52 Games. 1 Year. 2020.

5pectre · Apr 9, 2020

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18. Super Mario Bros 3 (NES) - 3 hrs - 5/5

I haven't played all the way through this game since it came out on Super Nintendo in the Allstars Collection. It was quite enjoyable and I have to say that world 7 and 8 had some challenging stages.

I only recently got my very first NES, and it was pretty awesome to play this on the original hardware

5pectre · Apr 9, 2020

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19. Outrun Online Arcade (X360) - 1 hrs - 5/5

First time playing this game at home with a steering wheel. SO enjoyable. I'm looking into how I can make a permanent setup as setting this stuff up and taking it down again is a hassle to say the least.

In this video I do Outrun Mode and complete the game finishing at Goal B

OmegaNeon · Apr 9, 2020

Most video games I've played at one time:

Majora's Mask 3D
BTOW Switch
Link to the Past
Link's Awakening Switch
Undertale Genocide
Deltarune Chapter 1
Mario Odyssey Playthrough #4
SM3DW 100% Playthrough
F-Zero
New Super Mario Bros
New Super Mario Bros U
Unlock Everything in Mario Kart Wii
ARMS Grand Prix Level 7
ARMS 100%
Metroid
Super Metroid
Story: Street Fighter Alpha 3
Story: Super Street Fighter II
Kirby's Dream Land 3
Tomodachi Life
MK8D Without Touching The Color Red
Yoshi's Woolly World
Yoshi's Crafted World
Minecraft Playthrough #6

Weiss · Apr 9, 2020

27. Chibi Robo - 09/04/2020

I spent a lot of money getting a copy, I better have fucking liked it as much as I did. Drags every once in a while but the impeccable weirdness is a delight to experience, and the dark, melancholy atmosphere behind the cute facade really sells itself.

His Majesty · Apr 9, 2020

5. Ori and the Will of the Wisps - 8/10
The sequel to Ori and the Blind Forest is an improvement in almost every way. The art is even more gorgeous, the soundtrack is beautiful in some parts, haunting in others. The characters are well written, from the wise big toad to the loveable four friends and of course the extremely cute Moki. The gameplay is smooth as well: platforming and jumping around is a real joy. The combat is simple but works effectively. I didn't really use too many abilities, aside from the first melee and ranged skills you obtain. Maybe that's my fault but I would have liked the game to have enticed me to change my playstyle a bit. Ori has definitely gotten some inspiration from Hollow Knight as well. While the focus is still primarily on platforming, there is an increased amount of time you spend in combat and you can collect charms to help you out. This really helps in creating a build that suits your character. The game seems to be well balanced as well, I played on hard and while the game was definitely a challenge in some parts it never felt unfair.

I think the only major downside of the game is one of the chase sequences later in the game. This was so unwarrantedly hard and such a large spike in difficulty that I became very frustrated with the game. Luckily the ending of the game made me forget all about that as it is bittersweet and is sure to bring a tear to anyone's eyes.

KtotheRoc · Apr 9, 2020

33: Legend of Mana. End: 4/9/2020. 9 Hours. Between a Meh and a Liked.

During the PS1 era, Square was incredibly experimental. And this game feels like it sort of epitomizes that era for Square. I don't think it comes together as well as they had hoped. There were parts of this game that really frustrated me (mostly in the "what do I do now" kind of way). And I only did about half the quests before I went to fight the boss of the game to call it a day. But... the stuff that works really works... It's just that the stuff that doesn't... really doesn't... (Great music, though. That's not a surprise given Yoko Shimomura's involvement.)

Deleted member 401 · Apr 9, 2020

17. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (5+ hours)
A simplistic but still quite fun take on 3D "platforming."

Full list to date

TP17 · Apr 10, 2020

1. Mortal Kombat 11 - PS4 - 3/5

Normally I have a great time with these games despite being terrible. This time around I finished half the campaign and fell off ntr returning for an age before completing. I can't put my finger on it but this time around it didn't quite click with me.

2. Rocket League - PC - 5/5

My favourite game of all time. I reached my goal of achieving Champion rank in 3s at the end of last season so marking it as complete for this year.

newmoneytrash · Apr 10, 2020

Master Post

Update #008

32. Control: The Foundation | PC | Completed 30/03/2020 | ★★★

I thought this DLC was going to expand on the lore of the Oldest House more than it actually did. The backstory on the Bureau from the 60's and the house's foundation was interesting, but nothing really came close to be as interesting as the lore in the main game. The new locations were fun but the cave setting does become super repetitive and boring towards the end. You get two new powers which are fun but only work in the context of the new area (as far as I know, I could be wrong) so they don't seem to really change the way you would play *that* much, but it's still good to have something new. I'm still pretty excited to see what they do with the next DLC considering the Alan Wake tease, but this was kind of disappointing.

33. Journey to the Savage Planet | PC | 07/04/2020 | ★★★★

I really liked this game. Just jumping around the planet was so much fun and some of the later traversal abilities made the whole world so fun to explore. It's a game that seems to rely a lot on its humour which was pretty hit and miss for me, but some of the FMV I thought was really well done and, while not laugh out loud funny, I think it succeeded more than it failed. The art style is fun and colourful and, even though there weren't *that* many creature varieties, I still liked what there was. About half way through I just started mainlining the main storyline and avoiding the sidequests and hidden areas but I still enjoyed my time with the game overall. I had read that the final boss was a bummer so I had low expectations going in and still thought it was an okay end to a pretty okay game.

34. 198X | PC | Completed 07/04/2020 | ★★★★

This is a short homage to the arcade games of the late 80s wrapped in the story of a young kid escaping from his broken home by spending time at an arcade late at night. The games featured are pretty simple facsimiles of popular genres from the era but where the game really shines is in it's incredible pixel art and music. This game has the best video game soundtrack I've heard in a long time. I loved the tone and story that this game was going for and, considering this is apparently the first chapter in a larger story, I will definitely be onboard for whatever they do next.

35. Half-Life: Alyx | PC | Completed 10/04/2020 | ★★★

I was pretty down on this game for most of the way through except for maybe the first half an hour and the final half an hour. Half-Life: Alyx is an incredible achievement for big VR games. It's a game that just looks expensive. The scope and look of the environments shows that this is coming from a developer that cares deeply about VR as a medium, so I totally understand why so many people fell in love with it. For me it was just, for the majority of my time playing it, it was tedious. There are like four hacking and unlocking puzzles that you do repeatedly and there are five enemy types you fight and you spend the game going through some pretty similar scenery for long, long stretches that feel even longer than they normally would outside of a VR game. A big thing that people say in regards to Half-Life: Alyx is that it wouldn't work as a non-VR game because, once you lose the scope and immersion from the VR experience, it would lose it's whole appeal. Which is true, but I think that in saying that it misses a larger point of the mechanics not holding up outside of VR because they're not really that interesting. It's fun to shoot a headcrab flying at your face for the first time. By the 50th time it happens it's boring and has lost all of it's excitement.

There are some truly incredible moments in this game, even beyond the ending which I really, really liked, but ultimately I have the same problem with this as I do with most Half-Life games where those cool moments are spread too thing between increasingly boring action. In a normal game it's a lot more easy to forgive but I find getting into a VR game such a commitment that those long stretches of hallways and headcrab zombie after headcrab zombie ends up feeling like they don't value my time. It's a great 6-8 hours game wrapped in a 12-15 hour game's body which is a real shame. As it stands right not Half-Life: Alyx is probably the best experience you can have in VR but, for all of the good that it does, I think it still shows that there is a lot of figuring out still to do on what makes a good long-form VR game.

I was also kind of disappointed in how it moved the story forward. The big thing that I had heard was that this wasn't just a prequel but that it continues the Half-Life story post Episode Two which, to be fair, it does, but it moves it forward by about an inch. And, instead of addressing the ending of Episode Two it just exchanges one cliffhanger for another. Overall I still like the ending a lot but it's not the continuation of the story I hoped for and feels more like a fleshed out easter egg than a legitimate advancement of the story. Hopefully I'm proven wrong by whatever Half-Life game comes out in the next 65 years, but I'm not really that optimistic.

Tizoc · Apr 10, 2020

64. Braveland

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A simple strategy game in a medieval setting. It isn't that complex a game to learn but it does lack in the music department, and while the actual ingame graphics look simple, esp. compared to its banner art, it was a fun game that helped me cool down from some bigger games.

Deleted member 401 · Apr 10, 2020

18. Resident Evil 3 - REmake (9 hours)
A fun follow-up to the RE2 remake, albeit one that's more linear and action-focused.

Full list to date

Memory Pak · Apr 10, 2020

09. Mass Effect 3 - Special Edition (2012, Wii U) ★★★★☆
First off, I've never played Mass Effect 1 or 2. Thus, I feared going into part 3 cold could be rather confusing. Unfortunately, the on-boarding process this version uses certainly didn't alleviate that concern. They attempt to summarise 40-60 hours of space opera through a rather unappealing digital comic book. And while it's an admirable attempt to already let the player make key decisions in this intro, you're honestly just making sweeping decisions with almost zero context.

Luckily the rest of the game does a better job filling you in on events, with characters referencing old plot points and conflicts. It's kinda like falling into a long-running TV show; you pick up the character dynamics easily enough.
That said, the poor first impression doesn't let up for a while. The intro doubles down on being off-putting by heading straight into combat. Make no mistake, Mass Effect 3 is a very clunky cover-based shooter. You can't invert the X-axis, and it has the audacity to map dodge, taking cover, and jumping out of cover all to the same button. Add to this Shepard's very slow movement... Yeah, combat just never becomes a highlight. But whenever you're out of combat situations, the game suddenly takes a big hit in the graphics department. Janky character animations, glitchy audio, and long load times are routine annoyances outside of combat missions. Kinda feels like the game is being held together with duct tape and prayers sometimes.

A lot of my issues with the game persist throughout. But I did grow to like many of the characters, and became surprisingly invested in the (honestly somewhat generic) story. The writers are good at instilling a sense of urgency, but what I wasn't expecting was just how, well, retroactively relevant this game would feel at times. It released prior to the Syrian "refugee crisis" of 2015 (still a disgusting term), but scenes of stranded war refugees being blatantly denied asylum hit hard with those headlines fresh in mind.
In the same area, someone's purposefully sabotaging medical supplies for the refugees. With COVID-19 sweeping the world right now, the urgent need for medical supplies is in hyper-focus. If the virus reaches some of the many real-world refugee camps... I'm frightened what could still befall these people, and fear their needs will once again by least prioritised by the international community. Infuriating.

Not all the story-telling works though. In particular, I want to highlight the romance between Shepard

and Specialist Traynor. Which, while honestly very adorable, has some icky aspects to it too. Not only is this effectively a boss seducing an employee, but the way some of the romantic scenes are shot are pretty garbage. I want these characters to spend time together, have candle-lit dinners, or a date at the Citadel nightclub. Instead we get a shower scene, which is shot like a teenage boy's fantasy of peeking in.

Mass Effect 3 is undeniably flawed in many ways. But in times of COVID-19, I found the story of rallying everyone in the galaxy to solve a shared problem a hopeful distraction. I grew to like Captain Shepard and her partner, tried to help downtrodden species lift themselves up, and got to play as vanguard for A.I. rights. I definitely didn't like all her companions, but saying goodbye to characters like Not-Legion, Javik and Traynor was a bit like a favourite TV show ending. I probably won't be back for the other games or replay this one, but right now this was a good experience.

Rhaknar · Apr 10, 2020

Game #29 - 3000th Duel
Time: 14 hours
Rating: ★★★

Pretty good Souls-style metroidvania marred only by bad visuals (it has that "mobile" look going for it) and somewhat simple combat. Still, it's quite lengthy, the map and locations are pretty good, the combat feels nice (even if its very simple), there's magic to gather, weapons to upgrade, a meaty skill tree, a ton of bosses to fight and overall it manages to tick all the necessary boxes to be quite enjoyable while never reaching the heights that the best games in the genre do, but at the same time doesnt feel mediocre like some of the weaker ones do either.

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Tambini · Apr 11, 2020

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#16 Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor PC 7.0 - 14 hours
Very standard open world game. Going round filling in the map was quite fun and the combat was simple but enjoyable, but it got annoying when surrounded by tons of enemies. The main quest is actually kinda bad, really short and each mission just feels like a tutorial and before you know it, you're at the QTE final "boss". I know a lot of people like the nemesis system too but I didn't really get it as much? I kind of just killed every guy I saw and there were so many I never really had that one nemesis who I kept running into. Overall good podcast game that didn't outstay it's welcome but nothing to write home about.

#17 DOOM Eternal PC 9.0 - 13 hours
This game is damn good and I liked it more than I was expecting. I was suprised how different is it from DOOM 2016 and it blows it out of the water in my opinion. The combat is so exhilarating, although it takes a few levels to get there as you start out with only a few tools, once it gets going it doesn't slow down. The exploration and platforming were fun and in general the level design is a lot more refreshing than 2016. I didn't care for the story or the amount of it but it was easy to overlook. Playing this game is just an adrenaline rush and the first thing I wanted to do when it was over was play it again on higher difficulty.

#18 Max Payne 3 PC 8.0 - 8 hours
Really great gunplay, the hit reactions are godly, the slo mo and physics just make it a joy to play. Still looks great and the PC version runs like a dream. Biggest drawback is the bad story/cutscenes which often interupts the gameplay

#19 Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4 Switch 8.0 - 20 hours
Fun little pick up and play game, if I wasn't a Harry Potter fan I probably wouldn't have been into so much but either way it's pretty charming and easy going with plenty of collectables to..collect

#20 A Hat in Time PC 7.5 - 9 hours
A little rough around the edges but the platforming itself is quite good, at least when the game chooses to focus on it. It tries a lot of different things and they don't all come off but overall it's a decent cute game. I checked out some of the steam workshop levels and there was some cool stuff on there too.

Tizoc · Apr 11, 2020

65. Braveland Wizard

The 2nd Braveland game, this time with a wizards theme. Gameplay is more or less the same, except that this time, leveing up earns you Skill Points to allocate towards learning certain skills.
I didn't like the units this time around in comparison to the first game, but I did have a harder time clearing the end game than the previous one.
Good follow up to Braveland overall though.

KtotheRoc · Apr 12, 2020

34: Parasite Eve. End: 4/12/2020. 7 Hours. Liked.

Square was extremely experimental during their PS1 days. And this game is yet another example of that. I think it holds together pretty well, all things considered, but it is not without its issues.

InquisitorAles · Apr 12, 2020

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7. Halo: Reach - 6 hours
Halo: Reach has certainly aged, but it's still a good and challenging FPS game. Though if you never played Halo before, it's not the best entry point to this series, play Combat Evolved first instead.

Kyubajin · Apr 12, 2020

1. Red Dead Redemption
PS3
I came back to finish the last mission (which I never did) almost 8 years after I started the game. Great ending I guess...

2. Silent Hill: Downpour
PS3
Same as RDR, beat the final boss after many years of abandoning this game. I can see why this once beloved and influential series was put on ice after this game.

3. Death Stranding
PS4 | 85 hours
I can see why this is a very polarising game. I loved the gameplay loop and the exploration absorbed me for all those hours. The characters, graphics, music, overall presentation were top notch. The story was very much Kojima.

4. Doom 3: BFG Edition
Steam | 8 hours
I finally got to beat this game after starting it countless times before. Some people dislike the changes in the BFG edition but I for one liked them, duck tape and all. Not as terrifying as I remember it to be.

5. Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
PS4 | 20 hours
After the amazing return to form in The New Order, this game although a solid sequel doesn't have the same wow factor the latter had.

6. Resident Evil 3 (2020)
PS4 | 9 hours
RE2R was among the best remakes ever done (on par with REmake). This, although not as content-rich, groundbreaking or interesting is a solid experience any RE fan should play. Wait for sale though. Will try to go for no shop items rank S HC and Nightmare runs.

7. Final Fantasy 7 Remake (2020)
PS4 | 50 hours
First contender for game of the year. Having never played the original FFVII, this game opened up a new world of characters and lore to explore. I played it non-stop until I beat it.

Tizoc · Apr 12, 2020

66. Braveland Pirates

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This 3rd game takes on a pirates motif and is overall my fav. of the 3, at the least tieing with the first game.
It expands on the 2nd game's skill point system upon leveling up giving certain upgrades but locking others. It's as managable as the previous 2 games and offers a ranged unit that can actually move around. In previous games, the ranged units would just stand still in their positions, moving only if I need to get them out of harm's way.
The endgame was rather dull due to having a lot of battles prior to the final encounter, but otherwise I enjoyed it.

Burnburn · Apr 12, 2020

4. Animal Crossing (GC - April 9th - about 50 this year, hundreds in my childhood - 8/10)

After buying Animal Crossing: New Horizon... I have to confess that I've played the game only twice. What it mostly did was raising my nostalgia level through the roof, making me dust off the old gamecube and firing up the original. I'm in shock because of the amount of weeds, the villagers are in shock as I am back for the first time in 82 months, Tom Nook is in shock because debt is being paid off again, it was all very shocking to my little village. I really enjoyed it though, at first I wanted to check out the village again before diving into NH again, but... I started getting rid of the weeds, chatting with some villagers, checking the museum and before I knew it I was on the path to finally, after 15 years, pay off all the debt I had. About 2 weeks in I finally managed to do it, I paid off all the debt. It didn't stop there however, I have also been chipping away at getting some of the golden items and filling the entire museum, which is still a project in process. I'm on about day 12 of having the perfect time which means I soon should have a golden axe and I even managed to get the last fossil I had been looking for ages for.

5. Resident Evil 3 (PC - April 10th - 29 hours - 8/10 - Joy to complete)

Short but sweet, perfect replayablity. It's not as good as RE2make, but that's partly because 2 was fresh whereas 3 is more of the same with more action sprinkled on top. There's a few subtle differences that end up changing how you play it. Where in 2 it was really powerfull to use the dismembering to the full potential, in this one... the system is really dumbed down and not worth going for dismemberment. In RE2 you aim for any limb, in this one for the head. I really liked the addition of the dodge mechanic, makes the bosses a lot of fun and I wish there were more bosses than just Nemesis variants. Also Carlos's character is great especially in the police station.

The real fun was doing multiple playthroughs and challenge runs. Where the length made the first playthrough a bit shallow (but still enjoyable), for subsequential playthroughs it was the perfect length. I ended up doing 5 runs in total, each run going for a different objective. Fuuuck the final boss on inferno though

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Mórríoghain · Apr 12, 2020

JANUARY

#1) X-COM 2 (replay) - 24H - 8.5/10
I love this game, and I think this is my fourth run but I don't think have ever managed to finish the story. I always lose interest in the last stretch.

#2) Thumper (replay) - 5H - 10/10
Probably one of the best video game I have ever played. I couldn't even imagine how you could mix horror and rhythm genres in one game but there it is.

#3) RAGE 2 - 11H - 7/10
Disliked it at first, thought it was an extremely bad purchase but the second run was a blast.

#4) Red Dead Redemption 2 - 66H - 9.5/10
Missing 0.5 points because of some archaic storytelling designs but overall it was an amazing experience

FEBRUARY

#5) Frostpunk (replay) - 3H - 7/10
I just finished the main story. Enjoyable but completely forgettable.

#6) Suicide of Rachel Foster - 3H - 4/10
Started of intriguing but shit the bed in the end.

#7) Zombie Army 4: Dead War - 9H - 7/10
Solo play, run through the story. It was enjoyable. But I don't think I will ever touch it again.

MARCH

#8) Football Manager 2020 - 424H - 9/10
I think I am done with FM for this year. Those 424 hours were mostly game running in the background.

#9) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare - 30H - 8/10
Didn't touch the singleplayer, 30 hours of multiplayer was enough for me to get what I wanted out of this.

#10) The Evil Within 2 (replay) - 15.5H - 8.5/10
What an amazing ride from start to finish. I think it is better than Remake 2!

#11) Stela - 2H - 3/10
Waste of time. Awful.

#12) Control: The Foundation - 5H - 7/10
I loved the main game but I didn't vibe this one that much. The whole cave system thing didn't work for me.

APRIL

#13) Doom Eternal - 9H - 8/10
Look I loved the gameplay as much as everyone in here but I just can't stop listening to the soundtrack. It is so good!

#14) The Division 2 (replay) - 47H - 9/10
Replayed the main game and finish the expansion pack. It is an amazing game for listening to podcasts.

#15) BioShock Infinite (replay) - 10H - 7/10
I don't remember the story and themes being this superficial and uncooked. I am in an immersive sim heat right now so I ate it up but it wasn't a fantastic game like I remember it was.

#16) BioShock Infinite: Burial At Sea Ep. 1&2 - 6H - 8/10
Episode 1 was 6, Episode 2 was a hard 9. I wish the main game was like this stealth/survival-focused.

--

Currently replaying Prey and will jump into Fallout 76 when the new expansion releases.

LonestarZues · Apr 13, 2020

Master Post

Weekly Update 15: Only 1 game this week as I'm juggling Persona 5 Royal and Final Fantasy VII Remake.

26. Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII - The first 2/3 of this game was a solid 3/5 for me. While the last 1/3 was some of the worst sections I've ever played in any video game. If the last 1/3 was the beginning of the game I would've dropped this game right then and there. Some of the character designs are among the worst in any Final Fantasy game as well. Hopefully Crisis Core is better then this game as I try to go thru the saga.

Currently Playing:
1. Persona 5 Royal - Just starting the 5th palace as I'm nearing the 80 hour mark. It takes everything that was great about the original and expands on it and further cements it among the greats.

2. Final Fantasy VII Remake - Finished the first 4 chapters and around 6 1/2 hours in. Playing it as part of the MinnMax game club so I'll be playing this game slower then I normally would've. So far everything I've played has been great and I can definetly see this cement FF7 in my top 5 games ever.

3. Slowly making my way thru the State of Decay 2 expansion Heartland and Journey to the Savage Planet. Playing anywhere between 15 minutes to an hour a day of either one. Mainly just to get the daily quests for Microsoft Rewards and Game Pass out of the way. Also delving into Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 on my brother's PSP in small chunks every morning.

DoradoWinston · Apr 13, 2020

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welp im terrible at keeping this updated this year, here are all the games i beat in March of this year and ill be uploading the games I beat as of now in April at the end of the month, these also arent in order because i had to go back and see what games i did/would consider done in March. I swear ill go back and write about all of em lol

22. Unreal Tournament 2014 (PC)

23. Boneworks (PC)

24. Half Life: Alyx (PC)

25. Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Xbox)

26. Dragon's Crown Pro (PS4)

27. Death Stranding (PS4)

28. World of Horrors (Xbox)

29. NBA2K20 (Xbox)

30. A Short Hike (PC)

31. The Red String Club (Xbox)

hersheyfan · Apr 13, 2020

Catching up with the update posts, it's been a while since I've written one of these..

I've also managed to clear 52 games as of today, April 13, but I'll just post the rest of the comments along with the April batch after month end.

March 2020

29. 3/2/2020: Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (Epic Game Store), around 18 hours
Finally beat my sub 10 dollar copy of Fallen Order. A Souls-lite by reputation, this game was like a weird mishmash of different ideas that sort of click, but never amount to more than the sum of their parts. The map is extremely confusing, and no fast travel makes it too tedious to go back for collectibles. At least it looks and sounds amazing!

30. 3/9/2020: Dead Cells + The Bad Seed DLC (Steam), 11.5 hours
First time beating this game on PC (previously beaten on NSW)! Still awesome as hell, the Bad Seed DLC also offers a solid amount of content for the low asking price. I would have bought it regardless just to thank Motion Twin, I fucking love Dead Cells.

31. 3/10/2020: Double Dragon 1 [DD Trilogy] (Steam), 45 minutes
Double Dragon Trilogy is one of the worst ports I have ever played in my life. The controls are janky as hell, very nonresponsive - I just barely made it through the first game, couldnt be bothered to suffer through the second and third games.

32. 3/14/2020: Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth (Early Access), 1 hour
Extremely promising Metroid-vania with a beautiful Symphony of the Night-like visual style. Actually, they borrowed a whole lot of stuff from SotN, but when it's done as well as this I don't really mind.

33. 3/15/2020: Colin Thiele's Storm Boy: The Game (NSW), 30 minutes
Saw an Era thread recommending this on the eShop, bought it for a dollar. It wasn't worth a dollar.

34. 3/16/2020: Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Steam), 17.2 hours
Remarkable sequel to Blind Forest; amazing visuals, and one of the tightest platformers I've played in recent years. It's still not afraid to challenge you - several times I was like, "That can't be what they intend the average player to do, right? That's pretty complicated for the critical path", and it turns out that yeah, that is what they want you to do.

35. 3/16/2020: 198X (Steam), 3 hours
A fun throwback through multiple 80s game genres, pretty short but fun while it lasts. Will make gamers of a certain age nostalgic.

36. 3/20/2020: Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (Steam), 15 hours
Crazy-ass sequel to The New Order, and they took the cheese factor all the way up to 11. The game design is pretty flawed though, enemies can see you from a mile away and theres a lot of trial and error involved; avoid this game if you're not in the mood for old school stop-start gameplay.

But still... PREGNANT RAMBO!

37. 3/22/2020: Ruiner (Xbox Game Pass PC), 5 hours
Had a decent time with this twinstick slasher, not the greatest game ever but worth a play if you want something to occupy your time on Game Pass.

38. 3/26/2020: Full Throttle Remastered (Steam), 3.7 hours
This is my first time ever beating Full Throttle, remastered or otherwise. Can't say I care much for it, the motorcycle segments are excruciating and the humor doesn't land as consistently as Monkey Island's (still my favorite LucasArts P&C).

39. 3/30/2020: Yooka Laylee & The Impossible Lair (Steam), 17 hours
Damn! That Impossible Lair level was crazy hard, I can't remember the last time I spent so many retries on a single stage. Like, fully powered up, beaten all the other levels, but it still took me like 3 hours. Not surprising that a lot of people gave up instead of powering through.

5pectre · Apr 13, 2020

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20. Super Mario Bros (NES) - ½ hrs - 4/5

The Classic. I still got it ;)

Bradford · Apr 13, 2020

COMPLETION COUNTER: 27/52

Latest Completion:

27. Final Fantasy VII: Remake | 13th April - 32hrs | 8/10
Final Fantasy 7 Remake is a celebration and examination of the legacy of Final Fantasy 7 and the relationship fans and creators have with the legendary source material. It is a flamboyant, joyous game that bleeds heart and soul, yet it has things to say about that soul. Things forged across 23 years of fan response, of requests for a remake, and of the shifting landscape of game design and presentation.

It is a game about reunion. Reunion between characters, certainly, but also a reunion with fans. It is Kitase and Nomura's return to a world that they have reiterated for years to divisive reception. It is a return to characters, many of which we know meet unfortunate and grim ends. In essence, it is a return to the very lifestream that composed Final Fantasy 7's world to begin with. These are throughlines present in the game's narrative, both as a reflection and a re-examination of what came before. In this way, the game is bound to touch a raw nerve. Whether or not you like that, your mileage may vary.

The characters are a high point, with a script that is genuinely the best that Square Enix's in-house team has made since perhaps Vagrant Story. Dialogue is naturalistic and understated, and this serves to further one of the remake's major focuses: spending more time with the characters from the original to flesh them out and make them feel real. Again, this is a reunion, and it is determined to pay respect to these old favorites. The vocal performances in Japanese and English are both excellent, though I think special credit should be given to the English actors. As someone fluent in Japanese, I actually preferred the localization of this game. It is of mind-boggling quality, and the actors' performances are a key part of this.

The reconfiguration of the game's systems stands out as a strong reinterpretation of the mechanics present in the original release. The battle system is strategic and punishing, valuing measured responses and situational awareness above all else. Just as in the original, knowledge is the key to success. Enemies must be strategically staggered, taking cues from FF13's battle system, in order to deal heavy damage and mitigate dangerous attacks. Every character plays differently, a major change from the original where characters were effectively the same across the board with the only major difference between them being limit breaks. It is clear that a lot of love and thought went into the battle system, and it shows a profound understanding of the strengths of the original without the constraints of the original hardware. The presentation is also on point, with a truly incredible soundtrack that is up there with the original, perhaps even surpassing it at points.

FF7R shows a respect and love for the source material -- all of it, including the dubious, divisive canon that is the Compilation of FF7. There are throwbacks and winks towards Advent Children. There are characters from the spinoff novels that make an appearance, and there is a through line of appreciation for games like Crisis Core, and yes, even Dirge of Cerberus. And yet, it comes across as cohesive, without getting in the way of the original's story. These integrations serve as a clear message of intent: This is a game about the history of Final Fantasy 7, and of what it means to "be" Final Fantasy 7, 23 years after the original release. It is a rewrite of canon, a realignment of the story to make it fit into one concrete, new interpretation. While there are many potential pitfalls in this, and the game certainly has some clumsy delivery, it manages to thread the needle by the end and earn its keep. Which gets to, perhaps, the most difficult part to discuss.

There is no real way to talk about this game without spoiling something about it. So for those interested, I recommend FF7R handily. It is, in almost every way, the game that you loved, or the game that you have heard about for years. But it is also something more.

What does it mean to be a fan? What does it mean to have a canon? Is it fair for these characters, fully fleshed out and beloved, to be doomed to their fates due to the whispers of expectation? What does it mean to be a creator, who's own legacy is the ball and chain that prevents them from exploring new ideas? What does it mean for us, who have memories of the original?

Final Fantasy 7 Remake is not just a remaster, nor is it a simple re-imagining. It is a reunification of the disparate parts that make up FF7's momentous, gargantuan being. It is a resplendent celebration of what came before, and a wish for what it could be.

I am no longer going to be linking to the original post; apologies. It is getting so lengthy that I'd need to keep making new master posts. Instead, please feel free to see all of my reviews in my ongoing Google Sheet tracker.

5pectre · Apr 14, 2020

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21. Victory Heat Rally (PC) - ½ hrs - 4/5

Found this little gem on PC. It's chibi style arcade racer that is heavily inspired by SEGAs sprite scaling racer, Power Drift.
Once you get used to the drifting mechanics the game really opens up. It's classic arcade style with 3 stages that increase in difficulty. The soundtrack is really cool drum'n bass and it fits the gameplay nicely.

You can try it out for free at www.skydevilpalm.com/victory-heat-rally

KtotheRoc · Apr 14, 2020

35: Kirby's Dream Land 3. End: 4/14/2020. 2 Hours. Meh.

How much does a cute artstyle matter when the game itself feels very unambitious? I've never been wild about Kirby's companions, and there are more of them in this game than Dream Land 2. This hampers the game, IMO. Because the companions restrict Kirby's basic movements. It all adds up to a game I didn't care for despite its technical proficiency.

Tizoc · Apr 14, 2020

67. Toki Tori

A remake of the Gameboy game Toki Tori. A puzzle game where you must collect all eggs in a stage while avoiding enemies and using items and abilities in order to navigate the stages and collect all the eggs.
If you die, the game generously lets you rewind to redo your last actions. In fact, the game offers its rewind option all the time on Normal stage difficulty at least.
The game got pretty perplexing by the end game but I overall rather enjoyed it. Was surprised it was only 4 worlds long, but am glad it wasn't TOO long a game :P

bloodgate · Apr 15, 2020

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I hadn't updated in a month, which is odd considering the quarantine. I feel like this is much less of a challenge now that I'm completely confined to home for the foreseeable future, but you don't see me not complaining!

17. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Switch
Completed: 3/25/2020
Rating: 5/5

I let this one simmer. I let it stew. I let it bake. I played this briefly on the Wii U when it came out and did not care for the weapon durability system. I didn't much like the combat, either. I bought it for my daughter because she loves Zelda, and she devoured this game. She asked me to help quite a bit in the first half of the game - most of the puzzles of the shrines, and 2 divine beasts, a lynel or two, and Thunderblight Ganon. That was my only experience with this game for years and I wasn't a fan. I didn't get a chance to immerse myself in it the way a normal player did. My daughter ended up finishing on her own and I am so proud of her for that. I finally played through this masterpiece on my own and can honestly say that I was wrong about everything. I won't say any more because this is already too long and I refuse to make another paragraph. It lived up to the hype as a single player experience.

18. Mario Tennis Aces - Switch
Completed: 3/26/2020
Rating: 2.5/5

I love Mario Tennis for N64. I have fond memories of playing it with my band in the early 2000s for hours on end. This game is a good upgrade to that, and the single player mode is not that bad. There's not much to say about it though, really. I got frustrated a couple of times playing through the single player campaign, but ultimately, it was rather easy and milquetoast.

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19. Nioh 2 - PS4
Completed: 3/31/2020
Rating: 5/5

After getting the platinum trophy for the first Nioh in December of 2019, I was really looking forward to this game. It did not disappoint. I played through the game almost entirely co op with my best friend, and the fun factor was as high as it can get. I love literally everything about this game and I can't say enough good things about it. I did enjoy that the platinum trophy was much easier to get for this game than the first.

20. Axiom Verge - PS4
Completed: 4/2/2020
Rating: 4/5

I played this game 3 or 4 years ago on PC and got stuck in the middle of the game somewhere. I put it down for a year and tried to come back and it was just impossible. I knew it was a good game, but I did not have a good experience with it. I decided to give it another shot on PS4 since it was on sale, and I'm glad I did. This game is a wonderful Metroidvania. Awesome aesthetics, a unique story, and tight gameplay. What more could you ask for? Funny moment: I figured out a way to glitch through walls with the grappling hook, because I couldn't figure out how to get out of an area due to missing the key item you have to pick up that is required to leave the area. This lead to me going through every single room in the game looking for the next area to get to. It took me a long time to figure out what I had missed, and I was so mad at myself. That's what I get for accidentally discovering a glitch!

21. God of War - PS4
Completed: 4/3/2020
Rating: 3.5/5

This game was hyped up way too much for me. I see why it had so much hype, because the story, the characters, the visuals, the presentation... all of it: just sublime. I love Norse mythology as well, and this really buttered my potatoes. I just wish the combat wasn't so mindlessly clunky. I think From Software has spoiled me on third person hand to hand combat.

22. Hollow Knight - PS4
Completed: 4/10/2020
Rating: 5/5

Another Metroidvania I put down years ago because I got stuck and didn't know where to go. Much like Axiom Verge, I decided to give this another shot due to being on sale for the PS4. This game is a masterpiece, simply put. If you like Metroidvanias and have not played this, you are doing yourself a disservice every day that you let go by without playing this game. It is so. Damned. Good. I don't think I'll ever platinum it, because I am not very good at it, but I did as much as I could in the game without looking anything up, and I still was only able to get about a 90% completion rate. I am definitely going back to this one at some point, because I know there is more underneath it all that I am missing.

23. Metal Slug 2 - PS4
Completed: 4/11/2020
Rating: 2.5/5

I like the first Metal Slug a lot, but it's the only one I'd ever played. I own the collection on PS4, so I figured I'd just play through them at a casual pace. I like that there are infinite lives to just experience the game, but holy crackers are they hard. I don't think I will be able to beat them on 5 continues or less (the trophy for each game). These are great 2D side scrolling shooters, but are a bit of a novelty unless you self-impose a challenge while playing. That's the only reason I'd give it a mere 2.5/5.

24. Murdered: Soul Suspect - PS4
Completed: 4/12/2020
Rating 2/5

I've had this game for a very long time on PC. Never played it. I got it super cheap (or free, I can't remember) for PS4 a while ago and still hadn't played it. I know why I didn't play it, it's not fun. The story is okay, I guess. This whole game (if you can call it that) is like a mediocre 90's supernatural thriller. Which is fine. The main drawback for me was that there is very little gameplay. It's a detective game that requires no deduction or any sort of brain power. The only threat of death are a few 'demons' scattered about that are easy as piss to avoid or kill. This game is just simply not good. It had a lot of potential, though. It really just made me want to play L.A. Noire. The highlight of the entire game is possessing a cat and being able to meow on command.

That's it for now.

Currently playing Nier: Automata after dropping it a few years ago. This is getting... interesting.

5pectre · Apr 15, 2020

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22. Aces of the Galaxy (X360) - 2 hrs - 4/5

I think I found a true hidden gem here? By chance this got suggested to me as I was searching for Panzer Dragoon on Xbox. Not many videos on YouTube, I never heard of it before and I don't see/hear anyone talking about it? It seems it got decent reviews when it came out over a decade ago.

It's a railshooter and it's kind of a mix between Star Fox and Panzer Dragoon. It has branching paths and barrel rolls like Star Fox and the multiple lockons like Panzer Dragoon. It's quite challenging and quite hectic.

Memory Pak · Apr 15, 2020

10. Rabbids Land (2012, Wii U) ★☆☆☆☆
While Animal Crossing's so-called "Bunny Day" was sweeping the Internet, I instead turned to that... other franchise with rabbits. This one's not great, it's a 4-player boardgame with just a single, circular board. You know the drill: throw dice, move spaces, trigger events/mini-games, collect ~~stars~~ trophies. Feels like Ubisoft Paris had a bunch of disparate proof-of-concept mini-games for the Wii U and repackaged them in this party game; draw shapes, blow in the mic, use the gyros, etc. Most of them don't even thematically tie into the themepark setting.
What I will give them credit for is the cut-scenes and the animations of the Rabbids in general - they're mildly amusing, and might land a lot better with a young audience.

11. Armikrog (2016, Wii U) ★☆☆☆☆
Claymation- style point & click adventure which starts on a promising cut-scene & catchy song, but can't deliver on that initial promise at all.
Seems like almost everything went wrong here: controls are surprisingly finicky for a a game with a single input method, audio volumes are all over the place, subtitles regularly disappear, some of the tile-sliding puzzles have difficult to distinguish colours, and there's several sections where it's nearly impossible to see without cranking up the brightness.
These annoyances exacerbate the already dull gameplay; when most of the puzzles are just about inserting levers into doorways, it's annoying when some of them blend into the background. The game also doesn't have an inventory to note which ones you've found already. Such an inventory could've helped to store already found symbols in, too; now you'll just need to draw them on paper yourself (even though you're literally holding a tablet controller which could've doubled as drawing tablet!).
So, the puzzles are bad, but what about the story? It's unfortunately pretty poor, too. Your objective is to escape, but of course you're immediately sidetracked by an objective our protagonists seem thoroughly uninterested in. About 2/3rd of the way in, a villain decides to show up, but apparantly forgot to bring a motivation for his unclear plans. Oh and towards the end it becomes clear this entire game is just a filler arc in some grander, unknown narrative, too.
These are really basic story-telling failures in my opinion - why would the player care, if none of the characters do? It's not like the escape from Krypton-esque plot is played for laughs either, because Armikrog is painfully unfunny. And they don't facilitate jokes either, because there's no 'inspect item/surroundings' commands to trigger more dialogue with. If your best joke is a pun about ants, and you repeat it thrice... Ugh, groan.
Graphics aside, Armikrog feels bafflingly incomplete. Admittedly I've never played The Neverhood, which this appears to be a sequel (?) to, but the game makes no attempt to bring you up to speed either. I tried Googling a bit to see what I might've missed, but all I discovered was that one of the game's creative leads is a smug trans- and homophobe who used to write for Breitbart. Luckily I didn't notice any overt hate speech in this game, and I'm also not 100% sure where I fall on the separating creator from creation discussion, but rest assured: Armikrog earns its 1-star rating entirely on its own merits.

FRANKEINSTEIN · Apr 16, 2020

30. Castle Crashers Remastered (XB1) April 16 8 Hrs ★★★★★
Used to play this with my now 14 year old back in the 360 days and had a blast. I kept meaning to buy the remastered version for XB1 but was waiting for a sale. Now I've beaten it again with my 14 year old and my 2 younger ones, who were way too young or didn't exist during the original.

Bunga · Apr 17, 2020

I really wish I had the staying power to commit to these challenges. I always do a couple of games at the start and it feels great watching the credits roll then for some reason I trail off into multiplayer and lose focus. Then I feel weird about trying to restart the challenge in April rather than January.

I've not even got a huge backlog compared to most but I really struggle to sit down with single player games these days. Any advice?

5pectre · Apr 17, 2020

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23. Elevator Action Returns (PS2) - 1 hrs - 4/5

Decided to play the arcade game Elevator Action Returns from the Taito Legends 2 collection on PlayStation 2. It's a very entertaining action platformer and it's a bit on the easy side. There's 6 stages and everything is quite easy until the last stage. I was able to get to the last stage without continues but then stuff got crazy, I made some stupid mistakes, so in the end I had to use 3 continues to complete the game.

FRANKEINSTEIN · Apr 17, 2020

31. Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap (XB1) Apr 17 4 Hrs ★★★
Cute game. Really like the animation. Being as short as it was is definitely a positive.

UnexpectedEnemy · Apr 18, 2020

Super Cat Bros., developed by Neutronized, is a 2D platformer for mobile devices. As someone who's always been skeptical of most mobile games (especially of the F2P kind), I was quite taken back by the quality and competency on display here. Super Cat Bros. is an extremely well-made, bite-sized 2D platformer where you take control of a variety of cats, all of which have their own unique abilities. One cat can climb walls higher than the others while another feline friend can swim. Stages are short & sweet with collectable bells scattered about if you're looking to get the most of the experience. There's even secret levels to discover, too. Visually, the game feels like it's somewhere between a high-end browser/flash game and something that would have felt right at home on the original Nintendo DS.

I've also been playing Super Cat Tales II, which is the follow-up prequel/sequel to Super Cat Bros. (yes, there's an actual story here, complete with cinematic cut scenes and dialogue). The micro-transactions and advertisements are a bit more invasive in the second game than they were in the original, however. After the player completes any stage, you're asked if you would like to double your collected coins, but only if you watch an advertisement (ad). I can't believe I'm writing this, but the ads seem to be longer based on how many coins you've collected in a stage. Since the game is F2P, they're also constantly bombarding you to upgrade to the premium package (which essentially means you can play without the ads).

Despite the fact that Super Cat Tales II's micro-transactions being in the forefront, the sequel feels like a much more realized version of the original game. The developers clearly included what they probably wanted to accomplish with the first game. The backgrounds are more detailed, there's multiple layers of parallax scrolling, stages are longer (but not too long) and there's more verticality in the level-design. I'm nearing the end of the game, but I believe it's still getting updated (perhaps with more levels to explore and cats to play as). With the Switch receiving more and more mobile ports as of late, I wish these two games could receive a collection of sorts on the eShop. They're extremely well-made 2D platformers that should be played by more people.

I replayed Florence on mobile during my breaks at work. I've written about the game before in the past, but it's a short, lovely visual novel about the trials and tribulations of adulthood. The game has recently been ported to the Switch, so if you haven't had a chance to experience this game yet, it's well worth your time, especially if you've ever fallen in (and out of) love with someone.

Wide Ocean Big Jacket (WOBJ) is a brief short-story adventure game that focuses on what it means to be young, why growing up sucks and how family trips almost always result in some sort of awkward confrontation. WOBJ is a simple, yet charming game that utilizes basic polygonal shapes, soft colors and excellent writing to tell its story. Outside of walking around, talking to people and moving from one point to the next, there's very little puzzle-solving here and the experience is more akin to a visual novel than anything. I particularly enjoyed how each character had their own text sound when advancing the dialogue. If you grew up with old Sega games (like Landstalker or Shining Force) or played Undertale or the Yakuza games (if we're talking about more modern-day examples), you'll appreciate this little stylistic touch.

The game, at times, also reminded me of 1991's My Girl, specifically the relationship between the four characters; the boy and girl, Ben and Mord, and the aunt and uncle, Brad and Cloanne, respectively. I couldn't not think about McCaughley Colkin and Anna Maria Chlumsky's characters during some of the scenes, specifically when the two are alone. The writing is seriously good and you'll grow attached to the characters very quickly (specifically during the camp fire scene). WOBJ is the perfect Sunday morning game to play with your morning coffee before you jump back into something a bit more substantial. I completed the game after an hour or two on the Switch.

I first played and completed Sumo Digital's Snake Pass back on the Switch, but I eventually double dipped on the PS4 version later down the road. I was in the mood for a replay (mostly to hear some of David Wise's less discussed, but most excellent music contributions) and I fell in love with the whole package again. Snake Pass looks like a mascot era 3D platformer from afar, perhaps even something Rare would have developed back in their heyday, but it's not quite like anything I've ever played. While it's certainly a collect-a-thon with platforming elements at its core, Snake Pass's controls and how Noodle (the snake) moves is what differentiates it from its peers. Snakes slither on the ground and are extremely slow, so one can only imagine (if taken to such lengths as they developers did here) how a snake would naturally control in a video game.

With that said, the controls in Snake Pass definitely take a decent amount of time to wrap your head around and some players may be put off by its slow, plodding pace. Once you understand how the mechanics work, however, everything should click. Wrapping yourself around a pole, tightening your grip and just barely sticking your head out to grab a collectable or some sort of lever/switch always felt extremely satisfying. I found myself wanting to dig a little deeper with this replay, so I finally checked out the Arcade mode and Time Trials. The former is a somewhat throwaway experience where you must collect fruit before a timer runs out. While there's multipliers and incentives to collect fruit in a particular order, there's no real reward outside logging your best score on a nearly dead leader board.

I found the Time Trials far more engaging as it struck a chord with the speed-running side of my brain. The stages are actually quite competently made, with corners to cut and areas to avoid in order to improve your overall time. As slow as the game is, it's interesting to see just how quickly the snake can get around the stages, if you know the controls and the layout of the levels well enough. Because the player-base is nearly dead, I found myself somehow placing first on the leader boards, too! Snake Pass is a game I would love to see ran on Awesome Games Done Quick (AGDQ), if it hasn't been done so already. It's also a game I would love to see a sequel to as we're long overdue for a followup.

Mike Bithell's Thomas Was Alone is a 2D puzzle-platformer where the player controls a variety of rectangular shapes, all of which have their own distinct personalities and platforming abilities. One can jump higher than the other while another can float in water, for example, and the goal of the game is to get each block to their designated end-point by assisting each other along the way. It's a simple concept made better by its charming narration voiced by Danny Wallace (who reminded me of the Little Big Planet narrator at first). Although the game's sense of humor isn't exactly my cup of tea, it's a very well-written, clever game that tells the story about how artificial intelligence can become self-aware and eventually escape its digital confines.

Today, Thomas Was Alone may not be looked back on with the same reverence it received at launch, but along with games like Braid, Super Meat Boy, FEZ, Journey and many others, a lot of these titles have become staples/benchmarks in what is now a thriving independent gaming scene. I've stopped/started this game many times over the years, but I finally sat down with it a few months ago and completed the game at 100% with everything collected. I don't think I'll ever replay this game anytime soon, but I enjoyed my short time with it nonetheless.

FRAMED 2 (from the FRAMED Collection on Switch) is the follow-up to Hideo Kojima's (of Metal Gear Solid fame) 2014 Game of the Year, FRAMED. FRAMED is essentially an interactive, digital comic book framed (get it) as a video game. You can rotate and manipulate animated panels in order to guide your character through a variety of scenarios. I played the original game a few years ago, so I'm not actually sure what's different about the sequel other than the fact that it acts as a prequel, in some sense? It's certainly a smart game with plenty of "aha!" moments once you figure out the puzzle solutions. Both FRAMED games are extremely short and there's really no incentive to replay them, however. They're polished, well-made experiences that are worth playing, if you're looking for a short & sweet brain buster.

I played and wrote about Old Man's Journey back when I first experienced it on the Nintendo Switch two years ago. Old Man's Journey is an endearing, yet sometimes sad point 'n click adventure game about one man's recollection of life and the choices he's made (for better or worse). I downloaded the mobile version of the game for my android device and completed another playthrough during my lunch breaks at work. I also downloaded the Xbox One version through Game Pass since the mobile version didn't have achievements and it's a slightly different experience. The majority of the game has the player solving simple perspective-based navigation puzzles in the way of pulling/stretching various landscapes in both the background and foreground.

It's a simple and relaxing experience as you're essentially creating a path for the old man so that he can reach his next destination. There's certain obstacles (such as waterfalls and even sheep that must be herd) in order to proceed. As someone who got hooked on Xbox 360 Achievements back in the day, I still find myself appreciating the inclusion of such feats, whether they be PSN Trophies or Steam/Google Play Achievements (for the games that support them, of course). The hardest achievement was easily the one where you had to complete the train sequence without hitting the breaks. Old Man's Journey on Switch and mobile devices did not have these additional challenges, so for the versions that did include them, they certainly added more replay value to an otherwise short experience.

Weiss · Apr 18, 2020

28. NieR Automata - 18/04/2020

I realized something. I have come to the conclusion that I cannot accept this resolution.

Anything I could say about Automata would be lost to someone who hasn't already. Get on that, dang it. It's one of the games of the generation.

Now onward (or backward?) to NieR Replicant.

FreddeGredde · Apr 18, 2020

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Games 11-15:

11. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night | 17th Mar | 19:12hrs | rating: 4/5

Basically it's as metroidvania as a game can get.

- GAMEPLAY: Extremely satisfying game loop from start to finish, killing enemies, get new weapons and abilities and explore new corners of the map. It does get very easy too quickly (the first boss was easily the hardest for me), but it doesn't matter as there's always new things to see and do, and the customization is very satisfying.
- AUDIOVISUALLY: Played it on Switch, and this is a pretty ugly and blurry game! Some areas have serious slowdown, but at least I never encountered any bugs or crashes, so honestly I didn't mind. The music is catchy!
- STORY/PRESENTATION: The plot is forgettable but not in the way. The loading-times are a little too long, and in general it just doesn't run well.

I gotta say I enjoyed this one more than Hollow Knight in many ways. Especially the insane amount of weapons, abilities and equipment kept things constantly interesting for me, even when backtracking.

12. Wuppo | 19th Mar | 7:20hrs | rating: 2/5

You're a small ball who gets kicked out of your hotel, and now you have to find your way back!

- GAMEPLAY: The main mechanic is aiming your various guns with the right analog stick, but mostly you explore the world, do some light platforming and read a lot of (humorous) dialog.
- AUDIOVISUALLY: I find it pretty ugly, like it's made in classic Paint with modern effects on top. The music is very nice though, the best aspect of the game!
- STORY/PRESENTATION: It starts interesting, but you get back to the hotel pretty quickly and after that it seems like they just made things up without any planning or structure. It's just too aimless for this kind of game.
- MULTIPLAYER: After a few minutes, a second player can join in as a bird buddy, but since most of the game is slow and eventless, it doesn't really add anything.

I'm sure a lot of love was put into this, but it's just too unfocused for me. Uncaptivating (though at least occasionally silly) plot, long empty corridors especially if you don't know where to go next, lots of shops and areas that turned out to be useless in order to progress, regular slowdown and more than a few bugs like getting stuck in walls. I'd definitely recommend Wandersong instead, which is a similar adventure platformer but superior in every single way.

13. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons | 2nd Apr | 3:00hrs | rating: 1.5/5

Two brothers set out to find a cure to save their dying father.

- GAMEPLAY: All you do is move your character around and occasionally press the action button to activate an animation to climb, talk or interact with various elements. Despite this, the wonky pysics and controls are nothing less than hilariously bad, and we often laughed at the random clipping and errors. This game is not played for its gameplay.
- AUDIOVISUALLY: It looks like what I imagine Gamecube/PS2 games to look like in HD. It's very basic, and the music is basically nonexistent.
- STORY/PRESENTATION: The story is the strength. Can't say it moved me at the end or anything, but there are some really cool and freaky scenarios on your adventure.
- MULTIPLAYER: The whole game can be co-oped with a friend, and it certainly makes it a lot more fun, maybe partly because it caused even more bugs than when playing alone!

This feels like it wasn't made by people with video game experience, but if gameplay isn't very important to you, it's a short but fascinating journey through a few environments and events.

14. Dandara | 18th Apr | 9:24hrs | rating: 2.5/5

A very special "platformer" where you can't run, only jump between designated spots.

- GAMEPLAY: The controls are snappy and feel fresh and fun, and within minutes I was zapping between walls, taking out enemies and traversing the hallways. Unfortunately there isn't much variation at all (the weapon upgrades don't change up the gameplay), so the game loses steam and excitement pretty quickly. The level design is initially more about spatial awareness than most other metroidvanias, but gets more plain later on.
- AUDIOVISUALLY: The pixelart is above average, with smooth zooming and rotation effects. The audio is even better, with punchy effects and cool if unmemorable music.
- STORY/PRESENTATION: The story and lore was fascinating at first, especially the unusual environment/character design, but like the rest of the game, the first hour is much more interesting than the rest.

It started so promising, but the levels got blander and the gameplay didn't change things up enough. It's a very difficult game too, and not in a very satisfying way! I had more fun selecting unlimited energy in the "cheat menu", so I could blast away with the more enjoyable weapon upgrades without worrying. All in all, great concept but needed more ideas.

15. Animal Crossing: New Horizons | 19th Apr | 150:00hrs | rating: 4/5

Express yourself like in no other game, this time not just with clothes and interior design, but an entire island!

- GAMEPLAY: You move to a deserted island where you fish, craft, collect, furnish and spend time with friends. A lot of text, slow one-thing-at-a-time pace and movement (to help you from making mistakes), and it results in slightly lacking gameplay feel. Still extremely polished and enjoyable, especially if you have a creative mind.
- AUDIOVISUALLY: Simple but beautiful visuals, impressive how the framerate can stay solid when you place hundreds of various items on screen. There are some nice songs too (6pm!), but some are surprisingly annoying too. I would have liked more variation in the end. Maybe winter has other songs?
- STORY/PRESENTATION: From my perspective, the progress isn't slow enough. In previous games you were "out of things to do" after just an hour or so per day, but this time you can marathon things, and reach what is essentially "the end" in just 10 days. It's a good ride, and it opens up the minecraft-like terraforming, but there aren't many new things unlocking after that. For the first time in a video game, I'm craving DLC, and a lot of it.
- MULTIPLAYER: Couch-co-op is a fun distraction a couple of times but is too limited. The online experience is amazing though, except for the long loading times. It's a lot of fun to regularly visit your friends to trade things and see what they've made. Sharing island (a requirement if you share your Switch with someone) is also a great experience as long as you can collaborate.

It's hard to compare this to other games. It's more of a virtual reality, one where you can spend hours and hours just designing signs and floor tiles, or hanging out with visitors. The biggest flaw for me is the limited amount of custom patterns. Please Nintendo, give me twice the pattern inventory in an update so I can keep creating unique visuals!

I will keep checking in for a bit every day, but 150 hours in, I'm out of island space to build more things, and it's time to start playing other games again.

Next up:
Murder by Numbers
Underhero
Dark Souls

Deleted member 401 · Apr 19, 2020

19. Doom Eternal (14 hours)
A damn strong follow-up to the 2016 game, even if it stumbles in areas.

Full list to date

Weiss · Apr 19, 2020

29. Little Nightmares - 19/04/2020

A fucking horrifying adventure in stealth, helplessness, and gluttony with harrowing set pieces and genuinely oppressive art direction. I'm so pumped for the sequel.

LonestarZues · Apr 20, 2020

Master Post

Weekly Update 16: No games finished this week as I juggle Persona 5 Royal and Final Fantasy VII Remake.

Currently Playing:
1. Persona 5 Royal - Just started December and I'm eager to start the new semester soon. Really loving the game as it takes everything great about Persona 5 and adds new QoL improvements. Really love the new characters and can't wait to dive into the new palace.

2. Final Fantasy VII Remake - Finished the first 9 chapters and around the 20 hour mark. Really enjoying the combat and the music is really good as well. Some of the story beats have been hit or miss for me so far, but really curious where this goes in the second half of the game. The original is among my favorite games ever so I have an idea, but definetly curious to see how they get there in this remake.

3. Playing some Game Pass games ranging anywhere between 15 minutes to an hour a day. Mainly just to get the daily quests for Microsoft Rewards and Game Pass out of the way. Also delving into Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 on my brother's PSP in small chunks every morning.

Wozzer · Apr 20, 2020

Wanted to give a shout-out to the first four through the 2020 gauntlet (some as early as Feb, I've just been idling);

Grats folks! I look forward to joining sooner or later (definitely later). Also a reminder that we've got a growing little community on Discord (https://discord.gg/GuvKht4) and are running a 'Game Club' for monthly nominations (raffled into by participating) we all play together. The current ones being Final Fantasy IX and Metro 2033 Redux. Come jump in :)

Tizoc · Apr 20, 2020

68. Homefront: The Revolution

Pretty decent shooting game though one not without flaws. I rather liked capturing enemy areas as some had different ways of taking control of them which would include finding vertical paths into the area in order to take them over.
The shooting was OK overall but I felt it relied on some more tactical and cover shooting elements which aren't my kinda thing, esp. after playing Doom and Quake this year.
Game's story was...OK, even though I would've prefered if it was America freeing itself from american corporatism than just having a foreign power take over :V Character dialogs weren't all that impressive either.
I only beat it on Easy but even that got some annoying stuff later on when enemies are able to deal chunks of damage on you.

Psychotic_Mantis · Apr 21, 2020

Main Post

Update 1 of 2

25. The Elder Scrolls IV - Oblivion - Xbox 360
Completed 3/20/20
Score - 8/10

I was obsessed with this game back in 09 and put so many hours into it, and then just stopped. I finally got the itch to beat this and take it out of the backlog. It took some time to get used to the system and controls but it was still enjoyable. It's a bit dull compared to newer games but it still has a charm and fantastic world. I still need to tackle the Shivering Isles at some point.

26. The Elder Scrolls IV - Knights of the Nine - Xbox 360
Completed 3/20/20
Score - 8/10

More Oblivion! I really enjoyed this quest but it was rather short.

27. The Penguins of Madagascar: Dr. Blowhole Returns Again! - PS3
Completed 3/21/20
Score - 7/10

My 3 year old picked this out at the library and wanted us to play it. I knew nothing about Madagascar or the Penguins so I was not too excited. I was really surprised to enjoy my time with it. My son had a blast watching us play it and some of the puzzles were pretty good. It wasn't too difficult but still a solid puzzle/platformer.

28. Shadow of the Beast - PS4
Completed 3/27/20
Score - 6/10

Expected way more out of this one. The graphics were pretty nice and it felt like a solid game but it's over before it really gets going. You earn new moves but you only get to use them in a limited basis. Overall just kind of meh.

29. Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back - PS4
Completed 4/8/20
Score - 8/10

Enjoyed this way more than the original. This was still hard but it felt more fair. I enjoyed the level variety much more and felt like I had more control over crash. Glad I decided to continue on with this series. Looking forward to Warped.

30. Half-Life: Alyx - Oculus
Completed 4/10/20
Score - 10/10

This game was an absolute dream. I loved every minute of being in this world. I was worried the shooting and loading/reloading would feel complicated but it felt so natural. I don't know if I will want another Half-Life not in VR, I already want to jump back in. This game absolutely needs to be experienced. Easily the top of my list for game of the year and I don't know how it will be beat.

KtotheRoc · Apr 21, 2020

36: Final Fantasy VII Remake. End: 4/21/2020. 34 Hours. Loved.

A lot can be said about this game. A lot will be said about this game. I also want to add that no game is perfect. No game is without flaws. And this game is no different. Sometimes I hated the lack of movement options (particularly in parts of Chapter 15). There were other changes that I wasn't wild about either. But ultimately I really did love this game. And it has been a long time since I could say that about a new Final Fantasy.

Weiss · Apr 21, 2020

30. Shin Megami Tensei Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon - 21/04/2020

It's... alright. I liked it enough to finish it (a second playthrough in fact) but ARPG combat has evolved so much in the decade since this game's release that it's pretty painful to play. Still the charming characters and interesting setting of a rapidly modernizing Japan are really cool.

FRANKEINSTEIN · Apr 22, 2020

32. Transformers: Fall of Cybertron (PS4) Apr 21 9 Hrs ★★★
I really loved the series last gen. Replaying now though... Just didn't get into it nearly as much as last time. About half way through I really just wanted it to be over. Then the last 2 or 3 chapters were a lot of fun.

Phendrana · Apr 22, 2020

First update of the year! I've been playing a lot, but have finished barely anything so far. Not good.

[3/4/20 - 12/4/20] ~35 hours. 6/10

This was a pretty big disappointment for me.

I think it's a bloated and very badly paced game. When I heard that this first part was only going to be the Midgar section of the story, I assumed that meant that Square Enix would expand things in interesting ways. You know, give us more scenes with the characters, give us new side stories and main missions that felt like they fit with the tone of the original game, and surely they'd let us visit at least a few other Sectors in the process?

They did attempt to do some of those things, but all of it fell very short imo. What you get here is largely the same ~5 hours from the original but stretched to the point of ridiculousness over ~30 hours. The game is exceedingly linear with piss poor level design and awfully bland 'dungeons' if you can even call them that. Traversal through these levels is painfully dry, too. Who actually enjoys only being able to jump over the spot with the glowing blue arrow? And struggling to get up ladders because you're not in the exact spot the game needs you to be in? Who liked any of the puzzles/obstacles that the game forces you to deal with?

Some of the additions were good. The mission where you accompany Jessie to her parents house was admittedly super cool. There should have been much more of that, but instead we get hours and hours of the most generic and forgettable RPG side missions they could have possibly come up with. Search for cats. Collect herbs. Find some Chocobos. It was all boring busywork that didn't flesh out the world in any kind of meaningful way, and often causes all momentum in the story to screech to a halt. "Aerith has been kidnapped and we have to save her from this crazy scientist who could do god knows what to her! But first, we should really help this reporter work on his expose."

I was motivated to keep playing because nostalgia helped me overlook some of these issues, and because I thought they were doing a fantastic job bringing most of the characters to life. Barret was incredible and only got better the deeper into the story you got. His VA gives easily my favourite performance in the game, too. Cloud was largely on point. Aerith was a bit cheekier than I remember, but in a good way. Jessie, Biggs and Wedge were all expanded in a really great way that made me care about them so much more than I ever did in the original.

It's really only Tifa that I think they did a poor job with. She seemed so much more insecure and 'meek anime girl' in this version, and some of her animations were really in that mold as well. I also didn't like how they kept having Cloud save her even in scenes where she didn't need his help in the original, like when they jumped off the train. Hell, they even removed her reminding Cloud of his promise to her, and gave him the line instead. Plus she doesn't react at all to Sephiroth at the end? The guy who killed her dad and burned down her village? What the hell? OG Tifa has moxie. Remake Tifa has none at all.

Oh, and some of the textures and graphical issues were very distracting, and I'm not someone who generally cares about this kind of stuff. But when an emotional highpoint of the story is seeing the aftermath of the plate collapse and its represented by a JPEG background, that kinda saps most of the impact from the scene.

Ultimately it was a very 'swimming in sevens' experience for me. (That's 7/10 for those not in the loop). I did feel like it had a ton of potential in future parts if they could work out the kinks going forward, though...that is until that ending happened, knocking my score down even further and making me completely disinterested in the next installment anyway.

[20/3/20 - 23/4/19] ~200+ hours. 9.5/10

What can you really say about Animal Crossing? You already know if you have any interest in it.

That being said: I am enjoying this entry far more than I ever thought I would. I played a bit of New Leaf on the 3DS and completely lost interest after a few months. The pace of play and degree of limitations applied to pretty much every aspect of the game really drove me away, to the point where I wasn't planning on playing New Horizons at all. The only reason I did is because my housemate basically begged me to get it so that we could play together, and given the impending lockdown (at the time) I figured it might not be a bad game to have.

Well, I'm obviously very glad to have given the series another chance! New Horizons actually remedies a lot of the issues I had with New Leaf. For a start there's always something to do now due to the NookMiles system, and terraforming allows me to set additional long-term goals and work towards an ideal that will probably always be shifting that little bit further away. Plus I'm so much more inclined to showcase my creative side this time around for some reason, and really enjoy making the island feel like my own.

Oh and it's just chill as hell, man.

Ted · Apr 22, 2020

Wozzer said:
Wanted to give a shout-out to the first four through the 2020 gauntlet (some as early as Feb, I've just been idling);

Shout out indeed. Y'all are 52G1Y beast mode personified! Good job all.

Now, if you could donate all your remaining games to me I might make it for once!!

52 Games. 1 Year. 2020.

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