play on my Portal in bed

@PeaceSalad