52 Games. 1 Year. 2018.

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Finally managed to tackle playing through the entirety of the mainline Ratchet & Clank series after purchasing all of the games in a PSN sale back in 2016. I had already played the PS4 version and loved it so much that I wanted to see what the earlier games were like in comparison. I gave All 4 One and Full Frontal Assault a miss due to them not reviewing as well as the other games, however I may pick them up in the future.

It's also nice to be ahead of schedule with playing 52 games with some longer games around the corner (Ni No Kuni 2, Far Cry 5, God of War).

• 11. Ratchet & Clank 1 [PS3] (02/20) - Platinum trophy. The PS4 version of Ratchet is the only R&C game I had played prior to this, and I absolutely loved the gameplay of that game. Though this game hasn't aged well I still enjoyed the gameplay and it was interesting to see what had been changed and cut when comparing against the remake.
• 12. Ratchet & Clank 2 [PS3] (02/25) - Platinum trophy. Big improvement over the previous game. I particularly liked the inclusion of upgradable weapons. One area I didn't enjoy as much was the little space shooting sections as the controls were a little janky.
• 13. Ratchet & Clank 3 [PS3] (03/03) - Platinum trophy. Game felt a little more linear than the previous game. I liked the whole having a motherbase aspect of the game, somewhat like the Normandy in Mass Effect. The entire UI had a piss yellow filter applied on top that was a bit excessive - Maybe this was something that was more of a problem with the PS3 version than the original.
• 14. Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction [PS3] (03/04) - Full playthrough. Leap in graphics, especially with physics where the boxes could tumble over. 2 weapons which could only be used with Six-axis were introduced. I never used these weapons. It took a little while to get used to how things looked at first, as the colours in the original trilogy were more bright and cartoony. With this game they felt a little washed out and like they were going for a more realistic look. Some levels were ugly, especially the dinosaur planet. One area where it felt the game stepped up was the story - in the original trilogy the story felt very secondary where the humour in particilar felt dated, childish. The story in this game felt more mature and fleshed out.
• 15. Ratchet & Clank: Quest for Booty [PS3] (03/04) - Full playthrough. Short game where the only new addition was the ability to move objects with your wrench. Lacked the majority of aspects from the previous titles (gold bolts, etc). Felt more like a cut level from the previous game.
• 16. Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time [PS3] (03/11) - Platinum trophy. Wow, what a game. Without question the best Ratchet game of the bunch. The graphics felt like a step up from Tools of Destruction where the game actually felt like it was built for the PS3. I loved the hover boots, they added a fun bit of mobility to the game. Also the Clank sections weren't boring for once.
• 17. Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus [PS3] (03/17) - Platinum trophy. A lot shorter than the previous game and didn't really introduce many new aspects that the previous games didn't have. I wasn't a huge fan of the darker tone of the levels.

38 to go...


Game 1 - Digimon Cyber Sleuth (PS4) Finally played this game. One of the many games I bought at launch but never got into. Really good. (Only game finished in January)

Game 2 - Dissidia Final Fantasy NT (PS4) Didn't do much here. Just story mode and a few gauntlet runs.

Game 3 - Ni No Kuni (PS3) Another game sitting in the backlog. Decided to play and beat it now before the release of Ni No Kuni 2.

Game 4 - Yakuza Dead Souls (PS3) Wanted to get all the Yakuza games out of the way before I play Yakuza 6. This game really needed an option to change the controls to whatever you wanted. Felt awkward to play for the first few hours. (Final game in February)

Game 5 - Metal Gear Solid 3 (PS3) Great game. Played it on PS2 long ago and decided to revisit the game. Did a no kill run. Also I triggered a shitload of alerts lol. Loved the final boss fight. Had less than 15 seconds to kill her (didn't help that I was trying to find a collectable).

Game 6 - Ryu ga Gotoku Ishin! (PS4) Wish this would've made it to the west. I really loved this entry. Might be my favorite. (Final game in March)

Game 7 - Persona 5 (PS4) 90+ Hours. Played this around launch, got to a certain dungeon and completely stopped playing the game. Almost a year later I finally beat it.

Game 8 - Burnout Paradise (PS4) 19 Hours Played. Good times playing this on the PS3. Got the Elite Burnout License for now. (Final game in April)

Game 9 - Yakuza 6 (PS4) 50+ hours played. Still had a good time even though theres less content in this entry than the previous ones.

Game 10 - Senran Kagura PBS (PS4) 20 hours or so. Anyways I knew what to expect before playing the game. Cheap fun.

Game 11 - Demon's Souls (PS3) Time to die. My first souls game I've completed. Had a BLAST playing through this. May be my GOTY so far. Lets see what the other souls games have to offer. Did a melee build.

Game 12 - Soul Calibur 6 (PS4) Love Soul Calibur. This one did not disappoint me. Did some single player/online.

Game 13 - Persona 3 (PS2 on PS3) My favorite persona game out of P3 P4Golden and P5.

Game 14 - Rainbow Six Siege (PS4) Completed all situations/article 5 did some online. Fun to play. May be my main FPS game for a while.


In progress:

Spyro

30. Chuchel


Now this was a short and lovely little puzzle adventure game. You help a little creature through various screens as you solve puzzles involving the creatures on the screen and any intractable items, all so that he can get his hands on his Cherry...long enough for him to savour actually having it and eating it.

16. The Confines of the Crown (3/22/18 - 5hrs)

I bought this game a long time ago, expecting a stock standard otome game about a young girl wooing princes above her station and then rescuing her from shenanigans. I did not expect the interesting tale told, dealing with inverted gender roles in the traditional medieval setup (Women are the heirs to the throne, and have the power in relationship forming), gender identity, and routes where you got the guy, and routes where you got the girl instead, and a very intelligent, capable protagonist. You have to go through every route to really get the full scope of the plot and its characters, because as it is in real life, not everyone is told the truth, and not everyone gets exposed to the same points. Not the greatest fan of the sprite artwork, but, the CG work is really pretty. Genuinely surprised me, but, I really loved some of the ideas at play here,



17. What Remains of Edith Finch (3/22/18 -2hrs)

Man, what a lovely game celebrating life, love, death and family. And just like life, it's funny, it's depressing, it's ironic, and everything in between. If I'm honest, I just wanted to continue exploring that house forever, I'd have loved more and more stories, but, I feel the right choice was made for the game's length. I was honestly feeling pretty surprised it was only 2hrs when I sat down to look at my Steam playtime, as it definitely felt as though I'd been there longer.

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GAME #03: WoodFarer
Yasaman Farazan, Mohammad Sadegh H. Boroomand, Eva Baginska, Karina Pankov - PC - ★★★☆☆

Completion State:
Ran through the single prototype level a few times.

Comments:
This is a beautiful little student project with a wonderful sense of style and gameplay that could really be developed into something very satisfying. I love everything about the look: the enemy design, the brush work, the animation... it feels almost painted. Lovely. Just lovely.

I played through the whole thing in 10 minutes but I really do hope they can successfully pitch a full game based on this as it really could be a lovely little thing if done right.

That art style, just so lush.

From their itch.io page:

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?).

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GAME #04: Domino Sky
Russpuppy - PC - ★★☆☆☆

Completion State:
Completed all 40 levels (2.9 hours, 100% Steam achievements)

Comments:
This is a relatively simple but fun puzzle game from Russpuppy. Arrange dominoes to get shiny things. Levels vary from fairly simple to ones that require the placement of fifty dominoes, then repetition and a certain amount of hope that the physics go your way!

It took me about three hours to play through all 40 levels and I broadly speaking enjoyed them all. The relaxing classical tunes certainly help to create a generally mellow kind of vibe. The puzzles are fun enough, despite one or two requiring some repetition. Luckily the frustration is reduced here as you can restart the level with all your dominoes places as they were before and just adjust your layout rather than start afresh each run. The levels get reasonably complex towards the end but never to tough even for me and I'm pretty bad at puzzles!

Rhaknar said:

can't wait to see what they do with Spider-Man

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I also loved Infamous Second Son, but they're not working on Spider-Man. That would be Insomniac. Sucker Punch is working on Ghosts of Tsushima which I'm looking forward to as well.

LonestarZues said:

I also loved Infamous Second Son, but they're not working on Spider-Man. That would be Insomniac. Sucker Punch is working on Ghosts of Tsushima which I'm looking forward to as well.

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fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck I always get them mixed up lol. Oh but they ARE working on something at least.

22. Demon's Souls (again) - 25/03/2018

Did a melee build this time, and was delighted to find that it's possible to be just as broken as the Sorcery builds. The Makoto wrecks shop.

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https://www.resetera.com/posts/3243362

21. Mafia 3 - PS4 - 3/24 - 32 hours - Started the game back at launch, but stuff came up and never got back to it until now. I have to say I really enjoyed the story. Gameplay can get repetitive, but the story kept me going. 8/10

22. Mafia 3: Faster Baby - PS4 - 3/25 - 2 hours: I was expecting some throwaway dlc, but I enjoyed the villain and really loved Roxy. Hoping they could've fleshed out more though. 8/10

23. Mafia 3: Stones Unturned - PS4 - 3/25 - 2 1/2 hours: Another fun dlc, unlike the last one I felt this was the right length. 8/10

STATUS: 17/52

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17. SteamWorld Dig: A Fistful of Dirt [24/03/18 - 25/03/18]

6 hours, 48 minutes. 8/10

I really enjoyed this! As far as Metroidvania-like games go (and that comparison is pretty loose tbh) it was fairly simplistic, but the Minecraftian ore-hunting is a very cool tweak on the formula. I loved hunting down ores and upgrading my gear so much that I'd basically found everything in most areas before even getting the detector. Oops, lol. I actually bought SteamWorld Dig 2 a few days before hearing that the first one was headed to the Switch as well, so I'm super glad that I waited and played them in order now. I keep hearing how much better the sequel is, and if that's true then I'm excited to dive right back in.

Phendrana said:

I actually bought SteamWorld Dig 2 a few days before hearing that the first one was headed to the Switch as well, so I'm super glad that I waited and played them in order now. I keep hearing how much better the sequel is, and if that's true then I'm excited to dive right back in.

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You're in for a great time - enjoy!

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27. Bus Driver - 6 hours
I was prepared to see another poorly aged low-tier trash, but unexpectedly Bus Driver turned out as best bus simulator i've ever played. Gameplay rules are simple but addicting, sound design are very satisfying, and it's just great game to relax and drive around. Outside some minor issues, this game aged well and i absolutely recommend to give it a try, took me 6 hours to complete every route.

I don't really want to go too into depth about them so I'll just list the games I've beaten so far and the score I've given them. I'm well on my way to beating 52 games. In no particular order:

Bayonetta 1 (Switch) - 6/10
Bayonetta 2 (Switch) - 9.5/10
Elex (PC) - 4/10
Elliot Quest (Switch) - 9/10
Mom Hid My Game! (Switch) - 7/10
Steamworld Heist (Switch) - 8.5/10
Kirby's Dream Course (SNES) - 6.5/10
Kirby: Squeak Squad (DS) - 7.5/10
Kirby's Epic Yarn (Wii) - 9/10
Kirby's Return to Dreamland (Wii) - 6/10
Kirby's Pinball Land (GB) - 7/10
Kirby: Triple Deluxe (3DS) - 8/10
Kirby: Planet Robobot (3DS) - 9/10
Blazing Star (Switch) - 6/10
Azure Striker Gunvolt (Switch) - 8/10
Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 (Switch - 8/10
Mercenary Kings (Switch) - 7.5/10
Celeste (Switch) - 6.5/10
Mutant Mudds Deluxe (Switch) - 6/10
Oh Sir The Insult Simulator (Switch) - 5/10
Dragon Quest Builders (Switch) - 8/10

Currently working on:

Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood (PC)
Secret of Mana (PC)
Oceanhorn (Switch)

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#24 Far Cry 3 - Blood Dragon (PC) | 3.3h | March 25 | ★★★★


No idea why I never finished it when I first played it four years ago. Super fun open world shooter with good shooting mechanics and great 80s cyberpunk/sci fi atmosphere. But I ignored most of the side quests because they can get kinda boring/repetitive but even then they manage to put some good humor in them.

#25 State of Anarchy (PC) | 1.4h | March 26 | ★★½


Short top-down shooter with a great soundtrack. Controls weren't that good though and it can be a bit challenging. It was alright but I think I'm just not really into top-down shooters.

#26 The Norwood Suite (PC) | 1.7h | March 26 | ★★★½


Really weird/bizarre game but not in a bad way. It's basically an adventure game with a lot of fetch quests but it has this special vibe to it. You can also "interact" with all characters in the hotel. Definitely not for everyone but I like bizarre games every now and then. It's from the same guy who made Off-Peak which is free on Steam, so you can check that one out, too.

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7. Far Cry 5
PS4 Pro | Time Played: 16 hours | 8.5/10
While it does not change the franchises focus relying on shootouts and hunting. Ubisoft delivers their best open-world game in a while, giving players opportunities to make their adventure. The story is controversial but impacted me on another level, with Hope County citizens having so much character. There, are shortcomings with over the top encounters, but all in love loved my time in Hope County

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17. Mega Man 9 - PS4
Completed 3/19/18
Score - 8/10

This was a great palate cleanser after 6/7/8. I really enjoyed the difficulty on this one. It never felt unfair but it sure was difficult. I found the stages much harder than the bosses, outside of the blob boss in Wily Castle. Excited to close out the OG series with 10 soon.



18. New Super Mario Bros. - DS
Completed 3/26/18
Score - 8/10

Nothing revolutionary but a fun game none the less. I only beat New Mario U and Luigi U so I wanted to play through the other 3 and figured I would start with this one. A few tricky stages but overall not a tough platformer. It was kind of a pain to figure out how to get to worlds 4 and 7 but I am glad I beat every stage.

Guess I should update my March gaming roughly. Not too much progress because I have been futily attempting to platinum Monster Hunter World.

7: Rime - PS4 (March 6th 15 hours)
# Beautiful, emotional and relaxing game with a gorgeous soundtrack. Really liked it. It's obtuse in a couple of places and the frame rate stutters in some of the more open sections but overall a really good game I think fans of Ico, Journey and Laura Castle in the Sky will enjoy. 8.5/10

8: Alone with you - PS4 (March 15th - 6 hours)
# Looks like I'll need multiple playthroughs for all the trophies. I rather liked it overall. It's a strange game. It has a wonderful art style and a pretty interesting story. Some of the tasks are mundane and a little repetitive but exploring around is pretty fun. 7.5/10

Ronin -PS4 (March 25th - 4 hours)
# I really enjoyed this, at first. As the game went on though it became very frustrating and the game mechanics just fell apart. The whole game just feels a little clunky and unwieldly getting stuck on walls or in no win jump situations meaning I died, a lot. Skills are a pain to get, not much better to activate and the level design is just a hinderence to a lot of the fighting. It would have been a much better stealth game then the turn based combat they force in. It's a great idea, I like the graphical art style but the execution is a bit of a disaster. I am most the way through NG+ that makes it harder while giving you every skill and if anything it only shows it's glaring flaws even more, real shame. 6/10

Illusionary said:

You're in for a great time - enjoy!

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I've only managed to put in a couple of hours so far, but it really is a big step up. Loving it!

23. Final Fantasy IX - 26/03/2018



The only FF I've played numerous times. Final Fantasy IX embodies nigh everything I loved about the series. The characters are infectiously lovable and the detailed PSX graphics still hold up wonderfully.

Figured I should post another update, before I end up with another 10 game post on my hands!

#19 Kirby: Super Star – Completed 3/16/18
#20 Kirby: Star Allies – Completed 3/17/18
#21 Momodora III – Completed 3/23/18
#22 BoxBoy – Completed 3/24/18
#23 Zwei: The Arges Adventure – Completed 3/26/18

Kirby: Super Star - The SNES original still holds up really well, though I've yet to touch the DS remake! Great game, I can see why so many people consider it the best in the series.

Kirby: Star Allies - Levels are a fair bit simpler compared to the 3DS games, and the difficulty is almost non-existent. Regardless, I had a great time playing through it! Awesome music, beautiful visuals, and the final world really made things worth it.

Momodora III - I played through IV last year, and a friend of mine (after asking for metroidvania suggestions on PC) started going through the series. I saw this was only $2 on Steam, so it was an easy sell. Great game that didn't overstay its welcome.

BoxBoy - I bought this on 3DS years ago, and got about halfway through it. I ended up enjoying it a lot more than I expected to! I already have the other 2 in the series - I'll be finishing them up sooner or later, for sure.

Zwei: The Arges Adventure - I finished Zwei II last year for review, but didn't really get to this one until recently. It's a good deal simpler than the sequel - the sequel is undoubtedly the better game - but this was still fun too! One of my favorite Falcom soundtracks too.

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8. Yakuza 6: Song of Life
PS4 Pro | Time Player: 15 Hours | 8/10
I have fallen in love with these games, and Kazuma Kiryu final chapter was one emotional ride. SEGA took a good amount of time in giving their hero one massive send-off, investing in a new engine making combat fluid with fewer load times. A story which focuses on parenthood and growing up in the dangerous world of Yakuza. Enjoyed everything game had to offer from, hostess clubs to baby-centric minigames.

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#27 Batman: The Enemy Within (PC) | 8.7h | March 27 | ★★★★


Batman: The Enemy Within is the best Telltale game in a long time (probably the best one since Tales from the Borderlands) and I say that after being quite disappointed by Batman S01. My main complaint would be that Season 2 felt a bit rushed every now and then but it's still good to see that Telltale seems to be getting back on track. Good story and interesting characters who feel like they can switch between friend and foe any minute. The engine is still the same as in previous games but it ran way better and I don't recall encountering any bugs this time.

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So I didn't realize we were supposed to update as individual posts on top of updating our main post, haha. Got a PSVR during the ebay sale for really cheap so my backlog got a bit messed up in the hype. My banner style suffers hard with huge logos and complex looking games it seems haha.

15. Statik: Institute of Retention (PSVR) - 4/4 (Completed Mar 16, 2018)
Main Story + Secret Ending | 100% Trophies

I loved this game. It felt very influenced by Portal and was very eerie. Having you use a controller and having the in-game representation be your hands trapped in a box was pretty clever. Each puzzle was unique and was fun to figure out and became more obtuse and difficult over time. The secret ending stuff would have been really cool on forums when the game first came out too. The normal ending really threw me for a loop, that was awesome. I'm not sure it necessitates VR, but VR definitely helps with the immersion.

16. SUPERHOT VR (PSVR) - 4/4 (Completed Mar 25, 2018)
Main Story

If VR really is a trend and it somehow ends tomorrow, I would at least have SUPERHOT VR and be able to play it forever. It's the perfect game to make you feel like a badass in VR, no weird movement, no nausea, minimal and fairly natural controls, amazing game feel and feedback loop. I was totally working up a sweat playing this game, I couldn't believe it. Playing the original SUPERHOT is going to be weird after having played the VR version. This will be the VR game I will use to sell people on the concept of VR for the foreseeable future and I'll be replaying this throughout the year.

17. Moss (PSVR) - 4/4 (Completed Mar 25, 2018)
Main Story

I want to protect Quill with my life! This game is adorable and gorgeous to look at. This is the first VR game I've played that has you looking into what is essentially a diorama and controlling a character in third person. Its also the first with a substantial narrative. Outside of VR, this would be a generic third person adventure game (with a lot of charm) - but in VR, the world feels more grand and you're rewarded for letting your eyes explore. I cannot wait until they put out a sequel for this game.

18. BOUND (PS4/PSVR) - 3/4 (Completed Mar 25, 2018)
Main Story | 1% Trophies?!

For a game that had PSVR slapped onto it after the fact, the game is breathtaking to look at. The game achieves this feeling of the world being living and breathing despite everything being made of sharp shapes. It also does this cool thing where the environment shifts to allow the camera to see the character. I feel I'm a bit dumb for not being able to piece together the story but it was interesting nonetheless. I had to finish the game outside of VR because the camera was making me dizzy by the end. Also it's built around speedrunning? I'll probably never touch that aspect of the game.

19. Assassin's Creed Origins (PS4) - 4/4 (Completed Mar 25, 2018)
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Been a long time Assassin's Creed fan, played all the main titles but was getting pretty burned out so I'm glad they took their time with this. No more excessive treasure chests, no more companion apps, or other account linking. Combat was interesting at first because I couldn't just kill everyone, I ended up pretty over leveled early in the game and stayed that way until the end because I was doing all of the side quests. Stealth is still lacking but I've grown accustomed to that by now, big map but there's plenty of unused space but it's still fairly fun to explore - I'm perfectly okay with open worlds that aren't overloaded with repeated content. I hope they skip this year to do this again.

CrazyAznKT said:

So I didn't realize we were supposed to update as individual posts on top of updating our main post, haha.

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It would be quite annoying to have to go back and scour all the posts for added entries. ;D And it keeps the thread active and findable by new people!
Loving the banners btw!

24. Kirby: Planet Robobot - 27/03/2018



This game was too easy, except the True Arena, oh god. The callbacks to past Kirby games was really cool and it's filled with content. Gonna try out Star Allies eventually.

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28. Avencast: Rise of the Mage - 10 hours
Not perfect, but overall good ARPG with magic-oriented combat and surprisingly challenging puzzles. It feels little dated now (which is fine for 10+ year old game), but plays nice, you can cast spells like in fighting games, by doing combos like "down, up, down" on the keyboard. Story is decent, puzzles requires to read notes and think on what you're doing, but pacing is weird, i was bored few times and almost dropped it halfway, but managed to beat it after all. If you like this genre, i would definitely recommend to take a closer look on this game.

31. Batman: The Enemy Within


Much like Season 1, I felt the first half of the game more than the 2nd half, but otherwise I enjoyed both games equally.
Much like their recent output, the choices you make don't necessarily matter, but I just see them as me crafting the scenes for the story and I still manage to enjoy them.

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#28 Kane & Lynch: Dead Men (PC) | 3.2h | March 28 | ★★


First off, the game uses GFWL but it still works. Got it for €0.97 on sale and it's probably worth that money. The story was mediocre and I still don't know what exactly started the whole thing, just that it turned into something family related later on. I had some fun gunning down the enemies even though the gunplay actually sucked.

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#4 - Super Scribblenauts | DS | 10 hrs 15 mins | 03.23.2018 | 5/10



More games from my 5 year long backlog. Bought this one when I first bought my 3DS years ago just to give me something else to play along with Pokemon, but over the years it's taken a back seat to other games I was more interested in playing. Finally had a bit of free time on a recent holiday to sit down and finally finish this one. Overall it's an OK game, and for younger kids I can definitely see the appeal; for me however, it got pretty tedious pretty fast and was even frustrating at the higher levels due to very vague clues on what it wanted you to do and solutions that were completely nonsensical half the time (adjective levels can suck a dick). A decent enough time killer and for the 15 bucks or so I paid for it, the game was probably worth it but don't expect a very engaging experience here.

25. Panzer Dragoon Orta - 28/03/2018



The greatest rail shooter of all time. Panzer Dragoon Orta has ocean deep gameplay for a rail shooter, with mechanics and transformations for your dragon that really spice things up, with a gorgeous graphics that are a generation ahead of its peers. I'm probably going to be playing this game multiple times over the year but given how short it is I'll only count this one playthrough.

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15) World of Final Fantasy (Steam, 80 hours)
Did pretty much everything there is to do, collected all mirages, did all colosseum fights, etc. A decent game, filled with fanservice of the series. Very easy for the most part, and also a little slow at times, but I enjoyed my time with it.

Currently playing:
Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom
Detective Pikachu
Pixel Puzzles: UndeadZ

03 | Pillars of Eternity | PC
Time: 100 hours
Score: 8/10

I played Pillars at launch and gave up after Act 2. The game has come a long way since then. Combat has been balanced better, there have been much needed changes to the keep and with the White March expansion Obsidian knocked it out of the park. This time I also chose for the more challenging Path of the Damned difficulty, giving much more weight to your choices and decisions outside of the narrative. I gave the game another shot in preparation of Deadfire and it turned my initially negative opinion around entirely. That doesn't mean there are no issues with the game. Choice & consequence is disappointingly shallow, just like the various factions and your interactions with them in the game. Most of your companions are (at best) tangential to the main storyline and don't have much input overall in the game. Caed Nua still feels like a cheap mobile game (although the Endless Paths are pretty fantastic). And the game, like many others, suffers from an inverted difficulty curve, especially on Path of the Damned. Struggling with a pack of wolves in the first hour while being able to defeat the final boss without micromanagement. But Obsidian has addressed and recognized all those issues and will seemingly try to do better in the sequel. Which makes me very excited for Deadfire.



04 | Tyranny | PC
Time: 40 hours
Score: 8/10

Tyranny is the overlooked little brother of Pillars of Eternity. Its sales suffered mainly from a poor marketing campaign and an unfortunate release date. Yet where Pillars of Eternity feels like a relatively safe grand adventure RPG, Tyranny aims to shake things up. It puts you into the position of Fatebinder, a travelling judge with the authority to deliver verdicts and root out treason in the empire of the evil overlord Kyros. Sounds great? It is. You are tasked with resolving a dispute between two armies allied to Kyros who are invading an independent nation. The amount of reactivity in this game is ridiculous, to be honest. There are so many options to achieve this task, ranging from allying with one of the two armies to forsaking both and remaining a fully independent member of the court. And there are more options I won't spoil. Whatever path you take, influences the locations you visit, the quests you receive and it all comes full circle in a satisfying manner in the last act. Your companions are all mostly directly related to the main plot of the game and the choices you make influence their behavior and opinion of you. The writing is excellent and playing judge (and executioner) feels very rewarding and consistent with your role in the game. There are multiple issues with the game though. Combat is relatively shallow compared to Pillars, the level-up system is pretty awful and the second act tends to railroad you in the path Obsidian wants you to stick to. But I can't fault such a (relatively low) budget game for that when it is willing to go the extra mile in other aspects. Tyranny is a typical example of a game that aims for the stars and lands upon the moon.

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#29 SUPERHOT (PC) | 2.1h | March 29 | ★★★★


SUPERHOT is the most innovative shooter i've played in years.

GTA V ★★★

Many great big moments here and characters to love. Mostly a replay although I had only missed the last few missions the first time. Could have been better as just a Michael game I thought - that's how I played it - as characters that mostly further his story and his goals.

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#21: Flower, Sun and Rain (3-29-2018) | 8/10 | 2DS | ~ 12 Hours | Recommend: M
# Overall - 8 | Never played a game like it before. It is aware of itself and makes mundane things interesting.
Gameplay - 7.4 | DS version graphics are bad, controls are okay. Puzzles are very good
Sound - | There are times I left the game going to listen to a song loop.
Story/Online - 8 | Great continuation of the first game, The Silver Case, story. It also uses a 4th wall well.
Asking Price- 8.33 | Good amount of content (especially the extra things you can find).

If you played and enjoyed The Silver Case this is a great game that does as many things unconventional as possible while still producing a good end result. It has very repetitive gameplay that in the grand scheme of the story makes sense and the main character will say what you are thinking (Example...."Are you kidding me I have to go back over there...." and then the character says something similar at that time. Its weird how in sink the game is, almost like a 4th wall.

26. Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil - 30/03/2018



One of the GOAT platformers, let alone the cream of the crop on the PS2. An endlessly charming game with a surprisingly compelling cast of characters, lovely stylish graphics, and spot on gameplay. It's a mini travesty that we'll never see a Klonoa 3.

Now that I'm halfway through, I'm going to take a break. I've been neglecting my writing so I figure I'll write at least a few stories before coming back.

32. New Super Mario Bros. 2

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Beat the main stages and didn't go for the other 2 secret worlds nor for all the Star Coins.
I have mixed feelings about it as I found the platforming and challenges serviceable but it didn't feel fun to play like say Mario 3D Land.

22 games in March feels great. I think I'm gonna slow down a lot from here on because I am gonna try to get some seriously long games out of the backlog. Aiming for maybe 10 games a month or so by playing some shorter games in between sessions of the long games, but might not even hit that!



Game #59: The Disney Afternoon Collection
Started 27 Dec. 2017 - Beaten 22 Mar. 2018
Verdict: Not really my thing but nice nostalgia!



Game #60: Monster Hunter: World
Started 26 Jan. 2018 - Beaten 24 Mar. 2018
Verdict: Fantastic and intense in a way I rarely experience.




Game #61: Invisible, Inc.
Started 26 Mar. 2018 - Beaten 27 Mar. 2018
Verdict: Way too hard for me.




Game #62: Dark Fall: Lost Souls
Started 29 Mar. 2018 - Completed 30 Mar. 2018
Verdict: Spooky but the controls drags it down.


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29. Wolfenstein II: The Freedom Chronicles - Episode 1 - 5 hours
Unfortunately, i had to agree that this DLC is just waste of money, even for those who loved The New Colossus. Story in this DLC quickly went to garbage tier with tremendous amount of plot holes, instead of pre-rendered cutscenes we got crappy comics filler, and they even added technical issues like broken save files (still not fixed after 3 month) and even more problems with Steam overlay integration. What a massive disappointment, i still had some hopes about 2 other episodes, but not much.

Weiss said:

25. Panzer Dragoon Orta - 28/03/2018

The greatest rail shooter of all time. Panzer Dragoon Orta has ocean deep gameplay for a rail shooter, with mechanics and transformations for your dragon that really spice things up, with a gorgeous graphics that are a generation ahead of its peers. I'm probably going to be playing this game multiple times over the year but given how short it is I'll only count this one playthrough.

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Sega should rerelease this game.

New update

17/52 games finished

Game 14 - Burly Men at Sea (PS4) - 2 hours, 38 minutes - 2.5/5

Nice litle narrative adventure game. Not particularly heavy on content but this was worth the price I paid after a discount.

Game 15 - Uncanny Valley (PS4) - 3 hours, 8 minutes - 3/5

Another solid 2D horror game. If you're a fan of Lone Survivor, Claire, or similar games this is definitely worth a look.

Definitely leaning heavily into these types of games since horror in gaming has taken such a first person focus over time and that's not up my alley so much.

Game 16 - Silent Hill (PS1) - 3 hours, 54 minutes - 4.5/5

Started up a series replay with this because honestly when am I not in the mood to play Silent Hill or Resident Evil games??? This run took a bit longer than usual since I played at the same time as a friend and we made an effort to explore and discuss things as we go. Got the Good+ ending which I'm pretty sure is the only ending I have ever chosen since I've seen all 4 originally. Tears Of... is just too good.

Game 17 - Silent Hill 3 (PS2) - 1 hour, 24 minutes

A much more up to par time for me. Wanted to do something different mildly and went directly into this one after 1 instead of 2 since this is a direct sequel. I still think my favorite is 2 but Heather is one of the absolute best protagonists ever and I love her so much. Will play 2, 4, and probably Downpour real soon.

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30. Portal - 3 hours
I finally played this game again and finished it, took me less hours than i expected, i remember back then without hours counter it felt like much longer game. Anyway, it aged well enough overall and still a very compelling game, puzzles and story are fun. Of course, Portal 2 is obviously superior, but first one still worth playing it nowadays even if you somehow missed it and never played before.

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.

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You can tell I'm on easter break from my teaching job as I knocked out 4 games today. Lots of them were part-finished already and just needed bits and pieces done to wrap them up. Its been great having the free time though to actually finish a few niggling titles I'd otherwise move on from in lieu of other games.

27 and counting - over half way!

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#14 - A Way Out (PS4)
GOOD - Finished the game in one sitting with a friend. It was a fun ride. Nothing amazing or groundbreaking, but a really well done coop-experience. It shows that this game was made for coop from the ground-up and leads to some fantastic situations. Appart from the coop stuff done so well the game's biggest problem is that everything else seems a bit shallow. The characters, the setting, the gameplay, the story. Nothing of that is bad or boring but it's also not especially good or special. I have to admit though that the final act is really cool and makes this a game to remember. I wish them big success with this game, because I want to see them improve on the formular und bring it to other settings.

#15 - Atelier Ayesha: Alchemist of Dusk (PS3)
GOOD - After beating the original Arland-Trilogy I kept buying all the games but didn't play them. So I wanted to return to this RPG-series and picked up where I left. It's another charming and very relaxing experience but I have to admit that the formular gets a bit stale for me and the characters and story aren't as good as in the Arland-Trilogy. I still had a lot of fun playing this and the very forgiving time-limit in this one makes it even more relaxing to play.

#16 - Nights of Azure (PS4)
GOOD - Another good JRPG from Gust, this time an Action-RPG. While the story itself isn't something special I liked the darker setting, the hotel-hub and the main characters. The gameplay is good for some mindless action and grinding and felt like a mix of Folklore and Victor Vran. It also isn't overly long so it doesn't overstay it's welcome and that is always a plus, especially for modern JRPGs that seem to drag on a lot.

#17 - Bravo Team (PSVR)
MEDIOCRE - I played this with a friend in coop. While the shooting is fine the movement system more or less kills a lot of the fun that could have been had with free movement. It's really, really clunky and you always lose your orientation while trying to navigate from cover to cover and the camera switches between first- and third-person. It's also a short game with only a few types of enemies and four types of weapons. Nothing to unlock or improve. It's a very lovelessly made game that also feels low-budget. It's not the worst game ever made but it's definitely one of the weaking "Lightgun"-game I've played. It's also extremly overpriced but I got it with the Aim Controller for 60€, so that's still a good deal for the controller alone.

#18 - Xanadu Next (PC)
GREAT - Tis is a great, old-school ARPG. It's basically Y's meets Diablo and a lot of fun to play. It's neither overly long nor is there a lot of text to read so that you can concentrate on killing monsters, collecting gold, navigate through the finely crafted world (totally reminded me of the Dark Souls games) and improving your character. Highly recommended like most Falcom games.

A decent six games in my update for March, bringing me to a total of 21 for the year so far. Next up, Ni No Kuni II!



16. Replica (Steam) - 7 March 2018
Two full play-throughs complete, with 100% of achievements unlocked. Quite a decent little game that presents a simulated mobile phone and tasks the player with investigating the activities of its owner to prove links to terrorism and an anti-government agenda. Ultimately the gameplay is quite simplistic, based primarily around searching through conversations, social media posts and photos for specific information, alongside inferring a few passwords/login details (e.g., from birthday dates), and the game is utterly unsubtle about how it presents a message about the potential dangers of the information age and state surveillance - but as a whole, the game presents an interesting and satisfying experience that I'd recommend playing.


17. Outcast: Second Contact (PS4) - 12 March 2018
Platinum trophy. Some really fantastic nostalgia here, as I loved the original release of Outcast all those years ago - and for the most part this is an excellent remake. Sadly, though, I hit upon a game-breaking bug late on in my playthrough and wasn't able to complete it, which somewhat soured the experience - but I very much enjoyed everything prior to that (plus, the trophy structure allowed me still to get the platinum with a speedrun-style approach through to get the one trophy that the bug locked me out of).

The combat in Outcast remains somewhat clunky, but the eminently dodgeable nature of the slow-moving projectiles used by most enemies makes encounters somewhat different from that which most comparable games offer. Where Outcast excels, though, is in the detailed world that it's created, with an impressive amount of detail packed in to many of the varied environments and some interesting quest design - all adding up to a compelling experience. Graphically the game holds up well and doesn't betray too much of its 90s roots and the soundtrack remains a notable highlight, just as impressive now as it ever was.


18. Super Lucky's Tale (Xbox One) - 18 March 2018
100% of achievements unlocked; 99/99 clovers collected. Super Lucky's Tale is an enjoyable little platformer, certainly no Mario but it holds up well against the recent crop of second-tier platformers that we've seen over the past year or so. Generally the levels are fairly easy, but if aiming for 100% there are a few sections offering a decent challenge, and there's a nice variety in both the platforming scenarios and the world themes. A notable criticism is that at times the jumping isn't as responsive as it should be (e.g., when pushing up against a vertical surface), but once you know what to expect with this it's generally manageable. Overall I doubt that anything here will be especially memorable, but I had a good time playing through Super Lucky's Tale - oh, and this was also my first experience with Xbox Play Anywhere, which is undoubtedly an excellent feature and a definite positive of buying digitally - even if buying physically remains my preference.


19. Assassin's Creed Origins: The Curse of the Pharaohs (PS4) - 26 March 2018
100% of trophies earned; all quests completed; all locations completed; all equipment upgrades. This is a substantial piece of additional content for AC: Origins, with an compelling plotline and, as a particular highlight, some really great variety in environments, which include several set in the afterlife. In terms of gameplay, while a few new skills are added with the expansion and the level cap is raised, it remains very much aligned with the base game - no bad thing, perhaps, as it was already enjoyable as it was


20. Batman: The Enemy Within: Episode 5 - Same Stitch (PS4) - 29 March 2018
100% of trophies earned (with platinum trophy for the complete season). A decent end to the series - more action-focused that I'd expected, but still allowing enough time to tie up the loose ends, especially as regards to John Doe. I have to wonder whether a third season might be possible - which I'd definitely be on board for!


21. The Bridge (Steam) - 31 March 2018
100% of achievements unlocked. This is a puzzle game heavily inspired by the works of M.C. Escher, with distinctive hand-drawn level geometry featuring 'impossible' objects, reflections and symmetries. The objective of each level is to navigate the protagonist to the level's exit door, usually after first collecting one or more keys needed to unlock it. The key puzzle dynamic is while the protagonist is unable to jump (movement is limited to just walking left or right), you also have the ability to rotate the entire level freely, while retaining downwards gravity, so that what was once up becomes down, left, right or any angle in between.

While puzzles start off fairly simple, the difficulty level ramps up rapidly, alongside the addition of new puzzle elements within each chapter to increase further complication - these range from vortices which trap the protagonist or other objects if they come too close, to the introduction of objects of opposite 'polarity', accessible only after passing through fixed 'inversion' points. Solving the trickier puzzles certainly brings a sense of satisfaction, though by the end these were becoming somewhat too complex for my taste and and as a result could tend towards feeling like trial and error could be almost as effective an approach as truly understanding an efficient solution. With that proviso aside, though, the game gets my overall recommendation.

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13. Donkey Kong Country Returns - 10ish hours, March 15th
And there we go, replayed all of DKC before the DKCTF port. I love this game. May do a playthrough of DK64 before DKCTF on Switch, but I'm not sure on that yet.

14. Banjo-Kazooie - [7.5/10] 10 hours 42 minutes, March 21st
100% completion. One of my childhood games that I've never beaten before, so now that I have an Xbox One I decided I'd fix that. Replaying it, I feel like I have a lot more nostalgia for Banjo-Tooie. I'll probably beat that later this year. Banjo's a good game, it's a lot of fun, but it definitely has a bunch of issues for me as well. The quiz at the end and the Grunty boss fight are the kind of things that just completely soured my experience in the final hour, neither was fun and both were full of stupid garbage (for example, a mad monster mansion question: which of these isn't in the basement? the answer was supposed to be a jiggy, but I got the final jinjo in there... so I got a jiggy there and forgot it was because of the jinjo. So, I answered that question incorrectly even though I wasn't technically wrong, I was on a failure = instant death space near the very end of the board... I was furious, that was like my 5th attempt through the quiz, I kept getting the most obscure questions). It's good, I had fun, but the game kept forcefully knocking my rose-tinted glasses off. Oh whoops, you're actually trying to do WELL in the Boggy race? Sorry you're supposed to win by doing poorly, otherwise he rubberbands so hard that he's impossible to beat! Rusty Bucket Bay sucks... just a bunch of stuff like that. It's a good game, I do like it, but I don't think it's the perfect masterpiece some will tout it as.

15. Detective Pikachu - [9/10] 10ish hours, March 29th
Adored this game. It was a bit on the easy side but it was a really great ride. Essentially Pokemon meets Phoenix Wright. The world in this game was just a lot of fun to explore, it fleshed out the Pokemon universe in a way that the mainline games don't. Aside from being a bit easy and deliberately leaving a few loose ends for a probable sequel to pick up on, this game was almost perfect for what it was trying to be. The main character was a bit bland, but Kaiji Tang made up for that in spades with his performance as Pikachu.

16. Kirby Star Allies - [8/10] 10ish hours, March 31st
A little disappointing as a followup to Robobot, but Kirby is never really bad. Very enjoyable, and the free Dream Friends updates are gonna keep me revisiting the game (they finally brought back Gooey and that's important). Just feels a little short and like the Ally mechanic is a bit overcentralizing - the puzzles were very easy, hard to miss, and a lot of times I felt like I wasn't really doing much because my squad was taking care of things before I could even think about it. The shortness and the weird pacing are my main issues... world 3, the space demon hell zone, every level felt the same and while they were well designed they had almost no identities of their own, leading to the whole world feeling like a slog (and it doesn't help that the whole world was as long as worlds 1 and 2 combined). I just hope the inevitable followup is a bit more polished, hoping for a Triple Deluxe to Robobot level of stepping up.