52 Games. 1 Year. 2023

dswallalala · Jan 2, 2023

I'm in. Always enjoy tracking my gaming so might as well give this a shot.

Reserved

Platinum Raven · Jan 2, 2023

I'm in, had a lot of fun discovering some really amazing games(and also laughin' at some real stinkers!) Let's do it again!
Reserving for my 2023 Posts!

2022 - 64 / 52 Games beat, 52 New games completed.
2023 58 / 52 Games beat, 53 new games completed!

Favorited new game this year was an 9 way tie!

Mass Effect 3
Hades
Persona 4 Golden
Valiant Hearts: The Great War
NieR: Automata
Life is Strange 2
Grand Theft Auto V
Attack on Titan 2 - A.O.T.2
Prey

Game Name	Genre	Platform	Rating	Hours	Date Finished	Date Purchased Game	Years between Purchase and Finished	Notes	Replay/New
Mass Effect 3	RPG	PC	4	16.5	05/01/2023	12/06/2020	2.6		New
Metal Slug 3	Run and Gun	PC	2	1	05/01/2023	21/07/2017	5.5		New
Hades	Roguelike	PC	4	23.3	22/01/2023	05/01/2023	0.0	Recieved as Gift	New
HuniePop	Puzzle, Dating Sim	PC	2	10	24/01/2023	27/12/2017	5.1		New
Medal of Honor: Airborne	First-Person Shooter	PC	1.5	2.7	25/01/2023	27/02/2014	8.9		New
Call of Jaurez: Bound in Blood	First-Person Shooter	PC	3	5	26/01/2023	22/05/2013	9.7	Got as Pre-order bonus for Call of Jaurez Gunslinger	New
Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse	Third-Person Shooter	PC	2	2.6	31/01/2023	18/03/2014	8.9		New
Persona 4 Golden	RPG	PC	4	55.7	15/03/2023	04/07/2021	1.7		New
Devil May Cry 5	Hack and Slash	PC	3.5	7.7	16/03/2023	26/06/2020	2.7		New
Sonic The Hedgehog (1991)	Platformer	PC	2.5	1.1	16/03/2023	25/06/2016	6.7		New
Shadow Dancer	Platformer	PC	1	0.6	16/03/2023	14/07/2012	10.7		New
PAC-MAN and the Ghostly Adventure	Platformer	PC	2	4.4	17/03/2023	20/06/2014	8.7		New
Crysis	First-Person Shooter	PC	3	5	18/03/2023	05/10/2011	11.5		New
Valiant Hearts: The Great War	Puzzle, Adventure	PC	4	5.2	19/03/2023	05/10/2014	8.5		New
ENSLAVED: Odyssey to the West	Action-Adventure	PC	3	6.3	19/03/2023	30/06/2014	8.7		New
Jazzpunk: Director's Cut	Adventure	PC	3	1.7	19/03/2023	29/01/2014	9.1	Got for free to do youtube video	Replay
Transistor	Action RPG	PC	3.5	2.9	20/03/2023	18/07/2016	6.7		New
Altered Beast	Beat 'em up	PC	1	0.5	21/03/2023	14/07/2012			New
The Murder of Sonic The Hedgehog	Visual Novel	PC	3	1.7	02/04/2023	01/04/2023	0.0	Free game released for april fools	New
Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep: A Wonderlands One-Shot Adventure	RPG	PC	2.5	6.9	10/04/2023	17/03/2023	0.1	Got for free as they did it to promote new game	New
Red Faction II	First-Person Shooter	PC	2	2.9	10/04/2023	22/10/2013	9.5		New
NieR: Automata	Action RPG	PS4	4	20	17/04/2023	12/04/2023	0.0		New
Dark Cloud	Action RPG	PS4	3	30.3	25/04/2023	08/12/2015	7.4		New
X-Men Origins: Wolverine	Action-Adventure	PS3	2.5	9	30/04/2023	Unsure of Date Purchased			New
X-Men Origins: Wolverine	Action-Adventure	PS3	2.5	7	01/05/2023	Unsure of Date Purchased			Replay
God of War II	Action-Adventure	PS3	4	9	11/05/2023	27/04/2022	1.04		Replay
Red Faction: Guerrilla	Third-Person Shooter	PC	3	8.6	14/05/2023	05/07/2011	11.87		New
Quantum Break	Third-Person Shooter	PC	3	6.1	16/05/2023	04/04/2023	0.12		New
Red Faction: Armageddon	Third-Person Shooter	PC	2.5	5.2	11/06/2023	08/12/2012	10.51		New
Child of Light	RPG	PC	3	6.6	12/06/2023	05/10/2014	8.69		New
Aliens vs. Predator	First-Person Shooter	PC	2.5	4.8	12/06/2023	14/07/2012	10.92		New
Uncharted 4: A Thief's End	Action-Adventure	PS4	3	13	20/06/2023	08/02/2019	4.36		New
Uncharted 4: A Thief's End	Action-Adventure	PS4	4	7.5	25/06/2023	08/02/2019	4.38		Replay
Metal Gear Solid 4 Guns of the Patriots	Stealth, Action-Adventure	PS3	3	16.5	02/07/2023	15/07/2014	8.97		New
Slave Zero	Action	PC	2	3.8	03/07/2023	10/02/2016	7.40		New
Mad Max	Action-Adventure	PC	3	12	08/07/2023	26/10/2018	4.70		New
Life is Strange 2	Graphic Adventure	PC	4	14.4	12/07/2023	17/03/2023	0.32		New
Orcs Must Die!	Tower Defense, Third-Person Shooter	PC	2.5	6	12/07/2023	11/12/2013	9.59		New
Ys I	Action RPG	PC	2.5	5.3	19/07/2023	24/12/2013	9.57		New
Ys : The Oath in Felghana	Action RPG	PC	3.5	7.8	23/07/2023	01/01/2014	9.56		New
Final Fantasy XIII	RPG	PC	3	40.4	20/08/2023	19/09/2014	8.92		New
Batman: Arkham Asylum	Action-Adventure	PC	4.5	8.2	22/08/2023	12/05/2011	12.29		Replay
Dead Space(2008)	Survival Horror	PC	3.5	6	17/09/2023	15/08/2013	10.10		New
DRAGON BALL FighterZ	Fighting	PC	3	7.1	18/09/2023	14/01/2021	2.68		New
Dead Space 2	Survival Horror	PC	3.5	5.4	30/09/2023	16/06/2020	3.29		New
Dead Space 3	Action Horror	PC	2.5	7.3	01/10/2023	15/08/2013	10.13		New
Grand Theft Auto V	Action-Adventure	PC	4	21.5	02/10/2023	30/10/2019	3.93		New
The Evil Within	Survival Horror	PC	2.5	9.7	07/10/2023	04/01/2018	5.76		New
Brothers In Arms: Road to Hill 30	First-Person Shooter	PC	2	4.7	14/10/2023	27/06/2020	3.30		New
Brothers In Arms: Earned In Blood	First-Person Shooter	PC	2	3.5	15/10/2023	27/06/2020	3.30		New
Brothers in Arms: Hell's highway	First-Person Shooter	PC	3	4.9	18/10/2023	27/06/2020	3.31		New
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed	Action-Adventure	PC	2	3.9	24/10/2023	12/02/2015	8.70		New
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II	Action-Adventure	PC	2	3.1	24/10/2023	12/02/2015	8.70		New
Saints Row: The Third	Action-Adventure	PC	3	7.6	27/10/2023	17/11/2012	10.95		New
Katamari Damacy REROLL	Puzzle-Action	PC	3	4.2	28/10/2023	02/08/2023	0.24		New
Attack on Titan 2 - A.O.T.2	Action-Adventure	PC	4	25.8	12/11/2023	02/11/2023	0.03		New
Shantae and the Pirate's Curse	Platformer	PC	2.5	8.7	23/12/2023	11/01/2017	6.95		New
Prey	First-Person Shooter	PC	4	11.9	30/12/2023	14/11/2023	0.13		New

crazillo · Jan 2, 2023

Love this thread, I knew I wasn't going to make 52 games last year due to finishing my PhD, but to my own surprise I did get pretty close again! Definitely trying to be back this year and make it my third time I complete the challenge!

Griffin · Jan 2, 2023

Sure, let's see if I can pull this off three years in a row.

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCH

APRIL

MAY

JULY

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

electroflame · Jan 2, 2023

Let's go, 2023! This'll make year number ten for me (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022).
Like previous years, I didn't really write down my impressions, but I tried to abandon games I didn't like pretty early, so almost everything I completed I actually "liked" this year (or, at the very least, was short enough I could power through it)! There were a few Game Pass games that definitely fell into the latter category, though.

1: Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury (Switch, ~15 hours)
2: Metroid Dread (Switch, ~10 hours)
3: A Plague Tale: Requiem (Xbox, ~20 hours)
4: Vampire Survivors (Xbox, ~24 hours)
5: Pentiment (Xbox, ~19 hours)
6: The Legend of Tianding (Xbox, ~4.5 hours)
7: Gungrave G.O.R.E (Xbox, ~9.5 hours)
8: Pupperazzi (Xbox, ~1 hour)
9: Hi-Fi RUSH (Xbox, ~20 hours)
10: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Complete Edition (Xbox, ~120 hours)
11: CrossfireX (Xbox, ~12 hours)
12: HOT WHEELS UNLEASHED (Xbox, ~9 hours)
13: UNDERTALE (Xbox, ~4 hours)
14: City Skylines Remastered (Xbox ~22 hours)
15: Life is Strange: True Colors (Xbox, ~9 hours)
16: Ghostwire Tokyo (Xbox, ~54 hours)
17: DOOM 64 (Xbox, ~1 hour)
18: Somerville (Xbox, ~4.5 hours)
19: Ravenlok (Xbox, ~4 hours)
20: Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty (Xbox, ~29 hours)
21: Cassette Beasts (Xbox, ~16.5)
22: The Last Case of Benedict Fox (Xbox, ~9 hours)
23: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Switch, ~40 hours)
24: Need for Speed Unbound (Xbox, ~15 hours)
25: Bramble: The Mountain King (Xbox, ~5 hours)
26: Supraland: Six Inches Under (Xbox, ~12 hours)
27: Arcade Paradise (Xbox, ~24.5 hours)
28: TOEM (Xbox, ~5 hours)
29: Monster Hunter Rise (Xbox, ~34 hours)
30: A Short Hike (Xbox, ~4 hours)
31: Alan Wake Remastered (Xbox, ~21 hours)
32: Quake II (Xbox, ~2 hours)
33: Broforce (Xbox, ~6 hours)
34: EVERSPACE 2 (Xbox, ~24 hours)
35: Maquette (Xbox, ~3.5 hours)
36: DOOM (Xbox, ~9 hours)
37: Inertial Drift (Xbox, ~4 hours)
38: Bomb Rush Cyberfunk (Xbox, ~20 hours)
39: Disc Room (Xbox, ~4 hours)
40: Lies of P (Xbox, ~40 hours)
41: Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition (Xbox, ~32 hours)
42: Solar Ash (Xbox, ~6 hours)
43: COCOON (Xbox, ~4 hours)
44: Vampire Survivors 2023 DLCs (Xbox, ~4 hours)
45: Spider-man 2 (PS5, ~40 hours)
46: Alan Wake 2 (Xbox, ~26 hours)
47: Townscaper (Xbox, ~1 hour)
48: High on Life (Xbox, ~10 hours)
49: Like a Dragon: The Man Who Erased His Name (Xbox, ~22.5 hours)
50: RoboQuest (Xbox, ~18 hours)
51: WILD HEARTS (Xbox, ~21.5 hours)
52: RollerDome (Xbox, ~2 hours)

Ganado · Jan 2, 2023

Wow, did it last year (but made no post because I cba to care for the rules) but I'll try to update here this year!
One done already

1. Little Inferno
Fun time waster, already completed it many years ago but replayed it with the new DLC. DLC is a bit expensive I think.

sir_woolsley · Jan 2, 2023

CURRENTLY PLAYING

Mechabellum

--------------------------------------------------------------

COMPLETED GAMES

Id	Title	Finish date	Score
1	The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition	21 January	9 / 10
2	Destiny 2: Season of the Seraph	22 January	7.5 / 10
3	Prison Architect - Perfect Storm	08 February	5 / 10
4	Darksiders 2: Deathinitive Edition	18 February	7 / 10
5	Grand Theft Auto 5	25 March	8 / 10
6	Injustice 2	26 March	8 / 10
7	Monster Prom	08 Apr	7/10
8	Europa Universalis IV	30 Apr	8/10
9	Horizon: Burning Shores	20 May	8/10
10	Nom nom galaxy	21 May	8/10
11	Conan Chop Chop	21 May	6.5/10
12	Shady Part of Me	25 May	7.5/10
13	Saints Row 4	07 June	7.5/10
14	LEGO Harry Potter Collection	01 July	7/10
15	The Sims 2	11 July	6/10
16	Shotgun King: The Final Checkmate	15 Aug	7/10
17	Ratchet & Clank (2016)	23 Aug	7/10
18	MediEvil: Resurrection	01 Sep	7.5/10
19	Mount and blade Warband	03 Sep	4/10

sQr · Jan 2, 2023

sQr [ 52/52 ]

January | Total playtime: 50 hours and 15 minutes | Games finished: 4

Immortals: Fenyx Rising | PlayStation 5 [ 8 ]
Finished on 03/01/2023 | 50 hours and 8 minutes [ Platinum Trophy ]
Monument Valley | iPad Pro (12.9) [ 8 ]
Finished on 06/01/2023 | 1 hours and 9 minutes
Until Dawn: Rush of Blood | PlayStation VR [ 7 ]
Finished on 08/01/2023 | 1 hours and 29 minutes
Season: A Letter to the Future | PlayStation 5 [ 7 ]
Finished on 27/01/2023 | 7 hours and 37 minutes [ All trophies ]

February | Total playtime: 72 hours and 20 minutes / Games finished: 5

The One Which Shall Not Be Named | PlayStation 5 [ 8 ]
Finished on 12/02/2023 | 40+ hours | Review copy
OlliOlli World | PlayStation 5 [ 9 ]
Finished on 17/02/2023 | 13 hours and 42 minutes
Blood & Truth | PlayStation VR [ 7 ]
Finished on 19/02/2023 | 4 hours and 14 minutes
Horizon Call of the Mountain | PlayStation VR2 [ 8 ]
Finished on 25/02/2023 | 9 hours and 40 minutes
WHAT THE BAT? | PlayStation VR2 [ 7 ]
Finished on 27/02/2023 | 2 hours and 37 minutes

March| Total playtime: 28 hours and 22 minutes / Games finished: 2

The Last Clockwinder | PlayStation VR2 [ 9 ]
Finished on 06/03/2023 | 7 hours and 9 minutes
Pavlov | PlayStation VR2 [ 8 ]
Minimum reached on 18/03/2023 | 5+ hours

April | Total playtime: 59 hours and 9 minutes / Games finished: 7

Forza Horizon 5: Rally Adventure | Xbox Series X [ 6 ]
Finished on 02/04/2023 | 7 hours and 7 minutes | All 3 Stars
Forza Horizon 5: Hot Wheels | Xbox Series X [ 5 ]
Finished on 03/04/2023 | 4 hours and 18 minutes | All 3 Stars
GORN | PlayStation VR2 [ 7 ]
Finished on 8/04/2023 | 3 hours and 14 minutes
Q.U.B.E.: Director's Cut | PlayStation 5 [ 7 ]
Finished on 11/04/2023 | 3 hours and 6 minutes
Resident Evil 4 (Remake) | PlayStation 5 [ 9 ]
Finished on 19/04/2023 | 24 hours and 22 minutes
Gran Turismo 7 (VR) | PlayStation VR2 [ 9 ]
Minimum reached on 25/04/2023 | 10+ hours
The Callisto Protocol | PlayStation 5 [ 6 ]
Finished on 30/04/2023 | 10 hours and 14 minutes

May | Total playtime: 18 hours and 22 minutes / Games finished: 2

Disney Speedstorm | PlayStation 5 [ 7 ]
Minimum reached on 06/05/2023 | 5 hours and 9 minutes
Walkabout Mini Golf | PlayStation VR2 [ 9 ]
Finished on 29/05/2023 | 9 hours+

June | Total playtime: 6 hours and 28 minutes / Games finished: 0

July | Total playtime: 4 hours and 54 minutes / Games finished: 1

SIFU| PlayStation 5 [ 9 ]
Finished on 24/07/2023 | 3 hours and 31 minutes | Platinum trophy

August | Total playtime: 4 hours and 26 minutes / Games finished: 0

September | Total playtime: 78 hours and 2 minutes / Games finished: 5

Call of Duty: Black Ops III | PlayStation 5 [ 7 ]
Finished on 1/09/2023 | 7 hours and 38 minutes
FIFA 23 | Xbox Series X [ ? ]
Minimum reached on 4/09/2023 | 3 hours+
Firewall Ultra | PlayStation VR2 [ 6 ]
Minimum reached on 9/09/2023 | 3 hours+
Starfield | Xbox Series X [ 7 ]
Finished on 14/09/2023 | 25 hours and 47 minutes
Lies of P | Xbox Series X [ 9 ]
Finished on 29/09/2023 | 33 hours and 45 minutes

October | Total playtime: 94 hours and 17 minutes / Games finished: 9

The Crew Motorfest | PlayStation 5 [ 8 ]
Finished on 8/10/2023 | 13 hours and 53 minutes
The Quarry | PlayStation 5 [ 8 ]
Finished on 14/10/2023 | 9 hours and 13 minutes
Kayak VR: Mirage | PlayStation VR2 [ 7 ]
Minimum reached on 15/10/2023 | 3 hours and 9 minutes
Untitled Goose Game | PlayStation 5 [ 8 ]
Finished on 15/10/2023 | 1 hours and 12 minutes
Call of Duty: Advance Warfare | PlayStation 5 [ 7 ]
Finished on 19/10/2023 | 6 hours and 19 minutes
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 | PlayStation 5 [ 9 ]
Finished on 23/10/2023 | 26 horus and 0 minutes | Platinum trophy
Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged | Xbox Series X [ 8 ]
Finished on 30/10/2023 | 12 hours 27 minutes
Hubris | PlayStation VR2 [ 7 ]
Finished on 30/10/2023 | 4 hours and 50 minutes
Jusant | Xbox Series X [ 8 ]
Finished on 31/10/2023 | 3 hours and 39 minutes

November | Total playtime: 65 hours and 16 minutes / Games finished: 5

Cocoon| Xbox Series X [ 8 ]
Finished on 4/11/2023 | 4 hours and 33 minutes | 1000GS
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III | PlayStation 5 [ 5 ]
Finished on 15/11/2023 | 17+ hours
Alan Wake II | PlayStation 5 [ 9 ]
Finished on 17/11/2023 | 27+ hours | Platinum trophy
Aperture Desk Job | Steam Deck [ 7 ]
Finished on 23/11/2023 | 1+ hours
Limbo | Steam Deck [ 8 ]
Finished on 27/11/2023 | 2+ hours

December | Total playtime: ? hours and ? minutes / Games finished: ?

Forza Motorsport| Xbox Series X [ 7 ]
Finished on 5/12/2023 | 40+ hours | All Cup Gold
Hoa | Xbox Series X [ 6 ]
Finished on 6/12/2023 | 2+ hours
Journey | PlayStation 5 [ 9 ]
Finished on 10/12/2023 | 2+ hours
Golf Peaks | iPad Pro [ 8 ]
Finished on 10/12/2023 | 6 hours
Killer Instinct | Xbox Series X [ 6 ]
Finished on 12/12/2023 | 2 hours | Season 1&2
Cookie Cutter | Steam Deck [ 8 ]
Finished on 16/12/2023 | 15+ hours
Arizona Sunshine II | PlayStation VR2 [ 6 ]
Finished on 22/12/2023 | 6+ hours
Storm Boy | Xbox Series X [ 3 ]
Finished on 27/12/2023 | 1 hour
Venba | Xbox Series X [ 7 ]
Finished on 27/12/2023 | 2+ hours
Gorogoa | iPad Pro [ 9 ]
Finished on 27/12/2023 | 2 hours
Thronefall | Steam Deck [ 8 ]
Finished on 30/12/2023 | 6+ hours | Max level cap
Before Your Eyes | PlayStation VR2 [ 8 ]
Finished on 30/12/2023 | 2 hours

stn · Jan 2, 2023

1. Halo Infinite - XSX - I like that it was open world but the boss fights were horribly designed and the campaign missions were boring. [7]

NEXT: NFS Unbound (XSX)

Mafusto · Jan 2, 2023

Reserved

Bastion · Jan 2, 2023

Game 1-Marvels Guardians of the Galaxy(2021)-PC via Steam Deck-Beaten on January 18
-First game beaten and it was a good one. Good gameplay, funny dialogue, and great music! 8/10

Game 2-Dead Space(2023)-PC via Steam Deck-Beaten on February 25
-I am way behind this year wit the games I have beaten but I finally beat the new Dead Space and it was awesome!! 10/10

Game 3-Ys Seven(2017)-PC via Steam Deck-Beaten on March 21
-I have come to realize that I love Falcom games. They are so good and charming. Can't wait to play Ys 8. 9/10

Game 4-The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog(2023)-PC via Steam Deck-Beaten on April 9
-For a free game, it was a lot of fun. A murder mystery visual novel with some auto running sections that were good as well. 8/10

Game 5-Ys Memories of Celceta(2015)-PC via Steam Deck-Beaten on May 22
-I love Falcom games. They are just so much fun and charming. I can't wait to play Ys VIII. 8/10

Game 6-3 out or 10 Episode 1 Welcome to Shovelworks(2020)-PC via Steam Deck-Beaten on May 23
-So I got this game free on Epic Games and I thought the first episode was well made and decent. I look forward to the second episode. 7/10

Game 7-3 out of 10 Episode 2 Foundation 101(2020)-PC via Steam Deck-Beaten on May 23
-This episode was ok. I'll keep playing. 6/10

Game 8-3 out of 10 Episode 3 Pivot like a Champion(2020)-PC via Steam Deck-Beaten on May 24
-This series is starting to lose my interest. It's ok at best. 6/10

Game 9-3 out of 10 Episode 4 Thank You for being an Asset(2020)-PC via Steam Deck-Beaten on May 24
-I enjoyed this episode a bit more. I look forward to seeing how season one ends soon. 7/10

Game 10-3 out of 10 Episode 5 The Rig is up(2020)-PC via Steam Deck-Beaten on May 25
-Again, an ok finale episode for an ok series. I will play the sequel next. 7/10

Game 11-3 out of 10 Season Two Episode One The Kevin Effect(2021)-PC via Steam Deck-Beaten on May 25
-This was a decent start to season two. Better than any of the season one episodes. 7/10

Game 12-3 out of Ten Season Two Episode 2 Green Screen and Hammers(2021)-PC via Steam Deck-Beaten on May 26
-After a pretty good opening episode, I found this one to be just ok. 6/10

Game 13-3 out of 10 Season Two Episode 3 Welcome to the Club(2021)-PC via Steam Deck-Beaten on May 26
-This episode was ok at best. 6/10

Game 14-3 out of 10 Season Two Episode 4 Catapults and Conspiracies(2021)-PC via Steam Deck-Beaten on May 26
-This was my favorite episode of this series. 8/10

Game 15-3 out of 10 Season Two Episode 5 It's Fun-o'clock Somewhere(2021)-PC via Steam Deck-Beaten on May 26
-This was the finale of season two and it left on a cliffhanger. Will we ever see the final conclusion? 7/10

Game 16-Godfall(2020)-PS5-Beaten on June 12
-I played this multiplayer and had a blast with the game. Great back and slash action. Not much of a story though. 8/10

Game 17-Dordogne(2023)-PC Via GamePass on ROG Ally-Beaten on June 14
-This was just a beautiful and emotional game while it lasted. It's quite short, about three hours or so but it pulls the heart strings. 9/10

Game 18-Alien Rage(2013)-PC via Steam Deck-Beaten on June 16
-This game did not get good ratings when it came out. It is an old school FPS that sends you down a path and pushes enemies and bosses at you. Back in 2013, everyone wanted an open word. Well, I prefer these types of games. So much fun and hard too. 8/10

Game 19-Far Cry 6(2021)-PC via ROG Ally-Beaten on June 20
-I really liked this game. It followed the Far Cry formula which I hope changes a bit going forward as they are becoming quite similar. I look forward to the DLC. 8/10

Game 20-The Chant(2022)-PC Vis ROG Ally-Beaten on June 30
-The most janky game I have ever played but I still I enjoyed this horror game. It was a setting in a cult that I haven't really experienced before. 5/10

Game 21-That Which Gave Chase(2023)-PC via ROG Ally-Beaten on July 1
-This was an indie horror game with PS1 style graphics. I loved the music and graphics but overall it was boring and confusing. 4/10

Game 22-Trepang 2(2023)-PC via ROG Ally-Beaten on July 26
-I loved this fps! It was in the vein of the FEAR games. It had horror, it had bummer time and it was a blast. 9/10

Game 23-Oxenfree II Lost Signals(2023)-PC via ROG Ally-Beaten on July 27
-What a mysterious little adventure game. It had very cool vibes. I didn't like it as much as the first game overall but did really like the ending. 8/10

Game 24-The Expanse A Telltale Series Episode One Archers Paradox(2023)-PC via Steam Deck-Beaten on July 27
-I have really missed Telltale games and their episodic games. As with all episodic games, I think the first episode is the weakest as you have to get to know the characters. This was a pretty good first episode. 8/10

Game 25-Last Stop(2021)-PC via Steam Deck-Beaten on July 28
-What a great adventure game this was. Highly recommended for anyone that likes Telltale type games. 9/10

Game 26-Varney Lake(2023)-PC via Steam Deck-Beaten in July 29
-This is a sequel to Mothmen 1966 that I played a year ago. It's an interesting game and I really like the old 1980 computer graphics they used. As far as story, it's ok at best. 7/10

Game 27-The Expanse A Telltale Series Episode One Archers Paradox(2023)-PC via Steam Deck-Beaten on August 19
-I replayed this episode as my save was lost for some reason. 8/10

Game 28-The Expanse A Telltale Series Episode Two Hunting Grounds(2023)-PC via ROG Ally-Beaten on August 27
-This was a decent episode but really short. 7/10

Game 29-The Legend of Heroes Trails from Reverie(2023)-PC via ROG Ally-Beaten on September 2
-I've played every game in this series and just love it. It was cool to see every character get time in this game. They will be missed. With that said, I'm excited to see where the is series takes us next. 9/10

Game 30-The Expanse A Telltale Series Episode 3 First Ones(2023)-PC via ROG Ally-Beaten on September 10
-This was my favorite episode by far so far. Can't wait for Episode 4. 9/10

Game 31-The Expanse A Telltale Series Episode 4 Impossible Objects(2023)-PC via ROG Ally-Beaten on September 10
-Another great episode! I look forward to the finale soon! 9/10

Game 32-The Expanse A Telltale Series Episode 5 Europe's Folly(2023)-PC via ROG Ally-Beaten on September 21
-I found the final episode to be disappointing. It was very short and just seemed end. 6/10

Game 33-The Callisto Protocol(2022)-PC via Steam Deck-Beaten on September 28
-This game did not get great reviews but I loved it. Thought it was a great horror game as I move into my horror game playing season. I look forward to the DLC. 9/10

Game 34-The Callisto Protocol DLC The Final Transmission(2023)-PC Via Steam Deck-Beaten on September 29
-Loved the game and loved the dlc. Great game that will likely never see a sequel. 8/10

Game 35-Home Sweet Home(2017)-PC via Steam Deck-Beaten on October 1
-I really enjoyed this horror game. I played the flat version but wiki look to play the VR version in the future. 7/10

Game 36-Silver Chains(2019)-PC via Steam Deck-Beaten in October 3
-This was an in horror game that was short but also felt longer than it should have been. 7/10

Game 37-Scarlet Hallow Episode One(2020)-PC via ROG Ally-Beaten on October 8
-I played the first episode back when it first came out and decided to start playing it again. Love this visual novel. The atmosphere just is perfect for the Fall/Halloween season. 10/10

Game 38-Scarlet Hallow Episode Two(2021)-PC via ROG Ally-Beaten on October 8
-This wasn't as good as episode one as it wasn't as spooky. Still looking forward to the next episode. 8/10

Game 39-Scarlett Hallow Episode 3(2022)-PC via ROG Ally-Beaten October 11
-This episode was pretty good. I do wish it was a bit creepier for dealing with ghosts but that's ok. 8/10

Game 40-Scarlet Hallow Episode 4(2022)-PC via ROG Ally-Beaten on October 15
-I really like this episode and can't wait for episode 5 to be released. 9/10

Game 41-Madison(2022)-PC via ROG Ally-Beaten on October 16
-Loved this horror game overall but the puzzles were ridiculously hard. 8/10

Game 42-Gylt(2023)-PC via ROG Ally-Beaten on October 20
-I really liked this light hearted horror game. I started playing it on Stadia several years ago and never finished it. I was thrilled to hear it was releasing on PC. Great Halloween season game! 9/10

Game 43-The Land of Pain(2017)-PC via Steam Deck-Beaten on October 21
-So I was looking to play a relatively short horror game and decided to play The Alien Cube. As I was reading up on that game, I found out it had a prequel. So that's why I played this game first. And I'm glad I did as it was a great short experience. I do wish it had a map though. 8/10

Game 44-The Alien Cube(2021)-PC via Steam Deck-Beaten on October 23
-I loved The Land of Pain and I loved this game. Such a great, foreboding experience. 9/10

Game 45-Creeping Terror(2017)-3DS-Beaten on October 28
I loved this four hour 3DS horror game. It had great tension kind of like the original Clocktower. Great little horror game. 9/10

Game 46-Resident Evil 4(2023)-PC via ROG Ally-Beaten on October 29
-What an awesome horror action game. Absolutely no complaints. 10/10

Game 47-Resident Evil 4 Separate Way DLC(2023)-PC via ROG Ally-Beaten on October 30
-Great dlc for a great game! 10/10

Game 48-Returnal(2023)-PC via ROG Ally-Beaten on November 4
-I loved this game so nice I started using cheats. I would have never played it or beaten it with your them. Now I only got to the credits and apparently there is another chapter to play. Wish games told us that. I don't understand why they don't. 8/10

Game 49-Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3(2023)-PS5-Beaten on November 5
-Loved the campaign but it was short and the ending was terrible. 8/10

Game 50-Lake(2021)-PC via ROG Ally-Beaten on November 18
-This was a really chill game and quite enjoyable. I'm sure some would think it's boring perhaps but it was relaxing. 8/10

Game 51-Lake Seasons Greeting(2023)-PC via ROG Ally-Beaten on November 19
-I played and beat the main game because I wanted to play this. Great, festive dlc. Wish they played Christmas music in the radio instead of the same songs from the original game. 8/10

Game 52-The Grinch Christmas Adventures(2023)-PC via ROG Ally-Beaten on November 19
I'm playing Christmas games when I can over the next month. This game was ok. Lots of repeating enemies and environments. Made it to 52 with over a month to go! 6/10

Game 53-The Invincible(2023)-PC via ROG Ally-Beaten on November 26
-This game was based in a book that was written in 1964. It's an adventure game that has a sci fi story. I can see how some would think this game is boring but I really enjoyed the game. 8/10

Game 54-Fears to Fathom Home Alone(2021)-PC via ROG Ally-Beaten on November 28
-I wasn't really a fan of this game. No controller support which I find ridiculous. It wasn't scary at all except for the jump scare. 3/10

Game 55-Saw II Flesh and Blood(2010)-PS3-Beaten on December 8
-I really liked this game at times but also hated this game at times. It was a puzzle horror game in the saw universe which was interesting. I would like to see a modern Saw game with a bigger budget. 6/10

Game 56-Shadows of the Damned(2011)-PS3-Beaten on December 17
-I really liked this game. Great atmosphere and action. I miss these types of games. 9/10

Game 57-Incident at Grave Lake(2023)-PC via ROG Ally-Beaten on December 21
-This was a 20 minute walking simulator done in the PS1 graphic style. It was about alien abduction. It was interesting but so short. It was free so can't argue with anything really. 6/10

Game 58-Snowman Story(2023)-PC via ROG Ally-Beaten in December 22
-A heartwarming story of a snowman who doesn't want to melt so tries to survive eventually realizing what the true meaning of life is all about. 8/10

Game 59-Final Fantasy 16 Echoes of the Fallen DLC(2023)-PS5-Beaten on December 29
-This dlc was more FF16 which means it was pretty good. It was pretty challenging as well. 8/10

Game 60-Final Fantasy 16(2023)-PS5-Beaten on December 29
-I was kind of bored at first with the story, characters, side quests and world but it eventually grew on me quite a bit. I ended up really liking this game. 8/10

Game 61-Paradise Lost(2021)-PC via ROG Ally-Beaten on December 30
-This alternative WWII history walking simulator was definitely interesting. 7/10

Game 62-Draugen(2019)-PC via ROG Ally-Beaten on December 31
-This will be the last game I beat this year and it was a very good one. This was a mystery walking simulator that had great atmosphere. If you like walking simulators, definitely check it out. 8/10

55 games beaten out on PC
4 Games beaten on PS5
2 Games beaten on PS3
1 game beaten on 3DS

With a Steam Deck and ROG Ally, PC gaming has taken over my gaming life.

2023 Game of the Year that came out in 2023 that I finished: The Legend of Heroes Trails into Reverie

Runner up-Final Fantasy XVI

Dec · Jan 2, 2023

Dec - 52/52 Games

1. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl | 4/5 | Jan 08th
2. Cyberpunk 2077 | 3/5 | Jan 16th
3. Marvel's Midnight Suns | 4.5/5 | Jan 21st
4. Returnal | 3.5/5 | Jan 30th
5. Chrono Trigger | 4/5 | Feb 3rd
6. Dead Space | 3.5/5 | Feb 22nd
7. Forspoken | 3.5/5 | Mar 8th
8. Resident Evil 4 | 4.5/5 | Mar 26th
9. Save Room | 3.5/5 | May 3rd
10. Redfall | 3.5/5 | May 22nd
11. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor | 3/5 | Jun 10th
12. Diablo IV | 4/5 | Jun 10th
13. Halls of Torment | 5/5 | Jun 13th
14. Honkai: Star Rail | 3.5/5 | Jun 26th
15. God of War Ragnarok | 4/5 | Jun 29th
16. Dead Island 2 | 4/5 | Jul 09
17. System Shock | 5/5 | Jul 17th
18. Bramble: The Mountain King | 4.5/5 | Jul 30th
19. Fallout: New Vegas | 2.5/5 | Aug 2nd
20. System Shock 2 | 4/5 | Aug 23rd
21. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky | 3/5 | Aug 29th
22. Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon | 3/5 | Aug 30th
23. Lies of P | 4/5 | Sep 23rd
24. Cocoon | 4/5 Sep 29th
25. Gunfire Reborn | 4/5 | Oct 13th
26. Hi-Fi Rish | 4/5 | Oct 18th
27. Planet of Lana | 2.5/5 | Oct 24th
28. Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty | 3.5/5 | Oct 28th
29. Tchia | 4/5 | Oct 30th
30. Jusant | 4/5 | Oct 31st
31. Alan Wake II | 3/5 | Nov 6th
32. Marvel's Spider-man 2 | 3/5 | Nov 9th
33. Metroid Prime Remastered | 2.5/5 | Nov 13th
34. Chained Echoes | 3.5/5 | Nov 14th
35. Dredge | 4/5 | Nov 17th
36. Song of Nunu: A League of Legends Story | 3/5 | Nov 20th
37. Goodbye Volcano High | 4/5 | Nov 22nd
38. Deadlink | 3.5/5 | Nov 23rd
39. Robocop: Rogue City | 2.5/5 | Nov 25th
40. Deliver Us Mars | 2.5/5 | Nov 29th
41. Roboquest | 4/5 | Nov 30th
42. Super Mario RPG | 4/5 | Dec 1st
43. Baldur's Gate 3 | 3.5/5 | Dec 15th
44. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom | 4.5/5 | Dec 17th
45. A Short Hike | 4/5 | Dec 20th
46. Starfield | 3/5 | Dec 22nd
47. Final Fantasy XVI | 4.5/5 | Dec 29th
48. Nightmares from the Dep 2: The Siren's Call | 3/5 | Dec 29th
49. Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora | 2/5 | Dec 30th
50. Strange Brigade | 3.5/5 | Dec 31st
51. FAR: Lone Sails | 3.5/5 | Dec 31st
52. To The Moon | 3.5/5 | Dec 31st

Previous years:
54/52 2018
58/52 2019
56/52 2020
53/52 2021
52/52 2022

jonathanp · Jan 2, 2023

I definitely want to attempt to keep up with this. Would give me some motivation to play games.

sabertoothzombie · Jan 2, 2023

Let's do year 6!

2020 List
2021 List
2022 List

January
1. Persona 5 Royal (PC) | 8th Jan - 145.7hrs | 5/5 : Third playthrough but first on PC, took most of December and into January. I love this game so much, probably my favorite JRPG
2. Lunistice (PC) | 10th Jan - 5.3hrs | 3.5/5 : It was a fun platformer with fun levels to go through. I wasn't a fan of the additional characters and would've preferred more levels with the first one instead
3. Frog Detective 1: The Haunted Island (PC) | 14th Jan - 40 minutes | 3/5 : A replay, I wanted to finish the series off back to back. Good for what it is (same as the second)
4. Frog Detective 2: The Case of the Invisible Wizard (PC) | 14th Jan - 1hr | 3/5 : A replay, I wanted to finish the series off back to back. Good for what it is (same as the first)
5. Frog Detective 3: Corruption at Cowboy County (PC) | 14th Jan - 1.25hrs | 3/5 : Scootin' around the town and solving a theft with a twist, the most involved of the three games and a good end to the series
6. Beach Island Deluxe (PC) | 14th Jan - 20 minutes | 2.5/5 : It's...fine, just didn't feel great to control given how slippery your character is
7. Lil Gator Game (PC) | 15th Jan - 2.6hrs | 3.5/5 : Really cozy game, really enjoyable exploration and a very sweet story. Just a bit on the short side, which isn't a bad thing
8. Sagebrush (PC) | 16th Jan - 1.25hrs | 2.5/5 : Walking sim that was very linear. Go to one area, find something to unlock the next, rinse and repeat until the end of the game. Story didn't grab me as much as I hoped
9. Paradise Marsh (PC) | 17th Jan - 88 minutes | 3/5 : It's fine, it's short and sweet. The conversations with the constellations were the most interesting part. The only problem was trying to find certain bugs multiple times which became annoying
10. Castle on the Coast (PC) | 18th Jan - 2.7hrs | 2/5 : Not a fan of the visuals and how the platforming felt (very floaty). It's meant for someone, just not me
11. Sephonie (PC) | 20th Jan - 2.6hrs | 3/5 : It had an interesting story, and the puzzles were surprisingly enjoyable, but the platforming did not feel good
12. Titan Station (PC) | 21st Jan - 4hrs | 3.5/5 :I really liked the story of this game. I thought it'd just be a walking sim but it had puzzles which kept my attention. Only problems were a lack of a map, lots of backtracking, and pretty drab environment after a while
13. Adios (PC) | 22nd Jan - 1.25hrs | 3/5 : I don't know....it's depressing, in a good way, but there's not much there for the price.
14. Harmony's Odyssey (PC) | 24th Jan - 2.4hrs | 3/5 : Fun puzzles that aggravated me to no end.
15. Forspoken (PS5) | 30th Jan - 35.5hrs | 4/5 : It's actually quite fun, just running across the world, trying out the different types of magic. Yes, the side quests aren't deep, but the dialogue isn't nearly as bad as people make it out to be, and you can reduce the banter if you hate that part. My main criticism is the visuals + performance should be better for a PS5 game
February-April
16. SEASON: A letter to the future (PC) | 1st Feb - 6.7hrs | 4.5/5 : Basically a walking simulator on a bike. It resonated with me and I loved it
17. Button City (PC) | 3rd Feb - 5 hours | 3/5 : Chill and fun, but doesn't really stick with me
18. The Block (PC) | 3rd Feb - 86 minutes | 2.5/5 : It's...fine.
19. Like a Dragon: Ishin! (PS5) | 23rd Feb - 30 hours | 3/5 : Probably one of my least favorite Yakuza games. I just preferred modern day environments
20. Genesis Noir (PC) | 24th Feb - 3.9 hours | 2.5/5 : I didn't really enjoy this as much as I thought I would after looking at the art
21. The Last Campfire (PC) | 26th Feb - 4.6 hours | 3/5 : The puzzles were actually pretty good, gave me a bit of a pause
22. Embracelet (PC) | 26th Feb - 4.7 hours | 2/5 : I didn't enjoy this, kinda boring and didn't connect with me
23. Octopath Traveler 2 (PC) | 8th March - 95.1 hours | 4.5/5 : A great JRPG, better than the first in every way
24. Tinykin (PC) | 12th March - 8.6 hours | 4/5 : After A Hat in Time, it's probably one of the best platformers I've played. It was so good
25. Strange Horticulture (PC) | 14th March - 4.2 hours | 3.5/5 : Pretty chill and forgiving with mistakes
26. Norco (PC) | 19th March - 5.5 hours | 3.5/5 : Uhh...I'm not sure I understood everything but it was Disco-like
27. Frogun (PC) | 22nd March - 7.8 hours | 2.5/5 : So many issues with inputs not being recognized and the overall gameplay not feeling the best
28. Teacup (PC) | 24th March - 2 hours | 3.5/5 : Cozy, like the definition of cozy
29. Solar Ash (PC) | 26th March - 6.4 hours | 4/5 : It's basically a 3D platformer on skates. I was expecting HyperLight type difficulty but this was actually pretty easy
30. Terra Nil (PC) | 31st March - 8.8 hours | 3/5 : Good, chill, but wayyy too expensive for what is there
31. Olija (PC) | 5th April - 4.1 hours | 3/5 : The combat was pretty interesting with how the spear worked. It's a good game
32. 9 Years of Shadows (PC) | 9th April - 11.5 hours | 3.5/5 : Really good game that suffers from the sin of contact damage on enemies
33. Hi-Fi Rush (PC) | 17th April - 12.1 hours | 5/5 : A pure video game. Just perfect, and I suck at character action and rhythm games
34. Dredge (PC) | 26th April - 8.6 hours | 4/5 : I thought there'd be more horror, but it felt more like a chill fishing game with inventory management. Fun.
May-September
May
35. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (PS5) | 4th May - 25.5 hours | 4/5 : I think this was an improvement on the first game in every way and I already really liked the first one.
36. The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog (PC) | 5th May - 96 minutes | 2.5/5 : Fine for what it was, I don't remember much about it to be honest, just meh.
37. Coffee Talk: Episode 2 - Hibiscus & Butterfly (PC) | 7th May - 9.6 hours | 4/5 : I'm so conflicted as to whether I prefer this one or the first. I'm leaning towards the first, but this is just such a chill time
38. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Switch) | 4th June - 115 hours | 5/5 : I wasn't as sold on the previews of the game, with the building mechanics and the same map. I was completely absorbed in it and it's currently my GOTY
39. Mail Time (PC) | 17th June - 112 minutes | 2.5/5 : I really wanted to like this game. It has charm and is cozy, but it's soooooo buggy and I couldn't complete some quests because of the bugs. I hear an update came out later that fixed them so I need to try it again
40. Final Fantasy XVI (PS5) | 6th July - 48 hours | 4.5/5 : Phenomenal game, though it didn't feel like the Final Fantasy games I grew up with. I loved the world, the characters, the lore, the combat, pretty much everything except the ending
41. Shin-chan: Me and the Professor on Summer Vacation - The Endless Seven-Day Journey (PC) | 14th July - 10 hours | 3/5 : I'm sure this game applied to others more than me, but after a certain point it just because repetitive and not in a relaxing way but in a boring way. Good thing it wasn't too long
42. Super Kiwi 64 (PC) | 15th July - 57 minutes | 3.5/5 : I wish it was longer, I was really enjoying it and then it ended super quick
43. Smushi Come Home (PC) | 16th July - 3.8 hours | 4.5/5 : This would be my cozy GOTY. Just super nice platformer in the loosest sense of the genre. Loved it
44. Re:Fresh (PC) | 16th July - 1 hour | 3.5/5 : Took a little to get into it, but like Kiwi 64, I was really enjoying this platformer until it ended so soon
45. Haven Park (PC) | 16th July - 4.3 hours | 2.5/5 : I feel like I played this wrong, because it just felt like a collect and build game and ended up being so monotonous by the end
46. Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn (2.0-2.55) (PC) | 17th August - 130.1 hours | 3.5/5 : I wish I hadn't waited this long to start this game. It's so good and entertaining to play. This is the beginning of me losing time to an MMO, and I only scored it lower because the expansions really make this one feel weak
47. Pilfer: Story of Light (PC) | 19th August - 4.9 hours | 3/5 : Had some issues with the controls at times which left me wanting to pull my hair out, but overall, good platformer with some Mario Galaxy vibes
48. Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward (3.0-3.56) (PC) | 26th August - 54.1 hours | 4/5 : Better than ARR, with a stronger story. Just more FF14 goodness
49. Bomb Rush Cyber Funk (PC) | 2nd September - 11.9 hours | 4/5 : I only knocked this down a little because the cops are annoying when you just want to chill and ride. Otherwise, this is a great homage to JSR that I can see myself picking up whenever I want something to shut my mind off for
50. Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood (4.0-4.56) (PC) | 17th September - 111 hours | 4/5 : I was expecting to dislike this one more than Heavensward based off online discourse but I thought it was just as good with some lows and super high highs
October
51. Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers (5.0-5.55) (PC) | 6th October - 123.8 hours | 5/5 : This is my favorite expansion, just above Endwalker. Everything from the story, to the new classes, the music, the dungeons, raids, etc. all peak. If I had to pick a #1 of the year for me from any year it would be this
52. Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker (6.0-6.5) (PC) | 20th October - 115.4 hours | 5/5 : Amazing finish to the Ascian storyline. I loved every second of it and overall I think after finishing all of the expansions so far and getting up to date with the MSQ....this may be my favorite Final Fantasy ever
53. Marvel's Spider-Man 2 (PS5) | 25th October - 20 hours | 4/5 : It's good, great even, but I would still say I preferred the first one and the Miles game. Three crashes and glitches that had me restarting didn't help, but those lows didn't beat out the highs for me

Dragonyeuw · Jan 2, 2023

RESERVED.

JANUARY
# 1: Super Metroid( SNES Mini)
# 2: Metroid Samus Returns ( New 3DSXL)
# 3: Metroid Dread ( Switch)
# 4: Streets of Rage 4 ( Steam)

FEBRUARY
# 5 : TMNT Shredders revenge (Steam)
# 6: Max Payne 3 ( Steam)
# 7: Zelda BOTW ( Switch)
# 8: Vampire Survivors (Steam)

MARCH
# 9: Metroid Prime Remastered( Switch)

APRIL
# 10: Last of Us Part 1 ( Steam)
# 11: Resident Evil 7 (Steam)

ThisOneHasNoName · Jan 2, 2023

Currently Playing
High on Life - XSX
Tiny Tina's Wonderlands - PS5
Pentiment - XSX
Xenoblade Chonicles - Switch
Remnant: From the Ashes - PS4
Street Fighter 6 - PS5

L Thammy · Jan 2, 2023

Alright, beat my first game for the year, although it's not a new one. Wanted to practice Twinkle Star Sprites so I'm going to beat it a few times. I did one run with Sprites and one with Dark Ran.

G-X · Jan 2, 2023

Using just the 20bpount scale this year 1-10 with .5 increments, will try to write a small blurb about each item

01. Neon White - 8.5
Loved the gameplay, the story went from interesting to getting in the way.

02. Portal - 9.0
Classic, GOAT FPS puzzle game, first time playing it in years, played it while my kids looked on and tried to solve the rooms.

03. The Room 2 - 7.5
Simultaneously better and worse then the original, greatly disliked 1 puzzle path

04. The Room 3 - 7.0
Possibly franchise fatigue or maybe I needed a palette cleanser but felt like a further step down

05. Dangerous Golf - 4.0
Not sure what I was expecting more or less structure...but definitely expected more fun

06. The Room 4 - 7.5
Like more then the last game, possibly due to its length? Overall logic seemed better.

07. Stray - 6.0
It's a beautiful world, sadly it just didn't click for me even after rolling credits

08. CoDMW2 remaster - 8.0
In a year where all of the maps from MW2 were put into the new MW3, I played the remaster of the old MW2 that didn't include multi-player, and still loved it

09. Power Wash Simulator TR DLC - 7.0
Not the biggest Tomb Raider fan, but any reason to jump back into PWS. That mansion layout is terrible though.

10. WarioWare Inc - 8
First time playing WarioWare was on NSO this year with my kid, great times

11. Power Wash Simulator FF7 DLC - like the other PWS dlc,

12. Undertale -8.5

13. Fuser -7.5

14. Super Mario Galaxy - 9.0

15. I am bread - 1.0

16. Stela - 2.5

17. Soccer Story - 4.5

18. WWE2K23 - 8.5

19. Monument Valley -7.5

20. You Suck At Parking - 5.0

21. Redfall - 4.0

22. Monument Valley 2 - 7.0

23. Hotwheels Unleashed - 7.5

24. Teardown - 8.0

25. Only Up - 5.5

26. Townscaper - 6.5

27. Merge & Blade - 8.5

28. Street Fighter 6 -8.5

29. Final Fight - 7.0

30. Savage Bees - 6.5

31. Side Arms Hyper Dyne - 5.5

32. Mortal Kombat X -7.5

33. Trek to Yomi -7.0

34. Planet of Lana - 7.5

35. TinyKin - 9.0

36. The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe - 8.5

37. McPixel 3 -7.5

38. Mortal Kombat 1 - 8.0

39. Cocoon - 9.0

40. Mario Wonder -9.0

41. Forza Motorsport -7.0

42. Ori & the Blind Forest - 9.0

43. Jusant - 8.0

44. Coffee Talk - 8.5

45. Ghost Song - 6.5

46. Ranga Rock - 8.5

47. Quantum Break - 7.5

48. Coffee Talk 2 -7.0

49. Suika Game - 7.0

50. Madden 24 - 7.5

51. UFC 5 - 7.5

52. GTA Online - 5.5

See everyone next year!

Whimsicalish · Jan 3, 2023

02 | Biomutant
PS5 | Jan 02 | 27 h | 4/5

Long story short, I enjoyed Biomutant. I was entertained with the gameplay and laughed at the humor.

Somehow, I knew very little about it. I heard general disappointment but I didn't understand why. Seems like I skipped the disappointment because it was on PS Plus. I didn't wait on the three year delay or pay full price?

It was fun. I wasn't expecting the level of detail from the beginning. When you create your character, their appearance changes with their attributes. (Your furry friend would get a larger skull if they had high intelligence or large, buff shoulders with strength as examples.) The open world has different biomes to explore: swamp, forest, snowy caps, etc. Plus smaller areas with types of pollution. That encouraged me to be on the look out for gear that would protect my racoon character. The crafting was expansive. You could craft and upgrade gear from scratch with parts you found. Different weapons had their own set of combo buttons. No gear is locked behind classes. I liked the tools you get during the story and there's some customization options for two mounts. I wasn't expecting the quirky humor either. From unlocking fast travel by pissing on sign posts to the angel and devil karma characters arguing with each other.

The story was the weakest point. Bit repetitive and predictable. The world was suffering, thanks to the previous inhabitants and their pollution. Biomutant likes to give you the sense that karma/choices matter, but it doesn't in the long run. Bit of a bummer since the game keeps telling you the paths you choose have consequences. I guess they only meant outside of the game?

Main Post

Haregan · Jan 3, 2023

Games Completed - 25/52

January:
1. ENSLAVED: Odyssey to the West │ Jan 02
2. Nobody Saves the World │Jan 04
3. Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc │ Jan 08
4. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End │ Jan 13
5. Strange Brigade │ Jan 17
6. Portal │ Jan 18
7. Alien Rage │Jan 21
8. Aliens: Colonial Marines │ Jan 25
9. Aliens: Colonial Marines - Stasis Interrupted (DLC) │ Jan 25
10. We Were Here Forever │ Jan 26
11. Uncharted: The Lost Legacy │Jan 27
12. Metro 2033 Redux │ Jan 31
‎
February:
13. Hi-Fi RUSH │ Feb 07
14. Gears of War 4 │ Feb 09

17
18. Terminator: Resistance │ Feb 27
‎
March:
19. Terminator: Resistance Annihilation Line (DLC) │ Mar 2
20. Half-Life 2 │ Mar 2
21. Devil May Cry 2 │ Mar 5
22. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 │ Mar 7
23. Devil May Cry 3 Special Edition │ Mar 13
24. Battlefield V

Deleted member 511 · Jan 3, 2023

Reserved.

I never ended up posting in the 2022 thread but I had like 10/11 games beat - the majority of my time was taken up by XIV - replaying ARR, finishing HW (never finished on my first character), and then doing the rest of the expansions. That was a huge gaming thing I'm finally glad to have taken care of as a FF fan.

Snowfruit · Jan 3, 2023

2018 - 54
2019 - 56
2020 - 53
2021 - 27
2022 - 13

I'm still playing FFXIV almost every day even during a content drought... but I'll try again anyway.
----
1. Final Fantasy XI
2. Final Fantasy XI: Rise of the Zilart
3. Portal 2
4. Final Fantasy XI: Chains of Promathia
5. Final Fantasy XI: Treasures of Aht Urhgan
6. Stardew Valley
7. Final Fantasy IV
8. Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
9. Honkai Star Rail
10. Deep Rock Galactic
11. Minecraft
12. Final Fantasy VII
13. Final Fantasy XVI
14. Battlebit Remastered
15. Sevtech Ages (Modded Minecraft)
16. Chrono Trigger
17. Baldur's Gate 3
18. Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon
19. Party Animals
20. Sky: Children of the Light
21. Final Fantasy XIV: Growing Light
22. Monster Hunter World
23. Luigi's Mansion
24. Monster Hunter World Iceborne
25. Dragon's Dogma Dark Arisen
26. Monster Hunter Rise
27. Super Mario RPG
28. Monster Hunter Rise Sunbreak
29. Final Fantasy III
30. Path of Exile
31. Dragon Quest V
32. Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale
33. Final Fantasy
34. Spore
35. Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin

currently playing:
Final Fantasy XIV
Final Fantasy XI: Wings of the Goddess
Hades
Yakuza: Kiwami 2
Viewfinder

Chas Hodges · Jan 3, 2023

Here we fucking go.

On a streak of 5 years. LET'S GET IT.

2018
2019
2020
2021 (o3c.games roundup Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)
2022 (o3c.games roundup Part 1, Part 2)

1. The King's Dungeon (Playdate) - 15/01/23 - ~2 hours (100%)

A 'microvania'. Two little twenty minute maps that each use the game's limited number of unlockable abilities intelligently to shuffle you around its little dungeon.

In each, there are pieces of cheese to find that usually sit off the beaten track. This completion time reflects finding all 11 on map #1 and all 10 on map #2. I played both maps twice as on first completion I was one cheese short each time.

The developer put up a really interesting breakdown of how the game was made here.

2. Babylon's Fall (PS5) - 18/01/23 - ~42 hours (All Trophies [PSN])

Babylon's Fall is a totally online connected hack and slash RPG thing. I played it for 20 hours last year and had a nice time. I could tell the choice to go 'live service' was probably not the best for a team like Platinum, but I was interested enough in the game's core loop to soldier half way through the campaign, despite its low, low player base. Financial failure and publisher ruthlessness mean that it's gone for good, in entirety and perpetuity, at the end of February, roughly 11 months from its launch.

This announcement meant that I jumped back in, pretty hard, to try and wipe out the remaining trophies before they're completely unobtainable. The story mode wasn't too hard to solo through. Finding games remained tough owing both to low online numbers, and atrocious, segregated matchmaking meaning that solo was pretty much the *only* way I'd be making progress, but within a few days play, we were done.

Less simple were the post-game tasks of attrition. Accrue a certain amount of currency, hold a certain amount of weapons, upgrade a trio of trinkets, armour and armaments to their max level.

In order to complete the upgrades, my final trophies, I needed to collect certain crafting materials. Which could only be bought using certain tokens. Which could only be earned via a certain game mode. Which could only be accessed when my character was a particular power level. Which required a further 20+ hours of grinding stages after the game's story had wrapped.

I didn't *not* enjoy the game. But playing the same task over and over again with the added time pressure of a embedded UI clock literally counting down to the point at which the servers were to be switch off, was not that fun. In isolation, the core of this game is essentially a copy of decades old Phantasy Star Online, through a flashier lens. And I love Phantasy Star Online!

I've tried a few times to play PSO2, first via its untranslated Japanese release on the PS4 a long time back, and more recently on the PC when it finally released in English, but there's too much to it. It's too much of an MMO these days, which naturally is what a lot of people want, but my experience with Phantasy Star Online was always via tiny fan-maintained communities on the Gamecube 10 years after the fact, or more recently via the PC build of Blue Burst which is still diligently updated by a core group of die hards. Both communities were populated, but sparsely, similar to Babylon's Fall. Except, sadly for Platinum, that's not because the game is ancient and maintained by diehards, but rather because no fucker bought the game, and it was pretty much launched dead on arrival.

But the wrapper is all Phantasy Star. You run through a handful of stages like Phantasy Star, you upgrade gear like Phantasy Star, you can tackle missions solo if you want to try and tank through enemies or bosses, or with a group of 3 others like Phantasy Star. Bizarrely, to me at least, I think the reasons so many hated this game in 2022, were the same reasons why people were pretty *into* PSO back in 2000.

In 2023 though, it's done. Whatever I liked or didn't like, it's done. The game has about 6 weeks of 'end of life' care remaining. I can't recommend people jump in at this stage.

3. Telltale's The Walking Dead: Michonne (PS4) - 05/02/23 - ~4 hours (All Trophies [PSN])

Last year, me and my partner Georgia played through all four seasons of Telltale's The Walking Dead and loved it. After completing Clem's story, we decided to take a little break before playing the standalone Michonne mini-series.

Taking place in a specific window of the original comic's run, these three episodes flesh out fan favourite character Michonne's backstory whilst telling a new canonical tale.

It's really good and adds to the comic's story well, but suffers a little from pacing issues as a result of being truncated in length. Each season of the main game takes place over between 4 to 6 episodes, and runs about 10-12 hours in length. Michonne's story, despite having just as much action, is capped at a little under 4 hours, and you really notice certain character arcs wrapping early, and the emotional weight of certain events or deaths feeling a little empty as you don't have enough investment in the characters when you're with them for such a short space of time.

If the main game was a 10, this series is perhaps a 7. Fantastic that it's included in the complete collection though, along with loads of bonus features we faffed around with on finish like character model viewers, a complete soundtrack for every season, concept art for days, and cast and crew commentaries of certain episodes. A wonderful project.

4. Luna's Fishing Garden (PC) - 07/02/23 - ~4 hours (All Achievements [Steam])

I don't like the phrase 'cosy games', but I like the types of games the name signifies.

Luna's Fishing Garden is a bite-size town builder / fetch quest / fishing game, with a cool cast of animal characters, whimsical writing, and a story that wraps at almost exactly the point you may have otherwise grown tired of it.

Collect the things, talk to the character, fish for fish, clean up the island, automate tasks. All the good stuff Animal Crossing proved we all like, just in a cute pixel art style. A nice time.

5. Tapeworm Disco Puzzle (Evercade / Playdate) - 08/02/23 - ~4 hours (100%)

This is a cool game! It's a follow up to Flea, a game I beat last year via the Evercade, but instead of just pumping out another single screen NES platformer, developer Lowtek games mixed things up by making a 100 stage, single screen puzzle game that takes influence from Snake, Sokoban, and a host of other titles that may or may not begin with 'S' to produce something really cool.

I played the first 30 or so stages via its Playdate port which, if I could add, looks, sounds and controls beautifully on the handheld, but was encouraged to beat it fully when it got a lovely boxed release on the Evercade via their first cart of 2023, the Indie Heroes Collection #2. If Tapeworm was the only game in the collection it would be worth the asking price, but with a range of other modern games for old systems, there's even more to love here. The password system is actually the same across whichever platform you play on (including its PC port on Steam), so I was able to pick up on the Evercade where I left off on the little cranky handheld.

The difficulty of the 100 stages can oscillate a bit. New stage gimmicks are introduced every 20 stages, but the play order can sometimes feel a bit off, with stages 60-80 being much, much tougher than the final 20, but none of the difficulty spikes were harsh enough to put me off totally.

6. Nasty (PC) - 13/02/23 - ~2 hours (Credits)

An old Xbox Live Indie Games title. It's a single screen arcade game. 100 boards, with gameplay that sits somewhere between Bubble Bobble and Contra I guess? Kill all the enemies, collect as much loot as you can for score, and then head onwards.

You have a pool of lives that can be added to when you reach certain score milestones, but you can also continue from the start of whatever stage you die on, so I just pushed through the entire game in a sitting or two, irrespective of how many lives I was spunking up the wall.

It's cheap and cheerful.

7. Monster Jam Crush It! (Switch) - 10/03/23 - ~6 hours (100%)

In 2021 I beat Urban Trial Freestyle on the 3DS, a game that is the very embodiment of 'we have Trials HD at home'.

Monster Jam is the embodiment of 'we have Urban Trial Freestyle at home'.

Yes, there are other game modes in this monster truck racing game that don't fit the 2.5D format of the aforementioned games, but 90% of your time in this title will be taken up by the hillclimb mode, and it's impossible not to see these games of balance and careful acceleration as the inspiration, even if the outcome is simultaneously more forgiving but also more broken in execution.

It's not a good game, but it's a strangely enjoyable game. I'd estimate that there's close to 150 events in game, with your performance in each ranked as either bronze, silver, gold or platinum. Over the course of the week I've beaten the entire thing with platinum rankings, just blasting through a few stages here and there, having a mostly serviceable time.

There are some tough stages, with totally un-telegraphed difficulty spikes that took some lateral thinking to beat, and there are also some stages that are tough just by virtue of being broken - safe platforms being incorrectly tagged as 'out of bounds' causing immediate failure, collectibles placed in positions that required abuse of the physics system in order to reach - but they've all been vanquished by me, pro controller in hand.

8. Alien Cat 2 (Evercade) - 11/03/23 - ~3 hours (Credits)

The Evercade is back on my mind, seeing as the EXP handheld, essentially the second revision of the machine, is due to arrive at my house with a load of new carts on Monday after seeing months of delays relating to the entire stock being robbed from their warehouse a week before initial shipping.

The Indie Heroes cartridges are really cool collections of modern homebrew for old platforms like the Mega Drive, NES or Gameboy. Alien Cat 2 is a puzzle game where you guide a little space cat around a maze, avoiding hazards and collecting screws to fix your downed spacecraft.

The catch is that after a few stages a second cat is introduced, then later a third, then a fourth, and all are controlled concurrently meaning that you need to wedge the felines against safe obstacles to help others negotiate safe passage. Some stages aren't that difficult, others are brutally hard. All are a lot of fun though. This is relatively simple stuff, just kind of smooshing cats into corners Denki Blocks style as you help the loose tabbies to each collectible, but it was enjoyable throughout, and didn't out stay its welcome at only 30 stages.

9. Doodle World (Evercade) - 13/03/23 - ~90mins (Credits)

Another title from the Indie Heroes Collection, this is officially the first game I've beaten on my new EXP handheld.

A brisk NES platformer that feels closest to the original Super Mario Land on the Gameboy with its tiny sprites and bonus rooms.

I played through allowing myself a savestates at the start of each stage to begin with, but then went back and did the whole game legit, no pausing or save scumming. Start to finish it's only about 15 minutes all in, but I had a fair few failed runs as it's also one hit kills and so easy to fall into a bit of a death spiral if you're not thinking.

10. Anguna: Warriors of Virtue (Evercade) - 16/03/23 - ~5 hours (Credits)

Indie Heroes again. This action RPG originally came out on the GBA, but feels right at home here.

A trimmed down version of a classic Legend of Zelda title, Anguna is pretty straightforward, though I did need to console a guide a fair few times as dungeon solutions often involved walking through walls to reach necessary switches and items which feels a little counterintuitive. As the game went on I started making a point of grinding against every seemingly solid wall which helped (although probably looked pretty stupid), but it's still pretty so so design.

Hide a bonus in a wall, sure, but not the items needed to actually progress. Map is a decent size, and there are 5 large dungeons to tackle mostly non-linearly which is cool. A later revision of the game added a 6th, more challenging dungeon, but sadly that version of the ROM isn't the one on the Evercade cartridge. Hey ho.

11. Fish'n Feathers (Playdate) - 19/03/23 - ~22 hours (100%)

What a game.

A riff on Warioware and DSi classic Pyoro / Bird & Beans, you're basically just moving left and right across the screen to either avoid falling fish, or catch them with your diagonally extending fishing rod. Simple, simple, simple, yet I've struggled to play anything else for any real length of time on the Playdate for months now as every time I turn it on, Fish'n Feathers is already loaded, and I think 'well, a quick round won't hurt'.

There are 12 distinct fish that can fall from the sky, and an in-game log keeps a record of each with a nice bit of flavour text to characterise each falling swimmer. The final of the 12 has such specific criteria needed to get it to spawn, it took close to 90 attempts total, at at least 10 minutes a pop, to see one at all, and a further 50-odd attempts to actually catch one. I feel a serious sense of relief that the challenge is now vanquished and I can move on with my life.

When I messaged the developer (vogelscript on Twitter) to ask for a little help as to the fish's spawning conditions he told me "even during playtesting no one played it nearly as much as you". I'm genuinely proud to be Earth's biggest Fish'n Feathers super fan.

12. Alter Ego: Dreamwalker (Evercade) - 19/03/23 - ~1 hour (Credits)

There are two Mega Cat collections on the Evercade, both focussed on collating titles from the modern retro publisher. On both carts there are a lot of these sort of single screen action puzzle games. If you bought them for the actual Mega Drive for £50 you may well feel a bit cheesed off that you can reach the credits in just over an hour, but alongside 8 or 9 other titles on a collection priced closer to £15 there's absolutely now way you could complain given some of these game's inherent qualities.

In Alter Ego you control a little avatar, as well as an echo of said avatar that will mirror your movements. Pressing a button will swap position between 'solid' and 'echo' allowing you to avoid hazards or traverse gaps, as the echo is not bound by the same gravity as the main player character. Across 30 levels you're introduced to other mechanics like collectibles that can only be grabbed by certain character forms, enemies that harm the echo but not the solid meaning you need to reverse your controls and focus, as well as stages that need to be completed in a certain order or else you're lock yourself out of collecting the objects needed for success.

It's simple, but it looks and sounds great, and feels good whether played handheld or on the TV via the VS.

13. Canon - Legend of the New Gods (Evercade) - 14/04/23 - ~25 hours (Credits)

A cool, previously Taiwan-only strategy RPG that cribs primarily from Shining Force in its gameplay. The story is based on Chinese folklore, but was largely incomprehensible across the 25 hours it took to beat. There are lengthy dialog scenes between almost all of the game's 36 battles, but the number of characters introduced means it can be really hard to follow.

Without wanting to sound culturally or racially insensitive it can be hard to remember who's who from a group of names like Lin Yun, Yan Rong, Yang Jian, Huang Hu and others because the sprite art is a little nondescript, there's no large scale character portraits in dialogue scenes, there's obviously no voice acting, and the localisation is very one-voice. After beating the final boss, two characters that I'd had in my party since the very start of the game said something along the lines of 'well, I guess we should get back to Heaven then' and I was genuinely shocked as I'd been totally unaware they were meant to be heavenly beings even though I'd at least read along every bit of dialog in the game.

Stages themselves vary in difficulty, but require some proper strategic nous, especially in the final third of the game. Learning the strength of attacks, both of your own party, and enemies in the stage is really important, as is memorisation of movement abilities. Some later encounters face you off against enemies with huge health reserves and devastating area of effect magic attacks, and it's a fun challenge organising your party across the field just out of a damaging attack's reach before ploughing in one after the other when it's your turn.

There are some surprisingly effective set pieces dotted throughout the game too that betray the games humble unlicensed Mega Drive roots: a stage where you need to take down a named enemy before a village is burnt to the ground; a stage where your party is crossing a bridge as it crumbles turn by turn; dungeons with multiple routes through them; regenerating demon assailants that mean you must constantly push your party forwards.

Maybe this is all bread and butter stuff to a SRPG aficionado, but as a novice, I thought all of this was pretty cool.

This game also highlighted the versatility of the Evercade once more. I played 5 hours of this game on the OG handheld whilst I was waiting for my EXP to be delivered, then probably ten hours a piece on both the updated machine and the VS home console. With saves on the cart, it's as easy as popping it into the device you want to play on and settling in for a battle. Still very much in love with what Blaze are attempting to do with this little ecosystem.

14. Shadows of the Damned (PS3) - 08/05/23 - ~8 hours (Credits)

Beat this whole thing via RPCS3 on the Steam Deck. Can we take a moment to appreciate how mad it is that this little portable PC was able to play a big PS3 exclusive at a locked 30fps for the entire run time and the only crash I had in the 8 hours it took to beat was during the closing cutscene?

Basically a Robert Rodriguez film in game form, this is a stylish, childish stroll through a Suda 51 helmed story, all built around a slightly modernised Resident Evil 4 control scheme. We're talking over the shoulder, X-to-quick-turn, aim down laser sights horror action game courtesy of the big man himself Shinji Mikami who acts as producer for this particular project.

Luckily for me, the big weenie who can't handle jump scares or spooks to save my life and has failed to make more than 2 hours of progress into Resident Evil 4 on any of the ten occasions I've tried to play it, this is not a scary horror game. Instead, this is a high octane, mostly linear Evil Dead 2 style romp through the underworld where every pickup or weapon is a dick joke, and enemy entrances are always telegraphed to make sure you can get the jump on their shambling approaches.

Some bosses and encounters were great, some were a bit annoying. The final boss was really aggravating, and it was disappointing to have to watch the final cutscene on my phone when the emulator crashed. But overall, I had a right old laugh playing this one. A bang bang, head popping good time. Sick.

15. Adulting! (Gameboy) - 28/05/23 - ~20 minutes (Credits)

A tiny homebrew adventure game for the original GB.

Complete a short list of mundane daily errands in a vague commentary on that horrible transitional time between childhood and adulthood that takes place somewhere around age 20.

Very little to say, as it's deliberately short and to the point, but I appreciated there being an explicit instruction as soon as you start the game that informs that you can 'Press B to Cuss' at any point.

16. Romeow and Julicat (Evercade) - 01/06/23 - ~5 hours (Credits)

This is a really fun, but really tough puzzle game.

You have a big grid, and are given a range of block based pieces made up of between one and five squares to fit into said grid. If you fill an entire horizontal or vertical line, the blocks are cleared. Every time you expend your pool of three shapes, the game will generate three more, etc etc.

As a modern homebrew Mega Drive title, the art is sweet, the music is outstanding, and everything feels really tight and satisfying. Failure of a stage usually comes from mismanagement of the board or poor forward planning, and so repeat play feels rewarding as you start to find strategies to deal with awkward five piece shapes like crosses or Ls / Js to make incremental progress each run.

There's only 6 stages in the game, but it took hundreds of attempts to get through it. I 'beat' (inverted commas) the game on normal difficulty allowing myself a save state at the start of each level, but also beat (no inverted commas) from start to finish on easy difficulty as the completion requirements on each stage is reduced to make things a bit more manageable. On normal and hard the game asks you to place a ludicrous amount of pieces to finish a level - we're talking like 400 which can mean a level will last upwards of 20 minutes sometimes - my only real criticism of an otherwise really top tier aftermarket Mega Drive game.

17. Trash Quest (PC) - 04/06/23 - ~2 hours (Credits)

On a friend's recommendation, I gave this mini metroidvania a blast. It's fun!

It's also surprisingly difficult in places, especially in the run up to its end game, at least for someone as famously poor at games as me.

Lovely art and music though, and lots of options for those that want to dial down and really 'nail' the game, including a variety of achievements to aim for for the speed running nuts. One particularly mad goal is to beat the game in sub-10 minutes. At present, only one person has accomplished this according to the in-game leaderboard!!

18. Hungry Shark World (PS4) - 07/07/23 - ~70 hours (All Trophies [PSN])

This has taken an unreasonable amount of time. A F2P mobile game published by Ubisoft in 2016 that got a 'premium' port to home consoles in 2018.

Zip around one of four large maps completing objectives, unlocking new sharks, and buying accessories to tart them up. It's mindless, but it holds a special place in my heart.

When I first met Georgia, my now partner of almost 5 years, she used to play Plague Inc or Hungry Shark on her phone if I was faffing about with a game on the TV, or taking a shower, or planning work for school. I'd never seen or heard of Hungry Shark, but bought it when it launched on console so we'd have something we could play together. Every once in a while we'd boot it up for a couple of hours and take turns seeing what score we could achieve or how much progress we could make against whichever in-game missions we were currently served.

Now, in the early days of our relationship, we used to try and spend the odd night apart to encourage each other to remember to 'do our own thing'. I knew from past experiences that I could get very swept up in a person, and so it seemed sensible to have the space to be both coupled and uncoupled. We were really fucking bad at working to our self set distance rules though, and Hungry Shark became the 'excuse' when we were missing each other. A quick text that read 'Want to come over and do a few shark missions?' essentially just a euphemism for 'I miss you and don't want to sit here lonely when I know you're just down the road'.

We played the Switch version on and off for a month or so, and eventually put it down to play or watch other stuff. When we eventually moved in together in 2020, we bought a new copy of Hungry Shark World on the Playstation - a sort of symbolic gesture that it was now our house and our console and our game. We've been playing it on and off since we first moved in together, but as the tasks became more and more of a chore, the gaps between play were growing longer and longer.

In the last week, apropos of nothing, I said 'fuck it' and committed to finishing off the last chunk of the game. Boy was it a grind. But as one of only a handful of people to 100% the game (at least according to PSNProfiles.com) I feel a strange sense of accomplishment on top of a weird sentimentality owing to the game's place in me and Georgia's own story.

19. Tetris / Megatris (Uzebox) - 15/08/23 - ~3 hours (All Achievements [RA])

A two for one. Uzebox is apparently an open-source, open-platform fantasy console akin to the Pico-8. A set of imagined hardware limitations to push developers to be creative with their indie projects. Uzebox has two different implementations of Tetris: the aptly titled Tetris, and the expanded Megatris. Both play well and feel similar to NES Tetris but with a ruleset closer to Tetris DS considering their modern considerations such as hold pieces, a ghost piece, and some softer rotation rules.

You can't 'beat' Tetris, naturally, but I have grabbed all RetroAchievements for both games.

20. Plants vs Zombies (PS3) - 22/08/23 - ~50+ hours (All Trophies [PSN])

It has fallen.

The 'Alive and Planting' trophy is awarded for getting through 40 waves of the Survival mode. It's brutal.

Back in the 360 days me and my brother, both still living at home, worked together to beat PvZ on the Xbox. 'Alive and Planting' was the final achievement unlocked then, and now well over a decade later, 'Alive and Planting' is the final trophy unlocked in our PS3 run. Every time we've hung out over the last year and a half we've played a bit of Plants vs Zombies. The story mode went down reasonably easy, and we took turns, 'level or a life' style to hack through the main adventure. We beat most of the bonus modes in an afternoon. But the final endless survival has taken months. A successful run is close to 2 hours long. We've tried and failed 20, 30, 40 times?

For the first two dozen attempts we tried to use our own big brains. Our own strategic nous. We'd hit wave 10 and then fall apart. Allowing ourselves a little peek at a video online, we internalised some of the basic strategy and started consistently getting into the teens. After too many failed attempts and wasted days to count, we finally gave in, watched through a whole guide, and tried to put what we watched into practice. Even 'cheating', it took another ten attempts.

It's so, so hard. And made infinitely harder by the fact that beyond the first handful of waves, the PS3 version drops to single digit framerates.

Very, very happy to have this one licked.

Aniki · Jan 3, 2023

01 | Signalis
GP | Jan 03 | 16 h | 10/10

This game got a lot of praise so my expectations were pretty high when i got to it. Now after beating it i will be one more voice singing its praises.

The game's main strength is its atmosphere. It just oozes it. Everything from its unique artstyle (for a survival horror game), to its sound design and the art deco of the environment give it very opressive feeling. This only gets even more emphasized by the characters and their struggle in this very uncaring world. I also have to commend the devs for making me care about the main protag and the story. I always wanted to know what happened next and read all the notices i could find to maybe get a better understanding of this place and its inhabitants.

Gameplay is standard survival horror fare. You have a number of different tools at your disposal to deal with all the critters that want to end your life. You only have enough space in your inventory for six items at a time and no possibility to upgrade to get more space, like you can in Resident Evil games. But i found it to be only a small annoyance. The weapons are not very inventive but they get the job done. The puzzle design on the other hand is quite good. There are lots of them and what i liked especially about them is how intuitive they felt. With the exception of maybe two i always figured out what i had to do.

This game won't win any innovation awards but it doesn't need to. The devs knew exactly what kind of game they wanted to make and executed on that vision with a certainty that i have seldom seen. It's an extremely well crafted game that pays homage to its bigger cousins but without feeling like a cheap copy. It has its own identity and has left quite an Impression on me. I can't recommend it enough to fans of the survival horror genre.

Main Post

lion9t · Jan 3, 2023

Lets do It 🔥

Deleted member 32615 · Jan 3, 2023

Game 1: The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild (Switch) (35 Hours) (January 2nd, 2023)
I was really late on the train for BOTW, and I knew I had to get in before Tears of the Kingdom and MAN this game rules. Few open world games match the sense of exploration that BOTW allows the player, with an unmatched level of freedom provided to the player. You can abandon missions halfway through and do something else, you can completely ignore the main story and hunt shrines. I did not like the combat though, and I really wish weapons felt good to fight with, especially since the big weapons feel too slow and the smaller weapons feel too weak. The brilliant world building and sense of discovery the game provides makes it unmatched in the open world genre and you add on it's brilliant puzzles, great characters and perfect traversal mechanics that makes it one of the best games ever made. God damn.

Game 2: Umurangi Generation (PC) (1 Hour, 30 Minutes) (January 3rd, 2023)
I described this to a friend after beating it as "The Jet Set Radio of Pokemon Snap's" and he said that was the best pitch for a game he had ever heard. Umurangi Generation makes taking photos slightly more realistic than other games in it's genre, but accessible enough that people who don't really know how cameras work won't get confused. You can do a LOT with the camera to take really cool photos and you get more options in terms of lenses as you finish more levels. The artstyle is brilliant, with the world absolutely nailing a punk aesthetic but the best part of the game without a doubt is the masterful soundtrack by ThorHighHeels (Check out his YT channel if you haven't, it RULES). I immediately put on the soundtrack after finishing the game and not only does it fit the games world in order to make a world worth vibing out in, it's a genuinely amazing soundtrack that I'll listen to outside of the game, which I rarely do with video game soundtracks. This game rocks, check it out in the Steam sale because it's really cheap right now, it's one of my new favourites

Original Post

aladashdin · Jan 3, 2023

I've played along unofficially without posting to the thread cuz I was too shy, but this year, I'm gonna do it right. Excited!

Reserved.

1. Creaks — Nintendo Switch — 6 hrs — ★★★★☆

I don't play a lot of point-and-click games, but Machinarium is one of my favorite games ever, so I basically trust Amanita Design to come through. The art and "story" (lightweight but slightly creepy children's book fare) are as delightful as I had hoped. I can't say I fell in love the same way as I did with Machinarium, but that's OK with me. Every screen is an imaginative and detailed painting. You can double your play time just by letting your eyes glide over every little detail throughout the game.

Puzzles are the real reason this loses a star. It's 4 or 5 minor variations on essentially the same logic puzzle throughout the whole game. I felt like Machinarium incorporated a much wider variety of logic, environmental, and inventory-based puzzles, and that kept Machinarium always fresh. By the end of Creaks, I was kinda ready to move on gameplay-wise, even if I could easily have enjoyed 10 or 20 more hours of that art.

Hillside · Jan 3, 2023

Five down now.

Completed - 5/52

Yakuza 4 Remastered (XSS) - Jan. 5th - 21hrs | 4/5
Hi-Fi RUSH (XSS) - Jan. 27th - 11hrs | 5/5
Elden Ring (2nd playthrough, XSS) - ~70hrs | 5/5
Cult of the Lamb (PS5) - Mar. 15 - 13hrs | 4/5
Like A Dragon: Ishin (XSS) - Mar. 17 - 28hrs | 4/5

Currently playing

Yakuza 5 Remastered (XSS)
Returnal (PS5)
Demon's Souls (PS5)

toth3max · Jan 4, 2023

Completed the challenge 2020 and 2021 but not 2022 (landed at 33 finished games). I hope I get revenge this year and finish at least 52 games.

Completed 32/52

Lunistice (PC) | Jan 4th - 4h | 3/5
The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope (PS4/5 (Coop)) | Jan 5th - 5h | 2/5
Yakuza Kiwami (PC) | Jan 6th - 19h | 4/5
Kirby's Dream Land (Gameboy) | Feb 11th - 1h | 3/5
COD Modern Warfare 2 Season 1 (PS5/PC) | Feb 14h - 80h | 4/5
Super Mario Land 2 (Gameboy) | Feb 23rd - 2h | 3/5
Destiny 2 Lightfall (campaign) (PS5) | Mar 1st - 10h | 4/5
Fortnite Chapter 4 Season 1 (PS5/PC) | Mar 10th - 20h | 2/5
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (PC) | Mar 11th - 2h | 4/5
Backpack Zak (PC) | Mar 11th - 1h | 4/5
Resident Evil Village: Shadows of Rose (PC) | Mar 25th - 4h | 4/5
The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog (PC) | Apr 10:th - 3h | 3/5
A space for the unbound (PC) | Apr 29:th - 14h | 4/5
Star Wars: Racer (Xbox) | May 4:th - 1h | 3/5
Sudoku by MobilityWare+ (iOS) | May 5:th - 13h | 4/5
The Expanse Episode 1 (PS5) | Aug 1st - 1h | 3/5
Zodiacats (PC) | Aug 13th - 1h | 4/5
A building full of cats (PC) | Aug 14th - 1h | 4/5
A castle full of cats (PC) | Aug 15th - 2h | 4/5
DIRT 5 Energy DLC (PS5) | Aug 20th - 2h | 3/5
Venba (Xbox) | Aug 26:th - 2h | 4/5
The Expanse Episode 2 (PS5) | Aug 26th - 1h | 3/5
The Expanse Episode 3 (PS5) | Aug 27th - 1h | 3/5
The Expanse Episode 4 (PS5) | Sep 16th - 1h | 2/5
The Quarry (PS5) | Sep 19th - 10h | 2/5
The Expanse Episode 5 (PS5) | Sep 22nd - 1h | 2/5
Super Mario Bros Wonder (Switch) | Oct 20th - 8h | 5/5
Sonic Superstars (Switch) | Oct 22nd - 6h | 2/5
Call of Duty Modern Warfare III (Campaign) (PS5) | Nov 11th - 6h | 1/5
Final Fantasy XVI (PS5) | Dec 2nd - 31h | 3/5
Adventure (Atari 2600+) | Dec 4th - 1h | 3/5
Assassin's Creed Mirage (PS5) | Dec 24:th - 33h | 4/5

Currently playing

Avatar Frontiers of Pandora
Diablo IV

Paper Cheese · Jan 4, 2023

Grabbing my spot now!

sosadtoday · Jan 4, 2023

main post.

#1. Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy - PS5 - 4.5/5

bigbusiness · Jan 4, 2023

Let's give it a whirl, why the heck not? (As good an excuse as any to stay up to date on Game Pass releases.)

Technoxtic · Jan 4, 2023

Games Completed: 1/52 (Actually gonna aim for at least 2 a month so I would say 24 is more of my goal here. Not much time on my hands!)
Currently Playing:

Skies of Arcadia (Dreamcast)

JANUARY

Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion | 01/01/2023
Somerville | 28/01/2023

FEBRUARY

Hi-Fi Rush | 05/02/2023

hamsterstyle · Jan 4, 2023

Technoxtic · Jan 4, 2023

1. PS5 | Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion | 3.5/5 | 1/1/2023

Having never completed the original FF7 and beating FF7 Remake back in 2020, I was super fascinated by what this game was going to bring to the table in terms of gameplay and narrative. And, oh boy, did I get varying degrees of both.

Having not followed this game much prior to release, I was surprised at the way it differs from Remake's relatively straight-forward action-RPG mechanics. The DMW was the first big surprise for me when getting into the first few combat encounters. Initially I loved how it added an element of unpredictability in even the most mundane of fights, but quickly grew tired of waiting on particular desired lineups and the repetitive cutscenes that would play when you lucked out. Thankfully, it wasn't all randomized, with the materia system feeling really engaging. Was a big fan of developing materia then fusing them to allow for super crazy stat combos. With all that said, the gameplay kept me engaged for the better part of my time with Crisis Core Reunion.

Story-wise, this game is objectively a mess. Zack's story and character are amazing and I loved his interactions as essentially the straight man to all these wacky anime caricatures. But I was immediately unimpressed with both Genesis and Angeal, with both coming off as way to ridiculous to take seriously at all. Any time Genesis began quoting LOVELESS I immediately rolled my eyes. The latter parts of the game involving Cloud, Zack and Sephiroth were amazing, and really helped to flesh out the world of FF7 to me, but in the grand scheme of things, I don't really understand much of what happened by the end of the game.

Crisis Core Reunion was a fun way to start the year and an interesting insight into the corners of the FF7 world. I'm not sure how much this game is going to feed into Rebirth but I am excited to see the way Zack's legacy will affect the future!

Original Post

Chiktabba · Jan 5, 2023

I probably won't make it but let's try!

Chalanix · Jan 5, 2023

Reserved! Will give this a shot.

01 | Spider-Man: Miles-Morales | PC, Steam | Jan 6
Bit on the shorter side but it's always nice to get some of that Sony polish every now and then. Might still swing around the map to complete it some more.

02 | Vampire Survivors | PC, Steam | Jan 8
Since my criteria will be rolling credits, I finally did it on Vampire Survivors. I mean, what a game. What a short burst addiction. On to the DLC.

03 | Persona 5 Royal | PC, Game Pass | Jan 11
So this was amazing, but as ever in all JRPGs I play, tended to go too long for my taste. Still, as someone who is not very schooled in the genre, this was probably the best I've played.

04 | High On Life | PC, Game Pass | Jan 14
To be fair...

05 | Fashion Police Squad | PC, Steam | Jan 15
Who knew getting people some fashion sense would be this hard

datamite · Jan 5, 2023

01 | Heavenly Bodies | ★★★★☆

Played through this in co-op with my partner. A lot of fun. Its quite short, we finished it in a single sitting. Very silly and fun. I think a couple of times it leaned a little past goofy and into frustrating with the controls. It seems like a hard line to hit, but I think it mostly walked it. Good variety in the puzzles, and the final sequence was a really good escalation.

02 | Kingdom Two Crowns | ★★★☆☆

Also played through this with my partner. Its got a really compelling gameplay loop, there's always one more thing to do. My big gripe is that the difficulty curve is very, I guess spiky is the right term. The very start of the game is quite sweaty, but after that it becomes very easy and you're mostly just going through the motions. Most of the game is just upgrading the next thing, and waiting till the next day to upgrade the next thing. It can get very samey. The local co-op works really well though as you can always have one person on either end of the map.

VALORANT_2022_E5-3_PlayVALORANT_ContentStackThumbnail_1200x625_MB01_opt.jpg

03 | VALORANT | ★★★★☆

Finished the Chapter 5 Act 3 battle pass, so I guess this fits here. Played about 3000 hours of Counter Strike back in the day and this is quickly taking over as my current go-to multiplayer game. It's extremely tense and very stressful and has the downsides associated with that. Teammates can get real toxic real quick, but when it hits, it hits so good.

04 | It Takes Two | ★★★★☆ | Jan 21st

Played this with my partner. We really enjoyed it, honestly a lot more than I expected. The gameplay is fantastic. Nothing particularly deep or interesting, but its just constantly giving you new, generally flashy things to do. The game does a great job of having the two players alternate between supporting one another. Probably the most common setup in the game is that one player will be helping the other across a large gap, then, once across, that player will help the first to cross the gap in a different way. How this is actually achieved changes many times as new mechanics are constantly being introduced and discarded. The gameplay ties thematically very well with the story, which unfortunately isn't very good. The plot is pretty straight forward, but the writing of the two actual leads just isn't very good. They just come across as deeply unlikable, and incredibly stupid the whole game. Despite that, the actual game was a blast.

05 | Devil May Cry 3 | ★★★★☆ | Jan 29th

The plan is to play through all of the DMC games. Never played them before. Made it about half way through the first game before giving up on it. It was nice to see where the series started, but it felt very clunky and difficult to play. Just skipped 2 completely cause of its reputation. Finally moved on to 3 and its really good! Especially in comparison to the first, it feels lightyears better. Everything feels so much smoother, the combos feel better to execute, the camera is much better, changing weapons in real time adds a lot of options to the combat. The story continues to be extremely silly, with Dante constantly firing off one liners that are often literally incomprehensible. I was worried before playing it that it might skew a bit too hard as it has a bit of a reputation, but I found it relatively straight forward until the final fight with Virgil that was a huge difficulty bump.

06 | Doom Eternal | ★★★★☆ | Feb 1st

I tried to play this back when it came out, but I bounced off it hard. I was a huge fan of DOOM (2016), which I replayed just before it came out and I think I just didn't like the things that were different. I didn't like the combat changes, and I really didn't like that the story seemed to be taking itself a lot more seriously. Coming back to it with a bit more distance, this game goes so fuckin' hard. I had a blast with it. The core combat loop is so tight. Its so fun to play. Its constantly giving you new tools and introducing new enemies. I think it ended at a really good point, I've had my fill. I don't really have any interest in dipping into the DLC.

07 | Breath of the Wild | ★★★★★ | March

My first complete playthrough since it first came out in 2017, despite maybe a dozen attempts that never got much past the great plateau. Obviously I wanted to replay it in anticipation of Tears of the Kingdom. Even after all that time, a lot of map was still burned into my memory, which did reduce the real magic of the game - not knowing what is going to be over the next hill. There's also been a few games, most notably Elden Ring that have really built on top of what BotW has done. That said, its still one of the greatest games ever made.

08 | Factorio | ★★★★★ | All The Time
So I've put close to 500 hours into factorio over the years. I bought it back in around 2015 or so directly from their website. Its probably the best factory building game ever made. I started up a new base this year and I'm going to try going past the initial victory condition and making a full scale megabase - something like 1k spm, I'm not sure what my actual endgame goal is for this. I just like making stuff in it.

09 | Dredge | ★★★☆☆ | April 10th

I got this after seeing it absolutely blow up on steam. I liked it well enough. It has a really cool atmosphere, great art, and a fun (if a bit predictable) plot. My biggest gripe is that the game is very mechanically driven, which works against the horror a lot. For maybe the first hour or so, it was a bit spooky, but once I understood how to mitigate the risks of the world and started upgrading the boat I feel like most/all of the tension drained away.

10 | Resident Evil 4 (Remake) | ★★★★☆ | April 15th

I'm kind of torn on the value of remakes. If I have a fondness for the original game and played it at the time, unless the remake dramatically changes the experience, I'm really not a fan. I replayed the original Dead Space just before the remake came out, and it really holds up! The remake feels so needless. That said, I'm a huge hypocrite, as I've played a few of these big remakes for games I never played on the original release, and really enjoyed them (eg, the Bluepoint Shadow of the Colossus remake). All that said, I'm actually massively in favor or remakes that are more in like with film remakes, where instead of trying to recreate the exact experience of the original, but technologically amped up, an actual new experience is created from the bones of the original. Great examples are the FF7 remake, and the RE2 and 3 remakes. I feel like RE4R is right on the line. Its so close to the original experience, but it does make a lot of additions and changes. It's obviously extremely well made technically. Overall I do think I still prefer the original. Will probably replay the OG at some point, but doubt I'll ever go back to this.

11 | Mata Nui Online Game | ★★★☆☆ | April 21st

So a good friend of mine is a giant Bionicle nerd, and mentioned this game was good in passing, so I downloaded it from the Internet Archive, and ran through it. It's an old flash adventure game. Clearly heavily inspired by Myst/Riven. It looks a lot better than you would think, and it really does a lot with a little, in terms of animation and storytelling.

12 | Iron Lung | ★★★★☆ | April 29th

I'd heard good things about this, and then saw that Markiplier is making a movie out of it?? Anyway its a good short experience. A very slow burn that builds up to a good conclusion. No idea how it'll make a movie though.

13 | Hollow Knight | ★★★★★ | May 11th

Squeezing this in before Tears of the Kingdom comes out. Absolute 🤡 moment for me as I replayed this expecting Silksong to be out soonish. Just as I finish it again, they announce the delay lmao. Anyway, its probably my favorite Metroidvania.

Aniki · Jan 7, 2023

02 | Citizen Sleeper
GP | Jan 07 | 10/10
Another excellent Cyberpunk dystopia where corporations only exist for their own sake while screwing over everyone else. The beginning hours of this game were quite intense. I didn't read anything about it, going in blind and it took me a while to get a handle of the mechanics. I choose my class and was introduced to the Eye, a space station where its inhabitants have to endure arduous work to survive. My character, a robot with no memories of how and why they got here felt like a perfect stand in for me, the player. Getting to know the rules of this place was of utmost importance since my char was constantly running out of energy which resulted in breakdowns. And as If that wasn't bad enough i also had to deal with a shady bounty hunter that was after my character. Clock was ticking and it felt like i wasn't making it until i unlocked some more locations on this station which gave me access to much needed resources, that made life on this hellscape much easier. But before that it really felt like i would be seeing the game over screen soon.

After that point the game had a different feel to it. Much less stressful and i kinda began to like this place. All because of the characters i got to interact with. Their often sad tales got me really invested in them and I wanted to know everything about them and their relationship with this station. That and i just wanted to see more of that beautiful character artwork. Everyone had unique designs that just pop and made them instantly memorable. I need more games with this art. And last but not least the music is incredible as well. Very melancholic, which fits this game very well. So yeah everyone who isn't averse to reading a lot and doesn't despise board games will have an amazing time with this game.

Main Post

Deleted member 32615 · Jan 7, 2023

Game 3: Gimmick! (NES) (2 Hours) (January 7th, 2022)
One of my goals this year is to play a few more NES games, in particular some Sunsoft titles. I loved Batman last year and wanted to delve further into their catalogue and I found a game called Gimmick! and what a game it is. This is seriously one of the best platformers not just on the NES but of all time. The main character Yumetarou feels brilliant to control, to the point where I felt like I could nail just about any jump from the first screen. The level design is top notch and some of the best that the NES has to offer. There are so many unique and fun ideas and the game really seperates itself from being a playground for the main character like other titles on the console like Kirby. It's by far the best looking game on the console, with each level feeling really lively and animations being charming in a way that's not seen in other NES titles. As expected from a Sunsoft game the soundtrack is brilliant, with a lot of genuine bops that have been stuck in my head all day since finishing this. I recommend giving this one a try, it's up there with Mario 3 as one of my favourite NES games

Original Post

HiroTSK5 · Jan 7, 2023

#1. River City Girls 0 [Switch 01/07]: Yo this game sucks but Kyoko stays winning.
#2. Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia [3DS 01/07}: Replayed this game 'cause I never did the post-game and want to beat it before Engage.
#3. Vampire Survivors Moonspell DLC [Steam 01/10]: The DLC s fun but doesn't really add anything "ground-breaking" but still fun none-the-less.
#4. Spongebob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom [PS5 01/13]: As far as licensed games go it's not horrible, but I don't really think it was worth remaking either.
#5. Undertale [Switch 01/22]: Never actually played through this myself, but it holds up all the same as a fun video game.
#6. Stranger of Paradise [PS5 01/26]: In anticipation for the final DLC I wanted to get through the first 2 DLC's and in the process replayed the entire game on Chaos difficulty. Game's good.
#7. Deltarune: Chapter 2 [Switch 02/03]: Weird I played Deltarune before Undertale. Queen and Spamton defeated, time to wait until whenever the rest comes out.
#8. Kirby's Dreamland [Switch 02/08]: New version still counts.
#9. Kuru kuru kururin [Switch 02/09]: A neat toy that would be so much more infuriating without the rewind feature.
#10. Live A Live [Switch 02/11]: It's criminal that this game never came out of Japan until recently.
#11. Metroid Prime: Remastered [Switch 02/13]: It's a pretty remaster but the original game was so good looking (and the new lighting is at times pretty bad) that there's pretty much no reason not to just play the Trilogy on Wii or WiiU.
#12. Stray [PS5 02/14]: Cat's favorite game of 2022 10/10.
#13. Portal [Switch 02/14]: Remember when valve made games?
#14. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild [Switch 02/25]: Only played enough to get the Master Sword so this was my first time doing the Boss Medley. Still lukewarm about BotW and Open-World games in general but I won't pretend the game isn't great and am ;looking forward to the sequel.
#15. Blazblue: Clonephantasma [3DS 03/07]: That was 6 bucks well spent with days left on the 3DS/WiiU eShop.
#16. Metroid Fusion [Switch 03/12]: I've played this game a few times but this playthrough really drove home how powerful the charge beam is in this game.
#17. The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap [Switch 03/16]: Still the most "eh" Zelda game of all time.
#18. Octopath Traveler II [Switch 03/23]: Very much an improvement over the first game (though the music feels a step down) but much like the first game none of the stories really gripped me but it was fun getting to the end of each character's chapter.
#19. Resident Evil 2: REmake [PS5 03/24] I did it I finally beat a Resident Evil game
#20. Resident Evil 4: HD [Ps5 03/25]: After multiple attempts over the years I've finally beaten this game. A remake would be nice I guess.
#21. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker [WiiU 03/28]: Got nothin'. Wind Waker's my favorite Zelda, no Idea it just turned 20 because I need no reason to replay it.
#22. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword [Switch 04/01]: This game's underrated and it's influence on BotW is way understated.
#23. Pineapple on Pizza [Steam 04/02]: That was a 10 minute game for sure.
#24. Superliminal [PS5 04/02]: A really good really creative puzzle game.
#25. Resident Evil 3: REmake [04/05]: Even as a relative newcomer to the series I can feel the downgrade from the 2 remake to this game.
#26. Attack of the Friday Monsters [04/07]: It's a cute game, nothing ground-breaking but I'm glad I got it before the 3DS shop died.
#27. Vampire Survivors: Tides of the Foscari [04/16]: Definitely more going on than the first DLC, glad that they're still going strong with more game.
#28. Final Fantasy I: Pixel Remaster [04/19]: Those boosts are pretty good at shortening these games' length.
#29. Stranger of Paradise: Wanderer of the Rift [04/22]: The mode is a step up from the first DLC (and Gilgamesh is always welcomed) but it does drag on after the first couple floors.
#30. Final Fantasy III [Switch 04/23]: 30 years after it's initial release I finally played FFIII on a television.
#31. Xenoblade 3: Futures Redeemed [Switch 04/29]: I really appreciate how the DLCs of 2 and 3 realize that making their games more like the first game, shorter and more streamlined with fewer menus, tends to make for better games.
#32. Katamari Damacy: Reroll [Switch 05/02]: The Sky is Complete!
#33. Final Fantasy IV [Switch 05/11]: There's something indescribable about why I love III and IV but I would never change them for anything.
#34. Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom [Switch 05/25]: As a Breath of the Wild hater I can admit this definitely feels like the much better realized idea of what they wanted to do with that game and I really loved it.
#35. We Love Katamari [Switch 06/04]: Compared to the first game the levels are definitely more unique and it has a tighter game loop, I kind of feel like the visuals and the music are a step down from the first game.
#36. WarioWAare [Switch 06/11]: They say the perfect game doesn't exist but...
#37. Street Fighter 6 [PS5 06/13]: World tour was fun, shame the actual Street Fighter characters only make cameos as well as the story just kind of ends.
#38. The Legend of Zelda [Switch 06/15]: Genuinely don't see the similarities between this and BotW.
#39. Trinity Trigger [Switch 06/21]: Fine... definitely the weakest of Furyu's games thus far.
#40. Final Fantasy XVI [PS5 07/01]: A mixed bag for me, while I eventually grew to enjoy the story and characters the "MMO"iness of the game's progression and the terrible first 3rd of the game hold this back from me ever coming back to it like I have every other Final Fantasy.
#41. Sonic CD [PS5 07/02]: I had this game as a kid and I have no recollection of the time travel shit.
#42. Sonic 2 [PS5 07/04]: Fuck the Special Zones
#43. Yakuza: Like a Dragon [07/11]: After a 2 year hiatus I went back and finished this game. Story is everything you expect, the game play is fun everything wrapped up in a neat little bow.
#44. ChocoboGP [07/13]: Not a great racing game, the Magicite seems to skew way against the play. Courses are fine.
#45. Final Fantasy VIII [07/21]: I love this game, the teens are such endearing messes, the junctioning system is fun, the world is so interesting. It's defiantly a top FF for me.
#46. Kingdom Hearts II [07/23]: Comfort Food
#47. The Legend of Zelda: Oracles of Ages [Switch 07/29]: My first Zelda game and by all accounts it still holds up. except that 7th dungeon it can rot in hell.
#48. The Legend of Zelda: Oracles of Seasons [Switch 07/29]: I Realize now that this game is slightly less polished, the seasons don't really play into this game after their initial introduction. Dungeons aren't nearly as good as Ages either.
#49. Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 [Switch 08/01]: After four games they finally added a sword character! Plenty fun, way easier than the first games but definitely not worth the year long wait Limited Run Games.
#50. Kero Blaster [PS4 08/01]: A neat little shooter. Though that final boss may have taken almost as long for me to beat as the entire game leading up to it did.
#51. Bomb Rush Cyberfunk [Switch 08/19]: Almost perfect, my only gripes are that the map is really hard to read and I had a few cutscenes where the I was just looking a a black screen and text boxes didn't load. Other than that it is exactly what I been missing since I played Jet Set Radio Future on my friend's Xbox 20 years ago.
#52. Lost Judgement [PS5 08/27]: After Like a Dragon it was nice to go back to the beat 'em up style. I wish I was more interested in the side content as this game probably has more than previous games but at this point there are too many of these games to spend too long on 1.
#53. Tales of Phantasia [GBA 09/09]: Having finally gone back to this game after 16 years I can say it holds up. Forgot how much music from this game shows up in Symphonia, though the soundtrack showing up on iTunes was the reason I decided to go back to this game again.
#54. Like a Dragon: Isshin [PS5 09/18/2023]: Even though this was a remake set in a completely different time period, it still felt familiar to play a Pre-Dragon Engine style game. With this I'm finally current with the LaD series in time for Gaiden.
#55. LiEat [Switch 10/01]: I played this years ago on steam, it's cute All three games can be beaten under 3 hours, but it's nice to see this game come to other platforms.
#56. Armored Core VI: Fire of Rubicon [PS5 10/04]: Big cool robot fun game.
#57. Kirby and the Amazing Mirror [Switch 10/07]: There's something about giving Kirby a Metroidvania map instead of a level-select screen that just makes Kirby so much more enjoyable.
#58. Voice of Cards: Beasts of Burden [Switch 10/16]: While I enjoyed the trilogy well enough, each game felt longer and less charming than the game before it. All-in-all I'm glad I played them and the mechanics of the third game were interesting enough to carry a third very similar game.
#59. Super Mario Bros. Wonder [Switch 10/23]: A 10/10 perfect Super Mario Game, the best 2D game since World, except for that final boss; what a letdown.
#60. Alan Wake [PS5 10/30]: I'm sure for the time this game came out it was ground-breaking, but playing it now, having also played Control, it feels like remedy would be better suited to making TV Shows than they are Video Games.
#61. Eternights [PS5 11/01]: A weird game for Sony to feature for one of their States of Play, but for a game basically made by a solo dev the game was pretty good. Dialogue was charming even if the game itself wasn't doing anything groundbreaking.
#62. Star Ocean [PS5 11/07]: Having never played the original I can honestly say that the first 70% of the game is a really good "Tales of" game, but that last 20% when 10 necrons show up and the plot kind of just fizzles out really dampens the experience.
#63. LAD: Gaiden: TMWEHN [PS5 11/18]: Not gonna lie, I think I'd prefer if these games were a little closer to this length instead of trying to be forever games.
#64. Dark Souls III [PS4 11/26]: While I think I like this game the least of the three Dark Souls games It probably has the strongest middle of the three games and the late game fights are pretty fun.
#65. Metal Gear Solid [PS3 12/03]: Probably the most technically advanced PS1 game, it's rough going in the back half but it's still fun nevertheless.

And with that another year has been defeated

Whimsicalish · Jan 7, 2023

03 | Glass Masquerade 2: Revelations DLC
PC | Jan 06 | 1 h | 4/5

I didn't enjoy this one as much as the first. All the puzzle images relate to creature/beings described in H.P. Lovecraft's work. I really only know of Cthulhu. Not familiar with the others as I haven't read his stories.

Nearly all the puzzles had the same bluish green color scheme. It wasn't as colorful as the first DLC and that made it repetitive.

There's 9 new puzzles plus a free demo puzzle for this pack too.

04 | Glass Masquerade 2: Scaryfolks DLC
PC | Jan 07 | 1.5 h | 5/5

This was a step up from the second DLC. They went back to the basics. Folktale creatures with little descriptions in every puzzle.

There were dark and bright color palettes. Much more enjoyable than seeing yet, another tentacle thing in a blue haze.
Same as the two previous DLCs: 9 new puzzles plus a free demo puzzle.

I also played the free Lunar Year puzzle. Only one but it was bright and the imagery was fun. Plus it had more pieces than the paid DLCs.

Main Post

Optional Objectives · Jan 8, 2023

NO. 3 - What Heart Heard of, Ghost Guessed - Web Browser - ★★★★

A fantastic mixture of text parser gameplay and plot that renewed my enthusiasm for interactive fiction. The designer reimagines the use of verbs in this style of game - think "examine," or "look" - to correspond with the player character as a ghost. The more you find as you move through the family mansion, the more you are able to remember and do. The twist is that most verbs are related to emotion, manifesting in kinetic projection, possession, and more. The all-text presentation is a benefit as it also muffled the experience of the house, its objects, and my actions, making them live in my imagination. That seems appropriate for a disembodied spirit. All along the way, plot is conveyed through exploration and is often accompanied by the strong emotions that it takes to manipulate the house and its objects. While the plot is, ultimately, a bit predictable, this is a very well-told story. I highly recommend it for those who enjoy interactive fiction and those who are curious about the style.

Main post

bushmonkey · Jan 8, 2023

PAST CHALLENGES
23 in 2021
32 in 2020
54 in 2022

Hoping to beat last year's 54. I have such a large backlog to get through. Not counting the 2023 games I'll want to get like Starfield, Tears of the Kingdom, FF16 and PSVR2 games.

1 - God Of War: Ragnarok - PS5 - 62 hours / 10th January - 8/10
It took me a long time to finish Ragnarok, I kept switching to other games and having to force myself to complete it and that in itself is telling. I love the graphics, the combat and the characters but the game can be quite a slog at times, the pacing is all over the place.
Update: My feelings on the game improved after I left it for a couple of weeks and came back to it in early January to finish off the side missions and get the post-finale endings to the various stories. I'm still disappointed with the pacing but the gameplay and characters dis win me over in the end.

2 - Jazzpunk - PS5 (Platinum) - 6 hours / 14th January - 10/10
I'd heard good things about this game but I didn't expect it to be so funny and with so many new ideas thrown at you relentlessly until the game ends. It was so good I finished it in 1 sitting then went back to hoover off all the side stuff to get the platinum. The couch multiplayer deathwatch mode was also a wonderful surprise that my son and I will be playing for a long while I feel.

ss_68562823347d332acbf247af1e334a3a53b64197.1920x1080.jpg

3. Marvel's Midnight Suns - PS5 - 70 hours / 22nd January - 10/10
An unexpected delight. I was looking forward to a marvel tale on Xcom, I did not expect a mix of Persona 5 social links and Slay the spire quality card battles. I really enjoyed the downtime in this game, joining a book club with Blade, Cap, wolverine and captain Marvel discussing actual books or taking Spidey on a picnic. Brilliant game, I can't wait for the DLC characters. I'll go back and get the platinum when Deadpool hits.

ss_0221de76207668cc07a2e70fe41f669cf8cc7f3e.1920x1080.jpg

4. Vampire Survivors - IOS - 20 hours / 22nd January - 9/10
When the IOS version was announced, I just knew I had to play through this again. It's still just as addictive on IOS and the gameplay is perfectly suited to touchscreen. I did find it easier on iPad than iPhone as your finger could get in the way during hectic scenes on the smaller screen. I just wish the game had IOS cloud saves so my save file would carry over from iPhone to iPad but that's the only criticism I have.

ss_6c55afe36be2a7784bf18cb9b3218321ae2d10e5.1920x1080.jpg

5. Norco - PS5 - 6 hours / 27th January - 9/10
Norco was an incredible experience, a surreal journey that went into some unexpected directions and I was there for the ride.

ss_ffbf44cd5f9311994095b576cf2914b7ca7176fb.1920x1080.jpg

6. Midnight Suns: Deadpool DLC - PS5 - 2 hours / 28th January - 7/10
I like Deadpool and the new enemy types and the food truck yard upgrades are fun but I just wish there was more to the DLC story. Even 1 extra act would have made the arc better but 3 missions was far too little.

7. Axiom Verge 2 - PS5 - 24 hours / 29th January - 8/10
Really fun metroidvania with some great concepts. I liked the multi-universe navigation where you could switch between the real world and this digitised parallel world, it allowed for some fun traversal puzzles. The combat was not too challenging and you can approach it in many ways which was fun.

ss_fd6936834fd7aa852a131894fc6343bc003244c9.1920x1080.jpg

8 - Psychonauts 2 - PS5 - 40 hours / 5th February - 10/10
this game is such a treat from start to finish. The overall storyline is fantastic, all the characters are fun and well fleshed out and every level is unique with a fresh set of puzzles and environments to navigate. The only downside is that the platforming can get quite fiddly. Other than that, it's amazing.

ss_d78da4dbc35620193f7c14e0e5e68f7020adfd43.1920x1080.jpg

9 - A short hike - PS4 - 2 hours / 19th February - 10/10
Lovely little game with some great traversal mechanics.

ss_c9c8a8e6062511c5ae9259c68c66754cd09ae971.1920x1080.jpg

10 - NFS: Unbound - PS5 - 70 hours / 23rd February - 6/10
I truly loved this game for the first 20 or so hours and the lack of cars and the grind was refreshing, it kept me really invested in the cars I did have. But then the campaign just went on and on and the grind did not let up. I just wish you would start getting a lot more money in the second half of the game so you could start indulging into more cars. There are also not enough tracks so it does get a bit samey by the end. A sequel that fixed those minor issues could rival Forza Horizon and Burnout as the top arcade racer.

ss_ae0004502b96876a5a897a0d4e117bc2d5a864e3.1920x1080.jpg

11 - Horizon: Call Of The Mountain - PS VR2 - 7 hours / 3rd March - 7/10
Amazing showpiece for the PS VR2. The graphics and sense of scale as you climb massive mountains is just spectacular. I thought the climbing would get old quick but you unlock a lot of cool traversal mechanics and there are quite a few inventive set pieces. The combat is the weak point in the game, it's not terrible but it's not as fun or exciting as it could be. overall though I really enjoyed it.

horizon-call-of-the-mountain-vr-feed-1920x1080-2cd897a8199a.jpg

12 - The Last Clockwinder - PS VR2 - 4 hours / 7th March - 7/10
Great little puzzle game. Messing about with the clones is really fun. I do wish you'd unlock more tools as you went to do more crazy things with your clones.

ss_2c8e3a0ab88599ca8d456bc9f7dd992eb81eaed0.1920x1080.jpg

13 - Before your eyes - PS VR2 - 2 hours / 11th March - 6/10
Innovative use of blinking and closing your eyes as game mechanics and a thoughtful story that brought tears to my eyes with a one-two gut punch at the end. Shame it's very short and doesn't have much replayability.

ss_dc3b2599ae808c75b47b895fef59ddd6aab50807.1920x1080.jpg

14 - Synth Rider - PS VR2 - 40 hours / 27th March - 10/10
Synth Rider has become my new go-to workout video game, it surpasses beat Saber in my opinion by concentrating on pure rhythm without added gimmicks like cutting through blocks. The song list is amazing and the notes brilliantly placed. You really feel like you're part drumming / part dancing to the beat. And then there are the custom experiences created for certain tracks that just take it all to the next level, they need to be experienced to be believed. The only criticism I have is that there isn't any actual single player campaign and the trophy list is pretty uninspired. You just need to make your own fun through the track list.

View: https://twitter.com/willypicard/status/1631982434500726785?s=61&t=MUC8uwzqS-KoRedrLk8epg

15 - The Last Worker - PS VR2 - 4 hours / 3rd April - 4/10
You play as the last human worker in an Amazon-like warehouse in a dystopian future where all the other workers have been replaced by robots.
The base mechanics behind the day to day routine is fun, it's basically "Papers please" with package inspections instead of passports, and the cell shaded cartoony graphics are nice and crisp. For a narrative driven game though, it's such a shame that the worst part of the package is the story. It's not only very predictable but it's also not very well told so some of the story beats just don't make sense at all or don't hit the way they should. It's a shame as the voice acting is top notch, the material they have to work with just isn't good enough.
On top of that the second half of the game relies on being able to use fiddly mechanics in bad stealth sections and with time limits. This is the first PS VR2 game that has made me swear out loud and wanting to throw my controllers across the room after failing some of these sections 10 times in a row. It's a shame as there is a lot to like about The Last Worker, it just needed a few more gameplay ideas and a second pass at the story.

ss_b29bf8d4f406c6e34a5213af43769318f3c9bf42.1920x1080.jpg

16 - The Light Brigade - PS VR2 - 20 hours / 8th April - 10/10
Incredible roguelite with WW2 weapons and amazing atmosphere. My favourite game from the PS VR2 launch lineup. I've played this more than RE8 and GT7 combined. The gameplay loop is really addictive and the 6 different classes all play so differently, it really has that one more go after. Each run doesn't overstay it's welcome as well, taking around an hour to go through 12 randomly generated levels across 6 different biomes with 3 bosses.

ss_80b64362a5221def621ea1f1dc6b92fdd1f8ef40.1920x1080.jpg

17 - Rez Infinite - PS VR2 - 2 hours / 9th April - 10/10
I've loved Rez ever since the Dreamcast and the PS VR2 version is the ultimate version of this game. Between the deep blacks from the OLED screen and using your eyes to target enemies, the game and especially Area X really shines.

ss_f9a0e030052db17cb2432168af5cb42faf66f0b3.1920x1080.jpg

18 - Dark pictures: Switchback - PS VR2 - 3 hours / 10th April - 4/10
This spiritual sequel to Until Dawn: Rush of blood was so disappointing. It was a mess of a game. Even when disregarding the blurry graphics, the levels are uninspired and not scary in the slightest. The boss battles are boring and the puzzles too easy and just distracting. Too often you are going from room to room with nothing happening, the pacing is all over the place.

19 - Marvel Snap - IOS - hundreds of hours / ongoing - 10/10
This is the best F2P game I've ever played. There's so much strategy involved, so many satisfying card combinations to experiment with and the rounds are so short there's no real cons to messing around and tweaking your deck when things are not working. I've never felt the need to spend any money but I've played so much I've had no concerns with buying the battlepasses. I've played it every day since launch and I don't see myself stopping anytime soon.

20 - Dead Island 2 - PS5 - 30 hours / 5th May - 7/10
Fun zombie looter brawler with fantastic graphics and addictive gameplay. The various maps you go through shine with personality and the weapons you can craft and the skills you unlock allow for some creative ways to take on the zombie horde. there's nothing unique about the game but it's really well polished and well worth going through.

21 - Pistol Whip - PS VR2 - 5 hours / 5th May - 10/10
This is the third platform I've played through Pistol Whip and it's as fun as ever. This is the definite edition and I will keep playing it regularly to improve my scores and challenge my friends on the leaderboards.

ss_27125720c208efec2b0e5281eb42b99f263bfdf0.1920x1080.jpg

22 - Season: a letter to the future - PS5 - 4 hours / 11th May - Platinum - 8/10
Season is a delight. It's a beautiful game with a charming story, interesting lore and quirky characters. The game mechanics are also quite innovative. The way you build and customise your journal is really fun and it uses the PS5 adaptive triggers to great effect when controlling your bike.

ss_191a35ef75b405e4961a030977a30db25210b544.1920x1080.jpg

23 - Beat Saber - PS VR2 - 30 hours / 25th June - 10/10
Best version of the best rhythm game, that is all.

ss_1881ae4f153faf0d1ccecca60fbdac5b43ad57eb.1920x1080.jpg

24 - Mothmen 1966 - PS5 - 2 hours / 25th June - 7/10
Fun little pulp horror story with great CGA graphics. It's a shame it's so short and does not have much replayability.

ss_b2fb9b56be83dc0c800e263f105a6d4156c7bfb1.1920x1080.jpg

25 - Varney Lake - PS5 - 3 hours / 25th June - 8/10
Sequel to Mothmen 1966 and the story is even better this time around, with kids hanging out with vampires during summer vacation. There are 4 endings to unlock, in this one so it doesn't feel as short as Mothmen too.

ss_0df320340b98f7f214ecf60da8764499ad172f11.1920x1080.jpg

26 - MyHouse.wad - SteamDeck - 5 hours / 28th June - 10/10
A very trippy and unsettling Doom mod based on House Of Leaves. Each run of the house gets crazier and crazier and some of the secrets are so mind bending. It's very clever, very fun and I've enjoyed even watching whole dissertations about the game's meaning and multi-part series explaining how it's been done technically. If there's one thing that came out this year that everyone needs to experience, it's this. My only complaint is not aimed at the game but at GZDoom: it's so hard to make the controls work well on SteamDeck despite the fact that vanilla Doom 2 works really well. It took me ages to get it all setup.

27 - Butterfly Soup - SteamDeck - 3 hours / 1st July - 8/10
Engaging free Visual Novel about a group of Asian American high school girls. The dialogue is very funny and rings totally true for the characters. My only complaint is that there are not enough interactions and you just follow the story along with a small amount of paths to go through. But it's totally free, hilarious, heartfelt and it doesn't overstay it's welcome. Highly recommended.

28 - Overboard! - SteamDeck - 2 hours / 2nd July - 8/10
Very clever little adventure game set on a boat where you've murdered your husband and are trying to clean up after yourself and draw suspicions to other guests on the boat instead. This game has clearly taken inspiration from the classic Cruise for a corpse, even down to the fact that you only have a few hours to act and every action you take makes the clock tick down. One run of this game only takes about 10 minutes but there are so many ways the story can go depending on where you are at what time and who you bump into that it's really fun to replay over and over to see what other endings you can conjure up.

ss_6624a85fa17a278fe06f1dd888e04cf5e4e4dcfd.1920x1080.jpg

29 - Slay The Spire - PS5 - 7 hours / 2nd July - 9/10
I've played through Slay the Spire again now that it's on the PS5. It's such an addictive card-based roguelite with so many ways to customise your deck. The fact that you have to adapt your deck to the choices given to you during a run means no 2 runs are ever the same and you never get bored of the deck you've created.

ss_01aa3e7759e457bfbf2422f31c325d7b3ba8a6eb.1920x1080.jpg

30 - Monster Prom - SteamDeck - 2 hours / 4th July - 8/10
Very fun visual novel where you have 2 weeks to convince one of the other monsters in your school to be your prom date. It takes its gameplay cues from TokiMeki memorial which means you get 2 actions per day to increase various stats and spend time with your chosen crush. You can also play it with up to 3 other people to compete to get dates which is really fu. Too. Well worth a play.

ss_da398bf572dc6acc61a1eef18f521a93c1e36c1b.1920x1080.jpg

31 - Synapse - PS VR2 - 6 hours / 5th July - 9/10
Amazing VR roguelite with gorgeous graphics and brilliant gameplay mechanics. You have telekinetic powers you can use to fling objects and enemies around as well as guns. The variety of levels is pretty slim and there are only a handful of different enemy types but it didn't really bother me as throwing bad guys around and exploding barrels with my mind never stopped being fun.

32 - Cytus II - iPhone - 200hrs / 14th July - 10/10
Cytus II is a rhythm game I've been playing for years, it's easy to pick up, hard to master with a fantastic soundtrack. The game also does an amazing job of weaving a complex sci-fi storyline around the rhythm game with forum threads, audio and video logs that unlock As you play. The story is even non-linear as you follow different characters strands as you complete their levels. It's such a large set of characters and such a big story that I only just finished the story campaigns in fact after 200 hours. I could have completed it faster but I would replay my favourite levels over and over to get better scores. All in all, it's one of my favourite mobile games ever.

33 - Retro Goal Plus - Apple Arcade - 3hrs / 15th July - 7/10
Fun little football management game with retro aesthetics. You get to play set pieces in matches using simplistic touch based mechanics that actually worked really well. The combination of simple management and actual 2D gameplay reminded me of Sensible World of soccer.

34 - Final Fantasy 16 - PS5 - 80hrs / 6th August - 7/10
I am very conflicted about this game. I love the story, characters, dialogs, graphics and music and the combat is fun if repetitive and too easy but you get into a groove and it can be quite addictive. What really lets it down is that all the RPG element are undercooked and paper thin. The skill tree is minuscule, the amount of weapons and accessories you get is laughably small. There's no real use for the plethora of crafting material you gather. The maps are tiny. The sidequests are very basic. It all feels like they ran out of time and stopped before they could flesh out all these elements further. it's a real shame as I did really enjoy my time with Clive and company.

35 - Inscryption - PS5 - 10hrs / 14th August - 10/10
I had played Inscryption on PC for a few hours when it first came out but hadn't managed to get out of the first chapter then. I knew the game had some twists but I hadn't realised how crazy it would get. going from a first person foreboding environment to a full on Pokémon clone made me laugh out loud. The amount of differences between each chapters is staggering and I just couldn't wait to see what else was behind every corner. There is even new games with fleshed out mechanics and new graphics during the ending credits that you only get to play for a few minutes.. and that's without talking about the meta story of the VHS video recordings you get a glimpse of from time to time. Amazing game from start to finish.

36 - Hogwart Legacy - PS5 - 40hrs / 30th August - 7/10
I really enjoyed Hogwart for the first 20 or so hours but it loses steam halfway through when you've seen pretty much everything it has to offer. I played most of it earlier in the year and had to force myself to revisit it so I could complete it before Starfield came out.

37 - Diablo IV - PS5 - 100hrs / 5th September - 8/10
I have a love/hate relationship with this game. When I get into the groove, it's a 10/10 but if I think back on it, I was just going through the motions without real thoughts to what I was doing. It feels less like a game and more like an addiction watching the numbers go up. Still great fun with friends.

38 - Humankind - Xbox Gamepass - 20hrs / 18th September - 8/10
Humankind is Civilization with a few twists. I like how it has short term goals to go for so there's always more than your own made-up goals to accomplish throughout the eras and the ability to mix Civilization traits as you go through the various periods give extra customisations to every round you play. The only reason I'm not giving this a higher rating to be honest is that the controls on console leave a lot to be desired. It's really frustrating and really 4x games have solved this a long time ago. If they'd followed how stellaris or Crusader kings handle their UI using the "wheel" system, it would have been a more enjoyable experience. It's a shame as everything else about it is fantastic.

39 - Starfield - Xcloud - 85hrs / 29th September - 8/10
Starfield has 2 sides to it: on one hand, it has the best quests and best combat of any Besthesda game. On the other it does not have the sense of organic exploration that is key to the hook of the Elder Scrolls and Fallout games. I also did not like the way the main quest ends and what it means if you continue to play. It's a shame they couldn't find a way to make the space exploration work because everything else about the game is so good that it's very close to being a masterpiece. Instead it's just a really fun game if you take it at face value and don't try to compare it too much to what has come before.

40 - Tails Noir - PS5 - 5hrs / 1st October - 8/10
An unexpected delight. I hadn't heard of it and just found it on PS Plus and started it on a whim because I liked the pixel art style. This game has a wonderful atmosphere, a great story and incredible pacing. Anyone who likes a good detective noir story needs to play it.

41 - Cocoon - Xcloud - 3hrs / 4th October - 10/10
Fantastic little puzzler with gorgeous art style and a unique gameplay loop where you can teleport between different worlds that are in spheres that you can carry around. It's very trippy but very statisfying.

42 - Goodbye Volcano High - PS5 - 6hrs / 5th October - 10/10
One of my new favourite Visual Novels. The story is great, the characters endearing and the music, voices, art and animation are incredible.

43 - Rogue Legacy 2 - PS5 - 10hrs / 15th October - 9/10
Great roguelite with so much replayability even once completed.

44 - Snakeybus - PS5 - 3hrs / 16th October - 7/10
Who wouldn't want to play snake on a road collecting passengers as a bus driver? Mindless shallow fun, perfect podcast game.

45 - 80 Days - IOS - 2hrs / 10th November - 8/10
Fun little Visual Novel with tons of replay ability as you choose different paths to travel around the world. There's also some strategy as quicker journeys to travel longer distances can cost more money and you can also carry items to trade for more cash as you go round. All in all, highly recommended.

46 - Butterfly Soup 2 - IOS - 2hrs / 12th November - 8/10
Just as funny and heartfelt as the first one. I got really attached to the main cast after 2 games spent with them. Anyone who likes a good coming of age story should place this series. It's totally free even on IOS.

47 - Walkabout Minigolf - PSVR2 - 4hrs /12th November - 10/10
One of the best VR games I've ever played. Each course is incredibly fun and they keep releasing more and more outlandish courses every couple of months.

48 - Spider-man 2 - PS5 - 30hrs / 12th November - 10/10
As amazing as I'd hoped. It's as fun as the first one with improved side quests. Even the Mary Jane stealth sections are fun this time around. The web swinging / web wings combo is now my favourite traversal mechanics ever. My only complaint is that the best set piece is right at the start and no other set piece tops it for the rest of the game.

49 - Dragon Ball: The Breakers - PS5 - 4hrs / 14th November - 5/10
As a Dragon Ball fan, I had to give this a go when it arrived on PS Plus. It was more fun than I'd expected but still a very shallow copy of Dead By Daylight without enough variety to hold my interest for long once I'd seen all the different raiders.

50 - Alan Wake 2 - PS5 - 30hrs / 20th November - 10/10
In a year packed with amazing games, Alan Wake 2 has climbed to the top to become my Game of the year. The game is bonkers, full of creative ideas and absolute gorgeous to boot. It swings for the fences and delivers. It's creepy, atmospheric, scary, goofy, laugh out loud funny at times but mostly totally far too pretentious and up its own arse and I'm here for it all.

51 - Mortal Kombat 1 - PS5 - 5hrs / 22nd November - 8/10
The campaign was really fun until the final section where the story went out of the window which is a shame as it had great pacing and interesting character development until then. Outside of the campaign, the season-based invasion 'board game' is adddictive and reminded me of Soul Calibur 2's missions.

52 - Kayak VR: Mirage - PSVR2 - 3hrs / 23rd November - 8/10
Really relaxing game with beautiful graphics. Rowing around islands in the storm, in the artic or deep in the jungles just looks amazing.

53 - Jusant - PS5 - 4hrs / 28th November - 9/10
Wonderful atmosphere and incredible climbing controls. You really feel like you are actively climbing those mountains. Chapter 5 is so breathtaking, it's easily one of my favourite gaming moments this year.

54 - Suika game - browser - 3hrs / 29th November - 7/10
Fun little Tetris -like Puzzle game with physics where you connect matching fruits to grow them. The aim is to get to the watermelon which is the largest fruit. You can get some insane chain reactions going.

55 - Dredge - PS5 - 10hrs / 1st December - 8/10
In Dredge, you play a fisherman in a world plagued with lovecraftian horrors. During the day you spend your time fishing and upgrading your boat to improve your fishing but if you get stuck out at sea during the night, you have to deal with horrors hiding in the fog and your fisherman losing his sanity. The gameplay loop is really satisfying and the various ways to fish are fun. You spend your time looking for rare fishes and completing quests for the villagers living in the islands you travel around.

56 - Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins - Gameboy - 2hrs / 3rd December - 8/10
I'd played SML2 on emulator before but I'd never finished it. I finally picked up a physical copy of it at the weekend and played it on my GBA SP. The game is a delight but I was really surprised at how short it was. The game was pretty easy but I did like how you would lose the golden coins on game over but not lose your progress so you only had to beat the bosses again to gain your coins back.

57 - Game & Watch Gallery 2 - Gameboy - 4hrs / 3rd December - 10/10
I picked up this gem alongside SML2 and I didn't expect it to be this good. My favourite game in the collection is definitely parachute and I don't think the classic Donkey Kong really works on here as it was a 2-screen G&W game and squishing both screens onto one just was not a good idea. Apart from that I have no complaints, a classic collection of addictive games with nice modern remakes attached as well.

58 - Yakuza Kiwami - Xcloud - 30hrs / 15th December - 8/10
First time playing through the original Yakuza. It's fun to see how much was already present from the get go. Great time spent with Kiryu as always.

59 - Cabal - Amiga Mini - 1 hour / 20th December - 8/10
Great little shooter. The amount of variety in the controls considering it uses just one button is really fun. I like how you press up and down to throw a grenade for example. Add a second player and it becomes a riot. I did need to sue use cheats for infinite lives as it's hard as nails but it doesn't dilute from the fun.

60 - It Came from the desert - Amiga Mini - 1 hour / 20th December - 8/10
Classic adventure game with a nice variety of mechanics and a fun real-time" element. The ant shooting can get fiddly and frustrating but it doesn't detract from the overall enjoyment.

61 - Rockstar ate my hamster - Amiga Mini - 2 hours / 23rd December - 6/10
The act of managing a band is fun at first but you quickly realise there isn't much depth to this sim and it gets repetitive really quickly.

62 - Three Stooges - Amiga Mini - 1 hour / 23rd December - 3/10
This game is just a set of very basic minigames with some nice graphics. It's inoffensive and passes the time but that's about it.

63 - Viewfinder - PS5 - 4 hours / 26th December - 8/10
Fun puzzle game with incredible mechanics but the puzzles never really got challenging enough and it feels like they barely scratched the surface of what was possible with the concept.

stn · Jan 8, 2023

2. NFS Unbound (XSX) - fun racing but extremely repetitive tracks and gameplay. Needs more to take the next step. [7]

Next: Bayonetta 3 (Switch), NFS Heat (XSX)

xendless · Jan 8, 2023

I don't have a shot at 52 as I'm a slow completionist but I'll see what I can do, is there an image amount restriction btw?

"Live service" type games I'll be continuing through this year
1. Genshin Impact
2. Cookie Run Kingdom
3. Splatoon 3
4. Pokemon Scarlet
5. Disney Dreamlight Valley

January:
100% clean up complete, started in prior year finished at start of January
6. God of War Ragnarok

First game started and completed this year:
7. Sonic Frontiers
8. Fire Emblem: Cindered Shadows

KtotheRoc · Jan 8, 2023

I was waiting for the first few pages to clear out before I started posting about the games I have beaten so far this year. I'm not doing review scores this year, but I will go into a bit more detail about the games I played.

1: Chained Echoes. End: 1/1/2023.

A holdover from 2022. Chained Echoes is a lovely homage to RPGs of the SNES and PS1. Because you recover all your power (but not your items) after every battle, it invites you to play around with your strategies. The story itself has some pretty interesting turns as well but I won't get into it for story reasons. No regrets playing this one.

2: Dr. Mario 64. End: 1/2/2023.

This game has a story mode. And that's what I beat, so I'm counting it. I trust you're all familiar with Dr. Mario at this point so I don't need to go over the gameplay. It's as solid a puzzle game as it has ever been.

3: Gunstar Heroes. End: 1/8/2023.

A run-n-gun game for the Genesis. It's tough. If you enjoy those kinds of games from Treasure, you can certainly find some enjoyment out of it. But if you're not a fan, well, at least it's short.

sdefresne · Jan 10, 2023

I failed last year. Let's try again in 2023 to see whether I manage to beat more games (and slim down my backlog). I tend to be a completionist, so I have a hard to time considering I've completed a game, but I'm going to try to be flexible when adding entries to this list.

1: Slay the Spire. PS4. Platinum on 2023-01-10. 9/10

Started playing the game in 2022. Lost many hours playing the game, and was always playing one more run. I really loved the game, but this was getting in the way to play other games. So I decided that I would stop playing as soon as I unlocked the platinum, which I finally did after learning that it was possible to get the _You Are Nothing_ achievement by one-shoting the first phase of _The Awakened One_. Prior to that, I though I had to get my infinite set up before the act 2 boss or pray for _Deca and Donu_ as boss for act 3. Uninstalled the game as soon as I completed the run, fearing that my resolution would dry and I would relaunch one more run.

2: Heavenly Bodies. PS5. Platinum on 2023-01-14. 8/10

Physic based game where you play as an spationaut in zero gravity. Each joystick control one arm, you can grab things, attach a few things to your suit, and move by grabbing the wall and then propulsing yourself with your arms, or by grab-n-releasing alternating hands (like you would do if you were to hang from the ceiling and had herculean force). Really fun little game. The platinum took me around 10 hours, and I lost 3 hours trying to understand how some of the tools work because I misread the mission briefing. Enjoyed the game. There is a two player couch co-op mode that is quite fun if you are willing to accept the chaos that will happen.

3. Final Fantasy XIV - Patch 6.3 MSQ. PC. 2023-01-19. x/10

Since GaaS takes so much time, I'm going to count completing the main story of each new patch as an independent game. If you don't like this, then don't read my updates. So, we are interrupted on our way to exploring more of the Chaos world, we try to get a snowcar to explore some old Garlemald village, fight one of Golbez's four generals, discover this was only a decoy to allow Rubicante (the fourth general) to destroy our portal to the Chaos world. We fight him but we are now in a bind as we know Golbez plan is to bring all of the Chaos' inhabitant to our world for a final fight. Y'shtola going to see if she can open a new gate, while we are left waiting and preparing for the confrontation.

4. Eliza. Steam Deck. 100% on 2023-01-28. 7/10

A short a nice visual novel by Zachtronics studio. The story is about the mid-life reflection of a programmer. She helped develop a therapist AI but got burned. She comes back to act as a proxy, the human that read the script generated by the AI when consulting other human. The story investigates from her point of view the question of what can tech bring to the world, in particular, can it really help us human, or is it just a cynic industry that pretends to help us, but is just seeking to extract as much value from us as possible.

5. Ultimate Chicken Horse. Steam Deck. Unlocked all content on 2023-02-04. 7/10

Crazy party platformer. Each player places platforms or obstacles, and then it is a race to the finish line. But if everybody reaches the finish line, it obviously is too easy and nobody gets any point. You need to make the race as difficult as possible to be the only one to reach the finish line, but not too hard that no one can do it. Really fun as a party game.

6. Wo Long: Fallen Dynasties. PS5. 100% on 2023-03-31. 9/10

The best description for this game is probably "Nioh meets Sekiro". So another game by Team Ninja that tries to incorporate a deflect mechanic. This is relatively well done, the game is pleasant and satisfying to play. There are not a lot of variety in the ennemies, most of the early bosses eventually come back as regular ennemies, but appart from that you mostly kill the same soldiers, tigers and mindless demonic-infused soldiers. There is a few really good boss fights though, mostly the first encounter with Lu Bu.

7. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. Switch. Completed on 2023-05-01. 7/10

First game of the Ace Attorney trilogy collection. I had already played this one on DS, but that didn't include the last trial. I played it such a long time ago, that I only had vague memories of the first four trials, so I did not find it too much of a chore to replay them. Still quite fun after all this time.

8. Wildfrost. Switch. Abandoned on 2023-05-01. 2/10

So many people recommended this game as a better "Slay The Spire". This is not my impression. I really disliked the game (the only redeeming factor is its cute art direction). I played around 10 hours before deciding that I did not enjoy my time with the game. Abandoned with no intention of ever returning, thus I'm considering it as "completed" in the sense I extracted all "fun" I could ever find in the game.

Deleted member 91227 · Jan 11, 2023

I won't hit 52–only hit 20 and another 10 I played enough to list as abandoned last year—but enjoyed tracking and it helped remember stuff I'd payed for GOTY. So I'll do another post and again bold any current year games to help with GOTY voting memory around this time next year.

January

1. Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core Reunion (PS5)- Mostly enjoyed it, if tad cheesy at times. Had no interest in playing through all the little side combat missions though.

shadowman16 · Jan 11, 2023

9 down:

9. Panorama Cotton (PS4) - Took me a little while to get to grips with how this game plays. Its not tough, but the depth perception really messed with me. Thankfully its kinder than Space Harrier was, so once you get the feel of it, its really not too tough. Its 5 levels long, health is recovered every 50K points and the last couple of stages really throw tons of points your way. I figured barrier worked best for my playstyle magic wise, and the rest just came together. Just need to get 1mil points in standard mode for the plat. I'll up the difficulty a bit first, to give me a new challenge.

Next up:
Bayonetta 2 - on chapter 6 of my first run right now. Super fun, bar some slow moments in chapter 5, the previous chapters spoiled me lol. Amazing combat system though, definitely doing runs on harder difficulties as well.

Yakuza Kiwami - Legend run, on chapter 2 at the moment. I have a fully leveled Kiryu, just doing this for the final trophy (the Legend difficulty). Shouldnt take me long, and its nice to play the game as intended (aka with a non shite Dragon style, no shitty Majima grind for me lol)

Mega Man (Game Gear) - Will do a run through at some point this week.

Original post:

52 Games. 1 Year. 2023

A thread for people that are trying to play 52 games in a year. Tell us how you're doing and what you are going to play next - claim a post and update us on your progress! How do I take part? Claim a 'main post' where you will list all your completions for the year. You can use fancy images...

www.resetera.com

52 Games. 1 Year. 2023

▲ Legend ▲

Prophet of Truth

Spacenoid

User requested account closure

Teyvat Traveler

"This guy are sick"

Unshakable Resolve

User requested account closure

One Winged Slayer

Lead Editor @ The Punished Backlog

"This guy are sick"

User requested account closure

One Winged Slayer

Teyvat Traveler

One Winged Slayer

Deleted member 91227