Games 5-9:
#5
Doki Doki Literature Club!
PC
Completed: January 13, 2018
Playtime: 3h 42m
Sadly this VN didn't live up to the word of mouth and ended up doing nothing for me. I guess it's fair to say it does some weird and creative things in the 2nd half, but I'm not exactly sure what the end goal of it was or what I was supposed to feel at the end after all said and done. My reaction is best described as 'Okaaay... but so what?'.
#6
Fallout 4: Far Harbor
PC
Completed: January 14, 2018
Playtime: > 20h (didn't track time separately from the main game)
This expansion for Fallout 4 adds a big new island map to explore. It looked damn pretty in 4K, but really strained my PC's capabilities as the fog tended to slaughter the framerate. I liked the Children of the Atom questline which had some awesome atmospheric locations and interesting quests. Also it was pretty cool how completing side quests in Far Harbor made a difference in resolving the main quest's conflict near the end, I enjoyed that. Didn't like the main plot because
the base game already focuses too much on synths, synths, synths everywhere for my liking, did we really need even more of that stuff?
. Also really didn't like the overabundance of bullet-spongy legendary enemies on every step, that's reaching ridiculous levels.
#7
Nurse Love Addiction
PC
Completed: January 16, 2018
Playtime: 24h 25m
Now this is a great visual novel, with gorgeous artwork, memorable characters and multiple character arcs with several possible endings for each. I loved Itsuki's route, which was just a very well-written love story. Nao's route was something else, and could honestly give DDLC a run for its money in shock value. Downsides off the top of my head: didn't like Sakuya's route too much, and music was for the most part pretty dull.
#8
Fatehaven
PC
Completed: January 17, 2018
Playtime: 5h 22m
A short light-hearted interactive novel set in a largely standard fantasy setting. I had fun reading it up until the ending twist, which I didn't like.
#9
Deadly Premonition: Director's Cut
PC
Completed: January 22, 2018
Playtime: 35h 24m (started in 2017)
Super-junky technical mess of a game is the first description coming to mind after I finally played this. Like, I had to keep (and make use of) a file on hand with a list of potential issues/bugs and their solutions just to play this. Was it worth the effort in the end? I'm honestly not sure it is. I mean. yeah, the story is super-weird in a good way, and stylish, and has some memorable scenes and characters. The final chapters and ending in particular were well done. But then even aside from technical issues... The driving controls in the game are horrible, and you're forced to drive around a lot since there's no fast travel. The map won't let you zoom out far enough to comfortably see what path you should take to get to your next objective (and again, you need to drive A LOT). A lot of side quests can be easily missed out on entirely, because the game doesn't do a good job of informing you they're going to 'expire' soon because when the quest giver ends up dead. The janky as hell action and QTE sequences feel like they were hastily jury-rigged into the game just to satisfy producers in order to have some action segments in it. I could go on. Ultimately, I still enjoyed my time with the game, so I guess it's all good. But I wouldn't dare to recommend this to anyone else, unless they know what they're getting into.
05 | This War of Mine | PC 14 hours | Completed Jan. 19th
I've been returning to this every now and then and decided to do a couple of playthroughs again with different survivors. Really good survival game that portrays war in a more realistic manner than most games do. Surviving day by day while trying to keep everyone happy, healthy and fed is really tough especially on your first playthrough but it feels super rewarding once you actually manage to survive the war. The main gameplay mostly consists of scavenging, crafting, sneaking around and trading (and managing your inventory, haha) and it's pretty easy to just sink a couple of hours in a single sitting. There's a lot of replayability and every playthrough is at least a little different but you definitely start to memorize the different locations and how to deal with certain situations/enemies after a while. I don't have many pet peeves with the game but I will say that the combat (and especially escaping from combat situations) feels really clunky sometimes and the game should also save when it's night-time. Great game nonetheless and I'll most likely return to it again in a few months.
06 | Max Payne | PC 6.5 hours | Completed Jan. 23rd
Really solid third-person shooter with a great dark and grimy noir story. The game still holds up quite well even if the characters' faces look ridiculous - in a good way of course. Bullet time is still very fun and makes you feel like a badass when you pull it off just right. I absolutely love James McCaffrey's voice-acting in this game; all the graphic novel cutscenes and the narration are just top notch. But yeah, Max Payne still rocks, going to play Max Payne 2 next since I've never actually beat that one.
7. The Inpatient - PSVR - 1/23 - 3 hours: One of my most anticipated PSVR titles that will release this year and I was left disappointed. Controls were bad and the ending felt rushed. Game is nowhere near as good as Until Dawn. 5/10
8. Bioshock 2 - PS4 - 1/27 - 17 hours: Amazing game, not quite as good as Bioshock, but the way in which it expands on the lore and story of Rapture is amazing. 9/10
10. Rakuen (PC) - Jan. 20 - 5 hours, 33 minutes "Sometimes when your Mom says, "don't worry, everything's gonna be alright," she can't explain how or why it will be… but just hearing it makes you feel better." -Laura Shigihara
How many games deal with pediatric diseases? I dunno, but there can't be many, and I'm guessing none of them are as good as Rakuen is. How many games deal with pediatric diseases, then mix it with a little storytelling about family abandonment, addiction, mental breakdowns and natural disasters? On that front, I'm going to once again guess that there aren't other games that do that, and if there are, there's no way they're as good as Rakuen.
Considering the topics I mentioned, you could have pretty easily ended up with a game that feels preachy or like it was beating you over the head with its message. But the feeling I got from Rakuen was never anything but genuine sincerity. And that feels so rare and valuable in today's world. In a world where we put so many fake faces forward in social media, or use our presence on the internet to basically beat proverbial horses to death, true sincerity feels more valuable than ever.
If you know Laura Shigihara, you're probably most familiar with her work on the Plants vs. Zombies and To the Moon soundtracks. If you're familiar with those OSTs, it shouldn't be a surprise that she knocked the OST out of the park again. I'm just so impressed that she not only managed to craft an A+ OST but also made the game as good as it is. Like how did she come up with the idea to add a dedicated "Talk to Mom" button into the menu? And to make it so that if you need hints you ask your mom? Ugh, that's just so cute it makes me melt.
I suppose if I had to critique the game, I would say that at times Rakuen feels like it could have been more of an interactive fiction piece than a "game." The puzzles are generally simple and sweet, but there were a few times where I didn't want to do another puzzle, I just wanted to get back to the emotional engagement of the story. But I suppose that the puzzles and gameplay (such as they were) serve two purposes. First, actually having to do the task of fetching things and helping other patients makes the investment of the person engaging with the media more personal than just watching it play out on the screen. Second, having puzzles break up the story lets the player take a breather from the gigantic emotional moments that Laura dumps on you.
By the end of the game, you'll almost certainly have an idea of where at least some things are headed. But like all good stories, even if what you expect to happen happens, you'll still be left emotionally impacted. Which is a euphemism for "sobbing, in a puddle of snot at your desk."
Should I play Rakuen? Please do play this game. I don't often actually make appeals for people to play games, but I wish more people had played Rakuen. The very few nods it got at the end of the year (even here on ERA's vote) was really sad. This is a special game.
1. Uncharted Lost Legacy
2. PUBG - Ongoing
3. Rocket League - Ongoing
4. Wolfenstein: The Old Blood
5. Mario Kart 8
6. Pinball X3
7. SFV AE - Ongoing
8. Burnout Paradise
9. Celeste
10. Nier Automata
11. DmC
12. Destiny 2
13. Steamworld Dig
14 Vanishing of Ethan Carter
15. Need for Speed Payback
16. Monster Hunter World
17. Fortnite
18. Marvel Stike Force
19. Poker - Zynga / Poker Stars
20. Super Mario Odyssey
21. Cave Story +
Games in Progress: 1. Burnout Paradise
2. Darksiders 2
3. The Evil Within
4. Her Story
5. Mad Max
6. Mortal Kombat X
7. Oxen Free
8. Super Mario Galaxy 1
9. UnderTale
10. Golf Story
11. Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle
12. Zelda BoTW Switch 13 Cave Story +
14. Sonic Mania
15. Horizon Zero Dawn
Game 4. Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance HD ★★★★ 21 Hours (Jan 12th to Jan 21st) - PS4
Getting near the end of my Kingdom Hearts run. This is probably the hardest of the games but I kind of enjoyed the weird Pokemon element. The flow of combat could be good but sometimes flow motion really damaged the combat for me at times but once I got a hang of it, it got better. The story really made the universe complicated for me but it had some good notes.
Game 5. Kingdom Hearts: 0.2 Birth By Sleep Fragmentary Passage ★★★★★ 2 Hours (Jan 21st to Jan 21st) - PS4
The graphics were off putting at first because it was quite different than what I was used to after just playing all the games but wow. It was gorgeous, the combat was quite smooth and just....incredible. If this is what Kingdom Hearts 3 is going to be like, I am even more excited. The story was really sad to be honest and I really loved it. There was a lot to like about it and Aqua as a character might be my favorite in the series. Game is short but all the improvements and I have no faults I can point out...except the weird Aqua dress up you can do but I just ignored it.
Game 6. Monster Loves You ★★ 1 Hour (Jan 22nd to Jan 22nd) - PC
I wanted to like this game more but it was much to simple, much to straight forward. It was kind of a choose your own adventure book in game form but the story wasn't very good and every option led to very obvious results. The concept was fine but there was so much more they could of easily done to make this game a much much better experience.
Lost a lot of time this month investing into Arc the Lad II and Blood Bowl II before giving up on both as I couldn't force myself through them any further.
4: The Sexy Brutale - PS4 (Jan 23rd - 7 hours)
# I heard a lot of great things about this last year but just never got around to playing it with how many great releases there were, real shame because now I finally got to play it I loved every second of it. The gameplay is great, I really loved following the characters around and exploring before figuring out the puzzle to save them. The puzzles were just the right level for me that I had to figure out the solution without once getting frustrated, i'm not the biggest puzzle game fan yet this I really liked. The rest of the game was excellent to boot. The story was really nice if a little obvious towards the end but I still enjoyed it a lot. I liked the graphical style and absolutely loved the music. While only a short game it felt just right so it kept me interested the whole way through and didn't out live it's welcome. Essentially if you like slightly different games or light puzzle/adventure games you should buy this. 9/10
Next up in my last year catch up is Nier: Automata.
2. Nier Automata
PS4 | January 23rd | 24 hours | 8/10 | Main Post
Boy, am I glad for this forum. If it wasnt for what Ive read here I don't know if I would have gotten the full story experience. This game is a must complete. Going in I did not know very much about the story. By the end I was blown away.
The game overall isn't a masterpiece but a good game with slight flaws. The basic combat is way too easy for how stylish it is. The variety in game play is great. It isnt something I have experienced in a game before. It was a nice treat to have shmup mixed with third person action. The atmosphere and world itself are amazing. It is the tightest open world I have played yet. The music was perfect. I am glad it won the well deserved award for this category at The Game Awards.
The story. The story is one I was glad I experienced. In a video game world it is probably as close as you can come to a think piece. Its something that is hard to talk about without spoiling. I just want those to know it is dark. I hope to see more of Yoko Taros craft in the future. The issues I had with the story was mainly the near repeat of Route A via Route B. It was cool to see a different perspective and felt different enough to get me through it. Route C is where the fire beneath this boilerplate breaks through. Route C is the main course.
A charming, simple, and very short little game, with a lovely art style. A quest to retrieve your dog and get back home again. The character design and atmosphere remind me a lot of some old Yugoslavian cartoons, which were on TV when i was a kid. Not much meat here though. Apparently the third game is more substantial. It's on the list for later.
Full Throttle was for a long time my favorite game ever, at least my favorite point and click adventure game ever. I used to play it multiple times when I was a teenager, just something about it always resonated with me (well I guess Full Throttle's style of badassery was easy to resonate with in the 90s lol). So, with that being said, does it hold up? It does, to an extent. It's still a great adventure game, the soundtrack is still fantastic and the art style, especially with the new graphics is still great. Story is cool too, what little there is of it, as Full Throttle was always one of the shortest Lucasart point and click games, even back then. It's just the whole badass biker thing doesnt really work as well these days, and some of the more action-y stuff they tried with the game (like the awful Route 9 section or the Demo Derby) are just bad. Still, completely worth playing, and it still holds a special place in my heart, just not THE place anymore.
A jigsaw puzzle game where the pieces fit together to make a glass painting. There are only 25 'stages' and overall it was a relaxing game although figuring out where some pieces fit can be funnily amusing.
11. Fallen Legion (PC)
Yeesh this game ended up being longer than it had any right to be. If it cut like half the battles in its single character campaign it would've been better. While some aspects of the gameplay don't seem well explained IMO, I quite enjoyed mashing buttons for the win. Parrying attacks is tricky esp. when you can't even see an enemy's attack to parry.
Finished the story, got 28 treasures and most gears/unlockables. The adventure feels more structured and variegated than what the first game offered, with long randomly generated shafts alternating with meticulously designed challenges and sections. The story covers the gap between Dig and Heist, offering some narrative interconnections, but nothing more, besides being set in the same awesome steambot world. The main character and her interactions with NPCs are surely more interesting than what Rusty could offer, the game feels more like an adventure with many different chapters. The presentation is very similar to the prequel, but more colourful, the music is nice, but simply background noise. The customization and gear system is where the game gets addictive and rewarding: you unlock new upgrades, that need more gears to be equipped, so you search for more gears and you get more money to buy new equipment at the same time, and the cycle continues; an excellent gameplay loop that sucks you in and won't let you go. The new traversal options are also interesting, but the last one in particular renders traversal trivial, and in general, by the end of the game you feel simply too overpowered. The main gripe I have with the game is that it's simply a better structured "more of the same", with a super rushed and unsatisfying conclusion, but damn if the journey isn't addictive.
Game 04: Professor Layton Vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - 4/5 - 39:42 hours (25/01/2018)
Solved all the mysteries of Labyrinthia, went through all the extra episodes. The beginning is a bit shocking, with the two artstyles and worlds clashing together: the cartoony and lighthearted one of Layton and the serious yet comic one of Wright. After that initial shock though, the two sides of the game mesh well together, and you soon forget the main characters are from different series, especially since they're thrown in a new setting, new to both cast of characters, that acts as a middle-ground where everyone can acceptably exist, with an artstyle that takes bits from both worlds. The structure of the game doesn't manage to achieve that same mix: the Layton sections and Ace Attorney sections are clearly confined and autosufficient: the overworld travel plays like a Layton game, the brief investigations and the trials play straight out of an Ace Attorney game. This brings forth a problem: sometimes you'll wish to solve some riddles, yet you'll be locked in a long trial section, some other times the opposite will happen; almost nothing of Layton leaks in the Ace Attorney parts, absolutely nothing of Ace Attorney leaks in the Layton sections. The end result is that the Layton part of the game feels much more underwhelming than the Ace Attorney one: the puzzles are all but a few action based, unlike previous games, so it's a matter of moving things until you get it right, instead of guessing the correct answer: there's way less tension involved; the Ace Attorney part is much more tense, offers an interesting, albeit underdeveloped, new mechanic with the multiple witnesses and offers more depth (but still require some weird leaps of logic at times, as usual for Ace Attorney). This is also due to the fact that Layton's characters are pretty monotone and stereotypical, with the professor and Luke being the most boring of the bunch, while the Ace Attorney cast and the original characters are more layered, quirky and offer some needed comic relief: it's a case of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, where it's easier to get attached to the unlucky, more human character. The plot is more akin to a Layton game, and it's definitely better than most of Layton's stories and setting; the game succeeds in making you care about the characters, and even though there are some super obvious twists, that you see coming miles away, the conclusion has you on the edge of your seat. The special downloadble episodes are bonkers in terms of writing but super fun to read. In the end the adventure is a successful joint of two series that you play side by side, but don't mix at all mechanically.
I idle too much for any counter to be remotely correct, and not really interested in knowing exactly how long stuff takes anyway. If anyone is interested in any game I mention they can check on howlongtobeat or something. :)
Another one down...
2. NBA 2K18 (PC) - Completed 26 Jan (121 hrs) - ★★★★★
Finished a season of MyGM with the Celtics. Won the Championship and then went through all of the off-season activities - I'll probably continue playing every now and then, but I think I can call it finished.
Still the best series in sports, particularly if you're like me and pretty much stick to the franchise mode. The new story-based additions to MyGM are silly and at times completely unrealistic, but it added a bit of fun. I'd love for them to expand on this.
I idle too much for any counter to be remotely correct, and not really interested in knowing exactly how long stuff takes anyway. If anyone is interested in any game I mention they can check on howlongtobeat or something. :)
Claiming this one as Main Post 2 as I've reached the character limit on the first one lol. You can see Main Post 1 here.
Game #33 - Neverending Nightmares
Time: 2 hours
Man what a huge disapointment. Super boring horror "psychological" game that has you walk from room to room with little happening. Fantastic art style and sound design don't help when all you are doing is walking from room to room, occasionally avoiding a enemy, and very rarely using an item. It just has very little going for it as a game outside the art style and gruesome visuals (most of which are spoiled in the various promotional material), and the one thing you never want a horror game to be is boring. Took me about 2 hours to see all 3 endings, you can finish it in less than that if you just want to get through it. But I would advise against it, even if I love the art style.
Game #34 - Mini Metro
Time: 8 hours
Amazing puzzle game that once you figure it out, once it "clicks", is very hard to put down. Minimalistic art works wonders for this as everything you need to do is very clear, and when all the tracks are intersecting with each other it actually looks quite neat. Various game modes, including endless, you can "finish" it by getting a certain score on each level to unlock the next one, but thats about it. The real goal is to get the best scores you can get of course. But even if you just want to one and done it, it takes quite a bit just to get by every level, there's quite a few and the second half of the game gets quite hectic. Loved every minute of this gem and would love for them to make more of this. One of my favorite games of the year so far.
Game #35 - Monster Hunter World
Time: 200 hours
My Game of the Year.
Fine fine... so yeah, I don't see any other game this year surpassing this as my prsonal game of the year, mainly because I don't see any other game hooking me like this did. I never repay games or play NG+ modes or go back to finish sidequests when I finish games, and yet I found myself double my game time (actually more, I "finished" the game around 90 hours in and since then played 100 more) with this. Amazing gameplay, gorgeous graphics (even if the frame rate isnt very stable), just super addicting game play loop of getting new weapons and gear, changing to a new weapon which is basically like changing classes in most games, Capcom made a fantastic game here, and maybe because this was my first ever Monster Hunter game, I liked it more than most (much like Persona 5 last year). Again, I don't see any other game this year being my GOTY.
Game #36 - Monster Slayers
Time: 20 hours
Writting my thoughts 20 hours in but not only will I play more but I also could have written this 2 hours in as the gameplay loop is always the same. A deckbuilding rogue-like that has you running various dungeons to level up and gear your hero, while you build your deck with various card drops and upgrades. Tons of classes to use, all with very different decks and abilities, cute graphics, great gameplay, just a fantastic rogue like that has the "just one more run" aspect down perfectly. Also, it's pretty much the same game as Slay the Spire, which got so much attention recently, and yet this has been around for awhile. It also made me realise while I love card games, it has to be games (or modes) like this where you build your deck as you play and everything resets, I can't do the whole card collecting and deck building outside the game anymore.
Game #37 - Titanfall 2
Time: 6 hours
After hating Battlefield 4 earlier this year I was weary of going back in to another EA Published FPS (completely different devs I know) but Titanfall 2 was as fantastic as I had heard, and then some. Easily one of my favorite FPS shooter campaigns... ever really, and one of those games I jsut cant say anything bad about. Looks amazing, runs like a dream, great gameplay between the aeriel acrobatics of pilot and the mech action of the Titan, great weapons, great shooting feel, actual good writing (and funny too, I love how you constantly had little dialogues with BT during the action), story is alright but the level variety is great, just a super fun game that no first person shooter fan should pass on. I know these games are usually short but man I wish it was a bit longer, I just didnt want it to end, should have been 2016 Doom lenght, that's about the only blemish on the game really. Super recomended.
Game #38 - Slay The Spire
Time: 20 hours
What a colossal disapointment, especially after coming out of Monster Slayers earlier which I absolutely loved, and all the hype that StS had. At it's core there is a fantastic game here, that is absolutely ruined (in my opinion of course, and we'll get back to that) by the most ridiculous difficulty spikes and unbalanced gameplay I have ever seen in a card game I think. In my opinion (again, this is my opinion), this rivals any pay to win game of its kind, and in fact seems to be made for it, but there are no p2w systems, you are completely dependant on both card and relic (think of it as equipment) RNG, both during gameplay and via the card drops to build your deck. The problem is, some bosses complete negate some decks, and there are a couple of bosses in particular that negate any deck and are just completely overtuned (again, in my opinion). It feels unfair, and that isnt fun. Hard games are fine, unfair games not so much, and in the end I just dont have fun with the game, I dont anticipate the next run as you would in one of these games. And that is a damn shame as I love the genre and again, at its core the mechanics are solid, if they ever tune down the difficulty or at least change some mechanics. Also there are only 2 classes (aka 2 decks) with 1 more promissed and that is just very low for a card game. It's still in early access so we'll see what happens and I'll still get back to it, probably regularly even since it's still a good time waster at work, but I felt the time I spent with it (I unlocked everything for both classes) was enough to write my thoughts here. Man, what a bummer this was.
Game #39 - God of War 3 Remastered
Time: 10 hours
I remember playing this back on PS3 and at the time, weather I was older compared to when I played previous games, maybe I was just in a bad place at the time, but the violece of the game really put me off. I finished it and enjoyed it back then, but always felt of about it. Has that changed eyars later? Not really. It's still a rgeat action game, and quite a meaty one aswell, it felt really big and I especially loved the way the levels looped around near the end almost metroidvania style (but not really), but the franchise's problem (for me anyway) was never mechanical, just the whole concept seems made for angry teenagers and unfortunately the writing goes along with the concept. I just hate the Kratos character (unfortunately because he's one of my favorite characters ever visually) and the whole unending bloodthirsty quest for revenge that basically fucks everyone around him. But, like I said, its still a fantastic action game, super fun to play and much like the Uncharted remasters, still looks absolutely gorgeous and at times if you told me this was a current gen title I would believe you (that PS3 really pumped out some beautiful games huh?), and I'm glad to have played it now because judging from what I've seen of the new game, playing this one just made me more excited for the next, because it seems Kratos at least sounds like an actual human being now and not a cartoon / caricature, and also the gameplay looks so different that I cant help to be excited since I really wasnt looking forward to another game with the same formula (6 games of that was enough in my opinion).
Game #40 - Infamous Second Son
Time: 15 hours
Infamous was one of my favorite games ever but for whatever reason the sequel never really clicked with me and I barely played it. Fast forward to the Playstation 4 and even tho I got it at launch, Second Son ddint really click with me either and I didnt play it much at the time (but that might have been because I was mostly focused on PC back then as I didnt really play any of my PS4 launch titles). Well, now im back in a huge console mood again lately (or this year really) so I finally got around to play this. And I dont know if it was right place right time or what, but I absolutely loved it. Amazing visuals (it got a Pro patch apparently and I ran the framerate option), huge world to fuck around in with Sucker Punch's usual fantastic gameplay (can't wait to see what they do with Spider-Man), cool story, the best powers of the series in my opinion and Troy Baker doing his best Nolan North impression (I actually thought it was Nolan at first lol) the game just completely hooked me and I 100% it in about 3 days. It's a shame we probably won't see another one of these again, but I would kill for a remaster of 1+2 (what are you waiting for Sony?).
Game #41 - Assassin's Creed Origins
Time: 60 hours
Having not played a Assassin's Creed game in many years (since AC2 actually, I only finished 1 and 2) I didn't pay much attention to Origin's marketing or release. I heard it was good and a return to form (although I think Syndicate was already a return to form after Unity right?) but beyond that I didn't pay much attention. Recently, for whatever reason, I started hearing about it again, and learned it was actually heading towards more of a rpg style direction, with loot, actual quests and even damage numbers flying off enemies (which I love lol) so I started to get excited for it, which happened to coincide with a Ubisoft sale on both PSN and Steam, and long story short, let's just say that 60 hours later, not only did I absolutely adore this game, it completely re-ignited my love for the series and I now own every AC game from the recent sale heh. But Origins... where to begin. Amazing visuals (this draw distance is baffling) from the lush savanahs to the empty deserts, to the various villages or roman/greek cities, everything looks fantastic. Gameplay is better than ever (or at least, from what I remember from 2) as you can not only play it as a stealth game as expected, but also as a straight up action game. I spent the majority of my time using a 2h axe in battle, climbing seems much more forgiving, in a almost BOTW way you can climb any mountain, it has a full skill tree (again, much like a rpg) and you can upgrade your weapons. It's also much more open than I remember, with less focus on big cities and more on outdoors, almost in a Read Dead Redemption way (in fact it made me hyped for RDR2 tbh). Story is ok, it works as a origin story, but only complaint is that it doesnt feature the character Aya nearly as much as it should have as she was awesome. Give us a female lead main AC game already Ubisoft! So yeah, I got completely addicted to this, I pretty much 100% it (as far as I know, I did every icon on the GIGANTIC map, I couldnt find anything else) and was as into it in the 50 hour mark as I was in the 10 hour mark. 60€ super well spent, and this would have been a serious contender for my GOTY last year had I played it at release (certainly top 5 along with Zelda, Persona 5 and Horizon).
I also have the dlc and will play it straight after, and while usually I would include it in the main game and not as seperate entries, these DLCs are actually more like old school expansions, with their own regions added to the game (as if the map wasnt big enough already) and lenghty runtime (apparently Curse of the Pharaohs is around 20 hours long) so I feel not having them as their own entries would be a disservice to them.
Game #42 - Assassin's Creed Origins The Hidden Ones
Time: 7 hours
The first, and smallest (also cheapest) of the two DLC expansions to AC:Origins sees us follow
Bayek's adventures 4 years after the end of Origins, now fully entrenched in the Assassin brotherhood
. If Origins was the, well, Origin of the Brotherhood, this is like it's first steps. This expansion features a new piece of land, Sinai (like I said before, as if the original map wasnt big enough already), new weapons to collect and various quests and activities to do, much like the main game, but unfortunately, that is also it's problem, it feels too much like the main game. It's like they condensed the 50-60 hours of Origins into a 5-8 (depending on how fast and how thorough you are with the content) chunk, where you have all the same types of things to do again, from various roman camps to treasures and viewpoints, it even has it's own seaside for a little water action. Heel, it has a couple of stone circles for example which doesnt even make sense since that quest was finished, naratively in the main game. It's very much a case of "hey did you love Origins and want more of it? here you go", which if fine, but I was hoping for something more substancial, which I'm hoping Curse of the Pharaohs gives. Still, there are some good quests here, the main story is ok with a nice ending, a welcome character returns and you get the msot Assassin-y looking costume yet, and a couple of awesome looking mounts so it's still recomended if you liked the main game, especially since you'll probably get it via the season pass along with Curse.
Game #43 - Assassin's Creed Origins The Curse of the Pharaohs
Time: 17 hours
And we close out my AC Origins saga with what was, in my opinion, the best DLC I have ever played (jsut a note, I havent played the Witcher 3 DLCs, arguably considered the best DLCs ever). This is everything that Hidden Ones wasnt, it expands on Origins by giving you a new landmass (much bigger than the one in Hidden Ones) but taking the story in a completely different and new direction, including a supernatural theme which really helps differenciate it from the main game. Story is great and the places it takes you, in particular 4 specific zones which are among the best, if not the best in the entire game including the main game, make this a complete must buy and must play for Origins owners (where Hidden Ones was fine but only if you really wanted more AC, I wouldnt consider it must play). This is what all DLCs should be, and I would gladly pay full price for it (even tho I didnt lol), just fantastic overall.
Game #44 - Chronicon
Time: 17+ hours
And the biggest surprise this year goes to Chronicon. Two things you should know about me is I rarely buy indie games (blame bundles) and I never buy early access games, not until they are finished (or at least out of early access), and yet I broke those two rules and decided to get Chronicon one night when I was bored at work. I was jonesing for a Diablo-like and decided to take a leap of faith since the steam reviews were good, and oh boy am I glad I did. This is a fantastic dungeon crawler / loot grind Diablo game, don't let the screenshots fool you. At first glance it looks like one of million Nuclear Throne style dual stick shooters, and while the art is deffinately like that, the rest is pure Diablo goodness. Fantastic skill trees that makes the lack of classes be less of a problem (theres only 4 base classes) since each has 4 distinct skill trees an you can mix and match various skills to make them very different (an archer can be a normal archer, a summoner, a mage throwing wind spells, etc), the loot is very good, you are constantly getting items, lots of rare items with special skills and whatnot, gameplay is fast and frantic with tons of mobs on the screen, and while the art isnt the best, some of the spell effects are and theres a bunch of objects blowing up all the time, it ends up looking quite good. Right now there are 4 of 5 planned Chapters, and they are quite varied, lot of different locations and quests to do, including side quests, big maps, and only one of the zones in my opinion was kinda crummy (the forrest, act 2). When you finish the 4th act (or 5th in the future I imagine) which I did in about 15 hours (I also played another class for 2 or 3) you get access to what is basically the Rift system from Diablo 3, random maps where you have to kill a number of mobs to move on, and ocasionally (every 3 levels it seems) you get access to a boss. There is also a gem system, a gamble on random items system, an enchanting system and other various things you usually find in these types of games.The dev (as in, one person, yes its one of those 1 person joints) has lots of plans still for the game as shown in his blog posts and since the game is already very good (and cheap, its only 10€) I am very excited to see how this ends up. Very easy recomendation for fans of the genre, especially if like me you like minions, the minion classes are great and feel like you have your little army (which is something this genre often fails to acomplish for some reason). Will play more in the future but for now since I've seen all there is basically, I felt confident in writing this post. Don't ignore this one peeps, if only if it pops up in some random bundle in the future!
Game #45 - Prey
Time: 22 hours
And the bummer of the year (for now at least) goes to Prey, a game I had high hopes for, probably because of the hype it gets around here (although funny enough, most of the people I talk to lately actually dont like the game), but in the end I am left very torn on. It starts off super strong with a great vibe and setting, terrific enemy in the form of the mimic, fantastic music and just a creepy unsettling quality to it that made me love it for the first one or two hours. Then the combat came and it all fell appart for me. I just simply did not like how the game played at all, it never felt satisfying to me, the gunplay is terrible especially early on (it gets a little better later with more skills but it never feels like a "proper FPS" so to say), you feel super weak and the whole thing just felt like a chore. Which was incredibly frustrating because I was loving everything else. But then on top of the unsatisfying gameplay (in my opinion of course), the game drags (I am totally for long games but this one just felt stretched for no reason), the story is kind of a mess and the enemies are just one black goo guy after black goo guy, except one is fire based and the next is electricity based, the game basically peaks with the very first enemy, the mimic. It's funny I played this soon after Assassin0s Creed Origins, and both games proved that if I like how something plays, ill gladly spend ungodly hours doing everything (as I did with Origins), but if not, no matter how cool everything is, if the gameplay doesnt click, in the end, thats what matters in a videogame. I ended up skipping quite a few sidequests because I jsut wanted the game to end at the 20 hour mark, and thats never what you want to feel is it? Like I said, just a big bummer all around, and im very torn on how I feel on it, mostly leaning towards not liking it overall to be honest. Ill certainly never replay it thats for sure. Shame.
Game #46 - Journey
Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
This was every bit as wodnerful as people said it was, and it truly feels like a journey, no pun intended.Much like Abzu (or Abzu is much like Journey I guess but I played Abzu first), it's a short (very short in fact) linear game, almost walking-sim like as there are very few puzzles, but to reduce it to that is a disservice since it's more of an experience than anything else. Everything about the game is fantastic, from the gorgeous visuals, amazing music, super tight controls, some of the best co-op implementation I've ever seen (I don't have PS+ so I was surprised when a buddy showed up and for the next three levels we played together it was a fantastic experience... and then he died and I was super bummed out), this is an almost perfect production. The only slight against it is that it's way too short, I wish it had at least a couple more levels / zones (I felt Abzu had the perfect lenght), and the pricing since it's hard to recomend such a short experience, no matter how good it is, for 20€ (again, much like Abzu). It's a complete no brainer on sale tho, and something everyone should experience at least once. Unless you don't have a soul that is :(
Game #47 - God of War
Time: 40 hours (give or take, theres no timer)
I was never super into the god of War series, even tho I played every game. I enjoyed the gameplay and they were certainly great visual spectacles, but I disliked Kratos so much that it was hard for me to care much about anything going on in them. Thankfully, that changes in this latest entry, as Santa Monica not only created a much better game overall, but the writing and storytelling, especially when it comes to Kratos, is miles ahead anything in previous games. Kratos finally feels like a human being and not a cartoon for rage-filled teenagers, his relationship with Atreus (BOY!) is fantastic and the writing and banter between them is super well done. Gameplay wise, the game is basically a action RPG now, with leveling, quest and sidequests, a semi-open world to explore, abilities and spells, crafting, upgrading, pretty much everything you would encounter in any action rpg. the new behind the shoulder camera works great, the combat feels super satisfying, the graphics are amazing (as usual for Sony first party games I guess), the soundtrack is euqally impressive, its just a rgeat package overall. Unfortunately, the game kinda lost me near the end, both for stuff that happens in the story, and some of the optinal challenges being less than fun to do, so around the 30 hour mark I was about ready to be done wtih it, but those first 20 hours or so were amazing. Still a fantastic game overall and highly recomended, can't see what they do next (hopefully sooner rather than later).
Game #48 - Xenoblade Chronicles 2
Time: 100+ hours
What a fantastic jrpg marred by one horrible decision by Monolith to fill the game with the most cringe worthy, unnecessary fan service since the Dead or Alive series. Its impossible to sidestep the fanservice issue, which actively ruins a lot of the dramatic moments, especially because the characters (case in point, Pyra) are actually quite good. If you can see beyond that, what you will find is one of the best jrpgs ever, with a ton of content, an awesome battle system that feels like youre playing some sort of crazy rhythmn game, tons of quests and locations, great story, great characters, just pretty much everything about it is top tier, if not once again, for those silly silly fanservice-y designs. It's really a shame as it actually brings the game down from all time classic in my opinion. Still, one of my favorite games in years, and between this and Zelda my Switch purchase is completely justified. Highly recomended even with the fan service problem.
Game #49 - Bayonetta
Time: 11 hours
I played this back in the day and I liked it, but I think I liked it even more this time around. Played it on the Switch, and it really is kinda crazy how well this runs and plays on a portable, making it one of the first games that really makes good on what I wanted the Vita to be for example. But that is neither here nor there, the game is of course over the top crazy anime style character action, with fantastic gameplay and ridiculous action and levels. The story is complete nonsensical silliness but I wouldnt want it any other way, what other game do you
shoot the main bad guy in the face with a goddamn lipstick stick
lol. Super meaty, and with a great way to go about on its difficulty (its not a easy game, but the real challenge comes from getting the best scores in the levels by not using items or continues, so both the casuals like me can still finish it, but the hardcore good players also have something to get out of it), Kamiya made a real classic with this one, and now I'm super excited to play the second (which I never did and now I can). Just pure stupid fun, and highly recomended.
Game #50 - Bayonetta 2
Time: 8.5 hours
Amazing sequel to the Platinum classic that surpasses the first game in every way, except for one little problem, one I wish I had known beforehand... on it's regular difficulty (aka "normal"), its MUCH easier than the first game. I didnt die once unlike the first game which I thought was quite challenging even on normal, and that slightly bummed me out on the whole experience, as I didnt want to bump up the difficulty because I kept thinking it would get harder by the enxt level, but it never did (until later in the game when some of the last bosses made me use a lot of items). Also the game felt shorter than the first (as seen by my runtime compared to the original) but that might be tied to the difficulty as I wasnt dying and im not sure if the save time tracks that or not. But, still, that's more of a personal nitpick, one I could have fixed by playing on hard (and highly advise people do, trust me im super casual and even I thought the game was too easy), the rest is just pure Bayonetta bliss, with all the anime-style craziness you expect, a better story than the first game (and one that actually ties nicely to the first one), better weapons, much better graphics, music is still fantastic and gameplay is of coure, Platinum brand goodness. Bayo herself is still one of my favorite characters in years, and I cant wait to see what Platinum does with the third game. Let's rock indeed Bayonetta.
Game #51 - Dragon Quest Builders
Time: 35 hours
What a fantastic, unexpected surprise, bought it on a whim during my "high on Switch" phase, and couldnt be happier. This did for building games what Flame in the Flood had done last year for survival games, gave it a cute story, and most importantly, a very clear focus on what to do and clear ibjectives. Very light action rpg mixed with minecraft style third person building, with the loveable art style of the DQ series made for a super enjoyable time. Finished the campaign and I might fuck around with the free build mode now and then, as I really enjoyed the building aspect, but what it really did was probably make DQ2 a day 1 purchase, when it wasnt even on my radar before. Super fun stuff.
Game #52 - Chasm
Time: 10 hours
Strange game to talk about Chasm, as it's very hard for me to say anything bad about it, and yet I would be hard pressed to recomend it unless you are really jonesing for a "metroidvania". It's very well made and very polished, the combat feels good, the levels are varied and it has all your favorite trappings of the genre, various armor and weapons to get, skills that allow you to reach new zones and backtrack for previously unreachable places, it looks gorgeous and the music and sound in general is quite good. It's just a little bland and very run-of.-the-mill, there is nothing here that hasnt been done a hundred times over especially the last few years.It's big unique feature, that each world is procedurally created, might be neat for people that like to replay games, but as someone that doesnt, its a meaningless feature. Still, it was worth the 15€ and if you are a fan of the genre you should enjoy it, just expect a good solid but unremarkable romp.
Main Post part 1
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13. F.E.A.R.: Perseus Mandate - 5 hours
Eh, what can i say about this one... It's basically the same F.E.A.R. with all good things and problems. Level design is very repetitive and boring, but shooting is fun, and game occasionally gives you well-directed scenes like that crazy fight against huge mech in offices. I can't say it's a great DLC, but it's just fun to quickly go through story and shoot stuff. Though engine is shit and game crashed like crazy, but it's probably because i was trying to play it in 4K and take screenshots, UI scaling is also terrible. And people who complained about no proper hit detection in Wolfenstein 2, you probably forgot that F.E.A.R. didn't had any warnings about low health outside healthbar, i died few times because of this and don't remember that anyone complained about this back then.
Maybe the last update for January? If so I gotta say that I am very happy with the progress. Beating 24 games in a month is probably a personal record, or at least close. Might be able to cram a few more game in during this last week tho! :D
Game #21: New Style Boutique 2 - Fashion Forward Started 10 Aug. 2017 - Completed 21 Jan. 2018
Verdict: Makes me feel like a child again, in a good way!
I bought the second game in the series, the one known as New Style Boutique here in PAL region, on a whim once because it was cheap. I liked it a lot, and when this sequel released I got it almost immediately. I have played it on and off since release, but I set the start date up there to when I started the file I played to completion. I don't really have to go into how surpisingly good this series is, because it's been talked about for ages. I love it mainly because it reminds me of when I was a kid and had both an old fancy doll house and a Barbie that me and my mom made clothes for together. I wasn't a "girly girl" overall and I didn't actually "play" with these things the way most kids around me did, I mostly had them for interior decoration and designing clothes and outfits. This game lets me make outfits, decorate a dollhouse and also play with makeup and hair. It's just really fun to do the best I can within the "restrictions" put on me by the "client" and I feel like I'm 8 years old again.
Game #22: Slime Rancher Started 17 Jan. 2018 - Completed 21 Jan. 2018
Verdict: One of my favourite games from the last years.
The only thing I had heard about this game was that it is good. Insanely good. But I didn't really understand the love based on the scarce info I had stumbled over. I still had in on the wishlist and was gonna check it out more "later". But a friend decided to stream her first time with it and I was instantly hooked. I then spent pretty much all my free time on the game until I had grabbed all the achievements. I actually beat the story quite unexpectedly and was mostly sitting there blinking at the credits like a doofus. Then I screwed up an easy way to do an achievement and had to "grind" a bit to get the last one in Adventure mode. But I was having fun the whole time. This game was just what I needed at this moment. A game where you can't permanently screw anything up. Any mistake is fixable. I was a bit scared of the 5-day rush mode but that was very, very simple. It was also the only time the game dropped from a seemingly stable 60fps. I filled my ranch with rad crystal largos and their combined effect made the game dip into sub 20fps whenever I looked at them! All in all I absolutely love this game and I wanna play it more.
Game #23: FarSky Started 21 Jan. 2018 - Completed 22 Jan. 2018
Verdict: Simple and with a couple of issues, but it does what it needs to.
I have no idea why I played this. I hate being under water in games and I have a deep fear of dark water where I can't see the bottom or what hides a couple of meters in front of me. In this game you get stranded on the bottom of the ocean with bad equipment and have to go down into deep dark water. Oops. Thankfully there are bases scattered around for some reason and lots of resources so you can make better equipment. This equipment is needed to get all the parts of the broken sub that you need to get back to the surface. You also need to eat and refull oxygen at the base at times, so it's a simple survival game. I have a problem with sharks being portrayed as the stereotypical murder machines. The combat (to defend yourself from said murder machines and hunt for fish) is also extremely wonky. The game is pretty easy, thankfully, and short. It does what it needs to in the most plain way possible.
Game #24: Aporia: Beyond The Valley Started 22 Jan. 2018 - Beaten 24 Jan. 2018
Verdict: Surprisingly nice game with terrible achievements.
This is the first game I have finished on stream! I played through it blind in about 4½ hours, which included doing an optional long item hunt. This is basically a "walking sim" with very light (haha) puzzles. It's very beautiful but hard to take screenshots of. The fascinating story is told in a cool way and it made me want to see what happens next during the whole game. After I had beaten it I decided to cheevo hunt since that is what I do, and wow are these achievements terrible! The majority of them are for interacting with the 379 (!!!) plants/flasks/lamps scattered about. Yeah I used a guide for most of that, because that is just insane. I definitely recommend this for a simple playthrough if you like "walking sims" but skip the achievement hunt. For your sanity's sake.
14. Chaser - 10 hours
Another wasted potential. At first i actually enjoyed this game a lot, it's surprisingly decent FPS with impressive variety of locations you going to visit and well-directed cutscenes. First hours are genuinely great, story is interesting and shooting is good enough. But once that sniper mission happened, game went downhill, level designers goes completely nuts. First that TERRIBLE underwater levels with godawful controls, then spaceport mission with HUGE open spaces and confusing layout, it's just impossible to navigate here without guide. Lately you'll think "where the hell i should go next?!" every 5 minutes, all levels in second half of the game are gigantic and confusing, last part before ending is literally a goddamn maze. There also significant difficulty spike in the late hours, when every enemy suddenly receive grenade launchers that kills you after one shoot even with full health and armor. Game turning to incredibly frustrating mess, and it's a damn shame because first half was a very decent FPS, but last hours ruined everything.
Endings were a little unsatisfying tbh, but the characters, voice acting and general atmosphere were all fantastic.
2. Psychonauts [30/12/17 - 12/01/18]
~16 hours. 8.5/10
I had a great time messing around with the platforming and trying to cheese my way to getting lots of the collectables before acquiring certain abilities. The characters were fairly charming. I did have some issues in certain sections with controls, jank or just some elements that I didn't think were conveyed very well, but it wasn't enough to really get in the way of the fun.
Definitely looking forward to the sequel now!
3. Snipperclips [11/01/18 - 13/01/18]
~3 hours. 6.5/10
Reasonably inventive puzzles, and the chatter between friends when you're trying to explain what needs to be done is often hilarious. Not sure if I'm in any rush to buy the expansion, but I'm sure I'll get to it eventually.
4. Limbo [13/01/18 - 13/01/18]
~2 hours. 7/10
General gameplay was a little too simplistic, but the atmosphere was top notch. Enjoyed the ambiguous tale.
5. The Stanley Parable [14/01/18 - 14/01/18]
~4 hours. 8/10
A game that is consistently surprising, and made me laugh more than a few times. The narration is incredible.
6. Super Mario Odyssey [27/10/17 - 16/01/2018]
~40 hours. 9/10
90% of the Moons just aren't interesting to find. Smash a box. Plant a seed. Find a picture. Ground-pound this sparkly spot. Find a chest. Spin your hat on something. Hell, there are so many Moons that are just sitting in plain sight. Where's the actual platforming? I know this is meant to be a sequel to the sandbox-style games, but even Super Mario 64 (a game from 1996) had more Stars that required genuine skill imo. And it had like an eighth of the Moons Odyssey does!
With all that said...Odyssey is greater than the sum of its parts. The game is just pure fun to play, so it was easy not to dwell on how repetitive finding most of the Moons became after a while. Possessing enemies with Cappy offers some great variety and helps things from ever becoming boring. I even enjoyed saving up coins to buy the outfits and stuff like that. It's all just super charming, which isn't a word I use often.
I still vastly prefer Galaxy. I just enjoy the more focused challenges of those games as opposed to Odyssey's twelve-moons-per-square-meter philosophy. Galaxy has much better platforming sections, bosses and soundtrack imo.
3. Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition
PS4 | January 25th | 10 hours | 8/10 | Main Post
Disappointing for me but I cherished addition for some I assume. After having put around 100 hours into vanilla I figured I would dive in once again. The new UI is a welcome edition and looks great. The surface of arcade mode looks great but fell flat for me. It just felt like easier version of survival. I focused most of my time in the online ranked streets. I was a .500 fighter before I left and sadly am still a .500 fighter. Its a bittersweet game for me. Being terrible at fighters and all. I lack the dedication to actually get good. The fighting feels great and is slow enough for people to figure out what they are doing wrong. It may be fairly technical but I think its a good spot to jump into a competitive fighter.
After years and years of always saying that I would get around to this eventually, I've finally crossed it off my list.
The story was definitely the highlight. I think it might honestly be my favourite video game story of all time. I'm a sucker for political drama, so I was quickly invested in what was going on - to the point where I was keeping running notes on who was aligned with who, what each faction was currently trying to achieve and everything else that was happening behind the scenes. That's something I haven't done in...a long time! The characters were almost all reasonably well developed too, and one in particular has a fantastic arc over the course of the game. The most climactic moments in the story were also built up to incredibly well, and really landed for me given how invested I was in the cast.
As for the gameplay...that's where I had some issues. I don't know if I'll be labelled a heretic for saying this, but I don't think Final Fantasy Tactics is a very good strategy game. There's so many design elements that seem totally contradictory to that idea, and in the end I mostly just muscled through. Not being able to see the map when placing your characters is downright strange, and led to some frustrating moments where one of my weaker units would be killed immediately because they were slightly too close to the enemy. There's also no way of telling what enemies are capable of in terms of skills without heavy memorisation. I even got trapped for a good hour in one mission because I unknowingly saved right before a 1v1 fight that Ramza was wholly unprepared for. After trying multiple strategies with all of my learned skills, I ended up having to just keep resetting until I scored a critical hit on the first attack. I started using three separate save files after that one.
Ultimately none of those complaints got in the way of me absolutely loving the game, though. I enjoyed how much customisation was possible through the job system. Maybe a little too much to be honest, because the final chapter was probably the easiest section in the entire game.
As for the ending:
Orran was just seeing things. Everyone died, and I will not hear otherwise! I mean for starters I don't think it would be characteristic for Ramza to just leave without a word, and then what of all of the other characters? No, the ending is much more meaningful if they all died. Tragic ending for Delita as well. I do believe he had genuine feelings for Ovelia, but through all of his manipulations over the course of the story she just couldn't trust him, and it cost him the only real relationship he had left at that point. Great scene to end things on.
9/10
8. What Remains of Edith Finch [26/01/2018 - 27/01/2018]
~2 hours. 8/10
Extremely compelling and well presented story. I'm all for these movie length game experiences. Great game to pass and play with a friend.
Game 2: Super Mario Odyssey - Switch - Completed Main Game - 652 Moons - ~45h
Thoroughly enjoyed the main game - my favourite Mario since Galaxy. Looks really nice and controls great as usual. The capture mechanic keeps things fresh.
My only gripe is that there are just too many moons and I'm at the point now where I know I'm not going to get them all because I can't be bothered.
Many of those that I have outstanding are duplicates of what you have to do on others plus a lot of the art clues.
Overall a great game and a great entry in the 3D Mario canon. 9/10
Game 3: Splatoon 2 - Single Player - Switch - Completed - Not sure how long it took
Enjoyable single player campaign that expands well on the original's single player campaign.
Doesn't outstay it's welcome and I like the fact that different stages require different weapons and skills.
Only gripe is that the bosses could be tougher. 8/10
Game 4: Limbo - PS4 - Completed - ~2 hours
I enjoyed the game but not as much as I thought I might. It's basically just a series of set pieces with not much in between. I was expecting a little more meat on the bones although some of the puzzles are clever and the visuals/atmosphere are good.
Game is too short for my money. Overall rating: 6/10
Games currently in flight:
Unravel - PS4
Steamworld Dig 2 - Switch
Up Next:
Last of Us remastered - PS4
Metroid Samus Returns - 3DS
Oxenfree - Switch
Game #1 - Bully (PS2 on PS4) - 18 hrs, 42 mins - 4/5
Finally beat this after owning it across multiple platforms and making varying degrees of progress. Honestly might be my favorite Rockstar game. The open world is a great example of a smaller but tightly designed map being much better for me than one that's huge for the sake of it. I also really appreciated the mission variety, even if most of the gameplay elements weren't very deep/fleshed out.
Game #2 - The Evil Within (PS4) - 13 hrs, 54 mins - 3.5/5
I waited way too long to actually get to TEW2 so I did another run to get ready. This time I played on Survivor while doing no upgrades. The game reamed me, obviously. It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't constantly feel like I was running out of ammo and trap parts but at least I'm through. I'd like to someday return to do the speedrun along with an AKUMU run. I struggled enough this past time but I think AKUMU could be really rewarding plus it TEW1 would be a nice plat to have.
Game #3 - Wheels of Aurelia (PS4) - 20 mins - 2/5
A nice little narrative adventure game with lots of routes/varied endings. It goes get really samey if you try to get everything within a short period of time (it would only take 5 hours but the repetition is bad) but this is definitely worth a look if you can deal with games like this.
Game #4 - Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle (Switch) - ~15 hrs - 3.5/5
This was better than I had expected it to be. I'm not huge on strategy games but this was really charming and didn't overstay its welcome which helps a lot. The difficulty was very uneven and it felt like I'd have the worst battle yet followed by ones that just breazed by which got a bit old after awhile. Absolutely worth a go if you're a fan of Mario or strategy games. My favorite party member unlocked way late in the game which was tragic.
An atmospheric puzzle game, The Room possesses very tactile interactions with its puzzle boxes, drawing us into its world. It encourages us to experiment and prod at it in order to reveal its mysteries. It's not a hard game though. I liked the somewhat Lovecraftian undertones it has in its conceit, but the story is very light.
I had played it before on my phone but went with the PC version this time around. It loses a bit on the 'feeling' of playing it but it's still enjoyable in every other way. Recommended.
Game 05: The Sexy Brutale - 5/5 - 09:00 hours (27/01/2018)
Completed the game andgot all achievements. I'm a fan of time mechanics, so I loved the game, despite the clear lack of complexity put into the few puzzles. What stands out in the game is rather the characters and beautiful setting, which are perfectly contextualized through the collectibles you find, that give access to lots of interesting background information. Every element of the game feels in its right place and is given an explanation as for why it is there and it does what it does; discovering the meaning of these elements little by little, through your own gameplay achievements, is super rewarding and feels natural: it's like unraveling an incredibly messy tangle. The environments are marvelous pre-rendered artworks interwoven with polygonal elements, and surrounded by a bombastic jazz soundtrack, that changes and adapts to the various sections of the mansion. The plot is pretty simple in the end, but it's charming to see how each chess piece fall into place by freely acting through the twelve allotted hours; the devs successfully try to lure the player into believing in several wrong outcomes, but the ending doesn't feel forced or bad due to that. The theme of the game, once again, like in Rime, is grief, its overcoming and the acceptance of your own past wrongdoings, a point that comes across quite well. A timed adventure with plenty of character and charisma to sell.
Game 06: Lume - 2/5 - 01:30 hours (27/01/2018)
Returned the power back on. Short interactive adventure with puzzles that go from hyper easy to maddening: you go from connecting a few circuits, identifying objects from their shadow and using a few items, to cyphers and the frustratingly obtuse hidden numbers puzzle. The adventure is clearly thought to be nothing more than a bite sized flash game, but the difficulty level is all over the place, hampering the enjoyment of the lovely handmade pre-rendered cardboard backgrounds.
A metroidvania style game with a narrative focus and good characterization. The pixel art and soundtrack were high quality, and the writing was good on the whole. There were a few times the phrasing of dialog threw me off, and I would have to reread it (if I didn't accidentally advance already). It does a lot of things right, with a few things I was iffy on. The boss fights were great, and a number of them stand out for either their mechanics or the drama involved in the showdown. I enjoyed the various areas to explore, but of course backtracking is a thing you'll encounter. The tower level for instance, while it's obvious that a lot of effort was put into the progression aspect, I got tired of juggling the various elevators by the end of it. None of your tools become outdated, which is nice, but the additional tweak system never feels necessary. By the end, most of my crafting materials went unused. The first 75% of the game is good, but the last quarter is amazing, including a few moments that'll stick in my gaming memory for a while.
Some times are estimated because I can't be bothered to load the game up on PS4 to look.
1. Assassin's Creed: Origins | ~50 hours
The most fun I've had with an Assassin's Creed since Brotherhood, my previous favorite. Bayek and Aya are cool as hell, the new combat is fun, and I love this game's gigantic map. Egypt is a great setting and there are so many cool details that really show how much work was put into this game. Even on base PS4 this game looks great and runs surprisingly well for how big it is. My biggest criticism would have to be that they still can't quite make it look like you're actually making contact with enemies during killing animations. It still kinda just looks like your weapons awkwardly clip through them, and that's an issue I've had with these games for a long time now. Still, that being my biggest criticism is a testament to this game's quality.
2. The Evil Within | 17 hours
I really only bought this game because I'd heard amazing things about the sequel and it physically hurts me to play sequels to games I've never played. Considering that I had heard mostly bad-to-mediocre things about this game, I was pleasantly surprised by the time I was done. I found the combat very satisfying, although the movement was a bit too sluggish and the camera could be quite frustrating. I liked the crazy story but it was a bit predictable and Sebastian is a boring protagonist. Oh and the final "boss" is a fucking joke. I realize that all sounds pretty negative but overall I don't regret playing it.
3. Titanfall 2 | ~5 hours
Remember how I said it physically hurts me to play sequels to games I've never played? Lol.
Anyway, Press L1 to
FUCKING TIME TRAVEL.
That is all.
4. Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc | 27 hours
Recently I realized VNs are the shit and this one is no exception. It's a simple premise but everything about it works so well. I can think of only 1 character that was not interesting to me, out of a main cast of like 15. So to say that it
fucking sucked when most of these characters died would be an understatement, but I loved the freedom with which the game decided to kill good characters in awful ways.
Oh, the trial segments are really fun too, as is piecing together the overarching mysteries of the story. I'm gonna be thinking about this game for a long time, and I have the sequel ready to go on my PC.
5. The Red Strings Club | 4 hours
Really cool cyberpunk game with actually interesting moral dilemmas and very, very cool gameplay mechanics, even if you don't get to experience them for too long since the game is so short. Can't really say anything else without spoiling anything but the dev team of 3 people should be applauded.
Where to start with this game? It has bad writing and voice acting, the characters make no sense most of the time, there's a female character so beyond anything sensible that it just becomes ludicrous, the plot is simple yet nonsensical, the visuals are ugly as fuck, the combat is repetitive and annoying, the level design sucks, quests are ok i guess, and jank. Jank everywhere. And truly the worst offender of them all: an arrow to the knee joke.
And yet, like other Spiders' games, there is a certain earnest charm to it that draws me in. I just put almost 14 hours into it, after all. Can't really recommend it to most people though.
Wow I finished my first game! Lol, that took a while for some reason (life).
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Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King Started 1/01/2018 - Completed 27/01/2018
Playtime: 10 hours
Score: ★★★☆☆
For some reason it took me a very long time to actually beat this game. I had a good time with this but it felt very repetitive mid to end way, specially the puzzles.
I was itching for some good ol 2d Zelda and this did wonders to me but I would've probably drop it otherwise since it does nothing to stand on its own.
Overall, good game if you want to get your 2D Zelda fix.
The goal this year is to clear out the backlog, particularly with all the Steam purchases I made last year when I got my first gaming computer since the '90s.
January has been a slow month:
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - ~65 Hours
I've been playing this off and on since I got my Switch last October. At first, the freedom of the open world was almost overwhelming. I actually traded the game back into Gamestop after being frustrated with the lack of direction -- I got Persona 5 instead, which has the opposite problem for the first 20 hours of that game. However, I ended up feeling like I hadn't given the game a fair chance, and downloaded it to my Switch in December. It finally clicked. The ability go anywhere, and approach any situation with a unique use of the game's many systems, led to such a refreshing take on open world gaming. There were some negatives. I'm not a fan of searching for lore to discover the plot (outside of my experience going down the black hole of Bloodborne YouTube dissertations), and so I did not get all the memories, leading to a disappointing ending. While that was my own fault, it doesn't excuse the pathetic final "dungeon", completely devoid of the satisfying puzzles littering the shrines and Divine Beasts. The entire ending sequence was just deflating. I still have to say this is my favorite game thus far on the Switch, and one of my favorite games in a long, long time. 9/10
Fortnite: Battle Royale - ~30+ Hours and Counting
I'm still playing this one, but since I'm at 30+ hours and quickly counting, I'll put it on the list. One of the reasons I bought a gaming computer was to dive into the cultural zeitgeist of PUBG. Unfortunately, I didn't account for the sheer skill gap between a novice computer gamer (how do you use a M+KB again?) and the tyrants parading around bombed out Eastern European landscapes, who have mastered the physics of placing a sniper bullet into my moving target's head hundreds of miles away from my location. It also didn't help that I had nobody to play with. With Fortnite, I finally convinced a colleague with a PS4 to team up in duos, and the experience has been much more welcoming. Don't get me wrong, we still haven't won, but we damn sure will keep trying. Also, I get to practice on my computer and level up my same character -- I love that Epic allows this.
Resident Evil 7 - 9 Hours
This was one frightening game! The jump to first person was exactly the shot in the arm that the series needed. It brought me back to a feeling I had not had with the series since Nemesis. I was thankful that they took the atmosphere of Outlast, and instituted the ability to fight back, constricted in classic Resident Evil fashion by a realistically limited inventory. While the house was my favorite part, I did not see the decline in quality that others did once the locale shifted -- the other environments were just as claustrophobic and disgusting. The story went off the rails a bit, but hey, it's a Resident Evil. Overall, this was one of my favorite survival horror games ever. 8.5/10
Super Mario 3D Land - 5 Hours
Admittedly, I'm slightly late to this game -- I have an embarrassing 3DS backlog. I played this Mario entry with a unique, post-Odyssey perspective. At first, this hindered my enjoyment of the controls. Either Mario didn't move as fluidly as his Odyssey counterpart, or the tiny joystick on my New 2DS XL really does pale in comparison to the one on the Switch. I quickly acclimated, however, and I actually appreciated the constrictions of this title. I like a Mario with a slightly more limited move-set. I like levels that are less open, instead serving as carefully constructed set-pieces. The levels are like well-designed scenes from a play; a call-back to Super Mario Bros. 3, which this game actually reminded me of on several occasions -- the prevalence of the Tanooki suit, the verticality of the levels, the focus on precise platforming.
I also enjoyed the fact that Super Mario 3D Land offered something in the first playthrough that Odyssey did not -- an actual difficulty curve. Super Mario Odyssey was a wonderful experience, brimming, almost overflowing, with nostalgia. However, the actual platforming was sorely lacking, and the collectables too ubiquitous to feel truly satisfying. This is the Mario I love to play, and it makes me want to seek out the other titles in the series that I have neglected to experience. 9.5/10
The best Tales game in a decade, though I guess that's not saying too much. The story and characters are sublime but the gameplay is too slippery to be as deep as it wants to be, and the map design and soundtrack are pretty low quality.
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GAME #2 - Hello Charlotte (all episodes) - January 26 - 7/10
~6 hours
It's actually a series of three short games that I'm counting as one for this challenge, because i'm treating it like an episodic game.
That being said, it was... weird. The first one is like a collection of rpg maker references. there are sequences that look like Ib, like Witch's House, like Off, but all in it weird style, enveloped in a weird premise and setting that I won't even try to explain, but trust me, if it seems weird initially, it gets weirder. The second and third game go all in with the meta aspect, creating a story with so many layers that I think went way too far with its abstractness. But at the end, everything is explained... sort of, and it has an actually heartwarming message. It also has a message by the creator thanking you for playing, that was really nice.
I honestly would recommend it just for the trippy visuals and concepts. It can't be understated, it's a fucking out there game, and honestly, that's kinda fascinating. The first episode (wish is NOT the one on Steam) is free, I would recommend you try it.
A short game by Dave Gilbert. It left me a bit cold in the end. I liked the story and setting but the characters are underdeveloped, and i didn't really enjoy the more gamey parts. The investigation relies too much on searching random stuff online and the dialogue 'battles', although cool in concept, are not very well executed, in my opinion. Both the music and the voice acting are really good though. And a special mention to the 'rabbinical' dialogues and the jewish jokes.
The game has 3 endings, but since i apparently got the better one, i don't really feel compelled to go for the others.
In the end, this felt more like a proof of concept that doesn't really explore its themes. I'd love for this character and setting to be in another, more meatier game. Still, if you like PnC games and have a couple of hours to spare, you might want to give it a try.
20. The Walking Dead Season 2 Ep. 1 - All That Remains / 2h - completed 28.01.18
Telltale starts off the second season by getting rid of excess baggage and swiftly introducing us to a new cast of characters. The episode's focus is still on Clementine though. Not the most exciting episode in the series, and i sincerely thought the sewing scene was kinda obnoxious and really drawn out. That scene aside, it's a very low key start to this season, which is not necessarily a bad choice, though i'm hoping for it to ramp up in the next offering.
21. Micron / 1h30 - completed 28.01.18
A solid puzzle game, where you have to guide little balls of light with various colors using a few deflectors, in order for one of them to reach the exit. The mechanics and tools available expand a little bit as the levels go on but the game never really surprises. I like the visual style and there's a satisfying aural cadence to the levels, as every interaction between the balls and everything else has its own distinct sound, meaning that the minimalist soundtrack gets constructed as you solve the levels. It's an interesting detail that adds a lot to the game, in my opinion. All in all, worth playing.
Love and hate game. While I enjoyed the change of pace from the typical RPG, I didn't enjoy how timing skills, motion controls, and QTEs were mandatory. It simply outlasted it's welcome, and towards the end game I just wanted it all to end. What I did like was the charm, inter action, and animation of the Mario bothers themselves. They were down rite funny.
I've been interesting in this game since some of the early trailers years ago. I loved the atmosphere and setting, as well as much of the initial intrigue around the story.
I feel kind of disappointed with how it turned out though. No conspiracies, no deeper mystery, just a dude who decided to live in the wilderness after his son died who then did some really weird stuff like spy on the rangers.
Still happy I played it though and definitely looking forward to their next game.
Lovely little PnC adventure game, there's no dialog as everything is 'said' via images and pictures. I was hesitant on playing it due to its 'ugliness' but I ended up liking its setting and visuals. Dropsy's a great protagonist too, hugs all around!
4. Ys SEVEN - 28/01 - 22.8h (PC)
First time with the game, not among the best of the franchise but an enjoyable entry nonetheless and a better foray into a new gameplay system than Ys VI. Great soundtrack at the very least
Feels great to finally knock this one off the list. I have started it up more times than I can remember but finally put in the time to learn and kind of understand the mechanics of it. I beat both Sora and Rikus stories and actually found myself really enjoying it at times. I still feel that the game is way more complicated than it needs to be. Some of the boss fights are really difficult and lead to unnecessary frustration. Overall, I am glad I played and beat it and look forward to finally playing KH 2 at some point this year.
#1. The Unfinished Swan 1/1/18
Giant Sparrow has the idea that a fairy tale can be told in a colorless palette of regret and optimal resonance with a shade of baby blue
It's straightforward I appreciate the choices to mix up game play the last section is a great build a puzzle solve the vertical problem the ending doesn't land the way you expect but it's a nice conversation game with your girlfriend at the controls
Wait for Sale it's unique and enjoyable but not a must play $10 for 5-6 hrs is the right purchase point
(Rating system inspired by the best game reviewer around ACG Buy/Wait for Sale /Rent/Never Touch)
2. Telltale The Walking Dead Season 3 Episode 1 - Ties That Bind Part 1
1/1/18
It's been 2 years since I played this series quick wrap up adored season 1 (Screw you Kenny) Was lukewarm on season 2 till the end episode
So right away I was happy to see a new character with no past known as of now to sit and contemplate ( the .... Choice is my favorite listen to the characters feel me in on what's occurring while still being accosted for not saying anything )
The actual gameplay investigation and combat are still a bit of a chore to get through and yes early on some big choices seem very swift without considering the consequences
It was a great reveal of Clementine her personality carried through the second half of look I'm here because.... The ending leaves me with questions about approaching episode 2 later this week
No rating till Season is complete
Wolfenstein 2 The New Colossus
I was a huge fan of both The New order and old Blood the setup seemed unlikely that BJ would return once again but hey it's an opera told through a glorious soundtrack of violence and resistance,the story is more audacious than anything in cinema in 2017 the routes of discernment that BJ is the true American hero and how he doubts his actions reflect on the passion of his comrades in arms everytime the game messes with your perception of playing a video game you are more aware of what it's trying to do. I cannot praise the audacity enough of how story goes full on into it's universe yes we can discuss spikes in difficulty and before that fantastic final setup I was starting to wonder when will this shooting gallery of every enemy I have destroyed end,however that doesn't remove some of the best moments in gaming are inside that story
Rated a Buy if you want something you can discuss for days after I highly recommend turning your speakers up for a onrush of FPS brutality with a college degree level reflection on the betrayal of democracy
#4,#5
Life is Strange episode 1&2
This counts because my GF is playing it I have completed it and adored it
I actually appreciate watching her since I did buy before the storm and we can play that together later
I find my myself observing the reactions she has as I am tight lipped about everything she chooses to do while excited most for episode 3 reveal
The game outside one huge flaw that is way too video game choice must be exact or suffer the consequences (episode 2)
I enjoy going back to relearn some of the characters who on second look had much more depth than I originally thought
Rated BUY yes the season is not done but since I have been back in this series I definitely recommend this for those demanding a narrative that tells a compelling plot
Currently playing
GF Zelda Breath of the Wild has her good through 2 Divine beast
Me
AC Orgins just saw the major city so far a good 10 hrs in
Bully had this on my ps2 way back playing it on my X I never have gotten this far up to chapter 4 almost 100% on my classes
Walking dead Season 3 seeing this reminded me I need to get back to it
9: Zero Escape: Virtues Last Reward (1-28-2018) | 9/10 | PS4 | ~ 41 Hours # Overall - 9 | Great game that takes 999, doubles the content and keeps the story moving. 100% complete! Gameplay - 7.75 | Some great puzzles. Controls are awkward at times. Also mixed about move to 3d models Sound - 6 | Better than the 999. Not a huge factor in the game. Towards the end had some audio bugs Story/Online - 10 | You play the game for the Story. Its very well done and has twist and turns. Asking Price- 9.33 | Tons of content, Replaying the game for different branches is a must.
