52 Games. 1 Year. 2019.

Loadout · Jan 1, 2019

★ = Platinum / 100%

Scores are my own. 5 = Mediocre; 6 = Fine; 7 = Good; 8 = Great; 9 = Amazing; 10 = Masterpiece.
Orange highlighted = All-time favorite

- - - - - - -

1: Dead Cells | 1st January ★

When I first heard Dead Cells is a TBOI inspired title I was underwhelmed as I don't generally like rogue-likes, but Dead Cells has a great thing going for it. Its combat is fantastic, the gameplay is fluid, satisfying and addicting, and it brings a lot of fun ideas to the table. I'm very impressed, a great game to start the year with. 8/10

2: Hitman: Blood Money HD | 12th January ★

It's hard for me to talk about Blood Money from a critical standpoint because it's a classic and a highly nostalgic piece for me. I've come to a point where I've played the game so many times that I've become oblivious to its flaws. Anyway, I've had a lot of fun platinuming it on PS4. 47/10

3: Hitman: Absolution HD | 18th January ★

Ever since it was released, Absolution was considered the black sheep of the series, and for a good reason. While being mechanically solid and overall fun to play, this isn't what the series needed. It strayed too far from the beloved formula, and even I, as one who generally welcomes even the most drastic of changes, found it uninviting. Its few good moments are stuck inside this terribly structured game. The stories in Hitman games were never great, but this one puts its terrible story on the spotlight for everyone to laugh at. 5/10

4: Minecraft | 2nd February ★

Good old Minecraft. It's been years since I've last played it, but it's still the addicting, relaxing game I remember. 8/10

5: Yakuza 0 | 8th February

When I first played Yakuza 0, almost a year ago, I dropped it after a few hours, though it wasn't for me, didn't feel the story nor the gameplay. I decided to give it another shot recently and boy, am I glad I did. So fuckin good, mainly because of the story and characters. I was only sucked into it on chapter 3 with the beautiful introduction to Majima, and grown to love both main protagonists despite not liking Kiryu at first. Amazing game, can't wait to play Kiwami. 9/10

6: Shadow Warrior 2 | 9th February ★

Shadow Warrior 2 is a solid attempt at being a Borderlands-esque "looter shooter" but it's held back by the terrible console port. Not only that 30 FPS feels bad for this type of game, but it doesn't even hold steady 30 FPS most of the time. With lengthy loading screens and occasional game breaking bugs the game just feels half cooked and nowhere near ready. If I knew how bad the situation is I would've never played this version, but I got it from the PS4 Humble Bundle. If I had to score it without taking the terrible port into consideration I would've given it a solid 6/10 - it's fun at times but way too short, the writing is bland and the mission structure is repetitive and even tiring at times. The PS4 version gets no more than a 4/10 from me.

7: Hotline Miami | 10th February ★

Hotline Miami is a bold game and a successful execution of a controversial concept. Makes me wish more AAA developers would've had the guts to make such experimental and daring design choices in their games. 8/10

8: Resident Evil 2 | 15th February ★

Amazing. This is only my second ever RE game as I've only played the RE1 Remaster last year and it was fantastic, but this one is on another level. Incredible game. 9/10

9: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Remastered | 7th March ★

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was one of those games that really drew me into gaming back in 2007. Its campaign is extremely engaging, well paced and even well written. It does something that few games manage, or rather attempt to do nowadays and I'm grateful that COD games still deliver fun singleplayer campaigns, even if they're not as good as this one. 8/10

10: Killing Floor 2 | 14th March ★

An oddly satisfying shooter with a solid amount of content and variety. I feel like the character progression was more significant. 6/10

11: Steamworld Dig 2 | 23rd March ★

A fun little game, but I feel like its bar was set too high by 2011's Terraria, which is one of my all time favorites. While art style is charming and the core gameplay is addicting, the game lacks in some much-needed sense of wonder and discovery. It's a good game, it just fails to spark a little excitement. 7/10

12: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice | 6th April ★

Captivating and thrilling, intense and memorable. Probably the finest game I've played this year so far, but sadly it's not as good as Bloodborne, which had a superior design and atmosphere. 9/10

13: Borderlands Game of the Year Edition | 12th April ★

The foundation is there but the experience feels incredibly dull and uninspired, also suffers from repetition towards the end. I feel pretty unmotivated to tackle the DLCs right now but might do so anyway because my pals want to. 5/10

14: Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 3rd May ★

At this point, it is apparent that I'm probably not going to hit my 52 games goal as I don't have as much time to play like last year, but I'll try anyway. As for Odyssey, it's another fun Ubisoft game, but way too big and bloated for its own good. The writing is surprisingly solid, the combat is rubbish, and progression feels off. 6/10

15: Days Gone | 18th May ★

Despite the mixed reception, I really liked this one, even more than other big open world PS4 exclusives such as HZD and Spider-Man. Feels like Days Gone has tons of personality and charming characters felt really invested in the world and enjoyed doing even the more mundane tasks. 8/10

16: Spyro The Dragon | 30th May ★

It's Spyro. Not much to say, never been a fan of collect-a-thons but the nostalgia factor surely helped me get through this one. 6/10

17: Grim Fandango Remastered | 31st May ★

Another classic, and a really good one at that, aside from the pacing issues and the puzzles, but it was just how adventure games played back at the day so I can't fault the game that much. 9/10

18: Titanfall | 31st May ★

A fun, diverse and well-paced singleplayer campaign. Great combat and movement. Enjoyed it very much. 8/10

19: No Man's Sky | 31st May ★

I replayed No Man's Sky once more, and this time on PS4 with my pals. I think that the co-op integration, while cool on paper, does very little to serve the game, as you'll quickly end up separated from your partners and everyone will become engaged in different tasks, everyone's just playing their own game. This somewhat defeats the purpose of playing together. Nevertheless, my feelings towards the game didn't change much. 7/10

20: Far Cry: New Dawn | 31st May ★

Last year when I played Far Cry 5 I complained about the games little effort to make the main story feel worthwhile, and that the open world is the most fun part, well, New Dawn has an even worse main story, with some missions just being unfun. Yet again the open world exploration pretty much saves the game, but it's still a very flawed experience. 5/10

21: Hollow Knight | 21st June ★

One of the best indie games I've played and one of the finest metroidvenias of all time. Dripping with atmosphere and charm, intriguing and captivating, a true gem. 9/10

22: Diablo III: Reaper of Souls | 6th July ★

23: Dead Island - Definitive Edition | 20th July ★

24: Wolfenstein: Youngblood | 27th July

25: Sniper Elite 4 | 8th August ★

26: The Messenger | 16th August ★

27: Saints Row IV: Re-elected | 22nd August ★

28: Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition | 27th August ★

29: Strange Brigade | 6th September

30: Murdered: Soul Suspect | 7th September ★

31: Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast | 1st October ★

32: Control | 1st October ★

33: Rocket League | 5th October ★

34: Doom | 8th October ★

35: Tekken 7 | 8th October ★

36: Wolfenstein: The New Order | 11th October ★

37: Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus | 12th October ★

38: Day of the Tentacle Remastered | 15th October ★

Phendrana · Jan 1, 2019

Main post #2.

Ricky · Jan 1, 2019

Reserved. Hopefully I can make it this year. I didn't really get much beat while stationed in Korea during 2018.

Deleted member 1265 · Jan 1, 2019

fatyoshi- 100/52 Games (61 first playthroughs, 39 replays)

January:

1. Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation
2. OKAGE: Shadow King
3. WarioWare Gold
4. Dead Island: Definitive Edition
5. Metro 2033 Redux
6. Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Director's Cut
7. Metro Last Light Redux
8. Tomb Raider Chronicles

February:

9. Resident Evil 2 (2019)
10. Tekken 7
11. Spyro the Dragon
12. Marvel's Spider-Man
13. Mortal Kombat X
14. Spyro: Ripto's Rage

March:

15. Florence
16. Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux
17. Resident Evil 0
18. Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness
19. Tomb Raider: Legend
20. Crackdown 3

April:

21. Resident Evil (2002)
22. Resident Evil: Director's Cut
23. Spyro: Year of the Dragon
24. Tomb Raider: Anniversary
25. Professor Layton and the Curious Village
26. Puzzler World
27. Tomb Raider: Underworld
28. Unavowed
29. Resident Evil 2 (1998)

May:

30. Resident Evil 3: Nemesis
31. Resident Evil: Code Veronica X
32. Resident Evil 4
33. Resident Evil 5
34. Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
35. Tomb Raider (2013)

June:

36. Jake Hunter: Ghost of the Dusk
37. Rise of the Tomb Raider
38. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
39. Call of Cthulhu

July:

40. Final Fantasy X
41. Deus Ex GO
42. Vampyr
43. Puzzler World 2
44. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All

August:

45. Always Sometimes Monsters
46. Zup!
47. Final Fantasy X-2
48. Zup! 2
49. Zup! 3
50. Doom 3
51. Zup! 4
52. Silent Hill 2
53. Zup! 5
54. Zup! 6
55. Zup! 7
56. Zup! 8
57. Zup! 9
58. Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil
59. Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
60. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations
61. Grimind

September:

62. Zup! S
63. Assassin's Creed II
64. Silent Hill
65. Zup! X
66. Zup! XS
67. Zup! Zero
68. Zup! Zero 2
69. Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair
70. Blair Witch
71. Yoku's Island Express
72. Dead Rising 4

October:

73. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
74. Apotheon
75. 2064: Read Only Memories
76. Lili: Child of Geos
77. Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy
78. Destroy All Humans

November:

79. Resident Evil: Survivor
80. Late Shift
81. Alone With You
82. The Cat Lady
83. The Blackwell Legacy
84. The Silver Case
85. Dead Space 3
86. Old Man's Journey
87. Minit
88. Quantum Break
89. Blackwell Unbound
90. Fallout 3

December:
91. Blackwell Convergence
92. Blackwell Deception
93. Life is Strange 2
94. Shadows of the Damned
95. SUPERHOT
96. Blackwell Epiphany
97. Afterparty
98. A Short Hike
99. Untitled Goose Game
100. Lone Survivor: Director's Cut

Links:
Backloggery
50 books, 50 films challenge post
50 albums in 2019 challenge post

Blindy · Jan 1, 2019

God damn it page 2 again.

Claimed. Need to go after this hard after missing out on it last year.

JANUARY:
1) Super Smash Brothers Ultimate(Nintendo Switch)
2) Final Fantasy IV(PSP)
3) Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney(3DS)

FEBRUARY:
4) Mega Man X4(PS4)
5) Celeste(XB1)
6) Comic Jumper: The Adventures of Captain Smiley(XB1)
7) Crackdown 3(XB1)
8) Devil May Cry 2(PS4)
9) Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening(PS4)

MARCH:
10) Toejam and Earl: Back in the Groove(PS4)
11) Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition(NERO/DANTE Playthrough)(PS4)
12) Devil May Cry V(PS4)
13) Phoenix Wright: Justice for All(3DS)

APRIL:
14) Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice(PS4)
15) New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe(Nintendo Switch)

MAY:
16) Phoenix Wright: Trials & Tribulations(3DS)

JUNE:
17) New Super Luigi Switch(Nintendo Switch)
18) Yugioh: Legacy of the Duelist(PS4)
19) Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night(PS4)
20) Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled(PS4)
21) Super Mario Maker 2(Nintendo Switch)
22) Alice: Madness Returns(XB1)

July:
23) Luigi's Mansion(3DS)
24) Super Lucky's Tale(XB1)
25) Mega Man X5(PS4)
26) The Messenger + Picnic Panic DLC(NSW)
27) Super Mario Bros 3(NSW)

Currently Playing:
Fire Emblem: Three Houses(NSW)
Borderlands 2(PS4)
Days Gone(PS4)
428: Shibuya Scramble(PS4)

Games Beaten on Platform:

PS4-11
Switch-7
XB1-5
3DS-4
PSP-1

Top 10 games of 2019:
1) Crash Team Racing: Nitro Fueled(PS4)
2) Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night(PS4)
3) Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice(PS4)
4) Super Mario Maker 2(NSW)
5) Devil May Cry V(PS4)
6) Crackdown 3(XB1)
7) Toejam & Earl: Back in the Groove(PS4)
8)
9)
10)

SquareFenix · Jan 1, 2019

Reserved. My first 2 games that I plan to beat are:

- Horizon Zero Dawn
- Nier: Automata

Currently 10 hours into Horizon- at level 20

SamuelG · Jan 1, 2019

80/52

1) Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance HD (PlayStation 4)

Easily the weakest Kingdom Hearts entry I actually played. Enjoyable still, but had issues and some terrible boss fights. What on Earth was that story?

2) Vane (PlayStation 4)

Oof. Fantastic first 15 minutes, then quickly devolves into being terrible.

3) Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A Fragmentary Passage- (PlayStation 4)

Short but entertaining prequel game. Very excited to see more Aqua.

4) 1979 Revolution: Black Friday (PlayStation 4)

This feels more like the first episode in an episodic game than a full game. Kind of disappointing.

5) Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown (PlayStation 4)

Everything I could have wanted in an Ace Combat game. May have seriously replayed 5 as my new favorite entry.

6) Kingdom Hearts III (Ps4)

I waited like 14 years for this game and... well I loved it. So there's that. Very happy I got to play it.

7) 2084 (PC)

A weird little game jam game that uses assets from Observer. I enjoyed it but it's only like an hour long.

8) Anthem (PC)

I built a new PC and this was the test for it. Enjoyable campaign, but gets repetitive near the end. Wish it did more.

9) Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days (PC)

My friend insisted I had to play it because it had A S T H E T I C S. It was 99 cents. Only took like 3 hours to finish. Eh.

10) Subsurface Circular (PC)

Neat little story game. Quick to play, really enjoyable.

11) Re-Legion (PC)

Little indie RTS. Had some great ideas, but executed them all like hell. Wasn't good in the end.

12) When the Darkness Comes (PC)

Awesome free horror game. I highly suggest it 100%.

13) Drowning (Ps4)

Short 30 minute game where you walk in a line while a character monologues about depression. One of the endings implies that suicide is a good idea because at least you'd be a story for other people. The other three endings are all basically "I was depressed but then I chose to get better." Fuck this nonsense.

14) Devil May Cry 5 (One)

Needed like 50% more Lady in it, but was otherwise fantastic. V is the best, don't @ me.

15) Vignettes (PC)

Cute little puzzle game. Fun way to spend a few hours. Will probably forget about it after.

16) The World Next Door (PC)

I really wanted to like this "visual novel meets match-3 action" game, but it has a few small things holding it back. Still fun.

17) The Walking Dead: The Final Season (Ps4)

I cried at the end, you can't tell me otherwise. So glad it got finished.

18) Falcon Age (Ps4)

Ugh. The falcon is amazing. The game itself is terrible. Lame combat, tons of glitches, full of backtracking.

19) Heaven's Vault (PC)

I loved it. Fantastic game about doing actual honest to god archaeology. Super worth it if you want something different.

20) Ghost Giant (Ps4)

I also loved this. Fantastic VR game. Made me cry.

21) Katana Zero (PC)

I also also loved this. More for the gameplay stuff though. Cutting dudes and figuring out the twisted plot was awesome. The Halo 2-esque ending was not.

22) Immortal Legacy: The Jade Cipher (Ps4)

If Resident Evil 7 wasn't already "Resident Evil in VR", this is prolly the closest we'll get. Clunky, but fun and weird.

23) Jupiter & Mars (Ps4)

Meh. Empty world and mixed messaging doesn't work well. Playing a happy eurobeat song over someone's dramatic sacrafice was probably one of the funniest scenes I've ever seen in a game.

24) Days Gone (Ps4)

Meh. It was an okay zombie game. Don't have much else to say about it.

25) Dollhouse (PC)

A decent enough Slender/Outlast styled horror game. Not really special, but kind of fun.

26) Observation (Ps4)

I really enjoyed this one. Lovely world, fun gameplay, super interesting.

27) Bubsy: Paws on Fire! (PC)

I don't know why I do this to myself. Easily one of the worst games I played this year.

28) Stories Untold (PC)

I've been meaning to get to this for a while now and I'm super glad I did. I enjoyed it a lot.

29) Oxenfree (PC)

Another one I've been meaning to get to for a while. And another one I'm super glad I got to. Loved it.

30) Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus (PC)

My favorite part of this game is the one where you kill the Nazis. So all of it, basically.

31) Cut Loose (PC)

Slightly iffy on including this one, but I played the whole thing on the E3 showfloor and there's no plans to release the game. Cute little student project about paper people with silly faces fighting with scissors.

32) The Sinking City (PC)

Combat sucks, but the game has a great story, lovely atmosphere, and I honestly enjoyed it.

33) Etherborn (PC)

An okay puzzle game that is way too short to expand on the ideas that could have carried it.

34) Rime (PC)

Not fantastic, but honestly really glad I got a chance to play it. Been meaning to for a while now. Lovely, at least. Real good foxxo.

35) Nephise (PC)

I don't get it. Felt like someone made a nearly empty terrain, speed treed it, then quickly added in voice overs for a story. Had a real good wolf tho.

36) Aces Wild: Manic Brawling Action! (PC)

A totally okay brawler. Has some clever ideas, but also terrible difficulty spikes and an obsession with "fill the screen with enemies" and little else.

37) Anomaly: Warzone Earth (PC)

Been meaning to finish this forever. Real glad I did. Love this kind of weird tower offense gameplay.

38) Anomaly: Warzone Earth - Mobile Campaign (PC)

Wanted to see if this was different in any way. It plays slightly different, but is the same game otherwise. Meh.

39) Anomaly Korea (PC)

The stand-alone expansion for the first game. Plays like the mobile game for some reason. It was okay, not enough different to really stand out.

40) Assassin's Creed Syndicate (PC)

The last major hole in my Assassin's Creed series. I really enjoyed the hell out of it. Great setting, fun characters, good combat. Also love the grappling hook.

41) Assassin's Creed Syndicate: The Last Maharaja (PC)

The first DLC campaign for the game. Felt more like 10 barely connected sidequests than anything else. Still fun though.

42) Assassin's Creed Syndicate: The Dreadful Crimes (PC)

The second DLC campaign. Also felt like 10 barely connected sidequests, but they were really unique thanks to their focus on puzzle solving and investigation instead of combat.

43) One Finger Death Punch 2 (PC)

This has been my pallet cleanser game between other games. Finally beat the campaign. It's fantastic. Honestly possibly my GOTY.

44) Wolfenstein Cyberpilot (PSVR)

I don't understand how "Wolfenstein but in VR" turned out so bad. Man, what a disappointment.

45) Lightstep Chronicles (PC)

Can't say much because embargo reasons, but it's a neat visual novel.

46) Assassin's Creed Syndicate: Jack the Ripper (PC)

Last DLC campaign for Syndicate. This one was a full expansion with new map, side quests, weapons, and more. Also it's absolutely fantastic. A great way to close off the game.

47) The End: Inari's Quest (PC)

I accidentally finished this game because it was only 20 minutes long. You play as a fox escaping a cyberpunk city. That should be awesome. It's not.

48) Drizzlepath (PC)

Quickly played this because someone (Spyware) told me it was 30 minutes long and I really wanted to end on an even 15 games. It's just walking in a straight line while vague unconnected voice clips play. I don't get it.

#49) Quantum Break (PC)

I mostly played this as prep-work for Control, but I'm really glad I beat it. Super fun game. Love the time stuff. TV show episodes were okay.

#50) THOR.N (PC)

A 30 minute clicker game that was a Humble Original. Really neat atmosphere building, had some cool ideas.

#51) 2000:1: A Space Felony (PC)

Another Humble Original, this time an hour long adventure game in space. Fantastic story telling actually. Real surprise for me.

#52) Gravity Ghost (Ps4)

Really cute platformer with a sad story about moving on. Another one I'm real glad to have played this year.

#53) Idle Theme Park Tycoon (iOS)

Like... it's just an idle clicker game. Super generic. I finished all 169 challenges though so we're going to call that beat.

#54) Control (Ps4)

Holy shit probably my game of the year. What a blast. Great gameplay, great story, great atmosphere, great everything. I loved it. I need more.

#55) Knights and Bikes (Ps4)

A super cute co-op top down adventure game that goes on a bit longer than it should. Still fun though.

#56) Vampire: The Masquerade: We Eat Blood and All Our Friends are Dead (PC)

It's a vampire visual novel told entirely through text messages. It has some fantastic ideas, but also it stumbles hard a lot. The "last boss" is absolutely horrible.

#57) Gears of War 4 (PC)

Prep work for Gears 5 mostly, but this was actually really cool. Gears of War 4 really made me happy to return to the series. Super excited for 5.

#58) The Angry Birds Movie 2 VR: Under Pressure (Ps4)

Basically just an Overcooked clone but in VR. That's... actually way more solid than I expected. Not amazing, but a fun local co-op game.

59) Creature in the Well (PC)

Honestly my biggest disappointment of the year. Felt like it had a novel idea, but absolutely no idea what to actually do with it. Became super repetitive super quickly.

60) Gears 5 (PC)

On the other hand, a super awesome surprise. Felt like a holy shit awesome return to form for the franchise. I loved it. I'm so excited for more.

61) Devil's Hunt (PC)

Annnnd right back to terrible. At least I expected this one to suck. An absolutely awful beat 'em up thing.

62) Remember Me (PC)

I've owned this for so long and I finally got around to beating it. I dunno why it took so long. I really enjoyed the story, art, music, but the combat is awful.

63) Scanner Sombre (PC)

Another one I've owned for seemingly forever. Little confusing, but its central gimmick is so so good.

64) Sayonara Wild Hearts (iOS)

This is where I promptly discovered the Apple Arcade. Sayonara Wild Hearts is one of the best things I've played this year, honestly likely a GOTY candidate. Loved it.

65) Assemble With Care (iOS)

Another Apple Arcade game, loved it. Take apart little objects and put them back together while telling a simple and cute story about family.

66) Possessions (iOS)

Cute little puzzle game. Not too much too it, but good time waster.

67) The Get Out Kids (iOS)

Cute little adventure game. Apple Arcade is great for this stuff.

68) Murder Mystery Machine (iOS)

Neat little adventure game about solving murders. Never felt like it was holding my hand and was appropriately difficult. But clunky tho.

69) Monkey King: Hero is Back (Ps4)

Not terrible, but felt like a weird Ps2 throwback title. I kind of liked it though.

70) Pilgrims (iOS)

Another short Apple Arcade adventure game. Fun to experiment in, lots of weird little combinations.

71) Spek (iOS)

Short Apple Arcade puzzle game. All about changing your perspective to avoid enemies and collect items. Cute.

72) Marvel vs Capcom Infinite (PC)

It was on game pass and I wanted to play through the story. It was ok. I felt like it should have been a lot more fun.

73) Anarcute (PC)

Fun little brawler about getting a mass of animals to be cute and punch things while rioting. You get to destroy capitalism.

74) Awkward Dimensions Redux (PC)

Free narrative game. It's pretty cool, some of the scenes near the end were fantastic.

75) Cricket Through the Ages (iOS)

Cute little physics-based multiplayer fighting game. Story is short but pretty funny thanks to the narrator.

76) Adam Wolfe (PC)

Casual point and click puzzle/adventure game set in urban fantasy with occasional boss fights. This was way better than I ever would have expected it to be.

77) stikir (PC)

A cute little two hour meta-game about game creation. Flops through an insane amount of genres and boss fights. Pretty cool.

78) Cradle (PC)

A first person adventure game set in Mongolia about uncovering the past of a robot lady. Awesome setting, sometimes iffy gameplay.

79) Ice Age: Scrat's Nutty Adventure (Ps4)

When a joke review goes too far. So many regrets. Never again.

80) Tales of Memo (iOS)

Cute Apple Arcade game about a fox that casts magic spells by matching numbers. Really short and simple.

SamuelG · Jan 1, 2019

reserving this second spot for gams too

5pectre · Jan 1, 2019

Status per november 19th: 52/52

New Years resolution is to buy no new games in 2019. There's nothing on the horizon I'm hyped for anyway. This will, hopefully, let me dig into my backlog of almost 50 games...

edit:
New Years resolution lasted all of 11 days before I caved in and bought a new game...

Games bought 2019...:
Out Run (Switch)
Resident Evil 2 (XOne)
World War Z (XOne)
Wreckfest (XOne)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (XOne)

Number of backlog games completed...:
1. RIME
2. The Witness
3. Mass Effect: Andromeda
4. Forza Motorsport 6
5. Double Dragon Neon
6. Double Dragon IV
7. Adventure Time: Pirates of the Enchiridion
8. F-Zero X
9. Left 4 Dead 2

Stats:
Arcade: 6
3DS: 2
NDS: 1
NES: 1
GC: 2
PS4: 3
SNES: 1
Steam: 7
Switch: 3
Wii: 1
Wii VC: 5
Wii U: 1
X360: 10
XOne: 9

Jay_AD · Jan 1, 2019

Current list, will format properly at a later point:

1. Moto Racer 2 (PC) - Jan 2019 - 3 hours - 2/5
2. Sega Ages: Phantasy Star (Switch) - Feb 2019 - 15 hours - 3/5
3. Super Mario Bros. (Switch Online) - Feb 2019 - 2 hours - 4/5
4. Forza Horizon 4 (PC) - Feb 2019 - 28 hours - 5/5
5. Crackdown 3 (PC) - Feb 2019 - 13 hours - 3-4/5

cdm00 · Jan 1, 2019

Reserved

bender · Jan 1, 2019

1. Soul Calibur VI (PS4) - 1/1/19
Soul Chronicle mode.
2. Tetris Effect (PS4) - 1/1/19
Journey Mode (expert)
3. Katamari Damac Reroll (NS) - 1/1/19
4. Super Smash Brothers Ultimate - 1/1/19
Unlocked all characters
5. Onimusha - (PS4) - 1/16/19
6. Earth Defense Force 5 (PS4) - 1/20/19
7. Resident Evil 2 (PS4) - 2/6/19
8. Earth Defense Force (PS4) - 2/24/19
Mission Pack 1
9. Apex Legends (PS4) - 2/18/19
5 Wins, 3/20/19, 3/21/19
10. Rocket League (PS4) - 3/1/19
Champion 1 in Rumble
11. Tetris 99 (Switch) - 3/8/19
7 Wins, 3/21/19, 4/12/19, 4/13/19 (2), 4/14/19, 5/17/19
12. Rocket League (PS4) - 3/18/19
Rocket Pass 2 Completed
13. Division 2 (Xbox One X) - 3/21/19
14. Devil May Cry (PS4) - 3/24/19
15. Black Bird (Switch) - 4/4/19
16. Ultra Street Fighte II (Switch) 4/4/19
17. Portal (Xbox One BC) 4/14/19
18. Katana Zero (Switch) 4/22/19
19.. Truberbrook (Switch) 4/23/19
20. Mortal Kombat 11 (PS4) 4/24/19
21. Overwatch (PS4) 4/25/19
Level 800
22. World War Z (PS4) 4/27/19
23. Nidhogg 2 (Swtich) 5/17/19
24. Raiden V (PS4) 5/26/19
24. The Turing Test (XBox One X) 6/15/19
25. Samurai Shodown (PS4) 6/25/19
26. Slay the Spire (Switch) 6/29/19
27. Detroit: Become Human (PS4) 7/6/19
28. Super Mario Maker 2 (Switch) 7/7/19
29. Rocket League (PS4) 7/28/19
Season Pass 3 Completed (288)
30. Spider Man (PS4) 7/29/19
Turf Wars DLC
31. Spider Man (PS4) 7/30/19
Silver Lining DLC
32. Doom BFG (PS4) 8/2/19
33. Windjammers (Switch) 8/10/19
34. Turok (Switch) 8/14/19
35. Operation C (Switch) 8/18/19
Not sure how I missed this as a kid, but this is a great Contra/GB game.
36. Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition (PS4) 9/1/19
37. The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan (PS4) 9/2/19
38. Monster Boy and The Cursed Kingdom (Switch) 9/14/19
39. Gears 5 (Xbox One X) 9/22/19
Pretty game but the Gears formula is really stale.
40. Link's Awakening (Switch) 9/27/19
41. Slay The Spire (Switch) 10/1/19
42. Resident Evil 4 (PS4) 10/13/19
Professional Clear'
43. Alan Wake's American Nightmare (Xbox One x) 10/14/19
44. Tetris 99 (Switch) 10/19/19
All Themes Unlocked
45. Untitled Goose Games (Switch) 10/19/19
46. Portal 2 (Xbox One X) 10/24/19
47. Rocket League (PS4) 10/27/19
Haunted Hallows 2019 - All Items Unlocked
48. Call of Duty Modern Warfare (PS4) 10/27/19
49. Overwatch (PS4) 10/30/19
Level 800
50. The Outer Worlds (XBox One X) 11/3/19
51. Overwatch (PS4) 11/3/19
All Halloween Terror items collected.
52. Rocket League (PS4) 11/29/19
10,000 Wins
53. Rocket League (PS4) 11/29/19
Season 12 Champion Rank 1
54. A Plague Tale: Innocence (PS4) 11/30/19

Deleted member 3093 · Jan 1, 2019

Reserving. I got 51 last year, I could have done a cheat game, but I didn't feel like it. I'd rather naturally get the 52 games "achievement"

CannonFodder52 · Jan 1, 2019

Guess I'll give this a go.

Reserving a spot.

DiddysKongQuest · Jan 1, 2019

January
1. Donkey Kong Country 2 (01-01)
2. Life Is Strange 2 - Episode 1 (01-04)
3. Gris (01-05)
4. Kirby Star Allies (01-13)
5. Red Dead Redemption 2 (01-20)

February
6. Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes (02-03)
7. Resident Evil 2 (2019) (02-05)
8. Shadow Of The Tomb Raider (02-17)

March
9. Devil May Cry (03-14)
10. Devil May Cry 2 (03-23)

April
11. Ape Out (04-03)
12. Bayonetta (04-11)
13. Devil May Cry 3 (04-14)
14. Devil May Cry 4 (04-30)

May
15. Devil May Cry 5 (05-04)
16. What Remains Of Edith Finch (05-05)
17. Life Is Strange 2 - Episode 2 (05-30)

August
18. A Plague Tale: Innocence (08-26)
19. Donkey Kong Country (08-31)

September
20. Life is Strange 2 - Episode 3 (09-07)
21. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (09-14)
22. Untitled Goose Game (09-22)
23. Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony (09-27)

October
24. Sayonara Wild Hearts (10-05)

December
25. Life is Strange 2 - Episode 4 (12-05)
26. Death Stranding (12-23)
27. Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair (12-25)
28. A Way Out (12-27)

Ranmo · Jan 1, 2019

Here's to another year of games!

--------------------------------------
Completed Games
--------------------------------------

Game 1. Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins | January 1st - 1 Hour

Game 2. Super Mario Bros. 3 | January 6th

Game 3. Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade | January 23rd - 37 hours

Game 4. New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe | January 27th

Game 5. Resident Evil 2 (REmake) | January 28th - 8:09:25 (First run as Claire)

Game 6. Kingdom Hearts III | February 9th

Game 7. Kirby's Adventure | February 18th

Game 8. Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance | February 23rd - 37 hours

Game 9. Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn | April 17th - 49:12:45

Game 10. Mortal Kombat 11 | April 23rd

Game 11. Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright | May 12th

Game 12. Team Sonic Racing | May 25th

Game 13. Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation | June 12th

Game 14. Sonic The Hedgehog 2 | June 14th

Game 15. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Rescue-Palooza | June 24th

Game 16. FINAL FANTASY XIV: Stormblood (Story Completed)| June 24th

Game 17. Sonic the Hedgehog Sega Ages Ver. | June 24th

Game 18. Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon | June 27th

Game 19. FINAL FANTASY XIV: Shadowbringers | July 6th

Game 20. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles In Time | July 16th

Game 21. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist | July 24th

Game 22. Fire Emblem Three Houses: Blue Lions Path | August 29th

Game 23. Sonic Mania Plus | September 22nd

Game 24. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild | September 22nd

Game 25. Darkwing Duck | September 22nd

Game 26. The Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse | September 22nd

Game 27. Pokemon Ultra Sun | September 24th

Game 28. Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX | September 29th

Game 29. Puzzle Bobble 2 | October 14th

Game 30. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time (Arcade) | October 26th

Game 31. Pokemon Sword | November 22nd

Game 32. The Simpsons Arcade | November 23rd

Game 33. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe | November 29th

Game 34. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project | November 30th

Game 35. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Arcade) | December 8th

Game 36. Mr. Gimmick | December 8th

Game 37. QuackShot: Starring Donald Duck | December 8th

Game 38. Kirby's Dream Course | December 13th

Game 39. Battletoads Arcade | December 14th
--------------------------------------
Ongoing Games (Endless games)
--------------------------------------
Game 40. League of Legends

Game 41. Mario Kart Tour

Game 42. Dragalia Lost

Game 43. Mobile Legends: Bang Bang

Game 44. Minecraft

Game 45. World of Warcraft

Game 46. Paladins

Game 47. Phantasy Star Universe

Game 48. Apex Legends

Game 49. Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Links

Game 50. Phantasy Star Online 2

Game 51. Fortnite

Game 52. Call of Duty Black Ops IIII
------------------------------------
Bonus Round
------------------------------------
Game 53. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan | December 15th

Game 54. Spark the Electric Jester 2 | December 23rd

Game 55. Sonic 3 | December 24th

LonestarZues · Jan 1, 2019

1. Abzu - Amazing soundtrack and great storytelling thru visuals.

2. Burly Men at Sea - Got several of the endings. I might go back and get all the endings later.

3. Dragon Age: Origins - This replay includes Warden's Keep, Return to Ostagar, Leliana's Song and Stone Prisoner. Now about the game. I absolutely adore the Dragon Age World and was quickly pulled back in. The OST is magnificent as well along with the story which can be weird at times, but still delivers at the right times.

4. Bound - Has to be the 1st game I ever finished and got none of the trophies. It was a chore to play thru, but in glad I did as the ending hit close to home.

5. Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening - It was really great revisiting this game after almost 10 years IIRC. This includes The Golems of Amgarrak and
Witch Hunt.

6. Into the Breach - Finished it on easy and normal. Was going to go for hard as well, but the gameplay loop was starting to get dull. Had fun with it overall though and might revisit it later in the year.

7. Bury me, My Love - Got a bad ending, might try to go back and get a better ending when they patch it. Had some crashes and only way was to choose the other option or restart, so I'm sure that affected the ending I would've naturally had. Nice story though was well told and made me care for the protagonist.

8. Silent Hill - Replayed it over the weekend on a whim as I haven't played it this generation. What a masterfully crafted work of art. The gameplay holds up less and less every time I replay it, but everything else more then makes up for it.

9. Final Fantasy 13 - I loved the characters for the most part and Lightning is now 1 of my favorite FF protagonist. The battle system and OST were both sublime. The story was ok at best and the further it went the more convoluted it got, but I did like the ending and looking forward to playing the sequels sometime this year.

10. Mortal Kombat 10 - Played the story mode. Really enjoyed the story mode and catching up with some of the lore as its my first Mortal Kombat since 5. Will absolutely play Mortal Kombat 11 one day.

11. Life is Strange 2 Episode 1 - Replayed the episode before episode 2 releases tomorrow. Explored a little more this time and was rewarded for it in a particular scene. Really loved the story and now to decide if I want to play the remaining episodes day 1 or 90 days later.

12. Resident Evil 2 - Played Claire A (standard)/Leon B (assisted). It was just as amazing as it was back on PS1. Mr. X is such a well thought out mechanic that adds a lot to the survival horror aspect of the game. It's going to be hard for anything to top this as my personal GotY (unless TLOU2 releases this year).

13. Dragon Age 2 - Replay of the game (along with all 3 playable dlc) that introduced my favorite character in the series Garrett Hawke. Although Varric and Leliana aren't too far behind. The samey dungeons remind me of the original Mass Effect which also had the same problem. The characters are the games strong point with the story/lore not to far behind. Like all Dragon Age games it also has a beautiful soundtrack.

14. Dragon Age Inquisition - Replay 4th time. I absolutely love the lore and world building for the Dragon Age franchise and hopefully Anthem doesn't cause the demise of Bioware as I really want to get the 4th installment of the series. While this game is the "worst" of the franchise it's still a great game with arguably the best OST of the series.

15. Far Cry New Dawn - Didn't care for the RPG mechanics as I had to grind and that's something I don't care for. Aside from that overall I enjoyed my time with the game as the gameplay is really fun and the story while not great was good enough to keep me going.

16. Metal Gear Solid - Masterpiece. I've been slowly chipping away at it between games and finally decided to finish it up tonight. I've played Metal Gear games in portions before, but never finished one previously. I'm glad I did as this convinced me to get Death Stranding day 1. Great characters, narrative and OST. The combat is a bit dated, but everything else makes up for it. Will definetly check out MGS 2 at some point this year.

17. Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy - I had a lot of fun playing thru this over the past week. The game does have a lot of faults like a bare bones story and dated combat, but something about the game just felt right. I'm now looking forward to Jedi Knight: Fallen Order after not really having it on my radar.

18. Mass Effect Andromeda - Finally finished a replay I started last year shortly after replaying the original trilogy. I got to say I loved it more this time then I did originally back at launch. Did all the companion quests along with all the side missions (skipped most of the tasks) and really loved Jaal, Cora, and Drack's quests. The soundtrack and main quest weren't as memorable as the original trilogy, but the combat was much improved.

19. Gris - What a beautiful experience. The soundtrack was exceptional and as someone who normally hates puzzles in games these were easy enough that I didn't have to bang my head on something.

20. Assassins Creed Odyssey - Legacy of the First Blade: Played thru all 3 episodes/chapters and absolutely loved it. Can't wait for the next game which will probably tie up this "trilogy" with Layla and the bloodline. In the meantime we still have the Atlantis dlc to look forward to.

21. Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle - 1st game with Mario that I've ever finished. Really fun game that's constantly throwing new enemy types at you to keep it fresh. Was a bit on the easy side and the humor was hit and miss. Bought the edition with the Donkey Kong dlc, but not sure I'll play it anytime soon.

22. Metro Exodus - The tension for the last quarter of the game was palpable. The music playing during some of those segments was really well done as well. Really loved the slow burn as well. I was hesitant to finish it as I was pretty sure I was going to get the bad ending, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

23. Quantum Break - Was quite surprised by how much I enjoyed this. The episodes in between acts were good enough and helped build on the story/lore. Would've liked a few more powers and more combat encounters as they felt lacking in both regards.

24. Resident Evil 3: Nemesis - It's been awhile since I've played this and the last 1/3 of the game felt like it dragged on a bit. Overall though I really enjoyed it and am curious to see if/when they remake it how they're going to handle Nemesis and the character switch.

25. Uncharted: The Lost Legacy - Started Shadow of the Tomb Raider on Thursday and it gave me the itch to replay this game. Still love every second of it and really hoping if the series continues we'll get another Chloe and Nadine adventure.

26. Halo: Combat Evolved - I was never the biggest fan of this game and always thought it was the worst from the Bungie games. This replay just further cemented that for me. Doing a replay of the series as I've never played Reach and Halo 5 and the game felt rough and was a slog to play. Loved the OST though.

27. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Finally finished a replay I started back when it was announced as BC on Xbox 1. 1st time playing the dlc's and the Knights of the Nine was ok, but the Shivering Isles was amazing. Still loved the game as much as I did back at launch and enjoyed the OST more then I remember.

28. Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite - Came in with low expectations and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Sure the voice acting was bad and some of the character designs were atrocious, but the controls were easy enough to learn. The story was batshit insane, but most fighting game stories are and I enjoy them for the craziness.

29. Falcon Age - Enjoyed the narrative of the game. Overall I enjoyed the game although by the end I was ready for it to end as the combat didn't evolve much and the world was to empty. Although it fits the world the game is set in.

30. Ghost Giant - Short, but fun VR game. Easy to solve puzzles with a great narrative and surprisingly good voice acting. Reminded me of Moss minus the combat.

31. Rage - Enjoyed it more then I thought I would. Hyped me up even more for the sequel as it looks better in every sense. The guns in the game were fun to mess around with and the crafting system was a pleasant surprise as well.

32. Halo 2 - I remember hating all the forced vehicle sections and while I could still do without them, they're not as bad as I remembered. The gunplay is near flawless and forgot how good the lore/story was for it's time. Music as always in Halo is top tier.

33. Frost - Really fun survival card building game. Finished it on easy and normal. Each complete playthrough is about 20-30 minutes. Just unlocked 1 scenario so will be playing that next and trying to unlock the rest of the scenarios.

34. Shadow of the Tomb Raider - Was the weakest of the trilogy, but still enjoyed my time with it. Really enjoyed Lara and Jonah's interactions thru the game and how their friendship blossomed thru the trilogy. Was to light on combat for my liking, but did enjoy the exploring and tombs throughout the game.

35. Assassins Creed Odyssey: The Fate of Atlantis Episode 1 - The world looks beautiful and the upgrades you get are fun to play around with. I don't much care for the present day portion of Assassins Creed, but the ending did leave me curious as to where they're headed with the story.

36. Days Gone - Just rolled credits and whew! What a ride. All the storylines coming together at different parts of the game felt like a season of The Walking Dead. Really loved the world building and the characters especially best bro Boozer. The tech issues in the back half of the game were a real bummer and did drop the rating of the game which would've been a 9 down to a 8 for me. Great game nonetheless and bring on the sequel and time to find out what I still need to do to get the plat.

37. Life is Strange 2 Episode 2 - Didn't enjoy it as much as the 1st one as the little brother was super annoying in this episode. Interested to see where the bros end up next though.

38. The First Tree - Really good adventure game told thru the lens of a fox looking for her young. Solid OST as well. Can't really say much else without going into spoilers. If you enjoy narrative games with minimal platforming then I would recommend trying this game out.

39. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty - What a weird game. Bosses were a big step down from the 1st game. The story fell apart in the latter half of the game. Bought the game down overall, but still enjoyed it overall and will continue my 1st playthrough of the series with 3 later this year.

40. Halo 3 - I've never liked the vehicle sections in the series and these were worse not the exception. The gunplay is amazing as usual and while I enjoyed it overall the game is not as great as I remembered.

41. A Plague Tale Innocence - Beautiful game with a great story. Really loved the characters minus a couple of interactions with Hugo. Really enjoyed the variety of ways you could use to get thru combat encounters and the soundtrack was amazing. Still not sure if I'm including Resident Evil 2 Remake in my GotY list, but this is either #1 or #2 on my list if I do include it.

42. Rage 2 - One of those swimming in 7's game. Really great combat while everything else is mediocre at best. I wanted to like the characters, but they're basically just there to move what little story there is along. Clearing out a bandit camp is really satisfying with all the options at your disposal.

43. Halo 3: ODST - It was my first time playing thru it and decided to finally dive into during my current playthrough of the Halo series. I don't really like the vehicle sections in Halo games, but this was at least serviceable. It was also fun to play around as all the different people and it really added to the human experience and lore of the series. Music as in all Halo games is top tier.

44. Blood & Truth - Great VR game. Excellent soundtrack and voice acting. Really felt like a new Getaway game and here's hoping Sony London gets the success and recognition it deserves.

45. Assassins Creed Odyssey: The Fate of Atlantis Episode 2 - Enjoyed it more then I did the previous dlc. Really loved all the characters from the main game that were involved in this dlc. Excited to see how this dlc arc concludes.

46. Three Fourths Home - Really hard to talk about the game without going into spoilers. So I'll just say I liked the topics of the conversations as it fleshed out the characters and I was captivated from start to finish.

47. Judgment- A game that could've been a GOTY contender for me if not for some bad design decisions. Still a really good game with great characters and story. Has that Yakuza charm that I love and while Yagami isn't near the character that Kiryu is he is bought up by a great supporting cast.

48. Superhot VR - Really fun game, albeit short. Beat it over a couple of hours and worked up a good sweat. Not really much to say about it other then anyone who owns a PSVR should play it.

49. Gears of War: Judgment - Fun if uneventful game. I enjoyed Aftermath more then the entire base game. Had some really nice scenery in parts and hoping the new game shakes up the formula as this game mostly played it safe.

50. Asura's Wrath - I loved this game up until it told me that I needed to unlock the true ending. Much like Arkham Knight this hurt my thoughts on the game as a whole. I was ready to put it up there with God of War 2 as my favorite character action game. Alas it's not, but it's still a very good game.

51. Halo 4 - I remember being lukewarm on this when I played it last generation, but after this recent playthrough I now love it. Only behind Halo 2 as my favorite Halo game. Enjoyed all parts of the game even the vehicle sections which I typically dislike in Halo games. Really glad I decided to replay the series before I finally play Halo 5 sometime next month.

52. Void Bastards - Really fun, but tense game. Liked it a lot, a better story and it might be in the running for my GotY, but no real story to speak of although it did make me chuckle several times at least.

53. Halo 5: Guardians - Liked it a lot more then I was expecting. Liked Luke Cage, I mean Locke a lot more then I was expecting. Was pleasantly surprised when Buck was in my party. The music like always in Halo games was top tier.

54. Mutant Year Zero: Seed of Evil - Really good expansion/dlc that was hurt by technical issues. Really love the world and lore of the game and here's hoping we see a full blown sequel.

55. Pandemic: The Board Game - Really weird title for a video game. Enjoyed the board game previously with my nephews and the video game ain't as good as that, but still a fun challenge. Beat it 3 times with different combinations.

56. Assassins Creed Odyssey: The Fate of Atlantis Episode 3 - Enjoyed the final dlc for the game and after 190 hours of playing the game it's finally time to delete it off of my hard drive. Not really a fan of the present day stuff here, but still want to see how it concludes in the next game.

57. Sagebrush - Cool "walking sim" sim where you uncover what happened to a cult. Short game took me a little over 2 hours to finish it. Could've been done faster, but took me about an hour to figure out you can run in the game. Easy platinum trophy and inexpensive as well as its around 5 dollars.

58. Wolfenstein: Youngblood - Not quite on the level as the two mainline games. Played it solo so not sure how co-op is, but a lot of the bigger enemies were bullet sponges which causes the game to drag at points. Really wish there was more story to flesh out the twins and the games story, but what's there is good especially if you love the craziness of the Wolfenstein stories.

59. Life is Strange 2 Episode 3 - I really hate the little brother Daniel. Such a whiny brat. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to like him or not, but that kid is the 2nd coming of Magneto. I'm doing all my choices on what I would do in that situation so I'm trying to steer him in the right direction, but that punk kid refuses to listen.

60. Erica - Neat little interactive drama. Took me about 90 minutes to clear and from the trophy list it has a lot of different endings. Would recommend to fans of Quantic Dream type games.

61. The Last of Us - Yearly playthrough of my GOAT. Just as amazing on my 7th playthrough as it was on my 1st. Nothing else I can say that I haven't said already.

62. Yakuza 3 - I love Kiryu. The man oozes charisma and confidence. Really loved the cast of characters in this game especially Rikiya and Mine. Adding Okinawa was a huge plus for me as well and can't wait to play Yakuza 4.

63. Metro Exodus: The Two Colonels - After having no idea the game had dlc and reading a thread on here I decided to give it a good and I'm glad I did. I loved the story and the way it was told. There's not a lot of combat in this 2-3 hour journey, but what's there is good.

64. Control - Really loved this game. Great world building, soundtrack, combat, and story. Everything just fell into place nicely. I would read up on something and later run into it later and say to myself I read this awhile ago! Still have it behind Resident Evil 2 and A Plague Tale Innocence in my GOTY list, but it's a worthwhile contender.

65. Gears 5 - Another great game in the series and reminds me why this is my favorite Microsoft franchise. The combat encounters were really well done and the story was very good overall, although I think it ended to abruptly. Either way I'll be looking forward to the next game or story dlc if they add any.

66. Life is Strange 2 Episode 4 - Best episode of the season by far so far and really looking forward to playing the finale in December. Sean is best bro and loved all the interactions in this episode.

67. Man of Medan - Not as good as Until Dawn, but still enjoyed my 4 hours with it. Had 1 in my group die so I did better then in Until Dawn where only 1 survived. Looking forward to Little Hope and hopefully they can improve on their facial animations as those still look off.

68. Greedfall - A big step up in quality for Spiders. As a whole I enjoyed the game. Really liked the character classes and builds you could come up with and most of the characters were really well done. Hopefully we get a sequel as I feel they're on the right track to making a memorable game down the line.

69. Destiny 2: Forsaken - Looks like I'm back on my Destiny kick. Feels so good to get in there and shoot aliens with all the different weapons. Forsaken had a solid story and activities to do. Shadowkeep is next. I just need to find space for it in between all the games I'm currently playing as well.

70. Destiny 2: Shadowkeep - Main story is not as good as Forsaken, but still has the same amazing gameplay that makes me love the series so much. Will keep playing it as my main multi-player game, but I'm already nearing the light cap so I won't be playing it ad much until the next dlc/expansion/sequel.

71. The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings - Still a great game. I've really never liked the 1st half of Act 1, but when it gets going it's still a great game. Did the Roche path and I'll probably do the Iorveth path early next year before the swarm of new releases.

72. One Night Stand - Was expecting something closer to Bury Me, My Love and this disappointed. Not a bad game/experience, but easily forgettable. Got 3 of the endings within 1 hour and felt like I've seen enough.

73. The Outer Worlds - Liked the first 1/3, loved the next 1/3 to the point I was ready to declare it GOTY. Then the last 1/3 happened and I was ready to be done with it. Overall still enjoyed it and the foundation is there for the franchise to build upon.

74. Afterparty - Didn't quite like it as much as Oxenfree. Mainly due to the setting, but still really loved the cast of characters. There was some performance issues on the 1X. Not enough to really hurt the game though as you're really only going from place to place to converse with other characters. Would recommend to people who played and enjoyed Oxenfree.

75. Concrete Genie - Loved the game and it was so close to being a masterpiece, but something was missing. Wonderful story along with the superb soundtrack made me curious to see what the next chapter would bring. Interested to see what the team does next.

76. Arise: A Simple Story - Back to back beautiful games and just like Concrete Genie it was missing that little something to push it into Masterpiece territory. Some of the themes hit really close to home and also had a great OST to accompany it. The platforming can be hit or miss, but if you're a fan of the likes of Journey or Gris this is a game you should check out.

77. Life is Strange 2 Episode 5 - I loved my ending. Some would say it's not the best ending, but it fits for what I went for. Really loved Karen and the nice nod to Life is Strange. Going to miss playing as the Wolf Brothers.

78. Blair Witch - Really good psychological horror games that delves into the horrors of PTSD. Not a fan of the endings, but do appreciate the story they told and the methods they used. Bullet is the best animal companion of the year.

OmegaMori · Jan 1, 2019

Privous years
2017:16
2018:28
Games Completed 59/52

I will do this this year

1.The Room (iOS)
Play Time:2h
Rating:7/10
Date Finished:Jan/1

2.Donut County (iOS)
Play Time:1h36m
Rating:8/10
Date Finished:Jan/2
fun little game.

3.Celeste (XB1)
Play Time:11h15m
Rating: 9/10
Date Finished:Jan/3

4.The Room 2 (iOS)
Play Time:1H
Rating:2/10
Date Finished:Jan/4

5.Devil May Cry (XB1)
Play Time:8Hours
Rating:10/10
Date Finished:Jan/15
fantastic game one of the best of all time still holds up

6.Devil May Cry 2 (Dante) (XB1)
Play Time:7 Hours
Rating: 3/10
Date Finished: Jan/17

7.Devil May Cry 3 (XB1)
Play Time:9h12m
Rating:9/10
Date Finished: Jan,18

8.Devil May Cry 4 (XB1)
Play Time:7h36m
Rating: 8/10
Date Finished:Jan,21

9.DmC:Devil May Cry (PS4)
Play Time:11h10m
Rating:8.5/10
Date Finished:Jan,23

10.Life is Strange (XB1)
Play Time:9h
Rating: 6/10
Date Finished:Jan,28
...

11.Resident Evil (REmake) (XB1)
Play Time: 11h7m
Rating:9/10
Date Finished:Jan,31

12.Resident Evil 4 (XB1)
Play Time:16h34m
Rating:9.8/10
Date Finished:Feb,9

13. Resident Evil 5 (XB1)
Play Time:16h6m
Rating:7/10
Date Finished:Feb,20

14.Dead Space 3 (XB1)
Play Time:11h18m
Rating:3/10
Date Finished: March,1 3/10

15.Crackdown 3 (XB1)
Play Time:9h21
Rating:6/10
Date Finished:

16.Devil May Cry V (XB1)
Play Time:N/A
Rating:8/10
Date Finished:March,10

17. Resident Evil 2 (REmake)
Play Time:N/A
Rating:7.5/10
Date Finished:March,18

18.Homefront (360)
Playtime:6h
Rating:6/10
Date Finished:April,7

19.Madden 19 (XB1)
Play Time:5h
Rating:7/10
Date Finished:April 10
Did the Story mode

20.Sonic and Knuckles (XB1)
Play Time:6h
Rating:1/10
Date Finished:April,19

21.Mortal Kombat (360)
Play Time:7h
Rating:7/10
Date Finished:

22.Wolverine (360)
Play Time:6h
Rating:8/10
Date Finished:

23.Mortal Kombat X (XB1)
Play Time:4h
Rating:6/10
Date Finished:May,3

24.HellBlade Senua's Sacrifice (XB1)
Play Time:10H
Rating:7.5/10
Date Finished:May,17

25.Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (XB1)
Play Time:5h
Rating:6/10
Date Finished:May,24

26.Apex Legends (XB1)
Play Time:50+ Hours
Rating:9/10
Date Finished:
I consider this game "Beat" because I got many wins and all the achievements.

27.Castlevania: SoTK (360)
Rating:8/10
Play Time:8 Hours
Date Finished:May 17

28.Call of Duty:Modern Warfare 2 (360)
Play Time:9 Hours
Rating: 8/10
Date Finished:May,26

29.Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (360)
Rating:9/10
Play Time:8 Hours
Date Finished:May,27

30.Splinter Cell: Conviction (360)
Rating:3/10
Play Time:7 Hours
Date Finished:May,30

31.Assassin's Creed (360)
Rating: 3/10
Play Time:16 Hours

32.Doom (2016) (XB1)
Rating: 9/10
Play Time:9 Hours
Date Finished:June,20

33.Assassin's Creed 2 (360)
Rating:7/10
Play Time: 22 Hours
Date Finished:June.27

34.Assassin's Creed:Brotherhood (360)
Rating:6/10
Play Time: 31 Hours
Date Finished:July,11

35.Assassin's Creed:Revelations (360)
Rating:8/10
Play Time: 41 Hours
Date Finished:July,22

36.Assassin's Creed 3 (360)
Rating: 5.5/10
Play Time: 36 Hours
Date Finished: August,2

37.Assassin's Creed 4:Black Flag (XB1)
Rating: 5/10
Play Time: 20 Hours
Date Finished: August,17

38.Vanquish (360)
Rating: 9/10
Play Time: 5 Hours
Date: Finished: August,20

39.Assassin's Creed: Rogue (360)
Rating: 8.5/10
Play Time: 20 Hours
Date Finished: August,23

40.Gears 5 (XB1)
Rating:7/10
Play Time:4hours 58 min
Date Finished:Sept,9

41.Spec Ops:The Line (360)
Rating:9.5/10
Play Time:6 Hours
Date Finished: Sept,10

42.Tomb Raider DE (XB1)
Rating:8/10
Play Time:16Hours
Date Finished: Sept,12

43.Rise of The Tomb Raider (XB1)
Rating:8.5/10
Play Time:14H28M
Date Finished:Sept,18

44.Mario Bros (NES)<NS>
Rating:9/10
Play time: under an hour
Date Finished: Sept,24

45.Shadow of the Tomb Raider (XB1)
Rating:7/10
Play Time:14h30m
Date Finished:Sept,24

46.Abzu (XB1)
Rating:8/10
Play Time:3h
Date Finished:Oct,3

47.Old Man's Journey
Rating:0/10
Play Time:1H
Date Finished:Oct,5

48.Brothers (XB1)
Rating:9/10
Play Time:4h10m
Date Finished:Oct,5

49.Days Gone (PS4)
Rating:8/10
Play Time 60+h
Date Finished:Oct,24

50.The Outer Worlds (XB1)
Rating:7/10
Play Time:24h8m
Date Finished:Nov,5

51.Battlefiled 1
Pating:6/10
Play Time:3H
Date Finished:Nov,7

52.Dath Stranding (PS4)
Rating: 11/10
Play Time:40h34m
Date Finished: Nov,15

53.CoD:Modern Warfare (XB1)
Rating:9/10
Play Time:3h
Date Finished:Nov,17

54.Battlefield Bad Company (360)
Ratting:3/10
Play Time:7H
Date Finished:Nov,22

55.Battlefield Bad Company 2 (360)
Rating:5/10
Play Time:5Hours
Date Finished:Nov,23

56.Darksiders 2 Deathinitive Eddition (XB1)
Rating:6/10
Play Time:37h41m
Date Finished:Dec,1

57.Condemned (360)
Rating:8/10
Play Time:6H
Date Finished:Dec,12

58.Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
Rating:7/10
Play Time:16H
Date Finished:Dec,25

59.Metal Slug 3 (360)
Rating:5/10
Play Time:3H
Date Finished:Dec,26

MiguelBañón · Jan 1, 2019

Reserved. I doubt I achieve it, since I study and have a job, but hopefully I can do it. I'll put all my faith on all those short indie games I haven't played yet.

Might I ask if multiplayers games I play regularly count for this? Because if so, this past year I got to play 51 titles. They are a huge add-on to me.

Spyware · Jan 1, 2019

Trying to figure out how to set up my post without triggering the character limit :D Posting frequent updates and having to link to many different posts from the master post will eat up so much space. Maybe a weekly update post? Hm.

Wozzer For the times, do you want the time we spent playing the game in 2019 specifically or total completion time? :)

CrazyAznKT · Jan 1, 2019

Aw yeah, 2019. Let's go!

Reserving this post, I'll try to do a better job of keeping track of my time played this year and helping with stats by using the standard format. (Even though I'm a weirdo that doesn't like 5-point grading systems.)

Previous Years:
2018 - 70 Games

2019 Impressions
Games #1-25
Games #26-44
Games #45-52
Games #53-56

JANUARY GAMES
1. Kingdom Hearts HD Dream Drop Distance (PS4) | 3rd Jan - 75hrs | 4/5

2. Oxenfree (Switch) | 16th Jan - 6hrs | 4/5

3. Kuso (Switch) | 17th Jan - 2hrs | 4/5

4. The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (3DS) | 18th Jan - 21hrs | 4/5

5. PaRappa the Rapper (PS4) | 26th Jan - 3hrs | 3/5

6. Amplitude (PS4) | 27th Jan - 5hrs | 4/5

7. Strike Vector EX (PS4) | 28th Jan - 4hrs | 3/5

FEBRUARY GAMES
8. Kingdom Hearts III (PS4) | 9th Feb - 64hrs | 4/5

9. Titanfall 2 (PS4) | 11th Feb - 10hrs | 5/5

MARCH GAMES
10. Gang Beasts (PS4) | 2nd Mar - 5hrs | 5/5

11. Surgeon Simulator (PSVR) | 3rd Mar - 5hrs | 5/5

12. Voltron VR Chronicles (PSVR) | 5th Mar - 2hrs | 2/5

13. Tetris 99 (Switch) | 13th Mar - 15hrs | 5/5

14. Hitman 2016 (PS4) | 19th Mar - 40hrs | 5/5

15. Sanrio Characters Picross (3DS) | 21st Mar - 28hrs | 4/5

16. Burnout Paradise Remastered (PS4) | 29th Mar - 34hrs | 5/5

APRIL GAMES
17. Minesweeper Genius (Switch) | 21st Apr - 4hrs | 3/5

18. BoxBoy! (3DS) | 23rd Apr - 11hrs | 5/5

19. BoxBoxBoy! (3DS) | 27th Apr - 9hrs | 5/5

20. Bye-Bye BoxBoy! (3DS) | 29th Apr - 8hrs | 5/5

MAY GAMES
21. BoxBoy! + BoxGirl! (Switch) | 7th May - 15hrs | 5/5

22. Picross S3 (Switch) | 17th May - 35 hrs | 5/5

23. Donut County (Switch) | 18th May - 3hrs | 5/5

24. Gorogoa (Switch) | 18th May - 3hrs | 5/5

25. Monster Hunter World (PS4) | 22nd May - 224hrs | 5/5

26. Holedown (iOS) | 24th May - 6hrs | 5/5

JUNE GAMES
27. Pokemon Ultra Moon (3DS) | 4th Jun - 226hrs | 4/5

28. Pokemon Omega Ruby (3DS) | 25th Jun - 128hrs | 5/5

JULY GAMES
29. Jackbox Party Pack 5 (Switch) | 5th Jul - 8hrs | 4/5

30. Pokemon X (3DS) | 17th Jul - 76hrs | 3/5

31. Super Mario Party (Switch) | 18th Jul - 12hrs | 5/5

AUGUST GAMES
32. Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm (PS4) | 23rd Aug - 13hrs | 3/5

33. Mega Man (PS4) | 27th Aug - 3hrs | 3/5

34. Mega Man II (PS4) | 28th Aug - 3hrs | 5/5

35. Mega Man III (PS4) | 29th Aug - 3hrs | 5/5

36. The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (3DS) | 30th Aug - 20hrs | 3/5

SEPTEMBER GAMES
37. Monster Hunter World: Iceborne (PS4) | 19th Sep - 40hrs | 5/5

38. Picross Lord of the Nazarick (Switch) | 21st Sep - 38hrs | 5/5

39. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order (Switch) | 26th Sep - 22hrs | 3/5

OCTOBER GAMES
40. Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer Feat. The Legend of Zelda (Switch) | 2nd Oct - 8hrs | 5/5

41. Hitman 2 + Expansion Pass (PS4) | 6th Oct - 50hrs | 5/5

42. Untitled Goose Game (Switch) | 6th Oct - 5hrs | 5/5

43. Mega Man IV (PS4) | 6th Oct - 3hrs | 4/5

44. Resident Evil HD Remaster (PS4)| 9th Oct - 27hrs | 4/5

45. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch) | 18th Oct - 175hrs | 5/5

46. Assassin's Creed Origins - The Curse of the Pharaohs (PS4) | 25th Oct - 20hrs | 3/5

47. Resident Evil 2 (2019) (PS4) | 30th Oct - 14hrs | 5/5

NOVEMBER GAMES
48. Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (3DS) | 9th Nov - 8hrs | 5/5

49. WarioWare Gold (3DS) | 15th Nov - 10hrs | 5/5

DECEMBER GAMES
50. Pokemon Shield (Switch) | 12th Dec - 122hrs | 4/5

51. Sky: Children of the Light (iOS) | 15th Dec - 7hrs | 4/5

52. Ape Out (Switch) | 15th Dec - 4hrs | 4/5

53. Shovel Knight: King of Cards (Switch) | 24th Dec - 18hrs | 5/5

54. SteamWorld Dig (Switch) | 27th Dec - 7hrs | 5/5

55. Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 (3DS) | 29th Dec - 12hrs | 5/5

56. Gato Roboto (Switch) | 30th Dec - 3hrs | 5/5

Illusionary · Jan 1, 2019

Welcome to 2019 everyone, and good luck with the challenge! I'm undoubtedly going to need a few posts for my list, so let's start here.

2018 - 90 games
2017 - 72 games

1. Yono and the Celestial Elephants (Switch) | 1 January 2019
2. GRIS (Switch) | 1 January 2019
3. Burly Men at Sea (PS4) | 1 January 2019
4. Marvel's Spider-Man: The City that Never Sleeps - all three episodes (PS4) | 6 January 2019
5. Spyro the Dragon (remaster) (PS4) | 13 January 2019
6. Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage (remaster) (PS4) | 23 January 2019
7. Spyro: Year of the Dragon (remaster) (PS4) | 2 February 2019
8. Orwell: Ignorance is Strength (Steam) | 8 February 2019
9. Fairune (Switch) | 11 February 2019
10. Quarantine Circular (Switch) | 11 February 2019
11. Fairune 2 (Switch) | 17 February 2019
12. Fairune Origin (Switch) | 17 February 2019
13. Fairune Blast! (Switch) | 18 February 2019
14. Reverie: Sweet As Edition (Switch) | 24 February 2019
15. Undertale (Switch) | 2 March 2019
16. Anodyne (Switch) | 11 March 2019
17. Assassin's Creed Odyssey – Legacy of the First Blade (PS4) | 16 March 2019
18. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker | Special Episode (Switch) | 17 March 2019
19. Gunman Clive HD (Switch) | 18 March 2019
20. Ittle Dew 2+ (Switch) | 31 March 2019
21. Donut Country (Switch) | 31 March 2019
22. Tetris Effect (PS4) | 2 April 2019
23. Yoshi's Crafted World (Switch) | 20 April 2019
24. Pikuniku (Twitch) | 21 April 2019
25. Supraland (Steam) | 11 May 2019
26. Glass Masquerade (Steam) | 24 May 2019
27. kuso (Switch) | 25 May 2019
28. Disney's Aladdin (SNES) | 27 May 2019
29. Detective Gallo (Switch) | 27 May 2019
30. Owl Watch (Steam) | 27 May 2019
31. Golf Peaks (Switch) | 2 June 2019
32. The Messenger (Switch) | 9 June 2019
33. Gato Roboto (Switch) | 21 June 2019
34. Cadence of Hyrule – Crypt of the NecroDancer Featuring The Legend of Zelda (Switch) | 28 June 2019
35. Katana ZERO (Switch) | 2 July 201936.
36. Super Mario Maker 2 (Switch) | 7 July 2019
37. Riverbond (Xbox One - Game Pass) | 11 July 2019
38. Timespinner (Switch) | 21 July 2019
39. Assassin's Creed Odyssey – The Fate of Atlantis (PS4) | 27 July 2019
40. Kid Tripp (Switch) | 28 July 2019
41. The Messenger: Picnic Panic (Switch) | 30 July 2019
42. Miles & Kilo (Switch) | 9 August 2019
43. A Short Hike (Steam) | 17 August 2019
44. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (PS4) | 24 August 2019
45. The Shivah (Steam) | 25 August 2019
46. Primordia (Steam) | 26 August 2019
47. Resonance (Steam) | 27 August 2019
48. A Golden Wake (Steam) | 28 August 2019
49. Shardlight (Steam) | 1 September 2019
50. The Hex (Steam) | 7 September 201950.
51. Shotgun Legend (Steam) | 13 September 2019
52. The Office Quest (Switch) | 16 September 2019
53. Effie (PS4) | 23 September 2019
54. Konami Pixel Puzzle Collection (Android) | 28 September 2019
55. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Switch) | 8 October 2019
56. Life is Strange 2 - Episode 1: Roads (Xbox One - Game Pass) | 10 October 2019
57. Life is Strange 2 - Episode 2: Rules (Xbox One - Game Pass) | 10 October 2019
58. Life is Strange 2 - Episode 3: Wastelands (Xbox One - Game Pass) | 11 October 2019
59. Untitled Goose Game (Switch) | 18 October 2019
60. Wuppo: Definitive Edition (Switch) | 27 October 2019
61. Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair (PS4)) | 27 October 2019
62. FAR: Lone Sails (PS4) | 2 November 2019
63. macdows 95 (PC - Steam) | 21 November 2019
64. Life is Strange 2 - Episode 4: Faith (Xbox One - Game Pass) | 23 November 2019
65. Old Man's Journey (Xbox One - Game Pass) | 24 November 2019
66. Mad Age & This Guy (Switch) | 30 November 2019
67. Luigi's Mansion 3 (Switch) | 11 December 2019
68. The Outer Worlds (Xbox One - Game Pass) | 12 December 2019
69. Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope (Switch) | 15 December 2019
70. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) (PS4) | 18 December 2019
71. Life is Strange 2 - Episode 5: Wolves (Xbox One - Game Pass) | 20 December 2019
72. Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom (Switch) | 26 December 2019
73. Wandersong (Switch) | 29 December 2019

1. Yono and the Celestial Elephants (Switch) - 1 January 2019
Complete playthrough. Yono and the Celestial Elephants is an utterly charming game, with simple, bright and colourful graphics and an unchallenging plot. The gameplay is somewhat in the style of a 2D Zelda game, which is what attracted me to the game, and on that front it's serviceable enough, but very much on the easy side - to the extent that on occasion Yono can start to feel somewhat tedious; it is, however, quite short (taking somewhere around 3-5 hours for a full playthrough), so this feeling doesn't become too pronounced.

2. GRIS (Switch) - 1 January 2019
Full playthrough, all in-game challenges completed. GRIS (pronounced "grease") is a beautiful 2D puzzle-platformer, very much selling itself on its art style - and here, it definitely excels, to the extent that I'd almost recommend the game just to experience its depiction of the story, themed around the supposed "five stages of grief. I say "story", but there's very little here that's explicit - GRIS leaves the player to infer its story for the most part, and its commendable that this is quite possible.

Gameplay, while perhaps not the key focus for the game, is still decent, though never overly challenging. A good few of the puzzles can be interesting to solve, helping to aid with how GRIS depicts its story and theme; the presence of collectibles and optional 'challenges' help to add an incentive to explore each area and a little more longevity.

3. Burly Men at Sea (PS4) - 1 January 2019
Platinum trophy earned (all 12 routes completed). Burly Men at Sea is a somewhat simple game telling the story of a group of sailors in pursuit of treasure. Gameplay consists of moving the titular three 'burly men' left and right through the environments, then interacting with specific trigger points to progress the story. There are essentially just three important decisions to make in the game, with other actions being for the most part linear in how they progress the story. For its low asking price, it's decently entertaining to see how the strange experiences of each of the 12 paths through the game plays out, and the player is very much encouraged to replay the game to see the different alternatives (at the end of each path, the story effectively loops back on itself).

4. Marvel's Spider-Man: The City that Never Sleeps - all three episodes (PS4) - 6 January 2019
100% of trophies earned; 100% in-game completion rate. The City that Never Sleeps is an great expansion to what was already an excellent game, adding greater longevity alongside additional plotlines that expand nicely on the story from the base game, including a deeper exploration of some key characters. The gameplay remains for the most part the same as the base game, so there's ultimately nothing new to the combat - but there are some well-designed major new encounters and a couple of new variants for the regular 'crime' scenarios in each district. For anyone who enjoyed the base game, I'd very strongly recommend this.

5. Spyro the Dragon (remaster) (PS4) - 13 January 2019
Platinum trophy earned, 120% (maximum) in-game completion rate, all skill points earned. I've never previously played any of the Spyro games, but found this to be a great introduction to the series.While the game at times betrays its age with occasionally 'clunky' controls, for the most part this is a very well-done remaster - comparison screenshots highlight just how significant the graphical upgrade is, while there's also been a nice enhancement to the soundtrack and few notable 'quality of life' improvements including an in-game minimap and assistance with locating nearby collectibles.

In comparison to the superb Super Mario 64, Spyro the Dragon shows less variety and creativity to its levels and the challenges posed to players, and Spyro's moveset is much more limited, but this is a very high bar and Spyro remains a very entertaining, charming experience in itself - certainly it's done enough to have me looking forward to playing its two direct sequels.

6. Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage (remaster) (PS4) - 23 January 2019
Platinum trophy earned, 100% (maximum) in-game completion rate, all skill points earned. Moving on to the second game in the original trilogy, there's a decent increase in polish and variety in level design, but for the most part this more of the same - in a good way. Another very enjoyable 'collectathon' 3D platformer.

7. Spyro: Year of the Dragon (remaster) (PS4) - 2 February 2019
Platinum trophy earned, 117% (maximum) in-game completion rate, all skill points earned. Rounding out the original trilogy, Year of the Dragon is a fair amount longer then each of the two previous games. There's a bit of a rise in the use of 'minigame' scenarios such as skateboarding sequences (stunt challenges and races) which personally I didn't get on too well with, but these didn't detract from an overall enjoyable experience once again.

8. Orwell: Ignorance is Strength (Steam) - 8 February 2019
100% of achievements unlocked. Although ultimately this sequel plays very similarly to the original Orwell, the investigation-based gameplay remains satisfying and the are are a few worthwhile new mechanics introduced later in the game. There's some great background world-building throughout if you take the time to read through the detail of the various information sources presented, and although ultimately, the plot and investigation is inherently very focused on a small number of individuals, this allows for the investigation to go to an impressive level of depth. The various investigative steps generally follow a fairly accessible logic, though with enough thought required to remain satisfying, and the turn-based advancement of time brings a greater level of tension and urgency than seen in the first game.

9. Fairune (Switch) - 11 February 2019
Completed twice, with 100% of achievements unlocked - includes 100% completion, 1-hour speedrun and zero deaths. Fairune is a somewhat simplistic 2D adventure game, playing out from an overhead perspective, with pixelart graphics. Combat in the game is handled through a 'bump' system, with enemies defeated simply by walking into them, at the cost of an amount of cost determined by the monster's level - and with monsters off too high a level instead killing the player outright. With this simplified approach, combat clearly isn't the core focus of Fairune, with exploration and puzzle-solving instead brought to the fore, to good effect. This creates a generally very relaxing experience, with exploration bringing a nice sense of satisfaction - perfect for its short length

10. Quarantine Circular (Switch) - 11 February 2019
Single complete playthrough. Although sharing its core gameplay approach and part of its name with the earlier Subsurface Circular, the story premise and setting are very different. Quarantine Circular depicts a future world in crisis, gripped by a pandemic plague, within which a first-contact alien encounter offers a potential salvation. The game plays out as a text adventure, with players taking control of a number of different key characters in turn as the scenario develops - ultimately, much of the game seems likely to play out much the same regardless of the minor choices made by players, but there are a few more significant choices that factor into which of a number of different endings will be reached. The perspective shifts are effective in allowing players to explore all aspects of the scenario, though I fond that this brought a few moments of frustration where you take control of characters with directly-opposing aims from those which you may previously have been following. Overall, as a short story, Quarantine Circular is another impressive effort from Mike Bithell and I look forward to seeing what comes next from his studio!

11. Fairune 2 (Switch) - 17 February 2019
Completed twice, with 100% of achievements unlocked - includes 100% completion and 3-hour speedrun. Very similar to the preceding game, this sequel is largely similar, but provides an expanded experience - gameplay is much the same, with the 'bump' combat of the first game retained, but the game is 2-3 times its length, with a greater number of different, themed worlds to explore, each individually larger, and a wider selection of equipment to collect and puzzles to solve. There's a little more plot here, though it's still very light, but overall, the expanded scope and variety of scenarios (in all key ways - location, equipment, puzzle types, etc.) means that the game justifies its longer play time, while retaining the relaxing and satisfying feel from the first Fairune.

12. Fairune Origin (Switch) - 17 February 2019
100% of achievements unlocked; zero-damage, sub-6 minute speedrun. The first of two 'bonus' games that round out the Fairune Collection, Fairune Origins is a very short-form take on the series' approach, retaining the 'bump' combat but now making its outcome based on the direction of attacks, and taking place in a much smaller area. With 100% completion attainable in minutes this is very much not build as a lasting experience (though there's certainly competitive speedrunning potential), but it's an enjoyable if very simplistic 'palette-cleaner' after the lengthier experiences of the two main instalments.

13. Fairune Blast! (Switch) - 18 February 2019
100% of achievements unlocked; cleared with all three characters. Fairune Blast! is the second 'bonus' game in Fairune Collection, only unlocked after beating the three other games. Very different from the main gameplay of the series, Blast! expands on the format of the final boss battles of the two main games, being a vertically-scrolling shooter. The three different playable characters, each with different weaponry that powers up as you play, bring an impressive amount of variety for a bonus game, but with only a single stage, limited by a timer (each run ends at two minutes) rather than progress through battles, this is never going to last all that long. That said, with well-implemented leaderboards, the game does about as much as could be expected of it, and serves as a nice way to round out the Collection.

14. Reverie: Sweet As Edition (Switch) - 24 February 2019
Complete playthrough with all items collected; 100% of 'stamps' (in-game achievements) unlocked. An entertaining, smaller-scale take on A Link to the Past, in a modern setting, Reverie puts players in control of Tai, a child visiting a New Zealand island who finds himself tasked with calming the restless spirits threatening the inhabitants - but despite that premise, the game is brightly-coloured and cheerful in tone throughout. The game is generally fairly easy, but there are some nicely-designed puzzles in the later 'dungeon' areas (and a few with infuriatingly simple solutions that I initially overlooked. The equipment that you'll collect to help with puzzle-solving and exploration fits nicely with the theme, but it would have been nice to see some more imaginative functionality - what's here is ultimately quite common, e.g., a shovel, projectile weapon, swimming equipment. Despite being on Switch, there's a satisfying achievement system available in-game, which is also used to reward and encourage exploration - a few hidden areas/secrets are scattered around in more out-of-the-way areas. Overall I enjoyed my time with the game, but as it's fairly short it doesn't have the chance to extend itself between commonly-seen aspects of this type of game.

15. Undertale (Switch) - 2 March 2019
Pacifist playthrough completed, with 'true' ending. I've allowed myself to be fairly well spoiled on the game in the past, unfortunately, but never actually played it; the Switch release, combined with a decent sale, finally convinced me to change that - and I'm very pleased to have done so. Undertale is a very different experience from anything that I've played previously, and very successful in achieving that, despite its outwardly simplistic presentation. The plot is, ultimately, very touching (though I'm sure that this depends on the choices that you make), with effective 'fourth wall-breaking', and the "bullet hell" RPG battle system - arguably the other main 'gameplay' aspect of the game, alongside the character interactions - is such that, just for once, "unique" seems to be a truly fitting description being. Undertale's excellent music also deserves particular mention, with some very memorable tracks featured throughout the game.

16. Anodyne (Switch) - 11 March 2019
Completed with 100% of items collected - all 48 cards and all 13 secrets. I've put off playing this for far too long, but finally getting around to it I'm pleased to find it to be a great 2D Zelda-like, allowing for a satisfying sense of discovery through quite a freeform world that invites and rewards exploration. Combat is simple but solid, and works well when mixed in to the puzzle-solving which can be more involved. I'd have liked to see a bit more in the way of equipment variety, and the performance of this Switch release isn't great, with notable slowdown quite frequently and especially during screen transitions (Flash doesn't play nicely with the Switch, apparently), but these don't detract excessively from an enjoyable all round-experience. Oh, but how people originally found some of the collectibles and secrets without a guide is beyond me!

17. Assassin's Creed Odyssey – Legacy of the First Blade (PS4) - 16 March 2019
Episodes 1-3 completed, each with 100% of trophies earned. Assassin's Creed Odyssey was among my favourite games of 2018, so I was always going to be well-inclined towards this first DLC pack - and indeed, I very much enjoyed my return to Kassandra's Ancient Greece. Following their strong support for Assassin's Creed Origins, Ubisoft are taking that one step further with Odyssey - the amount and quality of expansion content is very impressive, with sizeable new quests being introduced for free, even before considering this first expansion.

With each of the three episodes taking place within wholly within one region of the game world, Legacy of the First Blade develops the story from the base game in an interesting direction, which ultimately links up with the wider Assassin's Creed franchise in a very satisfying way. The new expansion quests are largely similar in style to the base game, but that similarity isn't really a bad thing as the quality was already high, and there are some interesting new combat possibilities introduced via new skills and weapons.

18. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker - Special Episode (Switch) - 17 March 2019
100% complete (all gems and bonus achievements), aside from Chaos in the Grand Labyrinth. Much more substantial than I was expecting, the Special Episode DLC was a great reason to return once again to the charming Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker - this is about the same length as one of the episodes from the base game. Although the majority of the 18 new challenges take place in existing maps, the varied objectives make the experience feel fresh, while the five new wholly new maps are impressively detailed and imaginative.

19. Gunman Clive HD (Switch) - 18 March 2019
Completed on hard mode with no damage. Having never previously come across the Gunman Clive games, I bought the HD Collection on Switch after reading a recommendation here on ResetEra, given its low price - and playing through this first game has been a pleasant surprise. Gunman Clive is a fairly simple, but polished, run-and-gun platformer/shooter, similar to the Mega Man games in gameplay but with a Wild West theme. Controls are responsive and the level design always feels fair, with near-instant retries available upon death minimising any potential frustrations. With 20 levels, each lasting about 1-2 minutes, Gunman Clive is quite short, but there's significant scope for replays if you're so inclined - four different characters each require a different approach (e.g., short-range melee-only attacks), while speedrunning and 'no damage' completion of levels add further challenges for those interested.

20. Ittle Dew 2+ (Switch) - 31 March 2019
Completed with 100% of items collected - all upgrades and all (from the bonus dungeon) 41 cards - except for beating the extra boss (Simulacrum).
Expanding greatly on the experience from the original Ittle Dew, this sequel is another excellent 2D Zelda-like . Although it still has a generous amount of combat encounters, the focus here is more strongly on puzzle-solving than typically seen in similar games, generally focused around 'block' manipulation and including the use of four different items to bring greater variety - by the end of the game, these get impressively challenging and creative - and as a result, satisfying to solve - *especially* so in the Switch-exclusive 'dreamworld' dungeon.

Away from puzzl-solving, Ittle Dew 2+ presents players with a sizeable world to explore, packed full of secrets to discover, and a slick, responsive, combat mechanic, albeit fairly simple. The cartoonish graphics create a welcoming impression and the game has a great sense of humour expressed through its writing and environment design.

In common with many similar game, I'd have liked to see a greater range of equipment to collect and use to explore, but that's only a faurly minor criticism to level at what's overall an excellent game which I very much enjoyed playing through - I just wish that I#d beeen able to beat that one last boss!

21. Donut Country (Switch) - 31 March 2019
Complete playthrough. As a creative take on Katamari's central mechanic, Donut County sees players taking control of a hole in a number of environments, tasked with swallowing up everything encountered along the way, growing the size of the hole with everything collected and allowing ever-larger items to be swallowed up. This very simple concept is impressively compelling, with lightweight puzzles introduced as the game progresses keeping the experience interesting throughout its fairly short overall length (we're talking maybe 2-3 hours from start to finish).

22. Tetris Effect (PS4) - 2 April 2019
Completed Journey Mode on Expert difficulty. It's really amazing the difference that this exceptional presentation can make to the Tetris experience. Although largely the gameplay here is 'just' basic Tetris, the use of complementary graphical effects and - especially - music makes the game a hugely engrossing experience (and this is without having tried its VR capabilities, which can surely only enhance this further).

The one significant gameplay change is the introduction of "the Zone", a mode that can be triggered by filling a meter from clearing lines, which temporarily pauses new tetrominoes from dropping until you decide where to place them, while collecting all cleared lines during the mode together, to be cleared all at once when the "Zone" time has elapsed, allowing for more than the usual four lines to be cleared at once, with generous bonus point potential. This brings a nice strategic twist as you decide when the best time to trigger "the Zone" will be.

The game has a main 'campaign' ("The Journey") progressing through levels with a wide range of different musical/graphical sequences, but beyond this, there's a nice range of customisable game modes - from classic 'marathon' through to interesting twists such as targeting specific 'infected' blocks for bonus points - and potentially there's a huge amount of gameplay time to come from this, though ultimately I'm satisfied with my time with the game after completing The Journey on Expert and attempting each of the custom game modes a handful of times

23. Yoshi's Crafted World (Switch) - 20 April 2019
100% complete, including all flowers collected and all costumes unlocked. While the core platforming gameplay is undeniably on the easy side, key to fully experiencing the Yoshi games is going after all of the collectibles - and Yoshi's Crafted World is no exception. Evolving the yarn theme from Yoshi's Woolly World, this latest game now sees its levels being built from papercraft, and in doing so, there's some exceptional creativity on display - levels range from jungles to space and from rivers to haunted houses. Pretty much every level brings something new to the gameplay, including races, shooting and magnetic platforms to name but a few, ensuring that the game stays interesting despite the relative lack of difficulty.

When it comes to collectibles, there's the typical flowers, red coins and hearts to collect in every level (though there are now often more than the five flowers seen in earlier games), but these are now complemented by a range of 'souvenir' papercraft sets that the game challenges you to collect, with several different designs hidden in each level. These aren't ideally implemented, however, as only one type can be collected at a time, necessitating multiple attempts at every level which becomes overly repetitive - it's a nice idea, but there are about twice as many as would have been ideal in my mind.

The other notable downside is the game's music, which is very bland, especially when compared to the excellent soundtrack of Yoshi's Woolly World. While I didn't let this detract too highly from the otherwise excellent presentation, it's definitely a disappointing aspect.

However, despite these two notable issues, overall I really enjoyed my time with Yoshi's Crafted World which stands up well against the other recent games in the series and really shines in creativity above all.

24. Pikuniku (Twitch) - 21 April 2019
Complete playthrough. Pikuniku is a charming, if fairly simplistic, puzzle platformer, with players taking control of an alien creature that looks simply like a long-legged 'blob', exploring an outwardly whimsical world and helping out the various creatures that populate it. The setting and puzzles are often delightfully bizarre, including fights against giant robots but also kicking a rotund worm back through a cavern system to its mother, all in aid of foiling a evil plot to destroy the world with a giant volcanic eruption. The simple graphics suit the game's general lightheartedness very well, alongside catching backing music, which kept me smiling throughout its short (2-3 hours) time to completion.

25. Supraland (Steam) - 11 May 2019
100% in-game progression, all achievements unlocked. This was a wonderful surprise. Supraland blends gameplay elements from classic franchises including Super Mario, Metroid, Zelda, Minecraft and Portal, presenting players with a 3D open world to explore, solving puzzles from a first-person perspective to progress, collecting new equipment and upgrades to expand your means of interactivity, with a smattering of simplistic combat to break up the puzzles. Rarely are the puzzles too obscure to solve, judged just right for satisfaction, but there's good support from the forum community with tips for those who occasionally find themselves getting stuck.

Graphics are fairly simple (the player and NPCs are all stylised stick-people, for example), but more in a charming way rather than being a negative, and fit quite nicely with the game's theme of taking place in a miniaturised world, with everyday objects such as scissors, erasers and chairs being obstacles to navigate

Very impressively, this was developed pretty much just by a single person - and who now continues to interact actively with the community in the Steam forums and on Discord, with responsive updates/patches to the game to improve the experience - and plans now for a sequel, which I very much look forward to!

26. Glass Masquerade (Steam) - 24 May 2019
100% of achievements unlocked; all puzzles completed, including all available DLC. Glass Masquerade is a computer-based take on the jigsaw puzzle, making use of its digital nature to allow for puzzles built up of pieces much more varied than typical physical puzzles - here, each puzzle is intended to depict a stained-glass window. With beautiful artwork for each puzzle and a soothing soundtrack, this is a very relaxing game to play through, with a nice complement of puzzles (43 in total, when including the DLC) making for a decent length to boot - a good few hours or so.

27. kuso (Switch) - 25 May 2019
All 41 levels completed, across both the LOVE and kuso sets. A minimalistic 2D platformed, kuso's levels are well-designed and satisfying to complete, while the inclusion of all levels from the developer's previous game, LOVE, makes this package all the better. I'm no speedrunner so a single playthrough was enough to satisfy me, even with fairly poor end-game scores, but this will be ideal for those who do enjoy speeduns, with a range of different game modes offering a stiffer challenge.

28. Disney's Aladdin (SNES) - 27 May 2019
Completed with all 70 gems and 6 golden scarabs collected. Inspired by the recent film release, I thought that I'd give this classic 2D platformer a try - and while it feels a bit clunky in some respects, this SNES game holds up impressively well. It's certainly somewhat slower-paced than many modern platformers, for the most part (flying carpet level excepted), but the core platforming gameplay is rock solid, while still managing to have some satisfyingly well-hidden secrets to track down (red gems, rewarding a 'better' end sequence when enough are collected). Alongside that, technically, Disney's Aladdin is very impressive, with highly detained, expressive animation and graphics, as well as a decent rendition of classic songs (or very similar variations). I hear that the Genesis/Mega Drive game is generally more highly-regarded, but don't at all regret spending time with this release.

29. Detective Gallo (Switch) - 27 May 2019
Complete playthrough. Detective Gallo is a point-and-click adventure game in the classic style, with players taking control of Gallo, an anthropomorphised bird, tasked to investigate a plant 'murder' incident. This is very nicely done, with impressive cartoon animation and expressive personalities in each of the characters, both Gallo himself and those that he meets. While it's clearly focused on a comedy theme, the puzzle solutions are generally reasonable logical, albeit that's helped by the game being somewhat limited in scope and very linear in its progression.

30. Owl Watch (Steam) - 27 May 2019
Complete playthrough; 100% of achievements unlocked. A very short and simple 3D platform/adventure game, played from an overhead perspective. Owl Watch has a nice visual presentation and is fairly satisfying and relaxing to play through, while it lasts - its three stages won't take more than 15-20 minutes to complete.

31. Golf Peaks (Switch) - 2 June 2019
All puzzles completed (109/109). Golf Peaks is a relaxing puzzle game based on miniature golf courses, with gameplay coming in the form of selecting shots from a group of options presented, alongside one of four grid-based directions to aim, with the goal of course of getting the ball into the course's hole. It's a simplistic concept, but works well, with a gradually expanding range of terrain types making up each course to keep things varied - from quicksand that swallows up the call, to slippery ice tiles and automated conveyor belts. With a limited choice of shots for each stage, ultimately everything can be solved by brute-force trial-and-error if needed, but generally the solutions are fairly accessible, while maintaining difficulty for the later stages to keep the game satisfying. With roots as a mobile game, Golf Peaks isn't anything especially ambitious, but it's an enjoyable, relaxing affair all the game.

32. The Messenger (Switch) - 9 June 2019
Completed with all 45 power seals collected. An excellent combination of Ninja Gaiden-style platforming with Metroidvania exploration, with attractive pixelart presentation and an intriguing story premise - there's a reveal about half-way into the game that puts the plot really nicely into perspective and draws you in to wanting to see it through to completion. I enjoyed the gameplay throughout, with great level design, responsive controls and satisfying moveset with which to navigate the world. I do, however, share the commonly-expressed view that the Metroidvania elements of the game are weaker than those where the focus is more on core platforming, and there's a little too much unnecessary padding towards the end. In these later stages, it would also have been nice to see some more subtle direction to guiding the player towards the next key area/objective than The Messenger presents - text riddles are all that it currently uses, rather than much in the gameplay/environment itself, in the way that classic Metroid typically would, for example. These criticisms don't, however, ultimately detract all that much from a very enjoyable experience.

33. Gato Roboto (Switch) - 21 June 2019
Completed with 100% of items collected. After a break to play through the latest Assassin's Creed: Odyssey DLC (which will get reported once I've completed all episodes), I'm back to another Metroidvania - this one attractive by its relatively short length and, well, what's not to like about its cat + mech suit premise! Gato Roboto is actually much more Metroid than Castlevania, without any direct levelling-up mechanic, and the strictly monochromatic presentation gives the game a distinctly retro feel. While it's always satisfying to acquire new upgrades, on balance those on offer here are fairly predictable and the gameplay isn't all that deep - but over its short length (the game can be completed in around 3-4 hours if you're not aiming for 100% completion), it doesn't overstay its welcome.

34. Cadence of Hyrule – Crypt of the NecroDancer Featuring The Legend of Zelda (Switch) - 28 June 2019
Completed with 100% of items collected. While I was never much good at Curse of the NecroDancer, I can't resist a new Zelda game, whatever form it comes in - and I'm pleased to say that I didn't regret this purchase. Cadence of Hyrule doesn't have the same punishing difficulty as the original NecroDancer, and the rhythm-based movement/combat mechanic actually works really nicely in a Zelda setting. Now, if taken just as a Zelda game, this probably would be towards the lower end of my ranking of the series (procedurally built dungeons are always going to struggle the hand-crafted offerings of traditional Zelda games), but the whole experience is elevated dramatically by the absolutely *fantastic* take on Zelda's already iconic soundtrack, with very catchy and diverse remixes/combinations of many classic pieces. Having completed the game once through, I don't feel an immediate compulsion to replay it, but there's excellent support for those who do, with a number of different characters available, a perma-death mode and daily challenge runs.

35. Katana ZERO (Switch) - 2 July 2019
Completed (standard difficulty) with all five Government Lab keys collected. With the player taking control of a katana-wielding ninja across a series of missions each tasking you - at least initially - to kill a specific, well-guarded target, Katana ZERO feels much like an exceptionally well-presented 2D side-scrolling take on the fast-paced action of Hotline Miami, aided by a time-slowing ability and instant restarts in the case of failure (styled as the protagonist perfectly planning out each scenario and discarding any approaches that "won't work"). Controls are fluid and very responsive throughout, with any failure always feeling fair, alongside a number of available approaches to many encounters in achieving an extremely satisfying experience. There's a fantastic plot driving this all forward, which actually can vary in how it develops in both subtle and significant ways, though you won't realise this unless you replay the game - or of course, read up about the alternatives - and it's just a shame that it's all over quite quickly, quite feasibly within around 5-6 hours for a single playthrough.

36. Super Mario Maker 2 (Switch) - 7 July 2019
All story mode 'jobs' completed, castle fully rebuilt. As with the original Super Mario Maker (and the later 3DS release), I tended more towards playing rather than creating levels here, but either way, this an excellent extension of the concept, with really meaningful new concepts/items, etc. to use in stage creation. While the Switch's physical form isn't as directly well-suited to creation as was the Wii U, especially when used in handheld mode the creation interface is well-built, feeling about as natural as is probably possible (though do make sure to get a stylus if you intend to use it extensively).

In terms of 'play' content, the campaign/story mode is appreciated, with some very unusual and creative course designs and in places an impressive level of difficulty. The typical Mario charm is here in spades with the dialogue from the characters you're interacting with (mainly the Toad builders) and satisfying secrets to uncover, all feeling very polished. Of course, the game's long-term appeal will depend on community support but all signs so far are that this will be very strong, with some astounding levels around and hugely varying designs.

37. Riverbond (Xbox One - Game Pass) - 11 July 2019
Completed with all achievements unlocked = 1,000/1,000 Gamerscore. Riverbond is a fairly simplistic but satisfying 'hack-and-slash' (or 'shoot-and-slash', peer the official blurb) 'dungeon crawler game, entertaining and satisfying to play through, though ultimately with fairly shallow gameplay. A variety of collectibles and a few well-hidden secret add to the game's longevity, as does the game's encouragement to chase high scores and, potentially, the multi-player capabilities. I always find voxel-based graphics appealing, as used to good effect throughout, emphasising the destructibility of much of the game's environment, but ultimately this isn't a game that's going to be memorable beyond the short-term.

38. Timespinner (Switch) - 21 July 2019
Completed with 100% of collectibles, all quests completed, 100% map exploration (all possible single-playthrough 'feats' completed). Combining one of my favourite game genres - the Metroidvania - with a time-travel based plot, which I always find intriguing, Timespinner sets itself up strongly as a game that appeals to me, and didn't disappoint. The game sees Lunais, assuming the role of protector of her tribe against any disasters that might befall it through her mastery of a 'timespinner' device granting time-travel abilities to those able to use it - which she is forced to do in the game's introductory sequence.

Very much resembling Castlevania: Symphony of the Night in its mix of platforming, combat and RPG elements, Timespinner was a very satisfying experience, with level-ups bring noticeable stat increases alongside a nice variety of weapons (seen here as orbs). Key to the success of any Metroidvania is of course the world in which the game takes place, which here is very intelligently-designed, with satisfying but not excessive use of time-travel based puzzles to aid traversal, an interesting plot and well-written characters - all leading up to an end-game choice that feels meaningful. Wrapped up with excellent presentation and beautiful pixel-art graphics, this is a really great package all around.

39. Assassin's Creed Odyssey – The Fate of Atlantis (PS4) - 27 July 2019
Episodes 1-3 completed, each with 100% of trophies earned. Overall, a superb send-off for one of 2018's best games, I enjoyed this second expansion package more so than the earlier Legacy of the First Blade, which was already good. The Fate of Atlantis sees Kassandra (or Alexios, I suppose) travelling to three mythological locations - Elysium, Hades and finally Atlantis itself, each populated with very interesting characters and with an engrossing storyline. As new areas independent of the base game, each of these three locations is smaller in scope, but still sizeable at that - an impressive accomplishment for a DLC pack. I'm just sorry now to see my time with the game coming to an end!

40. Kid Tripp (Switch) - 28 July 2019
All levels beaten; three gold medals earned and several challenges beaten, but I'm not chasing all of these. Kid Tripp is a simple but challenging auto-runner platform game. With a low-resolution pixelart presentation, the game betrays its mobile roots, but otherwise is very playable for its Switch release. The high level of precision that is often required, combined with lack of checkpoints, mean that there's potential for frustration here, but the the short length of each level (typically 20-30 seconds) keeps this in check. Awards for collecting all collectibles in a level and speedrunning potential help to provide some longevity, but I was satisfied with completing a single run through the game.

41. The Messenger: Picnic Panic (Switch) - 30 July 2019
Completed with all 4 feathers and 10 mask pieces collected. Taking account of common feedback on the base game, this free DLC focuses on the core platforming gameplay aspects of the game, with two mostly linear, but lengthy and challenging new levels, plus an initial bonus stage reminiscent of the dragon-riding and similar sequences from the base game. Overall this is an excellent, very enjoyable opportunity to revisit a game that I enjoyed very much earlier in the year, with the difficulty level well-judged to provide a great feeling of satisfaction from success at navigating the levels, especially so with the fairly well-hidden collectibles hidden throughout each level. My only real gripe is that to collect any missed collectibles, you need to replay each level from the start, without any alternative warp points that would help to ease this backtracking.

42. Miles & Kilo (Switch) - 9 August 2019
Completed with all levels S-ranked and all achievements (except those for time trials) unlocked. Developing nicely from Kid Tripp, to which this is pretty much a direct sequel, Miles & Kilo is again a 2D side-scrolling platformer. The game now frees itself from the auto-running approach seen in Kid Tripp, but I'd actually encourage that as the best, most satisfying way to play, with all levels very much being beatable in auto-run mode - and it might as well be required if you plan to attempt S-ranks, which depend in part on a tight time limit. Brightly-coloured pixel-art is once again used to good effect, but with a significant resolution increase allowing a much more appealing end result and end-of-world boss encounters bring some refreshing variety to the gameplay. Overall, however, Miles & Kilo feels largely to be more of the same - but as neither game is especially long (there are now 36 levels here), this isn't really a bad thing!

43. A Short Hike (Steam) - 17 August 2019
Completed with all achievements unlocked. Thoroughly wholesome is how I'd describe my overall impressions coming away from this gem of a game, which sees players take control of Claire, a young bird, as she undertakes the eponymous 'short hike' to the peak of the island on which the game is set. The game uses an overhead perspective, with a fairly low-resolution graphical style which, rather than being a negative, is actually quite fitting to the overall vibe here. The gameplay sees you seeking out golden feathers, which grant the ability to perform successive 'double jumps', crucial to the climb to the summit, through exploration, interaction with the various other, somewhat anthropomorphised, animal characters that inhabit the island and the completion of tasks that range from simple fetch quests to races, a volleyball variant and the ever-popular fishing - all coming together to create a very satisfying experience.

44. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (PS4) - 24 August 2019
Platinum trophy earned; completed on normal difficulty with 100% map exploration, 100% of items collected, 100% of demons/shards catalogued. I'm a Kickstarter backer for Bloodstained and so was coming to the game with fairly high expectations; an initial disappointment with the myriad and ongoing technical issues that the Switch version had resulted in me - somewhat begrudgingly - picking up a PS4 copy as well, but from there out I was thoroughly impressed.

Bloodstained faithfully captures the feel of the Iga-vania games (of which I still need to play more!), tight controls and techniques, challenging boss encounters and a fantastically well-designed world/castle to explore. Exploration is satisfying throughout and rewarding, with secrets to discover around every corner and there's a well-developed item/skill/crafting system to exploit. Grinding/leveling is there for those who want it, with all 'shards' (Bloodstained's skill system) being able to level up in two areas as well as the core experience system and the game is driven on by a fittingly dark but coherent story. Despite the recent glut of new releases in the 'Metroidvania' genre, Bloodstained still manages to stand out, probably being the best recent attempt to follow the pure Castlevania model (though of course, Hollow Knight is still superior for the genre as a whole!).

45. The Shivah (Steam) - 25 August 2019
Completed with 100% of achievements unlocked and all three endings. With Unavowed's addition to Xbox Game Pass (for PC), before getting stuck into that I felt that I ought to finish exploring Wadjet Eye's back-catalogue of point-and-click adventures - hence the next few entries here! The Shivah is one of Wadjet Eye's earlier games, centred around a Rabbi who becomes caught up in the murder of a former congregation member. Compared to many games in the genre this is a rather short game, readily complete-able within 1-2 hours if you know what you're doing and with the 'puzzle' gameplay mostly based around conversations rather than item manipulation (a common theme in many Wadjet Eye games, to varying extent). There are some interesting moral themes here (but the Jewish theming shouldn't be seen as a detractor for anyone, as it's not crucial beyond giving the plot its basis) and overall this is a satisfying experience, though the story isn't as fleshed out as many of Wadjet Eye's more recent releases.

46. Primordia (Steam) - 26 August 2019
Completed with 100% of achievements unlocked and all seven endings. Very different in setting from The Shivah, Primordia takes place in a post-apocalyptic sci-fi world, now inhabited only by sentient machines after the apparent extinction of humans. I'm generally a fan of sci-fi, so the mystery and open questions presented by the game world made for a compelling experience, and ultimately the story comes to a satisfying finish, especially with the variety of choices available at the very end. In terms of the gameplay, Primordia's puzzles mainly follow the more traditional item-based approach and for the most part avoid becoming too obscure, though on occasion there are situations where it's easy to overlook a vital item (I had a guide to hand to help with this sort of thing). What stands out about the game, though, looking back on it, is definitely the philosophical/moral themes, focused around the rights and wrongs of collectivism and similar. An impressive achievement.

47. Resonance (Steam) - 27 August 2019
Completed with 100% of achievements unlocked and both endings. Another sci-fi outing from Wadjet Eye, though in this case with a more contemporary/near-future setting. Puzzles are as enjoyable as usual, with a nice balance between those which are object-based and those arising from conversations, and without becoming too obscure. Resonance differentiates itself, however, with the multiple playable characters, each with specific characteristics that make them suitable for particular scenarios - it's satisfying to work out how best to approach each situation from the increased range of options that this presents. The plot does a good job of driving the game forward and maintaining interest throughout, though with less prominence of deeper themes it feels less meaningful that some of Wadjet Eye's other games.

48. A Golden Wake (Steam) - 28 August 2019
Completed with 100% of achievements unlocked. Another solid adventure game from Wadjet Eye, though in my mind not among their best. The setting, 1920s-30s Miami, is decent enough, though not one that I would typically find to be as inherently interesting as many, and Alfie, the main protagonist, isn't a particularly sympathetic character, often coming across as overly self-centred. Puzzles are generally well-designed, as usual from Wadjet Eye, though a little on the easy side, such that the game as a whole isn't as memorable as it might be. So, overall I'd still say that A Golden Wake is worth playing, but look first to the other games in Wadjet Eye's extensive catalogue.

49. Shardlight (Steam) - 1 September 2019
Completed with 100% of achievements unlocked and all three endings. The last game of Wadjet Eye's back-catalogue for me before Unavowed, Shardlight once again takes a post-apocalyptic setting; contrasting with Primordia, this is still a world inhabited by humans, but the widespread infection of the population with the 'Green Lung' plague makes for a decidedly downbeat, even depressing atmosphere. This is, however, used to good effect, allowing the plot to explore themes around privilege and scarce resources. Wadjet Eye's signature low-resolution pixelart is once again here, giving a nice retro feel to the game and in terms of gameplay, the puzzles are generally logical, though tending a little towards the more tricky end of the spectrum - but satisfying to solve as a result. Key to a good adventure game is of course the plot, and for Shardlight this is compelling throughout, very much making the player invested in the fate of Amy, the protagonist, and offering an ending with a message of hope - if you choose to take it!

50. The Hex (Steam) - 7 September 2019
Completed with the 'true' ending and all achievements unlocked. From the developers of Pony Island comes this wonderfully subversive follow-up. Set in an old bar with six video game protagonists - from a sorceress to an anthropomorphic weasel - coming together, a mysterious phone call warns of an upcoming murder - and the game proceeds from there. You'll take control of each character in turn, with gameplay following the style of the games from which they originate - 2D platformer, XCOM-like tactics and more. The mechanics of these segments aren't particularly extensively developed - but the 'point' of the game comes really from its plot, with frequent fourth-wall-breaking and a satisfying tying-together of the disparate backgrounds of the characters. I'll not go into more detail to avoid spoilers, but suffice to say, The Hex gets a strong recommendation from me.

Illusionary · Jan 1, 2019

Continuing...

51. Shotgun Legend (Steam) - 13 September 2019
Completed on normal difficulty with all items/upgrades collected and all achievements unlocked. This is, essentially, NES The Legend of Zelda, but with a shotgun rather than a sword. The concept actually works rather well, with the ranged combat focus being an entertaining twist on the formula. As with Zelda, many of the 'dungeons' can be attempted out of order, encouraging a very open approach to exploring the overworld, which also includes a good number of well-judged secrets. There's not much in the way of puzzle gameplay that's seen in the later Zeldas, though arguably that's just a result of following the first Zelda as a template, and as the game isn't especially long (somewhere around 7-10 hours unguided, depending on how much you explore and seek collectibles) it remains enjoyable throughout.

52. The Office Quest (Switch) - 16 September 2019
Complete playthrough. A more modern take on the point-and-click adventure than those from Wadjet Eye that I've recently played through. The Office Quest sees a bored office worker escaping from his mundane day job and adventuring through a series of increasingly surreal environments. This is clearly coming from casual/mobile game roots, with uncomplicated interactions throughout while still allowing a satisfying sense of achievement from completing the puzzles that it presents - and which, despite the surreal settings, are almost always approachable and avoid causing frustration. There's no obvious plot here, but the game has a great sense of humour which ensures that there's still a strong incentive to keep playing, with a well-judged length - somewhere around 3-5 hours - meaning that the game doesn't overstay its welcome.

53. Effie (PS4) - 23 September 2019
Platinum trophy. Effie is a bright, colourful 3D platformer that first came to my attention from an impressive trailer, and for the most part live up to its promise, without being an overly memorable experience. Level design is generally decent, with some satisfying secrets to seek out. However, there's quite a limited variety of enemies throughout the game and overall each area, while being decently-sized, feels quite empty. Controls are solid and combat, for what's here, works well enough, but it's really quite simplistic. A few special moves that are learned later in the game build on this a little, but not enough to make for a particularly compelling mechanic. There's enjoyment to be had here, but if you're willing to look to games that are a little older, there are better examples of the genre that I'd recommend first.

54. Konami Pixel Puzzle Collection (Android) - 28 September 2019
Completed both standard and expert modes with no hints used. Well, this was quite the time-sink! With over 500 puzzles to solve, Konami's Pixel Puzzle Collection will last even the most dedicated picross fan a long time. There's a nice range of difficulty, ramping up well as you solve more puzzles - until you've solved each puzzle, you can't choose which come up, with them instead being presented to you in a somewhat 'random' order, other than easier/smaller puzzles generally coming first - and the game neatly avoids the potential for frustration that could arise if coming up against a particularly tricky puzzle by offering three 'slots' for puzzles to be attempted with progress saved, plus an additional one for multi-part 'boss' puzzles.

The touch interface is well-designed for the mobile format; beyond that, if you enjoy picross, or logic puzzles generally, you can be sure that you'll have a good time here. Once you've solved each of the puzzles once, an 'expert' mode opens up - this features exactly the same puzzles (plus a handful of additions), but the key difference is that you lose the functionality allowing cells to be marked as blank. The added challenge here is more one of memorisation/visualisation and far from essential, though it's a decent enough way of extending the playtime if you're dedicated and on't find it too frustrating.

Overall, this is one of the best mobile picross games that I've come across of late, very much recommended.

55. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Switch) - 8 October 2019
100% complete on normal difficulty (32 heart pieces, 50 seashells, 193 chambers for Dampé's dungeon). While I'm not particularly inclined towards a hero mode playthrough for now, it was really great to have a good excuse to replay this gem of a game. Link's Awakening was my first 'proper' Zelda (I'd dabbled once or twice with the original on a friend's NES before this, but only barely) but despite that, it's amazing what a difference some of the quality of life changes make to a game that I was already very fond of.

The remake maintain's the 'cozy' atmosphere that the smaller scope of the game engenders, further enhanced by the toy-like graphical style, while the world design, puzzles and overall gameplay are as enjoyable as ever. The improved functionality of modern controllers does away with most of the time-consuming menu and item management required by the original's two-button controls and the extra map warp points are another much-appreciated addition. Musically, the game also excels - Tal-Tal Heights and the final Staff Roll remain two of my favourite pieces of Zelda music and the orchestral recreations here do them proud.

Overall, the Link's Awakening remake really feels like the 'definitive' way of experiencing this superb early instalment in the Zelda franchise, highly recommended to all Switch owners.

56. Life is Strange 2 - Episode 1: Roads (Xbox One - Game Pass) - 10 October 2019
Completed with 100% of achievements unlocked (190/190 GS). An interesting start to this sequel series, which gives a strong introduction to brothers Sean and Daniel, the main protagonists of the story, and their close relationship. It took surprisingly long for the series' trademark supernatural element to surface, towards the end of this episode, but even before this the story is strong enough to capture interest and keep you wanting to play on. When the ineviatable does occur, the events that surround it are effectively portrayed, asking questions which allow for interesting answers to come later in the plot - I look forward to more to come!

Technically the game shows some improvements over the first series, with a more polished feel to the gameplay, while the voice acting - crucial for a game in this style - is strong throughout.

57. Life is Strange 2 - Episode 2: Rules (Xbox One - Game Pass) - 10 October 2019

Completed with 100% of achievements unlocked (190/190 GS). Completed with 100% of achievements unlocked (190/190 GS). Episode 2 is where we see the connections to the short teaser prequel The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit come to play, and even though I played through that on PS4 so didn't get a customised experience, seeing the events of that game in the light of the circumstances revealed by the first two episodes of Life is Strange 2 was fascinating. That said, it's a little disappointing here that we see that some of the seemingly significant choices from the first episode don't actually make much of an impact on how the story progresses - and leaves me suspecting that the same will happen with much of episode 2's developments. That aside, though, as an interactive story the game still tells an interesting story, albeit one that doesn't develop on some of its themes as much as there was potential for.

58. Life is Strange 2 - Episode 3: Wastelands (Xbox One - Game Pass) - 11 October 2019
Completed with 100% of achievements unlocked (190/190 GS). With an intriguing diversion from the previous episodes, with episode 3 we see Sean and Daniel's environment shifting to a travelling community on the fringes of society and the law. With the scope for much rougher events, their relationship can take an interesting turn, for better or worse, while we also see the first real opportunity for both to develop stronger relationships with others besides just the two of them. Of course, time will tell whether these have meaningful consequences by the end of the story, but at least for now we get a framework for some gripping - and some more personal - developments in the plot.

59. Untitled Goose Game (Switch) - 18 October 2019
100% complete, including "as well" and "quicker" to-do lists. A really charming, entertaining break from the norm, Untitled Goose Game sees players taking control of a goose whose aim is simply to terrorize a village in the most effective manner possible. Each area of the village is designed with a wonderful level of detail, with numerous little touches that raise a smile, with a simple but effective graphical style that fits the game perfectly, and both the people and especially the goose feel brilliantly characterful and expressive. Gameplay consists of a list of objectives that you're challenged to complete - from stealing food to locking a child in a phone booth - with a mix of ingenuity and light stealth, and bringing great satisfaction to achieve. A few of these are a little frustrating, particularly with objectives requiring collection of a set of objects that villagers will try to retrieve if noticed - though arguably, this is a way of rewarding successful stealth.

Even with a secondary set of challenges that become available after completing the game and a speedrun challenge, the game is fairly short - it's quite feasible to have everything done is around five hours, by which point the mechanics feel like they're being stretched about as far as they can. However, there's such a sense of chaotic fun here that I can't help but give the game a recommendation overall.

60. Wuppo: Definitive Edition (Switch) | 27 October 2019
Completed with 100% in-game progression. Another wonderfully charming game, though in a somewhat different way, Wuppo is a 2D platform/adventure ('Metroidvania', perhaps?) game set in a world inhabited by a number of Kirby-like 'blob' creatures; in particular the game follows an exiled 'wum' in the search for a new home. As the game progresses, it does a great job of laying out its strange world, with an impressive amount of background lore to discover and the initially slightly 'amateur'-feeling low-res graphics come to feel very fitting, helping to heighten the world's strangeness. There's a enjoyable variety in the tasks that you'll need to take on to progress, from the mainstay of twin-stick shooting combat through to distributing newspapers and fishing - the game does a lot with quite a limited set of tools. To raise just one niggle, if you want to seek out 100% completion/collection after beating the main game, this can get a bit tedious in one respect, as you'll need to earn a decent chunk of money for a few things and these's no particularly quick and easy way of doing so. Besides this, though, there's a nice in-game clue system to help you towards full completion, which helps to balance out the potential 'grindy' element.

61. Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair (PS4) - 28 October 2019
100% complete, will all bees and tonics completed, except for beating the "Impossible Lair" final stage. After their modern take on the 3D platformer with the first Yooka-Laylee, Playtonic's second game, Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair now takes on the 2D platform genre, very much attempting to recreate the magic of the Donkey Kong Country games... and pleasingly, the game does so in fine fashion. Well-designed, interestingly themed levels present a decent challenge, made all the more interesting and enticing to explore by often well-hidden collectibles. Particular highlights of the game are its superb soundtrack (featuring several entries from the legendary David Wise and Grant Kirkhope), the ability to attempt each level in two alternate forms (each with their own unique challenges and collectibles) and, especially, a fantastically well-built overworld to explore.

One significant negative point bears mentioning, which comes from the final level - the eponymous "Impossible Lair" - a half-hour long, checkpoint-free mammoth. As you progress through the main game, you'll build up the ability to take up to 48 hits during each attempt, but even taking this into account, the final level is a *very* steep increase in difficulty, sufficient that many people won't be able to beat the game, leaving a bit of a sour taste right at the end. Up until this point, though, the game is excellent and one that I'd highly recommend.

62. FAR: Lone Sails (PS4) - 2 November 2019
100% of trophies earned. FAR: Lone Sails tells a short, but beautiful, atmospheric story of a journey across a desolate, post-apocalyptic landscape; it's a little hard to categorise by genre, with a mix of survival, vehicle simulation, light plaforming and puzzle gameplay. Players take control of a lone traveller, encountering an abandoned landship and using that to travel to an as-yet unknown destination, keeping the ship maintained and fuelled, and occasionally breaking out into puzzle/platforming sections to overcome obstacles.

During the course of the journey, the landscape gives some hints as to the scenario that's overtaken the world, but never does particularly explicitly - this may be either good or bad depending on your perspective, but the contemplative state of mind that the game elicits is undeniable. As a 'gameplay' experience, puzzles are generally fairly straightforward but still bring a sense of satisfaction, and for those looking for a challenge, a speedrun achievement calls for completion in just 99 minutes. That a time this quick is possible is of course indicative of the game's short length, which may make it a bit pricey for some, but as a sale purchase, this was well worth my time.

63. macdows 95 (PC - Steam) - 21 November 2019
Completed with 100% of achievements unlocked. macdows 95 is a quirky puzzle game, with a variety of challenges set within an imaginary computer operating system. There are some really interesting, unique ideas amongst the puzzles here, with the challenge generally being more around working out the 'trick' of each puzzle rather than actually carrying out the solution - lateral thinking is definitely required quite frequently! There's a well-implemented hint system available where needed, though, ensuring that the experience remains entertaining rather than frustrating - I had a good time with this.

64. Life is Strange 2 - Episode 4: Faith (Xbox One - Game Pass) - 23 November 2019
Completed with 100% of achievements unlocked (190/190 GS). After a bit of a wait for it to hit GamePass, this relatively short episode was sadly a bit disappointing. While we do get to see Sean developing a relationship with another character from his past. overall the events felt somewhat contrived and the apparent choices not particularly meaningful.

65. Old Man's Journey (Xbox One - Game Pass) - 24 November 2019
Completed with 100% of achievements unlocked (1,000/1,000 GS). In terms of gameplay, Old Man's Journey is a fairly short point-and-click adventure, with puzzles generally based around navigating each environment using an ability to raise and lower different planes/layers of the landscape (this is easier to demonstrate than to explain in words!). Really this is more about the artistic experience rather than the 'game' - and on that front it's very well done, with some beautiful and emotional imagery as the protagonist, the titular old man, recalls experiences from his life.

66. Mad Age & This Guy (Switch) - 30 November 2019
All levels and all bonus objectives complete. Styled quite closely to the classic Bomberman games - though with bombs that explode in a circular radius rather than lines - Mad Age & This Guy is an enjoyable and surprisingly challenging puzzle game. While it feel at times a little unpolished, the core gameplay holds up throughout its 54 levels, though by the end it's probably about exhausted its potential as the game mechanics remain pretty much unchanged throughout, other than adding a couple of new types of enemy. Bought on sale it represents excellent value and certainly has the ability to elicit the desire to play "just one more" level.

67. Luigi's Mansion 3 (Switch) - 11 December 2019
Completed with all gems collected, all boos caught and the great majority of achievements unlocked. Luigi's Mansion 3 is a really fun and charming game, very much doing justice to the series on Switch. While for the most part fairly low in difficulty, the puzzle design is imaginative and there's an incredibly impressive level of detail and variety throughout the 'mansion' (this time, a hotel) - each of the 15+ floors has its own theme, from the relatively mundane (guest rooms, shops and dining areas) through to a movie studio, a pirate ship (complete with ocean!) and Egyptian-style tomb. Additional longevity comes from searching for sets of gems (often requiring further puzzle-solving) and hidden Boos, and there's even a decent multi-player mode.

68. The Outer Worlds (Xbox One - Game Pass) - 12 December 2019
Completed with 1,000/1,000 GamerScore (48/48 achievements unlocked). It's been a little while since I got properly stuck into an RPG, and The Outer Worlds has been an excellent way to come back to a genre which is among my favourites. The main story questline is fairly short compared to many, but there's still a lot of content here when optional side missions are taken into account. The sci-fi world in which the game is set is impressively well-realised (not that I'd expect anything less from Obsidian), with believable characters and factions, and a plot that feels meaningful and satisfying. The gameplay is similarly strong, with a decent variety of options available for character development; it's particularly nice to see that a non-combat focus is very much viable, with dialog or stealth-skill focused solutions to most quests.

69. Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope (Switch) - 15 December 2019
Standard playthrough complete with all upgrades and collectibles; majority of in-game 'feats' unlocked. Strictly this is a re-completion, as I originally played through the original Shovel Knight campaign on Wii U, but many years ago - and as I've not yet played any of later campaigns, the release of King of Cards seemed an apt time to come back to the collection, starting here before moving on to the other knights. The gameplay is as enjoyable as ever, with tight controls, great level design and satisfying secrets, making the game overall a fitting tribute to the 'retro' series that inspired it.

70. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) (PS4) - 18 December 2019
Platinum trophy earned, including complete playthrough on Veteran difficulty. A return to form for this biggest of franchises, this 're-imagining' of the events of the first Modern Warfare brings back the campaign gameplay that was disappointingly missing from Black Ops IIII - and does so resoundingly well, with well-realised characters and well-built scenarios, with more than we've seen recently on the stealthy special forces gameplay that I generally find much more enjoyable and satisfying than larger, more chaotic firefights. I'm yet to make much time for the multiplayer, as that's not usually what I play the Call fo Duty games for, but I'll probably dip a little in from time to time - from what little I've played so far there's a great selection of modes and satisfying gunplay.

71. Life is Strange 2 - Episode 5: Wolves (Xbox One - Game Pass) - 20 December 2019
Completed with 100% of achievements unlocked (240/240 GS). Another fairly short episode to close out the season, but overally a step up from episode 4's rather contrived events. Some very heartfelt scenes allow some final development to the relationship between the Diaz brothers and, while I'm not convinced that the events of the rest of the game alter the nuances of ending all that much aside from the two polar opposites from the final choice, overall it comes to a conclusion that feels fitting. That's about as much as I can say without going into spoilers, but I look forward to seeing what comes next from DONTNOD.

72. Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom (Switch) - 26 December 2019
100% in-game completion rating. A beautiful, excellently designed Metroidvania, with a focus on platforming gameplay and simple but enjoyable and varied puzzle-solving, while still evoking the satisfaction inherent in exploring and discovering the secrets of a well-realised world. Shifting between different animal forms is a creative mechanic for learning new combat and traversal skills and, while the early parts of the game feel a little restrictive, with a little persistence this soon opens up.

73. Wandersong (Switch) - 29 December 2019
Complete playthrough; also 100% of achievements unlocked on Xbox One and Steam for good measure. A charming and uplifting puzzle adventure, based around the theme of singing/music in place of combat and to solve puzzles. This works impressively well, but the game really excels in the character development and emotion that it achieves from such simple building-blocks. A perfect way to see out a year that's certainly had its fair share of ups and downs in reality!

Illusionary · Jan 1, 2019

Reserved #3

Hopefully this will be enough space, we'll see!

Taneleer · Jan 1, 2019

Main post.

This will be my fourth year with last year beating the least amount of games. This year shouldn't be too hard, as I literally have a dozen or two half finished games.

Game 1: Assassin's Creed Rogue (Xbox One BC) | 24 Hours
Game 2: Assassin's Creed Liberation HD (Xbox One BC) | 11 Hours
Game 3: Rise of the Tomb Raider (Xbox One) | 16 Hours
Game 4 : Resident Evil Revelations 2 (Xbox One) | 21 Hours
Game 5: Assassin's Creed Unity (Xbox One) | 25 Hours
Game 6: Inside (Xbox One) | 5 Hours
Game 7: Assassin's Creed Syndicate | 62 hours
Game 8: Dragon Quest Builders (PS4) | 23 hours
Game 9: Super Mario Odyssey (Switch) | 15 hours
Game 10: Gears of War (360) | 10 hours
Game 11: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Wii U) | 80 Hours
Game 12 : Dragon Quest XI (PS4) | 68 | October 18
Game 13: Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (3DS) | 15 Hours
Game 11: Assassin's Creed Origins (Xbox One) | 90 hours
Game 12: Resistance 3 (PS3) | 15 Hours
Game 13: Pokemon Shield (Switch) | 22 Hours
/spoiler]

electroflame · Jan 1, 2019

Let's go, 2019! This'll make year number six (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019).
Unfortunately, I didn't make time to write down my impressions this year, but I tried to abandon games I didn't like pretty early, so almost everything I completed I actually "liked" this year!

1: Sniper Elite 4 (PC, ~22 hours)
2: Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter (PC, ~17 hours)
3: Titanfall 2 (Xbox One, ~12 hours)
4: Gears of War 4 (Xbox One, ~10 hours)
5: Halo MCC: Halo CE (Xbox One, ~6 hours)
6: Halo MCC: Halo 2 (Xbox One, ~7 hours)
7: Halo MCC: Halo 3 (Xbox One, ~8 hours)
8: Halo MCC: Halo 4 (Xbox One, ~7 hours)
9: Halo 5: Guardians (Xbox One, ~10 hours)
10: Super Lucky's Tale (Xbox One, ~10 hours)
11: Ashen (Xbox One ~14 hours)
12: ONRUSH (Xbox One, ~12 hours)
13: Strange Brigade (Xbox One, ~15 hours)
14: The Division (Xbox One, ~100 hours)
15: The Division: End+ DLC (Xbox One, time included above)
16: Crackdown 3 (Xbox One, ~20 hours)
17: Crackdown 3: Wrecking Zone (Xbox One, ~5 hours)
18: Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Xbox One, ~24 hours)
19: Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (Xbox One, ~8 hours)
20: Celeste (Xbox One, ~10 hours)
21: Celeste: All Hearts + 100% (Xbox One, ~15 hours)
22: Spider-man: The City That Never Sleeps (PS4, ~15 hours)
23: Spider-Man: Ultimate NG+ (PS4, ~12 hours)
24: Vampyr (Xbox One, ~15 hours)
25: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy [Ace Attorney] (PC, ~13 hours)
26: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy [Justice For All] (PC, ~16 hours)
27: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy [Trials and Tribulations] (PC, ~16 hours)
28: Monster Hunter: World (Xbox One, ~30 hours)
29: What Remains of Edith Finch (Xbox One, ~2 hours)
30: Gears of War: Ultimate Edition (Xbox One, ~15 hours)
31: Descenders (Xbox One, ~8 hours)
32: Void Bastards (Xbox One, ~9 hours)
33: Cities Skylines (Xbox One, ~15 hours)
34: Guacamelee! 2 (Xbox One, ~11 hours)
35: Borderlands 2 (Xbox One, ~20 hours)
36: Borderlands 2: Commander Lilith and the Fight for Sanctuary (Xbox One, ~5 hours)
37: Life is Strange (Xbox One, ~12 hours Total)
38: A Fisherman's Tale (Steam VR, ~2 hours)
39: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (PC, ~40 hours)
40: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice NG+ (PC, Included above)
41: Bayonetta (PC, ~19 hours)
42: Assassin's Creed: Origins (PC, ~53 hours)
43: Assassin's Creed: Origins - The Hidden Ones (PC, Included above)
44: Assassin's Creed: Origins - The Curse of the Pharaohs (PC, Included above)
45: Batman: Arkham Knight (Xbox One, ~20 hours)
46: Devil May Cry V (Xbox One, ~12 hours)
47: Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (Xbox One, ~15 hours)
48: Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon (Xbox One, ~5 hours)
49: What the Golf? (Apple Arcade, ~6 hours)
50: Sayonara Wild Hearts (Apple Arcade, ~2 hours)
51: Cricket Through the Ages (Apple Arcade, ~2 hours)
52: Dead Cells (Xbox One, ~10 hours)
53: Dead Cells - Hard + Cleanup (Xbox One ~5 hours)
54: Gears 5 - Campaign (Xbox One, ~12 hours)
55: Thimbleweed Park (Xbox One, ~10 hours)

Multiplayer (i.e. "uncomplete-able", but played long enough that it might as well count as a "completion")
56: Gears of War 4 (Xbox One)
57: Titanfall 2 (Xbox One)
58: Forza Horizon 4 (Xbox One)
59: Halo MCC (Xbox One)
60: Sea of Thieves (Xbox One)

And that's a wrap on 2019 -- here's to 2020!

Frivolous · Jan 1, 2019

Main Post

Currently Playing:

Dec · Jan 1, 2019

Dec - 58/52 Games

robjoh · Jan 1, 2019

I will join this year. However doubt that I will make it but I have a backlog with games that I want to play. This might help me get through some of them.

Kyrios · Jan 1, 2019

Not sure if I'll get it this year, but you never know!

Most recently beaten game: Halo: Reach

Overall Count: 55/52

Animagne · Jan 1, 2019

Completed 49 games in 2017, but only 23 in 2018, due to spending a lot of time on hearthstone/destiny/fortnite. Hopefully this year will be much better.

Currently playing Beat Saber, Smash Bros Ultimate and Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu. Hopefully will also resume Astro Bot soon and get through some DLCs on games I've platinumed (Spider-Man, Horizon).

Hassel · Jan 1, 2019

Ready for 2019!

1)Jan 19. Witcher 3
2)Feb 04. Valkyria Chronicles
3)Feb 10. Gauntlet Slayer Edition
4)Feb 15. Resogun
5)Feb 23. Dead Cells

6)Feb 23. Skyforce Anniversary (PSN)
7)Feb 28. Assassins Creed II
8)Mar 02. Star Wars battlefront II

CurrY · Jan 1, 2019

My backloggery

#1 Resident Evil 2 One Shot Demo (PC)

#2 What Remains of Edith Finch (PC)

#3 Blue Estate (PC)

#4 Resident Evil 2 (PC)

#5 Apex Legends (PC)

LonestarZues · Jan 1, 2019

MiguelBañón said:
Reserved. I doubt I achieve it, since I study and have a job, but hopefully I can do it. I'll put all my faith on all those short indie games I haven't played yet.

Might I ask if multiplayers games I play regularly count for this? Because if so, this past year I got to play 51 titles. They are a huge add-on to me.

It's all up to you. I have counted them in the past and it's also stated in the OP that you can count multiplayer only games or games with no end.

Rokal · Jan 1, 2019

Hoping I can meet the goal again this year and tie it into some health goals as well by focusing on games instead of other vices.

Let's do this!

Update 1: January
Update 2: February - March
Update 3: April-July
Update 4: August-December
Bonus December Game(s)

Wozzer · Jan 1, 2019

Rhaknar said:
finally, what a slacker Wozzer !

Oy! I rolled out of bed after a late New Year night straight onto the PC for this thread. Starting the new year right :D

Spyware said:
Wozzer For the times, do you want the time we spent playing the game in 2019 specifically or total completion time? :)

I'd say total completion time for the game, regardless of when it was started. :)

Additional reminder to all the folks eagerly reserving posts, don't forget to adopt the proposed format from the first post somewhere in your post;

[SPOILER="All completions!"]
1. Qbeh-1: The Atlas Cube (PC) | 4th Jan - 12hrs | 3/5
2. Snipperclips (Switch) | 6th Jan - 5hrs | 5/5
3. Doki Doki Literature Club! (PC) | 12th Jan - 4.2hrs | 4/5
[/SPOILER]

Deleted member 5086 · Jan 1, 2019

I messed up and gave up half way through last year due to being so busy. Will try to keep going this year.

Reserving a slot.

Currently playing:

1. PC: Return of the Obra Dinn
2. PS4: Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age
3. Switch: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Beaten:

January:
1. Astro Bot Rescue Mission (PS4/PSVR) - 05/01/2019

2. Wandersong (Switch) - 19/01/2018

hersheyfan · Jan 1, 2019

52 games, year 5!

PSN:

Steam/PSN/Xbox Live:

2015: 111 games completed (GAF)
2016: 73 games completed (GAF)
2017: 55 games completed (Era) - List
2018: 75 games completed (Era) - List

2019: 87 games completed (Era). Thats a wrap!

System Breakdown (number of games finished):
PC: 68, iOS: 1, NSW: 13, PS4: 4, PSV: 1

Currently Playing:
NSW: Shakedown Hawaii, New Super Mario Bros U, Travis Strikes Again
Steam: Gears 5, Doraemon Story of Seasons, Yu-No
PS4: Death Stranding, Spider-Man, DQB2
Xbox Live (XGPU PC): Forza Horizon 4
PSV: Tokyo Xanadu
3DS: Persona Q

All games listed in orange below were started/first played in 2019.

Post 1: Games 1 to 10 (link)

1. Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series (PC) 3/5
2. GRIS (PC) 4/5
3. Jamestown (PC) 4/5
4. Florence (iOS) 5/5
5. The King of Dragons (NSW) 2/5
6. Ben Wander Presents: A Case of Distrust (NSW) 3/5
7. Noitu Love 2 Devolution (PC) 4/5
8. Another Lost Phone: Laura's Story (PC) 4/5
9. Cellar (PC) 2.5/5
10. Cat Quest (NSW) 3.5/5

Post 2: Games 11 to 20 (link)

11. 1979 Revolution: Black Friday (PC) 2/5
12. To The Moon (PC) 4/5
13. Shikhondo (NSW) 1/5
14. Persona 4: Dancing All Night (PS4) 4/5
15. Tetris Effect (PS4) 5/5
16. Aviary Attorney (PC) 3.5/5
17. Bright Memory: Episode 1 (PC) 2/5
18. Hitman: Sniper Challenge (PC) 2/5
19. Bad End (PC) 1/5
20. Blackwell Unbound (PC) 3/5

Post 3: Games 21 to 30 (link)

21. Gunman Clive HD (NSW) 3/5
22. Blackwell Convergence (PC) 4/5
23. Three Fourths Home: Extended Edition (NSW) 2/5
24. Flower (PC) 4/5
25. Life is Strange: Before the Storm (PC) 4/5
26. Life is Strange: Season 1(PC) 4/5
27. Life is Strange: The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit (PC) 3/5
28. Life is Strange 2, Episode 1: Roads (PC) 3/5
29. Devil May Cry V (PC) 3.5/5
30. Puzzle Agent 2 (PC) 2/5

Post 4: Games 31 to 40 (link)

31. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (NSW) 4/5
32. Velocity 2X (PC) 3.5/5
33. The Haunted Island, a Frog Detective Game (PC) 1.5/5
34. Message Quest (PC) 2.5/5
35. Nekopara Vol. 1 (PC) 2.5/5
36. One Night Stand (PC) 2.5/5
37. Costume Quest (PC) 3/5
38. Cinders (PC) 3/5
39. Resident Evil 2 Remake (PC) 5/5
40. Bladed Fury (PC) 3.5/5

Post 5: Games 41 to 50 (link)

41. What Remains of Edith Finch (PS4) 4/5
42. Katana Zero (PC) 3.5/5
43. Forager (PC) 4/5
44. Chip N' Dale Rescue Rangers (PC) 3/5
45. Witch and Hero (PC) 3.5/5
46. EDF 4.1: Wingdiver The Shooter (PC) 1/5
47. DmC Devil May Cry (PC) 2.5/5
48. Higurashi When They Cry Hou Ch. 2 Watanagashi (PC) 3/5
49. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (PC) 4/5
50. Guns, Gore, and Cannoli 2 (PC) 2.5/5

Post 5: Games 51 to 60 (link, link2)

51. Framed (PC) 3/5
52. Tesla Vs. Lovecraft (PC) 3.5/5
53. Seers Isle (PC) 4/5
54. Gato Roboto (PC) 3.5/5
55. Detroit: Become Human (PS4) 4/5
56. Our World Has Ended (NSW) 2/5
57. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (PC) 4/5
58. Raiden IV: Overkill (PC) 3/5
59. The Hex (PC) 4.5/5
60. Momodora: Reverie Under The Moonlight (PC) 4/5

Post 6: Games 61 to 70 (link)

61. Trouble Witches Origin Episode 1: Daughters of Amalgam3.5/5
62. World End Syndrome (NSW) 3.5/5 xx hours, beaten 7.22.19
63. Crimsonland (PC) 2.5/5 3.5 hours beaten 8.10.19
64. A Short Hike (PC) 4.5/5 79 minutes beaten 8.11.19
65. Nekopara Vol 2 (PC) 2.5/5 108 minutes, beaten 8.17.19
66. Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony (PC) 4/5 Around 27 hours, beaten 8.22.19
67. Fire Emblem: Three Houses (NSW) 5/5 Around 51 hours (1 playthrough), beaten 8.25.19
68. Telling Lies (PC) 4/5 5.7 hours, beaten 8.26.19
69. Inside (PC) 3.5/5 2.8 hours, beaten 8/31/19
70. Gears of War 4 (PC) 3.5/5 9 hours, beaten 9/8/19

Post 7: Games 71 to 80 (link pending)

71. Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon (PC) 4/5 111 minutes, 9/8/19
72. Batman: The Enemy Within (PC) 4/5, 10.5 hours, 9/15/19
73. River City Girls (NSW) 3/5, around 9 hours, 9/20/19
74. I Love You Colonel Sanders (PC) 2/5, 61 minutes beaten 10/5/19
75. AI: The Somnium Files (PC) 3/5, 19.6 hours, beaten 10/12/19
76. IA/VT Colorful (PSV) 2/5, 10 hours, beaten 10/14/19
77. Crackdown 3 (PC - XGP) 2.5/5, 12 hours, beaten 10/25/19
78. Steamworld Dig 2 (PC - XGP) 4.5/5, 10 hours, beaten 10/27/19
79. Blazing Chrome (PC - XGP) 3.5/5, 2 hours, beaten 10/27/19
80. ACA Neogeo Metal Slug X for Windows (PC - XGP) 4/5, 2.5 hours (Story+Caravan+High Score), beaten 10/27/19

Post 8: Games 81 to 90 (link pending)

81. Raging Loop (NSW) 4/5, Around 20 hours, 11/15/19
82. ABZU (PC - XGP) 4/5, Around 2 hours, 11/17/19
83. Croixleur Sigma - Deluxe Edition (PC) 2.5/5, 78 minutes, 11/22/19
84. The Outer Worlds (PC - XGP) 4/5, Around 27 hours, 11/30/19
85. The Messenger + Picnic Panic DLC (PC - XGP) 4/5, Around 12 hours, 12/08/19
86. Halo: Reach (PC - Steam) 4/5, Around 11 hours, 12/08/19
87. Jamestown+ (PC - Steam) 4/5, Around 3 hours, 12/14/19

Had to remove the spoiler tag section as it was causing errors on the page.

angelgrievous · Jan 1, 2019

Ooh, I'd like to join this.

I'll try to figure out how this all works I promise.

KyleP29 · Jan 1, 2019

Prior years:
2015: 52 Games || 1,893 hours
2016: 50 Games || 1,099 hours
2017: 28 Games || 776 hours
2018: 26 Games II 760 Hours

2019 Attempt:

Florence - iPhone (1 Hours) - 1/1/2019
Donut County - iPhone (2 Hours) - 1/3/2019
Gorogoa - iPhone (2 Hours) - 1/8/2019
Shadow of the Tomb Raider -Xbox One (19 Hours) - 1/12/2019
Monument Valley - iPhone (2 Hours) - 1/18/2019
Driveclub VR - PSVR (6 hours) - 1/19/2019
Super Stardust Ultra VR - PSVR (6 hours) - 1/20/2019
Monument Valley 2 - iPhone (2 Hours) - 1/21/2019
Until Dawn: Rush of Blood - PSVR (2 hours) - 1/26/2019
Rez Infinite - PSVR (5 hours) - 1/27/2019
New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe - Switch (13 Hours) - 2/2/2019
Marvel's Spider-Man: The Heist DLC - PS4 (4 Hours) - 2/5/2019
Marvel's Spider-Man: Turf Wars DLC - PS4 (4 Hours) - 2/8/2019
Marvel's Spider-Man: Silver Lining DLC - PS4 (5 Hours) - 2/9/2019
Astro Bot Rescue Mission - PSVR (9 Hours) - 3/9/2019
Tetris 99 - Switch (9 Hours) - 3/12/2019
The Walking Dead: The Final Season - Xbox One (10 Hours) - 3/31/2019
Dr. Mario - Switch (5 Hours) - 4/3/2019
Kirby: Star Allies - Switch (6 Hours) - 4/12/2019
Apex Legends - PS4 (40 Hours) - 5/21/2019
Borderlands - PS4 (35 Hours) - 5/24/2019
Anthem - XBox One (46 Hours) - 6/23/2019
Tetris Effect - PS4 (13 Hours) - 6/29/2019
Super Mario Bros. - Switch (7 Hours) - 7/5/2019
Tom Clancy's The Division 2 - PS4 (34 Hours) - 7/13/2019
Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled - PS4 (6 Hours) - 7/14/2019
Madden NFL 20 - PS4 (96 Hours) - 8/25/2019
Super Mario Maker 2 - Switch (13 Hours) - 8/30/2019
The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan - PS4 (7 Hours) - 9/1/2019
Astral Chain - Switch (25 Hours) - 9/12/2019
Borderlands 3 - PS4 (73 Hours) - 9/27/2019
Mario Bros.- Switch (2 Hours) - 10/19/2019
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare - PS4 (90 Hours) - 10/27/2019
The Outer Worlds - PS4 (38 Hours) - 11/2/2019
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order - PS4 (24 Hours) - 11/30/2019
Afterparty - Xbox One (5 Hours) - 12/19/2019

Florence (iPhone) | 1st Jan - 1hrs | 4/5
Donut County (iPhone) | 3rd Jan - 2hrs | 3/5
Gorogoa (iPhone) | 8th Jan - 2hrs | 2/5
Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Xbox) | 12th Jan - 19hrs | 3/5
Monument Valley (iPhone) | 18th Jan - 2hrs | 4/5
Driveclub VR (PSVR) | 19th Jan - 6hrs | 2/5
Super Stardust Ultra VR (PSVR) | 20th Jan - 6hrs | 3/5
Monument Valley 2 (iPhone) | 21st Jan - 2hrs | 4/5
Until Dawn: Rush of Blood (PSVR) | 26th Jan - 2hrs | 2/5
Rez Infinite (PSVR) | 27th Jan - 5hrs | 4/5
New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe (Switch) | 2nd Feb - hrs | 2/5
Marvel's Spider-Man: The Heist DLC (PS4) | 5th Feb - 4hrs | 4/5
Marvel's Spider-Man: Turf Wars DLC (PS4) | 8th Feb - 4hrs | 3/5
Marvel's Spider-Man: Silver Lining DLC (PS4) | 9th Feb - 5hrs | 4/5
Astro Bot Rescue Mission (PSVR) | 9th Mar - 9hrs | 5/5
Tetris 99 (Switch) | 12th Mar - 9hrs | 4/5
The Walking Dead: The Final Season (Xbox) | 31st Mar - 10hrs | 4/5
Dr. Mario (Switch) | 3rd Apr - 9hrs | 3/5
Kirby: Star Allies (Switch) | 12th Apr - 6hrs | 1/5
Apex Legends (PS4) | 21st May - 40hrs | 4/5
Borderlands (PS4) | 24th May - 35hrs | 4/5
Anthem (Xbox) | 23rd June - 46hrs | 2/5
Tetris Effect (PS4) | 29th June - 13hrs | 4/5
Super Mario Bros. (Switch) | 5th July - 7hrs | 4/5
Tom Clancy's The Division 2 (PS4) | 13th July - 34hrs | 3/5
Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled (PS4) | 14th July - 6hrs | 3/5
Madden NFL 20 (PS4) | 25th Aug - 96hrs | 2/5
Super Mario Maker 2 (Switch) | 30th Aug - 13hrs | 4/5
The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan (PS4) | 1st Sept - 7hrs | 2/5
Astral Chain (Switch) | 12th Sept - 25hrs | 3/5
Borderlands 3 (PS4) | 27th Sept - 73hrs | 4/5
Mario Bros. (Switch) | 19th Oct - 2hrs | 3/5
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (PS4) | 27th Oct - 16hrs | 1/5
The Outer Worlds (PS4) | 2nd Nov - 38hrs | 4/5
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (PS4) | 30th Nov - 24hrs | 4/5
Afterparty (Xbox) | 19th Dec - 5hrs | 3/5

Memory Pak · Jan 1, 2019

Thanks for running the thread again Wozzer. I cut it pretty close last year with 44 completions and 6 DNFs, hopefully this year I'll pass that elusive 52 barrier!
EDIT: That's a wrap! 57 games total, 4 of which have no real end states.

1. God of War: Chains of Olympus (2008, PSP) ★★★★☆
The first God of War game I've ever played. To be honest I was expecting to dislike this, and the first 20-30 minutes or so did nothing to alleviate this expectation. Kratos is a thoroughly unlikable character, and the game has a gleeful, immature obsession with gore and sex. There's a sex mini-game early on which is so incredibly juvenile and stupid, it's almost like they're making fun of their teenage boy audience?
So where on Earth does that 4-star rating come from? Well, I gotta admit the game does a really excellent job at foreshadowing events and future routes in dungeons. Bossfights are stretched out over sequences to get you hyped for the eventual confrontation, and it really seems like Kratos has grown as a character towards the end. There's a few more nitpicks I have, like the annoying quick-time events which are a staple of the time period, but overall it definitely showed me why God of War became a popular franchise.

2. God of War: Ghost of Sparta (2010, PSP) ★★☆☆☆
In some ways this one's more of the same, although the combat has evolved a bit. Where the first game emphasises blocking and countering, this one is more focussed on combining magical spells with combat instead. Aesthethically, this game is again pretty impressive for PSP standards, but it still feels like it has less to offer than the previous one. Partially because the settings are so similar, and partially because everything in this one is just on fire - from Hades during the opening hour, to Kratos' fiery blade powers, to even some of the ice levels with volcanic backgrounds.
Kratos' character development from the previous title is pretty much ignored outright, resetting him to square one of the anger-vengeance cycle. The game also has some peculiar pacing issues, feeling simultaneously longer in the tooth, while also containing less obvious points where you'd take a break at. Such a break-neck pace doesn't work as well for portable games; there's almost zero rest moments, with many save points simply scattered between action beats. Lastly, the quick-time events are back with a vengeance like Kratos, too, and they're more annoying here than last time since more instant deaths occur when you fail them.
Ultimately I think this one really shows how these types of games still need a solid emotional core to somewhat justify rooting for such an unlikable character. Unfortunately, attempts at operatic here fall flat and end up a bit hollow and bombastic.

3. Toon War (2018, Wii U) ★★☆☆☆
Not a bad twin-stick shooter, but not really recommendable to anyone but the staunchest genre fan either. There's some messy visual coding going on here, you start in a desert as an advanced military humvee mowing down dudes wearing headscarves who live in tents - fuckin' yikes! This is why you gotta think about your setting and character designs carefully, to avoid real-life associations visuals like that will evoke. The game is surprisingly packed with a lot of content though, given the low price point, although it does get repetitive quickly.

4. Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 (2007, PSP) ★☆☆☆☆ - unfinished, dropped at final level
Didn't quite finish this one, but close enough. It begins as a pretty uninspired World War 2 shooter, the story is very similar in structure to the original Call of Duty: storm a beach, take out some anti-aircraft in a French village, sabotage a U-boat, destroy a V2 factory. Aiming and movement is rather slow due to the PSP control scheme, but it's not entirely unmanageable.
Selling point here likely wasn't its short, 7-mission campaign mode, but rather the (now unavailable) 32-player online mode (impressive for PSP!). Most of the campaign is very forgiving, but the difficulty absolutely spikes into bullshit territory at the very final segment. I tried it over a dozen tries, hands cramping up, but between the slowness of your dude, and the endless respawning enemies it just wasn't doable. I already didn't really like this one, but that was the final nail in the coffin. Battery died during my 14th attempt, meaning I'd have to redo the entire mission - I'll take it as a cosmic sign to just take the L here and YouTube the ending (spoiler alert, the end is dissapointing too).

5. Xyanide Resurrection (2007, PSP) ★★☆☆☆
This is an okay shoot-em-up that sits somewhere between a rail shooter and a 3 dimensional one. Perhaps the best point of comparison would be Panzer Dragoon, but with free 360 degree aiming rather than quartiles. It has three borderline critical flaws in my opinion: first, there's no autofire option, because holding fire results in a Star Fox-esque lock-on for your rockets (if equipped), meaning you're hammering the fire button to produce shots constantly. Secondly the controls cannot be inverted!!! It's a 3 dimensional space ship game and you can't invert flight controls, how did this happen in 2007?!?! Bizarre, and it took me half the game to get used to. Third and last: the 'story' is really poorly handled. This game is pretty obviously a sequel to 2006's Xyanide on the Xbox/PS2, but the story is relegated to digital comic strips found in a separate menu. Just splice those in between the levels if you want us to see them!

6. Breakout Defense 2 (2018, Wii U) ★★☆☆☆
It's a mixture of Pong and competitive Breakout. Music is okay, but as is often the case with Breakout your biggest enemy really is the physics. It's difficult to really formulate strategies, let alone execute them, because you have so little control over what the exact outcome of a move will be. This is a decent version, the multiple paddles add some chaos, but it could've been improved by leaning more heavily into the chaos by adding things like multi-ball or elemental properties (fire, ice, etc.).

7. Rainbow Snake (2018, Wii U) ★☆☆☆☆ - no ending
This is a pretty bare bones variant on Snake. No music, and the graphics feel like they could've worked on old DOS computers too. They've invented one 'new' mode, where you need to grab dots in a specific order based on colour, but it's not very well thought out. The penalties you get for doing it wrong vary from mild nuisance to almost instant game over, with very little middle ground. Additionally, I feel like if you're going to make me follow a pattern, that should at least theoretically be possible. Often the colour you need isn't even on screen, forcing you to take a penalty. Bad design choice.

8. Forest Escape (2018, Wii U) ★☆☆☆☆ - no ending
Really boring first person auto-runner which attempts to create a horror setting. There's so little to do here besides beating your own high score, the game is outright anemic. The forest doesn't even feel randomly generated because there are seemingly endless repeating stretches in which you can repeat the same left-left-right-right move over and over again. There's no real end to this game as far as I can tell either. Recommended to nobody.

XX. Tokobot (2006, PSP) no rating - unfinished
Not counting this one or giving it a rating since it feels unfair to judge the game after spending less than 2 hours on it total. I cleared the first two dungeons/levels of this 3D puzzle/platformer and didn't feel compelled to continue. The character movement is really slow compared to the relative size of the levels, making the typical block pushing puzzles a real chore to execute. The controls are surprisingly complex for what are essentially just four moves, often requiring at least 2 or 3 buttons to be used at once - feels like this could've been much simplified by using a contextual action button. The music is a bit annoying, story felt incredibly predictable in that Saturday morning cartoon fashion, and to top it off you don't even play as one of the cute robots on the cover but rather some boring lil' boy guiding the robots. Skip this one.

9. Digimon Tamers: Battle Spirit (2001, WSC) ★★★☆☆
Pretty competent licensed arena fighter. There were several of these in the early 2000s on handhelds (Medabots AX comes to mind especially). This one isn't absolutely packed with features; it's a simple fighting game with 8 stages in relatively predictable order. The twist they introduce is that the monsters (? - I don't know much about Digimon) don't have health bars. Rather, when you punch one of them, little blue orbs fly out which you need to grab in order to score points. I feel like that mechanic could've been deepened by showing how many orbs the A.I. has, rather than just guessing, as well as allowing you to steal orbs off the opponent. Currently the game kinda rewards hit-and-run tactics, which is a shame.
Doesn't help that every character only has 3 attacks (punch, projectile, mid-air attack). It would've helped if they relegated the second button to a few more moves, they could've put jump on the up button. It's cute they have taunts, but some Digimon have more than others. It's not the most famous ones either; I only recognised 2 monsters and they each had a single taunt, but the unknown worm insect gets 3? Weird. Overall though, a colourful game with okay music, which is fun to play in short bursts.

10. King of Fighters R-2 (1999, NGPC) ★★★★☆
As someone who isn't particularly competent at traditional fighting games, this is pretty appealing. The downsized sprites are cute and much less intimidating than the footage I've seen of King of Fighters '98, which this version is based on. Apparantly the movesets are mostly identical though, and the roster is pretty big for a 20 year old handheld fighter. I've only run through the game with every character in team mode once, so I'm sure I've only scratched the surface... But it's cool to pull off moves that involve quarter-rotations and half-rotations, even if it's usually by accident. I don't really have the context for any of these characters, but some of the designs are fun and enduring.

11. Worms Open Warfare 2 (2007, PSP) ★★☆☆☆
It's an okay 2D Worms game, you launch missiles, sheep, and banana bombs at the other worms and hope yours live slightly longer. This is a pretty packed game, with 30 campaign levels, a bunch of puzzle stages, time trials, and of course there was ad-hoc multiplayer support. However, I had forgotten Worms gameplay could be this slow. Levels will regularly stretch past the 10 minute mark on bigger stages, which is frankly on the long side for a portable game. I guess the PSP has a sleep mode, but nowadays the battery is so unreliable it will still drain very fast.
It's also annoying when you're playing one of the longer levels that's clearly mapped out as a very precise puzzle, requiring an exact execution of steps, because the CPU will inevitably pull off some impossibly precise trick-shot against the wind direction, somehow pushing your last worm into a forgotten landmine. The game isn't very difficult, per say, but they do progressively stack the deck against you in the later worlds, with tough 4-v-1 fights testing your patience. Worms is a fun game at its core, but this version feels slow, a bit imprecise, and parts of the campaign feel designed to explicitly forbid you from having fun. They'll regularly give you missions without weapons, or only the boring standard ones. Give me Holy Hand Grenades and Concrete Donkeys, Super Sheep and Banana Bombs! Let me enjoy your game, please!

12. Mr. Driller (2001, WSC) ★★★☆☆
Mr. Driller is a fun arcade-style puzzle/action game that was ported to loads of devices. Your goal is to drill all the way to the bottom of a well full of colourful blocks. Grab air tanks along the way and avoid getting crushed by blocks that begin falling after you loosen the structural integrity of the well. Fun concept, colourful levels, several difficulty modes, and some decent tunes too. My only complaints are that the drilling sound effect gets grating since it sits very loud in the audio mix, and that it's dissapointing this doesn't attempt some screen-flipping action on WonderSwan Color as I would have expected it to. If you bought a PlayStation Classic, this is on there, and I recommend giving it a go for an hour or so.

13. Grim Fandango Remastered (2015, PC) ★★★☆☆
Feels like one of the greats from the point & click adventure genre. The game certainly borrows from Mexican and Middle-American cultural iconography, but still feels relatively unique and wholly-formed in how it turned out. The premise, which has you selling travel packages to the recently deceased, coupled with the smooth-talking slimeball persona of Manny Calavera are a great starting point for all kinds of comedy. However, this game also really highlights the limits of this style of storytelling. Once you have outlined all the options, every puzzle can be overcome through trial and error. The real puzzle is sometimes just making sure you have examined all possible options.
I also think this game ironically kinda falls apart in the story department, especially in the last Year. You'd think these adventure stories should focus on delivering a coherent narrative primarily, but the frequent time skips consistently break this cohesion. There's definitely some moments where I'm pretty sure major developments were left dangling, too. Did I ever collect the tools for Glottis? Does the workers revolution ever move forward? Why did Manny even inspire that in the first place, again? It's possible I've simply forgotten some of these moments of resolution, but not everything winds up feeling essential. Towards the end they're really taxing your patience, too, when the game suddenly asks you to completely take the stakes of a character dying due to a lack of driving seriously. Did cars pre-date this race of demon? It's moments like that which constantly annoy you along the way, carelessly filing away at the carefully laid worldbuilding foundations.

14. Lost Reavers (2016, Wii U) ★★☆☆☆ - no ending
Might be coming in a bit high with this rating, but what can I say, this was fun on occassions. Lost Reavers was a free-to-play action game from Bandai-Namco that was exclusive to the Wii U, came out 3 years into the system's life when it was already past its prime, requires several party members AND it was online-only. No idea who greenlit this, but although the game is rather janky, ugly, lacks any sense of impact from the combat, and has terrible character designs... it's pretty fun to play with friends if you set up voice chat elsewhere. Would I objectively recommend this game? No, it has a lot of problems, not least of which is forcing you to go through the tutorial 4 times if you wanna try playing with every character.
But there's a couple of neat enough environments (pyramids, haunted mansions, castle tunnels), occassionally you'll run into Monster Hunter-esque boss battles which are fairly exciting, and the rest of the gameplay is easy to do in the background while chatting with your friends.

15. Guitar Hero Live (2015, Wii U) ★★★★☆
Found this one really cheap last year, looks like it was quite a flop and even ended the franchise. Not sure how deserved that is, because Guitar Hero Live had a lot of decent innovations and a relatively clear vision on how to push the series forward. Gone are the cartoony graphics, it's closer to an FMV game now. They're pretty impressive productions, with massive crowds, and themed (back)stage areas. It's all a bit cheesy, but I mostly enjoyed this change. Not only does Live move Guitar Hero away from the rock/metal/punk exclusive setting, but if you're playing poorly bandmates will scowl at you, and crowds will boo; it adds more pressure to step up your game because it sorta feels like you're letting actual people down.
You also no longer play single songs, but everything is grouped in sets. YMMV with those, a few really hard songs come way too early (Halestorm) whereas some real snoozers like the folk-pop block are a total breeze and come relatively late in the campaign. The other mode, which is now offline, had some good ideas too - drop-in at any time to play along to music videos, or just use it as your personal MTV. While I don't think this entry has the most enduring song line-up, Guitar Hero Live was a nice surprise for 5$.

16. Sonic the Hedgehog (1991, MD/Gen) ★★★☆☆
Never played these games before, so now is a good a time as any. I quite enjoyed this one, but it's less about speed than pop culture led me to believe. There's several zones where you need to be more precise and exact with your timing, have to wait on platforms/air pockets, where I don't see how blindly speeding ahead would work unless you knew the worlds by heart. Music is catchy, the stages are pretty varied and introduce numerous zone-specific ideas. I don't love the weighty feel since I prefer to play cautiously, but it's a good game.

17. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992, MD/Gen) ★★★☆☆
This one makes more sense to play fast. The zones are shortened, the music is better, and you're less likely to stall halfway up a ramp due to insufficient speed as you now how the spindash move. I wish the spindash was a bit more flexible in execution though, rather than apparantly only working from a complete standstil. I liked the casino stage in this one best, and the Metal Sonic battle is fun too. Hate the final Robotnik fight though, since you have no rings every hit becomes a one-hit kill instantly. The zones before it are pretty tough too, so I'm glad I found the level select cheat to get back quicker. Still took me a lot of tries. I think I prefer the first game over this one, since it has less frustrating parts.

18. Disney's Aladdin (1993, MD/Gen) ★★★★☆
Gorgeous action/platform game based on the film which... I'm not sure I've seen? Definitely know the songs, and they have neat, tinny renditions on the Genesis here. But not all of the levels rung a bell with me, so either the game deviates a bit from the film's plot, or I've just never seen it entirely. Anyway, the game kinda feels like a cartoony take on 2D Prince of Persia, right down to the spikes, scimitar, and Middle-Eastern rooftops. It's way less difficult though.
I'd say this one has held up well over time, it's really helped by having a healthbar instead of 1-hit-kills. The only decision that's a bit irksome is that bosses can seemingly only be harmed by chucking apples at them, which are a limited commodity. Had an unnecessarily difficult time against the final form of Jafar since I'd ran out, and the only apples in sight were on a platform that's on fire most of the time.

19. Inside My Radio (2015, Wii U) ★★★☆☆
Short 2D platformer mixed with a rhythm game. Pretty novel idea, you can only jump/perform actions in sync to the beat. In practice this means you don't have complete freedom to jump when you like, which can be annoying. When you're in a flow however, hitting every jump, stomp and dash in a row to the beat, it's very satisfying. Unfortunately those moments were a bit sparse for me, and since levels are short you're frequently interrupted by the terrible dialogue/story here. Would've been better without any text by a country mile. Ending is kinda odd too, suddenly you're doing actual bossfights and almost bullet hell-esque segments. Decent game though!

20. CastleStorm (2013, Wii U) ★★★☆☆
This is a Zen Studios game which mixes the 2D real-time strategy of Swords & Soldiers with tower defence elements. Game looks pretty good, they manage to make it feel like a premium product by economical use of the art style. Performance is fine too, virtually no slowdown even if the screen gets flooded with projectiles. It's a fairly complex package too; towards the end you're juggling 5 different projectiles from your castle with different cooldowns, constantly spawning soldiers to keep your army size to a maximum, popping off different magic with separate cooldowns, and even spawning hero characters you control directly. Add in basebuilding options, 2 campaigns, 2 more modes, DLC options, multiplayer... Zen Studios really did well with this one.
I have some minor complaints, like how the 2nd campaign is less interesting than the first, how the humour of the cut-scenes almost always falls flat (luckily you can skip them), and gameplay wise the Viking designs are all too similar - I need to know whether I'm spawning shamas or axe throwers, but the miniscule icons don't help in differentiating between the two. Overall though, good game in its genre!

21. The Swindle (2015, Wii U) ★★★★☆
Was kinda taken by surprise by this 2D heist game. It plays somewhat similarly to SteamWorld Dig, in that you enter a zone from a safe hubworld and must retrieve riches with which to purchase upgrades for your character. The Swindle puts a lot more pressure on you though, by mixing in roguelike elements (if you lose a burglar, he/she's gone forever, including any multiplier bonuses they might've accrued), as well as a hard deadline (you must do the final heist within 100 attempts or fail forever).
The result is a really tense stealth game that preys on your greed very well. There's always more cash in difficult spots, or a hackable computer nearby with just a guard or two... You can probably make that one too right? The game is constantly coaxing you into taking more risks, and forgetting about your exit plan. Really well done.
Less well done unfortunately, is the technical performance. The game crashed my console 5 times mid-heist, there's some occassional bugs and glitches, the height from which fall damage occurs seems to vary, and the upgrade which lets you control downed drones can easily halve the framerate. Normally I could deal with these, but it resulted in 3 lost final missions, which were rather irritating occurances.

22. Master Reboot (2014, Wii U) ★★★☆☆
It feels wrong to fault ambition, which this game certainly has. The developers have shaped an intriguing world, visually. The art direction and premise aim somewhere between TRON, Portal, and neon-synthwave album covers. This world is used to tell some vignettes from the life of a couple (their childhood, beach holiday together, a fatal encounter) and does so successfully to a degree. I like how seemingly throwaway references like a Tomb Raider-esque poster in a bedroom will later manifest as an in-game Tomb Raider-esque puzzle. Exploration is rewarded too, by giving you more clues about what's goin on. Another admirable aspect is the fact the entire game is playable in Welsh; I'm sure this was partially done to receive funding from Welsh culture foundations or something, but it's still nice to see developers determined to keep their language alive.
That said, the gameplay here is scattered in too many unfocused directions. Driving sections, stealth sections, action/chase sections, first person platforming sections... None of them is ever truly well-developed, and especially first person platforming feels undercooked for how vital it turns out to be (Metroid Prime is still the standard bearer here, in my opinion).
I'm also not a fan of the cutscenes, which clash really harshly with the rest of the art style and make it look like much more of a budget product. Furthermore, it relies heavily on tired horror tropes. Weirdly lit teddy bears! Unknown women with glowing eyes! Empty playgrounds at nighttime! Very generic stuff. Lastly, the sound mixing is (purposefully?) all over the place, seemingly only so they can randomly make loud banging noises in lieu of actual jumpscares.

23. Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash (2015, Wii U) ★★☆☆☆
Very obviously a product compromised by a hard deadline. Honestly I'm not sure why this had to be a November release for Nintendo in 2015. In its current state it had no business being a big holiday title, especially in the year when they had Splatoon and Mario Maker as evergreen Christmas gift options, plus Xenoblade X as a late-December release. Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash should've been moved at least 3 or even 6 months out.
That said, what is here, slim as it might be, is an okay package. Camelot delivered a game that looks polished in the visual department, with funny details in victory poses and the individually styled tennis rackets. Not a whole lot of characters though, and it's a shame not everyone is decked out in a special tennis outfit. I also miss the GameCube era intro movie.
Gameplay is pretty good too, with around 7 different types of shots at your disposal that function in a rock-paper-scissors way of countering each other. Add in the charge cancels, ultra smashes, and the rather undercooked mega mushroom mechanics, and it's clear to see why the follow-up (Mario Tennis Aces) almost plays like a fighting game. At higher difficulties the A.I. offers quite a challenge too.
Where the rushed development is felt though, is in things like how you can only pause the game during replays, or how there's no options screen to get rid of those replays at all. Additionally, while they technically have 9 different courts here, they're fairly blatant pallet-swaps with minor physics differences. Lastly, the single-player mode is very barebones too. Barely any sense of progression, not even a dull tournament bracket - you just face a succession of opponents, with one bossfight at the end which barely deserves to be called a bossfight.
At its core it's a solid game, but it was in dire need of more (worthwhile) content.

24. Mr. Pumpkin Adventure (2016, Wii U) ★★☆☆☆
Amusing and kinda strange point & click adventure game. Play as the titular Mr. Pumpkin and solve various, sometimes rather obtuse, puzzles. Also some light math skills required. Super stylish game in terms of visuals, with its cartoony art style and slick interface, and I also really liked the low-key music despite being very repetitive.
The gameplay however... I'm not sure if I'm just an idiot, or if this game just runs on Moon Logic. There's multiple puzzles I had to look up online which left me wondering what the heck I'd missed, because they seemed like such logical leaps. The game does have an in-game hint system, but you have to play a sort of Google Chrome Dinosaur Game to receive a hint everytime. It gets old fast. Only recommended for staunch genre fans - the game is short and very cheap.

25. Dr. Luigi (2014, Wii U) ★★★☆☆
The Year of Luigi graced us with a new instalment in the Dr. Mario series, with his brother taking up the scrubs after completing his presumed 7-year residency. It's a decent entry too, the addictive match-4 gameplay is back with a couple of modes, and a (surprisingly) still active multiplayer! That said, I do think it also lacks in some basic aspects. There's no real tutorial anywhere besides the software manual which newcomers might find annoying, and there's a real dearth of music here. Just two tunes, seriously?
Overall though, Dr. Luigi comes recommended by 9 out of 10 surveyed physicians.

26. Azure Snake (2019, Wii U) ★☆☆☆☆ - no ending
Semi-sequel to Rainbow Snake, a game I played in January. This one fixes some of my complaints with that one (for instance, adding good music) but also introduces new annoyances of its own. The screen flashes constantly, seemingly determined to annoy photosensitive people, and it still doesn't have basic features from Snake games of thirty years ago like not being able to cross over yourself. There's also a very easy to replicate graphical glitch which temporarily hides your entire snake from the screen until you turn back around.
Look, this is a very cheap game, and I did have fun for 15-20 minutes setting a few high scores, so I don't wanna sound harsh here, but it's just not very good unfortunately.

27. KickBeat - Special Edition (2014, Wii U) ★★★☆☆
Fun concept: this is a rhythm game dressed up like a brawler. Play as the lamest guy in the world while he roundhouses fools on the dance floor... I fear this is the closest we'll get to a Romeo Must Die game adaptation. Thank God the cut-scenes were skippable because the story is a unique flavour of cringy awfulness I haven't endured in a long time.
Rhythm games live or die by their music selection, and this one's rather focused on 2 genres: early-to-mid 2000s rock (Rob Zombie, Papa Roach, Marilyn Manson) and a whole lot of EDM (Pendulum, Celldweller and a few others). There's maybe two hip-hop tracks to spice up the variety (including one by Styles of Beyond), which I don't think was quite enough. Bummer, since the hip-hop beats work really well for this.
Anyway, the game's decent, has a lot of replay value if you wanna get into it. The final boss battle took some getting used to, and I'm not sure why. I don't think there was a sudden spike in input lag, but it took me a dozen tries to nail the song.

28. Koi DX (2016, Wii U) ★★☆☆☆
Short, stylish game in which you play as a fish. Swim in ponds, lakes, and polluted sewers, befriend other fish and solve minor puzzles with them. Clocking in at maybe an hour of playtime, it's clear this is meant as a relaxing experience. The game partially succeeds in this regard, but its meant-to-be-chill music is a bit too twee and saccharine for my tastes. I'm sure many folks will find it relaxing, but it got on my nerves after half an hour.
Overall I kinda liked playing this, and it does succeed in telling a kinda cute story if you bother to pick up the collectables, but ultimately it's just a very slight experience.

29. Swords & Soldiers HD (2014, Wii U) ★★★☆☆
Had begun playing this earlier in the year but got sidetracked by CastleStorm, amusingly. Having now finished Swords & Soldiers, I can say it's sort of interesting, especially for what once was a WiiWare title, but I'm not massively enthused by it either. It's a side-view strategy game in which you manage 2 separate resources in order to spawn units and use various magic powers respectively. Most levels are doable by a sort of slow-motion Zerg rush, battle-of-attrition style, but a few of them basically have a sequence of unit deployment you need to crack in order to win. Good mechanics but it does get old quick; CastleStorm's iteration on the formula was definitely an improvement.
Swords & Soldiers is all kinda neat, works well, feels polished... But the style is a real bummer for me. Basically all the factions are just motivated by food ("we must conquer the giant chilli", etc.) and not a single joke landed for me, despite the game fielding its very best 2010 Internet meme references. The three campaigns (Vikings, Imperial China, Aztec) also means the writers & artists went for a lot of cheap cultural jokes and caricatures. The Chinese troops sometimes speak in broken English, that sorta stuff. Very dated shit. I'll go with three stars, but just barely.

30. Nice On (1999, WS) ★★★☆☆
1999 Sure was a good year for portable golf games, huh? Between Mario Golf for Game Boy Color, Neo Turf Masters Pocket, and this one, you had quite some options. Nice On is the only one in black and white from this trio, and definitely has the most grating music, but I'd wager it's still worth a look for import gamers. While there's only one course, it does at least have 18 holes, and there's several options to interact with it. You can play by yourself, against the CPU, against ghost recordings of your best plays, and there's 2 ways the link cable could be used with other players... There's even a rather curious mode in which you're playing with a corporate business partner. Doing well in this mode triggers some discussion, of what I presume is a business deal in progress? Kind of a funny stereotype they added in.

31. Side Pocket (1999, WS) ★★★☆☆
This is a pretty stripped-down version compared to other ports of the 1986 Data East classic billiards game. It doesn't have trickshots, and only the 9-ball versus mode is here. Also not here: more music outside of the main menu, or really much sound at all besides some effects and a very short loop meant to emulate crowd noises. That said, Side Pocket is still decent entertainment, and while I would recommend people to look for any other version instead (SNES and Genesis in particular, Game Boy is fine too), this is still okay.

32. Wonder Stadium '99 (1999, WS) ★★★☆☆
Fun Namco sports game, spin-off from the Pro Yakyuu series so you might know the drill if you've played RBI Baseball on NES. Real licensed teams, but a slighty arcadey approach otherwise. This one's got a bunch of funny animation for when players get struck out, get tired or hit by the ball, there's like 9 slightly different home-run animations, 3 stadiums, and even in the crowd you can see lil' dots of people moving around (possibly getting up for drinks?). Add to this a bunch of modes, options, and stats stuff to mess with, plus good music and sound effects and it's an allright package.
Gameplay wise, I don't love it though. I can't reliably hit everything a pitcher will throw at me , and playing defence is really slow and imprecise. Wish I could find if there's a difficulty select somewhere, because the A.I. will regularly rout me 3-12 in a 9 inning game before a mercy rule kicks in. But it's fun in short bursts.

33. Rhyme RiDER Kerorican (2000, WSC) ★★☆☆☆
So this is a WonderSwan Color exclusive. A jazzy rhythm game by the folks behind PaRappa and Vib-Ribbon, and it sure is something else? You play as Kerorican, she's an astronaut going up against the evil army of a pig. Her mission? Stroll down the streets of 4 levels & free the bad guys from piggy's control, by kicking them or doing some kind of dance move in tandem with the rhythm.
Where it gets interesting is in the details: every enemy has a different button combination you need to either memorise, or read off of 10 playing cards that came with the game - dividing your attention. Enemy patterns are randomised too, so there's no "blindfolded DragonForce on Expert" prizes to be won here. Add to this the additional wrinkle that you hold the console in a sideways slanted position for this game, rather than horizontal or vertical... It's pretty clear why this has never been ported elsewhere.
Look, this game has interesting ideas, fun colourful visuals, the packaging with the playing cards is cute, and the sound is on the verge of frying the internal speaker (there's even some vocal tracks here!), but the gameplay is pretty sub-par. Very unforgiving timing, even on the easy one-button mode. Some enemies give you almost no reaction time to avoid, and the random generation means you can't even memorise the patterns or songs because they'll differ. While I can see that they're trying to add replay value here, I think it has the opposite effect. A neat curiosity for the nichest of audiences.

34. From TV Animation presents One Piece: Grand Battle! Swan Colosseum (2002, WSC) ★★★☆☆
Well there's one hell of a long title, huh? This is another Dimps-developed arena fighter, presumably based on their earlier work on Digimon Tamers: Battle Spirit, but this time sporting the One Piece license. I don't know anything about the manga and just played this because it's generally considered one of the best WonderSwan games not called Final Fantasy. Don't think that title is entirely deserved to be honest, it's a game most easily won by button mashing, and they repeat the same mistake from Digimon where they only use the B button for attacks in combination with directional inputs. I think moving jump to the 'up' D-pad would free up the A button to add 3 or 4 additional attacks, to add some depth here. At least conventional health bars are back.
Sound and presentation wise this is definitely a step above the usual fare on this console, and it's kinda interesting seeing these characters and how they mine seemingly very samey themes (pirates, marines) well enough to creature a diverse roster.

35. Buffers Evolution (1999, WS) ★★★☆☆
Another system exclusive, this one from Bandai. The game shares some similarities with Sonic the Hedgehog, in that you play as animals and have to run through stages as fast as possible. Where it differs, is that Buffers Evolution borrows heavily from Transformers or possibly the mechanical aesthetics in certain Metroid titles. So, your robotic falcon, lion and rhino get a bunch of possible transformations (jetski, boat, plane, etc.) which you'll need to use to make it through levels faster.
Good core idea, but in practice the combination of the plane (for horizontal speed) and the drill forms (lets you destroy certain blocks and cling to walls) is always the best option. Additionally, there's no real goal here besides reaching the end and beating your own times. There's no story, no worldbuilding, and as soon as you discover the plane+drill combo there's little incentive to try again with inferior evolutions. At 18 levels, plus 18 different challenge stages, and decent music, this one has more content than most games on the platform - although you can still blitz through everything in an hour or two.

36. Project Gotham Racing 2 (2003, Xbox) ★★★☆☆
PGR2 is one of those racing games which seems curiously obsessed with perfecting minor details, but is content with just laying a 'solid' foundation, rather than a thrilling one. There's a lot of impressive technical stuff here: reflections on car windows and mirrors, customisable license plates, over 100 cars with dozens of paintjobs, too many tracks to count, radio stations per country... Even the sound design purposefully makes the radio sound cruddy like it would in a car, and the songs even get garbled when driving under an overpass!
So where does this go wrong? Well for one, I actually want to hear the songs in a nice quality, not this vague attempt at realism. Bigger problems, however, lie in the game's visual legibility: every corner has the same type of arrow signings, meaning you can't judge the sharpness of a turn before you're already making it. Low guardrails are difficult to spot (especially in rain or nighttime) and compound the game's over-reliance on tracks with 90 degree turns when the steering clearly favours smoother turning.
Those turns are introduced because there's no traffic to impede you, but the game still tries to go for a 'rewarding dangerous driving' scoring system, meaning they need sudden obstacles to slow you down. None of that dangerous driving feels present in the presentation however; the HUD is as sterile as they come, drivers are safely wearing helmets and driving on closed off circuits with neither police nor other traffic in sight. This in turns means the central scoring system feels fundamentally at odds with the rest of the game.
I'm sure this was much more impressive during its time with Xbox Live, ghost profiles, downloadable cars, etc., and the reviews were indeed glowing. But even comparing this game's singleplayer mode to 2003's earlier Burnout 2 makes PGR2 feel positively antiquated in the crucial gameplay department, and no amount of content can make up that difference.

37. Geometry Wars (2003, Xbox) ★★★☆☆ - no ending
This comes included with PGR2, and may unironically be its biggest selling point. Geometry Wars is an addictive twin-stick shooter, albeit a simple one. I don't think it really has an ending, but the game feels substantial enough to warrant an entry of its own here. Are later iterations better? Most likely, yes, but the original still commands that essential "one more try" feeling which sets apart the best highscore chasing games.

38. OutRun 2 (2003, Xbox) ★★★★☆
The long-awaited "official" arcade sequel to the 1986 classic runs like a dream on Xbox. Presumably this is partly because the Sega Chihiro arcade board was based on the Xbox internals? The result here is a silky smooth, stable framerate, with simple but responsive controls, and a real sense of speed and recklessness. Plus, the original 1986 game is an unlockable bonus, too.
OutRun 2 iterates on the hit formula: take your date out joyriding in expensive Ferrari supercars in a race against the clock, with branching paths functioning as selectable difficulty modes (think Darius). There's 2 more ladies to take out for a spin here though: one in the Heartbreak mode, where your date asks you to perform drifts or other assignments at regular intervals, and one in the Mission mode which sports an impressive 101 missions in total.
What I like about OutRun 2 is that Sega AM2 & Sumo Digital clearly realised how fundamentally unlikable this slick-haired slimeball is; breaking traffic laws, and driving dangerously to impress women. To compensate they've made goofy credits clips where the main character will always be the butt of the joke - he'll lean in for the kiss, but fall down a ledge, etc.
One downside of the game is the fact that the skill floor is quite high in Arcade mode on Normal difficulty already, but the Mission Mode has no selectable difficulties. Thus, the mode intended to teach you the ropes quickly winds up more difficult than the regular Arcade mode. I feel this is counter-intuitive since it led to me barely scraping wins after several attempts in Arcade mode, but no access to about 40% of the lessons to learn proper racing lines and improve. Could've easily been fixed by not requiring a pass on every mission of a single stage, bummer.

39. Half-Life 2 (2005, Xbox) ★★★★☆
One of the most hyped games ever, probably? I'm afraid I don't entirely get it though. Imagine the physics were impressive for its time, and it's undeniably successful in establishing a tense, occassionally claustrophobic atmosphere. But there's definitely some clunky stuff here, particularly the dune buggy level (controls poorly and the level goes on forever). Plus there's some presumably added jank due to being downported to the Xbox - the framerate is the primary victim here. That said, there's a lot to like in Half-Life 2: the powertrip at the end, the Ravenholm level, the shotgun feels great, and the sound design is amazing.
Unfortunately the plot is really quite generic and just doesn't stand up on its own - I still don't really know who the Combine are, or the Vortigaunt, why they keep people in pods, or even what the plan of the bad guys is. Granted, a story doesn't need to tell you everything (in fact, it adds to the believability that your character is just some guy, instead of an omniscient being), but they actively break this with the whole G-Man thing and Gordon Freeman's apparantly messianic reputation.
Maybe it all makes more sense if you played Half-Life 1, or the Episodes, but if you go in blind with this one, don't expect to understand everything. Half-Life 2 is a really good game, but I can't help but wonder if my enjoyment was hindered by a lack of context for the story.

40. Samurai Shodown! 2 (1999, NGPC) ★★★★★
Playing King of Fighters R-2 was a good entry for me into fighting games, so when I saw a new Samurai Shodown is being developed I picked up this old down-scaled variant on SamSho 64. It's a bit less accessible than KoF R-2, because SamSho is less forgiving of button mashing. Instead, in this game positioning on the battlefield is king. Since you can theoretically end a fight in less than 10 hits, it's important to strike with precision, fake out your opponent, block often, not get caught in a corner, and be mindful of long windows of vulnerability after unleashing an attack.
This all meant the difficulty curve was a bit steeper than I liked at first, and there's no training mode to get your bearing either. However, some 25 matches in I started to really enjoy this game. There's a lot of characters, each with 2 different movesets and collectable upgrade cards, all the levels have a day and a night version, and the opponents talk cheesy trash with cute typos to boot. Add all these positives to the decent atmosphere it manages to instill through the music and visual designs, one can only conclude this was another winner from SNK.

41. Fatal Fury: First Contact (1999, NGPC) ★★★★☆
Technically a down-port of Real Bout Fatal Fury 2. This one's a lot faster paced than Samurai Shodown, with rounds rarely exceeding 30 seconds and still containing dozens of hits in that timeframe. Fatal Fury as a series apparantly relied on several gimmicks throughout the years, chiefly using multiple planes, and occassionally ring-outs too. This version has neither of those, it's a straight-forward punch-fest with the goal of depleting the other's lifebar first.
My one complaint is that Billy Kane is hideously overpowered in this game, there's just one character he doesn't do well against - that being himself in mirror matches. He has crazy range, speed, easy to pull off specials, many of his moves instantly combo even if you're just mashing buttons, and he does heavy damage too.
That said, it's a fun game, with amusing American-from-Japanese-perspective stylings and about 12 characters who aren't super difficult to learn. Bit bare-bones in terms of features, so out of the NGPC fighters I've tried (Fatal Fury, SamSho, KoF) it's the least replayable one, but still a worthwhile game on its own.

42. Neo Turf Masters Pocket a.k.a. Big Tournament Golf (1999, NGPC) ★★★★☆
Really fun handheld golf game. Earlier this year I played Nice On, and while that was also decent, this one feels a decade ahead despite being released in the same year. Neo Turf Masters features multiple characters, is fully in colour, there's three 18-hole courses, a championship mode with qualifying and everything... Feels like a very complete package, and the good music coupled with the cartoony graphics really sells the experience. There's even weird quirks like bouncing a golf ball on water like a stepping stone if you angle it exactly right, which gives the impression of a polished game. Another fun detail: in the American cup, opponents have names like Snake, Raiden, and Bogard.

43. SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash - Capcom Edition (1999, NGPC) ★★★☆☆
This is commonly regarded as the highlight of the NGPC library, and as someone with a soft spot for Pokémon TCG on Game Boy Color this looked right up my alley. Unfortunately I left slightly dissapointed, possibly due to having too high expectations? Card Fighters Clash is pretty simple to learn - think Yu-Gi-Oh! and you're halfway there already. The cards are famous SNK and Capcom characters, and the opponents are often based on famous developers (there's a certain Mikami in the Resident Evil level, etc.). Add to this environments which are either based on games, or ripped wholesale from movies (a dinosaur land called The Lost World, really?), and you can't help but feel an odour of fan-service in the air.
The whole low-budget fan bootleg vibe isn't helped by the dreadful translation; many cards are translated so dubiously you won't really know what they do before you try them. Others do the exact opposite of what their text says. The clunky menu system means you're constantly re-reading these error-prone cards every time you make some deck adjustments, too. The in-game characters have no cohesion either, some of them break the fourth wall, some of them flat-out explain game mechanics (poorly), one straight up tells you to force a friend to buy the other game version to trade with, etc.
The core gameplay is at least okay, but there's a battle-of-attrition element to card battles that gets tiring quickly, and once you realise the final bosses suddenly require you to grind a lot for A-rank cards when you've spent the past 8 hours breezing by with C-rank ones... It leaves the game ending on a sour note, too.

44. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017, Wii U) ★★★★★
Not sure what I can still add to the conversation about this game that hasn't already been widely agreed upon, but yeah, Breath of the Wild is phenomenal. The game feels so effortlessly elegant, generates so many interesting stories and anecdotes thanks to its interconnected systems, has so few bugs... It's almost frightening how good Nintendo can be at something when they set their mind on something. This is the undeniable new gold standard against which future games in adjacent genres will be measured.
For a series which has spent the past two decades iterating on a similar formula, it's really quite astounding how thoroughly they've knocked this one out of the park on their first attempt. Yes, I initially shared many of the common concerns (I don't want to cook/craft, why do weapons break, etc.), but BOTW sweeps these away when you discover the fun in cycling through weapons fast and which quick meal staples you can rely on.
Five stars feels almost insultingly low. What a towering achievement.

45. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Expansion Pass (2017, Wii U) ★★★★★
Two-parter expansion. I'm not a huge fan of this business practice, because it results in locking things like the Hard Mode and Hero's Path functionality behind a paywall. Especially the latter's case is frankly quite annoying, since the game clearly records your footsteps even without the DLC. Also think the price feels steep compared to the base game, but I begrudgingly understand the economics behind it.
45A. The Master Trials
Initally this didn't interest me in the slightest. A roguelite gauntlet centered around BOTW's least interesting components (combat and enemy variety)? That's almost as unappealing as an open world survival game with crafting and weapon degradation...! But instead these Trial rooms just exist to generate encounters that wouldn't happen on the regular world map (particularly liked the harbour storming one). Extra great is how they force you to defend yourself by showing how well you understand the game's systems. Why fight when you can drop metal near enemies in a thunderstorm? Rusty items useless? Not when you feed them to Octoroks! Etc.
45B. The Champion's Ballad
Breath of the Wild's story was never going to be magically improved by adding a few more cutscenes, but I will say I found these very compelling. I love these characters, so seeing Urbosa and Revali getting a bit more screentime was really appreciated. The added Shrines are a blast, wish there were even more complex ones like these. The final dungeon was a great time as well, and even though they recycle some bossfights here, there's at least one more added which I found worthwhile.
The Champion's Ballad is functionally a best-moments highlights reel, but since the highs are sourced from a game so generous with them... The result is a little microcosm of partially self-created nostalgia for the gameplay style you adopted the past 200 hours.

46. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (2014, Wii U) ★★★★☆
Smash Bros. somewhat suffers from the 3D Mario problem, in that it's one of very few remaining high-budget series within their respective genre (party fighting & 3D platformer, respectively). As a result, reviewing Smash/3D Mario entries occurs either mostly within a vacuum, or at best in comparison to previous Smash/3D Mario entries.
On its own, Smash 4 is another triumph from Sora Ltd./Bandai-Namco. They developed two distinct games near-simultaneously, both brimming with playable characters, having style for days, so much music, decent online play, and - most crucially - robustly intertwined systems which reliably produce hilarious results. When compared to the rest of the series, the usual hyper polish from a Sakurai-led development remains a constant, as does the absurd amount of content, optional goals, scalable difficulty options, and the hallmark "easy to learn, hard to master" approach which Smash Bros. has long perfected.
Yet despite all these positives, I also feel like Smash 4 is one of the least interesting entries in the series. Yes, it looks gorgeous, but the new stages have a few clunkers amongst them: several are way too large (Great Cave Offensive, Gaur Plains) to remain useful, even in 8-player mode. Additionally, too many of the new stages are of the moving variety, making them less distinct (Skyloft, Mario Kart 8, Lylat Cruise, Pilotwings, Wuhu Island), and the returning selection omits curious classics (Hyrule Castle, Corneria) but provides inferior subsitutes for them instead.
I feel similarly about the character roster, which takes two steps forwards, but also one back. Yes, icons like Mega Man and Pac-Man making the cut feels like the logical way forward for Smash to expand into, and with Wii Fit Trainer and the Duck Hunt Duo they've got some more comedic ones in too. At the same time however, Ice Climber, Solid Snake and Star Wolf were removed, and previous fighters are suddenly locked behind a DLC paywall (Roy, Mewtwo, Lucas).
Thus, Smash 4's main new contributions to the series are in moving it into the HD era, and especially the increased emphasis on risk-reward mechanics. By tying difficulty to a wager, and centering several modes around similar mechanics, new modes like the Master Hand/Crazy Hand Tickets can really flourish. Unfortunately, many other modes are gone or reduced. The Adventure Mode/Subspace Emissary are the main victims here, but the Classic mode is stripped down too, Break The Targets is now essentially an Angry Birds knock-off, and the Event Matches too continue their trajectory downwards in quality since Melee. Meanwhile, replacements like the board game mode, and trophy rush, are neat curiosities, with the former especially appealing to Kirby Air Ride afficionados; but they don't quite fill the now-vacant spots.
In summation: Smash 4 is a really good, polished game, with wide appeal. It just has the misfortune of existing in an exceedingly successful franchise spanning two decades, and appears curiously anemic in a few key areas compared to previous entries. In isolation, these are insignificant complaints, they only stick out in comparison with Smash's closest rival: other versions of Smash itself.

47. Super Mario Land (1989, GB) ★★★★☆
Never beat it back in the day. Now, to celebrate the game's 30 year anniversary (!!!), I picked it up again for an afternoon to re-experience the catchy tunes and beat the game in the process. Remember always getting stuck on the final boss because I would lose a hit to the cloud boss that precedes it. Overall, a pretty interesting game in the Mario series, bit of an outlier really. Sarassaland feels tangibly different from usual Mushroom Kingdom surroundings, what with the Moai and Ancient Egypt themed levels, and some weird shoot-em-up levels in between. Feel like the game could've used one more shooter level to be honest, especially since the Moai boss is very uninspired compared to the rest. Very competent game that still comes highly recommended.

48. Pokémon White Version (2011, DS) ★★★★☆
It's been a while since I enjoyed a Pokémon game, after disliking the 3rd and 4th generation titles. This one is much better though, can see why it was regarded as a mostly confident return to form for GameFreak. They allow generation 5 to stand on its own during the main quest, by having all-new Pokémon designs with new interesting type combinations, and keeping the references to previous entries to a minimum. The only things holding this one back are its overly linear progression, the annoying character drama, and the poorly handled story.
Especially the latter feels like quite a letdown, since the core premise is quite inspired.
Team Plasma seek to liberate all Pokémon, since humans hold them captive and make them fight each other. Obviously, that's always been the most potent criticism people lob against this franchise, but this game completely squanders the potential of doing anything interesting with the premise. Instead, it raises the question and then cops out with the most obvious, predictable "gotcha" twist. You can sense it coming from miles away, but still dissapointing.

49. Metroid: Other M (2010, Wii) ★★☆☆☆
Famous musicians will often release greatest hits albums, perhaps peppered with a recording of some live performance, maybe one new song, a remix and/or a cover of a song outside their usual wheelhouse. Metroid: Other M aspires to be something akin to that, but winds up more in tribute act territory. Familiar bosses and music are paraded in front of you, with the hope they'll invoke memories of better times than the one you're having right now, and they all ring a bit hollow and generic.
I will say the discourse surrounding this release is often downright toxic, and I'm not here for that. Other M is just a dull action game with minor highlights when it reminds you of previous game in the series. It's unfortunate this game will never escape comparison against the behemoths that populate the routinely outstanding Metroid franchise, but even on its own the game is underwhelming and very forgettable.

50. Rollercoaster Tycoon: Corkscrew Follies a.k.a. Added Attractions (1999, PC) ★★★★★
Rollercoaster Tycoon classic has been my gaming comfort food for two full decades now. The base game is both accessible and complex, and this first expansion pack contains only fantastic additions. Several more extreme coasters, as well as rickety classical ones, more stalls and flat rides - I basically like every addition, although more thrill rides would've been welcome. I also like the more finnicky rides like the Ghost Trains and Heartline Twists, which are tough to use well, but rewarding to get right. Most importantly though, this version added the blocked path sign, which is unironically the single most useful item in the game.
It took me years to chip away at this expansion pack. With 30 scenarios it's easily a 100 hour game, so I don't see myself starting the second expansion (Loopy Landscapes) anytime soon - but one day I'll be back for more.

51. F-Zero X (1998, N64) ★★★★☆
Like Mario and Zelda, F-Zero too transitioned into the 3D era with a seemingly effortless ease. While I don't doubt it was a nightmare to squeeze 24 tracks, 30 distinct drivers & cars, and even an endless track-generation mode onto a single N64 cartridge and still retain a rock-solid 60fps; the actual play experience hides most of the evidence of the technological mountains being moved in the background. Yes, the music is compressed to heck, the announcer's voice is garbled to the point of incomprehension, and the visual details are so stripped down every level feels familiar regardless of setting (Big Blue, Mute City, or Firefield? Who could tell!).
But in some ways, 3D environments were always destined for with F-Zero. Why restrict yourself to flat surface races, when these hovercars could zip all around pipelines, overtake each other in cylinders, or launch themselves from halfpipes? While the jumps from the original F-Zero don't return in as prominent a fashion, the 3D level designs allow the developers to move away from surprise tight corners to catch you off guard. Instead, you're now tasked with keeping in mind which way is up and which is down, all at 1,000mph.
The commitment to the game's spartan visuals results in a clarity where you're rarely blindsided by an unseen turn or object popping in late, and you can clearly distinguish fellow racers to pick out the rivals you want to bump off the track. I've got one minor complaint about this mechanic: why are the sideswipes & spin attacks mapped to button combinations, when we have 2 unused face buttons within reach?
That said, F-Zero is great. Now where's our F-Zero NX with 30-player online, Nintendo?!

52. Gravity Badgers (2014, Wii U) ★★★☆☆
Fairly clever concept for a puzzle game: you launch badgers through space towards wormholes. Planetary objects have several gravitational properties which affect your trajectory. Do it right, and you'll launch a jetpack-strapped badger in a smooth, curving pattern, assisted by the push and pull of space rocks around him. Do it wrong, and he crashes face-first into a meteor.
Decent game, but the puzzles don't really become clever enough to require much variation in approach. Music is way too bombastic, and there's 2 bossfights which are much harder than anything else the game throws at you.

53. Infinity Runner (2016, Wii U) ★☆☆☆☆
Feels bad to rate this so low, since I get the feeling a lot of the problems might be specific to just this particular port of the game. Infinity Runner is, contrary to what you'd expect, not an infinite runner game. Instead, it's a first-person auto-runner broken up in shorter levels and sections. So where does the name come from? Well, the "story" is set on a spaceship called The Infinity, where you sprint through hallways at hyperspeed. When things work, this game isn't too bad; there's lots of different obstacles to dodge, a repetitive techno soundtrack to get you pumped, and even a half-baked mechanic where you change into a werewolf.
Unfortunately, very few things actually work reliably. The game is very dark, making hazards outright impossible to see. Coupled with the frequent drops in framerate, anticipating hazards becomes luck-based rather than rooted in skill or reflexes. I partially solved this by cranking my TV's brightness up from 30 to 70%, giving everything an ugly PS2 look, but at least it was visible.
Next problem: this (version of the) game is very buggy. End-mission cutscenes have about a 50/50 shot of actually loading, and sometimes you'll hear the same dialogue twice. The third level greeted me with audio pretty clearly destined for a later stage. (Not that you miss much here, mind. While the voice actress is doing a decent job that aims for GLaDOS, it's pretty clear the material on offer is just terrible, meaning none of the jokes really land.)
Other technical issues: you regularly clip through floors and ceilings when you jump in places they don't expect you to, off-TV mode somehow disables all sound altogether making it useless, and perhaps most damingly of all - I've found a 100% replicable crash during the loading screen for the second sector of the final level, making the game impossible to finish. Had to YouTube the final sector.
Look, I suppose this game could be better elsewhere, but Infinity Runner on Wii U is inexcusably broken; a literal unfinishable mess.

54. Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope (2014, Wii U) ★★★★☆
This retro-styled platformer got praised to hell and back upon release, so with the new expansions released, I figured I should dig it (sorry) out of the backlog. Overall I'm rather positive on the game, but it's not without its frustrations. Yes, it nails the visuals and music, and retains an approachable simplicity that feels intrinsically classic.
But it also dregs less revered traditions from the past back up: chiefly one-hit kill spikes (that's what bottomless pits are for!) and how a hit will push Shovel Knight backwards, often leaving him helpless in mid-air. There are ways around these, but they require in-game upgrades. Upgrades in general are important to the design here, as they allow you to organically lower the difficulty (some items let you cruise over gaps), or raise it (by not getting upgrades and/or destroying checkpoints). Fundamentally though, the upgrades didn't quite address my core problem here: a distinct lack of platforming skills. As such, I had about half the optional gear and still died 200 times in a 7 hour platformer.
Sure, those deaths were almost never due to the game being cheap, but I wish there was a way I could have maybe bought more checkpoints or something.
Those complaints aside, I think the game really benefits from having a strong ending. Satisfying final boss, great cut-scene reflecting back on your journey, and the characters really cement their personalities towards the end. Will try the expansions next.

55. Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows (2015, Wii U) ★★★★★
Shovel Knight's first expansion pack offers an alternative quest which coincides story-wise with Shovel Knight's own adventure. In this one you play as Plague Knight, a dastardly mad scientist who wishes he could dance. I read this one's the most difficult campaign of the lot, but didn't find that to be the case at all.
Now, perhaps it's the familiarity with the levels from the previous game still fresh in my memory, but I found Plague Knight a real joy to control. His moveset somewhat reminds me of Pikachu's in the Super Smash Bros. series: you have a double jump, plus a bomb burst you can use to launch yourself in semi-controlled fashion. Add to this a plethora of general attack options (there's easily 100+ possible bomb combinations to create), plus various Arcana moves which range from creating platforms in mid-air to extra firepower.
I guess if we're drawing classic platformer comparisons, the original Shovel Knight leans more heavily on Ducktales and Mega Man, whereas Plague of Shadows cribs a bit from (Super) Metroid. You're fast, nimble, with lots of chainable movement options, and can even attain Screw Attack and Speed Booster-inspired upgrades.
Found this one much less frustrating than the original Shovel Knight, I died way less often despite taking bigger risks and moving at a faster pace. Add to that a great final boss & ending; Plague of Shadows is a real winner.

56. Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment (2017, Wii U) ★★★★☆
Starting out, this one didn't feel right to me. Just a single jump, a short wall run and a homing attack? Specter Knight has nothing on Plague Knight's aerial movement options! Once you start unlocking the Curios though, your palette of options quickly widens. To accomodate for Specter Knight's abilities, the levels were pretty thoroughly overhauled this time. Not always for the better, in my opinion (the Clocktower level's checkpoints seem weirdly clustered together, for example), but on balance it leads to several things you haven't done before in Shovel Knight games yet. Also changed is the world map, in that it's absent here entirely. I guess you could do all the levels in any order you like, but there's a few which still heavily benefit from unlocking the Float ability which you don't get early on.
Something I'm less fond of is the storytelling here. The comedy writing is still strong, and the new hideout is really fun if you've played the original Shovel Knight already. However, some of the attempts at earnest drama fell a bit flat for me. Why are we asked to care about Reize, of all people? Not only have we wiped the floor with him in the earlier games, but we also know that (since Specter of Torment is a prequel) he turns out to be the dimmest, most anime-tropey hero adventurer possible. There's no reason to feel invested in his backstory; arguably, it just detracts from his later depictions. I know he's a previously existing character from somewhere, but centering this entire game largely around him feels like the first real mistake in this series so far. Any of the human characters will inevitably pale next to the very colourful cast of knights here; why even bother?

57. Shovel Knight: King of Cards (2019, Wii U) ★★★★★
Hell yes, King of Cards is another home run for the developers at Yacht Club Games, who at this point are just showing off. In this last solo campaign, you play as the sniveling mommy's boy King Knight, who acquires a crown through exploiting a loophole and betraying anyone who supports him. Everything from his pompous walking animation, to the whining to regain hearts, to how he'll lose his crown when entering a stage, and the army of rats who do the hard work for him... It all feels perfect to convey the deeply sad, misguided, tantrum-throwing crybaby of a leader King Knight is - and it's easy to see him as a caricature of several Western heads of state.
While I liked Plague Knight's campaign more due to the lovable rogue protagonist, there's not denying King of Cards is the definitive Shovel Knight campaign. Breaking the levels up into shorter pieces solves a problem I didn't even know I had with the franchise, the world map returns with a vengeance (including secret exits), King Knight's movements feel very precise, the writing is top-tier again, and once again they absolutely nail the ending. The included card game, Joustus, plays similarly to Triple Triad from Final Fantasy VIII, and feels like it could be spun off into an app of its own. Best part is that it's wholly optional; you can basically ignore the whole thing if it doesn't strike your fancy. Yes, it's a longer game than the others too, but unlike the first Shovel Knight I was never anxious to just wrap things up already.
King of Cards is the real deal. Funny, controls very well, occassionally poignant; the undeniable crowning achievement of this franchise (sorry).

slinch · Jan 1, 2019

I want to try. Seeing the thread title for the previous year always brought up the word "impossible" in my head, but why not give it a shot.

1. Distance (3.1.)
2. Astro Bot: Rescue Mission (7.1.)
3. Carmageddon (13.1.)
4. Gris (16.1.)
5. Burnout Paradise Remastered (19.1.)
6. Tetris Effect (19.1.)
7. Bound (21.1.)

8. Thumper (11.2.)
9. Tekken 7 (17.2.)

10. Shadow of the Colossus Remastered (2.3.)
11. Journey (13.3.)

12. VVVVVV (27.4.)
13. Gorogoa (28.4.)

14. Shantae: Half-Genie Hero (4.5.)
15. Shadow of the Tomb Raider Season Pass (26.5.)

16. Monument Valley (2.6.)
17. 198X (23.6.)

18. Gato Roboto (1.7.)
19. Super Meat Boy (11.7.)
20. The Gardens Between (17.7.)
21. Katana Zero (20.7.)
22. Titanfall 2 (26.7.)
23. OVIVO (30.7.)

24. Superht VR (5.8.)
25. Kuso (7.8.)
26. Just Sounds & Beats (11.8.)
27. Her Story (19.8.)

28. Celeste B-Side (6.9.)
29. Baba Is You (10.9.)

30. Celeste Farewell (19.10.)
31. Vectronom (19.10.)
32. Manifold Garden (26.10.)

33. Donkey Kong CountryTropical Freeze (15.11.)

Ace Combat 7
Doom 2016
Grip
The Last Of Us Remastered
Life Is Strange
Rayman Legends
Red Dead Redemption 2
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation
Mirror's Edge
Ori

Abzu
Prey
Bulletstorm
Detroit: Become Human
Transformers: Devastation
Inside
Limbo
Bloodborne
Prince Of Persia PS3
Rime
Velocity 2X
Nier: Automata
Yoku's Island Express
Shovel Knight
A Plague's Tale

dasu · Jan 1, 2019

Realistically, I am never going to be able to get 52 games in a year (unless I totally cheese this and play 48 hour competition games and short indie games). I just want to complete 26 games and have my backlog go _down_ (I finished 28 games last year, and my backlog actually went _up_).

...of course, that is not going to stop me from participating again.

Good luck y'all!

ikaben · Jan 1, 2019

Ok, this year I'm going to do it.

JustTom · Jan 1, 2019

I'm down for another round after I failed last year! 2019, here we go!

Status: 66/52 (as of December 30th)

1. Celeste (Beaten: January 1st) on XBox One

What a great game to kick off 2019! The platforming is top notch and the story really got me. Had a blast playing this. It only took me 729 deaths to beat the game. However, it never felt unfair at any point. Every single time I knew "yea I ducked up"

Rating: 10 out of 10

2. The Messenger (Beaten: January 2nd) on Nintendo Switch

What a great game. Indies are totally clicking with me at the moment. Loved how the game was a sidescroller in its first half and then turned into a metroidvania like game. The gameplay is just pure fun! The time travelling feature is also a great addition, specifically the shifting between the different styles of music & graphics. What I also liked is the shopkeeper. I was laughing so hard a lot of times. This guy is a genius. I highly recommend playing this game if you are into anything of the above mentioned.

Rating: 9 out of 10

3. Assassins Creed Odyssey (Beaten: January 7th) on PlayStation 4 Pro

So, here is the thing about AC:0 for me. I really looked forward to playing this game. I enjoyed AC:O quite a lot and the way AC went after all the other games. When I heard about an AC game taking place in ancient Greek I was like 'OMG I NEED THIS!!' cause I am a sucker for Greek history and mythologie. And I enjoyed the game for like the first 15 to 20 hours. After that the game just felt like a drag. The map is way too big if you ask me and it just gets super annoying travelling 7km just to continue the main quest. Furthermore, I did a lot of sidequests at the beginning of the game, however, I stopped at some point because of the reason that the game is way too big if you ask me. This lead to me no longer matching the levels for the main quests consequently leading to me getting super pissed cause they kind of force me to do sidequests even though I don't want to. I was kind of tormenting myself through the game for like the last 17 hours. Based on that the rating is still pretty high.

Rating: 6 out of 10

4. Kirby Star Allies (Beaten: January 8th) on Nintendo Switch

I played the demo way back when it got released and thought 'Hey this game isnt too bad, it actually is fun, I dont see why the reviews arent that good.' Time passed and I bought the game back in December half-price. Unfortunately, the demo already offers everything the game is capable of. The game is way too easy and just repetitive, so I was glad when I finished the story mode. Totally understand the reviews after beating the game.

Rating: 6 out of 10

5. Moss (Beaten: January 8th) on PSVR

Had a good time playing Moss. It maybe a bit short and it is only chapter 1 yet but I already look forward to Book 2. The last part with the snake was especially nice, I think. It always blows my mind how much depth VR can add to a game like this. Without VR this game wouldn't work the way it does.

Rating: 7 out of 10

6. Splatoon 2 Octo-Expansion (Beaten: January 11th) on Nintendo Switch

Really enjoyed playing the expansion, even though I think it was way more difficult than the original game. However, I really enojyed the different types a levels like rebuilding a statue, dodging or trying to beat a level with only a limited amount of ink. This really was a step up from the original game. Wonder what Splatoon 3 will be like. Already looking forward!

Rating: 8 out of 10

7. The World Ends With You Final Remix (Beaten: January 22nd) on Nintendo Switch

Phew, this is a tough one. I totally dig the games style and story. Additionally, I really like the gameplay. The world isnt too big and I like how you have to work with gestures to attack. BUT: The controls in the Nintendo Switch are just the worst. Playing in docked-mode with a pointer sucks because you cannot react as fast as you would on a Nintendo DS with a stylus and playing in handheld-mode is weird as well because there is no proper way of holding the Switch and have a good grip while playing the game.

Rating: 7 out of 10

8. Bayonetta 2 (Beaten: 25th January) on Nintendo Switch

Really enjoyed it. The gameplay is just one of the best of its genre. Combining this with a fun character like Bayonetta and one will have a great time for sure. However, I liked Bayonetta 1 better. Hoping Bayonetta 3 will top both of them :)

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

9. Owlboy (Beaten 4th February) on Nintendo Switch

Bought this day one because of all the hype surrounding it. Ended up being disappointed and returning after almost a year since its release day. The game succeeds at telling an interesting story but could improve a lot on gameplay. I am not really fond of the controlls tbh. Overall, the game is nice but not a must-play.

Rating: 7 out of 10

10. Resident Evil 2:Remake (Beaten 10th February) on Playstation 4 Pro

What. A. Game. Love every minute with this. Really gives me the feeling of survival horror cause I was low on ammo all the time, struggling. Close to the end I was even struggling with health cause I couldnt find any health items. The level building is superb as you get access to more and more rooms the longer you play. Only things bothering me is Mr. X because I do not know his function or intention yet (only played Leon's campaign so far). I highly recommend playing this game!

Rating: 9 out of 10

11. Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom (Beaten 16th February) on Nintendo Switch

What a marvelous game. Enjoyed every second playing it. Music was awesome, gameplay was awesome, controls were on point, graphics are amazing. Go and buy this game! One of the best Metroidvanias I have played so far. (See my short love letter in the Monster Boy OT in the hangout section)

Rating: 10 out of 10

12. Detroit: Become Human (Beaten 22nd February) on Playstation 4 Pro

I expected nothing but in the end really liked it, especially Conner's story and Kara's story. What I really disliked was Markus story because it is is just what you expect of an Android-Human Story. Markus being the link between the stories was quite a letdown for me because his story is generic and boring, imho. Nevertheless, Kara and Connor story arcs made up for it! Had a good time playing the game.

Rating 7.5 out of 10

13. Delta Rune (beaten on March 3rd) on Nintendo Switch

I am a sucker for Toby Fox's games. Loved Undertale, loved Delta Rune. Really love how it is setting things up for Undertale so far. I really do hope there is more to come in the NEAR future. Keep up the good work Toby!

Rating: 10 out of 10

14. The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild: Champion's Ballad (Beaten on 11th March) on Nintendo Switch

Returning to Hyrule after a one year break felt awesome! It felt like coming home immediately. The new shrines were great and I specifically liked the last dungeon. If you haven't tried the DLC yet, go ahead, it is totally worth your time and money. Plus: The motorcycle is just fun!

Rating: 9 out of 10

15. Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes (Beaten on 11th March) on Nintendo Switch

Man, I really was into No More Heroes back then. I remember playing it quite a lot. Only played liked 2 or 3 hours of part II, so I barely remember that one but Travis Strikes Back just is a dull game. What the game does pretty well is the metacommunication and knowing that it is a game. It gave me a good laugh from time to time. HOWEVER, the gameplay is just dull, boring and repetitive. The fighting is freakin' boring because all you can change are the abilities and that's it. Consequently, I was rather disappointed...

Rating: 5 out of 10

16. Resident Evil Revelations (Beaten 15th March) on Nintendo Switch

Bought the game when it went on sale because I really enjoyed the Resident Evil 2 remake. Revelations did not disappoint but it is not great either. It was fun but nothing special. If you dig some Resident Evil I think the game is worth your time. Already looking forward to Revelations 2.

Rating: 7 out of 10

17. Resident Evil Revelations 2 (Beaten on 22nd March) on Nintendo Switch

Overall, RER2 was quite enjoyable. However, I didn't really dig the Coop part. Since I usually play by myself, this was rather annoying then a nice feature. Story was alright but nothing surprising or special.

Rating: 7 out of 10

18. The Division 2 (Beaten at some point in April) on Playstation 4 Pro

Had quite a good time back with The Division so I decided to jump into the Division 2. I really is kind of the best loot shooter out there in terms of online games. Gameplay feels great and I had blast playing it with a friend. Might return eventually!

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

19. Cuphead (Beaten on 19th April) on Nintendo Switch

So, here's the deal with Cuphead: Loved it on PC, loved it on Xbox One, loved it on Switch. I love EVERYTHING about this game: style, gameplay, music, difficulty. It's up there with my favourite games. Hoping for a PS4 release at some point, so I can buy it a fourth time!

Rating: 10 out of 10

20. New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe (Beaten on April 20th) on Nintendo Switch

Had a Jump'n'Run itch I had to scratch, luckily my nephew had the game, so he came over and we beat it in like 2.5hrs by taking all the secret exits and shortcuts. Already played it back on the Wii U but enjoyed it less this time. It just feels outdated, I don't know why. Happy I did not buy the game.

Rating: 6 out of 10

21. Bioshock (Beaten on April 30th) on Playstation 4 Pro

Talked to a friend the other day how great the Bioshock games were back then. Decided to buy the Bioshock Trilogy and did not get disappointed. Fell in love with these games all over again. Back in 2007 I finished Bioshock twice (good and bad ending) and it was just as much fun finishing the game as it was back then. Simply put: 'Would you kindly...' is one of the greatest plottwists in videogames history.

Rating: 10 out of 10

22. Bioshock 2 (Beaten on May 6th) on Playstation 4 Pro

While Bioshock 2 still is a good shooter it is missing freshness compared to Bioshock. I guess that why it kind of falls flat for me compared to Bioshock. Gameplay is great though. It really is kind of different to play a Big Daddy. Nevertheless, I enjoyed Bioshock way more.

Rating: 8 out of 10

23. Bioshock Infinite (Beaten on May 8th) on Playstation 4 Pro

Simply put: Just freaking amazing. This game is a masterpiece. Elisabeth is such an interesting character and so is the story evolving around her. There is always a lighthouse, there's always a man, there's always a city. Please play this game if you haven't!

Rating: 10 out of 10

24. The Swords of Ditto (Beaten on May 8th) on Playstation 4 Pro

Had this game for a while cause I kind of like the style and ALttP gameplay. In the end the game was kind of a letdown, that is why I beat the final boss once and put the game aside. It is kind of slow and the fighting is too simple.

Rating: 7 out of 10

25. Super Mario Sunshine (Beaten on May 18th) on Nintendo Gamecube

In the past 17 years I have started the game several times, never got beyond collecting 4 shines. Mario Sunshine remained as the one Super Mario game I hadnt played, up to this point. I have to to say: The game is a lot of fun! I had a blast playing this game within the last week. Sometimes it can be frustrating but after beating a difficult passage I felt relieved! I even consinder Super Mario Sunshine as better game than Odyssey since Odyssey falls flat on a lot of things. Plus: I am on a Gamecube streak right now so there is more tome come (just bought Luigi's Mansion and Eternal Darkness!)

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

26. Katana Zero (beaten on June 1st) on Nintendo Switch

Had a great time playing this. Gameplay, music and story were fun. It's basically a sidescrolling Hotline Miami. Highly recommending this if you like this kind of game.

Rating 8.5 out of 10

HALF WAY THERE!

27. Luigi's Mansion (Beaten on June 2nd) on Nintendo Gamecube

What a game. Had a blast playing this. Only thing I did not like was being send from the top floor to the bottom floor for several times in the last quarter. The way was pretty long without anything happening. Seemed like lengthening the game. Otherwise, I had a great experience. Can't wait for Luigi's Mansion 3.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

28. Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon (Beaten on June 11th) on Nintendo Switch

Don't know how I ended up buying this game but had a blast playing it. Reminds me of why I love Metroidvania so much. Can't wait for Ritual of the Night now!

Rating: 8 out of 10

29. Cadence of Hyrule (Beaten on June 15th) on Nintendo Switch

What a gem of a game. The remixes are just amazing and so is the gameplay. Already loved CotN, so this is a match made in heaven. Please, please, please go and buy this game.

Rating: 10 out of 10

30. Persona 3 Dancing Moonlight (Beaten on June 16th) on Playstation 4 Pro

Well, dont know what I expected. This was boring and dull. Think I'll just skip P5D. Liked P4D, but this one was not worth my time.

Rating: 4 out of 10

31. Sonic 3 & Knuckles (Beaten on 17th June) on Sega MegaDrive

Somehow felt the urge to replay one of my favourite childhood games. Did not get disappointed. It was even better then I remembered. I'm still in love with 2D Sonic, so give me my Sonic Mania 2!

Rating 9.5 out of 10

32. Blood & Truth (Beaten on 20th Junhe) on Playstation 4 Pro

Phew, I am so glad I am done with this game. Based on the reviews and what I saw before the game was released, I felt like this game is going to be amazing. In the end, it was kind of boring. No real surprises gameplaywise. Controlls were kind of janky. Waiting for anither Astro Bot experiecen..

Rating: 4.5 out of 10

33. Super Ghouls'n Ghosts (Beaten on 21st June) on SNES

Once you get the hang of it, this game is amazing. It is challeging and a lot of fun. Do let the game break you because it seems impossible to beat, at first. After 3 levels you got used to the game and it'll get easiert. Loved it!

Rating: 9 out of 10

34. Quackshot - starring Donal Duck (Beaten on 21st June) on Sega MegaDrive

As a kid, I was never able to beat this game. The tiger defeated me every f***ing time. So I came back as an adult and beat the game. It was okay but not as good as I remembered. Nevertheless, I got closure :)

Rating 6 out of 10

35. Super Mario Maker 2 (Beaten on 30th June) on Nintendo Switch

At first I did not plan on buying this game and I do not even know why I bought the but I LOVE it. It is SO much fun. For now I just rebuilt Peach's Castle, so there are many more hours to come. If you like Mario you should give it a try.

Rating: 9 out of 10

36. Viewtiful Joe (Beaten on 4th July) on Nintendo Gamecube

Closure, after all these years. This game was quite hard back than and it still is. I am glad I was finally able to beat it. I still love Viewtiful Joe and I hope there will be a Remaster or VJ3. Fingers crossed.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

37. Viewtiful Joe 2 (Beaten 6th July) on Nintendo Gamecube

Well, basically it is more of the same which is not bad in this case. However, VJ1 is the better game to me cause it kind of introduced everything and SIlvia is kind of a letdown. In addition, the difficulty in VJ1 is WAY higher which is why the game is more compelling to me. Nevertheless, this is a great game and I am just splitting hairs.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

38. Final Fantasy VII (Beaten on 8th July) on Playstation 4 Pro

First time ever I played this game, the FFVIIR hype made me do it. Have to say, while the visuals are outdated (of course they are), the gmeplay and story are still fun. Yet, I am curious how they will change everything to make it suitable for PS4 era. Had fun playing the original one.

Rating: 8 out of 10

39. My Friend Pedro (Beaten on 9th July) on Nintendo Switch

Oh well, it was kind of an impulse purchase. The game was alright but after a few levels just more of the same, nothing special. If you like these kind of games, go for it. Otherwise, wait for a sale, it is rather short and not worth the money..

Rating: 6 out of 10

40. The Wonderful 101 (beaten 12th July) on Nintendo Wii U

Thanks for hyping me up for this ERA. There is so much Bayonetta in it but with a fun turn. Had a blast playing this. Now I do understand why everyone wants a Switch port, I am joining these people. It was an honour to rescue dearth in the end. And now: Team, unite up!

Rating 9.5 out of 10

41. Guacamelee 2 (Beaten on 17th July) on Nintendo Switch

Had a decent time playing this game, it is up there between the better metroidvania games. If you liked Guacamelee and are up for some more, go get it, you won't be disappointed.

Rating: 8 out of 10

42. Wonder Boy and the Dragon's Trap (Beaten on 18th) on Nintendo Switch

This turned out to be rather short. Nevertheless, I had fun playing this, even though it does not even come close to Wonder Boy and the Cursed Kingdom. Anyway, visuals and music are awesome. Gameplay is, because it sticks to the original, rather flat but still enjoyable.

Rating: 7 out of 10

43. Thimbleweed Park (Beaten on 20th July) on Nintendo Switch

Thimbleweed Park was my first adventure game, ever. Besides watching my older brother play Toonstruck and Leisure Suit Larry back in the days, I never had contact with this genre. I know, Thimbleweed Park has a lot of references to older Ron Gilbert games, so I am missing out on these, however, overall I enjoyed the game. While sometimes the steps one has to take or too small, I like the whole idea of this genre and solving a puzzle is redeeming, in a way. I guess I would have enjoyed the game way more on a proper PC since playing these kind of games with a controller feels wrong and not inuitive at all. The touch controlls on the Switch did not make for a proper mouse, unfortunately.

Rating: 7 out of 10

44. Diablo 3 Eternal Collection (Beaten on 25th July) on Nintendo Switch

So, this was the third Diablo III version I beat. Started on PS3 back then, moved to PS4 with Reaper of Souls and now I got the Eternal Collection for Switch, as you might guess, I really like this game. There is nothing wrong with the Switch version, it is a great port but I dont think I will put another 100+ hours into this version as I did on my PS4.

Rating: 9 out of 10

45. Doom (Beaten on 1st August) on Nintendo Switch

My first Doom back then was Doom 3, I only knew Doom and Doom 2 from watching my brother playing these games. Now, as they got a release, I bought all three of them and I have to say: What kind of beast ist Doom? The game absolutely holds up today, had a lot of fun. Only the music can be a pain in the neck after some time.

Rating: 8 out of 10

46. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Beatn on 1st August) on Nintendo Wii

After putting the game down twice before I finally pulled through and it feels great. Great game but it surely takes its time before things kick off. However, I did not like the backtracking a lot. Nevertheless, a great game and it sure does have some great dungeons!

Rating: 9 out of 10

47. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (Beaten on 3rd August) on New Nintendo 3DS

The weakest Zelda game I have played so far. I just dig the whole concept with the time travel thing. Makes the game redundant and boring imho.

Rating: 7 out of 10

48. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 (Beaten on 14th August) on Nintendo Switch

To be honest, I expected the game to be way better. The combat did not feel smooth to me and the story is just not memorable at all since it is pretty close to the cinemtic universe, so there is a missed chance storywise. Nevertheless, had a decent time and got introduced to some new characters I did not know before (only played MUA1 & 2 and watched the movies). Overall I had a decent time.

Rating: 7 out of 10

49. Sekiro Shadows Die Twice (Beaten on 14th August) on Playstation 4 Pro

Sold the game before since I was not able to defeat Genichiro. 4 month later I bought the game again and started all over again. For some reason I beat the crap out of Genichiro and beat him within 15 minutes. It took me like 4 days to get to Isshin which was like a new difficulty spike but after 4 days, I was finally able to beat him. Just one of the most rewarding gaming expierences, the combat is so smooth, challenging and rewarding. It just feels right. Had a blast playing this and I am more than happy that I returned. This is the best FromSoft game if you ask me. (Yet, Nioh is better)

Rating: 10 out of 10

50. Devil May Cry 5 (Beaten on 22nd August) on Playstation 4 Pro

This was fun! Hadn't played a Devil May Cry game in a while so I really enjoyed DMCV. It made me realise how much I enjoyed these games in the past since I was there day one when DMC released back then on PS2. Ever since I played every single DMC game. Guess I'm also down for DMCVI if they release it some day. (Plus I'm all set for Astral Chain now!)

Rating: 8 out of 10

51. Hitman 2 (Beaten on 23rd August) on PlayStation 4 Pro

What a great game. Beat this in just one day because I was having such a good time. The levels are just greatly designed and thought through. Unfortunately the Season Pass costs 40€, so I have to wait for a sale to get more mission but I am already looking forward to it. Had a blast playing this. One more game to go!

Rating: 9 out of 10

52. Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled (Beaten on September 14th ) on PlayStation 4 Pro

Originally I wanted to end this with a bang like Earthbound or Metroid Prime 2/3. For time reasons this is not possible right now. So I ended up beating CTR, which is fine, but no Mario Kart 8 Deluxe to me. In comparison it's a decent game but MK8D does everything way better. Maybe I'll dive into the multiplayer at some point, we'll see about that.

Rating: 7 out of 10

53. Alan Wake (Beaten on 25th September) on Xbox One X

It took me a while to beat this game. I think I got it back when Quantum Break released. Now that I got an Xbox One X a couple of days ago I am back exploring Xbox games, so I thought "Why not take on Alan Wake now?" And here we are. For some reason I love this game. The atmosphere is stellar! It is impressive how the game plays with light and darkness and I really do hope there will be a proper remake/remaster with optimised graphics and HDR cause that would make the game even better. In addition, I really enjoyed the story for some reason. Highly recommend playing this, even though it's an old game.

Rating: 9 out of 10

54. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Beaten on September 29th) on Nintendo Switch

Bought this less then 24 hours ago and beat it already. It's a classic Zelda game and I remembered a lot of things quite vividly for some reason. Had a fun while it lasted.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

55.Titanfall 2 (Beaten in October 4th) on Playstation 4 Pro

Loved the game back in 2016 and still love it! Came back because I was never able to make it to the top 3 in Gauntlet training. Was finally able to pull this off, beat the game on Master and sacked in the platinum trophy. This game is better than it has any right to be. It's just so smooth and BT is so much fun. Hope at some point we will get a worthy predecessor.

Rating: 9 out of 10

56. Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (Beaten on October 8th) on Playstation 4 Pro

I replayed this for my quest to get Platinum in every possible Uncharted game before finishing my platinum in Lost Legacy. It's one of the weaker Uncharted games. It's just not as striking as UC2, 4 or Lost Legacy to me. Rather generic.

Rating: 7 out of 10

57. Uncharted Lost Legacy (Beaten on October 8th) on Playstation 4 Pro

This one, however, is m favourite Uncharted game. The dynamic and relationship between Chloe and Nadine is just so well executed. Spending time with them is just so much fun. In addition the set pieces are looking stellar and the pacing is great. I just love this game. Finishing this game again also marked my quest for getting platinum in every single Uncharted game. Thanks Naughty Dog! :)
Rating: 9 out of 10

58. Call of Duty WWII (Beaten on October 12th) on Xbox One X

Had a good time playing this as I was looking for some quick singleplayer action. Once in a while playing Call of Duty is alright.

Rating: 7 out of 10

59.Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz (Beaten on October 31st) on Xbox One X

I call myself a Monkey Ball Veteran since SMB2 was a HUGE part of teenage years. Felt like I was on top of the world when I beat all the Master Levels back then. Bana Blitz HD is like the worst choice for a Monkey Ball comeback, they should have chosen SMB1 or 2. Was rather disappointed with this game.

Rating: 6 out of 10

60. Luigi's Mansion 3 (Beaten on November 10th) on Nintendo Switch

Already loved Luigi's Mansion 1 and 2 so I was already looking forward Luigi's Mansion 3 and boy, I did not disappoint. Love how every floor features a different setting and throws new mehanics at you. Highly recommend this to everyone owning a Switch, totally worth your money!

Rating: 9 out of 10

61. Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order (Beaten on November 26th) on Xbox One X

Had high hopes because of Respawn developing this and the game was a huge letdown. The music and the sound is great but everything else is just mediocre. If you are really into Star Wars you might enjoy this, otherwise I recommend playing Nioh, Sekiro or anything familiar since the fighting is way more fun.

Rating: 6 out of 10

62. Pokémon Sword (Beaten on December 14th) on Nintendo Switch

After hating Pokemon Moon, I had doubts and swore never to buy a Pokemon game again. And yet, here we are. It does have flaws but overall it enjoyed playing this game.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

63. Catherine Full Body (Beaten on December 25th) on Playstation 4 Pro

Beat this in two days since the puzzeling and the story was a lot of fun! Might return at another point to work on different story endings. Glad I played this.

Rating: 9 out of 10

64. Borderlands 3 (Beaten on December 29th) on Playstation 4 Pro

Oh well, bought this at its release and dropped it because I was just tired of Borderlands. In the end the game is just more of the same. If you want more Borderlands, go ahead and play this game. I am tired of Borderlands and more than happy that it is over.

Rating: 6 out of 10

65. Untitled Goose Game (Beaten on 29th December) on Xbox One X

Honk honk! This was fun!

Rating: 9 out of 10

66. Control (besten on 30th December) on Xbox One X

What a crazy game and yet a lot of fun. The gameplay is topnotch and the Ashtray Maze was just amazing!

Rating: 9 out of 10

xx. Dead Cells (Beaten on ) on Nintendo Switch

xx. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (Beaten on ) on Nintendo Switch

xx. Golf Story (Beaten on ) on Nintendo Switch

xx. Yakuza Kiwami 2 (Beaten on ) on Playstation 4 Pro

xx. The Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes (Beaten on ) on Nintendo 3DS

xx. Earthbound

xx. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (Beaten on ) on Wii U

jml · Jan 1, 2019

Reserved

1. Dead Cells (PC) | January 7 - 37 hours | 5/5
2. Minit (PC) | February 10 - 2 hours | 3/5

Mbolibombo · Jan 1, 2019

Nice!

I made it last year, 55 games. Never done that before. Breakdown as follow:

24 NSW games
15 NES games
6 PS4 games
4 Wii U games
2 PC games
2 SNES games
1 Xbox One, Gameboy games

Highest rated: Hollow Knight / Xenoblade Chronicles 2 / Torna @ 9.3
Lowest rated: Where's Waldo (NES) @ 1.5

Now to 2019 1/52

MiguelBañón · Jan 1, 2019

LonestarZues said:
It's all up to you. I have counted them in the past and it's also stated in the OP that you can count multiplayer only games or games with no end.

Ok, thank you!

rybrad · Jan 1, 2019

Well I failed last year after finishing 3 years in a row so hopefully I can do better this year with no MMOs on the agenda.

35/52

1. Dragon Quest IV (iOS) | 1st Jan - 40hrs | 4/5
Finally finished this one up and had a good time with it. I really enjoyed how the chapters broke up the game and introduced you to each character. The controls were a little wonky with the 8 way movement but I suppose I need to get used to it for the next games too.

2. Darksiders 3 (PS4) | 6th Jan - 18hrs | 2/5
What a freaking let down. From the technical issues to the poor implementation of Dark Souls mechanics, this one was not great. I loved the last 2 games so this one hurts.

3. Battle Chef Brigade (PC) | 13th Jan - 8hrs | 3/5
I think the best way to sum up this game is I loved everything about it except the actual gameplay. I would love to see another game in the series but without the match 3 being the main cooking component.

4. Diablo 3 Season 16 (PC) | 21st Jan - 20hrs | 5/5
Playing another season of Diablo. They buffed a lot of sets for this season so I am checking out some different builds which is fun.

5. Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride (iOS) | 26th Jan - 20hrs | 5/5
This was my first time playing this game and it was cool as hell. I really liked playing through the generations and the twist of your character not being the legendary hero.

6. XCOM 2: Tactical Legacy Pack (PC) | 2nd Feb - 10hrs | 5/5
Despite it only being tactical engagements, I found this DLC to be a lot of fun. I n]ever really play ironman so that definitely added to the stress/fun. I feel like I learned a lot of new tactics I can take into my campaign game now which is a cool side effect.

7. Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom (PC) | 6th Feb - 15hrs | 4/5
Overall this was a really fun and well-polished game. Other than a few of the puzzles being really lame, I enjoyed almost all of my time playing. The various monster forms added some neat puzzle/obstacle solutions too.

8. XCOM 2: War of the Chosen (PC) | 15th Feb - 30hrs | 5/5
Man, what a great game. The TLP and WOTC DLC really made me learn how to play the game better and I had a hell of a good time playing this again. Even the cheesy, trope-filled story is still fun to me. Really looking forward to whatever the inevitable XCOM 3 brings.

9. The Swords of Ditto (PC) | 19th Feb - 8hrs | 2/5
Yuck, what a massively disappointing game. The presentation of this game is great but the actual gameplay is tedous, reptitive and uninteresting. They would have been much better served going the full Zelda route rather than making this a roguelite (and I LOVE roguelites).

10. Anthem (PC) | 24th Feb - 14hrs | 1/5
Oh my god what a fucking awful game.

11. Cat Quest (PC) | 27th Feb - 7hrs | 4/5
Nothing revolutionary about this game but it was fun to play when I didn't feel like doing anything too involved.

12. Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation (iOS) | 28th Feb - 35hrs | 5/5
And with that I am free from the shackles of iOS and onto DQIX on my 3DS. I really enjoyed VI, I will need some more time to reflect on it but it might be my favorite in the series so far. The only part I didn't love is trying to remember where places were in the 2 different worlds but overall it was a ton of fun.

13. Crackdown 3 (PC) | 1st Mar - 12hrs | 3/5
Even though I would rank this as a 3/5, I would say it is a strong 3. I played this for a couple hours each night over a few weeks and really enjoyed the random mayhem. It was a pretty shallow game but it was great fun as a Game Pass title.

14. A King's Tale: Final Fantasy XV (PS4) | 23rd Mar - 2hrs | 3/5
If they would have put some real work into this and made it like a $10 game it could have been pretty cool. As-is it was mediocre and I didn't miss anything by not playing this earlier.

15. Blaster Master Zero II (Switch) | 26th Mar - 10.5hrs | 4/5
Man, this is a tough one for me to articulate my thoughts on. The whole package of the game is really brilliant but some design decisions really took some of the shine off. I would have preferred if the fall damage was more forgiving and could have lived without all the boss rush of earlier bosses at end game. Oh, and fuck the ladder planet, what a terribly designed piece of garbage. With the first Zero game being way to easy and this one going in the opposite direction, I am hoping that a 3rd entry can find that perfect spot between fun and annoying.

16. Assassin's Creed Odyssey (PC) | 31st Mar - 60hrs | 4/5
My first AC game in quite awhile and it was fun. The main problem was it was just too big for its own good. It felt really repetitive at the end and I just rushed the end of the story to wrap it up.

17. Borderlands (PC) | 13th Apr - 10hrs | 4/5
Thanks to the stupid ass epic exclusive deal they made, I will not be getting Borderlands 3 anytime soon around release. My friends and I decided to replay through the series while we wait and we wrapped up Borderlands 1 this weekend. It was a good nostalgia trip and it makes me said how little I like the classes in the other games compared to OG Siren.

18. Operencia The Stolen Sun (PC) | 18th Apr - 20hrs | 2/5
God, what a piece of shit game. I am mad at myself for even finishing this. I kept telling myself it would get better and it never did. Tedious bland combat, awful UI, overly buggy, terribly balanced and a dismally boring game in all. The only saving grace is that since they decided to go the sweet anti-consumer Epic exclusivity route, I just got this on Gamepass instead so I am not out any extra money at least.

19. Dragon Quest XI: Sentinels of the Starry Skies (3DS) | 21st Apr - 40hrs | 4/5
Probably one of the weaker entries in the series since I wasn't interested in any post-game stuff but still a fun game. It would be nice to see this get a remake with some significant QoL updates. It was still a special game as this is my last DQ in the series so I have now officially finished all of them (except the MMO).

20. Borderlands - The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned (PC) | 21st Apr - 4hrs | 2/5
This did not age well. Massive waves of bullet sponge enemies and no fast travel made this a lot more tedious that I remember. Doubtful this one gets a revisit on any future playthroughs.

21. Borderlands - The Secret Armory of General Knoxx (PC) | 26th Apr - 4hrs | 3/5
A lot of driving and padding. Crawmerax was fun at least but the rest was pretty meh.

22. Borderlands - Claptrap's New Robot Revolution (PC) | 28th Apr - 4hrs | 3/5
This was the best of these DLC packs but still not awesome. You can really tell how they padded these out with no fast travel and multiple trips to the same zones back-to-back. Definitely had nostalgia making me remember this was better than reality.

23. Supraland (PC) | 9th May - 22hrs | 5/5
I'm not a big puzzle game guy but the Metroidvania style exploration of this one really did it for me. It probably would have been better without any combat but overall this was a fantastic experience that I managed to 100%.

24. Diablo III - Season 17 (PC) | 18th May - 20+hrs | 5/5
Leveled a new Crusader for the season.

25. World of Final Fantasy (PC) | 26th May - 35hrs | 3/5
Pretty mixed on this one. It had potential but the story was boring and combat was pretty mediocre. The last dungeon was a cool idea with awful execution. Going to check out the DLC and see if it is any better.

26. Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (3DS) | 26th May - 20hrs | 3/5
I had heard this was the best in the series and if that is accurate then this is not a game series for me. The incessant mini-games and gimmicks combined with the constant hand holding from Starlow made this a mediocre (at best) playthrough.

27. Deathstate (PC) | 27th May - 5hrs | 3/5
This is a good example of where a big backlog can bite you. When I got this game years ago it seemed really innovative and interesting. Playing it now it is not really that interesting and too easy for its own good.

28. Path of Exile (PC) | 13th June - 35hrs | 4/5
Played through the new league with friends. Will see how long I make it before I get irritated by all the buying gear shit.

29. Prey (PC) | 21st June - 25hrs | 5/5
Despite the last part of the game being a slog, this was an excellent experience. I hope they get to make a sequel on earth that is more open.

30. The Witcher 3: Hearts of Stone (PC) | 5th July - 15hrs | 5/5
Other than being reminded how shit the combat is, this was a really great expansion. The story and presentation were all top-notch and it was well worth the time investment of getting back into the flow of the game.

31. The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine (PC) | 15th July - 35hrs | 5/5
So this was basically its own entire game and was the perfect amoutn of Witcher that I wanted to play without replaying the whole game. Toussaint looked awesome and I really enjoyed the story. It was nice to wrap up with Geralt looking forward to a life on his new vineyard.

32. Steamworld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech (PC) | 2nd August - 12hrs | 3/5
Definitely the weakest of all the Steamworld games. I have appreciated them trying different genres constantly but this wasn't doing it for me. I think it might just be that I don't love these RPG/card hybrids and would prefer one or the other. Still excited to see what their next game is though.

33. Dicey Dungeons (PC) | 13th August - 2hrs | 5/5
Won my first playthrough of the regular release. Really loving how this game came together and I can see this being my go-to game when I have 15 minutes to burn.

34. Diablo 3 (PC) | 30th August - 12hrs | 5/5
Another new Diablo season. Made a witch doctor this time.

35. Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Switch) | 15th September - 70hrs | 5/5
Wow, what a ride an awesome game. Other than the dumbass monster mechanics and really needed some QoL changes, this was a fantastic experience. Glad it really got some good buzz as I hadn't planned on picking it up initially. The divine pulse really helps a lot with the stress in these games and I hope they keep it for the future entries in the series.

FRANKEINSTEIN · Jan 1, 2019

I put games on the back burner last year to go for the book/movies challenge. Imma do it this year.

★ = Platinum, 1000/1000 Achievements, or 100%

1. Astro Bot: Rescue Mission (PS4) | 5th Jan - 7ishhrs | 4/5
Pretty great game. Showcases VR and definitely made me a believer in 3D platformer in VR. I still prefer Beat Saber but at least I'm not tired after playing Astro Bot.
2. Tetris Effect (PS4) | 8th Jan - 4ishhrs | 4/5
I'm not done with Tetris Effect yet, but I finished the campaign. Many modes so plenty of replayability. In VR it is mind blowing how they took a simple game like Tetris and made it a visual wonder.
3. Steven Universe: Save the Light (Switch) | 9th Jan - 13ishhrs | 4/5
I'm not a fan of turn based games unless the controls are real simple. Luckily they are here. The big draw is it's a Steven Universe game. So if you're a fan of the show, this game will be right up your alley.
4. Celeste (Xbox One) | 10th Jan - 4ish hrs | 4/5
At first I didn't get all the hype with Celeste being in so many top 10 lists. I get it now. I did have to turn on the assists quite a few times the last few chapters.
5. Job Simulator★ (PS4) | 11th Jan - 4ish hrs | 2/5 Platinum
It was cute at first but I feel like each level should have been 1/2 as long and just have a few more levels. First platinum of the year. Quite an easy one.
6. Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn★ (XB1) | 16th Jan - 3ish hrs | 3/5 1000/1000
I got it from Target on clearance for $6. I enjoyed my time with it. None of the levels were long enough to get boring. The humor is juvenile but I chuckled a few times. I'm actually excited for the dlc. You get to play as Barack.
7. Barack Fu: The Adventures of Dirty Barry★ (Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn DLC) (XB1) | 17th Jan - 1.5 hrs | 3/5
This was pretty great. Combat still sluggish but the ridiculously over the top story made me laugh. Plus same as Shaq Fu, its short so never felt bored.
8. No More Heroes: Travis Strikes Again (Switch) | 20th Jan - 8 hrs | 4/5
This was what I was hoping for (besides being a full fledged numbered sequel to NMH). Had the Suda51 humor and weirdness that has been sorely missing this gen.
9. Superhot (PS4) | 21st Jan - 3 hrs | 5/5
Freaking too short. And I rarely say that about a game. My thighs are killing me but man what a fun game. I didn't even realize how close I was to beating it. Just started and 1 missions later I'm done. I might try to platinum this one.
10. Saturday Morning RPG (Switch) | 26th Jan - 6 hrs | 3/5
Really enjoyed this. Fun little throwback to 80's cartoons and movies. I really only like turn based RPGs if the actions are simple. Luckily for me, they were. Would have been a solid 4/5 if not for the ending. Really ended on a bad note for me.
11. Super Mario Odyssey (Switch) | 30th Jan - 12 hrs | 5/5
I bought SMO when it first came out and messed with it a little. Finally got back to it. Really glad I did. New Donk City level was just ridiculous on how good it was. Whole game was just charming and fun. Loved the ending. Doubt I get all the moons because damn, there are a lot.
12. Retro City Rampage DX (Switch) | 1st Feb - 10 hrs | 2/5
Fun at first but gets tedious a couple hours in. I would have given 3 out of 5 except that final boss was ridiculous. Must have taken be 30+ trys.
13. Assassin's Creed: Odyssey★ (XB1) | 8th Feb - 100+ hrs | 5/5
I loved this game. Not since Assassins Creed 2 have I been this happy with the series. Honestly it doesn't even feel like an AC game. Feels more in line with Skyrim or Dragons Age. Kassandra might even be better than Ezio as a protagonist.
14. Golf Story (Switch) | 13th Feb - 16 hrs | 5/5
Just a charming little golf game. I enjoyed the story and the game play. Never got too difficult which with a game like this I appreciate.
15. Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon (Switch) | 13th Feb - 3 hrs | 3/5
Ok throwback to the 8 bit Castlevanias. It's short enough that it doesn't get boring but I was still glad when it was done.
16. Ninja Gaiden (NES through the Switch) | 15th Feb - 3 hrs | 4/5
This was one of my favorite games as a kid but like most my NES games, I never beat. Well thanks to my free online trial with Switch and the save/load ability, I finally beat it. Still holds up. Second to last boss was a bitch to get through. I'm actually surprised how easy the final boss was.
17. D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die (XboxOne) | 16th Feb - 6 hrs | 2/5
A game I bought when it first released and finally got to. Really liked it at first. Had the Swery weirdness I enjoy and I like all the characters. But it just ends. No resolution to any of the story arcs and we definitely not getting a season 2. Would have given a 4/5 but that ending is bullshit.
18. Batman: Arkham Origins (XboxOne) | 28th Feb - 12 hrs | 4/5
Finally played Arkham Origins. The best use of all the Arkham games for bosses. Combat felt a little clunky. Not sure if I just don't remember Asylum and City that well or if it's actually worse.
19. The Missing: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Lost Memories (Switch) | 5th Mar - 6 hrs | 5/5
What a bold game. It touched me like no other game ever has, even as a straight white (well mostly white) male. I will forever support everything Swery ever does.
20. Assassin's Creed: Odyssey - Legacy of the First Blade (XB1) | 7th Mar - 12 hrs | 4/5
So... loved Odyssey. Really liked the DLC but that controversy brought it down a point for me. I didn't play Kassandra as gay but I also never would have chosen Natakas as the father to Kassandra's baby. Totally would have chosen Darius though. Besides pushing me with this guy I did not care for, i really liked the rest.
21. Ape Out (Switch) | 9th Mar - 4 hrs | 5/5
Real cool game. Got frustrated quite a few times but I'd manage to get through it eventually. Really enjoyed the music and how I my rampages added to the beats.
22. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (XB1) |
10th Mar - 9 hrs | 5/5
I bought this day 1 on PSN and never got around to playing more than a hour or so. Bought it again physically for Xbox and now finally got around to it when I saw it on Game Pass. Outstanding game. I wouldn't call it fun because the whole game was nerve wracking but one hell of an experience.
23. Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China (PS4) | 13th Mar - 5 hrs | 3/5
It was alright. Really enjoyed the levels with a timer. Those ones just seemed to flow better. The voice actor for Ezio though... just wow. Sounded nothing like the original and didn't even try. It was hilarious which was not the desired emotion me thinks.
24. Gris (Switch) | 15th Mar - 4 hrs | 4/5
Great little platformer. Some great visuals and every new ability was an awesome addition. Biggest flaw was how short it was.
25. 1979 Revolution: Black Friday (Switch) | 15th Mar - 3 hrs | 2/5
Somewhat interesting but looks like a PS2 era game. I got no real history besides broad strokes and it just ends. Like I thought I chose wrong and got a game over scenario. Nope, that was the end.
26. New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe (Switch) | 17th Mar - 12 hrs | 3/5
It's cute and fun in spurts. Controls felt off from past 2D Mario games. Odyssey is way better.
27. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (Vita) | 20th Mar - 11 hrs | 5/5
Haven't played this in years. Still awesome. First time I played this I found Raiden quite annoying but not so much this time. Maybe having played MGS4 and MGR helped. But Rose still sucks.
28. Marvel's Spider-Man: The City that Never Sleeps (PS4) | 22nd Mar - 6 hrs | 4/5
More of the same but when the same is one of my top 3 games from last year, I don't mind. Story not as good but the still a lot of fun and such a likeable cast.
29. Metal Gear (MSX version through MGS3 on Vita) | 26nd Mar - 4 hrs | 4/5
Very basic story. It's really weird just how bat shit crazy the series becomes. But also impressive how the story is used throughout the series.
30. Lollipop Chainsaw (PS3) | 27th Mar - 8hrs | 3/5
I'm a pretty big Suda51 fan. But I'd definitely say this is the worst game I've played he's associated with. I'd still recommend, would just choose some others before this. Combat could have been tighter. That would be my biggest complaint.
31. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater★ (Vita) | 1st Apr - 16hrs | 5/5
Where to start? Amazing game that doesn't go bat shit crazy at the end like MGS2. Awesome boss battles. Some great voice work. I was going for a non lethal play through. At the end said I had 1 kill. Whoops. No clue where that happened.
Edit: I restarted a save at the beginning of the bike section and finished again from there. Got my non lethal trophy which got me my platinum. There was 1 frog I shot at a bunch and thought there was a good chance I also hit a guy on a bike.
32. Chip n' Dale Rescue Rangers (PS4) | 2nd Apr - 1.5hrs | 4/5
Nostalgia games can be fun or realize they weren't that good. Played a few of the games from The Disney Afternoon Collection and had a good time. This particular game still holds up. Much easier now thanks to the rewind function.
33. Darkwing Duck (PS4) | 2nd Apr - 1.5hrs | 4/5
Truth be told, I never played this one back in the day. It was much harder than the other Disney Afternoon Collection games that I tried. But same as previous, with the rewind function, makes the game doable.
34. Chip n' Dale Rescue Rangers 2 (PS4) | 2nd Apr - 1.5hrs | 4/5
Pretty much exact same thing as I wrote for 32.
35. The Silver Case★ (PS4) | 7th Apr - 12hrs | 3/5
Didn't go as weird as I was expecting being Suda in all. Enjoyed the story during the main game but was bored to tears with the Placebo arc after the main part. I have the sequel but I think I'll do something else before getting to it.
36. Metal Gear Solid (PS1 on Vita) | 10th Apr - 9hrs | 5/5
Couldn't replay these in order because the L2R2 on the back touchscreen suck. Had to get one of those grips that add those buttons. Doesn't get nearly as crazy as MGS2 does but the breaking the 4th wall and Psychomantis reading your save file were much bigger gaming moments for me as a youth. Just mind blowing. I forgot not killing isn't really an option in this one. Definitely cool additions to the sequels. Still though, a masterful game series that I am loving going through again.
37. Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (PS4) | 16th Apr - 5hrs | 5/5
Sure you can rush through this game in less than a couple hours but there's a lot of fun to be had in fucking around with the new Metal Gear mechanics. And this leads to the only numbered Metal Gear Solid I haven't played yet. Still have 4 and Peace Walker to do. Currently playing Portable Ops.
38. Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain (PS4) | 7th May - 80hrs | 5/5
I loved this game. Not enough to go for the platinum because I don't want to replay every mission multiple times

and because I don't have Quiet anymore.

Sure it was weird not having Hayter in it, and that's a big reason I waited this long to finally play it. But I really loved the missions and gameplay and the characters. Definitely needed some more boss battles and the end needed some more story. But the gameplay is so good I can definitely overlook the rest. Now on to Peace Walker and MGS4... eventually.
39. Bulletstorm (PS4) | 27th May - 8hrs | 4/5
Really like this game quite a bit. At first glance looks just like a dudebro game but I think it has actual good characters (maybe not Sarrano) with a decent story. But the gameplay is so good. Maybe a little too linear but the score attack is so much fun. I didn't do any of the mp but me and 3 friends messed with it last gen and had a blast. I don't know anyone else with it this gen so couldn't mess with it this go around. I did try the Duke Nukem mode for about 5 min. It's pretty bad.
40. Shadow Complex (PS4) | 31st May - 4hrs | 4/5
Gameplay still holds up but being a side scrolling metroidvania that was bound to be the case. Kinda ugly to look at now though. And the story... generic as hell. But I love me some metroidvania so all the negatives are forgiven.
41. Trover Saves the Universe (PS4) | 6th June - 4hrs | 3/5
Pretty fun game. If you like Rick and Morty, you'll probably like Trover. Rick and Morty is definitely funnier but in same vein. Real easy.

52 Games. 1 Year. 2019.

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