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[TuFaN]

TuFaN nice write up. Lies of P is in my backlog for this year. I'm curious though. Is there a heavy focus on parrying? I love the Souls games, but Sekiro was too much for me.

Thanks! Nice, put it rly high up on this year's backlog if you ask me ^^ aka play it as soon as possible.

The entire game is nowhere near a Sekiro level of difficulty, and I like that!! I am not a huge fan of Sekiro either. Therefore, parrying is not a must. It feels good whenever you do, and the longer you play, the faster you'll figure out the enemy attack patterns, and parrying will become even easier, but no, you can play the entire game with rolling out of harms way or making use of the guarding (blocking) mechanic.

Slight spoiler incoming, I will tell you the only time you need to make heavy use of the parry system in the entire game without mentioning any names, what the enemy exactly does and ofcourse no story spoilers -->

Spoiler: Parry required

The only time you need to use parry is during the second phase of the very final boss of the game. Why am I saying very last boss and not just last boss? Cuz he is actually optional, you can decide yourself if you wanna fight him or not. Finishing the first phase without parrying is already kinda difficult, but trying to kill him during his second phase without perfectly timed blocking, aka parrying, I dunno about that one. You would make the fight much harder for yourself if you'd refuse to parry. You can start your next playthrough, aka NG+, without fighting him (which I would not recommend, of course, because that fight was the most interesting and enjoyable one for me personally).

 

[Kacho]

Fallout 3

Evil, strength-based unarmed build. Power Fist was my primary weapon. Sided with Mr. President and eradicated mutants from the Capital Wasteland.

 

[Jooxed]

Game 26 - Welcome to Kowloon - PC - 3/15/25 - 7/10 - Pretty creepy but a little too reliant on jump scares but really creepy setting, jumped a few times while streaming it.

 

[TuFaN]

#16⠀|⠀Mullet Madjack⠀|⠀PC⠀|⠀16-Mar-2025⠀|⠀2 hours⠀|⠀7/10

I had a nice, short-lived time with Mullet Madjack. Yes, the fast-paced first-person shooter part of the game absolutely outweighs the negatives. Unfortunately, there are three negatives: too flashy, no depth, and too repetitive. It felt like the game was trying to burn my eyes with its extremely flashy neon colors. It has interesting boss fights and wall-running mechanics while wielding a katana à la Ghostrunner to break the monotony, but it is just partially successful with that attempt. Lack of depth and the core game loop feeling repetitive after a short while totally hurts the game.

 

[Kacho]

Lies of P

Need to grab this and play it this year. I hear so many great things.

 

[BusierDonkey]

Game 17

Doom Eternal and Ancient Gods - Started new file, 100% completed full campaign and both DLC on Nightmare. Found all collectables.

This is the third time I've played through this game, but the first time I finished the DLC. While the game is polarizing for fans of the series, I just can't get enough of the gameplay and I'm sure I'll run through it again someday. This thing plays so fast and constantly keeps you moving right from the start. I was considerably rusty but as soon as I got into the swing of things I was blasting around the map at a hundred miles an hour turning demons into chunks. The combat in this game is designed to make you analyze every room you enter, where you can snipe from, where you have space for mid-range weapon combat and where all the jump pads, swing poles, platforms, portals and pick-ups are. Before the big baddies appear, you have a chance to run a loop and determine the best routes to take as you fight. As the enemies start filtering in you have to come up with a gameplan, especially early on when your weapons, suit and runes aren't fully upgraded. What weapons to use on which enemies, which enemies to take out first, when to use the grunts to restock, etc. It's super hectic and it's easy to get pinned down but the game is fair about it, giving you multiple ways to save yourself like the ice grenade which can stop everything for a second to allow you to regroup, bloodpunch which will clear or stagger any enemies around you and the flame belch which will make enemies drop armor. Beyond that you have a literal second chance when you die. That's not to say I didn't die, I died a lot. One wrong move and the enemies will take advantage, there were a few slayer gates and encounters which included Archviles I couldn't find or pairs of Marauders that I was sure were going to be the end of my game. Some of the encounter battles in Ancient Gods part 2 were just brutal but again not impossible. If I have a complaint, it's that some of the bosses were a bit spongey so the difficulty was keeping focused on the fight as much as figuring out what to do.

Another polarizing aspect of the game was the backstory and cinematics. I was mostly there to shoot stuff, the story is honestly fairly inconsequential aside from providing a backdrop and cutscenes can be skipped even on the first run, but I never really found it dragged on and honestly have no problem with the story. The environments are great, tons of hidden areas, massive levels that don't feel too massive but have an impressive sense of scale. There are a lot of really cool places you visit throughout the game. Finding all the hidden collectables was fun and being able to look at and listen to everything you find between stages in your ship is a nice touch. It's always nice to have a home base to enjoy your progress in. The music in the game fits the pace perfectly, everything is quiet when exploring but when enemies start showing up the soundtrack goes full force like Jumpin' Jeff Farmer wrestling Motley Cruz. The game is quite nice looking and performs really well even with everything at max settings w/ RT despite my hardware's age. After running through this again I'm really looking forward to playing Dark Ages.

 

[SpiceRacz]

#10 - Punch-Out!! (Nintendo Wii)

This is just more Punch-Out and god dammit, it's so good. There's not really much new here compared to the previous games and that's okay. The gameplay is timeless (I used traditional controls with the wiimote sideways) and the animation gives more personality to characters. Kind of makes you wonder if they could have made an animated series out of the game. Nintendo should at the very least re-release this as a budget title or explore making a new entry.

 

[jshackles]

Xenoblade Chronicles X about to fuck up my winning streak

 

[yamaci17]

#16⠀|⠀Mullet Madjack⠀|⠀PC⠀|⠀16-Mar-2025⠀|⠀2 hours⠀|⠀7/10

I had a nice, short-lived time with Mullet Madjack. Yes, the fast-paced first-person shooter part of the game absolutely outweighs the negatives. Unfortunately, there are three negatives: too flashy, no depth, and too repetitive. It felt like the game was trying to burn my eyes with its extremely flashy neon colors. It has interesting boss fights and wall-running mechanics while wielding a katana à la Ghostrunner to break the monotony, but it is just partially successful with that attempt. Lack of depth and the core game loop feeling repetitive after a short while totally hurts the game.

I just gave this one a try on game pass myself as well. I liked the game almost as much as you do giving it a 7/10

I agree on the repetitive part. you can actually skip wall riding in most sections and just dash and jump... all floors have the same layout, it gets really boring real quick.

 

[BusierDonkey]

Game 18

Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth - 100% Complete

I love Metroidvanias, they might be my favorite genre. I didn't know this was a Metroidvania until a few months ago, I received it as a gift and assumed it was a JRPG of some type, so it has been sitting in my backlog for ages. This isn't a great Metroidvania, it's good, but not good enough to sit alongside Super Metroid or Symphony of the Night. The art is top-notch, fluid animation, detailed pixel art, massive bosses and a huge assortment of enemy types. The music is also really great, well composed tracks that really fit the environments well though I know I won't be humming this. In terms of presentation the game is absolutely fantastic. The game employs an interesting magic mechanic. Deedlit has access to fire and wind magic in the game and can swap between the two using the shoulder button. When using fire, she is immune to that element and when using wind she is immune to wind. On top of being immune she absorbs MP handy for boss fights where you want to use your strongest spells.

The biggest problem with the game is that the map is kind of boring. The few secret areas are almost all accessed by breaking a wall, always indicated by a crack. Nothing uses the fire/wind mechanic to access, nothing is cleverly hidden, and by the time the game reaches its end you've already found everything without any effort. The dungeon was also entirely dependent on warp rooms to get around quickly. While you do open up shortcuts to get around as well, by the time you open them you have no use for them anymore. It's just poor design. Given how fluid traversal was with Deedlit's many abilities it a huge letdown that you rarely need them to make some tricky jumps to get a secret item. In the end the game is fun enough to run through but is pretty forgettable in the end.

 

[bender]

Game 18

Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth - 100% Complete

I love Metroidvanias, they might be my favorite genre. I didn't know this was a Metroidvania until a few months ago, I received it as a gift and assumed it was a JRPG of some type, so it has been sitting in my backlog for ages. This isn't a great Metroidvania, it's good, but not good enough to sit alongside Super Metroid or Symphony of the Night. The art is top-notch, fluid animation, detailed pixel art, massive bosses and a huge assortment of enemy types. The music is also really great, well composed tracks that really fit the environments well though I know I won't be humming this. In terms of presentation the game is absolutely fantastic. The game employs an interesting magic mechanic. Deedlit has access to fire and wind magic in the game and can swap between the two using the shoulder button. When using fire, she is immune to that element and when using wind she is immune to wind. On top of being immune she absorbs MP handy for boss fights where you want to use your strongest spells.

The biggest problem with the game is that the map is kind of boring. The few secret areas are almost all accessed by breaking a wall, always indicated by a crack. Nothing uses the fire/wind mechanic to access, nothing is cleverly hidden, and by the time the game reaches its end you've already found everything without any effort. The dungeon was also entirely dependent on warp rooms to get around quickly. While you do open up shortcuts to get around as well, by the time you open them you have no use for them anymore. It's just poor design. Given how fluid traversal was with Deedlit's many abilities it a huge letdown that you rarely need them to make some tricky jumps to get a secret item. In the end the game is fun enough to run through but is pretty forgettable in the end.

There was a lot of buzz around this game on GAF when it released and I thought I was on crazy pills when I got around to playing it. It's fine I guess. Not Chasm bad, but not certainly I'll ever replay.

 

[falling into hell]

1. Final Fantasy VII Remake 4/5
2. Final Fantasy VII Episode Intermission 3/5
3. Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 Full Burst 3/5
4. Legend of Heroes Trails of Cold Steel 2 5/5
5. Endless Jade Sea Midori no Umi 2/5
6. Disgaea 5 5/5
7. Let's Fish Hooked On 3/5
8. Grandblue Fantasy Relink 5/5
9. Phantasy Star Portable Infinity 5/5
10. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade
11. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Turtles in Time Arcade
12. Blood Crawler 3/5
13. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles The Hyperstone Heist
14. Lover 4/5
15. Livestream 2 3/5
16. River City Girls 4/5
17. Skyrim Special Edition 5/5
18. Dodonpachi Resurrection 5/5
19. Streets of Rage 2 3/5
20. Trigger Heart Ex 4/5
21. Girls on Campus, from Freshmen to Faculty, All Fall for Me! 3/5
22. Resident Evil 7 Not A Hero 4/5
23. Atelier Ryza 3/5
24. Mario Kart World 5/5
25. Monster Hunter Stories 2 3/5
26. Soul Calibur 2 4/5
27. We Love Katamari Reroll+Royal Reverie 4/5
28. Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising 1/5
29. Crimzon Clover World Explosion 4/5
30. Game Tengoku Cruisin Mix Special 3/5



Chances that I finish 52 games is zero. I will probably just finish something like 20 games.

 

[Terrtin]

This is the third time I've played through this game, but the first time I finished the DLC. While the game is polarizing for fans of the series, I just can't get enough of the gameplay and I'm sure I'll run through it again someday. This thing plays so fast and constantly keeps you moving right from the start. I was considerably rusty but as soon as I got into the swing of things I was blasting around the map at a hundred miles an hour turning demons into chunks. The combat in this game is designed to make you analyze every room you enter, where you can snipe from, where you have space for mid-range weapon combat and where all the jump pads, swing poles, platforms, portals and pick-ups are. Before the big baddies appear, you have a chance to run a loop and determine the best routes to take as you fight. As the enemies start filtering in you have to come up with a gameplan, especially early on when your weapons, suit and runes aren't fully upgraded. What weapons to use on which enemies, which enemies to take out first, when to use the grunts to restock, etc. It's super hectic and it's easy to get pinned down but the game is fair about it, giving you multiple ways to save yourself like the ice grenade which can stop everything for a second to allow you to regroup, bloodpunch which will clear or stagger any enemies around you and the flame belch which will make enemies drop armor. Beyond that you have a literal second chance when you die. That's not to say I didn't die, I died a lot. One wrong move and the enemies will take advantage, there were a few slayer gates and encounters which included Archviles I couldn't find or pairs of Marauders that I was sure were going to be the end of my game. Some of the encounter battles in Ancient Gods part 2 were just brutal but again not impossible. If I have a complaint, it's that some of the bosses were a bit spongey so the difficulty was keeping focused on the fight as much as figuring out what to do.

Another polarizing aspect of the game was the backstory and cinematics. I was mostly there to shoot stuff, the story is honestly fairly inconsequential aside from providing a backdrop and cutscenes can be skipped even on the first run, but I never really found it dragged on and honestly have no problem with the story. The environments are great, tons of hidden areas, massive levels that don't feel too massive but have an impressive sense of scale. There are a lot of really cool places you visit throughout the game. Finding all the hidden collectables was fun and being able to look at and listen to everything you find between stages in your ship is a nice touch. It's always nice to have a home base to enjoy your progress in. The music in the game https://mrbeastcasino.app/ fits the pace perfectly, everything is quiet when exploring but when enemies start showing up the soundtrack goes full force like Jumpin' Jeff Farmer wrestling Motley Cruz. The game is quite nice looking and performs really well even with everything at max settings w/ RT despite my hardware's age. After running through this again I'm really looking forward to playing Dark Ages.

It is kinda the best review of this game i could see online. For me Doom serier is like a big and mad circus in a good sense and i also like where the series going

 

[applesaucejaxon]

#16⠀|⠀Mullet Madjack⠀|⠀PC⠀|⠀16-Mar-2025⠀|⠀2 hours⠀|⠀7/10

I had a nice, short-lived time with Mullet Madjack. Yes, the fast-paced first-person shooter part of the game absolutely outweighs the negatives. Unfortunately, there are three negatives: too flashy, no depth, and too repetitive. It felt like the game was trying to burn my eyes with its extremely flashy neon colors. It has interesting boss fights and wall-running mechanics while wielding a katana à la Ghostrunner to break the monotony, but it is just partially successful with that attempt. Lack of depth and the core game loop feeling repetitive after a short while totally hurts the game.

I saw this when I was scrolling through Gamepass tonight. I wasn't sure about it, but I think I'll check it out now.

 

[SpiceRacz]

#11 - Super Mario Galaxy

I bought a Dolphin bar for my PC and was testing out games after Punch-Out!!. When I got to Galaxy, there was no turning back. Finished with 70ish stars and I might return and get the rest. The game looks amazing on Dolphin. I can't speak for the Switch version as a comparison though. I don't think I can go back to playing this on an actual Wii ever again. Not a lot to say about the game. It's Nintendo at its most creative and playful imo. Maybe their finest hour.

 

[March Climber]

Tier list so far of past games as I near the 31st of March:

A Tier:	Sackboy: A Big Adventure, The Crew 2, Zombi, Forza Horizon 1, Forza Horizon 2, Little Big Planet Vita
B Tier:	Little Big Planet 3, Forza Horizon 4, Uncharted Vita, Little Big Planet PSP, Resistance: Burning Skies, Killzone: Liberation, Little Big Planet 2
C Tier:	Little Big Planet Karting, Little Big Planet 1, Steep, Sackboy's Prehistoric Moves, Forza Horizon 3
D Tier:	TBD
F Tier:	TBD

18) Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier (PSP Classic played on Playstation 5)

Rating: B+

I think this is worth at least checking out if you're a Jak and Daxter fan. Just understand that it is a bit on the short side and the plane combat is 60% of the focus compared to 40% of exploration, platforming, secrets, and puzzles. It should be pointed out that the level design here is nothing like Jak 2 or Jak 3 which both felt more open world-like. This goes back to a kind of level-based experience, but you simply can't see the level names pop up in between zones.

The enhanced and customizable controls on the PS5 help it feel better to play.

It feels like a Sony dev's attempt at Star Fox Adventures in a way but tweaked to have more focus on piloting than ground-level affairs. Fun in both ways too.


19) Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth (Playstation 5 Backwards Compatibility)

Rating: B-

I agree with BusierDonkey 's words here (funny that we played this around the same time).

This isn't a great Metroidvania, it's good, but not good enough to sit alongside Super Metroid or Symphony of the Night. The art is top-notch, fluid animation, detailed pixel art, massive bosses and a huge assortment of enemy types. The music is also really great, well composed tracks that really fit the environments well though I know I won't be humming this. In terms of presentation the game is absolutely fantastic. The game employs an interesting magic mechanic. Deedlit has access to fire and wind magic in the game and can swap between the two using the shoulder button. When using fire, she is immune to that element and when using wind she is immune to wind. On top of being immune she absorbs MP handy for boss fights where you want to use your strongest spells.

The biggest problem with the game is that the map is kind of boring. The few secret areas are almost all accessed by breaking a wall, always indicated by a crack. Nothing uses the fire/wind mechanic to access, nothing is cleverly hidden, and by the time the game reaches its end you've already found everything without any effort. The dungeon was also entirely dependent on warp rooms to get around quickly. While you do open up shortcuts to get around as well, by the time you open them you have no use for them anymore. It's just poor design. Given how fluid traversal was with Deedlit's many abilities it a huge letdown that you rarely need them to make some tricky jumps to get a secret item. In the end the game is fun enough to run through but is pretty forgettable in the end.

I may be kind in my own rating of a B-, but I did find it interesting that it was going for a sort of Ikaruga-esque system with it's magic and how it worked. However, ultimately the game felt like a tech demo for something grander and larger. It was over way too soon, the enemy variety was not really as present as it should have been, and it ended much sooner than I thought it would.

The game felt like they ran out of budget, but for what's there it was quite fun to play and there was enough fun/broken weapons and abilities in it to make for a fun, but quite short, ride. I know nothing about Record of Lodoss War by the way so I was genuinely confused before, during, and after this game's story ended. It kind of made sense in the end...kind of, but I need to look at more lore to understand it better.

20) Rainbow Six: Extraction (Playstation 5)

Rating: B

Rainbow Six: Extraction is fun for the most part as a 3 player PvE co-op "one more run" type of experience, but it just lacks a bit more of enemy variety and mission structure in what it does.

The gameplay loop is that you either join a matchmaking queue (or form a group) or play solo, start in one of 12 areas as a mission, choose one of the many known/named Rainbow Six operators from Siege, then you will be met with 3 objectives in 3 separate areas that increase in difficulty. So let's say my 3 are 1)Rescue MIA 2) Kill Elite Creature 3) Capture the Point... even though the second area has an elite creature that can deal good damage, the last one will always be more difficult, because you're raising the stakes each time. You can extract during or after completing any objectives, and sometimes, depending on the difficulty, modifier, and enemy placement of that match, you will have no choice but to retreat.

It is fun in that way, but it falters in two separate ways.

Firstly, it is that the spike in difficulty between medium (2) and hard (3) is literally a big jump. When you join matchmaking queue, the game's system has a higher likelihood of giving you a level 3 or 4 (extreme) difficulty to try and give you a decent challenge with 2 other people along with good XP. Unless your communication is rock solid, there's a big chance of losing it all or at worst, someone on the team thinking they are hot shit and trying to solo creatures that are designed to swarm the player (once alerted) while 2 others are down.

Secondly, If you don't extract (or if your body is not extracted upon death) You not only lose Operator XP, that same operator cannot be used until rescued by you, and lastly you also get a rather gigantic negative hit to your overall game/account XP until you rescue the operator. It leads to me having to play a single player match solely to get an operator out and get my XP back because joining matchmaking won't guarantee you will get that mission because you have to pick the specific map that the previous operator died on.

Imagine a version of Overwatch or whatever famous multiplayer I.P. where you queue up and every match you lose, you lose account XP for your battlepass or lootbox or whatever. Then you can't get to that next lootbox or battle pass level until you make up for the loss of XP with a bunch of wins. This overall leads to a feeling like I'm chasing my tail trying to simply get back to where I started, which made some sessions of this game feel like wasted time.

If it wasn't for that second part, this might have been an A rating for me. The game has the fun gameplay of Siege, slightly sped up, with more fun tools at your disposal, and it's co-op to boot, as that's already a benefit over competitive lobbies. That's why it is still a B. It's fun to play, but with an asterisk.

On a final note I agree with the critics who reviewed this when it came out, that Ubisoft should have just made this game a free expansion to Siege, and get in different players from both PvE and PvP circles to try it out, instead of charging separate for this as a separate game. That alone kind of killed the community for this game.

21) Eternal Ring (PS2 Classic played on Playstation 5)

Rating: B

This game I'd recommend playing if you are a fan of the artistic choices of Dark Souls 2 (including it's strange level design), but are understanding of the fact that this is a launch window PS2 game with basic graphics and basic first person dungeon crawling combat. If you can get past that, then you will see the DNA of Dark Souls 1 and 2 present in Eternal Ring.

• This includes the mystery and discovery.
• This includes the story very slowly presenting itself before you.
• This includes the interconnected lands and shortcuts.
• This includes having to work for access to a fast travel method that is only really present in the second half of the game.

The main downside of the game is it's combat. It is so simplistic that, unfortunately, you will come across moments that should feel daunting or treacherous, but end up simply being moments where you just have to circle strafe and sword hit/shoot spells and 99% of things in the game will die from this method alone. I'm going to assume this is because maybe the right stick was still a relatively new thing in 2000 and thus they didn't want to fully commit to a combat system that used it completely and challenged you. I'm assuming this because aside from the right stick being used to look around, there are also buttons that do the same thing on your controller.

Three big tips:

1) Change your Melee to Left or Right bumper or trigger, and change your magic to Left or Right bumper or trigger. Thank me later.

2) In the water temple (the first dungeon after you find the very first town) there is a button on the wall beyond the red door that will take you to the hallway that you need to get to the boss door. The button blends in with the wall. I backtracked 3 times before I discovered it. This is the only button that looks like this in the game and it was probably given the wrong texture in error.

3) For anyone who is going to try it out and is needing help with this game (as you might, since it's Fromsoft and there's no game map), the only good guide I could find was an old (yet safe) angelfire link from a reddit post:


And the guide helps you not only with drawn maps and item locations but also ring recipes so that you don't spend as much wasted time trying different combinations and reloading saves over and over.

All in all, I liked the ring system of making magic through combinations of enemy loot to discover more powerful spells, rather than simply purchasing them from a vendor.

This game could easily do for a remake where they could make as many changes as they want, but just keep the story, the first person camera, and ring system. I think it would be worth it, as the original game's textures are muddy/ugly enough to take liberties with it and not piss off the very few, dedicated fans this game has.

 

[marcincz]

Game 18 - Civilization 6 (PS5) - 12h 49m
Beat 15/03/2025 - my score: 9/10

Game 19 - Star Ocean The Second Story R (PS5) - 31h 27m
Beat 30/03/2025 - my score: 9/10

Decided to beat Civ6 again (4 time) after 4 years. Even achieved cultural win. Now I need Civ7.

SO was my first time with this series and I must admit, it was much better than expected. Really great jrpg.

 

[Andyliini]

Game 7 - Theatrhythm Final Bar Line - Nintendo Switch
Super addicting rhythm game, with massive amount of content. If you love Final Fantasy music, this one's for you.

Game 8 - Wario Land 4 - Game Boy Advance
Weitdly enough, I had never beaten Wario Land 4, although I had played it many times in the the past. Well, that has now been fixed. Great game.

Game 9 - Soleil - Sega Mega Drive
Also known as Crusader of Centy, this game was Sega's attempt at making Zelda. It throws Illusion of Gaia into the mix, creating a fun, if somewhat flawed game. Biggest flaw would be controls, anf lack of explanations for some gameplay elemenrs.

 

[marcincz]

Game 20 - Astro Bot - dlc Vicious Void (PS5) - 01h 17m
Beat 30/03/2025 - my score: 8/10

Last one this month.

 

[Kacho]

Xenoblade Chronicles X

 

[Skeptical]

Haven't updated for a while. Only reason I'm still on track is plenty of short games.

6. Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom (17 h, ★★★). Y'know Nintendo, when people are already complaining that your menus are too long to scroll through, maybe don't make 3 different types of pots echo-able? Was that really necessary? To be honest, I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. Exploring the overworld was pretty fun. And they managed to make dungeons feel unique, not just in their environments but in their style. Some were more actiony, some puzzly, some explorery. The weakest part, unsurprisingly, was combat (and echoes in general). It is very hard with these games to avoid complacency. To simply find one thing that works and just use it over and over. Guess what I did?

7. Nine Years of Shadows (9h, ★★). A game of highs and lows. Background art is beautiful, but the color motif means the hero and the enemies are all highlighted in garish colors. The heal mechanic is unique, but means that you are usually safe from ever dying, but can get caught in a miserable spot and die from nothing if you are unlucky. Traversal is varied and generally fun, but there are minimal warp zones and regenerating "big" enemies means backtracking can get tedious. And most importantly, there are a ton of varied bosses, which is cool, but enemies are bullet sponges in the game. If you don't complete the big, main sidequest, the final boss will take ~500 hits before going down, and no, that's not an exaggeration. Even with your enhanced weapon it is still ~200 hits.

8. Love (0.5h, ★). It's short. It's relatively easy for a precision platformer. It's very basic. That doesn't necessarily mean it's bad though. The locations are unique. There's two unique mechanics: building checkpoints whenever you want and having the ability to slow down time whenever you want. And, being short, it's easy to replay and try to be perfect if that's your thing.

9. Love 2 kuso (0.5h, ★). See above. Seriously, this is a very iterative sequel.

10. Love 3 (1h, ★★). They stared to do something different here, which was probably needed. Yeah, it's the same sort of game and the same sort of presentation, but the best thing about it was that they didn't bother to slowly build up the challenge here; it was present from the start. Which may not sound like much, but when your game is so short you shouldn't bother wasting time with a gentle transition into the game. Unfortunately, the balloon/rocket/whatever mechanic was not very precise, which made life a little bit challenging for a precision platformer. But other than that, it was definitely preferable to the first two.

11. The Talos Principle (14h, ★★★). Why does every first person puzzle game need some pretentious pseudophilosophical story, usually depressing, to go with it? Why can't we just go through 100 rooms of puzzles in peace? Honestly, it doesn't bother me much (after immediately realizing that the random terminals were only for plot purposes and not anything useful, I freely ignored them to make my experience smoother). The annoying part was the focus on atmosphere, which led to very large, samey environments that I got lost in (seriously, I am not good at maneuvering around 3D environments in first person). But even there, the game helped you out with friendly signs that magically crossed off the location if you completed the puzzle. As for the puzzles themselves, the best thing about them is that they were willing to throw in red herrings. Some of these games are relatively simple, where you only need to work backwards to place all pieces together in the precise order. But here, there are pieces you may not need, which can throw you off your game. The worst part, though, is that you might accidentally think your solution is wrong when, in reality, you didn't place your laser reflector beam thingy in the exact right place...

12. Advance Wars [Reboot Camp] (14h, ★★★). That was pretty solid, and surprisingly somewhat challenging. I'm not sure if it's perfectly balanced though. A few CO's having added bonuses that dramatically increase your direct firepower makes some of the others a bit superfluous. Andy was practically worthless in the last battle. It did end up being an enjoyable experience besides that, and I'll be playing the second one eventually.

13. Donkey Kong 94 (3h, ★★★★). Nintendo nice enough to offer an online trial the same day they release the best Gameboy game ever? Sign me up! And yes, this is the best, as it really played to the system's weakness. Screen space so small? Make the sprites really small so that we can see more space rather than the Metroid and Mega-Man approach of practically playing the game blind. Fast gameplay doesn't work due to hardware? Make it slow, but give a variety of different types of jumps to keep the game varied. Focus on puzzles and planning out how to get from here to there rather than fast reactions. And to give the game a sense of value while still recognizing the GB's mobile status, make a ton of levels, but break them up into easily manageable 4-level chunks. Awesome. A bit easier than I remembered though. I hit 99 lives by World 7 I think.

14. Super Mario World (4h, ★★★★). My first time with a 96 exit playthrough. Mario 3 is still better.

15. Legend of Zelda (3h, ★★★★★). Decided to go for the Second Quest in this year's playthrough. Haven't done that in a while. Oddly, I had a serious key deficiency throughout the entire game. I don't remember that being a big deal in previous playthroughs; really slowed me down.

16. Super Mario Kart (2h, ★★★). Decided to come back to this one for a lark. Wow, those levels are short. Kinda weird to see how basic it is compared to what it is now. Items were so limited; almost nothing was actually helpful! I still like the coins though. Pretty cool that they finally brought them back.

 

[BusierDonkey]

Game 19

Super Mario RPG - Defeated Culex 3D.

This is how to do a remaster. Nothing good from the original game was removed, nothing worthless was added. There are zero reasons to play the original over this version. The truth is this version looks and sounds so much better than the SNES version but was so faithfully updated that when I think back to the SNES version I see this version of the game. The pre-rendered visuals have been replaced with fully 3D models and incredible new cutscenes have been added. There are a few more additions like the triple attacks and post-game boss rematches which feature tough battles requiring planning and patience. The music is updated with a fully orchestrated score which is also so faithfully remastered that playing the tracks from both versions of the games side by side gives you an even greater appreciation for the SNES version's exceptional quality. The game itself is great. The gameplay is isometric, incorporating platform that, while not comparable to mainline Mario, was better than you would expect from an isometric RPG. The Battle system is fun to use, giving a bonus for a perfectly timed button press at just the right moment in both attack and when defending. It really keeps you focused on the game which was a nice addition to the turn-based combat back when this first released. Throughout the game you get plenty of upgraded weapons, armor and abilities to reward you for exploring every nook and cranny. The story for the game is set in a new version of the Mushroom Kingdom and gave Mario, Peach and Bowser some actual depth and character. The new characters were great too. Mallow the "tadpole", searching for something he's lost and Geno, a puppet brought to life were both memorable characters that fans have been asking to see brought back. Beyond the main crew you had fun side characters like Booster, a man child living in his tower looking for new friends to play with. While not long, especially by modern game standards, I found the game fits perfectly into the category of "As long as it should be".

The game really is about as good as it could have been. That's not to say it's perfect. Isometric games generally don't play especially well due to the very nature of the controls. I found using the stick preferable to the D-pad but with no acceleration curve on the stick I found myself often overshooting short jumps which could get annoying. Luckily you really aren't punished too badly for missing a jump in most cases, so it wasn't a major issue. In all this was a really fun game to re-explore and I really hope the remaster is indicative of a potential sequel on the Switch 2.

 

[applesaucejaxon]

OG post

9: Dead Space (2008) - PC - Beat 4/6
I've owned this game FOREVER. Recently bought the remake, but realized that I never finished the original. Started a fresh save and played through it this week. I had a lot of fun with this game. Probably my favorite survivor horror game behind RE4. The common thread between the 2 is that they both skew more into action territory. After all these years, it still looked pretty good on my PC. Now I don't really feel like playing the remake. I'll probably dip in to that one in summer or something.

I'm getting a sense that there's no way I hit 52 games this year. Black Ops is eating too much of my game time, and I'm losing interest in clearing out my backlog. We'll see how it goes. I've been mentally checked out as of late, so maybe I'll turn that all around and get rejuvenated.

10: Event[0] - PC - Beat 4/7
I noticed this one in my Steam backlog and it looked interesting. Glad I gave it a shot. When it comes to "Walking Simulators," I'd say this is my favorite one. I liked how the bulk of the game was interfacing with an AI through terminals. It was a cool idea that was mostly successful in its implementation. I might go back and do a couple more playthroughs.

11: AER Memories of Old - PC - Beat 4/7
Another from the Steam backlog. I assume these all came from Humble Bundle WAAAAAAAY back in the day. A lot of the games I'm coming across don't even look familiar.
This game REALLY wanted to be the next Journey. I didn't like it. It looked ok, and I really liked the design of the final "boss." Speaking of, the end of the game was one of the most disappointing endings I've ever witnessed. It was just boring. And for a 3 hour game to be boring, it was really not a good thing.

12: Travis Strikes Back Again: No More Heroes - Switch - Beat 4/23
I liked this one for a while and then got really bored with it. I was under the impression that every stage had it's own unique mechanics and whatnot. I didn't realize it was just different stories with the same combat. I enjoyed it, but I'll probably never play that one again. I have 2 other games that I'm working on right now that will probably be done by the weekend. We'll see...

13: Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse - NES via the Castlevania Anniversary Collection (Switch) - Beat 4/29
Never played this when I was a kid because I didn't know anybody that had it. In fact, I was the only person I knew that owned a Castlevania game. And it was part 2. That is a game that I have zero desire to go back and play now.
So regarding 3... This is an ugly game. The color palette is terrible and it really is distracting. And the controls in these old Castlevania games are just way too stiff and unforgiving. And it's WAY too hard. Maybe when I was younger I could have probably beat this one, but not now. I'm too old and impatient. But that's were save states came to the rescue! I would almost say that it's an unfair difficulty level, but that's really not the case. It's a short game, and that's how they were "padded out" when I was a kid. Just make it hard to beat! MAYBE I'll go back and try do this one clean, but I have to be in the right mindset. I made it to the 7th level before I started using saves, so I don't think it would be out of the question. Maybe I'll do it just on PS5 just so I could at least get a trophy out of it.

14: Aviary Attorney - PC - Beat 4/29
Pretty sure this was another Humble Bundle game. At least I enjoyed this one. The art was great and the writing was pretty solid. I also enjoyed the story quite a bit. At least for the branch that I ended up getting. I'll definitely be returning to this one to see other endings.

15: Donut County - PC (Gamepass) - Beat 4/30
It was alright. Pretty funny at times. I was hoping for a bit more, I guess. You really don't swallow up THAT much per level. I was looking for something more akin to Katamari-style madness. Was definitely worth the price. Especially since I didn't pay for it.

16: Kid Dracula - NES via Castlevania Anniversary Collection (Switch) - Beat 4/30

This was pretty fun. Not a great game, but fun for what it was. I saw someone refer to it as a Mega Man knock off, and I kind of see it. Controls a lot better than the NES Castlevania games, at least.

 

[SpiceRacz]

#12 - Crow Country

Nice throwback to PS1 era survival horror games. I think it took me around 4 - 5ish hours. Highly recommend if you're into the genre.

 

[Barakov]

9. Rojo - A Spanish Horror Experience ~ 15 minutes

 

[SpiceRacz]

#13 - Gradius Rebirth (Dolphin Emulator)

This is a fun little shmup for WiiWare. It's a mishmash of elements from 1, 2, & 3. Really short (and easy) at only 5 levels. I'm a fan of shoot 'em ups, but not the crazy difficulty. This is one definitely more my speed. I'm going to try the other 'Rebirth' games soon.


#14 - Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow

Another one on the list that I've beat before. I got the true ending this time and unlocked 96% of the map. I played it on the Desmume emulator with the touch screen hack to automatically fill in the magic seals. Collecting enemy souls and synthesizing them weapons is kind of addicting. Especially if you're willing to play around with the different types. I didn't get any of the final weapons though, but it wasn't necessary. Some of the souls you can use turn the game into easy mode. Every boss took one or two attempts. I consistently only used about 3 or 4 souls in the entire game and they carried me all the way through. Difficulty stuff aside, this game looks really good. The animation is super fluid and the game uses similar effects to Symphony with the backgrounds. Maybe I'm misremembering, but it seemed like the colors in Aria of Sorrow popped more than this game. Everything looks a bit more drab in Dawn. Can't speak much to the story. I skipped most of it. Still this is one of the best playing Metroidvanias, just like the rest of the series. These games are like comfort food for me and they're consistently great.

 

[BusierDonkey]

Game 20

Yoku's Island Espress - 100% Complete

This is another game I bought on sale last year without knowing exactly what it was. I just knew that it was a well-received Metroidvania title. It's actually a great Metroidvania, but it's also a pinball game. At the start of the game, you're just this little bug tied to a round stone that can't even jump. As soon as I saw the first set of paddles I said "no way" out loud. The gameplay is so creative, using bumpers and paddles controlled with the shoulder buttons to shoot Yoku's ball around the map. The Metroidvania part of this game ticks all the right boxes. The map is complex, mostly fun to traverse, and getting all the hidden stuff can be very tricky. The map does not have warp rooms as a crutch, instead it uses clever shortcuts you'll use often. The game also uses a travel method called the Beeline which tosses you around the map through multiple routes so you can move from one end of the map to the other in a couple minutes. Throughout the game you're sent on tons of quests by the island's inhabitants and still have your duty as the island postmaster to deliver letters and packages. I can't strass just how well done the map is, zoomed out it even looks like a piece of art with various caverns taking on the shape of creatures. The art in the game is gorgeous, like the Ori games everything looks painted. The music is really nice too; while not hitting the highs of games like Symphony of the Night it, it was all very pleasant to listen to with a good mix of different styles.

As far as downsides, I found Yoku didn't have enough power when pushing his ball and often found myself rolling off cliff edges unintentionally because Yoku couldn't reverse directions very quickly. Yoku also tends to get hung up on geometry requiring you to back up and take another run at it. For the most part it wasn't too bad but every now and then it got annoying. The worst part of the game was the explosive slugs that you attach to your ball used to clear passages and to propel Yoku.. Many secrets and collectables require manually detonating the slugs to launch Yoku in a specific direction and it has to be done in a time limit which basically shuts my brain off for some reason. The issue is twofold, sometimes you get caught up in the pinball bumpers too long, so you have to try again and often it seems no matter how well you think you've aimed yourself the explosion sends you in a random direction. Finally, there's the game's difficulty, there is none. Outside of the pinball boss fights there are no enemies, no health, and the pinball sections have no penalty for failing. If you want a challenging game, outside of grabbing a few collectables and accessing some secret areas, this isn't it.

I think a couple tweaks would have made the game a bit better but even as it is the game was a lot of fun to play through and considering it regularly goes on sale for peanuts it's worth picking up.

 

[SpiceRacz]

Game 20

Yoku's Island Espress - 100% Complete

This is another game I bought on sale last year without knowing exactly what it was. I just knew that it was a well-received Metroidvania title. It's actually a great Metroidvania, but it's also a pinball game. At the start of the game, you're just this little bug tied to a round stone that can't even jump. As soon as I saw the first set of paddles I said "no way" out loud. The gameplay is so creative, using bumpers and paddles controlled with the shoulder buttons to shoot Yoku's ball around the map. The Metroidvania part of this game ticks all the right boxes. The map is complex, mostly fun to traverse, and getting all the hidden stuff can be very tricky. The map does not have warp rooms as a crutch, instead it uses clever shortcuts you'll use often. The game also uses a travel method called the Beeline which tosses you around the map through multiple routes so you can move from one end of the map to the other in a couple minutes. Throughout the game you're sent on tons of quests by the island's inhabitants and still have your duty as the island postmaster to deliver letters and packages. I can't strass just how well done the map is, zoomed out it even looks like a piece of art with various caverns taking on the shape of creatures. The art in the game is gorgeous, like the Ori games everything looks painted. The music is really nice too; while not hitting the highs of games like Symphony of the Night it, it was all very pleasant to listen to with a good mix of different styles.

As far as downsides, I found Yoku didn't have enough power when pushing his ball and often found myself rolling off cliff edges unintentionally because Yoku couldn't reverse directions very quickly. Yoku also tends to get hung up on geometry requiring you to back up and take another run at it. For the most part it wasn't too bad but every now and then it got annoying. The worst part of the game was the explosive slugs that you attach to your ball used to clear passages and to propel Yoku.. Many secrets and collectables require manually detonating the slugs to launch Yoku in a specific direction and it has to be done in a time limit which basically shuts my brain off for some reason. The issue is twofold, sometimes you get caught up in the pinball bumpers too long, so you have to try again and often it seems no matter how well you think you've aimed yourself the explosion sends you in a random direction. Finally, there's the game's difficulty, there is none. Outside of the pinball boss fights there are no enemies, no health, and the pinball sections have no penalty for failing. If you want a challenging game, outside of grabbing a few collectables and accessing some secret areas, this isn't it.

I think a couple tweaks would have made the game a bit better but even as it is the game was a lot of fun to play through and considering it regularly goes on sale for peanuts it's worth picking up.

Nice write up. There's been a surprising amount of games that have tried to blend pinball into different genres. Yoku's does this better than any other I can remember. Creature in The Well came close, but that game is very unforgiving. Yoku's is not only a great pinball hybrid, but a damn good metroidvania.

 

[Wolzard]

#1 - Dragon Age Inquisition (2014) - PC

I don't think I'll be able to play all 52 games this year, considering I spent 3 and a half months playing Dragon Age. I played approximately 90 hours. I did almost everything I had to do, there were only about 5 quests left that were to look for some trinkets and I find that tiring.

My mage became so overpowered that I decided to do the dragon quest and killed them all in sequence with relative ease. In fact, it was bizarre how 4 mages in a party tanked more than placing warriors.

I found the ending a bit boring, but as expected from EA, the real ending is in the Trespasser DLC. I have the Ultimate version, with the DLCs included. And what an ending to this DLC, quite epic, which will make me buy Dragon Age Veilguard, but only when it at a very low price.

Speaking of which, the damn Dragon Keep was down and the one I had generated years ago was lost. As a result, some details of the story were different from what I had played in the past. Not that it had much influence, but it's annoying to see that the story ended up different. Morrigan says the Grey Warden died in the first game, but mine survived and even had a son with Morrigan.

I saw that Veilguard only takes 3 choices from Inquisition, which is a shame and explains why the game wasn't considered very good, among other things.

Who you romanced

Josephine

Whether the Inquisition was disbanded or not

Dissolved

Whether you decided to save

Spoiler

Solas

or stop him

Save.

 

[marcincz]

April update:

Game 21 - Dredge (PS5) - 11h 16m
Beat 06/04/2025 - my score: 8/10

Game 22 - Donkey Kong Country Returns HD (NS) - 11h 00m
Beat 13/04/2025 - my score: 8/10

Game 23 - Another Code Two Memories (NS) - 08h 56m
Beat 14/04/2025 - my score: 8/10

 

[SpiceRacz]

#15 - Axiom Verge 2

Axiom Verge is one of my favorite games ever. The original felt fresh, despite being an obvious homage to Metroid. It had great combat with creative weapon options and power ups. The level design, music, story, and visuals are really atmospheric. Axiom Verge 2 goes in a different direction and a lot of those things I loved about the original are lost in the process. The environments look bland, including the drone world. There's a focus on melee combat and to me it just isn't anywhere near as satisfying and lacks the variety of AV1. Also, nearly all the bosses are optional. So, the difficulty is thrown out the window. You can avoid engaging with enemies for the most part if you want. The music is mostly forgettable. Still, this isn't a bad metroidvania. It's ambitious with it's 2 parallel world system where you switch between your character and the drone. There's some interesting interesting ideas here, but it ultimately fell flat for me. If Thomas Happ makes a 3rd game, I hope it's something more similar to the original than this. Just an overall disappointment despite being an above average game.

 

[BusierDonkey]

Game 21

Yono and the Celestial Elephants - 100% Complete

I don't even remember buying this game but saw it in my library when I was installing Yoku's Island Express, so I installed this too. I expected absolutely nothing from this but came away pleasantly surprised. The game is a nice little isometric adventure game that in many ways reminded me of Link's Awakening. The game is polished with no janky surprises. Most of the game's overworld involves solving a variety of puzzles which range from simple to medium level stuff, but with zero "help" from the NPCs or hint boxes which by default makes them better than most AAA fare. Outside the overworld, you have towns with their own objectives, among them NPC quests asking you to get items for them, if you've played the item trade stuff in Link's Awakening, that's what you're looking at here. Nothing complicated and never tedious. The town themselves are really cute, a castle city, a town inhabited by the undead and a town built by sentient robots. As far as story and dialogue, there's not a lot here and like the rest of the game it's all quite simple but again, it's all fun stuff. I will note there is a temple in the game with several short books you uncover telling the history of the celestial elephants throughout time which was actually an interesting read as the books were written in different styles depending on where in history they originated.

As far as the bad goes, the combat in the game is completely braindead. The enemies take ages to execute attacks so if you take a hit, you must have gone to grab a drink. It's all just attack, back up, attack, back up. Even when multiple enemies are present, you're never in any danger. Many fights I think expected you to use some of the game's environmental items like hot peppers or dynamite plants, but it was never necessary. The game does have four bosses that were fun to fight (the robot dog "fight" was adorable), but again, not difficult. If you're looking for a short (it felt like more than 5 hours, in a good way), comfy little adventure you could certainly do worse.

 

[TheGreatMusashi]

Maybe this has been discussed before, but how do you quantify finishing Vampire Survivors?

So far I only count games that I have completed the story.

 

[March Climber]

Maybe this has been discussed before, but how do you quantify finishing Vampire Survivors?

So far I only count games that I have completed the story.

For my playthrough of Rainbow Six Extraction it was a mixture of earning certain achievements, reaching an 'end game' XP level, and me completing the 'researches' which were essentially the game's story in written form.

Does Vampire Survivors have anything similar? Or maybe a certain final area/level that would earn you an achievement for beating it?

 

[BusierDonkey]

Game 22

The WereCleaner - Finished all maps with no kills, found all collectables.

Another game from my endless Steam backlog which was free. This one has you working as a janitor cleaning offices during the day, but then they want you coming in for overtime shifts to clean during crunch season. Unbeknownst to them, you are a werewolf. Now you have to clean the offices while avoiding staff because if they see you. you go into a rage and kill them. It's easy to pick up, very short and not as re-playable as one would think since you really only have a single goal. I didn't 5-star every level and don't think I'll go back to do so as the random nature of the coworkers in later levels would require more time invested than I want to put towards this game. It's a fun few hours though and it's a free game.

 

[BusierDonkey]

Game 23

Super Mario Maker 2 (Story Mode) - 100% Compete

This is regarding the story mode, not the level editor. Right off the hop, the levels in the story mode range from absolute filler to genuinely great. The presentation of the story mode deserves praise for really going a long way with just one idea. After building Peach a new castle, Undo Dog from Mario Paint hits the rocket delete button (also from Mario Paint), destroying the entire castle. Mario and a group of faithful Toads and their chief Toadette have Mario perform a series of jobs to fund the building of a new castle. It's stupid, but in a good way. The jobs are, of course, beating Mario Maker levels. There are plenty of levels here, secret levels, secret characters who offer more levels, which unlock more and more levels. The levels themselves range in difficulty from "play in your sleep" to some decently hard challenges. Nothing here comes close to the hardest parts of a modern mainline Mario entry, but there are a few stages that will have you visiting the game over screen. Most people would grab this game just for the editor, the story mode being as good as it is makes for really a nice bonus.

 

[SpiceRacz]

#16 - The Last of Us Part II (PS5)

Not a Lot to say that hasn't already been said. It's your standard Naughty Dog game. It's also one of the most depressing games I've ever played. It's intense and visceral and leaves you feeling gutted by the end. With that said, this is top notch presentation, story, voice acting, and gameplay across the board. Probably about as close to film as video games get. I get the complaints with characters and some stuff that feels shoehorned in. The quality is undeniable though. Glad I played it, but I don't think I would ever do it again.

 

[Rafaguilera]

15 games so far...

Jan 26 - Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (Switch) : One of my favorites Castlevanias. Nice story/characters, challenge and very pleasant to explore. Although the lack of tips/information make some missions, especially a very important one, a bit confusing to figure out. 9/10 - Time played: 12 hours

Jan 29 - Donkey Kong Country Returns HD (Switch) : Another gem from the past. Beautiful/creative levels and the challenge is fair to beat the main story, but diabolical to get all the extras. I still find that the villains have very poor character design and lack charisma. 8/10 - Time played: 8 hours

Feb 06 - Ninja Gaiden II Black (PS5): Despite the repetitive nature of a hack n' slash, it doesn't feel boring because of how varied the stages are and also it mixes some platform and exploration elements. Camera/controls are a bit unpolished and the story is weak. 8/10 - Time played: 11 hours

Feb 07 - Haunted Castle Revisited (Switch): A much more pleasant way to play Haunted Castle, but it's something entirely made of very conventional Castlevania gameplay and content that's been done better before 6/10 - Time played : less than 1 hour

Feb 13 - Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (PS4): I like the two female protagonists and everything else is polished, beautiful and enjoyable as the previous titles. Not as ambitious though. 9/10 - Time played: 9 hours

Feb 21 - Devil May Cry 5 (PS4): Expected much more! Repetitive visuals, boring level design and very cringe writing. Although not very memorable, there are some cool gimmicks and it was entertaining enough to keep going for about 9 hours. 6/10 - Time played: 9 hours

Feb 25 - Wario Land 4 (Switch online): An interesting and simple platform game that mix puzzle and exploration elements, but not particularly memorable as the best Nintendo classics. 7/10 - Time played: 5 hours

Mar 02 - New Pokémon Snap (Switch): I enjoyed the N64 original and this one as well. As a photographer myself, I was very entertained going after the best shot possible and trying to find hiding Pokémons. However, I found it a bit too long for its repetitive structure. 8/10 - Time played: 11 hours

Mar 13 - Cadence of Hyrule (Switch): Very close to a conventional 2D Zelda to my surprise (I was expecting a pure music/rhythm game), but with a rhythmic combat. Love it! Some items are a bit underused, but everything else is top notch. 9/10 - Time played: 10 hours

Mar 25 - Suikoden II (Switch): Fantastic plot and characters, but inventory and party management are terrible. Severely hinders the pace of an otherwise great game. 7/10 - Time played: 47 hours

Mar 27 - Pikmin (Switch): First time beating this and I think it aged very well! The only annoying thing is the Pikmin AI. They don't follow you with extreme precision and get distracted very easily. 8/10 - Time played: 7 hours

Apr 15 - God of War Ragnarok (PS5): Just WAY too long for such a repetitive gameplay structure and what should've been the plot pinnacle, is soooo disappointing. In my opinion, the worst God of War game ever. 6/10 - Time played: 28 hours

Apr 18 - Astro Bot's Playroom (PS5): As fun, polished and captivating as the most recent one, but shorter. I don't know why I took so long to play something that came for free (and is so great) on my PS5. 9/10 - Time played: 3 hours

Apr 19 - A Short Hike (Switch): Feels like Mario 64 mixed with Animal Crossing. So fun and relaxing to explore the little island set and interact with the characters. Ends sooo quickly though 8/10 - Time played: 2 hours

Apr 21 - Crow Country (Switch): A homage to survival horror classics, but not quite as remarkable and not even slightly scary. Shooting is terrible due the poorly designed aim, but the plot kinda works and the old fashion puzzles are interesting enough. 7/10 - Time played: 5 hours

 

[BusierDonkey]

Games 25

Valfaris - Completed playthrough

Game 26

Valfaris: Mecha Therion - Completed playthrough

Despite Mecha Therion being a sequel to the first Valfaris, these games are two very different games.

The first game is a Contra-style action platforming run n' gun, but it also has a touch of Blackthorne. Like in Blackthorne, Therion is a prince out to get revenge on his father for destroying his home world. The game is 16-bit era graphics on steroids, full of some awesome, well animated pixel art. The visuals really set a tone the game carries the entire way through. The music is exactly what you'd expect looking at the game, it just fits perfectly. The game is pretty hard, like most Contra-like games, but the checkpoint system is pretty generous so on hard sections you'll need a few runs at it, but it won't kick you in the nuts. You can level up your weapons and attain new ones throughout the game by finding secret areas which help a lot with the harder sections. I really had fun with this game.

The second game is a side-scrolling shooter with the odd camera change, like Einhander on the Playstation. The visuals are Playstation on steroids. The game is full of pixelated textures, low geometry and simple era-appropriate animations. The game picks off immediately where Valfaris left off, only now Therion is piloting his flying mech. Pacing is just about perfect, there are no empty sections with nothing to do. Bosses are constantly popping up and you have the same weapon upgrade and swapping options as the first game all tied to a new collection of weapons and upgrades. This game has a pretty cool mechanic where you have an energy bar that depletes with use of your guns, but recharges if you land a hit with your melee attack. This means you don't want to wipe out enemies before they attack, as you can attack their projectiles for an energy boost. This is pretty long for a shooter, but it never feels old. I'm not great at shooters but the checkpoints in the game are so well-placed I never felt anything was beyond reach. My main gripe with this one was that sometimes the camera would change POV and I'd lose full control of the mech. Overall, it was a solid game, but I preferred the first game to Mecha Therion.

Looking forward to whatever they do with the third game.

 

[Jooxed]

Game 27 - A Way Out - Xbox Series X - 4/9/25 - 8/10 - My first co op game in a long time, spent a week at a buddies house and this is the first game we played, we had such a blast it was such a good time... I have always shied away from these games for some reason. Now I will buy every one of this studios games when they come out

Game 28 - Split Fiction - Xbox Series X - 4/11-25 - 9/10 - See my above review, improved on everything over their first game. I know this is the newest one but im saving it takes two for the Switch 2 and to play with my wife, These guys have a new fan.

 

[marcincz]

Game 24 - Another Code: R - Journey into Lost Memories (NS) - 17h 27m
Beat 22/04/2025 - my score: 7/10

Good visual novel, but Two Memories was much more interesting.

Game 25 - Civilization 7 (PS5) - 17h 52m
Beat 27/04/2025 - my score: 6/10

I am big fan of Civilization series. Started in mid 90's on Amiga 500. Played each part, but this is mediocre. Beat one playthrough and that's enough for me at this moment. Fun fact. Haven't earned any trophy.

 

[Wolzard]

#2 - Watch_Dogs (2014) - PC

I got this game when I bought the GTX 780 in 2014, even on a high-end card this game was quite demanding. I played up to act 2, where there were some stealth segments and at the time I didn't have much patience for that. Replaying it now, I first thought about using mods, but the ones I got bugged the game, so I left it there. The game's visuals are good enough and now playing in 4K, it does very well. One curious thing is that the 3060 Ti runs this game in 4K80fps, but if I turn on depth of field, the game drops to about 40. Weird, but this effect is really ugly and I would disable it anyway.

The game still has some bugs that frustrated me a few times, as they made you die or lose out of nowhere. The cover system is what caused this the most.

The story is very interesting and has a good development, although I thought it lacked a little more towards the end.

Then I started Watch Dogs 2 and found it unplayable. In addition to completely changing the game's aesthetics to something very "GenZ", the game's performance was horrible. No matter the graphics settings, the game's framerate would stay at around 70 fps and then suddenly drop to 30 fps. The gameplay also changed, they replaced many of the old one-click functions, added a lot of junk and animations that made the game slow.

 

[Skeptical]

17. Pumpkin Jack (5h, ★★). I can see why people like it; it's reasonably pretty and atmospheric for an indie 3D platformer, bosses are well done, and there are plenty of neat setpieces. But it basically ends there. Platforming doesn't feel very good, with a jump with too much vertical and not enough horizontal. Combat feels button mashy. And the levels are loooong. Setpieces are good, but then they get repeated in order to pad out the level. Which lowers their value. My guess is longer levels were used to reduce the need for more varied levels, which I understand for a one-man team, but still.

18. Yohane the Perihelion: Blaze in the Deepblue (6h, ★★). I have no idea what the anime is like or if this is valuable for fans of the franchise. But as a fan of Inticreates, this feels a bit basic for them. Sure, it controls nicely and nice pixel art and reasonably good combat and all, which I expect from these guys. But nothing design wise stood out. It's a Metroidvania without much value in exploring, the crafting system is unique but not worth getting into in depth, and the sheer number of helper characters meant their uses weren't fleshed out much. Decent enough to play, but ended up being forgettable.

19. Batman: Arkham City (16h, ★★★★). I think this was significantly better than the first one. There's more to do, and more space available to do them in. The "Metroidvania" esque style didn't work wonderfully well last game, so de-emphasizing it worked well. Basically, I can't think of anything that was worst than the first game, while the overall experienced was greatly improved by the better outdoor portion, more mobility, and a greater number of things to find and to do.

20. Pikmin 2 (12h, ★★). Challenge in Pikmin games can come from two sources: the combat or efficient time management. I much prefer the latter. Pikmin 2 is all about the former. So it's really not surprising that this is my least favorite Pikmin game. I just don't like trying to get the right camera angle in those tight caves to see where you are chucking your Pikmin while also simultaneously trying to keep track of what stupid things your Pikmin are doing that will get them all killed. The final straw came in a cave floor that was particularly challenging, but finally defeated with minimal losses. So I sent the Pikmin to grab the treasure while I relaxed momentarily... only for all the Pikmin to die from a random bomb dropping out of the sky. So now I have to escort my Pikmin back to the shuttle just so the game doesn't throw a random trap? How is that supposed to be fun?

21. 30XX (6h, ★★). This is a roguelike, which doesn't automatically mean a disappointment. But sadly, this game does fall into a common trap of messed up difficulty curve. Rather than a smooth, well designed curve, roguelikes often just turn latter levels into bullet hells + damage sponges on bosses. It makes the early levels feel boring and the latter levels feel impossible. Which is sad, because if this was just designed to be a simple Mega Man clone, it would be an excellent game. All of the elements are there, it's just hurt by being a roguelike.

 

[Bountyhunter666]

Reserved!

 

[BusierDonkey]

Game 27

Fury Unleashed - Completed 3 playthroughs, defeated all bosses

This is a pretty straightforward action roguelike game with some quick-moving gameplay, lots of weapons and a decent enough setting using comic book panels as the level arrangement. Unfortunately, when using a controller the game forces auto-aim which is not ideal as it tends to aim at random enemies, not prioritizing immediate threats so you end up shooting at some wimpy enemy the whole screen away instead of the chaingun-toting beast right in front of you.

Of course, this is a western game, so the whole thing has to have a sprinkle of shit peppered over it in the form of a self-insert "story" about a comic book writer who is "tired" and wants to just give up on making comics. You get to read texts between him and his support group or some shit, Seriously, who gives a shit about this garbage? We all hate our jobs. Fuck off.

 

[applesaucejaxon]

April Post

17: Altered Beast - Genesis (via Genesis Classics Switch version) - Beat 5/2
When I was a kid, the first Genesis game I ever saw was Altered Beast at my Mom's cousin's house. I was in awe because all I knew was the 2600 and the NES. This game looked amazing and everybody was raving about it. I'm assuming this was early 1990. I never got a Genesis, and none of my friends that ended up with one ever owned Altered Beast. All I had were sleepy memories of this amazing looking game from this one night when I was like 8 years old.

So now I know that Altered Beast actually sucks.


18: Infamous: First Light - PS4 via PS5 - Beat 5/2
Once upon a time, Infamous was my favorite Sony franchise. Second Son kind of ruined that for me, though. I did like this one more than Second Son. I just couldn't stand Delsin. I like Fetch a bit more. Definitely worth playing.

19: Castlevania: The Adventure - Game Boy via Castlevania Anniversary Collection - PS5 - Beat 5/2
This game was straight garbage. The hit detection, the cheapness, the horrible slowdown. I know this was a very old Game Boy game, but this was just awful. Even for the system.
For a series that I've been with since the beginning, I'm realizing that my INITIAL love for the series was definitely seen through rose tinted glasses.

20: Castlevania 2: Belmont's Revenge - Game Boy via Castlevania Anniversary Collection - PS5 - Beat 5/5
This may be the biggest game to game improvement I've ever seen in a game series. All the problems with the first are fixed and it's just so much better. I really enjoyed this one. Aside from the Dracula fight and the the penultimate fight. They were just too cheap and reliant on memorization. I don't know if I'm going to play Castlevania 4 next or Bloodlines. I've never played Bloodlines, so that may be the one. But I also haven't played 4 in ages and I'm looking forward to playing an A+ Castlevania game again. Might be a coin flip situation.

21: Castlevania Bloodlines - Genesis via Castlevania Anniversary Collection - PS5 and Switch - Beat 5/5
Having the password feature was really nice for when my daughter wanted to watch Bluey. Just booted up the Switch and put in the password!
Ok, so I don't see why people rave about this game. It was good. I enjoyed it a bit, but to me it doesn't even hold a candle to 4. Taking away the 8 way whip was dumb. That was a great evolution when the series jumped to 16 bit, and they threw it away. Also, it looked less like a legit Castlevania game and more like a cheap knockoff. The series has a very distinct art style going back to the original game all the way to today. This game sticks out like a sore thumb. That being said, the colors were beautiful, and the water level - I think the second level - was one of the best looking in all the series. Just the enemies didn't look like what I expect from the series. And the animation had a bit of jank to it. If this came out before 4, I think I would look at it differently. It played much closer to the originals than 4 did. It's a solid 7.5-8 out of 10. Not the masterpiece it had been built up to be.

22: Super Castlevania 4 - SNES via Castlevania Anniversary Collection - PS5 - Beat 5/6
Visually, this game wasn't anything near as good as I remembered. Every other aspect of the game was better than I remembered. This will always be my favorite classic Castlevania game. Debating whether I want to jump right in to Symphony of the Night now. I've actually been wanting to play the Streets of Rage series lately.

23: Good Job! -Switch - Beat 5/14
Well, went a little bit without beating anything because I was out of town. This was a fun game. A little repetitive, but pretty funny when the physics would go crazy. Simple and fun. It's been sitting on my backlog forever.

24: Streets of Rage - Genesis (via Genesis Classics Switch version) - Beat 5/21
I never played this one. I remember playing part 2 with my cousin for a bit back in the day, but never the original. It's a pretty good beat-em up. It didn't feel cheap or padded out. I do wish you got more than 3 continues, but that was a non issue at the end of the day. I'll probably play part 2 after I finish Biomutant...

25: Biomutant - PS5 - Beat 5/23
I didn't like this. The narrator was so stupid. It was like doing stuff with my son. I'd be doing whatever and then he'd say some stupid shit that had nothing to do with anything that was going on. About halfway through the game, it popped up basically saying: Oh yeah, the narrator is shit. Do you not want to hear his stupid bullshit anymore? Just click this button.
Where the fuck was this like 10 hours ago?
The combat sucked. The dialog sucked. The performance sucked. I actually was excited when I realized the game wasn't in performance mode and switched over. Then the frame rate sucked just as bad.
By the time I realized I really didn't like this game, I was in way too deep and felt like I had to finish it. If you want me to give a full breakdown about how much I disliked it, just let me know.

26: Mortal Kombat 11 - PS5 - Beat Story Mode 6/1
This was a great looking game. I was a big fan of the art direction, and the facial capture was great. The story mode was fun, even if it was dumb. My big gripe is the gameplay. Take Street Fighter. If you played any Street Fighter from 2 onwards, you know how to play the game. Yes, new things are added over time, but it's still Street Fighter at it's core. Mortal Kombat must have lost its way at some point between 3 and 11. 3 was really the last MK that I really played. Knowing how to play that does not help me in any way with 11. Maybe some would see this as a good thing. Growth or whatnot. I didn't like it. It didn't feel like the MK that I knew.

27: Huntdown - PS5 Beat 6/4
Fantastic game. The looks, the sounds, the gameplay... everything was top notch. Loved every second of it.


So my Switch 2 will be here tomorrow. Not sure if that's going to help or hinder me from finishing more games over the next few months. Honestly, I have a feeling a lot of Switch backlog is going to get cleared out.

 

[bender]

Because I hate myself, I beat Earth Defense Force 6 eight more times (hardest and inferno difficulties for each class) and collected the Platinum Trophy. Inferno can be a real mother fucker and I'll probably never touch the series again or at least wait a long time. The last time I got deep into the EDF rabbit hole was 2017 on the 360 which came out almost 20 years ago (Jesus, I'm getting old). At its' best, the game can be some of the best parts of Dynasty Warriors, Diablo, and Mercenaries and give you the vibes of campy sci-fi or even Starship troopers, but at its' worst you can definitely feel its' Simple 2000 roots. With 150 some odd missions, I'd estimate 50 of them are great, 50 of them are okay, and 50 of them are a slog, pointless from a gameplay perspective to push the narrative, or some combination of the two and it would have been better served had it cut the mission count in half. I've only dabbled in the DLC and I'm not sure I have the heart to take on those packs.

 

[marcincz]

Game 26 - Clair Obscure: Expedition 33 (PS5) - 36h 12m
Beat 09/05/2025 - my score: 9/10

Great game, but - maybe unpopular opinion - the end of act1 was peak of this title. Next hours was good, but not as great as beginning of this journey.
However every rpg/jrpg fan must play Expedition 33.
BTW, 26/52. Good pace.

 

[Shaggidy]

10: Oxenfree 11 hours
I liked this one. Very short but neat. I can see why people were gushing about it when it first released.

11: Valkyria Chronicles 28 hours
Pretty fun take on the tactics genre. Had a few BS difficulty jumps but not too hard. Wish 2 and 3 get remasters sometime in the future.

12: Psychonauts 25 hours plat
A fun one, though I'll die on the hill that we should've gotten Brutal Legend 2 over Psychonauts 2. Also, screw that punching minigame

13: Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor 21 hours plat
RIP Monolith. A little basic, and the nemesis system can be a little tedious. Still need to do the dlcs

14: Hard West 48 hours
I have no idea why, but I hit a brick wall with this game. Took me so long to get through and stalled me for a while. It's not bad, maybe a little basic as an X-Com like.

15: Ultimate DOOM+Sigil and Sigil 2 14 hours
DOOM was a great challenge. There's beauty it is simplicity. John Romero can go step on a lego, but hot damn, I beat both Sigils on UV.

16: Magi Trials 10 hours
Another VN. It's a cute one. And darker than you'd think for the subject matter.

17: Resident Evil: Dead Aim 1 hour 20 minutes
I don't feel great about it, but I had to beat this one on easy. I would've picked a higher difficulty if I could've gotten my USB mouse to work on my old man ps2, but I didn't want to deal with the games quirks. Prime candidate for a remaster or remake.

18: Doom II 25 hours
Doom 2 on UV is NOT fun. It felt like I was playing Sigil for 32 levels. I much prefer Doom 1.

19: Synergia plat ps4/5 4 hours
Cyberpunk lesbian VN. An enjoyable story, though it needed another pass or two in editing. Also, for some reason, it lacks a rewind button.

20: Red Faction
Just finished this one. I can see why people love it. I expected more to the destruction element, but I think its a good foundation. For some reason, it won't tell me my time, so I'm gonna estimate at least 9ish hours.

 

[SpiceRacz]

#17 - Breath of Fire 2

I played this one with double exp/money and lowered encounter rate hack. This is one I've been curious about for a long time. I remember watching my friend play through the original and I thought it was great at the time. This one on the other hand is completely forgettable. I can't think of a single redeeming part of the game other than the town building sections where you can recruit certain shopkeepers and residents. The combat is basic. The music doesn't have a single memorable track. The dialogue is fucking horrible and juvenile. The characters and story didn't resonate with me at all. Just felt like a very generic and boring RPG. BoF 3 is so much better.


#18 - Shadowrun (SNES)

This was a quick replay. I try to run through this game every few years. It's based off the tabletop game and plays like a weird isometric action game with point and click controls to interact with the environment. It oozes atmosphere though and as far as I know represents the table top game well. At the time, the story and setting were much darker and serious in tone than the other RPGs on the SNES. Not for everyone, but there's not really anything else like it on the system.