Setting up shop right here, post #52 in the 52 challenge. What could possibly go wrong!
01. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (2014/2015, Wii U) ★★★☆☆
A mere thirteen months after delivering their platforming masterpiece Super Mario 3D World, Nintendo's EAD Tokyo studio had this game done & shipped. Yes, the project was obviously aided by the library of assets, sound effects, and engine which had been built for their previous release; and yes, this one was helmed by different key staff, so perhaps development started earlier... But given the circumstances (Wii U's dire straits) it's still impressive how much content they cranked out for Captain Toad.
Said content has you maneuvering through gorgeous, tightly packed, box-like levels full of hidden nooks and crannies. Pick up gems along the way, solve puzzles, and sneak past enemies to reach the goal. Carefully planning your moves and studying the environment is rewarded with more trinkets. Since the Toads are slow, can't jump, and have no easy method of attack, you'll occasionally feel like you're playing baby's first stealth game.
I do have some complaints; the Gamepad usage feels just as gimmicky here as it did in 3D World: blow in the mic, aim with the touch screen, camera controls mapped to gyro sensors, you know the drill. Additionally, the music is rather grating, due to an over-reliance on flutes and recorders. It's not helped either by the sound effects (lots of whistles) and Toad's shrill voice. There's also some simple user interface improvements that could've been made, like a level restart button and more obviously placed options menu. Lastly, I could lose the post-credits attempt to connect it to Mario 3D World.
Overall though, a very pleasant, low-stress game that executes pretty well on most of its ideas.
02. Kirby and the Rainbow Curse a.k.a. Kirby and the Rainbow Paintbrush (2015, Wii U) ★★☆☆☆
Fairly obvious (spiritual) successor to the 2005 DS highlight Kirby: Canvas Curse/Power Paintbrush. You draw a path, and Kirby rolls wherever you guide him. This one opts for a claymation-inspired art style, and it's a good look. Crisp and cute. Bummer the game is played entirely on the touch screen, which has a lower resolution, but the charm still translates decently.
The game itself isn't as charming, unfortunately. The controls never really feel snappy enough, meaning you're always over-correcting; rarely do your plans execute flawlessly. There's a degree of enjoyment derived from bumbling through the levels, and it's not unmanageable, but you'll often just miss out on some trinket because Kirby follows your guidance at too leisurely a pace.
The levels start out pretty dull, but towards the latter half they start doing interesting things. I particularly liked the gondola and submarine stages, as well as some of the rocket escape sequences. It's too bad the game doesn't have more of those types of ideas... for a 4-hour campaign there's some disappointing repetition here. This is most noticeable during the bossfights, which are fun, but since they repeat them all twice, their impact lessens significantly. Luckily the game ends on a high note with a great final level and a fun boss battle, as is series tradition, which at least leaves a strong final impression.
03. Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (2005, Wii U - GBA vc) ★★★☆☆
Story wise this is the least interesting Fire Emblem of the GBA/GC bunch. Everything feels very paint by numbers: 5 mystical stones lay scattered over the land. Together, they hold the return of ancient evils at bay. Now, an unknown force is destroying them one by one, whatever could their purpose be?! Can our two heroes, the siblings Eirika and Ephraim, put an end to this before it's too late...?
Story aside though, Sacred Stones introduces some new elements to the series. Units can now promote in 2 different ways, rather than follow a fixed path. This can lead to fun combinations: wanna put a Knight on a horse instead of becoming a General? Swap out your Pegasus for a Wyvern? Equip your healer with offensive magic? It's all possible. Sacred Stones also introduces the split narrative: Eirika and Ephraim each have a route of their own for about a third of the game. This really became a series staple with Fire Emblem Fates and more recently Three Houses, but I think it originates from this one? Combined with the branching class changes, post-game quests and secret characters, you really start to notice a focus on replayability.
Unfortunately, the maps here weren't as interesting: one route has no ship battles at all, and I really liked the castle defense stages from Fire Emblem 7 which are reduced in amount here. Furthermore, I found very few likable characters to care about, which isn't helped by the bland (and slow!) protagonists. Maybe I lost the wrong people to get more worthwhile interactions (r.i.p. Ross, Garcia, Joshua, Marisa, and the others), but I defaulted to what I always do: stuff the team with all the flying units and round things out with anyone who has blue/purple/green hair. Also very dumb how this game contains a literal young-girl-but-secretly-a-dragon trope, luckily she isn't sexualised. They do try to make the villain somewhat pitiful, but it doesn't really land until the very last mission. Despite these weak characters and story though, the core Fire Emblem gameplay is some real comfort food material. Every turn you're making exciting risk-reward wagers, and pulling off narrow victories feels great.
04. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (2014, Wii U) ★★★★☆ Tropical Freeze is a near-perfect game. The developers at Retro Studios have basically set the new gold standard for 2D platformers, as far as I'm concerned. Gone are the days of unconnected levels; every level features the next one(s) in the background, and they're all lined up to tell a story. This is best seen in the Jungle World, which starts with bouncy fruits, moves to conveyor levels where the fruits are diced, has a water stage in the fruit pulp & juice, an ice level where the juice is turned into ice cream, and culminates in a boss fight initiated because DK ruins a polar bear's popsicle. Is this a high bar for storytelling? No, but it's an effective way to string funny cut-scenes and gameplay together to deliver the best DK cartoon in existence.
The presentation is top-notch across the board, Tropical Freeze looks gorgeous and achieves comedy with ease. It's especially elevated by an unbelievably strong soundtrack; David Wise has turned in career-best work. There's so much good music here they can waste their best song (Busted Bayou) on a bonus level many players will never see. Even the track when booting from the menu is a jam!
So why no perfect score? For as much as DKCTF does right, I think it intentionally limits its accessibility a bit too much. Make no mistake, Tropical Freeze really earns its reputation as a difficult platformer. There are just no easy levels here, none. Even the first one would be challenging to a novice, and the 6th world contains some really difficult ones. Add to this the trademark Retro Studios bossfights (a.k.a. way too long & no checkpoints), the antiquated Lives system resulting in loadtimes every time you bungle a jump and careen down a pit... It's easy to become frustrated with yourself. I just bought 99 lives to avoid ever running into a Game Over, but towards the end I was still losing ~8 lives per level despite the generous amounts you win back.
The partner characters also feel unbalanced. Dixie is so obviously the best character, there's really no point in using Diddy except during the 2 levels the game forces you to use him. Cranky meanwhile plays like a less intuitive Shovel Knight, and only really shines during a few bossfights. The re-release on Switch fixes some of these issues (loadtimes presumably, and Funky Kong serves as a de facto easy mode there), so that might be the way to go if you can. Terrific game, and very satisfying to beat, but I worry its difficulty will put many players off.
05. Bayonetta 2 (2014, Wii U) ★★★★★
If video games really are about creating power fantasies, Bayonetta 2 would logically be the best game ever. Where Hollywood blockbusters build up years of cross-overs before confronting the universe-ending bad guy, Bayonetta 2 has you laying waste to several of those calamities even before the title drops.
"Laying waste" feels accurate here, because Bayonetta is ludicrously powerful. She's always portrayed as a very capable character, and playing as her demonstrates why: you effortlessly pull offlast-minute slow-mo dodges, switch your weapons mid-combo, and summon ancient evils to devour your foes, all at blistering speeds. Controls are always smooth, fast & precise, even when you're literally kicking in the gates of Hell. Besides combat you don't really do much in Bayo 2. There's light exploration of many varied locales (Heaven, Hell, Italian cities, innards of massive creatures), but this is a beat-em-up at its core, and that's where the game excels.
The rest of the time you're watching cut-scenes. The story here is more focused and less nonsensical than in the predecessor, with an exuberant finale. Yes, you'll still roll your eyes in sync with Bayonetta whenever one of her various useless male co-stars tries to show off, but it kinda works to have these buffoons (Luka chiefly) serve as foils for the highly competent Bayonetta. Tha said, some scenes live in that uncomfortable grey area where you're no longer sure if they're parodying stereotypes, or just reinforcing them (see Rodin, and anything related to the sexualisation of Bayonetta herself). I think PlatinumGames tries to coast on irony and self-awareness (see also MadWorld), but at some point these things just become patterns, rather than meaningful critiques. My thoughts on these aspects aren't fully formed yet.
Overall though, Bayonetta 2 pushes the series to even greater heights. The controls feel smoother than ever, the combat is a delightful ballet of bullets and bad guys, the soundtrack is sick, and Bayonetta herself is a funny, likable lead character you'll easily root for.
06. FAST Racing Neo + DLC (2015, Wii U) ★★★★☆
I like F-Zero, I like Shin'en-produced games, so here's a shocker: I like FAST Racing Neo (a lot). This futuristic racer looks gorgeous, sounds the part, and offers quite the challenge. (Definitely feels like the A.I. is cheating at times.) There's some minor differences from F-Zero you have to (un)learn; I was really yearning for a sideswipe for instance. The production feels a bit lacking in personality too. F-Zero never really had well-rounded characters, let alone compelling drama, but compared to FAST it suddenly becomes clear how much having any characters at all, regardless how bad, still injected a sense of personality into the game.
Yes, it's unfair to continually compare the two, but FAST actively courts this comparison by even hiring the announcer from F-Zero GX. This is not as good as GX, but offers a parallel universe glimpse at what could have been. Recommended.
07. Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom (1994, Wii U) ★★☆☆☆
Capcom have done an admirable job in the republishing of this one, but while improvements like configurable controls, achievements, online co-op, and endless continues are welcome... They are ultimately window dressing trying to distract from a rather dated and clunky beat-em-up. You're sorely lacking a block button for example, and the enemies can easily trap you in cycles of stun-locks. The attempts at creating replayability through multiple characters and branching paths are a good fit for the D&D setting. Fiercely disliked the Shadow Elf boss!
08. Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow Over Mystara (1996, Wii U) ★★☆☆☆
Rather iterative sequel, which adds some options for guarding, more characters, and a slightly smoother combat experience. Nice touch is how traps are no longer sprung without telegraphing, so you can avoid them if you're quick. I still wish you could trick enemies into traps, but they remain unaffected by them. The story on this one is incomprehensible nonsense by the way. There's some jarring transitions, like ice caves leading directly to airships??? They've also clearly copy+pasted some bosses, enemies, and level lay-outs from Tower of Doom.
09. Mass Effect 3 - Special Edition (2012, Wii U) ★★★★☆
First off, I've never played Mass Effect 1 or 2. Thus, I feared going into part 3 cold could be rather confusing. Unfortunately, the on-boarding process this version uses certainly didn't alleviate that concern. They attempt to summarise 40-60 hours of space opera through a rather unappealing digital comic book. And while it's an admirable attempt to let the player make key decisions in this intro, too, you're honestly just making sweeping decisions with almost zero context.
Luckily the rest of the game does a better job filling you in on events, with characters referencing old plot points and conflicts. It's kinda like falling into a long-running TV show; you pick up the character dynamics easily enough.
That said, the poor first impression doesn't let up for a while. The intro doubles down on being off-putting by heading straight into combat. Make no mistake, Mass Effect 3 is a very clunky cover-based shooter. You can't invert the X-axis, and it has the audacity to map dodge, taking cover, and jumping out of cover all to the same button. Add to this Shepard's very slow movement... Yeah, combat just never becomes a highlight. But whenever you're out of combat situations, the game suddenly takes a big hit in the graphics department. Janky character animations, glitchy audio, and long load times are routine annoyances outside of combat missions. Kinda feels like the game is being held together with duct tape and prayers sometimes.
A lot of my issues with the game persist throughout. But I did grow to like many of the characters, and became surprisingly invested in the (honestly somewhat generic) story. The writers are good at instilling a sense of urgency, but what I wasn't expecting was just how, well, relevant this game would feel at times. It released prior to the Syrian "refugee crisis" of 2015 (still a disgusting term), but scenes of stranded war refugees being blatantly denied asylum hit hard with those headlines fresh in mind.
In the same area, someone's purposefully sabotaging medical supplies for the refugees. With COVID-19 sweeping the world right now, the urgent need for medical supplies is in hyper-focus. If the virus reaches some of the many real-world refugee camps, the potential loss of life would be devastating - and I bet these people will once again be denied their needs. Infuriating.
Not all the story-telling is great though. In particular, I want to highlight the romance between Shepard [SPOILERS COMING UP]and Specialist Traynor. Which, while honestly very adorable, has some icky aspects to it too. Not only is this effectively a boss seducing an employee, but the way some of the romantic scenes are shot are pretty garbage. I want these characters to spend time together, have candle-lit dinners, or a date at the Citadel nightclub. Instead we get a shower scene, which is shot like a teenage boy's fantasy of peeking in.
Mass Effect 3 is undeniably flawed in many ways. But in times of COVID-19, I found the story of rallying everyone in the galaxy to solve a shared problem a hopeful distraction. I grew to like Captain Shepard and her partner, tried to help uplift downtrodden species, and got to play as vanguard for A.I. rights. I definitely didn't like all her companions, but saying goodbye to characters like Legion, Javik and Traynor was a bit like a favourite TV show ending. I probably won't be back for the other games or replay this one, but right now this was a good experience.
10. Rabbids Land (2012, Wii U) ★☆☆☆☆
While Animal Crossing's so-called "Bunny Day" was sweeping the Internet, I instead turned to that... other franchise with rabbits. This one's not great, it's a 4-player boardgame with just a single, circular board. You know the drill: throw dice, move spaces, trigger events/mini-games, collect stars trophies. Feels like Ubisoft Paris had a bunch of disparate proof-of-concept mini-games for the Wii U and repackaged them in this party game; draw shapes, blow in the mic, use the gyros, etc. Most of them don't even thematically tie into the themepark setting.
What I will give them credit for is the cut-scenes and the animations of the Rabbids in general - they're mildly amusing, and might land a lot better with a young audience.
11. Armikrog (2016, Wii U) ★☆☆☆☆
Claymation- style point & click adventure which starts on a promising cut-scene & catchy song, but can't deliver on that initial promise at all.
Seems like almost everything went wrong here: controls are surprisingly finnicky for a a game with a single input method, audio volumes are all over the place, subtitles regularly disappear, some of the tile-sliding puzzles have difficult to distinguish colours, and there's several sections where it's nearly impossible to see without cranking up the brightness.
These annoyances exacerbate the already dull gameplay; when most of the puzzles are just about inserting levers into doorways, the least the game could do is keep an inventory to note which ones you've found already. Such an inventory could also help to store already found symbols in; now you'll just need to draw them on paper yourself (even though you're literally holding a tablet controller which could've doubled as drawing tablet here).
So, the puzzles are bad, but what about the story? It's unfortunately pretty poor, too. Your objective is to escape, but of course you get immediately sidetracked by an objective our protagonists seem thoroughly uninterested in. About 2/3rd of the way in, a villain decides to show up, but apparantly forgot to bring a motivation for his unclear plans. Oh and towards the end it becomes clear this entire game is just a filler arc in some grander, unknown narrative, too.
These are really basic story-telling failures in my opinion - why would the player care, if none of the characters do? It's not like the escape from Krypton-esque plot is played for laughs either, because Armikrog is a painfully unfunny game. And they don't facilitate jokes either, because there's no 'inspect item/surroundings' commands to trigger more dialogue with. If your best joke is a pun about ants, and you repeat it thrice... Ugh, groan.
Graphics aside, Armikrog feels bafflingly incomplete. Admittedly I've never played The Neverhood, which this appears to be a sequel (?) to, but the game makes no attempt to bring you up to speed either. I tried Googling a bit to see what I might've missed, but all I discovered was that one of the game's creative leads is a proud trans- and homophobe who used to write for Breitbart. Luckily I didn't notice any overt hate speech in this game. I'm also not 100% sure where I fall on the separating creator from creation discussion, but rest assured: Armikrog earns its 1-star rating entirely on its own merits.
12. Monument Valley 2 (2017, Mobile) ★★★★☆
Gorgeous puzzle game in which the player manipulates M.C. Escher-esque environments to let a character progress. Some nice architecture going on with hints of brutalism and Abbasid Islamic architecture, with typical domes and vaulting. Soothing soundtrack too. I would recommend this to fans of 2012's Journey. The story swings for emotions, but misses because they drag it on too long. Ending 3 chapters earlier would've resulted in a more moving finale. Feels like the game peaks there, but forgot to end.
13. Lara Croft GO (2015, Mobile) ★★★☆☆
Turn-based puzzle game which oddly reminds me of old DOS puzzle games. Of course this looks way prettier, but I can't shake the feeling visuals were the primary focus of development. The game's not bad, and some of the levels took me a few tries to figure out, but it also never really wowed me. Sometimes it's annoying you need to swipe for every step, the secrets are barely associated to the actual gameplay, and while they don't abuse it... It's still kinda fishy to sell puzzle solutions. Could incentivise obtuse level design if used by a lesser team.
14. Hitman GO (2014, Mobile) ★★★☆☆
This one came earlier, so it's amusing it has more varied units than Lara Croft GO. Hitman doesn't rock quite as distinct a style, but the miniatures give it a decent boardgame feel, and the music is fitting for the franchise. Puzzles ramp up in difficulty a bit too slowly for my liking, and I don't like how some levels goals are inherently exclusionary (e.g.: kill all enemies & no kills on the same level). It's done to add replay value, and it is admirable they crammed 2 distinct puzzles in most levels, but I'd prefer scouting for a single 100% run instead.
15. Cat Quest (2017, Mobile) ★★☆☆☆
Kinda cute, but highly forgettable action game which severely prolongs its staying power by forcing in RPG elements, mostly to its detriment. This could've been a 3 hour game, but occasional difficulty spikes basically force you to grind/do side-quests, almost doubling the playtime. I love cat puns, but after seeing them all 10 times, the writing slowly becomes grating. Doesn't help the game ends in a very unsatisfactory way, just a single character notes any change has occurred to the world, making all that extra time feel utterly wasted.
16. Injustice: Gods Among Us (2013, Wii U) ★☆☆☆☆
Okay, I realise I'm an outlier here as the critical consensus on Injustice 1 seems largely positive. But man, I kinda hated every moment of it? The story is seventy shades of stupid, and not in an endearing or funny way. There's a very fundamentally fraught core idea at the heart of the story here: all the DC Comics heroes travel to a parallel dimension to fight... Basically evil versions of themselves. This predictably results in a slew of uninteresting mirror matches, and a lot of "your Batman vs. our Superman" nonsense trying very hard to take itself seriously.
Doesn't help that these already conceptually uninteresting battles also play very slowly. Combos outside of juggling seem pretty rare, and few of the characters feel truly fast. I understand this might be considered a strength of Injustice to some, as it can incentivise methodical approaches and punishes recklessness. But that feels inherently contradictory to these supposedly nimble, hot-headed superheroes who break into fights over the slightest disagreements. Slow fighting games can be great (see Samurai Shodown), but everything about the designs here exudes mindless aggression over caution; why would The Flash ever be slow & careful in a fight?!
Speaking of those designs, Injustice rocks the absolute worst dark gritty comics aesthetic ever. Everyone is really ugly, no exceptions. Awful facial animations, hideous costumes, and yet they produced a boatload of cut-scenes for this. The end result looks simultaneously very cheap and way too expensive. I'm glad this found an audience, but I feel very removed from their tastes.
17. Tekken Tag Tournament 2: Wii U Edition (2012, Wii U) ★★★★☆ Tekken Tag 2 by contrast revels in its unabashed nonsense, and I would argue that's for the best. The roster feels pleasantly international, with 40-odd characters you'll hear languages like German, French, Japanese and English which helps create the illusion of a varied roster, despite a lot of them sharing a similar design ethos. This international feel also informs the locations; you'll suplex a panda in a Germanic village, in the Trevi Fountain, at a NYC parade, amongst Dutch tulip fields, or at a Snoop Dogg show if that's your jam.
The arcade roots, including loud EDM and unlockable end movies for every character, lends the entire production a DreamCast/2002 Xbox feel. I'd recommend this, even to fighting game scrubs like me, since you'll effortlessly pull off the occasional fluid combo by button mashing.
18. Power Stone (2006, PSP) ★★☆☆☆
You know how people say to never meet your idols? Power Stone Collection on PSP is that statement become manifest. The original is one of those elusive DreamCast classics I remember playing with friends in '99. Since there's no real easy ways to play it (or its sequel) besides the PSP Collection, I figured I'd give it a go there.
The port looks sharp, the colours pop, it plays fast, and offers a bunch of unlockables. Yet playing it is an exercise in frustration: the tiny PSP screen does not mesh with any of the camera options, so getting a good read on attack animations becomes tough. Coupled with the absence of a block button and the busy stages with tiny items flying around, the game's speed becomes a disadvantage for only the player. The A.I. in unencumbered by such limitations, resulting in several annoying difficulty spikes. Beating Vagal is really frustrating and had me wasting several continues, while the final boss was an absolute pushover by contrast. These balancing issues are also very evident in the roster; Gunrock just steamrolls everyone, but others struggle to compete.
Lastly, I think the core mechanic of chasing the power crystals here is just... fundamentally broken? The A.I. will always favour hit & run tactics to collect them and unleash super moves. What's the point in having all these combos when you're sprinting towards the Win-The-Match-Gems after every 2nd hit? Really bummed about this one, it's clear Power Stone works much better in multiplayer on a different platform.
19. Power Stone 2 (2006, PSP) ★★★☆☆ Power Stone 2 is a mostly iterative sequel. A few more characters, more items, new stages which now transform during matches... It also adds an adventure mode with selectable paths to make the single player feel a bit more substantive. On the whole I think that, while this one suffers from similar problems as Power Stone 1 on PSP, its problems are less pronounced. The actual power stones themselves spawn much less frequently, and opponents don't always scramble to get them. Combined with the moving stages which force characters in a similar direction, there's less battles of playing keep-away, and you're also less inclined to settle for hit-and-run strategies. Sure, the stages always move in predictable fashion, which does diminish their potential for surprise after a few times... But simultaneously I think it also helps to construct a more unique identity for the series.
Ultimately I think these games don't translate well to the portable format due to long load times and a fundamental camera angle problem, but Power Stone 2 is a much less frustrating affair at least.
20. Donkey Kong (1986, Switch - NES vc) ★★★☆☆
With only 3 of the 4 arcade stages making it into the NES version, you basically have a 20 minute game here. Mario already feels fairly nimble though, and the final level has a somewhat clever gimmick too. Feel understandable Nintendo wanted to iterate on this creation.
21. Donkey Kong Jr. (1986, Switch - NES vc) ★★★☆☆
Honestly kinda clever storytelling how DK Jr. now needs to free DK Sr. from Mario's cage. The change from platform jumping to the climbing of vines adds to the sense you're playing as an ape, too. This is my favourite of the three I played today.
22. Donkey Kong 3 (1986, Switch - NES vc) ★★☆☆☆
A change in the formula: now DK is menacing Stanley's greenhouse, so you need to force him out using... Bug spray. Mildly interesting how this is more akin to Space Invaders than previous DK outings, but the change isn't for the better. A curiosity at best.
23. Shantae: Risky's Revenge - Director's Cut (2016, Wii U) ★★★☆☆
Port of the 2010 DSiWare version. Having already played its successor (Shantae 3: Pirate's Curse), I was struck by how similar the world feels in some ways. While the layouts are different, the characters, interconnected world design philosophy, and even the lighthearted tone were already firmly established.
This one isn't as good as Pirate's Curse: it has way fewer areas, and some feel rather bolted on. The first two areas feature a layer switching mechanic which is promptly dropped thereafter; and the game struggles to find fitting environments for 2 out of 3 of Shantae's animal transformations. While the monkey gets lots of use in platforming and even boss fights due to the tiny hitbox, the elephant might as well have been replaced with a brick-breaking power-up. The mermaid form offers interesting possibilities, but the water areas feel like an afterthought outside of one stand-out sequence. You start to get the feeling the Metroid-style world design was adopted out of necessity, to milk more playtime out of already built areas.
Lastly, I'm still not sure how I feel about the female character designs. The characters themselves are fine: they have goals, agency, and are resourceful. But all their outfits default to bikinis or belly-exposing tops, and in-game at least 2 male characters comment on Shantae's appearance too. Objectification feels like way too strong of a word here, and in Shantae's case her design is at least congruent with the belly-dancing aesthetic, so I don't want to be a prude about this... But some of the poses seem deliberately chosen to titillate a presumed straight, male audience.
24. Shantae: Half-Genie Hero (2016, Wii U) ★★★★☆
The fourth Shantae game, and the first of the lot to abandon pixel art. Rocking a crisp, colourful, cartoony art style and a busy soundtrack with more dance music influences, Wayforward really upped their game in terms of presentation. I still have the same reservations about the series' outfit designs. While this entry reduces the number of men commenting on Shantae's appearance to one, they simultaneously doubled down on including a "beach mode" where she just wears a bikini. Half-Genie Hero deviates from the previous two entries by forgoing a connected world, instead opting for levels with distinct zones, but keeping the need to revisit them in the future. I feel this is a detriment, although rationally I realise there's little difference in backtracking interconnected levels or backtracking through levels you need to manually select, it's just now the game makes you more acutely aware of the backtracking.
Transformations are back too, and it seems like nothing was learned from Risky's Revenge. Instead of finding more to do with every transformation, there's now more varied obstacles, each requiring their own transformation. The result is 8 transformations, of which maybe 3-4 are consistently useful. In general, the transforming is also just slower than the snappy controls of Pirate's Curse.
It's not all bad; Half-Genie Hero basically delivers on the promise of Risky's Revenge, with a surprisingly similar final world. The game also rids us of dungeons at last, and fixes Pirate's Curse's unforgiving late-game difficulty, while also offering a quite different "hardcore mode". Ultimately I would still recommend Pirate's Curse over it due to that game's better soundtrack, more fluid movement, and the interconnected world... But Half-Genie Hero remains a good game on its own, and lays a strong foundation for Shantae 5.
25. Picross S3 (2019, Switch) ★★★★☆
Good collection of 450+ nonogram logic puzzles, with several different modes to keep things interesting over the 50 hours you can play this. Color Picross has a lesser presence, which is unfortunate since it's probably the most interesting one - requiring you to unlearn nonogram habits like X-ing out spaces. Presentation is a bit lacking: the resulting images are very dull, and you get tired of the same four tunes a dozen hours in. As a journey-over-destination kinda timekiller though, Picross S3 comes easily recommended.
26. Puyo Pop Fever (2004, PSP) ★★★☆☆
I've never been very big on Puyopuyo, the gameplay feels less immediately accessible than Tetris, Panel De Pon, or even Columns. This version manages to be more approachable though, by including the Fever mode which triggers when you make quick chains. It's really just a temporary power-up, but it's a powerful method to make comebacks with whenever the AI put you on the defensive. The rest of the game still doesn't appeal to me very much (the story is awful, the voice acting is grating, and the cut-scenes are very lifeless), and I continue to feel like Puyopuyo is bad at teaching you how to get better at it, but overall this was fine.
27. Tetris 99 (2019, Switch) ★★★★☆
Surprisingly tense multiplayer take on classic Tetris, in which you need to keep clearing lines to send junk blocks to 98 other players. Last person stacking wins! Centering this game on the Nintendo Switch Online service ensures it still has hundreds, if not thousands of active players. It never takes long to find a match, and your success in matches varies greatly based on how others are playing. Personally, I relied on the preset attack patterns, since handpicking targets often became too chaotic for me. For more skilled multi-taskers this really raises the skill ceiling though. While I usually fall off in the 40-50 range, there's enough times where I cracked the top 20 to make it feel like there's a chance to win a round. (For the record, this has yet to occur - my highest finish is 8th place.)
28. INSIDE (2018, Switch) ★★★★☆ INSIDE, originally on Xbox One, raises questions about control, coercion, and possibly false consciousness in the (structuralist-)sociological sense. It does so through the framing of a puzzle-platformer, telling a story in a desaturated and dystopian world, with the player controlling a boy seemingly forced into a situation going way over his head.
I feel this game gets pretty close to timeless masterpiece status, but is marred by a lack of depth in the way it explores its subject matter, and not helped either some purposefully obtuse decisions.
For starters, there's some pacing issues: the world and the way the boy interacts with the hostility of it immediately instilled a sense of needing to be careful, stealthy and meticulous in me. And often that is indeed what you're meant to do... Sometimes however, the only way forward is to sprint into the unknown action hero style. This is meant to result in tense, narrow-escape chase sequences, but in pratice you'll often not pull these off in a single go. Death isn't much of an issue here due to generous checkpointing, but the deaths frequently interrupt exciting chases, reducing them to mere sequence memorisation ("Okay, so I sprint first, halt there, jump at moment X..." etc.).
These pacing problems are best described in this video on the Errant Signal channel (contains spoilers!), I'll summarise one of their points in the rest of this paragraph: Since it's usually not immediately clear whether you should run, or try a sneaky approach, it quickly becomes apparent INSIDE's chief method of teaching you things outside of puzzles is by killing the protagonist. That's not necessarily unelegant design, but it highlights the inflexibility of the time-sensitive sequences in particular, and by reducing them to trial-and-error the game seriously undercuts the tense atmosphere it so often invokes. The puzzles are similar in their just-one-solution-works design, meaning you're mostly figuring out the correct sequence of events with the available pieces.
Now, I think INSIDE being this strict in its sequencing has a kind of fridge brilliance about it, but the problem is that explaining why requires FULL SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT!
So, the Secret Ending appears to unveil something of a meta-narrative, in which you (the player) have been controlling the boy, just as he controls others at times, and how both of you are being manipulated by the game's designers. We are shown in-game these layers of control are obviously possible in several clear-cut puzzles; one of the Secret Orbs to get the Secret Ending even requires you to sardonically make a husk-person disable a mind-control Orb. Thus, extending these layers of control to the player-game layer of interaction makes thematic sense.
The level design mirrors this, too; every time you go right, and follow the designers' intended path, you are being controlled and manipulated. Following guidance is in this way framed as another form of obedience. This is evident in the Regular Ending; the blob is guided into a tank by scientists, and even though you escape (by heading right), you wind up paralysed outside in the artificial light much like the office diorama predicts. (And how you yourself paralyse the underwater creatures.)
Going left however, often results in finding the secrets needed to unlock the Secret Ending. Indeed, you have to go left in time too, to an earlier save point to even see it. Refusing to take the direction intended by the level design really sells your acts as defiant, but I don't think the game quite nails it in the final moments. Having the final keycode be a song heard inside (sorry) the factory has you explicitly replicating instructions of the control devices, while you head right to the true finale. Again, that's sort of clever within the game's meta-rules, but this is also where its examination of control appears to end. Obviously the Secret Ending can't exist without the developers programming it this way, so even following the non-conforming path still inherently conforms to a different pre-determined path, but that's never really examined.
Additionally, while fascinating, I can't help but feel like locking the game's central thesis statement behind a secret ending also means few players get to see it. Arguably that's sort of the point, as it divides the playerbase over various layer of manipulation. However, it results in a deflating and anti-climactic ending for most players, who will probably never realise their participation in the upholding of the game's themes, or discover its true meaning from a Google session - denying them the opportunity to critically examine their performative role in making this game work. I'm not convinced this meta-success of proving the game's point is worth the cost of keeping a majority of the audience in the dark, regardless how bold and thematically resonant it is.
Overall, INSIDE comes recommended, particularly to fans of media like Oddworld: Abe's Oddyssee, or The Matrix: Reloaded, but I don't think it's quite the home-run some reviews suggest. I do regret missing out on much discussion about it by playing it relatively late. Feels like for most people, INSIDE's time in the... spotlight has already passed.
Thanks to Griff for helping my thoughts coalesce on this one!
I'd also recommend these two Errant Signal videos on the game, which are well produced (and full of spoilers). Don't fully agree with their story assessment, but they do a better job of pinning down the pacing issues than I could.
29. GRIS (2018, Switch) ★★★☆☆
Pretty bummed I didn't wind up loving this. The lush watercolour art style applied to the lightly fantastical surroundings evokes a mix of Monument Valley and Journey, although this game is more of a 2D puzzle-platformer. You play as a grey lady who's lost her voice, with the goal of finding her voice and recolouring the world. To do so, you move through levels which symbolise a fairly obvious (colour-coded, even!) Kübler-Ross cycle of grief, while soothing piano and ambient music plays.
Man, I was so ready to love this, but for me it doesn't hit its message at all. :(
Many people who've suffered a bereavement will recognise the clawing feelings of consuming guilt this game aims to evoke, but since there's literally nothing which can harm the player in this game, obstacles feel like hollow threats. Just nuisances in the way of your goal. While I guess on a certain level that mirrors how we're often our own biggest enemy when we let negative thought spirals take hold of us, it feels wrong for there to be no tangible threats in this game, since powerful negative emotions can still feel dangerous when experienced.
All the pieces for a heart-wrenching tearjerker finale appear set in place, but there's no catalyst provided to make the dominoes fall. Thus, unless you're bringing a lot of personal baggage to the story, you're left with a gorgeous but quite unchallenging platforming game. That's still not a bad result, but I had hoped this would resonate emotionally and break my heart. Perhaps the problem lies with my expectations and not the game itself?
30. B3 Game Expo for Bees (2016, Wii U) ★★☆☆☆
In the absence of E3 this year, I figured it was time dig this one up. B3 is a short game in which you play as a bee security guard, protecting the B3 Game Expo hive from an unwanted bear visitor. Honestly, despite its reputation as a meme of sorts, I kind of admire this project: the creator(s) set out to make some bee puns while parodying E3 presentations, and that's exactly what they did.
The game mostly has you flying around a few rooms in first-person view, scanning objects Metroid Prime style, and collecting several doodads. The writing on these scans isn't exactly comedy gold, but they cover eventualities such as players returning to re-scan objects several times or out of order. Ultimately I think the game has a few very glaring problems (no adjustable aim speed, no inverted aim option, and it really requires you to scour every nook and cranny for coins to progress) which are difficult to overlook. But it's not a low-effort product either, and it beats sitting through an E3 EA Play Live show.
31. Astebreed (2018, Switch) ★★★☆☆
Astebreed has the veneer of a Sega Naomi/DreamCast shooter, and borrows visual cues from Neon Genesis Evangelion to lure you into thinking it can hang with Sin & Punishment or Bangai-O. In practice though, it shows only a surface-level understanding of the things it's aping, and supplements itself with reheated mecha anime tropes and cooing characters. It aims for Gundam Wing but lands on Knights of Sidonia.
None of this is to say the game is bad, but it feels highly derivative. Sure it's still fairly satisfying, zooming through the levels, blasting foes with lasers, homing missiles, and deflecting shots with your sword... But the game never convinced me anything was at stake, which is a problem given the amount of work put into dialogue and cut-scenes. The story here is superfluous at best, and a detriment at worst - and it feels like the developers knew this, since you're offered to ignore it from the outset.
32. Ice Climber (1985, Switch - NES vc) ★★☆☆☆
Honestly not the worst idea to center vertical platforming around the them of scaling a mountain. The game is rather frustrating though, since your jump covers only minimal horizontal distance, and towards the end the levels routinely demand pixel perfect jumps to stay alive.
33. Excitebike (1985, Switch - NES vc) ★★★☆☆
Good sense of speed, you can make risky jumps, and even tackle opponents. Really like this one, and I didn't even mess with the track builder.
34. Donkey Kong Country (1994, Switch - SNES vc) ★★★★☆
Never played the console versions of Rare's DK games, just the Game Boy ports. The praise seems wholly justified though, this is already really accomplished for their first outing with the series and as I understand it only gets better. Looks and plays great, a couple of the jokes still land, the worlds & levels feel nicely varied, and I love the music. Obviously the David Wise DKC soundtracks are referenced everywhere, but even the tunes which see less use (like the factory techno stuff) are well done.
It's not all great: some of the helper animals are better conceived than others, all of the boss fights except the last one are really dull, and there's a few ideas they don't iterate much on. Overall though, really worth updating your NSO app for.
35. Super Mario Bros. (1985, Switch - NES vc) ★★★☆☆
Had never played this, my first Mario game was 1989's Super Mario Land instead. While that one is better in my (admittedly nostalgia tinted) memory, this is still decent. Don't love the slippery physics, and levels 7-4 and 8-4 both repeat the same garbage cryptic gimmick, but it's still very playable.
36. Super Mario Bros. 3 (1990, Switch - NES vc) ★★☆☆☆
Very impressive on NES, the difference between this and the first Super Mario Bros. is quite staggering (I'm assuming they added extra chips to the cart?). That said, I sort of prefer the original in many ways. The music feels less iconic here for starters. Sure, there's way more levels and power-ups now, but the level design is all over the place in terms of quality.
Some are so short they make the world map feel like a nuisance for constantly kicking you back to it, others are these illogical mazes which go on way too long and have like 3 hidden blocks you need to find in order to progress. Sometimes you can move from 1 edge to the screen to the other, Mario Bros. style, which is used in a few clever moments, but also feels antithetical to the rest of the game. Other times you're in absolute garbage levels like 7-7 which would get downvoted even on Mario Maker. The abrupt difficulty spike in the last two worlds really soured me on what was an otherwise okay experience. I admire Mario 3 for how much it pushed the NES, and it's certainly a pioneering game, but it's not one I'll ever return to.
37. Super Mario World (1991, Switch - SNES vc) ★★★★☆
Really feels like this is the point where the franchise cements its style and conventions. Levels are creative, the music is catchy, Yoshi is introduced, the world map feels better integrated, and secrets no longer impede casual players but are still everywhere to reward the skilled ones. Frankly it's pretty embarrassing how this can easily go toe-to-toe with the New Super Mario Bros. sequels. Kinda shows the 2D side of the franchise has basically plateaued after the SNES era.
38. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (1995, Switch - SNES vc) ★★★★★
How come I slept on this for years?! Yoshi's Island is uhhh, the best 2D Mario game and the best Yoshi game ever? The art style is gorgeous, and retroactiveley makes New Super Mario Bros. U's one Van Gogh level worse, since it turns out they cribbed that from 6-7 here! Removing the timer allows for the sprawling levels to feel like less of a chore, ideas are iterated upon within their own world and even the bossfights are Actually Varied, without reservations. When do Mario games ever have good bosses?
Yes, there are downsides, it's not great how the Question Clouds are usually useless, but sometimes contain necessary elements required for progression. And yes, Yoshi's jump sound and Baby Mario's crying are both really grating, but those are hardly novel complaints. Very impressive.
39. Tomb Raider Anniversary (2007, PSP) ★★☆☆☆
Was honestly pretty close to rating this 3 stars at first, but the game blows its built up goodwill three quarters of the way in. Lara's given some superficially cool characterization initially, referencing moves Trinity does in The Matrix. Granted, the literal first line in the game objectifies her (as it did in the original), but the speaking character is hardly meant as audience surrogate.
The first 3 worlds are quite well done in terms of platforming. The Greece levels feel particularly varied and play with elements of the familiar myths (Atlas, Damocles, etc.). Lara Croft demands more precision to land her jumps than her contemporary Prince of Persia. While this admittedly leads to more deaths, it also lends every jump a tense feeling, as opposed to Ubisoft's effortless and consequence-free acrobatics.
Unlike the Sands of Time however, the camera is a constant source of annoyance in Tomb Raider Anniversary. This leads to many blind ledge drops and leap of faith jumps, particularly in the incredibly disappointing final world. Do you like sequences of timed jumps in directions the camera doesn't show you? What about enemies interrupting you from unseen angles while making these jumps? Doesn't help I already checked out of the story which took a left turn down supernatural schlock street, so when you're rewarded for your efforts by a finicky final boss stapled on top... the game just ends on a real sour note.
As a franchise, I think Tomb Raider struggles with some colonialist baggage baked into its core premise. You'd think the easy solution would be to either make Lara a morally gray/villainous character, or go for the Robin Hood angle and do casino heists Ocean's Eleven style. Since this is a fairly faithful remake however, her origins and heroic role remain unchanged. Lara is still an aristocratic English woman (there's a level set in her mansion, garden maze included), who chases rare treasures from ancient civilizations, "but only for sport" (her words).
I won't pretend to know enough about the ongoing debates regarding stolen historical artifacts, but those don't really apply for Lara. She's a private collector, occasionally for hire if provided enough Missing Father plot motivation, effectively making her a mercenary grave robber.
This setup sees you first traipse around Inca ruins, which are depicted here as shoddy mud huts, with primitive spear traps and rickety gear & pulley systems. (Despite building literal cities on mountaintops and road systems in reality.) Meanwhile, their Ancient Greek counterparts, who predate Inca society some 1,000+ years, have somehow equipped their temples with mechanical spikes, spring-loaded pressure sensitive trap panels and a literal Tesla coil? I understand it's just an adventure game in which you also fight dinosaurs and demons, but the game courts these criticisms by using real life locations and cultures. It's just a bummer the least studied-by-westerners civilization is reduced to a stereotypical jungle tribe.
There obviously needs to be a difficulty curve, and I suppose it's noteworthy how the locations you visit get progressively more intricate and mystical as their cultures are further removed in time from Lara's present. But it just feels a tad ignorant in places. Doesn't help how multiple characters are cultural stereotypes, with particularly Jerome Johnson standing out as a really dated white gangsta. Those stereotypes were certainly prevalent in media at the time, so its origin is understandable, but it's not even played for cheap laughs here, making his reworked design inclusion wholly superfluous.
40. TwinBee (1985, Switch - NES vc) ★☆☆☆☆
Hasn't aged very well. The graphics are still a bit too crude to really nail the cutesy atmosphere they're trying to convey, but it comes at the cost of visual legibility. Enemies are so small, and their bullets even more so, that keeping track of hazards becomes a chore. Maybe playing on a giant screen would help, but the main feeling I experienced here was frustration, not helped either by the chirpy sound effects. Some of the music is surprisingly soothing, though!
41. Detana!! TwinBee a.k.a. Bells & Whistles (1992, Wii U - PC-EN vc) ★★☆☆☆
The fifth TwinBee game. Didn't fully get the story since this is the Japanese PC-Engine version, but I mean, TwinBee and WinBee are off to help some princess in cutesy, colourful environments, shooting down anthropomorphic creatures and collecting bells to score power-ups. The fact that enemies exist on two planes is hardly used in interesting ways, feels quite superficial, especially since none of the bosses use this mechanic. The overall pacing also felt a bit off here, the game could really use another level, since the final boss sneaks up on you a bit and he's easier than the boss preceding him.
42. Pop'n TwinBee (1993, Switch - SNES vc) ★★★☆☆
The sixth TwinBee game is another vertical shooter, and this one is strikingly beautiful. The colourful art style is reminiscent of late eighties anime, in a cutesy mascot way. The series' aesthetic and soothing music truly coalesce here. The way enemies are placed on two separate planes, below you and ahead of you is somewhat interesting... But I don't love the way it's used. Almost everyone you're bombing on the ground, outside of artillery, are coded as civilians. Some of them even scrub the decks of aircraft carriers you're simultaneously shooting at. And yet you're encouraged to mow these non-combatants down in order to possibly regain health.
The game (again) isn't tremendously paced, feels a bit meandering until the final level. While it's a satisfying ending (and not impossibly difficult!), the lead-up to it doesn't make the end feel earned, which I'm starting to think is a constant for this franchise.
43. Pop'n TwinBee: Rainbow Bell Adventures (1994, Wii U - SNES vc) ★★☆☆☆
The seventh TwinBee game is, surprisingly, a 2D platformer! Weirdly this one shares similarities with Sonic the Hedgehog in the sense you're encouraged to blaze through levels fast, can never see the full lay-out, and some levels have multiple routes. In terms of art style however, I think a mixture of Rayman and Fantasy Zone is more apt.
It's not a straight platformer though, elements from the TwinBee shooters are cribbed, which results in the game retaining the upgrade system, and lasers from its predecessor. This is probably also the clearest the story has been in the TwinBee games I've tried so far, so we learn weird details such as how GwinBee is apparantly 1 year old. I don't know that I love this direction for the series, since the game gets deviously difficult towards the end, but it's fairly unique and mostly avoids the typical forest-desert-lave-ice pattern most platformers at the time had.
44. Super Earth Defense Force (1992, Switch - SNES vc) ★★★☆☆
Unrelated to the monster-shooting Simple E.D.F. franchise, this is an arcade horizontal space shooter ported to SNES. It's not a bad one, you've got 8 different weapons with various pros and cons to choose from, there's a nice mirroring between the first and last stage to give it a book-ending feeling, and everything's set to groovy tunes. Another aspect I like are the adjustable formations for your Options. It's very satisfying to park them right in a boss' face, hammering away at their health while you dodge shots in the distance.
It's not all sunshine and rainbows though: Super E.D.F. does not escape the signature SNES shooter slowdown, which you'll want to abuse to buy yourself more dodge time. The final boss is basically impossible if you bring a weaker weapon type which doesn't cause enough slowdown (such as the spread shot or homing laser). Pro tip: you gotta bring the atomic weapon, set Options in the boss' face, and evade shots at flying speed 3.
45. Gunbird 2 (1998, Switch) ★★★★☆
Vertical shooter from Psikyo, set in an aesthetic hodgepodge ranging from pirate themes to Venetian locales, with a lot of Orientalist and nineties anime tropes on top. You have six distinct characters with separate shot types, melees, bombs and specials; all of whom you could theoretically lead through seven difficulty modes. Additionally, by making various choices and combinations, there's a total of 27 (!!!) different stories and endings to be unlocked - and you'll probably want to, since many have amusing monkey's paw style twist endings.
It's not perfect: Morrigan from Darkstalkers is absent in this version, as are the DreamCast voice clips, and in general I think the music is a bit too samey. Some people may find a couple of the jokes on the tacky/dated side (though they're not outright mean-spirited). But it's a mostly funny, exciting shooter with replayability in spades and enough options for newcomers.
46. Danmaku Unlimited 3 (2018, Switch) ★★★★☆
Been playing a lot of shooters this year, so I figured a toe dipped in the Bullet Hell pond couldn't hurt... Well, the sub-genre's name certainly seems appropriate! In Danmaku Unlimited 3 you're a powerful ship with wide beam cannons, weaving through the gaps between enemy shots. Letting a bullet juuuust graze you results in building up your special, so you'll want to be on the offensive and let every enemy fire off a shot. It's very satisfying to obliterate foes, and there's a nice rhythm to the game's bullet patterns. True completionists beware though: the True Final Boss is utterly impossible without clairvoyant reflexes.
47. Child of Light (2014, Wii U) ★★★☆☆
Drop-dead gorgeous little RPG built in the UbiArts Framework. Story is a fairly predictable Sleeping Beauty retelling which tips its hand far too early and frequently, and it's written entirely in rhyme. This gets a bit contrived at times, I wish they'd have changed up the meter more radically, maybe per area. Child of Light is the kind of game I really want to love based on art style, and indeed it gets pretty close, but the whole project is just a tad bloated. There's too many skilltrees, too many collectibles which you need to craft into too many sub-dividing gemstones, and there's too many party members, especially since you use just 2 active ones at all times. Kinda feels like the game would've been better if they cut a few areas and party members, and tugged harder at your heartstrings. It's really close to greatness.
48. Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition (2014, Wii U) ★★★☆☆
Luchador themed brawler/platformer heavily emulating the 2D Metroid formula. I love the art style Drinkbox Studios uses, but the storytelling is very uneven. It's clearly set during an imagined past, yet characters will sometimes slip into modern colloquialisms or just outright quote unfunny 2010 memes. Real shame because the developers can write engrossing stories (see 2016's Severed).
Towards the end I kind of grew to resent this game, too. The final dungeon is a real pain: it goes on WAY too long, and is just back-to-back difficult platforming sections with spikes and instant death drops, followed by difficult killrooms. Rinse, lather, repeat until you square off against a quite tough final boss. I got Shantae and the Pirate's Curse flashbacks, where a breezy game suddenly pulls an Uno reverse card at the final stretch just to pad the playtime by another hour.
49. Runbow (2015, Wii U) ★★☆☆☆
I'll grant the game I played this in possibly the least optimal setting: Runbow is a 9-player party platformer, meant for quick matches and chaotic bouncing. Obviously I'm not inviting people over this year, so the single-player mode is all I did. And man, it's just all over the place. There's no difficulty curve here, it's a difficulty Yo-yo. There's attempts at colour-coordinating levels (green, orange, red) by difficulty, but a lot of the medium levels are still Super Meat Boy esque deathgrinders, while some red ones are cakewalks. Add to this the not-quite-perfect jumping feel, your hitbox being a tad bigger than you'd assume, and a disappointing ending... And it just becomes a bit of a chore.
It's not an awful game, and there's loads of indie cross-over characters to unlock (Shovel Knight, Shantae, Rusty, etc.) to distract you from the somewhat cheap art style, but I'm really baffled this reviewed so well 5 years ago.
50. Donut County (2018, Switch) ★★★★★
Basically a perfect game, in the sense it achieves all of the ambitions within its own scope, with polished graphics and likable characters. You play as a raccoon running a donut shop, but to save on dough all he sells are the donuts' holes. These manifest as sinkholes, swallowing all in their path. Part Katamari, part Adventure Time, this is a short, sweet and funny game.
51. Florence (2020, Switch) ★★★☆☆
Port of the 2018 visual novel for iOS. Tried this purely based on the art style and description, which gave me Juno meets depression vibes, but unfortunately I got neither. Yes, it looks gorgeous and the music is cozy with a jaunty step in there, but I wish you had more agency here. Story spoilers: from the very first argument I just wanted to ditch the dude, man. Who argues over groceries? Let Florence live by herself, or Tinderswipe me another guy, but no you have to follow the set path to continue.
I was also disappointed by the lack of persistence: you place items in one scene and remove them later, but they're in a completely different spot and stuff you put in storage is now out on shelves anyway. Why let me decorate at all, then? Maybe I'm making deeply unfair complaints here, since a lack of agency seems somewhat inherent to the genre, and in fact most games are basically masquerading a semi-fixed outcome behind many micro-decisions. But for some reason Florence drove me up the wall by not indulging my attempts to derail the prescribed story.
52. In Other Waters (2020, Switch) ★★★★☆
Saved a special one for #52. In Other Waters is a mystery sci-fi game about First Contact and xenobiology, in which you play as the A.I. of a researcher's advanced diving suit. You interact with the planet's underwater ecosystem purely through menus: you scan lifeforms and waypoints to establish a map, chart courses to set off to, manage oxygen and power levels, activate jet propulsion, and answer requests of the biologist in YES/NO binaries. This role as assistant to the main character, along with the minimalist visual style, means you're basically imagining half the game world and role-playing as an A.I. research assistant.
The game is a bit obtuse and purposefully clunky to accentuate deliberation (took me a bit to figure out how to even move), and a tad repetitive if you go the wrong way often (which you will unless you memorise the map), but it's a mysterious and engaging experience. Certainly the most interesting game I've played all year, and I urge everyone (without thalassophobia) to check this one out. Personal GOTY contender for me. Hit me up with questions if needed!
53. Trine 2: Director's Cut (2012, Wii U) ★★★☆☆
Bought both of the Trine games years ago on sale, and rather regretted the purchase after bouncing off the first one mid-way through. The sequel fixes almost none of the original's problems, either: levels are still way too long, the overall sense of jank continues to permeate in every physics puzzle, the story continues being milquetoast robed wizard storybook fantasy drivel, and the protagonists never exceed boilerplate D&D podcast levels of characterisation.
What Trine 2 does fix though is the drab bloomy aesthetic of the original. While I'm not a fan of the Cinderella-meets-Blingee look, there's an undeniable prettiness to its high fidelity environments. There's also some minor enjoyment found in stitching together several unwieldly semi-solutions to scrape past obstacles. The game does have a real problem with rewarding you though: its only solution is to unlock 7 more levels after finishing the main campaign, which felt more like a threat than a prize. As a solo experience I don't really recommend this to anyone, but it's fairly decent and might be more fun in co-op.
54. Teslagrad (2014, Wii U) ★★★☆☆
Somewhat charming steampunk platformer with an emphasis on magnetism and a hand-drawn art style. There are some Metroid-esque allusions with its interconnected world, but backtracking is mostly optional. While the game succeeds at storytelling without dialogue, I was unfortunately never emotionally engaged. The game is also marred by an excessively steep difficulty curve. It's not unfair or cheap, and there are several good bossfights, but the game requires a lot of precision and even the slightest mistakes instantly kill you.
55. Star Soldier (1986, Switch - NES vc) ★★★☆☆
You can really tell the difference in intended audience when comparing arcade coin-op shooter conversions on NES like TwinBee or Gradius, versus MSX games like Star Soldier, which were always intended for a home audience. Star Soldier feels a lot more forgiving; movement is fast and smooth, you can tank a hit or two, lives accumulate based on score, and while the bosses will still wreck you with ease, at least you have a fighting chance.
It's not a perfect first outing: by stretching the game to 16 stages, recycling bosses, and teleporting you back if you don't finish a boss off quick enough the overall playtime feels padded and poorly paced. Lastly, the Big Brain bossfights are maybe a tad too difficult compared to the rest of the game. But it's still a cut above its NES rivals.
56. Blazing Lazers a.k.a. Gunhed (1989, TG16 Mini) ★★★☆☆
Spin-off intended to tie in with the Japanese movie Gunhed. This is Star Soldier through-and-through, though. Fast-paced, loads of upgrades, secondary weapon combinations, and a few too many levels to not become exhausting. I don't like how the game makes you actively avoid certain power-ups because they'll reset your weapon level. Dying can also easily be run-ending, since you'll be sent back to the start of a level with just your puny peashooter. There's a late stage with bubbles which is particularly frustrating. Cool game, but if it were easier I would've enjoyed it more.
57. Super Star Soldier (1990/1991, TG16 Mini) ★★★☆☆
This one suffers from Mario 2 syndrome. Rather than resetting the difficulty curve, this picks up at the end of Blazing Lazers and continues getting harder from there. As a result, the second mainline Star Soldier game is by far the hardest in the franchise that I've played. It's faster, more frenetic, and all but eliminates moments of rest. Curiously, the last two stages feel a tad easier, and overall this game is better paced thanks to less and shorter levels. The upgrade system is bit less punishing too, but the removal of bombs (which now auto-trigger if you max out your weapon upgrade) gives you less screen-clearing options.
58. Final Soldier (1991, Wii U - TG16 vc) ★★★☆☆
While Final Soldier continues to offer hallmark features of the Star Soldier franchise (smooth, fast controls, catchy music, and varied power-ups) I can't help but feel this one's a bit lacking in personality. Bosses, while fun, are all over the place (marine ships, robots, owls, the usual floating brains) and the regular enemies are similarly undecided in where they sit on the organic-robotic spectrum. The variety is welcome, but the result feels unfocused.
The selectable shot patterns are great, but unfortunately you're locked into your choice upon the start of your run. There's a risk-reward wager there, but I would've preferred tactically changing them on the fly to adjust to situations. You wind up defaulting to the 3 patterns which work best at far and close range. I do like how screen-clearing bombs are achieved by blowing up your Options; thus you can strategically clear entire screens every time a third Option power-up comes into view.
59. Soldier Blade (1992, TG-6 Mini) ★★★★★
Hell yeah, it all came together for the fourth one! Difficulty is balanced well, you're no longer punished for switching between weapon types mid-run, and while there's fewer weapon types, for once they all feel actually viable. Music is excellent, pacing is great, there's some early bullet hell moments here, the ending is hype as hell, and it even attempts some storytelling. This one's the total package, loved it.
60. Star Parodier a.k.a. Fantasy Star Soldier (1992, TG-16 Mini) ★★★★☆
Hudson saw Konami spinning their Gradius off into Parodius, so obviously Star Soldier had to follow suit. Think of this as Super Smash Bros. but as a cute, colourful space shooter instead: with references to Bomberman, TwinBee, Momotarō Dentetsu, and even a cheeky nod to Namco's Dragon Spirit.
A bummer about Star Parodier is how it's obviously built by the Super Star Soldier team, meaning this title effectively sidesteps the gameplay innovations introduced in both Final Soldier (bombs are back to regular ol' bombs here) and Soldier Blade (upgrades don't stack so we're back to dodging unwanted upgrades). On the bright side, the difficulty here is much more forgiving, and while some bosses are re-skins from Super, the art style is so charming they don't feel like tired rehashes.
61. Star Soldier (2005, PSP) ★★★★☆
A very significant remake of the first game, built for GameCube in 2003, and then optimised for vertical play on the PSP. While inheriting some of the original's problems, chiefly the repeating (mini)bosses, Star Soldier 2005 offers considerable improvements, too. Cutting down the stages from 16 to 10 improves the game's pacing, and new bosses aid in creating more memorable milestones within a single playthrough. Star Soldier's other core problem, which leaves you functionally helpless after losing a life, is also addressed here. By dropping an upgrade near your respawn point, you have a fighting chance with smart maneuvers. It's not a perfect solution, but the attempt is appreciated. This remake never left Japan, but it's worth tracking down for genre fans.
62. Gradius a.k.a. Nemesis (1986, Switch - NES vc) ★★☆☆☆
Relentlessly difficult; I gave up trying to beat this fairly and used the rewind function liberally. Even if it were easy though, the game would still not be great. Levels look very similar, and there's little boss variety, meaning the end kinda sneaks up on you. Doesn't feel like you went on much of an adventure at all. I do like the many power-ups though.
63. Salamander a.k.a. Life Force (1991, TG16 Mini) ★★★☆☆
Spin-off/sequel to Gradius which simplifies the upgrade system and introduces a neat quirk where horizontally scrolling levels alternate with vertical ones. Interesting how Gradius II and Gradius III both heavily iterate on this one, outright copying several bosses and ideas.
64. Gradius II: Gofer No Yabō a.k.a. Nemesis II (1992, TG16 Mini) ★★★☆☆
Bit easier than the first game, but that's speaking relatively. Gradius II is still super challenging in parts and has bossfights in spades to ruin your progress. A single hit usually spells doom and resets you to being helplessly slow with only a peashooter to protect you. This port has slowdown everywhere, so you can squeeze through enemy fire like you're Neo reading the Matrix. Cool game, weirdly anti-climactic end though.
65. Assassin's Creed III (2012, Wii U) ★☆☆☆☆
The ultimate proof that quantity does not trump quality. The 18th century America portrayed in Assassin's Creed III looks shamelessly expensive and meticulously crafted by top-tier developers - it's a gorgeous game, with sprawling forests, detailed cities, wild life... And all of it in service to nothing: a profoundly boring, hollow, bloated mess.
The story set in these lush environments is a sloppy, unfocused, meandering mess of interlocking conspiracies. Nobody ever has concrete goals, just buzzwords they pursue. This is not for want of resources, because you're positively tripping over cut-scenes while you stumble from one tutorial to the next - many of them forcing you to learn mechanics you'll probably never use again. Just relegate those to sidequests! Why am I playing mandatory hide and seek five hours into this open world stealth game, if you've already decided the outcome will be a cut-scene anyway?
Speaking of the open world, it's utterly wasted on the campaign here. A majority of missions force you to tail/pursue people within a very narrow radius, effectively nullifying any incentive for players to learn their environments and take shortcuts or cut off pursuers. The same goes for the stealth missions: you'd think this game has everything set in place for Hitman-esque assassinations with multiple options and paths, but again you're effectively forced through corridors, any deviation of which results in a game over.
It's not an awful game. Again, it looks beautiful, and while the controls are miserable in a post-BOTW world I imagine they were more impressive eight years ago. Lastly, while it's not handled very gracefully, I do at least admire the attempt at bringing the genocide of Native Americans to the forefront. But those few positives cannot save this monument to feature creep which seems hellbent on making sure its few distinctive elements never get to flourish.
66. Sniper Elite V2 (2013, Wii U) ★★★☆☆
Frankly a somewhat trashy, shallow third person World War 2 shooting game in which you sneak around and snipe enemies whenever a thunderclap/shelling/other noise masks your shots. However, I had a surprisingly fun time with this. The game doesn't take itself very seriously, awarding points per kill based on distance, and it'll play comically gruesome bullet impact details for one-hit kills, somewhat reminiscent of a non-cartoony XIII.
The game is marred by a generic protagonist, and the story's fixation on moving the franchise to the Cold War next, so you shoot just as many Soviet soldiers as you do Nazi troops, which feels out of place in a plot hinging on stopping a V2 rocket launch. It's pretty clear they're mostly just ticking off boxes from various iconic sniper moments in films (Enemy At The Gates and Saving Private Ryan), but in that sense I think the game succeeds pretty well.
67. Just Dance 2019 (2018, Wii U) ★★★★☆
At this point Ubisoft have these down to a science: songs from all manner of languages, dances and animations are polished, menus have pleasing chimes and sound effects, they don't skimp on getting expensive song licenses, and there's all types of leaderboards and weekly challenges integrated to keep you moving.
One thing to note though is Just Dance 2019 features quite aggressive monetisation, which seems hellbent on souring your experience just to sell you on their 2$ monthly subscription to get all 400+ previous songs. First month is free, but whether you take them up on the offer or not, the Just Dance Unlimited subscription is pushed to you in almost every screen. From the options menu, to booting up the game, it's always there. Don't know if this was always there in previous entries, but it's intrusive in an ostensibly 50$ game (I got it on sale, but still).
68. Drop It: Block Paradise (2017/2019, Wii U) ★★★☆☆
Basically an inverted Art of Balance. Simple but intuitive: remove blocks from a stack to land a precariously balanced star on safe ground. Backgrounds and music are decent, and there's lots of content (150 levels, a level editor) given the price point. Some things could be improved: blocks simply vanish when interacting with both electricity and buzzsaws, resulting in no real distinction between both hazards outside of whether they move. Also think the warpholes don't stand out enough from the background, and since it's initially unclear where they'll lead you're effectively doing a few trial-and-error runs in many of the later levels.
P.S.: Camjo-Z did you work on this, or just a username coincidence?
69. Cycle of Eternity: Space Anomaly (2018, Wii U) ★☆☆☆☆
Rather buggy and poorly translated turn-based space RPG. The game will randomly send you back 2 screens when it feels like doing so, and one of my ships kept losing all their EXP at seemingly random intervals, which is quite inconvenient in a grind-heavy RPG full of power creep.
That said, for something produced at a microscopic budget and selling for literal pennies, there's a real sense this was someone's passion project. So if you're the kind of person who can find challenge in working around the game's bugs, this comes very cautiously recommended. At least they made something and shipped it, you know.
70. 6180 The Moon (2016, Wii U) ★★★☆☆
Simple, short, but effective 2D platformer in which you can fall endlessly across both screens - provided no spikes impede your fall (which they will). Unlike what I expected, the TV is not always the top screen, and the Gamepad is not always the bottom. Rather, both essentially loop endlessly which took some adjusting on my part. It's wrapped in a twee story about the Moon making a trip past a few planets, but it's stylish enough, and it's cute the developers thank the actual Moon in the credits.
71. The Amazing Spider-Man: Ultimate Edition (2012, Wii U) ★★★☆☆
One of those "this hits differently in 2020" experiences. At any other time I would probably come down harder on this game for its poorly paced and very obviously padded campaign which blatantly recycles entire sections. And while I'm not one to notice performance problems, this finally taught me what screen-tearing really is (and it happens constantly).
However, its central story revolves around a viral outbreak in New York City, where people quarantine indoors and Spider-Man functions as a makeshift ambulance to get infected citizens to medical quarantine shelters between missions. There's even an in-game Twitter where people yell at each other to wear masks, and over time NPCs on the street actually do! Usually I ignore all the citizen requests in these games, but in the context of COVID I felt compelled to do them all this time.
Of course this game can't shake the baggage of the terrible movie, with its toothless monster design, all its creepy obsessions about "cross-species blood", and what is functionally bio-terrorism. And while it manages to garner sympathy for the infected citizens (who don't want to be a burden to medical workers!), there's simultaneously a really uncomfortable portrayal of mental asylum escapees present throughout the game. At least Peter is less irritating than Andrew Garfield's performance, and you quickly unlock the Sam Raimi suits to further distance yourself from the 2012 film.
72. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014, Wii U) ★★★☆☆
I don't envy the developers at Beenox, who had to build a sequel within two years at what seems like about half the budget. The stealth gameplay and overworld missions are greatly reduced, in favour of becoming a boring brawler severely lacking in enemy variety.
Some variety is instead poured into the bossfights, which despite improving upon the previous game, still aren't great. Saddled with the story of the worst Spider-Man movie to date, you already have a conga line of villains lined up, but the game also insists on weaving its own tale around Kraven, Kingpin and Carnage, resulting in a string of like 6 potential final bossfights, none of them being narratively satisfactory. As a result, the pacing is severely backloaded, and Spider-Man does not even come close to something resembling a character arc.
Where this does greatly improve on its predecessor however, is in the web-swinging. Now you need to actually connect to buildings, and you control Spidey's hands independently. No, you never achieve Spider-Man 2 (or even Ultimate Spider-Man) levels of control and finesse, but it's still exciting to traverse Manhattan at break-neck speeds.
Like the film it ties into, this game is both overstuffed and mostly hollow, and with Gwen Stacy suspiciously absent you miss the only good part of this iteration of the series, too. However, the game lets you quickly ditch the Garfield suit for the Miles Morales one, and at least tries to produce its own, more cartoony take on the property. My score here is probably a tad higher than deserved, and TASM2 is quite a step down in many ways, but as someone who plays these games only for the web-swinging and treats everything else as a bonus/distraction, I would cautiously recommend it to other with a high tolerance for the franchise.
73. Soul Axiom (2016, Wii U) ★★★☆☆
First-person puzzle game by Wales Interactive, and quite obviously a (spiritual) sequel to 2014's Master Reboot, although this game is a huge improvement over its predecessor. The Tron meets trashy neon horror art style impresses relative to the game's undoubtedly lower budget. And while lots of assets and themes are recycled from Master Reboot and Infinity Runner, I was surprised at the sheer amount of new areas. These games aren't very pretty, and you need to crank the brightness through the roof to see anything at times, but the art style is distinct enough to give the game an identity.
The puzzle solutions and storytelling are also more cohesive this time, with very two-dimensional characters and predictable motivations for the player to understand at a glance. It's hardly Shakespeare, but the otherwise quite disparate levels stitch together better in Soul Axiom. Unfortunately, the project feels bloated in size: this has no business being a 12 hour game. I was already getting antsy 6 levels in, so for the game to have 12 of them and then force players back through them all for extra content feels overly ambitious. Luckily it ends quite strong and feels rewarding to complete.
74. Artemis' Minesweeper (2020, PC) ★★★★☆
It's Minesweeper + bullet hell in 2020's ultimate "rub your tummy and pat your head simultaneously" game. Sweep mines like you're on Windows 3.1, while snaking your cursor between a hail of bullets. A very short game, but you can tinker with the settings to get more runs out of it, and it has some nice flourishes like how the anime girl's vision tracks your pointer.
Don't really understand the whole V-tuber scene, and in fact I think if this got a better name (just call it Bullet Hell Minesweeper) and a more thematically cogent enemy (maybe some Medusa figure but with landmine earrings on every snake?) I think this could be a real winner for a very niche crowd. Free right now on Itch io, but I would pay money for it.
75. Psychosis a.k.a. Paranoia (1990, TG-16 Mini) ★★☆☆☆
Cool idea to set a shoot-em-up inside someone mind, battling inner demons, but it sounds like the pitch was thought up after the fact. Environments are super colourful and vary wildly: you battle kitsune in a Japanese forest, carry a turtle in Ancient Egypt, and there's even a beach-side stage. Not cohesive at all, while the title made me hope for R-Type gross-out environments.
Bosses often rely on positioning yourself in a tricky corner where you can't be hit, and then angling your Options to blast them, which feels cheap rather than earned.
76. Aldynes a.k.a. Aldynes: The Mission Code For Rage Crisis (1991, TG-16 Mini) ★★☆☆☆
One of five total games ever released on the doom SuperGrafx, Aldynes is mostly notable for its rarity and the fact they repurposed a boss for Super Turrican later on. Aldynes itself is a stupidly difficult horizontal shoot-em-up, with some mildly impressive sprite scaling and music. There's a cohesion to its industrial level design, which persists throughout, but also results in a rather samey experience with a limited colour palette. This also causes a problem by making your Options look almost identical to your ship at a glance, resulting in deaths due to confusion over your position. Lastly, the final boss is a real piece of work requiring a quite unintuitive and very risky approach, which feels gimmicky and cheap.
77. SNK Gals' Fighters (2000/2020, Switch) ★★★★☆
Code Mystics have unexpectedly begun porting Neo Geo Pocket games to Switch, and as a recently converted clicky-stick believer, it's nice they've started with some of the higher-priced ones. SNK Gals' Fighters is a cross-over game, similar to King of Fighters, but starring only the ladies from Art of Fighting,Fatal Fury, Psycho Soldier, The Last Blade, Samurai Shodown, and of course KoF.
This is probably the fastest fighter on the system, due to shorter life bars, quick animations, and no extra stances. Presentation is great, with colourful stages, catchy chiptunes, and the larger character sprites. Also surprising they didn't outright copy+paste movesets from other games like you'd think. One note though: the final boss, Miss X, is a cross-dressing man, presenting as a woman. The game alternates between playing this for cringe-inducing outdated comedy, and some moments of (seemingly?) more sincere gender expression. You definitely feel the age of the game here though, and it uses the outdated term "transvestite". I'm not well versed enough in SNK history (nor the character's) to meaningfully comment beyond the observation, but don't expect a graceful handling of the subject matter here.
Apparently this game somehow got a sequel 18 years later, called SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy, which looks like a disappointing and oversexualised follow-up angling for the waifu crowd.
78. The Last Blade: Beyond the Destiny (2000/2020, Switch) ★★★★☆
This 20 year old combined down-port of the first two Last Blade games to the Neo Geo Pocket Color does not impress at first glance, but won me over in the long run by addressing the core weakness of SNK's portable fighters of the time.
Yes, there's not enough stages to keep the game varied, and the localization suffers from both a dearth of flavour text and ill-fitting 'tude era translations. But where this game vastly outlasts contemporaries like Fatal Fury: First Strike is in the sheer amount of unlockables you can grind for.
New characters appear at a regular clip, you can amend them with cards, and many of them have 2 story modes each. Individual matches are never as exciting as my preferred fighter on the system (Samurai Shodown! 2), but this one has more reasons to return to it.
Last fun fact: in Japan this was supposedly called Romance of the Bakumatsu Special: Swordsman of the Moonlight - On the Moon a Flower Blooming, a Petal Falling, which has to count for something.
79. Samurai Shodown a.k.a. Samurai Spirits (2020, Switch) ★★★★★
This port of last year's 7th mainline Samurai Shodown title is undeniably smaller in scope than many modern fighting games: only 16 characters on the base roster, mere modest amounts of unlockables, and its story mode is basically an arcade mode with interstitial cut-scenes. Instead, it's clear all efforts for this project were laser-focused on producing rock-solid, exceptionally deliberate fighting gameplay, and it paid off shockingly well considering the sheer amount of studios credited on this game.
With rounds averaging only 30-60 seconds max, matches in SamSho are rife with tension, can be over in just a few hits, and deliver razor-tight victory margins with seemingly effortless routine. It's a defensive mind-game, and since everyone's damage output is so high, every successful hit registers as a real achievement or setback. Characters feel perfectly balanced, and can be studied to absurd degrees of detail.
And yet despite its high skill ceiling, the streamlined fundamentals also make it much more approachable to button-mashing fighting scrubs like me. All characters share similar inputs for their different specials (think Smash Bros.), and if even those prove too difficult, you can absolutely win matches with just strong blocking/dodging/movement and well-placed neutral moves.
Such airtight combat comes (perhaps fittingly) at a high price though. The janky online mode is often deserted on Switch just months after release; if any game needed cross-play it's this one. Furthermore, the U.I. feels at once empty and cluttered, loadtimes err on the long side, the tutorial is adequate but hardly comprehensive, some of the female fighters have dumb skimpy outfits, and even the presentation suffers in some areas (mainly faces in close-up). If you're willing to push through the negatives though, you will find a rewarding and absolutely thrilling game here.
80. Manifold Garden (2020, Switch) ★★★★☆
Last year's surrealist first-person puzzle game Manifold Garden arrived on consoles this year. Glad it did, too, because this was a refreshing experience. You move through a series of fractal, non-Euclidian structures which appear to infinitely repeat themselves in all directions. Your interactions with the world have you flipping the world around, meaning you can easily walk on walls or ceilings by making them your new floor. Fall off a ledge somewhere? No worries, since the world repeats itself endlessly you're actually encouraged to take shortcuts by flinging yourself into the void. If you ever placed portals on the floor and ceiling in Portal and then fell down an endless well, you'll know the thrill of seeing the world zoom by at high speed.
The hypnotic and gorgeous surroundings, coupled with an excellent score of both serene and ominous synths lend the world a mysterious feeling. Progressing by solving a puzzle is manifestly rewarding, and the game is great about wordlessly teaching its mechanics and subsequently making you feel clever for paying attention. My one minor gripe is how you can end up stuck on a puzzle if you don't understand what to do, and since many of them gate progression off, you'll just sit there stumped trying to make it through trial and error (or following a video guide).
Overall though a very polished and striking game, highly recommended to fans of Monument Valley or M.C. Escher.
81. When The Past Was Around (2020, Switch) ★★★☆☆
Short point & click adventure from Indonesian developers, about Eda and her (musical) partner (depicted here as an Owl). Mostly notable for a gorgeous animation style and soothing music (wish the loops were longer, though), since the puzzles aren't very noteworthy. The story seems poised to go for the jugular and really break your heart, and there's a standout sequence where you're tearing a room apart in search of a vital item. But it's both too short and arrives too late to really be affecting. Ultimately feels like the game pulls its narrative punches, although I could see this resonating more with others. Recommended to people who liked Florence, but wished it had puzzles. I'm just not quite the audience for this.
82. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity (2020, Switch) ★★★☆☆
While at times a convincing facsimile of Breath of the Wild, I'm ultimately very mixed on this pseudo-prequel. Despite being essentially a beat-'em-up, the combat itself is curiously frivolous. Impacts feel light, and while the movesets are ostensibly varied you tend to default to similar attack patterns across characters regardless. It's not stylish enough outside the canned animations to impress after initial surprises wear off, nor crunchy enough to feel like you're really mowing dudes down by the masses.
Another aspect I thoroughly dislike is the story conceit: essentially this is an Elseworlds "what if" alternate timeline, a throwaway fanfiction episode at best which feels incongruous with the marketing, and undercuts the impact of character interactions and cut-scenes this very game is lovingly rendering. This works to the game's detriment: I love the portrayal of Princess Zelda in this game, she has an actual arc, and several all-time great moments. But they're rendered moot because the story does not dare to swing for the proverbial Rogue One fences one might expect for a prequel.
Where it does succeed story-wise is its theming: Age of Calamity further plays up the nature vs. technology theme present in Nintendo's 2017 opus, and while it takes a while to get going, does bring it to the forefront. Hyrule Warriors 2 also nails the visual style, with environments, animations, cut-scenes, and even menus appearing nigh-indistinguishable from its source material. Unfortunately this care does not extend to the soundtrack, which sounds like a set of remixes better suited for Smash Bros. or perhaps a Zelda themed Mario Kart course at best. Overall a mixed bag I wanted to love, but only barely like outside of cut-scenes. Three stars for now, but just barely.
83. Hades (2020, Switch) ★★★★★
Believe the hype. Got nothing to add you haven't heard/read yet, but this is my game of the year.
84. GRID Autosport (2019, Switch) ★★★★☆
Very fully-featured port of this late 2014 Codemasters Xbox 360/PS3 racing game done by Feral Interactive. Easily the best "realistic visuals" I've ever seen on Switch. With convincing sound effects, crisp renditions of famous tracks like the Yas Marina circuit, slick menus and voice-overs, GRID Auto nails the entire presentation with aplomb. The racing itself is decent too, and there's heaps of content in five categories (Touring, Open Wheel, Endurance, Tuner, Street) which further subdivide into different racing events (time trials, drifting, regular races, etc.), occurring on a wealth of circuits. In addition you can tweak a bevy of settings, and create a custom difficulty mode, or just leave it all as-is and have a decent time.
That said, despite all the options I could never find a perfect sweet spot for the A.I. difficulty: I would either overtake everyone from last place in a single lap, or struggle to finish 11th out of 16. A middle ground would have been nice. The A.I. is also quite aggressive at times which you can't tweak.
Another downside of the game is the sheer length of its campaign: just to make the final tournament you're looking at 30-40 hours of racing across all categories. Personally I got really tired of the Tuner class because drifting tournaments take forever, and the Endurance class has a real dearth of event variety too. But guess what? You can't finish the campaign before reaching level 9 in every discipline! I would have preferred to reach a total amount of experience, and just do more Formula 2 events to grind out points. Good game to play in short daily bursts over several months, though, and probably the best non-arcade racer on the system.
85. Animal Crossing: New Horizons (2020, Switch) ★★★★☆
Landing smack-dab in the middle of an emerging global pandemic and the first weeks of global lockdowns, Animal Crossing absolutely dominated games discourse for a month or two. It was never really on my radar before, and I'll fully admit I bought into the hype here. New Horizons' offering of the daily tedium which was suddenly impossible felt like a cathartic way to uphold a (virtual) daily routine.
There's lots to critique of course: the user interface slows everything to a crawl, crafting is kind of a chore, and the game constantly wastes your time (why is there even a title screen here? Just boot us right into the town!). The online mode takes forever to get going, and once you're there your possibilities for multiplayer activities are very limited. There's thousands of items, but they mostly serve as doll house set dressing, rather than offering meaningful interactions.
Most disappointing of all is the lack of depth of your villagers, who draw from a shared dialogue pool per personality type. Sometimes they'll comment on nearby items, maybe they'll give you a nickname or ask for your preferred music. You can't really play games or make music with them in a group setting, let alone invite them to your house. And yet I've grown to care for some of these critters. I've got a fun mix with the arrogant Rodney (he's my fave) living next to the upperclassy Diana, while Al sits on their porch talking to bugs. Animal Crossing is very much what you make of it. It's up to you to get invested, decide your daily routine, shape the island, or schedule playtime with friends. Historically, that's not the type of game I gravitate towards. But hype be damned, this game hooked me. I don't know if AC:NH will ever fully transcend its moment in time for me, but while I occasionally drop it for a month, I'm always glad when I return to see my virtual buddies eating sandwiches or talking about vaporwave. It might not be my game of the year, but it's one of those quintessential 2020 releases alongside Among Us, Fall Guys and Phasmaphobia.
Dammit, yet another year I miss the first page. I blame Death Stranding.
My hope this year is just to equal what I did last year, which is beat 26 games (one game every TWO weeks instead of the full 52). I'm also hoping to keep my backlog growth to a minimum: one game in, one game out. I have no real clue if that's realistic for me but goals are good nonetheless! This goal is dead; bundles and subscriptions made this infeasible pretty much out of the gate.
1. The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit (PC, 2018) - 0:38 (+0:57 in 2019) - COMPLETED January 2
Short and kinda sweet, but also a bit inconsequential. Basically a video game vignette, with a surprising amount of detail to what seems like a tiny side story in Life Is Strange 2?
2. Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight (PS4, 2018) - 7:48 - COMPLETED January 5
The good news is the game feels better to play than Persona 4: Dancing All Night--still robotic at times, but less so than the original. As a result, I like it quite a bit more. The bad news is there's a lot less content, and while I don't really miss the story mode, it doesn't take very long to go through the game's tracklist on multiple difficulties. Modifiers and frankly mediocre social link events don't do a lot to help with this, either. I can see ekeing out a few more hours to get the Platinum, but after that the only reason to play would be to try and King Crazy all the songs on All Night difficulty, which... no.
3. Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight (PS4, 2018) - 6:44 - COMPLETED January 6
A very similar game to its Persona 3 counterpart, but somehow feels like the afterthought despite being connected to the most recent mainline entry in the franchise. The soundtrack isn't as good, the UI looks overworked compared to both Persona 5 and Dancing in Moonlight, and the characters feel more like caricatures here than they did in Dancing in Moonlight. Plus this game is, like, way hornier than Dancing in Moonlight, to its detriment. Still, if you liked the Persona 3 version, I see no reason not to play this too.
4. Pixel Puzzle Collection (Android, 2018) - 4:51 (+76:12 in 2019) - COMPLETED January 8
The first Picross-style game I played was Paint It Back a few years ago, and I spent 50+ hours on that game. Pixel Puzzle Collection is more of the same, but I guess 80+ hours is maybe my limit; by the time I got to the final puzzles the whole Picross thing felt a little stale. Still, if you love Picross, this is a great collection of puzzles, and the price of $0.00 can't be beat either.
5. Wolfenstein Youngblood (PC, 2019) - 7:15 (+7:37 in 2019) - COMPLETED January 12
Came back to this after a few months away, and was surprised to learn I still mostly knew how to play it. The second half was more fun than the first half; fully understanding what the game is trying to be (and what it's not) helped put me in the right mindset to enjoy the last set of missions. Still not totally sold on having to match ammo types to armor, but the co-op structure of the game and the AI buddy did in fact save my bacon a few times, so there's that.
6. Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order (PC, 2019) - 12:11 (+5:17 in 2019) - COMPLETED January 18
Rides the ragged edge of my tolerance for difficult games. The final boss fight was infinitely more frustrating than everything that came before it, but I can't quite bring myself to blame the game for this; I just wish I was better at this kind of thing. Jedi Fallen Order is otherwise a great Star Wars game, with a stronger story and better characters than The Rise of Skywalker. And yeah, besides me not being great at it, the combat is really fun.
7. River City Girls (Switch, 2019) - 8:02 - COMPLETED January 20
It's cool and stylish and funny and just hard enough that I hated my life for short periods of time but not so hard that I felt like giving up on the game entirely. Give Misako and Kyoko more games!
8. Wattam (PC, 2019) - 4:03 - COMPLETED January 22
For most of the game's running time, I was confused. Too simple mechanically to appeal to adults, a little too knowing to feel like it was really for kids, Wattam felt like a game relying largely on charm. But then something in the game changes, and you realize the charm was the whole point: not just to be cute and adorable, but to quickly build an emotional rapport that pays off in a surprising way at the end.
9. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (PC, 2017) - 6:32 - COMPLETED February 1
Definitely one of the more compelling characters and stories I've seen in a video game, though I can't speak to the nuances of Hellblade's depiction of mental illness. And after Jedi Fallen Knight, the combat is thankfully not as difficult, though the game loves throwing crowds at you without giving you many tools to deal with them effectively.
10. Slay the Spire (PC, 2019) - 1:44 (+5:25 in 2018-2019) - COMPLETED February 2
I sort of fell off Slay the Spire early last year; roguelikes and I have a love/hate relationship, especially in the context of this challenge. But last September I visited a friend for a week and he wanted to buy a bunch of games for the Switch; I recommended Slay the Spire. We then proceeded to play hours of it (not counted as part of this game's playtime, fyi), passing the controller every time we lost a run (because of course we always lose the run). That's when I realized I hadn't given the game enough of my attention. Finishing with the Ironclad is hopefully the first of a string of victories to come.
11. Coffee Talk (PC, 2020) - 3:20 - COMPLETED February 3
At first, this felt like a somewhat clunkier version of VA-11 HALL-A, and even by the end it's hard to shake the comparison. But Coffee Talk puts its own unique spin on the genre; it's a cozier game with more down-to-earth problems. The characters feel a bit more like stand-ins for positions on various social issues at first, but eventually they start to gain unique personalities and feel more like people who know and care for each other in their own ways. Highly recommend playing it only at night, to mimic the atmosphere of the coffee shop you run.
12. Oden Cart: A Heartwarming Tale (Android, 2016) - 3:00? - COMPLETED February 8
Suggested as something I might like if I'm into Coffee Talk, but don't be fooled. There's a pretty neat story here, but the gameplay is practically non-existent; you check in every so often and clear away a bunch of gripes from your customers, hoping that some of them will be new. This process takes maybe a couple of seconds, but happens frequently enough to be annoying. If you want to see the story for a specific character, you have precious few options to speed up the process. Once you've unlocked about 80% of the game's stories, the game becomes incredibly grindy. There's a sequel, but I don't know why I'd subject myself to it.
13. Metro Exodus (PC, 2019) - 14:05 (+7:11 in 2019) - COMPLETED February 10
The first third of this game, which I played last year around launch, is a mixed bag. The linear sections are classic Metro, which is great! The first open-world area you visit, on the other hand, feels like a vampire intended to drain you of ammo, resources, and even the will to carry on at times. Upon reaching the Caspian Sea, I set the game down for a bit, which turned into weeks, and then months. Upon returning to Exodus, though, I found a more interesting and more pleasant game to play. The Caspian Sea struck a better resource balance, it was easier to get around, and the story was more compelling. And it only improves from there. If you stick with it long enough, Exodus will reward you in spades.
14. Yakuza 3 (PS4, 2019) - 35:48 - COMPLETED February 23
Yakuza 3 was my entry to the franchise, almost a decade ago, and it was great to revisit it here. I know so much more about how the games work now, and the story elements resonate more now that I know all the players and the plot developments. I was expecting some steps back in terms of quality of life, and with the new Kiwami remakes of 1 and 2, this is arguably the roughest of the main games to play. But aside from a lot more inventory juggling than I'd like, you don't notice too much. 35% completion is still not amazing compared to some of the other Yakuza games I've played, but it's a major improvement over the 11% I managed back in the days of the PS3, so I'm satisfied. Almost. I still have some hitman missions to finish up, and I think there's a few substories I didn't get to. Oh, and I should really invest some time in the colosseum maybe, and maybe I could wander around town with Haruka to build her trust more, and...
15. Mario Kart Tour (Android, 2019) - 9:08 - COMPLETED VANCOUVER CUP February 26
Since this is a gacha game that pretty much never ends, I've decided to call this done at the end of the first season I played, during which I completed every cup. My time with Mario Kart Tour so far has been a rollercoaster: first pleasant surprise at how not-terrible the controls seemed and how easy it was to get into the game, then growing frustration when I discovered the limits of the controls, and now vague resignation that the game is entertaining enough but also completely in thrall to its gacha monetization mechanics. I will say that it's the most actively entertaining a gacha game has been, in that I don't miss the auto-battle features other gacha games have. But it's also disheartening to know I will always be limited because I didn't buy that one kart or gacha my way into a high-end driver. I'll probably play at least another tour, just to see how the game progression is, but already I can feel the grind waiting for me.
16. The Sexy Brutale (PC, 2017) - 5:47 - COMPLETED February 28
The game didn't grab me at first; I figured after the first part that I was in for a string of increasingly complex and potentially tedious puzzles revolving around time manipulation. Luckily, this turned out not to be the case. Yes, there is a lot of time manipulation involved, but no, it never gets tedious or overly complex. There are a few moments where the game is very tight-lipped about what to do next, and there are some surprising performance glitches, but otherwise it's a neat puzzle game and a surprisingly interesting exploration of the occupants of this very peculiar mansion.
17. Tom Clancy's The Division 2: Warlords of New York (PC, 2020) - 15:50 - COMPLETED March 8
It turns out I will happily take any chance to return to the world of The Division. Everything you enjoyed about the base game is still here: great gunplay, neat loot, amazing post-apocalyptic scenery (check out the Financial District), ridiculous and easily ignorable story. Gear 2.0 is a neat shakeup and even without the campaign, it's been fun figuring out the new system and finally (finally!) knowing what to do with all the gear I like to hoard. I don't know what it says that people seem more invested (rightfully so?) in the New York story than DC, but hey--maybe that's something Ubisoft will address in The Division 3. I'll probably be there.
18. Tom Clancy's The Division (PC, 2016) - 16:26 (+12:14 in 2019) - COMPLETED March 15
Shortly after I finished The Division 2's campaign, I decided to try playing the first game in search of more of the same. What I found was a game that, despite having more than a year's worth of work to overhaul and polish its mechanics, felt worse to play than The Division 2. It's somewhat popular to think of The Division 2 as a failure, I guess because of the sales numbers combined with some latent appreciation for the snowy streets of New York City. But to me, The Division shows just how much Massive have managed to improve on the formula in the sequel. Still not a bad game, but mostly pointless unless you want to know how the story started.
19. Horizon: Zero Dawn (PS4, 2017) - 65:58 - COMPLETED April 6
Why did I wait three years to finally play this game? Horizon is Guerrilla's magnum opus, a game I never would've guessed they were capable of after years of technically astounding but otherwise decent-at-best Killzone titles. It's the Mass Effect of this console generation, a stunning science fiction work with a fully realized universe and a large, diverse cast of interesting characters. The Frozen Wilds expansion improves even further on the Horizon formula, bringing what feels like a quantum leap forward in terms of character animation and cutscene direction. I would be perfectly happy if Horizon was a one-and-done franchise, but I would also be the first in line to play a Horizon sequel.
20. Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled (PS4, 2019) - 6:16 - COMPLETED April 10
I have fond memories of playing the original PS1 game in battle mode against AI opponents. Apparently I forgot about how the rest of the game played, because I was not prepared for how much of a chore playing Nitro-Fueled was. It's an incredibly difficult game; Normal difficulty feels punishing in a way that's just not what I expected out of a casual arcade racing game. Even Easy varies wildly in difficulty; some tracks can still present a challenge in the late game, but beating Oxide at the end was a cakewalk (at least the first time; I'm not sticking around to finish the bonus objectives to race him again). And don't get me started on the abysmal load times. I'm not sad to see the disc leave my PS4, that's for sure.
21. Pokemon: Let's Go, Eevee! (Switch, 2018) - 7:28 (+24:28 in 2018) - COMPLETED April 13
Given that I finished an entirely different Pokemon game between the time I started and finished Let's Go, Eevee!, you might guess that I didn't like this game that much. In reality, I was actually pretty charmed by the game for a good while, basically right up until I unlocked the Pokemon Go integration about halfway through the game. Shortly after that, though, I got bored. After a long hiatus, I came back and found that Let's Go felt more like an evolutionary dead end to me. Leveling up your Pokemon is done by catching Pokemon using a Go-like interface, and the more I played the game, the less I enjoyed it; I just don't think the grindy nature of it works in the main franchise, where the economy doesn't really support it. And while the dungeons are streamlined compared to the original, I just don't come to Pokemon to figure out dungeon puzzles; they're not interesting enough to be satisfying and just feel like they get in the way.
22. Half-Life: Alyx (PC, 2020) - 17:37 - COMPLETED April 19
The first big-budget triple-A VR game, and it's a doozy: the latest installment in the long-thought-dead Half-Life franchise. As a statement on where VR is now, Alyx is mostly positive. It's amazing how quickly you adjust to Alyx's extremely high level of environment interactivity, opening drawers for ammo clips and rifling through boxes on shelves for resin. Reloading guns by actually changing a magazine and chambering a round also works well. It's hard to imagine going back to VR games that still use the old conventions of flat-plane video games, where this level of detail just isn't possible in most cases. There are times, though, when the game seems to strain against the limits of the hardware and interface used to play it, and it illustrates just how far VR still has to go to solve some of these problems. As a Half-Life game? Let's just say that it's really, really good to be back in City 17. My only real complaint is that Alyx leans very much into VR horror at times, which is not something I realized when I bought the game; I really would've appreciated them dialing down on some of that stuff.
23. Pikuniku (Switch, 2019) - 2:59 - COMPLETED April 30
Utterly delightful and absurd. Pikuniku is a short game, but it's packed full of fun details. The music is fantastic, the humour is just the right kind of silly, and the world is lovingly crafted. I showed this game to a friend because it was on sale for really cheap; she doesn't play a lot of games but this is now one of her favourites. I bet it'll become one of yours too.
24. Final Fantasy VII Remake (PS4, 2020) - 44:12 - COMPLETED May 12
For the first time, I feel like I understand why people are so devoted to the Final Fantasy series. VII Remake is the first Final Fantasy I can say I genuinely love without reservation (sorry X and X-2, there's a new king in town). I don't know how long it'll be before we get the rest of the story, but I'm fully on board now. No matter how many years it takes.
25. Murder By Numbers (PC, 2020) - 22:20 - COMPLETED May 25
Nonograms + detective adventure sounds like a fantastic and unique combo, and for the most part it is! Honor and SCOUT are a lovely team and a great addition to the indie canon of cool person + cute robot duos, I only have two problems with the game, neither insurmountable. The first is that the pacing of the game gets pretty bad by the end; every time the plot accelerates and a new revelation appears, the momentum stalls because the puzzles get harder and take more time to complete. The second is it could use some quality-of-life improvements; I think the "reset puzzle" option got added halfway through my playthrough, and the inability to undo meant I had to give up on the same puzzle multiple times and start from scratch.
26. Fallout 76 (PC, 2018) - 69:49 (+69:50 in 2018-2019) - COMPLETED June 13
I honestly wasn't sure if I was ever going to come back and finish Fallout 76, but I'm glad I did. For the most part I was actually okay with the launch version of the game; the bugs were terrible and the network performance was lousy, but you could see how the game as designed could have been successful on some level, even if it was never going to be a New Vegas. Wastelanders and the introduction of NPCs helps with that somewhat, but it's really the increased stability and quality-of-life improvements like increased stash capacity from launch that made the biggest difference for me. Fallout 76's main story kind of fizzles out at the end, but even after a year away it was nice to jump back into the story of the Free States and discovering what happened to the Brotherhood of Steel.
27. Neo Cab (PC, 2019) - 3:23 - COMPLETED June 22
Neo Cab is set in a noir cyberpunk world, grungy clubs and sleek neon skyscrapers side by side in a constant state of midnight, but manages to imbue everything with an emotional warmth that so often feels lacking from this sort of setting. There's a bit of Cart Life or Papers Please in how, as a rideshare driver on the verge of becoming obsolete, you're always barely breaking even every night, and the decision between half a tank of e-gas or a full tank can be make or break. But mostly the game is about the conversations you have with your passengers, and trying to untangle yourself from the web you've been ensnared in from the first night you drive into Los Ojos. A wonderful short story of a game.
28. Sakura Wars (PS4, 2020) - 22:34 - COMPLETED June 28
A surprisingly enthralling and wholesome game about leading an all-female mech combat squad who also happen to be a theatre troupe. Sakura Wars is part robot action game, part visual novel, part dating sim, and while some of these things don't work as well as others (mainly the combat), I found all of it at least serviceable and fun. I think my favourite aspect of the game is that the best way through the many dialogue trees and affinity events is to treat everyone with respect and support their emotional needs. Basically, you need to be there for your people and give them everything they need to succeed, and that's a lesson most video games don't even bother with. Like I said, surprisingly wholesome.
29. SquareCells (PC, 2015) - 5:20 - COMPLETED July 13
The Hexcells trilogy of puzzle games were fantastic, though maybe a little too obtuse in some ways (mostly to do with the interface). SquareCells is another game in a similar vein, but feels more like a nonogram game with a twist. Partial information is the name of the game here; whereas Picross and its ilk give you pretty much all the information up front and your only real task is to logic out the implications, SquareCells feels more like having to maintain different phantom images of the same puzzle in your head, each corresponding to a potential solution, and trying to collapse them down into the final result. It's much more exhausting and frankly annoying, and so I didn't enjoy this quite as much as Hexcells, but this will definitely hit some puzzle fanatic's sweet spot.
30. CrossCells (PC, 2017) - 3:50 - COMPLETED July 18
If SquareCells is Picross with a twist, CrossCells is Sudoku with a twist: that is to say, a lot more math, and a lot more complexity. I think this works a lot better than SquareCells; for the most part, SquareCells is a game you can tackle using a lot of deduction and not a lot of memorization, though you have to know some basic number theory to avoid the trap of doing a lot of trial and error. A certain amount of exploring the solution tree is expected but once I got the hang of things and figured out some simple tricks, I found it less frustrating and more interesting than SquareCells. All these games are so cheap that you might as well get them all, but if you had to pick one, CrossCells is the one I'd recommend.
31. Achromatic (PC, 2018) - 3:33 - COMPLETED July 26
Apparently the only games I can finish nowadays are short puzzle games. (Sorry The Last of Us Part II, I swear I will get back to you.) This one feels a little more on the playful side; the goal is to turn the entire board a single colour by connecting nodes of the same colour, turning everything in between that colour. There are rules about how this works, the first one being that any route you draw can only pass through one other colour. The game gets more complex from there, in ways that occasionally make you feel like a genius, but also occasionally have you stumble across solutions without really feeling like you fully grasped the puzzle.
32. Frog Fractions: Game of the Decade Edition (PC, 2020) - 1:07 - COMPLETED August 2
Still as fun as the first time!
33. Frog Fractions: Game of the Decade Edition With Hop's Iconic Cap (PC, 2020) - 2:43 - COMPLETED August 2
It counts. Shut up.
34. Picross S (Switch, 2017) - 27:21 - COMPLETED September 1
It's official: I'm all nonogrammed out for now. There are a few really tough puzzles in the mix, and the lack of an undo really screwed me in a few cases (though I did also manage to rescue a few puzzles where I got sloppy or screwed up). I've got Picross S2 and S3 waiting in the wings but I think I need to play something that's not a puzzle game for a while.
35. Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch, 2020) - 25:27 - COMPLETED September 2
I finally finished an Animal Crossing game! Or at least saw the credits of one, anyways. I bounced off New Leaf pretty early, so there was a part of me that was worried I would just never get into an Animal Crossing game. And to be honest, that concern still lingers. New Horizons is a very cozy and inviting place to visit, but the grind of visiting the island daily to do my chores got a little stale after a while. There are plenty of tools to express yourself and make your island your own, but it's all shackled to an island rating system that has a kind of narrow conception of what makes for a good island, so that was kind of a bummer. But mostly I just felt claustrophobic: you want me to build all this stuff on the island, but where am I gonna plant all these MONEY TREES? Not enough room!
36. The Last of Us Part II (PS4, 2020) - 34:18 - COMPLETED September 9
Naughty Dog: do you want to play a game about people being terrible to each other in an endless cycle of devastation? bonus, we'll make you do a whole bunch of horrifying shit that you probably don't want to do, just like the last game!
Me: yes this is a great pick to forget about the horrors of 2020, I'm sure I will breeze through this game and it won't take me three fucking months to complete because every session is a giant ball of stress and anxiety
37. Erica (PS4, 2019) - 1:51 - COMPLETED September 10
I'm not sure if I'm going to bother with all the endings, so I'm calling this one. I knew nothing about Erica except that it was interactive fiction of a sort. Immediately there are some curveballs: you're encouraged to use your smartphone to control the game, which leads to most of your interactions having the depth and satisfaction of the charcoal rubbing minigames in the Uncharted game for Vita--not a good sign. As for the story, there's intrigue here, but it constantly feels like the game's impatiently dragging you through plot points you barely understand and conversations with people you've only just met but are somehow meaningful. I felt like I was making choices largely at random, even choices that should've been important like picking the emotional response you'd expect Erica to have to a situation. How am I supposed to feel what I'm not even sure of what's happening? Maybe this all resolves better once you've got a playthrough under your belt, but a second playthrough of mindlessly swiping and rubbing your phone to perform mechanical actions that add nothing to the experience and could've been omitted is not exactly enticing.
38. PaRappa the Rapper Remastered (PS4, 2017) - 1:37 - COMPLETED September 13
Great music, fun cast, cute story, absolutely fucking abysmal as a rhythm game. If I have to a) mute my television, b) actively ignore the visual timing prompts and c) rely on THE VIBRATION OF THE CONTROLLER ALONE just to pass one of the six stages in your game, it's basically an anti-rhythm game. How the hell did this game get popular, let alone deserve to be remastered or ported to the PSP?
39. A Short Hike (PC, 2019) - 1:32 - COMPLETED September 13
THIS IS A REALLY NICE GAME AND I LIKED IT A LOT. It's a great antidote to the horror that is 2020, and I really needed it. Maybe you need it too and just don't know it yet.
40. Wipeout Pure (PSP, 2005) - 2:50 - COMPLETED October 4
Somehow I'd never played Wipeout Pure at all, as far as I can tell; certainly not in the last decade or so. I've even managed to play Pulse before Pure despite owning both for years. Pure is pretty barebones, mostly just racing the same eight tracks at various difficulties, but this one also includes Zone mode for the first time. A few of the tracks never made it to Wipeout HD, so while I wouldn't say this is an essential Wipeout game, it's worth playing. As a maiden voyage for PPSSPP on my phone using the Razer Kishi as a controller, it was fantastic--looks sharp, runs at a solid 60fps, no complaints.
41. Manifold Garden (PC, 2019) - 5:11 - COMPLETED October 11
William Chyr's "impossible geometries" are the closest a video game has come to evoking the feeling of Antichamber, a fantastic non-Euclidean puzzle game from almost a decade ago. But Manifold Garden is more than just non-Euclidean spaces, though it does do that as well. It's environments repeating into infinity, negotiating shifting gravity, and taking leaps into the abyss to move forward. There are times when the game's complete lack of hand-holding causes issues--one level in particular had me stuck for a long time and I'm not sure I would've understood what to do if I hadn't watched someone else's video for hints--but overall it's a remarkable experience and easy to recommend, especially if you enjoyed Antichamber as much as I did.
42. Ridge Racer Turbo Mode (PS1, 1998) - 0:34 - COMPLETED October 18
This isn't quite the original Ridge Racer--it's missing most of the music, changes the progression somewhat, and adds better graphics and 60fps--but it's close enough for now. This was the first PlayStation game I ever played, and I remember it being pretty hard. Turbo Mode bears this out; I saw credits, so I consider the game done, but I haven't been able to beat either the White Angel or even see #13. I'm not sure I managed to do either of those things in the original either. The drift mechanics in Ridge Racer are hard to get used to, especially the recovery mechanic (hello, wall I just drove face first into). Later games feel a lot better.
43. art of rally (PC, 2020) - 14:11 - COMPLETED October 25
Not an arcade game, but not a rally simulator either, it's hard to pinpoint exactly what art of rally is besides a tribute to the motorsport. Its deceptively simple and cute art style masks a difficult and realistic-feeling racing game, basically a stylized isometric-ish take on the Dirt Rally formula. There are very few frills here; it's just you, the car, and many seasons of point-to-point rally stages to conquer. I only really have two criticisms: the relative lack of courses compared to how many events there are, and a certain lack of intimacy with the car's handling due to the quirks of the zoomed-out third-person camera. A very zen racing experience where often the best approach is to zone out and seek out the right driving line by pure instinct.
44. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim (PS4, 2020) - 38:02 - COMPLETED November 6
One of those pieces of fiction that makes you wonder how on earth anyone managed the tightrope act of writing it all and having it all make sense. A monumental achievement that endlessly reveals new layers of itself. The defense strategy gameplay is pretty addictive, too. Vanillaware staff have said that they're not sure they could ever make a game like this again; thank god we got this one, at least.
45. Astro's Playroom (PS5, 2020) - 3:53 - COMPLETED November 15
This could've been a basic tech demo to show off the Dualsense's capabilities, but Astro's Playroom turns out to be a lovely introduction to the Playstation 5. It's also maybe the best love letter to the PlayStation consoles ever written. Short but sweet.
46. Family (PC/Web, 2020) - 0:46 - COMPLETED November 18
Thanks to a random Era thread, I've had Family sitting in a browser tab for a few months now. I'm glad I finally got around to it. I've never played Return of the Obra Dinn (it's on my list, I swear), so I can't really compare it to that game, but Family reminds me of poring over 90s indie rock blogs and zines, piecing together the histories of bands I'd become obsessed with overnight. The era and sound Family focuses on is different (though adjacent), but the sensation is the same. Family gives special thanks to John Peel, and if that name means anything to you, chances are this game will appeal to you on some level.
47. Umurangi Generation (PC, 2020) - 2:18 - COMPLETED November 21
This was a surprisingly difficult game to play for me, because some combination of graphics settings and (most likely) FOV conspired to give me serious motion sickness/nausea the first time I played. As for the game itself, the concept is great and the worldbuilding is sublime, even if I didn't quite get what the deal was with all the bluebottles. The actual act of photographing things for bounties is a neat idea, but somewhat undone by the speedrunning aspect; it adds a slight but unwelcome time pressure to the whole affair. Some of the bounties feel very mechanical as well, a side effect of the game avoiding arbitrary aesthetic judgements; it's less "take some cool shots" and more "fit these four random items into the frame any way you can." Still, on the whole I enjoyed the game.
48. Minecraft (PC, 2011) - 10:07 - CONTINUING November 23
I've owned Minecraft since before it officially came out, but have never really bothered to scrape the time together to play it until... um, vtubers. Considering how deep I got into Dwarf Fortress when I was unemployed, it's wild that I managed to let a worldwide phenomenon built around some of the same principles pass me by. Once I actually started to figure out what I needed to do--or really, what kinds of things I might want to do, like build a tree farm, construct a rail network, automate all the things--the game finally clicked for me. My only real complaint is that the game is basically nothing without its wiki; figuring out all this stuff on your own is daunting at best. But I guess Dwarf Fortress was the same way, so it's hard to knock the game for requiring external documentation.
49. The Turing Test (PC, 2016) - 5:56 - COMPLETED December 9
As first-person puzzlers go, I'd put The Turing Test solidly in the middle. It maybe suffers a bit from a comparison to Portal, too easily invited by a similar aesthetic and a focus on the interaction between a human and AI, but the story it's trying to tell is different and much more philosophical. The puzzles themselves are neat, if maybe a little easy for the most part; the most difficult puzzle in the game turns out to be so because of hard-to-read symbols more than mind-bending logic. The Turing Test ends up being more than the sum of its parts, but I think other games in the genre (most notably Observation) are ultimately more compelling.
50. The Haunted Island, a Frog Detective Game (PC, 2018) - 0:38 - COMPLETED December 9
Cute game. Cool detective. That's about it, really.
51. Frog Detective 2: The Case of the Invisible Wizard (PC, 2019) - 1:02 - COMPLETED December 16
"I'm not your dad." "Not yet!" "?!"
52. All You Can Eat (PC, 2017) - 0:27 - COMPLETED December 16
Neat aesthetic, framing your adventure game as a comic book. It's a little glitchy, unfortunately, and as adventure games go it devolves surprisingly fast into "try dragging everything onto everything else," which is itself kind of buggy so you don't even get reliable feedback on whether an action you want to take is valid or not. A decent enough short story, but feels more like a proof of concept than a full game.
PLAYED RECENTLY
Yakuza: Like a Dragon (PC, 2020) - 25:51 WRC 9 FIA World Rally Championship (PS5, 2020) - 10:24 Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin (Switch, 2020) - 10:07 Overcrowd: A Commute 'Em Up (PC, 2020) - 1:34
PURGATORY DJMAX RESPECT V (PC, 2019 Early Access) - 0:52 (+1:12 in 2019) Gran Turismo Sport (PS4, 2017) - 5:30 (+4:37 in 2017) SaGa Scarlet Grace: Ambitions (PC, 2019) - 1:16 Cook, Serve, Delicious! (PC, 2012) - 1:47 (+4:05 in 2012-2013) The Crew (PC, 2014) - 5:06 Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum n' Fun (Switch, 2019) - 0:23 Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk DX (PC, 2020) - 10:21 Space Pirates and Zombies 2 (PC, 2017) - 2:47 Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition (PC, 2016) - 1:14 Doom Eternal (PC, 2020) - 1:01 Dragon Quest Builders (PS4, 2016) - 1:20 Conduct Together! (Switch, 2018) - 0:20 Pokemon Cafe Mix (Android, 2020) - 1:01 Tales of Crestoria (Android, 2020) - 1:58 Hardspace: Shipbreaker (PC Early Access, 2020) - 8:44 Dicey Dungeons (PC, 2019) - 3:47 Linelight (PC, 2017) - 0:58 Oxygen Not Included (PC, 2019) - 2:48 Ooblets (PC Early Access, 2020) - 1:09 Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth (3DS, 2019) - 10:41 Redout (PC, 2016) - 0:24 Super Mario 64 (N64, 1996/Switch, 2020) - 1:20 Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box (Android, 2019) - 6:15 Final Fantasy XIV Online: A Realm Reborn (PC, 2013) - 8:20 Forza Motorsport 7 (PC, 2017) - 0:49 (+2:37 in 2017-2018) Hatsune Miku: Project Diva Extend (PSP, 2011) - 0:42 Paper Mario: The Origami King (Switch, 2020) - 6:50 Until You Fall (Quest, 2020) - 0:35 Hades (PC, 2020) - 0:32 Prey: Mooncrash (PC, 2018) - 1:00 Need for Speed: Underground (PS2, 2003) - 2:14 Pacer (PC, 2020) - 0:19 Ridge Racer (PSP, 2004) - 2:25 Watch Dogs Legion (PC, 2020) - 4:55 Bugsnax (PS5, 2020) - 1:05
1. The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit (PC) | 2nd Jan - 1.6hrs
2. Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight (PS4) | 5th Jan - 7.8hrs
3. Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight (PS4) | 6th Jan - 6.7hrs
4. Pixel Puzzle Collection (Android) | 8th Jan - 81.0hrs
5. Wolfenstein Youngblood (PC) | 12th January - 14.9hrs
6. Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order (PC) | 18th January - 17.5hrs
7. River City Girls (Switch) | 20th January - 8.0hrs
8. Wattam (PC) | 22nd January - 4.0hrs
9. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (PC) | 1st Feburary - 6.5hrs
10. Slay the Spire (PC) | 2nd February - 7.1hrs
11. Coffee Talk (PC) | 3rd February - 3.3hrs
12. Oden Cart: A Heartwarming Tale (Android) | 8th February - 3.0hrs
13. Metro Exodus (PC) | 10th February - 21.3hrs
14. Yakuza 3 (PS4) | 23rd February - 35.8hrs
15. Mario Kart Tour (Android) | 26th February - 9.1hrs
16. The Sexy Brutale (PC) | 28th February - 5.8hrs
17. Tom Clancy's The Division 2: Warlords of New York (PC) | March 8 - 15.8hrs
18. Tom Clancy's The Division (PC) | March 15 - 28.7hrs
19. Horizon: Zero Dawn (PS4) | April 6 - 66.0hrs
20. Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled (PS4) | April 10 - 6.3hrs
21. Pokemon Let's Go, Eevee! (Switch) | April 13 - 32.0hrs
22. Half-Life: Alyx (PC) | April 19 - 17.6hrs
23. Pikuniku (Switch) | April 30 - 3.0hrs
24. Final Fantasy VII Remake (PS4) | May 12 - 44.2hrs
25. Murder By Numbers (PC) | May 25 - 22.3hrs
26. Fallout 76 (PC) | June 13 - 136.7hrs
27. Neo Cab (PC) | June 22 - 3.4hrs
28. Sakura Wars (PS4) | June 28 - 22.6hrs
29. SquareCells (PC) | July 13 - 5.3hrs
30. CrossCells (PC) | July 18 - 3.8hrs
31. Achromatic (PC) | July 26 - 3.6hrs
32. Frog Fractions: Game of the Decade Edition (PC) | August 2 - 1.1hrs
33. Frog Fractions: Game of the Decade Edition With Hat (PC) | August 2 - 2.7hrs
34. Picross S (Switch) | September 1 - 27.4hrs
35. Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch) | September 2 - 25.4hrs
36. The Last of Us Part II (PS4) | September 9 - 34.3hrs
37. Erica (PS4) | September 10 - 1.8hrs
38. PaRappa the Rapper Remastered (PS4) | September 13 - 1.6hrs
39. A Short Hike (PC) | September 13 - 1.5hrs
40. Wipeout Pure (PSP) | October 4 - 2.8hrs
41. Manifold Garden (PC) | October 11 - 5.2hrs
42. Ridge Racer Turbo Mode (PS1) | October 18 - 0.6hrs
43. art of rally (PC) | October 25 - 14.2hrs
44. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim (PS4) | November 6 - 38.0hrs
45. Astro's Playroom (PS5) | November 15 - 3.9hrs
46. Family (PC) | November 18 - 0.8hrs
47. Umurangi Generation (PC) | November 21 - 2.3hrs
48. Minecraft (PC) | November 23 - 10.1hrs
49. The Turing Test (PC) | December 9 - 5.9hrs
50. The Haunted Island, a Frog Detective Game (PC) | December 9 - 0.6hrs
51. Frog Detective 2: The Case of the Invisible Wizard (PC) | December 16 - 1.0hrs
52. All You Can Eat (PC) | December 16 - 0.5hrs
1. Agent A: A puzzle in disguise (Switch) | 1 January 2020
2. New Super Mario Bros. U (Switch) | 3 January 2020
3. Sayonara Wild Hearts (Switch) | 4 January 2020
4. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (PS4) | 7 January 2020
5. Thirty Flights of Loving (Steam) | 7 January 2020
6. Gravity Bone (Steam) | 9 January 2020
7. Control (PS4) | 16 January 2020
8. Sparklite (Switch) | 21 January 2020
9. Puzzle Book (Switch) | 23 January 2020
10. Outer Wilds (Xbox One) | 30 January 2020
11. Tangle Tower (Switch) | 30 January 2020
12. Tametsi (Steam) | 31 January 2020
13. Final Fantasy Adventure: Mystic Quest (Switch) | 2 February 2020
14. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (Switch) | 5 February 2020
15. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice For All (Switch) | 9 February 2020
16. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations (Switch) | 16 February 2020
17. Forager (Switch) | 18 February 2020
18. The Turing Test (Xbox One) | 22 February 2020
19. Enigmatis: The Mists of Ravenwood (Steam) | 24 February 2020
20. Rusty Lake Hotel (Steam) | 25 February 2020
21. Rusty Lake: Roots (Steam) | 29 February 2020
22. Rusty Lake Paradise (Steam) | 1 March 2020
23. AER: Memories of Old (PS4) | 2 March 2020
24. Tetris 99 (Switch) | 8 March 2020
25. Ori and the Blind Forest (Switch) | 10 March 2020
26. Professor Layton and the Curious Village (DS) | 20 March 2020
27. PictoQuest (Switch) | 22 March 2020
28. Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Xbox One) | 27 March 2020
29. Metro 2033 Redux (PS4) | 6 April 2020
30. The Touryst (Switch) | 10 April 2020
31. Whipseey and the Lost Atlas (Switch) | 11 April 2020
32. Murder by Numbers (Switch) | 18 April 2020
33. Concrete Genie (PS4) | 20 April 2020
34. Songbird Symphony (PS4) | 25 April 2020
35. Warlock's Tower (Switch) | 25 April 2020
36. Dogurai (Switch) | 26 April 2020
37. 198X (Steam) | 27 April 2020
38. Enigmatis 2: The Mists of Ravenwood (Steam) | 2 May 2020
39. Professor Layton and Pandora's Box (DS) | 9 May 2020
40. Underhero (Switch) | 10 May 2020
41. Enigmatis 3: The Shadow of Karkhala (Steam) | 10 May 2020
42. The Last of Us Remastered: Left Behind (PS4) | 13 May 2020
43. Tracks - The Train Set Game (Xbox One) | 16 May 2020
44. Mushroom Quest (Switch) | 21 May 2020
45. Fractured Minds (Xbox One) | 23 May 2020
46. Final Fantasy VII Remake (PS4) | 7 June 2020
47. Helltaker (Steam) | 8 June 2020
48. Professor Layton and the Lost Future (DS) | 8 June 2020
49. 11-11: Memories Retold (PS4) | 14 June 2020
50. Observation (PS4) | 16 June 2020
51. Beyond Oasis (Genesis) | 21 June 2020
52. Binary Domain (Steam) | 25 June 2020
53. Astrologaster (PC - Game Pass) | 1 July 2020
54. Hook (Steam) | 6 July 2020
55. klocki (Steam) | 9 July 2020
56. The Last of Us Part II (PS4) | 12 July 2020
57. Coffee Talk (Xbox One - Game Pass) | 13 July 2020
58. Castlevania: Rondo of Blood (PS4) | 16 July 2020
59. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS4) | 23 July 2020
60. Paper Mario: The Origami King (Switch) | 5 August 2020
61. Carrion (Xbox One - Game Pass) | 9 August 2020
62. Glass Masquerade 2: Illusions (Steam) | 16 August 2020
63. CrossCode (Switch) | 5 September 2020
64. Tell Me Why - Episode 1: Homecoming (Xbox One) | 5 September 2020
65. Tell Me Why - Episode 2: Family Secrets (Xbox One) | 6 September 2020
66. Kentucky Route Zero (Steam) | 9 September 2020
67. Florence (Switch) | 11 September 2020
68. Tell Me Why - Episode 3: Inheritance (Xbox One) | 12 September 2020
69. Alan Wake (Xbox 360) | 22 September 2020
70. Alan Wake: The Signal and The Writer (Xbox 360) | 26 September 2020
71. Super Mario 64 (Super Mario 3D All-Stars) (Switch) | 3 October 2020
72. Macbat 64: Journey of a Nice Chap (Switch) | 4 October 2020
73. Bioshock 2: Minerva's Den (PS4) | 4 October 2020
74. Squidlit (Switch) | 5 October 2020
75. Hidden Through Time (Google Play) | 7 October 2020
76. Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea (episodes 1 and 2) (PS4) | 10 October 2020
77. Hypnospace Outlaw (Xbox One - Game Pass) | 11 October 2020
78. Super Mario Sunshine (Switch) | 19 October 2020
79. Donkey Kong Country (SNES) | 25 October 2020
80. Donkey Kong Country 2 (SNES) | 26 October 2020
81. The Darkside Detective (Steam) | 26 October 2020
82. Journey to the Savage Planet (PS4) | 30 October 2020
83. Carto (Xbox One - Game Pass) | 31 October 2020
84. Bulb Boy (Switch) | 1 November 2020
85. Her Story (Steam) | 6 November 2020
86. Super Mario Galaxy (Switch) | 8 November 2020
87. Superliminal (Switch) | 11 November 2020
88. Cat Quest II (PS4) | 16 November 2020
89. Eastshade (Xbox One - Game Pass) | 21 November 2020
90. Astro's Playroom (PS5) | 23 November 2020
91. Duke Dashington Remastered (Steam) | 23 November 2020
92. Tiny Dangerous Dungeons (Steam) | 28 November 2020
93. Bugsnax (PS5) | 2 December 2020
94. Mom Hid My Game! (Switch) | 3 December 2020
95. Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS5) | 18 December 2020
96. TSIOQUE (Steam) | 18 December 2020
97. Horace (Switch) | 25 December 2020
98. Call of the Sea (Xbox One - Game Pass) | 26 December 2020
99. Nintendo Badge Arcade (3DS) | 28 December 2020
1. Agent A: A puzzle in disguise (Switch) | 1 January 2020
Complete playthrough. A short and fairly simple first-person point-and-click puzzle game with a secret agent theme, Agent A generally achieves what it sets out to achieve, with logical solutions to puzzles. Difficulty comes mostly from working out (and remembering) what can be interacted with rather than the interactions themselves, as especially in the later chapters there are numerous areas throughout which the puzzles take place - which can lead to some frustration. Of course, a quick reference to a guide is an easy way to relieve that!
2. New Super Mario Bros. U (Switch) | 3 January 2020
5-starred save file (100% completion) for story mode, as part of New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe. While I played New Super Mario Bros. U in its original form on Wii U, that was now several years ago so this felt like a fresh experience. Level design is up to Nintendo's usual high standards, with nice variety in environment themes to keep things interesting and some well-hidden secrets. Ultimately most of the game follows a familiar formula, but that doesn't detract from the satisfying gameplay that Nintendo's 2D platformers are always able to deliver.
3. Sayonara Wild Hearts (Switch) | 4 January 2020
Completed with gold ranks on all stages and the majority of 'Zodiac riddles' solved. An absolutely superb, extremely stylish rhythm game, with a stunning electronic pop soundtrack. The level design and variety is excellent throughout, always perfectly complementing the soundtrack for each stage, with an electrifying sense of speed for the faster stages. Behind the gameplay and music is an uplifting story of recovery from heartbreak, which is a nice touch though not at all necessary for enjoyment of the game. While a short experience for a single playthrough (around an hour), chasing high scores ( I gather that there's a higher ranking even than gold) and achievements brings some longevity, quite aside from just enjoying the music.
4. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (PS4) | 7 January 2020
Platinum trophy earned. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is a superb achievement for Ninja Theory, telling the story of a young female warrior on a quest to restore the soul of her dead lover. The game has a very dark atmosphere throughout and has mental health as a core theme, with Senua suffering from psychosis that manifests itself most obviously through a number of voices that appear to speak to Senua throughout the game, displaying a range of personality traits, often directly opposing each other such as with fear and confidence. Senua's psychosis also allows for a refreshing unusual approach to plot exposition, with certain characters appearing to her to her and providing further background detail, creating a real sense of investment.
Sound direction is particularly outstanding, with a good pair of headphones being near-essential to experience the game at its best, allowing the use of binaural audio to evoke a sense of the voices being 'in your head'; environmental audio is similarly excellent and there's a compelling backing soundtrack. In terms of 'gameplay', some of the puzzle-solving is very interesting, making good use of illusion mechanics justified by Senua's psychosis. Combat mechanics, while not a primary focus of the game, are serviceable enough, and the environments that the game presents are always interesting, evocative and well-designed.
While the dark, at times 'horror'-based, themes that Senua's Sacrifice centres itself upon wouldn't usually to my tastes, this has been a very memorable experience and one that I'd highly recommend.
5. Thirty Flights of Loving (Steam) | 7 January 2020
Complete playthrough. Thirty Flights of Loving is a very short first-person story with limited interactivity. It quite effectively draws the player into its story through the use of jump cuts between scenes that clearly take place in sequence, but with notable gaps between them, inviting you to fill in the details of its plot. While perhaps part of the charm, the very primitive graphical style may be a turn-off for many, but the soundtrack is pretty good. Although very cheap, I'm not sure that I'd recommend buying this on its own (I received it as part of a bundle), but it's an interesting experience to play through while it lasts - overall I'd give the game a qualified recommendation
6. Gravity Bone (Steam) | 9 January 2020
Complete playthrough. An earlier game from Blendo Game, Gravity Bone shares the short length and oddball graphical style of Thirty Flights of Loving, but actually I found that I enjoyed it somewhat more. The game still jumps between scenes, but the events are more clearly defined, alongside having more interesting objectives and an enjoyable sense of humour throughout.
7. Control (PS4) | 16 January 2020
Platinum trophy earned. Control is easily among my highlights of 2019, with well-realised combat that conveys a real sense of power, alongside an excellent control scheme that ensures that a diverse set of supernatural powers are always right at your fingertips. Where the game really excels, though, is in the superbly well-crafted setting - the "Oldest House" that the game tasks you to explore holds some fascinating secrets, while an extensive range of collectibles - including text documents, images, voice recordings and videos - flesh out the background lore that sits behind the engrossing story.
8. Sparklite (Switch) | 21 January 2020
Beaten with all Refuge upgrades purchased.Sparklite is an enjoyable, though fairly shallow, rogue-lite with 2D Zelda-style core gameplay. With five main areas that each unlock after defeating the boss of the previous area, the procedurally-generated game world is nicely varied and enjoyable to explore. Each time that your character is loses all life, they'll be rescued and returned to an airborne 'Refuge', where ability upgrades can be purchased, then applied to a customisable 'patch' board to take effect for your next run. While these upgrades allow for increased life, greater damage output, reduced damage received, etc., ability upgrades and gadgets can be collected from the game world as you progress, some of which are nicely imaginative.
The core combat mechanic works well, while rarely being overly difficult so long as you're careful; the end of area boss fights are definite highlights and very satisfying to beat, especially when you're able to master the attack patterns and emerge unscathed. That said, I found the final boss encounter to be somewhat frustrating (no specifics so as to avoid spoilers), but I suppose as the climax to the game a bit of a difficulty spike is justifiable!
9. Puzzle Book (Switch) | 23 January 2020
All sizes completed for all puzzles. Puzzle Book is a jigsaw puzzle game, with a total of 34 puzzles to solve within six different themes, from animals through to space and fantasy. Although the gameplay is inherently rather simplistic, the controls are well-implemented in both docked and undocked modes and the puzzle images are brightly-coloured and attractive, alongside an appropriately relaxed soundtrack. With each puzzle being available in six different sizes, from 6 pieces up to 60, there's a good range of complexity, making this a decent package as far as it goes.
10. Outer Wilds (Xbox One) | 30 January 2020
100% complete, aside from the Hotshot achievement. Outer Wilds is a simply stunning exploration game, with a superbly crafted mystery threaded throughout the solar system that allows a completely free-form approach - but to say much more would risk getting into spoilers. While the controls take a little getting used to, it's absolutely worth pushing through that initial friction. Special mention also must go to the incredibly poignant and well-used soundtrack.
11. Tangle Tower (Switch) | 30 January 2020
Complete playthrough. With an enjoyable mix of gameplay styles along the lines of the Ace Attorney and Professor Layton series, Tangle Tower tasks the player with finding clues, solving puzzles and composing deductions with the aim of solving a murder case. While never overly challenging - there's no fail state for any of the puzzles and a handy hint system is available to suggest potential ways forward - the game is enjoyable throughout. It's a little on the short side - the game wraps up surprisingly quickly once the initial investigative stages are completed - but an enjoyable soundtrack, superb writing and voice-acting, alongside animation that imbues the characters with a great deal of personality, ensure that this is an enjoyable package all around.
12. Tametsi (Steam) | 31 January 2020
All puzzles completed without errors; 100% of achievements unlocked. The next step up from the excellent Hexcells, Tametsi is a fiendishly difficult combination of Minesweeper and Picross, with a few other elements thrown in to provide greater variety still. Mechanically, the game is well-implemented, with a free drawing tool available to sketch out possible solutions/thought processes before committing to revealing tiles, but the game's quality really turns on the puzzle design, which really can't be faulted. With 160 puzzles on offer, all of which can be solved entirely without guessing, Tametsi will last you a long time.
13. Final Fantasy Adventure: Mystic Quest (Switch) | 2 February 2020
Complete playthrough. Despite the name, Final Fantasy Adventure is actually the predecessor to Secret of Mana rather than the Final Fantasy series. While clearly primitive nowadays given its original Gameboy origins, for its time this is an incredibly impressive game, with a large world to explore, enjoyable combat and a story with a few interesting twists, alongside a thoroughly excellent soundtrack. I'd have liked there to little more guidance to the world exploration - at times it feels like it's relying on trial-and-error, especially given the very limited information on the in-game map - but we do at least have a good number of guides and walkthroughs about the remedy that. I now really ought to find some time to play Secret of Mana properly at some point, especially given that this was from the excellently put together Collection of Mana compilation - which for this game, sees the inclusion of the European, US and Japanese versions, as well as the Super Gameboy recolouring.
14. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (Switch) | 5 February 2020
Complete playthrough. Although of course I knew about this visual novel adventure series, up until now I've never actually played any of the game; with the remastered release on Switch of the first three games came a perfect opportunity to fix that. I had a good time with this first game, which great writing and dialogue throughout, impressively expressive characters and enjoyable, often humourous stories behind each of the five cases. At times I felt that the investigative portions of the game went on for a little too long, but the trial scenarios - which are very much the highlight - more than made up for that. The remastered presentation of the game is excellent, making this an excellent way to experience the start to this long-running series.
15. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice For All (Switch) | 9 February 2020
Complete playthrough. Moving swiftly on to the second Phoenix Wright game, Justice For All picks up nicely from its predecessor, as we start to see that characters recur not just within individual games but across the series as a whole, allowing us to get to know them really rather well, whether allies or adversaries of Phoenix. Justice For All sees the introduction of a few new mechanics to spice up the game's investigative portions of, notably including "psyche locks", bite-sized puzzles where, similar to the trials, you have to present appropriate evidence to open up certain dialogue paths with the character in question. There are some nice additions to the regular case and the writing remains excellent, though to my mind the stories are a little weaker than those of the first game.
16. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations (Switch) | 16 February 2020
Complete playthrough. A return to form after a slight drop with Justice For All, in Trials and Tribulations the series feels like it's really finding its feet, though it's sadly also the end of this core trilogy. The game nicely mixes up the scenarios with the use of characters other than Phoenix as protagonist, allowing us to see things from a different point of view, allowing us to get to know some of the supporting cast better than the series has previously allowed. With everything wrapped around some impressively well-devised scenarios and the writing and humour remaining as strong as ever, Trials and Tribulations is an excellent climax to this trilogy package.
17. Forager (Switch) | 18 February 2020
100% of in-game 'feats' completed, aside from one blocked by a bug. In Forager, your character starts off on a small island, surrounded by rocks and trees, and equipped only with a pickaxe - and from these humble beginnings, you'll gradually build a thriving industry across an expansive series of islands. Viewed from a traditional overhead perspective, the game puts all of the core resource-gathering, building and other core abilities within easy reach, while a well-developed skill grid ensures that there's always another progression objective just a short distance away.
Ultimately, Forager is in large part a game about progression for its own sake - there's no storyline to speak of - but it's undoubtedly a compelling experience, as you see the resources roll in with an increasingly self-sufficient and even automated industry. A handful of NPCs, landmarks and even dungeons scattered across the various islands that you buy to expand your play area bring some enjoyable variety to the experience, though once you reach the endgame and max out the skill tree, eventually there's not that much reason to keep playing. I know that the PC version has seen significant expansion since release, but while it still showcases a development roadmap on the title screen, the Switch game remains at v1.0.0 - here's hoping that we'll see the expansion content coming to consoles before too long!
18. The Turing Test (Xbox One) | 22 February 2020
100% of achievements unlocked. The Turing Test is a first-person puzzle game with a sci-fi setting. While similar to Portal and The Talos Principle in gameplay, the puzzles generally tend towards being more straightforward, though there's still enough challenge to make solving them satisfying. The core puzzle mechanic is built around moving energy from one place to another, opening doors and activating switches and other devices, ultimately to unlock and reach the exit of each of the 70 core 'chambers' (to borrow language from Portal). This starts off with the use of energy-providing blocks, but quickly expands with the use of an energy-absorbing 'gun', pulsing energy sources and other variations. The gameplay is nicely complemented by a plot based around the definition and limitations of AI (hence the title), which while in some ways a little cliched, still manages to build interest and draw you through the game.
19. Enigmatis: The Mists of Ravenwood (Steam) | 24 February 2020
100% of achievements unlocked. My first foray into Hidden Object Games, Enigmatis represents its genre well despite its age. The premise here sees a amnesiac detective exploring a village on the track of a serial killer and a missing girl - not the most original, but it does its job. The core gameplay comprises two elements - exploring the town through a number of fixed scenes, collecting evidence and solving simple puzzles, then solving the 'hidden object' scenes that give the genre its name. I was surprised quite how compelling this gameplay can be, as objects gradually get removed from the scene as you locate them from the list that you're tasked with; the repeat usage of most scenes (two or three times each in total), rather than feeling too repetitive, actually works well as you recall where certain items are from previous encounters and further 'tidy up' the scene. The artwork for each scene is consistently impressive and there's a fittingly relaxed soundtrack Away from these scenes, the puzzle-solving element of the game also works well; I was particularly pleased with the well-implemented map and objective system, which directs you to locations where there's something for you to do, avoiding the need for any aimless and unproductive trial-and-error exploration.
20. Rusty Lake Hotel (Steam) | 25 February 2020
Three stars for all recipes. Having heard the Rusty Lake series name several times, I knew that the games are well-regarded, but I hadn't realised that the themes would be quite so dark! This first game in the series, the goal of Rusty Lake Hotel is essentially to murder each of five anthropomorphised animal 'guests' at the titular hotel, to be served as dinner the following day to the remaining guests. This is achieved through solving point-and-click puzzles taking place in the room of each guest, each of which is a well-designed, self-contained 'puzzle box', with a series of tasks that rarely get overly obtuse, a nice contrast from many other games in the genre. As a game build in Flash, technically it's not particularly impressive, but the graphics and audio do there job in setting the tone, with a distinctive art style throughout. With a short run time - around 1-2 hours unguided - I had a good time here, and look forward to exploring other games in the series.
21. Rusty Lake: Roots (Steam) | 29 February 2020
100% of achievements unlocked. The immediate follow-up to Rusty Lake Hotel and, having now played all three of the 'premium' games in the series, probably my favourite, Rusty Lake: Roots builds nicely on the foundations of the first game. The core puzzle gameplay remains just as enjoyable, while also expanding the range of mechanics employed - my only significant criticism in this regard is that the occasional memorisation puzzle is something that I could do without. While the narrative links to Rusty Lake Hotel and its dark themes aren't immediately evident, as the game progresses, we see a more expansive storyline play out, with clear callbacks to imagery and characters from the prequel. The game makes good use of an impressively non-linear approach, structuring itself as a series of independent scenarios within a family tree structure, progressing through time across a number of branches that can be tackled in an order of the player's choice. Common across the series, the game is still built on Flash, but within that constraint, this is an impressive and enjoyable achievement for the developer.
22. Rusty Lake Paradise (Steam) | 1 March 2020
100% of achievements unlocked. Rusty Lake Paradise is the final game in the Rusty Lake trilogy and takes a somewhat different approach from its predecessors - while much of the puzzle-solving gameplay remains similar, this time around, the game takes place across ten chapters in chronological sequence, each taking place in the same small set of areas, a direct contrast to Rusty Lake: Roots, where each scenario is largely standalone, but only across one or two areas at a time. This makes the game feel significantly smaller in scope - while there's a somewhat increased sense of continuity in the game as we see gradual changes in each area (seasonality is the easiest example to give while avoiding spoilers), which allows for some variety, ultimately the changes aren't significant enough to hold interest completely across ten chapters.
Rusty Lake Paradise also feels somewhat more akin to traditional 'point-and-click' adventure games, as often you need to travel between areas looking for a key item to allow progression, which detracts from the enjoyment of the core puzzle-solving gameplay. This isn't to say that the game is bad, as it's a long way from that - it just doesn't quite live up to the standard set by its direct predecessor in Rusty Lake: Roots.
23. AER: Memories of Old (PS4) | 2 March 2020
Platinum trophy earned. AER: Memories of Old is a fairly straightforward, but very relaxing exploration/3D platform game, with some straightforward puzzle-solving. The protagonist has the ability to transform into a bird in the main overworld segments, which brings with it an excellent, satisfying sense of freedom in motion. This is also essential to the gameplay, with the world made up of groups of floating islands across a range of biomes - which bring the potential for some beautiful scenes, despite (or perhaps because of?) the fairly simple, stylised graphical style. With three primary underground 'temples' as the basis for the game's progression, these each have some enjoyable puzzle-solving, but overall the game is quite short, comfortably beatable within 3-4 hours - which is probably about right given it's general simplicity, to ensure that the game doesn't outstay its welcome.
24. Tetris 99 (Switch) | 8 March 2020
Achieved Tetris Maximus, i.e., first place. Well, I'd pretty much accepted that I'd never manage this, but I *finally* won a game of Tetris 99 so, while I'm still going to be playing it, I'm counting this one in my list here - it's a really great feeling to win! It's been said many times over by now, but the combination of Battle Royale mechanics with the evergreen purity of Tetris' core gameplay works extremely well; the additional game modes offered by the Big Block DLC then extends the game's offering to a nicely rounded package. The main game mode inherently comes with some frustration from feeling 'ganged up upon' at times, which can just be from blind chance, but conversely, achieving 'knock outs' is very satisfying. Meta-progression through daily 'quests', levelling up and the award of different player icons for a wide range of achievement criteria ensures that there's always a reason to keep playing, which I'm sure that I'll be doing for a fair while longer.
25. Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition (Switch) | 10 March 2020
100% in-game completion on normal difficulty; all achievements unlocked except those imposing play-style restrictions (no deaths, no abilities, etc.).
I've previously played Ori and the Blind Forest when originally released on Xbox 360, but never - until now - this Definitive Edition, despite owning it three times over. The game remains exceptionally beautiful, both visually and aurally, alongside a touching storyline that ties in very nicely with this overall aesthetic. The gameplay starts off a little basic, but as Ori learns new abilities, the traversal possibilities open up massively and become very satisfying - especially with the fantastic 'bash' - as well as being well-rewarded with a plethora of secrets to discover.
Ori has a well-deserved reputation as a challenging game, and certainly can bring its fair share of frustration in places - but instant restarts upon death help to minimise this, and as ever, the satisfaction upon success is proportional to the level of challenge. This does, however, mean that completion on Normal difficulty is *plenty* for me!
Bring on The Will of the Wisps!
26. Professor Layton and the Curious Village (DS) | 20 March 2020
135/135 puzzles completed, 5,302/5,302 picarats, 200/200 hint coins collected and none used. Starting the Professor Layton series (which I've now bought the majority of), I had a good time with this. The game has a nice variety of puzzles, all bound together with an fun detective story - even if it stretches its credibility by the end. There's perhaps a little too much reliance on lateral thinking type puzzles, though those are actually the most enjoyable to solve - and a well-realised hint system is available is available for those times when you might find yourself stuck. Excellent music and very characterful hand-drawn graphics/art round out an impressive first instalment for the series, which I'll definitely be continuing to play more of.
27. PictoQuest (Switch) | 22 March 2020
All puzzles completed. PictoQuest is a decently entertaining picross game, probably a little on the easier end of the scale. The RPG theme promises quite a lot, but ultimately adds little to the game - I didn't find it necessary to make use of the available items at any point, especially as they'd only have served to make the puzzles easier - which is somewhat contrary to the point of solving them! Ultimately, it's still picross so if you enjoy this type of puzzle you'll have a good time with this, but, while some competitor games innovate with multiple colours, multi-part puzzles or other variants, PictoQuest doesn't really push the genre in any significant way.
28. Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Xbox One - Game Pass) | 27 March 2020
100% in-game completion on normal difficulty; all achievements unlocked except those imposing play-style restrictions (no deaths, no abilities, etc.). Another stunningly beautiful 'Metroidvania', this follow-up to Ori and the Blind Forest improves on that already excellent game in a number of significant ways. Once again the game trades place in a well-designed world that's a joy to explore, now with a greatly expanded set of abilities to mix up the gameplay. In particular, combat is greatly improved and feels much more meaningful, with a range of meaningfully different weapons on offer - from a basic sword to spears and throwing stars. The trademark escape sequences return, though perhaps here are a little more forgiving and the story, while fairly simple, is suitably emotional and touching. The one notable criticism is that at present the game is somewhat rough technically, with fairly frequent seconds-long freezes after the game's been running for a short while and also a few complete crashes - hopefully a patch will be along before too long to fix these!
29. Metro 2033 Redux (PS4) | 6 April 2020
Platinum trophy earned. It's been a few months since I've played an FPS, so it was good to get back to the genre. In terms of gameplay, Metro 2033 is solid enough, though can't stand up to the best modern genre entries. Weapon variety isn't as extensive as I'd usually like, and the deliberate choice to limit ammo availability means that you can't use guns quite as freely as you otherwise might like; the ability to use the game's currency - military grade rounds - as a powerful emergency ammo cache is a nice concept, but in practice I never found myself needing to use it.
The game's setting - the underground Russian Metro system in the aftermath of a nuclear apocalypse on the surface - is used to good effect, with a fantastic, dark atmosphere throughout, punctuated by occasional visits to the surface that give a starkly desolate depiction of the remnants of society. This does mean that by the end of the game, areas can feel somewhat repetitive, as there's only so much scope for variety in the environment - but as far as it goes, the game's level design is decent. The experience is wrapped up by a well-written story and well-realised characters, supplemented by supernatural themes to bring an intriguing sense of mystery in the game's later sequences.
30. The Touryst (Switch) | 10 April 2020
100% complete. The Touryst is a fantastic third-person adventure game, evoking 2D Zelda in its puzzle-solving gameplay, despite itself itself being a 3D game. The blocky voxel-based graphics are beautifully effective, with the colourful tropical islands in which the game is set really popping off the screen - and these serve to create an immensely characterful, fun-filled world. A wide variety of mini-games are scattered throughout each island - from football penalty shoot-outs through to a video game arcade (with working Fast RMX clone!), via drone piloting - but while these are all enjoyable, the game really excels in the more puzzle-based segments. These vary from filling an art gallery by solving riddles to identify specific people around the world through to puzzle dungeon sequences. The only significant criticism that I'd make is that there are a few frustrating 3D platforming sequences, where the camera angles make jumps very difficult to judge accurately. Fortunately, instant respawns are available and these sequences are infrequent, so they're only a slight blemish on an otherwise superb experience.
31. Whipseey and the Lost Atlas (Switch) | 11 April 2020
100% complete. Whipseey and the Lost Atlas is a fairly straightforward 2D platformer, with a cute cartoon artstyle. The addition of a whip attack move, which also doubles as a hover ability for extended jumps, adds scope beyond basic running and jumping, but ultimately there's not all that much depth to the game or level design. Clocking in at around an hour for a single playthrough, across five levels, it's a short experience, especially on Switch where there aren't any additional achievements/trophies as found on other platforms. Decent as far as it goes, but the game doesn't really stand out in any significant way.
32. Murder by Numbers (Switch) | 18 April 2020
S rank on all cases; all "SCOUT's memories" bonus puzzles completed. Muder by Numbers is based around an unusual combination of genres - Phoenix Wright-style visual novel alongside picross puzzle-solving - but one that turns out to be surprisingly effective. A detective story based around - unsurprisingly - murders provides the core framework for the game, progressing through a fairly linear story via conversations/questioning with various characters who we follow through each of the game's four cases (chapters). There are some interesting mysteries to uncover, and fortunately there's generally a good standard of writing and well-realised, expressive characters - even without any voice-acting - which is important, because there's not really much to this side of the game beyond the writing, given the linearity of the experience (it's impossible to fail). The latter parts of the game go in a very unexpected direction, but I'll say no more on that to avoid spoilers
Interspersed throughout the story are investigation sequences, where you have to scan through a scene searching for clues (these behave how you might imagine a metal detector to do so, with rapid beeping indicating when a clue is near), then solve a picross puzzle depicting the object in question to add it to your inventory and expand your dialogue/story options based upn that discovery. The picross interface works well and with just a couple of exceptions the puzzles are well-designed, though necessarily they don't get to the monstrous sizes that some of the dedicated picross games allow for (the largest puzzles are 15x20, other than one in the final case). Once the main game is beaten, there's a further series of unlockable puzzles to extend the game's longevity further.
Ultimately, Murder by Numbers isn't quite as strong in either of its genres as dedicated games allow for, but it's an effective combination that makes for an enjoyable experience.
33. Concrete Genie (PS4) | 20 April 2020
Platinum trophy earned. Concrete Genie is a third-person adventure following a young artist who discovers the power to bring the 'genie' characters from his imagination to life, through graffiti on the walls of the city that he explores. Beyond basic navigation, the gameplay is based around puzzle-solving with a painting mechanic - you first locate points at which genies can be drawn, while collecting drawings that expand a fairly diverse palette of items that can be added to paintings - and then using these painting options to fulfill requests from the genies who follow you around via the walls and buildings of the environment.
Although these core mechanics are fairly shallow, where Concrete Genie excels is in its creative potential - I'd be the first to admit that I'm not the most artistic of people, but still found a good amount of enjoyment from the beautiful images that some of the paintings allow for. This artistic leaning is further emphasised by its stylised art style, perfectly complementing a story that revolves around friendship.
Later in the game, it attempts to diversify the gameplay somewhat and we see a basic combat system comes into play, but this is really quite limited and without much finesse, so it's probably for the best that it comes to an end shortly after that - it's mostly a beautiful experience while it lasts, but with only limited potential long-term. While not something that I've tried, I imagine that the VR options in the game would be very much worth exploring if you have the hardware, with the potential for a deeply immersive experience
34. Songbird Symphony (PS4) | 25 April 2020
Platinum trophy earned. Songbird Symphony is a music-based puzzle platformer in which you play as Birb, an orphaned bird seeking to find his place in the world. As you navigate through each area, progression is based around solving simple music-based puzzles, typically requiring you to repeat a series of butto presses to activate various devices - all leading up to climactic 'boss' sequences that see Birb taking part in a extended sing-/dance-off, again based around repetition of button presses. The songs are consistently catchy, making these sequences great fun, and differing presentation of the button sequences (e.g. falling, circling or flashing note indicators) brings a sense of variety - making these great fun. From about half-way through the game it gets very challenging to score well, but fortunately there's no minimum threshold for progression - avoiding the potential for frustration but still allowing score-chasing for those so inclined.
While fairly short (expect somewhere around 4-6 hours for 100% completion, with expressive, brightly-coloured pixelart, endearing characters and an simple but uplifting story, this is very much a feel-good game and gets my recommendation.
35. Warlock's Tower (Switch) | 25 April 2020
All levels completed aside from "secret" floors. Warlock's Tower is a retro-styled puzzle game, tasking the player with navigating the floors of the eponymous tower across a series of 2D rooms, filled with various switches, enemies and other obstacles. The key mechanic for most of the game is that the number of moves that you can make is severely limited and must be replenished through pickups scattered around each level. In the early stages this works quite well to generate a decent challenge, but by the later stages this restriction results in a rapid increase in difficulty, with large rooms that have pretty much a single solution that's very hard to map out - I'm not ashamed to admit that I resorted to a guide for a good number of these! As some respite, though, the final set of levels varies the mechanics somewhat (being vague to avoid spoilers) that makes the game much more enjoyable, so it leaves a more positive impression than it might otherwise do.
(If anyone is aware of a guide that covers the 'secret floors', please let me know!)
36. Dogurai (Switch) | 26 April 2020
Completed with the good ending on normal difficulty with both characters. Very much looking to appeal to nostalgia, Dogurai is a Gameboy-styled 2D platformer, fairly short but challenging and well-designed. As suggested by the title, players control a canine samurai warrior, with tight controls and basic but satisfying melee sword combat; perhaps even more importantly, each of the eight fairly lengthy levels brings something new, with mechanics ranging from slippery ice platforms through to a motorcycle ride or a Mega Man-style boss rush. A few sequences can become frustrating with instant-death pits to fall into, but the worst of this is avoided on Normal difficulty, where unlimited lives are available.
Clearly the Gameboy-style aesthetics limit the graphical potential, but within this monochromatic, pixel-based limitation, Dogurai makes good use of the available options and has a great sense of style. So long as you can tolerate the occasional frustration (or you're just very good at 2D platformers), there's some good fun to be had here.
37. 198X (Steam) | 27 April 2020
100% of achievements unlocked. 198X presets a set of five arcade game stages, each in a different genre, strung together by brief story sequences about the experiences of a school-age child who finds solace in the arcades of his world. There's a nice range of genres on offer - starting with a side-scroller beat-em-up/brawler, the game then progresses through space shooting, racing, an auto-runner and finally a first-person RPG dungeon. The game's nature as a compilation means that none of these individual games are particularly deep or extensive, but as brief tasters of each genre they work well. There's certainly some scope for frustration from narrow failures given the relative lack of checkpoints, but that comes with the territory when we're talking about arcade-style games. The game's presentation is excellent, with well-drawn pixel-art throughout and effective if unmemorable music.
There's some limited potential for score-chasing and attempting 'perfect' runs, to add some longevity, but a single playthrough of 198X is likely to be a fairly short experience - around 2-3 hours is likely to be typical - so waiting for a discount before purchasing may be the best approach if the game appeals to you.
38. Enigmatis 2: The Mists of Ravenwood (Steam) | 2 May 2020
100% of achievements unlocked; expert difficulty and two complete playthroughs (hidden object puzzles and pair matching), plus bonus chapter. An impressive step up from its predecessor in the Enigmatis series, The Mists of Ravenwood takes a solid foundation and improves in all areas. Most immediately noticeable is the reworked user interface and higher level of polish, but there's also a more nuanced and interesting plot and greater variety in puzzle design, all key areas for the hidden object genre. Slightly frustrating achievement design means that you have to play through the game twice before you can call the game fully complete, but even then, experiencing the plot again with the knowledge of how the plot develops allows some details to stand out more than they do initially - and of course, it's always enjoyable to revisit the often beautiful graphics that feature throughout.
39. Professor Layton and Pandora's Box (DS) | 9 May 2020
153/153 puzzles completed, 5,500/5,500 picarats, 230/230 hint coins collected and none used. Carrying straight on from playing through Professor Layton and the Curious Village, the second game in the series continues in much the same style, with another enjoyable variety of puzzles threaded around an enjoyable if implausible story. The puzzles seem to be weighted slightly less towards those with a trick than was the case in Curious Village, which I'd count as a positive, but otherwise, Pandora's Box has all of the same qualities of its prequel in the series.
40. Underhero (Switch) | 10 May 2020
Completed with all upgrades and cassettes collected (aside from one that's glitched and doesn't appear). Very much inspired by the classic Paper Mario games, Underhero is primarily a 2D platformer, with RPG-style combat. The premise here is that players control an underling of an evil leader and, after unexpectedly killing the game's hero on their stereotypical quest against evil, the player finds themself taking up that quest themselves. This makes for an unusual story with a real sense of fun throughout.
Although the gameplay starts off feeling a little slow due to the stamina-based combat system, by the time that you're past the initial areas the pace (and challenge) ramps up notably, to the game's benefit. Each enemy has its own quirks, strengths and weaknesses with visual tells to exploit, in a system where timing is crucial to maximise the chances of success. While there are a few enemy types that can get a little frustrating, especially those which can fly, for the most part the battles works well, with satisfying results.
Special mention has to go to the game's ending sequence, which, without spoilers, sees some very unexpected developments. While there's not much in the way of replay value save for a few collectibles and achievements, I was left with an overall soundly positive sentiment towards Underhero, which seems to have gone under the radar for many who I'm sure would enjoy it.
41. Enigmatis 3: The Shadow of Karkhala (Steam) | 10 May 2020
100% of achievements unlocked; expert difficulty and two complete playthroughs (hidden object puzzles and pair matching), plus bonus chapter. While still very much a positive experience, I wouldn't rate this closing part of the Enigmatis trilogy quite as highly as the second installment. That said, in all the important ways this is still a very solid game, with satisfying puzzle design with solutions that generally make sense, an interesting plot with an ending that gives closure, and once again an impressive level of graphical style and polish. I think what detracts from the game a little to me is the way that as the game progresses, the environments open to explore progress through a series of small sets, contrasting with the more free-form approach of Enigmatis 1 and 2 - but again, overall this was still a good time.
42. The Last of Us Remastered: Left Behind (PS4) | 13 May 2020
100% of trophies earned (includes complete playthrough on Survivor difficulty). It's taken far too long for me to get around to playing Left Behind, but the now-imminent release of Part II prompted me finally to this DLC for The Last of Us. Unsurprisingly, but very pleasingly, it lives up to the highly positive reception that it received upon release. At times touching, ruthless then even funny, Left Behind provides a revealing look into Ellie's past, adding greater context to her role in the main game. There's more here than just the backstory, though, as the game intersperses a handful of interesting and challenging combat encounters with the story sequences - hopefully these will serve as further good preparation for Part II! This is Naughty Dog at the peak of their ability and unmissable if you found even the slightest enjoyment from The Last of Us.
43. Tracks - The Train Set Game (Xbox One - Game Pass) | 16 May 2020
100% of achievements unlocked (1,000G), completed Passenger Mode. Well, I needed something for a few quick achievements to maintain my Rewards streak and this seemed to fit the bill quite nicely - and I felt that I may as well do it justice with the full 1,000G. Trains is an impressively full-featured model railway simulator, allowing the construction of elaborate tracks within a range of sandbox environments modelled on common household settings. There's great scope for creativity here, with a wide range of buildings, rail infrastructure and decorative items available to construct your model railway, with various passenger types (from businessmen to firefighters and mountain climbers) to allow different themes to be captured appropriately. "Passengers" mode provides some structure to the experience, asking players to construct tracks to allow passengers to be collected from various locations within the environment and taken safely to their destination of choice. While not being a train enthusiast myself, for the right person there's a great deal of entertainment value here.
44. Mushroom Quest (Switch) | 21 May 2020
All levels completed. A short and fairly easy puzzle game in the sokoban style, Mushroom Quest is enjoyable while it lasts, with a few interesting challenges in the later levels, but it's over before it can get particularly imaginative - completed within around an hour. A solid game but not one that particularly stands out in any areas.
45. Fractured Minds (Xbox One - Game Pass) | 23 May 2020
Completed with 100% of achievements unlocked (1,000G). Fractured Minds is a short experience based around exploring mental health themes, with gameplay based around simple first-person puzzle-solving. As a game there's not all that much to it, but it's quite thought-provoking, with a clear intention of raising awareness of mental health issues - and with that brief, is quite successful in achieving its aims.
46. Final Fantasy VII Remake (PS4) | 7 June 2020
Beaten on Normal difficulty, with all but four trophies earned (Hard mode, Pride and Joy, pull-ups and the platinum). While I have little in the way of nostalgia for the original game, Final Fantasy VII Remake has been an astoundingly enjoyable experience. The engrossing plot develops nicely across the game's 18 chapters, allowing interesting character development far beyond what I understand was possible in the original and by the end of the game I was thoroughly fond not only of the four main protagonists, but also the other members of Avalanche. The battle system is engaging and entertaining, with an impressive amount of depth and nuance once you come to understand the key mechanics at work (though I'm *far* from a master!), and all throughout the level of presentation and polish is peerless. I'd have preferred not to have the cliffhanger ending, but with the game being just the first part of the story that was pretty much inevitable, and it does little to detract from a game that's undoubtedly going to be a top contender for 2020's Game of the Year.
47. Helltaker (Steam) | 8 June 2020
Completed with 100% of achievements unlocked. A short but enjoyable puzzle game, Helltaker's dating-based premise would typically be off-putting to me, but as a free game getting decent write-ups from many I decided to give it a look. The game has a great sense of personality and is nicely presented, alongside an energetic and catchy soundtrack. Mechanically there's not really much that's new here, but it's well worth a shot if you have any liking for puzzle games.
48. Professor Layton and the Lost Future (DS) | 8 June 2020
168/168 puzzles completed, 6,000/6,000 picarats, 300/300 hint coins collected and none used. The Professor Layton formula continues to deliver, with another solid instalment of this visual novel combined with puzzle-solving gameplay. I didn't feel that the time-travel plot went in as interesting a direction as it had the potential for, but it does at least allow for some entertaining character development beyond the first two games and the puzzle variety is as good as ever. Also notable is that the meta-progression mini-games here feature both my most (sticker book and toy car) and least (parrot deliveries) favourite types of the series so far, and once again the game delivers with excellent presentation, artwork and music.
49. 11-11: Memories Retold (PS4) | 14 June 2020
Platinum trophy earned. A story-focused adventure following two opposing soldiers - a Canadian and a German - in the latter half of the First World War, 11-11: Memories Retold is an engrossing and ultimately quite strongly emotional experience. In the same way as the developer's previous Valiant Hearts, the game tells a very personal story for both of the protagonists, neither of whom is a 'typical' soldier (one is a military photographer, the other an engineer), culminating with some very meaningful choices with radical impact on the ending.
The gameplay is based around fairly straightforward exploration and puzzle-solving, ensuring that the story remains the main focus, but what's here is enjoyable enough. Throughout, the whole experience is enhanced by an abstract 'painterly' art-style that's perhaps genuinely unique among games of this scope.
50. Observation (PS4) | 16 June 2020
100% of trophies earned. A fantastically suspenseful sci-fi thriller, Observation sees the player taking control of SAM, the AI controlling the systems of a research space station, in the aftermath of an unknown 'accident'. A single crew member, Emma, seems still to be active and the game sees the player interacting with various functions throughout the station to assist Emma as she works to restore the station's operations and discover what exactly has happened - from simply opening hatches between modules to assessing and repairing damage during an exterior 'space walk', for example.
At times, if you don't catch on to where within the station the necessary systems are located, it can be a little frustrating, but aside from that, the simple puzzle-solving that each task involves is satisfying and feels realistic to how such a system would actually work. The stand-out facet of Observation, though, really comes down to the story which, although ultimately not explained as fully as I'd have liked, gets into some interesting sci-fi themes and benefits strongly from the immersion that comes with the player's direct involvement.
51. Beyond Oasis (Genesis) | 21 June 2020
Completed with all 'unlimited' weapons collected. This is in fact the first Genesis/Mega Drive game that I've ever beaten, courtesy of a recommendation from the excellent "The Eleven SEGA "Zeldas"" thread! An interesting and unusual combination of The Legend of Zelda's overhead-perspective adventure with combat styled after side-scrolling brawlers, Beyond Oasis (released outside the US as The Story of Thor) is a very impressive technical achievement for a Mega Drive/Genesis game, with stunningly detailed graphics and animation. Beyond Oasis isn't an especially long game - I beat it in about 7-8 hours - but feels about right. While there's a freely explorable overworld, the in-game map provides only very high-level detail, so it can be a little difficult to know where you're going if you have reason to backtrack, but fortunately on this front, it can be approached with a linear mindset, moving between clearly-indicated waypoint markers
The game's take on puzzle design is largely reliant on the abilities of four magical spirits rather than equipment, but doesn't feel like there's quite as much variety as we typically see from the Zelda series; conversely, the combat abilities offer quite a lot of flexibility if you choose to use it, especially helpful when some of the fights can get somewhat overwhelming with enemy numbers (albeit I have to admit that I didn't, for the most part, use these combat abilities to their fullest). I'd have preferred not to have had to deal with the weapon durability system that the game uses throughout, but I can understand why it's there and there is, eventually, a way around it.
52. Binary Domain (Steam) | 25 June 2020
Completed on normal difficulty. I had a surprisingly good time with Binary Domain, a squad-based third-person shooter set in a dystopian, futuristic Tokyo. The core gameplay is solid, with interesting level design and some impressive set-piece encounters, especially for the fairly frequent boss fight. Guns always feel satisfying to use, though enemies frequently feel a little more 'bullet-spongy' that I'd like, taking a lot of damage to defeat - albeit with most enemies being robotic, there is at least a consistent explanation for this.
The team mates within your squad feel like they make a meaningful contribution to combat, from the core of taking out enemies to offering to revive the protagonist when downed. You can typically choose 2 or 3 of your squad to join you for each chapter, each with suitable specialisms, and the ability to customise their abilities a little further through gun upgrades and a skill system that uses purchasable 'nanomachines' is a nice touch. In terms of how the combat plays out, you have the ability to give high-level commands to your squad, but these didn't ever seem to make that much of a difference. More significant, though, is the implementation of a 'trust' system for each squad member individually, based on your decisions in short dialogue exchanges and combat performance - which can have a significant impact on how certain important elements of the game's story plays out. To finish with a note on that story - with Binary Domain being a Japanese-developed game, events aren't exactly what I would describe as believable, but with that accepted, it's fun to see how suitably exaggerated ideas at play resolve themselves.
53. Astrologaster (PC - Game Pass) | 1 July 2020
100% of achievements unlocked (1,000G). A fairly simple visual novel with a fantastic sense of humour, I had a great time with Astrologaster. The game follows the activities of 16th/17th-century astrologer/doctor Simon Forman, primarily via the consultations with his patients (or 'querents', as he calls them in-game). Interactivity comes from selecting the appropriate 'reading of the stars' to diagnose each patient's troubles (not solely medical!) and while there's often a 'best' reading in terms of the reputation score that each querent holds for Simon, the game progresses caters well for any selection. The game really excels in its writing and the presentation of its eclectic cast of characters - the brief choral introductions to each consultation are a particular joy - and the premise becomes all the more intriguing upon learning that Simon Forman was a real historical figure and the game's events are loosely based on his case books.
54. Hook (Steam) | 6 July 2020
All puzzles completed. A small and deceptively simple puzzle game, Hook is essentially a virtual version of pick-up-sticks, challenging players to clear the play area of hooked sticks sequentially, based on the connections from a starting point to each stick, without disturbing any of the others at each step. Across a total of 50 puzzles, despite a simple premise, the later puzzles become fairly challenging, with new mechanics introduced including multiple starting points, rotatable segments that complete and break connections, etc. Overall, a nicely relaxing if limited experience.
55. klocki (Steam) | 9 July 2020
All puzzles completed. klocki is a minimalist puzzle game based largely around completion of continuous lines within 2D or 3D 'boards' made up of square pieces, using a variety of mechanics including direct exchange of pieces, sliding and rotation. Nicely relaxing, the puzzles start off very straightforward, working effectively to train the player on how each mechanic works without needing even a word of text - but become quite complex by the end. With just over 80 puzzles to complete, there's around 1-2 hours of play time here and little in the way of replay potential - but for its low price, klocki makes for a satisfying, enjoyable experience while it lasts.
56. The Last of Us Part II (PS4) | 12 July 2020
Platinum trophy earned, completed on Survivor+ difficulty. Truly a masterpiece, The Last of Us Part II once again demonstrates that Naughty Dog remain technical wizards, with an incredibly well-realised world and standard-setting graphics and sound design throughout. The frequently stealth-based gameplay is always satisfying, with plenty of well-designed setpiece encounters, alongside a meaningful set of weapon and character ability upgrades, providing a further incentive to explore and track down the items that facilitate these upgrades. A couple of frustratingly difficult (on higher difficulties) encounters aside, the level of challenge is well-judged, while enemy AI generally achieves believable results.
Where The Last of Us Part II really shines, though, is in its writing, direction and, especially, acting, with superb, frequently heart-felt, performances from Ashley Johnson, Laura Bailey and Troy Baker as Ellie, Abby and Joel - among many others in the supporting cast. Although in large part the story can be boiled down to a revenge tale, it does so while still achieving a level of nuance that most games can only hope to aspire to. Certainly there's a level of violence and brutality here that may be a turn-off for some - indeed, it usually would be for me - but it's used effectively, being symptomatic of the harsh world that remains post-pandemic.
A final word has to go to the accessibility options provided by the game, which goes far beyond anything that I've ever seen before, catering well for those with impaired hearing, eyesight or control dexterity - to the extent that I'm actually not all that surprised to hear reports of the game being beaten by blind people!.
57. Coffee Talk (Xbox One - Game Pass) | 13 July 2020
100% of achievements unlocks (1,000G). A serviceable if unexceptional visual novel, Coffee Talk tells the story of the relatable, 'real life' problems of a cast of characters inhabiting a modern fantasy world, complete with elves, orcs, vampires and werewolves. Impressively detailed and well-drawn pixelart graphics do a good job of capturing the expressiveness of the characters and the writing is decent, but ultimately each character's storyline is fairly shallow, with fairly predictable 'happy endings'.
As suggested by the game's title, a coffee shop provides the setting for the game's events, with players taking the role of a barista brewing drinks for customers. There's a quite impressive diversity of drinks available to be put together from a set of around 10 different ingredients and some entertainment can be had from learning the various recipes, but there's only so far that this can hold one's interest – about right for the length of the game, though!
58. Castlevania: Rondo of Blood (PS4) | 16 July 2020
100% of trophies earned (platinum trophy for the Requiem collection); 100% in-game completion (all stages complete on both routes, all maidens saved). Rondo of Blood is only the second Castlevania game that I've played, and the first in the 'classic' style, but I can clearly see why the franchise is so loved – there's some great level design on show here and a good variety of enemies with varying manners of attack, making for quite a challenging experience at times. Movement feels somewhat less smooth and natural than the 'pure' platformers that I'm more familiar with, which can make some parts quite frustrating as it can lead to difficulty in making jumps with the necessary precision, but it's manageable with practice.
Multiple routes through many of the levels, two sets of levels providing alternate paths through the game, some well-hidden secrets and two different playable characters add some decent replay value – and rounding out the presentation, the use is made throughout of the series' classic musical themes.
59. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS4) | 23 July 2020
100% of trophies earned (platinum trophy for the Requiem collection); 200.6% map exploration, complete bestiary, Richter mode completed. It's taken far too long for me to make time to play this defining game in the 'Metroidvania' genre but I'm pleased to find that it's just as good as its reputation suggests. While Super Metroid and Hollow Knight remain a step above, Symphony of the Night is otherwise right up amongst the best of the genre. With the core gameplay involving exploring a large interconnected castle, level design is clearly crucial and the game excels on that front, with a wide variety of interesting settings; the game's 'twist' then really highlights the care and attention put in here. Combat is fairly simple, but responsive and satisfying, with an impressive range of different weapons, alongside a handful of magic spells that help to bring some layers of complexity. Rounding out the package are detailed pixelart that holds up to this day and a deservedly classic musical score.
60. Paper Mario: The Origami King (Switch) | 5 August 2020
100% completion: all collectibles and in-game trophies obtained, bonus ending. While it doesn't quite match the legacy of The Thousand Year Door, Paper Mario: The Origami King is still a great game in its own right. With an entertaining, fairly light-hearted storytelling approach, the game excels with its writing, demonstrating impressive localisation work, especially in its sense of humour. Each area of the game is consistently enjoyable and rewarding to explore, packed with secrets and collectibles that are rarely so obscure as to become frustrating to seek out, and the origami theme allows for a distinctive sense of style.
I share the fairly widespread view that battles are generally a weak spot - while the puzzle-based approach is certainly innovative, in standard battles there's just not enough diversity here, somewhat short of the possibilities offered by a variety of characters and customisable attacks of some earlier games in this spin-off series - so these do start to drag at times. Overall, the focus that the developers have in always introducing a new approach with each game in the series does prove a hindrance, but it's not without some benefits - boss battles are at the other end of the spectrum, each boss having its own unique set of actions and requiring a tailored approach to succeed - while also entertaining with that same light-hearted, gently comedic approach that's evident throughout.
61. Carrion (Xbox One - Game Pass) | 9 August 2020
100% of achievements unlocked (1,000/1,000GS), all containment units breached. Carrion is a serviceable but unexceptional horror-based Metroidvania game, with the novel twist of the player taking control of the monster, a horrific mass of tentacles that escapes containment and now seeks to escape from the research facility in which it finds itself. There's a great sense of fluid motion, but the tentacle-based abilities are frequently quite unwieldy, making combat encounters more frustrating than they should be - though perhaps unexpectedly, stealth rather than outright aggression is often key to success, as even quite early on, many enemies acquire shields that guard against most of the monster's attacks
In terms of the exploration that's central to any good Metroidvania, there's some good variety of environments here, but some more variety to the overarching objectives would have been appreciated - it very quickly becomes clear that clearing each area comes down to locating a series of 'hive' locations to grow the monster's influence, unlocking the exit door, while at some point along the way locating a new ability. The complete absence of an in-game map is also a shame, as while ultimately the path through each area is fairly linear, it can be harder than it needs to be to track this down.
62. Glass Masquerade 2: Illusions (Steam) | 16 August 2020
100% of (non-DLC) achievements unlocked, all puzzles completed. A solid follow-up to the original Glass Masquerade, once again this is a superbly stylish take on jigsaw puzzles, with the same beautiful standard of artwork. It doesn't really do much that's new, but ultimately it doesn't need to.
63. CrossCode (Switch) | 5 September 2020
100% exploration, enemy records and quest completion; all in-game trophies earned except one (flawless victories against Apollo). CrossCode is very clearly *the* hidden gem of 2020 (or 2019, considering its PC release) and, with no hyperbole whatsoever, is a very legitimate contender for the best game of the year. The game presents itself as an overhead-perspective pixel-art action-RPG in the style of classics such as Secret of Mana or The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, but offers so, so much more than that simple description.
Driven forward by an engrossing sci-fi plot with multiple levels (I'll avoid detail here so as not to spoil anything), the core combat is fast and fluid, with a huge range of play styles available across an expansive, rewarding ability/upgrade system. There's an impressive range of enemy types that you'll find yourself facing off against, each of which has its own set of abilities, strengths and weaknesses that keep the gameplay fresh. Progression comes from both level advancement and, perhaps moreso, equipment upgrades - with a diverse range of options available through its trading system. Granted, trading can be a little daunting for a newcomer, relying on collection of 'ingredients' from quite a large selection - but I found this to offer a satisfying 'scavenger hunt' dynamic.
The game world comprises towns and overworld locations - which are the focus of most NPC interactions and optional quests - and a series of expansive 'dungeons'. Many of these are highly puzzle-focused, often relying on a 'disc' throwing mechanic that I've not seen used elsewhere, and become genuinely challenging - though never excessively so. I can sympathise with the comment that I've seen from a couple of others that the early dungeons are a little overlong, though personally I loved these, with puzzle deign that for the most part surpasses even that of The Legend of Zelda series (which coming from me, is saying a lot!). Back on the overworld, a secondary form of puzzle design comes from the intricate design that rewards 'parkour' around elevated paths woven throughout the environment, ultimately leading to equipment rewards, new quests or even entire new areas.
CrossCode sees Lea, the protagonist, being joined by a variety of other party-members, and the game excels in character interactions - pretty much all of those who join Lea in her adventure are very memorable, with well-developed personalities, and dialogue that is at times meaningful, endearing or comedic. Topping things off are a series of small touches that litter the game - I really don't want to spoil these, but as one example, you might notice that a certain set of rock formations are specifically designed in the shape of the Tetris tetrominoes, evoking a knowing satisfaction as you realise why one of your companions has remarked upon them.
In closing, I'd just urge anyone with even the slightest attraction towards the genre to give CrossCode a try, it's absolutely at the top-tier of 'indie' game releases - and even available on Xbox Game Pass for ease of accessibility!
64. Tell Me Why - Chapter 1: Homecoming (Xbox One) | 5 September 2020
100% of achievements unlocked (500G). See comments included below for Chapter 3.
65. Tell Me Why - Chapter 2: Family Secrets (Xbox One) | 6 September 2020
100% of achievements unlocked (500G). See comments included below for Chapter 3.
66. Kentucky Route Zero (Steam) | 9 September 2020
100% of achievements unlocked. A well-written but very slow narrative experience, I've heard many good things about Kentucky Route Zero and I'm glad to have played it, but ultimately I didn't get as much from the game as I was hoping for.
Starting off strongly, as we meet Conway, a truck driver, pulling up to a service station in the hope of finding directions to a mysterious "Dogwood Drive", there's a heavy dose of mystery and melancholy infused throughout the game; despite the substance of the interactivity here being in dialogue choices, it's easy to become invested in the journey of the characters in the early acts (of which there are five in total). The game peaks around the third act, as we see the realisation of one of the early mysteries, but following that, the band of characters who we follow multiples somewhat too far, to the extent that it becomes hard to keep track of them all and to care for each. The 'intermission' scenes between each act make a valiant effort to flesh out various backstories and are somewhat successful in that aim, benefiting particularly from the variety of perspectives that we see here - including scenes from a play and backstage at a TV broadcast - but I found the final act to be a disappointment, without a properly satisfying sense of closure to the story.
67. Florence (Switch) | 11 September 2020
Complete playthrough. Florence is a short (approximately one hour) visual novel, following a young woman through the making and breaking of a romantic relationship. The game plays out through a series of simple comic-like scenes and, while the interactivity is only limited, it's expertly judged to allow the player to become engaged with the story without the complexity becoming distracting. Alongside a dynamic musical score, the game creates a highly emotional reaction and we really feel for Florence throughout, sharing in her joy and despair While the short length could be counted against the game, it allows for completion in a single sitting and as such, maximises the player's investment in the story.
68. Tell Me Why - Chapter 3: Inheritance (Xbox One) | 12 September 2020
100% of achievements unlocked (500G), comments here covering the three chapters taken together. A well-told, very personal narrative story, presented across three chapters, Tell Me Why follows a pair of twins reunited after being separated for many years, since the death of their mother (in circumstances that I won't elaborate on to avoid spoilers). The narrative feels somewhat 'smaller' in scope than the Life Is Strange games that preceded it from developer Dontnod, with the consequences of the story strongly focused on the two protagonists, but not particularly to the game's detriment.
The Life Is Strange games are known for the supernatural element that features as an important narrative and gameplay mechanic and this is seen again in Tell Me Why, but in a much more low-key manner, via a telepathic bond between the twins and their ability visibly to recall certain memories. Notably, one of the twins here is a transsexual man, a fact that takes on a certain degree of importance in the historic life events that the twins find themselves exploring, and this is sensitively handled, without becoming excessively focused upon.
While the are occasional puzzles, mainly based around observation and reading from extracts of a fondly-remembered children's book, there's little here by way of challenge or longevity - though for those who find themselves particularly invested in the events, there are contrasting outcomes for a number of key sequences and a pair of endings to experience.
69. Alan Wake (Xbox 360) | 22 September 2020
Completed with 100% of achievements unlocked (1,000G), including obtaining all collectibles obtained and a full playthrough on Nightmare difficulty.
70. Alan Wake: The Signal and The Writer (Xbox 360) | 26 September 2020
Completed with 15/17 achievements unlocked (all except Run-on Sentence and No Punctuation) and all collectibles obtained.
The horror genre isn't typically appealing to me, but the tie-in with Control's DLC was enough to push me into digging Alan Wake out from the backlog, together with its two DLC episodes. All things considered, I enjoyed this - while certainly taking place in creepy settings, the game is more focused on mystery and themes of insanity (particularly with the DLC) than jump-scares, for example.
The gameplay, with light sources as a key combat mechanic, probably justifies a description as 'unique', though Alan's frequent lack of manoeuvrability means that combat can't really be a highlight. The game also has a definite excess of collectibles, which don't really suit its style! The story is the star of the show here, and is well-realised – Alan, as a writer, frequently provides a narrative voiceover to events, helping to put things in perspective and explore the direction of his thoughts and motivations as the game progresses, which is typically an effective approach.
71. Super Mario 64 (Super Mario 3D All-Stars (Switch) | 3 October 2020
Completed with 120 stars collected; maximum coins in 12/15 worlds. Super Mario 64 was *the* defining 3D platformer of its day, setting the standard for everything that followed in the genre - and its good, though unsurprising, to find that it still holds up well to this day. Of course, it's clearly been surpassed by many more recent releases, but Mario remains a joy to control and the level design perfectly-judged. In terms of its packaging as part of the Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection, it has to be said that it's disappointing that Nintendo hasn't been more ambitious, as there's little improvement beyond a resolution increase and some increased texture quality - but that can't detract from the quality of the underlying game that still shines through.
72. Macbat 64: Journey of a Nice Chap (Switch) | 4 October 2020
Complete playthrough, including all bonus levels.Macbat 64 is a short and simple, but reasonably enjoyable, 3D exploration/mini-collectathon game that styles itself in the mould of Nintendo 64 classics such as Banjo Kazooie. There's very little here by way of challenge and the game really sells itself on the nostalgia that it evokes, but it has a certain charm in its simplicity.
The core gameplay mechanic revolves around locating a small set of items for the characters of each level, who will then reward you with an item that allows the resolution of a simple puzzle (for example, a blowpipe to burst a balloon), eventually allowing access to the objective of that area. Its ten levels (plus five bonuses) all take place in a small self-contained area and are very short, perhaps taking five minutes to complete at most, but it's nice to see that there are a few well-hidden bonuses that do ultimately give a meaningful reward.
Overall, I enjoyed my time with Macbat 64, but as it stands it wouldn't really sustain any significantly longer playtime. I'll be interested to see future releases from this developer.
73. Bioshock 2: Minerva's Den (PS4) | 4 October 2020
100% of trophies earned. Minerva's Den is an excellent self-contained narrative expansion to the Bioshock 2 story, and despite it being a long time since I played the base game (on PS3!), it's great to be back in Rapture - which remains among the most compelling game worlds yet created. Tightly-designed setpiece encounters and particularly a (perhaps expectedly!) compelling plot with a typically-shocking twist make Minerva's Den a highlight of my time with the first two Bioshock games.
74. Squidlit (Switch) | 5 October 2020
Complete playthrough. A 2D platformer with a retro, Gameboy-style aesthetic, Squidlit is fairly basic and very short. The game's appeal lies mostly in its nostalgic appeal - while the gameplay is serviceable enough, there's little here to maintain interest beyond a single, roughly half-hour playthrough.
75. Hidden Through Time (Google Play) | 7 October 2020
All levels 100% complete. With a similar approach to the rather excellent Hidden Folks, Hidden Through Time challenges players to locate sets of objects/people hidden within each of its 26 levels, viewed from overhead in miniature - if you've ever tried the Where's Wally? books, this is those in digital format. The use of colour graphics compared to Hidden Folks' monochrome gives it quite a different feel, but overall I don't find it to be quite as polished a game, lacking the interactivity and resulting personality often seen in Hidden Folks' scenes. However, considered in its own right, Hidden Through Time remains a well-made experience, with each the discovery of each item eliciting that crucial feeling of satisfaction, and only a handful of excessively well-hidden items.
76. Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea (episodes 1 and 2) (PS4) | 10 October 2020
100% of trophies earned. While a continuation of Bioshock Infinite's story, with players controlling Booker and Elizabeth, Burial at Sea is mostly set within Rapture, from the first two Bioshock games, and ties the two storylines together quite neatly. Episode one's gameplay is largely similar to the base game, but episode two very different, based much more around stealth - mixing things up very nicely. The story really is the star here, though - without getting into specifics, there are some very meaningful twists towards the end of each episode - for episode a typical cliffhanger, and episode two a satisfying conclusion.
77. Hypnospace Outlaw (Xbox One - Game Pass) | 11 October 2020
Completed with all achievements unlocked except for "Thanked"... which takes far too long for little reward. Certainly the best GeoCities moderator simulator that I've ever played! Hypnospace Outlaw delivers strongly on nostalgia and the core investigative gameplay is well-implemented, with an engrossing narrative drawing the game forward. The controls are a little clunky with a controller rather than mouse/keyboard, but you do get used to them fairly quickly so this isn't too much of a hindrance.
78. Super Mario Sunshine (Super Mario 3D All-Stars (Switch) | 19 October 2020
Beaten with 120 shine sprites. I've played through it a few times in the past, but I was surprised how challenging this second 3D Mario platformer was. The quirky addition to the gameplay with the FLUDD water-shooting mechanic serves to mix things up nicely, though it's easy to become over-reliant on the hover ability that this provides and I do miss the long jump from Super Mario 64. Sadly I played before the announcement of the patch to add inverted camera controls, which didn't help with the playability! I also prefer to see more variety to the game environments, but I can see that the exploration of the tropical theme serves to add cohesiveness to the game as a whole.
79. Donkey Kong Country (SNES) | 25 October 2020
101% in-game completion rate. I never owned an SNES when it was in its prime, so while I've played snippets of the Donkey Kong Country series, as well as the Gameboy-based Land sub-series, this is my first time playing through the game in its entirety. First impressions are inevitably that this was an incredible technical achievement for the SNES, with pre-rendered 3D models used to generate the 2D characters and alongside this, David Wise's soundtrack is iconic for a reason - it's absolutely superb (Aquatic Ambience is a personal favourite). The platforming gameplay is less revolutionary, but still enjoyable, with well-designed levels and some well-hidden secrets - though a few too many of these just rely on trial-and-error that would be ideal.
80. Donkey Kong Country 2 (SNES) | 26 October 2020
102% in-game completion rate. Moving on immediately from my playthrough of the first Donkey Kong Country, the introduction of Dixie Kong as a playable character here brings with it an enjoyable extension to the gameplay mechanics, with her ponytail-based floating ability. The implementation of secrets is greatly improved here, with more approachable clues reducing the need for trial-and-error, and more developed challenge scenarios within each bonus room. Graphics and music remain just as strong as its prequel, of course.
81. The Darkside Detective (Steam) | 26 October 2020
All cases completed including bonuses; 100% of achievements unlocked. While graphically primitive - intentionally so - The Darkside Detective is a point-and-click puzzle adventure with fantastic writing and sense of humour. Puzzle design is strong and the division of the game into a series of cases (each with a supernatural theme, hence the "Darkside" of the title) works effectively to break up the game into approachable segments, while retaining a loose narrative arc.
82. Journey to the Savage Planet (PS4) | 30 October 2020
100% in-game completion rate, all trophies earned aside from speedrun and co-op. Very much taking its cue from the Metroid Prime series, Journey to the Savage Planet presents a well-developed interconnected world to explore, populated by flora and fauna co-existing in a believable ecosystem. However, far from the somewhat dark themes of the Metroid games, the tone here is much more light-hearted, with humour at its core (albeit at times a little too slapstick for my liking) and bright, colourful imagery throughout. The exploration works well, with satisfying secrets to search out - the upgrades that help with their location are very much needed and balance things effectively, minimising the need to resort to a guide.
Another core part of the Metroid formula is of course the upgrade mechanics and while these are perfectly serviceable, there's nothing particularly novel here - expect weapon damage/ammo/reload improvements, a grapple, etc. Combat is also a little weak, though again, it does its job. All in all, Journey to the Savage planet is on the whole a little on the short side, but for as long as it lasts, there's a lot of enjoyment to take from it.
83. Carto (Xbox One - Game Pass) | 31 October 2020
100% of achievements unlocked (1,000G). Not a word that I'd usually use, but "chill" is the perfect description for this charming little puzzle adventure, based around the novel mechanic of manipulating the environment by re-arrangement of map tiles within a square grid. This is explored to an impressive extent - while it starts off fairly simple, by the end of the game there's a definite level of challenge here, with restrictions to map arrangements require edges of tiles to match up to others of the same type and it's satisfying to see layouts come together effectively. As a simple early example, a gentle dialog hint might suggest that a person is located in an area surrounded by flowers, and arranging four flower-lines tiles in a square around a central gap makes a new central tile appear with the sought-after character. A touching story ties the whole experience together, centred on themes of family and friendship.
84. Bulb Boy (Switch) | 1 November 2020
Complete playthrough. I'd heard some positive impressions of Bulb Boy so, with a cheap price, decided to give this a try, but it's very much not my thing. Even for a horror game the themes are far too 'gross' for my liking, and while there's some decent puzzle design, on the whole it's quite simplistic. It's refreshing to have some platforming-like segments, but the reliance on trial-and-error required to understand fully the mechanics involved is somewhat frustrating at times.
85. Her Story (Steam) | 6 November 2020
100% of achievements unlocked; all videos viewed. An impressively engaging taking on the "FMV" genre, Her Story puts the player in an investigative role, exploring a fictional police database of clips cut from interviews with a female murder suspect - the catch being that your only means of querying the database is using the words spoken in each short clip (which are often only a few seconds long). Some keywords are obvious, of course, but to form a reasonably full picture of events takes a fair amount of effort - which is what makes the experience so engaging, as your attempt to untangle the roles of the various individuals involved.
The whole game uses only a single actress, who does an impressive job with the script, even if it gets a little far-fetched in places. There's clearly been a lot of work put into that script all the same, to ensure that there are just enough strings to tug on and make further progress, without becoming either too straightforward or too obscure - and the game smartly leaves you to draw your own conclusions about some of the fine detail.
86. Super Mario Galaxy (Switch) | 8 November 2020
100% complete, with 242 stars collected. While I maintain that the exploratory 3D Super Mario games remain my preference, there's no denying the gameplay mastery demonstrated by Super Mario Galaxy, taking the tight platforming mechanics from Super Mario 64 and Sunshine then mixing things up substantially with the introduction of space and gravity - levels frequently feature numerous spherical (or partially spherical) bodies that Mario has to traverse. There's fantastic variety in level themes here, some set in space, while others feature the more typical grasslands, water, fire and ice - then others again see fully-armed warships, to name but a few. Coupled with some unique powerups seeing Mario become, for example, a bee or a ghost, the game is a joy to play. The 3D All-Stars collection sees Super Mario Galaxy rendered in stunning 1080p, but perhaps the other standout here is the game's orchestral soundtrack, which is a great listen even on its own.
87. Superliminal (Switch) | 11 November 2020
Completed with all achievements unlocked aside from those for speedruns. Superliminial is an excellent first-person puzzle game, somewhat similar to the likes of Portal and The Talos Principle, but here the focus of the puzzles is perception. Perspective is the first idea that's explored, with objects that can shrink and grow in size depending on your view of them, but as the game progresses other mechanics come into play, alongside ever more creative use of the initial perspective-based mechanics. There's an overarching scenario justifying the game's events, based around exploring the possibilities of dreams and with occasional accompanying voice recordings, but this is quite weak and I wouldn't go so far as to describe it as a "story" or "plot"; it certainly lacks the extremely strong humour and writing seen in Portal, for example.
It's all over quite quickly in the end - expect to beat the game in a handful of hours at most (there's even a speedrun achievement that demands completion within 30 minutes, albeit that's quite a challenge without exploiting glitches). Seeking out numerous collectibles can extend this somewhat - some are mostly fairly straightforward to find, in the form of fire alarms and fire extinguishers (chosen as they suit the interior environments in which the game takes place, rather than fire otherwise being relevant to the game), while others are fiendishly well-hidden - to the extent that I wouldn't expect most people to find many without the use of a guide. Aside from these collectibles, though, the difficulty is well-judged - it's enough to evoke numerous "aha!" moments, without ever becoming frustrating.
88. Cat Quest II (PS4) | 16 November 2020
Platinum trophy earned. Cat Quest II is an enjoyable but simplistic RPG-lite. Very similar to the first Cat Quest, this sequel introduces a co-op mechanic, though the game remains very approachable as a single-player experience, with your partner character being computer-controlled and swapping available at the press of a button. The core of the game sees you controlling a cat and dog duo as they explore an overworld map and delve into dungeons from an overhead perspective with cartoon-style graphics, with the gameplay focused on a simple but satisfying combat mechanic - you have a basic attack, a dodge/roll move and eventually a selection of spells. Enemy attacks are all clearly telegraphed by an expanding circle around them, and take effect in that circular radius, allowing a window to dodge - but as the game progresses it becomes quite easy to be overwhelmed by sheer numbers at times. There's nothing particularly special in this system, but it does the job well.
The storyline is similarly simplistic, based around the typical idea of saving a kingdom (or in this case, a pair of warring kingdoms) from an evil usurper, accompanied by a large number of side quests. While the protagonist characters have little in the way of personality, there are a handful of NPCs that are actually depicted with a surprising around of character. The (wholly text-based) dialogue is laced with puns through, which lend it some charm but do get a little tiresome by the end.
89. Eastshade (Xbox One - Game Pass) | 21 November 2020
100% of achievements unlocked (1,000G).A beautiful game with a great concept, Eastshade sees the player taking control of a shipwrecked artist, arriving on a lightly populated island with the intention of commemorating his mother with a set of paintings. Unusual for an adventure game, Eastshade is entirely devoid of combat, instead focusing on exploration of the world with some light questing and puzzle-solving (often requiring paintings of appropriate subjects). The painting mechanic is as simple as framing the image on-screen, so it doesn't allow as much creativity as might be expected, but the artistic theme is still used to good effect in dialog, etc. Inevitably, you're not going to find great excitement from the game, but there's a great sense of character which means that it remains a worthwhile experience.
90. Astro's Playroom (PS5) | 23 November 2020
Platinum trophy earned. Pretty much the best tech demo you could possibly hope for for the PS5 and, in particular, the DualSense controller, Astro's Playroom is an absolute joy to play. Using in particular the DualSense's haptics and adaptive triggers, this 3D platformer is an incredibly immersive experience, while also being a loving tribute to all things PlayStation with details both large and small liberally scattered throughout every level. Stunning graphics and a wonderfully catchy soundtrack complete the technical package - but beyond that, this is just great fun as a platformer, well designed, not too difficult and with lots of hidden collectibles to seek out. Each of the four worlds dedicates two of its four stages to a wonderfully in a 'suit' of some kind - ranging from a monkey climbing a mountain to a rolling ball - which provides a nice degree of variety, and there's even a speedrun mode with leaderboards to challenge yourself with. A short game, but incredible while it lasts.
91. Duke Dashington Remastered (Steam) | 23 November 2020
100% of achievements unlocked. Duke Dashington Remastered gives every indication of being a Wario Land clone of sorts, from the pixelart and character design to the signature dash move, but in fact this is closer to a puzzle game of sorts, comprising a series of single-screen areas to traverse, entirely with dash moves. Typically only one series of moves will work, or perhaps a few minor variations, resulting in the puzzle-like feel, though there's still some extent of timing involved too. It all works quite nicely as a game that you can pick up for short bouts of play and its five worlds (each comprising 30 screens) can be beaten in about an hour, but it's enjoyable while it lasts, if unexceptional. A time trial mode adds replayability if seeking to perfect your play appeals.
92. Tiny Dangerous Dungeons (Steam) | 28 November 2020
100% of achievements unlocked. Tiny Dangerous Dungeons is an enjoyable 'Metroidvania' game with a Gameboy aesthetic, albeit fairly simplistic and, true to its name, short (easily beatable within an hour). Upgrades are fairly typical - the ability to push blocks and a couple of different weapons, for example - but well-used and the controls in general are tight. There's some good level design here, alongside a handful of well-hidden secrets, and a series of achievements encourage replay with different approaches, from a careful, no-deaths attempt to a speedrun.
93. Bugsnax (PS5) | 2 December 2020
Platinum trophy earned. Well, I wouldn't have tried this at launch were it not for its inclusion in PlayStation Plus, but Bugsnax turns out to be a charmingly unique experience. Landing players on Snaktooth Island in search of the missing explorer Elizabert Megafig, the game's primary mechanic sees you searching out and capturing the various snack-styled fauna, dubbed "bugsnax" - often a puzzle in itself, as you try to work out what combination of tools and wider stimuli will render a bugsnax open for capture - in response to requests from other members of Elizabert's party. Of course, there's a fair amount of exploration beyond that, as many of the bugsnax are entirely optional, and the game even manages to fit in a few boss fights and a meaningful story.
94. Mom Hid My Game! (Switch) | 3 December 2020
All 50 stages complete. A short and fairly simple puzzle game, but entertaining enough for a hour or so, Mom Hid My Game! presents a series of increasingly bizarre scenarios in which a Japanese child's mother has hidden his 3DS-styled gaming system. With each stage being solvable with a handful of taps, its clear that the game has its origins on mobile phones, but that's not necessarily a bid thing as it makes it very easy to pick up and play a handful of levels. The lack of complexity limits its potential to excel, but there's a certain charm that makes Mom Hid My Game! a worthwhile experience.
95. Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS5) | 18 December 2020
Platinum trophy earned. Spider-Man: Miles Morales is a great showpiece for the PS5, continuing with the fantastic freedom of exploration and fast-paced combat of its PS4 prequel while introducing an expanded range of abilities with Miles' electricity-based "venom" powers. While it can be sped through in a matter of 3-4 hours if you ignore the side-content, the main storyline is well-written and heartfelt, creating a real sense of empathy with Miles and the other primary characters with whom he interacts. The depiction of New York City is also worth a mention, here being seen with winter and the run-up to Christmas in full effect, and the PS5 allows it to feel alive with NPCs; even if interaction with most is very limited, as you swing between the skyscrapers you'll frequently find words of praise, awe - and occasional derision - from the citizenry, while the handful of side missions are enjoyably low-key, emphasising Miles' closeness with those who matter most to him. Overall, a really great experience.
96. TSIOQUE (Steam) | 18 December 2020
100% of achievements unlock. TSIOQUE is a somewhat dark point-and-click puzzle adventure, but at the same time adorably charming with its focus on a young princess, imprisoned by an evil wizard who has taken over her castle home. While clearly a somewhat stereotypical premise, it's well-used, with a nice range of immediately-recognisable areas to explore. The puzzles are fairly straightforward, with difficulty at times being more about locating the necessary items for their solution than actually using them in the right way - ultimately, it's quite standard fare on that front. However, the expressive personality of the princess as she seeks her escape does serve to elevate the game somewhat, and at just 2-3 hours in total TSIOQUE is fun to blast through for an evening.
97. Horace (Switch) | 25 December 2020
Complete playthrough. A well-made 2D platforming adventure following the 'life' of the titular sentient robot, Horace's highlight has to be its profound story, at turns touching. amusing and surreal. While platforming is the primary gameplay mechanic, often built around a gravity-manipulation mechanic and eventually becoming 'Metroidvania'-like with collectible upgrades and hidden secrets, occasional minigames and other side activities mix it up, often to good effect.
However, what drags the game down significantly is an absolutely punishing level of difficulty, which doesn't feel well-placed here and is especially frustrating when combined with the free-form exploration of some of the game's later chapters - it's simply not fun to navigate through difficult challenges repeatedly upon finding that a given direction isn't fruitful at the time. The game's story justifies its length, stretching across 22 chapters that will likely take somewhere in the region of 10-15 hours to play through, but in gameplay terms I'd gladly have seen it cut down to half that.
98. Call of the Sea (Xbox One - Game Pass) | 26 December 2020
100% of achievements unlocked (1,000G). Call of the Sea is an immersive, story-rich first-person puzzle game, following a woman seeking her husband's missing exhibition on a strange island. I'll admit in opening that the Lovecraft-esque themes that the game explores aren't particularly too my liking, but what's here is well-done, with a story log filling out as you find various books, photos and story-relevant objects - some simply there for the plot, others there to support puzzle solutions. Technically the game is well-made, with the island's beauty clearly on show, alongside impressively atmospheric music. Overall, though, I didn't find the game to be as enjoyable as I'd hoped, primarily due to the puzzle design - while there's nothing objectively wrong with it, it leans towards observation-based solutions, which I don't find as compelling as the arguably more thoughtful, environmental manipulation and logic-based approaches seen in the likes of Portal or, more recently, Superliminal.
99. Nintendo Badge Arcade (3DS) | 28 December 2020
Level 99 achieved (5,000 badges collected). An unexpected late contributor to my games beaten this year, I've been playing this mini-game for a few minutes most days for a good while and finally reached the level cap - while it's mainly been in pursuit of the elusive last couple of Zelda badges, there remains something compulsive about completing each badge set, which I've done almost entirely without micro-transaction payment (I paid on one single occasion, for access to the accompanying theme which I'm still using to this day). As a game, Badge Arcade is naturally limited in what it offers, but the wide variety of designs/layouts for each catcher keeps things somewhat interesting - an easy 'time-waster' for a couple of minutes daily!
1. Trails of Cold Steel 2 (PS4 - 55 hours) January 2nd : Didn't like as much as the first, which is why I ran through it much quicker
2. Frog Detective 2: The Case of the Invisible Wizard (PC - 1 hour) January 6th : Funny and short, I can't wait for the next one
3. Yakuza 3 (PS4 - 30 hours) January 12th : Slowly getting through the series, I thought this had the weakest story, and it for sure shows it's age
4. Leaving Lyndow (PC - 30 minutes) January 17th : Boring, only played it because I plan to play Eastshade sometime this year
5. Qora (PC - 2 hours) January 18th : Interesting, not sure what the message was at the end, but it looked cool
6. Gato Roboto (PC - 3 hours) January 19th : Really fun, wish it was a bit longer with more upgrades
7. The Hex (PC - 3 hours) January 24th : I thought this was kinda boring. I didn't go for the secret ending, couldn't be bothered
8. Shantae: Half-Genie Hero (PC - 6 hours) January 26th : First Shantae game, so I was surprised at how it was a fun and visually pleasing platformer
9. Journey to the Savage Planet (PS4 - 11 hours) February 2nd : Surprised by it, bought it on a whim after seeing a review. It was fun but became pretty repetitive during the end game
10. Proteus (PC - 30 minutes) February 7th : Cleaning out the backlog, boring game, but looked nice
11. The Adventure Pals (PC - 7 hours) February 9th : More fun than I thought it'd be, but like Journey to the Savage Planet, by the end game, it gets way too repetitive
12. Wide Ocean Big Jacket (PC - 1 hour) February 14th : Enjoyable if a bit short for the price.
13. Eastshade (PC - 6 hours) February 16th : Interesting world; I thought it'd be more of a walking simulator, but it had more to it. Definitely helped to have played Leaving Lyndow before
14. Kona (PC - 2 hours) February 22nd : Was interesting at first, then I stopped enjoying it due to performance issues and time taken to figure out where to go next
March
15. Gravity Rush 2 (PS4 - 27 hours) March 1st : Great follow up to a great game. I could've spent more time on the side quests, but many of them just felt pretty weak.
16. 198X (PC - 1 hour) March 8th : Loved the aesthetic and the music, didn't enjoy it as a game...way too edgy.
17. Diablo III: Eternal Collection (PS4 - 30 hours) March 18th : First time playing a Diablo like game. It felt...really grindy and easy, but that's probably because I started on Normal (never felt like I could die)
18. Ori and the Will of the Wisps (PC - 11 hours) March 22nd : I liked this one better than the first. Great game, can't recommend it enough
19. Hidden Through Time (PC - 2 hours) March 24th : Really easy find-the-hidden-object type game. Nice visuals, just wish it had more levels outside player made ones
20. Squidlit (PC - 30 minutes) March 29th : I don't know, just meh. Really short
21. Seasons After Fall (PC - 4 hours) March 31st : Another one from the backlog, too much backtracking, but overall decent game
April
22. Eliza (PC - 3 hours) April 4th : Don't really play many VN's, but I expected more choice paths, didn't seem like anything but the last choice made any difference
23. In Other Waters (Switch - 3.5 hours) April 5th : Interesting concept, looked really nice, but I wish it did more
24. Final Fantasy Remake (PS4 - 35 hours) April 14th : Never finished the original game, but I loved this, and it's made me buy the old one to play
25. Lost Ember (PC - 3 hours) April 19th : Looked very nice, had a little jank, but it's an enjoyable walking sim
May
26. Picross S (Switch - 25 hours) May 2nd : I get why people love it, but I suck at it, so I'm probably not going to touch any of the others
27. Kentucky Route Zero (PC - 7 hours) May 10th : I decided to wait until all of them were out to play them. Really long wait, worth it though. Great game, love the visuals
28. Yakuza 4 (PS4 - 35 hours) May 18th : Almost done with the Yakuza games, just have 5 left. I think this is up there, right behind 0 as my favorite Yakuza game
29. The Miskatonic (PC - 1.5 hours) May 23rd : Boring.
30. Maneater (PS4 - 12 hours) May 31st : It's a jank AA game, that crashed on me like 4 times, but I still enjoyed playing it as a time killer. Ended up getting the plat while I was just busying trying to do everything
June
31. Helltaker (PC - 1 hour) June 5th : Fun game, very short though, and super easy
32. Shantae and the Seven Sirens (Switch - 7.5 hours) June 7th : I don't know if I liked this one as much as the previous game, didn't feel as long or full of content to me
33. Beyond Blue (PC - 2 hours) June 13th : I thought this would be more like Abzu, but it was pretty boring, even if the fish were cool to look at.
34. Omensight (PC - 5 hours) June 13th : The combat was better than Stories, but going through the exact same sequences so many times got so boring
35. Monster Prom (PC - 5 hours) June 20th : I'm not typically into these types of games, but it was funny and I enjoyed my time with it. Just didn't feel the need to go for all the secret endings.
36. Anodyne 2: Return to Dust (PC - 7 hours) June 21st : I loved the game when it was in 3D but not so much in 2D, which encompassed more of the game than I thought
37. SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom - Rehydrated (PC - 10 hours) June 25th : Game still has so jank from the original, but it's still fun if you want an easy collect-a-thon platformer
38. Depanneur Nocturne (PC - 30 minutes) June 28th : I had a hard time considering this a game. It was just forgettable and not interesting.
July
39. Pattern (PC - 1 hour) July 3rd : I barely remember this, just forgettable.
40. Yakuza 5 (PS4 - 35 hours) July 16th : Not as good as Yakuza 4, but I think I just spent way too much time on the hunting parts, which left me disinterested in the other parts for the other characters
41. Ghost of Tsushima (PS4 - 45 hours) July 24th : Great game, contender for GOTY for me. The visuals were amazing and the wind guide was next level
42. The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (PC - 4.5 hours) July 26th : Hard to get into right away, but it picked up once things got...weird
43. What Remains of Edith Finch (PS4 - 2 hours) July 26th : I think it was my fourth time playing it, just a nice chill short game to go through with a good story
August
44. Persona 5 Royal (PS4 - 100 hours) August 9th : Improved alot of aspects of the original, it is definitely the best way to experience it, especially with the added end game content
45. Destroy All Humans Remake (PC - 7 hours) August 16th : This would've been more fun if they updated the gameplay to be more modern. As it is, it's good, but not super engaging
46. Spiritfarer (Switch - 30 hours) August 24th : This game touched me, like really touched me. Despite having a bunch of crashes on the Switch, it's still one of my top games of the year.
47. Rainy Season (PC - 40 minutes) August 28th : Oddly calming, and made me miss a nice rainy day
September
48. Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition (Switch - 90 hours) September 7th : The side quests...they never stop I swear to god. I prefer the characters of this game, but I prefer mostly everything else of 2 more
49. Super Mario Sunshine (Switch - 14 hours) September 20th : Not as good as I remembered, maybe it's due to the emulation. It's still fun, and it's my favorite Mario setting
October
50. Hades (PC - 78 hours) October 3rd : This is the date I got the credits, but I spent another 20 hours doing the side quests and runs. GOTY for me, best rogue-like I've ever played
51. Mafia: Definitive Edition (PS4 - 13 hours) October 11th : I'm not sure why this was an open world. Story bounced around too much, but the aesthetics were cool
52. I Am Dead (PC - 4 hours) October 17th : Very easy and short game, but it was fun to splice things to see the insides
53. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim (PS4 - 31 hours) October 23rd : Story went all over, got super confused, then got super into it. I don't think it needed to bounce around that much, but it was still pretty great
November
54. Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS5 - 10 hours) November 15th : Surprisingly short, but a great introduction into the new console generation. Swinging never gets old
55. Astro's Playroom (PS5 - 4 hours) November 16th : 100% plat, I was surprised by it, because I thought it'd be just a short tech demo, but it was more like a celebration that went over my childhood
December
56. Assassin's Creed Valhalla (PS5 - 110 hours) November 19th : I don't know why I do this to myself. I love the series, I spent the most amount of time this year on this game, and yet it wasn't as good as the last. Too many bugs, and lackluster ending, and combat felt...worse. I liked the environments, Eivor, and the settlement though (wish you could do more there). I'll play DLC whenever it comes out
52 games, year 6. Must... make it... to a decade...
Steam/PSN/Xbox Live:
2015: 111 games completed (GAF) - List
2016: 73 games completed (GAF) - List
2017: 55 games completed (Era) - List
2018: 75 games completed (Era) - List 2019: 87 games completed (Era) - List
2020: 95 games beaten as of 12/29/2020
Currently Playing: NSW: New Super Mario Bros U, Travis Strikes Again, Tokyo Mirage Sessions Encore Steam: Resident Evil 3 PS4: 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim Xbox Series X: UFC3, Gears 5: Hivebusters PSV: N/A 3DS: Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon iOS: Layton's Mystery Journey
These are the games I've beaten in 2020!
(Mini-reviews will be put in the monthly summary link. First playthrough of all games unless otherwise mentioned.)
1. 1/1/2020: 1 Screen Platformer (Steam), 0.7 hours
2. 1/5/2020: Rise of The Tomb Raider (Xbox Game Pass PC), around 22 hours Previously beaten on Steam two years ago, played through again on XGP for achievements.
3. 1/5/2020: Wulverblade (Steam), 4 hours (replay) Previously beaten on NSW, played again on PC for the first time.
4. 1/5/2020: RefRain - prism memories - (Steam), 93 minutes
5. 1/6/2020: Donut County (Steam), 101 minutes
6. 1/7/2020: Raging Justice (Steam), 115 minutes
7. 1/11/2020: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Remastered (PS4), around 7 hours
8. 1/11/2020: The Song of Saya (Steam), 3 hours
9. 1/11/2020: Way of the Passive Fist (Steam), 5.3 hours
10. 1/11/2020: Soul Calibur VI (Steam), 19.4 hours
11. 1/11/2020: Subsurface Circular (Steam), 88 minutes (replay) Previously beaten on NSW, played again on PC for the first time.
12. 1/12/2020: Karateka (Steam), around an hour
13. 1/14/2020: Assemble With Care (iOS), around an hour & 30 minutes
14. 1/14/2020: Caladrius Blaze (Steam), around 2.7 hours Beat the PS4 version years ago, went in again on Steam. Beat the game around 5 times in various modes.
15. 1/18/2020: Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition (NSW), around 19 hours
16. 1/18/2020: The World Next Door (NSW), around 3.5 hours
17. 1/18/2020: Parascientific Escape: Cruise in the Distant Seas (3DS), 3 hours and 2 minutes
18. 1/19/2020: Gekisou!BenzaRace-ToiletShootingStar- (Steam), 36 minutes
29. 3/2/2020: Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (Epic Game Store), around 18 hours
30. 3/9/2020: Dead Cells + The Bad Seed DLC (Steam), 11.5 hours 31. 3/10/2020:Double Dragon 1 [DD Trilogy] (Steam), 45 minutes
32. 3/14/2020: Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth (Early Access), 1 hour 33. 3/15/2020:Colin Thiele's Storm Boy: The Game (NSW), 30 minutes 34. 3/16/2020:Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Steam), 17.2 hours
35. 3/16/2020: 198X (Steam), 3 hours
36. 3/20/2020: Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (Steam), 15 hours
37. 3/22/2020: Ruiner (Xbox Game Pass PC), 5 hours
38. 3/26/2020: Full Throttle Remastered (Steam), 3.7 hours
39. 3/30/2020: Yooka Laylee & The Impossible Lair (Steam), 17 hours
APRIL 2020
40. 4/1/2020: Kuukiyomi: Consider It (Steam), 41 minutes
41. 4/1/2020: Raiden V: Director's Cut (Steam), 3.2 hours
42. 4/2/2020: Ittle Dew (Steam), 2 hours 45 minutes
43. 4/3/2020: King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match Final Edition (Steam), 1 hour
44. 4/4/2020: Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid (Xbox Game Pass PC), 6 hours
45. 4/5/2020: Children of Morta (Xbox Game Pass PC), 16 hours
46. 4/6/2020: Old Man's Journey (Xbox Game Pass PC), 1.5 hours
47. 4/7/2020: Go! Go! Nippon ~ My First Trip To Japan ver. 2016 (Steam), 3.5 hours
48. 4/9/2020: Gears 5 (Steam), 21 hours
49. 4/10/2020: Mega Man 11 (NSW), 4 hours & 30 minutes
50. 4/11/2020: Cthulhu Saves Christmas (Steam), 10 hours
51. 4/12/2020: Arcana Heart III: Love Max!!!!!! (PSV), 6 hours
52. 4/13/2020: Murder By Numbers (Steam), 30 hours
53. 4/17/2020: Gunman Clive 2 (Steam), 1 hour 10 minutes
54. 4/19/2020: Sonic Forces (PS4), around 7 hours
55. 4/25/2020: Code Vein (Steam), 36 hours
56. 4/25/2020: God of War 3 Remastered (PS4), 8 hours
57. 4/30/2020: Streets of Rage 4 (Steam), 5.6 hours
MAY 2020
58. 5/3/2020: Bioshock Infinite (Steam), 14 hours
59. 5/3/2020: Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea - Episode 1 (Steam), 2.5 hours
60. 5/3/2020: Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea - Episode 2 (Steam), 4.5 hours
61. 5/3/2020: Bullet Soul (Steam), 1.3 hours
62. 5/10/2020: Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope (Steam), 5.5 hours
63. 5/21/2020: Final Fantasy 7 Remake (PS4), 35 hours
64. 5/25/2020: New Sakura Wars (PS4), around 20 hours
65. 5/29/2020: Higurashi When They Cry Hou Chapter 3: Tatarigoshi (Steam), 15.7 hours
66. 5/30/2020: Helltaker (Steam), 46 minutes
67. 5/30/2020: Blazblue Cross Tag Battle (Steam), 14 hours
68. 5/30/2020: Return of the Zombie King (Steam), 4.8 hours
69. 5/30/2020: Johnny Turbo's Arcade - Caveman Ninja (NSW), around 1.5 hours
70. 5/30/2020: Bayonetta 2(NSW), 10 hours 15 minutes
71. 5/31/2020: Plants Vs. Zombies: Game of the Year (Steam), around 8 hours
JUNE 2020
72. 6/5/2020: Star Wars Battlefront II Campaign + Resurrection (PS4), around 8 hours
73. 6/8/2020: One Strike (NSW), around 1 hour
74. 6/9/2020: Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX (Steam), around 6 hours
75. 6/9/2020: Portal (Steam), 3.2 hours
76. 6/14/2020: Call of Duty WWII (PS4), around 6 hours
77. 6/27/2020: The Last of Us: Part II (PS4), 29 hours and 15 minutes (100% collectibles)
JULY 2020
78. 7/4/2020: The Mummy Demastered (Steam), 4 hours 9 minutes
79. 7/5/2020: Bears, Vodka, Balalaika! (Steam), 20 minutes (100% achievements)
80. 7/5/2020: Planes, Bullets & Vodka (Steam), 15 minutes
81. 7/5/2020: Shadow of the Tomb Raider + All 7 DLC tombs (Steam), 40 hours
82. 7/5/2020: Kero Blaster (Steam), 3 hours 9 minutes
83. 7/19/2020: Death Come True (Steam), 2 hours 30 minutes
84. 7/31/2020: Ghost of Tsushima (PS4), around 40 hours
85. 7/31/2020: Erica (PS4), around 2 hours
AUGUST 2020
86. 8/1/2020: Resident Evil 5 + Desperate Escape (Steam), around 22 hours
87. 8/21/2020: Rainy Season (Steam), around 1 hour
88. 8/23/2020: Halo: Combat Evolved (Steam), around 8 hours (Heroic, Co-op)
89. 8/26/2020: Battletoads (Steam)4 hours
1. Sayonara Wild Hearts (iOS) | 2nd January | 2hrs | 3.5/5
2. Creature in the Well (XB1) | 5th January | 5hrs | 4/5
3. The Outer Wilds (PC) | 15th January | 18hrs | 4.5/5
4. Tick Tock: A Tale for Two (PC) | 24th January | 3hrs | 4/5
5. Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age (PS4) | 28th January | 60hrs | 4.5/5
6. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (XB1) | 28th January | 8hrs | 4.5/5
12/8 - Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales - PS5 - 9/10 - Platinum on 12/12
12/16 - Call of Duty: Black Ops - Cold War - PS5 - 6/10
Currently Playing:
NHL 21 - XSX -
Halo 2: Anniversary - XSX -
Yakuza: Like A Dragon - XSX -
Maneater - XSX -
Assassin's Creed Valhalla - XSX -
Tesla Force - XSX -
Demon's Souls (2020) - PS5 -
Sackboy: A Big Adventure - PS5 -
Robotics;Notes Elite - Switch -
Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3!!! - Switch -
DOOM Eternal - Switch -
Hardware used: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4 Pro. Xbox Series X, Xbox One X. Switch. Switch Lite. PC-7700k 1080ti 32gb ram 3440x1440p 120Hz gsync. HTC Vive w/index controllers. LG OLED CX 65", LG OLED B7A 65". iPhone 7+. iPad (2018). Other.
It's a straight fucking lie to act like I'll complete this but I'll give it a shot. I don't get a lot of gaming time being a single dad with a toddler, just at night... and I tend to use that time to play Rocket League a lot.
My first hopefuls to complete this year will be SaGa Scarlet Grace (45 hours in so far, so close), Shovel Knight (I've beaten the original campaign but none of the others - are these all considered one game?) and soon a replay of the Jak trilogy.
Yep, I'm in again, hopefully, this time I'll reach the goal. Finished only 35 games in 2019 after completing the challenge in 2017 and 2018, willing to complete it this time.
2017: 62 games finished
2018: 74 games finished
2019: 35 games finished
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1. Shadow of the Tomb Raider - The Path Home - 3 hours
After 133 hours playing SotTR, I'm finally done with the main game and all DLCs. The last DLC is probably one of the best ones for this game, decent tomb, nice story bits - nothing amazing, but it's good for that it is. It's not worth it as a separate entity but as part of the Definitive edition? Sure, I'll take it.
2. The White Door - 2 hours
The White Door is a new point-and-click adventure game made by Rusty Lake and Second Maze. I've never played previous Rusty Lake games, but this one instantly caught my attention with its unusual artstyle and concept, so I've decided to give it a try. It's a pretty straightforward game, you just need to click or drag items on the screen to progress further. There's a lot of puzzles, but they were all quite easy to solve and you probably won't get stuck for more than a minute. My main issue with the gameplay is how it controls, it's very noticeable that this game was made mainly for touchscreen devices. You occasionally need to do swipe moves with a pointer, and it just doesn't feel natural to do them with the mouse. So yeah, if you don't mind on which platform to play this game, getting it on mobile instead of PC is probably a better idea.
Anyway, you are not going to play The White Door for its gameplay, but for its artstyle and story. This game has some interesting ideas in terms of narrative design and keeps a few surprises for the unprepared player. You are playing as Robert Hill who suffers from severe memory loss and he's getting treatment in a mental health facility. Your goal is to go through 7 days of strict routine in order to explore his dreams and recover his memories. Developers were clearly trying to get that Twin Peaks vibe, the storyline and atmosphere are surreal and mysterious, and at some point, it even gets downright creepy. The game is not very long, it took me 2 hours to complete it, and it'll take you another hour or two to unlock all achievements.
Since The White Door was my first game in the Rusty Lake series, I've probably missed most of the references, but I think it was good as a standalone experience too. If anything, it got me interested in playing the older games in this series, which I already have in my library but never played them before. Yeah, the backlog problem is real to me as well. It's a short game, but considering its low price, I really can't complain about its length. If you love weird and unique story-driven games, then The White Door is what you are looking for. Just remember that you'll probably want to play it on a touchscreen and mouse controls is not the best option in the case of this game.
3. Dead Space - 12 hours
As someone who's playing a lot of "old" games, I can confirm that some of them might not age well. Not just because of graphics - shitty controls or outdated gameplay could make even highly acclaimed games of the past almost unplayable now, especially if you don't have nostalgic feelings about them. But while such disappointments are bound to happen, I've experienced completely opposite situations as well, when instead of clunky artifacts from the past, I was discovering games that were easily overshadowing even the latest releases on the market. And Dead Space is one of them, a timeless masterpiece that took me by complete surprise.
Back in the days when Dead Space just released, I didn't play it because I was not a big fan of the horror genre and reviews in my local magazines on this game were not very glowing. Well, I'm not sure if it really was not that impressive back in 2008, but now Dead Space feels like a breath of fresh air. It's such a well-crafted game that has so many amazing ideas literally in every aspect, from gameplay and narrative to UI and sound. It's hard to believe that it was published by EA, a company that to these days are more interested in milking their sports licenses than in greenlighting original ideas.
There are so many great things in Dead Space, I honestly don't know where to start. Well, let's start with something that is usually being the last priority for most of the game developers - User Interface. Don't know about you guys, but personally, I play games to immerse myself in their virtual worlds - but all those minimaps, life bars, and task lists are always getting in the way, and in most cases disabling the HUD makes the game unplayable. Developers of Dead Space solved this problem in a clever way - they've simply turned almost the entire UI into the part of the game's world. They've put the protagonist's healthbar literally on his spine, and all those inventory and map menus are floating in the air in front of you. And it works like that not just for the player, other characters have the same health indicators, and you can see NPCs using the holographic displays for video calls just as you do. Such small details significantly add to the Dead Space atmosphere, and honestly, it's a shame that most developers are not trying to make something like this in their own games.
Almost everything in Dead Space is working for creating the right mood and atmosphere - graphics, sound, level design, all of this help to create a dark, dreadful feeling of constant danger and despair. The sound design in this game is truly its second biggest achievement - all those scratches and screams that unexpectedly breaking the silence will make feel uneasy even the biggest horror fans. And at some point, you'll start hearing indistinct voices and whispers, which will only make you doubt your sanity even more.
The game is doing an outstanding job in terms of atmosphere and immersion - though the world of Dead Space is not the one you would want to be part of. You are taking the role of Isaac Clarke, who's just a simple engineer that arrives at the spaceship called USG Ishimura as part of the rescue team. So basically, your job was supposed to be about fixing stuff, not the combat operations. Indeed, you'll have to occasionally do some repairs - but your main goal is going to be survival on the ship that is flooded with alien life forms that are using dead bodies for their reproduction. There's a lot of enemies in this game, starting from "common" mutants with sharp blades on their hands, and ending with huge brutes with heavy organic armor in the front. In most cases, you'll be attacked by large groups of different mutants from every direction, including from the air and vertical surfaces.
Surviving in such intense situations is hard, but it's possible - in Dead Space you have 7 types of weapons at your disposal, but you can carry only 4 of them at once. Each weapon has an alternate fire mode and they'll be useful against different types of enemies. My favorite weapon in this game is The Ripper, which launches a remotely controlled circular saw blade that is cutting everything on its way. During the first levels, you will also acquire two special "skills" - Stasis Module, which will allow you to "freeze" the enemies and objects, and Kinesis Module, which is working kinda like Gravity Gun from Half-Life 2. Along with combat, those modules are used for removing obstacles and solving simple puzzles. You can also upgrade your gear with Power Nodes that you can find on the levels or buy in stores, but there are not enough Nodes to upgrade everything within a single run, so you need to think carefully about what to upgrade next.
In most cases, it's not enough to simply shoot at the enemy - in order to destroy those mutants quickly you have to cut off their limbs. Dismemberment process is well animated and opens possibilities for a more strategic approach like you can slow down fast enemies by shooting down their legs and then deal with other treats before finishing them off. There are also boss fights that will require you to figure out a specific strategy in order to beat them. The combat in Dead Space is very aggressive and always keeps the player under heavy pressure, so it forces you to act quickly and use all available tools in order to survive. And such unpredictable and violent fights makes the gameplay extremely satisfying and fun.
Even the most praised and acclaimed story-driven games rarely have such things as great pacing and direction, but even there the developers of Dead Space managed to outdid themselves. It's a very solid and balanced interactive story that instantly hooks the player and keeps providing interesting situations during the whole playthrough. It's literally perfect in terms of pacing, the game skillfully rotates intense combat moments with episodes like Zero-G basketball match. This game has never ceased to amaze me and provided so many unique situations, that even the stuff I showed you in this video is just the tip of the iceberg. Another thing that Dead Space is doing on an impressive level is such a rare thing as environmental storytelling - it's not just about cutscenes and audio logs, you can learn a lot about the game's world just by looking at decorations of places you are going to visit during your playthrough. For example, all those weird writings on the walls that you can find almost on every level - it's actually possible to decipher them and learn interesting details about what happened on that ship. It will take you around 12 hours to complete this game, which is quite a lot for a linear story-driven game, but this time will pass quickly, believe me.
There are a few reasons to criticize Dead Space, but they are all just minor flaws. Like, for such an action-packed game, lack of a button for a quick 180-degree turn is rather inconvenient. But my major problem with this game is the fact that developers turned Isaac into a silent protagonist - it's just strange that with all that crazy shit going on around him, he doesn't say a word. Yeah, his cries in pain and anguish when he's getting assaulted by monsters, but outside the combat, he just always remains indifferent and allows himself to show emotions only during the ending. Perhaps, by making Isaac emotionless, developers tried to make it easier for players to identify themselves with the protagonist. But it didn't work very well in my case, because if you want me to feel like I'm the protagonist, then you also need to give me more freedom in making choices. In many situations, I personally would have acted differently than as I was forced to act because of the plot. Like, if I had found my girlfriend whom I was searching for so long at this damned ship, the first thing that I would have tried to do was to at least give her a hug, not just silently stand nearby as I've just met my coworker during lunch. And given that all entries in the journal are written by Isaac himself, it means that he actually has his own personality and thoughts about what's going on, so it's just strange that he doesn't express them in the game itself. Anyway, I'm not a big fan of that design decision about making him mute all the time, and I think it's more hurting the narrative logic rather than helping in immersing the player into the game.
But overall, Dead Space was a damn pleasant surprise for me. I was expecting to see a generic western clone of Resident Evil, but instead, I've discovered one of the best story-driven games I've ever played. Dead Space aged like a fine wine and it feels especially good when you compare it to those soulless, tasteless surrogates that many modern AAA games have become. It's obvious that this game was made by a team of passionate people, who carefully thought out even the smallest details of this game and filled it with a tense atmosphere, engaging story, fun gameplay, and outstanding sound design. If you just like me missed this amazing game back when it was released, then I highly recommend you to fix that as soon as possible, because Dead Space is an absolute must-have for everyone who loves good singleplayer games. It is a pity that this series ended up in a typical EA manner, but I've heard that at least the sequel turned out to be a good game, so I definitely have Dead Space 2 on the list of games that I am going to play in the near future.
4. PURE - 4 hours
Honestly, this arcade racing game didn't age that well, and garbage PC port made it hard to enjoy this game. Yeah, at first it was fun to drive around and do tricks (after I figured out which buttons I should press and how to make tricks combos because in the tutorial it doesn't explain that), but it becomes repetitive very quickly. It's just the same maps and pattern over and over again, there's simply not enough content, and without working online mode there's no replayability. Thankfully it didn't take much time to complete the campaign, but I literally forced myself to finish it.
5. Enigmatis 2: The Mists of Ravenwood - 4 hours
The Mists of Ravenwood is an excellent game and an exemplary sequel. The first Enigmatis was competent, but not the best HOG game - with a decent atmosphere and a bunch of interesting ideas, but with an uninspiring story and puzzles. In the new installation of this series, Artifex Mundi took the concept of the first game and brought it on a significantly better level of quality, which was a really nice surprise for me.
First of all, the storyline was noticeably improved and has more or less good intrigue, so it's actually interesting to know what will happen next. The improved voice acting deserves special mention, it's great and adds up to a depth of characters, make them more believable. I want to specifically mention the actor who voiced the mysterious prisoner in the undergrounds, he did an exceptional job and dialogues with him are always feels like a special event. He will also help you with your investigation - the Evidence Board mechanics from the previous game is here as well, so you'll have to organize the evidence and come to conclusions in order to solve the mystery, only this time you are doing this with a creepy dude who tells you stories about demons and human sacrifices.
The gameplay was enhanced as well, mostly by removing tedious backtracking and improving the pacing. Mini-games are not repeating anymore and offer to the player to solve simple, but varied and well-designed puzzles. Hidden objects scenes have a nice variety too, they look less like a garbage dump with randomly photoshopped pictures from the internet, but they actually follow some sort of logic and don't look out of place in such environments. There are also items that you need to combine first before picking them up, which is a nice addition to typical HOG gameplay. The Mists of Ravenwood won't blow your mind with its gameplay, but it's made on an excellent level of quality and it's very fun to play it.
My only major complaint about this game is not the best facial animations. It's understandable that the studio didn't have a big budget, but they still look weird, especially compared to well-drawn backgrounds and puzzles. Also, I don't think that it was the right decision to lock out some of the achievements, so in order to clear them all, you'll have to play this game at least twice. But other than that, I think that The Mists of Ravenwood js a great game, I would even say it's one of the best in this genre. If only it wasn't a direct sequel to the previous Enigmatis game, I would have recommended it to anyone who wants to give a try to the HOG genre. For everyone else, I highly recommend you to quickly go through the first The Ghosts of Maple Creek and then instantly jump on playing this one, it's absolutely worth it, and now I'm excited to see the end of this trilogy.
6. Gears 5 - 123 hours
I'll be honest with you, for me Gears 5 is like a guilty pleasure. The main reason why I bought it is that I wanted to check out how Xbox Live integration works in the Steam version of this game. After all, it was the first big game from Microsoft that was released simultaneously on Steam and Windows Store. I can't say that I was very interested in actually playing it - in my eyes, it looked like another seasonal blockbuster that I would play once and then quickly move on to the next thing in my backlog. But instead, I ended up enjoying this game a lot more than I thought I would. At this moment, I've played it for over 120 hours, and I'm afraid those numbers might not be final. So now, after completing the story campaign and 2 "operations" of online matches, I'm ready to tell you why I've enjoyed this game so much.
Let's clarify, I was never a big fan of the Gears of War franchise before. I've played some of the old games from this series but never finished any of them. So yeah, I'm still surprised that this time it clicked for me so well. It's hard to explain why exactly I ended up having so much fun with this game - I realize it's not perfect, but at the same time I couldn't stop playing it. I think the main reason why that happened is because Gears 5 simply feels great to play. The gunplay, animations, sound, it's all done on such a good level that the gameplay loop just never gets old. The Coalition refined the core gameplay of this franchise, so it's very enjoyable on a basic level, such as movement and shooting. Yeah, it's a cookie-cutter cover-based TPS game, but I mean, Gears of War is literally THE series that started this trend, so it's understandable.
It doesn't mean that The Coalition hasn't tried to experiment with a classic formula, but the results are, well, mixed. The most drastic changes happened with the story campaign - while the first and the last acts remain mostly linear, developers tried to add some sort of open-world in the middle of the game. It's not fully open, but more like a hub that connects important locations and has needless side activities like quests and collectibles. It reminded me of the Kingdom from the original Assassin's Creed - it's huge, empty and serves no real purpose except to waste your time. It simply doesn't feel natural, it's just a bunch of narrow roads with nothing worthwhile in between. Level designers of Gears 5 missed one important point - in open-world design, it's not enough to just create a huge map and fill it with the garbage that you need to collect. If you want to create a good open-world, you need to fill it with some sort of meaningful content and add random events like groups of enemies roaming around. Gears 5 still heavily relies on scripted events, and that's why the open-world in this game feels half-baked and empty, even though it has some cool ideas using the Skiff to glide across the open areas.
The Coalition didn't succeed in creating a good open-world, but it's not the only experiment they've tried to make. Another big addition to the gameplay is JACK - your flying robot-companion that can activate special abilities to help you in the fight. And this new mechanic is actually not so bad because it adds the new tactical layer to the combat. For example, you can use the Hijack ability to mind control Scions or other enemies and make them temporarily fight on your side. Also, JACK can be controlled in co-op by another player and it has an absolutely different gameplay loop, which adds to replayability. JACK is the main reason why you should care about the open-world stuff at all because you are getting upgrades for him as a reward for completing side missions.
The linear sections in Gears 5 is exactly what you can expect from this series - a lot of brutal action with occasional cinematic intermissions in between. I can't say that the story in this game was something amazing, but it's competent enough to keep you entertained, even if you didn't follow the storyline of the previous games from this franchise. The campaign has a few unexpected twists and level designers tried to provide different combat situations as well. Like, I loved that on some of the winter levels you can break the ice and freeze the enemies. Or there was a part in the sand areas where the storm wind could affect the trajectory of grenades. I think that overall it was a solid and well-balanced campaign, and my only complaint is going to be about the Matriarch boss fight. It took me way too much time to beat it and it's obvious that this fight was not designed for a solo playthrough. It was a very frustrating experience, I can't say how many times I was close to killing this goddamn thing and then I was instantly killed after a single hit.
Anyway, it's good to see that The Coalition is trying to do something new. And after completing the campaign, I left with the feeling that it was just a testing ground for the studio. In Gears 4, the new team has tried to simply replicate the gameplay of the classic trilogy. In Gears 5, they dared to experiment a little and add new elements to the familiar concept. So, if developers won't mess it up, we'll see the actual results of this evolution of the franchise in the next mainline game. And I'm very curious to see how far they will dare to go next time, especially after what they did in the ending of Gears 5. Judging by what we got now, Gears 6 is going to be an even more ambitious game, and it will be interesting to see if The Coalition will be able to deliver the result comparable to their ambitions.
Okay, enough about the campaign, it's time to talk about the main reason why I've spent so much time in this game. I'm not very into online and always preferred a singleplayer experience, but Gears 5 got me hooked almost instantly. As a fan of the arena FPS genre, I've enjoyed the fast-paced gameplay of PvP modes in this game a lot. I also have fun occasionally playing the Horde mode, though it requires a lot of time to finish all the waves. I seriously don't understand what's the point of showing the unskippable score screen after every wave, it just ruins the pacing. Also, I'm not sure that turning characters into ''heroes'' with their own skills and specialization was a good idea because without a balanced team any Horde match on a difficulty above Advanced usually ends within the first few waves.
But my favorite part of Gears 5 online is a brand-new co-op mode called Escape. In this mode, you and 2 other players are trying to break from the Swarm Hive before it'll be destroyed. Just as in the Horde mode, each character has their own ultimate abilities and customizable skillset, but it makes a lot more sense here. In most cases, you start Escape run only with the pistol and have to find ammo and weapons on the map. There are also specific difficulty modifiers for each map, like in some cases you'll have invisible Juvies or there will be less ammo to scavenge on the levels. Maps are rotating each week and have leaderboards, which has motivated me to come back to the game and try to beat a new challenge. Not to mention that there's a map editor that allows you to create and share your own custom maps. For me, Escape is still the main reason to come back to the game. It's great that we are getting new challenges every week and it always remains fun even if you play with random players.
Though there's another reason why I've played Gears 5 for so long, and I'm not sure that it was a good reason. Yes, I'm talking about Battle Pass - or, how they call it in this game, Tour of Duty. At first, it didn't look like something bad to me, I was actually glad that the game gives me rewards for playing it because I was returning to it often anyway. But then I somehow didn't notice the moment when instead of playing the game for fun, I started playing it daily just for the sake of completing Tour of Duty challenges. I realized how much time I spent on the grind only when I reached the final rank, and after that, I stopped playing the game for an entire week. I ended up spending almost 85 hours to complete the first "operation", and that's including boosts that I got for buying Ultimate Edition. Good thing that you don't need to pay any additional money for that, but still, I think they need to balance it better. Because there's no way in hell I would do that again.
Alongside with Battle Pass, Gears 5 has an in-game store where you can buy skins and emotes with Iron - a premium currency that you can get in small amounts for free. I don't like seeing microtransactions in paid games, but The Coalition said that it was added to justify getting all new updates and maps without forcing players to pay additional money for them, so I didn't mind it at first. They also added new characters that you could have unlocked for free by completing challenges, which was also fine by me because I was grinding Tour of Duty anyway. But then the second season started, and... All we've got is 3 basic PvP modes, 4 new heroes and a bunch of recycled maps. The most annoying thing about that was the fact they've made it a lot harder to unlock new characters for free. In the first operation, with the exception of one special challenge, you had general objectives that were the same for every character, so it was relatively easy to unlock them if you were playing all online modes. But in the second operation, new characters have their own very specific challenges, and it's a pain in the ass now to unlock them just by playing the game. And the most ridiculous thing about that - you can't do challenges for all characters at once, so it can take a few hundreds of hours to unlock them all for free. Yeah, thanks, but I'll pass, this is bullshit. Thankfully, those characters are not required to keep having fun online, and if you don't care about multiplayer modes, you shouldn't worry about this stuff at all.
To conclude this review, Gears 5 has a few major flaws, but if you enjoy fast-paced games and not strongly against some typical AAA bullshit, then I recommend you give it a try. Even if you are not interested in multiplayer and co-op, it has a decent singleplayer campaign that is fun to finish at least once. And on a technical level, the PC version of Gears 5 is flawless, it is well optimized and has tons of options that you can tweak. I just only hope that the developers will listen to the feedback and continue to improve the core gameplay, so the next mainline game in this franchise will be something truly great.
7. Halo: Reach - 6 hours
Halo: Reach has certainly aged, but it's still a good and challenging FPS game. Though if you never played Halo before, it's not the best entry point to this series, play Combat Evolved first instead.
8. RESIDENT EVIL 2 - 88 hours
With this remake, Capcom set a high bar for third-person action games. Resident Evil 2 is close to perfect in terms of gameplay and pacing, it's a simple old-school fun with no bullshit attached. It's one of the best games I've played in the past few years, and even if you are not a fan of the survival horror genre, I still highly recommend you give it a try. My full impressions about this game can be found in my video review - https://youtu.be/CQfFn-XiwBs
9. Disco Elysium - 31 hours
Disco Elysium is a role-playing game at it's finest that has an engaging story with well-written characters and a unique world. I spent 30 hours to complete and absolutely loved it, it has so many great ideas and moments. I can't say it's perfect, but if you love story-driven games, don't miss out on Disco Elysium, it's really that great. My full impressions about this game can be found in my video review - https://youtu.be/0DyG-K61FXs
10. Evil Genius - 21 hours
Forgotten Dungeon Keeper "clone" with a lot of the wasted potential. I love this game, but I can't deny that balance and design issues prevented it from becoming something greater. It has a unique style and addicting gameplay, but the amounts of frustrating micromanagement and imperfect UI makes it hard to finish it. I still highly recommend it to everyone who is into the "base building" genre, but you'll probably drop it half-way through your playthrough because after truly amazing first hours it turns into a slog. If Rebellion will manage to fix issues of the original game, Evil Genius 2 can turn out amazing, so hopefully, they won't mess it up this time.
11. Spectraball - 2 hours
A surprisingly decent physics platformer from 2008 that plays better than it looks. Spectraball strikes the right balance between difficulty and fun - though getting 100% achievements in this game is extremely hard and will require a lot more than 2 hours, so don't get this game if you care about this stuff. I can't say that this game is worth the full-price, but it's a decent game to play through if you'll get it on a deep sale.
12. The Royal Marines Commando - 1.5 hours
It's been a while since I've played really bad games, and The Royal Marines Commando has surpassed my worst expectations. It's a barely functional FPS with boring gameplay, nonsensical story, and absolutely terrible graphics even by 2008 standards. Literally everything in this game is made on a worse-than-bad level, I finished this game only because it's ridiculously short, you can be done with it in one sitting. It goes on deep sale quite often, but this game is not worth getting even for free, so avoid it at all costs.
13. On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode Two - 6 hours
The second episode is slightly better than the first one, but that's it. This game is made on a good level, but it just came and went, I finished it with no special feelings about it. The combat is too repetitive and not really fun, the story is mediocre, and it has surprising performance issues with noticeable framerate drops in some areas. Honestly, you won't miss much if you'll ignore this series unless you are a big Penny Arcade fan. Considering that both episodes were seemingly abandoned by the dev and haven't gone on sale for ages, it's really hard to recommend it to anyone.
14. Far Cry 2 - 12 hours
Back in 2008 when Far Cry 2 just released, I thought it was boring and repetitive mess with barely functional gameplay. 12 years later, I gave it another chance and, to my big surprise, enjoyed this game a lot more than I expected. There's still a lot of things that I can criticize in Far Cry 2, but it has great combat and a bunch of innovative ideas, and it was a fun game to occasionally mess around for an hour or two. Also, I highly recommend installing Real Africa SweetFX mod before playing Far Cry 2, it removes this terrible brown filter that the game has by default and makes visuals a lot better. My full impressions about this game can be found in my video review - https://youtu.be/vj_ZcbhQKFI
15. 7 Wonders: Treasures of Seven - 7 hours
Simple, but fun "match 3" game. I don't play casual games much, but I loved that in this one you need to rotate the level in order to move keystone to destination and finish the level. It also makes it easier to clear all tiles, so you won't stuck on a level for too long.
16. Peggle Nights - 3 hours
I miss those times when PopCap was making great casual games. Such a shame that Peggle 2 was never released on PC for whatever reason.
17. Defend Your Castle - 3 hours
A remake of an old flash game - it's fun to play for a few hours, but the core gameplay loop is lacking in depth. Technically there's no end in this game and you just trying to survive as long as possible, but it has "beat 50 levels" in-game achievement, so I'll consider it as completed.
18. Nancy Drew Dossier: Lights, Camera, Curses! - 2 hours
Interesting attempt to make Hidden Object Game about Nancy Drew. I like that they've tried to mix up typical HOG gameplay with minigames and "pick the right dialogue option" bits. Though it's kinda short and those time limits at the end very annoying, but overall I've enjoyed playing it. Get it on sale if you like this type of games.
19. A Plague Tale: Innocence - 53 hours
Honestly, I didn't like this game as much as I expected when I was just starting it. I love story-driven games, but A Plague Tale: Innocence gameplay is just too linear - I would say it's painfully scripted and forces the player to follow a very specific path. One step in the wrong direction and you're done, the game gives you different types of ammo and tools, but it never really gives you a choice in how and when to use them. Stealth is annoying and clunky, if you will get spotted, in most cases it's basically the end because levels are too tiny and don't provide an opportunity to run away and hide. The story is also getting dumb quite fast, I was hoping for something more realistic and close to real history, but devs went full-on fantasy mode with all those rats tornados and stuff. At least visuals and art direction in this game are great, that's why I've spent so much playing it, I think around 40 hours of my playthrough were wasted in photomode, but it was worth it.
20. Tank Universal - 4 hours
A low-budget mix of Battlezone and Tron 2.0 with a primary focus on tank battles. This game has disappointing pacing and balance issues, but it has a few bright moments and can be fun to play. If you are in the mood for typical "FPS from the '00s" junk, then it might be worth getting Tank Universal during the sale.
21. Little Farm - 8 hours
A surprisingly decent and fun little game from 2008, too bad it supports only 800x600 resolution.
ts something I've tried and given up on before. I'm just not very good at consistency.
But I may as well reserve a post and make an attempt.
Who knows, maybe this year will be my year.
Okay, I've come back to add to my list, in a vein attempt to stick to this challenge.
I'm starting this list off with a shameful entry.
Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude
Aye, I beat this crappy game.
I owned it as a kid (because I was 12 an excited to see boobies, digital of otherwise), I saw it on GOG for like a pound so I thought I'd replay it.
Awful game, really just awful. Asides from the fact that its ugly, and a collection of boring mini games; its also sexist, racist and transphobic. I don't think I laughed once at the whole thing, but I ended up beating the game anyway so I could add it to a silly list.
2/10
Marvel's Spider-Man: The City That Never Sleeps
Part of me doesn't want to include DLC as a completed game, but I spent as long on all three story packs as I did on the last game, so I'm going to count this as one completed game for now.
Pretty good additions to the main game, though never quite hits the same heights as the main game. The final boss is a bit of a lame duck, but otherwise all good. Not a lot to say, I enjoyed Spider-Man and I enjoyed the expansions.
7/10
Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition
Oh wow, now this is an amazing game.
I had never played DMC before, but I had played a lot of games inspired by it before. I played DMC1 and 2 last year. (DMC1 was good and 2 was disgustingly boring). Finally sat down to play 3 and damn I loved this game. The combat is so fluid and flexible. I played Trickster all the way through, but dabbled with Sword Master every now and then. If I reply it (which I'm likely to do) I'll switch onto another style, because as the game went on I found myself relying less and less of the dodge button anyway.
Amazing game, enjoyed it thoroughly.
9/10
Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition
Dang. I was planning on taking a break from DMC after 3, but I played about 30 minutes of Golden Sun and all I could think about was Sick Smoking Style.
So I played through DMC4. Again, really awesome game, but probably didn't enjoy the main story as much as I did DMC3. Nero was a bit off at first, but after I got used to the idea that of position enemies I got into him, then Dante turns up again and it feels like I'm playing the game with hack. Style switching is incredible and now I now its gonna be in the switch version of DMC3:SE I may have to double dip!
Really liked this game too, I think I'm a full blown DMC fanboy now!
8.5/10
DmC: Devil May Cry
I didn't like it very much
5/10
Assassin's Creed 2
Picked up the Ezio collection as it was on offer, then had a few days of sick leave and managed to beat AC2.
I remember I used to consider this the best in the series, and going back to replay it I'm struck by how bland it is overall. I think a lot of that feeling has to do with how Ubisoft basically lifted the formula from this game and applied it to everything else they've made over the last decade.
Still, the main story is engaging and Ezio is a very likeable protagonist, and the free running game play still feels good today.
7/10
Doom (Original)
I had never played the original Doom from start to finish. My first Doom game was Doom 3, which I enjoyed and then I played Doom 2016, and thought it was great.
Played through on my switch and had a great time, gotta say though it felt closer to Doom 3 than 2016. Dark maps, constantly shutting off the lights, monster closets everywhere ambient monster noises. Honestly, I had always been told Doom 3 was the black sheep, but I can now say that anyone who says that is full of it.
Anyway, I had a good time with the original, the map exploration was genuinely rewarding and the shooting still feels gratifying.
8/10
Dark Cloud
This is a game a bunch of my friends recommended, they all loved it as kids when they first got their PS2s. I thought it was decent overall, but massively drawn out! My best bud tells me Dark Chronicle is the bees knees so I'm sure I'll check it out, but not for a little while yet!
7/10
I really need to play some shorter games to get these numbers up!
ACK! I beat four games and came back to update this log. i wrote paragraphs for all of them then accidentally hit back on my mouse losing my writing. Screw it: Games and score
Game 1 completed. I'm going to mark each game individually. I'm planning on playing some more RPGs and other such games this year, so impressions from later games may not be as fresh in my mind when I get to them. I'll also be borrowing Gamexplain's review scale, as I don't want to put a numerical score.
1: The Walking Dead: A New Frontier. End: 1/1/2020. 8 hours. Liked.
I have had experience with this series, but fell away from it for various reasons. I enjoyed coming back to it when given the opportunity. And I'm glad I did. And I liked that I was able to recreate Clem's backstory. Wasn't as wild about the new protagonist and his set-up as Clem and her story.
Let's do this! This is helping me actually play game in my backlog, I love it.
1. Super Mario 64 (PC) | 1st Jan - 8hrs | 5/5
I think of Mario 64 as one of my favorite games of all time, but I haven't actually played it in a while. I think it still holds up. I played it while studying for two huge exams so I could keep my body busy while my brain was free to listen to study materials, and it was amazing for that. I still think it's the best 3D Mario game: the music, visuals, and creativity are still unmatched by any of its sequels. I love the file select theme. I love that I was able to straight up skip Whomp's Fortress and never open that door and still beat the game.
Only complaint I have is that the game does get worse as it goes on. I was definitely having fun in the first section, before Bowser Dark World. Once you start getting up to the top floors a bit of the magic is gone, but it's still one of my favorite games ever.
2. Chameleon Twist (PC) | 8th Jan - 1hr | 1/5
This was one of the games I remember owning for the N64 when I was really little, and the recent thread on it made me want to check it out again. I remember almost nothing of this game, outside of vague memories of some hallways and those little domino enemies. It probably would have been better if I didn't remember it, to be honest. This game looks terrible, plays worse, and has the word kind of puzzles, where you're just doing one kind of easy thing 20 times before the next check point, and if you fail you have to restart. They get points for creativity though, I really like the designs and art style a lot, and all of the levels aren't just Mario ripoffs like you'd see in other 3D platformers.
3. Chameleon Twist 2 (PC) | 8th Jan - 2hrs | 2/5
Now we're talking! The game still isn't good, but the addition of the umbrella and the ability to stick your tongue to the terrain makes actually playing it a lot more fun. It suffers from a lot of the same problems as the first one, but I think it's just done a lot better here. The reason why I don't regret my time with this game, and it may just be nostalgia from barely formed memories talking, but I love love love love love the backgrounds in this game. All of the levels are basically ugly 3D islands floating over sprite-based backdrops, but they look soooo gooood. The visuals made me happy, so it was worth finishing.
Also, this game reminded me of Mario Odyssey quite a bit. The rabbits, the levels based on ancient japan, the odd character designs... just saying I think Nintendo stole from this game just a bit. It's the kind of game where it feels like if they had just nailed the controls a tiny bit more, it could have been actually good.
4. Yoshi's Story (PC) | 9th Jan - 2hrs | 4/5
Look, I get it, but this game has the best vibes of all time. The way the music changes from screen to screen despite always being the same song, the background visuals, the sound effects... all 10/10. It's definitely too easy but it is short, which puts it above other Yoshi games like Yoshi's Crafted World which wear out their welcome despite their good vibes. Add in the scoring mechanic and the incentive to play through the game multiple times to check out all the stages (which all have their own distinct vibes)... and you've got a classic.
And the credits theme... tears every time.
5. Kirby's Dream Land (Game Boy) | 11th Jan - 30mins | 4/5
This is list padding, but it's fine. When I played Dream Land last year I gave it a 3/5, but returning to it after finishing many other Kirby games last year, my opinion on it has improved. It's the perfect length and the music and enemy designs fit it nicely. I don't miss Kirby's lack of copy abilities at all; sometimes in later Kirby games they'll put puzzles in your path that require you to use different abilities, and those are always the kind of puzzles that are more busy work than anything else. I also like that the game has shooting sections which are actually pretty fun but again don't wear out their welcome. It's a simple game but a really good one.
6. Pikmin (PC) | 11th Jan - 3.5hrs | 5/5
Pikmin is one of my favorite game series of all time, and one that influenced me a lot growing up. I love all three Pikmin games in their own ways, but Pikmin 1 is my favorite to just jump into and play through real quick. Every time I play through this game I get a little better at it, this time I used bomb rocks a lot more and ended up accepting that some pikmin would die. I ended up finishing in 13 days which I was very happy with considering it's been a little while.
7. Can Your Pet? (PC) | 16th Jan - 10mins | 1/5
I played this one because of that "Images that precede unfortunate events" twitter account. I mean it is what it is. I'm not a huge fan of it but it's for a good cause so it gets a 2/5.
8. Makyō Densetsu (PC) | 17th Jan - 3hrs | 5/5
The greatest hidden gem of all time. This was a launch game for the TurboGrafx-16, but it's one of the best 2D action games I've played this side of Castlevania NES. It checks every box- good controls, good music, amazing graphics and vibes, and satisfying hits. The first time you get the level 4 axe power-up and use it is memorable as all hell. I can't recommend this game enough, it's just really really satisfying and it isn't long if you want to try it yourself.
9. Klonoa: Door to Phantomile (PC) | 18th Jan - 5hrs | 3/5
Klonoa is a bit of a cult classic from what I understand, and it's easy to see why. I like the story book vibes and a few levels are really cool the way they fold in on themselves. It's not my favorite 2D platformer though, it goes on a little too long and some chapters are much worse than others. The bosses and story are pretty bad as well. But all in all it's a pretty unique game that's worth a playthrough.
10. Sea World: Shamu's Deep Sea Adventures (Nintendo DS) | 22nd Jan - 2hrs | 3/5
What a journey. You start off as Shamu at SeaWorld during the normal routine for your human trainer. It's a pretty standard tutorial. Then BAM! All the humans? Dead. They don't come back. Ever. SeaWorld? Destroyed. By the Mad God Poseidon and his minion the Kraken. Suddenly a manatee named Horatio is telling you he's spent the most of the past 300 years of his life hiding sacred tablets from Poseidon in Sea World. This game is like objectively bad, just a crappy 2D DS game, but it's just an all killer no filler emotional journey. Highly recommended.
11. Glover (PC) | 16th Feb - 4hrs | 1/5
12. I Spy: Spooky Mansion (PC) | 26th Feb - 2hrs | 3/5
13. Resident Evil 3 (PS4) | April 6th | 4/5
This game came out at the perfect time. The first scene of the game perfectly represented quarantine and made me relate a lot more to Jill. I think I liked this more than the PS4 Resident Evil 2 because it was definitely trying to be it's own thing. I liked Jill, I liked Carlos, I liked the dive, and most importantly I loved how short it is. Real solid game.
14. Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch) | Ongoing| 5/5
The only other brand new game I purchased in 2020, and another one that released at the perfect time. All of the issues I had with this game have since been fixed with patches, and I'm sure more patches will bring new good things in the future. I would have been in a way worse spot mentally in April without having Animal Crossing to get me through it.
15. Sonic Mania (Switch) | April 18th | 4/5
I used to really dislike the 2D Sonic games despite loving Sonic Adventure 2, but this time it was really able to click with me. This game is something special, you can feel the love for the series pouring into every aspect. Since playing it for the first time I've seen a lot of the stuff it expanded on, but I still have a ton of respect for it even if a lot of the stuff in it is reused. It looks beautiful on the big screen, too.
16. Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic Mega Collection) | April 19th | 3/5
For whatever reason, the Sonic Mega Collection version of this game runs pretty horribly. That being said, I think this game is really good. I like how simple it feels, especially coming straight off of Mania. It's a great game but this version loses points for poor performance.
17. SEGA AGES Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Switch) | April 20th | 3/5
I decided to go with the Switch version of Sonic 2 after the poor performance I was getting in the Mega Collection. This game is still really good, but it feels like it's treading water after Sonic 1, which I enjoyed a lot more. It introduces Tails, one of my least favorite Sonic characters, has some truly awful last few zones, and a lot of forgettable levels to boot. But it's still a really good game.
18. SEGA AGES Sonic the Hedgehog (Switch) | April 21st | 4/5
A much better port of Sonic 1, although I wish SEGA would just release the mobile version on console. I definitely like Sonic 1 more than Sonic 2, if only because of it's simplicity. A really good game all around.
19. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (Sonic Mega Collection) | April 21st | 3/5
20. Sonic & Knuckles (Sonic Mega Collection) | April 22nd | 3/5
21. Sonic CD (PC) | April 22nd | 3/5
This one hit a weird spot for me. There's a lot of cool stuff, like the music and general vibe, but there's also a lot I don't like. Why do they set up the complicated time travel mechanics when you can just collect 50 rings instead? Why are some levels so short that you can beat them on a first play through in seconds? Why is Wacky Workbench? I think this may be a game that improves through replays, but as is it was a bit of a disappointment.
22. The Haunted Island, a Frog Detective Game (PC) | April 24th | 3/5
This game is lovely. It's definitely the funniest game I've played in a long time, it perfectly matches my sense of humor. I also adore the visuals, and it's the perfect length of only a few hours. I bought it for $4 on a sale and I can't recommend it enough.
23. Mission to McDonaldland (PC) | April 26th | 1/5
I love the way this game looks, and I don't regret playing through it, but there's some really bad racist shit in it. One star.
24. Undersea Adventure (DOS) | April 27th | 3/5
This is a replay from my childhood, and I really enjoyed the nostalgia rush while playing it. There's actually a lot of cool stuff in here that I think actually goes pretty in depth about how some animals work and what they eat. It's basically an encyclopedia with mini games but I love the aesthetic and the games are pretty good for kids.
25. Akumajō Dracula (Switch) | April 29th | 5/5
This was a replay, but I'm playing the Japanese version this time since they patched the Collection. This is still my favorite Castlevania game. It has all of my elements of a Casltevania: it's short, you're one guy with a whip progressing through Dracula's castle, and it has snappy controls. My favorite thing about it is that if you play enough to be able to consistently keep the holy water x3, you can just low-diff everything.
26. Akumajō Densetsu (Switch) | April 30th | 4/5
Finally played this for the first time, since I was advised not to play the NA version. I like it a lot, and it's one of my favorite Castlevanias, but it mostly seems like a step down from the original to me. I refused to recruit any of the losers you find while walking around the woods which improved the experience a lot, but even then you still have to run around random woods and caves before you get to the Castle. There are also lots of filler boss retreads. That being said, it's still really good and I'm glad I played it.
27. SEGA AGES Outrun (Switch) | May 1st | 4/5
28. SEGA AGES Space Harrier (Switch) | May 2nd | 3/5
29. Hot Wheels Stunt Track Driver (PC) | May 3rd | 4/5
30. Sonic Adventure (PC) | May 5th | 2/5
31. Sonic Adventure 2 (PC) | May 6th | 5/5
32. Frog Detective 2: The Case of the Invisible Wizard (PC) | May 13th | 3/5
33. Super Mario 64 (PC Edition) | May 14th | 5/5
34. Stunt Track Driver 2: Get'n Dirty (PC) | May 15th | 5/5
35. I SPY: Treasure Hunt (PC) | May 15th | 3/5
36. SEGA AGES: Virtua Racer (Switch) | May 19th | 3/5
37. Sonic Generations (Xbox 360) | May 24th | 2/5
38. Sonic Forces (PS4) | May 25th | 4/5
39. Sonic 3 Complete (Genesis) | May 27th | 5/5
40. Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode I (PC) | June 1st | 1/5
41. Sonic Blast (Sega Master System) | June 2nd | 1/5
42. Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode II (PC) | June 3rd | 2/5
43. Sonic Chaos (Sega Master System) | June 3rd | 2/5
44. Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega Master System) | June 5th | 3/5
45. Sonic Colors (Wii) | June 10th | 3/5
46. Sonic Triple Trouble (Sega Master System) | June 10th | 2/5
47. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Sega Master System) | June 11th | 2/5
48. Slay the Spire (Switch) | June 16th | 5/5
49. Sonic Robo Blast 2 (PC) | June 27th | 5/5
50. Pokemon Snap (PC) | June 29th | 4/5
51. Star Fox 64 (PC) | July 1st | 3/5
52. Mega Man 4 (3DS) | July 6th | 4/5
53. Mega Man 2 (3DS) | July 7th | 5/5
54. Zoey 101 (GBA) | July 8th | 3/5
55. Sonic Advance (GBA) | July 9th | 2/5
56. Sonic Advance 2 (GBA) | July 10th | 2/5
57. Rhythm Tengoku (GBA) | July 10th | 4/5
58. Mega Man (PS4) | July 15th | 2/5
59. Mega Man 3 (3DS) | July 15th | 2/5
60. Super Mario Land (Game Boy) | July 25th | 4/5
One of my favorite Game Boy games. It ticks all the boxes-- good visuals, stands out from the crowd, and is nice and short. I know a lot of people prefer the later Mario Lands, but this is one of the quintessential Game Boy games to me (along with Kirby's Dream Land). I love how weird is. Exploding koopas, maoi statues, the spider cave, the bamboo forest where you are attacked by jiangshi instead of dry bones... it almost seems like a direct predecessor to Super Mario Odyssey in a way. I'm always happy to jump in for a quick run.
61. The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (Game Boy Color) | August 1st - 10min | 2/5
Not gonna lie, there's a lot here that could have a lot of potential. Sesame street has a lot to work with, and this is the perfect length for this type of game. Multiple difficulty modes and a score feature are a nice touch, and there's a lot of variety in the levels. Unfortunately it's held back by the fact that Elmo just isn't all that fun to control, and outside of the first level there isn't a notable soundtrack. A bit of a disappointment but still solid, and it does not disrespect your time.
62. The Land Before Time (Game Boy Color) | August 2nd - 1hr | 1/5
I really wanted to give this game at least a 2/5. The backgrounds are awesome and the music is actually pretty good. But everything else about it is just awful. The worst aspects of every licensed GBC platformer are all here. The characters move slowly, you need to find collectables to progress, levels and enemies make no sense, the game refuses to explain to you the difference between each character. It's just a miserable slog with nothing fun about it besides the backgrounds and music. Even though it's actually really short it feels way too long, not good.
63. Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! (NES) | August 2nd - 3hrs | 5/5
My problematic fave. Played on original NES hardware with a 25% CRT filter. I've been playing this game since unlocking it in Animal Crossing twenty years ago, but I've never managed to beat it until now. Casual racism aside, I think this has a strong contender to be the best NES game. It's endlessly replayable, easy to jump into, and feels like there's always room to learn. I think it has a special spark to it that neither of the sequels ever quite met, and it's all the more impressive on it's hardware. It's a little lame how it re-uses boxers at the end and it's a shame that it dips so heavily into harmful stereotypes (two of the most iconic boxers, King Hippo and Bald Bull, are particularly bad), but it really is one of the greats.
64. Super Punch-Out!! (SNES) | August 3rd - 1hr | 2/5
I feel like there's a certain type of Super Nintendo game where they got so excited about the enhanced capabilities of the system that they forgot to make a good game. Super Punch-Out!! is a huge step down from its NES predecessor in just about every way. The protagonist is some generic dork. The game has better animations and better sprites, but that only serves to make identifying patterns and countering them less satisfying. I hate the change from the puzzle-like star system of the NES game to a boring super meter. Even with the improved graphics and animations, a lot of the characters are straight up ugly. Some new characters, like buck-toothed Dragon Chan and pushover Bob Charlie, are contenders for the most offensive characters in the series. The game completely loses the round and quote system that gave Punch-Out!! on NES so much personality. Just a huge disappointment all around.
That being said, I couldn't give it a 1/5. Despite being such a clear step down from it's predecessor, it does still somewhat good to play. You also have to give it some credit for trying to do something different (at least I think it did? I never played the arcade games). Most importantly, Bear Hugger, Aran Ryan, Mad Clown, and Narcis Prince are legitimately good characters that don't rely heavily on harmful stereotypes. If we get a new Punch-Out!!, I would hope all four show up in some form.
65. Punch-Out!! (Wii) | August 8th - 9hrs | 5/5
This one is a lot better than I remember it being, to the point where it may be the best game on Wii. It has a slow start, and I still think the NES game is a little bit better, but it really picks up near the end. The concept of Title Defense (and Mac's Last Stand) are really novel, and I like how the expand on the exhibition feature from Super Punch-Out!! to act as both a challenge and a tutorial. The cartoony art style and use of native languages to make the more egregious stereotypes more tolerable, even though some of them are really bad. There's a good variety in opponents, even amongst the same fighter in some cases. It also has a surprising amount of depth which you'll only realize when playing exhibition and experimenting, such as the ability to hit your opponent after the stun barrage has finished. They even correctly identified the best Nintendo character and gave them a cameo in the game, and found a way to make horrible Wii controls completely optional. I normally don't like Next Level Games as a studio at all, but I guess it's good they existed at some point because we got this game from them.
This was a great surprise. I know it has a reputation as a hidden gem, but I think it has a strong case for perhaps being the best Wii game. Kororinpa has the right vibes were it almost feels like an N64 game in some ways, and looks like a really good GameCube game in the best possible way. It's just the right length for a quick play through but with opportunities for tons of replayability and score hunting, the balls are really cute, and the music is really good for what it needs to be. Most importantly, I think this is a game that only could work as well as it does on Wii, which is wild to think about. Even though decent (not Microsoft) modern controllers have the ability to use a gyro for movement, the shape of the Wii remote allows Kororinpa to have you rotate the controller in all directions that would be cumbersome on anything other than maybe a switch joycon. My only real complaint is that it ended a little earlier than I thought it would, but it's always better to leave you wanting more.
1. Super Mario 64 (Nintendo 64) | 1st Jan - 8hrs | 5/5
2. Chameleon Twist (Nintendo 64) | 8th Jan - 1hr | 2/5
3. Chameleon Twist 2 (Nintendo 64) | 8th Jan - 2hrs | 3/5
4. Yoshi's Story (Nintendo 64) | 9th Jan - 2hrs | 4/5
5. Kirby's Dream Land (Game Boy) | 11th Jan - 30mins | 4/5
6. Pikmin (GameCube) | 11th Jan - 3.5hrs | 5/5
7. Can Your Pet? (Web Browser) | 16th Jan - 10mins | 2/5
8. Makyō Densetsu (PC Engine) | 17th Jan - 3hrs | 5/5
9. Klonoa: Door to Phantomile (Playstation) | 18th Jan - 5hrs | 3/5
10. Sea World: Shamu's Deep Sea Adventures (Nintendo DS) | 22nd Jan - 2hrs | 3/5
11. Glover (Nintendo 64) | 16th Feb - 4hrs | 2/5
12. I Spy: Spooky Mansion (PC) | 26th Feb - 2hrs | 3/5
13. Resident Evil 3 (PS4) | April 6th | 4/5
14. Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch) | Ongoing| 5/5
15. Sonic Mania (Switch) | April 18th | 4/5
16. Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic Mega Collection) | April 19th | 3/5
17. SEGA AGES Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Switch) | April 20th | 3/5
18. SEGA AGES Sonic the Hedgehog (Switch) | April 21st | 4/5
19. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (Sonic Mega Collection) | April 21st | 3/5
20. Sonic & Knuckles (Sonic Mega Collection) | April 22nd | 3/5
21. Sonic CD (PC) | April 22nd | 3/5
22. The Haunted Island, a Frog Detective Game (PC) | April 24th | 3/5
23. Mission to McDonaldland (PC) | April 26th | 1/5
24. Undersea Adventure (PC) | April 27th | 3/5
25. Akumajō Dracula (Switch) | April 29th | 5/5
26. Akumajō Densetsu (Switch) | April 30th | 4/5
27. SEGA AGES Outrun (Switch) | May 1st | 4/5
28. SEGA AGES Space Harrier (Switch) | May 2nd | 3/5
29. Hot Wheels Stunt Track Driver (PC) | May 3rd | 4/5
30. Sonic Adventure (PC) | May 5th | 2/5
31. Sonic Adventure 2 (PC) | May 6th | 5/5
32. Frog Detective 2: The Case of the Invisible Wizard (PC) | May 13th | 3/5
33. Super Mario 64 (PC Edition) | May 14th | 5/5
34. Stunt Track Driver 2: Get'n Dirty (PC) | May 15th | 5/5
35. I SPY: Treasure Hunt (PC) | May 15th | 3/5
36. SEGA AGES: Virtua Racer (Switch) | May 19th | 3/5
37. Sonic Generations (Xbox 360) | May 24th | 2/5
38. Sonic Forces (PS4) | May 25th | 4/5
39. Sonic 3 Complete (Genesis) | May 27th | 5/5
40. Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode I (PC) | June 1st | 1/5
41. Sonic Blast (Sega Master System) | June 2nd | 1/5
42. Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode II (PC) | June 3rd | 2/5
43. Sonic Chaos (Sega Master System) | June 3rd | 2/5
44. Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega Master System) | June 5th | 3/5
45. Sonic Colors (Wii) | June 10th | 3/5
46. Sonic Triple Trouble (Sega Master System) | June 10th | 2/5
47. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Sega Master System) | June 11th | 2/5
48. Slay the Spire (Switch) | June 16th | 5/5
49. Sonic Robo Blast 2 (PC) | June 27th | 5/5
50. Pokemon Snap (PC) | June 29th | 4/5
51. Star Fox 64 (PC) | July 1st | 3/5
52. Mega Man 4 (3DS) | July 6th | 4/5
53. Mega Man 2 (3DS) | July 7th | 5/5
54. Zoey 101 (GBA) | July 8th | 3/5
55. Sonic Advance (GBA) | July 9th | 2/5
56. Sonic Advance 2 (GBA) | July 10th | 2/5
57. Rhythm Tengoku (GBA) | July 10th | 4/5
58. Mega Man (PS4) | July 15th | 2/5
59. Mega Man 3 (3DS) | July 15th | 2/5
60. Super Mario Land (Game Boy) | July 25th | 4/5
61. The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (Game Boy Color) | August 1st - 10min | 2/5
62. The Land Before Time (Game Boy Color) | August 2nd - 1hr | 1/5
63. Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! (NES) | August 2nd - 3hrs | 5/5
64. Super Punch-Out!! (SNES) | August 3rd - 1hr | 2/5
65. Punch-Out!! (Wii) | August 8th - 4hrs | 5/5
66. Kororinpa: Marble Mania (Wii) | August 16th - 2hrs | 5/5
I'll claim a post but I highly doubt I will hit 52
Going to focus on playing and having fun rather than just quantity of games I beat
Also not going to buy anything new with one or two exceptions this year, so finding a game that is on sale that I want to play that I can play through quickly to get a quick number will not be possible.
I have an overwhelming Switch backlog and a few games on PS4 plus a random assortment of Wii/Wii U/3DS games I'd love to get to.
Really want to keep track of what I'm playing this year. Let's go!
1. Yooka Laylee and the Impossible Lair (DNF - 10hrs)
2. Final Fantasy Brave Exvius
3. Fire Emblem Three Houses: Cindered Shadows
4. Fire Emblem Three Houses (Azure Moon Route)
5. Your Turn To Die (Chapters 1&2)
6. God Hand
7. Control (DNF)
8. Suikoden
9. Final Fantasy Brave Exvius
10. King of Fighters All Stars
11. Ring Fit Adventure
12. Knights & Bikes
13. Tangle Tower
14. Aviary Attorney
15. Dream Daddy
16. Witch It!
17. Jackbox 1-5 Party Pack
18. Overwatch
19. Raging Loop
20. Knights of the Card Table
21. Final Fantasy VIII
22. Signs of the Sojourner
23. Death & Taxes
24. Animal Crossing New Horizons
25. Fall Guys
26. Clicker Heroes
27. Paradise Killer
28. Spiritfarer
29. Hades
30. Pokemon Go
31. The Solitaire Conspiracy
32. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
33. We Were Here Together
34. Umurangi Generation
35. The Stillness Of The Wind
This year I really want to participate in this thread. I've a huge backlog and I want to take a commitment to reduce it while avoiding buying new games (I will only allow myself to buy 3 new games this year).
1. Misao: Definitive Edition (PC) - 3 hrs 42 min
I'm a big fan of the "scholastic horror" and since I've finished Corpse Party last year I had a little itch to scratch. Misao partially has what I was searching (horror theme, school settings, gore) but unfortunately it's too short to create any type of attachment to the cast and it feels a little too quick during the resolution of the mystery. If someone really wants to play it, I suggest to take it with Mad Father and to play one immediately the other.
2. Cthulhu Saves Christmas (PC) - 4 hrs 20 min
I've never played Save the World and I must admit that I bought this one because I already wanted to take Cosmic Star Heroine so I took advantage of the promotional bundle. Well, I was wrong and I want to play sequel as soon as possible. This one is a little great RPG with the same feeling I had playing the classics while having enough modern features to enjoy it in 2020. The battle system is super fun, the characters are super fun... I was surprised by how much I've liked it.
3. Shank (PC) - 2 hrs 24 min
What to say here? A nice beat-em-up with some good weapons and a lot of blood. The game plays really nice except in some of the more platforming-heavy sessions. Also, I died more than one time because of some unavoidable environmental obstacles. The action however is here and the game it works.
4. Else Heart.Break() (PC) - 12 hrs 46 min
I was always intrigued by this game: a game where you can hack and program every object, asking you to actually break the game to solve the puzzles? I'm sold. However this game is as fun and free as it's tedious. The pacing of the main story is terrible: often I wasn't sure how to continue the story or what I have to do to continue. The hacking part of the game is present and it's as free as I was expecting but you get access to it kinda late. The characters are almost non existent and the plot itself is quite boring except during the last hour or so of the game. I understand what they wanted to do here: the player should be Sebastian and the game is actually about the choices you would make in this kind of situation but I wasn't able to immerse myself completely in the game world.
5. Deponia (PC) - 4 hrs 42 min
Ok, now we have something here. A fun graphic adventure with a great protagonist, interesting characters and a charming world while solving puzzles. The core game is a classic but I really enjoyed it. Next up, Chaos on Deponia!
6. Chaos On Deponia (PC) - 7 hrs 22 min
I really appreciate this one and it's a great sequel for Deponia: while in the first one Goal almost wasn't present this second game really explore the character and her motivations, making her the protagonist with Rufus of this story. The bigger scope of the game itself and the answers to some mysteries, while leaving open some important questions for the third one, are only the cherry at the top of a great middle game. Next up, Goodbye Deponia!
7. Goodbye Deponia (PC) - 5 hrs 49 min
What to say here? A perfect conclusion for the trilogy and Rufus's joruney. Bigger, better and answer almost all the questions about the main plot. I really enjoyed the evolution of Rufus in this game as it didn't come unexpected and had 2 games of build up for that last scene. I suggest this series to anyone who wants to play a wacky but interesting point-and-click adventure.
8. Cosmic Star Heroine (PC) - 12 hrs 10 min
Another good one here! A classic JRPG with enough modern sensibility to know how to not drag the story long, short dungeons and in general a great pacing. The battle system was really interesting and instead of Save The Christmas this game is long enough and provide enough party member to actually explore the possibilities offered by it. If you want a 90's JRPG, this is the game for you.
I always wanted to finish this one and because of the current situation here I was finally able to find some time for it. I've started, but never finished, the original one on the DS and I've really enjoyed the main game: the plot is fairly classic, but it's able to keep it interesting because of the time travel. I was also impressed by the battle system: one I've learned it and started to make an effort making combos I was quite engaged by it.
10. A Short Hike (PC) - 2 hrs 28 min
Exactly what I was searching for. It' s a little game but I was able to clear my mind while playing it. It was super relaxing and I really enjoyed the exploration of the island. I will probably redo another round sooner or later, but it was a great experience.
11. Doom Eternal (PC) - 22 hrs 34 min
I'm a great Doom and FPS fan, so one of the games I've allowed myself to buy this year is clearly Doom Eternal. And it was a great choice. One of the best FPS I've ever played, the combat and level design is incredibly good and I really enjoyed searching for all the collectables. Only issue I don't really like is the amount of ammo you can carry, even after all the updates: I understand it's for forcing to use all the weapons and to use the best tool for each single situation, rapidly switching in combat, but sometimes it's a little frustrating to not have ammo and to search a refill. Other than that, an incredible game.
12. The Legend Of Heroes: Trails from Zero (PC) - 51 hrs 17 min
I can only thank Geofront for this translation since it was really well done and it permitted me to play an incredible JRPG. Even knowing the general story it was a pleasure to explore and learning about Crossbell. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Can't wait to play Azure.
13. The Legend Of Zelda: Link's Awakening (NSW) - 15 hrs 53 min
Ok, seriously, how is that the GB game has one of the best idea in the entire franchise (the feather) and it's not replicated in any other game? I really enjoyed Link's Awakening and it's probably one of the best game in the franchise.
14. Hyper Light Drifter (PC) - 8 hrs 25 min
It took a while but after the first boss the game finally clicked on me. The world is incredibly well done, combat is fun and requires to learn how to fight and the exploration is rewarding. Not a real metroidvenia like Hollow Knight but still a nice little experience.
15. F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin (PC) - 6 hrs 4 min
A FPS without anything interesting to say in 2020. It's not bad, but the gameplay and level design isn't anything memorable or have any interesting moments. It's a generic FPS from the 2009 and it shows.
16. Beyond: Two Souls (PS4) - 10 hrs 51 min
I appreciate the main themes of the game and Jodie's journey is classic but well narrated in the game. I've only two big issues with this game: first, it probably has a little too many fillers: I understand that the idea is to present Jodie's slices of life, however sometimes these chapters are a little too long. Second, the controls are terrible. In more occasions I had issue controlling the characters or understand what the game wanted me to do.
17. Simple Story - Alex (PC) - 24 min
I had this one on my library for some reasons and I decided to play it. Not terrible, not great: the story is really simple and the ending was quite obvious from the start but it's enjoyable. The "gameplay", if we can call it, is really boring and too slow. I also don't appreciate that the ending explains everything with a text dump.
18. Resident Evil 3 (2020) (PC) - 4 hr 49 min
No seriously, what is this game? It cuts a very large part of the original game, you basically doesn't explore Racoon City, there aren't any puzzles or anything and the last part feels super rushed. Not only it's a bad game compared to the original, it's a bad game in general, with boring encounters and even more boring exploration. I really hope the remake of the second one is better than this.
19. Outer Wilds (PC) - 17 hrs 57 min
I've discovered it during the Steam sales and I was completely hooked by the premise: time loops and free roaming in space? I had an incredible adventure and I was completed captured by this game: the sense of discovery the past, finding new clues that only give us more questions than answers on what really happened, the space simulation... I can't write in four lines what I really loved about this game, but it's probably one of the best I've played this year.
20. Resident Evil 2 (2019) (PC) - 14 hrs 43 min
Better than RE3 Remake, but still feels incomplete and a downgrade compared to the original.
21. DUSK (PC) - 8 hrs 21 min
22. Tacoma (PC) - 2 hrs 24 min
23. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (PC) - 68 hrs 13 min
24. Super Mario 64 (NSW) - 21 hrs 46 min
25. Silent Hill (PS1) - 5 hrs 49 min
26. Devotion (PC) - 2 hrs 50 min
27. Doom Eternal - The Ancient Gods Part 1 (PC) - 8 hrs 57 min
28. The Legend of Heroes: Trails Of Cold Steel IV (PS4) - 68 hrs 24 min
It's a straight fucking lie to act like I'll complete this but I'll give it a shot. I don't get a lot of gaming time being a single dad with a toddler, just at night... and I tend to use that time to play Rocket League a lot.
My first hopefuls to complete this year will be SaGa Scarlet Grace (45 hours in so far, so close), Shovel Knight (I've beaten the original campaign but none of the others - are these all considered one game?) and soon a replay of the Jak trilogy.
Reserved! Going to kill 5% of the backlog this year!
Rules and Caveats:
Retail priced expansion packs count as standalone games. There is some wiggle room for what counts as "Retail Priced", but generally this means substantial content and mechanical additions and not just a chapter's worth of extra missions.
Individual games as part of "Collected editions" (I.E. Castlevania, MegaMan Legacy Collection) are counted as they were originally released separately.
All games are completed, meaning an end credits or kill screen has been reached. In games where these do not exist, a sufficient win condition has been achieved.
Patches, including community patches or restored content patches, are utilized if available.
I must write a review of each game for it to be counted. Unreviewed games will go in a bucket at the bottom of the post.
A note on scoring: Scores are determined on a scale of 1-10 where 5 is the average score for a game that is not a waste of time. There are no half points or decimals and scores are rounded down.
10. A masterpiece of ludonarrative design and execution. (Bloodborne, Demon's Souls, Disco Elysium, The Stanley Parable,Pathologic 2)
9. A near flawless game. (Majora's Mask, Control, Dark Souls)
8. An excellent game with a tight ludonarrative and clear design goals that are met. (Outer Wilds, Life is Strange, Metal Gear Solid 2, 3, Raging Loop, Pathologic Classic HD)
7. A great game that has many interesting ideas though may be unfocused in their implementation. May feature remnants or vestigial parts left in that don't contribute to the overall design in any meaningful way but don't detract from the overall package. (Breath of the Wild, Metal Gear Solid V, Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward, Bioshock, Vampire: The Masquerade- Bloodlines)
6. A good game, above average in terms of writing or presentation with a clear and functional gameplay loop. Often contains some tacked on mechanics or systems that are not fully fleshed out. (Alan Wake, Eliza, Final Fantasy 6, Gris)
5. A completely average and satisfactory game. (Blair Witch, Layers of Fear, Man of Medan, Metro 2033, Limbo)
4. A game you may want to play if you are already interested, but has some issues with writing or execution. (Fallout 3, YUMENIKKI -Dream Diary- 2017, Resident Evil 5)
3. A disappointing game with systems that clearly were not thought through and broken writing. (Call of Cthulhu 2018, Zeno Clash, Zeno Clash 2, Torment: Tides of Numenara, Quantum Break, Final Fantasy 8)
2. An actually broken game that has a semblance of ideas but is essentially cobbled together. (Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, Final Fantasy 2)
1. Actual Shovelware (Postal Series, Carnival Games, Fallout 76)
COMPLETION COUNTER: 18/52
Latest Completion
18. Killer7 (PC) | 27th March - 20hrs | 9/10
Suda's masterpiece, an audiovisual tour-de-force with a wild story all about coming to terms with one's past, and the things that make up a person. Be it from their past, or from their purpose, a person is what makes them. I have a bit of a history with Suda, given that I'm the person leading the fan translation for Moonlight Syndrome, but I'd never completed Killer7 before. Thankfully, the game had tons of surprises up its sleeve and didn't overstay its welcome. Gameplay is primarily a mix of on-rails shooting and puzzle solving, with cutscenes and lore snippets mixed in to break up the monotony. There is a rudimentary, if a little bit underdeveloped leveling system tied to the game's combat as well, but unfortunately the amount of experience you can generate seems to cap out on every level meaning that I don't think one can level up all of the characters to max in a single playthrough -- at least on Deadly. It's possible grinding can be done on the final level, but I'm not sure. Nonetheless, I never felt wanting for power aside from during the Ayame Blackburn fight, which took me four tries to complete and was the most difficult encounter in the game. There are definitely some small questions I have about the story, but I intend to read Hand in Killer7, the supplemental material that released with the game, to see if I can't fill in the dots. In short, I loved this game, and I hope more people play it. Shout out to Travis, one of the in-game spirit guides for having the best tanktops. Play Killer7 -- you won't regret it.
1. Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward (PC) | 1st Jan - 75hrs | 7/10
2. Florence (Android) | 5th Jan - 1hrs | 5/10
3. Observer (PC) | 5th Jan - 10hrs | 4/10
4. LongStory (PC) | 1st Feb - 4hrs | 2/10
5. Layers of Fear 2 (PC) | 3rd Feb - 4.5hrs | 6/10 6. Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon (PC) | 3rd Feb - 8.5hrs 7/10
7. Gris (PC) | 14th Feb - 6.5hrs | 5/10
8. World of Horror (PC) | 22nd Feb - 2hrs | 6/10
9. September 1999 (PC) | 23rd Feb - 6min | 5/10
10. ШХД: ЗИМА / IT'S WINTER (PC) | 23rd Feb - 30min | 5/10
11. Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid (PC) | 23rd Feb - 4hrs | 6/10 12. A Short Hike (PC) | 24th Feb - 1.5hrs | 8/10
13. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (PC) | 26th Feb - 20hrs | 3/10
14. Amorous (PC) | 1st March - 2hrs | 2/10
15. Higurashi When They Cry - Tatarigoroshi (PC) | 3rd March - 20hrs | 5/10
16. Higurashi When They Cry - Himatsubushi (PC) | 10th March - 10hrs | 5/10
17. Higurashi When They Cry Kai - Meakashi (PC) | 14th March - 24hrs | 6/10
18. Killer7 (PC) | 26th March - 20hrs | 9/10
1. Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward | 1st Jan - 75hrs | 7/10
Coerthas was my favorite area in the post-ARR content of Final Fantasy XIV, so I was very, very excited to start an entire expansion based in the region. Heavensward easily has some of the best characters in FF in quite some time, with character writing and motivations that rival the greatest in the series. While I really loved A Realm Reborn, even with its large amount of fetch quests and padding, Heavensward cuts a lot of the fluff and introduces two new jobs, the Astrologian and Dark Knight. I primarily played Red Mage during this patch as I had Stormblood installed already, but I side-leveled Dark Knight to 60 during the course of the patch. Despite these new additions, Lancer/Dragoon is very much the "image class" of this expansion -- this is also indicated by the focus on Estinien, the Azure Dragoon, who features prominently in the Dragoon job questline of the base game. I have mixed feelings on Estinien, as I found him very compelling when he was actively disagreeing with the party and on his mission to kill the dragoons, but unfortunately towards the end of the Expansion things get somewhat out of hand and I found the focus that hurdled me through the first 60ish hours completely disappeared once the party reaches Azys La in the last fifth of the expansion. That being said, this is prime cut Final Fantasy and is definitely the best Mainline game in the series since 12. A large portion of this was played last year; I merely finished it on the first, just after midnight.
2. Florence (Android) | 5th Jan - 1hrs | 5/10
I generally am not as enamored with indie Darling art games as some people are, and that trend continues with Florence. Don't get me wrong, I got it -- I just was never fully moved by it. That being said, the overall writing is good and there are a few places where the design really ergonomically fits with the theme and actions taking place. Seeing the puzzle pieces go from difficult to easy but back to difficult mirroring Florence and Krish's relationship was clever, and I appreciated those moments the most. Overall worth a look if you are interested, but I don't think it's anything to truly write home about. 3. Observer (PC) | 5th Jan - 10hrs | 4/10 Ugh. This game, much like Layers of Fear before it, was an amalgamation of interesting ideas that really didn't come together in the end. Rutger Hauer's performance was okay, if a little bit disengaged. I truly can't tell you what this game was trying to say, and While I collected most of the collectibles and saw all of the optional content, the overall narrative still managed to be a mess that barely held together by the end. The main mystery falls flat by the time you get to the basement. The primary enemy character is a bore, and for a spooky-chasey, he doesn't actually do much spooking or chasing. There was one particular hacking sequence that takes place in the woods where I truly could not find the intended path, so I ended up just aimlessly wandering until the spooky would kill me instantly for going out of the mission area. Eventually I found my way out, but the game never really recovered. I enjoyed Blair Witch enough, so I hope Layers of Fear 2 is at least better than this was.
4. Longstory (PC) | 1st Feb - 3hrs | 2/10
A game that portends to be for marginalized peoples, but is actually for no one. An intersectional game with no teeth, no examination of the identities it puts front and center, and one that is so cynically saccharine that it fails to say anything due to having no meaningful conflict. Poorly written, poorly edited, full of typos and missing words, and with a soundtrack featuring less songs than I can count on both hands, LongStory is a HARD pass. Don't waste your time on this actual trash.
5. Layers of Fear 2 (PC) | 3rd Feb - 4.5hrs | 6/10
Oh boy! This is my favorite Bloober Team game by far and the one I think is their best. It doesn't overstay its welcome like both Observer and Layers of Fear 1, and has a lot to say about the creative process. Rife with film references and a genuine examination of character and the character building process, Bloober actually managed to nail the games' core conceit this time around. I really had a blast with this, and might do a New Game+ run just to clean up achievements and find some of the more eldritch secrets lurking aboard the ship.
6. Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon (PC) | 3rd Feb - 8.5hrs | 7/10
Tightly designed, incredibly beautiful, and with a killer soundtrack, this NES throwback earns its keep and more. I'm going back in for Nightmare Mode, but I'm considering this game "finished" for all intents and purposes. I had some difficulties in levels 6 and 8, but overall this was a breezy, wonderful game that I couldn't put down. Can't wait to see the rest of this universe and where the series goes.
7. Gris (PC) | 14th Feb - 6.5hrs | 5/10
This game was incredibly beautiful, but I wish it had been more than that. Undeniably well animated and stylized, but also undeniably dull. While there may be some thematic depth to the art direction, it mostly feels like a half-baked art project that wanted to cater to the games-as-art crowd without really doing much with the "game" part. The platforming significantly overstays its welcome, and the overall slow pace ultimately defeats any sense of urgency that the game's narrative is trying to work up to. That being said, this is not a bad game, and if you have a few hours to kill across a few sessions, I recommend giving it a look at the very least.
8. World of Horror (PC) | 22nd Feb - 2hrs | 6/10
Dang! I had so much fun playing this one. I normally don't dip on Early Access titles but figured why not support this one? The writing and ideas are great, and the art is wonderful. It's a quickly paced roguelike, so I found it pretty enjoyable to go through and get my way to the ending. Unfortunately, the game is very content-lite at the moment, being in early access, so I quickly got every ending for each of the handful of rotating missions and ended up somewhat brute-forcing my way to the end. On another note, the game is somewhat poorly balanced; combat is either incredibly quick, or very tedious, and the doom counter is oppressive. Even playing on easy, with a super-optimized run, I only made it out with ~9% doom to spare. You can get severely screwed by RNG if you keep hitting doom events. Thankfully, the game does not take a long time (longest run was my successful one at 28 minutes) to play, so it's not a huge progress loss. Overall excited to see where this ends up when it leaves Early Access! My only "complaint" in terms of the presentation is that I wish it took a while longer to get creepy -- it sorta exposes you to insanity right away and becomes more of a goofy fun romp than an unsettling one as a result.
9. September 1999 (PC) | 23rd Feb - 6min | 5/10
This game had a lot going for it visually, having been created by the guy that runs the 98demake channel. It's a really short experience, and a tense one, but there isn't much there to comment on. The game only lasts 6 minutes (which I didn't realize when starting it), so the abrupt ending took me a bit by surprise, but I thought overall it was a tense experience filled with atmosphere that knew exactly what it wanted to do and did it. It's a shame that what it wanted to do was ultimately so mundane.
10. ШХД: ЗИМА / IT'S WINTER (PC) | 23rd Feb - 30min | 5/10
An atmospheric little game about the deathly stillness of winter. There is no real goal; you can wander around, cook some food, find some poetry, and stand out in the snow. It really captures the feeling of being out on a light winter night, where everything is quiet and introspective. It also has my favorite piece of classical music in it, so that's pleasant. 11. Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid (PC) | 23rd Feb - 4hrs | 6/10
This game was surprisingly decent. I played the story mode to completion just for the sake of having a "Completion", as I wasn't originally going to log this, but it was cute enough that I figured I would go ahead and give it a full fledged review. This game is Baby's First Fighting Game in the best way; every character is essentially just a kit from a different fighting game but pared down. Magna is essentially Dante from MVCI. Tommy and Kimberly are essentially Yosuke and Yukari from P4U2. There are setplay characters, characters based around oki and traps, there are characters that are rushdown and zoners. It has basically exactly what is needed for a decently diverse roster. The story mode is goofy, the voice acting isn't very great (and often doesn't match the subtitles, which is odd), and the graphics leave a little bit to be desired but fighting game fans and especially Power Rangers fans should not skip this. It was surprisingly great and goes to show that a simplified fighting game doesn't need to lack depth.
12. A Short Hike (PC) | 24th Feb - 1.5hrs | 8/10
A wonderful little game about taking a hike, but also about so much more. With the recent surge of "relaxation games", this stands above the rest as a serious contender for best game. A Short Hike occupies that same sort of cozy atmosphere as A Night in the Woods, Animal Crossing, and Kind Words while also keeping everything focused around a central goal: hiking up the mountain to reach the top in order to get cell reception. That being said, the entire game unfolds as you meet other hikers and help them out on your way, and often find out that in order to progress it would be beneficial to stray from the path. While many games claim to be "about the journey, not the destination", A Short Hike goes to show that the destination can only truly be reached after a journey of growth and hard work. What a genuine treat.
13. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (PC) | 26th Feb - 20hrs | 3/10
Bloodstained has got to be one of the biggest disappointments I have ever experienced in my gaming life. A perfect example of too many cooks in the kitchen, Bloodstained is a poor amalgamation of disparate parts that do not come together to form any sort of cohesive whole. From the art, which is gaudy at best and difficult to parse at worst, to the paper-thin characters and the awful script that props them up, Bloodstained feels like it needed another 6 months in the oven at least. Or perhaps two more full drafts. The gamefeel is terrible here, with Miriam being floaty and her weapons being oddly stiff. The progression in the game is terrible, and at worst extremely unclear; I was never sure if I had proper equipment or if I was the proper level for the environments I was in. This is all before I got to the genuinely awful endgame, which is comprised of long corridors with a lot of visual blockades and tightly packed copy pasted enemy groupings. The worst of these was the Oriental Sorcery Tower, which serves as one of the worst stretches of metroidvania map design I have ever played. Another highlight, or lowlight, I suppose, was the Den of Behemoths, a wing(?) of the castle that houses gigantic versions of regular enemies. The end-game in Bloodstained is tedium defined, and showcases the overall lack of polish that plagues the game. Finally, and perhaps the most frustrating indicator of this, is the game's half-baked weapon upgrades, crafting, and food preparation systems. Ultimately, Bloodstained comes off not as a labor of love or a spiritual successor to Igavania, but as soulless and derivative. I expected more, especially after the excellent Curse of the Moon.
14. Amorous (PC) | 1st March - 2hrs | 2/10
Amorous is a friendly, sexually utopic furry dating sim featuring in-depth gender, sexuality, and appearance customization. It largely caters to the LGBTQ+ Community, but there are some straight pairings as well. Ultimately, this is a porn game. Uncensored, each route features a graphic and animated sex scene. It's this reward that serves as the primary motivator. Unfortunately, it also suffers the same issues as other porn-with-plot games. Bland, paper-thin characters, poor background art, and an overall lack of polish. Additionally, there has been some controversy involving the lead animator, so it's a relatively safe skip unless you are dying to see the animated sex scenes.
15. Higurashi When They Cry - Tatarigoroshi (PC) | 3rd March - 20hrs | 5/10
The intensity ramps up in this chapter as things escalate and new questions are introduced. This is the chapter where information and hints about what is really going on in Hinamizawa begin to trickle out to the player. Overall, I had a good time reading Tatarigoroshi, though it did drag a bit in the middle, and the early scenes are some of the most irritating and grating slice of life moments in the series so far. It also centers around my personal least favorite member of the main cast, which didn't necessarily disadvantage my reading experience so much as color it. A decent read and worth the time if you are interested.
16. Higurashi When They Cry - Himatsubushi (PC) | 10th March - 10hrs | 5/10
Himatsubushi - "Time-Killing" Chapter -- is an appropriately named intermission in the Higurashi series. It takes place five years prior to the rest of the series and is something of a break from the main cast as it features a Tokyo police officer as a main character. According to most fans, Himatsubushi is the chapter considered the least interesting in main series, and I do somewhat agree. It isn't bad by any means, but it is a weird pacing lull in the center of a series that is, at this point, really ramping up. Overall I enjoyed the story, but it helped that this chapter is so short. There are quite a few revelations in this chapter as well, so it is essential to the overall plot. A lot of time is spent focused on Rika, and many mysteries related to her are set up that help fill in the gaps from previous chapters.
17. Higurashi When They Cry Kai - Meakashi (PC) | 14th March - 24hrs | 6/10
The first true Answer Arc in the Higurashi series, corresponding with the second question arc Watanagashi. This was a rather meaty entry, providing a lot of key answers that retroactively alter the nature of the earlier episodes. Shion is the main character this time, and we get a lot of insight into the inner politics of Hinamizawa and how the Three Families actually exert control over the town. A large portion of the episode also details the year prior to Keiichi's arrival in Hinamizawa, necessarily fleshing out Satoshi's backstory. This is also the longest entry thus far, taking roughly twice as long to read as any of the previous chapters. That being said, there is a lot of retreading going on in this chapter as well, with whole scenes lifted from Watanagashi in order to add insight from Shion's point of view. It also contains the first branching path in the series, though that may only be if you are playing with the 07th Mod installed. A strong entry, as long as you can stomach some repeat scenes and the longer runtime.
18. Killer7 (PC) | 27th March - 20hrs | 8/10
Suda's masterpiece, an audiovisual tour-de-force with a wild story all about coming to terms with one's past, and the things that make up a person. Be it from their past, or from their purpose, a person is what makes them. I have a bit of a history with Suda, given that I'm the person leading the fan translation for Moonlight Syndrome, but I'd never completed Killer7 before. Thankfully, the game had tons of surprises up its sleeve and didn't overstay its welcome. Gameplay is primarily a mix of on-rails shooting and puzzle solving, with cutscenes and lore snippets mixed in to break up the monotony. There is a rudimentary, if a little bit underdeveloped leveling system tied to the game's combat as well, but unfortunately the amount of experience you can generate seems to cap out on every level meaning that I don't think one can level up all of the characters to max in a single playthrough -- at least on Deadly. It's possible grinding can be done on the final level, but I'm not sure. Nonetheless, I never felt wanting for power aside from during the Ayame Blackburn fight, which took me four tries to complete and was the most difficult encounter in the game. There are definitely some small questions I have about the story, but I intend to read Hand in Killer7, the supplemental material that released with the game, to see if I can't fill in the dots. In short, I loved this game, and I hope more people play it. Shout out to Travis, one of the in-game spirit guides for having the best tanktops. Play Killer7 -- you won't regret it.
Currently Playing:
Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem ~Heroes of Light and Shadow~
Alright, let's try this again. I'm determined to get through as much as I can this year and finishing up games that I started but haven't finished. Good luck everyone!
Completed Games!
1. Ape Out (PC) - 5hrs - 9/10 (01/01/2020)
2. Super Mario World (SNES/Switch) - 3hrs - 10/10 (1/01/2020)
3. Far Cry 5 (PC) - 28hrs - 7/10 (1/07/2020)
4. Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight (Vita) - 8hrs - 6/10 (01/11/2020)
5. Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight (Vita) - 7hrs - 6.5/10 (01/15/2020)
6. Devil May Cry 5 - Human Replaythrough (PC) - 7hrs - 10/10 (1/20/2020)
7. DOOM (2016) (PC) - 9hrs - 8/10 (1/22/2020)
8. Red Dead Redemption 2 (PC) - 60hrs - 10/10 (2/26/2020)
9. Tony Hawk's American Wasteland - Normal Story/Classic [100%!!] (X360) - 5hrs - 6/10 (03/03/2020)
10. DOOM Eternal (PC) - Normal - 18hrs - 8/10 (04/10/2020)
11. HITMAN Season 1 (PC) - 11hrs - 8/10 (04/11/2020)
12. My Name Is Mayo (PS4) - PLATINUM GET - 40 minutes - No Rating/10 (4/11/2020)
13. HITMAN 2 (PC) - 16hrs - 8/10 (4/18/2020)
14. Sonic Forces (PS4) - 2hrs - 4/10 (4/19/2020)
15. Burnout Paradise Remastered (PS4) - ~10hrs - 7/10 (4/25/2020)
16. Skate 3 (PS3) - 8hrs - 7/10 (4/26/2020)
17. Wheelman (PS3) - 6hrs - 2/10 (5/18/2020)
18. Helltaker (PC) - 1.5hrs - 9/10 (5/22/2020)
19: Mortal Kombat 11 - Campaign+Aftermath- 10hrs - 8/10 (6/04/2020)
20. Fast and Furious: Crossroads (PC) - 4hrs - Family/10 (8/31/2020)
21. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 (PC) - 48hrs - 10/10 (9/11/2020)
22. Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS4) - PLATINUM GET - 12hrs - 8/10 (11/12/2020)
23. Watch_Dogs: Legion (PC) - 25hrs - 5/10 (11/19/2020)
24. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 (PS4) - 25hrs - 10/10 (11/25/2020)
25. Cyberpunk 2077 (PC) - 54hrs - 6/10 (12/19/2020)
26. Yakuza: Like a Dragon - 61hrs - 9/10 (12/25/2020)
27. Steins;Gate Elite - PLATINUM GET - 7hrs - 8/10 (12/29/2020)
In Progress/Ongoing Games!
Games to Beat!
Borderlands 3 (Normal/Amara co-op playthrough)
Chaos;Child
GTAIV
Golf Story
Halo: MCC (minus reach)
Outer Wilds
The Outer Worlds
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
The Wolf Among Us
Only managed to beat 13 games in 2019, but hopefully can do better this year, already have a bunch of games I'm halfway through so just need to stick with one.....
1) Minit (Switch) : neat idea but I had some issues figuring out what I was supposed to do next.
2) Earth Defense Force 5 (PC) : EDF EDF EDF EDF EDF
3) Division 2: Main Game (PC)
4) Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: DLC 1
5) Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: DLC 2
6) Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: DLC 3 : The dodge laser sections were a nightmare!!!
7) MLB The Show 2020: Road to October mode : Fun if not kinda long considering it is supposed to sim some games depending on your performance
8) MLB The Show 2020: Post Season : Doesn't seem to take into count your stats from the previous games
9) Animal Crossing New Horizons (Switch) Fishing Tournament : ugh really tested my patience for this game
10) Cat Quest (Switch)
11) Animal Crossing New Horizons (Switch) Credits scene
12) Animal Crossing New Horizons (Switch) Fully paid off debts to Nook
13) Earth Defense Force : Iron Rain (PC)
14) Destiny 2 (PC) : Hit 1050 level cap
15) Destiny 2 (PC) : Scourge Raid
16) Destiny 2 (PC) : Reset Valor Rank
17) Last of Us : Left Behind (PS4)
18) Destiny 2 (PC) : Garden Raid
19) Destiny 2 (PC) : Leviathan Raid
20) Destiny 2 (PC) : Eater of Worlds Raid
21) Destiny 2 (PC) : Spire of Stars Raid
22) Tales of Crestoria (Mobile) : Story Missions up to Chapter 5
23) Destiny 2 (PC) : Season rank 100
24) Halo 1 (PC)
25) Tales of Crestoria (Mobile) : Story Missions Chapter 5 and Side Stories
26) Avengers (PS4) : Story Campaign
27) Destiny 2 (PC) : Crown of Sorrow Raid
28 ) Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition (PC) : Base Game
29) Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition (PC) : Lost in Nightmares
30) Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition (PC) : Desperate Escape
31) Destiny 2 (PC) : Last Wish Raid
32) Spider-Man Remastered (PS5)
33) Destiny 2 : Beyond Light (PC)
34) Spider-Man Remastered DLCs (PS5)
35) Immortals : Fenyx Rising (PS5)
36) Ratchet and Clank Remake (PS4)
37) We Were Here (PC)
38) Spider-Man Miles Morales (PS5)
39) Halo 2 (PC)
40) Halo 3 (PC)
41) Halo 3 ODST (PC)
42) Halo 4 (PC)
43) Halo Reach (PC)
1. The Banner Saga 3 (PS4) | 5th Jan - ~10hrs | 4/5 | Nice and fitting end to the trilogy, if a bit rushed and light on ending cinematics.
2. Remnant: From the Ashes (XB1) | 11th Jan - 34h | 4/5 | Good shooter soulslike, if a bit long and very cheap, suitable for solo after all.
3. Guacamelee 2 (XB1) | 16th Jan - 12,5h | 4/5 | As good as the first one, maybe less metroidvania and less hardcore unless doing the good ending.
4. A Plague Tale: Innocence (XB1) | 30th Jan - 21h | 3/5 | Great atmosphere and French acting, not so great script and game, but charismatic in the end.
5. Old Man's Journey (XB1) | 31st Jan - 2h? | 3/5 | Quick emotive little beautiful puzzle mobile like game.
Ok sure, let's try this too this year. Maybe this way I'll try and finish what I start more. Maybe I don't post here again but I'll try. I don't really grasp how actually much is 52, never tried to keep count...
Now playing:
Anthem
Stopped/abandoned/ongoing/etc:
Forza Horizon 4, Dirt Rally 2.0, Sea of Thieves, The Division.
1. Code Vein [PS4 01/05/20]: This game has one of my favorite twists in a while. Overall the game is pretty much exactly what it sets out to be, God Eater/Souls.
2. Kirby's Dreamland [3DS 01/07/2020]: That's a comfort food.
3. Sonic Generations [3DS 01/10/2020]: Much like the console version: Only here for Sonic Adventure 2.
4. Heave-Ho [PC 01/11/2020]: "Grab my hand".
5. Gato Roboto [PC 01/11/2020]: A neat metroidvania. The mech feels heavy but other than that it plays well.
6. Kirby's Pinball Land [3DS 01/12/2020]: The boards are fun and it sets up other similar games.
7. Kirby's Block Ball [3DS 01/12/2020]: Chaotic.
8. Kingdom Hearts III ReMind [PS4 01/24/2020]: That was a trip.
9. Fortnite Chapter 2 [PS4 02/02/2020]: Got my second Victory Royale after having not touching the game in over a year and there is a lot more crap on screen than before.
10. Lion King [Switch 02/02/2020]: That game was BS.
11. Fire Emblem Three Houses: Cindered Shadows [Switch 02/16/2020]: That's some fanfiction with a bull shit boss at the end.
12. Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories [PS4 02/18/2020]: Still a fun game but that Platinum's going to be a bitch.
13. Murder by Numbers [Switch 03/15/2020]: It's Picross with a story, it's fine.
14. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night [PS4 03/17/2020]: Still Good.
15. Legend of Bum-bo [Steam 03/22/2020]: I beat it I think?
16. Final Fantasy VII Remake [PS4 04/21/2020]: Really Good. Love to see what direction it will go in the future.
17. Super Mario Galaxy [Wii 04/27/2020]: Still one of Nintendo's most visually and audibly pleasing games.
18. Spyro: Reignited [Switch 05/17/2020]: Playing the last chunk of the first game reminded me why I never bothered to play its sequels.
19. Final Fantasy X [PS4 05/19/2020]: I started this save file on the PS3 in 2015; Expert Sphere Grid sucks.
20. Final Fantasy XII: Zodiac Age [Switch 05/23/2020]: Care less about the story each time, but the game is still always a treat to play.
21. Soviet Jump Game [Steam 05/29/2020]: Won by doing literally nothing.
22. Metroid: Other M [Wii 05/31/2020]: Just don't ask.
23. Picross S2 [Switch 06/06/2020]: Burnt out on Picross for a few weeks at least.
24. Helltaker [Steam 06/07/2020]: That was cute and fun and neat.
25. Link's Awakening [Switch 06/23/2020]: It's not the best Zelda game, but I think it letting Zelda get "Weird" Makes it the most important one.
26. Super Mario Odyssey [Switch 06/29/2020]: Just a fun game to pick up and play over a weekend.
27. Mario & Luigi: Super Star Saga [3DS 07/04/2020]: A pretty good remaster as far as I'm concerned. The music is great and the re-balancing of the advanced attacks was probably needed in retrospect.
28. Cave Story+ [Switch 07/11/2020]: Cave Story is a fun game with some obtuse puzzle design.
29. Super Hot [Steam 07/15/2020]: It's everything people say it is. Kind of wished I could have done it in VR.
30. Chost of Tsushima [PS4 07/25/2020]: While it's pretty much every Open World game ever made; it's aesthetic and above average combat definitely kept me engaged where most would not.
31. Halo: CE [Steam 07/26/2020]: Halo game good shoot bang.
32. KH2FM: Randomizer [PS2 08/03/2020]: I never imagined KHII could ever get a randomizer but I am glad it exists.
33. Fall Guys [PS4 08/22/2020]: I am the fall guy, I'm the one who stands alone!
34. Kirby Star Allies: Heroes of the New Dimension [Switch 08/26/2020]: A neat hard mode, though samey visually.
35. Pokemon Sword: Isle of Armor [Switch 09/06/2020]: Honestly if the base game were more like this I probably wouldn't of hated it as much as I did.
36. Super Mario Bros (All-Star Version) [Switch 09/07/2020: Video Game comfort food.]
37. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater [PS4 09/09/2020]: Having only ever really played the first level of the original game, getting to go through the whole game and soundtrack have been a blast.
38. Katamari Damacy [Switch 09/13/2020]: Always a weird charming day when you sit down and do the whole thing in one sitting.
39. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 [PS4 09/15/2020]: You can really feel the copy paste in the first couple of levels but overall the later levels are just as fun.
40. Super Mario Sunshine [Switch 09/18/2020]: This game is great and I think people blow the two or three bad shines way out of proportion.
41. Super Mario 64 [Switch 09/19/2020]: It feels like you have so little control over Mario it's crazy.
42. Super Mario Galaxy [09/20/2020]: Didn't think I'd play this game again within 6 months, but hey just as good and now even prettier.
43. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim [09/29/2020]: That is easily the Game of the, what a fuckin' swan song for the generation.
44. Super Mario 35. [Switch 10/01/2020]: I won my 3rd game and feel no compulsion to go back.
45. Devil May Cry 4 SE [PS4 10/01/2020]: Just needed Vergil in my veins.
46. Captain Toad Treasure Tracker [3DS 10/10/2020]: The game's still really cleverly designed but the fact that you effectively have to play each level 2-3 times is somewhat annoying.
47. Pokemon Sword: Crown Tundra [Switch 10/24/2020]: Much like the previous expansion it is everything the base game isn't, but it feels less like a new story beat and more an excuse to just dump legendaries everywhere.
48. TWEWY: Final Remix [Switch 11/03/2020]: My favorite game that gets worse with each new version.
49. DMCVSE [PS5 11/13/2020]: Disappointed that Vergil doesn't fight Nero at the end but playing as Vergil is a blast.
50. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles [PS4 11/15/2020]: After 16 years I've finally done it.
51. Detective Pikachu [3DS 11/26/2020]: Good for what is essentially "Miles Edgeworth for kids". Kind of surprised they left the gate of the father unresolved since the movie resolves it on top of being super obvious.
52. Kingdom Hearts: Memory of Melodies [PS4 12/01/2020]: Wasn't quite as fun as Theatrhythm games were but it was nice to get some forward progression of the story.
53. Kingdom Hearts: BBS 0.2 [PS4 12/06/2020]: Kind of wish we got more Aqua in 3.
54. Shantae and The Pirate's Curse [3DS 12/12/2020]: Still the best of the Shantae games. Reminded how much I liked Shantae as a character, just a nice hero.
