Clearing the Backlog #1: Action Henk, Train Valley & Sheltered

I settled in for a wet Friday evening at home alone and cleared a few games from the list…with mixed results.

Some miscellaneous items were on the list that I had actually played, but missed with my inital categorisation – an easy few points gained!

Action Henk

This was surprisingly fun. I honestly thought it would be awful, going by first impressions from the store page. It’s a pleasantly challenging racing game involving a corpulent action figure who can slide on his bum. You see what I mean about the first impressions now, I hope. The online multiplayer didn’t work so well – I think it has a limited player base – but the single player mode was engaging enough that my 67 minutes in game went by without me noticing it. I didn’t finish the single-player mode, but enjoyed what I played of it.

If you like games with a bit of challenge, this might be for you. I won’t be picking it up again in a hurry, but it might be worth trying for the local multiplayer at some point.

Train Valley

Conversely, I expected to enjoy this, as I usually enjoy management games, but it just didn’t seem to grab me. The UI was a bit clunky and I only got through a level or two before getting bored. Crashed trains a lot, which was fairly entertaining to a certain extent, but overall not hugely impressed. Maybe I could’ve given it more of a chance, but I don’t think this one’s for me.

Sheltered

First impressions are pretty favourable here – I got lost in this game for over an hour clicking and sending people on expeditions. Its complexity and difficulty in obtaining particular resources are an annoyance though – random appearance of resources stymies development. I left my family starving after four expeditions in a row found no food. This is a game I’ll return to, though I think the randomness will frustrate me too much on a longer-term basis.

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