Jenny LeClue

 This'll be a one-sentence entry if I don't put us on a bit of a ride, so!

I spent even less time playing this one than I did Limbo and it has even less cool lore to look into. But something in me (probably the Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) will not allow me to skip writing about a single game played. Not from the beginning era, anyway. If I run into a real stinker later on in my gaming, I can see myself sweeping it under the rug / never to be discussed. But this entire blog (so far) is a dedication to and appreciation of my Gaming Renaissance. Something I don't mind romanticizing. Not only do I not mind - I would love to! So I shall.

I'm rambling. 

So at first: I figured I could download games I had been wanting to play. (Something I accomplished after downloading Don't Starve and deciding to wait on the super expensive Breath of the Wild. List wasn't as long as I thought.) I watched a youtube video on cozy games (Cozy Grove, Gris). I perused the online shop to search the sales (Ori, The Last Campfire) and I quickly felt overwhelmed in the endless flip of pages that was the Switch game-pool. Sure, I tried to find a winner on the "best sellers" or things of the like, but there's only so much goddamn Mario spin offs I can stomach. 

---Don't get it twisted, sister: Mario franchise is crazy good, all things considered. And I have wasted many a day in my youth via Super Mario Bros, Mario Party, Smash Bros (it counts!)... It simply isn't enough to excite me at this point in my life. I would like a little refresh/originality/something new.---

I had too many choices! And worst of all: had no interest in the "big hits". This is what happened to me when searching for new music back in the day. And all I had to do for that was pop into the local record store and talk to the cute guy in glasses behind the counter. And try not to hit on him. Which proved difficult. We're dating now. Anyway.

There was no cute bespectacled man to ask for advice. (The bf isn't super into gaming / never really has been.) Everyone else in my life is more into TV shows or some other form of gaming. What's a girl to do?? This is when I turned back to youtube for inspo - but this time: I meant business. 

***by the way: if you have an alternative way of getting rx'd games you'll actually like, do tell.***

This is where I found titles such as Limbo, Untitled Goose Game and [drumroll] Jenny LeClue! Also / soon to be blogged: 

-Night in the Woods
-Neva
-Baba is You
-Death's Door
-Kentucky Route Zero
..and more!

Anyway. I accumulated my list / waited for sales / bought in batches, it was all very exciting. The whole thing reminded me of when my mother would take me to KB Toys every so often (after I had saved up my allowance for a while) and she would bring me to the counter so I could choose a new video game to take home. (The big one I best remember buying this way was Super Smash Bros. for N64.) (...I just realized, I may be repeating myself a lot on this entry. Forgive. I haven't gotten to really sink myself into memory on these topics for years. I'm swimming.)

It was exciting as purchasing one of those cheap grab bags at the register of that old record store. Those blind-bags that you don't get to see the contents of before you snag it for the dirt cheap price of a buck or something. Even so, it may not be such a "steal", what's inside may be - as previously named - a real stinker. But hey - you got some dopamine and didn't have to spend a ton of money on the little experience!

Jenny LeClue, I figured, looked a little more on the youngster side of games, but I figured
1. I have loved Y/A novels (my fave Clive Barker: The Thief of Always)
2. It's got a detective theme, so the puzzles should be decent.

Well.
After playing it a bit, I am not convinced this game was made for any age range in mind and the puzzles? Well honestly I think I only got to one since the damn dialogue box kept popping up. These are some chatty detectives! Oh, well, could be worse. They could be-

Oh, say it ain't so... they're-

THEY'RE TRYING TO BE FUNNY.

*hordes of people flee the living room*

With all the characters winging on about whatever weak set up to an even weaker punchline / over explaining for the kids they presume they've made this for, it just made for impossible game play. And I really mean it - there was like no game play, it was just hitting the "continue" button on the dialogue box. 

Moving on!