Your Games Completed of 2024

My issue with it is the boost is pretty damn weak and the jump doesn't really aid in exploration because you just go straight up. Planets are all designed seemingly to not let you go anywhere that isn't completely flat too, if the boost actually had some kick to it and let you scale inclines it would be a lot better I think, also maybe let you just throttle it as long as you want?

But you know, it's all worth it for that incrementally increasing money reward on the mineral deposits baby!

The copy and paste planets in Mass Effect are much more fun than the ones in Starfield, at least. And the extra boost controls they’ve given the Mako in the new edition make them much, much easier to explore.

My only criticism is in how much plot is tied up in what are essentially quite dull optional fetch quests. I got to ME2 and had no idea who Cerberus even were because all that stuff’s tied up in ME1’s planet hopping.

They pretty massively retconned Cerberus' whole deal between 1 and 2, so it's not exactly essential.

I couldn't tell if ME2 was being bold and asking me to side with terrorists or if I really had missed all this 'standing for humanity' shit. Assuming the Illusive Man is right that the Council have lapsed back into scepticism and the Alliance aren't doing shit its a bit jarring after literally just seeing the ending to ME1…

In Mass Effect, Cerberus were just a bunch of rogue, human-supremacist, spec-ops bros; there was no Illusive Man, as far as I remember. And the idea that the Powers That Be would settle down into business as usual after a major event - especially in the absence of further attacks - doesn't stretch believability quite as far as it maybe ought to.

• Horizon Forbidden West
• Astro Bot
• Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
• Star Wars Outlaws

Dragon Age: The Veilguard
It's been a long, long time since a game got into my head like this one; every minute I want playing it, I was wishing I was. I immediately staeted a second playthrough as a dwarf Grey Warden warrior, in place of my elven Lords of Fortune mage, and I'm already wondering what my third character will be.

I've no idea what anyone complaining about this game is on about. It's absolutely the best BioWare have ever been. GOTY.

Christ, Metaphor had more endings than Return of the King.

At least it had at least one, unlike SMT5's Law route which basically had none….anyway, looking forward to picking up SMT 5 Vengeance next year for a proper story and ending, stay tuned!

Also, now the dust has settled I still think this is probably a better game than P5 but nothing beats that first playthrough experience of it.

I think Metaphor is the most coherent and consistent of the Persona genre yet. It didn't outstay its welcome, all the characters were great, and it reined in the damage type bloat of P5 while expanding massively on the build options available for each party member. I've jumped straight back into a New Game+; hopefully this time I'll manage to finish all the Follower Bonds…

Yeah, I'm not sure I want a Royal version this time, they're going to need more than a few more Archetypes and the Mage Academy as a dungeon to rope me back in…as well as a few more years ahead of the base game.

I just about managed to get all Virtues and Followers maxed out and that's because I was stupid and wasted a lot of days increasing Courage (I feel like this will mostly max itself the game spits points at you) and fishing/washing clothes. Unlike Persona you don't need a spreadsheet, in P5 vanilla I didn't even get Yusuke's evolved Persona because of the social stat wall. :/

I maxed all the Virtues, but missed out on two Followers - one by a single rank, another by about half. Having all the Virtues carry over to NG+ will free up time for Followers, at least.

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

Mass Effect 2
Don't wanna' keep comparing this to ME1 so I'll just say this is a pretty fun game…but I did get a bit tired of the shooting galleries and how it's almost all it feels the game has to offer after a while. I can't keep bringing that up without mentioning how the cast are absolutely fantastic though and there are some great moments in the story, the Suicide Mission is fantastic.

It really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things though, I haven't played Mass Effect 3 so finally finishing the series I bought a 360 for means a lot to me even if I do end up hating how it all ends, so Mass Effect 2 is just one part of that, like I'll step back after beating ME3 and just say 'Mass Effect is cool'.

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
Mario & Luigi: Brothership

DECEMBER
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon - I should have just played Symphony of the Night like had thought to. Fine, but nothing special and ended up being a bit of a slog. Oh well.

Assassin's Creed: Mirage. Yeah it's all right I guess. Pure filler content, really, and doesn't do anything that hasn't already been done in a dozen games before, but there's still simple entertainment to be had in the act of running across rooftops and stabbing fools in the neck. In grand Ass Creed tradition it ends with five minutes of bafflingly insane cut-scene that constitutes the only attempt at progressing the over-arching plot in the entire 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
Mario & Luigi: Brothership

DECEMBER
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
Monument Valley 3 - Popped up on my phone today, because I pre-registered for it through Netflix's mobile line-up. It's… Monument Valley. I've already played and finished this twice with the first two games. This third one does throw in a couple of curveballs (literally, in one instance) but it really doesn't feel like anything new or interesting any more. Not really challenging too, I finished it in a few hours. There are meant to be 'seasonal stories' coming in the future, and a bunch of stuff on the chapter select is marked as appearing through 2025, but… nah, fuck that. Deleted.

Finished Metaphor again. Immediately started a third run. I might have a problem.

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
Mass Effect 2

Mass Effect 3

I loved almost all of that experience, the execution of the War Assets mechanic was absolute dogshit but…there's something about the idea of working towards uniting a galaxy to a cosmic ending threat that just really felt good to slowly come together, too bad it was almost all scanning and fetch quests! Also sorry but you can mark me down as 'ME3 endings hater', I don't like how out of the blue you get presented all these monkey paws, I'm all for tough choice and challenging the player but this felt a bit…pulled out of their arse? Really unsatisfying, but I chose Destroy for what it's worth. Also not to mention that cheap slideshow narrating everything, did we just run out of budget?

As a trilogy though? 10/10 experience, don't regret a thing. Finally glad to have finished the trilogy at last. I don't think I'll ever go back at this point, but I'll always hold the whole thing in high regard even if individually they never really followed through on the amazing promise the first game did.

The cheap slide show was the ending patch they threw together when everyone got upset. For the first couple months of ME3's existence the game pretty much just stopped after you made your decision.

I didn’t even realise there was a final decision to make. I just walked up one of the three paths they offered and clicked on the thing at the end. If it ever explained what I was choosing or what my options were, I missed it. I was surprised when the game abruptly ended.

Hate to side with the angry Internet mob of all things but oh my that unpatched ending sounds absolutely terrible. I'm probably warmer on ME3 overall than most people seem to be at least.

You don't catch me in here very often. But I did finish Route 96.

It's an exceptional game that just, by a whisker, fails to stick the landing. For the most part it's brave, confident and has a strong message to put across. It can be goofy, irreverent and childish too. It had a couple of moments that actually made me jump and/or be unsettled (the high point is a protracted scene in a motel, which made me feel genuine panic).

The only issue is that everything feels like it's building to an incredible crescendo. But the end wasn't quite as good as it should've been. It feels a bit like a small team wrestling to get a monster in a cage and running out of time and design space to execute. It was still very powerful and has some of the best moments I've experienced in any game. How nice to have a game have a clear and powerful message against the realities of fascism/extremism - not just machine gunning down nazi soldiers. That the game lets you actually agree with some of the odious characters and politics is very well done. Sometimes you have to, to save your own life. It does really make you think at times.

I'd love to see what the team could do with a big budget.

I went back to Dragon Age afterwards and jut felt immense depression about how shit and similar most modern games are these days (dok'ing it so hard rite now).

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
Mass Effect 2
Mass Effect 3

Soul Calibur 2
Dunno' when/if fighting games get added here, arcade mode done? On all characters? Well, I have beat every Weapon Master Mode Mission and unlocked every character and every weapon for them then I went and beat arcade mode with everyone for good measure, I think I can call it. I still think this is the most fun I've had on a fighting game single player mode in a long time.

Weapon Master is the main SP draw and is a fun alternate VN style story where you fight under special objectives with weapons that can heal you or are longer than usual etc and this is where you earn the exp and more importantly, Gold to buy the weapons. Simply doing the missions unlocks a ton of modes too, most of them don't interest me like time attack and what not but it's cool that they're there I think.

Also the game itself is PRETTY good, it had a great amount of longevity to it despite newer games in the series being out for a while and for good reason.

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
Mario & Luigi: Brothership

DECEMBER
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
Monument Valley 3
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver - Just in under the 2024 wire, I doubt I'll finish anything else this year. I previously had a high opinion of this series and, playing this remastered version, I think I still do… but it's such a weird game. On the surface, it's like most of the other 3D platform action/adventures of its time like Tomb Raider and Shadow Man. But I can't think of any other game like this where there's so much to do, and yet absolutely no reason to do it?

The game never guides you in any way to collect any of the power glyphs and you don't need any of them to finish the game, but they're all there along with the connected eldritch enhancements and the ability to imbue the reaver with fire. You could easily just follow the (very limited) prompts that lead you through the story, and not even see several large and completely separate areas that have no other purpose but to house these power-ups you don't need. There are also zero prompts to find the health enhancers, which are all hidden well enough to be completely overlooked, rather than getting the 'Okay, I see that, I'll come back later' treatment. I only remembered they were there because the remaster has an otherwise totally useless map that lists what's in each area.

Combine this with the absolutely terrible ending (which has full-on Banjo Kazooie Stop-N-Swap future game vibes) AND the bonus content of the remaster showing whole areas that were left out of the original version, and it's clear what we ended up with is half the game it should have been. Does that make it bad? No, I enjoyed playing it again. But hindsight is 20/20 I guess… won't be moving onto the second game straight away, I need a palette cleanser first.

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
Mario & Luigi: Brothership

DECEMBER
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
Monument Valley 3
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
Bad Dudes Vs Dragon Ninja
Caveman Ninja
In The Hunt - I lied, I finally started playing old arcade games instead of just making them work on my cabinet. Long live President Ronnie!