What games did you complete? 2022 Edition

[BabelRich]

Due to many different reasons I'm a bit behind so here's a quick wrap up of my latest activity:

 

30/08 - Saint's Row (2022)

A dumb, buggy throwback to 360 era open world games and I bloody loved every stupid minute of it. Helped that I lucked out with a really good voice actor for my boss which made the stupid script as fun as hell.

 

8/10

 

07/09 - God of War

Marvel Calls made me want to watch the Marvel films again; watching Thor made me want to play this game again. A quick reply to get me ready for Ragnarök in November. It's still superb.

 

10/10

 

07/09 - Kentucky Route Zero

I have to admit, I didn't really get it. The allegories hit home but the overall story left me cold unfortunately. I think I needed to be in a different frame of mind for this one.

 

6/10

 

07/09 - Tinykin

Man, this was just a blissful little game to play through. No peril, but fantastic exploration. I just wish there had been more of of it.

 

9/10

 

Spoiler

12/08 - Bug Fables 8/10

29/07 - Escape Academy 10/10

27/07 - Dodgeball Academia 5/10

25/07 - Assassin's Creed: Syndicate 9/10

11/07 - Assassin's Creed: Unity 3/10

10/07 - Donkey Kong Country 4/10

05/07 - Dragon Age: Inquisition 8/10

18/06 - TMNT: Shredder's Revenge 7/10

14/06 - Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga 8/10

01/06 - Dragon Quest XI 8/10

26/05 - Tales of Monkey Island 8/10

16/05 - Red Dead Redemption 9/10

12/05 - Lost Words – Beyond the Page 6/10

10/05 - Citizen Sleeper 9/10

06/05 - Lost in Random 6/10

08/04 – Kirby and the Forgotten Kingdom 9/10

01/04 – Danganronpa 2 – Goodbye Despair 08/10

25/03 – Tunic 6/10

16/03 – Danganronpa – Trigger Happy Havok 8/10

13/03 - Horizon - Forbidden West 10/10

15/02 - Agent A 7/10

14/02 - Saint's Row - Gat Out of Hell 6/10

11/02 - Nobody Saves the World 8/10

04/02 - Final Fantasy 7 Remake Episode INTERMission 6/10

01/02 - Final Fantasy 7 Remake 8/10

26/01 - Gorogoa 9/10

25/01 - The Gunk 7/10

23/01 - Control 7/10

11/01 - Rise of the Tomb Raider 7/10

07/01 - Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space 9/10

 

[Unofficial Who]

Sep

 

28/09 Return to Monkey Island (PC) This one caught me by surprise with its release. Earlier in the year I'd assumed this was just a joke post by Ron Gilbert. I took it more seriously when he was getting blowback for the new art style. Even so I was going to wait for this to be discounted or turn up on GamePass. And then I realised. I paid twice as much for the first Monkey Island 30 years back. Possibly three times taking inflation into account.

 

First impressions? How could he payoff the ending of Monkey Island 2 and integrate all the others into this game? I had my doubts but I was charmed two minutes in. Not long after that the music pulled me in, it really is one of my favourite game scores of all time. And as for the controversial art work?

 

 

It might look a little flat in small screen grabs but in motion it's fantastic. The style and engine used allows for more control with zooms and pans to great effect. And the colour palette used is faithful to the first game. I can't quite understand the argument that this style isn't consistent, Monkey Island games have never had a consistent style, from the pixel art of 1, the scanned digitised painterly look of 2, the Disney cartoon look of 3 etc they've all used different techniques.

 

The game itself feels like playing an old LucasArts adventure from the golden age. I played through this on easy with the intention of playing it on normal later and the game was lovely if a little frictionless. But after completing it on easy I turned right around and played it a second time on the harder mode and loved being blindsided by some encounters that were now more convoluted. 

 

So, it looks great, sounds lovely as usual and the puzzles were fun (although I admit I used a hint book a couple of times where I should have walked away for a bit.) How's the writing? It's sharp as the earlier games with some interesting twists. I love that Guybrush, before seen as irrelevant due to being too green and young was now facing the problem of being seen as irrelevant due to being old and past it. And I suspect the ending is going to cause a lot of debate for years to come.

 

If this is the final chapter for Monkey Island it's a great one, going out on a real high. I can recommend it without hesitation to long time fans or to anyone who loves point and click adventure games.

 

Earlier this month

18/09 Tinykin (PC)

13/09 Flynn:Son of Crimson (PC)

11/09 Winter Olympiad 88 (C64)

08/09 Arcade Paradise (PC)

 

Earlier this year

 

Spoiler

67. 21/08 I Am Dead (PS5) 

66. 20/08 Skate or Die! (C64)

65. 16/08 Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Switch)

64. 14/08 Eco Fighters (Arcade/PC)

63. 14/08 Grindstone (PC) 

62. 14/08 Borderlands 3 (and DLC) (PC)

61. 10/08 Knights of the Round (Arcade/PC)

60. 10/08 Block Block (Arcade/PC)

59. 06/08 Monument Valley 2 : Panoramic Edition (PC)

58. 06/08 Monument Valley: Panoramic Edition (PC)

57. 31/07 The King of Dragons (Arcade/PC)

56. 30/07 Son Son (Arcade/PS5)

55. 30/07 Don't Pull (Arcade/PC)

54. 30/07 Chariot: Adventure Through The Sky (Arcade/PC)

53. 30/07 Midnight Wanderers: Quest for the Chariot (Arcade/PC)

52. 29/07 Magic Sword (Arcade/PC) 

51. 29/07 LED Storm (Arcade/PC)

50. 29/07 Last Duel (Arcade/PC) 

49. 26/07 Raji:An Ancient Epic (PC)

48. 24/07 Tiger Road (PC/Arcade)

47. 24/07 Side Arms Hyper Dyne (PC/Arcade) 

46. 23/07 Gun.Smoke (PC/Arcade)

45. 23/07 Exed Exes (PC/Arcade) 

44. 10/07 Bangkok Knights (C64)

43. 02/07 Zero Wing (Megadrive/Switch)

42. 26/06 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge (PC) 

41. 17/06 Psycho Soldier (Arcade/PC)

40. 16/06 Prehistoric Isle in 1930 (Arcade/PC)

39. 16/06 Street Smart (Arcade/PC)

38. 12/06 Midnight Scenes:The Nanny (PC)

37. 28/05 SUPERHOT (PC) 

36. 28/05 Tetris Effect:Connected (PC)

35. 22/05 Sea of Solitude (PC) 

34. 21/05 Scott Morrison Simulator (Browser) 

33. 16/05 Full Throttle:Remastered (PC)

32. 15/05 Unbeatable [White Label] (PC)

31. 14/05 Trek To Yomi (PC) 

30. 13/05 Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion (PC)

29. 09/05 California Games (C64)

28.01/05 The Stanley Parable:Ultra Deluxe (PC)

27. 27/04 The Darkside Detective:A Fumble in the Dark (PC)

26. 23/04 Streets of Rage 4 (PC)

25. 17/04 Exo One (PC)

24. 16/04 A Memoir Blue (PC)

23. 08/04 Slay the Spire (PC)

22. 03/04 Tunic (PC) 

21. 02/04 Kingdom:Two Crowns (PC)

20. 26/03 Say No! More (PC)

19. 21/03 Wizball (C64)

18. 17/03 Battle Circuit (PC/Arcade)

17. 17/03 We Happy Few (PC)

16. 07/03 Powered Gear (PC/Arcade) 

15. 06/03 FAR:Changing Tides (PC)

14. 05/03 In Other Waters (PC)

13. 02/03 Aperture Desk Job (Steam Deck/PC) 

12. 27/02 Final Fantasy 14:A Realm Reborn:Seventh Astral Era (PC) 

11. 25/02 Vampire Survivors (PC) 

10. 18/02 Hypnospace Outlaw

9. 05/02 Final Fight (PC/Arcade)

8. 31/01 Dynasty Wars (Arcade/PC)

7. 31/01 Mega Twins (Arcade/PC) 

6, 29/01 Superhot:Mind Control Delete (PC) 

5. 16/01 The Forgotten City (PC)

4. 09/01 Mr Driller Drill Land (PC)

3. 07/01 Olija (PC)

2. 07/01 It's a Knockout! (C64) 

1. 02/01 Katamari Damacy REROLL (PC)

 

Abandoned games

03/07 Cris Tales (PC)

03/07 Atomicrops (PC)

13/05 The Wild at Heart (PC)

19/03 Narita Boy (PC)

04/01 YIIK: A Postmodern RPG (PC)

 

[Gabe]

That's a vastly different outcome to what I had, @Pelekophoros, which is testament to well integrated choice was into the game.

 

As I said in my comments too, the ending was a complete letdown, almost begging for people to want to clamour for a sequel.

[glb]

Had an afternoon sick on the sofa, with Cyberpunk and Horizon Forbidden West on my PS5, so obviously I instead completed Bee Simulator. It’s rough around the edges but still a cutesy, undemanding game. Plus it has bee facts and you get to fight wasps.

[Sprite Machine]

Previously...

Spoiler

1.) Lego City Undercover - PC - 2017 (2013)
2.) What Remains of Edith Finch - PS4 - 2017
3.) Superliminal - PS4 - 2020 (2019)
4.) Untitled Goose Game - Switch - 2019
5.) One Finger Death Punch 2 - PC - 2019
6.) Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood - PC - 2011 (2010)
7.) Vanquish - PC - 2017 (2010)

8.) Mass Effect (Legendary Edition) - PS4 - 2021 (2007)
9.) Telling Lies - PC - 2019
10.) Halo 5: Guardians - Xbox One - 2015
11.) Halo Infinite - Xbox Series - 2021
12.) Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition - PC - 2016 (2015)
13.) Alice: Madness Returns - PC - 2011
14.) The Forgotten City - Xbox Series - 2021
15.) Titanfall 2 - PC - 2016

16.) Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age - Switch - 2019 (2006)

17.) Sonic Origins: Economical Edition - PC - 1991/2020
18.) Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - Switch - 2017 (2014)
19.) Valiant Hearts: The Great War - Switch - 2018 (2014)
20.) Terranigma - SNES - 1996

21.) Batman: Arkham Origins - PC - 2013

22.) Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate - Deluxe Edition - PC - 2014 (2013)
23.) The Talos Principle - Switch - 2019 (2014)
24.) Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order - PS4 - 2019

 

25.) Rock Band 4 - PS4 - 2015

 

I wasn't sure whether to include this in my 'completed' list, because it's one of those games that essentially goes on forever. But I've now reached the credits of the docudrama mode and the world tour mode, gained over 1,000,000 fans in the latter, played almost every single song in my library at least once... so unless I'm going to actually go out and start a band, I'm basically done. Of course I will keep playing it but I'll probably start winding down or saving it for special occasions. It was my recent acquisition of the drum cymbals that got me back into this on a regular basis, so as long as they don't fall apart, I hope to come back to this game, or its sequels, time and time again.

 

I've enjoyed plenty of music games over the years, from Um Jammer Lammy, to Gitaroo Man, to Ouendan, to Guitar Hero, and I've loved playing various Rock Band games too (mostly on guitar), but I can honestly say that Expert Pro Drums is the most fun I have ever had with any music game, ever. I'm not saying I'm really awesome at it, I don't think you have to be. Even for beginners, the cymbals are a game-changer. How a set of add-ons that were made as an afterthought to the basic drum kit can make such a huge difference to the feel of the game is incredible. Granted, most of the credit has to go to Rock Band 3 for introducing Pro Mode in the first place, but RB4 thankfully continued it at least for the drums. Absolutely, exhilaratingly, awesome. Rock on! \m/,

[skondo]

I can't say completed, but I've played as much as I want of Match Point Tennis. It plays quite a good game of tennis and the bare bones presentation does mean you don't have to wade through pages of menus. The career structure is what you'd expect. I created a female character as I expected to play best of three sets, which is exactly what happens other than in qualifying where you play one set and then in Grand Slams where rather strangely you play best of five.

 

I struggled with the aiming to begin with, it's not as intuitive as Virtua Tennis, but once you grasp it, it plays really nicely. The character models are appalling and none of the big names are present. Some of them bear absolutely no resemblance to the real tennis person. Tim Henman is quite hilarious.

 

Overall 3/5.

 

[shirubagan]

 

Spoiler

01. How We Know We're Alive (Mac)
02. Gorogoa (Game Pass)
03. The Procession to Calvary (Game Pass)
04.Shadow Warrior [2013] (Xbox)
05. Pokémon Legends: Arceus (Switch)
06. Crossfire X – Chapter 1: Catalyst (XSX)
07. Battlefield 4 – Campaign, Normal (XSX)
08. Astro's Playroom (PS5)
09. Il Filo Conduttore (Mac)
10. Ratchet & Clank – Rift Apart (PS5)
11. Borderlands 3 – Guns, Love & Tentacles DLC (XSX)
12 & 13. Back to the Future – The Telltale Game, Episodes 1 & 2 (Xbox GWG)
14. Pokémon Sword (Switch)
15 & 16. Back to the Future – The Telltale Game, Episodes 3 & 4 (Xbox GWG)
17. Panzer Dragoon Remake, Normal Run (Switch)

18. Rez Infinite, Area 1-5 run (PS5)
19. Bowser's Fury, All Cat Shines (Switch)
20. Back to the Future – The Telltale Game, Episode 5 (Xbox GWG)
21. Nobody Saves the World (Xbox)
22. Trek to Yomi (Xbox)
22.5. Rez Area X (PS5)
23. Tomb Raider 2013 (XSX)

24. Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion (XSX Game Pass)
25. Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS5 – PS+ Extra)
26. The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (PS5 – PS+ Extra) [ABANDONED]
27. Stray (PS5 – PS+ Extra)
28. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge – Michelangelo ending (Game Pass)

29. Eyeland (PlayDate)
30. Life's Too Short (PlayDate)
31. Pick Pack Pup – Story Mode (PlayDate)
32. Aperture Desk Job (Steam Deck)
33. Chorus (Game Pass)

 

34. Cyberpunk 2077 (XSX)

 

After well over a year of dicking about in and around Night City I finally found the point of no return and decided to finish the main story line. I thought it was all really good, an incredible achievement all round and will be going back in to finish off the dozens of side quests I've yet to discover.

I haven't got much to add to the discussion, other than I'm singing the game's praises to anyone of my mates who'll listen as it really is something special. Not perfect in any way, but I think that's also part of the game world's charm. The thing that irritated me the most were the default controls, everything was all laggy and twitchy, but discovering the advanced controller options cleared that (almost) all up.

I'd say this is Essential if you're even vaguely into this type of game.

[cassidy]

Spoiler

06/01/22

 

1. Yakuza 3 remastered -(series X)

 

 

 

26/01/22

 

2. Yakuza 4 remastered - (series X) 

 

 

 

27/01/22

 

3. Nobody saves the world - (Series X)

 

 

 

16/02/22

 

4. Infernax - (series X)

 

 

 

17/02/22

 

5. Dreamscaper - (series X) 

 

 

 

17/03/2022

 

6. Young Souls - (Series X) 

 

 

 

06/04/2022

 

7. A Memoir Blue - (Series X)

 

 

 

22/04/2022

 

8. Elden Ring - (Series X) 

 

 

 

27/04/2022

 

9. Turnip Boy commits tax evasion. 

 

10. Gigawing - Capcom arcade stadium version

 

 

 

30/04/2022

 

11. Battle Circuit - Capcom arcade stadium version

 

 

 

01/05/2022

 

12. Life is Strange - True Colours

 

 

 

19/05/2022

 

13. Eiyuden Chronicles : Rising (SeriesX) 

 

 

 

20/06/2022

 

14.TMNT : Shredders revenge

 

 

 

23/06/2022

 

15.Disc room 

 

 

 

14/07/2022

 

16. House Flipper

 

 

 

29/07/2022

 

17. Powerwash Sim

 

 

05/08/2022

 

18. As dusk falls

 

 

 

11/09/2022

 

19. Tinykin

 

 21/09/2022

 

20. Food truck tycoon

21. Arcade paradise

 

And another one done 

 

22. Beacon pines (series X) quite a short game this and it's really just a visual novel. But it's a good story told well and has some lovely music in there really enjoyed it. 

[ImmaculateClump]

NeverAwake - All worlds, route A and B

 

Spoiler

Nekotosakana - 1cc

Moon Dancer - Normal 1cc (no miss), Hard 1cc (no miss), Expert 1cc

Grand Cross: Renovation - 1cc

Operation STEEL - Normal 1cc, Hard 1cc

Vampire Survivors - Inlaid Library hyper, Mad Forest hyper, Green Acres hyper

Sophstar - 1cc and TLB, Arcade, Intermediate, original scoring, Reyka

Sol Cresta - 2-all, Normal (3-5)

Stainless Night - 1cc

Andro Dunos II - 1cc

Z-Warp - Hardcore 1cc

Galacticon - 1cc, Level 36 (loop 4)
Drainus - Normal 2-all, Arcade 2-all
Red-Hawk - 1cc

Tukiyono - 1cc (ending 1), 1cc (ending 2)

Love - Arcade

Spacewing War - Story mode 1cc

AISZplus - 1cc

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge - Arcade, normal 1cc (April)

Deathsmiles IIX - 1cc TLB

Like Dreamer - [Trial, Maniac 1cc] [Trial+, Expert 1cc] [Trial, Nightmare 1cc] [Speedrun, Expert 1cc] [All Trial, Nightmare 1cc] etc. Lost track now

Shooting Game KARI - Normal 1cc

Tanitani Wizard - Normal 1cc

Mushihimesama Futari Black Label - Maniac 1cc

Valhellio - Normal 1cc

Bullet Hell Monday - Normal 1cc

 

[shirubagan]

 

Spoiler

01. How We Know We're Alive (Mac)
02. Gorogoa (Game Pass)
03. The Procession to Calvary (Game Pass)
04.Shadow Warrior [2013] (Xbox)
05. Pokémon Legends: Arceus (Switch)
06. Crossfire X – Chapter 1: Catalyst (XSX)
07. Battlefield 4 – Campaign, Normal (XSX)
08. Astro's Playroom (PS5)
09. Il Filo Conduttore (Mac)
10. Ratchet & Clank – Rift Apart (PS5)
11. Borderlands 3 – Guns, Love & Tentacles DLC (XSX)
12 & 13. Back to the Future – The Telltale Game, Episodes 1 & 2 (Xbox GWG)
14. Pokémon Sword (Switch)
15 & 16. Back to the Future – The Telltale Game, Episodes 3 & 4 (Xbox GWG)
17. Panzer Dragoon Remake, Normal Run (Switch)

18. Rez Infinite, Area 1-5 run (PS5)
19. Bowser's Fury, All Cat Shines (Switch)
20. Back to the Future – The Telltale Game, Episode 5 (Xbox GWG)
21. Nobody Saves the World (Xbox)
22. Trek to Yomi (Xbox)
22.5. Rez Area X (PS5)
23. Tomb Raider 2013 (XSX)

24. Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion (XSX Game Pass)
25. Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS5 – PS+ Extra)
26. The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (PS5 – PS+ Extra) [ABANDONED]
27. Stray (PS5 – PS+ Extra)
28. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge – Michelangelo ending (Game Pass)

29. Eyeland (PlayDate)
30. Life's Too Short (PlayDate)
31. Pick Pack Pup – Story Mode (PlayDate)
32. Aperture Desk Job (Steam Deck)
33. Chorus (Game Pass)
34. Cyberpunk 2077 (XSX)

 

 

35. Elechead (Steam)

 

Charming little puzzle platformer where you play a robot who charges everything they touch. Some real head-scratchers in there and I missed loads of secrets, so will probably play again. Very much the VVVVVV school of gaming. At only £7 ish, I'd highly recommend it to anyone.

1st play: 02:59:15 | 08/20 Secrets found / 252 Deaths  

[Jamie John]

31. Darkwood (2017) - Steam Deck

 

 

Darkwood is a top-down survival horror game in the truest sense of the term. You play as a nameless amnesiac who's desperately trying to escape the eponymous forest he's trapped within while not being torn apart by any number of eldritch horrors. It's an ugly, grimy, difficult, purposefully fiddly and wilfully obscure experience that I found very compelling. For a while, anyway.

The entire game centres around a day-night cycle that completely dictates your actions and encourages you to quickly develop a routine in order to survive. As such, each morning you might spend some time fortifying your home base (often in vain) against the various horrors that will emerge from the woods once night falls. Later, you'll arrange your backpack carefully, taking only what you need to survive a rabid dog attack or defend yourself against a crazed savage, leaving enough room for anything useful you stumble across in your travels. At last, you'll set out into the unknown with just a tattered, hand-drawn map for company, one that doesn't so much tell you where you should be going as where you haven't yet been.

After leaving the purported safety of your hideout, the clock starts ticking. You've got about ten minutes to scrounge in ruined houses and abandoned barns for the things you'll need to make it through another night: a quarter tank of gasoline to feed your struggling generator; stained rags you can use as makeshift bandages; wooden boards and rusting nails that you'll have to decide whether to either use as barricades for your windows, or combine to craft a fragile weapon. And then, as the sun starts to set and the shadows lengthen, you'll make a panicked return to your house, cursing yourself for having wandered out so far, second-guessing whether or not you're going back the same way you came, and jumping at the noises that seem to chase you all the way home.

Once back, after hurriedly turning the lights on and dumping the day's meagre pickings in a storage container, you'll scrabble into one of the few rooms in your base that still has walls and then barricade yourself inside, just as the light starts to fade. There's no sleep for you, however, as now the night has truly begun, and you're the only person around to go on watch.

 

This is where the game pulls its best trick, as all there is to do for the twelve long hours between dusk and dawn is to wait and to simply listen to the things just outside your four thin walls. The sound design is genuinely unsettling: night-time screams from unknown sources, hideous gurgles, satanic chants, sudden shuffles, snorts and slitherings, and, most disturbing of all, occasionally a very rapid, very human-sounding banging at your door, the entreaty of some poor soul desperate for sanctuary, who you know you'll never let inside.

Sequences like these are effective and engaging, preying successfully on your natural fears of the dark and what it obscures. The sound works in tandem with the game's other standout mechanic: the player character's limited cone of vision, as despite viewing everything from a bird's-eye perspective, you can only ever see what's directly in front of you. This allows the game to haunt you with the sudden snapping of twigs as you explore, or with peculiar shadows that seem to disappear as soon as you turn to face them, or sometimes even distorted shapes on the edges of your vision. And, when you truly are being hunted, you're never able to see what's chasing you, making for some fantastically tense moments as you try to anticipate enemy attacks while fleeing from something you can't see.

If this was the whole story then Darkwood would be a great and underappreciated indie gem that I'd easily recommend. Unfortunately, however, the game is just too drawn out to remain exciting or interesting. It's split into two chapters, which I didn't realise until I'd got to the end of the first, thinking I'd finished the game, only to find another area opening up that was the same size again as the first, and a lot more difficult to navigate. Normally, in a game I was enjoying as much as this one, I'd be all for some additional content to supplement the experience. Here, though, the second chapter feels very much bolted on, almost as if it was originally a DLC zone that turned into part of the main game midway through development. Horror games, generally, benefit from brevity, but with Darkwood I'd already been playing for 15 hours by the time 'Chapter 2' flashed up on the screen and felt like I was coming to the limit of what I wanted from the game. An epilogue I'd have been happy to see through, but the game's second half introduces little in the way of new mechanics, preferring instead to just up the number of randomly-spawning monsters and annoyingly-placed poison traps instead. What had been tense before soon became tedious; scary, now just irritating. I soldiered on for another five hours or so, but, really, I should have stopped at the end of chapter 1, as should have the game. Ultimately, despite making this post in the Completed Games thread, I didn't actually get to the credits. I got very close, so I'm happy enough to count this as 'Completed' rather than 'Abandoned', but perhaps 'Finished with' is a more fitting category. The fact that I didn't push through to the end, despite it being only a couple of hours away (according to the guides I referred to more and more as the game dragged on, at least), is perhaps testament to how disappointed I was with the game's final third.

 

If you can play Darkwood and trick yourself into thinking that the end of chapter one is, in fact, the end of the game, then I'd urge anyone who enjoys this sort of genre to check it out. It was a perfect fit for my Steam Deck and ran very well throughout, and even though it's easy to tell it was designed with mouse and keyboard in mind, fumbling with the controls and menus on a joypad I felt added to the experience, in the same way, perhaps, as Resi's tank controls and Death Stranding's built-in awkwardness. Having continued to play it when I should have stopped, however, my own experience has been somewhat tainted, which is a real shame. That said, I'm definitely still glad I did play it, and I want other people to as well. There's a lot that horror titles with far greater budgets could learn from this strange, atmospheric and oppressive little game. With Halloween not too far off, if you're looking for something suitably spooky then you could do a lot worse than Darkwood.

7/10

 

Played in 2022:

Spoiler

1. Halo Infinite (2021) - XSX - 7/10

2. Bowser's Fury (2021) - Switch - 8/10

3. The Forgotten City (2021) - XSX - 8/10

4. Grindstone (2020) - Switch - 8/10

5. Inscryption (2021) - PC - 9/10

6. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (replay) (2001) - Switch - 8/10

7. The Wolf Among Us (2013) - PC - 7/10

8. What Remains of Edith Finch (replay) (2017) - XSX - 8/10

9. Kena: Bridge of Spirits (2021) - PS5 - 8/10

10. Kill It With Fire (2020) - XSX - 3/10

11. Islanders (2019) - PC - 5/10

12. Creaks (2020) - Switch - 8/10

13. Shovel Knight: King of Cards (2019) - Switch - 9/10

14. The Last Guardian (replay) (2016) - PS5

15. Exo One (2021) - XSX - 8/10

16. Red Matter (2018) - Quest 2 - 7/10

17. Elden Ring (2022) - XSX - 10/10

18. Kirby and the Forgotten Land (2022) - Switch - 8/10

19. Slay the Spire (2019) - Switch - 7/10

20. Blasphemous (2019) - Switch - 7/10

21. Superliminal (2019) - XSX - 8/10

22. Tunic (2022) - XSX - 9.5/10

23. Fez (replay) (2012) - Switch

24. Citizen Sleeper (2022) - PC - 9/10

25. Sifu (2022) - PS5 - 9/10

26. Primordia (2012) - Steam Deck - 4/10

27. Disco Elysium (replay) (2019) - Steam Deck/PC

28. Streets of Rage 4 (2020) - Switch - 7/10

29. Mass Effect 3: Legendary Edition (replay) (2021) - Xbox Series X/Steam Deck via Xbox Cloud Gaming

30. Immortality (2022) - Xbox Series X via Game Pass & Steam Deck via Xbox Cloud Streaming - 9/10

31. Darkwood (2017) - Steasm Deck - 7/10

 

Abandoned:

 

Tomb Raider: Underworld (2008) - PC

Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition (2020) - Switch

Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology (2017) - 3DS

Horizon: Forbidden West (2022) - PS5

Dragon Quest XI (2017) - Switch

Mortal Shell (2020) - XSX

The Cat Lady (2012) - Steam Deck

Tekken 7 - (2015) - XSX

 

[cassidy]

Spoiler

06/01/22

1. Yakuza 3 remastered

 

26/01/22

2. Yakuza 4 remastered 

 

27/01/22

3. Nobody saves the world 

 

16/02/22

4. Infernax 

 

17/02/22

5. Dreamscaper 

 

17/03/2022

6. Young Souls 

 

06/04/2022

7. A Memoir Blue 

 

22/04/2022

8. Elden Ring 

 

27/04/2022

9. Turnip Boy commits tax evasion. 

10. Gigawing - Capcom arcade stadium version

 

30/04/2022

11. Battle Circuit - Capcom arcade stadium version

 

01/05/2022

12. Life is Strange - True Colours

 

19/05/2022

13. Eiyuden Chronicles : Rising

 

20/06/2022

14.TMNT : Shredders revenge

 

23/06/2022

15.Disc room 

 

14/07/2022

16. House Flipper

 

29/07/2022

17. Powerwash Sim

 

05/08/2022

18. As dusk falls

 

11/09/2022

19. Tinykin

 

 21/09/2022

20. Food truck tycoon

21. Arcade paradise

 

29/09/2022

22. Beacon pines

 

And no 23 for the year is 

 

Cult of the lamb.

Enjoyed my time with it, did have to wait for a patch mind as my game was borked at one stage. 

[Gabe]

24. 28/09/2022 - Rings of Medusa (Amiga)

 

I've had quite a bit of fun tinkering with Amiga emulation over the past couple of weeks or so, and now finally finished a game I had 30-odd years ago but never really got very far with. RoM is a weird trading/wargame/adventure mash-up, though in truth, the majority of your game is spent on the trading side of things, which isn't exactly deep or exciting. Indeed, that's true of the wargame side of things too, where you have little real control or much to do, nor the overall adventure side of it (find 5 rings across the land to call forth Medusa and kick their butt.)

 

I doubt anybody else has ever even heard of this (or its sequel), let alone played it, so I'll save you the bother - don't. The need to just be earning money through trading (which is literally move from one side of the map to the other) is just tedious, but crucial, because without earning a significant amount of money (and I'm talking millions and millions here) you'll never have enough to pay for an army to take over towns for information (which is also mandatory).

I'm glad I finally played it and put it to rest, but I only got through it via the joy of emulation and taking advantage of the fact that the bank gave interest on your money. So I stopped with trading once I had hit a million or so, put all my money in the bank and then let time pass using the warp function through FS-UAE to zoom forward about 200 years (there's not time limit on the game). It meant I had about £550m to play with, so I built a huge army (with equally huge monthly salaries), and steamrolled the map. It still wasn't exciting.

 

Before I started this I was intending to also look at the sequel, which I'd never seen in the wild, but this has put me off (though I imagine the same trick would work for getting loads of money.) I gather it's pretty much the same game but with some dungeon-crawling tacked-on. It doesn't sound all that interesting.

 

A shame then, and probably enough for me to put my Amiga-journey on hold for a little bit whilst I get back to some of the many other games I have on the go on more modern systems.

 

Previously completed

Spoiler

1. 01/01/2022 - Final Fight: Streetwise (PS2)

2. 02/01/2022 - The Forgotten City (PC)

3. 05/01/2022 - Football, Tactics & Glory (PC)

4. 08/01/2022 - Alt Frequencies (PC)

5. 31/01/2022 - Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (Gamecube)

6. 05/03/2022 - Gogoroa (PC)

7. 21/03/2022 - Guardians of the Galaxy (PC)

8. 10/04/2022 - Assassin's Creed: Origins (PC)

9. 24/04/2022 - Mass Effect Andromeda (PC)

10. 25/04/2022 - Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel (X360)

11. 03/05/2022 - The Division (PC)

12. 11/05/2022 - World War Z: Aftermath (PC)

13. 18/05/2022 - Young Souls (PC)

14. 22/05/2022 - Bright Memory Infinite (PC)

15. 25/05/2022 - Vampire Saviours (PC)

16. 03/02/2022 - Watchdogs (PC)

17. 11/06/2022 - Ninja Gaiden 3 (PC)

18. 25/06/2022 - Tomb Raider (PC)

19. 27/07/2022 - Diablo 3 (XSS)

20. 07/09/2022 - As Dusk Falls (XSS)

21. 15/09/2022 - Far Cry 5 (PC)

22. 16/09/2022 - Shadow Warriors (Amiga)

23. 19/09/2022 - Millennium 2.2 (Amiga)

 

[Gambit]

01/10 - Mortal Kombat 11 (Story Modes Complete)

 

Netherrealm proving once again that they're the master of the fighting game story modes. Maybe a little too cut scene heavy but I enjoyed them nonetheless. I have the Ultimate Edition of the game so it had both the original and Aftermath story DLC, both of which are worth your time. Game as a whole is great as well.

 

Was going to wait to list this as "complete" until I beat The Krypt, or at the very least found all the areas. However, I now discover doing so requires more grinding than I was willing to do. So it's something I'll hack away at over the next 10 years I guess.

 

8/10

 

Spoiler

January

05/01 - Starfox 64

14/01 - Resident Evil 3

15/01 - Great Ace Attorney Chronicles

30/01 - Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

 

February

06/02 - Hades

 

April

03/04 - Lost Judgment: The Kaito Files

10/04 - Knights of the Old Republic

25/04 - Horizon: Forbidden West

 

May

15/05 - The Nonary Games

26/05 - Star Wars Squadrons

 

June

05/06 - Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga

15/06 - Kirby 64

17/06 - The Quarry

 

July

17/07 - Zero Time Dilemma

23/07 - Hotel Dusk: Room 215

30/07 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredders Revenge

 

August

10/08 - The Legend of Zelda

 

September

11/09 - Turtles Cowabunga Collection

16/09 - Stranglehold

18/09 - 007: Blood Stone

23/09 - Spec Ops: The Line

 

[Jamie John]

12 minutes ago, Gambit said:

01/10 - Mortal Kombat 11 (Story Modes Complete)

 

Netherrealm proving once again that they're the master of the fighting game story modes. Maybe a little too cut scene heavy but I enjoyed them nonetheless. I have the Ultimate Edition of the game so it had both the original and Aftermath story DLC, both of which are worth your time. Game as a whole is great as well.

 

Was going to wait to list this as "complete" until I beat The Krypt, or at the very least found all the areas. However, I now discover doing so requires more grinding than I was willing to do. So it's something I'll hack away at over the next 10 years I guess.

 

8/10

 

  Reveal hidden contents

January

05/01 - Starfox 64

14/01 - Resident Evil 3

15/01 - Great Ace Attorney Chronicles

30/01 - Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

 

February

06/02 - Hades

 

April

03/04 - Lost Judgment: The Kaito Files

10/04 - Knights of the Old Republic

25/04 - Horizon: Forbidden West

 

May

15/05 - The Nonary Games

26/05 - Star Wars Squadrons

 

June

05/06 - Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga

15/06 - Kirby 64

17/06 - The Quarry

 

July

17/07 - Zero Time Dilemma

23/07 - Hotel Dusk: Room 215

30/07 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredders Revenge

 

August

10/08 - The Legend of Zelda

 

September

11/09 - Turtles Cowabunga Collection

16/09 - Stranglehold

18/09 - 007: Blood Stone

23/09 - Spec Ops: The Line

 

 

Would you recommend this for people who don't really play fighting games? Every time I try one I just feel entirely overwhelmed and then run away crying.

[Gambit]

9 minutes ago, Jamie John said:

 

Would you recommend this for people who don't really play fighting games? Every time I try one I just feel entirely overwhelmed and then run away crying.

 

Out of all the fighting games on the market it's probably the easiest. There's enough difficulty options that you can just throw it on the easiest and just watch cool moves happen. Just stay away from online and enjoy the single player towers and story mode. 

 

It's fairly cheap for a PS5/Series X game too at around £15 on Amazon.

[Jamie John]

10 minutes ago, Gambit said:

 

Out of all the fighting games on the market it's probably the easiest. There's enough difficulty options that you can just throw it on the easiest and just watch cool moves happen. Just stay away from online and enjoy the single player towers and story mode. 

 

It's fairly cheap for a PS5/Series X game too at around £15 on Amazon.

 

Cheers. I think it's on Game Pass at the moment, although probably the basic version.

[Gambit]

15 minutes ago, Jamie John said:

 

Cheers. I think it's on Game Pass at the moment, although probably the basic version.

 

Basic version is still worth having. Ultimate just has all the dlc characters and new story. The roster is already pretty stacked at the start.

[klargon]

Beacon Pines (XBSX)

Delivers a branching narrative nicely, respecting the player’s time by not repeating dialogue and allowing switching between paths freely. Nothing astonishing, but is often charming, looks nice and doesn’t outstay its welcome. The narrator does mispronounce ‘mischievous’ in the way that so many people seem to now, though. Therefore, 2/10.

[ImmaculateClump]

Hazelnut Hex - 1cc

 

Spoiler

Nekotosakana - 1cc

Moon Dancer - Normal 1cc (no miss), Hard 1cc (no miss), Expert 1cc

Grand Cross: Renovation - 1cc

Operation STEEL - Normal 1cc, Hard 1cc

Vampire Survivors - Inlaid Library hyper, Mad Forest hyper, Green Acres hyper

Sophstar - 1cc and TLB, Arcade, Intermediate, original scoring, Reyka

Sol Cresta - 2-all, Normal (3-5)

Stainless Night - 1cc

Andro Dunos II - 1cc

Z-Warp - Hardcore 1cc

Galacticon - 1cc, Level 36 (loop 4)
Drainus - Normal 2-all, Arcade 2-all
Red-Hawk - 1cc

Tukiyono - 1cc (ending 1), 1cc (ending 2)

Love - Arcade

Spacewing War - Story mode 1cc

AISZplus - 1cc

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge - Arcade, normal 1cc (April)

Deathsmiles IIX - 1cc TLB

Like Dreamer - [Trial, Maniac 1cc] [Trial+, Expert 1cc] [Trial, Nightmare 1cc] [Speedrun, Expert 1cc] [All Trial, Nightmare 1cc] etc. Lost track now

Shooting Game KARI - Normal 1cc

Tanitani Wizard - Normal 1cc

Mushihimesama Futari Black Label - Maniac 1cc

Valhellio - Normal 1cc

Bullet Hell Monday - Normal 1cc

NeverAwake - All worlds, route A and B

 

[Unofficial Who]

Oct

 

08/10 Franken (PC) Incredibly short (one hour) simple and amusing RPG parody of Final Fantasy 4. It's free and you can get it here https://splendidland.itch.io/franken

Thanks to @Siri for recommending this in the short games thread!

 

 

07/10 Echo Generation (PC) I put off playing this until just before it was due to disappear from GamePass , more fool me. It's a small game which thematically feels like a mini version of Earthbound but uses the same sort of voxel tech and tilt shifted angles that The Tourist used. It looks lovely reminding me a lot of both Lego and Viewmaster reels from my childhood. The main design apart from the RPG combat is ripped straight from arcade adventures of the late 80's / early 90's. Find object A and give to Person B or use as a key to make progress. Most of these combinations make a certain sort of sense although much needed objects can hide among all the junk. It's a bit front loaded combat wise requiring you to do some grinding for money and XP early on. Other than that a lovely bright cheery game! Well bright apart from the graveyard.

 

 

02/10 Ghosts'n'Goblins (Arcade/PC) Yes. At last. All it took was decades. And a version with rewind. But even with rewinds to erase small errors it's a game that hates you and demands you know it inside out to progress. The Dark Souls of 80's arcade games. Beat it twice with the shield. Now I'll never play it again. Expect me to have completed the sequel by 2050.

 

 

02/10 Life is Strange:True Colours (PC) Ever since Twin Peaks I've been a massive fan of any drama set in the American North West and I've been on board Life is Strange since the first one (although I found Life is Strange 2 difficult for a lot of reasons although excellent.) I initially bounced off True Colours but came back to it this week and was charmed by Alex Chen and her quest to build a new life with her brother. The set up is a little slow but pays off with the majority of the game taking part in the main street of Haven, a mountain mining town. The emphasis here is all about learning about the characters, the unexplained power Alex has being able to read thoughts with the downside of also being affected by said thoughts. As with all these games the visuals are incredible with the illusion of a lot of detail in the sets and some fantastic facial animation work. There's a lot you can read just by facial expressions here. Music is front and centre here and depending on your musical tastes you'll either be drawn in to the point of just enjoying the quiet moments with a song or stabbing the skip button. There's even a couple of well performed covers here. Puzzle wise it isn't Return to Monkey Island but if you're a fan you're coming for the drama and the small choices that can affect the end game. There's nothing so elaborate as the end of Life is Strange 2 here but there's a satisfying payoff at the end. One for fans (and it's out on GamePass so you lose nothing by giving it a try.)

 

 

Previously

 

Spoiler

72. 28/09 Return to Monkey Island (PC) 

71. 18/09 Tinykin (PC)

70. 13/09 Flynn:Son of Crimson (PC)

69. 11/09 Winter Olympiad 88 (C64)

68. 08/09 Arcade Paradise (PC)

67. 21/08 I Am Dead (PS5) 

66. 20/08 Skate or Die! (C64)

65. 16/08 Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Switch)

64. 14/08 Eco Fighters (Arcade/PC)

63. 14/08 Grindstone (PC) 

62. 14/08 Borderlands 3 (and DLC) (PC)

61. 10/08 Knights of the Round (Arcade/PC)

60. 10/08 Block Block (Arcade/PC)

59. 06/08 Monument Valley 2 : Panoramic Edition (PC)

58. 06/08 Monument Valley: Panoramic Edition (PC)

57. 31/07 The King of Dragons (Arcade/PC)

56. 30/07 Son Son (Arcade/PS5)

55. 30/07 Don't Pull (Arcade/PC)

54. 30/07 Chariot: Adventure Through The Sky (Arcade/PC)

53. 30/07 Midnight Wanderers: Quest for the Chariot (Arcade/PC)

52. 29/07 Magic Sword (Arcade/PC) 

51. 29/07 LED Storm (Arcade/PC)

50. 29/07 Last Duel (Arcade/PC) 

49. 26/07 Raji:An Ancient Epic (PC)

48. 24/07 Tiger Road (PC/Arcade)

47. 24/07 Side Arms Hyper Dyne (PC/Arcade) 

46. 23/07 Gun.Smoke (PC/Arcade)

45. 23/07 Exed Exes (PC/Arcade) 

44. 10/07 Bangkok Knights (C64)

43. 02/07 Zero Wing (Megadrive/Switch)

42. 26/06 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge (PC) 

41. 17/06 Psycho Soldier (Arcade/PC)

40. 16/06 Prehistoric Isle in 1930 (Arcade/PC)

39. 16/06 Street Smart (Arcade/PC)

38. 12/06 Midnight Scenes:The Nanny (PC)

37. 28/05 SUPERHOT (PC) 

36. 28/05 Tetris Effect:Connected (PC)

35. 22/05 Sea of Solitude (PC) 

34. 21/05 Scott Morrison Simulator (Browser) 

33. 16/05 Full Throttle:Remastered (PC)

32. 15/05 Unbeatable [White Label] (PC)

31. 14/05 Trek To Yomi (PC) 

30. 13/05 Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion (PC)

29. 09/05 California Games (C64)

28.01/05 The Stanley Parable:Ultra Deluxe (PC)

27. 27/04 The Darkside Detective:A Fumble in the Dark (PC)

26. 23/04 Streets of Rage 4 (PC)

25. 17/04 Exo One (PC)

24. 16/04 A Memoir Blue (PC)

23. 08/04 Slay the Spire (PC)

22. 03/04 Tunic (PC) 

21. 02/04 Kingdom:Two Crowns (PC)

20. 26/03 Say No! More (PC)

19. 21/03 Wizball (C64)

18. 17/03 Battle Circuit (PC/Arcade)

17. 17/03 We Happy Few (PC)

16. 07/03 Powered Gear (PC/Arcade) 

15. 06/03 FAR:Changing Tides (PC)

14. 05/03 In Other Waters (PC)

13. 02/03 Aperture Desk Job (Steam Deck/PC) 

12. 27/02 Final Fantasy 14:A Realm Reborn:Seventh Astral Era (PC) 

11. 25/02 Vampire Survivors (PC) 

10. 18/02 Hypnospace Outlaw

9. 05/02 Final Fight (PC/Arcade)

8. 31/01 Dynasty Wars (Arcade/PC)

7. 31/01 Mega Twins (Arcade/PC) 

6, 29/01 Superhot:Mind Control Delete (PC) 

5. 16/01 The Forgotten City (PC)

4. 09/01 Mr Driller Drill Land (PC)

3. 07/01 Olija (PC)

2. 07/01 It's a Knockout! (C64) 

1. 02/01 Katamari Damacy REROLL (PC)

 

Abandoned games

15/10 Scorn (PC)

03/10 Sable (PC)

06/09 I Am Fish (PC)

28/08 Red Dead Redemption 2 (PS4)

28/08 Spiritfarer (PC)

28/08 Signs of the Sojourner (PC)

03/07 Cris Tales (PC)

03/07 Atomicrops (PC)

13/05 The Wild at Heart (PC)

19/03 Narita Boy (PC)

04/01 YIIK: A Postmodern RPG (PC)

 

[MNFRMTMRRW]

01/10 Titanfall 2

 

One of the best FPS single-player campaigns. Also gorgeous on Series X... running at 5K/60fps with Dolby Vision. Hope this franchise gets some love in the future. 

 

 

 

[Gabe]

04/10/2022 - My Life as an Archaeologist (PC)

 

A sort of semi-idle clicker/roguelite hybrid, this was on sale for £1.99 and I don't mind idle games if they have a definitive end of sorts (which this does) so I thought why not.

 

There are skills to allocate, artefacts to boost powers, gear to equip, stat points to spread around and monster research to give passive skills - and then the actual clicking. You can, if you want, manually click, but the developer lets you also just hold down the right mouse button. There are 100 levels to work through, with the standard template of explore, die, boost your passives for the next run (which is where the monster research comes in) and go again. I completed the 100 levels on my 5th run I think? After that, it opens harder modes, but I have no time for that (my winning run took nearly two-and-a-half hours, which is far too long for basically holding down the right mouse button and occasionally checking gear.)
 

I enjoyed my brief time with it and for £2 I think that's fair enough to delete and never touch again. 

 

Previously completed:

Spoiler

1. 01/01/2022 - Final Fight: Streetwise (PS2)

2. 02/01/2022 - The Forgotten City (PC)

3. 05/01/2022 - Football, Tactics & Glory (PC)

4. 08/01/2022 - Alt Frequencies (PC)

5. 31/01/2022 - Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (Gamecube)

6. 05/03/2022 - Gogoroa (PC)

7. 21/03/2022 - Guardians of the Galaxy (PC)

8. 10/04/2022 - Assassin's Creed: Origins (PC)

9. 24/04/2022 - Mass Effect Andromeda (PC)

10. 25/04/2022 - Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel (X360)

11. 03/05/2022 - The Division (PC)

12. 11/05/2022 - World War Z: Aftermath (PC)

13. 18/05/2022 - Young Souls (PC)

14. 22/05/2022 - Bright Memory Infinite (PC)

15. 25/05/2022 - Vampire Saviours (PC)

16. 03/02/2022 - Watchdogs (PC)

17. 11/06/2022 - Ninja Gaiden 3 (PC)

18. 25/06/2022 - Tomb Raider (PC)

19. 27/07/2022 - Diablo 3 (XSS)

20. 07/09/2022 - As Dusk Falls (XSS)

21. 15/09/2022 - Far Cry 5 (PC)

22. 16/09/2022 - Shadow Warriors (Amiga)

23. 19/09/2022 - Millennium 2.2 (Amiga)

24. 28/09/2022 - Rings of Medusa (Amiga)

 

[Sprite Machine]

Previously...

Spoiler

1.) Lego City Undercover - PC - 2017 (2013)
2.) What Remains of Edith Finch - PS4 - 2017
3.) Superliminal - PS4 - 2020 (2019)
4.) Untitled Goose Game - Switch - 2019
5.) One Finger Death Punch 2 - PC - 2019
6.) Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood - PC - 2011 (2010)
7.) Vanquish - PC - 2017 (2010)

8.) Mass Effect (Legendary Edition) - PS4 - 2021 (2007)
9.) Telling Lies - PC - 2019
10.) Halo 5: Guardians - Xbox One - 2015
11.) Halo Infinite - Xbox Series - 2021
12.) Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition - PC - 2016 (2015)
13.) Alice: Madness Returns - PC - 2011
14.) The Forgotten City - Xbox Series - 2021
15.) Titanfall 2 - PC - 2016

16.) Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age - Switch - 2019 (2006)

17.) Sonic Origins: Economical Edition - PC - 1991/2020
18.) Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - Switch - 2017 (2014)
19.) Valiant Hearts: The Great War - Switch - 2018 (2014)
20.) Terranigma - SNES - 1996

21.) Batman: Arkham Origins - PC - 2013

22.) Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate - Deluxe Edition - PC - 2014 (2013)
23.) The Talos Principle - Switch - 2019 (2014)
24.) Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order - PS4 - 2019
25.) Rock Band 4 - PS4 - 2015

 

26.) Mass Effect 2 (Legendary Edition) - PS4 - 2021 (2010)

Completed as an adept paragon femshep. Approx 41 hours.

It's been a decade since I last played Mass Effect 2, and this would be my third time through, and the first with analogue controls and rumble. In terms of what they've enhanced for this edition, I don't know - it looks how I remember it on PC, just with worse performance. PS4 Pro performance is still not great but the screen tearing is less obvious than in Mass Effect 1, so I put up with it.

 

As a sequel, Mass Effect 2 leans into certain elements of the original while side-lining others. It's still a space opera but with a larger emphasis on characters and shooter action, and less on exploration and grand scope. Gone are the identikit planet terrains that you can drive around on, replaced with arenas of chest-high walls to shoot from behind. Fortunately, as a shooter, it's far superior to the first game; but as an RPG, perhaps it's lacking. Nevertheless, that emphasis on characters is what drives the game, as you build up your elite team to take on the mysterious aliens abducting human colonies. Every characater has a recruitment mission and a loyalty mission, and there are numerous ways to interact and choices to make that have lasting repercussions, not least of which the fact that every single one of them can die in the final mission and stay dead in the sequel.

 

In addition to all of these missions, you also have the DLC now included as standard, so your itinerary becomes absolutely massive and you end up just going around doing weird quests in whatever order you like and the story stops and waits for you, losing any urgency it might have had. In this way, it feels like a series of bite-size episodes, which is actually a pretty refreshing way to play. It's the awkward middle chapter of the trilogy but I think it's still the strongest overall. Less janky than the first game, more satisfying than the third.

[Darwock]

On 04/07/2022 at 15:24, Darwock said:

1: 14/02 Astro’s Playroom

2: 08/03 Valkyria Chronicles

3: 10/03 Tetris Effect

4: 31/03 Superhot VR

5: 08/04 Lumines Remastered

6. 04/07 Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

 

7. 06/10 Ecco the Dolphin

 

I never had any opportunity to play this when it was a new game, but I was totally in love with it from the adverts they showed on TV back in the early 90s. I played it via the 3DS version so it still looked amazing despite being 30 years old.

 

Tell you what though, this game is straight up BULLSHIT. I have a decent tolerance for old school game difficulty but this game is just cruelty. There’s no consistency with whether touching an enemy will kill you immediately or slowly, the enemies are magnetically attracted to you but you have a massive turning radius and need space to get a charge attack in, there are instant crush deaths with no death animation (the level just instantly restarts) so sometimes you don’t even know what happened… some stages require you to do a massive super jump which requires perfect timing on the button press and perfect angle exiting the water, but you have the equivalent of a shallow puddle to manoeuvre in (attempting this repeatedly for 30 minutes revealed all the flaws in the 3DS controls) then there are auto scrolling levels which force you to choose a direction without anyway of knowing if you will get squished or not until you’ve done it already, and it does it to you around a dozen times. The last boss requires you to charge at it’s mouth but it randomly does a sucking animation that instantly kills you - sometimes this has a sound effect preceding it, but sometimes it doesn’t, and the timing is random. Bullshit.

 

Despite everything I resisted the urge to turn on Super Dolphin mode for invincibiiity and made it to the end, although there were two parts I had to google because it seemed totally impossible to proceed (squeezing through a tiny gap that gets you stuck 90% of the time being one of them). I basically got through the game by save scumming it, making one inch of progress each time and saving for the tricky parts. If that wasn’t possible on the megadrive I have no idea how anyone ever finished it. I don’t think it was possible either as the game gives level codes out for retries.

 

I’m glad to have checked it off my list, but too bad the game itself was such a bastard because it still looks and feels awesome when you’re just zooming around in the water and doing somersault dives.

[BabelRich]

03/10 - Return to Monkey Island

Like putting on an old, comfy pair of slippers with a slightly different pattern than you remember. Slightly easier than past games but I feel that is down to the streamlining of the interface rather than any real dumbing-down.

 

I was liking the story up to the ending then I'm not sure how I felt about that. I wouldn't say it was bad, but it was definitely a hard turn which gave me a bit of whiplash.

 

I liked the art style apart from Guybrush himself, but it certainly wasn't a massive deal.

 

8/10

 

05/10 - Gone Home

I'm pretty sure this was the first game I ever claimed on PS+ yet somehow, I'd never played it. Had a couple of hours to fill so finally decided to jump in and I'm very glad I did. I know I'm massively late to the party, but I rather enjoyed just bimbling about that house and piecing together the stories. It was very clever how they had an A, a B and a C story that all meshed together in service of the overall scenario but also were presented in a way that didn't spell absolutely everything out.

 

8/10

 

 

Spoiler

07/09 - God of War 10/10

07/09 - Kentucky Route Zero 6/10

07/09 - Tinykin 9/10

30/08 - Saint's Row (2022 )8/10

12/08 - Bug Fables 8/10

29/07 - Escape Academy 10/10

27/07 - Dodgeball Academia 5/10

25/07 - Assassin's Creed: Syndicate 9/10

11/07 - Assassin's Creed: Unity 3/10

10/07 - Donkey Kong Country 4/10

05/07 - Dragon Age: Inquisition 8/10

18/06 - TMNT: Shredder's Revenge 7/10

14/06 - Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga 8/10

01/06 - Dragon Quest XI 8/10

26/05 - Tales of Monkey Island 8/10

16/05 - Red Dead Redemption 9/10

12/05 - Lost Words – Beyond the Page 6/10

10/05 - Citizen Sleeper 9/10

06/05 - Lost in Random 6/10

08/04 – Kirby and the Forgotten Kingdom 9/10

01/04 – Danganronpa 2 – Goodbye Despair 08/10

25/03 – Tunic 6/10

16/03 – Danganronpa – Trigger Happy Havok 8/10

13/03 - Horizon - Forbidden West 10/10

15/02 - Agent A 7/10

14/02 - Saint's Row - Gat Out of Hell 6/10

11/02 - Nobody Saves the World 8/10

04/02 - Final Fantasy 7 Remake Episode INTERMission 6/10

01/02 - Final Fantasy 7 Remake 8/10

26/01 - Gorogoa 9/10

25/01 - The Gunk 7/10

23/01 - Control 7/10

11/01 - Rise of the Tomb Raider 7/10

07/01 - Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space 9/10

 

[Sprite Machine]

Previously...

Spoiler

1.) Lego City Undercover - PC - 2017 (2013)
2.) What Remains of Edith Finch - PS4 - 2017
3.) Superliminal - PS4 - 2020 (2019)
4.) Untitled Goose Game - Switch - 2019
5.) One Finger Death Punch 2 - PC - 2019
6.) Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood - PC - 2011 (2010)
7.) Vanquish - PC - 2017 (2010)

8.) Mass Effect (Legendary Edition) - PS4 - 2021 (2007)
9.) Telling Lies - PC - 2019
10.) Halo 5: Guardians - Xbox One - 2015
11.) Halo Infinite - Xbox Series - 2021
12.) Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition - PC - 2016 (2015)
13.) Alice: Madness Returns - PC - 2011
14.) The Forgotten City - Xbox Series - 2021
15.) Titanfall 2 - PC - 2016

16.) Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age - Switch - 2019 (2006)

17.) Sonic Origins: Economical Edition - PC - 1991/2020
18.) Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - Switch - 2017 (2014)
19.) Valiant Hearts: The Great War - Switch - 2018 (2014)
20.) Terranigma - SNES - 1996

21.) Batman: Arkham Origins - PC - 2013

22.) Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate - Deluxe Edition - PC - 2014 (2013)
23.) The Talos Principle - Switch - 2019 (2014)
24.) Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order - PS4 - 2019
25.) Rock Band 4 - PS4 - 2015
26.) Mass Effect 2 (Legendary Edition) - PS4 - 2021 (2010)

27.) Sonic The Hedgehog (8-bit) - SMS/GG - 1991

Played through the Sega Master System and Game Gear versions, just to compare them!

I always assumed Game Gear games were exactly the same as Master System games, just on a smaller screen, but that's not really the case here. Sonic 1 was optimised for the Game Gear with substantially altered level design to avoid the screen crush, redrawn sprites, nicer colours and a host of bug fixes and improvements. Of the two, I think I actually prefer it on Game Gear, despite the cramped view. Naturally, it's a painfully old-fashioned experience compared to the timeless quality of the 16-bit game, and it slows down to absolute buggery when there's more than two objects on screen at once, but it's not a bad way to spend an hour. I'm going to put a full playthrough / side-by-side comparison video up on my channel soon. I know, what a treat, right?!

 

28.) Superhot - PS4 - 2017 (2016)

"It's the most innovative shooter I've played in years!"

Time stops when you stop, everyone is made of red glass, and it feels like you're in the Matrix. There's also a trippy virtual desktop narrative framing device, which I was not prepared for. I liked this a lot. It's short, but there's always endless modes to dig into. However, I've got the VR game to play next and I'm really looking forward to that.

 

 

----

 

EDIT: I was certain I'd either bought or redeemed a copy of Superhot: Mind Control Delete (the expandalone/sequel) but I cannot find it on any of my launchers or accounts. I must be misremembering. Was it given away recently or in any well-known bundles? I'm really confused because I can practically 'see' its little floppy disc title card sitting there... except it's not there. Baffling memory fart. Oh well.

Edited October 6, 2022 by Sprite Machine

[Unofficial Who]

11 hours ago, Sprite Machine said:

Previously...

  Reveal hidden contents

1.) Lego City Undercover - PC - 2017 (2013)
2.) What Remains of Edith Finch - PS4 - 2017
3.) Superliminal - PS4 - 2020 (2019)
4.) Untitled Goose Game - Switch - 2019
5.) One Finger Death Punch 2 - PC - 2019
6.) Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood - PC - 2011 (2010)
7.) Vanquish - PC - 2017 (2010)

8.) Mass Effect (Legendary Edition) - PS4 - 2021 (2007)
9.) Telling Lies - PC - 2019
10.) Halo 5: Guardians - Xbox One - 2015
11.) Halo Infinite - Xbox Series - 2021
12.) Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition - PC - 2016 (2015)
13.) Alice: Madness Returns - PC - 2011
14.) The Forgotten City - Xbox Series - 2021
15.) Titanfall 2 - PC - 2016

16.) Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age - Switch - 2019 (2006)

17.) Sonic Origins: Economical Edition - PC - 1991/2020
18.) Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - Switch - 2017 (2014)
19.) Valiant Hearts: The Great War - Switch - 2018 (2014)
20.) Terranigma - SNES - 1996

21.) Batman: Arkham Origins - PC - 2013

22.) Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate - Deluxe Edition - PC - 2014 (2013)
23.) The Talos Principle - Switch - 2019 (2014)
24.) Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order - PS4 - 2019
25.) Rock Band 4 - PS4 - 2015
26.) Mass Effect 2 (Legendary Edition) - PS4 - 2021 (2010)

EDIT: I was certain I'd either bought or redeemed a copy of Superhot: Mind Control Delete (the expandalone/sequel) but I cannot find it on any of my launchers or accounts. I must be misremembering. Was it given away recently or in any well-known bundles? I'm really confused because I can practically 'see' its little floppy disc title card sitting there... except it's not there. Baffling memory fart. Oh well.

 

It was on GamePass until recently. I'm 90% sure that's how I played through it.

[Boothjan]

Spoiler

1. The Gunk - XSX Game Pass - 01/01/22 - 7.5/10

2. Gears 5 - XSX - 04/01/22 - 8/10

3. It Takes Two - XSX - 08/01/22 - 9/10

4. Forza Horizon 5 - XSX - 16/01/22 - 9/10

5. Halo Infinite - XSX Game Pass - 19/01/22 - 9/10

6. Doom Eternal - XSX Game Pass - 21/01/22 - 9/10

7. Ori and the Blind Forest - XSX Game Pass - 08/02/22 - 8.5/10

8. Assassins Creed Odyssey: The Fate of Atlantis - XSX - 15/02/22 - 9/10

 

9. Immortals: Fenyx Rising - XSX Game Pass - 07/10/22

 

Can't believe this is the first game I've finished in 8 months!!  It hasn't taken me that long to play this - I only started it last week - but I've mainly been playing GaaS titles recently.

 

Anyway - this is a joy, really fun to play, plenty of incredibly satisfying combat, exploration, a lush open world, some genuinely funny dialogue and plenty of varied quests.  Straight off the bat, it has to be said that Immortals has pretty much zero originality.  There really is nothing here that hasn't been done before, but I don't think it ever tries to suggest otherwise.  Some of the nods to other action adventure games are so unsubtle it hurts - particularly Breath of the Wild and Ubisoft's own Assassins Creed Odyssey.

 

But equally important to state: I bloody LOVE Breath of the Wild and Assassins Creed Odyssey.  Both are better games than Immortals, but that's not to say there's not a stack of fun to be had here.  You've essentially got the game mechanics of BOTW, with the setting and combat of Odyssey or God of War.  This is a good thing really as placed BOTW at #1 in the recent 'greatest games' poll.  And I adore Ancient Greece so another tick there.  The whole package was instantly appealing to me.   

 

You play as Fenyx - survivor of a shipwreck who gets marooned on the 'Golden Isle' - a mysterious land brimming with mythical beasts, incredible vistas, colossal statues stretching over different biomes.  Fenyx is instructed to stop the evil titan Typhon, who has escaped his prison where he has been incarcerated by Zeus.  With the help of a great cast of gods and heroes, Fenyx sets off on her journey.  In an entertaining twist, the whole adventure is 'narrated' by Zeus and Prometheus, and their interactions raised plenty of smiles from me.  

 

Immortals REALLY excels when it comes to combat.  Seeing off a large group of enemies is very satisfying indeed.  The sword, axe and bow all have multiple special moves that you earn as you progress, and Fenyx can also count on special moves from the gods as well.  Combining all of these together is a huge highlight.  One of the most blatant examples of the 'influence' of BOTW is the stamina meter.  Which works in exactly the same way.  If you've enough stamina, nothing on the map is out of reach.  You can glide, climb, run, ride on horseback etc.  So, yeah.  Basically Link.  Combined with Kassandra from Odyssey.  Because the skill tree is almost identical - though I really wish there was a Spartan Kick!  

 

The thing is, there's absolutely nothing wrong with so much copying, because it really has been done well.  When games like this make you take diversions from main quests to trial a bit of combat, try out some newly acquired moves etc, the hours can just fly by.  After 30 hours, I was still enjoying the fighting as much as ever.

 

One area where Immortals does fall short is some of the handholding, and this is maybe something that it SHOULD have learned from BOTW.  The sense of exploration and wonder at discovering something new is completely defeated because when you're at a vantage point, a click of the right stick means you can mark pretty much everything onto your map.  Treasure chests, vaults (Immortals' version of BOTW's shrines), health pickups, quest markers, you name it.  It takes a lot of the fun out of going on a wander and discovering these kind of things for yourself.  It's a massive shame because the world is so rich and pretty - I wanted to find things out for myself.

 

As for the vaults - there's a decent amount of puzzling and combat to be found and I quite enjoyed these even if the 'moving blocks' mechanic started to grow a bit stale.  By the end, I was happy to complete these vaults and return to the Golden Isle.

 

I played this on the default normal setting and even then, some of the boss fights were pretty tough.  And I have to say that I enjoyed the vast majority of the legendary encounters - the combat is precise enough for you to learn where you went wrong, there's very little in the way of annoying cheesing of bigger enemies and each victory feels pretty satisfying.

 

In summary, there's very little here which is brand new, but plenty which is very good nonetheless.  It's not as good as the games which inspired it, but we're talking about some of my very favourite games of the past few years so IMO, more is good.  The cartoon-y visuals and humour give Immortals a particular charm too - it's a fun title which I found rewarding.  Well worth 30 hours of my time, and another thumbs up to the true god of the piece: Xbox Game Pass.

 

8.5/10

[ImmaculateClump]

Hazelnut Hex - Moderate 1cc

 

Spoiler

Nekotosakana - 1cc

Moon Dancer - Normal 1cc (no miss), Hard 1cc (no miss), Expert 1cc

Grand Cross: Renovation - 1cc

Operation STEEL - Normal 1cc, Hard 1cc

Vampire Survivors - Inlaid Library hyper, Mad Forest hyper, Green Acres hyper

Sophstar - 1cc and TLB, Arcade, Intermediate, original scoring, Reyka

Sol Cresta - 2-all, Normal (3-5)

Stainless Night - 1cc

Andro Dunos II - 1cc

Z-Warp - Hardcore 1cc

Galacticon - 1cc, Level 36 (loop 4)
Drainus - Normal 2-all, Arcade 2-all
Red-Hawk - 1cc

Tukiyono - 1cc (ending 1), 1cc (ending 2)

Love - Arcade

Spacewing War - Story mode 1cc

AISZplus - 1cc

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge - Arcade, normal 1cc (April)

Deathsmiles IIX - 1cc TLB

Like Dreamer - [Trial, Maniac 1cc] [Trial+, Expert 1cc] [Trial, Nightmare 1cc] [Speedrun, Expert 1cc] [All Trial, Nightmare 1cc] etc. Lost track now

Shooting Game KARI - Normal 1cc

Tanitani Wizard - Normal 1cc

Mushihimesama Futari Black Label - Maniac 1cc

Valhellio - Normal 1cc

Bullet Hell Monday - Normal 1cc

NeverAwake - All worlds, route A and B

Hazelnut Hex - Normal 1cc