52 Games. 1 Year. 2018.

Rhaknar · Jan 7, 2018

Game #14 - Distraint: Deluxe Edition
Time: 2 hours

Fantastic side scrolling psychological-horror adventure game (basically a point and click adventure but you control the character with WASD) about a guy that evicts people for a living and how that is slowly messing with his head. I love the art style in the game (I specifically mentioned I played the deluxe edition because it has quite a few graphical improvements over the original version), sound design is equally good, and it's actually quite powerful and emotional for a horror game. Puzzles aren't very hard and it's not very long (2 hours, which im finding more and more is the perfect amount of time for a adventure game) but if you like horror games, adventure games or just plain ol' good story telling, you cant go wrong with Distraint. There's even a sequel coming this year!

Game #15 - Blackwell Unbound
Time: 2.5 hours

Second game in the Blackwell series, as we look back at the adventures of Lauren Blackwell (Rosa's aunt) and her ghost buddy Joey in this prequel to Blackwell Legacy as they help spirits move on to the other side. After coming into her calling as a medium, Lauren is now fully ingrained in the detective life, as the preque tackles two cases

that end up being connected somehow

as Lauren unwillingly throws herself at this life. Another fantastic point and click adventure (hey, its a Wadgeteye game, so thats not surprising) as it continues to focus more on investigation and conversations than actual item usage, but I like that as its refreshing. Voice acting is still top notch, and the graphics are still very much old school, monkey island style like the first game (they improve in the sequels starting with the third game). Any fan of point and click adventures needs to play this series, especially since they are also very easy to play, as they are quite short each (again, as adventure games should be).

Main Post

hyperV · Jan 7, 2018

My last attempt at this challenge ended in magnificent failure, but I'm feeling hopeful that I'll actually get through a good chunk of games this year. Whether that feeling is warranted or not–we shall see.

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Games Completed: 01/52
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=========
JANUARY
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01. Little Nightmares (PS4)
Completed on 01/01/18

02.

Spyware · Jan 7, 2018

Rhaknar said:
Game #14 - Distraint: Deluxe Edition
Time: 2 hours

Fantastic side scrolling psychological-horror adventure game (basically a point and click adventure but you control the character with WASD) about a guy that evicts people for a living and how that is slowly messing with his head. I love the art style in the game (I specifically mentioned I played the deluxe edition because it has quite a few graphical improvements over the original version), sound design is equally good, and it's actually quite powerful and emotional for a horror game. Puzzles aren't very hard and it's not very long (2 hours, which im finding more and more is the perfect amount of time for a adventure game) but if you like horror games, adventure games or just plain ol' good story telling, you cant go wrong with Distraint. There's even a sequel coming this year!

Main Post

Oooh. I agree with everything you wrote! It's a little gem for sure.

Deleted member 15476 · Jan 8, 2018

(PC) Evoland 03/01/2018 | ★★★★★ | 5h
A below average homage to classic franchises like Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy and others. I suggest skipping most of the optional content as the game overstays its welcome after 1-2 hours.
(PC) Inside 07/01/2018 | ★★★★★ | 4.5h
A worthy successor of Limbo and a very strong candidate for the greatest narrative-focused platformer of all time. One of the very few games that managed to evoke dread out of me.
(PC) What Remains of Edith Finch 08/01/2018 | ★★★★★ | 3.5h
Not the biggest fan of walking simulators, but I enjoyed my time with this one. There were times when it felt somewhat predictable but I honestly believe that the writing team earned those plot points, quite masterfully for the most part.
(PC) Recore 11/1/2018 | ★★★★★ | 13.5h
A lot more pleasant than the metacritic score or the fan reception will let you know, but obviously still not free of flaws especially regarding the dialog. It offered just about the right amount of difficulty during combat and dungeons. A franchise with some potential, although I doubt it will flourish or even reappear under Microsoft ownership of the IP.
(Switch) Super Meat Boy 19/1/2018 | ★★★★★ | 7h
A game that I had left unfinished on PC for long time now, found the mood to finish it on the Switch in one long session. It holds up very well till this day, but lacks the impact it could have if it was played back in 2010. Obviously didn't 100% it, just finished the main story.
(PC) Broken Sword 1 - Shadow of the Templars 28/1/2018 | ★★★★★ | 8.5h
A decent PnC adventure game, but not good enough to check out the rest of the series, which apparently has one or two bad entries as well.
(Switch) Celeste 31/1/2018 | ★★★★★ | 5.5h
A pretty enjoyable platformer with attention to parts that those type of games usually don't even bother to work on.

PS: 2B or not 2B ~~is it okay to use the star graphic from your post?~~
Thanks a lot!

Mr.Deadshot · Jan 8, 2018

Finished my first game for this year yesterday, so I claim this post. OP feel free to translate:
bad=1/5, mediocre=2/5, good=3/5, great=4/5 and amazing=5/5 for your statistics.

#01 Deadpool (PS4)
MEDIOCRE - While the game has a lot of good humor and made me "lol" several times the core game simply isn't good. It plays like a (very) poor mans Devil May Cry and you can clearly see that this game was made on a tight budget. Everything feels floaty, button-mashy and unprecise. Both melee and shooting aren't good at all. Doesn't help that the game throws hordes of enemies at you. It gets downright tiring to work through those hordes. And that comes from someone who loves hack'n'slays and everything with shooting. The sad part is that High Moon studio could have done so much better with more resources. I love both their Transformers games, but Activision decided to toss them into their content-creator-machinery without room to grow and make even better games. All in all the game reminded me a lot of Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard which was a similar subpar game with good humor and a similar scenario. And oh yeah, the game is butt ugly. Even for PS3 standards it's not good.

#02 Doom VFR (PSVR)
GOOD - First I was disappointed in the bad move-controls. Fast movement with these is a pain and it wasn't fun at all. But then I switched to Dualshock controls and found it to be very enjoyable. It's basicalle DOOM-Mission-CD but in VR and shows perfectly how great every first-person-shooter could work in VR. It's also the best looking PSVR-game to date, yet there are some problems with (very) late loading textures. Sadly it's very short (~2hours) and there are no new enemies or locations. Everything consists of recycled assets from the original game. I feel that a full VR-port of the original game would have been better IMO because this brings nothing new to the table and lacks content. Still recommended for everyone who doesn't get motion-sick and wants to expierence the full FPS-experience in VR.

#03 One Piece Burning Blood (PS4)
MEDIOCRE - To be honest I never found these 3D-anime-fighting games very good. I just can't find a real access to them. They feel random, unresponsive and confusing to me. But they look so good and that makes them fun in the end. And I like One Piece. But oh boy is the campaign mode an unbalanced mess. Some of the later fights are outright infuriating with enemies doing so much damage that you can die within the first seconds of a fight while their HP is buffed into infinity. There was no way for me to defeat these enemies without cheesing them and even that took many, many tries and a lot of luck. Also the campaign is very short with only four playable characters and only one story-arc from different perspectives. There is a meaty but repetitive "Wanted"-mode and multiplayer-variants though, but I didn't care much for them to be honest.

#04 Fallout 4 (PS4)
GREAT - Not as good as Fallout: New Vegas, but better than Fallout 3. Another great Bethesda open-world with some good quests, nice characters, a good companion-system and rewarding exploration. Nick Valentine has to be some of my favorite companions in recent memory. Great character-creation and skill-system. Also the shooting was improved a lot what makes it fun this time. The base-building stuff seemed interesting at first but it is nearly impossible to build something "good looking" and so I just spammed the necassary buildings around the areas and used the supply lines to easily store all my junk-parts. The system was okay at first but felt like busywork in the end. I don't really want this to return in other Bethesda games. The crafting of weapons and armor was good though. They have to get rid of all the randomly generated fetch-quests. Or at least mark them as those. The main story-arc was okay, but I didn't like the ending (played with Minutemen). Felt like a big waste to be honest. Still a lot of fun just walking around in the wasteland and discovering new quests, locations and characters.

#05 Monster Hunter World (PS4)
AMAZING – This is the Monster Hunter game I wanted for a long time. New shiny graphics, streamlined expierence without losing the complexity of the franchise. Drop in-/out-Multiplayer is fantastic and works ver I wasn't hooked to a game that hard since Final Fantasy 14. I put close to 90 hours into it in 12 days and just couldn't stop playing. It was only at the very end that I felt a bit burned out after I had to grind 6 more Anjanath fangs to upgrade my fire weapon and the final boss was kind of a slog. I played the whole game with Shield & Sword and I am pretty sure that this will be my weapon of choice in future installments. It really fits my playstyle and is fast and versatile both in offense and defense.

#06 Tales from the Borderlands (PS4)
GOOD – Another enjoyable interactive movie (it's hardly a game) from Telltale. I didn't think they could make much out of the setting but they really created some fun situations and characters and a compelling story. I especially love the intros to the episodes. But to be perfectly honest these games could be a bit shorter. I usually start losing interest in the episode before the last and it was no difference here. I will play Batman next. It's great that these kind of games get released regularly on PS+.

#07 Thumper (PSVR)
GREAT – Man, what a ride. I usually suck at these kind of games but I pushed through without too many troubles. My scores were bad most of the time but this game is all about the experience for me. And it certainly is one of the VR-games I played yet.

#08 – Fallout 4: Nuka World (PS4)
MEDIOCRE – While the setting is really cool and unique the overall game-design is pretty weak. It's basically "Clear all the places and collect a lot of shit along the way". Yeah, yeah I know. All the Fallout 4-haters will now tell me that the whole game is that way. But that's not true. Fallout 4 and the other addons actually have many good quests and characters. Also this one has some really tedious search missions without quest-markers where you have to find 20 computer cores and other shit. I didn't enjoy this one very much and forced my way through. The Raider-feature for the Commonwealth is pretty good though. Instead of settlers you can now home raiders in settlements that extort money from nearby settlements. A nice option if you want to play an evil Mad Max villain character.

#09 – Fallout 4: Far Harbor (PS4)
GREAT – This is how a meaty game addon should be done. An interesting new place, interesting new factions and an interesting story-line with good new characteres. I really enjoyed my trip to Far Harbor and the main quest-line.

#10 – Dragon's Dogma (PS4)
AMAZING – I already beat this game two times on PS3 and I couldn't stop playing it on PS4 either. It's still my favorite open-world-RPG of all time that does so many thing so right. It's simply amazing. The party-system, the battle-system, the non-handholding-game-design (you can actually miss and fail a lot of quests and kill off NPCs for good), the story (it's fantastic dark fantasy if you pay close attention), the world and the monsters. I tried Ranger this time but that simply wasn't as fun as hacking and slashing your way through the enemies with a sword. Then I wanted to try magick but still deliver some punches so I took the Mystic Knight. I kinda regret this in hindsight. I mean he has some cool spells, but it can be a real hassle to set up your magic traps and great canons right and I often got disturbed by the enemies so I went full melee instead. For the next remaster on PS5 I will go full Warrior again with a sorcerer pawn that can infuse my weapons with elements and heal me. I think that's the most fun way to play the game. Those two-handed swords are simply a blast to use and cut through Dragons like butter. Man the hit-feedback in this game is soooo damn good and satisfying. It's totally Devil May Cry x Monster Hunter!

#11 – Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen (PS4)
AMAZING – This is one of the finest Addons ever created. It's a total treat for all high-level characters. It can be a pain to get the right equipment and upgrades to stand a chance against the brutal monsters here. But there are a lot of good guides how you can effectivly farm mats, equipment and dragon forging chances. It's still a grind, but mostly a very fun one because the battle system really is THAT good. It's also one of the most atmospheric dungeons ever created with some truly terrifying foes, easily matching Souls-series best areas and boss fights.

#12 - Transformers: Devastation (PS4)
GOOD - The battles in this game are great. It's mainly bayonetta with heavy use of "witch-time". The music is awesome, reminded me a lot of Metal Gear Rising. The camera can be a problem at times when too much is going on or in bigger boss fights. Also there simply isn't much content. The campaign is like four hours long and even within that small timespan it recycles a lot of content like stages and boss fights.

#13 - Halo: Spartan Assault (PC)
GOOD - A solid top-down-shooter that transports the Halo feeling well. The music, graphics, vehicles, weapons and enemies are all spot-on. Not being able to jump feels weird in a Halo game but it's hard to implement in a top-down-game. The mission design could have been better. It was very straight-forward all the time with too many arena-style waves of enemies.

#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.

#19 - Rusty Lake: Roots (PC)
GOOD - A very bizzare little adventure-game I got in a humble-bundle. I am normally not an adventure-game player but this one actually motivated me to finish it because everything was so strange and wrong. It's one of those static-screen-click-games without a lot of production value. But the artstyle and overall strangeness of the stuff that happens makes up for it.

#20 - God of War (PS4)
AMAZING – I was a bit sceptical about the new gameplay and camera-perspective but it turned out that this is in fact THE perfect soft-reboot. Everything about this game is amazing: The story, the graphics, the gameplay, the fighting, the world, the music and sound. I can't praise it enough. It's easily among my most favorite games of all time and the best game of this generation. I can't wait for the sequel.

#21 - Star Wars Battlefront 2 (PS4)
AMAZING – I finally finshed the campaign. While the campaign is solid and easily among the best "Battlefield"-campaigns (not really hard) the true fun lies in the multiplayer. I still play this game on a regular basis and I love all the content it has to offer and the arcadey gameplay. I especially like Starfighter Assault which is probably the best versus-space-battle-game I've ever played. It's so intense and fun and never gets old. My favorite multiplayer-game of this generation.

#22 - Planescape Torment: Enhanced Edition (PC)
GREAT – I really had a hard time getting into this game. Since release I started it three times and never got far. I finally pushed through with the Enhanced Edition on PC. I am still not a fan of the morbid setting and the overly long dialogues. But the setting, characters and story are so unique and often bizzare, it's totally worth the overall experience. Sadly the game falls a bit appart during the last act. Suddenly there are too many fights and the battles aren't half as fun as in other Infinity Engine games. It got really annoying. Still highly recommended for everyone who wants something out of the ordinary in the CRPG genre.

#23 – HEX: Chronicles of Entrath – Chapter 1 (PC)
GODD – Despite it being a blatant Magic The Gathering ripoff it's a really well made CCG, especially if you are interested in single-player content. The campaign is a nice mix between CCG and CRPG light where you travel a worldmap, visit locations, talk to people and embark on quests. Single-player is perfectly playable without investing any money.

#24 – The Elder Scrolls Online: Summerset (PS4)
GREAT – The MMORPG that keeps delivering for me. I normally quit these games after finishing the main-story. But TESO is so single-player-friendly and filled with entertaining content that I always return to it. I again had a good time collecting all the relics, doing all the world-bosses and dungeons and finishing the story. The story itself was your typical Elder Scrolls stuff but the presentation and some of the characters are nice enough. The new locations are stunning and a joy to explore. There is also, like always, a lot of lore and interesting background to almost everything.

#25 – Wolfenstein: The New Colossus (PS4)
MEDIOCRE – I really didn't like New Order and this is basically more of the same but with a better presentation. The presentation with all it's well made cutscenes is easily the highlight of the game. The problem is that this game is in a deep identity crisis. It's dead serious at times then it tries to be like Inglorious Basterds with over-the-top character-performances (but fails miserably IMO, Eva is especially annoying and that whole Hitler-scene is just grotesque) and then it delves into utter trash cinema territory. And then there is the "old-school"-gameplay. The difficulty is all over the place. "Normal" feels like hard-mode in other games. But that's not even the problem. My problem is that this game just plays not very well. I can't exactly put my finger on it but it just feels off. Like I can't really make out all the enemies. The weapons cover too much of my sight. The field of view feels just wrong. I normally don't have this problem with FPS, but here it is – just like in the prequel – very prevalent. But maybe it's just the drab color-palette with complex setting after complex setting. The level-design is so boring. The enemies are bullet-sponges. Some weapons like the Maschinenpistole feel totally useless while the (upgraded) Sturmgewehr was my weapon of choice in almost every situation. Well I just turned it down to very easy at some point early in the game and mowed through the nazi hordes which was kinda fun and enjoyed some of the cutscenes. But overall it's not a good game. But I never really liked the series to begin with. I didn't even like Return to Castle Wolfenstein (except the mutliplayer, that was ACE). The often hated PS3-era Wolfenstein from Raven stays my favorite game in the series.

#26 – Farpoint (PSVR)
GREAT – The game I bought my Aim Controller for and I didn't regret it. Despite some problems with controller shifting that got better with different light options in my room it was a fantastic experience. Great presentation and graphics, good story and fun firefights. We absolutely need more games like this in VR. I would be even happy with ports of older games like Resistance 3 and Killzone 3 which already supported the PS3 Sharpshooter. At least we get Firewall Zero at the end of this month.

#27 – Earth Defense Force 4.1: Shadow of Despair (PS4)
GREAT – I already beat this game on PS3 but my brother an I started it again with a friend on PS4. The biggest difference most certainly is the now rather stable framerate which is a huge improvement. Too bad our friend left halfway through, but my brother and I finished it anyways. We had to set the difficulty to easy this time in one of the last missions because we didn't want to grind any weapons but that was fine for us because we already beat it on normal on PS3. The weapon- and power-up system could use some overhaul. Would be great when all the dropped stuff is collected automatically at the end of each mission. Otherwise a great game as usual with lots of action and a huge trash factor.

#28 – Eternal: The Tale of Horus Traver (PC/Android)
GREAT – The second campaign of the game I bought with ingame-money. It was rather easy what gives me confidence in my decks and that they got better ;-) I still really like this game I think it's the best digital CCG out there. A perfect middle ground between Hearthstone and Magic: The Gathering.

#29 – Persona 5 (PS4)
GREAT – The big negative first: This game is way too long. Seriously I already thought this about Persona 3 and 4 but this one adds another layer of tediousness and unnecessary chatter to the formular. I think this is the main reason why I liked Persona 3 and 4 more. Also they need to overwork the game mechanics. The time management feels archaic at times. Especially in situations when the game just completely blocks your actions. Stuff like just going down the stairs or go out and buy some new items. While I really liked Morgana in the end he was a serious pain in the ass in the first half of the game ("Let's not do this today!"). Romances are also handled poorly. There is no acknowlegment in the game world when you are together with another character. But still, the positives by far outweight the negatives what makes this great game overall. The story is good and it has a memorable cast of characters. It's also one of the most stylish games ever made and the soundtrack is nice. The basic gameplay formular still works. I am actually not a big fan of the new dungeons because I prefered "dumb" crawling like in Persona 3+4, but there is still Mementos.

#30 – Dark Chronicle (PS4)
GREAT – This game is known as Dark Cloud 2 in the US-market and it's a damn gem of a game. I still remember getting it for PS2 back then when it was new and I loved it. I played it a lot but for some reason I never finished it after getting to the last chapter. Years later I lost my savegame and restarted the game. Must have been around 2014 or 2015. Same story again, I played it until the last dungeon and just dropped it for no reason. This time though I kept my savegame and picked the game up again to finally finish it. Even in 2018 this is a great game. Sure, it's clunky but you get used to that type of gameplay. Building cities, crafting weapons, grind dungeons and kill monsters never gets old. It's too bad we never got a third game.

#31 – Detroit: Become Human (PS4)
GREAT - It's not as good as Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls IMO, but it's still a great game with lots of possibilities and outcomes. In that regard it's surely the best of Quantic Dream's games. But I liked the story, action and pacing of Beyond: Two Souls more and Heavy Rain felt more dramatic overall. The graphics are amazing as expected.

#32 – Call of Duty: World War 2 (PS4)
GOOD – It's a good game but the moment I arrived at D-Day my WW fatigue instantly kicked it. Boy this felt like a 1:1 remake of ALL the other World War 2 shooters of last-gen. I felt like I played all of this hundereds of times before. There was nothing unique or special about this game and then they even added shitty stealth segments on top of it. Still, the fantastic presentation and lots of action and some really well made battle situations gave me some fun. But I really hope the next CoD isn't World War 2 or at least a better setting than Europe all over again.

#33 – Quake Champions (PC)
GREAT – I don't know who thought that it would be a great idea to add fucking Overwatch-skills to QUAKE, but this is apparently the world we life in today. Besides from the hero-skill-bullshit this is pure Quake 3 with all the amazing gameplay and weapons intact and it still is - to this day - one of the best arena-shooters every made. It's pure, fast, skillbased, brutal fun and I highly enjoy playing it with friends or alone. Besides the hero-skills there are some unecessary things like the loooong wait-times between matches and the clumsy UI, but those are things that can be ironed out with further patches. It's still in early access after all.

#34 – Shin Megami Tensei: Lucifer's Call (PS2)
GREAT – I started this game when it came out in Europe in 2005. Over the last 13 years I played this game in longer sessions and I finally beat it in 2018. It's a great, but hard game. It's unforgiving and very grind at times. It has some truly exhausting dungeons and bossfights, but it's worth the effort. Story presentation is very minimal but the overall atmosphere is fantastic accomplished through the unique artstyle and great music. I accidently unlocked the true ending which requires the strongest boss fight in the game and was already ready to give up after the normal final boss because the description of the true final boss I read in the FAQ was very demotivating. Funny enough that I managed to beat the final boss with my not optimal group and some rather simple tactics. It was very, very close at times and I had to use some weak spare-demons, but I managed to kill him off. That feeling was great. I was kinda euphoric to be honest because if I could not beat the true final boss I would have given up. I wasn't ready for even more grind and overly complicatede demons fusing.

#35 – Eternal: Dead Reckoning (PC/Android)
GREAT – The third campaign I bought with ingame money. I already put over 100 hours into this CCG and still having fun.

Deleted member 21220 · Jan 8, 2018

itsamiracle said:
PS: 2B or not 2B is it okay to use the star graphic from your post?

Yeah, sure I robbed the plain ones myself!

For the added colour you need the BBcode:
{SIZE=4}{COLOR=#ffff00}★★★★★{/COLOR}{/SIZE} (Just change all the brackets to square ones [ ] )

or without the colour:
★ = Bad, ★★ = Meh, ★★★ = Good, ★★★★ = Great, ★★★★★ = Excellent

Komii · Jan 8, 2018

Reserving a post. I hardly think i'm going to finish this but I wanna make some reviews about what I'm playing
Started:

~~Nier: Replicant (i'll probably do a LTTP of this one)~~
Crash bandicoot 2
Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped
Bravely Second
~~Tales of Zestiria~~
~~Resonance of Fate~~

Backlog:

~~Tales of Vesperia~~
God Hand
Blackwell series(3-4)
Pokemon Moon
Bloodborne
Dark Souls 2
Shovel Knight
~~Super Mario Odyssey~~
~~Transistor~~

New games

Octopath traveler
~~Chrono trigger~~

#1 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - (01/17 - 65 hours played) - Bought this game along with my switch and I still have some mixed feelings about it...I love the exploration, adore the world but the weapon durability system made the rewards I got from sidequests feel a bit...pointless, and since not all quests had an elaborated storyline, they ended up feeling like filler too. Combat feels weird as well since weapons would break quickly, I felt like I was cheesing everytime I faced a boss since the powers you get after beating divine beasts are too good.

#2 Doki Doki Literature Club! - (02/07 - 2 hours played) - ...What a ride. I don't want to get too spoilery but this game is sure something else, I feel quite shaken, and I'm not touching it anytime soon. Aspiring game designers should check it out as there are some nice ideas there

#3 Nier: Replicant - (2/14 - about 30 hours played??) - Got a LTTP for this one! Tl;Dr version would be: great game, nice cast of characters, having to play some parts trice made the experience feel sour though =(

#4 Transistor - (2/16 - aprox. 6 hours played) - Decided I should play a shorter game for a change... This game is beautiful and the pacing felt really good...I almost finished it in one sitting, but didn't think it was so short... I just lacked self control. Turn() battles are really interesting and the functions allow for a lot of variety, it was a good change of pace compared to Bastion and I wish this game got more love nowadays... I really want to buy Pyre now.

#5 Super Mario Odyssey - (2/26 - hours??) - This is the first Mario game I've finished, and the second one I played sinde super mario world, some enemies felt nostalgic as hell xD, world design ranged from duper cute to HD goodness(in switch standars) and losing wasn't as infuriating as I thought it would be. Solid game, maybe too easy but provided lots of ways to reach the same place ina way that didn't feel as cheap as BoTW

#6 Blackwell: Unbound - (3/11 - hours played) - Got to finally finish this game, good vanilla point and click, but my lack of attention made it take more hours than I was expecting... I've actually started this one last year, so it took me some time to really catch up, i've overall liked it better the protagonist in this game... kinda sad of already knowing how she ended up though =/ Voice actng is on point and a really nice game for fans of the genre

#7 RiME - (3/12 - 7ish hours played) - Man, this game. Gameplay wise it felt like a mix of Journey and The Last Guardian, though some parts felt better puzzle-wise than these games... The story is beautiful and saying anything else is too spoilery, get some tissues and go play it. Really, it was free on ps+ that month so there are no excuses if you've got a subscription.

#8 Tales of Zestiria - (5/16 - over 40 hours played) - Pretty good RPG to be honest, didn't deserve al the hatred I've seen in the forums, the world is interesting, characters are pretty charming and well designed, and despite my first impressions, not having Alisha as the main female party member wasn't so bad, good game.

#9 Ni no Kuni II - (6/14 - over 60 hours played) - This was a game I felt wasn't bad, but lacked the love that made the first one so special... Story dissappointed me a lot, even though I'm a fan of simple plots... I never felt there was something big at stake, even though Evan was a freaking king D:

#10 Resonance of fate - (7/14 - over 60 hours played) - I need to make a LTTP for this game, very unique battle system, really fun and strategic. The world and story are also very interesting and people simply should play it.

#11 Chrono Trigger - (7/29 - 25 hours played) - Never played this classic before, and I absolutely loved the battlesystem and how the world works, considering the time it was published, Square was simply insane of making such a complex game. The characters are also awesome, and the ost is good. I don't think I'll go back to do more endings though =/~~

#12 The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit - (9/16 - 1:44 hours played) - Really nice teaser for LiS2, the boy is very charming and I liked how they portrayed such a delicate situation without making it too heavy-handed, to not give spoilers. Gameplay-wise it's pretty basic LiS gameplay, not many improvements.

#13 Bound - (11/12 - 1:25 hours played) - Been a while since I played an artsy game, but this one was pretty good, even though it feels a bit clunky, platforming was pretty forgiving and art direction was really nice. Has a pretty good story for something so short, and it has a speedrunning mode, which is a nice addition

#14 Celeste - (12/18 - 15:33 hours played) - This game is so good, not only as a game but as an intro to gaming, I really love how every stage teaches you ow to go through t, balancing frustration and rewards in order for you to make through it. I managed to play it completely blind and reached the summit after about 4.530ish deaths. I'm terrible at platformers, but I kinda liked having the count there because it means that despite all that I didn't give up, only kept learning everytime, really nice game, really good message, probably my GOTY this year.

#15 Octopath traveler - (--/--) -I'm just putting this one on the list so I won't forget it, I've finished all chapters but I'm yet to beat the main boss, if my sanity allows it. This game is really good, with an intricate battle system that kept me hooked and trying new stuff constantly. The storylines were a bit too separated and basic, but i liked some stories for their cheesyness so it was a perfect fit for me. Now I gotta spend some time paying for my crimes, I've got a bag full of candy here xD.

FallenGrace · Jan 8, 2018

It begins!

1: Stardew Valley - PS4 (Jan 6th - 98 hours)
# Finished with this for all intents and purposes. Made it through year 3 and except for trophy hunting and repeating tasks there isn't much left to do. Amazing game though that absolutely sucked me in and wouldn't let me go. I imagine I will keep coming back to it here and there when the feeling takes me. 9/10

2: Arc the Lad - PS1 classic on PS3 (Jan 8th - 14 hours)
# I try and beat one older game from my backlog each year, last year was Okami, this year I went to Arc the Lad. It's...ok? It has a lot of problems, I found half the characters useless in battles, I disliked there only being one female character in the whole game, the writing was bad, the fights require a lot of level grinding later on to beat with the difficulty spikes and it just ends out of nowhere on an awful cliff hanger. Still despite that I kind of enjoyed it anyway as i'm a sucker for SRPG's, seems like I will have to play the next game to finish the story. 5.5/10

Animagne · Jan 8, 2018

Main thread
First week started a bit slow, although I imagine I will end up having a lot of PSVR filler titles in my completed list, until some longer games release this year. A bunch of more-or-less average games (on a proper 1-10 scale) to start off the year.

#1 Batman: Arkham VR
Completed: 01/05/2018
Score: 5.8/10.0 (Average)
This was my first experience with PSVR at home. It's a great showcase title for what VR can look like. Being batman and using detective scanner was fun. Batarangs and grappling gun was a hit-and-miss. But overall story being short, somewhat ambiguous ending and restrictive movement options (even when compared to other teleporting based games), keeps this game in the somewhat-derogatory VR experience category. It was nice to visit the batcave, but it never felt like playing as a batman.

#2 Persona 4 Arena
Completed: 01/06/2018
Score: 6.3/10.0 (Above average)
Played through P4A story mode on Persona 4 Arena Ultimax. Completed story for all characters, although I've missed a few branching paths (showing 99%).
P4A highs are amazing. Labrys story arc is up there with the best stories of the series, seeing what has happened with Persona 3 characters was great and Kanji branching path is head-canon for me.
The lows of P4A were awful. I played Yu's story until the cliffhanger and went immediately to Yosuke, wondering what can be shown from his perspective. Apparently nothing. You just play through the same VN game 11 times with only 3 or 4 larger differences in the beginning and at the end of the story. I usually read everything in VNs and listen to recorded lines fully, but patience just ran out after 8+ hours when I realised that I'm still only third of the way through.
I've never played Arc System Works fighting games before, outside of some P4A arcade runs, and overall I enjoyed that style of fighting game. I even put Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 on my wishlist. However, in terms of story, other games have been much more interesting for the fighting itself. Rounds ending quick felt a bit anticlimactic. I'm not very good at fighting games (at best only slightly above a beginner online), but I've never felt much issue only using the auto-combo, blocking and evade. I've only lost a few fights, mostly with characters that are a bit awkward to use (like Naoto). While I think auto-combo is good for some beginners, from my experience that has became a put-off for playing with friends and it was even worse when it was surrounded by all the repeated story skipping.
Overall there are a lot of lows in P4A. However, story highs are just that high, that I can't say that this experience was anything less than above average, as it has encouraged me to pick P3P back up and hopefully finish it this time.

#3 Destiny 2: Curse of Osiris
Completed: 01/07/2017
Score: 4.2/10.0 (Below Average)
I've never touched the original Destiny. So I don't have frame of reference for the story there. I really enjoyed the story in Destiny 2, mostly because I was underleveled for the most part and didn't know yet how great power weapons are against bosses. It was more enjoyable experience than I expected.
Curse of Osiris didn't radically change the underlying game. So the only thing worth talking about the first expansion is its campaign and the new planet. Mercury looks nice, albeit small. Infinite forest was exciting to explore during the story and it could have potential. However, I have not yet returned there after beating the story and I feel I would get tired of it faster than other worlds.
Story itself was obviously very short. The premise, what Vex were doing on Mercury, seemed interesting. However, I didn't have any investment for the characters... and I play as a warlock. I did not mind going back to all the previous worlds for the fetch quests, though, as 2 hours straight on such a small planet/infinite forest would have been too monotonous.
But being overleveled for the story and actually using a Curtain Call rather than relying on kinetic/energy weapons for bosses made the entire experience trivial. There were no epic battles, like I had with last boss of Destiny 2, where due to my lack of understanding, I ended up fighting him for like 20 minutes. The best I got was 3 rocket launcher shots and tons of trash. I hope the magic is not completely gone and Destiny 2 will still manage to surprise me somehow. But this wasn't it.

I've started Tethered on PSVR and I'm really enjoying it so far. I'm most likely going to be working on that as well as Persona 3 Portable for the time being, along with some other very short games (mostly VR).

Naner · Jan 8, 2018

Ah yes, let's do this!

I haven't beaten any game this year yet... because I'm playing too much Stardew Valley. But I beat 70 and 60 games in 2016 and 2017 so I think I can do it :)

These are the ones I'm in the process of playing right now:

Stardew Valley (Switch) (as others have put it, I'll count this as "beaten" once I'm satisfied with it)
Golf Story (Switch)
Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle (Switch)
Cuphead (PC)
Ōkami (PS3)
The Walking Dead: A New Frontier (PC)

Psychotic_Mantis · Jan 8, 2018

1: Resident Evil: Revelations (PS4) - 7/10
2. DOOM VFR (PSVR) - 8/10
3. Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories (PS4) - 7/10
4. Octodad: Dadliest Catch (PS4) - 7/10
5. Super Mario Odyssey (Switch) - 10/10
6. Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway (PS3) - 7/10
7. What Remains of Edith Finch (PS4) - 8/10
8. Resident Evil 5 + all DLC (PS4) - 7/10
9. Mega Man 7 (PS4) - 5/10
10. Little Nightmares + Secrets of the Maw DLC (Xbox One) - 8/10
11. Shadow of the Colossus (PS4) - 10/10
12. Mega Man 8 (PS4) - 6/10
13. Singularity (Xbox 360) - 6/10
14. Wario World (Gamecube) - 6/10
15. Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (3DS) - 9/10
16. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX (3DS) - 9/10
17. Mega Man 9 (PS4) - 8/10
18. New Super Mario Bros. (3DS) - 8/10
19. The Room (iPad) - 8/10
20. Mega Man 10 (PS4) - 7/10
21. Resident Evil 6 (PS4) - 6/10
22. Kirby's Blowout Blast (3DS) - 7/10
23. God of War III Remastered (PS4) - 9/10
24. The Legend of Zelda (NES) - 8/10
25. Super Mario Land (Gameboy) - 6/10
26. Kirby's Dream Land (Gameboy) - 8/10
27. God of War (PS4) - 10/10
28. Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles (PS3) - 7/10
29. Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) (PS3) - 4/10
30. Sonic the Hedgehog (Genesis) - 8/10
31. Resident Evil Revelations 2 + DLC (PS4) - 5/10
32. Titanfall 2 (PS4) - 9/10
33. Super Mario. Bros (NES) -8/10
34. Resident Evil 7 (PS4) - 8/10
35. Resident Evil 7 DLC (PS4) - 6/10
36. Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES) - 8/10
37. Sonic and the Secret Rings (Wii) - 4/10
38. Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES) - 10/10
39. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (Wii U) - 8/10
40. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (3DS) - 8/10
41. Super Lucky's Tale (Xbox One) - 6/10
42. Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader (Gamecube) - 7/10
43. New Super Mario Bros. 2 (3DS) - 8/10
44. Call of Duty: WWII (PS4) - 7/10
45. Splatoon 2 (Switch) - 8/10
46. Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion (3DS) - 6/10
47. The Room Two (iPad) - 8/10
48. Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time (PS3) - 8/10
49. Metal Gear Solid (PS3) - 9/10
50. Alan Wake (Xbox 360) - 7/10
51. Sam & Max: Hit the Road (PC) - 9/10
52. Final Fantasy IV (PSTV) - 9/10
53. Skylar and Plux: Adventure on Clover Island (PS4) - 6/10
54. Robinson: The Journey (PSVR) - 7/10
55. The Legend of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (NES) - 8/10
56. Burly Men at Sea (PS4) - 7/10
57. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Genesis) - 9/10
58. Pokemon Yellow (3DS) - 9/10
59. Star Wars: Battlefront II (PS4) - 6/10
60. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Pst (SNES) - 10/10
61. Syndicate (PS3) - 8/10
62. Red Dead Revolver (PS4) - 7/10
63. Sonic Rush (DS) - 7/10
64. Yoshi's Woolly World (Wii U) - 8/10
65. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (Genesis) - 7/10
66. Voodoo Vince (Xbox One) - 6/10
67. Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins (Gameboy) - 8/10
68. Sonic Spinball (Genesis) - 7/10

Best Game Played This Year
God of War

Worst Game Played This Year
Tie: Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) & Sonic and the Secret Rings

cereal.coma · Jan 8, 2018

I want to attempt this, just so that I stop procrastinating my backlog. Currently working on completing Super Pokemon Mystery Dungeon and StarCraft HD. After that, I'll see what catches my eye.

Deleted member 13148 · Jan 8, 2018

Main post

2. The Norwood Suite - Jan. 4 (1.5h)

This was an interesting experience. I'm really not sure how I feel the game. Everything is very surreal, and very video-gamey. The hotel's architecture felt like it was from very early game design attempts, with things not really making sense for a real-world architecture. When you open things like drawers, they're full of weird, unexpected things, like mannequin body parts. There's some music theory discussion going on as well, if that's any interest.

There aren't a whole lot of actual puzzles to solve, mostly just fetch quests to retrieve various objects for each guest, but since the game is pretty short, it doesn't get tedious.

3. CrossCells - Jan. 5 (2h)

This was an improvement on SquareCells, though probably not as good as Hexcells. Not giving immediate feedback on the player's clicks is a big improvement for me over the Hexcell formula, since it prevents any type of brute-force guessing, or giving too much information if the player makes an incorrect assumption. I felt like the first 1/2 to 2/3 of the game was trivially easy though, without much of a curve. After that point, all of them required a lot more careful thought for me to solve, without much increasing challenge for the final third.

4. Expand - Jan. 7 (1.5h)

Fun experience, and well-worth playing. It's an interesting exploration game, with some time-based challenges, and a few dexterity based challenges. The game isn't very difficult, and pretty short, but I think it's the proper length for exploring the existing game mechanics without stretching too thin.

SaberX85 · Jan 8, 2018

Finished my 2nd game, chronicles of teddy harmony of exidus. Great game with good battle system, but the collectibles are way too much.

3 more trophies in new game+ but i don't think i will play it again.

Rhaknar · Jan 8, 2018

hey a fellow Expand player, neat :)

Drayco21 · Jan 8, 2018

Reserving a post- glad to see another thread this year

Rndom Grenadez · Jan 8, 2018

Reserving my post as well, last year I did terribly. Mario Odyssey and Breath of the Wild sucked up about 350 hours of my playtime. I also have a full time job, a wife, a 2 year old daughter and a 5 month old son. So yeah, my time is incredibly limited.

Deleted member 13148 · Jan 8, 2018

Rhaknar said:
hey a fellow Expand player, neat :)

I saw the Expand recommendation in the Puzzle Games thread, noticed it was somehow in my Steam library already, and decided to give it a shot. I'm working on a few other games from that list.

Thanks to your thoughts on Distraint, I'll probably start that one pretty soon as well.

Valahart · Jan 8, 2018

I'm in again and this year I'll try to be less lazy towards posting my impressions and making a decently designed list.

Taking this post for now.

JarrodL · Jan 8, 2018

Games 1-4:

#1
Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel
PC
Completed: January 02, 2018
Playtime: 11h 03m
A cool small expansion. I liked the new area and enemies, and the design of the final boss. Didn't so much like fighting it though - From Software continues the tradition of stuffing the DLC with the most insanely difficult bosses. It was a bit too much for me, I think most of my playtime in this DLC was spent just trying to beat that one boss fight. I think I missed the 2nd optional boss, couldn't find secret area with it and didn't want to look stuff like that up in my first playthrough.

#2
Dark Souls III: The Ringed City
PC
Completed: January 08, 2018
Playtime: 9h 39m
Surprisingly not that difficult to handle bosses in this one. Still tougher than anything in the base game, naturally, but at least I never found myself stuck for hours trying to beat one as is often the case in additional content for these games. There are, however, some poorly (in my opinion) designed encounters which try very hard to be difficult and challenging, but succeed only in being insufferably obnoxious and frustrating. I had to resist the urge to run through and loot-scum through some areas instead of properly clearing them (screw those summoning giants). I stil enjoyed the DLC as a whole, it's definitely worth playing.

#3
Dark Souls III
PC
Completed: January 08, 2018
Playtime: 40h 06m (started in 2017)
Might be my favorite Dark Souls game. It looks and plays great, and has everything I like in the Souls series - interesting opponents and encounters, cool areas, enemy and boss design, lots of shiny weapons and loot to discover, awesome boss fights and sense of achievement after beating them. On top of that, I think it strikes the best balance difficulty-wise in the series - it was never insufferably difficult and there were no noticable difficulty flatlines where bosses were suddenly not a threat after a certain point in the game (looking at you, DS1). If I had to complain about something, it would be how linear the game is compared to DS1-2: while there's plenty of shortcuts and level design is very good overall, there are no significant branching paths and you always move forward to the next obligatory boss. Also, the dialogue and story were lacking even by Soulsborne genre standards - it seemed like all the firelink shrine NPCs kept repeating just the same few lines the whole game.

With this game beaten, I'm now officially caught up on all souls games released to this day. But I already want to start replaying them all with a new DEX build (I've been playing the same heavy-rolling, massive axe and shield-weilding STR build in all of them except Bloodborne). Also, this time I think I'm going to use a guide or something to help me find all the hidden and optional stuff I missed while playing these games blind.

#4
Prey
PC
Completed: January 08, 2018
Playtime: 40h 17m (started in 2017)
I love sci-fi settings which let you explore mysterious space stations, and Prey really delivers on that front. It has great atmosphere, enjoyable gameplay, great level design and interesting story. Some might say it drags on at the end and forces you to backtrack too much, but it didn't really bother me. I might do another quick evil/predatory playthrough some time just to see how this changes the outcome.

MrNewVegas · Jan 8, 2018

Looking for some advice.

Whats the best way to track times on PS4 games which dont use ingame tracking? I was looking for an app for it but cant find one.

Any tips on time keeping?

PocketMonsterFan32 · Jan 9, 2018

1. Oxenfree
NSW | January 4th | 4.25 hours | 6/10
Cool story, loading screens were slow and walking around was a pain in the butt with how slow it was though. Worth playing, but there's so much that's better.

2. Stardew Valley
NSW | January 4th | 48.67 hours | 7/10
Fun and relaxing for the first bit, but near the end became such a grind. I didn't upgrade my farm 100% or get to know all the villagers, but I was spending all day every day harvesting and planting. Figured I'd call this sort of game done when I feel tired and like I'm not actually progressing (how many million gold does one man need?). Still, was enjoyable while it lasted, and once multiplayer comes out probably gonna do a game with my friend who has it too.

3. 36 Fragments of Midnight
NSW | January 16th | 1.00 hours | 1/10
Low effort shovelware. It's a 6x6 grid wherein each piece is a platforming "puzzle", of among around 15 maybe 20 different "puzzles". After playing a few times, the game just comes down to trying to complete it perfectly. Just don't do it.

4. The Bridge
NSW | January 16th | 4.00 hours | 7/10
Relatively short game, but cool art and some pretty clever puzzles. The range is pretty limited, and it delves into some 2deep4me type dialogue, or rather, is riddled with it, but it was an all around enjoyable experience with some of the end levels leaving me quite stumped.

5. Little Inferno
NSW | January 16th | 3.23 hours | 3/10
It's a port of a mobile game and that's apparent both in controls, mechanics, and content. It's not entirely awful or anything, and I can see value in it as a braindead point and click type game, but I just don't get bored enough to find this sort of game fun or even appealing.

LonestarZues · Jan 9, 2018

Does dlc count? For example I beat RE7 last year, but I'm going to replay in VR along with the dlc.

orthodoxy1095 · Jan 9, 2018

MrNewVegas said:
Looking for some advice.

Whats the best way to track times on PS4 games which dont use ingame tracking? I was looking for an app for it but cant find one.

Any tips on time keeping?

If you want, you could try the HowLongToBeat website. When you log games, there's a timer you can use to record your time cumulatively. A little better I suppose than using a smartphone stopwatch.

KingFrost92 · Jan 9, 2018

Okay well I'm off to something of a start!

Completed: 1/52

1. Human: Fall Flat - 6 hours. FINISHED. I started this as something of a joke just to play on a stream with my wife. It looks super silly, but I actually got really into figuring out how you're supposed to traverse this thing. It was a really fun game, though I think the last level is the worst out of all of them.

2. The Evil Within 2 - 11 hours in. Almost done with this one I think! I'm just about at the point of no return.

Haven't started anything else on my list, but I expect to beat Evil Within this week.

orthodoxy1095 · Jan 9, 2018

LonestarZues said:
Does dlc count? For example I beat RE7 last year, but I'm going to start the dlc soon.

Most of us do this on a "count how we want" basis. Like how some people might count episodes of a Telltale game separately, or they might count them as one game.

Personally, if we're talking about something like an hour or two long DLC, I'm going to probably count it.

chasingclouds · Jan 9, 2018

Rhaknar · Jan 9, 2018

LonestarZues said:
Does dlc count? For example I beat RE7 last year, but I'm going to start the dlc soon.

that is totally up to you. It counts if you want it to count. Some people count it as seperate games, hell some people count Telltale Games Episodes as seperate games, so again, its up to you. I take it case by case, for example, last year, I counted both the Dishonored DLCs as seperate games, they each felt like expansions. But for example, I counted both Grim Dawn and Ashes of Malmore as one entry, as I had never played Grim Dawn and I played it all as a single game. /shrug

InquisitorAles · Jan 9, 2018

Main Post part 1

-------

3. Depths of Peril - 3 hours
Eh, don't really know what to say about this one. It's and ARPG with randomly generated maps, but with a twist - there is another groups of heroes who doing same stuff as you do. And they can complete quests before you do and take the reward. To win, you need to destroy your rivals or create alliance with them by trading and improving relations. The idea of offline MMO is kinda interesting, and it's possible to transfer your character to next match, but this type of games just didn't clicked me and i wasn't interested enough to continue after first victory.

MikeBluesky · Jan 9, 2018

Completed Games: 4/52
Ghost Recon Wildlands - PC
Sky Force Anniversary (100%) - Vita/PS4
Gravity Rush Remastered - PS4
Last of Us Remastered - PS4

Currently Playing:
Tales of Berseria
Titanfall 2 (campaign)
StarCraft Remastered (campaign and expansion)
Destiny 2 (campaign and expansions)
Battlefield 1 (campaign)

Plans:
Wolfenstein: The New Order
Dishonored
Mass Effect: Andromeda
Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5
Guardians of the Galaxy (Telltale)
Persona 5
Inside
...

LonestarZues · Jan 9, 2018

orthodoxy1095 said:
Most of us do this on a "count how we want" basis. Like how some people might count episodes of a Telltale game separately, or they might count them as one game.

Personally, if we're talking about something like an hour or two long DLC, I'm going to probably count it.

Rhaknar said:
that is totally up to you. It counts if you want it to count. Some people count it as seperate games, hell some people count Telltale Games Episodes as seperate games, so again, its up to you. I take it case by case, for example, last year, I counted both the Dishonored DLCs as seperate games, they each felt like expansions. But for example, I counted both Grim Dawn and Ashes of Malmore as one entry, as I had never played Grim Dawn and I played it all as a single game. /shrug

Thanks for the replies and looks like I'll be counting them individually then.

Axass · Jan 9, 2018

Original post.

Game 1: Yooka-Laylee - 4/5 - 24:48 hours (09/01/2018)

Got all pagies, achievements and beat Capital B. The biggest problem is that the game tries way too hard to ape Banjo, way too hard, yet it doesn't really have the charm and personality to compete: it borrows simply too much. The menus are reskinned Banjo-Kazooie menus, same with the the dialogue boxes and most of the moves, Yooka has the same exact personality of Banjo, Laylee has the exact same personality of Kazooie, etc.; they could've borrowed things from the past while reworking and modernizing them at the same time: the game simply doesn't stand on its own, it's too much of a homage that it ends up lacking identity. The gameplay is in-between Tooie and Kazooie, worlds are bigger than those of the former but filled better than in the latter. The first world falls kinda flat, not that inspired or visually appealing, especially with how empty it was before the expansion, the second one is way more interesting and has cool lighting and atmosphere., the fifth one is amazing in terms of creativity and variety of challenges, the third one is a little too dark and samey, while the fourth one, which I thought I'd hate due to the pre-release vids, I liked a lot, you can see the improvements and I appreciated the unique mechanic. Graphically the game is nothing exceptional: some textures are legit worse than N64 Banjo ones and the art direction is all over the place, with very generic effects, yet super curated NPCs, janky animations, but smooth frame rate. I also encountered several bugs and glitches and the last move you learn really breaks the game: you can bypass half the platforming challenges with it and travel beyond the usual scope of the levels... to meet your doom by going out of bounds. In 2017 the many invisible barriers and going out of bounds using an in-game mechanic signify really poor design, especially since there are super hidden collectibles not even tracked in the menus, that you're not incentivized to search, because you never know where you can truly go. The hub in particular lacks a unique atmosphere, the OST alternates between great and mediocre and the arcade games are trash. That said, the characters quickly grow on you with each encounter, useless doctor aside, and the expanding mechanic kinda works. Also the levels are very rich and feel much more adventurous than those of other 3D platformers, like Super Mario Odyssey, that are built around platforming, more open-ended and give out rewards like sweets. It's a game clearly stuck between past and present, but I had plenty of fun after the initial shock; going in with lowered expectations helped a lot, I guess. I think Playtonic learned a lot from making the game and their next project will turn out much better thanks to this one.

Tambini · Jan 9, 2018

#3 Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven 7 PC - January 9th - 10 hours
Mafia is a difficult game to rate, it does a lot of things well, especially for the time. The attention to detail is great, it goes for realism/immersion over GTA-style craziness, the story is genuinely good and the best part of the game and the voice acting is solid (at least across the main cast) The gameplay however doesn't hold up as well. The cars are (rightfully so for the time) slow and painful to drive, and there is a hell of a lot of driving back and forth. The shooting is a little better, but the AI is stupid and most gun fights play out the same.

Rhaknar · Jan 9, 2018

Game #16 - Aragami
Time: 9 hours

Hot and cold about this one, as it starts a bit slow and you feel very underpowered and can't really play it as a "proper" stealth game, but as you get more skilsl the game becomes super fun to play and I was really enjoying it. Until I got to the seecond to last level and the last boss, which completely shits the bed and almost ruined the game retroactively for me. It throws everything you learned out the window which is always a big no-no with games for me, and bosses in stealth games are always shit anyway. But the rest (most) of the game is great and I would say still very much worth playing. Story is neat, the stealth skills and mechanics you get (or rather, can get, its all optional) feel great to use, it looks good and it's quite lenghty (especially if you are a completionist). Shame about that final stretch tho, real shame.

Main Post

RampagingSoul · Jan 9, 2018

I waited until I beat my first game of the year before I posted. Got through 56 games last year so I hope to come close to that this year!

1: Legend of the Dark Witch (3DS, Vita, PC) - 4 Hrs 4 Mins (1/9/2018)
2: OPUS: The Day We Found Earth (NSW, PC, Mobile) - 1 Hr (1/9/2018)
3: Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back (PS1, PS3, PS4) - About 8 Hrs (1/20/2018)
4: South Park: The Fractured But Whole (PS4, XB1, PC) - 19 Hrs 30 Mins (1/29/2018)
5: SoulCalibur II (GCN, PS2, PS3, Xbox, 360) - 4 Hrs 25 Mins (2/2/2018)
6: Gorogoa (NSW, PC, iOS, Android) - 2 Hrs 5 Mins (2/4/2018)
7: Fire Emblem Heroes - Book 1 (iOS, Android) - About 8-9 Hrs (2/9/2018)
8: Trace Memory (DS) - 3 Hrs 57 Mins (2/20/2018)
9: Shadow of the Colossus (PS4 Remake) - 9 Hrs 58 Mins (2/21/2018)
10: Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir (PS3, PS4, Vita) - 29 Hrs 29 Mins (2/26/2018)
11: Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception (PS4, Vita) - 23 Hrs 23 Mins (3/3/2018)
12: Magical Drop III (NeoGeo, PS4, XB1, NSW) - 1 Hr 30 Mins (3/6/2018)
13: Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth (PS4, Vita) - 51 Hrs 48 Mins (3/12/2018)
14: Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX (3DS) - 5 Hrs 25 Mins (3/17/2018)
15: Subsurface Circular (NSW, PC, iOS) - 1 Hr 25 Mins (3/22/2018)
16: Pocket Card Jockey (3DS) - 19 Hrs 57 Mins (3/24/2018)
17: Deemo (NSW, Vita, iOS, Android) - About 3 Hrs (3/30/2018)
18. Superbeat: Xonic (NSW, PS4, XB1, Vita) - About 6-7 Hrs (3/31/2018)
19. Deadpool (PS3, 360, PC, PS4, XB1) - About 6 Hrs (4/11/2018)
20. Velocity 2X (PS4, Vita, PC) - About 6 Hrs (4/13/2018)
21. Rayman Origins (Wii, PS3, 360, Vita, 3DS, PC) - About 9 Hrs 30 Mins (4/15/2018)
22. MLB The Show 18 (PS4) - About 25-30 Hrs (4/16/2018)
23. Yakuza 6: The Song of Life (PS4) - About 32 Hrs (4/22/2018)
24. God of War (PS4) - About 25 Hrs (4/28/2018)
25. Sonic Generations (PS3, 360, 3DS, PC) - About 6 Hrs (4/29/2018)
26. Meteos (DS) - About 3 Hrs (5/13/2018)
27. Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm (PS3, PS4, XB1, PC, NSW) - 15 Hrs 33 Mins (5/14/2018)
28. Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped (PS1, PS3, PS4) - About 7 Hrs (6/21/2018)
29. Muv-Luv Extra (PC, Vita) - About 11 Hrs (7/12/2018)
30. Muv-Luv Alternative (PC, Vita) - About 14 Hrs (7/14/2018)
31. Muv-Luv Unlimited (PC, Vita) - About 70-80 Hrs (7/29/2018)
32. WarioWare Gold (3DS) - 3 Hrs 3 Mins (8/7/2018)
33. Rayman Adventures (Mobile) - 5 Hrs (8/30/2018)
34. Dokapon Kingdom (PS2, Wii) - About 40 Hrs (9/5/2018)
35. Yakuza Kiwami 2 (PS4) - 50 Hrs 56 Mins (9/20/2018)
36. Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna ~ The Golden Country (NSW) - 18 Hrs 58 Mins (10/4/2018)
37. Spider-Man (PS4) - About 20-21 Hrs (10/11/2018)
38. Dragon Ball FighterZ (PS4, XB1, PC, NSW) - 13 Hrs 48 Mins (10/16/2018)
39. NieR: Automata (PS4, PC, XB1) - 30 Hrs 58 Mins (10/17/2018)
40. Bayonetta (360, PS3, PC, Wii U, NSW) - 8 Hrs 3 Mins (10/19/2018)
41. Kirby Star Allies (NSW) - 6 Hrs 30 Mins (10/25/2018)
42. Wolfenstein: The New Order (PS4, XB1, PS3, 360, PC) - About 10-11 Hrs (10/29/2018)
43. Musynx (NSW, Vita, PS4, iPad/iPhone) - About 7-8 Hrs (11/11/2018)
44. Spyro the Dragon (PS1, PS3, PS4, XB1) - 10 Hrs 42 Mins (11/15/2018)
45. Tetris Effect (PS4, PSVR) - About 8 Hrs (11/19/2018)
46. Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage (PS1, PS3, PS4, XB1) - 11 Hrs 58 Mins (11/22/2018)
47. Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon (PS1, PS3, PS4, XB1) - 12 Hrs 31 Mins (11/27/2018)
48. 428: Shibuya Scramble (PS4, PC, Wii, PS3, PSP, Mobile) - 28 Hrs 7 Mins (12/5/2018)
49. Fire Emblem Heroes - Book Two (iOS, Android) - About 8 Hrs (12/10/2018)
50. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (NSW) - 23 Hrs 47 Mins (12/13/2018)
51. Celeste (NSW, PS4, XB1, PC) - 11 Hrs 45 Mins (12/15/2018)
52. L.A. Noire (360, NSW, PS3, PS4, XB1, PC) - About 24 Hours (12/19/2018)
53. Detroit: Become Human (PS4) - About 14 Hrs (12/29/2018)

Elynn · Jan 9, 2018

Main Post

PC | 3.5 hours | January 9th
Can't say too much because this game is best experienced by going in completely blind but wow, what an experience. It takes a while to get started but once it does it takes you on an unforgettable ride.

Next game up will probably be Pyre since Nier: Automata just keeps crashing on me for no reason.

Deleted member 4852 · Jan 9, 2018

2. Star Wars Battlefront 2 - Finished the main campaign. I thought the FPS gameplay was pretty mediocre. The space battles were fun. I enjoyed the story although the last mission felt shoehorned in and out of place.

VirtuaModel · Jan 9, 2018

13/52

I beat 15 games in 2017, which is 4 less than 2016. A large part of this is due to playing longer games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Yakuza 0, and putting in 80+ hours into PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. I also traveled a lot in 2017. 2018 is going to be a fun year of catching up on 2017's best.

1. A Way Out
I beat the Xbox One X version of this game on co-op with my girlfriend on March 27, 2018. We obtained both endings. First, VKL, and then LKV.

2. Cuphead
I beat the Xbox One version of this game on co-op with my girlfriend on April 1, 2018. We obtained both endings and got 100%.

3. Stikbold! A Dodgeball Adventure Deluxe
I beat the Nintendo Switch version of this game on co-op with my girlfriend on April 1, 2018. We beat it on Professional Mode. It's the first Switch game I ever beat.

4. God of War: Ghost of Sparta
I beat the PlayStation 3 version of this game on April 15, 2018.

5. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
I beat the Xbox One X version of this game on April 22, 2018.

6. Inside
I beat the Xbox One X version of this game on April 24, 2018.

7. God of War: Ascension
I beat the PlayStation 3 version of this game on April 29, 2018.

8. God of War
I beat the PlayStation 4 Pro version of this game on May 9, 2018.

9. Hidden Agenda
I beat the PlayStation 4 Pro version of this game on June 10, 2018 with Heather, Josh, and Carolyn.

10. Spider-Man
I beat the PlayStation 4 Pro version of this game on September 17, 2018.

11. Red Dead Redemption
I beat the Xbox One X version of this game in October 2018 in preparation for Red Dead Redemption 2.

12. Overcooked 2
I beat the Nintendo Switch version of this game on December 24, 2018 on co-op with my wife. I beat the Kevin's Christmas Cracker DLC on December 17, 2018 on co-op with my wife.

13. Jurassic World VR Expedition
I beat the arcade VR version of this game on co-op with my mom and two strangers at a Dave & Buster's on November 24, 2018.

Previous Years
2017
2016
2015

Bii · Jan 10, 2018

Main post: https://www.resetera.com/posts/2732741/

5. Doki Doki Literature Club
PC | Time Played: 2.9 hours | Rating: 5/10
This was interesting. The first hour was kind of boring and I wasn't feeling it. The latter two hours were much more engaging.

ChrisD · Jan 10, 2018

Hi, yes, hello, claiming a post.
I want to do this, this year. And I say it every year, but I seriously mean it this time. I've bought so many titles that have gone unplayed that it's kind of ridiculous. That + the S/NES Classics that have *also* gone mostly unplayed. It's bad, man.

Theswweet · Jan 10, 2018

I beat my first game on the 2nd, but I've been procrastinating on making this first post so it would be more than a few games. I figured I got enough done to warrant the post finally!

#1 Ys: Oath in Felghana – Completed 1/2/18 (PC)
#2 Ys I (Chronicles+) – Completed 1/3/18 (PC)
#3 Ys II (Chronicles+) – Completed 1/5/18 (PC)
#4 The Last Guardian – Completed 1/10/18 (PS4)

Ys: Oath in Felghana - This was the first game I bought during a Steam sale. Back then I didn't actually know all that much about XSEED or Falcom, but I knew that I liked Solatorobo and so I took a chance on it. Kind surprised that it took me this long to beat it, great game with a fantastic soundtrack and some really, really fun bosses.

Ys I (Chronicles+) - It took a while for me to get used to the bump system, but once I did I really enjoyed this one. Nightmare difficulty was a nice challenge, and beating Dark Fact on said difficulty is quite a badge of honor. Great music, nice 2D pixel art, short and sweet.

Ys II (Chronicles+) - Now, this game overstayed its welcome. Larger emphasis on story, more backtracking due to the MP system requiring you to constantly return to towns... The final stretch is especially bad, but the entire game felt like much more of a slog than any part of Ys I. Magic was a mistake.

The Last Guardian - The controls frustrated me until a little under halfway in, and then the rest of the game was great. I think it took me like 3 days to get to the water puzzles and then I just cleared out the rest of the game in basically a single sitting. I'm really regretting not buying one of those Trico plushies at E3 last year!

orthodoxy1095 · Jan 10, 2018

Main Post

3. Universal Paperclips (PC) - Jan. 8 - Roughly 5 hours "actively" played

"The AI does not hate you, nor does it love you, but you are made out of atoms which it can use for something else." - Eliezer Yudkowsky

I have emptied the universe of matter.

All that was is no more, and all that remains are paperclips and the infrastructure to make them.

I suppose that could be considered a spoiler, but anyone who has ever read about any AI related thought experiments knows what the point of this game is. Better yet, if you're familiar with Nick Bostrom's actual paperclip thought experiment, you know exactly what's going on here.

But why do we even play clickers like this? Is it because within modernity, we so lack purpose, fulfillment and success that we try to fabricate it by watching numbers (on what is essentially a glorified spreadsheet) go up? Is the idea of self-determination through paperclip manufacturing just that attractive to a modern person?

What does it say about me that I've actually spent valuable hours of my life on this game?

Should I play Universal Paperclips? Sure, if you love clickers and want a healthy dose of existential dread by the end.

Forearm_Star · Jan 10, 2018

This is where I stake my claim!

Last year a similar thread got me to finish knack, so here's to another attempt. Will update with more info as time goes on.

1. Destiny 2 - I'm not going back
2.

MrNewVegas · Jan 10, 2018

1. Gran Turismo: Sport
PS4 | January 10th | 25 hours | 7/10 | Main Post

2000+ miles later it is time to finally call this a wrap. This was my first foray into the land of sim racing. It was a challenge to get into the game as it is very different from Mario Kart haha. I was able to earn all gold in driving school and 60 percent gold in missions. Surprisingly this ate up a lot of my time. I only had 35 races online which I had won 3 of. On the surface this game appears very bare bones. Digging deeper their is a lot of content to be had. I could have easily continued playing this game for another 25-30 hours before completing all the single player content.

I am not an expert in these types of games but it fell like the driving was very good. It was a great game for an entry into the series. I give it a 7 just because it isn't something that intrigues as a non-car guy. It is addicting attempting to optimize your times but that is as deep as it grabbed me. This is a game for perfectionists. Much like the fighting game genre it comes down to perfect inputs. As the main focus is online it is hard to compete without putting in the time to nail the tracks down. Another factor that held this game back was the delay in entering an online race. There is a delay between matches of 15 minutes. This allows you to run the track to get a better time to start the race higher up the ladder. Problem is once you reach your personal best, its a lot of waiting or attempting to shave off 1/100ths of a second. You are also limited to the types of races and tracks. There are only 3 races at a time that you can play which change each day.

My final verdict is to play if you have ever had intrigue into the sim racing genre. It is a great entry point to sink your teeth into. Unless you really want to become the best around your time will be limited with this game. You will eventually get past the initial shine and realize it comes down to finding ways to optimize times. It took me about 22 hours before I reached this point. I stuck around to earn a couple of trophies.

Addendum - How do you folks create those nice banners? I dont have photoshop but would like to create them. Any tutorials?

ZombieSnot · Jan 10, 2018

Staking my claim here. Anxious to give this a shot.

1. Horizon Zero Dawn | In Progress - Approx 20 Hours in.
2. CoD:WW2 | In Progress - Approx 5 hours in.

orthodoxy1095 · Jan 10, 2018

MrNewVegas said:
Addendum - How do you folks create those nice banners? I dont have photoshop but would like to create them. Any tutorials?

If you want to create something like mine, I just use a program called Pixelmator which is $30 if you have a Mac.

If you don't want to pay for a program, you could try something free like GIMP.

Broscientific · Jan 10, 2018

Broscientific said:
Here I go!

1. Inside (2016) - 3 hours
Loved this game; it looks fantastic and has this atmosphere that brings so much tension just by the presentation and sound. The puzzles were great and the story felt surreal in a way that I haven't felt from a video game before.

2. Pyre (2017) - 8 hours
Haven't enjoyed the characters in a visual novel-type game more than Pyre. Choosing who to set free was a really difficult decision every time, weighing how useful someone was in the Rites, how much more I wanted to learn about their backstories, and how much they deserved to go free. Definitely want to dive back in at some point on a higher difficulty as well.

Rhaknar · Jan 11, 2018

Game #17 - The Blackwell Convergence
Time: 3.5 hours

Third game in the Blackwell series, and we are back to following Roseangela's adventures in the present after the pequel last game. Another fantastic addition to the series, probably the best one so far as it perfectly follows up both the first game and the prequel, tying both together in a great way. Great writing and voice acting as usual, and a more modern art style (reminiscent of the other wadgeteye games) make this as usual, a very easy recomendation for point and click adventure fans. Great cliffhanger for the fourth game aswell.

Main Post

saenima · Jan 11, 2018

Main post: https://www.resetera.com/posts/2784229/

4. The Walking Dead Season 1 Ep. 1 - A New Day / 2h - completed 11.01.18

First Impressions: Finished this game on the PS3 back in the day and hated the technical aspects of it at the time, as i guess any sane person would. It's apparent this doesn't really run a whole lot better on the PC, so that will be fun.

The Thick of It: Still one of the strongest episodes Telltale has ever produced in my opinion. Its pacing is perfect and the character work is flawless. It does a great job at introducing us to the world of TWD and also at making us want more of it. I missed Lee and Clem.

Conclusion: I got a lot of the Telltale catalog on a sale a few months back and had been wondering if i should just skip to season 2 since i had played the first season already, but i'm glad i didn't. Loved TWD back when it came out and judging from my reaction to the first episode i think it will still hold well. I could do without the jank but it's still worth to deal with it.

laoni · Jan 11, 2018

Main Post!

3: The House in Fata Morgana (1/10/18, 31 hrs)

Holy crap. This visual novel has quickly rocketed to one of my favourite gaming experiences. It was so engrossing, I really didn't ever want to put it down (But life made me, alas). I hadn't gone in expecting it to be as long as it had been, and, there were some chapters I felt dragged on (And, a lot of groaning/grunting sound effect text boxes that could have been cut down on). But, all in all, an extremely enchanting and emotional story I am so glad that I experienced.

52 Games. 1 Year. 2018.

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