Your Games Completed of 2022

Can we get a moderator in here please? I'm being abused.

Oh look at that, our banhammer looks just like Mario's hammer. What a coincidence.

They put a lot of effort into a new gimmick that allows you to travel to a past and future. Unfortunately, this adds nothing exciting to the game.

It's how you get the good future and thus the best ending. Well, that or navigate the annoying 3d bonus stages.

It's better than the gimmick-filled annoying as hell Sonic 3/S&K – which is still a better game than most. Just the weakest original Sonic game. Then came that Adventure crap and oh boy no thanks from me.

Also, I despise the JP/Euro music in CD. It's like the developers got into 90s hip-hop / club music at the time and decided to shoehorn that into their game. Thankfully those behind the US version said "to heck with that" and made a proper videogame soundtrack.

Yes, Mario World was better than all of these. Spoiler - click to showsomething something fuck Mario 64 something something blah blah blah dok is insane

I really like 'Sonic Boom'

I really like 'Sonic Boom'

I think they've lost the rights and have some substitute now, but this was the original JP/Euro intro. What the hecking heck were they thinking.

Yeah, that's awful, if there's one thing I think is really good about the Sonic games is they have some bangers and that definitely isn't one of them.

It's how you get the good future and thus the best ending. Well, that or navigate the annoying 3d bonus stages.

Yeah, I actually destroyed two of the time machines and thought forget doing anymore of that. I was getting all the time stones anyway, I'll just do that.

Yeah, that's awful, if there's one thing I think is really good about the Sonic games is they have some bangers and that definitely isn't one of them.

Yeah, thankfully it's Sonic Boom in Sonic Origins. Believe it or not Sonic Unleashed main theme song was one of the best ones (Endless Possibility).

I'll allow this.

Brilliant song that. They did a remake with Classic Sonic in Sonic Generations too which was awesome.

I really like 'Sonic Boom'

Well, Pete Kember is a genius.

Escape from the City

The only good thing about the Adventure games. :D

Pokemon Legends Arceus
To The Moon
Elden Ring
Death Stranding
Chrono Trigger
Advance Wars: Dual Strike
Chrono Cross
Radical Dreamers
Panzer Dragoon Remake
Panzer Dragoon Zwei
Panzer Dragoon Orta
Panzer Dragoon Saga
NEO: The World Ends With You
SaGa Scarlet Grace: Ambitions
Dino Crisis 2
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the World[/b]
AI: The Somnium Files

Advance Wars: Days of Ruin
After seriously wondering how I was going to beat that absolute bastard of a final mission I looked online to see how people were doing it and then just sorta' semi winged it with my own plan and somehow managed to win the fight. I loved how in contrast to Dual Strike's ending the son of a bitch at the end who has been gleefully treating people's lives as science experiments and hiding behind a cold, indifference to everything begs for his life like a little rat and doesn't get any mercy whatsoever, it really does feel like there's a bit of Fire Emblem in here which is pretty fitting considering they also made that series too.

I hate to say it but, while Days of Ruin is obviously a better designed game ultimately I still think Dual Strike is the ultimate AW package on DS for me.

There are few reasons for this but the main one a sort of 'one step forward, two steps back' approach to the gameplay where they removed the overpowered CO power bullshit from DS and gave us this really interesting new CO system that is way better on paper but in execution…you can't choose a CO before a map, there are way less COs and you don't get to play the ones who are bad guys in the campaign giving you even less COs to play with. I know this is because they've tweaked the balance around this but I liked choosing my COs before a map in DS, sometimes I had to make a team of 6 in single map and it was exciting but I dunno if you truly to get proper control of more than 6 COs in the entirety of DoR, just sorta' feels like a 'what was the point of doing this if we can only do that' kind of thing. :<

Another thing is, even though I myself will not play the non campaign maps for a while because I wanna' use my RP2 for other games for a bit, there's a crap ton of content in DS that DoR just can't match, the War Room, the Hard Mode campaign with all COs unlocked compared and some other modes, DoR has some really tough extra maps but apart from that and multiplayer there's not much else. If this game was on Switch and had online multiplayer THEN I might be singing a different tune, getting to play against other players with DoR mechanics with any CO I want? I think I'd play the absolute shit out of that…

Speaking of which…feeling pretty bad about the future of the AW 1 and 2 Remasters these days, no real updates at all has me hovering over the romsites again :s

I'm stuck on the last level just now. Can't for the life of me remember how I used to get past it. In the meantime I've played about a hundred other maps in the various modes. Most of my favourites are in the Trial maps.

Pokemon Legends Arceus
To The Moon
Elden Ring
Death Stranding
Chrono Trigger
Advance Wars: Dual Strike
Chrono Cross
Radical Dreamers
Panzer Dragoon Remake
Panzer Dragoon Zwei
Panzer Dragoon Orta
Panzer Dragoon Saga
NEO: The World Ends With You
SaGa Scarlet Grace: Ambitions
Dino Crisis 2
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the World[/b]
AI: The Somnium Files
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin

Mega Man Battle Network
I enjoyed like the first half hour of this then it all went to shit. This was so bad that it's put me off buying the Battle Network Collection they announced recently, apparently the second game is an astronomical improvement so maybe I'll try that some day but probably via alternate methods first. I think if the series is really good then the first game is so bad that playing it first is actively detrimental to the series.

I think I can finally put Mega Man Legends 2 on the RP2 now at least, the first game of which isn't an experimental pain in the ass it's just a good game full stop.

I tried the first Mega Man Battle Network after a friend recommended it. I barely got through the tutorial. Maybe I'll try the second. Somehow I've got six of them on my Retroid.

Probably because like me you heard they were classics, to be fair even the fans say the first game is either the worst or the fourth one is (which isn't exactly helping the value of the Legacy Collection any, not that 4 is in the first one) so no one has exactly lied to me yet they just didn't scream loud enough damn it, but I'll be super let down if the second game is bad. Part of me just wants to skip to the fan favourite third but eh, in for a penny…

Why all this effort to care you might ask? Well I really like Mega Man and bought the Legacy Collections for Classic, X and Zero series off PSN years ago (24 games lmao) and wanted to try the spin offs now I have a RP2 and Legends is/was fantastic so I guess I just respect the series a lot.

Pokemon Legends Arceus
To The Moon
Elden Ring
Death Stranding
Chrono Trigger
Advance Wars: Dual Strike
Chrono Cross
Radical Dreamers
Panzer Dragoon Remake
Panzer Dragoon Zwei
Panzer Dragoon Orta
Panzer Dragoon Saga
NEO: The World Ends With You
SaGa Scarlet Grace: Ambitions
Dino Crisis 2
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the World
AI: The Somnium Files
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin
Mega Man Battle Network

Megaman ZX
A metroidvania in the body of a Mega Man game with the worst map I've ever seen in the entire genre, in a game where the world isn't memorable in the slightest you have basically nothing to go on when deciding how to get from route A to B. You take on missions which will activate when you reach a certain zone and that basically becomes a traditional Mega Man level but again none of the memorable level design from that series either so this is just pretty meh as a metroidvania and a Mega Man game.

….Howeverrrrrr, they did kinda' nail the feel of the movement and once you fight something it does actually feel good, dash-slicing the mechs clean in half with your Z-Saber is just as satisfying as ever. One of the hallmarks of the series is boss fights and I would say I like most of them even if they're not quite up there with Zero's bosses. I really like the mechanic of changing your gear to get new abilities and a cool mechanical suit.

One more game, Megaman ZX Advent then I've wrapped up the Mega Man Zero Legacy Collection finally. :o

JANUARY
Inmost
The Pedestrian
Gorogoa
Botanicula

FEBRUARY
Kirby and the Forgotten Land

MARCH
Nobody Saves The World
Tunic

APRIL
Nothing

MAY
Still nothing (?!)

JUNE
Weird West
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge

JULY
Batman: Arkham Asylum - Finished it on Easy because really, this is at least my fourth time through and who has time for bullshit proving yourself these days. Got all the Riddler challenges at least, enjoyed that. Deleted it and immediately installed Arkham City (which I've only finished once), but not going to start that any time soon. Back to Elden Ring I go…

Pokemon Legends Arceus
To The Moon
Elden Ring
Death Stranding
Chrono Trigger
Advance Wars: Dual Strike
Chrono Cross
Radical Dreamers
Panzer Dragoon Remake
Panzer Dragoon Zwei
Panzer Dragoon Orta
Panzer Dragoon Saga
NEO: The World Ends With You
SaGa Scarlet Grace: Ambitions
Dino Crisis 2
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the World
AI: The Somnium Files
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin
Mega Man Battle Network
Mega Man ZX

Mega Man ZX Advent

This is more like it! I had hoped they learned from the last game but they really turned this duo series around with this one, not only is it barely a Metroidvania now the new Megamerge system felt great and made much better use of every Mega Man suit than the first game. It basically feels like Mega Man Zero 5 to me and that's a good thing, I'd say it's not just a good ZX game but a good Mega Man game, it's certainly a better addition the franchise than Battle Network 1 at least.

And that's a wrap on the Mega Man Zero Legacy Collection after like a year and a half ago that I bought it, not a collection I'd reccomend to everyone because even with the new checkpoints they can be pretty brutal but it's the most fun action platforming I've ever had. This is NOT the end for Zero though because I will be seeing him again in the Mega Man X Legacy Collection, which I will be starting sometime…after Xenoblade 3. :^)

Evil Within 2- 8.5/10

Never played a Evil Within game until this year and now it's one of my favorite horror games series to date. I've already said in the other PWB thread how much I love the open hubs area's, but the story was greatly improved from the first one too. It's a lot more personal in this one. The main character Sebastian has a nice character ark, overcoming a few things in his past. It helps that the voice acting is a lot better in this too. Would of rated it a 9 if it just had one more open hub section, but I recommend any of the two games if your up for some horror action.

Inside- 7/10

Was a big fan of Limbo back in the 360 days, but never got round to playing this. Personally, I love the style of these games. Always make for interesting story telling. The whole game story is told through great atmosphere and a pretty dark theme throughout. Easily the strength of the game and kept me intrigued to what I found to be a very satisfying ending. The platforming and puzzles seems pretty simple to be honest but fun enough. A few slow spots that were boring but never lasted too long before picking back up. Its around 4-5 hours and I definitely recommend it to anyone who's yet to play it.

a very satisfying ending.

sorry what

(no spoilers, but sorry what )

The ending is the only bit I remember! It was brilliant.

Spoiler - click to show I feel with how the story was told, building up to the final act with that freaky looking thing. I think the sudden end was justified when you escape. During that final part when you control the monster a lot gets answered while still leaving enough for speculation. Ive got no idea if this has been said or it's me reaching too high, but this what I think. At the start of the game you come across a pig with a worm looking thing that you pull out of him to stop some kind of mind control (I'm pretty sure that worm was in limbo too which was cool to see). As the game goes on, the mind control get more advanced with the worms, helmet's and not needing any equipment by the end. I think that monster is so advance the boy was being mind controlled the whole time to help himself escape. I've might of missed something though and way overthinking it haha 😅

JANUARY
Inmost
The Pedestrian
Gorogoa
Botanicula

FEBRUARY
Kirby and the Forgotten Land

MARCH
Nobody Saves The World
Tunic

APRIL
Nothing

MAY
Still nothing (?!)

JUNE
Weird West
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge

JULY
Batman: Arkham Asylum

AUGUST
Tap! Dig! MyMuseum - A silly little mobile game that I've had for absolutely ages and reached the end of a few times, only for the developer to add more fossils to dig up and more floors to add to the museum. Apparently though, the latest update is the last one and now I have all 100 fossils, so it said The End. Guess that's finished then.

Kuro no Kiseki
Pokemon Legends Arceus
To The Moon
Elden Ring
Death Stranding
Chrono Trigger
Advance Wars: Dual Strike
Chrono Cross
Radical Dreamers
Panzer Dragoon Remake
Panzer Dragoon Zwei
Panzer Dragoon Orta
Panzer Dragoon Saga
NEO: The World Ends With You
SaGa Scarlet Grace: Ambitions
Dino Crisis 2
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the World
AI: The Somnium Files
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin
Mega Man Battle Network
Mega Man ZX
Mega Man ZX Advent

Xenoblade Chronicles 3

After 200(!) hours I finally beat this huge game, and I more or less enjoyed every second. By far the best game in the series and I think an easy shoe in for GOTY which means I liked it even more than Kuro. I've gone into how the sidequests are improved (the onslaught of them is now simply more brutal though, since they're no longer MMO style fetch quests done in 5 mins) and how combat is MILES better but I dunno if I've gone into the characters much:

I love the party dynamic so much in this game, it out does a 'Tales of' game in being a 'Tales of' game in that regard, there's even a mechanic where you listen to people talk in the world and dicuss it as a team in camp. IMO the english dub really does give them a lot of character and their banter and discussions just felt really genuine.

Don't be put off by my playtime if you liked the first two games, people are beating it much faster than I did but I will say I don't think I padded the game out too artificially, there is just a lot of game in here and I wanted to enjoy it andenjoy it I did. Technically not done yet but that is the story done.

Also this game is practically mecha porn, best use of playable mech action since Cold Steel, really sleek and fun to use in gameplay and so cool in cutscenes.

I finished a game!!

Escape Academy is pretty much exactly what I wanted it to be. It's fun and mentally engaging in terms of puzzles - just obtuse enough at times to stop it being too easy and very clever in its use of time limits, which are tight enough to stress but not enough to frustrate. It's self-aware enough not to pretend its story/characters are worth engaging with in any serious way, and doesn't outstay its welcome - does what it needs to do and gets out of the door with a cheery wave and has left me with some hope for some DLC down the line. Very good fun indeed and recommended.

And we did the whole thing with one controller without divorce being mentioned once, which should definitely be a 50g achievement.

It definitely has two DLC packs on the way, it's in the Roadmap (which I think is in the game itself?).

I forgot the one negative I took away from Escape Academy - it does the AWFUL thing of having two player co-op, but only rewards achievements to the first person signed in. WHHHHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYY.

Ahh OK cool! I hadn't looked around in there yet, we'd just plunged into the main game. Will investigate further…

Top banana. Will keep an eye on this.

The kid and I managed to finally beat the single-player "Hero Mode" campaign in Splatoon 2 at the weekend, so I've seen the credits for that. It was fine? I'm not sure exactly what the point of it is; nothing you unlock helps in the actual game, and the skills it requires are significantly different.

The Octo Expansion is way better than the base single-player campaign. It's genuinely excellent (also quite hard).

If you have the Expansion Pack for the Switch Online service (the one that gives you all the N64 games etc), you probably have access to it already.

I'm not sure exactly what the point of it is; nothing you unlock helps in the actual game, and the skills it requires are significantly different.

Pretty sure the point of it is it gives people who have zero interest in playing an online multiplayer shooter a reason to still want to buy/play it.

Kuro no Kiseki
Pokemon Legends Arceus
To The Moon
Elden Ring
Death Stranding
Chrono Trigger
Advance Wars: Dual Strike
Chrono Cross
Radical Dreamers
Panzer Dragoon Remake
Panzer Dragoon Zwei
Panzer Dragoon Orta
Panzer Dragoon Saga
NEO: The World Ends With You
SaGa Scarlet Grace: Ambitions
Dino Crisis 2
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the World
AI: The Somnium Files
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin
Mega Man Battle Network
Mega Man ZX
Mega Man ZX Advent
Xenoblade Chronicles 3

Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna - The Golden Country

One of the best DLCs for an RPG I've played I think, it's structured in a way that I think…ironically makes it the best entry to the series or at least the best taster of what the series is like from a gameplay and mechanical perspective? It's like a wee slice of Xenoblade cake that has everything that makes the series what it is but shrunken down, it's got the MMO elements, the big open worlds, the anime storylines and it can all be wrapped up in the brief playtime of 30 hours if mine is anything to go by…hey it's brief for Xenoblade. :p

The only criticism I have really is they have a mechanic called 'Community Level' which is basically forced sidequests, or if you want to be unkind, mandatory padding . I see what they were trying to do Spoiler - click to showGet you attached to the community in Torna before you watch it and everyone on it get killed but it wasn't as smooth as they probably thought it was. Funny thing is though, I never hit any forced sidequest walls because I did as many as I could anyway so it's weird to say it wasn't an issue for me but it's hard for me to say it's 'good', I mean, I dunno' about replaying this much purely because of that so it's definitely a thing.

I dunno if I would reccomend people play this before the main game or not though, I don't think anything it 'spoils' is too important because Torna is about the very specific event in the Xenoblade 2 timeline, 500 years ago to be exact, and thus has a cast that is largely all new but I can't be 100% certain. I do think in terms of satisfaction I enjoyed Torna a lot more because I played the main game first.

That ending

I probably shouldn't have stayed up till 1:30 but Superluminal was fun.

PowerWash Simulator

I thought this would be a fun little distraction - it was, but it was also a 60-hour powerwashing epic with loads of variety, great pacing and a remarkably good story. Easily one of my games of the year.

I probably shouldn't have stayed up till 1:30 but Superluminal was fun.

I enjoyed it right up to when it decided to throw a jump scare horror level in, completely without warning. Turned it off and deleted it. I'm not being forced to play through that just to see what's on the other side, was really disappointed the devs decided to do that.

I probably shouldn't have stayed up till 1:30 but Superluminal was fun.

I enjoyed it right up to when it decided to throw a jump scare horror level in, completely without warning. Turned it off and deleted it. I'm not being forced to play through that just to see what's on the other side, was really disappointed the devs decided to do that.

I almost turned it off then because it was midnight and I wasn't in the mood for scary, but I thought, there is no way to get hurt in this game, so there can't be anything scary. That level turned out to be just as humorous and clever as the rest, just lots of lateral thinking and problem solving based on lighting and shadow.

Returnal- 9/10

Thought I would give the PS extra a go for a few month and this has been a game on my list to play for a while now. Easily the best game to use all the features of the PS5 controller. Genuine useful in terms of the audio, and the haptic feedback felt awesome. In terms of the game itself. The gameplay was a solid ten for the most part. The movement and shooting was spot on. Enemies seem well thought out, with different attacks patterns you'll needs to learn. The amount of weapons plus the different alt fire and traits you unlock for them is more than enough to make a good playthrough for a roguelike. The Gears of War active reload gets bonus points for me too. The weakest part of the game for me that stops it being a perfect ten was the roguelike aspect. It wasn't bad, but stuck out compared to the other parts of the game. Sometimes a run can least up to 2 two hours or more and when I died, I didn't feel like enough progression carries over. It can feel like the last few hours was a waste, but maybe that's just me. Highly recommend if you have a PS5.

Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood -3.5/10

This was so hard to complete! Not because of the difficulty, more because it's painful to play. Even for a Sonic fan like myself who's played some God awful Sonic games in the past, this was bad. The worst thing of all is the promise this game had. A Sonic turn based RPG made by Bioware, should of been a home run. What we got was a repetitive boring fighting system, fetch quest to fill most of the main chapters, more fetch quest on a smaller scale for optional side quest, and an ending when the developers laugh at you for completing the game. It's really hard to be a Sonic fan sometimes. 😅 Some decent take aways for me were the party members. Always nice to see Amy finally getting some respect being the power house of the game. Seeing special attacks with Sonic and Amy together was awesome even if the battle system tried to make it not.

How was the writing? Was it too serious? The main things I always think about for Mario RPGs is the humour of it all.

It's not funny like the paper Mario games, but I wouldn't say the writing is too bad. It's the optional dialogue that's a joke. It dose nothing more than change the next sentence before going back to the very scripted path way you have to go on.

Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak

I've said a lot about this in the specific thread we've got but this was genuinely excellent. It's my game of the year, the high point of the Monster Hunter series and it also has the added bonus of making Rise - which was slightly underwhelming at launch - much better in retrospect as it now feels like the first half of a much bigger game. In particular the difficulty level in Sunbreak is expertly judged: everything hits hard but you can always work around it with careful use of skills and armour, you are forced to engage with all the game's systems in a way that wasn't really the case with the base game. It's simply superb and although I've "completed" it, I know that's only the start of a long road of engaging post-game content and additional monsters to fight.

Midnight Fight Express -7/10

Fun game overall. The combat is the highlight for me. Pretty easy to pick up similar to the Batman combat system in the arkham games. Trying to not break your combo streak is pretty addictive and looks super stylish. The story was boring though and kept getting in the way of what's makes this game fun.

Immortality -7/10

With this getting very high scores across the board, it got me interested to give it a go. Not my kinda game normally, but the story and acting is incredible. Not much, if any gameplay here. You mostly go through video clips of three unreleased movies and find out why they didn't release with Marissa Marcel being the main character for each one. Not gonna spoil anything here as it's the discovery that makes Immortality. The "gameplay", watching, highlighting and rewinding clips gets a bit too tedious by the end for me. However, some moments are unforgettable. This is one of the most disturbing and scariest games I've played for a bit. The hairs on my arms were standing up at times (not kidding). I had to watch some Rick and Morty to snap out of the mood before bed. 😂

Kuro no Kiseki
Pokemon Legends Arceus
To The Moon
Elden Ring
Death Stranding
Chrono Trigger
Advance Wars: Dual Strike
Chrono Cross
Radical Dreamers
Panzer Dragoon Remake
Panzer Dragoon Zwei
Panzer Dragoon Orta
Panzer Dragoon Saga
NEO: The World Ends With You
SaGa Scarlet Grace: Ambitions
Dino Crisis 2
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the World
AI: The Somnium Files
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin
Mega Man Battle Network
Mega Man ZX
Mega Man ZX Advent
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna - The Golden Country

Xenoblade Chronicles X

wew lads

This is the most Xenoblade of all time, the sheer density and open ended freedom of this game is probably the best and worst aspect of the game. I could have easily played this for another 100 hours if I wanted to, but I really had to cut through to the end on this one and I think I am happy with the amount of content I saw. In terms of content it's probably the biggest game in the series, even if that content can be boiled down to very MMO-ey things.

The depth to this game is intimidating but it's the key part of what makes this game so brilliant, dig deeper into the confusing stats and sub-systems and you will be rewarded with a highly flexible character building system that allows for insane stuff not even possible with the class changing system of Xenoblade 3. Unlike the main trilogy it's not super story driven, this means you are free to explore to your hearts content, you are only 'momentarily' restricted from the air and sea until you get a Mech and can then literally fly unimpeded to where you want…eat your fucking heart out, Todd Howard.

I have to give a special shout out to that very world itself, not only does it still look absolutely gorgeous in terms of exploration it absolutely blows the rest of the games worlds out of the water, I think I said this before but you can practically run and jump at superspeed and basically climb everything like a mountain goat which just makes running around really fun, even without a mech you can go at least as far the penultimate area of the world, if not the last, this is like Rex being able to find Elysium after the tutorial of Xenoblade 2! Then when you finally do get the ability to fly on a mech for the first time, flying out of New LA to a faraway mountain and looking back on where you were? Fucking biblical experience.

If I had to sum the game in one word it'd be: FREEDOM*

Xenosaga next, three games of that then I will replay Xenoblade 2's non DLC main game again and I will have played every Xeno-game released in two months, besides Xenogears that I beat last year…? @_@

*but the game won't tell you SHIT, in a way, being told things is limiting your freedom to discover by yourself so it really is the Xenoblade game of the free :^)

Borderlands 3
A Plague Tale: Innocence
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
Call of the Sea
Elden Ring

Now playing a little game I like to call 'crap, this definitely isn't the last game I finished, what the hell have I played since?!'

Monster Hunter: Sunbreak

Could've put this in weeks ago, but I've still been playing it so much it didn't feel finished. I'm generally just climbing with Greatsword and making acceptable endgame sets for the other weapons I like (Lance, SnS and Hammer), so that I can branch out when the mood takes me. If this isn't my game of the year, it's only because Elden Ring is also bloody brilliant.

Tacoma

Forgot that (or how, or why) I had it, but stuck it on for a bit of a change. From the Gone Home people, it's short but perfectly formed. The story is good - it manages to fit an awful lot of characterisation into a remarkably short playtime, seeing as you could probably get the whole thing done in one 2-3 hour sitting - and thanks to that, the relatively brisk movement speed, and the lack of backtracking, it's actually one of my favourite narrative adventures / walking simulators so far.

Realised I posted this in the wrong thread so here it is in the right place.

Coffee Talk

One of the things I've appreciated about Game Pass is it's helped to realise that I quite like visual novel-type games. There always seem to be a few of these floating around the service and I find them quite a relaxing way to unwind.

Coffee Talk is a gentle little story where you run a coffee shop in an alt-universe version of Seattle which is populated by elves, vampires, werewolves and other fantasy creatures. As a barista your only real task is to listen to your customers and serve them the right drinks. There's very little actual gameplay here, it's mostly just reading, and it doesn't really seem to matter whether you get the drinks right or not - but it's nicely written, the characters are well-depicted, the pixel art is lovely and it's just a really heartwarming little game. I wish it had been slightly longer, in fact.

Sadly, the author of Coffee Talk, Mohammad Fahmi, passed away unexpectedly in March this year at the age of 32. He was clearly a talented guy and that seems like a huge loss.

Tinykin -8/10

Loved this game. Even went back to get all achievements which was fun. It's pretty easy to complete with the platforming, missions and generous respawns. So if you stick to that you'll be fine. The difficulty, if any. Comes from collecting everything within the level. So many times I've had a few pollen left but couldn't for the life of me find them. I think the strength of this game for me is the levels. Not one level missed. I'll even go as far to say they keep getting better as you progress through the game. Easy recommend from me.

Also Tinykin.

And as Beany says, it's a great game. I liked that it was almost challenge-free - there's nothing in here that's at all difficult, the platforming is straightforward with a generous glide move and any mistakes you do make result in an instant respawn anyway. So it just becomes a game about exploration, gently pottering around collecting pollen and Tinykin and solving straightforward little puzzles. I'll absolutely be going back to this to find out what I missed and I'd be up for a sequel or DLC without question.

Kuro no Kiseki
Pokemon Legends Arceus
To The Moon
Elden Ring
Death Stranding
Chrono Trigger
Advance Wars Dual Strike
Chrono Cross
Radical Dreamers
Panzer Dragoon Remake
Panzer Dragoon Zwei
Panzer Dragoon Orta
Panzer Dragoon Saga
NEO: The World Ends With You
SaGa Scarlet Grace: Ambitions
Dino Crisis 2
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the World
AI: The Somnium Files
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin
Mega Man Battle Network
Mega Man ZX
Mega Man ZX Advent
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna - The Golden Country

Xenosaga Episode 1: Der Wille zur Macht

It's not without it's flaws, mainly it has a pretty skewed pacing in terms of long cutscenes and gameplay but I enjoyed pretty much all of this. It's more fun to actually play than Xenogears is and everyone knows I like Xenogears, I can't compare the story because this is actually 1/3 of a story…guess I'll compare it to Xenoblade Chronicles trilogy instead, but so far it's leaning into the sci-fi and weird philosophical shit I really like so if this sticks the landing I will probably at least put it above Xenogears.

Xenosaga Episode 2: Jenseits von Gut und Böse (and I'm keeping the full subtitle of these in as a little treat for Mart who is probably the only person who can read them ) is considered so bad even fans of Xenosaga tell you to skip it and just watch it instead…I can't wait to play it!