What games did you complete? 2022 Edition

[Gambit]

08/10 - Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

 

The seond time I've completed this game, though the first was straight after it came out in 2013. While I liked it when I first played it, I absolutely love it now. The Overworld, the dungeon design, the way you can now do any dungeon in any order, a kind of freedom I feel was taken into Breath of the Wild. it's just masterful. Nintendo gave us a brand new 2D Metroid not so long ago, I now hope they do the same with Zelda.

 

10/10

 

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

 

October

01/10 - Mortal Kombat 11 (Story Modes)

 

[ImmaculateClump]

雷鸟Thunderbird - Normal 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

Hazelnut Hex - Moderate 1cc

 

[Mogster]

10/10/2022 - The Nonary Games: 999

 

Among other things, getting a Steam Deck has been a perfect opportunity to try out genres I wouldn't normally play. My experience with visual novels began and ended with the Phoenix Wright games before now, so I thought I'd try something different.

 

I found it surprisingly engaging for the most part. There was a good balance between basic visual novel stuff and escape room style puzzles, and the premise and characters were quite interesting. Even the voice acting was surprisingly decent for the most part, to the point where I rarely just read the the dialogue and skipped ahead. My one criticism of the characters was the design of Lotus, which was just a bit weird for a few reasons. She's the only female character in the game dressed in skimpy clothing, for seemingly no reason, and on top of this there are a few references to her being "old" despite looking maybe thirty at most. It's just a bit strange really.

 

Outside of the puzzle rooms, your interaction is limited to very occasional choices that determine the flow of the story, which leads to a rather interesting structure. My first run through the story resulted in a terrible fate for my character that failed to resolve much of anything, but from the very start of the game you have full access to a flow chart showing exactly where you could have made different choices. You can also jump back to any scene you've experienced, and even jump straight to the pivotal moments where those decisions are made. I ended up uncovering all the endings before finally reaching the "true" end, but learnt a lot about the characters and the game's various mysteries in the process. I think it might even be necessary to see some of this before the full true ending unlocks, and without spoiling too much I think the structure itself plays into the narrative too.

 

Despite this structure though, I never felt like I could make educated decisions to choose the "correct" path. This is very much a visual novel at its core, and not a narrative adventure like a Telltale game. The choices are there to allow you to find stuff out that wouldn't have worked in a linear narrative, not to make for interesting decisions. Ultimately it made for a fun story that couldn't have easily been told in any other medium, and aside for the odd drawn out slice of melodrama I think it was quite well told as well.

 

Spoiler

January

04/01/2022 - Kena: Bridge of Spirits
24/01/2022 - Hitman (2016)
26/01/2022 - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

May

17/05/2022 - Kirby and the Forgotten Land

June

09/06/2022 - Elden Ring

July

09/07/2022 - Cyberpunk 2077
10/07/2022 - Citizen Sleeper

August

01/08/2022 - Stray
14/08/2022 - No Man's Sky Expedition Eight: Polestar
30/08/2022 - Command & Conquer: Remastered Collection (GDI Campaign)

September

Nothing!

October

10/10/2022 - The Nonary Games: 999

 

[Popo]

Far: Lone Sails (2018)

Oh! This was absolutely delightful. It’s influences are clear - yes, this is a platformer where you move left to right along a single plane, doing some light puzzling, but to call it derivative would be to miss its charm, and how it builds its own ideas on the scaffolding set by Limbo and Inside. 
 

To wit - instead of walking, you pilot a clunking hulk called an okomotive - somewhere between Howl’s Moving Castle and a Star Wars vehicle in appearance - which you must operate and keep from shaking itself apart by operating big red buttons. The game doesn’t tell you how to do this, you just have to work it out, which you do over the course of about 4 hours and a number of upgrades coming your way. The road trip is broken up by a number of pit stops where you have to work out how to progress, which are welcome changes of pace and a chance to stretch your legs. 
 

Not only is it fun to work out how to pilot the ship, it brings you closer together with the machine, as you and it journey through a desolate, empty world on the way to… hope? Salvation? In any case, this is a beautiful, dangerous world, and getting through it forms the core emotional arc of the story, wordless as it is. Like Epona or Agro, you’ll definitely form a bond with this misshapen machine. A real hidden gem - and the sequel is on Gamepass right now!

 

Spoiler

06/01/2022 - Halo Infinite

09/01/2022 - Hyper Light Drifter

05/02/2022 - Ori and the Will of the Wisps

13/02/2022 - Guardians of the Galaxy

20/02/2022 - It Takes Two

20/03/2022 - Super Mario 3D Land

20/03/2022 - Panzer Dragoon: Remake

21/03/2022 - Psychonauts 2

18/04/2022 - The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

08/05/2022 - New Super Mario Bros 2

19/05/2022 - Resident Evil 4 HD

25/05/2022 - Tunic

16/06/2022 - Kirby and the Forgotten Land

16:06/2022 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge

09/07/2022 - Luigi’s Mansion 2

16/07/2022 - Journey

19/07/2022 - Tomb Raider

03/08/2022 - The Last of Us Part 2

05/08/2022 - Metroid: Samus Returns

08/08/2022 - The Gunk

12/08/2022 - Tomb Raider Underworld

15/08/2022 - Super Metroid

04/09/2022 - Final fantasy VII Remake: INTERmission

13/09/2022 - Sable

11/10/2022 - Far: Lone Sails

 

[Sprite Machine]

On 11/10/2022 at 10:42, Mogster said:

10/10/2022 - The Nonary Games: 999

 

Among other things, getting a Steam Deck has been a perfect opportunity to try out genres I wouldn't normally play. My experience with visual novels began and ended with the Phoenix Wright games before now, so I thought I'd try something different.

 

I found it surprisingly engaging for the most part. There was a good balance between basic visual novel stuff and escape room style puzzles, and the premise and characters were quite interesting. Even the voice acting was surprisingly decent for the most part, to the point where I rarely just read the the dialogue and skipped ahead. My one criticism of the characters was the design of Lotus, which was just a bit weird for a few reasons. She's the only female character in the game dressed in skimpy clothing, for seemingly no reason, and on top of this there are a few references to her being "old" despite looking maybe thirty at most. It's just a bit strange really.

 

Outside of the puzzle rooms, your interaction is limited to very occasional choices that determine the flow of the story, which leads to a rather interesting structure. My first run through the story resulted in a terrible fate for my character that failed to resolve much of anything, but from the very start of the game you have full access to a flow chart showing exactly where you could have made different choices. You can also jump back to any scene you've experienced, and even jump straight to the pivotal moments where those decisions are made. I ended up uncovering all the endings before finally reaching the "true" end, but learnt a lot about the characters and the game's various mysteries in the process. I think it might even be necessary to see some of this before the full true ending unlocks, and without spoiling too much I think the structure itself plays into the narrative too.

 

Despite this structure though, I never felt like I could make educated decisions to choose the "correct" path. This is very much a visual novel at its core, and not a narrative adventure like a Telltale game. The choices are there to allow you to find stuff out that wouldn't have worked in a linear narrative, not to make for interesting decisions. Ultimately it made for a fun story that couldn't have easily been told in any other medium, and aside for the odd drawn out slice of melodrama I think it was quite well told as well.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

January

04/01/2022 - Kena: Bridge of Spirits
24/01/2022 - Hitman (2016)
26/01/2022 - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

May

17/05/2022 - Kirby and the Forgotten Land

June

09/06/2022 - Elden Ring

July

09/07/2022 - Cyberpunk 2077
10/07/2022 - Citizen Sleeper

August

01/08/2022 - Stray
14/08/2022 - No Man's Sky Expedition Eight: Polestar
30/08/2022 - Command & Conquer: Remastered Collection (GDI Campaign)

September

Nothing!

October

10/10/2022 - The Nonary Games: 999

 

 

I had this on the DS. You couldn't skip through and had to fully replay the game to get the different branches. 

 

Now try the sequel, Virtue's Last Reward. It's the same thing but a lot better!

[Mogster]

23 minutes ago, Sprite Machine said:

 

I had this on the DS. You couldn't skip through and had to fully replay the game to get the different branches. 

 

Now try the sequel, Virtue's Last Reward. It's the same thing but a lot better!

I've got the whole trilogy to play through, but maybe after a little break.

 

I believe the flow chart thing was added with the Nonary Games rerelease. I don't think I'd have bothered if I had to play through the whole thing each time, not least because you can guarantee that I'd accidentally choose a repeat choice while skipping through all the dialogue. It seems like such a core part of the game that it's weird it was so hard to do originally.

[Pelekophoros]

12/10: Superhot (PS5)

 

Not as good as the VR edition, but still staggeringly excellent.

 

Spoiler

23/1: Ninja Baseball Bat Man (MAME)

17/02: Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (PS5)

19/02: The Pedestrian (Xbone)

19/02: Gorogoa (Xbone)

20/02: The Gunk (Xbone)
18/03: Horizon Zero Dawn (PS5)
20/03: Oculus First Contact (OQ2)

22/03: Horizon Zero Dawn: Frozen Wastes DLC (PS5)

26/03: Little Hope (PS5)

04/04: The Outer Worlds (PS5)

09/04: House Of Ashes (PS5)

13/05: Exo One (Xbone Sex)

13/05: A Memoir Blue (Xbone Sex)

14/05: Cyberpunk 2077 (PS5)

16/05: Trek To Yomi (Xbone Sex)

22/05: Tetris Effect (Xbone Sex)

22/05: Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion (Xbone Sex)

28/05: Far: Changing Tides (Xbone Sex)

02/06: Record of Lodoss War - Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth (Xbone Sex)

20/06: Forza Horizon 5 (Xbone Sex)

26/06: Lake (Xbone Sex)

27/06: Last Day Of June (PS5)

29/06: Little Nightmares (PS5)

01/07: Deliver Us The Moon (PS5)

09/07: House Flipper (Xbone Sex)
12/07: Mafia Definitive Edition (PS5)

20/07: Mafia 2: Definitive Edition (PS5)

24/07: Stray (PS5)

09/08: Road 96 (Xbone Sex)

22/08: Signs of the Sojourne (Xbone Sex)

23/08: Two Crude/Crude Buster (MAME)

07/09: Arcade Paradise (PS5)

19/09: Bad Dudes Vs Dragon Ninja (MAME)
26/09: As Dusk Falls (Xbone Sex)

 

[spatular]

i don't remember the original 999 being that bad, you could skip through text super quick iirc? but yeah the new way sill sounds a lot better.

[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
28.) Superhot - PS4 - 2017 (2016)

^ Heh, I'm gettin' déjà vu! 

 

29.) Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (8-bit) - GG - 1992

Completed without cheating, all Chaos Emeralds. Is this the hardest mainline Sonic game ever made? It was tricky enough on the Master System, but on the Game Gear it's like playing with blinkers. UnderGround Act 3 and Green Hills Act 3 can absolutely fuck off, and then fuck off some more.

 

30.) Superhot VR - PS4 - 2017 (2016)

I've been waiting to play this for ages and it didn't disappoint. Well, it did disappoint a little bit, but mostly for technical reasons. The limits of PSVR v1 are now being slowly felt. Blocking my face with my hands, failing to throw things properly, going out of bounds, smacking my living room walls, having to recalibrate... these problems have always been there but it takes a game as cool as Superhot VR to show them up and makes me want a new VR system to do it justice. Still, it is exceptionally cool. Having to carefully consider every move of your hands and head, while watching in all directions for projectiles coming towards you... the game has left me feeling like I'm still in it. I'm consciously making small movements as I sit at my desk now, worried that somebody is going to shoot me in the head if I move too quickly.

Anyway, I completed the story mode, dabbled with the other modes, and I think I'm done. I thought the story/framing in the main Superhot game was stronger / more substantial, but that's not really what you play this for. You play this to throw an ashtray at somebody's face, grab their gun out of the air and shoot an uzi-toting dude across the room before he can get a round off at you. Super! Hot!

[RubberJohnny]

Bayonetta 2 - I played the original back in 2009, and enjoyed it as my first character action game, I never played the sequel because it was on the Wii U, but 8 years later here we are. 

 

 

Compared to the first, this is a comfortably better game, the combat system is as satisfying as ever, there's a good line in spectacle with water effects constantly swirling around in the background, but there's also more variety in environments and enemy types and the difficulty curve is smoothed off with no pain in the arse enemies like the boats.

 

And yet, there's a lot here that rubs me up the wrong way. There's a huge story focus with flashbacks, cutscenes, lore exposition and sections where you escort an annoying kid around, and all of it is crap - who are the people who care about the lore in a Bayonetta game? The structure too is straight from the PS2 era and needs updating, there's hidden encounters based around backtracking, challenge rooms that require loads, and a shop that also requires loads multiple times per level, and you're supposed to replay missions once you know where everything is and play everything in one go. And it's relentlessly stop-start, every encounter is bookended by mini-cutscenes, and the game is constantly grabbing control away from the player, it just refuses to settle down and let you get into a flow. All of this was true of the original too, but I didn't really have much to compare that to, whereas I've played the genre more widely now - as much as I bounced off Nier Automata's open world, it didn't have any of these problems.

 

I enjoy the combat, but I don't really like "Bayonetta as a series", is what I've concluded.

 

Spoiler

Goragoa

Mass Effect 3

Red Dead Redemption 2

Pokemon Legends: Arceus

Hitman III

GTA V

Rez Infinite

 

[Jamie John]

32. Tinykin (2022) - XSX via Game Pass

 

 

This was fine.

 

As others have said, on the surface it's very reminiscent of Pikmin, but in practice it has more in common with an open-world Lego game, although without the combat. It's not really a 3D platformer, either, like Yooka-Laylee or Super Lucky's Tale - a lot of the time you don't even look at the character you're controlling, but rather the environment that surrounds him. I think 'collect 'em up' is probably the best way of describing it. Regardless of how you could label it, I thought it was a nice game to relax with at the end of a long day. It doesn't ask much of you at all - you mostly just walk around picking up pollen, its most abundant collectible - and with instant restarts, shortcuts everywhere and minimal threat, it's an almost frictionless experience, the polar opposite of Darkwood, the game I completed most recently prior to this.

I like the way the game looks, too. For some reason, I really enjoy media where you see a small character interacting with everyday objects that appear much larger than they do in normal life. Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Toy Story, The Borrowers, It Takes Two - all of that stuff I just find inherently interesting and satisfying, and the environments here are quite creative with how they portray it all. My favourite level was probably the garage one, where you use the leaves of a trailing plant to get up into the rafters, which provides a great sense of scale. Elsewhere, canyons carved out of sponge scourers and towers erected from stacked toilet rolls made me smile. The soundtrack, while perhaps a bit twee, kept up the feeling of forward momentum, and I like the way it changed to reflect the environment you were in.

 

My opinion of the game overall was soured slightly, however, by how it ends. I came to the conclusion quite suddenly and was disappointed to learn that there is no new game plus, nor any items that allow you to track down the pollen you've missed more easily. Had there been something like that - a map, or a radar, or some addition to your binoculars that hints at the location of missing collectibles - I'd likely have kept playing to hoover everything up and get the last achievements that I'd missed out on. It's odd that a game which makes so many ready concessions to the player's time in every other respect fails to include something like this. There's no fast travel between zones, either, which seemed like something that could have been added relatively painlessly.

And the story is very odd, too. I'll confess to not paying much attention to it and not bothering to talk with every single bug I came across, but I didn't really know what was going on. Something about the human owner of the house also being a god to the insects that had taken over, but then also being a mad scientist who had spawned the tinykin in the first place. Plus lots of religious imagery. And some weird metatextual stuff about the game being aware it's a game, with the sort of secret 'backstage' rooms you find in Portal. It was all a bit strange.

It certainly won't trouble my GOTY list, and I think people who have talked it up a great deal are over-egging the pudding slightly, but it's a comfortable enough way to spend eight or so hours of your time as the nights begin to close in. Unambitious but entirely inoffensive, and perfect for Game Pass (TM).

 

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) - Steam Deck - 7/10

32. Tinykin (2022) - XSX via Game Pass - 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

 

[Arctic Feather]

4. September 2022 Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (3DS)

It's been a while since a game has held my attention enough to complete it from start to finish in a short period of time.
I completed this over a few weeks and enjoyed it a lot.  I was going to aim for 100%, but reached the end missing 4 heart pieces.  Once I realised that I would need to beat the annoying baseball game to get one of those heart pieces I gave up on it.  I managed to get every other item in the game.

It also encouraged me to go back to BOTW, but that will take me forever to complete.

5. 13/10/2022 Crash Bandicoot (PS1)

I completed this last year, but finally got round to picking up the final few gems for 100% completion. Trying to get through some of the longer levels without dying is pretty taxing.  I'll probably start Crash 2 later this year.

 

Spoiler

1. 03/01/2022 Timespinner
2. 01/02/2022 New Super Mario Land (SNES homebrew)
3. 04/02/2022 Jak & Daxter (PS3)
4. September 2022 Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
5. 13/10/2022 Crash Bandicoot (PS1)

[CurryKitten]

14/10/2022 - Hollow Knight: Voidheart Edition (XSX GP)

I'm somewhat late to the party on this one.  Truth is I was trying out a few games after finishing the last one and seeing which one stuck.  Shemnue 3, Deathloop, Dangan ronpa v3 didn't really hold my attention, and then I tried Hollow Knight and I started to like what was happening and so I started sinking the hours into it.

 

Here's the thing, I both love and hate the game.  It's artwork is stunning, and the moveset and the progression of skills is wonderful.  There's lots of lovely platforming in there and finally being able to string the set of moves together which gets you through a narrow spiked tunnel feels awesome.  At first the bosses felt right - they got tricky but you tried again (and again) and recognised their move set and how to counter and beat them.

 

My problem with the game came in a few places.  There are several large spikes in difficulty where a boss is completely kicking your arse and you've barely bagan to recognise the attacks before you are dead, and the previous bench (checkpoint) is a good 5 minutes of tricky platforming away.  The other thing is - what am I doing?  Why am I doing it?  Where should I go next, and why?  This is pretty subjective of course, I'm sure loads of people love not really knowing and having to figure things out, or guess.  I don't.  Before this one of the recent games I played was Metroid Dread, and the explanation of what we were doing and where we should try to go were spot on in my opinion.

 

With Hollow Knight, I ended up referring to guides frequently - which feels like the game has failed me in for ways.  For boss fights, for figuring out where to go and as it ended up, I got so stuck on a few key bosses that I couldn't progress at all and had to do the Hollow Knight equivalent of grinding.  That meant hunting down all the charms I could ( 2 missing), getting every grub along with every vessel and mask fragment I could just so I could make myself strong enough to face off against the bosses I was having issues with.  In the end I actually beat Hollow Knight on around my 4th try - which was way way better than some of the earlier bosses.  There's lots more to do in this game if you want to really punish yourself, but I've had my fun with it, and any more I think I would begin to dislike it more.  As it was I clocked up 43 hours with a finish percentage of 86%

[Gabe]

26. 08/10/2022 - Urban Reign (PS2)

 

This was a weird one. It's a mission-based beat-em-up built on the Tekken engine I think? There are 100 (100!) missions and each one is generally a case of beat everybody down, though some attempt at variety has some missions have you fight against a time limit or having to only beat-up a single character out of the crowd. It doesn't add anything to proceedings, as you can imagine.

 

You build up a roster of characters as you beat your way through the city, with your motivation being given solely through the mission briefings, so that's hardly a reason to want to put yourself through it. And if that makes it sound like a slog, it really is, because this gets hard. The game is happy to have you fight 3/4 vs 1, sometimes with multiple 'named' boss-like characters and even on easy I made it about 25 missions in before it was getting frustrating and the cheats came out. Even playing it with my character being invulnerable still wasn't a walk in the park, because whilst I couldn't die, you all too often get brutally assaulted by the AI and end up being repeatedly stun-locked by characters hitting at incredible speed.

 

With that said, the actual fighting engine has a wonderfully satisfying umph to it, with punches, throws and kicks all landing with a lovely crunch to it and decent variety in how you take people down. But 100 missions is just about 50/60 too many, especially with the limited playset you have to work with.

 

Definitely not recommended then.

 

27. 08/10/2022 - Crossfire X: Operation Catalyst (XSS)

 

This was MS's attempt to have their own Call of Duty Warzone thing going on, right? There's the free-to-play multiplayer game that has all the usual stuff you'd expect from the genre I guess, but this also came with a Remedy-developed single player campaign. Well you know what, it wasn't actually bad. The story was reasonably engaging, the gunplay was decent and it all moved along at a fair old clip, being done in about 3 hours or so (though there was an additional paid-for 'second season' available to pad it out and continue the story).

 

Something did feel a little off about the gunplay, mind, and the checkpointing was frustrating at times, but for a short spot of shooting people in the face, it scratched an itch. Not enough that I care to pay for finding out where the story goes, but all the same if the second campaign was ever free, I'd check it out. It was okay.

 

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)

25. 04/10/2022 - My Life as an Archaeologist (PC)

 

[ImmaculateClump]

雷鸟Thunderbird - Hard 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, Moderate 1cc

雷鸟Thunderbird - Normal 1cc

 

[klargon]

Backbone (PC)

 

Decided to pick something from the Ukraine Itch bundle to have a go at. It’s a pixel art narrative detective thingy. At times, the detailed parallax environments look really lovely, but that’s definitely the highlight. The progression of a fairly interesting plot and nice development of characters is bizarrely abandoned in the final act. The game goes in an unwanted direction, and ends quickly. It’s difficult to think of this being due to anything other than running out of budget and needing to end it. Another odd thing is how quiet the game is - it needs significantly more environmental SFX. Again, feels like the money ran out. It’s still worth a look I think, though, and it’s pretty short.

[Unofficial Who]

Oct

 

16/10 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:Turtles in Time (PC/Arcade) This was a lot better, possibly because I didn't play this at the arcades at the time. Chunkier, beefier sprites but if felt a little more balanced. The time travel motif lends the game a bit of variety. Again playing it solo is probably the wrong way to do this but it didn't feel as much of a slog. (Still not as good as Shredder's Revenge though.)

 

 

16/10 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (PC/Arcade) The great thing about Shredder's Revenge is that it plays how you remember the old Konami games playing. Playing the old arcade game over 30 years since I last played it was a bit of an eye opener. On the upside it's just pure 80's in terms of the look and sound of the game. The downside? It's very much an arcade game that wants to eat your money. Cheap shots abound. It didn't help that I was playing this the wrong way (alone in my late 40's rather than with three other friends in my early 20's) but it's made me appreciate just what the creators of Shredder's Revenge did in emulating all the good parts of this experience and none of the bad. I don't regret my nostalgic trip playing through this but I don't see myself coming back, strictly one and done for this.

 

 

16/10 The Terrible Old Man (PC) Only have 20 minutes to play a game this weekend? Then may I recommend The Terrible Old Man, a short horror adventure game based on a Lovecraft tale by the creator of The Excavation of Hob's Hollow. You play as a thug who overhears a conversation in a bar about a local old man and his riches. Could this be an easy score for your crew? It's ugly and oppressive in a way that reminds me of Liquid Television back in the day. It's free on Steam.

 

 

16/10 Submerged:Hidden Depths (PC) This is essentially a prettier version of 2015's Submerged, originally commissioned for Stadia in 2020 and recently released on other platforms. It's a relaxing post apocalyptic exploration of a flooded city (possibly Sydney). Think the sailing bits from Windwaker and the tower climbs of Assassin's Creed with nothing to harm you. In a lot of ways this feels like the emptier parts of Nier Automata. There are no dangers here, the only other living creatures besides the two siblings are plant like shadows or clones of living creatures and humans, it feels almost like the movie Annihilation (but without the risk to life and limb. I found it relaxing, others will find this incredibly dull. It's very pretty though. And the soundtrack is fantastic in that collectable kind of sing at you. The highlight being the music that plays while holding a seed and the pace quickening as you bring it back to it's mother plant. It was free on Epic's service earlier this year so you might already have this in your collection.

 

 

Earlier this month

08/10 Franken (PC)

07/10 Echo Generation (PC)

02/10 Ghosts'n'Goblins (Arcade/PC)

02/10 Life is Strange:True Colours (PC)

 

Earlier this year

 

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)

 

[Popo]

Immortality (2022)

I found this game very challenging. On the one hand I respected it’s craft, complexity and scale; also, when the big twist start to reveal itself, it’s got to be one of the most shocking and exciting moments in any game or movie ever, and only possible through the unique form of storytelling Sam Barlow has created.

 

On the other, I didn’t emotionally engage with the characters or the story, so scrolling though the clips (sometimes multiples of times) felt laborious; misunderstandings about the mechanics of the game meant I was actually missing loads of scenes; and ultimately I’m just not that smart, so it never felt like I was intelligently following a trail of breadcrumbs leading me to the ending, more just clicking around at random.

 

Happy to have played it, but I think the experience has proven to me how much I’m just not that into Sam Barlow’s games, as much as I can respect him and his team for what they’ve created. 

 

Spoiler

06/01/2022 - Halo Infinite

09/01/2022 - Hyper Light Drifter

05/02/2022 - Ori and the Will of the Wisps

13/02/2022 - Guardians of the Galaxy

20/02/2022 - It Takes Two

20/03/2022 - Super Mario 3D Land

20/03/2022 - Panzer Dragoon: Remake

21/03/2022 - Psychonauts 2

18/04/2022 - The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

08/05/2022 - New Super Mario Bros 2

19/05/2022 - Resident Evil 4 HD

25/05/2022 - Tunic

16/06/2022 - Kirby and the Forgotten Land

16:06/2022 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge

09/07/2022 - Luigi’s Mansion 2

16/07/2022 - Journey

19/07/2022 - Tomb Raider

03/08/2022 - The Last of Us Part 2

05/08/2022 - Metroid: Samus Returns

08/08/2022 - The Gunk

12/08/2022 - Tomb Raider Underworld

15/08/2022 - Super Metroid

04/09/2022 - Final fantasy VII Remake: INTERmission

13/09/2022 - Sable

11/10/2022 - Far: Lone Sails

16/10/2022 - Immortality

 

[Darwock]

 

On 06/10/2022 at 17:44, 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

8. 17/10 The Secret of Monkey Island

 

Not the Monkey Island game you’d expect me to be playing in 2022, but the original. My only exposure to this was when I was at school. A friend had it, raved about it and brought it over to play at my house. I remember being really impressed with the animation and everything but it’s not really a spectator game, watching someone else be stuck when you have no knowledge to contribute with doesn’t exactly make for fun times, so I was mostly waiting for him to get bored and play something else. Still that short exposure left me imprinted with the words ‘rubber chicken with a pulley in the middle’ and ‘I am rubber you are glue’ (the latter puzzled me so much as I didn’t know the second half of the phrase at that time).

 

Finally experiencing it for myself shows what an utter classic it is. Unfortunately I got stuck on one puzzle towards the end and googled it, which I already hate myself for. It was on the ghost ship and I was getting annoyed at trekking back and forth through the caves to trial and error things, plus the irritating sound of the ghost chickens in the room with the crate I needed to open pushed me over the edge to just take a shortcut.

 

Spoiler

Using the magnetic compass to get the key next to LeChuck was a bit too tenuous for me to figure out. I realize now that the description is a hint as the magnetic field is strong enough to interfere with other navigational equipment.

At least I did the rest myself. I blame those damn chickens.

 

9. 10/17 Zoids - Full Metal Crash

 

Bit of a bonus one this, my 5yo son has been really into the old Zoids VS games I had on my GameCube- they are objectively shite but I’m a huge Zoids fan so I have them all - but they are a nightmare to play and require quite a bit of gaming nous just to be able to do the basics. The lock-on, dodging and special moves don’t really work smoothly and need a fair bit of skill compensation that is too much for a child. Full Metal Crash removes most of the tricky maneouvering aspect as it is ostensibly a 2.5D fighter (developed by 8ing, who did the Naruto fighting games and more recently DNF Duel), and the Zoids are mostly always pointing at each other already so he is able to enjoy it just by mashing buttons to do big attacks.

 

There is a little more depth here than I expected actually, I had to learn some stuff to stop my son trashing me every time by picking the strongest Zoids and button mashing. I played through the story mode multiple times (painful, generic anime screens of text and talking heads for hours) to unlock everything for him to use in the basic VS mode, which in contrast is quite good fun to play. Anyway since I’ve unlocked everything I’m counting it as a game I completed this year.

[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 - 8.5/10

 

10. Inside - XSX Game Pass - 16/10/22

 

Felt the need to pick a short Game Pass title to play through, and saw that this got a 10/10 on IGN and was critically acclaimed, so thought I'd give this a go.

 

This is a beautifully atmospheric platform/puzzle game, which gives you absolutely no handholding whatsoever.  You play as a boy lost in a forest who has to navigate through some sort of military complex, and it looks like some kind of military presence have enslaved other individuals.  There's no combat here, just avoid any bad guys, work out lots of fun puzzles and essentially keep moving right to the next challenge.  The whole 4-ish hours are seamless - no cut scenes, no button prompts, nothing.  And it works beautifully.

 

The puzzles were pretty good - but nothing that stood out above any other games of a similar ilk.  It's.... good.  Visually, it's lovely.  Particular the lighting.  The sound is also spot on - again, atmospheric and spooky.    

 

The final act of the game takes a drastic, crazy turn which I didn't see coming, and it's very thought provoking.  I've a theory of what it's all about which I'll put in spoilers at the end.  As a narrative piece, it makes you rethink everything you've done up to this point, and it's pretty successful. 

 

So - this is a solid, polished, pretty fun platformer which I enjoyed.  But one of the main things I thought about this game is just why it's so highly rated?  I don't really understand the level of praise it's got - is it the last act and the subsequent theories it provokes?  This is by no means a poor game - I did enjoy it, but an IGN 10/10 Masterpiece gene-defining classic?  Not for me - certainly worth a play, and I think it's the perfect length - plenty of difference game mechanics, and it doesn't outstay it's welcome - it's engaging, it's emotional, it's good.  But it's not a bona fide classic.

 

8/10

 

Theory:

 

Spoiler

After a bit of headscratching, and wondering what the absolute fuck was happening when the boy merges with the other bodies into a big blob, I think this is something to do with a germ or virus infiltrating the body.  

 

All of the sentries, dogs, guards, water people etc - could these be antibodies?  Is the little boy actually the 'bad guy' all along, finding a way into the main organs and subsequently infecting the whole body, which then 'breaks out' at the end as an illness, such as a cold, or some other form of virus? 

 

There's a point where the boy 'learns' to breathe underwater, like a virus mutating or adapting to its surroundings which should have rung some alarm bells....

 

Anyone else had any similar thoughts?

 

[Popo]

@Boothjan I love that interpretation! 

[cassidy]

Previously in 2022

 

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

 

01/10/2022

Cult of the lamb 

And No 24 of the year is. 

Tales of Arise (Series X) 

 

Been playing this since mid August and saw the credits roll yesterday.  Enjoyed it very much and now running through the end game dungeon and mopping up the last few achievements. 

 

Great combat, story is good and lovely visuals and my first Tales of game.  Will defo try new games in the series. 

[RubberJohnny]

Horizon Zero Dawn - It's got a map full of icons, a horse and a bow, clearly it's a 2016 open world game. Wait, don’t go, it's actually pretty good!

 

 

The big improvement on the formula here is that because those 'icons on the map' are big monsters, the gameworld is lot more active, and exploration a lot more interesting. The game maintains a sense of danger for about half or more of its' running length, and most people will come away with various anecdotes about the time they stumbled into some beastie they'd never encountered before and it kicked their arse or left them cowering in a bush while it destroyed their horse.

 

The combat system is also pretty unique, and I ended up using every tool in the box, although not on every enemy. It's mostly useful on making the ones that are hard to deal with a bit more manageable - very mobile and aggressive enemies can be tethered or tripwired, tear can knock off ranged weapons and armour, fire arrows are great for grounding the annoying flying guys, or making fuel canisters explode, etc. Only the melee, which is very flailly, is a bit shit.

 

And Sony's prestige take puts the focus on the story, which is again, pretty good. It's mostly told in bespoke dungeons which are linear but with nice side areas for exploration, there's a lot of things like that which have you nodding appreciatively - dialogue choices that let you define yourself within the archetypes of a YA protagonist, for instance - clever. 

 

It's not perfect, obviously, you feel the lack of freeform traversal that has been BotW's biggest impact on the genre in games since, and there are a bunch of nitpicks that could be improved on:

 

Spoiler

The human combat is obviously not up to the standards of the rest, for one thing they should probably die instantly from getting an arrow in the eye rather than just chipping their health bar.

 

Stealth sections too can be a bit awkward as Aloy has a propensity for leaping out of cover to stick the spear in at a visually interesting angle, making her exposed.

 

The slow mo bar can't be used during it's recharge, which is bizarre, just let me burn down the 75% or so I have if I need it right now rather than waiting until the opportunity to take that shot is over, there's all these upgrades for it, but I never really used it.

 

It seems daft you can't buy healing at all, you have to gather the materials and craft it yourself after every encounter. You'd think meat and medicine would be like, the most common thing traded in the dangerous apocalypse. On the other hand, you basically don't need to grab other resources at all, you can buy the wood and such in massive quantities for dead cheap and much less effort, and by the mid-game they're basically showering you with so much cash and resources you could literally never run out.

 

For a game which tells its story heavily with audio logs, this game has one of the worst handlings of them I've seen, you scan them with your focus, but can only see what they are and play them when you leave your focus, and then any press of the triangle button means they stop playing, even though that's not shown onscreen as a prompt, and the triangle button is your main contextual interaction, so basically everything stops them. And if you stop them and go into your menu to play them again, you then have to sit in the menu, you can't play them over the game although they work that way already when you pick them up!

 

But by and large this is comfortably in the upper tier of the genre. I would play the sequel if it made it to PC.

[ImmaculateClump]

Dead End City - Normal 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, Moderate 1cc

雷鸟Thunderbird - Normal 1cc, Hard 1cc

[Superfamifreak]

Completed(In no particular order):
Kamiko - JP PS4
Onechanbara Z2 Chaos - Platinum trophy - JP PS4
Onechanbara Z Kagura with NoNoNo - JP PS3
Riddled Corpses EX - Platinum trophy - PS5
Killzone Mercenary - Vita
Demon Gaze Extra - Platinum trophy - PS4
Dirt 5 - Platinum trophy - PS5
Earth's Dawn - PS4
Battle Circuit & Final Fight(Capcom Belt Action Collection) - JP PS4

Bit of a slow year for me tbh.

[Gabe]

28. 17/10/2022 - Rune II: Decapitation Edition (PC)

 

This was a game with a troubled history and, boy, does it show.

 

The first bit of drama was when it was removed from Steam because Epic had poached it - and I think fairly close to release? Then, when it did release it was completely panned and the original developers were either sacked/walked away or something else. So, new devs brought in, the game was quite radically changed and it was re-released as a v2 (and hence the 'Decapitation Edition' added to the title). Things were still troubled, devs promise lots of things and then they too are off; not sure if it was because the money ran out or other troubles, but that was it - done. No more patches (and lots is still broken) and it's now not possible to buy from anywhere.

 

That's a good thing, because this is awful.

 

I believe originally it released and was a sort of pseudo-MMO? There was PvP and co-op I think. When v2 came along, it had been re-worked (of sorts) into a more traditional quest-based action RPG. Yet much of the MMO trappings remained; you could chop down trees and mine ore, build buildings in settlements and/or around the world, had lots of 'kill x of a thing' or 'go talk to person y who is the other side of the world' type side quests and crafting, some of the stuff clearly related to the previous incarnation where you 'claimed' land. In short, lots of stuff that really had no place or purpose in the rebooted game (yes, crafting needed materials, but you could get this from slain enemies most of the time.)

 

Everything about it was janky - and not the good type of janky; in fact, it was whatever is below janky. Inventory management was horrendous, controls were a mixture of pad/keyboard and mouse, combat was imprecise and floaty, the world was incredibly empty and boring, quests were basic, dull and lacking any thrills & with poor checkpointing, and the voice acting - oh my, the voice acting! The underlying plot was <something, something Loki> but was so lightweight - there isn't even an ending scene or anything - it didn't hold my interest (and I will continue to play a lot of trash just to see the story - my bar is very low!) And there were lots of rough edges, bugs, performance issues and game-breakers (i.e. getting stuck permanently in scenery) and horrible load times to boot.

 

That I completed it then says nothing about the game and more about my masochistic side, because it was just broken in a number of ways. As a couple of examples, you could 'attune' yourself to a fast travel spot, so if you died that's where you'd return. Except for certain locations this wouldn't work, so you were revived on the other side of the map to where you wanted to be, which was annoying. A much, much bigger pain was for the final boss. You are told you have to craft a god weapon, as only that is capable of killing a god - and this uses one of the game's rare resources. If, like me, you'd used that resource a short while back to craft some armour, then you have to hunt around the whole world looking for boss-type characters that might drop the material. And in the end-game stage, the world is very sparsely populated. I had been running around for a couple of hours and fortunately found a quest that gave me what I needed. But get this - once you craft it and are taken to the final boss you don't even need to use it, because any weapon works. The weapon you need to craft is also level-gated, so if you were under levelled you'd need to grind just to even get that pointless quest done. It could easily be the worst game I've played since I've partaken in this thread since about 2015.

 

The only positive I'll give it - and this isn't really saying much, given how poor the general art-direction is, is that it does feature RTS and, at times, you do get a really lovely sunset hitting the snow. But then the game will stutter as you move forward 3 steps and you want to smash your monitor again, so any pleasant feelings never last.

 

Just think yourself lucky that you can't buy it anymore.

 

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)

25. 04/10/2022 - My Life as an Archaeologist (PC)

26. 08/10/2022 - Urban Reign (PS2)

27. 08/10/2022 - Crossfire X: Operation Catalyst (XSS)

 

[Jamie John]

33. Stray (2022) - PS5 via PS Plus

 

 

This was a very good-looking but rather slight little game that starts to run out of ideas by the end. Being less than five hours long, however, thankfully that's not a big deal.

 

Like Tinykin, it doesn't require you to engage your brain much, but it's inoffensive and frictionless enough that you don't mind. Fairly quickly, the fact that you play as a cat becomes almost incidental - you could just as easily play as a child, or robot, or some other small mascot - and, after the initial area, which is a bit more open, it's a very linear and prescriptive experience. I would have liked it if it had me off the leash a bit more and further encouraged exploration - there's not a great amount to actually do or interact with in the game - but as it is, it's fine.

 

 

If you've got PS Plus and you're looking for something easy, short and very photographable (although the omission of a dedicated photo mode is odd), then give it a go. Just don't expect much meat on them bones. I picked up the seven-day trial for PS Plus 'Extra' in order to play it, and having done so, I'm glad I didn't spend £25 on it.

 

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) - Steam Deck - 7/10

32. Tinykin (2022) - XSX via Game Pass - 7/10

33. Stray (2022) - PS5 via PS Plus

 

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

Scorn (2022) - XSX

 

[strawdonkey]

On 17/09/2022 at 17:05, strawdonkey said:

2021/65a. Star Hunter DX (Space Cadet, 1CC, 19.3mil)

01. The Artful Escape

02. Rhythm Doctor

03. Monolith

04. Higurashi When They Cry - Ch.2 Watanagashi

05. Outer Wilds

06. OMORI

02a. Rhythm Doctor (all the bonus stuff and B+'d every stage)

07. Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel (all solo content clear)

08. Windjammers 2 (1CC)

09. Vampire Survivors

10. Ghost Blade HD (1CC Easy)

10a. Ghost Blade HD

07a. Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel

11. Exceed 2nd - Vampire Rex (uh, 3CC I guess)

12. Higurashi When They Cry - Ch. 3 Tatarigoroshi

13. Magic The Gathering: Arena (Mythic Rank, constructed)

14. Solitarica

15. Schildmaid MX (Jaeger Mode 1CC, 12.9mil)

16. ZeroRanger - White Vanilla Mode (719k, Type-C, C++)

17. Zenohell (Honestly it took like 20 credits)

18. Higurashi When They Cry - Ch. 4 Himatsubushi

16a. ZeroRanger - Green Orange Mode 1-ALL (354k, Type-C)

19. Backspace Bouken (and the Numb Lock DLC)

20. Exceed 3rd: Jade Penetrate Black Package (1CC, Easy, 5,388,190)

20a. Exceed 3rd: Jade Penetrate Black Package (1CC, Normal, 3mil and some change)

21. Rez Infinite (Area X)

22. Point Blank (1CC, Expert Mode)
23. Touhou 8 - Imperishable Night (1CC, New Moon, Reimu/Yukari)

23a. Touhou 8 - Imperishable Night (1CC, Waxing Crescent, Reimu/Yukari)

24. Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion

25. Graze Counter (many 1CCs)

26. Touhou 7 - Perfect Cherry Blossom (1CC, Easy, Reimu)

27. Higurashi When They Cry - Ch. 5 Meakashi

X1. Carrion

28. Deathsmiles (1CC, Normal, Rosa, 57mil)

29. One Step From Eden (Reva clear, all bosses spared)

30. Panzer Dragoon Remake

31. Higurashi When They Cry - Ch. 6 Tsumihoroboshi

32. Jamestown+ (Story completion and finished Gauntlet Mode)

X2. Death's Door

33. Higurashi When They Cry - Ch. 7 Minagoroshi

25a. Graze Counter - Expert mode (Type-7, 474mil)
34. Splatoon

35. Drainus (Normal 2-all 1CC)

36. Neko Navy ("Easy" 1CC, 918mil, Mugi)

37. Mario Golf: Super Rush

38. Wario Ware Gold

39. Milk Outside a Bag of Milk Outside a Bag of Milk ...

22a. Point Blank (1CC, Very Hard Mode)

40. Kirby's Adventure

41. Frog Fractions: Game of the Decade Edition

22b. Point Blank (no-miss, Beginner mode)
42. Bloons TD6
43. FTL (Easy Kestrel clear)

44. Higurashi When They Cry - Ch. 8 Matsuribayashi

45. Dicey Dungeons

46. Hexcells (100%)

47. Hexcells Plus

X3. Crosscells

 

Fundamentally Hexcells Hard Mode. Some of the puzzles later on in the game are fiendishly difficult, giving that Picross-ish feeling of staring blankly at something that appears to be completely impossible until you have that moment of finally figuring out the one hex that can be filled.

 

--

 

Crosscells is from the same developer and is a fun concept - you've got a bunch of numbers and fragments of a maths problem in a grid, and each line needs solving simultaneously by toggling on or off individual parts. Unfortuantely about halfway through it gets difficult enough that there's far too many moving parts to figure out before committing, and there's no penalty for getting it wrong, so it kind of devolved into a game of solving a sum, solving the next sum, and then inevitably ending up with one that doesn't work, meaning you have to just keep tweaking them endlessly until you stumble on the right combination.

 

It's not bad - I just felt like I was going through the same motions for progressively longer each stage.

[BabelRich]

19/10 - Danganronpa V3 - Killing Harmony

 

Hmmmmmmmmm, this is a tricky one. On the one hand we have the same intriguing story and mysteries of the first two games; on the other hand, you have an absolutely appalling focus on crass sexualisation; and in the middle whacking you on the head is a twist, 4th wall breaking ending that makes the She Hulk finale look like a slight nod to camera.

 

Hand 1: The usual amnesiac set-up leads to a who-dunnit-where-am-I-just-what-the-fuck-is-going-on-here story where just enough breadcrumbs are sprinkled to keep you attentive and snooping. There's a twist in the first case that was well done but did lead to a slight disappointment for the rest of the game, but it's easily overcome. Characters are the usual mixed bag of tropes and surprises some good who you want to save, some bad who you hope gets the stick early.

 

The addition of 5(five) new Monokumas, in the guise of his cubs, is to the game's detriment. They are horrible characters, which I know is the point, but it felt very gratuitous. Which brings us nicely on to...

 

Hand 2: This game has a serious issue with sex. Some proper 'hidden on the eSHop/Steam for a couple of quid' issues. Yes, this is a Japanese interactive novel and yes, there were some allusions in the other games but here it's front and centre and, ahem, rammed down your throat. Just a real unhealthy, and unearned, attitude which culminates in several portrayals of incest and one of the characters being genuinely happy at being called a cum dumpster. 

 

The head banger: No spoilers obviously but the ending... I'm still not sure how I feel about it. It's such an enormous twist that it could break an owl's neck. It was quite clever, but it didn't quite stick the landing. That's all I can really say without entering spoiler territory.

 

Overall, as enjoyable a game as the first two, with a less interesting setting and a real attitude problem. 

 

7/10

 

 

Spoiler

05/10 - Gone Home 8/10

03/10 - Return to Monkey Island 8/10

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

 

[Popo]

A Plague Tale: Innocence (2019)

A game set in 14th century France in which you play as a young girl who must protect her ill younger brother from the forces of the inquisition and a sea of hungry, angry rats. Lots of rats. It looks and sounds incroyable - the texture of the world, in all its muddy, bloody detail, is captured beautifully and with an impressive attention to detail. The music - all wistful strings - is perfectly evocative of the place and the period. 
 

Amicia can’t do much at first, so there’s lots of stealth - but she has a slingshot, and can use it to hurt enemies. More abilities come as the game progresses, mainly around the manipulation of fire. Rats are an ever-present threat, but they hate the light, and this can be used to evade danger - and eventually to use the rats as a weapon against the enemies. This is all very good fun, and the power curve keeps a steady rise until about the halfway mark. 
 

Unfortunately, the limitations of the game soon become obvious. The beautiful world now a narrow corridor, a one-way system through which the player is funnelled; the interesting abilities becoming narrowly focused solutions to problems designed by the developer which can’t be tackled in other ways; trial and error gameplay that sees the player instantly punished when found/hit by an enemy and forced to reload and repeat, with no room for error.
 

It all makes for an experience lacking in player agency and high in frustration, the second half of the game unable to sustain the developer’s ambition, and culminating in a particularly egregious final chapter, with a string of insta-fail set pieces. It’s by no means a badly designed game, although enemy AI isn’t the best and some sections can be poorly explained, or are visually ambiguous, such that the player will be left unsure what to do. A frustrating conclusion to an otherwise enjoyable and impressive game. 

 

Spoiler

06/01/2022 - Halo Infinite

09/01/2022 - Hyper Light Drifter

05/02/2022 - Ori and the Will of the Wisps

13/02/2022 - Guardians of the Galaxy

20/02/2022 - It Takes Two

20/03/2022 - Super Mario 3D Land

20/03/2022 - Panzer Dragoon: Remake

21/03/2022 - Psychonauts 2

18/04/2022 - The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

08/05/2022 - New Super Mario Bros 2

19/05/2022 - Resident Evil 4 HD

25/05/2022 - Tunic

16/06/2022 - Kirby and the Forgotten Land

16:06/2022 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge

09/07/2022 - Luigi’s Mansion 2

16/07/2022 - Journey

19/07/2022 - Tomb Raider

03/08/2022 - The Last of Us Part 2

05/08/2022 - Metroid: Samus Returns

08/08/2022 - The Gunk

12/08/2022 - Tomb Raider Underworld

15/08/2022 - Super Metroid

04/09/2022 - Final fantasy VII Remake: INTERmission

13/09/2022 - Sable

11/10/2022 - Far: Lone Sails

16/10/2022 - Immortality

21/10/2022 - A Plague Tale: Innocence