My Thoughts on The Big Con

Picture: Steam

One of my favourite gaming experiences from 2022 was this little game called The Big Con. I saw it on Steam store and colourful 90's aesthetics really drag me in. And to be honest, game is really fun! It is very short, took me about 5 hours, but that's fine - too many games nowadays are so long that I just get bored or overwhelmed at half way through. 

The Big Con is a story of Ali, who is on a mission to save their mother's video store by... stealing money. Game revolves around this theme and sends Ali on a journey through the country, meeting new people and exploring topics like what’s right or wrong. I don’t want to spoil too much, but I personally enjoyed game’s dry humour and little stories you’ll encounter while trying to rob people. Everyone seems to have their own problems, and while doing your not so legal tasks you can help many of them… or just take their money. In the end, it’s up to you.

Gameplay is simple enough. You walk around and trigger a simple mini game (which you can also skip entirely if you just want to enjoy the story) and sometimes progress through dialogue. Nothing too hard and as game is just short enough it doesn’t get too repeative. There were some game-breaking bugs like sometimes dialogue screen would just stay up with no way to exit, which was kinda irritating but restarting fixed that. Sometimes several restarts but what can you do. Other bugs were so minor that they didn’t bother me - or I just don’t remember them as it’s been few months since I played The Big Con. 

Overall The Big Con is memorable little experience that I would recommend to everyone. It’s simple enough for casual players and fun enough for everyone else - except if you don’t have any nostalgia towards 90s. Then I don’t know what to say. 

Alien: Isolation + Steam Deck Experience So Far

Photo: Steam

I'm stuck.

I hear heavy footsteps getting closer. There's only one way out of this little room I'm in, and something`s behind the door, waiting. I'll hide under the table, hoping it would pass. Door opens, creature walks in. 

Door closes. Everything is silent.

And suddenly Alien grabs me and kills me. Game over.

I`m not really into whole survival horror genre of games. I like to shoot and run, fight the threats I’m facing in. I remember when original Amnesia came out and it was the hottest thing… and then I tried it and I was so disappointed. You just hide in the closets all of the time? Yeah, I’ll go back to play Half-Life.

At the same time I’m a big horror movie fan, Alien movies being my favourites. So, as I heard that Alien: Isolation is pretty good, I wanted to give it a try. And I am happy I did, as it’s fantastic game - maybe one of the best ones I’ve played for years. Game really captures the atmosphere of the original movies, and as I already know the lore, it’s easier to accept the fact that you cannot really fight Alien. Or of course you can, but it will end badly.

I think Alien: Isolation is how I enjoy survival horror: you have clear objectives, there’s chance to fight and it takes place in space. Why’s that important? Well, many games that take place on ”familiar places” have this problem for me that I’d question why I wouldn’t escape by just running to the forest for example. In space you can’t do this, and claustrophobic hallways of space ship Nostradamus really make it more scarier. This is one of the rare games that made me feel scared at the times, to be honest. That was fun.

I played Alien: Isolation on my brand new and shiny Steam Deck, which is fantastic little thing. As Nintendo Switch has been one of my favourite gaming devices of all time it’s only natural that I’d updated to Deck. After all, I’ve always been PC gamer but haven’t really had powerful enough computer to play latest games. Steam Deck has been perfect to catch up on some games that been forgotten on Steam library.

Other games I’ve been playing on Deck have been RimWorld, Fallout New Vegas, Mars: War Logs, Deep Rock Derelicts and The Elders Scrolls Online - I’m probably forgetting some games I’ve tried. I also finally tried The Witcher 2 but gameplay wasn’t for me and controls on Deck were kinda weird.