Your Games Completed of 2024

JANUARY
Crime O'Clock

FEBRUARY
RoboCop: Rogue City
Rogue Legacy 2
Chants of Sennar

MARCH
Ender Lilies: Knights of the Quietus
Mortal Kombat 1
AEW Fight Forever

APRIL
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

MAY
Animal Well
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (again)

JUNE
Cat Quest 2
PAN-PAN: A Tiny Big Adventure
The Case of the Golden Idol
Untitled Goose Game

JULY
The Case of the Golden Idol (the two DLC bits)
Dredge
Hades (first escape, but binned shortly after)
Pepper Grinder
Flock
Botany Manor

AUGUST
Thank Goodness You're Here! - Loved it. Lots of laugh out loud moments. No spoilers, just play it if you like that kind of humour (slapstick, Carry On-esque innuendo, Reeves and Mortimer surrealism, VERY British).

When the game asked 'tha frum tarn?', it's the first time I realised I do infact speak a second language. Yorkshire superpower unlocked.

That came up, I laughed and my Irish partner said 'I don't understand'. Had to put it into English like a southerner (which I am), but it doesn't change much bar some edits to the subtitles.

I think you are both just making shit up.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Fate/Extra: CCC
Dragon Quest 4
Star Ocean: the Divine Force
Granblue Fantasy Relink
Mega Man Legends 2
Ridge Racer Type 4
Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth
Final Fantasy VII (PS1)
Dragon Quest 5
Crisis Core Reunion
Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus
Ace Combat 1
Ace Combat 2
Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere
Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception
Fire Emblem (6): The Binding Blade
Sakura Taisen
Castlevania
Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg
Timesplitters 2
Kid Icarus Uprising

Grand Theft Auto 3 (not on a phone)

This is a really fun game to just drive about a bit with that immersive radio station setup (adds to the game a lot but it's hard not to think how Vice City's radio is about a million times better and you'ren ot listening to that), do a few missions and soak in the atmosphere of Liberty City that I think still holds up to this day. Portland is a city I know like the back of my hand (Staunton and Shorevale less so tbf) and it's still really fun to blast around on a Cheetah or Banshee for a while. The missions are all pretty uninspired now though and not really fun to do back to back, I remember thinking they were super hard but turns out the bullshit final mission is the only hard one imo. That and it's pretty obvious the story was the thinnest of threads to get you around Liberty City.

Think I'd recommend playing this one for a bit, but once you hit Staunton maybe stop to play the superior sequels if you want PS2 era GTA. Not knocking the legacy of the game though, obviously, legend. 🫡

GTA 3 also now completed for me. Started this on late June and not particularly blasted through it. It's amazing still I feel (Like Alastor suggests) but I remember in era this feeling huge and taking so much longer to complete.

I think being able to easily look up the packages now makes it easier as you can stock pile the weapons quicker, and the missions giving you an auto restart if you fail are what causes it mainly.

JANUARY
Crime O'Clock

FEBRUARY
RoboCop: Rogue City
Rogue Legacy 2
Chants of Sennar

MARCH
Ender Lilies: Knights of the Quietus
Mortal Kombat 1
AEW Fight Forever

APRIL
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

MAY
Animal Well
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (again)

JUNE
Cat Quest 2
PAN-PAN: A Tiny Big Adventure
The Case of the Golden Idol
Untitled Goose Game

JULY
The Case of the Golden Idol (the two DLC bits)
Dredge
Hades (first escape, but binned shortly after)
Pepper Grinder
Flock
Botany Manor

AUGUST
Thank Goodness You're Here!
Enter the Gungeon - Got my mojo back eventually, managed to rebuild the Bullet That Killed The Past, beat the Dragun (plus a bunch of hidden bosses) and killed the Pilot's past to boot. Credits rolled. Lots more still to do, but I'm counting it for the list.

KOTOR finally completed. Been playing this on and off since the release was stable on the Switch. Still absolutely love this game, get it would probably not be fun for someone as a first playthrough but it's been brilliant to return to, having completed it several times originally and not touched it since.

Now completed Banner Saga 3rd part. Really loved this series and slowly played it over a few years as I have grabbed all the parts. This could be in my all time top 10 games lists if I stopped to think about it.

One of those games where I feel a bit sad it's all over and empty that it's completed.

Stray
Spider-Man 2
Tekken 8
Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade
Eiyuden Chronicles: Rising
Persona 5

Luck Be A Landlord

I think this might be the first roguelite deckbuilder-y type game I ever completely beat, so it must be doing something right. Being a game you can play one-handed on a phone, in portrait mode, without necessarily devoting 100% attention definitely helps too. It’s RNG-based, unsurprisingly, given the name, and that it’s based on slot machines, and as a result probably won’t be to everyone’s tastes, but it’s still on my phone even now, as I’ve reset my progress, and I’m happily occasionally working through it again while I wait for Balatro to finally hit iOS in a few weeks.

There Is No Game: Jam Edition

Short free version of the premium game that, as its name suggests, was submitted to a game jam. It’s a short, silly, logic-based point and click that took me about half an hour to play through, at which point I immediately bought the real TING. Lovely stuff.

Ridge Racer Type 4

For all the PS1 games available on PS+ now, this is the only one I’ve felt compelled to go back to so far, in its original form, at least, largely because it’s one of the few stone-cold classics of the era that I don’t think will ever get a remaster. I’m so glad I did though, as it remains an absolutely brilliant game, easily the best Ridge Racer I’ve ever played, and to my mind a high-water mark for arcade racers as a whole. Thanks in some “small” part to the rewind feature on PS5 I’ve also finally seen all of the (sometimes surprisingly affecting) stories too, hence its inclusion here.

There Is No Game: Jam Edition

Short free version of the premium game that, as its name suggests, was submitted to a game jam. It’s a short, silly, logic-based point and click that took me about half an hour to play through, at which point I immediately bought the real TING. Lovely stuff.

TING is great! I played through it a few years back. The Jam Edition is good, but the full version is just something else.

Ridge Racer Type 4 is amazing

Luck Be A Landlord

I've dropped €4 on this. I have no idea what's going on. Send help.

(Seriously though, no tutorial and it's full of jargon, they could have at least tried to explain what's going on)

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Fate/Extra: CCC
Dragon Quest 4
Star Ocean: the Divine Force
Granblue Fantasy Relink
Mega Man Legends 2
Ridge Racer Type 4
Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth
Final Fantasy VII (PS1)
Dragon Quest 5
Crisis Core Reunion
Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus
Ace Combat 1
Ace Combat 2
Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere
Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception
Fire Emblem (6): The Binding Blade
Sakura Taisen
Castlevania
Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg
Timesplitters 2
Kid Icarus Uprising
Grand Theft Auto 3

Katamari Damacy - The first one on PS2 specifically. Yeah I had a blast with this, the final mission where you get 25 minutes to roll a ball starting from small items off the ground to eventually being big enough to roll up skyscrapers was super good and they lead you up to it pretty well over the course of the game by giving you smaller goals that just hint at the scope you are going to be shooting for.

Minor complaints, controls are sometimes awkward and your massive ball of random shit can get lodged in small gaps. Curious to know how the PSP game controlled with one analog.

Edit: not a complaint but while I think progression was good in this game and they had some good alternative objectives like 'collect all crabs' I am excited to see if the sequels really go out there with the concept

PSP Katamari ignores the stick and gives you control with the eight face buttons. It works fine but I remember my thumbs getting sore.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Fate/Extra: CCC
Dragon Quest 4
Star Ocean: the Divine Force
Granblue Fantasy Relink
Mega Man Legends 2
Ridge Racer Type 4
Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth
Final Fantasy VII (PS1)
Dragon Quest 5
Crisis Core Reunion
Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus
Ace Combat 1
Ace Combat 2
Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere
Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception
Fire Emblem (6): The Binding Blade
Sakura Taisen
Castlevania
Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg
Timesplitters 2
Kid Icarus Uprising
Grand Theft Auto 3
Katamari Damacy

Boltgun - A 'boomer shooter' as it's called for some reason, aka a Doom like but set in the Warhammer 40K universe, the game looks great, the weapons feel incredible and the movement and everything is solid…but man the level design sucks and the combat encounters are so bad, both of which feel like they were hardly 'designed' at all, moreso a lot of indentikit architecture and enemies just being absolutely thrown at you (the bullet sponge boss fights being a real lowlight). This basically makes the game feel longer than it is, but it is definitely still too long for it's own good.

Let's be honest, Space Marine 1 and 2 are RIGHT there if you want to be a Space Marine and Doom and Brutal Doom and Prodeus and all that are also right there if you want to play as a bad ass space marine.

Oh actually, gonna' give the main character of Boltgun a shoutout, the taunt button in this game is absolutely fantastic in that it does, from what I can tell, fuck all beyond making your character shout like a mad man about how he hates heretics, how he really hates heretics, he REALLY hates heretics. It's a very succesful infusion of character in a way that Doom 2016 managed with just character animations. They would get along so well.

JANUARY
Crime O'Clock

FEBRUARY
RoboCop: Rogue City
Rogue Legacy 2
Chants of Sennar

MARCH
Ender Lilies: Knights of the Quietus
Mortal Kombat 1
AEW Fight Forever

APRIL
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

MAY
Animal Well
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (again)

JUNE
Cat Quest 2
PAN-PAN: A Tiny Big Adventure
The Case of the Golden Idol
Untitled Goose Game

JULY
The Case of the Golden Idol (the two DLC bits)
Dredge
Hades (first escape, but binned shortly after)
Pepper Grinder
Flock
Botany Manor

AUGUST
Thank Goodness You're Here!
Enter the Gungeon

SEPTEMBER
Darkest Dungeon II - Okay, so I guess only a bit done… but I beat the Darkest Dungeon for the first time on the first confession. That counts, right? Especially as I never even came close to attempting the DD in the first game, so this feels like some kind of accomplishment. On the list it goes.

Riven (2024)
A stunning remake of one of the best adventure games ever made. It captures the look of the original perfectly, and updates the puzzles in clever ways so old hands still have a challenge. Took me ten hours and about 30 pages of handwritten notes. A joyous experience, and I'm a little sad it's over. If anyone has any recommendations for 'you'll need a pen and paper' adventure/puzzle games to fill the void, let me know.

World of Warcraft: The War Within
Not that you can ever complete an MMO, but I've finished the first round of story content, at least. Another gobsmackingly good expansion (following Dragonflight). Unrivalled world design, generous quality-of-life improvements, a story that sort of almost makes sense, and moment-to-moment gameplay that's been perfected over 20 years of development. Here's hoping they get another 20 years.

On what will certainly be one of about four posts I ever make in this thread:

• Horizon Forbidden West

I FINISHED A SECOND THING

Astro Bot is almost entirely utter joy from start to finish. Charming, inventive, and rarely outstays it's welcome at anything it does. I've collected all the puzzle pieces and saved all the bots… ish. There's one absolutely bastard-hard (and so, so long) challenge level as a capstone, which I am, of course, definitely going to have to do at this point.

EDIT: Took the best part of an hour, but it's done. Just a handful of the kookier trophies left for the platinum!

Stray
Spider-Man 2
Tekken 8
Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade
Eiyuden Chronicles: Rising
Persona 5
Luck Be A Landlord
There Is No Game: Jam Edition
Ridge Racer Type 4

Stellar Blade

Struggling to summarise this. Posting on my phone never helps. I wasn’t enjoying it enormously to start with, to the point where I was briefly considering dropping it. It felt a bit floaty, the “fan-service” is off-putting, the story and “acting” are barely there, and there just wasn’t too much grabbing me. It’s very much a hodge-podge of things stolen from other great games, to the point where weirdly the game it reminded me most of was Jedi Survivor, which is another game that cribbed a bunch of things from other, arguably better games, but that eventually rounded into something worthwhile in its own right.

Funnily enough, the same thing happens with Stellar Blade too. Part of its issue, from my perspective at least, is that it’s more focused on its combat than its exploration. That harms the pacing a little, particularly as it dulls the early game, as you don’t have most of the variety in your moveset that makes it more engaging later on, and the level design is also hamstrung by the fact you haven’t got all of your tools there either yet. Lots of games do this, of course, but Stellar Blade feels particularly basic and unfinished for a bit at its outset. I love a Metroidvania, so it’s not like I mind the gradual unlocking of skills to enable exploration, but then I think the FromSoft formula is the one for me when it comes to this kind of thing - the combat can be nuanced, but it doesn’t need a laundry list of moves, as it’s the application of those moves, and the variety of weapons and enemies that keep me engaged. Stellar Blade only has one weapon, continuously adding complexity there instead, and I rarely find being thrown more commands and contextual prompts to remember quite as fun, at least, unless it’s in something even more focused on combat, like DMC, or Bayonetta. Which also have weapon variety than this, thinking about it. This also has a few bosses at the end that I probably only beat because I’d worked out combination of moves and builds were a bit broken, which suggests both that I’m not very good at it, and that perhaps it isn’t very well balanced.

I’m still struggling to summarise. It’s not really for me, but I really enjoyed it. It’s silly, but takes itself too seriously, but is self-consciously goofy. It has spells where it is truly spectacular, and sections where I wanted to do bad things to the people responsible. It’s a very good game, but I wouldn’t recommend it very easily, especially to anyone who’ll be judged for playing a game whose heroine is from the Team Ninja school of character design.

Erm. 8/10?

It occurs to me I forgot to say enough of the positive stuff above. So I should probably do that.

It is very shiny, in terms of technical prowess, and the character designs on the enemies are pleasingly messed up, to the the point where a lot of them reminded me of Dead Space; there’s even a section of the game where it feels like it a bit.

The soundtrack is occasionally mildly inappropriate or grating - there a couple of songs you will hear A LOT - but it says a great deal that I went and found it on Spotify as soon as I heard it was available, as there’s a lot of good there, and a few real standouts.

The combat is really good too. I don’t get enough out of any of these types of games, as the post above hints, as I forget to use too many of the tools available, once I know what works, but this is definitely more focused on the combat than the exploration (which it is still pretty good at), and I think someone with more proficiency in this kind of thing than me - looking at Al here, obviously - could probably make it sing.

I think the other thing that made me like it so much was the slight jank, weirdly - it can often feels like a AA game, especially early on, but then grows into something more, while retaining a little of that slight indie feel, even amongst all the sheen and spectacle it throws at you, especially later on.

The one other thing I forget to touch on was that I do think that any sequel or follow-up could be absolutely spectacular; this is a really good game, despite the little flaws, and the slightly embarrassing touches (that I hear the devs are known for), and so a more refined next offering would very much interest me.

Okay, now I probably sound like I’ve actually described a good game. And confirmed beyond all doubt that I should really post from a larger device in future, especially if I’m going to try and do anything other that bitesize musings.

I don't have a permanent PS5 so I've only played the demo, reminded me Nier Automata quite a bit but probably better combat. When I actually get the console I will get round to playing this sooner or later, probably on a sale or something though.

Star Wars: Outlaws - surprisingly great. It's not the typical Ubi-em-up open world game everyone was expecting, instead it's a really detailed and lived-in Star Wars world where you pick up quests and info organically as you walk around and where your abilities are unlocked through carrying out specific tasks rather than just accumulating XP. It looks great, sounds great and has a surprisingly decent plot, with an excellent ending. The stealth gameplay seems to have taken a few people by surprise but it is what it is and at times it feels agreeably 360-ish in its tone and relative simplicity.

It's the kind of game that deserves a sequel and if they use this as the base then they could really go places with a follow-up. In the meantime I'll probably park for a little while until DLC and a couple of patches arrive but I'm sure I'll be back to mop up the fairly sizeable amount of stuff I still have left to do.

Having finished Astro Bot, I've gotten back into Outlaws a bit, and finally stopped chasing side bullshit long enough to actually start the main plot and get off the first planet.

Spoiler - click to showWaka, you traitorous little bastard!

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Fate/Extra: CCC
Dragon Quest 4
Star Ocean: the Divine Force
Granblue Fantasy Relink
Mega Man Legends 2
Ridge Racer Type 4
Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth
Final Fantasy VII (PS1)
Dragon Quest 5
Crisis Core Reunion
Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus
Ace Combat 1
Ace Combat 2
Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere
Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception
Fire Emblem (6): The Binding Blade
Sakura Taisen
Castlevania
Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg
Timesplitters 2
Kid Icarus Uprising
Grand Theft Auto 3
Katamari Damacy
Boltgun

Silent Hill 2 (original)

After I procrastinated on this so much last year that October flew by I at least managed it this time.

This is such a classic, iconic game I don't even know what to say at this point, one of the best horror games, PS2 games, games full stop. I would have beat this like two days ago if I knew just how close to the end you are by the hotel, it's a pretty short game!

Perhaps with the Remake out I shouldn't discuss story so much, but anyone who has played it knows how good it is, one scene (Perhaps THE scene) in particular is a real gut punch and Angela's story….man.

Pleased to announce for the first time ever I did not get In Water as my initial ending, I only ever get that if I'm not following a guide so really happy about that.

JANUARY
Crime O'Clock

FEBRUARY
RoboCop: Rogue City
Rogue Legacy 2
Chants of Sennar

MARCH
Ender Lilies: Knights of the Quietus
Mortal Kombat 1
AEW Fight Forever

APRIL
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

MAY
Animal Well
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (again)

JUNE
Cat Quest 2
PAN-PAN: A Tiny Big Adventure
The Case of the Golden Idol
Untitled Goose Game

JULY
The Case of the Golden Idol (the two DLC bits)
Dredge
Hades (first escape, but binned shortly after)
Pepper Grinder
Flock
Botany Manor

AUGUST
Thank Goodness You're Here!
Enter the Gungeon

SEPTEMBER
Darkest Dungeon II

OCTOBER
Banjo-Kazooie - Got the N64 Switch controller, so figured I should play some N64 games with it. My memory for this is fuzzy, but I still remembered most of it… it's a lot smaller than I thought, but also harder because the controls are twitchy and the camera sucks. A bit more confusing than I recall too, I ended up missing the third world (Clanker's Cavern) entirely until I'd done the desert one. Did it 100% though, all notes, Jiggies and other collectibles, plus all the Stop N' Swop bits too. Onward!

Banjo-Kazooie - Got the N64 Switch controller, so figured I should play some N64 games with it. My memory for this is fuzzy, but I still remembered most of it… it's a lot smaller than I thought, but also harder because the controls are twitchy and the camera sucks. A bit more confusing than I recall too, I ended up missing the third world (Clanker's Cavern) entirely until I'd done the desert one. Did it 100% though, all notes, Jiggies and other collectibles, plus all the Stop N' Swop bits too. Onward!

BK holds up surprisingly well, I think, though the Xbox version is probably the better version - if only because it keeps the notes you've collected when you leave the level and you don't need to get them all in one go.

Banjo-Tooie is the mutt's nuts, though, I loved that game and it was really ahead of its time in some respects. I don't think that one's on the Switch though.

BK holds up surprisingly well, I think, though the Xbox version is probably the better version - if only because it keeps the notes you've collected when you leave the level and you don't need to get them all in one go.

That caught me out a couple of times (as did dying and losing all of them), but thank goodness for the Save Point functionality of retro games on Switch which soon put paid to that.

Banjo-Tooie is the mutt's nuts, though, I loved that game and it was really ahead of its time in some respects.

I know quite a few people who think Tooie is a bloated example of taking a good idea and just making it bigger, much like Donkey Kong 64 (which was a mess of a game). I haven't played it for ages, so I can't remember which I think…

• Horizon Forbidden West
• Astro Bot

• Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. I have precisely zero idea what happened in the last hour, but the game did its damnedest to annihilate every last scrap of goodwill I'd managed to build up towards it with some truly monumental, labyrinthine narrative bullshit.

Rebirth isn't just asking a meta question about FF7 OG it's also asking "What if we made a 30 hour game 100 hours long?" and so every area is now a massive area with a to-do list of World Data, did we really have to make Gongaga (an optional town in og) a world region? did we really need this bloat? Also there are a billion sidequests in this game, they contain some amazing interactions but some of them could be cut easily. If this is the template for part 3….you can take your time bringing that game out.

As a Remake ending hater I thought Rebirth's was super interesting, it hasn't really changed how I feel about the Remake of FF7 overall, not really happy with the direction it took but I can't say individually I didn't like both games. (Will not be replaying Rebirth anytime soon)

As someone who never really played the original FFVII (but was pretty well aware of the broad strokes of the plot), I really liked the ending of Remake. Rebirth's I didn't just find uninteresting, it was incoherent.

It's so out there I'm genuinely unsure how Part 3 is going to go. I thought that with Remake's ending and yet somehow Rebirth stuck to the same beats for more of the game than I imagined. But I'm really not interested in some original FF7 story we already had to suffer the compilation games like Crisis Core and Dirge, but I think I'm just beating a pile of decayed Horse bones moaning about that at this point.

If you're still interested:

https://www.rpgsite.net/feature/15561-explaining-analysing-what-happens-in-final-fantasy-vii-rebirth-ending

Rebirth is sat on my pile, waiting to be played after Ragnarok.

I don't have 100 hours to spend on this. Would you suggest I just burn through the main quest?

Completed Cyberpunk 2077.

It's a game I came to admire greatly but never really grew to love. It really is the most extraordinary achievement - an example of not only what's possible if you've got an enormous team of talented people working on a single game, but also if you then spend four solid years patching and improving and polishing it after release. Coming into a fully-updated Cyberpunk is really quite the experience. Night City is enormous, and alive. The side quests in this game (of which there are hundreds, I barely even scratched the surface in my 60-hour playthrough) are the equal of or better than most other games' main storylines. It has genuine star power in Keanu Reeves and Idris Elba, and uses them extensively and well. The game looks spectacular on console and cutting-edge on PC, and in some aspects (such as the general animation and interaction of the game's NPCs) it feels like it's a generation ahead of its contemporaries. Cyberpunk 2077's nearest competitor is probably Starfield, and the comparison is laughable.

But still, there's something about it that didn't quite gel with me. Maybe it's the adolescent tone of the whole thing, all that smoking and swearing and sex gets a bit repetitive. It's weirdly humourless and takes itself a bit too seriously, I was waiting for the satire that never came. Phantom Liberty was a bit too talky. All the RPG stats stuff seemed to get in the way a little rather than enhancing the game, I felt. And ultimately it's just another open-world game where you spend a lot of time looking at a map trying to choose what icon to do next. All of these are little nit-picks, silly little criticisms really compared to the towering achievement of the game itself, but they add up, and while I enjoyed my time in Night City, I am also a little relieved to be putting it to one side so I can concentrate on other games for a while.

Still. The ending I got was bleak, and uncompromising, and just kept going, and I respect that a lot. There are a vast amount of side quests still for me to do and I suspect I'll be back at some point to do at least some of them - maybe Night City will turn out to be a better place for a short vacation than it is for an extended stay. Overall Cyberpunk 2077 is probably the game of the generation, it's hard to imagine anything else managing to match it on multiple levels: I just didn't love it.

Rebirth is sat on my pile, waiting to be played after Ragnarok.

I don't have 100 hours to spend on this. Would you suggest I just burn through the main quest?

I did a bunch of the side stuff early on, but gave up on it all somewhere around Cosmo Canyon and stuck it on easy to blaze to the ending; my final play time was about 50 hours.

Some of the side stuff is good, but a lot is trash, and there's no real way going into a side quest to know which is going to be. I'd definitely urge you to ignore UbiChadley's Map Icon Extravaganza, though.

JANUARY
Crime O'Clock

FEBRUARY
RoboCop: Rogue City
Rogue Legacy 2
Chants of Sennar

MARCH
Ender Lilies: Knights of the Quietus
Mortal Kombat 1
AEW Fight Forever

APRIL
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

MAY
Animal Well
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (again)

JUNE
Cat Quest 2
PAN-PAN: A Tiny Big Adventure
The Case of the Golden Idol
Untitled Goose Game

JULY
The Case of the Golden Idol (the two DLC bits)
Dredge
Hades (first escape, but binned shortly after)
Pepper Grinder
Flock
Botany Manor

AUGUST
Thank Goodness You're Here!
Enter the Gungeon

SEPTEMBER
Darkest Dungeon II

OCTOBER
Banjo-Kazooie
Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure - Free on mobile if you've got Netflix. It was fine, definitely better than Paper Trail (also free on Netflix) which I absolutely hated for all its complexity. Arranger, I just dipped in and out of whenever I had the time. It's clever, but never really gripped me. Definitely not going back for all the achievements I apparently missed, so that's that deleted.

Stray
Spider-Man 2
Tekken 8
Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade
Eiyuden Chronicles: Rising
Persona 5
Luck Be A Landlord
There Is No Game: Jam Edition
Ridge Racer Type 4
Stellar Blade

Grand Theft Auto 3

Time hasn’t been particularly kind, in many ways, but it’s still fun, and I did enjoy having a run through the old neighbourhood(s). Next time I’m at a bit of a loss or need a side game Vice City might be next in line for a visit.

Super Metroid

A timeless classic, basically. No nostalgia or rose-tinted glasses affecting my judgement here either, as I’d never actually played it before. I thought it was genuinely brilliant, to the point where the closest I can come to being critical for the most part is to say that it can be quite obtuse at times, but really that’s more observation than complaint, as I thought it added to the charm, if anything.

I expected to get some enjoyment out of it, to see some things that helped shape and inspire a favourite genre of mine. I did not expect to be blown away by a 30-year-old game still doing so much more than holding its own, to the point where I thought some of the graphical effects were actually still impressive even now. It probably would have probably blown my mind way back when, if I hadn’t changed my mind at the last minute, and plumped for a Megadrive instead, even after obsessing over the SNES for months.

Wonderful stuff, which has left me considering possibilities from within a host of other older games now too.

Banjo-Tooie is the mutt's nuts… I don't think that one's on the Switch though.

https://x.com/NintendoAmerica/status/1847080296140706216

I mean, I knew about this two months ago, but it's not like I could say anything…

That’s great and I hope more people discover it as a result, though I suspect the Xbox version will remain the best way to play. I might check it out though just to see what it’s like with the original controller.

Hoping for DK64 one day. I know it’s a mess in some regards but it’s also kind of the peak of this genre and it’ll be fascinating to play it again. It’s also not on Rare Replay so feels like a genuine rarity these days.

I had pretty much the same feeling towards GTA3 but from what little I played of VC right after it was an enourmous leap, mission wise alone it's a massive improvement but it's pretty much better across the board, and that OST…

Yeah, I was saying to someone the other day that I remembered it being a big step forward; things like being able to shoot through windscreens, take out tyres, ride motorbikes, actually properly fly things, and so on, all made it feel so different. I figured I’d give GTA3 a whirl first, but it was Vice City - and that soundtrack - I really wanted to get back to.

JANUARY
Crime O'Clock

FEBRUARY
RoboCop: Rogue City
Rogue Legacy 2
Chants of Sennar

MARCH
Ender Lilies: Knights of the Quietus
Mortal Kombat 1
AEW Fight Forever

APRIL
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

MAY
Animal Well
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (again)

JUNE
Cat Quest 2
PAN-PAN: A Tiny Big Adventure
The Case of the Golden Idol
Untitled Goose Game

JULY
The Case of the Golden Idol (the two DLC bits)
Dredge
Hades (first escape, but binned shortly after)
Pepper Grinder
Flock
Botany Manor

AUGUST
Thank Goodness You're Here!
Enter the Gungeon

SEPTEMBER
Darkest Dungeon II

OCTOBER
Banjo-Kazooie
Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure
The Rocky Horror Show Video Game - An hour and £8 I won't get back. A nice attempt at capturing the movie in 8-bit form, the music's good, but otherwise a curio at best. Still, I'm a regular Frankie fan, so I did it to myself I guess.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Fate/Extra: CCC
Dragon Quest 4
Star Ocean: the Divine Force
Granblue Fantasy Relink
Mega Man Legends 2
Ridge Racer Type 4
Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth
Final Fantasy VII (PS1)
Dragon Quest 5
Crisis Core Reunion
Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus
Ace Combat 1
Ace Combat 2
Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere
Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception
Fire Emblem (6): The Binding Blade
Sakura Taisen
Castlevania
Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg
Timesplitters 2
Kid Icarus Uprising
Grand Theft Auto 3
Katamari Damacy
Boltgun
Silent Hill 2 (original)

Metaphor Re:Fantazio

In many ways this is quite the magnum opus for Atlus, it's a nice mix of the best of both worlds from Shin Megami Tensei and Persona, but I think it innovates on both worlds enough and does its own thing that make it by far the best game to play they've ever done. I think the cast and story were really good, compliments to the antagonist as I think he was a really good opposing force, much better than P5 Vanilla or the ending I got in SMTV (I really wanna play SMTV: Vengeance soon-ish tho…).

Would it make sense if I said, that overall, Persona 5 ROYAL was still the best experience for me? Metaphor is the better game I think, but it has some downsides, like some of the dungeons are a bit copy paste (not offensively so) and a certain bit I can't really talk about. Or maybe I am just a dyed in the wool fanboy at this point, but while I like the world of Metaphor I have a certain bias towards running around Japan in P5, having been there twice myself. :thinking:

Anyway, Metaphor is pretty easily my GOTY, Granblue Relink did really well to hold on though, even with FF7 Rebirth existing which is still a great game but can drag in away Metaphor never did.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Fate/Extra: CCC
Dragon Quest 4
Star Ocean: the Divine Force
Granblue Fantasy Relink
Mega Man Legends 2
Ridge Racer Type 4
Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth
Final Fantasy VII (PS1)
Dragon Quest 5
Crisis Core Reunion
Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus
Ace Combat 1
Ace Combat 2
Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere
Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception
Fire Emblem (6): The Binding Blade
Sakura Taisen
Castlevania
Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg
Timesplitters 2
Kid Icarus Uprising
Grand Theft Auto 3
Katamari Damacy
Boltgun
Silent Hill 2 (original)
Metaphor Re:Fantazio

Tenchu: Stealth Assassins
Tenchu 2: Birth of the Stealth Assassins

Basically finished both in a few days and they're so similar I'm gonna talk about both. Both games seen as classics, particularly the first, but I found both quite frustrating to play at this point so I think I'm quite over them now. The first game has better level design by far, the second has one of my favourite stories of the PS1 era, both kinda control pretty bad and in a post Shinobido world I do not need to put up with that anymore. If I didn't use save states and had to reset every time got caught because of these controls I would have obliterated my PS1 (I really do love the story of Tenchu 2 a lot though, top tier drama)

I still crave more samurai/ninja shit after Shogun so I will probably play Way of the Samurai 2 and more Tenchu, more blood must be shed, more political ideas must be broken in half, loyalties tested.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Fate/Extra: CCC
Dragon Quest 4
Star Ocean: the Divine Force
Granblue Fantasy Relink
Mega Man Legends 2
Ridge Racer Type 4
Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth
Final Fantasy VII (PS1)
Dragon Quest 5
Crisis Core Reunion
Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus
Ace Combat 1
Ace Combat 2
Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere
Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception
Fire Emblem (6): The Binding Blade
Sakura Taisen
Castlevania
Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg
Timesplitters 2
Kid Icarus Uprising
Grand Theft Auto 3
Katamari Damacy
Boltgun
Silent Hill 2 (original)
Metaphor Re:Fantazio
Tenchu: Stealth Assassins
Tenchu 2: Birth of the Stealth Assassins

Way of the Samurai 2
A short 'choose your own' type of adventure game, which can feel pretty aimless on your first playthrough and even sometimes on subsequent runs, you do need to play a few loops to really see how much this game has tucked away there, but I think I'm good because I didn't really enjoy this run at all anyway.

• Horizon Forbidden West
• Astro Bot
• Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

• Star Wars Outlaws

Credits rolled, at last. In the PWB October thread, Gar said:

The final stretch of Outlaws is the best bit of the game (and longer than you’re probably expecting). It goes out on a high.

He ain't wrong! I had a ton of fun with this, and really liked the characters and the writing (even if some of the plot was fairly easy to see coming). I can see myself dipping back into this again from time to time, just to exist in that world for a while.

Another, please!

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Fate/Extra: CCC
Dragon Quest 4
Star Ocean: the Divine Force
Granblue Fantasy Relink
Mega Man Legends 2
Ridge Racer Type 4
Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth
Final Fantasy VII (PS1)
Dragon Quest 5
Crisis Core Reunion
Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus
Ace Combat 1
Ace Combat 2
Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere
Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception
Fire Emblem (6): The Binding Blade
Sakura Taisen
Castlevania
Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg
Timesplitters 2
Kid Icarus Uprising
Grand Theft Auto 3
Katamari Damacy
Boltgun
Silent Hill 2 (original)
Metaphor Re:Fantazio
Tenchu: Stealth Assassins
Tenchu 2: Birth of the Stealth Assassins
Way of the Samurai 2

Jade Empire
I shouldn't have bothered replaying this because now I like it a lot less than I remember. Uninteresting characters you can't even deep dive or connect with, the worst morality system they've ever done I think and a really unsatisfying combat system. Not terrible but deeply flawed game.

The thing that stops me pooping all over this game is that there's moments here where you are running around doing quests, mostly Chapter 2 and 3 and that's where this game feels best. With some good art direction and maps, it's really primitive, but it's pretty comfy sidequesting, Bioware lite. And while some of the writing in this game is kinda mid, the story/plot is actually pretty good except for the fact that the pace goes into lightspeed after Chapter 4. It also lacks depth, much like the cast do. (Am I wrong here but why can't I empathise with the Emperor trying to end a 10 year drought? Just because a God says so?)

Honestly, the worst part is how it sets up the morality of 'black/white paths aren't inherently good or evil, even the well intentioned person can become a tyrant in an attempt to stop suffering' and spend the rest of the game betraying that expectation it sets. Maybe it's on me but the game doesn't really recover from that.

Also…this game took me 15 hours to beat, that's insanely (perhaps mercifully) short for BW right? It's so short and I still don't think it's worth playing really. There are games that are interesting to play through and see good ideas trapped in a flawed game and this lacks any of that kind of spark. Also, play literally any other Bioware game.

JANUARY
Crime O'Clock

FEBRUARY
RoboCop: Rogue City
Rogue Legacy 2
Chants of Sennar

MARCH
Ender Lilies: Knights of the Quietus
Mortal Kombat 1
AEW Fight Forever

APRIL
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

MAY
Animal Well
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (again)

JUNE
Cat Quest 2
PAN-PAN: A Tiny Big Adventure
The Case of the Golden Idol
Untitled Goose Game

JULY
The Case of the Golden Idol (the two DLC bits)
Dredge
Hades (first escape, but binned shortly after)
Pepper Grinder
Flock
Botany Manor

AUGUST
Thank Goodness You're Here!
Enter the Gungeon

SEPTEMBER
Darkest Dungeon II

OCTOBER
Banjo-Kazooie
Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure
The Rocky Horror Show Video Game

NOVEMBER
Vampire Survivors: Ode to Castlevania - That's how you do DLC. Unlocked all the characters and evolved all the new weapons, credits rolled while playing as Richter… and then it just gets bigger. Not going to pretend to understand the nonsense of the final battle, but it was fun and I really liked the way post-credits that it went 'Okay, now you have all this to do'. Looks like there's even more beyond that too, so still going to be here a while. A mountain of 'big' games to still play, and I'm spending most of my time on a mobile title that's cost me pennies. Says a lot, really.
Mario & Luigi: Brothership - Credits finally rolled at just shy of 59 hours. I guess I liked it? Though the more I've spoken to people at work about it, the more I maybe didn't. The final boss fight was just dogshit, it's very talky, none of the sidequests really amount to much and the combat is a bit repetitive once you realise you never really run out of items, so you can just spam the most powerful Bros. Attacks over and over. Eh, I've done it, with nothing to go back for, so let's call it there.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Fate/Extra: CCC
Dragon Quest 4
Star Ocean: the Divine Force
Granblue Fantasy Relink
Mega Man Legends 2
Ridge Racer Type 4
Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth
Final Fantasy VII (PS1)
Dragon Quest 5
Crisis Core Reunion
Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus
Ace Combat 1
Ace Combat 2
Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere
Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception
Fire Emblem (6): The Binding Blade
Sakura Taisen
Castlevania
Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg
Timesplitters 2
Kid Icarus Uprising
Grand Theft Auto 3
Katamari Damacy
Boltgun
Silent Hill 2 (original)
Metaphor Re:Fantazio
Tenchu: Stealth Assassins
Tenchu 2: Birth of the Stealth Assassins
Way of the Samurai 2
Jade Empire

Mass Effect
Now THIS is more like it, this is aged a bit now but I still absolutely love the setting, characters, and story. The gameplay also, although it's tightened up a bit in this edition I know for a fact that back in the day I enjoyed using Throw to launch Geth miles away into a wall or Lift to make someone float helplessly in the air where I blasted a hole in their head…the guns just have a understated punch I feel.

I know the copy paste planets were considered bad even at the time but for me, the flying to a new system in the galaxy and touching down on a new planet made me feel like more of a space explorer and the combat is still fun enough that I enjoyed the copy past compounds too. (The Mako controls like absolute shit stillthough, yeah)

I think the best feeling is when you play the game for the first time and you're just walking around the Citadel, taking it all in. Really tickles the nostalgia glands still.

(The Mako controls like absolute shit stillthough, yeah)

Hot take: the Mako is great, actually. Certainly the best of the Mass Effect ground vehicles, for my money (yes, even the Andromeda one).