What games did you complete? 2022 Edition

[strawdonkey]

On 31/01/2022 at 23:11, 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

 

I've injured my hand, and while it doesn't appear to be serious, it's been extremely limiting with the things that I can play without pain. Also learning to use a mouse with your non-dominant hand is a nightmare.

 

Anyway this is a roguelike auto battler thing that only requires one hand to play. You basically have to avoid enemies, let your automatic weapons kill them, and then create yourself a build by picking specific levelling up bonuses with the ultimate aim of surviving for 30 minutes. Each minute, New And Madder Shit appears for you to kill, so you have to power up else the enemies will quickly become too strong for you.

 

It's in early access, doesn't really tell you enough about what's going on, and is extremely addictive. The only real issue I've had with it so far is that the items you can choose as your level-up bonuses can combine to create a new and more powerful version of your weapons, but there's no information on how this works. The issue being, you're basically never going to be able to clear one of the stages wtihout at least one evolved weapon as your damage output won't be nearly high enough.

 

Other than that though, it's great fun and I'm looking forward to seeing what else gets added. Hopefully a bit of streamlining performance-wise too as after about 22 mintues my laptop can't cope. Weirdly on one of the stages it drops frames, and on another it has slowdown. I preferred the dropped frames as my successful 30 minute run took me nearly an hour as a result!

[Jamie John]

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

 

 

(More screens)

Spoiler

 

 

 

This was one of the best 8/10, not-quite-triple-A games I've completed in recent memory. It's great! A mash up of a dozen other games you've probably already played - Breath of the Wild, Horizon, God of War, Souls, Uncharted - but entirely sound throughout and presented in a sumptuous Disney and Ghilbi-inspired world. It looks beautiful, sounds lovely and is fun to play. It rewards exploration with various collectibles, all of which I found satisfying to track down, and the combat is challenging enough to keep you on your toes without becoming frustrating. Some reviews have complained about difficulty spikes, but I thought it was pitched just right.

 

Overall, it doesn't really do anything you haven't already seen, but what it does do it does very well. Not too long, not too ambitious, nothing outstanding, just resoundingly solid from beginning to end. I had a very good time with it and picked up most of the trophies. It's a shame it seems to have been overlooked; I imagine it'll feature heavily in many a list of 'Underappreciated Gems of the PS5 generation' in about five years' time.

 

8/10

 

Played this year:

 

Spoiler

Completed:

 

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

 

Abandoned:

 

Tomb Raider: Underworld (2008) - PC

Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition (2020) - Switch

Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology (2017) - 3DS

 

[Varsity]

6. Rainbow Six: Extraction - 6/10

 

This is a prime example of my OCD refusing to let me drop a meh game because I'll lose a completion. Don't get me wrong, it's not trash tier but it's also not something I plan on revisiting. It's just okay, for game pass anyway, it is NOT worth £45 or whatever they're charging on the store for it. 

 

I liked the fact it scales depending on how many people are playing, and in the end when it came down to the grinding it just became a game I could half-heartedly pay attention to while watching Netflix on the other screen. I'd struggle to recommend it to anyone really unless you're someone who has started it and like myself hates leaving stuff half finished. 

 

There are 4 sets of 3 levels but they are very drab and unimaginative. They basically all descend down into corridors and boring environments really. The enemies are just plain boring both to fight and in terms of any story or background etc. The guns feel incredibly unimpactful when firing at them. Operator abilities and guns are pretty consistent with their siege counterparts and I imagine if you had 2 friends to play with it would be a fun experience but the thing is, when there's so many other good co-op games out there, no-one will be playing this every night with friends when you could play virtually anything else. Also, the fact there is an MTX shop in this is a joke. 

 

In terms of completion it was pretty standard stuff really, achievements related to killing enemy types/completing missions and the big one, levelling all 18 operators to level 10. Easily at least half of the completion playtime right there. Only 2 achievements that actually require grouping with rando's as they are tied to endgame activities. 

 

Long story short, I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either. It's another 1000/1000 so that's that I suppose. 

 

Total time to 1000: 69 hours 32 mins. 

 

Previous Completions: 

 

Spoiler

1. Train Station Renovation - 1000/1000

2. Resi Village - 1000/1000

3. Death's Door - 1000/1000

4. Double Kick Heroes - 1000/1000

5. Forza Horizon 5 - 1000/1000

 

 

[Exidor]

3. Jedi: Fallen Order

Fallen ordure more like. The combat's solid enough, the production design is suitably Star Warsy and some of the puzzling is cleverly put together. It's just that every time it looks like being fun there's another idiotic, pointless design decision dragging it back down again. Nothing says Jedi to me like sliding endlessly off the side of the same bit of ice or swinging in a dead straight line but still somehow missing the connecting rope.

 

Fucking ponchos.

 

 

Spoiler

1. Death's Door (PC)

2. Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS5)

 

[Jamie John]

10. Kill It With Fire (2020) - XSX via Game Pass

 

 

This is complete pap. It's a stupid game where you have to search various samey environments to find and then kill spiders. You do more or less the same thing on every level: use your radar to give you a general idea of where the spiders are; pick up objects and rotate them so the hiding spider jumps off said object and runs away; chase after it and twat it with a frying pan, or shoot it with a shotgun, or throw something at it to squash it; rinse and repeat. The spiders don't get bigger or more menacing. They don't attack you. There's no sense of threat or escalation. You just do the same thing over and over again for about eight levels while grappling with the game's dodgy physics and collision detection issues, then it ends.

 

The only I reason I installed it is because my three-year-old is obsessed with spiders and I played the entirety of it in 10-20 minute bursts with him on my lap. He seemed to enjoy it, anyway.

 

3/10

 

---

 

11. Islanders (2019) - PC

 

 

I played this for a couple of hours and got over half of the Steam achievements in that time. It's a soothe-core, ultra-lite city builder where you have to place different types of buildings on a series of procedurally-generated islands in order to build as high a score as possible. Different buildings gain or lose points depending on what other buildings they're in range of; little numbers pop up to tell you how many points each placement will get you. Situate a lumberjack's hut near some trees and a saw mill, for example, and you'll net more points than if you'd plonked it in the middle of nowhere. Stick a solitary shaman near a bustling city centre, however, and you'll detract from your score. Once a building is placed it cannot be moved or removed, and the purpose of the game is to fill up a score meter with enough points to be allocated some more buildings to place. Get enough points and you'll move to progressively bigger and more spacious islands, but run out of buildings without generating enough points to be given more and that's the end of your run. After that you're booted back to the beginning for another go with a different island and the same basic set of buildings.

 

It's fine, but after a couple of runs I'd had my fill. The buildings themselves are barely animated, there aren't that many to choose from, and one run didn't feel different enough from the next to keep me interested. The whole thing felt like something that would be better experienced on an iPad; I wanted a bit more from it. At its best it reminded me of Unpacking: placing objects in empty spaces with a particular purpose in mind while listening to a relaxing ambient soundtrack. But, without Unpacking's underlying narrative and drive, ultimately it's just a wee bit dull.

 

Still, I'm pretty sure I got it for free, so I won't complain too much.

 

5/10

 

Spoiler

Completed:

 

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

 

Abandoned:

 

Tomb Raider: Underworld (2008) - PC

Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition (2020) - Switch

Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology (2017) - 3DS

 

[MikeF]

13 - Dying Light 2 PS5 - Main story complete, no real inclination to return and mop up any more side quests, may return to mop up a few miscellaneous trophies

 

January
 

Spoiler

1 - Little Nightmares 2 PS5 - Platinum

2 - Dirt 5 PS4 - Platinum

3 - Dirt 5 PS5 - Platinum

4 - The Long Reach PS4 - Platinum

5 - Uncharted The Lost Legacy PS4 - Platinum 

6 - Resident Evil Village PS5 - Platinum 

7 - Outlast PS4 - 100%
8 - Cyberpunk 2077 PS4 - Platinum

9 - Greak Memories of Azur PS5 - Completed main game, speed run trophy means that's as far as I am going so its completed as far as I am concerned

10 - Returnal PS5 - Returned to this and finally saw the credits roll, the suspend cycle was a real help.  Calling it complete now but I will return to it periodically to look for the sun fragments.

11 - Doom Eternal PS5 - Game completed with every collectible found, only the extra live mode and MP trophies left, MP is pretty dead so calling this complete now

12 - Uncharted Legacy of Thieves Collection PS5 - Platinum, imported old saves and then mopped up remaining trophies, playing through again at my leisure

 

February

[smac]

On 11/02/2022 at 09:13, gossi the dog said:

31/01 - Punch Line (PS4) - video game adaptation of the anime of the same name. To put it mildly it's odd in a very Japanese way (if you stare at girls underwear for too long you die as well as all of humanity). Provided you can get past that oddness, there's a very enjoyable game. Set up tricks (which act as puzzles really) to get the other characters to do what you want, interspersed with a lot of story both in visual novel and video form. 

 

Yeah, the anime is pretty odd-ball; it starts off apparently leaning heavily into that obsession with underwear (especially in the opening credits) then sidelines that shit for most of the series (it's there, but a relatively minor plot device). Goes off on a well-animated tale of aliens and cult members, spirit possession, time loops, superheroes and robot girls.

 

I liked it, but as a middle-aged bloke just watching the opening credits is probably enough to put me on some sort of list.

[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)
Completed on normal difficulty (7 hours).

 

I'm guessing PlatinumGames looked at other third-person cover shooters and went "naaaah, that's boring", and then made Vanquish. It's a cover-shooter, sure, but it's like a nitro-fueled, turbo-charged cover shooter, with anime inpsired cutscenes and over-the-top dialogue. The story and characters are so ridiculous, I have to assume the whole thing is a massive piss-take. It's hilarious!

 

It's a fast-paced game and one that you can power-slide around quickly, but I didn't realise it would also lean heavily into its slow-motion powers, and that ended up being how I enjoyed playing it the most. Leaping over cover, going into slow-mo in mid-air, and then taking out four or five enemy robots one after the other before your energy runs out, is just so damned cool. I really enjoyed this, it's a lot of fun to play and wasn't as crushingly difficult as I feared it might be (although I won't be going near the harder difficulties, it was just perfect as it was - thanks!).

 

[Popo]

Guardians of the Galaxy (2021)

Overall I was impressed - the story and dialogue were very compelling, it’s very funny and it looked great. The bugs and glitches do distract, and the gameplay lacks depth and is too derivative to elevate it above perfunctory, but it was a very enjoyable ride while it lasted. And Peter Quill’s mix tape is awesome! 

Like most, I assumed this was another unappealing GaaS effort along the lines of Avengers, so I’m very pleased that what we got was nothing like that. The fact it came out of nowhere (Knowhere?) and was better than it had any right to be is delightful. It’ll almost be weird going back to the MCU and watching different actors play these parts, because the Guardians from this game were excellent. 
 

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

 

[DeciderVT]

4. Paratopic (Switch)

Lynch looms large over this, a fractured narrative loosely spun around a tale of illicit, body-altering videotapes and something terrible in the woods.

The world Paratopic builds is desperate, shabby and desolate, conjuring a diseased atmosphere that suggests something has gone awfully, irreversibly wrong. Every surface is yellow and worn, as if soaked through with years of nicotine. It's a beautiful game, one of those Unity oddities that liberally borrows from the low-poly models and texture warping of the PS1 and is soundtracked by an abstract electronic score. There's a wonderful quote from Doc Burford, one of the game's creators, that sums it up well:
 

Quote

We focused on dread. Every single mechanic, from driving to photography to conversations, is meant to evoke a sense of impending doom. Instead of having a wonderful and expensive voiceover tell the audience what to feel, we relied on the mechanics, art, and sound design to get that sense across instead.

As you play, you begin to travel through a series of disjointed vignettes, loosely recreating the feeling of a bad dream- a business meeting takes place in an empty, almost abandoned diner, preceded by your character idly gazing through a brown, stained window at crows feeding on a corpse on the road outside.

Your neighbour catches you in the hallway on your way home and begs you for a videotape, one of the good ones. After obliging, you pass by the door to her flat, now ajar. Peering into her living-room, you hear her moan with pleasure as she watches the tape, her face abruptly splitting open into petals of flesh.

You stop over in a service station occupying an interstitial space between your depressing flat in the city and the woods beyond the motorway. The shopkeeper keeps talking about who you're travelling with, but you insist that you're travelling alone. You try to buy a drink from his vending machine, which breaks down.

There are long driving sections, tedious by design, in which you must fight boredom as you travel through the city at dusk. You almost fall asleep at the wheel and begin drifting across lanes, before a jump cut to open woodland pulls you back from unconsciousness and jarringly into daylight, birds and trees. A river flows nearby, while something inhuman lurks in the hills beyond.

Paratopic is about 45 minutes long but it's one of those games that I feel I'll revisit from time to time, especially after some wider reading to inform subsequent playthroughs. I don't think I've seen everything it has to offer yet.

7/10, likely to increase

-

3. Metroid Dread (Switch)

I'll admit that I was sceptical after the grinding bore that was Samus Returns, which I abandoned on 3DS. Word of mouth was good. My friend, not known for his love of the series, told me to play it at once. But... MercurySteam, again? Those guys?

I was so wrong. While I have reservations about the EMMI sections, they've delivered a taut and beautifully constructed game that completely dispelled all of my doubts. Samus is a joy to control, the level design is an elegant puzzle and the challenge was pitched just right for this almost-fortysomething, whose reflexes had grown slow after years of intermittent play and more sedate experiences.

There were a few late nights of cursing an impenetrable boss to the high heavens, only for me to sleep on the encounter, relax and absolutely nail it next day. My wife would hear me swearing from our living-room and thought I wasn't enjoying myself at all- reader, I was having a blast. Dread did an absolutely pitch-perfect job of seducing me into thinking I was completely, hopelessly outclassed by a boss, which only strengthened my resolve to work on my skills and try my best to defeat it. By the time the boss was ashes, I felt a sense of accomplishment that hand-holding or a lesser challenge would've undermined completely.

The aforementioned EMMI sections could be occasionally exasperating, especially when you realised that you could easily take a half a dozen attempts to cross a room before being stunned, snared and instantly killed. In those situations I really would've preferred a slightly more generous counter window- on the few occasions I successfully countered I'd often be surprised enough that it had actually worked to almost immediately make a mistake and get caught again. For me, they're the only blot on an otherwise immaculate experience.

I'm hesitant to call Dread a classic just yet but it's certainly a worthy Metroid game. Here's hoping that MercurySteam manage to pull another one of these out of the bag in future. Now I just need something short to tide me over until Elden Ring comes along and rules my life in a few days.

8/10

Previously...

Spoiler

2. Perfect Dark (Series X, via BC)

 

Playing an Xbox 360 port of an N64 game on a Series X. Money well spent.

 

One of the Rare's big hitters that I didn't play on the N64, because sod forking out for that expansion pak when I was 18. It's a lovely port and the core gameplay has aged well, while the occasionally confusing level designs, characters, plot, voice acting and final boss all left me cold. I suppose I just prefer Bond.

 

Shooting people in the bum is still fun though.

 

6/10

1. Yakuza Zero (PS4)

 

I've been immersed in this for months, to the exclusion of all else. It's my introduction to the series and despite some misgivings about missing out on references to future events, it has been excellent. It commits the cardinal sin of making me play multiple protagonists (a pet hate) but I loved Kiryu and Majima so completely that it wasn't an issue.

 

A very well-written plot, a stellar localisation, great sense of humour, extremely memorable characters and it's just sheer fun to play. The digital tourism of wandering the streets of Kamurocho and Sotenbori has also been very welcome as I continue to stay indoors. The only blots were the obvious parallels between Real Estate Royale and Cabaret Club (grinding through one and crushing one set of bosses to find that you have to do the same again for Majima was annoying) and events like the catfights, which I found distasteful and gave up on. I adored the rest of it.

 

I'll need to take a break from the series after spending so long with this one but I'll be back to see where Kiryu and co. go next in Kiwami. I hope time will be kind to Pocket Circuit Fighter, the purest (ahem) of all men.

 

8/10

 

[Jamie John]

12. Creaks (2020) - Switch

 

 

(More screens)

Spoiler

 

 

 

I enjoyed this. It's a 2D puzzle-platformer by Czech studio Amanita Design, the same team who made Machinarium and Botanicula.

 

You play as a nameless, voiceless protagonist who one day discovers a passage to an underground world which he falls into and then has to escape from. In practice, it reminded me of games like Braid and The Swapper: you make your way through more than 50 discrete puzzle screens by ascending and descending ladders, pulling levers, standing on pressure plates and manipulating enemy behaviours to get to the exit without using combat. The gimmick this time around is that light turns monsters into innocuous items of household furniture, so you end up throwing switches at the right moment to turn cuboid dogs into chests of drawers, or scary mimic men into pointy coat stands, and then shift them around to find a way forwards. The puzzles are satisfying without ever being too obscure; I managed to complete the game without using a guide, and I wasn't stuck on any one room for more than ten minutes. In fact, to begin with I thought things were a bit too simplistic, with one puzzle room feeling too much like the last. From about halfway onwards, however, additional mechanics are added to make each scene feel a bit more substantial, and by the final act you're clearing rooms which, to begin with, seem impossibly convoluted.

 

The best thing about the game, however, is the way it looks: every single room is brilliantly drawn in an over-detailed, claustrophobic style that reminded me of Marcus Sendak's art for Where The Wild Things Are, or Olivia Kemp's hyper-meticulous pen and ink drawings. The structure itself that you're exploring - an impossible, crumbling, teetering, higgledy-piggledy castle, like a surrealist Gormenghast - is fantastic, and the best reward the game doles out for completing one screen is the treat of seeing the next. The sometimes ominous, sometimes jazzy soundtrack adds to the atmosphere, too, building slowly in time with your thoughts as you figure out each puzzle.

 

If you like games of this type, or if you appreciate Amanita's earlier stuff, then I would definitely check this out. It doesn't quite have Machinarium's freshness, nor the brain-shifting depth of something like Braid, but it's four hours or so well spent over a weekend, and nearly every room will have you reaching for the Switch's screenshot button. It looks especially lovely on dat OLED screen, too.

 

8/10

 

Played this year:

Spoiler

Completed:

 

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

 

Abandoned:

 

Tomb Raider: Underworld (2008) - PC

Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition (2020) - Switch

Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology (2017) - 3DS

 

[BabelRich]

11/02 - Nobody Saves the World

Man, this game was compelling. There was something about exploring this LttP style overworld that I found delightful. The dungeons were very samey, being basic tile-swaps, but finding the best build to carry you through was always fun, especially when you nailed it and smashed through with nary a flesh wound.

 

Which brings us on to the forms. A slight departure from the usual expected fantasy fare, with option including slug and horse, each with their own set of quests and skills. Completing and building these was, yes, very compelling.

 

8/10

 

14/02 - Saint's Row - Gat out of Hell

Continuing to whip through some shorter games on my pile of shame while I wait for Horizon. This was a neat enough waste of couple of hours. Pretty much a continuation of SR4 with a different background. But the lack of traditional missions, GooH leans heavily on the Distractions sode of SR, makes it a bit unfocused. Flying around collecting shit remains as fun as ever though, and a surprise musical number halfway in was an unexpected delight.

 

6/10

 

 

Spoiler

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

 

[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)
Absolutely loving this new approach to the series and watched the main story credits roll last night after around 34 hours. I know there's a lot more to do now I'm in the post game but feel it's worthy to include this milestone on my list. I would recommend this to any Pokémon fans – whether current, lapsed or on the fence – and even fans of the fantastic Monster Hunter Rise.

 

[BabelRich]

15/04 - Agent A

Another quick one before Friday. Nice little puzzler this not really a point and clicker but a more open escape room with a 60s spy overlay. Some really nice puzzles while having nothing that gets too infuriating. A little bit too much wandering back-and-forth during the final couple of chapters but that's just a nitpick.

 

It has a story twist that you can literally see coming in the opening cutscene but again it's just set dressing and doesn't really harm the experience.

 

A nice few hours of head-scratching.

 

7/10

 

Spoiler

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

 

[Nobuo's Organ]

Destiny 2: Beyond Light

 

You can't really complete Destiny 2, but in the last week before the next expansion comes out, I finally finished the Seal for Beyond Light, which means that in the 6 months since I started playing again, I now have the Seals for Beyond Light, every season within it, and this year's Moments of Triumph, which means I've done just about everything worth doing in this expansion.

 

Coming back to it after an 18-month break, I found an entire year of expansion and seasonal content to dig into, and it's the best Destiny has ever been, just an endless feast of fun for 6 months. When I came back, all the gear I owned had been sunset (i.e. made useless), so I had to dismantle it all and start again, so it really was a fresh start in more ways than one.

 

 

I can't even imagine how confusing it would be to try to get into as a New Light

[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)

I'm counting this one as I saw the credits roll and got the evil ending. 

 

4. Infernax - (series X) 

 

Fun if a bit too hard, so I resorted to the cheat menu.

 

[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

 

I've finally finished the 2nd major expansion for Odyssey but I feel that I've just completed the 3rd title of a pretty hefty trilogy.  Because this DLC content is fucking VAST - it could easily have been a stand alone release as I've probably put a good 12-15 hours into this expansion alone, trying to mop up all the achievements.  I think there's an argument here to suggest that this is the benchmark for what top quality DLC should be like. 

 

Ubisoft have done a good job expanding Kassandra's story.  Using mythology and the many deities from the Greek world was a pretty obvious direction to go in, and they could have really messed it up.  But the stories told here are more than decent, characters are excellent and there are a few surprises if you managed to get through the full AC Odyssey campaign originally.

 

I think I bought the whole of the DLC packs for around £15 and this is such ridiculous value for how much there is to do.  I've already played Legend of the First Blade and gave my thoughts on it last year, but Atlantis is definitely the better of the 2.  I went into it completely blind - and I'm pleased I did because the 'Atlantis' in the title makes up just 1 of THREE completely separate areas.  Each of these will take a good while to explore and unlock all the synchronisation points, there are plenty of varied areas in all 3 of these new maps with a pretty cool interlinking story weaving between all 3.  Hint: it's neat if you've also played a lot of Hades as you'll encounter plenty of familiar faces here.

 

With this new content comes new abilities, costumes, weapons and enemies who are at times a lot tougher than those in the main game.  Whereas the core gameplay is essentially the same, I maintain that this isn't a bad thing if you like the overall gameplay and feel of the game.  Which thankfully, I do.

 

With the 3 very distinctive new areas, recurring and new characters, familiar looking and sounding locations and engaging storyline, it's actually difficult to think of how they could possibly have improved the extra content to Odyssey - the plot takes you at a decent, new direction whilst keeping the essence of what makes Odyssey such a brilliant game to play.

 

I've just got to mop up the last few achievements back in Greece and then I can finally uninstall Odyssey and move on to Valhalla - playing this game has been an absolute blast and I would be very surprised if Valhalla can top it.  The geography, the landscapes, the lore, the myth, the characters and the tremendous lead character have made this one of my very favourite games of recent years and I've actually been pleased with how long it's kept me engaged.  It'll feel good when that final achievement pops...

 

9/10

[Mawdlin]

Return of the Obra Dinn (Switch)

 

Lucas Pope is a swine. He creates this game and then I discover he also composed the music for it too. Bloody ridiculous.

 

Judging by this majesterial soundtrack, which intricately plots the mood of each diorama, he could easily be composing big Hollywood scores. Is there no end to his talents? I'm suitably envious beyond belief.

 

Onto the game.

 

What an antidote to gaming drift this is. I've been flitting from game to game in recent months, never really getting my teeth into anything.

 

40 years I've been into this hobby of ours and we all know how rare a new idea is. And bang. This is a whirling waltzer of a title taking your breath away with its depth of narrative and character at one moment then making you smile at its cascading logic and systems the next. How one mind conceived this I will never know.

 

Here's the irony: the thing I love most about it - its originality - is the one thing I crave to be broken time and time again. Having absorbed every beautiful nuance of this over the last few days I want it, nay, need it, to be copied again.

 

The deductive detective system is far beyond anything attempted before and makes LA Noire look like a pull tabs picture book.

 

Lucas Pope. How about a game based around a Wild West ghost town? An accident in a mine? A nuclear disaster? A gumshoe investigating a sex trafficking case? I don't care. I need more of this in my life.

 

But from what I've just read online Lucas Pope is far too talented and creative to churn out more of the same. The swine. So I'm left hoping Return of the Obra Dinn will influence the art of detection in videogames for years to come.

 

I'll be buying whatever he makes next of course.

 

10/10

 

 

 

 

[smac]

Yes, it's bloody marvellous, isn't it? A unique vision.

[cassidy]

@Mawdlin I'm now going to play this game. 

[Mawdlin]

8 hours ago, cassidy said:

@Mawdlin I'm now going to play this game. 

I should add I was a bit rubbish at this game. It took me double the amount of time to solve than for most people. Though I do think there was a last coconut on the island element to it in that I was sucking everything dry. There will be frustrations for sure, but I treated it like a good detective should, going over every element with a forensic obsession.

 

Opening doors in this is even brilliant. All doors should open this way.

 

Edit: minor tip. Watch as many fates as you can before trying to solve. It will increase your enjoyment and cause fewer blockages.

[instasis]

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

 

I started this back in November, and just finished. 106hrs on the clock, all main questlines done in the main game, Ireland and France, maxed out the skills tree and a whole bunch of side quests done as well. I've cleared about 50% of the maps and that's quite enough thanks.

 

Thoroughly enjoyed it and it was quite compelling. It's not up there with Ghosts or Read Dead - the story simply is not up to it, and it's a 40 hour game stretched to breaking point - but it was thoroughly daft, I was thoroughly unstoppable and it was fun.

 

Really was quite beautiful I'm places too. 

Previously on 24;

 

Spoiler

23/1: Ninja Baseball Bat Man (MAME)

 

[Jamie John]

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

 

 

I'm currently off work after testing positive last weekend, and as such I've been able to put almost 17 hours into this since Monday. 

 

Thankfully, it's very good, the best and most substantial of the three Shovel Knight games I've played, not that the original and Spectre of Torment were bad games by any means, but this takes it to another level. If you've never played them before, they're 8-bit (although not really) action platformers set in the same universe and with the same cast of characters. This time you play as King Knight, a pompous, arrogant douchebag who the game regularly takes the piss out of. Whereas Shovel Knight had his shovel and Spectre Knight had his scythe, King Knight attacks with a shoulder bash that immediately segues into a spinning jump, allowing you to then pogo off enemies' heads, similar to the spin jump Mario debuted in Super Mario World. It feels excellent and gives the developers licence to devise some devilishly tricky platforming sections later on where you have to chain multiple bashes and pogo jumps to make it from one side of the screen to the other. Different terrain types, whether ice blocks, crumbling platforms or warp walls, change the way you move and keep things fresh, and while there isn't much here that you probably haven't seen before, the execution is very well done. Apart from very occasionally not being able to tell foreground from background in some of the busier stages, the platforming is sound and the controls are nice and tight. Crucially, every death feels like your own fault.

 

The same is true of the combat. Boss fights, in particular, are great fun and become increasingly frenetic as the game goes on, even bullet hell-ish towards the end, requiring you to learn patterns, dodge missiles and choose your moments to attack. There's nothing here quite as tough as something you'd find in the likes of Hollow Knight, but the bosses definitely present a good challenge, and the quick restarts once you die successfully stave off frustration (most of the time, anyway - I had to go and sit in the garden for 15 minutes after repeatedly butting my head against a particularly fiendish optional boss in the endgame, but I managed to get her in the end). You're also kitted out with a varied suite of weapons (or 'heirlooms', as they're called here) which allow you to change the way you appreciate each battle - I was fond of one that temporarily transformed you into a sceptre-wielding tornado, able to spin across the screen and cut through multiple enemies at once.

 

All of the above could also be said of the other two mainline entries in the Shovel Knight series, but King of Cards goes a step further by having an entire additional game built into it. This is Joustus, a Klotski-style card game that sort of reminded me of Triple Triad from Final Fantasy VIII (secretly the best part about that game), although a lot more involved.

 

 

Each player takes it in turns to place cards on a grid with the aim of pushing their cards onto a space containing a gem. Arrows on the cards indicate in which direction they can push other cards, or be pushed themselves. The game ends when all spaces are occupied and no more cards can be played, and the winner is whoever has the most cards on spaces containing gems (I'm losing in the above screenshot 1-2, although I came back to win the game later).

 

It's excellent. I'd happily buy and play it by itself if it was sold as a standalone title. Initially, I didn't get it, and the game doesn't do an especially good job of explaining how to play it properly. Despite the fact that it's completely optional, however, I decided to stick with it and ended up loving it, defeating every opponent in the game and collecting almost all of the cards. Some of the tougher matches later on had me spitting with rage at the perceived bullshittery of the cheating bastard AI, only to be cheering in elation moments later, once the tables had turned. If Yacht Club ever do decide to make an online multiplayer version of this then I'd be there day one.

 

Shovel Knight: King of Cards is a great game. It's challenging, definitely, but never insurmountable. It looks and sounds wonderful, made me laugh out loud more than once, and, for the £3.50 I paid for it in a sale back in 2020 (it's currently on sale now, too), is stupidly good value. If you've enjoyed other 2D platformers on the Switch, like Celeste, Cuphead or, y'know, Mario, then I'd absolutely check it out.

 

9/10

 

Played in 2022:

 

Spoiler

Completed:

 

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

 

Abandoned:

 

Tomb Raider: Underworld (2008) - PC

Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition (2020) - Switch

Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology (2017) - 3DS

 

[Ste Pickford]

First game I've finished this year is Yakuza Like A Dragon.  I liked it so much I stuck around and got my first ever Platinum trophy.  What a game.

 

 

[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 )
Well, this is cheesy as hell and I enjoyed every second. It's not going to set the world alight, but the gunplay is solid, the squadmate-swapping mechanic has potential and the resulting switching up of play styles is fun. It's very arcadey and about as deep as Ghost Squad – which suits me just fine – with a splash of Silent Scope and the first chapter of the campaign is only 2.5-3 hours long, so not a massive investment. IGN gave this 3/10 which is incredibly harsh as there's nothing wrong with it at all, it's just nothing special. I don't know what Remedy did except add a bit of 'weirdness' for its own sake as the story is bobbins, but in an enjoyable B-Movie way.
 

[gossi the dog]

11/02 - Raging Loop (PS4) - suprisingly linear (given the premise) visual novel revolving around the party game Werewolf that feeds heavily into Japanese horror folklore. You don't actually get to play Werewolf, with the game taking care of that. Good overall story, and an easy Platinum. 

 

17/02 - World End Syndrome (PS4) - visual novel with an emphasis on dating the five girls in your friendship group with you needing to play through all five story arcs to unlock the true ending. The overall story is I think supposed to be quite dark in places, but all the characters are so happy and cheerful that it doesn't feel that way. Worth playing if you're a fan of the genre.

 

 

Previously:

Spoiler

01. 02/01 - Death Come True (PS4)

02. 04/01 - Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory (PS4)

03. 11/01 - Song of Memories (PS4)

04. 20/01 - Vostok Inc (PS4)

05. 25/01 - Steins Gate 0 (PS4)

06. 31/01 - Punch Line (PS4) 

07. 04/01 - Uncharted 4 (PS5)

 

 

[moosegrinder]

Feb 18th - Power Wash Simulator.

 

Technically not finished as it's in early access but I've done all the jobs that are in there plus the special Mars Rover one. God this game is good. It's one of those where you tell someone about it and they go "....are you fucking kidding?" Then they see it and go "Oh. Oh that looks ace."

 

If you ever need a game that gives you dopamine pleasure or ASMR soothing vibes get this. There are some fiddly jobs (the tree house wasn't much fun) but if you do the jobs piece by piece and in a methodical manner it's one of the most satisfying games going. I fucking love it. I spent 30 hours playing it and I'd happily play another 30 if the content is there.

[Unofficial Who]

Feb

 

18/02 Hypnospace Outlaw

 

 

I'm currently ploughing through a bigger game at the moment so I took a break this week to explore this alternate universe late 90's cyberspace tale. This completely nails the look of Web 1.0 with sites to explore that look like every other site hosted on Angelfire or Geocities. It manages to avoid the issue that Her Story did (where in game you could hack into the directory structure and crack it open without solving the puzzles.) I found some of the puzzles a little too obtuse at the end and resorted to a faq a couple of times and I'm not sure the end game is as compelling as the first few chapters but it does capture a time and place really well. Oh and it reinforced what a terrible mod I would be, I was swinging that banhammer for copyright infringement on kids drawing picture of a cartoon fish from the 60's. Make your own original IP kids!

 

 

Earlier this month

 

 

05/02 Final Fight (PC/Arcade)

 

Previously

 

Spoiler

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

04/01 YIIK: A Postmodern RPG

 

[strawdonkey]

On 11/02/2022 at 22:17, 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)

 

First time using a controller for a couple of weeks, here's hoping the arm doesn't decide it is going to stop working again.

 

Ghost Blade HD is a perfectly serviceable vertical shmup that has a couple of very specific niggles for me, in that the hitbox on your ship feels a little out of place (it might be slightly higher than central on your ship sprite, which is also a problem I had with A City Sleeps), and also that the default wallpaper is very boobs.

 

Not much to say about this one, it's absolutely fine but I didn't notice any interesting scoring mechanic and inexplicably autobomb is disabled when you move up to Normal mode, which combined with the hitbox that doesn't quite feel right means I'm having a bit of a frurstrating time with it. Easy goes from being not challenging at all for the first few levels, to having some interesting bullet patterns in the bosses later on, but Normal has a few bits that you can't navigate your way through - high speed bullets in a bullet-hell game have their own special place in hell.

[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)

And just managed my first successful run-through of all levels and both phases of Loss. 

 

5. Dreamscaper - (series X) a cracking rougelike that's taken me about 40hrs to get my first completion. 

 

I think I may even go for the full gamerscore on this as it seems doable and the gameplay and combat is great.

 

Give it a go, unlock a few new weapons and perks and I think people who like Hades may get some value from it.